Scotland, Hogwarts 1944
On the way back, Tom didn't walk behind the girl but beside her.
"You are unusually quiet, Miss d'Avaugour," he noticed.
"Oh, am I?," she asked mockingly, "And how would you know if I'm normally talkative, Mister Riddle?"
Tom cleared his throught, "Whenever I see you with Miss Travers you two are always chatting and laughing. I assumed-"
"You assumed?," Maélys raised one eyebrow and looked at him sideways.
He cleared his throat.
"I think I expressed myself ambiguously," he tried again, "I didn't mean to offend you. What I meant is that I often see you discussing things with your friend. But each and every time we are in each others company you seldom talk more than a few sentences. Today in the library was the first time."
The girl huffed.
"Very well, then. If you're so eager to talk with me, then let's talk."
It was silent for a moment.
"I was telling you about my family this afternoon. Now, tell me about yours," she demanded for it clearly was no request.
But Tom had not expected her to make that demand and it took him a few seconds to find his voice.
"I grew up in an orphanage," he said.
This was no secret. Everyone at Hogwarts knew that.
"Both of my parents are dead. I never met them."
"Do you know anything about them?," Maélys asked curiously.
Tom wondered how much he should tell her. He knew that he wanted her to become a part of his group and he wasn't yet sure how much he could tell her at once without risking scaring her. He simply couldn't figure her out. Yet.
"Not much. My mother died shortly after giving birth to me."
"And your father?"
He hesitated. And she noticed.
"Last summer, I read in the newspapers that he died," he said.
"So, he was an important wizard?"
Inwardly, Tom cursed her again. He didn't want to keep talking about his father and revealing more to her than was necessary.
"No," he simply answered.
He was glad that she didn't keep asking him.
"Then I'd guess no sibings, correct?," she said.
"Correct, and you?," he asked although he already knew the answer.
"An older brother," she said what he had read in her Beauxbatons file.
"And where is he now?"
"I actually don't know."
"You don't know?," he asked surprised, "When was the last time you saw him?"
Maélys slowly exhaled, "I don't remember."
Tom was perplexed, "You don't remember the last time you saw your own brother?"
"Yes," she lied.
Just as the girl had said the last word they exited the forest and the castle came into sight in front of them.
The two Slythern students reached their common room shortly before curfew started and Maélys quickly made her way to her dorm.
"Good night, Mister Riddle," she said to him before turning around and vanishing through the door.
That night, Tom did not hear any music from the piano room when he made his rounds.
But he heard it the next day in the afternoon.
Slowly, Tom walked to the door and pushed it open. Only to find a Gryffindor boy sitting there and playing.
Disappointed, he left the room again.
Tom watched her again.
Maélys and Louisa sat on a blanket on the grass by the lake. Both girls were reading and scribbling something on parchment.
How they were able to study while a group of first-years were loudly playing games next to them was beyond him.
He himself was in the library, where it was quiet. Well, quieter...
The screams of the children outside could be heard even inside. Therefore the prefect had wanted to tell them to go play somewhere else. Not underneath the library windows. That was when he spotted her.
All attempts to bring her into his little club had been futile the last few weeks. He knew that the girl did not like him very much - why, he didn't understand, and so he had sent some of his more charming followers.
But even Malfoy had no luck.
So, Tom had decided to take this matteer into his own hands. But before, they had a potion to brew.
Today was new moon, which meant thet they'd have to brew the potion today so the potion can mature for a full lunar cycle.
He looked at the clock. They'd meet in five minutes here in the library. The boy turned back to the window. She was still absorbed in her book, no motion of her to get up.
A scowl formed on his face. She might have a few minutes left until the agreed time but he did not like to wait.
He faced his study table and decided that if she would let him wait, he'd at least use the time to finish his Arithmancy essay.
Preoccupied by the numbers, he didn't notice the girl that came towards him.
"Mister Riddle?"
A voice startled him and he looked up.
"Miss d'Avougour, you're la-"
But one look to the clock behind her told him that she was, in fact, not late but right on time. In the distance, he could hear the great clock above the Hogwarts entrance chime.
Bewildered, he regarded the girl.
"Are you allright, Mister Riddle?" asked the girl frowning, "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Just five minutes ago, he had seen her sitting outside by the lake, absorbed in her book. Now, she stood in front of him, waiting for him.
Inwardly, he cursed himself. He should've known that she'd still be punctually. Quickly, he stood up and packed his books in his bag.
"I feel splendid," Tom uttered, "We should start with our potion."
"Yes," she agreed, eyeing him carefully, unconvinced, "I already got the books."
This time, Tom did not let his confusion show on his face. Instead, he wondered how she made the way up to the castle to the library, find the books they'd need and still be on time within five minutes.
Something was not right with the girl, he was convinced. But maybe he could coerce her secrets out of her mouth after she joined his cause. For now, he kept wondering.
Determined to not let the girl have the upper hand, he lead her into the dungeons to one of the potion rooms that were provided for students like them to practice and brew potions.
The potion would take one lunar phase to mature, which means that it would be finished in the beginning of June.
Maélys laid the books down next to the brewing station and opened them on their respective pages. Tom watched as a couldron came flying out of her bag, landing above the already lit fire.
Interesting, Tom thought, she must've placed an undetectable Extension Charm on it.
Silently, he picked the ingrediants they'd need from his bag. When everything was placed on the worktable, Maélys took on of the books in her hand and began reading the intructions out loud:
"On the day of the new moon, pour Standard Potioning Water into an iron cauldron and bring to a simmer."
Tom pulled his wand from his robes, pointed to the cauldron and said: "Aguamenti!"
He watched as the water poured into the vessel and they waited until it was simmering. Then he took the vial of Ptolemy, spilled its content with an anti-clockwise motion and allowed it to simmer for another ten minutes.
His partner got the ten ounzes of Powdered Moonstone and slowly, one spoonful at a time, stirred it into the mixture, watching until the powder dissolved thoroughly.
Then she turned to slice the Adder's Fork carefully lenghtwise to divide the tongue into halves and eventually dropped into the couldron.
With a wave of her hand, she raised the heat and brought the mixture to a rolling boil.
After rereading the next instruction, he took the Jobberknoll Feathers in his hands.
She had said that she would get it for them, but still he wondered how. Those blue feathers were incredibly hard to obtain, escpecially twelve of them!
Still, Tom dropped them into the vessel, stirring clockwise one time between each feather. After they boiled for exactly thirty seconds, his partner was already throwing in the Fluxweed they had obtained a week ago.
As soon as the mixture reached a rolling boil again, she removed the couldron from the falme. Tom quickly crushed the three Sopophorous Beans with the flat of the blade of a silver knife and added them.
Now, all the had to do was wait for the mixture to cool before pouring into a bottle for maturation. But the book explicitly stated that the cooling was not allowed to be magic. It had to cool naturally.
Maélys looked at the clock.
"Dinner starts in a few minutes. We can come back after to bottle our potion," she said.
Tom nodded, "Yes."
The two didn't pack their books or cleaned up their work station. No one would come in because everyone was at dinner, but Tom still watched, secretly fascinated, as Maélys turned to the door and said:
"Claudo te. Vis sera portus."
And then: "Apné sà mene."
On their way to the great hall, Tom couldn't hold himself back and asked: "What was that?"
"Oh, just some minor doorway sealing and boundary spells," she answered as if that was obvious and he should know those spells. But Tom did not know them.
He, again, cursed himself inwardly because she, again, knew more than him and that itched him.
"I assume correctly when I say that you learned those spells from your mother?," he clenched his jaw.
"Yes, of course," she smiled, "Those were some of the first spells she taught me."
He watched as she fondly smiled at the memory.
"Your mother must've been a great witch," he tried to pry more information out of her.
"Yes, she was. Whenever someone in our village needed something, they'd always come to her and she would fix it."
"Until Grindelwald killed her," he stirred the conversation in the direction he wanted, "You must hate him."
The girl looked at him at first with anger and then with something you could not quite decipher.
"Yes," she said slowly, narrowing her eyes, "but what could I do against him? He's one of the most powerful wizards, only Dumbledore could overpower him."
Maélys watched him as the answered.
"Maybe not. Dumbledore hasn't even lifted a finger since Grindelwald came into power. Maybe someone else has to eliminate Grindelwald."
"Who?," the girl huffed. They came to a stand in front of the doors of the great hall. Inside, dinner had already started and Tom could see his companions looking curiously at them.
"Well, if you're interested, I have a proposition for you," he smiled.
