Part Seven
Trysts And Troublemakers
Laura had been right about the Amortentia. I would not be needing it.
To begin with, I worried. Maybe she would just go back to ignoring me, but if I had thought as much, she was to prove me wrong.
I awoke just as the sky was getting light, and despite having so little repose the night before, I couldn't get back to sleep.
I had enjoyed very pleasant dreams relating to the events of the night before, and they certainly didn't involve Malfoy or Dolohov.
Jerking back the velvet drapes around my bed, I glanced over at the clock. It was ten minutes to seven.
I made my way down to the prefect's bathroom. In a couple of hours, the whole school would be frantic, for the Hogwarts express left for London at eleven.
O O O O O
I lay in the bath for a long while, just trying to empty my mind, but whenever I tried I just started to think thoughts that I knew I shouldn't be thinking, thoughts about her. It occurred to me that I didn't even know if she was going home for the holidays.
I hadn't bothered to say goodbye to any of my 'friends', and only Abraxas came to say goodbye to me, later that morning, as Apollonia stood huffily at the library's double doors and looked the other way, lips pursed.
Abraxas placed a small package down on the desk.
"For Christmas Day, you know." he muttered.
I did not reply, but as he left and his twin sister fell into step beside him, I distinctly heard her say,
"I don't know why you bother, actually,Brax, honestly I don't. It isn't like he ever does with you, I mean………"
"Shut up, Polly…" Abraxas groaned, as they turned the corner out of earshot.
O O O O O
I spent the rest of the day in the empty Slytherin common room, reading the rare edition of Hogwarts: A History, that nobody was supposed to remove from the library.
Madam Finnelly was tidying the Lower school library when I did it, charming it to fit inside my bag and walking out quickly and quietly.
I guessed I would have to put it back sooner or later, in case Professor Dumbledore heard about it, and suspected me, as I knew the interfering old goat would.
Since all the Professors knew I would be staying over the holidays, I still had night patrol, even if there would now be fewer of my fellow students to catch out of bed and take points from. It was almost a shame, but duty called, and besides, I was hungry, not having eaten properly all day.
Night duty was at ten, so at nine-fifteen I left the Slytherin dungeon, and made my way down past where I knew the Hufflepuffs slept, in the basement, to the kitchens where I ordered the nearest House-Elf to get me a meal.
The elf obeyed immediately, and when I had finished I left the plates for them to clear away, and began my nightly tour of the castle.
O O O O O
The place was completely deserted. I did hear noise from the Hufflepuff common room, a lot of Hufflepuffs had stayed, mainly because it was, as we all said, the house for virtual Squibs like Lucy Rosier, and the Mudbloods like Myrtle Miles, the most unpopular girl in the school.
Lucy, I knew, had gone home with Evan, but I could have sworn that I heard Miles' high, irritating voice coming from behind the portrait.
My nightly tour of the castle always culminated in the long and dreary climb to the top of the Astronomy tower. This part of night duty was hated by all, and no less myself, for the climb consisted of no less than 498 stone steps, and ended on the freezing parapet some hundreds of feet above the grounds. Tonight, though, I reached the platform, and I realized I was not alone. The figure, in its dark, blue velvet cloak turned at the sound of my footfalls on the stone, and it shook off the hood.
"Hello, Tom." said Laura. "I wondered when you'd be along."
I paused, then took a step towards her. I couldn't tell then, who exactly reached out for who first, but then I was holding her and suddenly, suddenly, I felt a lot warmer.
"You're out of bed, Ames," I murmured into her shoulder.
"And you're a prefect." she agreed, and I felt her smile.
"That's right."
"Terrible, isn't it?" she said.
O O O O O
And so was set the precedent. We would meet then, in secret, after hours, whenever we could.
By day, I was perfect, studious Tom Riddle. At night, I would go to do my duty as a prefect, yet the only one in the castle now disregarding all the rules was myself. The very one who was supposed to be enforcing them. Except Laura, of course.
But I never did take any points from Ravenclaw.
O O O O O
Christmas Eve had arrived, and despite the fact that a war raged in the Muggle world, at Hogwarts, no such depression reigned. Indeed, it was quite the opposite, as most of the Muggle born witches and wizards had elected to remain at school rather than return to a potentially dangerous home.
Laura had told me last night, as she stood on tiptoe to brush a soft kiss over my earlobe, that she would be returning home Christmas morning, early. Her father, she confided, was still in France, and could not come sooner. I did not ask her any more specifics on what Aster Ames did, but from the way she spoke of him, I assumed that it was not a Ministry –style, office job.
Christmas morning itself, was nevertheless an unusual departure time, but inside I, Tom Marvolo Riddle, was celebrating Christmas early.
Tonight- I knew the entirety of the Slytherin dungeons would be deserted, for of course by the very nature of our Founder, Muggles in Slytherin were not a common occurrence.
Tonight, I knew, that I would be at liberty to do as I wished, without being seen by anyone, and besides, I told myself, grinning to the deserted corridor at large, I would deal with anyone that DID happen to pry into my private business…. in my own, special way. I slashed my wand through the air in front of me, rehearsing for the moment.
Tonight, I was going to ask her to spend the whole night with me, in the Slytherin dormitory. We had talked about it before, briefly, but never had the nerve to go ahead with the plan, lest Professors Slughorn and Flitwick discover one missing from Ravenclaw and one extra in the dungeons of Slytherin House.
But on Christmas Eve, I knew that past ten pm, Slughorn would be prostate on his red, velvet chaise longue, snoring heartily with his glasses on the floor and an empty bottle of Oak Matured Mead slowly slipping from his feeble grip.
Slughorn had in fact invited me to spend the evening with himself and a "few friends that you ought to meet, m'boy, in the interests of your future career".
I had thanked him and accepted his invite graciously, telling him how much I was looking forward to the party, but all along I knew I had no intention of spending this precious Christmas Eve with my Professor.
I had never brought Laura down here to the dungeons before, though the temptation had been strong. We kissed and she would sometimes let me go further, but would always stop me before I could go too far, her hand closing over my wrist and the faint whisper,
"Tom…."
Some nights it was easier, but on others it was unbearable, and I would have to return to the cold sheets and spend the night alone, plagued by feverish dreams of all the things I wanted to do, if only I could persuade her to want them too.
I knew she was still afraid of her father, and of anyone finding out about 'us'.
I, too, wanted our relationship kept private, if only to avoid endless comments and speculation by Malfoy, Nott and the rest. Laura was none of their business, anyway.
O O O O O
So it was that, at a quarter to ten, my work in the dormitory was done. With a flick of my wand, I had cleaned the whole place, including the filthy mess that Dolohov and Mulciber used to make, butterbeer bottles and discarded wrappers of Droobles best blowing gum the most inoffensive of their assorted litter.
The sheets on my own bed were clean and crisp. I had become accomplished through my childhood at making beds the Muggle way, but now that this was no longer necessary, I pointed my wand and they rearranged themselves instantly to look as perfect as if a house-elf had been ironing them for a fortnight.
I opened the top drawer of my bedside chest and took out the Christmas gift I had bought for Professor Slughorn with my saved galleons. The small golden clock ticked gently as I lifted it onto the shiny green wrapping paper, and with another deft flick of my wand, the package neatly wrapped itself, a silver bow appearing from nowhere, and securing itself to the top.
Picking it up, I left the dormitory, going up several flights of stone steps until I reached the common room. I tapped the stone that would reveal the exit, stepping out and heading for Professor Slughorn's office.
It took longer than I had anticipated to extricate myself from Slughorn's clutches. The Potions master was in his element, a small crowd sitting on various squashy velvet armchairs and pouffes and talking loudly, mostly, I noticed, about themselves.
Predictably, Slughorn swept me over to where two of his Ministry acquaintances were knocking back firewhiskies as if they were going out of fashion.
"Timpson, Wellbelove, this is Riddle. Not that I have favourites, of course," he slurred, "Strictly impartial, you know, but he is my star pupil. I fully expect him to be joining your ranks when he leaves, though that won't be for a while yet, will it, Riddle, m'boy?"
He actually nudged me in the ribs, quite hard, and I had to steady myself or I would have overbalanced, falling headfirst onto a large purple sofa that, with Slughorn's rotund form at my elbow, was now blocking my only escape route.
The Ministry men, both of whom had long white beards and horn rimmed spectacles, gave me a cursory glance. One seemed to be slightly younger than the other, but it was the elder of the two who addressed me.
"Riddle, is it?"
"Yes, sir." I said.
"I haven't heard that name before. How old are you, young man?"
"Fifteen, sir." I replied.
"You look older", he said.
"I'm sixteen a week today." I told him. He sniffed at me,looked away, and the younger of the pair cut in;
"What does your father do, boy?"
I paused, considering my answer, but feeling the blood rise in my face.
"I…..I don't know, sir. " I said eventually.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
"I'm an orphan, Sir."
" So your father is dead?" the older one again.
"I don't know sir." I said again.
" But he came to Hogwarts?"
"He was a Muggle, sir. I understood Hogwarts had little use for them."
I heard myself say it, hating them and hating Slughorn too, for allowing me to be humiliated like this, not least, when I noticed the look of disdain on their faces and my cheeks began to burn.
I willed with all my strength that my expression remain cold and impassive, but I wanted to snarl at them and curse them to hell.
I knew that I could probably do it, too, and my left hand, my wand hand, twitched. Then, I noticed a figure, rising from the corner of the room.
Professor Dumbledore stood, his sky blue robes swirling behind him, taking a step towards the door.
"Thank you, Horace," he said, "for your charming hospitality this Christmas Eve. However, I must leave you all to enjoy the rest of your evening. Goodnight to you, Horace, and," (he gestured to the two Ministry Officials,) "to you, Aloysius, Ebenezer……and a very Merry Christmas, of course…."
"Leaving so soon, Dumbledore?" slurred Slughorn, taking another swig from the flagon he held.
"Alas, Horace, an old man must have his early nights, and Christmas Eve bears no exception."
"And Riddle," he said, looking at me unexpectedly.
" A few words with you, if I may. Come with me."
I followed him out of the stuffy office and into the cool corridor.
What did the old goat want now, I wondered. He never usually spoke to me, not after he came to the Orphanage to give me the letter……..
I blocked that scene out of my mind. I had given away too much, that day, I knew, and I vowed never to make the same mistake again.
Somewhere, deep inside, I knew that somebody like Dumbledore could be very dangerous to me. I knew I could not charm him as I did the others, he had seen me with my guard down, and although he hardly ever looked at me directly, I still couldn't shake the feeling that he was watching me all the time.
Was he about to tell me he knew I had been shirking my duties as a Hogwarts prefect to spend my evenings with a Ravenclaw girl, and a known offender at that? I couldn't tell, as his expression remained impassive until we had gone out of earshot of Slughorn's magically enlarged office.
"Tom," he said, stopping, and turning to me.
"Sir?"
"You have no reason to feel shame for your origins, Tom". he said, quietly.
"I don't understand, sir.' I said.
But I did. My insides twisted uncomfortably. I knew he had seen my reaction to the Ministry men's question. I felt even more wary of him, knowing this, but he didn't say anything else, merely paused, and then, when I did not respond, he wished me a Merry Christmas, and swept away towards his own office in the Transfiguration department.
I was left standing alone in the corridor, both angry and relieved in about equal parts, but then I heard the clock chiming the hour, far away, up on one of the towers and my thoughts soon turned back to Laura. I could worry about Dumbledore and his nosing later.
I hurried back through the castle and down the stairs. Eleven o' clock. I was supposed to have met Laura at the foot of Ravenclaw tower at ten-thirty.
Blow Slughorn and Dumbledore! She was going home tomorrow morning, and the thought of not seeing her to say goodbye was unthinkable. I would grab my cloak and then, I supposed, I would have to see if I could find her in the castle.
I reached the corridor with the hidden entrance to the Slytherin common room, and stopped abruptly. A figure, cloaked in blue, was leaning against the wall, lazily firing multi-coloured sparks at the ceiling with her wand.
I didn't need to find Laura. She had found me.
"Why did you stand me up, Tom?" she demanded.
"Shhhhh!" I told her, glancing around quickly to make sure nobody happened to be passing. Muttering the password, the hidden door appeared in the wall and I pulled her through after me.
We were standing in the long, low Slytherin common room. Lamps flickered with a greenish glow onto shelves upon shelves of leather bound books, and the fire, which also burned green, had died right down, making the room even darker than it normally was.
Laura took in the scene around her with a look of awe.
"Yours is very different to mine." She said, finally. "It's a bit dark, isn't it?"
"How did you know where the entrance was?" I asked her.
"Lucky guess! No, I realized that it must be near here, this is where you always come to breakfast from, and from back there (she gestured with a jerk of her thumb) the passage only goes two ways. One of them leads down to the lake, but seeing as you are usually fairly dry at breakfast, I didn't think that you slept there. So, it must have been this one. And I was right," she added, triumphantly. "Logic flawless as always! So, stand and deliver, Riddle, why did you stand me up?"
I briefly told her the story of Slughorn's party. I left out the bit about Dumbledore and the Ministry halfwits. I had no wish to relive it again, and anyway, they were none of her business. What I told her was the cleaned-up version of what I would have liked; the Ministry officials being terribly impressed with me, and myself accepting their compliments modestly, as Professor Slughorn basked in his star pupil's reflected glory.
' I thought you mayn't want to see me anymore." she said, when I had finished.
"Why?"
"I thought you'd be embarrassed if anyone found out, because I've been…..well…in trouble."
"I know." I told her. " It doesn't matter. I'll make sure you're safe as long as you're with me. You won't get caught. We won't get caught."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Laura," I said. "I have been at this school for four and a half years. And…I've not been caught yet. They wouldn't even suspect me." I pointed to the silver prefect's badge pinned to my robes, and smirked.
"How did they catch you anyway, at your other school?" I asked, genuinely puzzled, "With your Ravenclaw comb…..?"
"I didn't have it at Beauxbatons," she confided.
"I only was allowed on my sixteenth birthday. That was three days after I got chucked out. He, I mean, my father, has no idea what it does. Father had a really hard time persuading Dippet to let me come here, but he says that the Deputy Head, Dumbledore, was really good about it. Said he believed in second chances. My father didn't mention about the other schools. He was just desperate to get rid of me."
"There were others?" I said, not being able to help myself.
"Three others. In Holland, Germany and Bulgaria. They didn't seem to like me, either. They said the same as you did, that night."
"What did I say?"
"I'm a troublemaker!" she laughed out loud quite suddenly, catching my hand and pulling me towards the door.
"Want to make some trouble?" she grinned.
I watched her, for a second, and her face was flushed, her eyes sparkling in the dim green light. She glowed, and it was infectious.
I nodded slowly.
"Yeah." I said.
O O O O O
Summoning my cloak, I let her lead as she ran up the steps two at a time, the hem of her own blue velvet cloak inches from the tip of my nose as she rushed ahead of me. We were more careful to be quiet when we reached the ground floor. She was headed towards the front doors, and I knew where our final destination would be.
"I was worried you'd be scared to." she told me.
"Scared!" I snorted. The idea was ridiculous. She obviously had no idea what I had been doing in my spare time for the past four years. Still, I reasoned, why would she? Nobody else had any idea, either, I had seen to that.
"You're going to love it…… It's worth it, you'll see." she called ahead of me, as she ran. "Worth getting expelled for, you can find them wherever there's a forest, they'll come, if you know how to call them."
I didn't ask what she meant, but I felt sure that I would soon be finding out.
As we ran across the stretch of grass at the front of the castle, the wind whipped the breath out of my mouth. Snow had begun to fall as it always did at Christmas here. It settled on the ground and crunched under my boots, not greyish and muddy, but pure white and pristine, quite unlike any snow I had ever seen in Muggle London.
We had reached the end of the stretch of grass in front of the school. I looked up at the dark sky, painted in shades of midnight blue and steely grey, then felt the warmth of Laura's smaller hand as it slipped into mine. Together, my heart beating fast, we stepped into the Forbidden Forest.
To be continued...
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