A/N; Thank you to all those who took the time to review. It is appreciated.
Coffeegoddess, I'm glad you like Roz. It's a pity they aren't in the same House, they'd have a lot of fun together.
Dorian! Nice to see you over here and still reading. Ah, not really a cliff in this one. Sort of, but not. ;-)
Guest, keep reading and commenting and I'll keep posting! :-)
Nerdalertwarning, thank you for still reading. Glad you are enjoying it.
LoricFool, Tom is off his game. The Slayer effect :-) Yes, Buffy had a bit of a throwback moment there. Luckily she isn't Snyder.
Guest! Thank you for saying you love the story. Here's another chapter. I hope you enjoy.
Sammiemarie123, there's such a lot I had to establish in this story it's hard to push it forward but I think you'll find now it really picks up pace.
Glowdust3, thank you! Buffy isn't facing any apocalypses but she's definitely got her hands full with other problems. And she has no idea what Tom might become if he makes the wrong choices...
A Guest, yep canon Tom would have been smarter and sneakier; he never had a Slayer dangled in front of him though. And we all know a Slayer is catnip to the the darker element...
Now, read on...
Chapter 90 – Not A Nice Boy
As Slughorn and Dumbledore strolled down the corridor together a scream rent the air. They paused, exchanging worried looks.
"What the blazes is gong on?" Slughorn exclaimed. "It isn't like Galatea to allow things to get out of control."
"It's most unusual!" conceded Dumbledore, his wand drawn and breaking into a run. Slughorn blinked, then set off after him.
"What... could be... going on?" Slughorn panted once they'd reached the door to the Duelling Club room, his face red from exertion. His jowls wobbled as he mouthed, "Has Grindelwald attacked?"
Dumbledore blanched. That had always been his biggest fear, one that he'd never voiced aloud. "We need to find out."
He pressed down on the handle and pushed the door. It swung open and both Wizards peered inside cautiously. The room appeared to be full of smoke, a dense cloud billowing towards them and out into the corridor. From somewhere close by, the scream came again and the professors quickly cast a Bubblehead Charm over themselves in case the smoke was noxious.
"That's Rosalind Moody," Dumbledore said quietly, his voice muffled from being inside a bubble. He didn't know how he knew, but he was positive about the screamer's identity. Hadn't heoverheard her making arrangements with Buffy to meet here tonight? Could Slughorn be right? Grindelwald had a good reason to be here, as did his henchmen...
With a quick flick of his wand, Dumbledore vanished most of the smoke. There was no sign of Dark Wizards inside the room, but what he did see made his blood run cold. Not far from where he stood was an immense serpent. A basilisk? A basilisk in the castle? Inwardly, he shook his head – not a basilisk. That was a preposterous idea. This was an engorgio'd King Cobra.
He ran through clouds of drifting smoke towards the huge beast – a multitude of suitable spells to nullify the threat going through his mind – when he spotted a boy, also heading in the same direction. Lovell Lovegood! Idiot! What was he up to? The snake could kill him! The tip of Dumbledore's wand flicked upwards.
"Flipendo!"
Lovell was knocked harmlessly away. And it was just in time, for the snake made a loud, wet sound, and only Dumbledore's fast reflexes saved him. The front half of the snake exploded, sending lumps of pinkish-grey flesh, blood droplets, dirt and pieces of stone radiating outwards and coating everything, within range.
"What the...?" yelped Slughorn, his hands on his bald head. He took his hands away and stared down at the blood covering them with a shocked expression.
Why had he dismissed the Bubblehead Charm? But he was a grown man – a teacher, no student to be admonished – so Dumbledore merely vanished his own Charm to check his colleague over for injuries. He was unscathed – the blood was the snake's.
"A Bombarda Maxima, I presume," Dumbledore replied, taking in the ragged remains of the snake and the large smoking crater in the middle of the floor. Who'd cast it? It wasn't the kind of spell you used in close quarters. Although lethal, it needed strong magic and even greater control to use it with any finesse. That great yawning hole in the floor attested to the caster's inexperience.
"One of Merrythought's? Seems a bit drastic for her," mumbled Slughorn, wiping the blood onto his already stained robe. "But she's here. She'll know what's happened."
Sure enough, Professor Merrythought had appeared out of the smoke, dragging a hapless Lancelot Lockhart alongside her. The small Witch's face was like thunder and the entire front of her robes was covered in stone dust. She glared at Dumbledore and Slughorn in turn and both wizards shifted uncomfortably.
It was then that Dumbledore's eyes caught Tom Riddle's. The young Slytherin sat on the floor, cradling his wand in his lap and looking much paler than normal. When he yanked his dark eyes away from Dumbledore, Dumbledore's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Was the snake something to do with him? He was a parselmouth. Dumbledore glanced over at the wreckage of the snake. If Tom had had something to do with it, then his plan had blown up in his face – literally.
Further off stood three more students. A tear-stained Rosalind Moody being held by a grim-faced Caradoc, and the young Ravenclaw, Brennan Webster. The rest were further off, huddled together in small groups that corresponded to their Houses. Dumbledore's gaze landed on the Slytherins – Dolohov, Malfoy and Lestrange – thinking that they were the likely candidates for the carnage. Slughorn might believe they were nice children, but Dumbledore knew better. And then his thoughts were distracted once more by Lovell Lovegood. The Ravenclaw shot past him, feet slipping on slick stones as he headed straight for the huge crater.
"Lovegood!" Dumbledore bellowed. "Stay back! The floor might yet give way!"
"Buffy's down there!" yelled Lovell, his reply making Dumbledore's heart lurch.
"Buffy?" Dumbledore asked. "Buffy was near the snake?"
"Yes!" Lovell replied. "She attacked it!"
Dumbledore found that he wasn't surprised. Wherever – and whenever – there was trouble she was found in the thick of it. He wasn't quite sure where she'd inherited this propensity to attract danger. The Lovegoods weren't known for being heroic, and as for her father's ancestors... If any of them had attended Hogwarts, they'd have all been Slytherins and keener to preserve their own skins than protect others.
Lovegood had stopped – far too close to the hole's edge for Dumbledore's liking – and dropped to his knees, peering down into the large blast hole. Professor Merrythought strode forward, swishing her wand, and magic shimmered over the hole's edge as the Hardening Charm took effect.
"Do you see her?!" Merrythought asked, stopping at the very edge of the hole. "Is she down there?"
"I can't see anything." Lovell shook his head. "There's too much dust down there. It needs to settle."
Slughorn crept closer to the hole. "Do you think someone purposely set the snake onto her?"
Tom cringed and stared down at his pale yew wand.
"I don't know," Lovell replied. "It happened so fast. We were all duelling. Buffy was up against Caradoc. There was a lot of smoke and then... I saw the snakes." Lovell shook his head. "I wanted to help. She told me to stay away."
Dumbledore saw the tears in his eyes, and he patted Lovell's shoulder awkwardly.
Merrythought added glumly, "I shouldn't have left them alone. I thought they'd be casting Jelly-Legs, not summoning snakes."
"It isn't your fault, Galatea." Slughorn scanned the room and spotted Riddle. "Tom," he called, his frown clearing at the sight of his favourite student. "Do you know exactly what happened here?"
Tom hurriedly got to his feet. "Sir, only a little. Buffy... killed that snake." He pointed to the ground and the three professors turned and noticed – for the first time – the smaller cobra crushed beneath the larger one.
Tom cleared his throat. "The other one was angry and... Lockhart... he... cast a spell, enlarging it. Buffy... she called it something rude to antagonise it and then..." His voice trembled, for once his emotion unfeigned. He still couldn't believe what had just happened. "It... struck at her..." Tom wiped his lips with the back of his hand – as if wiping away something nasty. "She was... swallowed... Sir, I didn't see...The snake exploded... she was inside it..." His words died away as he stared at the crater. Chanting, 'Buffy isn't dead. Buffy can't be dead, Buffy isn't dead', over and over, like a mantra inside his head.
The three professors all stared numbly at the spot where Buffy had been. Dumbledore bent, gently pulling Lovell to his feet.
"I'm sorry," he said. "We'll search for her, but it appears that the blasting spell hit too late. If the snake exploded like that and she was inside it..." He shook his head sorrowfully.
Lovell kept his eyes on the hole, desperate to see movement in the swirling dust and shadows inside the hole. "No! Buffy isn't like us! A snake... that's nothing to her. She's strong, stronger than she looks. She'll be down there somewhere." He looked into Dumbledore's face eagerly. "We'll find her alive and well, I'm sure of it."
But the professors were no longer listening. "I shall go for help." Merrythought said, her face grey and haggard. "I used to be so much quicker on my feet. Nothing got past me. Now this. I need to retire."
"It isn't your fault Galatea," consoled Slughorn. "I can't believe a student would be stupid enough to summon snakes."
Tom kept perfectly still, his eyes on Lovell. He knew that if he was a nice boy, the kind of boy Slughorn thought he was, he'd admit that the snake summoner was him. But he wasn't that boy. That boy existed only in Slughorn's head – a facade created to bedazzle and bamboozle teachers. In the past, he'd always thought Slughorn was an idiot – an easily manipulated fool. Now he knew that the only fool here was himself. He'd summoned snakes and caused someone that he... 'liked' to be attacked. Slughorn was right: he was stupid.
For a brief moment, he thought about owning up and being the boy Slughorn in. What would be the point, though? He wasn't a nice boy, and there wasn't a nice family to take him back. All he had was Wools and Mrs Cole, and that didn't amount to all that much. In fact, if he was expelled, he probably wouldn't have that. Cole would take great delight in casting him out onto the streets and he'd be homeless, penniless and fending for himself. So Tom stayed silent and just stared at Lovell's face. He couldn't bring himself to look down at the hole that was the last sign of Buffy's magic. Buffy isn't dead, don't let her be dead. Buffy isn't dead, don't let her be dead...
"It wasn't me! I didn't summon any snakes!" Lockhart exclaimed. Merrythought had looked pointedly at him when Slughorn asked who could be 'stupid enough to summon snakes'.
"Does it matter? We need to find Buffy," said Lovell. He looked about him wildly, searching for some way to get down the hole.
"Professors, can't one of us be let down on a Transfigured rope to search for her?" Tom asked. He didn't need to use his Legilmency skills to know what Lovell was planning. He walked over to them, head held high and with his usual air of authority. When he went to stand by Lovell rather than Slughorn, the other boy looked at him in surprise.
Now that Tom had their attention, he continued, "Let me try. Lovell isn't in a fit state to go down there."
The teachers eyed Lovell, taking in his white face and red-rimmed eyes.
"As for the others..." He gestured to Caradoc, Roz and Brennan. "You can see they're in shock." And he didn't want Caradoc playing the hero. "Allow me go down. Please. She won't be far."
Tom let them ponder the idea, knowing they'd come to the right conclusion. He might not be a nice boy but he wouldn't stand idly by, waiting for a rescue party when he could do this himself. Lovell was right: a search needed to be done without delay.
Buffy could be trapped. His explorations had shown him that Hogwarts wasn't built like Muggle castles. Here, there were often voids between the levels, and some of those voids were big enough to hide entire rooms. He should know. He'd spent enough time plotting the castle and trying to find the hidden Chamber of Secrets.
"LOOK!" shouted Caradoc.
Roz let out a little scream, then covered her mouth, pointing down at the hole. A small hand – dark with blood and grime – was gripping at a broken stone on the side of the hole. The hand was soon followed by another, and then the top of a human head emerged – hair so caked with dust that its colour was indistinguishable.
"Buffy!" cried Lovell, bending down to help her.
Buffy grabbed his hand and let him pull her up. She took her wand out from between her teeth. "I told you not to worry," she said, her teeth gleaming white in her filthy face. "I totally had it covered."
"Then you should have used a Petrificus Totalis, instead of a Blasting Charm," retorted Professor Merrythought, unimpressed with Buffy's bravado. "That would have frozen the beast and allowed you to escape."
"Oh, yeah, but total last minute change of plan," Buffy replied. "I sorta had brain blankage." She shivered, wobbling a little as she stood, looking down at her torn and filthy clothes. She slapped at her skirts, ineffectually trying to remove some of the dust, and then stilled.
"Lovell!" she hissed, eyes frantic. "What's my hair like? Is it... is it bad?"
Lovell nodded.
Buffy's face scrunched up in horror as she raised a hand and felt how crusty it was with blood and dirt. "My HAIR! Oh-My-God! My hair!"
"Never mind your hair," Lovell replied. "What's happened to your shoulder? Have you been bitten?"
Tom's head jerked, his eyes darting to the spot between Buffy's shoulder blades.
"Um.." Buffy craned her head, trying to see her back. "I felt a sting. I think... it's just a flesh wound."
Dumbledore caught her arm, and she felt his hand graze her back – his fingers moving gently over the torn bare skin between her shoulder blades.
The wizard hmm'd. "Not exactly a bite. It's more of a graze. However, we need to take precautions."
"Precautions?" she asked.
"Buffy," said Merrythought, her voice calm but firm. "You're going straight to the infirmary."
Buffy backed away, her feet stumbling on the broken floor. "No!"
"Miss Summers." Slughorn stepped forward. "As your Housemaster, I insist that you see Madam Bones – to put my mind at ease if not your own. Tom and Lovell can escort you there immediately."
"No, honestly, I'm fine. I –." She sat down suddenly at Dumbledore's feet. "Okay, maybe not. I don't feel too good. I feel all hot, and I think..." Buffy swallowed and looked at Tom in embarrassment. "I think I'm gonna puke."
…...
"So what happened?" asked Fiona Goyle dropping into the chair next to Buffy's hospital bed. Her friend, Uma Crabbe, plonked herself down on the other side of the bed and grabbed the bowl of ice cream from the table.
"Hey!" Buffy protested. "That's mine!"
Uma licked the spoon. "You weren't eating it," she pointed out and took another spoonful. "Waste not, want not, me mum says. And this is my favourite flavour – Popping Raspberry. They grow 'em in one region of France and since the Muggle fighting they're hard to come by. They are called Pep-Me-Up raspberries. They 'ave magical popping qualities that cheer you up."
"Yeah? I wouldn't know that." Buffy folded her arms and mock glared at Uma. "Since someone stole my ice cream before I had a chance to try it."
Uma gave her a cheeky grin and waved the now empty bowl at her. "Ask for some more. Bet Nurse Bones won't say no."
"I will."
"Great," said Fiona "I'll eat the next lot."
Uma smirked and it prompted Buffy to roll her eyes and say, "After you've both gone."
Uma's face dropped. "Spoilsport!" She placed the scraped clean bowl back on the table. "So... are you gonna tell us what 'appened at the Duelling club? We warned you things got a bit insane in there."
"That's why we don't go," added Fiona. "Who set the snake on you? Caradoc?"
"I don't think so," Buffy replied, looking down at the blanket and playing with a thread hanging from the hem.
Fiona leaned forward. "Was it you?"
Buffy let out a laugh. "And got myself eaten in the process? I don't think even I'm that unlucky. Unless..." she screwed her face up in thought. "Unless I summoned them by accident. What's the incantation for summoning serpents, anyway?"
"Serpensortia," replied Fiona. "And summoning is much easier than controlling. Snakes are stubborn to deal with, and only parselmouths are able to control them properly." She sat back. "Our founder is the most famous parselmouth and they say the ability ran in his family. But you already know this. "
Buffy shrugged. "You're forgetting: I've only been here since September."
Uma gazed at her in surprise. "I keep forgetting. It feels like... it feels like you've always been wiv us!"
"That's because she's always in trouble and everything here wants to eat her," laughed Fiona. She began ticking them off on her fingers. "Cursed trolley, Grindylows, Dementors and now giant snakes."
'And Vampires, and Unicorns, and a Phouka,' added Buffy silently. What was it about magical Britain? Everything here thought she was edible! Even Spikey! Okay, the Phouka claimed he didn't really want to eat her, but she wasn't sure Rory was telling her the whole truth. She'd been reading up on the Fae, and Phoukas were known tricksters.
"Any sign of the water demons this morning?" she asked, changing the subject. Rory had promised he'd stop the Grindylows from tormenting her. So far, he'd kept his word and they hadn't returned, but last night she'd been in the infirmary – at Madam Bones' insistence. Thankfully, the effects of cobra venom had been short-lived in the Slayer system, as it had caused only nausea (puking in front of the entire duelling class!) and made her legs wobble.
Fiona shook her head. "Happy to report we're still a Grindylow clear zone."
Buffy smirked. Her slangitude was contaminating her room mates.
"I 'eard knocking coming from your trunk," announced Uma, dispelling Buffy's amusement. "'Ave you got something weird trapped in there?" They both stared at Buffy expectantly and she panicked.
"Um," she replied, hating having to lie to her roommates. How would they react if they knew they were sharing their room with a boggart? The Wizarding World regarded boggarts as vermin and banished them on sight. Could she trust them not to give away her secrets? Walburga seemed to like Spikey, although she guessed that was mainly because she saw the boggart as being useful. Travers thought it better off banished. How would Fiona and Uma react?
She was saved from answering by Nurse Bones, who entered the infirmary with a student by her side.
Both her room mates darted curious looks at the newcomer and then at Buffy. This meeting was going to be far more interesting than the unusual noises coming from her trunk
"Look who I found out in the corridor!" Madame Bones exclaimed in her soft Scottish brogue. "He was afraid you'd not want to see him." The nurse gave the shame-faced Caradoc a little push and the much taller boy stepped closer to Buffy's bed and gave her an awkward little formal bow.
"Buffy. May I visit?" he asked, his bright blue eyes moving from Buffy to her guests, who were openly giggling at him,. "You... you weren't well enough to speak to me last night."
It was Buffy's turn to become pink-cheeked. The last time she'd seen Caradoc she'd been knelt on the floor heaving, with Dumbledore rapidly vanished away her vomit. "Umm, yeah."
"It's time we went," said Fiona, getting up from the chair. "Uma?" he motioned to Uma to follow her, the other girl looked far too interested in what Caradoc had to say than any thoughts of leaving.
Fiona's eyes darted from the nurse to Buffy. "Will you be back tonight?"
"Sure. The sooner, the better."
"What time you leave, young lady, is my decision!" snapped Madam Bones as she bustled around the bed, tidying the covers. She slapped Buffy's hand away when she tried untucking the blanket. "You're the patient and you'll do as I tell you, if you know what's good for you." She sniffed with disapproval. "Besides, Headmaster Dippet is wanting a word with you later. All your little adventures are giving the school a bad name. There's a member of the press with him right now."
"Crap. Mom's gonna go crazy," Buffy whimpered. Her mom hated her magic and that she was studying at Hogwarts. She'd only allowed her to come because Uncle Peregrine said it was the safest place for her.
Madame Bones stared down at her with disapproval for the profanity. "Aye, your mother will have something to say about this, for sure. You'll find out for yourself, soon enough."
Buffy frowned. "Huh? What does that mean?"
