Author's Note: Another update? A day after? I'm impressed with myself. Anyway, some of you may find this chapter interesting, as it involves Harry's detentions with Umbridge, and yes, Tom won't react too pleasantly to it. Well, I say not too pleasantly, I mean that he reacts… badly. Muhahahaha! Enjoy!
The Experiments of Tom Marvolo Riddle – Chapter 7
Written By YT12J
Ron and Harry both sat down at their table in the Divination classroom. They were just in time, as Trelawney began to speak. "Welcome, class, to Divination. On your tables you shall find a copy of The Dream Oracle. Dream interpretation is very important in telling our futures, and hopefully you shall find it as interesting as I do."
"Not likely." Ron muttered. Harry smiled.
"It is my belief that you shall be tested on this very topic during your O. , so let us not waste any more time, and get to work! Divide into pairs, and share your dreams with each other. Use the book to interpret each other's dreams, and then hopefully find some interesting results. You may begin."
"I can't think of any recent dreams." Harry said to Ron. "Should I just make one up?"
Ron nodded. "I can't really think of any either. You go first. Try to make it sound real, Harry."
"Ok, how about this, last night I had a dream that Snape had me locked in his classroom, and was forcing poison down my throat."
"Erm, well, according to the book, if you dreamt about taking poison, the next potion you drink will give you Dragon Pox."
"Dragon Pox?" Harry made a face. "I don't look forward to that."
They continued interpreting pretend dreams for the rest of the lesson, until Trelawney stopped them, and gave them the homework of keeping a dream diary for a whole month.
"Do you know how much homework we're going to get this year?" Ron groaned as they walked towards Defence against the Dark Arts. "According to Fred and George, classes and Homework will be tougher this year, because of our O. . They even offered me and Hermione some of those Skiving Snackboxes this morning, but I passed. I'm a prefect; I don't want to risk getting caught and losing my badge."
Harry shrugged. "Well, hopefully we won't get any homework from Umbridge, but who knows; maybe she gives out more homework than the other teachers."
As they walked into the Defence classroom, they noticed Professor Umbridge already seated, wearing the same pink cardigan that she had worn the night before.
"Good afternoon class." Professor Umbridge said pleasantly. Several people mumbled "Good afternoon" back. She frowned at the class, and said "Well, that certainly isn't right. When I say good afternoon, I expect all of you to reply. Let's try this again. Good afternoon class."
This time there was a loud "Good afternoon Professor Umbridge." From the whole class. She smiled, and then said "That's better. Now, why don't we all put our wands away, and get our quills out. You won't need your wands."
Most of the class didn't look too happy at this; whenever a teacher told them to put their wands away, it usually meant that the lesson was going to be boring. Harry took his quill out, and shoved his wand inside his bag.
"Now, I think that we may have to return to the basics for this class…"
Break
Tom put his book away, having finished reading it. There was nothing in it that he didn't already know which didn't bother him too much. He was content that his journey back would be perfectly safe, and he wasn't too focused on reading more to do with time travel.
Using one of the secret passageways that he had found in his school year, he had gone to Hogsmeade and from there had apparated to Knockturn Alley. From there he had found Borgin and Burke's, and paid the owner to mail him a large supply of food every week so that he did not starve or get forced to eat from the feast, the second being much too risky. He had also bought several interesting items from there that could be of some use to him, including a vanishing cabinet (Borgin had told him that it was linked to one in Hogwarts), and the Hand of Glory.
When Borgin had informed Tom of the Vanishing Cabinet's sister being in Hogwarts, he had left one in the shop, and instructed Borgin to leave his weekly supply of food in there instead. Later on, when he returned to Hogwarts, he located the Vanishing Cabinet, and took the first package. It contained enough to last him for longer than a week, which amused Tom, as it implied that Borgin was so afraid of Tom that he did not want to displease him by not providing him with enough.
Tom hadn't actually threatened Borgin, but when Borgin refused to serve him on the grounds that Tom was a teenager, Tom had shown Borgin an impressive display of spellwork that had terrified Borgin, and had reassured Tom that he wouldn't have to worry about Borgin selling him out.
He had also gone to Flourish and Blotts, in disguise, and bought several books. The books were mostly ones that contained information on his future self, Lord Voldemort. He had been curious at first, but when he got back to Hogwarts, he simply dumped them on the desk he had made for himself, having lost interest.
It had been amusing to watch Harry wake up late that morning, and to watch him get changed and run to classes in a rush. Tom never overslept that much, in fact, in his time he had always woken up extremely early, and was never, ever late to classes.
Break
"What were you thinking?" McGonagall demanded.
Harry was currently standing inside of his head of house's office, having shown her the parchment that Umbridge had sent him with. He had lost his temper in her class, and actually lifted his middle finger at her. Ron looked impressed, Hermione looked shocked, and the rest of the class were trying not to smile. Umbridge had almost been foaming at the mouth, and had almost screamed at him until he went death, but then just managed to control herself.
"Why would you do something like that, Potter? You know who she is, you know where she comes from, and you know who she is reporting to! You should not have lost control like that! You should have remained calm, and ignored her, no matter what she said to you. Now, according to this letter she has given you a detention for every single evening this week."
Harry choked on the biscuit that was in his mouth. "Every – every evening?! That's ridiculous! Professor, please, can't you stop this."
"No!" McGonagall said, glaring. "You were extremely rude to a member of staff, and now she has every right to punish you. Five O'clock, every evening this week, Potter, and do not antagonize her any further. The results of that could affect the entire school, should the Minister have any say in it. You are excused."
Harry nodded, having decided that there was nothing he could do about it. Getting up, he walked out of her office, heading towards the common room.
Break
In the Great Hall, dinner wasn't very pleasant. Almost all of the student body seemed to have heard about Harry's shouting match with Umbridge, and they were all shocked that he swore at her.
As Harry sat down with Ron and Hermione to eat, Fred and George walked up to them.
"So, Harry,"
"We heard that you had a little fun with Umbridge,"
"And we were thinking,"
"That you may want some revenge,"
"So, how about a little revenge?"
"We'll carry it out,"
"You won't even have to pay us,"
"What do you say?" They both asked at the same time, their speaking seemingly annoying Hermione, who had apparently got into an argument with them that morning.
Harry smiled, and said "Thanks guys, but no thanks. While I would love to see her taught a lesson, I don't want to risk anything. So, how about you focus on someone else? Anyway, I'm going to the common room, goodbye."
As Harry got up and walked off, Harry heard Ron asking "How come he doesn't have to pay you, I'm your brother!"
Break
Harry walked into his dormitory, not feeling up to sitting in the common room. Tom was there, eating what looked like a sandwich, and reading brand new book called 'Dark Lords: Who are they?'
"Where did you get that food from? And the book, it looks brand new." Harry asked Tom. Tom gulped down what he was chewing, and then replied.
"I used one of the secret passages to get to Hogsmeade. I then apparated to somewhere else where I arranged a weekly supply of food and bought some interesting items."
Harry nodded, not especially interested on where he got it from. He sat down on his bed, and decided to get a start on some of his homework, instead of sitting there, doing nothing.
Break
The next day began with double Charms, before double Transfiguration. Both of the teacher spent a while telling them the importance of O. , and studying hard, and gave them even more homework than they already had. Hermione was the only one to not get homework in Transfiguration, as she was the only person to be able to vanish her snail, leaving everybody else to get the homework of practicing it.
Care of Magical Creatures went swiftly, as they were introduced to Bowtruckles. Harry wasn't too happy with the way that most of the class thought that their current Professor was better than Hagrid, and got into an argument with Malfoy over it. Malfoy was his usual big-headed self, and assured Harry that if his father had a say in it, the 'Oaf' would not ever return to Hogwarts.
After that they had Herbology, in which, to nobody's surprise, Professor Sprout lectured them on the importance of the O. , and gave them a ton of homework. Harry also got approached by Ernie Macmillan, who said to him "I want you to know that I support you, Potter. My family and I have always supported Dumbledore, and we believe him now, no matter what rubbish the Ministry spurts out."
"Er, thanks Ernie." Harry muttered. Next to him, Hermione smiled.
When they got back to the common room, Harry was approached by Angelina Johnson, who didn't look too happy.
"Oi Potter! What were you thinking when you got that detention? We have keeper tryouts on Friday, and I need the whole team there. You had better go to Professor Umbridge, and beg for that night off, or I'll make you suffer! Got it?"
With that she stormed off, leaving the three of them to gape at her. "Well, I don't really see Umbridge letting me off for Quidditch tryouts." Harry muttered.
Break
Harry entered Umbridge's office, trying not to openly display his disgust at the way in which it was decorated. The previous occupants of the office (except for Lockhart) had offices that Harry enjoyed being in. There were plates with kittens on the wall, and vases full of extremely dry flowers.
"Ah, good evening Mr Potter. Please, take a seat."
Harry sat down, not sure what exactly what was going to happen in the detention, but suspicious that he wasn't going to like it.
"Now, I'm very worried Mr Potter, that you seem to find it appropriate to make rude gestures to your Professors, and to spread horrible lies about a certain Dark Lord being back. Hopefully this detention will teach you that I do not tolerate such things, and that you should not do it again.
"Now, all you have to do is some lines for me. I have a very special quill for you to use" She held up a long, black quill, with an extremely sharp point "And you shall write with it 'I must not tell lies'"
"How many times?" Harry asked her, suspicious that this was not all there was to it.
"Oh, how about until the message, sinks in, Mr Potter. Begin!"
Harry pressed the quill down to the parchment and began to write.
Break
Harry walked into his dormitory, his hand aching extremely badly, provoking occasional hisses of pain. He was mad at Umbridge, but knew that there wasn't anything he could do about her. The minister had granted her too much power, and was looking for any excuse to make Harry look bad. One thing he was certain about was that he could not, under any circumstances, tell Tom what she was making him do in his detentions. Harry was sure that Tom's reaction wouldn't be pleasant, and as much as he hated Umbridge, he didn't think it would be good if she was found dead.
As he sat down on his bed, Tom immediately opened his mouth to speak. "You're hiding something, Harry. And I want to know what it is."
Harry hesitated. "I don't know what you're talking about." Tom latched onto his hesitation.
"Tell me!"
Tom's tone promised extreme pain, so Harry decided it would be in his best interests to spill. Not knowing what to say, he simply raised his hand for Tom to look at.
Tom stared at it, remaining silent. Then he spoke, quiet but deadly. "What did she do to you?"
"Lines" Harry muttered. "She had me use a very special quill that used my own blood." As soon as he finished speaking, Tom got up, and walked towards the entrance, already casting the necessary charms on himself so that he could walk through the common room and the school unnoticed.
"Tom!" He called out. Tom stopped, not replying or turning around. Harry continued. "Don't kill her. As much as I hate her, and as horrible as she may be, don't do it."
Tom spoke. "By the time I'm through with her, she won't be dead, but will wish for death. Does that satisfy you? Does that fit your, needs for torture?"
Harry swallowed, hoping that it wasn't actually going to be as bad as Tom said. "I guess so."
"Good."
Her mangled, but still breathing body was found the next day.
Author's Note: Well, I think that was a chapter well done. I hope that it makes up for the short chapters that I have been posting, and while this one isn't especially long, it is long – er. Please review if you can, even if you want to insult me. I can take it; don't worry about letting your emotions loose. Anyway, I can't make any guarantees on when the next chapter will be out. Hopefully within a week, but I can't tell. I have exams coming up, so I'll be very busy with revision and homework. Anyway, see you next time. Until then, amuse yourselves.