DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER

Summary: Heehee, its a mystery story right? If i tell you it won't be funnnnnneeee!

PAIRING: GinxTom

Previously...

Now we're trapped between a gigantic-monster-book and the Dark Lord himself...

So dead.


Chapter 4-Mysterious Mysteries

Riddle really hadn't expected either Fridwarn or Hornby or both to greet him in the Restricted Section.

After all that preparation, this minor glitch had to occur? He had specifically ordered Dimitri Lestrange to ensure that the library was unoccupied at this time, which included Madam Zelda's absence of course. Then, out of care, he had sought out Abraxas Malfoy and Alphard Black, one to stand guard outside the library, and the other, outside the Restricted Section.

And this had to happen.

That new meddling transfer and her little pet ferret, Hornby, seemed to be interfering with his plans – and not coincidentally. From the dark glare Fridwarn had given him over the dinner table, to how she had stationed herself at the restriction section past curfew hour, and perfectly timed it at midnight. She obviously knew something – or guessed his plans, and that pretty much shook him up horribly.

Hiding his inner turmoil, Riddle drew closer to them composedly, wand poised, and voice leveled, "Forcing me to deduct points from Slytherin, are you? A pity. It's your first day Fridwarn, and as for you Hornby, I'd honestly thought yourself to be more discerning."

"Really, Riddle?" It was the Fridwarn girl who spoke – in a cool and deadly manner. "Care to speak for yourself?"

"Since you insist to know, Fridwarn, Professor Slughorn has granted me full consent to further my research on Polyjuice Potion. An interesting subject indeed. And as for my - lurking beyond Curfew hours, the Slug Club's meeting ended particularly late tonight – and all members have been spared the Curfew – it, has been pushed back exactly four hours." A witty and smooth lie – good thing none of them were part of the Slug Club.

Riddle appraised himself (something that was rarely done) secretly for the well-weaved lie.

Well, the truth was: He was here solely for the information on Memory Horcruxes.

But as he advanced within inches from them, he realized the two girls were pinning a thrashing book down beneath them. Apparently, they had broken its chain, and the book had bitten them a couple of times in which they did deserve.

It would have been comical indeed, but Riddle's attention was more focused on the type of book in which they had daringly proceeded to read.

Dark Arts: Prohibited Time Spells and Memory Charms.

Riddle would have been surprised at the type of Dark Arts they had been studying, but sheer horror overcame in.

He couldn't let them gain the guardian of that book's trust. Oh no. He was dead if they did.


Ginny swore she spotted a flicker of stricken-terror on Riddle's face, before it slipped into that mask of composure once again.

Well it was not her fault that the book was biting their butts. For Olive, in a state of horror on Riddle's arrival, had shot a couple of crazed spells aimed at the book, but missed, and bullseye! It had so nicely broken its chain, leaving the both of them to pin it down with all they got. As for Myrtle, she had never been here. Sure.

It hurt terribly - If Riddle is not gentleman enough to notice. Do something! There are damsels in distress over here!

Deep and painful scratches and gashes had been forming over her arms, her bottom, and over at her shin. Olive must be suffering too. But the stupid gigantic monster book was thrashing too violently for them to put its binders back on.

Ginny got a grip of her wand, preparing to cast a-

"At the count of three, both of you, release the book," Riddle commanded, finally snapping out of his stony contemplation.

"Wha-?" Ginny blurted, release the book? If it didn't kill them first, it might go after Riddle himself. Yea, that'll be great. Ginny imagined telling the Ministry of Magic that 'Tom Riddle got killed by a giant book in the Restricted Section! I can justify that!' Well, it won't go too well…

3

2

1

"Release the book. Now."

Ginny decided to follow the command at the last minute – but well, with a bit of her own spell. Olive had already taken the time to scoot off far to the opposite side of the Section.

She caught the book in mid-air, freezing it approximately two inches away from her, and slightly above her head. And… she caught sight of a head embedded in the book – an elderly man's head, glaring out not at her, but for some reason, at Riddle. Curious.

Blo-ody hell! There are inhabitants in the book?

Riddle simply accepted her stubbornness, and straightened his yew wand at the book, causing it to clasp together obediently and jump back into the shelf. He then went on to complete his pretty little combo by re-fixing the chain and anchoring it firmly back to the shelf.

Errr… Thank you? That snake definitely has an ulterior motive. Though, Ginny thought, it'll be pretty mean not to acknowledge he did help us somewhat.

"Thank… you," Olive piped up before Ginny could even voice her thanks. "Err… You're going to pun… punish us, aren't you?" Olive stammered on.

Riddle simply turned to face them, his face completely bare of emotion, slipping his wand into his pocket deftly. "I'd advise you to think thrice before you tread in here again."

He simply stating that he doesn't want us to come here again for a certain reason! Ginny realized. But no, I need to read that book somehow. I am certain it has information.


Completely expected, Ginny and Olive had to skip breakfast the next day, and make a straight rush in hope to make it on time for their Potion Class. Myrtle had tried to apologize for ditching her during that period of mad frenzy, but after a couple of harsh words, was only sent by Ginny moaning all the way to the toilet.

"Professor Slughorn," Ginny had said. "Sorry, we're late.", and had been admitted in, along with Olive without much further complaints from him.

In fact, Professor Slughorn, even in his younger days of teaching, was a jolly man with a pot-bellied stomach, merrily dressed in a tattered brown cloak. He didn't seem to mind one bit about the lateness, possibly because Olive and I aren't one of his precious Slug Club students.

Though Ginny was new, you had to be blind not to notice the obvious deep rooted and mutual hate between the two houses: Gryffindor and Slytherin. There seemed to be a tall, tensed and invisible barrier dividing the class into half.

The Slytherin-side of the class was all well taken-up, by mainly Riddle and his dumb minions. Ignoring Riddle's – and the rest of the class's, rather interested and intense watching gaze, she happily opted to sit in one of the Griffyndor seats, hauling the reluctant Olive along, possibly breaking their stupid tradition for ages.

"Can anyone describe a Boomslang to me?" Slughorn asked jovially, eagerly pacing up and down the tensed barrier between the Gryffindor and Slytherin border, completely unaware.

Many hands shot up, including Ginnys. It was a rather easy question after all.

A girl with a cute heart-shaped face and blond plaits was called upon – a Gryffindor. "Quite small in size and very venomous, though its venom is slow to act. The skin of a male is mostly green, and a female- notably brown in colour. Their diet consist of small reptiles and amphibians… Though sometimes they do feed on mammals. Yes, that's it."

Woah, smart man! I admit I wouldn't have sprouted so much.

"That's right!" Slughorn threw his hands up with mock delight. "Five points to Gryffindor. Now a much harder one – related to the mention of Boomslang, any idea what potion we might be brewing today?"

Boomslang! Hermione had mentioned it more than once that it was an ingredient notably used in Polyjuice! And she had even helped the Order of the Phoenix in brewing the Polyjuice Potion! How could she not know?

Her hand, along with Riddle-the-nerd from across the 'barrier', were the only two that shot up at this complicated question.

Slughorn for that matter, had already positioned himself facing his most doted on and outstanding student, Riddle. And he was about to call on him when in pleasant surprise, spotted the new transfer student's hand up high.

Slughorn twisted his neck around. "Oh Fridwarn! Okay then, both of you are from Slytherin after all, so it doesn't really matter – give the new girl a chance! So…?"

"Polyjuice Potion." Ginny was aware that her the word came out soft and in a little whisper – though Slughorn seemed to hear it perfectly. (For polyjuice after all, was the indirect reason in which her brother had lost his ear.)

"Brilliant! Ten points to Slytherin!" He said joyously, and Ginny realized with a pang of guilt that she had just earned ten points for Slytherin. But whining for the points to be taken back would seem kind of weird…

Olive grinned and clapped her on the back. "Smart pig. Maybe the library is kinda cool." Ginny just shrugged modestly and smirked at Olive knowingly.

Slughorn then went on to caution the students on how highly complex the brewing of this potion was. "It may not turn out well, but…-" he had pointed out, "it's a good gauge to see where your potion skills stand!" Ginny barely listened as he explained the instructions step by step, cautioned them once more, explained again, cautioned them, explained once more, and then finally said, "You may begin, individual work please. Take a hair from yourself mind you, I don't wish to see anyone pulling anyone else's hair! Don't drink it! I'll come around and check on you."

Yeah, and Hemione brewed it when she was in second year. Ginny yawned, before standing up to collect all the items.


Riddle on the other hand, had comprehended enough of the situation to realize that it was not to his advantage. He had indeed read up quite enough on Polyjuice potion to know that the colour in which the Potion turns out as reacts according to the nature of the person to be imitated. Riddle had heartlessly murdered a girl earlier this year, and was not so eager to let Slughorn or his peers inspect the colour of his potion.

But as usual, a devious idea struck him very quickly, and he immediately carried it out without hesitation.


Ginny was the first to finish brewing her potion of course, hers turning a beautiful shimmering sliver in colour, which portrayed that, to her relief, that she was still - in one way or another, a pretty good person inside.

Realizing that Olive was struggling with the first stage of its brewing process, Ginny clambered over to help, but Slughorn stepped right into her path, and held up her cauldron joyously as though it was some sort of trophy.

"Beautiful! Wonderfully made! A true Master Potioneer! Shining silver! A kind person, aren't you?" Ginny watched as he glanced quickly over at his favourite pupil, Riddle, who was still calmly in the process of adding his final ingredient into his brass like cauldron. Glancing back, Slughorn studied Ginny with his head tilted to one side, "Very fast. Very very fast and accurate!"

Then, slyly shifting his eyes about the class, he slipped a little something into Ginny's hand. It feels like a note – but rather leathery.

As though nothing had happened, Slughorn quickly moved over to Olive's side and said, "Need to hurry up a bit, Miss Hornby! Time's running short!", causing Olive, (who fumbled alot in shock), to spill a bit of the contents on Slughorn's cloak.

Ginny turned her attention back to the leathery note at hand. She looked up, surveyed her surroundings, then content that not an eye was on her, she read it softly to herself.

"Welcome to the Slug Club, where gifted Potioneers come to meet! Every Tuesday night, after dinner, at eight–"

She hadn't finished reading it, when the note simply just disintegrated in her hands. Slughorn probably hexed the note to maintain the secrecy of his favourite club. That made sense- but if she hadn't read the venue of it, there was just no way she could attend it, right?

Uh oh- wasn't it the Club which Riddle had mentioned? –Damn, he was from it!

Ginny looked up, and glared at Riddle who was robotically dropping a tiny strand of hair into his cauldron. Ginny began to fight the urge to have a look at the colour of the Dark Lord's potion – to see what kind of person he was on the inside. It would be interesting after all… I mean, of course it would be pitch black, but what if it wasn't?

She stood up, and began 'clearing' her items, picking up the two remaining scruples of fluxweed and heading towards 'Slughorn's potion table' in order to put the extras back. Good thing that Riddle, who was sitting pretty nearby, wasn't even half-aware yet.

She tried, most inconspicuously to take a teeny weeny little peak at his Polyjuice Colour…

"Sticking your long nose in like that," Riddle's cool and cold gaze flickered to her in somewhat amusement. "In fact, I did expect you to."

Ginny froze, and began to muster some courage. She had no reason to think him bad, no reason to think him bad, no reason to think him bad, NO REASON TO THINK HIM BAD…

Ginny wondered if she should just start acting all lovesick like those admiring girls who were flocking around him, waiting eagerly for his potion's transformation. It would be a simple way out. But, she couldn't imagine herself sprouting such a disgustingly-gross lie.

"Interesting colour," Ginny managed. "White?" She couldn't stop the question mark interjecting itself at the end of the sentence.

White? Ginny nearly puked at the irony of it. White? There was simply no way that his potion was White! Out of all the colours, white stood for purity.

She watched wide-mouthed as his 'supporters' began to 'wow' over his 'white' transformation. He did something to his potion! How could it be white? But he did drop a strand of hair into his potion earlier… Unless…

"And yours?" He asked, and Ginny with terror, swore she detected a slight tone of interest in his voice.

She saw no peril in giving away the colour of hers. "Silver," she answered, still in deep thought, before hurrying off before he could bombard her with any more.


Riddle, watching her closely, was rather shocked with her reply, but didn't go to the extent of questioning her further. So inside, Riddle deduced with some uncertainty, she was actually a good person? Not many Slytherins' turned Silver after all.


A/N: Errr, not many reviews! But really really really really thanks to those who reviewed!