8.

Longer chapter:)

Introduction of a new character Evan Castillo and his mother Anna.

Evan Castillo was not in a good mood; why you may ask? That is because Tom bloody Riddle had decided to barge in to his dorm room at 5 in the morning, ordering – yes, ordering! – him to wake up because he had something important to ask of Evan. The young man had thought things like this won't be happening anymore when Tom had moved out, but he guessed he was a little bit too optimistic for his own good.

"Tom." Evan said with barely concealed irritation as he finally made his way down to the common room, which unsurprisingly was empty due to the early hours of the morning. He had just returned from an impromptu trip hom yesterday night and was looking forward to a morning lay-in. But no, Tom had to wake him up.

Huffing, Evan glared at Tom. As one of the strongest duelist in Slytherin, a glare from Evan would normally cower anyone in to submission, but since Tom wasn't just anybody, it barely fazed him - it had never fazed him…much to Evan's eternal frustration. "Tom…what are you doing?"

"Drinking coffee," Tom replied with a sip of his cup. How he had managed to get coffee at this hour was another mystery that Tom wasn't about to share.

"I can see that," Evan seethed, resisting the urge to snatch the newspaper Tom was reading along with enjoying his drink. As usual, the news on the front cover was far from cheerful; the rise of an unknown Dark Lord in Germany has been dominated the news for weeks and normally, British wizards were conceited enough to not give a crap until said danger would reach their doorsteps, but in this case, some experts believed that what's happening in Germany will affect the UK pretty soon. Evan knew all this because his father was one of those said-experts.

But that was not the point right now. Instead, the point right now was sitting in front of him, looking all serene with his coffee and newspaper, acting as if he hadn't just interrupted Evan's much needed beauty sleep.

"Then what's the problem?" Tom asked, looking up at him non-impressed.

"The problem," Evan hissed, his left eye twitching "is that you barged in to my room at 5 in the morning, waking me up with an emergency and when I do come down to meet you, what do I see? You, drinking coffee calmly; no emergency in sight. If it was anyone else Tom, I swear, you would be the victim of an extremely nasty curse by now."

"Merlin Evan," Tom smirked at him, "You are a Slytherin. Do have some decorum. Besides, I don't understand why you are in such a foul mood. So I woke you up, big deal."

"Foul mood?" Evan hissed. "Foul mood? Listen here Tommy boy, I know it is difficult to understand, so I'll say it slowly. YOU DO NOT WAKE SOMEONE UP AT 5 A.M AND EXPECT THEM TO BE IN A GOOD MOOD!"

"Oh," Tom blinked innocently, "Was it too early for you?"

Evan spluttered indignantly as Tom returned his attention to his newspaper, lips pursed in a slight frown.

"You're punishing me, aren't you?" Even finally said, forcing himself to calm down. He took a few deep breaths to regain his focus. "For bringing a girl from another House back here."

"You are not as hopeless as I thought," Tom said mildly, finally putting down his paper, "You're right. I am punishing you, but that is not the reason I called you down here."

"What is it?" Evan asked, interested despite himself. Tom was always involved in things beyond Evan's understanding and it interested him when the young man in question would deem it necessary to share.

"I need to speak to your mother," Tom told him, "As soon as possible."

"My…mother," Evan repeated slowly. Anna Castillo was, what society would call, an oddball. Instead of marrying a wealthy man and stay at home, Anna was dedicated to her work, more so then to her children. She was obsessed with death magic and was the world's foremost expert on the Deathly Hallows. While most people don't even believe they exist, Anna has spent 10 years of her life research them. When he had been young, Evan had resented her mother's absence. Now he was older, resentment turned in to a sort of indifference. He ignored her and she ignored him. It was an arrangement that worked fantastically. "Tom, you do know that I have no idea where mom is."

"Your father might know," Tom insisted, "Write to him. I need to speak to your mother as soon as possible. Tell her I have something that would interest her greatly."

Evan's eyes widened.

"You have proof of the Hallows' existence? Because that's the only thing that would interest her."

Tom smirked once more, leaning back in to his armchair.

"That's between your mother and me when you find her. Now run along and deliver my message."

"I'm not your slave," Evan snapped, but proceeded to rise none the same. No matter how he felt, one just simply does not say no to Tom Riddle.

"Hi, Harry right?"

Harry looked up from his book, surprised at the interruption. The speaker was a young girl; bright green eyes and slightly tanned skin; pretty in a sort of elvish kind of way. She was also wearing a uniform with the Slytherin House crest.

"Yes," he said carefully, "How may I help you?"

Was she one of Tom's lackey's? he wondered to himself. In a stroke of luck, Tom had an emergency meeting with the teacher for his Runes class and thus could not spend Harry's free period with him. Harry didn't mind though; after the excitement of the last few days, he wanted some time alone. But it looks like my luck is over.

Sighing internally, Harry forced on a smile and turned his entire attention to the girl who had just sat down next to him, noting her rather nervous disposition. The chances that she had been asked by Tom to come keep an eye on Harry increased with every second. Although why Tom had chosen her instead of Black or Malfoy was anyone's guess.

The girl must have realized what he had been thinking because she immidietly said: "I'm Emily and I'm not here on behalf of Tom."

"Oh?" Harry blinked, "Why are you here?"

"I'm here on behalf of Professor Slughorn," she answered.

Professor Horace Slughorn taught Potions to the higher level while Harry's father's arch nemesis Severus Snape taught Potions to the lower ones. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to let Snape be in charge of introducing a potentially dangerous class to kids was obviously out of their minds. Snape was terryfying on a good day. The way he would snarl and take points for every little thing made him the most hated professor in the whole school. Professor Slughorn on the other hand was more popular amongst the students, mainly due to the massive network of connections he had amassed through the years. Everyone knew that Slughorn was on talking terms with numerous wizarding celebrities and could convince any one of them to pay him a personal visit.

Harry, being the underachiever he was, had never had the "privilege" of talking to the man. He was abmysal at potions and would probably never be able to take Slughorn's class. He didn't care about that though, since Harry hated potions as much potions apparently hated him. With all that said, it made absolutely no sense for Slughorn to suddenly seek him out. No sense...except for the little fact that he was now being courted by the most high profile student in school.

"And how may I help Professor Slughorn?" he asked, eyebrows threatening to crawl off his face they were raised so high.

"He's organising a welcome back to school party and would like to issue you a personal invite. Of course Tom was also invited and has already confirmed that he would be going."

So it's really about Tom, Harry thought to himself. One of his biggest mistakes when conceiving his master plan was failure to take in to consideration just how much his life would change if he accepted Tom's proposal. Back then, he had been so blinded by his desire to finally overcome his sister that nothing else mattered. Now that he was neck-deep in this whole affair, the implication of a relationship with a Founder's Heir was starting to hit him. With Tom courting him, Harry's blissful days of anonymity were over. People was going to try to get on his good side to impress Tom. Just the thought of the additional crap he was going to have to deal with made him shiver.

"Harry?"

"Oh sorry," he said to Emily as he gazed back at her, "I guess if Tom's going, I'll go as well. Go take a look."

"That's fantastic news," Emily said and actually sounded sincere. Harry had underestimated her when he had seen her for the first time, but he understood now why she was in Slytherin. Her acting skills were superb.

"When will the party be?"

She took out an envelop from her skirt pocket and handed it over. Harry took it before looking at the front. His name was written in green; cursive letters that made the whole thing look elegant and sophisticated. Harry could feel the trace of Slughorn's magical signature on the item, confirming that it was indeed him who had sent it. Sometimes, his extreme sensitivity to magic can come in to handy. For one thing, no wizard can sneak up on him unless he was extremely distracted; even if they did all they could to hide their magical signature, Harry can still feel it. It was ironic that someone as useless as him at magic could have such a rare ability.

"That seems to be in order," he told Emily, shaking his head to dispel his thoughts, "Thank you for bringing it over."

"Of course," Emily said and rose, smoothing down her skirt when she was standing once more. "Thank you for your time."

With a nod, she dissapeared in to the crowd of students making their way to the Castle.

Once she was gone, Harry put the invitation aside and took up his book again. Reading the invitation could wait; first, he wanted to find out how this chapter ends.

If Harry had expected to remain undisturbed until he finished his novel, he would have been deeply dissapointed because not even 5 minutes later, a second girl appeared.

"Hello," she said as she sat down next to Harry. The young man sighed a little in resignation and put his book down, before turning to face his companion. He nearly choked in surprise as he caught sight of two of the biggest raddish earrings framing the newcomer's face.

"Hi," he tried, eyes unable to tear themselves away from those...things.

"I'm Luna," the girl introduced herself, her gaze dreamy. She was kind of cute in a doll-like way with her bright blue eyes and whisp of blond hair that fell against her back like a curtain of gold. "And you're Harry."

"Luna," Harry pursed his lips, wondering where he had heard that name. His eyes widerned as the memory hit him. "You're that girl who keeps sprouting nonesense."

The moment the words were out, Harry blushed scarlet and stammered out an apology. Although it was true that people called Luna "Loony" for her tendency to daydream all the time and sprout things that no one can understand, Harry didn't know Luna well enough to ascertain to the truthiness of those accusations. His mother had always taught him to keep an open-mind and this was going against everything she had tried to hammer in to him as a kid.

"No, it's ok," Luna said simply, not at all offended by his words, "I don't mind. It's not people's fault if they are not blessed enough to see the things that I do. Their world must be so boring."

Harry snickered a little at that. Luna's self-confidence was truly a thing to behold.

"Then, how may I help you Luna?" he asked.

"I want to be your friend," Luna said simply.

Harry blinked.

"Why now?" he asked, "Are you trying to approach me because of Tom?"

"No, it's because you need my help," she answered simply, with no signs that she was nervous or lying her ass of. With a start, Harry realized that Luna actually believed what she was saying. She actually believed that Harry was going to need her help.

"Well," he smiled a little uncertainly, but he was certain that Luna's offer was not something he can pass on, "I don't know how you can help me, but we can be friends. I'm sure Hermione would like to have another girl around."

"Ok," Luna said simply before extracting a folded newspaper from her bag. She spread it out on her lap and started doing a crossword puzzle with a quill. Harry blinked at her sudden dismisal and returned to his book.

Life can be so strange sometimes.

TBC

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