This fic is long. Here's a rundown of most important events since chapter one:
Chapter 1: Her Silence
Tom meets Ximena in the library. They exchange few words, and Tom spends the rest of the month following her around.
Tom learns that wizards have prejudices too, but that many of the Slytherins will keep their thoughts to themselves since Ximena is one of them
Tom learns that Ximena is a foundling, and upon being found, she only remembered her name. He learns this from his mentor
Chapter 2: His Observation
Tom attends the Dueling Club out of curiosity and finds Ximena there.
Tom meets and inquires Yami Acarya for some tutoring on jinks
He is greeted openly by her group and learns about different methods of Dueling magic
He pets a cat
Yami explains why some students avoid wands, "When you perform magic with your wand, do you feel a disconnect?...Does it not feel like you're...Breathing through a tube? Wearing gloves while putting on clothes? Like hot tea through a strainer."
Yami refers to Ximena as "shrouded in a veil of hope", as maledicti are
Ximena lends him a book on curses she annotated after explaining what a maledictus is
Ximena and Hedwig duel. Ximena wins by blasting out a spell (Titexicoz) that confused Hedwig into thinking she won
Her bracelet was ripped off by Hedwig's expelliarmus
It landed near Tom, who picked it up
Chapter 3: Their Severance
Ximena suffers from sudden popularity. Tom suffers from jealousy.
Because of her sudden popularity (from winning the duel), she's harder to get a hold of. Tom sulks.
Dumbledore speaks with him and tells him that he was the one to bring Ximena's Hogwarts letter too
He continues to read the book on curses and tries to decipher her annotations in a foreign language.
He bonds with Hedwig during Potions, and she defends a pureblooded Romm wizard of color against racist pureblooded wizards because "magic blood should stick together"
Tom finds Ximena hiding in the library. She shares that she hates attention because she is "better in darkness"
She also shares that she is distressed over her lost bracelet, saying that it was the only proof she had that she was loved before she was lost. She cries before him.
Instead of giving the bracelet back, Tom grips it in his pocket and comforts Ximena.
Chapter 4: A-Tisket A-Tasket
Tom and Ximena have a Momentin the beginning of this chapter
He finally returns the borrowed book, stating that he finished it and was an interesting read. She tucks it in her bag and feeds some crows. Tom wants to feed the crows too, and they both do so for the rest of the hour
Tom overexplains why he doesn't have feelings for Ximena to himself.
He asks Hedwig to show him some jinxes and spells out in the fields
He learns that Eric, Hedwig's older sister, was Ximena's assigned guide to Hogwarts her first year. She spent holidays with the family locked up her room with Eric
Hedwig shares that she wants to usurp her sister of being the heir, and that their parents have pitted them against each other for years
She teaches Tom the bat-boogey hex, and he uses it on nearby crows, killing one.
Hedwig warns him about Yami, as she is a bloodtraitor, despite being brilliant
Ximena has a new book whose title he can barely make out, "Pat...Albulrayo"
Mentor comes bothering them and remarks that "The currents of fame are fickle, eh, Lane? Just like last year."
After he leaves, Ximena shows her disdain of him, but shares that he's useful. Because his family is known for keeping records of family trees. "For essays".
Tom sneaks to the dormitories to look over the page he secretly ripped out of the book of curses (which he charmed to appear normal). The page has a description and picture of something similar to Ximena's bracelet ("Fig. 2 Traditional azabache bracelet from Latin America.")
He plays with the bracelet/stims with it. Moves it around and under his hands. Calls it his new toy.
Chapter 5: Poor Mary
Despite getting slowly closer with Ximena, Tom still feels too far for his liking.
She tells him she cannot teach Hedwig the spell she used against her to win because "It's...Not for her to use. Some magic is personal. In the blood."
Tom sees her use magic in her charms class when he's sent there to deliver something to the professor
Druella Rosier, sitting behind Ximena and her Muggleborn partner, says something nasty about her partner. Her nose is broken as a consequence, and it is implied that Ximena did it without words or a wand, out of anger. Druella blames it on a ghost because "what second year student knows how to do that?"
Tom talks about three other witches in his year that hold great potential, Hedwig, Nemesis Fawley, and a mute Ravenclaw girl who sits next to him in charms. He laments that the boys in his year are stupid.
Tom remembers the only kind caretaker at Wool's who was his favorite, and how she disappeared when he was very young. She told him "Friendship takes time. It takes hard work and patience. Just like love."
Catching her during free time, he offers to carry her books and accompany her out into the fields to study and look at the newly bloomed flowers by themselves
He asks about her upbringing and says that it would have been better if they knew each other growing up as young children, and they wouldn't need anyone else
Ximena has a minor fuss about the flowers, and how they 'look like they're crying'. Tom looks at them bobbing in the wind, and thinks they look similar to how Ximena sobbed over her bracelet earlier
A crow leaves an offering of a blossom from one of the surrounding flowers, though it is red/burgundy instead of white, on Ximena's open book. She takes it and thanks it.
The whole incident spooks Tom, and he does not find peace until he goes into his DADA class early, where he finds a rememberall (he does not know what it is) and meets with Nemesis
Nemesis shares that her father is the right hand of the Cheif Warlock of the Wizengamot and shows sheepish, but bittersweet, flattery when Tom asks if she'll serve on the Wizengamot one day because she's a witch and not a wizard.
At lunch, while his contemporaries are talking about the upcoming Hallowe'en party, he spots Ximena sitting with a boy her age and sees (not hears) him make her laugh. He wants to throw an apple at them.
The group notices, and reassures him (mostly) that it's not going to happen/not likely. They tell him the boy's name is Prewett.
He asks Ximena about him, and she says he's her Transfigurations partner. She doesn't remember his name at all.
Tom dreams of a Hogwarts/Wool's hybrid. Of a Wool's group photo where he and Ximena stand divided by multiple children. He wanders outside and sees her on a pier over a dark body of water, reaching out towards a bright green light, which he fears. It scares him and he shouts at her to stop it but she doesn't listen. When he takes up, he's clutching the bracelet.
Chapter 6: Lavender's Blue
Tom scours the Slytherin library after the dream and comes away with a book on dream interpretation and a memoir from a seer in 1515.
He learns that stealing an evil eye bracelet can result in nasty consequences
He tries to interpret the dream, and decides that Ximena wants change/freedom
He knows he should give the bracelet back but he wants to keep it
He asks Yami about the Evil Eye, and she shares that she has a bracelet (similar but vastly different) to protect her from it. If you take it from her, you die. Then she asks if he knows anything about Ximena's lost bracelet because her magic has changed "drastically" since Hedwig disarmed her.
Mentor comes over with Hedwig, Nemesis, and Ximena in tow to bother them. Hedwig asks if Yami can mentor her for the Wizarding Schools Potions Championships next year. Yami accepts. Mentor says racist shit about India and Britain, and Yami chews him out
Mentor and Nemesis leave. Yami and Hedwig leave. Ximena and Tom stay.
They have a good talk, and Tom asks about feeling other's magic. Ximena gives a basic explanation the best she can, and Tom convinces her to let him feel her magic
He's now aware of his own magic physically manifesting around him. Ximena tells him his magic is black in color, like a night sky.
Tom goes to the Hallowe'en party as Peter Pan. Ximena is "in mourning". He has a great time and finds Ximena telling a story to a secluded group of people in a corner. It's the story of how she drowned when she was nine, in a flooded river, for following the cries of a woman looking for her child.
He goes to the library immediately after and finds Magical Diffusion in The New World. He does not feel as freaked out by her story after that.
He finds her a little before break crafting, with charmed scissors cutting out patterns from tissue paper
He asks about the 'currents of fame' that Mentor references previously. Ximena shares that she was a hatstall and that she doesn't remember her time under the hat nor what they talked about
Tom asks if she would like to be penpals. She accepts.
Tom loves being the only Slytherin in Hogwarts for Yule holidays. He writes a letter to Ximena and refers to her as friend.
Chapter 7: Winter
Tom looks through his letters and gets a Modranicht gift from Nemesis: cookies and a charmed toy knight that does anything he commands.
A crow brings him her letter. He gives it a cookie.
Her letter says she has to keep Hogwarts a secret from the Abbess and to write back using the crow. He's confused on how she goes from being interesting to boring and back.
He meets Elle in the kitchens. She explains food magicks and Tom learns about Illvermorny.
Tom meets Ian Rosier and learns from him, Abbas Yaxley, and Topaz Selwyn what others in their year think about Ximena.
Ximena shares her sweets with Tom as a late birthday gift.
He learns her birthday is April the 30th
Mentor tells Tom he's a mystery and that he could be anyone. A lost heir, prince, seer.
Mentor convinces him he NEEDS to get a gift for her and gifts him six sickles to buy a little trinket. It's enough to feed Tom for three months. This is after he tells him that her first year, he found her crying in the Astronomy tower and she wept on him.
Tom buys her saltwater taffies and wraps the gift in front of Nemesis, who asks who the gift is for.
Tom leaves the gift on a table for Ximena to find, and she likes it. She shares them with him.
Tom talks with Ignatius Prewett and derives that he's no threat to his crush, which he doesn't have. Crushes are stupid. Instead, he likes Lucretia Black.
Tom then talks to Cygnus Black, Lucretia's cousin. Even though Prewett is pure, he doesn't think he's worthy.
Tom talks to Lucretia, who shares that Ignatius is 'different than other Gryffindors, but that she can't talk to him because of house barriers.
Tom says he can help. And that all he asks in return is a simple favor.
Chapter 8: Spring&Summer
Tom angsts about having to return to Wool's
Nemesis is hanging around Ximena
Lucretia breeches the subject of inter-house mingling with other purebloods. They react scandalously.
He sits next to Ximena on the train. She gives him a potion for nerves/anxiety.
He asks about the bracelet, and she shares that she suspects that someone in their house is keeping it from her.
She asks Tom how she sounds when she speaks English to him
He knows Ximena is taking Divination
He learns that Ximena did not buy her wand at Olivander's
He asks for her not to forget him. She says she can't promise that.
She does not send a single crow to Wool's over the summer
Chapter 9: Autumn
Germany invades Poland, when it happens Tom wakes from a dream where people he knows are gathering wool from a tree.
Children are being evacuated, Tom will not get to go to Hogwarts, so he runs. He is terrified. Hyperventilating.
He makes it onto the train. He sees Ximena and she does not remember him.
Tom meets Eric Acwellan and learns that purebloods know next to nothing about Muggles.
Hector Fawley, Nemesis' uncle, has ceased to be the Minister for Magic
Hedwig reveals that Nemesis has a obvious crush on Tom.
Two new students from America. As they are sorted, Ximena is staring at them both.
Evan Rosier talks to Tom in the dormitories, asking him about the Muggles going to war
Hedwig reveals that her Mother is American
Tom sits in the library, and Ximena unknowingly sits at his table. He notices that puberty is doing her well. Then Adam Miller, one of the new Americans, comes over to chat and Ximena is very visibly flustered.
When he leaves, Tom talks to her, and she reveals that she didn't forget him, just "misplaced him". Then Tom asks about Adam, and Ximena very obviously has an unspoken crush on the older (6th year) boy.
England is at war on Sept. 3rd. Tom thinks it means he can stay at Hogwarts over the Summer
Adam sets up a grammophone/phonograph in the Great Hall and puts on Jazz. Purebloods are baffled and confused, Muggleborns and some half-bloods just start dancing without care.
Druella and Yami are found arguing quietly in the library by Nemesis and Tom. They're discussing the war and whether Muggles could one day overpower wizards.
They bring in the other American, Mali, to presumably ask her opinion, but the conversation gets sidetracked to how she's not allowed at Illvermorny despite being a pureblood witch, and how North America has more than one magical school.
Mali reveals that she knows Yami's sister, Yama.
Tom gets upset that he can't be everywhere at once.
He finds Ximena in the courtyard with a crow in her hands and approaches her. She sensed his magic, and he shows off his control over said magic. It's a moment.
Adam and Hedwig interrupt the moment. Adam asks Ximena to show him around Hogsmeade and the two leave. Tom realises she has a crush on him and is visibly upset.
Hedwig teases him on it and states that age gaps like the one Adam and Ximena have are normal. Her own mother and father have a seventeen year one.
Hedwig tells Tom that Dumbledore is looking for him.
Chapter 10: Real Talk
Dumbledore talks to Tom about the rule (law, really) of not letting students stay over the summer. Even with the Muggle war happening.
Dumbledore offers to appoint Tom a temporary guardian to keep him out of Muggle Britain for the remainder of the war. Tom thinks this is a trick.
Dumbledore implies that it was his idea to have Adam befriend Ximena, to try and get her out of her shell.
Later, Tom bumps into Ximena, and they have a talk on the way to and in the Slytherin common room.
Mali and Ximena have summoning together. Ximena hopes she'll be her Puff.
She explains that a Puff is exclusive to Slytherins, a Hufflepuff they get along best with for friendship, tutoring, advice, etc. It goes back to Salazar and Helga's famous friendship.
Tom is challenged to make the same potion that Ximena made for nerves/anxiety back when they were going to London.
Ximena wants to leave Europe and go to Latin America one day
She says Hogwarts: A History was too revisionist for her to finish
Ximena says it's hopeless to dream that her ancestors walked Hogwarts and gets said about being a foundling.
Tom shares his belief that his mother was a Muggle and his Father is a wizard.
Ximena says that half-bloods are often better at magic, just from getting new genes into the pool
Tom learns that Ximena thinks their age gap (8 months) is too big when she won't share the gross details of Wizards taking Muggles as secret lovers.
Ximena can sense her bracelet sometimes, but it comes and goes, and she doesn't know why
They discuss some magical theory and philosophy.
Ximena gets a lil passionate about Muggles and how Wizards treat them. Stating that many wizards are happy staying stagnant while Muggles continue to innovate and move forward. Wizards steal Muggle ideas, call them their own, and still look down on them.
She predicts everyone will be listening to Jazz in a matter of months.
Tom shares that he hates it too, because others look down on him for his Muggle upbringing, despite him being better than them.
Ximena says she's happy, she thought that Tom was too far brainwashed by his company to admit to something like that.
Ximena says they should go to Hogsmeade together to get ice cream next year.
Chapter 11: Soft Hands
Evan Rosier grows closer into Tom's court.
Tom reminisce about first year attempts at bullying him from Katux Lestrange and Dion Mulcipher. How he reigned power over them now, and how they'll both be under his thumb soon.
He laments Hedwig and Nemesis (and Ximena) being girls because they're more intelligent and useful to him.
He plans to duel Ximena in front of others in order to get her popular again, wanting to keep that popularity and use it to make it seem like it was because of her power (and not because of his TOTALLY FAKE crush) that he let her into his inner circle.
He debates about keeping the bracelet or giving it back
Tom is jealous of Mali
Tom asks Evan about potential Puffs
Evan hates the French
Tom corners Ximena outside of the potions classroom to talk to her. Nemesis interrupts and rambles about how she always knew she was going to have a Snake instead of a Puff, in contrast to the rest of her Hufflepuff family.
Tom gets a nosebleed, Adam shows up and offers him a handkercheif.
Adam is good at Divination. He asks Ximena to read his palm. She's flustered but does so. Adam agrees to teach Nemesis tarot.
Nemesis talks about a rumoured book that teaches pureblood heirs how to be heirs, along with rules, family lines, and history. It's a manifesto that's apparently banned.
Adam calls purebloods wet blankets. Asks why they don't play like children do.
He leaves, and Hedwig and Evan show up, talking shit about Adam. Ximena leaves. Hedwig scolds Nemesis on telling the "new American mudblood" about the book that's illegal to have (it's not, only illegal to make copies of)
The two hate that Nemesis and Ximena were fraternizing with him. Tom is scolded for 'letting' Ximena flounce after him. Hedwig tells Nemesis that her social standing is awful because of her Uncle's shameful resignation/ousting, and that she needs to do better.
Amusingly enough, they give Tom some romance advice to keep Ximena away from Adam.
They resolve to formulate a plan to get Adam away from Hogwarts, because he's shaking too many things up. Evan wants to wait to get information out of him, since Adam is smart, and his mother apparently comes from a powerful family.
They do not want the houses mingling. Tom does.
Chapter 12: Suddenly
Tom is finally allowed to participate in Dueling Club now that he's a second year with a (forged) permission slip.
Tom fights against Ian, and does quick work of him. Ian is cut off from performing a Crucio and Tom beats him. Ian is torn a new one by Prof. Willow, who leads the dueling club. Tom does not know how close he was to pain.
Hedwig unknowingly informs him that he almost had an Unforgivable cast on him. He doesn't know what that means, and he doesn't ask.
Hedwig shares some of the pureblood privileges that Ian (and she) benefit from due to old laws
Tom implies that Hedwig and Evan seem close, and she seems to get defensive. He says that if ever needs to confide in someone, that he's there.
Tom finds Ximena in the library deep in a book. He watches her for 15 minutes before she notes he's there.
They go to dinner together and she learns that Ian tried a Crucio on him. He still doesn't know what that means, but likes how defensive of him she becomes, telling him to avoid Ian at all costs.
Tom asks her where he can get nigella seeds
He decides to ask Nemesis what an Unforgivable is, and learns that wizards think Shakespeare was magical.
Nemesis is about to confess (apparently) when Ian attacks him, attempting to slice his head off.
Ximena defends him. Seething 'Don't touch him' at Ian.
Chapter 13: Righteous/Wicked
Ximena and Ian duel. It's a real fight, and it's quick. Ian spouts racism nonsense. Nemesis runs to get a teacher.
Tom's PTSD triggers, and all he can think about is running away and saving his own skin
The bracelet in Tom's pocket gives out a burst of magical energy, shielding him and Ximena from an attack. Ximena knows Tom has her bracelet.
Ximena burns Ian badly. She disarms him and attacks him physically, hitting him over and over.
Dumbledore arrives just as Tom passes out from the pain of having a huge cut on his head (and from bloodloss)
Tom wakes up in the hospital wing and is fretted over by Nemesis. She says that she doesn't think anything will happen to Ian as a consequence.
She tells tom there's two Unforgivables and what the one Ian almost used on him was.
She is unsure of what will happen to Ximena
She shares some of the political goings-on in the Ministry, including the Purism movement.
Tom dreams about being in Ximena's room at her abbey, and finding a black diary that belongs to him. Inside she's written surnames. None of them sound good with her first name. He writes Riddle in the book. A white flower like the one in the fields is in a vase on her dresser. It turns red as he writes his surname in the book.
Chapter 14: Rumor/Truth
He wakes up and Evan is his first visitor.
He's not mad, and apparently his family isn't angry at him either.
Ximena is a celebrity and Tom is "mythical". Nemesis is defending Tom and Ximena reverently against Ian, which helps his reputation.
Dumbledore is Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot
The Rosier family is sending a get-well gift to Tom
No one's seen Ximena since yesterday
He's being visited by everyone. Even those outside of Slytherin. Fellow snakes are telling him that they're on his side. That if he needs anything, he just needs to ask.
Hedwig visits and doesn't know why Ximena isn't there with him. She finds out that it was Ximena who left Ian burned.
She says Ximena will probably be expelled.
She eats some of Tom's chocolates
Elle visits and brings him pierogi
She's been wanting to meet Ximena for a while
She doesn't know what will happen to Ximena or Ian, but she thinks Ian will have a huge advantage
Adam visits. He's happy Tom is ok and he brings him a gift.
He compares Tom to a dictator.
Says that Ximena talks about Tom in their conversations.
Yami visits and she knows that Tom has the bracelet.
Ximena interests Yami greatly because her family are cursebreakers. Tom knows that Ximena is cursed now.
It's implied that Yami will keep silent about Tom being a thief in exchange for something.
Druella visits and she's angry. She has no idea what Evan and the mainbranch of Rosiers are thinking. She's sure that Ximena was the one who burned Ian.
Mali visits. She wants to know what will happen to Ximena.
She asks if Tom is into boys and Tom says he's not interested in anyone at all. Nope.
She shares some of the things that are practiced in Alchemy class
Ex-Mentor visits. Slughorn is in some trouble, and he's here to keep Tom in the loop. Shares some gossip about Ian, and says that he won't get punished at all.
He says he can pull a few favors for Ximena, for a housemate, to get her out of her consequences. He calls it an investment.
Tom's let out of the infirmary. He has the Rosier's gift with him. Evan meets him and they go to the Great Hall.
Katux invites Tom to sit with his group.
The rumor that Ximena bested Ian is largely accepted by many Slytherins. Katux complements Tom on his odd tastes.
Tom gains fame.
Chapter 15: Justice/Corruption
Nemesis accompanies Tom to the trial of Ximena at the Ministry for Magic. He still doesn't have his wand, as it is evidence.
He wears the hat given to him by the Rosiers
Willow, Merrythought, and Slughorn are there too.
Nemesis' father scolds her for (in her words) her "dresscode"
She takes notes on everyone who's at the trial in shorthand, so Tom can't read it
Tom sees Ximena's apparent guardian, a nun, sitting in the stands across from them. He recognises her from the train station last year. He doesn't know if she's a witch.
A man in jade is there to help defend Ximena. He asks her basic questions. Ximena answers them in a cockney accent.
A priori incantartum is performed on Ximena's wand, showing an expelliarmus.
Slughorn testifies and states that Ximena is quiet, average, and polite.
Merrythought states the same
Willow stirs the pot a little. The jade man seems grateful for it.
She says that Ximena is excellent at defense, but not good at offense.
Dumbledore testifies and states that Ximena was ambitious and looking into schools other than Hogwarts.
Ximena is questioned further, and she comes off as a harmless, simple girl.
Everyone seems to be fooled, except for the Rosier women (Evan and Ian's mothers)
The entire room is horrified that Nemesis was so close to Tom during the initial attack that she almost got sliced.
Ximena confides that she's not the only witch at her Abbey, Sisters of Saint Hesychast, Shrine of the Most Immaculate Sacrament
Ximena lies on the stand, according to Nemesis.
Then she denies knowing about the rumors about Slytherin house encouraging use of dark magic
During the break, Nemesis tells Tom what Ximena lied on the stand about
Ian has a reputation for being temperamental and violent. He attacked someone his first year for talking shit about his sister: a squib
Tom learns how Dumbledore could be a half-blood, even if both his parents are magical.
Nemesis testifies. She does it well and says nothing but wonderful things about Tom and Ximena, while subtly incriminating Ian.
Tom is called to testify.
Chapter 16: Static
Tom plays being a benign, brilliant, little orphan well. People sympathize with him, and he's recognised as someone with great potential
He lies on the stand about passing out before the apparent burn
Ian's trial is tomorrow, but they bring him out as a witness. He's acting off. Odd. Tom notices immediately.
He pins the blame on attacking Tom over stress from being contacted by known Grindelwald supporter Vinda Rosier. Everyone sympathizes.
Tom tells Nemesis that that's not Ian Rosier. She agrees after observing him.
The court announces that punishments will be decided after Ian's trial tomorrow
Nemesis is scandalized at the awful things Ian said about Ximena during the duel.
Yami's father substituted for Slughorn in Potions. It was a very good class, apparently.
Tom and Nemesis update Hedwig on what happened and Nemesis thinks that Ximena didn't attack Ian.
Tom gets his wand back and sleeps with it under his pillow. He considers the temporary guardian that Dumbledore offered him.
He dreams about Ximena and he having a picnic in the Forbidden Forest. Ximena teaches him the word for 'grandmother', 'dad', and 'mum' in Spanish. When she says the words, flowers, rivers, and the world come out of her mouth. When he says it, gems, gold, and snakes come out of his.
Chapter 17: Interlude I: Nemesis
Nemesis is into Jazz
Some of her friends think that she's viciously jealous towards Ximena and Nemesis takes that personally
There's an article about the trial out already.
Nemesis simps bad for Tom
Nemesis has a terrible inferiority complex re: being the youngest of seven sisters.
Feels like she has no individuality.
The hat Tom wore to the trial (from the Rosiers) is fancy as hell, and it's meant to send a message. She knows it's from (or at least was picked out) by Evan's mother: her godmother.
Yami talks sense into her about her trial nerves. Nemesis asks if she knows where someone would get the animal used to make the felt for Tom's hat.
Nemesis likes Tom because he made/makes her feel special. An individual. She morphs her face into Ximena's (save for the skin color) and cries in an empty bathroom. She is a metamorphmagus.
Chapter 18: Interlude II: The Daily Prophet, September 26th-27th, 1939
The Prophet reports with some bias to the trial, putting both Ximena and Ian in a sympathetic light.
Chapter 19th: AWOL
Tom is mad about what was reported in the paper. It's too neutral for him. Too coddling.
The Wizengamot martyrized Tom to show that they're not all filled with purists. Ian's sentencing and Ximena's act has helped paint Slytherin in a sympathetic light.
Tom doesn't know who else knows/noticed that Ian at the trial was a fake
Ximena doesn't want to talk to him.
Tom publicly gives back the bracelet. The Slytherins around him take it as an offering to court which she accepted. Tom doesn't know this.
The rumor spreads fast. It's Nemesis who tells him what it means, and she's relieved to see that Tom doesn't know what he did. But he has no intention of stopping the idea that he and Ximena are courting.
Ximena knows that people think he's trying to woo her.
He sits with the Hufflepuffs. Nemesis' sisters tell him that their family is in his debt.
Tom introduces Elle to Ximena. They hit it off.
Tom goes to the kitchens late at night and finds Elle crying about the Muggle war, as she is Jewish. Tom comforts her and all but secures her as his Puff.
Ximena and Lucretia sit at the Gryffindor table. Both are influential in their own way, so other Slytherins are following in line with it.
Cygnus is unhappy about it, but he's aligned with Slytherin, and therefore he's aligned with Ximena. Nothing to be done about it
He tries to scribble down as many dreams as he can remember, he's been having a lot of odd ones.
He finds Nemesis and Ximena chatting amicably in the library.
Tom tries meeting Ximena in the common room as she comes back from her late night Astronomy lesson. She ignores him and he tries talking to her.
He tries to explain, but she cuts him off saying he was a bad friend and they are not friends and she doesn't (cannot) want to talk to him anymore.
Her magic intimidates him and he really likes being engulfed by it. It feels like cold water and tastes like ginger.
Chapter 20: White Noise
Tom is depressed
Elle and Ximena are getting along splendidly
Tom is teased for the way Ximena is giving him the cold shoulder while supposedly being courted by him
Being unable to sleep, he goes to the common room and finds Ximena there, looking at the same Dream Interpretation manual as he did when he awoke from the black water, green light dream.
He looks at the same page she was opened to, he suspects he was looking at the Mothers entry.
Evan implies that a witch (Hedwig) is useless until/unless she raises children.
The Wizarding Schools Potions championship is on. Tom sees Yami's father, Eric, and someone he believes to be Hedwig's mother in the audience.
Hedwig wins third, Yami second, and a Japanese witch from Japan wins first.
Hedwig says Yami is talented because she has demon blood in her ancestry
Cygnus doesn't know what a Catholic is and Nemesis explains
Cygnus tells Hedwig "Though I suppose you would know all about confirmed bachelors.", and gets hella threatened
Tom is able to placate them both
This Hallowe'en, Tom knows many people. He catches Ximena's drowning story at the tail end of it, she's only telling it to Mali.
They talk as if it really happened. Not as if Ximena were simply telling a ghost story in first person.
Jazz is playing in the background.
Chapter 21: Advance
Druella tries chatting with Tom on common ground. They both hate treacle tarts.
She asks him if he knows that the Ian at the trial was a fake. She doesn't know where Ian is currently. The real Ian.
Tom manipulates Druella into trusting him
She gets along well enough in his circle, but he encourages her to go make nice with the other Ravenclaws. It goes well.
Tom visits Lucretia in the library and she gives him her payment for helping spur along house-unity, allowing her to sit and court with Ignatius: a book to borrow full of Black Family lineages.
Tom hopes to find his father somewhere in there.
As he studies the book, Adam comes to see what he's up to. He gives interesting insight on power dynamics, and Tom finds himself relating to him.
Tom cannot find his family anywhere in the book yet. He daydreams about what the Riddle family is like
He runs into Yami and Mali in the library, and they discuss the current climate in Hogwarts post-trial
Elle and Ximena cook in the kitchens, Tom third wheels. One afternoon, something Elle mentions makes Ximena cry.
Tom dreams of Ximena crying so much that when her tears dry, she leaves behind hills of salt which Elle sweeps up and uses in dishes. When Tom eats the dishes, he too, feels like crying.
Chapter 22: Interlude III: Hedwig
Hedwig sort of hates her sister, but not really.
She and Nemesis guide Ximena through which purebloods are out to help or to take advantage of her
Hedwig relates to Nemesis a little, being the youngest daughters in the shadows of elder sisters. She tries to get Nemesis to be more open and courageous with her crush, not telling her that she's already told told about it.
Hedwig has feelings for her female Puff, and Yami notices, stating that she and her Puff were the same. She hates that Yami calls her out on it while Hedwig doesn't even really know or accept her feelings of being a lesbian yet.
Chapter 23: Hinder
The Pureblood Directory comes out. People freak out and divide. Engagements are broken, remade, negotiated. Friendships are tense.
Every pureblood feels different about the list, some hate it, some love it, some are indifferent.
Hedwig is mad her family isn't on it, as they're descendent directly from Tir a nÓg
A new club in Hogwarts for the truly pure emerges, "Decuria Pura"
There's talk of having the definition of 'pureblood' be changed
No one knows who wrote the Pureblood Directory
Eris, Nemesis' closest sister in age, is Ximena's potions partner
Tom definitely has PTSD from September 1st
Chapter 24: Abate
Tom and Ximena have a lot of fanmail (and some hatemail) this Yule/New Years
Tom asks Elle for advice regarding Ximena and she says "Have you tried saying sorry?"
Tom is really good at sewing/domestic charms. He uses it for his too small school robes now that he's growing up
Unusually enough, Tom finds himself in a large group of mixed bloodstatuses. They discuss The Sacred 28, family dynamics, and the idea of becoming parents.
Ximena says she would like the idea of adopting outside of marriage and most everyone is uncomfortable with the idea. Tom backs her up.
Chapter 25: Interlude IV: Ximena
Ximena's mind really do be messed up and foggy.
There's frequent dissociation and short term memory loss, even for things that she should know by now like the names of her class partners.
She remembers many details about the people whose names she forgets, but the names are hard to remember for her. Always the names.
Ximena wants to summon a rakshasa. She resolves to ask Yami about it.
People keep teasing her about her and Tom, whom she doesn't remember because "there are a lot of Toms"
Chapter 26: In Which Biscuits Are Eaten
Tom asks about the adoption process for wizards and if they have godparents.
Hedwig knows what those are, Evan does not.
Tom wants something Ximena made for him, entirely for him. Not for him and someone else.
Ximena is alone in the common room embroidering runes onto a spare robe, she's doing a more sophisticated job at changing the size of her outgrown garment than he is.
Tom forgets he's carrying a paperbag. He asks Ximena to teach him to do that.
Ximena looks at him for a bit, then asks why.
Tom, instead, says he's sorry. Finally.
When asked 'for what?', Tom says 'for keeping something precious from you.'
Ximena says "Okay. I don't forgive you." then teaches Tom how to do what she did to her robe.
As she talks, the two unconsciously eat from the forgotten paperbag
Chapter 27: In Which Waters Are Still
Things aren't back to how they were before Ximena knew about the bracelet, but they're better.
Tom made ginger cookies for Ximena, that's what was in the paperbag last chapter.
He, Elle, and Ximena discuss Transfiguration and the misfortune that wizards do not care if they know how magic works
Tom stares at Ximena's hands
Tom still refuses to believe he has a crush on Ximena.
She still hasn't talked with him about "misplacing him"
On her birthday, Tom thanks her for saving his life.
Ximena says he doesn't owe her a "life debt", like everyone's been suggesting
They finally talk about the idea that people think they're courting. Ximena isn't too bothered by it, it distracts from the trial.
Tom asks if he can know why Ximena is "better in darkness". She says no.
Tom is really fucking tense about going home in the middle of a war
Druella talks with him and says that even if she doesn't like it, her family is on his side, and therefore so is she
Chapter 28: In Which Illusions Are Broken
Tom dreams of walking on a path that bisects a forest. One one side, the trees look beautiful but uncanny. On the other, they're dried as in winter, but real.
At the end of the path, Ximena is sleeping in a tree-throne. There's discarded fruit about her (peaches, figs, apples, pomegranates) and one in her hand that Tom can't tell is a fruit or a flower or a bird. But he wants a bite of it.
Tom hears about Ximena dreaming she married Evan. He is SO NOT AT ALL bothered by it.
Elle's relationship with the houseelves changed when she gave them a traditional brownie gift. They now treat each other as equals.
Tom thinks about what it would take for him to forget himself, his roots, his culture, and crush his spirit.
He stole Evan's breakfast. Denies it when confronted by Evan and Hedwig.
Hedwig states that 'sometimes dreams are just dreams'
Tom asks Evan what his family thinks of Ximena, and he replies "not here, that's private"
Ximena's been hanging around half-bloods in her year, and Tom talks to Lucretia and Cygnus about it
Ex-mentor says gross fetishizing shit about witches with Muggle blood in them
He thinks the Sacred 28/Pureblood Directory will die out soon
Tom follows Ximena and spies on her talking with Adam.
Adam is making wearing your house colors trend within Gryffindor
Adam says he tried to ask Mali on a date, but it didn't work. He sees Ximena as a kid.
Tom is elated.
Adam leaves and Tom watches Ximena for a while before approaching.
He finished that potion for nerves that she challenged him to make. She seems indifferent.
She's very upset that Adam thinks of her as a child, even knowing their age gap. She really liked him, and she feels stupid for thinking it could ever happen.
Tom says "I know how you feel"
"Oh"
They sit in silence together
Chapter 29: Curses Come Home To Roost
Ximena asks what Tom did with her bracelet when he had it. If he wore it.
He did not.
Tom gives Adam a potion for his pain
When prompted by his friends, Tom says the potion is harmless.
The potion contains nigella seeds
Evan questions it, seeing as Tom got the blessing seeds from him. Tom says not to questions his decisions
Tom hates how Wool's is still standing and not bombed to oblivion
He writes a letter to Ximena. She writes back.
Chapter 30: Interlude V: Assorted Letters Sent Over the Summer of 1940
Ximena writes back to Tom.
She feels like an outsider everywhere. Gives him some advice on the odd dream he had. Tells him they are still not friends.
Elle writes to someone named Jon. He knows her brother.
She's worried about both wars and their family.
Dippet writes to Dumbledore. There's too many new Muggleborn studies stuck in the war that they can't get to Hogwarts. They'll have to repeat a grade/be set back a grade.
There's been a large amount of dropouts and disappearances that they're trying to keep quiet.
Ajay Acarya is writing to Yami about her sister's engagement. She wants to make sure she has an alibi.
Nemesis writes to Hedwig. They're very close. Bonding over being youngest daughters. She's helping her look up some ancient magical laws and texts.
She's worried about Ximena and Tom. Wants to have them over to hang.
Her eldest sister just had her first baby.
Adam writes to Mali. They're casual friends.
He critiques purebloods and both wars.
His mother is afraid to let him go back to Hogwarts next year.
He says he knows that Mali prefers tomatoes
Someone named Katerina Johnson writes to Melinda Miller using telegram. A seer said to keep the boy at home.
Mali writes to Ximena. She tells her to be careful and not to summon anything that could hurt her. That Adam was too old for her and to move on. She asks her about a crush.
Mali writes that she has her eye on someone.
Hedwig writes to Tom telling him to stop being hesitant and to come hang with her and Nemesis.
Ximena isn't coming, they tried asking her.
Guillermina Rosier (Evan's mother) writes to Aide Fawley (Nemesis' mother).
Evan writes to Katux. Ian is annoying in house arrest and the summer was boring. He tells him not to take divination.
Tom starts writing to Ximena again. West End was bombed.
Chapter 31: When One Person is Cursed, Two Graves Are Dug (Part I)
There's no Muggleborns in the new class coming into Hogwarts the year of 1940. Tom can count on one hand how many are left in his year.
Yami and Ximena are talking at the First Feast
Tom can't find Mali at the Puff table. He doesn't bother looking at the Gryffindors.
Tom is stressed by the war and he uses the memory of Ximena protecting him against Ian to calm down
Ximena gets fucking tall
He follows her and gets mad when a boy takes her hand to point at her palm in the library. His accidental magic curses him
He follows her to the hospital wing, where she's in deep conversation with Yami in a language he doesn't know. She looks embarrassed.
Adam started a boom trend in wearing your house colors/mascot. Everyone, of all houses, ages, class, and blood status are doing it.
His group is gossiping about how Muggles dance in pairs
Tom's first Hogsmeade trip involves following Ximena into a stationary shop where he finds her with Yami. Yami is a rich bitch.
Yami tells Tom to follow her, and she takes him and Ximena to a restaurant.
She buys them food and grills them on not taking better care of themselves with eating right. Ximena counters, saying that Yami will never know poverty and thus can't understand.
They talk about Alchemy and Ximena lends Tom a book on Theophrastus von Hohenheim
It's not a book available to students in her year
Chapter 32: When One Person is Cursed, Two Graves Are Dug (Part II)
Life goes on. Tom is doing good in all aspects but the anxiety over returning to London over the summer makes him remember the temporary guardianship offer.
Tom looks for evidence of a Gaunt family because he knows someone from every family on the Sacred 28 list except for a Gaunt
He finds the diary of Corvinus Gaunt in the Slytherin Library along with two other books: an ingredients index and something in a language he can't identify
He knows Corvinus is the heir of Slytherin (in his time)
Tom asks Ximena what she knows about Salazar Slytherin and his descendents.
Salazar had a Turkic grandfather and inherited his Parsel from him through his mother.
Tom doesn't know what Parsel is
Ximena explains, and Tom realizes that he is the Heir of Slytherin
He's trying to figure out how Gaunt turned into Riddle
A copy of Nature's Nobility shows a Marvolo Gaunt marrying a Maia Gaunt
Tom remembers Marvolo is for his mother's father
His father is not a wizard. He breaks down.
Ximena is there when he wakes up and she says that he's just a normal boy
He asks what dying feels like and she says "Not everything feels like something else" and leaves
Chapter 33: When One Person is Cursed, Two Graves Are Dug (Part III)
Tom takes up Dumbledore's offer to gift him a mentorship/temporary guardian.
Tom says he wants the place/location to be in Latin America. This is his condition.
He finds Evan and Nemesis whispering quietly and wonders what that's all about. They seem nervous.
He asks Hedwig to look into it, as well as Druella.
Yami has noticed the change in Ximena's magic since the bracelet was given back
She asks him about his ability to sense magic and gives him tips
Tom hates London. Wishes he could live in Hogwarts
Tom meets his new teacher a week later.
Balam Hidalgo is aloof and seemingly indifferent/contempt towards Dumbledore.
He asks Tom some questions about his interests and schooling
Chapter 34: There Always Has To Be A Price
Tom spends Eoster holidays at Hedwig's family manor with her and Nemesis.
Everything is lavish and he promises himself he'll have all of it and more one day
Balam has given Tom several books to read over as a test. He asks Tom what he thinks about the books after returning them.
Tom is reading a book about the Pantao
Hedwig resembles her mother more, and Eric resembles her father. Neither parent has Hedwig's wild curly hair.
He has a good time with his friends
He's dropped off at the train station after the week, and Balam picks him up and apparates them both to Yolkshire where they duel
Balam does not use a wand, but a knife to perform magic
Tom seems to prove himself worthy of being his student.
They floo to Mexico, the Ministry has heavy security for the international floss
Tom is burning in Mexico. Muggles and Witches seem to co-exist well despite the statute of secrecy
They head into the woods, and the scenery and climate changes drastically in a matter of minutes
Tom has his own room to his liking
His room is behind a door that leads to whatever the person needs or wants at the moment
Chapter 35: Beginning
Tom is told not to wander off into the forest alone
Balam feeds Tom Pollo en Mole Rojo and Arroz con Nopales with agua de jamaica
He teaches and talks to Tom about languages
The knife that Balam used in their duel is a Juju Knife
Tom is getting along well
Tom had previously learned of the Room of Requirement via Corvinus' diary, thinking that his secret place/room was referring to that
Tom doesn't tell anyone about Balam
He tells Ximena he trusts her
When he walks outside the station at the end of the year, the Muggle side is in ruins from bombings
Chapter 36: Middle
Tom visits the Rosiers over the summer and manages to get a lot of information from Evan despite the geas put on him
He has faerie blood in him from his grandmother's side
Tom shares that his magic feels different in a way he can't articulate in Mexico.
He asks Balam about reading minds
The forest Balam's home is in can transport people across large spaces/lands
He follows Balam to various strange homes with odd things inside them. According to Balam, these homes are all magical.
Chapter 37: The End
Tom wants to enter Balam's study, which is forbidden
Balam discusses magic properties and how Tom's magic feels to him.
He shares what his name means, Gracious God of the River Jaguar. Tom's name can mean The End
Tom asks Ximena about the ouroboros
He still does not have a crush on her
He borrows a book from Balam's library, Patnubay sa Albularyo
Elle tells Tom that Ximena lives in Croydon, about 20 minutes away from where he is in Lambeth.
Tom is invited to join one 5th year potions class out of the week as a 4th year
He goes and sits next to Ximena without asking
He does wonderfully but messes up. Panicking, he can only freeze up as Ximena saves the potion and lets him take full credit for it
This makes him mad. Why is she pretending to be stupid?
As he stews over this, thinking about her, he opens the special door in Balam's house and stumbles into not his room
It's the room of a young child
Balam tells him he found a room. That the house sometimes shows rooms of people who lived there or will live there
Balam says he does not have children. But he dreams of having a six year old daughter
Tom connects the dots
He goes to the Avery heir's birthday party.
The Avery heir is his ex-mentor.
He leads Ximena out in a Muggle dress and they dance a bastardized waltz together in front of everyone.
Tom is hella jealous. He resolves to tell Ximena his discovery at once.
Chapter 38: I found you
While everyone at the party is distracted, he sneaks into the Avery library to see some more Nature's Nobility editions
His Mother's marriage to a Muggle is not documented, thankfully
He remembers Eric performing legilimens on him when he was at the Acwellan manse
He asks Hedwig if she knew how to offense against it
He visits London to see Ximena
The abbey is very quiet and poor. He learns she was almost named Merope
He meets her guardian, Señora Rivera
She takes him to where Ximena works, and they eat.
Ximena and he talk, he says he has a gift for her at Hogwarts, and to be there as fast as she can
Tom has his first sex dream about Ximena
He tells Balam to come to Hogwarts because Dumbledore needs to speak with him
Balam and Ximena reunite.
Chapter 39: I lost you (Part I)
Balam and Ximena are father and daughter. They're catching up.
Ximena wants to leave Hogwarts and will be withdrawn
Ximena's withdrawal is a big source of gossip, but he silences the nasty rumours quick
He is hyping himself up to ask her to come with him as his date to Slughorn's party, but Hedwig invites herself as his date
She's visibly scared, telling Tom he HAS to help her, because her father loves him and he's already found her a suitor
Tom realises that Hedwig is a lesbian and loves her Puff
He resolves to help her
Chapter 40: I lost you (Part II)
Evan wonders if Nemesis or anyone else knows about Hedwig. He has suspicions based on past interactions
He remembers a conversation he had with Evan at the Avery party about age gaps in relationships. Evan contradicts what Hedwig previously told him about 10+ year age gaps being normal
Tom knows helping Hedwig will earn him loyalty, and he rewards loyalty
Tom has a dream that his father and Balam are arguing over dowries and marriage contracts while he and Ximena sit by them.
Tom's mother shows up and demands that Ximena die for her son like she did
Chapter 41: I lost you (Part III)
Evan found out who wrote the Pureblood Directory: Cantankerus Nott
Katux and Dion do not believe it, as he's considered to be mad and not a very good example of pureblood society
Wizards have a duty to be fathers and make families
He manages to make himself be invited to the Fawley manor via Eris: his new potions partner in the 5th year class now that Ximena is gone
At Wool's, he has to hide in a shelter. He thinks he's going to die.
Chapter 42: I have you (Part I)
Tom dreams about spotting Ximena bathing in a river in Mexico
He wakes up and is alive after the bombing. He looks like shit.
Balam is outside Wool's waiting for him, he takes Tom to Mexico
Ximena is to pick Tom up at the crest of the woods
Ximena looks happy and bright. She's not upset to see him
She's not very talkative, but she takes him to eat sopes
Many people talk to her and greet her happily
Including a boy, who winks at her and at him. He's scandalized
Chapter 43: I have you (Part II)
Tom gets jealous of the cat
The photos in the house all have Ximena in them now, like she was always missing from them
Tom cooks with both Ximena and Balam, and eats with them
They discuss his classes and then languages at the table
Tom learns that Parsel has a written script. Several.
Ximena is learning Parsel
He gives Ximena the rest of his rice
Balam proves to Tom that emotions are often stronger than will power by telling Tom to cast in a duel against Ximena
He could not
Tom spends Easter Sunday with the Fawleys and learns that Nemesis is a metamorphagus
She is suppressed by her family, and she shares her suffering with him
He tells her she won't have to hide her power with him
Tom and Ximena go out together and banter
Tom will meet her grandmother tonight
Be sure to check out the newest chapters of Leonine, Meline, and The Rest, there's playlists, artbreeder pictures of the main characters, and some other fun goodies.
And be sure to read 'Memorization' on AO3, which is a Ximena/Padma oneshot :)