Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all rights to it belong strictly to J.K Rowling.
I am simply having fun with my imagination.
...Tom stayed awake for most of the night, feeling very pleased that he shared this little secret with his forefather...
CHAPTER 5: DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS
Tom awoke early the following morning and dressed before any of the other boys got up. His Slytherin robes made him feel very comfortable in his own skin as he climbed downstairs to the empty Common Room, carrying his book bag with him. He climbed out of the portrait hole and began to wander around the castle corridors. The bright oranges and yellows of dawn shone through the castle windows softly as Tom passed by them. He climbed up to the fourth floor and stopped by the trophy room, examining the various gleaming trophies in the glass cabinets.
Previous Hogwarts students had won all sorts of awards and Magical Merits. There were photographs of previous Quidditch teams holding cups in victory. There were photographs of prefects and head boys and girls, smiling and waving their badges with delight. Some had earned medals for special services to the school. Others had won best academic achievements awards. The records were endless.
Soon, Tom heard the footsteps and chatter of several students in the halls. The world was finally waking up. He exited the Trophy Room, and went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As he ate, Tom watched the students from the other tables carefully. There was a group of Ravenclaws that were flipping frantically through pages in their books, looking perplexed. Over at the Hufflepuff table, a group of boys were roaring with laughter about something apparently amusing. The Gryffindors were mimicking brooms in the air and talking excitedly about flying strategies. Everyone at the Slytherin table however, were very excited about something called "the staring glass eye", which apparently was Borgin's newest item in stock.
"I'm going to get my hands on it as soon as I can," said the prefect boy from the day before.
After the owl post arrived, during which Tom received nothing (though it wasn't a surprise to him), the witch that had conducted the sorting hat ceremony came around and gave the students their timetables. Tom's indicated that he had Potions and Charms that morning, then lunch, then History of Magic and Transfiguration. Defense Against the Dark Arts was unfortunately scheduled for the next day. He would only have it three times a week.
Feeling slightly disappointed, Tom finished off his breakfast without a word to any of his neighbours. Just before the clock struck 9, Avery turned to him, having gotten bored with his conversation with Rufus Lestrange.
"Oy Tom, want to go to Potions together?"
"I'll see you there," said Tom without looking at him.
Avery took this as a hint to leave Tom alone, and did just that.
Before any of the students even finished their breakfast, Tom rose to his feet, carrying his book bag with him, and headed down to Potions. The door was open when he arrived there so he found a seat and took out his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. It was a while before the bell sounded and his classmates started to file into the classroom noisily. Once they settled down, the teacher walked in, muttering apologies about his lateness.
Potions was a rather dull subject that Tom found no interest in whatsoever. Though, that did not stop him from performing marvellously. He was the first to successfully brew a Forgetfulness Potion, having carefully read and analyzed the recipe for it back in the orphanage just a week before.
"Tis splendid!" cried Professor Slughorn as he whirled around to examine Tom's creation. "My dear boy, how on earth did you—very, very nice. 10 points to Slytherin!"
Tom's fellow classmates patted him on the back and cheered but he did not react. . . not even with a smile. He simply poured the contents of his creation into a vile and handed it to Professor Slughorn for grading. The Professor however, quickly waved it away.
"Nonsense boy," he said, smiling. "I don't need to examine it to see that it's perfect. Full marks!"
Tom had to admit to himself that though the subject was dull, it had been a good start to his academics. He made his way to Charms class alone, not needing to remind Avery twice to let him be. He would talk to him when he felt like it. But for now, he wanted to examine Hogwarts carefully, and everything that it had to offer.
The Charms teacher, a Professor Flitwick, was part-goblin and part-human. Tom made a disparaging noise when the little man came into the class and introduced himself as their Charms teacher. They couldn't possibly allow a man child to teach them, could they? However, as the lesson progressed, Professor Flitwick proved to be very knowledgeable on the subject. They did levitation charms which Tom found to be quite amusing. He also did considerably well in that class, and by the end of the lesson, Professor Flitwick was on a first-name basis with him.
At lunchtime, Tom allowed Avery to accompany him back to the Great Hall.
"It's really weird that a goblin is teaching us," Avery was saying.
"Yeah, but I've heard that he's some kind of duel god or whatever," said Lestrange, who had joined them at the Slytherin table.
Tom grabbed a knife and began to spread butter on his bread.
"He does seem to know his stuff," said Avery, taking a bite of an apple. "What did you think of him, Tom?"
Tom put the knife back and placed the square-shaped bread on his square-shaped plate, aligning it perfectly. He took his time doing this, and then he looked up at Avery.
"I thought he was fine," he answered, coolly.
The rest of the day was very long but Tom seemed to enjoy all of his classes and his performance was topnotch. He made excellent first impressions with his teachers, all of whom now knew him by his first name. History of Magic was fascinating indeed. It was taught by a ghost who went by the name of Professor Binns. He spent a great portion of the lesson discussing the four founders of Hogwarts: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. According to him, they had been the greatest wizards and witches of their time. They had created the school together and then shortly after, Slytherin had departed, having argued with the other three about who should attend the school.
"Of course, you can see the mistake that Slytherin made," said Professor Binns. "He wanted only magical families to be able to attend the school but we see that today as a mistake for we have had many students over the last century who had been half-bloods or muggle-born and excelled at magic, way beyond many purebloods."
Tom jotted down every word that Professor Binns uttered, though he did not necessarily agree. To him, the idea of permitting someone who did not have any magical blood in their family to study magic, was sort of ridiculous. But then again, he was new to the wizarding world, so he spared himself the humiliation of trying to voice these thoughts and nodded along throughout the lesson.
Transfiguration was another excellent subject. Though it was taught by Professor Dumbledore, Tom seemed to enjoy it. They spent the whole of class practicing the Avifors Spell, which was meant to transform small objects into birds. Tom was becoming increasingly pleased with his success. Though, his heart sank when he headed back to the Slytherin Common Room that evening. He had really looked forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and would have to wait until the following day at noon.
He finished all of his homework quickly that night, rejected Avery's invitation to play a game of Exploding Snap (which he neither knew nor cared about), and went straight to bed. Morning came very quickly and again, Tom rose before anyone else had woken up and went to explore the castle. He did not see the use in sleeping in. Besides, he liked the idea of wandering around the castle while the world was still asleep. It gave him some privacy to his thoughts.
He found himself thinking a lot about Salazar Slytherin. Who had he really been? Why did Tom have this strong urge to find out more about him? Why was he being drawn to him by an unknown, almost electric force? He had to find out. He would not rest until he did.
Breakfast that day was the same as it had been the day before. Tom quietly ate his food and watched the students in the Great Hall, carrying on with their conversations or smearing jam on their toast. He waited patiently as the owl post arrived and students ripped open letters from home or skimmed through articles in the wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet. He figured he would wait until 10 minutes before the bell, before heading down to his first lesson for the day: Charms.
However, just as the clock struck 10 to 9, and students began to descend from the hall, a hand was placed on Tom's shoulder and he turned around.
"Hello Tom," said Professor Dumbledore, who was smiling kindly at him.
Tom rose to his feet quickly and faced him.
"Hello, professor," he said, bowing his head.
"How are you, Tom?" said Dumbledore. "How are you enjoying your classes?"
"Fine, sir," said Tom, meeting Dumbledore's eyes.
"Any favourites so far?" said Dumbledore.
"Transfiguration, I suppose," said Tom. "But I still have many new classes to attend today, sir."
"I am glad to see that you are liking it here," said Dumbledore, nodding.
"I do, sir," said Tom.
"Well, you'd better get to class, then. Don't want to be late."
"Have a good day, sir."
Tom bowed again to Professor Dumbledore, picked up his school bag, and exited the hall, cursing under his breath.
The Charms lesson that day was as interesting as it had been yesterday. The students learned the Lumos Solem spell, which Tom excelled at almost immediately.
"Well done!" little Professor Flitwick squeaked as he stopped at Tom's table and beamed at his efforts. Tom waved his wand in the air, keeping the expanded light pointed at the ceiling. "OH, JUST WELL DONE!"
"Oy, wait up, Tom!" Avery called after the lesson was over and Tom exited the classroom. "We have Defense Against the Dark Arts together, haven't we?"
"Yes," said Tom, continuing to walk.
Lestrange caught up with them.
"I just heard from my father that a muggle-born wizard tried to apply for a job at Borgin's place," he told them, smirking. "The nerve!"
"A muggle-born wizard?" said Avery, frowning. "That's very odd. Who does he think he is?"
"Dunno," said Lestrange, casually.
"A brave little hero," suggested Tom.
The two boys smirked at his comment.
They entered the classroom together, though Tom moved away from the boys who were headed to the back and sat at the very front instead. An elderly witch was standing at the front of the class, with her hands behind her back, waiting. Once the class had filed in, she stepped forwards.
"I am Professor Merrythought and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the next 5 years," she told them. "Should you achieve an O.W.L in my subject, I will be pleased to teach you at the N.E.W.T level."
The students collectively questioned her about the meaning of these words.
"The Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations take place in your fifth year. If you achieve the required passing grade for a subject, you are allowed to continue taking that subject at the Nastily Exhausting Wizard Testing level. Now, let's go ahead and get into Dark Arts topics."
Tom sat up in his seat and listened carefully.
"We will be studying and analysing a variety of different creatures this year, and their properties of course. These will include gnomes, doxies, bowtruckles, and gargoyles…nasty little beasts. Now, just to see where we stand, who here can tell me how to cure a werewolf bite?"
Tom raised his hand in the air, and no sooner than later realised that he was the only one.
"Yes, Mr..?"
"Riddle," said Tom.
"Very well, Mr. Riddle…"
"A mixture of powdered silver and dittany is applied to a fresh bite to seal the wound," answered Tom. "It allows the victim to live on as a werewolf."
"Excellent!" cried Professor Merrythought, beaming. "I see someone has actually opened up their Defense Against the Dark Arts book. Very well, 5 points to Slytherin!"
Tom nodded once at the witch, and then folded his arms on the desk.
"Now, what about bowtruckles?" continued Professor Merrythought, looking around the class. "They are commonly pleasant creatures, but will become vicious if you try to disturb their trees. How would you go about trying to take leaves or wood from a Bowtruckle's tree?"
Tom raised his hand again. Professor Merrythought was very pleased and pointed at him.
"Offer it wood lice or fairy eggs," answered Tom.
"Precisely!" beamed Professor Merrythought. "Another 5 points, Mr. Riddle! Say, are you by any chance the boy that came from the muggle orphanage?"
Tom stared at her.
"I am," he said, quietly. The other students in the class began to whisper amongst themselves.
"Yes, I heard Professor Dumbledore mention you," she said, thoughtfully. "I must say, he was right. You seem very logical."
"Thank you, professor," said Tom, nodding once at her.
"So, class, the connection between the werewolf bite and the bowtruckle is that they are both very..."
The rest of the lesson proceeded in the same fashion. Professor Merrythought continued to ask questions that only Tom knew the answers to. By the end of the lesson, he had won Slytherin house over 70 points. Though, after about half an hour, Professor Merrythought had multiplied the amount she awarded him per question, by two.
Tom had really enjoyed the class. Professor Merrythought was extremely knowledgeable when it came to the dark arts and Tom's eyes gleamed with excitement whenever she mentioned the name of another creature he'd never heard of before. He was very thirsty for knowledge and eagerly copied down the professor's every word.
"That was brilliant!" Avery exclaimed at the end of the lesson, as they walked out of the classroom. "How on earth did you know all of that?"
Tom did not answer but merely continued to walk.
"Well, we have a break now," said Avery. "Want to…uh, go do something? Play Wizard's Chess or maybe Exploding Snap?"
"No," said Tom, stopping to look at him. "Perhaps another time."
He turned away, not waiting for Avery to answer, and headed straight for the library. Once there, he seated himself at a corner table, spread open his books, and began to do his homework. He skipped lunch that day and continued to work until his next class. That way, by the end of the day, all of his homework was completed, and he was free to go back to the library and explore the records books.
He skimmed through them, looking for the name Riddle. There were centuries upon centuries worth of records but nowhere could he find any trace of the name. It was most peculiar. His father was simply nonexistent in the wizarding world. Could it be then, that his mother had been the magical one of the pair? No, thought Tom. If she had been, she wouldn't have died! Something was not right here.
He left the library at 10 o'clock that night and slowly made his way back to the Slytherin Common Room, keeping his head bowed and thinking hard.
"Tom?" said a voice he knew too well by now. He turned round to face Professor Dumbledore.
"Good evening, professor," he said, bowing his head again.
"What are you doing at this late hour, Tom?" said Dumbledore, narrowing his eyes at him.
"I was just finishing some homework up in the library, sir," said Tom.
It was the truth, after all. Professor Dumbledore smiled kindly at him and bid him good night, though Tom knew he had seen a hint of suspicion in those clear blue eyes. He didn't let that worry him though. Tomorrow would be a new day, and he had lots to do… starting with the search for his connection to Slytherin.