Kolybel'naya
Chapter 07: Of pure and half blood
Tom sighed as he finished copying the last sentence from the blackboard. The Slytherin hated the first few weeks of classes. They were always filled with boring lectures and teachers trying to cheer them up for the new school year, but the amount of real subjects was close to zero. Slughorn's class the previous day was a good example of that: they did nothing more than answer a few simple questions and listen to their teacher speak about his nostalgic feelings. A pure waste of time. Charms was not much different: their teacher simply let them know about their schedule of the year and kept rambling about their subject in a really quick and simple way. At least Professor Toulson skipped the nostalgic feelings part.
"How much time do we still have?" whispered Atlas, not bothering to look at him or raise his from his folded arms on the table.
"Why don't you take a look at your watch?" asked Riddle, putting down his quill and shifting his attention to the teacher.
"My watch is in my pocket, my hands are under my head and I don't feel like moving it to use my hands," Avery grumbled. "Come on, Tom, just tell me if it's about to end."
The smaller boy rolled his eyes before rolling up his sleeve to take a look on his watch, ignoring the odd glance his housemate gave when he saw it. Compared to Avery's elegant, golden pocket watch that had belonged to his grandfather, Tom's hand-me-down wristwatch looked even more tattered than it really was. He quickly covered it as soon as he checked the time. He didn't need the other staring at the object that had once belonged to the orphanage's doctor with that suspicious look for too long.
"Five minutes until it ends."
"You should buy a new watch," murmured Atlas, looking back to the other side of the classroom. "I know it must be something passed down in your family, as those things usually are like that, but yours almost needs to be thrown away."
"It still works, there's no need to get rid of it."
"If you say so." Avery raised an eyebrow and laughed quietly. Tom followed his gaze and found Hermione Elston staring back at his housemate with an annoyed expression on her face. A smug smile appeared on Avery's lips, and the witch rolled her eyes and looked away. "Look at the new girl. She's already acting like a Gryffindor."
"That's what she is, isn't it? A Gryffindor," said Riddle. "A mindless and impulsive Gryffindor, like all the others."
"Yes, as if we needed more of those idiots..." Avery laughed.
"Mr. Avery, care to share with us the reason for your good mood?" Atlas' face turned serious and he straightened himself up when he heard the teacher's call.
"It's nothing, sir. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you," the Slytherin said automatically, but, as soon as Professor Toulson turned around, he snorted and slumped down in his chair once again. "Filthy Mudblood."
"Watch your tongue, Avery," warned Tom in a low tone of voice as he watched the older wizard.
"I know you think the same."
"Indeed. But it's not wise to go around saying these things, especially when we're talking about a teacher."
"Whatever you say... Oh, finally!" Avery gave a small cry of joy when he heard the teacher dismiss them for the day. "I couldn't stand it anymore."
Before Tom could even pack his things, Atlas was already up and leaving the room. The smaller Slytherin took a deep breath and finished putting his things inside his bag before getting up and heading to the door, deciding to not speed up his pace in order to catch up with Avery. He was in no hurry to get to the Great Hall and have lunch, so he didn't have to run like a madman like his colleague always did. That was one of Atlas Avery's greatest flaws: his hastiness. The wizard couldn't wait for the sake of Merlin, he was always in a hurry, always running and acting without thinking about the consequences. It hadn't been just once that the other almost exposed them due to that annoying habit of his.
As he walked through the crowd of students leaving the classroom, Riddle spotted Elston once again. The girl was busy chatting with Minerva McGonagall, the irritating Gryffindor prefect who was always trying to compete with him, who kept moving her hands through the air as she spoke to the new student. Tom could only guess that Minerva was talking about her beloved Quidditch and laughed quietly as he wondered how someone like McGonagall, who, though annoying, had enough brains to keep her grades high, and enjoy that silly sport so much. He took one more look at them and noticed that, now, the Elston girl was not paying attention to her friend anymore. Minerva hadn't noticed, but Elston was staring at the end of the corridor, more specifically at him, and nor did she notice how the other girl's face suddenly turned into a mask of what seemed to be disgust or something like that.
Tom let a tiny smile appear on his lips, faking a polite greeting to the annoyed looking witch, who simply sighed and looked away from him. Now, that was interesting... It was rare for him to find someone who reacted like that to him. Usually the other students thought he was polite and seemed happy to see all that politeness coming from him – girls, in particular, liked his small acts of politeness the most... Merlin knows how some of them seemed to fly up to the clouds if he simply said 'Good Morning' or asked them how were they were doing. Only a small number of people appeared to be unresponsive to his charm, McGonagall being one of them (actually, it depended on the day. He had already managed to tear a smile and a blush from her once or twice), and Charlus Potter and Albus Dumbledore were two others. Most of the time those who seemed unaffected by his charm annoyed Tom to the end... They just kept talking about how fake he was and how he used nice words to climb to the top but Riddle couldn't help but think that they did the very same thing: McGonagall was always throwing compliments at Dumbledore, who thought of her as his favourite student; Potter flattered his housemates all the time, and they mistook it for his "friendly nature"; and Dumbledore... He didn't even want to think the amount of flatteries the wizard must have done in his whole life in order to get where he was now. Tom wished that someone, one day, would write a book about Albus Dumbledore, containing all the details of his life... The boy was sure it was full of dark secrets, like his own, that only someone really good at research – a journalist, most likely – and really patient would be able to find out. He truly wished he would be alive the day someone released a trustworthy biography of his Transfiguration teacher because he wouldn't hesitate to buy and read the hell out of it.
"Tom!" Riddle stopped walking and Abraxas Malfoy quickly appeared by his side. "Where's Atlas?"
"Considering how fast he was running when he left class," started Riddle. "He must already be at the Great Hall."
The Slytherin let himself stare at Malfoy for a few seconds as they headed to lunch. If Avery was the hasty one, not stopping to think and acting without worrying, Abraxas was the opposite. The blond simply acted when ordered to do so. Once an order left Tom's mouth, it was guaranteed that Malfoy would accomplish it. He was a good dog. A puppy that would follow his master up and down the castle, taking all the orders it was given and coming back with his tail waving happily. Maybe that was why he trusted Abraxas the most. Not that he would pour all of his thoughts and secrets into the boy; no, Riddle would never do that with anyone... But he could trust Malfoy when it came to organizing a meeting, spreading a message or anything of the sort.
"Tell me, Abraxas," the Slytherin asked as they walked into the Great Hall, heading to the Slytherin table. "Will you be taking Care of Magical Creatures this year?"
"Of course." The blond smiled. "Why would I drop it?"
"So why would you drop Arithmancy?" Tom asked coldly.
"Because I don't like numbers and the feeling seems to be mutual between lots of people," said Abraxas, laughing. "But I do like Care of Magical Creatures."
"I see." As he had expected, Riddle saw Avery already at the table. "Will you be taking any extras?"
"Charms, Defense and Care. You?"
"Charms, Defence, Potions, Transfiguration... All the classes that offer them," the dark haired wizard said, sitting down in front of Atlas. "Not all the subjects have good extras, you know. Runes and Arithmancy are pretty boring because Yorick and Vertal can't teach."
"Why do you take those classes if you don't like them?" asked Avery, finally paying attention to them. "They're electives."
"Because they're important, Avery."
"Important," said Atlas in a mocking tone. "Arithmancy is basically reading the future through numbers, which is almost as useless as Divination, and Runes is learning to read those useless signs. It's like... Like learning Russian! A lot of strange letters from a language no one uses."
"Say that to the Soviet Union."
"The what?" Atlas narrowed his eyes as he looked at Tom.
"Russia, Avery, say that to Russia," explained Riddle.
"Oh, and how many Russians do we see in Britain, Tom? Or, if we do see one, how many of them can speak English?" asked the Slytherin before taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. "Same thing with Runes: there are books written with them, but how many of those books are translated to English?"
"You can use Runes in spells." Tom narrowed his eyes. It amazed him how someone like Avery, who had come from a respectable pure-blooded family, could be so ignorant about some things.
"The spells that need the Runes are described in spell books with everything we need to know. The books give us the runes we need to use and when we do as it says... It's as simple as that and the spell comes out perfectly." The boy shrugged, going back to his meal. "But, alright, if you want to continue wasting your time with those classes..."
"You know, Avery," whispered Tom, a small smile tugging on the corner of his lips. "That's exactly why you're where you are now."
"What do you mean?"
"Abraxas?"
"Yes?" Malfoy finally spoke, leaning in towards the other Slytherin.
"Do you know what I'm trying to say?" Riddle's smile grew larger when he saw the confused expression on Atlas' face grow as the Slytherin looked over to the blond.
"I... I'm afraid I don't, I'm sorry."
"I think you do, but you're scared of offending Atlas in case you say so." Tom chuckled. "You shouldn't be worried about that. You'll be telling the truth, nothing more and nothing less than that, but you insist on being a bad friend and keeping Avery from knowing it." He looked back at the taller Slytherin who sat on the opposite side of the table and spoke in a low, soft voice. "I mean, that it is exactly because of this behaviour of yours that you'll never leave the place where you stand now. It's for being ignorant that you'll never be more than a servant, Avery. Ignorant people are bound to obey orders. That's what you do now and that's what you'll spend the rest of your life doing."
Riddle saw Atlas' face tense up as the information sunk in. The other wizard opened and closed his mouth several times, as if trying to come up with something to say, before shutting it and furrowing his brows. Malfoy, by his side, widened his eyes and kept looking from Avery to Tom and vice versa.
"Do you want to say something, Avery?" asked the smaller boy, tilting his head to the side.
"No..." the dark haired wizard whispered, his voice trembling a little. "No, sir."
"Good."
It was good to be back at Hogwarts. It was extremely good to be in a place where he could, once again, stop restraining himself from speaking certain things, even if this freedom was restricted to his group of housemates... It was good to be able to speak whatever came into his mind.
"Dear Hermione,
It's wonderful to hear you're doing well at the school and it didn't let you down – although I doubted it would, I mean... It didn't let Riddle down, right? If he, who is the most exigent creature on Earth, liked Hogwarts, you surely would enjoy it too. Things here in London are all right, too. Our classes started a few days ago and now we don't have time to breathe properly anymore. Oh, Hermione, who was that friend of yours, Mr. Ollivander? Where did you meet him? He's absolutely adorable, such a gentleman... A bit odd, true, and he could try to comb his hair a bit, but still, a nice man. He told me he works with crafting, if I understood correctly. He promised me he would try to send you this letter as soon as possible and I hope you get it quickly.
Having the room to myself is getting boring again. No one to talk to, no one to bother... If things keep going this way I'll have to go out to find that Mr. Ollivander of yours in order to have a good chat with him – we did have a good chat when he came over, but I had to shoo him as soon as Susan Connick appeared at the door. You have no idea of how much I had to hear from her about how 'I should not be talking to strangers, especially an older, male stranger!'... I had to convince Mrs. Cole that he wasn't any kind of kidnapper or pervert in order to be able to talk to him the next time he comes here to deliver your letters.
I hope you're still doing well there and, as I said before, make your friend proud – and try to get higher grades than Riddle, I heard he used to get the best grades when he was still studying here.
Love,
Anna Parker."
A wide smile appeared on Hermione's face as she finished reading the letter sent by her former roommate at the orphanage. It made her giggle the way Anna spoke about Ollivander, and she couldn't help but imagine the girl hanging out with the wizard, being the lovely person she was, while having no idea of what he actually was... Also, just trying to imagine Garrick Ollivander with his hair properly combed, as Parker had suggested for him to do, made the Gryffindor laugh.
"A letter from your boyfriend, Ms. Elston?" The girl raised her head, seeing Minerva McGonagall standing by their dorms' door. The other Gryffindor was wearing the red robes Hermione recognized as the ones the Quidditch team wore during their games and practices.
Quickly, Hermione tucked the other envelope she had received – this one had Ollivander's handwriting on it – under her pillow. She didn't need Minerva to read the man's letter and discover her accident with the time-turner in case he had mentioned it in his text.
"It's just from a friend." She waved Anna's letter as the other girl approached her bed, sitting in front of her.
"Um, from the way you were smiling, it's surelyfrom a friend," the witch said teasingly, as she stretched out her hand.
"As if I would lie about something like that," Granger rolled her eyes and handed her the letter. McGonagall giggled as she looked at it, but quickly stopped as she started reading it, noticing the other was really telling the truth about the lack of the existence of a boyfriend. "See?"
"Why does this friend of yours require Mr. Ollivander to send you her letters?" asked McGonagall, raising an eyebrow as she looked up to Hermione. That was not good... In her rush to hide the wizard's letter, the Gryffindor had completely forgotten about the fact he was mentioned in Anna's text. As well as how Riddle was mentioned in it too.
"She... She's a Muggle," the girl tried to explain. She really couldn't lie about this. "I had a talk with Mr. Ollivander while I was at the Diagon Alley and asked him to deliver my letters to her as I couldn't send her owls."
"Oh, I see. And, she mentioned an orphanage." Minerva's expression changed from suspicion to worry as she tapped the paper. "Hermione, you never mentioned an orphanage..."
"It's not something I like to... share openly." The girl shrugged, giving a saddened smile to the other. "It's rather recent."
"Dippet said you came to Hogwarts due to family issues..."
"My parents were murdered by Grindelwald's followers a few months ago." Hermione hated that lie, but there was nothing else she could say. That was now her story and she had to stay true to it. "They were Muggles, as I already said. I was home schooled in witchcraft by a wizarding family that lived near us. I had been friends with their kids since I was little and they were really happy when I started to show signs of magic. As their children wouldn't attend any school of magic, they said they could teach me along with them and...Well, that's what happened. Unfortunately, some men who believed in Grindelwald found us and weren't really happy to hear that a wizarding family was living in peace with a Muggle one."
"Hermione," whispered Minerva, putting down the letter and looking at her with a look she had seen on her future teacher's face when she was really worried about something, like the day Sirius had invaded Gryffindor Tower. "I'm so sorry, I didn't... I didn't have any idea that you had..."
"No one, aside from you, has any idea about it at all." The Gryffindor smiled, shaking her head. "It's in the past; I have to go on... I don't want people pitying me for it."
"I understand." Minerva nodded. "So you lived in this Muggle orphanage since then? You didn't have any other relatives?"
"Yes. Once it all happened, I wrote to Professor Dippet, asking him for a place in Hogwarts. He accepted it due to my condition, so I had to stay only a few weeks in the orphanage." The girl took the letter and raised it. "That's where I met Anna."
"She seems to be a nice girl."
"She is really lovely." Hermione smiled, glad that McGonagall had stopped reading the letter before reaching the part where her friend talked about Tom Riddle. "The kind of person you think it's a shame that they aren't a wizard or witch."
"Oh, I know what you mean." Minerva rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "I wouldn't think twice before taking the magic of certain wizards and witches and give it to some worthy Muggles... The wizarding world would be way better if we could do that."
Hermione simply gave her housemate an awkward smile. If that was a possible option, she knew very well whose magic she would take first.
"Well, I think I should take a bath and get dressed for dinner," said McGonagall, getting up and taking her robe out, hanging it on the headboard of her bed. "We have Astronomy today..."
"I had completely forgotten about that," groaned Hermione.
"Yes... And I bet we'll stay there until midnight." The other Gryffindor rummaged through her trunk, finding a clean uniform, and heading to the bathroom. "Last week was the first class, so it was pretty short, but today Professor Brecht will make us stay until we can't keep our eyes open anymore."
"You make him sound like a horrible person." The brunette laughed and heard the other laugh behind the bathroom's closed door.
Minerva was quick to bathe and get dressed, so, after a while, they were already down on the Great Hall, sitting next to Charlus and Septimus, as (Hermione had noticed since she arrived there) usual. The witch had been at Hogwarts for little more than a week now and, slowly, she was getting used to it and its new inhabitants. Sure, she missed Harry and Ron and was terribly worried about them, but, in order to avoid feeling miserable because of that, she tried to occupy herself with everything that could possibly be done: homework, essays, extra classes, random books she found in the library... Anything that could take the future away from her head was an option for her. During the week she had spent in this past Hogwarts, Hermione found herself on the verge of crying only once; when she was in bed, on Sunday, while all the other girls from her dormitory were asleep. It was moments like those that the witch felt how lonely she really was... But, with her luck, during most of the time she was in the company of Minerva, Charlus and Septimus, whose loud and cheerful conversations were great when it came to make her forget about the future.
"I heard Kettleburn will be bringing hippogriffs this year," said Septimus Weasley as he filled his goblet with more pumpkin juice. "Isn't it wicked?"
"Wicked, indeed," said McGonagall, grimacing at her friend. "It'll be wicked awesome when one of the students ends up with no head."
"Merlin's beard, Minnie." Charlus laughed. "The man is a teacher, he knows what he's doing."
"Yes, he's the teacher who tried to convince his students that it would be nice to swim into the Dark Lake in order to interact with the Giant Squid." The girl rolled her eyes and looked at Hermione. "I took his classes, Care of Magical Creatures, until fifth year. It was in that year, during winter, that he took us to the lake and said that, thanks to the chilly weather, the Giant Squid would be really friendly, and so we should get in the water and say hello to it."
"Minnie freaked out," explained the red haired boy. "And ended up dropping the class after that."
"Not before running back to the castle, telling Dumbledore that Professor Kettleburn had lost his mind." Potter laughed, giving a friendly slap on Minerva's shoulder.
"I did the right thing," said McGonagall, puffing her chest. "If I hadn't called Professor Dumbledore, that idiotic Malfoy would have been dragged away by the Squid!"
"You should have let it happen," said Potter, shrugging as he turned around to look over to the Slytherin table. Hermione could see Abraxas Malfoy sitting down next to who she thought was Avery. "Hogwarts would be grateful with you."
"Charlus," said Minerva, looking up to something behind the boy. "Shut up and smile."
"What?"
Hermione stretched her neck to see what the other girl was looking at and smiled when she saw the short and lovely looking Slytherin girl that was called Dorea Black approaching them with a tiny smile on her face.
"Smile, Charlus," said Hermione.
"Why should I smi..."
"Hello, Charlus!"
The boy almost jumped in his seat when he heard the Slytherin's voice. Minerva stiffed a laugh, looking around in order to avoid staring at Potter's reddened face, while Septimus didn't even bother trying to hide the fact he found how his friend reacted to Dorea's arrival funny.
"Dorea, darling," gasped Charlus, looking at the girl who was now sitting next to him. "H-Hello... How are you doing?"
"I'm good, thanks." The witch smiled, pushing her glasses back onto her nose. "Will you be in Astronomy today?"
"Sure. Erm, will Alphard be there too...?"
"Yes, he'll be there, but there's no need to worry," explained Dorea. "You know Al is nice."
"I don't worry about him," said the wizard, running a hand through his brown hair and giving out a nervous laugh. "What worries me the most are his friends."
"Don't worry, I bet Tom will keep them away." Hermione felt her face twist with disgust when she heard the Slytherin's name. "You know how he keeps Malfoy, Avery and Lestrange backed away when he wants to."
"And what makes you think Riddle will be nice enough to keep his friends away from you and Charlus?" asked the bushy haired girl before she could even notice what she was doing.
"Oh, Tom is a nice boy." The Black girl smiled at her. "He won't let the other boys annoy us."
"Minnie doesn't think he's that nice," said Potter, looking over to McGonagall, who simply shook her head, focusing on her food again. "She thinks he shouldn't be trusted."
"And so do you."
"I just think he's an arse kisser..."
"Charlus!"
"Sorry, darling." The boy smiled at the Slytherin girl. "It's just that... He's always trying to please everyone, flattering God and the world. It's just plain annoying."
"Maybe he just likes to please people."
"Hufflepuffs like to help people, Dorea. Slytherins do that when they want something from who they're helping."
"Oh, is that so?" the Slytherin asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking at the boy with a raised eyebrow.
"You're an exception!" Charlus face turned red as he put an arm around the girl's shoulder. "You're a good snake."
"You and your Gryffindor way of thinking." She shook her head, laughing, before turning to Hermione. "Don't let them make you think that we, Slytherins, are a bunch of evil, manipulative snakes, Ms. Elston... It's Elston, am I right?"
"Yes, Hermione Elston. And you're Dorea Black, right?"
"Right. As I was saying, we can be good people, I mean, look at Professor Slughorn, he's a good man, isn't he? And the Head of Slytherin. Also, Amata and Irina are nice too."
"Irina Akins is great with History of Magic," whispered Minerva. "Only a few people can beat her in it."
"You being one of them?" Hermione murmured.
"Unfortunately, no...Riddle is one instead."
"And there's Al and Tom, who are also good people," continued Dorea. "Basically, the ones who make Slytherin look like an evil house are Abraxas, Atlas, Canopus and our dear Walbie."
"Merlin's beard, do not mention her," said Septimus. "I'm sorry, Dorea, I know she's your niece but... She has given us some hard times over the years here at Hogwarts."
"She gives everyone a hard time, Septimus." The Black girl sighed.
"Who are you talking about?" asked Hermione, trying not to drift away from their conversation.
"Walburga Black ," said Potter, pulling a face. "She's Dorea's niece and, well, she's kinda mad."
Walburga Black. As soon as the girl heard the name, the screams and insults coming from Sirius' mother's portrait back in the Grimmauld Place echoed inside her head. Yes, the Gryffindor boy was right: she was mad.
"And she is your... Niece?"
"Yes, you see, there's a huge age difference between me and my brother, Pollux," explained Dorea. "He's thirty five now. My older sister, Cassiopeia, is twenty nine... And I am seventeen. Pollux married young and had Walbie when he was eighteen, but first came Alphard."
"Alphard is also your brother's child?" the Gryffindor raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, and little Cygnus too. He's in the fifth year now." She smiled.
"Oh... That's..."
"Complicated, I know, but that's how it works with the Blacks." The girl shrugged, looking around. "At moment, we're five in a number of five Blacks at Hogwarts: Walburga, Alphard, Cygnus, Orion – who is my cousin – and I."
"That's a huge family." Hermione laughed, followed by the Slytherin girl.
"Indeed. I think I'll be going to the Astronomy Tower so I can get a good place in there. Want me to save a seat for you, Charlus?" Black got up and looked down to the boy next to her.
"Yeah, that'll be nice, thanks, Dorea." He waved his hand as he watched her walk away. "She's lovely, isn't she?"
"Her family must be lovely," said the bushy haired witch, stifling a laugh. "I'm sorry, but I just... Can you imagine how weird it must be for them? Five Blacks inside the same castle. Three in the same year! She has classes with her niece and nephew."
"As she said," began Minerva. "That's how the Blacks work, and not only them but most of the pure-blooded families. They inbreed until they can't do it anymore, in order to keep themselves pure."
"Which is stupid," said Charlus. "I mean, I'm a pureblood, but we reckon that it's really silly for people to inbreed like that simply because they don't want 'dirty blood' in their kids' veins."
"My family is all right with marrying someone who is not a pureblood," Septimus said. "We're actually considered blood traitors by some purebloods."
"So are we."
"And here I am, amongst those pureblooded idiots," said McGonagall, laughing quietly. "The half-blood."
"The best half-blood Hogwarts could ever get, Minnie."
"You're so kind, Septimus. But, yes, as I told you before, Hermione, I'm a half-blood: Muggle father and witch mother. And so are my brothers..."
"Wait," said Hermione, shaking her head. "Brothers?"
"Didn't I tell you about them?" the girl asked. "Well, I'm sorry... Malcolm and Robert, they're both Ravenclaws. Malcolm is in the third year while Robert is in the second. You know what? I think we should go, Dorea was right: we better get to the tower early to get good places."
During the walk to the Astronomy Tower, Hermione couldn't help but feel odd. She had never thought about the fact Minerva McGonagall, her severe and intelligent teacher, had a family... Maybe that happened to everyone: it's always difficult to picture one's teacher outside the classroom, living their own life. It was the same thing that happened when she and Harry had read Rita Skeeter's The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. She had never dreamed Dumbledore had a sister or that he had associated with Grindelwald in his youth; those were the kind of thoughts that had never crossed her mind before reading the book.
As promised, Dorea Black had saved a telescope right next to her for Charlus. Septimus managed to get another one near the couple while Hermione and Minerva had to move to the other side of the tower, near a couple of girls from Slytherin. One of them had her dark her pulled up in a complicated hair style that made it look short. Her face was not the most beautiful face the Gryffindor had ever seen, but the serene and elegant look on it made her look pretty. One of the most beautiful things on her, Hermione noticed, were her big, dark eyes. The other girl had, in Hermione's opinion, a lovely face and beautiful brown eyes that matched with her dark brown hair and dark skin.
"Do you know them already?" asked Minerva.
"No... I mean, I've seen them along the week, but I don't know their names."
"Irina Akins." She gestured to the one with the complicated hair style. "And Amata Marwick. Both are purebloods but they're rather nice."
"Hello, Minerva." One of them, Amata, smiled and waved her hand. "Oh, that's the new girl, am I right?"
"Yes." McGonagall stopped by one of the free telescopes, putting her bag down next to it. "Hermione Elston."
"Nice to meet you, Hermione." The other girl finally spoke. Her voice was low and calm. "That's a nice name that you've got."
"Thank you. Although I think it's an awfully complicated name."
"Oh, no, it's a really interesting one." A smile appeared on Irina's face. "At least it's difficult for anyone to mistake it for another one, like how people insist in calling me Irene."
Minerva seemed to be ready to say something when a short man with short, dark hair walked into the tower. His blue cloak dragged across the stone floor as he hurried across the place, telling the students to get their materials ready while he kept pushing his round glasses up on his nose. Since she met him one week before, Hermione couldn't help but think Professor Brecht as almost comical, with his long, colourful cloaks that were always making him trip due to his hastiness and low height. But he was a good teacher and always sounded excited when talking about Astronomy.
As McGonagall had predicted, when the class finally ended, it was almost midnight and the students were practically sleep-walking back to their dormitories. Hermione, though interested in the extra class the teacher might give for another hour, felt too tired to stay, fearing that, if she did, she would end up sleeping by her telescope. McGonagall seemed to share her thoughts, for the girl didn't hesitate to pack her things as soon as professor Brecht stopped talking.
"Not staying?"
"No. Astronomy extras are nice when the sky is clear." The witch pointed to the clouded dark sky and sighed. "We merely managed to see something during class today."
The bushy haired girl looked around, seeing Septimus standing next to Dorea and Charlus, who were wishing a good night for each other, with a bored expression on his face. The Slytherin girls who sat near them during the whole class, Amata and Irina, were already leaving, just like another group of Slytherin boys that included Avery, Lestrange, Malfoy and another wizard she thought was Alphard Black due to his resemblance to most of the Blacks she had known. There was only one person who didn't seem to be leaving so soon.
"Riddle is staying."
"He always stays," said McGonagall, rolling her eyes. "I don't know what he does to be so well-disposed all the time... In the morning, he's there, the first one to arrive on class and the last to leave. On the afternoon, the same thing. And, when we have classes at night, again. The boy can't be human, he must be some kind of creature that feeds on light and air or something like that."
"Well, it's not very intelligent to waste all of his energy attending classes and draining everything from the teachers if he can't have some time for himself," said Hermione, remembering how Ron used to tease her about how she should take a break from studying sometimes. "It'll only tire him and he'll end up not doing well because of it..."
"Tom Riddle not doing well in school?" The other Gryffindor laughed. "Remember what Charlus and Septimus said? He's the best in here when it comes to grades... Unless we're talking about Transfiguration, of course." She giggled, shaking her head. "But, aside from that, I've never seen anyone beat him."
The girl's dormitory was already immersed in silence a few minutes after its occupants went to bed. That night there was no chatting before bed and Minerva didn't even need to turn out the lights in order to make everyone stop talking. That was good, in Hermione's opinion, it made it easier for her to finally finish reading the letter Mr. Ollivander had sent her earlier that day now that all the other girls were asleep and the only noise she could hear was her own breathing and the rustling of paper as she opened the envelope and took the letter out of it.
"Dear Ms. Elston,
As promised, here is your friends' letter. I went to the orphanage and was actually surprised to find such a cheerful girl as your friend in the middle of that dark and rather sad place. Being there only reminded me of how much the Muggle world is in danger and of how much we, wizards and witches, forget about it, focusing only on our own war.
Aside from Ms. Parker's letter, I'm afraid I don't have much news on your subject of interest. I talked with a few wizards I know that work with unique objects and they redirected me to a man I've never heard of before. I'll be trying to contact him as soon as possible.
Also, congratulations on being sorted into Gryffindor, although I had a small hope that you would end up in Ravenclaw, the house which I was in. I hope you're enjoying Hogwarts, Ms. Elston, and I'll be waiting for your next letter.
Garrick Ollivander."
The girl sighed, trying to hide the disappointment she felt as she finished reading the letter. When she received the owl from Ollivander, Hermione had expected something useful, good or bad, but she knew that the wandmaker couldn't be blamed for the lack of information regarding time travel: it was a difficult subject and only a few wizards and witches dedicated their lives to studying it. Also, Ollivander didn't have all the time of the world to spend running after that bit of information for her; he had to work, had to take care of his shop and make new wands. She should feel grateful about the man agreeing to help her in first place.
Hiding the letter under her pillow once again, the girl laid down, whispered a quiet 'Nox' and getting lost into the darkness in the dormitory once again.
A/N: Finally, another chapter! Now, in order to avoid huge Author's Note explaining stuff I like to explain about the chapter, I'll, from now on, put all those little (or not so little) researches/facts about the story on my tumblr (vasovagalsyncope . tumblr . com ) under the tag "kolybel" or "stuff for fanfiction" {there's a little link for it on the sidebar of the blog}. I don't know, I usually like to see author's researches and stuff they do for their stories, so... I guess it would be ok to put these up on tumblr.
Thank you everyone who left a review on last chapter or who added the stories to their favourites/alert, really (:
As always, reviews are always welcome and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.