A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Jestana, who is sick. Get well soon! ^_^
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Chapter Twelve: In which Tom starts plotting
- March 10, 1945 -
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Minerva was on her way down to the Transfiguration department after classes to help Dumbledore with grading papers when a familiar male voice stopped her. The voice belonged to none other than Tom Riddle, and he was walking toward her at a brisk pace. She forced herself to smile at him. Tom was one of her best friends, but she was in a hurry, and didn't really want to talk to anyone.
"What's on your mind, Tom?" she asked as he drew closer.
"I just want to talk to you," he replied. "Is that allowed?"
"Can it wait?" she returned. "I have to be somewhere in a few minutes."
"Where?"
"Professor Dumbledore asked me to help him grade papers," she answered.
"Really, now?" Tom asked, his interest perking.
"Don't give me that," she said with more than a little exasperation in her voice. "Honestly, what's with you people?" She didn't understand why everyone was so interested in her relationship with Dumbledore. It was completely professional… on school time, anyway.
"Ah. Well, in that case, will you go out with me?"
Now that, she did not expect. "What?"
"There's a Hogsmeade visit next weekend," Tom said. "I think it would be fun if we went together."
Minerva pressed her hand to her forehead, closed her eyes, and sighed. "Tom… you and I… no. It would never work."
"I think it would," he returned.
She dropped her hand and opened her eyes. "But what about Kelsie?"
Tom sighed, and his gaze dropped to the floor. "Kelsie… it's been over for a while. It really has. We both know it; we just haven't gotten around to saying it just yet. Besides, haven't you noticed that she's been spending a lot of time with Barty Crouch?"
Minerva nodded. "Yes, I have noticed." Barty Crouch, a sixth-year Slytherin, had been appointed to the vacant prefect position after the incident a month earlier, and rumors were circulating that he was up for Head Boy. Since Kelsie was a shoo-in for Head Girl, the two of them realized that it might be to their benefit to get friendly.
"She's going to end up with Crouch any day now, and I don't blame her," said Tom. "They have a lot more in common than we ever did. So what do you say, Minerva? I might still be with Kelsie 'officially', but just say the word, and I'm all yours."
She couldn't believe this. He was so arrogant. "Tom Marvolo Riddle, that is just… no. I can't."
"Why not? You're single, and I'm close enough."
He was wrong; she wasn't single, but she couldn't tell him that. "That's not the point. You're my friend, Tom. You've never been anything more to me, and you never will. Sorry." She turned away from him and continued on her way. "I'm late. Good-bye."
Tom watched her go, and his lips twisted into a sneer. He didn't care that he had just been rejected by a girl he'd always had a thing for. This encounter was about something much more significant than a date. He had accomplished his goal.
"Good-bye," he replied to the silence, then began walking toward the Slytherin common room.
Ordinarily, Dumbledore wouldn't be too concerned if Minerva was a few minutes late – she had a lot to do, between school and her duties as Quidditch captain and Head Girl – but this was different, he could tell. She seemed upset about something, and he couldn't help but wonder what it could be. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she replied, giving him a forced smile and taking her usual seat in the front row of desks. "Got any papers?"
Dumbledore got up from behind his desk, walked over to the front row, and sat down next to her. "What happened?" he asked.
His light blue eyes made contact with her dark, and they stared each other down for almost a minute. Finally, Minerva cracked. "Fine," she said, and sighed. "Tom Riddle just asked me out."
"He did?" Dumbledore said. "What did you say?"
She shot him a surprised look. "No, of course. I've never felt anything but friendship toward him, and that certainly isn't going to change now that I'm with you. Forgive me if this is too bold, but… but I feel like you complete me."
He smiled at her. "No need to ask for forgiveness, unless it be for beating me to saying those words."
She smiled back at him, and he didn't know when he had been happier. So this is what it's like to be in love, he thought to himself. He rather liked the feeling. In fact, the only thing he didn't like about their relationship was that it had to be kept a secret. Someday the truth could come out. Someday they would be able to declare their love for each other to the entire world.
But not yet.
They gazed at each other for a little while longer. It was Minerva who pointed out that they should get to work. "You know, Albus, those papers aren't going to grade themselves."
Dumbledore chuckled and pointed his wand at his desk. "Always being productive, aren't you?" he said, and levitated the stack of papers that needed to be graded over to them.
"Productivity is next to godliness," she replied, and took the first paper off the top of the stack.
"I pity your future students," Dumbledore said, taking a sheet of paper himself.
Minerva laughed. "Whoever said anything about me becoming a teacher?"
"No one; you just come off as the type that could end up being a teacher here someday."
"Believe it or not, I've actually considered that before…"
He grinned. "I rest my case."
"I want your job," she said teasingly. "Watch out."
"But then where would I go?"
"What do you mean by that? You'll still be right here. Headmaster, I bet."
"Headmaster? Me? Psh," he said dismissively.
"Just you wait, Professor Dumbledore," Minerva said. "You're the greatest wizard in the world, and someday, the whole world will know it."
"Minerva's with Dumbledore."
Paul Garrett shot Tom Riddle a surprised look. "What?"
Riddle nodded. "You heard me. She's with Dumbledore."
Paul rolled his eyes and shook his head. "That's ridiculous."
"Is it?" Tom said quietly.
Paul glared at Tom for a few moments, then said, "How do you know?"
"You heard of Legilimency?"
"Of course."
Tom sighed and glanced upward. "I haven't told anyone this, but I've been studying it for two years. I just talked to Minerva a few minutes ago, and I found out."
Paul didn't believe him. "Prove you're a Legilimens."
"You had sex with my girlfriend in the Astronomy tower last night."
"Damn it, Riddle…"
Tom laughed. "See? And don't worry about it. Kelsie and I are as good as done."
That got Paul to smile, but it didn't last long. He frowned, narrowed his eyes, and clenched his fists. "That whore," he said. "Is that why she broke up with me? Because she's with Dumbledore?"
"I didn't find out," Tom admitted, "but I can…"
"On what condition?" Paul asked, sensing that this would not come for free.
Tom smirked. He knew Paul would pick up on that. He glanced around the Slytherin common room to make sure they were alone. They were, but just in case, he leaned in close to Paul and spoke in a whisper. "Hee sona hai safa lo set sei ha."
Paul's eyes grew wide with shock, and he backed away. "What did you say?" he choked.
"That was Parseltongue for 'I want you to help me kill someone'," Tom said coolly.
"You're… a Parselmouth?"
"Yes," Tom answered. "And not only that, I'm the last living descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself. But listen, that's not important right now. You think what I found out about Minerva was good? In Defense Against the Dark Arts yesterday, I found out something even better. It turns out that a certain individual has a very interesting past. I've got a plan, but I can't do it alone. I need help. Your help. You follow?"
"What's the plan?"
"We're going to kill someone."
"Who?"
Tom's lips twisted themselves into a smirk. "Who do you think?"
Paul smiled. "When do we start?"
"I'm already on it," Tom replied. "But it's complicated. And dangerous."
"How dangerous?" Paul asked.
"It depends on how dangerous you consider the involvement of the most powerful wizard in the world."
Now Paul was confused. "Dumbledore?"
Tom groaned and rolled his eyes. "No, idiot. Grindelwald."
"Grindelwald?" Paul repeated.
"Grindelwald."
Paul took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't know, Riddle… Grindelwald? That's serious."
Tom was starting to get annoyed. "Look, Garrett, if you want her dead as much as you say you do, then you have to get serious. She and Grindelwald go way back, and I'm sure he's very interested in where she is now."
"But why? Why would she matter to Grindelwald?"
Tom smiled. "Guess what her real name is?"
Paul didn't understand. "Where are you going with this?"
"Just guess."
"I don't know."
"Madeline Rahmini."
That was too much. He had to sit down. Paul found his way over to a couch and flopped down onto it, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. "Professor Nay is Madeline Rahmini?"
Tom walked over to the couch and leaned up against the back of it. "Uh-huh," he confirmed. "Madeline Rahmini, the youngest daughter of the man who exposed Erich Rainier for the villain he is; the only survivor of the massacre of her family and his prisoner for a year."
"Why did he let her live?" Paul asked. "He should have just killed her along with the rest of them and made all our lives happier."
"I don't know why he didn't kill her then, or why he kept her alive for so long, but I plan on finding out," said Tom. "We're going to contact Grindelwald and see just how deep his obsession with her really is. If it was enough to kill Catherine Nay sixteen years ago, it just might be enough to kill Madeline Rahmini now."
Paul sat up and looked at his best friend. "Okay, look. When you told me about Catherine Nay getting murdered by Grindelwald, you said that it was called his most brutal killing since the Rahmini family and there was a theory that the two incidents were connected. That connection is obviously Professor Nay, and Grindelwald has to know it. That means he knows who she is. If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it already."
"He can't," said Tom. "She's protected here; there's the all the enchantments on the school, for one thing, and for another, she's being concealed from him by a Fidelius Charm. She could walk right up to him, and he would never know she's there. The only way he could get to her is if there is an insider – or, rather, insiders." He winked. "Get it?"
A smile slowly spread across Paul's face. "Got it," he said. "What do we have to do?"
"First, we have to contact Grindelwald," Tom answered. "If he agrees, the next step would be to neutralize that Fidelius Charm."
"How do we do that?"
"Dippet's the Secret-Keeper. The Imperius Curse and a Memory Charm are all we need to switch it to either you or me and make him forget that it ever happened."
Paul was almost starting to get scared. He'd known for a long time that Tom had an interest in the Dark Arts, but this was something else. This was a carefully thought-out plan that involved betrayal, the Unforgivable Curses, and murder. It was easy to say that he'd rather spend life in Azkaban than see Indira Nay live, but it was a lot harder to deal with that thought when it was so close to become a reality.
"And if we pull this off," Tom said, sensing Paul's thoughts, "no one will ever know we were involved. Grindelwald will get all the credit for killing her, and the only person at Hogwarts they can accuse is Dippet, because to the best of his knowledge, he'll still be the Secret-Keeper."
That was reassuring. "All right, then," said Paul. "I'm in."
They shook hands, and Tom said, "Congrats, Paul. You're the first of Lord Voldemort's Knights of Walpurgis."
A/N: JKR said in an interview that the Death Eaters were called the Knights of Walpurgis at some point. Whether or not they were called that initially is pure speculation on my part. Also, I tried to make Tom seem more "evil" in this chapter; let me know how I did. Thanks for reading, everyone!