Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Sailor Moon.

Mere Memory 7

You've Had Mail

Tom took every letter Darien sent Serena and hid them. He couldn't allow Serena to get all weepy and lovey-dovey over the stupid Muggle's letters. He did everything in his power to get Serena's mind off of Darien. Darien was not good enough for Serena. Tom was the perfect man. He could make her happy. He could be her everything. No one dared mess with Tom Riddle. Tom continued to make passes at Serena. He made her tea every day, helped her with her homework, drag her off to go with walks and he would only listen and talk to her. When the teacher wasn't looking, they passed notes to each other. Serena couldn't believe what she was doing. Why was she allowing Tom to treat her this way? Why was she allowing herself to like it? Tom was being as sweet as Darien—even sweeter than Darien sometimes. She knew what Tom was doing. He was trying to replace Darien, and Serena was letting him. Why? Was she falling out of love with Darien, and in love with Tom? No, that was silly. Tom just liked Serena and this was a way of showing his gratitude. She had freed him, saved his life and she let him stay at her home. Perhaps Serena just missed a man's touch so much that it was easy to let Tom be so sweet on her. She really shouldn't, but she just couldn't help herself. She didn't want to hurt Tom. It seemed as though he had never had a chance to love someone before. Serena felt sorry for him. Again, just like before, she wished she wasn't the Moon Princess but just a normal girl. Her destiny was already laid out for her. Even if she loved Tom, she couldn't be with him.

When Serena and Tom returned home from school one day, they found Sammy peaking underneath the couches. The whole living room had been turned upside down.

"Sammy, what're you doing?" Serena asked her brother.

"Looking for Mr. Slither," Sammy muttered.

"Who's Mr. Slither?"

"Our class snake," Sammy grunted, getting up from his knees. "It's my turn to watch him but I've already lost him!"

"Snake?" Serena gasped, jumping on top of a chair. "Sammy, Mom's not going to like this!"

"Don't worry, Sammy," Tom said, "I'll help you look for him."

"Really?" Sammy asked Tom hopefully.

Tom grinned. "Really. How long has Mr. Slither been missing?"

"Just a couple minutes," Sammy said, "I brought him home in a box and I set it down on the table there." He pointed the table and on the floor next to one of the table legs was an upturned box. "It must've fallen off the table and the lid came off."

Tom picked up the cardboard box, glanced inside and then scanned the room. "Hmm…I'll go check upstairs."

"Upstairs?" Sammy mumbled, "Can a snake actually go up the stairs?"

"Sure it can," Tom nearly snapped. "You'd be surprised what snakes can do."

"Oh, I hope it's not in my room!" Serena cried, dancing on her chair.

Tom went up the stairs while Sammy continued his search for Mr. Slither in the living room. Tom opened his mouth to call the snake but instead of saying, "Here, Mr. Slither…" his voice came out in a low hiss. Any Parselmouth knew a snake would come faster if you called to it in its own language. Most often, the snake would find you before you found it.

"You can come out now," Tom hissed in Parseltongue.

"I knew there was a Parselmouth living in this house," said a hissing voice. Tom followed the voice into his room just as a brilliant red Japanese Forest Rat snake slid off his bed. Tom grinned, bent down and stretched his hand out. The snake slithered up to him and coiled itself around his arm. Tom stroked the snake for a moment and while he conversed with the snake in parseltongue. Tom was so happy he was able to exercise some of his abilities. He may not be able to conjure any spells but he could still speak the language of snakes. Tom told the snake who he was how he got here and he told him about the family that lived in the house. Then Tom got an idea. He could use Mr. Slither to get closer to Serena.

"I'm in love with the daughter of this house, Serena. I want you to help me get closer to her.

"What will you have me do?'

"Scare her," Tom answered, "go into her room a couple of times, hiss at her, and I will come to her rescue. Just don't hurt her. I'll teach her to like you."

"Very well," said the snake.

"I had better bring you downstairs before…"

"Tom…are you talking to Mr. Slither?"

Tom gasped and whirled around to come face to face with Sammy. Sammy heard him speaking in Parseltongue. What if Sammy told Serena that Tom could speak to snakes? What would Serena think of him?

"Sammy, look," Tom began, trying to think of an explanation.

Sammy however didn't look upset. He looked absolutely pleased. "Wow, you know how to talk like a snake. That's cool!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah, so that's how you knew how to find Mr. Slither, huh?" Sammy asked.

Tom nodded. "It's just a gift I have."

"I wish I could speak to snakes," Sammy said, "did Mr. Slither tell you why he was up here?"

"He was in my room," Tom answered, glancing at Mr. Slither, "by the window. Snakes like the warmth."

"You think you can come to my class and show everyone that you can speak to snakes?" Sammy asked.

Tom smiled. "Sorry, Sammy, I can't. It's bet that no one knows about it."

"Oh, okay," Sammy groaned.

"Don't tell Serena about this, all right?" Tom questioned. "This can be our little secret."

This news seemed to make Sammy feel better. He grinned. "Hey, no problem. I can keep a secret, better than Serena."

"Good," Tom said.

Mr. Slither looked at Tom and hissed.

"What'd he say?" Sammy asked excitedly.

"He said he's hungry," Tom replied, going down the stairs. "Let's go feed him."

"Right."

The two boys came down the stairs to find Serena still standing on the chair. She shrieked and fell off the chair when she saw the snake.

"It's all right, Serena," Tom said softly, "he isn't poisonous."

Mr. Slither hissed at Serena. Sammy laughed.

"See, he said 'hello!'" Sammy said and he winked at Tom.

"Come on Sammy," said Tom, "let's give this fellah something to eat."

--

Sammy and Tom were talking all about snakes and they watched Mr. Slither hunt for food, they moved him to places they thought he would like to sleep in. Sammy even asked Tom to try to teach him how to snakes. Tom didn't know how to teach someone parseltongue so the best he could do was just interpret (sometimes falsely) what Mr. Slither was saying. Tom let Mr. Slither explore the house, or rather, slither into Serena's room while Sammy and Tom were playing video games. It was strange but Tom was gaining a liking to the boy. He almost thought of Sammy as his own little brother.

"I've have a test in history tomorrow," Sammy groaned as he and Tom passed the fifth level of Robots on the Move. "Oh man, I hate history."

"What's the test about?" Tom questioned.

"The forties and World War II," Sammy answered.

"Hey, I know a lot the forties," Tom stated, "I can help you."

"You don't have to," Sammy said.

"I don't mind," Tom stated, and it was true. Tom couldn't believe this change in him. What was going on? He starts to fall in love with a girl and he's offering to help her little brother with his homework. Perhaps, he thought, hanging out with Sammy would bring Tom closer to Serena. Tom grinned, believing that Darien never hung out with Serena's brother or helped him with his homework. Before Tom knew it, he was telling Sammy all about the forties he could remember, the war, the songs that played on the radio, the people that died. Tom was amazed with all the muggle information he still knew. Sammy stopped playing and looked at Tom.

"Wow, you talk about the forties as if you used to live in that time!" he exclaimed.

Tom grinned and ran his hand through his black hair. "Well, my grandfather—you see, was in the war. He told me a lot about it."

"Wow, that's cool!"

"Yeah, it is."

"AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!"

"That's Serena!" Sammy gasped.

Tom and Sammy jumped to their feet and ran up the stairs to Serena's room. Serena was in her pajamas leaning back against her dresser, shaking and pale.

"Serena, what's wrong?" Sammy asked his sister.

Unable to speak, Serena pointed a trembling finger at her bed. The two boys looked at Serena's bed to find Mr. Slither coiled up on it, looking around and hissing softly. Sammy started chuckling and Tom nudged him.

"It isn't funny, Sammy," he scolded. Tom approached the bed, picked up Mr. Slither and handed him to Sammy.

"Put Mr. Slither in his box," Tom said.

"Got it," Sammy stated, trying to control his laughter. The snake was also laughing and hissing.

"You should've seen the girl's face…"

Tom walked up to Serena and put his arms around her. "It's all right, Serena. The snake isn't poisonous."

"I know, but he just scared me," Serena said, shivering against Tom. "Did Sammy tell you how long he has to watch over Mr. Slither?"

"Just for this week," Tom answered.

"Too bad he's watching a snake instead of a guinea pig."

"Hey, it'll be okay," Tom said, "Sammy should remember to keep better care of Mr. Slither. You know, it is an interesting species. I've never seen one before. If you ever want to learn how to hold it, I can show you."

"I think I'll pass," Serena said with a wry smile, stepping away from Tom. Tom noticed a letter on Serena's desk. It was to Darien. Halfway through the letter Tom saw a long line that went right off the page onto her desk. Serena must've noticed the snake at this point.

"Writing to Darien?" Tom asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Yes," Serena said, picking up the letter. "I haven't been getting any replies from him."

"Does that worry you?" Tom questioned.

"A little," Serena said, "but he must be really busy. He'll write soon."

"Yeah," Tom murmured, "well, Sammy asked me to help him prepare for a test tomorrow."

"Oh that's so nice of you," Serena said with a smile.

Tom shrugged. "Well, it's on World War II and my grandfather served in it. I thought I could help him a little. I'll see you later. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Tom," Serena said.

Tom walked out of Serena's bedroom and clenched his fist. Serena was writing to that muggle again. He had to find a way to hide her letters to Darien as well. He had to do everything in is power to break those two apart.

--

The whole week Sammy watched Mr. Slither there was an incident where Mr. Slither scared Serena at least once a day. Serena made sure her bed was snake-less before climbing in each night. She found him in her dresser drawers, in a cupboard, on the couch where she was about to sit or lay her stuff. She was happy to see that snake go—including Mrs. Tsukino. She kept yelling at Sammy every time she found it out of its box. Right after dinner, the phone rang and Sammy picked it up, hoping it to be one of his best friends.

"Hello…oh yeah, she's here."

"Serena—it's your boyfriend!" he teased.

"Darien!" Serena gasped, dropping the dish she was about to give to Tom to dry. Tom groaned. He was in the middle of a great conversation when the phone rang. Serena bounded to the phone.

"Thirty minute limit, Serena," her father told her warily.

"Yes, Dad," she muttered before she took the phone from Sammy, who was making kissy faces at his sister. She pushed Sammy away, who went off upstairs. Tom remained to do the dishes in the silence so he could hear every word Serena was saying.

"I've been writing you almost every day," she said, "you've been getting my letters, right? You have? Good. I haven't been getting yours. You must be busy….what? You did write me?"

Serena's face looked confused as listened to Darien's explanation. "Oh don't be silly, he wouldn't do that! Maybe they just got lost in the mail."

Tom turned around while he was drying a plate, grinning to himself. Darien must've suspected Tom was tampering with Darien's letters. Serena was right—the guy was smart—but Tom was smarter. Tom expected Serena to start yelling at Darien but she wasn't. She was still all smiles and laughter. Why wouldn't Serena get angry and dump the Muggle already?

Serena's face suddenly lit up. "Email? What a great idea! Yes, I've got your email address. So silly, why haven't I thought of that before. Uh-huh…oh…I've got to go now, Darien. Good luck in your studies. I love you."

Tom cringed and nearly broke the glass he was drying. Why did Serena waste those special three words on Darien? Tom was better. Tom was the one she should love. She sould say those words only to Tom. Serena hung up and went back to the sink to continue helping Tom with the dishes.

"So, how's Darien?" Tom queried.

"He's doing great," Serena said, "he really has been writing me."

"Oh?"

"Yes, he said he wrote twice a week," Serena sad as she grabbed a dish. "You know what? He actually suspected that you were hiding all his letters!"

"I wouldn't do such thing," Tom muttered, doing his best to look upset. "He's wrong! Why on Earth would I do that?"

"That's what I told him," Serena aid with a slight grin. "He really isn't happy that you're staying here."

"I guess I could understand," Tom said, "he's never met me and he's all the way in another country. He would be a bit upset. Well, what was that you said about…email?"

"Oh, of course!" Serena gasped, "I don't think I told you about email, have I? You can send letters using the internet. It is pretty cool."

"Interesting," Tom said, "how does that work?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Serena admitted, passing another glass to Tom, "but you go online, log into a email service and you can receive mail or write mail. The moment you click the 'send' button, it goes right to the person's mailbox. You don't have to wait for weeks for them to get the letter like with regular mail. And the best part about it, you use a password to get in so you don't have to worry about little brothers reading your mail."

"Password…ouch!"

"Tom!"

Tom had accidentally slit his palm while drying a knife. He dropped the knife onto the ground and grasped his palm. Serena grabbed his hand to look at the cut.

"Oh Tom, are you all right?"

"It's not deep," Tom winced.

"Oh where's the first aid kit," Serena wondered out loud. "Mom, do we have first aid in the kitchen? Tom cut himself!"

"I'm all right!" Tom insisted.

"Go clean it upstairs," Mrs. Tsukino said and Serena pulled on Tom's wrist up to the bathroom and Tom told her over and over that he was fine.

"Serena, I'm fine."

"Oh I hope you don't have to get stitches," Serena said as she shoved Tom's hand under the warm running water. She grabbed the soap and began lathering his hand up. "Where's the rubbing alcohol? Do we have any peroxide?"

Serena opened up the medicine cabinet and franticly searched for something to put on Tom's wound. A bottle of asprin and a toothbrush fell onto the sink.

"Serena, be careful," Tom said.

"Here, this will sting," Serena said, opening a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She poured it over Tom's cut. He winced as the cleaning solution began killing the germs and stinging his wound. Serena grabbed some gauze and some ointment. She squeezed the white ointment onto the cut and put the gauze onto Tom's palm.

"Hold it tight," Serena said as she looked fore some tape to secure the gauze.

"Okay," Tom said, applying pressure to his cut, "I'm all right though, really."

"You don't want it to get infected," Serena told him, finding the binding tape. "Here." She wrapped the tape around his wound as Tom kept the gauze in place.

"We'll have to keep it clean," Serena explained, "tomorrow you can see the school nurse, just incase you'll have to go to the doctor and get stitches."

"I don't need stitches," Tom stated, "really, Serena, I'll be fine."

"I hope so," Serena said, taking hold of Tom's hand and kissing it. "There, that should make it heal faster."

Tom looked down at Serena in amazement. She had just kissed his hand. How could she not expect him to fall in love with her, the way she was being so nice to him? Tom had never met someone like Serena.

"I love you, Serena," Tom breathed before he could stop himself.

"Tom," Serena gasped, glancing from his hand to his eyes. "Please, please don't say that."

"But I mean it," Tom insisted, "I'm in love with you. I never felt this way about anyone. You've always been so kind to me."

Serena put her hand up to her lip as her mind was racing with thoughts. Her heart was beating really fast. Tom put his hand on her shoulder.

"You do love me back, don't you?"

"Tom, you…do mean a lot to me but," she mumbled, "I'm just not certain about my feelings. I'm in love with Darien. I need…some time…"

"Yeah, all right," Tom whispered, stepping out of the bathroom.

"Tom."

"Could you finish doing the dishes?" Tom asked, "I shouldn't get the gauze wet, you know."

Before Serena could reply, Tom went to his bedroom and shut the door. He leaned against the door and looked at his bandaged hand. A surge of anger, jealousy and disappointment went through Tom's whole body as he curled his hand into a fist and hit the door.

"Damn you, Darien," he swore, "I'm not letting you take Serena away from me. No one gets in the way of the Heir of Slytherin!"

--
Somehow, Tom's wound healed overnight. Serena was shocked but pleased.

"Well at least we know that you don't need stitches," she said happily as they left for school.

"Yeah," Tom mumbled, "pretty amazing."

"I emailed Darien last night," Serena said, "I'm so glad we've decided to use email. I think I'll write him in the computer lab too."

Tom tightened his hand over his bag. "That's great, Serena. You should show me how that email stuff works."

"Oh, sure!" Serena said, "not a problem!"

During lunch time, Serena and Tom went to the computer lab. Serena helped Tom set up his own email account and password. While Tom was looking at all email had to offer, two girls approached them. It was Lita and Ami.

"There you are, Serena!" Lita said, "Hey Tom!"

"Hello," Tom muttered.

"I didn't expect you to come to the computer lab," Ami stated. "Homework?"

"Actually, I'm helping Tom set an email account," Serena answered.

"Really?" Ami asked Tom.

"Yes," Tom said, "I never had one before."

"Serena, we've got to borrow you for a second," Lita said, "I hope you don't' mind, Tom." She added to Tom with a wink.

"Not at all," Tom said.

"I'll be right back," Serena said and she walked with her friends to another part of the computer lab. Tom turned to the computer. He had to think of some way to keep Serena's emails getting to Darien, and Darien's emails from getting to Serena. He knew nothing about hacking into peoples email accounts. If only he had a wand. He could just destroy the computer or something.

"You are looking really cozy with Tom there," Lita said teasingly. "You should be careful."

"Oh we're just good friends," Serena insisted, "so what's up?"

"Scout meeting at Raye's temple," Ami announced, "right after school. We have to talk about that book we found, remember?"

Serena groaned and put her hand to her head. "I already told her—I lost it. I don't know where it is."

"Somehow, I thought you would," Lita said, "but we haven't had a scout meeting in a long while."

"Okay," Serena said, "I'll be there."

--

"What do you mean you have a guy staying at your house?" Raye demanded the moment Lita told Raye the news.

"Lita…" Serena grunted.

Lita chuckled and held her hands up in a form of surrender. "Hey, I was only telling her how cute Tom was."

"Look, it's nothing," Serena said, "he's just a foreign exchange student."

"Darien will freak when he finds out!" Raye exclaimed.

"He already does know," Serena said folding her arms. "So there. Toms' really smart. He helps me with my homework. I've been getting better grades ever since he's been staying at my house."

"Well, good," Ami said.

"Anyway, can't we just get down to business?" Serena asked wearily. "I've got homework, and I wanted to check my email."

"All right, fine," Raye said, "have you found that book yet?"

"No," Serena said and Raye groaned.

"Serena!"

"I'm sorry!" Serena cried. "I told you, I think Sammy had taken it. I haven't seen it around and I'm not going through my brother's stuff. He had to watch his class snake for a week! Who knows what else he's got in his backpack."

"Fine," Raye murmured, "I just hope that whatever that book was doesn't turn into a monster or something. Now why hasn't Mina come back from England? Has anyone heard from her?"

"Yeah," Lita said, "she's going to school in England and she's got a job."

"Is she going to be living there permanently?" Ami asked.

"I don't' think so," Lita said, "She says she's doing something for her grandfather. I guess whenever she's done helping her grandfather she'll come back."

"Something just doesn't feel right though," Raye said, "I've been looking at the sacred flame. Something's going to happen. Something bad. I don't know what exactly but I think we've got to be extra careful. That woman is still out there and I've got a feeling she'll come looking for us."

"Right," the girls agreed.

--

When Serena returned home, she went to check her email. Unfortunately, the computer was down.

"Hey, what's wrong with the computer?" she asked her Dad.

"I don't know," Mr. Tsukino said, "I was trying to some business on the internet and it just stopped working. Must be the server."

"The internet's not working?" Serena asked fretfully. "I wanted to check my email!"

"I'll get it fixed, Serena, relax," Mr. Tsukino insisted.

Serena frowned and went up to her room. She hasn't been getting Darien's letters and now her computer isn't working. It was almost as if someone or something was trying to keep her and Darien apart.

As Serena sat on her bed, feeling sorry for herself, Tom entered her room with two cups of tea.

"I brought you some tea, Serena," he said, "I'm glad you're home."

"Oh, thanks," Serena murmured, taking her tea.

"Where'd you go?"

"Oh, I had a meeting with my friends," Serena answered, "the other scouts. They're wondering about the book."

"You haven't told them yet?" Tom questioned, sitting next to her.

"They'll go nuts if they knew about your story," Serena said, "They'll tell me I shouldn't have set you free or something."

"You're going to tell them soon, aren't you?" Tom asked. "You shouldn't keep secrets from them. Maybe they'll understand."

"Maybe, maybe not," Serena groaned, rubbing your head. "Hey, were you able to get on the computer when you came home by any chance?"

"No, why?" Tom asked as he brought the teacup to his lips.

"The computer's down."

"That's funny," Tom said.

"I'm really upset," Serena groaned, "I wanted to check my email."

"Maybe its got a virus or something," Tom said a shrug.

"Oh I hope not," Serena said.

"I'm sure the computer will work fine tomorrow," Tom insisted.

"Hopefully."

Tom took another swig of his tea. "Well, goodnight, Serena."

"Goodnight."

As Tom left for his room, he was grinning ear to ear. He had somehow magically tempered with the computer. Tom got on the computer to do some research and try to hack into Serena's account. He got so angry at Darien for screwing up Serena's life, so scared that Serena might be taken away from him that the whole computer just shut down all by itself. He didn't need a wand do magic. He still had his emotions. He did wand-less magic before and he can do it again. He'd do whatever it took to keep Darien and Serena apart.

--

TO BE CONTINUED

--

Sorry for the late update! By the way, I'm writing other HP/SM fics set in Harry's 6th year. To keep this story unique, it won't be like HBP much at all. Slughorn won't be teaching, Dumbledore is not looking for the horcruxes (they don't' even exist) and of course, as you already know, Karkaroff is alive. So Voldemort is in a way, still kind of mortal. As the challenge said, Voldemort wants to absorb Tom so Voldemort could become younger and stronger and it would kind of defeat the purpose of having horcruxes if he did that. However, there will be some references to horcruxes/souls in a way. The only likeness to HBP though is that Draco is trying to kill Dumbledore.