A/N: Ok, so we know we haven't updated in a while…(dodges rotten tomatoes and eggs thrown by faithful readers), ok more like a month, but alas school and IB does get in the way. So now we give you all our longest chapter EVER! To make up for it So read on and ENJOY!

Chapter 14 - Muffins, London and Grindelwald.

Elena woke up, Saturday morning, dreading the day ahead. She had the strangest feeling that she had swallowed a huge rock and it was permanently lodged in her throat. Today was her final day as Tom Riddle and what she should have felt was elation but instead she regretted how much time she had lost in Tom's body which she could have used to exploit him. She got up hurriedly and noticed that all the boys were fast asleep except Avery who seemed to be missing. Once she had gotten dressed she began her task of literally ransacking Riddle's four poster bed and trunk. After searching in vain for a good half hour in his trunk, she came across a secret compartment that contained a black leather bound diary.

She knew at once, this was the diary which would later be turned into a horcrux. The first few pages described the painstaking research that Riddle had done in the five years before he had managed to open the chamber. She read the date on the first page; '22nd December 1937'. He was only eleven years old when he did all this research? That is incredible.

She continued to look at the pages in what could only be described as awe. As the pages moved on she saw some of the vent of frustration he had at not finding the chamber. All of a sudden, she came upon the date '31st October 1941' and realised that that was when he discovered the entrance to the chamber. After pouring through all his notes she realised Tom Riddle was simply brilliant. There was no other word to describe his raw intellect and determination. She looked at the date five weeks after he had discovered the chamber and read the entry.

I don't understand why the basilisk petrified the mudbloods today. I expressely told it to not draw attention to itself until later and it yet again has disobeyed me. I do not know what is happening. The basilisk is supposed to be the servant of the heir of Slytherin!

She flipped over the page and saw Tom's usually elegant script haphazardly scribbled across the page.

A mudblood was murdered today. I did not even know her name nor did I tell the basilisk to kill her. This is going on for too long and the basilisk continues to defy me. I will shut the chamber and trap it in there forever. It seems to be out of everyone's control now.

Elena was shocked. She had been told that Riddle had only shut the chamber because the school was about to close down and he did not want to return to the orphanage. She realised that he didn't want to purge the school of the muggleborns, the only thing he was after was power and the need to gain respect. Perhaps there was still some hope left in convincing him.

She shut the diary and put it back in the compartment exactly the way it had been taking extra care to ensure there was no trace that she had been in there. She then quietly left the room and headed out towards the great hall. Once again, she and Tom had agreed to meet at their usual tapestry before school began. They would then go to Professor Slughorn who would give them the cure and would never have to worry about each other again (Tom's words, not hers).

"There you go, that's two goblet fulls of the reversal potion. It should take effect instantaneously," beaming, Slughorn handed them two smoking goblets full of a neon orange concoction which Tom eyed suspiciously. He had never seen a potion like that before.

Wordlessly, they both swallowed the contents of their goblets. Tom immediately felt the strangest feeling.

First his toes started to tingle in the most disturbing manner. He found himself inexplicably crinkling his nose. Suddenly, his mouth seemed to stretch into a smile of its own accord. He looked over, and Elena was experiencing the exact same thing. (A/N: Ok, whoever guesses the song first will win a shout-out in the next chapter)

Finally, Tom felt the queerest sensation of being sucked into the ground, like his body was melting but his soul was sinking in quicksand. A half second later he found himself back in his own body. He looked over and thankfully saw Elena back in her body as well, however she seemed to be having some sort of…convulsions or something. She was flailing out her hands and screaming, "YESSS, YESS I'm back!"

Tom rolled his eyes. She was like a nine year old on a sugar rush, completely incapable of taking anything seriously. (A/N: whoever guesses where that line came from gets a special shout-out. HINT: it's a T.V. show)

"Well, that's better isn't it. I'm so sorry about the mix up and to make up for it; here are the two bottles of Felix Felicis as promised. And I assure you this is the real Felix Felicis this time."

Tom and Elena silently took their bottles and made to leave the office but Slughorn interrupted, "Oh and, if you don't mind, please don't mention this to Dippet."

"Of course not Sir," Tom said in a sickeningly false devoted voice.

As soon as they got out of Slughorn's earshot Elena said, "You know, you don't have to kiss his arse all the time."

Tom was gobsmacked and all he could reply with was, "I don't kiss his arse."

"Sure you don't," said Elena smugly.

"I don't," he said defiantly.

"Fine, fine," she said in a singsong voice.

As they entered the Great Hall for a late breakfast, heads started to turn in their general direction, again. "Great, what have we done this time?"

"I think it's more the fact that we've entered together…" Tom answered.

"Well, I don't want to eat here with everyone staring," she said.

Elena quickly grabbed a double chocolate muffin off the Hufflepuff table. ("Hey!" A Hufflepuff shouted, "I was going to eat that.")

She grabbed his arm and steered him out the doors and to a large oak tree at the foot of the lake. You almost couldn't see Hogwarts from there.

"Why are we here again? If you'll excuse me, I need to go to the Library," said Tom.

"Firstly, we are here because I couldn't bear to eat where people just gawped at me and secondly, no you don't need to go to the library because we didn't get any homework this week," She settled against the base of the tree and took a bite out of her muffin, and peered at Tom over her knees.

Tom's stomach growled and he stared enviously at her muffin. Elena noticing this said, "Do you want some?"

"Of course not."

"Really? Your stomach, and not to mention your eyes seem to be saying otherwise."

Tom grudgingly sat down next to her and quietly accepted the offered muffin. He pulled out his wand and used a spell to cut it in half. Tom took a large bite and they sat for a few minutes in muffin contentment.

Upon finishing his half of the muffin, Tom sighed and stared broodingly (A/N: HOT HOT HOT) into the depths of the still lake. Elena, noticing this, shook her head in frustration and said "Ok, so what is it this time?"

Tom looked down at her, puzzled, and replied "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, it's written all over your face. Clearly something's bothering you and you should just spit it out," she said.

"It's none of your business Grey, and even if it were you wouldn't be able to understand it," Tom said bitingly, impatience evident in every word.

"Right so first off, you need to drop the attitude with me because, whether you like it or not, everyone thinks we're going out and we need to keep up appearances, for the sake of my image. And, about two seconds ago you were fine, but then two seconds later you seem to have sunk into total arrogant arsehole mode again, and it is annoying. SO just spit it out, whatever's bothering you, so I can finish the rest of my muffin in peace."

To say Tom looked slightly taken aback would be the understatement of the century. He had never in a million years expected Elena to be so insightful into his personality.

"I…uh…I well lets just say a project I'm working on alone is not going as planned, and it just...frustrates me that I'm not able to fix it," Tom finally said, staring determinedly at his fingernails.

Yeah I know what project. Guess this is it Elena, he's going after the Horcruxes at last. But thankfully, it's not going too well. I hope it just continues on like this…

"Well…that's no reason to muck up a great Saturday morning! Why don't you take a break and maybe you'll find a way to fix it?" she suggested chirpily.

"What kind of a break?"

"You know, like a sneak out of school in the dead of night and apparate to Muggle London kind of break," she said slyly.

Looking slightly disconcerted, Tom said "Oh and you've taken this sort of a break before?"

"No, but I know how it goes," she answered.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you but that is NOT happening. I happen to be a school prefect and have to set an example…"

"Fine," she cut across him, "I'll just go with Noah."

"But I thought I was the one in need of a break," Tom said, raising an eyebrow.

"Uhm, yeah but I guess I need one too now," she said nonchalantly. "And besides, I've always wondered what Muggle London was like…I mean is like."

"Do whatever you want Grey, just don't come crying to me when you land yourself your twentieth detention with Dippet. Oh…and thanks for the muffin," and with a slight smile he couldn't disguise, Tom walked back to school, leaving Elena sitting by the tree.

For the first time in two weeks, Elena finally entered her beloved Gryffindor dormitory…and was welcomed by a slightly hostile group of girls who were intent on grilling her about Riddle.

"Sooo, we saw you two leave the Great Hall this morning," Charlotte started.

"Oh no, why was everyone staring?" Elena asked.

"Simply because in the past Tom Riddle has never been seen within a yard of a girl."

"Well sorry to disappoint you guys but nothing happened…and if you don't mind I have to…go to the library." She realised she got that excuse from Tom.

"Grey, I am so glad you are finally taking your studies seriously, in fact, I was going to go to the library right now. We can go together," Muriel Weasley piped up from the corner.

"Ohhh, wait…I promised Noah I would go and see Professor…Dumbledore…about some…uhh…transfiguration project," she said quickly.

"Oh, that's ok then," Muriel said while the other girls snorted.

"Changing your mind so quickly Grey," said Kate smirking.

"No, I just realised I promised Noah something. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go meet him."

Elena walked out of the dormitory and into the crowded common room, craning her neck to spot Noah's familiar blonde head. She finally saw him curled up in front of the window with his sketchbook in hand. He seemed to be scribbling furiously.

She sneaked up behind him and shouted, "BOO!" Noah violently cursed and Elena swore one of them was in Gobbledegook. She managed to sneak a peek at his sketchbook and saw what looked like a photograph of the view outside the window.

"Ooh, let me see," she snatched it out of his hands and stared. That wasn't a photograph, it was a drawing.

"Hey, give it back, it's awful," Noah said.

"Are you joking? Did you actually draw this? It's incredible," Elena said in disbelief.

"Well…I was bored….anyway why did you…jump me…?"

"Oh right, well, the girls were being annoying and I made up an excuse for going to the library…except Muriel volunteered to come with me and so I was forced to make another excuse which included you and I going to see Professor Dumbledore."

"Right. So I take it we are not actually going to see Professor Dumbledore…"

"Well, let's just go anyway, and pretend we're going to see Professor Dumbledore."

He picked up his things and the two of them traipsed out of the portrait hole. "Right, so I have to ask you something," she said.

"Well, go on"

"Do you want to sneak out to muggle London tonight?"

"Um…why?"

"Because I need a break and I asked Riddle but he said no and then I told him fine I'd ask you instead but then…"

"You want to show him up don't you," he said knowingly.

"No, well, maybe…so can you come?"

"Why not? But what will we do?"

"Well, we could always go to a muggle pub and try out…muggle drinks…not to mention the muggle girls, eh Noah?" she winked.

"Oh, yeah of course, the girls," he said unenthusiastically.

"So you'll come then."

"There's one problem though…we don't have any muggle clothes."

"Before we go, we can transfigure some of our school robes into muggle clothes and take them with us."

"Wait, I thought in the muggle world you have to be eighteen to drink…we're sixteen."

Elena rolled her eyes, "I've got it, don't worry. Just meet me at the common room at midnight. When no one's there."

As soon as she heard Muriel's rasping snores echo throughout the dormitory, she knew that everyone was asleep; because Muriel was the last one to come back from the library and took ages falling asleep.

She quietly took out two authentic fake IDs she had prepared for herself and Noah and then proceeded to sneak out of her dormitory. As planned, Noah was waiting for her, with a smirk on his face.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing," he grinned.

"You feel like a rebel don't you?"

"Yeah, that and I've always wondered what muggle London is like," he answered.

She handed him the fake ID and they walked out of the common room. They had just reached the entrance hall when she heard footsteps. "Quick get in here," she pulled Noah behind a suit of armour, which didn't quite cover the both of them.

After a few tense moments, Tom Riddle walked into the Entrance Hall, clearly doing his rounds as prefect. Sighing in relief, she pulled Noah out from behind the statue and they walked towards the door.

"Wait, where are you two going? And why are you out of bed at this hour?" Tom asked curtly.

"I told you Tom, we're going to 'take a break'," Elena said slyly.

"What? I didn't think you were being serious about that!" Tom said, shocked.

"Well, now you know I am. So please move out of the way. Oh yeah and don't tell anyone," she said with an air of finality.

All this time, Noah had been looking uncertainly from Elena to Tom, and trying to see where this was going to go…

"Fine then, leave. But like I said before, don't come back to me when you end up, I don't know, drunk or something and doing a hundred detentions," Tom said stiffly.

"Yeah, I won't," Elena replied coolly. "Now move out of the way." Tom was currently standing with his back to the door.

"No, I can't just let you go out. It's not safe with Grindelwald's supporters storming wherever they find signs of magic," Tom said concernedly.

Elena's confidant demeanour seemed to wilt for a moment. She had completely forgotten about Grindelwald. But she couldn't back down now. Tom would forever consider her a coward.

"Well, we'll just be extra careful then…" she said uncertainly.

"No, I can't let you do that…I'm going to…" Tom trailed off

You're going to what, Tom? Why do you care anyway, she means nothing to you, so it shouldn't matter whether she gets attacked or mugged in muggle London. And it would be amusing to see her in trouble, now won't it?

But Dippet would never forgive me if a student got into trouble on my watch.

Are you sure that's the reason you want her to be safe?

Tom told his conscience to shut up and said "…I'm…I'm coming with you," he said in a rush.

Elena stopped, turned, and exclaimed "You're what? You were the one who didn't want to go in the first place!"

"Yes, but I can't very well allow you two to walk off into trouble now can I?" Tom snapped.

"Uhm, not to interrupt you guys or anything, but if we are going then we should really get a move on, its half past twelve already…" Noah put in timidly.

Both Tom and Elena shot Noah quick glares then walked to the front doors. Once they reached the boundary of the Hogwarts grounds, Elena stopped them and began transfiguring her own clothes. Her robes were replaced by a short strapless black dress that was admittedly of a conservative length, and happened to be her favourite one back home. She transformed her scarf into a black trench coat. Her shoes were gone, and now she was clad in strappy black high heels, complete with a red sole. Now she was tall enough to reach Tom's nose, and that felt good to her.

Tom, looking slightly amazed at her transformation was openly gawking her.

"You know, you have to change too…" she said with a smile.

"Right…I knew that."

Noah was already wearing an old fashioned suit, the kind Elena had seen in those war movies, at Carmen's place. But, now that she was here she appreciated 21st century fashion much more. Tom however, was wearing a black oxford shirt with black pants, since their spells worked best of the colours were maintained. But Noah seemed to have on a red and gold tie…weird.

"Ok, so now that we look like muggles, lets go."

"Wait but I can't apparate," Noah said.

Both Elena and Tom gave him deeply disgruntled looks. Tom, noticing that Elena had given him one too, asked "Grey, you know how to apparate?"

"Excuse me, of course I know how to apparate. I'm seve- sixteen and my tutor taught me ages ago," she said.

Tom still looked skeptical, but only said "Right, so who shall take Bennett here in side-along?"

"I will. Come on Noah, grasp my left arm really tightly now," Elena said.

"Hang on, where are we apparating to?" Noah asked.

Elena told him a street she was familiar with, incidentally very close to where Camilla and Carmen used to live.

After a brief, airless trip, they were standing in front of a fancy French bar. Tom raised his eyebrows at her, and commented "Well, you sure know all the places, Grey."

"One of my many talents"

They walked in and sat down at a table. A pretty French waitress who looked about twenty five at the most, sauntered across the smoke filled room to take their orders. She bent over Tom, neatly revealing her abundant cleavage. Elena looked away in disgust. Thankfully, Noah had the same look of disgust, although now that she thought about it, it was weird considering any red blooded teenage male would be drooling all over the table.

But Tom didn't seem to have noticed her excessive flirting and was calmly ordering a red Chianti wine for himself and looked expectantly over at Elena. She grabbed the menu and looked through excitedly at the array of vintage cocktails. "I'll have…a martini cocktail." Noah ordered a pink lady cocktail. He insisted he had drunk it before…with his father, and that it was a manly drink.

"Anything else?" the waitress asked, looking pointedly at Tom and thoroughly ignoring Elena and Noah.

Tom ignored her and addressed Elena, "Now about your choice in drink, do you know how much alcohol it contains?"

"Um… it's just a martini right? It's not like it's a shot or anything."

"What's a shot?" Tom asked.

"Uhh...nevermind."

"Excuse é moi, are you done with your orders?"

"Yes, that will be all, thank you," Tom smiled politely and the waitress blushed.

Their drinks arrived, with Noah's coming complete with a bright red cherry and pink to boot. Elena's, contrary to what Tom claimed, was a completely harmless golden red, with a tiny olive at the bottom.

She hesitantly took her first sip, and it burned down her throat. In no time at all, her glass was empty and she had already ordered a second. She was starting the feel reckless now, and fed up with her stupid mission. Who would say that Tom Riddle would end up as Voldemort? He was right here, sipping a bloody Chianti like a bloody aristocrat, for god's sake! Voldemort seemed more of a Bloody Mary kind of bloke.

Trying to rouse herself from her twisted and confused thoughts, she dimly registered that she was getting slightly tipsy. Noah on the other hand, had drunk three pink ladies, four gin and tonics, and a scotch. He now looked very ready to pass out, and was currently informing a very disturbed Tom, how beautiful his eyebrows really were. Elena shook herself and listened more closely.

"…and you know, your facial structure is just like those Greek statues, that are great for drawing...but you know your mate Avery man, wow he's a knockout!" Noah slurred.

"Ok, now is a good time to STOP, Noah," Elena interrupted, and Tom shot her a grateful glance.

"Yeah, you know what, I can sleep right here, this is a really com…comfortable ch...chair." And with that, Noah passed out, his head banging against the table.

"Alright I'm going to the men's room, make sure Bennett doesn't…die, will you?" Tom sighed. He was really regretting coming now.

"Yeah sure I will," Elena smiled at him beatifically. Maybe Bennett wasn't the only one who was drunk, Tom thought.

As soon as Tom left, a group of rowdy men, sitting on the table next to them made their way slowly over to where Elena was drinking her third (or was it fourth?), martini.

"Alright honey?" a particularly greasy one slurred.

"Ditch your pal blondie there, and come share a pint with us," a second, slightly less drunk man said.

"Um, no thanks, we're leaving soon anyway," she said firmly and looked resolutely away from them.

"Oh, come on darlin', a fine young thing like you shouldn't be sitting alone! One drink's not going to do you much harm," the first one said.

"I said no, so please leave now," she said curtly, but nonetheless her fingers had curled around her wand under her jacket.

"Is there a problem here?" Tom's cold voice cut in from right behind them.

"Oh no, Tom, they were just leaving," Elena said sharply, looking pointedly at them. The men scrambled off, leaving behind a slightly awkward silence.

"Um…yeah so thanks," she mumbled, looking at her glass.

"Well you were the only decent looking girl left at the bar, so I s'pose it was inevitable that drunkards like them would trouble you…"he trailed off leaving an even more awkward silence.

"Ah…right, well….thanks, yes," she said, embarrassed. "Yeah we should get going now, it's getting late and I think Noah's not going to get up."

She was about to try and heave Noah to his feet, with Tom helping on the other side, when the door burst open. The waitress screamed as the bar table behind her exploded and showered a fine layer of dust and smoke everywhere. A split second later everyone's glasses shattered.

All the muggles collapsed on the spot, leaving only Tom and Elena awake. As the smoke cleared, three cloaked figures approached their table. Both Tom and Elena had dropped Noah back in his seat and were clutching their wands tightly.

"Vell, vell, vell, vhat do ve have here?" a thickly accented male voice echoed throughout the room.

"Looks like two English vizard truants to me, vhat about you Schultheiss?" the second figure said.

"Now, ve vant you to come quietly, but ah, first hand over your vands," the first man ordered.

Elena seemed to have frozen in place. She was in shock, and her fingers were moulded to her wand. She glanced at Tom, next to her, and she heard him breath in one word –

"Grindelwald."

A/N: Aww aren't we evil? Well you just need to press that cute tiny little button that says REVIEW and we shall update SOON this time, we PROMISE! Also an excerpt from the next chapter –

Elena shot a well aimed curse at her attacker, hitting him squarely in the chest.

"Well, Grey, I didn't know you could fight drunk," Tom remarked, dodging curses from his own opponent

"I'm NOT drunk!" Elena said indignantly, but her unsteady walk said otherwise. As soon as Tom's opponent was unconscious, Elena tripped over a stool and fell over, giggling hysterically.

"Not drunk, my arse," Tom muttered to himself.

Haha, so that's all for now, we really vow to update SOONER next time! Also bonus brownie points to those who can guess the song and the T.V. show we got those two lines, earlier in the chapter from.

Seriously, you will get to be a cameo character in the next chapter if you get it right! ;P