A/N:
It took a while – me feeling bad turned out to be a sinus infection that cleared after antibiotics, however three bouts of illness in 3 months took their toll on my fibromyalgia which is playing up. It just makes me so tired that I don't write as much (I write later at night when the house is quiet).
Anyhow...
Thanks to reviewers ; Kayleerenea, Gendaris, sammiemarie123,Spirit of the night owl, coffeegoddess08, nerdalertwarning, .9 and guests.
One person asked if this was the tunnel that led to Honeyduke. The answer is no. It is a tunnel that was blocked off in Harry's day. There is some speculation that this one led to Sirius' cave. I like the idea and ran with it leading to a system of tunnels.
So please do enjoy.
Hogsmeade.
The secret passage behind the fourth-floor mirror was wide enough to hold a meeting in, but further on the passage began to split and wind, meandering under Hogwarts in a maze of tunnels that soon disorientated the unwary.
Tom Riddle had taken on the role of guide, leading Buffy through the darkness, directing her around fallen stones and the many puddles that had formed since the last rain. Buffy didn't appear very happy; although she wasn't outright complaining, her face wore a resigned expression. Whenever she missed her step and stumbled, she'd swear softly. Not that Tom was having it much easier. It was true that he had the light from the Hand of Glory, but he was also handicapped by guiding Buffy and looking out for the runes carved into the rocks that would ensure they were heading in the right direction. Every so often, he'd lose his footing, slip on wet ground and muddy water would soak his foot and leg. Buffy was far better equipped for the journey in her stout walking boots and she barely noticed the wet. Tom noticed it all too well. In his rush to leave he'd forgotten to cast a Waterproof Charm and his shoes and socks were already soaking.
At one of the places where the tunnels branched off, Tom stopped and lifted his light higher. One of these tunnels led to Hogsmeade, the other to... some place else.
"Are you lost? I think we're going in circles." Buffy looked blindly about her and wrinkled her nose.
Startled Tom swung the Hand towards her. "Lost?" he repeated. "I'm not lost!"
The yellow light flickered and danced over the blonde girl's face, giving her an otherworldly appearance. For a second, Tom thought her eyes gleamed yellow and he almost dropped the Hand of Glory. Light bounced, the shadows changed and her eyes were back to normal once more.
Had he imagined it? Curious, he moved the light closer to her face, making Buffy scowl as the light danced over her face and hair.
"Hey! Burn the hair and I'll make you pay with a blood sacrifice," Buffy snarled. "Your blood, not someone else's."
Tom snorted. Feisty, very feisty. He liked that. He liked the way she evoked dark images inside your head and the touch of intimidation in her voice. Here she was, in an unknown place, in complete darkness – completely relying on him to guide her – and yet she was still prepared to threaten him. None of his knights would have done so. Of course, Buffy had never seen his darker side.
"How did you know I was holding the Hand by your face?" he asked, genuinely confused. "The Hand of Glory emits neither heat nor light except to whoever holds it." The Hand had originally been made for Housebreakers; thieves who used darkness to evade detection and yet still needed a light to see by.
Buffy's top lip curled. "The deathly smell of decay coming from it is a big give-away. Why didn't you spray it with something? Like that overpowering aftershave Malfoy uses. Don't you think it'd smell better?"
"No." Tom didn't think the Hand smelled anywhere near as bad as Malfoy's 'Rugged' aftershave. Malfoy's aftershave was... Well, he'd banned him from wearing it in their dorm as neither he nor Avery could sleep due to the fumes. Whenever Malfoy went on a date (and he was not as popular as he pretended), Tom made him shower before retiring for the night.
Stepping around Buffy, he lifted the Hand higher so that more light fell onto the wall, slowly systematically searching for the runic sign for Hogsmeade.
Buffy clicked her tongue in annoyance. "So... Mr Tom-Tom the Navigator guy, if you know where we are, what's the what with all the lingering?"
Tom reached out, running his hand over the stones. "Hmm? What's that?" He shot her a look from under his lashes and then went back to scanning the wall. "I'm looking for something."
Buffy glanced around her as if she wasn't in complete darkness and could see. "A thing? What type of thing? A clue-type thing? You're leaving me in the dark, Tom. Literally."
Tom didn't bother to reply. He pressed his fingers into crevices and moved the light closer. It wouldn't do to miss the rune, they could take a wrong turn and wander around for hours before finding their way.
Annoyed at his lack of response, Buffy huffed and yanked the chain. "Speak, O Silent One. Admit you got us lost." She let out a low chuckle. "You could be a Lost Boy. Just don't go Keifer Sutherland on me." She smirked, muttered something about a stake under her breath and then bit her lip.
"Keifer..? Who in Salazar's name is..?" Tom shook his head. "No! Don't tell me. You comparing me to one of the Three Stoogies was bad enough." His Pureblood friends may have been in the dark about the depth of Buffy's insult – he wasn't.
She pouted. "Are we lost?"
"No!" Tom dragged a hand through his hair, mussing it. He hadn't found the rune and was getting concerned. He'd felt sure this tunnel was the one they needed to follow. He'd need to check the other and if there was none there backtrack to the last fork.
He shot a sheepish glance at Buffy and saw she was regarding him doubtfully. "I'm merely taking stock of my surroundings," he replied smoothly.
She's probably more frightened than she's letting on.
Tom's face softened. "Look, you'll just have to trust me." If he was in her position – totally reliant on another's eyes – he'd be irritable as well. In fact, he'd probably have hit them with a hex before now and wrestled the Hand from them.
Instead of being comforted, his words kicked off a torrent of abuse. "Trust you?" Buffy spluttered. "The guy who told me he wanted to help and then stuck my homework to a desk?"
"That was... a simple mistake!" he exclaimed. It had not been one of his finer moments.
She huffed again. "Yeah, mine – for trusting you."
That barb hurt. He hadn't wanted to lose her trust. He'd just needed time, he had... some issues to overcome. "I'm sorry, and I did apologise." There had been a lot of mistakes made by him with Buffy. Why did everything have to be so awkward around her? Because he liked her, he wanted more from her, and because his damn hormones played up around her! It was obviously a genetic weakness in his family line. His mother had succumbed and Merlin knew how many others before her. Tom raked his hand through his hair again, realised what he was doing, and carefully smoothed it back down.
It seemed as if Buffy hadn't finished listing his mistakes, though. She appeared determined to show him how untrustworthy he was. "You're the same guy who summoned a snake monster in Duelling Club and stood by when it made me its main course!"
Tom tensed. That had been bad. The worst moment of his life in fact. He'd never forget the desolation he'd felt when she vanished or the way Merrythought and Dumbledore had so easily accepted her loss. She didn't matter to them! He'd refused to accept it! He'd wanted to jump into the hole and find her!
"Lockhart!" he burst out. "Lockhart! It was Lockhart who cast the Engorgio! The snake wasn't dangerous until then!"
Yes! It was Lockhart's fault for increasing its size so much that it was able to swallow Buffy. "And you!" he added sternly. "Why do you have to be so bloody Gryffindor all the time?!" She should have stayed safely away! The snakes were not there to harm her.
Buffy's jaw dropped. She lifted the chain that hung between them and jerked it angrily, wrenching his arm and making him glare at her.
"Gryffindor?!" she cried. "Just because someone thinks friends and family are worth protecting doesn't make them a Gryffindor! You know what? You should try it someday!" She stepped closer, eyes bright, and stabbed a finger into his shoulder with surprising accuracy despite having no light to see him by.
"You!" she cried and Tom saw the gleam of unshed tears in her eyes. "You caused all this! I thought you were my friend, Tom! I thought we could carry on being friends here and what have you done? You treated me like your enemy!" Buffy didn't tell him that being underground like this was affecting her badly. That the way the darkness closed in reminded her of waking up to find she'd been buried under a building. She was managing to control the panic – barely.
Tom wanted to defend himself and was mentally thrashing around, trying to work out what to say to make this better. What could he say? That treating others badly or as if they were his personal marionettes came as second nature to him? Buffy was... different. And in his eagerness to take revenge on Dearborn, he'd nearly lost her.
With a sinking feeling, Tom wondered if people were wrong; that he wasn't as clever as they told him.He reached out – for the first time in his life seeking a hug – but Buffy was already out of reach and backing away. His hand fell.
Buffy collided with the wall behind her, hissed and rubbed her elbow. "Is it any wonder I've trust issues around you? I keep getting let down. How do I even know you're leading me to Hogsmeade?" She looked panicked. "Why am I trusting you?"
"I'm sorry, and I mean that." He regretted the snake incident. He wanted to argue that Lockhart's spell did play a part in it, and that none of the teachers – Professor Merrythought, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Slughorn – had handled it well. Then it dawned on him that this was a behaviour pattern – something he'd learned at Wools.
By shifting blame, you escaped punishment and gained the admiration for being able to hoodwink an adult like Mrs Cole. But this wasn't Wools, he wasn't that little orphan boy and Buffy deserved better. He wanted her respect.
"I won't summon snakes again." He stared at her in the flickering candlelight, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his voice. Summoning snakes was not something he'd do in her company, not unless she asked him to. "I want to be your... friend." Friend?! He hated that word. He didn't want Buffy to be a friend, he wanted something more – he wasn't sure what yet.
Buffy stared past him into the darkness, gathering her thoughts. After what felt like a long moment, she nodded. "Fine. Are you sure you aren't leading me to the Bog of Eternal Stench?"
"The... The Bog Of Eternal Stench? Is that a real place?"
She shrugged. "Maybe it's the smell from Mulcibar's Hand?"
His gaze dropped to the grey wrinkled severed hand he held and then to her face. Could it really smell so strong to her? It certainly had a whiff, but it wasn't overpowering.
"There's no Bog of Eternal Stench where we are going, I promise you." He smiled, hoping that she'd sense it in his voice. "We're going to Hogsmeade, come rain or shine. Likely it will be raining," he teased. "This is Scotland."
"Hmm..." Her eyes unerringly to the candle. "Don't I get a turn with the Zombie arm?"
"It's a hand, not an arm. And it came from a corpse, not a Zombie." He presumed he was right. Truth was, he'd never looked into the Hand's origins. He knew it was unlikely Borgin and Burke would reveal to a buyer how a Hand of Glory was made – the pair were always secretive about their stock.
"Zombies 'are' dead people," Buffy argued. "They're just dead and animated." She folded her arms and scowled, letting him know she wasn't going to give in easily.
"Perhaps, they are." He didn't want to argue and upset her, and, since Buffy had achieved an Outstanding in Ghoul Studies, he was ready to cede the point. "But I still can't let you use it. It isn't mine to lend."
"Mulcibar won't know. Hand it over." She reached out for the light. "Get it? Hand it over."
"Ah, I think not!" he replied, using his height to lift the hand out of reach. She'd almost grabbed it from him! How did she know where it was? Exactly how good was Buffy's night vision? Or had she smelled it?
Buffy's mouth turned down at the corners as she pouted. "I think you owe me. You know, for the snake attack."
Oh, and now she was trying to blackmail him. Her unshed tears had broken him, but blackmail? Tom felt on far more secure footing with a blackmail attempt.
"We're talking trust here, Buffy," he replied smoothly, keeping the Hand out of her reach. "Mulcibar lent this to me because he trusts me. I shan't betray that trust by letting another use it." With that, he took her hand and tugged her across the passageway to investigate the entrance to the other tunnel.
Buffy groaned as she followed him. "I still don't understand why we can't use an ordinary light. It's crazy how one of us – like me," she rolled her eyes, "needs to stumble about in the dark when a simple Lumos would light up the place."
"You know we can't," Tom replied. "If the teachers check this tunnel, the light could give us away."
There was another advantage to keeping her in the dark that Tom wasn't telling her about – making her dependant on him. It was something that he'd barely admit to himself let alone anyone else: he enjoyed the way Buffy clung to him when they skirted around a puddle or pit in the tunnel's floor.
Buffy didn't seem to be enjoy it as much as he did. She pulled a face. "This thing you were looking for. Did you find it? Because shuffling along in mud and darkness gets old real quick."
Tom barely registered what she'd said. He'd just spotted the rune for Hogsmeade carved into the facing wall. "I have, and you'll be delighted to know that we aren't far from Hogsmeade."
The tunnel grew steeper as it ran towards the surface. Eventually, they came to a place where large rocks partially blocked the tunnel's exit. Tom took the lead, squeezing past the rockfalls, constantly looking back to guide Buffy. Eventually, he came out into the back of a small cave located on the mountainside just above Hogsmeade. There was light enough to see now without the Hand of Glory and Tom snuffed the candle out and put the hand into his robe pocket before turning to Buffy.
"Hogsmeade looks totally different in the daylight," she said. She'd gone to stand in the cave entrance and was looking down at the sharp-angled roofs of the village below.
He was so wrapped up in the way the breeze blew back her light blonde hair from her face and moulded her robe to the curves of her body that he almost missed what she'd just said.
"You've seen the village before?" he asked, startled. How? As far as he knew, the closest she'd been was when she'd been at Hogsmeade station. To see it, she must have sneaked out of Hogwarts.
Buffy tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. It was at night and from down there. I didn't go into it, just saw the lights. I've seen it from up here as well."
His eyes narrowed. How many times had she sneaked out? And more importantly, why? To meet someone? Who? He thought of Dearborn and his accusation that she was a Grindelwald supporter. He'd dismissed it as paranoia. Buffy had been brought up a Muggle and it was unlikely the Lovegoods would support him. There was, of course, her father... Could the necklace have been a gift from her real father? Was Walburga right? Was Buffy's biological father a powerful wizard? Was he... Hubert Von Kendrick?
But something else was bothering him. "Are you saying you'd been in the tunnels before? That you found your way here?"
"Yep. Without my navigational TomTom." Buffy gave Tom a sly side-long look. Spikey had led her through the tunnels a lot quicker than he had, but she wasn't going to tell him.
"You know about the runes carved into the walls?" Tom was astounded. Who could have told her? He only knew about them because Victor Avery had blurted it out when he'd been torturing him. Back in their first year, Avery had struck a bargain with Tom. In return for Tom giving up his campaign of revenge for Avery's initial bullying, Avery would divulge the family secret of how to navigate the tunnels. Avery had claimed the runes were carved long ago into the walls by a distant ancestor, the knowledge passed down from father to son. Had Avery told her? Or another member of Avery's family? He felt a wave of anger that the Avery family might have some connection to Buffy and he hadn't been told.
Buffy was screwing up her nose. "Runes? Runes show the way? Oh, no, no rune-age. I sorta..." she waved a hand, "...wandered straight up here." She smirked. "I guess I'm just lucky."
There was a gleam in her eye that told him there was more to this and he moved closer so that she had to look up at him.
"Tell. Me," he ordered, using what he liked to call his 'persuasive' voice, the one that had compelled so many to do his bidding. Not that it had worked with Buffy in the past, but it was worth a try. "Tell me how you found your way."
Had Avery shown her the way? He had a sudden mental image of Buffy and Avery holed up in a quiet corner of Hogwarts somewhere, their heads together whispering intimately. The idea sent him into a jealous rage – twisting and cutting into his gut like a cursed knife. He had to know how she got here! She had to tell him. He needed to know now!
Buffy turned her head and gave him a flat stare that he knew all too well. She'd no intention of telling him anything and if he tried compelling her again she'd make a sarcastic comment.
Frustrated at her silence and confused at the combination of emotions he had around her, he strove to keep the bark of anger from his voice. "You promised that if I came with you today, you'd tell me all of your secrets. I've put my prefect badge at risk for you, rules and –."
"Tom!"
Startled, he stopped. Wondering if there was someone coming up the slope behind him, he looked over his shoulder and then back at her in surprise. She pointed to his feet. "Look!"
Tom looked down, expecting... that a hex had turned his feet into a chicken's or something, but instead saw only wet shoes and muddy trousers.
"Your shoes!" Buffy shook her head in disgust. "Why didn't you wear decent footwear?"
His anger and frustration was replaced by embarrassment. How could he tell her that these were the only pair of shoes he had at Hogwarts? Merlin! It wasn't as if he could use the rough, secondhand boots that Wools had given him. If his Slytherin Housemates had seen them, he'd never live it down. If only he hadn't forgotten the Water-Proofing Charm! It was always easier to make something waterproof than clean and repair clothing that was so damaged.
Angry at how his lack of money always brought him down, he scowled and turned away. With a tug on the chain binding their wrists, he moved for the pathway. "It's time we went."
Buffy dug her heels in and pulled him back. "Yeah, but what about your–?"
He only yanked the chain harder. "There's nothing you can do. Let's go!"
They followed a path, so narrow and twisting that it could have been made by deer. Buffy, ambling behind him, slowed once they'd rounded a copse of pine trees and the village came in sight.
"What's wrong?" Tom called over his shoulder, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. This was Buffy's idea, and she wasn't walking in soggy socks!
"Um, do you know where the Three Broomsticks is?"
Ah, she didn't know the layout of the village. He slowed his pace and stepped onto the grass so that they could walk side by side. "It's in the middle of the main street."
The Three Broomsticks was a favourite with students and teachers alike. It was madness going in there. She must have arranged the meeting before Dumbledore's ban. He bit his bottom lip, determined not to interrogate her and close her down, but equally determined to find out.
He stopped and nodded at the village. "I suggest we veer left and enter via a side street." He pointed at the village. "Up there. Do you see the burn?"
"Um, no. What's a burn?"
"It's the Scottish name for a stream. There's a bridge there and we can enter the village that way. It's a quiet street and not many from Hogwarts go down there."
Buffy flashed him a smile. "What would I do without my Tom-Tom?"
He gave her a sharp look – to see if she was mocking him – but she'd gone back to looking at the village. "We'll put up our hoods at the bridge." He hesitated, swallowed, suddenly nervous. "If we hold hands and keep close no one will notice the chains. They'll think we're one of those pathetic courting couples who can't keep their hands off each other in public."
Tom had seen couples like that before and had always despised them on principle. They were an embarrassment to themselves and those around them and he'd always thought there should be a law against it. It was probably something Dearborn would do. He could just imagine him, holding Buffy's hand and whispering to her as they walked around in their golden world filled with golden sunshine.
Tom shot an angry look at the overcast sky – promising rain – and his foot skidded on the muddy slope. He scowled – hating the weather and the mountain. Even the weather knew he shouldn't be here walking with Buffy. He'd never be a golden boy like Dearborn. The only reason Buffy was here now was because Dumbledore had chained them up together and she couldn't escape.
"Won't we look weird?" Buffy asked, hopping over a pile of fresh sheep droppings. "As in, 'concerned passerby points finger and asks why the hoodies?'"
'Hoodies?' Tom shook his head. Buffy was smart, but she'd no idea of how people dressed in Hogsmeade. "They won't. They'll assume we're cold and trying to keep warm."
As if on cue, a cold blast of air hit blew the branches of the trees behind them. Tom quickly raised his hood and buttoned up his robe. By his side, Buffy was shivering and doing the same, the bottom of her robe whipping in the wind.
"Brrr! Why is it always so cold here?" She shivered. "It's freezing and it's not even November."
"This is the Scottish Highlands, Buffy."
She gave him a side-look and spotted something that made her giggle. He looked back at her questioning and she pointed to his hood. "We only need a Scream mask and we could scare everyone in Hogsmeade." She giggled again, although he'd no idea what she was talking about.
"What in Merlin's name is a scream mask?"
"Umm, you won't know because..." She gave him the I've-got-a-secret face again, then relented. "It's a white mask. It covers your face and hides your identity..."
He cocked his head, listening. This actually wasn't such a bad idea. If his knights wore them they could terrify their enemies without fear of being recognised.
"... and the mask has, like, this scream-mouth." Buffy demonstrated by widening her eyes, opening her mouth and twisting it before exploding into laughter. "Honestly, Tom, people pay to watch these movies. They're funny."
It did look odd. Tom grinned back. His knights would not be wearing 'Scream' masks after all.
They crossed the ancient stone bridge spanning the rushing burn and continued on, the lane becoming cobbled as they reached the first houses. The gap between the buildings narrowed the closer the village centre they got. There were shops and private dwellings along here, two or three storeys high, each floor overhanging the one below it by several feet so that if you walked in the centre of the street there was there was only a narrow strip of sky above you.
The shop windows were small, ancient lattice glass distorted over time so that you had to stop and put your nose against the glass to get a good look at what was inside. Tom had been here before and knew every shop to be functional and uninteresting. Here were the shops that served the Hogsmeade community – the butcher's, the bakers, the grocer's, the drapers, a haberdashery, a hatter and a tailor's. Students rarely ventured here and the only people about were housewives and elves scurrying about carrying bags and baskets full of groceries.
"Don't forget," Tom warned Buffy in a low voice, dipping his head and checking to make sure their chains weren't noticeable. "Keep holding hands and your hood up at all times."
A Hag, tall and stick-thin with a battered hat shoved past Buffy, causing her to spin and glare at the creature's departing back.
"Buffy." Tom touched Buffy's arm to get her attention and urge her to keep moving. "Remember, Dumbledore didn't make it public that we're banned from Hogsmeade. Try not to draw attention to us and don't go –."
"Tom!" Buffy squealed, causing the shoppers to look over. She hung off his arm and bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly. "I've a great idea! I'm going to show you how to have fun!"
"What?!" Tom asked, panicked. People were looking, she was drawing attention to them.
…...
A/N 2;
Thanks for reading! Tom is now in for Buffy fun. Honestly, I couldn't resist. :-)