Chapter Four: Tom Riddle

The Next Day

Calanthe was aroused at seven-thirty the next morning when Sabina shook her shoulder. For a moment she wondered where she was before it all came rushing back; the journey to Hogwarts, her new friends, the castle itself.

"C'mon," Sabina urged, her voice an excited whisper. Her eyes were bright and lively.

Calanthe rubbed her eyes and glanced at her watch. "Isn't it a little early?" she asked Sabina groggily.

Sabina's excitement almost electrified the air around her. "No, silly," she said, grinning. "We should probably hurry. Then we can get our schedules first!"

Calanthe sat up, wide-eyed. She had almost forgotten the matter of which classes she would be assigned and who she would have them with. "Okay," she said, nervous all over again. "I'm getting up, just gimme a moment to get dressed."

Sabina bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. She was already dressed. "Great! But hurry up!"

Ten minutes later they were climbing through the portrait hole.

"Do you remember how to get back to the Great Hall?" Sabina asked, pausing to look around. "I was too tired to pay much attention last night."

Calanthe tried to remember. "This way I think," she said, pointing straight down the hallway. Sabina shrugged, and they set off.

After several wrong turns and a lot of backtracking, they found their way to the Great Hall. It was nearly eight o'clock by that time but they made their way to the still-only-half-full Gryffindor Table and sat down.

"I love the food here," Sabina said, shoveling a large spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Calanthe nodded. It was certainly much better than the food she had at home – her mother wasn't a cook – although she couldn't help wishing that there were a few more normal flavors of juice; Pumpkin juice, apart from being the most unusual flavor of juice she had ever heard of, was very very sweet.

By the time the two of them were halfway through the meal, Irene had appeared, bringing with her a fellow first year that Calanthe vaguely recognized from the sorting ceremony last night. The two of them sat down across from Calanthe and Sabina and begun to fill their plates.

"Hi," the new girl said brightly. She had white blonde hair and hazel eyes.

Calanthe smiled at her, but then Sabina's expression caught her attention; Sabina's eyes had narrowed and she had a grumpy expression on her face, but Calanthe only saw this for a split second until the blonde girl looked at Sabina. A second later Sabina was smiling brightly and asking the girl's name.

"I'm Carine," she answered, smiling sweetly.

And Sabina nodded and smiled in a way that seemed so sincere that Calanthe was left to wonder if she had imagined her friend's hostile first appearance. She made a mental not to ask Sabina about it later and dragged her mind back to the conversation.

"So, do you have any siblings who go here?" Sabina was asking.

Carine nodded. "An older brother, and my parents went here too. I'm Pureblood," she said. "He's called Derek and he's in sixth year. My parents have obviously already graduated. What about you?"

Sabina opened her mouth to reply, but was stopped when the Head of Gryffindor, a woman by the name of Arian Rosenberg, started handing out schedules to the first years. Sabina turned towards Calanthe to compare schedules.

"Hey, they're exactly the same!" she exclaimed.

"Of course," said Carine. "For the first two years of you have all your classes with your house and year mates."

Again, Calanthe thought she saw Sabina's expression harden but again a second later the sourness was gone and Sabina was tugging on Calanthe's arm.

"We should go get our books," she suggested. Calanthe nodded; she had finished breakfast ten minutes ago.

As soon as they were out of earshot of the two girls at the table, Sabina started scowling.

"What's wrong?" Calanthe asked her. She couldn't help feeling a tad nervous at the ferocity of her friend's expression.

"That girl. Carine," said Sabina. "did you see how she was talking to me? It was like I was less than her or something." She fell into a brooding silence.

Calanthe hadn't been paying much attention, but she didn't think that this was a good time to bring that up. Instead, she made a sympathetic noise and Sabina seemed to calm down a little. "So, what do we have first?" she asked Calanthe.

"Potions," Calanthe answered after checking her schedule. "And then we have Charms, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Hm… I've heard Herbology and Charms are boring," Sabina commented pessimistically. Apparently she was still in a bad mood.

"Who told you that?" Calanthe questioned.

"My Uncle," Sabina answered. "But then he isn't much of a wizard anyways. I've heard his wife – my Aunt – say that she thinks it was a miracle he graduated in the first place, all the classes he skipped." The thought seemed to amused her. "My Uncle Euclid is a very strange Wizard."

Calanthe started to laugh, and then Sabina joined in. It looked as though her bad mood had lifted, at least for the moment. Together, they retrieved their books and then made their way to their first class.

"Where is potions again?" asked Calanthe.

Sabina groaned. "Oh great, not this again!" she said.

When they entered the Potions classroom an hour later, it was to find the Potion's Master, a man called Professor Walden, writing hurriedly on the chalkboard. He was tall and thin with short brown hair and a toothbrush mustache. He appeared to be in his mid forties.

He started class by taking the role call and then had them taking notes for the rest of the hour until they were, blissfully, dismissed. They had potions with the Hufflepuffs and one of their boys, whose name Calanthe didn't know, kept telling her and Sabina to be quiet whenever they started talking behind the teacher's back. They decided they didn't like him much.

They had Charms, their next class, with the Ravenclaws. She arrived late, after getting lost in the dungeons with Sabina. However, Calanthe surprised herself in that class by being able to answer the questions that the teacher, Professor Flitwick, asked of them. She earned ten points for Gryffindor, and a high five from Sabina. In Charms, they sat with Albus and a couple of his friends whose names Calanthe didn't know (Sabina had refused to sit with Irene and Carine). All through the lesson, Calanthe had the distinct impression that Albus was trying to catch the eye of a red-haired Ravenclaw girl who was sitting only a couple of seats away from them, determinedly ignoring his gaze. Once, Calanthe got the impression that she was crying, although she was never able to see clearly. At the end of the lesson, the girl hurried out of the room ahead of the rest of the class.

Herbology, they had with the Slytherins. Calanthe had immediately started hearing tales of how nasty Slytherin house was as a whole almost as soon as she entered the castle, and she was feeling a little apprehensive about meeting them. She found, though, that she needn't have worried; Professor Longbottom taught Herbology, and he was very strict about bullies. There was a rumor that he had been bullied some while in school, and that that was what made him so strict.

Herbology, however, proved not to be much fun that day. Carine sat with them and Sabina refused to talk at all all through the class: instead, she pretended to be paying close attention, but Calanthe could see that her fists were clenched under the table. She was very happy to leave the room behind.

It was a surprise to Calanthe how easily she adjusted to life in the Castle. In the mornings, she was roused by Sabina, and the two of them would hurry down for breakfast. Then they would go to classes, taking care to sit away from Carine (who never ceased to annoy Sabina in some way) and then study together in the library until curfew. Over time, began to be joined in these evening study cessions by the boy called Albus Potter (Calanthe was surprised to learn to the famous Harry Potter was his father), as well as his two friends, Coal and Mason Wood. The fifth Gryffindor girl, whose name was Scarlet Afton, also joined them sometimes, although she spent just as much time with them as she did with Carine and her crowd. Sabine pretended not to notice.

Calanthe never did deal much with the first years from other houses; she saw them sometimes in lessons, but she never spoke to them. Albus did seem to have an interest in that red-haired Ravenclaw girl, whose name she had discovered to be Rose, but other than that most of her friends kept to other Gryffindors too. Calanthe couldn't help wondering if Albus had a crush on her, but she was never able to ask; Sabina got there first.

One evening in late October, Calanthe and her friends were sitting in the library as usual, doing homework.

"I hate Potions!" groaned Albus. "Why'd Professor Walden have to assign three rolls of parchment on Seething Solutions! How are we ever going to use something like that?"

Mason, who was also hard at work on his Potions homework, didn't look up when as he said, "They don't do much on their own, but you need them for other potions when we get to harder stuff." Mason was the Potions expert of their group.

"It's still boring," Coal brother said, elbowing him. He had never liked Potions much either.

Albus scowled. "Still!" he exclaimed. "Three rolls of parchment!"

Sabine grinned. "Why don't you get that red-haired Ravenclaw friend of yours to help you?" she asked in a tone that suggested strongly that Albus liked her. Calanthe looked up from her Transfiguration homework, listening.

Albus looked at her for a second and then answered in a surprisingly blank voice. "Her name's Rose," he said, "and she's my cousin."

Sabina was startled.

"Why does she ignore you when you try to talk to her then?" Coal asked him. Apparently, he was just as surprised as Sabina was.

"I've tried," Albus said. He ruffled his hair back in a tired sort of way. "But she just won't listen to me. She hasn't even said anything to me since the train ride here."

"Why?" asked Calanthe. It struck her as odd that Rose would just ignore her cousin like that.

"I think it's because of the sorting," Albus said. "She wanted Gryffindor, the whole family was expecting it, and then," he trailed off, spreading his hands.

"Oh no," said Sabina. "Do her parents know?"

Albus nodded. "I told them, but apparently she won't even respond to their letters. So they owl me now, and I have to tell them what I see her doing. They're getting really worried."

"Wow!" Sabina exclaimed. "You've got to talk to her!"

"Ravenclaw really isn't that bad," Mason said.

"I know," Albus said. "But what can I do? She won't even look me in the eye."

They talked about it for a while longer, but none of them could reach any conclusions. Sabina thought that Albus should corner her after one of their lessons. Mason thought he should go to her common room, where he would have her cornered. But in the end, Albus said he would think about it; his expression wasn't hopeful though.

For the next week, Calanthe watched him for signs of having talked to Rose, but nothing changed. Sabina mentioned it to Albus once or twice, but always glossed over the subject, saying that he was working on it. They could all tell that he hadn't anything that mattered. However, something happened at the end of November that drove Albus and Rose's plight from her mind completely.

One Saturday afternoon, just before Halloween, Sabina and Calanthe were enjoying some of the last bearable weather before winter, when they saw Mason running towards them.

"Sabina," he called. "Calanthe!"

When he reached them, he panted for a few minutes before gasping, "Albus talked to her. She listened for a couple of seconds, but then," he panted, "then," they waited patiently for him to speak, "she got upset and ran off. They think she's in the forest!"

"What?" exclaimed Sabina. Everyone knew that it was madness to go into the forbidden forest, especially for first years. Who knew what kind of things lived in there!

"Yes," Mason said, nodding.

Calanthe's eyes widened. "Are they looking for her?"

Mason shrugged. "Albus hadn't found a teacher yet when he told me. He really needs our help though. He says he won't ever be able to live with himself if she, if she's…" His eyes told the rest of the story. If Rose was hurt of killed in there, Albus would never forgive himself.

"C'mon," Sabina said, tugging Calanthe's arm. Calanthe wanted very much to protest, to say that they should let the teachers do it. She wanted to remind Sabina that they had only been in school for a month and could barely perform any magic that would cause another creature a nose bleed, let alone begin to defend themselves from the creatures of the forest. She held her tongue though; something told her that this was not a moment to try to reason with Sabina.

Sabina didn't show any sign of fear as she walked into the forest. Calanthe and Mason glanced at each other before they entered the shade of the trees, although neither said a word. Both knew what the other was thinking; this was a stupid idea, they should not be walking into the forest unprotected.

They walked silently for several long minutes. The forest was eerily quiet; there were none of the sounds that no one would normally expect from a forest.

"The path splits up here," Sabina said. "We could each take one way."

Calanthe was even less happy about the prospect of splitting up. She was about to open her mouth to say something about it, when Mason nodded. He muttered to Calanthe out of the corner of his mouth, "It'll get us out of here faster."

She gave him a mistrustful look. She couldn't help wonder if all of them would get out of here in the same state they were in.

The others were already moving down their paths, all of them leading deeper into the forest. Calanthe took a deep breath and started down a path that led off to the far right. Her own breath seemed to sound extra loud in her ears. She wished there was a way to quiet it; it must be attracting the attention of every predator in the forest. She closed her eyes, attempting to calm herself, and then kept walking.

Deeper and deeper into the forest Calanthe walked. She kept her eyes open, but not once did she see any sign of the missing Rose Weasley. As she walked, though, a quality of the forest seemed to change. Could it really be getting darker? Was that lichen really glowing a soft green? The trees began to take on a slightly charred look, as though something had burned them recently. Calanthe was feeling genuinely afraid now. She was just on the point of turning back when she heard a crack just a little way down the path, and then running footsteps. Something crashed into Calanthe, panting heavily. It was wearing Hogwarts robes! For a moment Calanthe thrilled that it was Rose Weasley, that they would be able to leave the forest and that it would all be over, before she noticed that it was a boy, perhaps four years older than her. He picked himself up off of her, glowering. Calanthe noticed that his robes, too, were charged. His pale skin, too, was covered in soot. His hair was black as pitch and dirty. His eyes were dark blue. In spite of his disheveled appearance, she couldn't help thinking of how hansom he was, even though the thought surprised her.

"Who are you?" he asked forcefully. His eyes were narrowed, and he seemed angry.

"Calanthe," she said, her own face hardening.

"Where am I?"

This struck Calanthe as an odd question. He was in the forbidden forest, of course! He was wearing Hogwarts robes though, he should know that.

"Where am I?" he asked again, even more aggressively if that was possible.

"The Forbidden Forest," Calanthe said at last, although she wasn't quite sure how advisable it was to tell that to a complete stranger she had just met in the forest.

That seemed to relax him. He looked her over more carefully. "Are you a student at Hogwarts?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"A first year?" he asked.

She nodded again.

He sighed. "That would explain why I haven't seen you before." He looked around. "I'm sorry," he said, and Calanthe wondered at the transformation of his mood. It was like he was two separate people. "But I don't actually know where we are. Could you lead me back to the Castle?"

"Uh, yes," she said. She couldn't help wondering what exactly she was getting herself into. "Um, what's your name?" Maybe she had heard of him. Maybe that would put her fears of bringing him to the castle to rest, although she could hardly see how she could get back without him now anyways.

He smiled charmingly at her, "Tom Riddle."