Scotland, Hogwarts 1944
The rest of the holidays went by quickly.
With the help of Wimly, Maélys soon finished the gardens and parks of the d'Avaugour estate.
Pleased with her work, she'd even invited Louisa over for a few nights. Her friend had been thrilled to see the manor and had not been disappointed.
"Wow! This is amazing. The house looks like it's newly built and not at all like you described," she complimented her.
"Now, come on! I want to see every room in this house."
The small parties they were invited to were as superficial and boring as the first one. Conversations were either shallow or about Grindelwald who apparently moved closer to Britain every day.
So, the two girls had kept to themselves and instead emptied the wine bar.
Now, they were already back at Hogwarts and sat in the Slytherin common-room, talking about their plans for the summer holidays.
"I've never been to France," admitted Louisa.
"We could visit it when Grindelwald has been defeated," Maélys suggested.
"Then let's hope that happens soon," sighed Louisa.
"Well, in the mean-time, we can still go to Spain. I heard that it's magical community is one of the most fascinating, apart from the chinese one."
"Oh China, my dad went there once on a business trip for the Ministry and took me with him. I was very little so I don't remember a lot, but what I do is absolutely amazing."
Maélys smiled. She'd been a few times to Asia and everytime she'd found something so captivating and stunning that she never wanted to leave. But there was an old German saying, that the best time to leave was when you're having the most fun.
The girl turned her head just when the door to the room and Tom Riddle walked in, followed by his friends, if one could call them that.
"Miss d'Avaugour," Riddle said as stopped in front of her couch. He acknowledged Louisa with a curt nod and turned back to her.
"I would like to start with our potions project as soon as poss-"
"Fantastic idea, Mister Riddle" Maélys interrupted him. "Does tomorrow after Transfiguration class work for you? In the libary?"
The boy inhaled sharply.
"Yes, Miss. That works perfectly fine," he said and before he could say anything else, she turned back to her friend as if he didn't still stand next to her.
Gnashing his teeth, he moved to where his peers sat by another couch by the fire. But for the rest of the evening, until the two girls moved to their dormitory he watched her.
Never letting her out of his sight.
The next day, Tom waited for her in the library. She was late. Impatient, he sat down at his usual table by the window and waited.
He already wanted to get up and leave when she finally appeared. And behind her flew a huge pile of books.
The boy closed his mouth which he had opened to tell her how rude it was to let him wait.
"So, Mister Riddle, while you were so nicely sitting in that chair, I already got to work and looked for the books we'll need to brew that potion," she said as the pile sat gently down on the table.
She walked over to the chair next to his and put down her bag. Sighing, the girl took some quill and pergament and opened the uppermost book.
"Good afternoon, Miss d'Avaugour. I wasn't aware that you were already in the library. I was waiting for you to come," he justified.
"No matter, let's get to work. How much do you know about the potion?", she said.
"It's a powerful truth serum and it forces the drinker to answer any question truthfully."
"Hm, Prince already said that during class. Do you know anything else? No? Well, then listen."
She flickered through the pages and read aloud:
"Veritaserum - a Truth Potion so powerful that three drops would have anyone spilling their innermost secrets. Now, the use of this potion is controlled by very strict Ministry guidelines. We already know that.
Veritaserum is clear, colourless, and odourless and is almost indistinguishable fromwater . According to the author of the book, the potion has to mature for a full phase, and is quite difficult to produce. It could be mixed with pretty much any drink, and three drops is a sufficient dose to make the drinker "spill out his innermost secrets". Thus, the potion forced the drinker to tell the complete truth to any question put to them, according to what the drinker perceived as true. The problem with that is that the victim stated only what they believed to be true, so -"
She trailed off, "I won't keep reading. We won't need to know the limitations. We only want to brew the potion, not use it."
Tom looked at the list of ingrediants, "Most of them seem to be easily accessible, only the Jobberknoll feathers are hard to get."
"That shouldn't be too hard."
"Well, a part of Slughorn's assignment is that we have to get all of the potion's ingrediants ourselves."
"We'll manage. Just leave the feathers to me. And look," she pointed to the recipe, "all of the others, we can gather in the next few days."
"It says that we'll need Fluxweed. That has to be picked on a full moon and the next will be in three weeks. But the potion needs to be started on a new moon. We'll lose more than a month."
"No, we won't," she said, "Only if you want to use Fluxweed for a Polyjuice Potion, you have to pick it on a full moon. If not, any night will suffice."
Tom wanted to open his mouth and correct her, when he remembered that she was right.
She was right, he thought. She was right. He had been wrong. He ghashed his teeth.
"You know an awful lot about potions," he said, not letting her notice that she had struck a nerve.
Maélys simply shrugged her shoulders, "I guess."
"Where did you learn so much about potions and their ingrediants?"
During the months she'd been at Hogwarts, he'd noticed her talents and sheer knowledge in potions class. Although, she seemed to be good in every subject but he'd never admit it aloud.
"My mother," she answered, "She knew more about potions than anyone and she tried to teach me everything she knew."
Tom sat up straighter.
This was new. The girl had never said anything about her parents before, not that he had talked to her a lot. But sharing information like that was new for him.
"I didn't know that your mother was a gifted potion mistress," he tried to keep the conversation going. He wanted to know more.
"There's a lot you don't know about my family, Mister Riddle," Maélys said while copying the ingrediants from the book onto a small piece of parchment.
"If I'm being honest, I'd like to know more, Miss d'Avaugour."
"And what exactly would you like to know?"
"Anything you'd be willing to tell me," Tom smiled charmingly.
Maélys sighed and looked up from her notes.
"Well, there was my father. He was controlling, strict and ... domineering, qualities that only magnified over the years of my childhood."
Tom listened attentivly and knew that those qualities were often seen on the older men of the pure-blood aristocracy, so it wasn't surprising when she told him that.
"He sent me away to Beauxbatons as soon as I was old enough. We never did get along well."
The black-haired boy had seen the indifferent behaviour of his peers' fathers towards their sons and again, he wasn't surprised by her words.
"But my mother," she smiled at the memory, "was strong and fierce. Her magic was so powerful..."
Her smile faded and she trailed off.
"She tried everything to protect her chil- child, like a lioness protecting her cubs. But in the end, her protection killed her."
"What do you mean?," Tom asked carefully, "Did she die protecting you?"
Maélys looked him in the eyes.
"Something like that."
The boy wanted to keep her talking. By her answering one question ten new ones popped up in his head. But he knew that he shouldn't pressure her. He had to gain her trust first.
"Is tonight after dinner okay?," she asked.
"Excuse me?," he frowned.
"To pick the Fluxweed. I could go alone but I figured that you would want to come with me."
"Yes, yes of course. Tonight after dinner is perfect," he quickly confirmed and nodded.
"Very well, until then!"
The blonde girl got up from her seat and with a swing of her wand her bag flew behind her as she walked out of the library.
Leaving only the pile of potions books and the fading smell of her perfume.
Tom looked at the chair where she'd sat a few moments ago.
And he smiled.
During dinner Tom watched Maélys.
Watched her as she slowly ate while laughing with Louisa Travers about something he couldn't hear.
Sometimes, he wished he knew what those girls were giggling about. Memories? Secrets?
After dinner was finished, he watched her leave the great hall, arm in arm with her roommate.
Quickly, he followed her, wondering if she had forgotten their meeting.
She had not.
He watched her swing her wand and a few moments later her coat appeared. Smiling, she seperated from her friend and walked towards the entrance doors of the school.
Imitating her spell, he summoned his cloak from his dormitory and walked over to her.
"Good evening, Mister Riddle," she greeted him.
"Miss d'Avaugour," he nodded to her, "Shall we?"
She didn't take his extented arm and instead started walking.
There was a part of the forest that wasn't forbidden and luckily for them, Fluxweed grew in there.
The girl said nothing as she moved along the path downward.
The sun slowly set and the air grew colder around them. From the trees, birds were still singing their songs and wind blew through the pair's hair.
The walked past the lake and entered the forest.
At first, Tom said nothing as they moved between the trees, but the sky above them slowly grew darker and the girl in front of him kept walking.
"I know where we are, Mister Riddle, and I don't intend to hurt you," she said when he opened his mouth.
He closed it again. Had she just read his thoughts?
"How-?"
"We're here," she interrupted him.
And truly, when she stepped aside he saw a clearing before them.
"I found it during one of my walks with Louisa," she explained.
Tom looked around. It was small and the moonlight fell through the leave's of the surrounding trees, illuminating the glade.
"The Fluxweed is over there," he noticed and took a silver knife out of his pocket as he neared the plants.
Crouching down, he cut off the leaves that they'd need for the potion and put them in a small bag.
"Do you have everything?"
The boy nodded.
"Then let's get back to the school."
