Author's Note: Aren't I just amazing? I beat my word record, and for the first time passed 3000 words! I really hope that you all like this chapter, I've been writing it since last week, but was away for a few days, otherwise I would have finished it off and uploaded it. Please leave a review if you can. Enjoy!

The Experiments of Tom Marvolo Riddle – Chapter 9

Written By YT12J

"Albus, how do you think that the Minister is going to react to you appointing a new Professor to Defence against the Dark Arts?" asked Minerva McGonagall.

They were both sitting in Dumbledore's office, discussing Minister Fudge, and what he had been doing lately. Professor McGonagall thought that Dumbledore should actually do something against the Minister, but Dumbledore disagreed with her, saying that the Minister would see reason within time.

"I cannot say, Minerva. He was extremely angry that Dolores was attacked, so much in fact that he almost accused Harry of doing it. I doubt that he will react well to Algernon being appointed, the Minister seems desperate to have an informative in Hogwarts and without his Undersecretary, he does not have anybody."

"That's another thing," McGonagall mentioned. "What happened to him in the middle of his speech in the Great Hall? He seemed intent on accusing Potter, however he suddenly changed his mind. If I didn't know any better I would say that he was hit with a charm by somebody. In fact, I suspected this immediately after, but when I cast Homenum Revelio I could only sense the students, Professors, and our visitors. And before you ask, I counted the exact amount of students."

"Interesting." Dumbledore murmured. "I trust your ability to not miscount the students and Professors, however it is possible that if somebody did cast a charm while invisible, they may have also cast a charm to stop themselves from being revealed in any way. It would not be too difficult, especially when that person was around so many magic users."

"I'm not too bothered actually." McGonagall muttered. "He was doing a despicable thing, accusing Potter of something that horrible! In fact, do you think that the person who attacked Umbridge and the person who may have charmed Fudge were the same? I think it's likely."

"As do I, Minerva. However, we have no proof that anybody even cast a charm on Cornelius, and we have no idea who the attacker was. I am shocked to say that I couldn't come close to tracing the Dark Magic used on Dolores, something which confuses me greatly. The only possible way I could think of is if the person in question used a charm to remove any trace of their magic, however the only charms that are capable of this are extremely complex, and very few can cast it, leading me to believe that perhaps it was a Dark Creature."

"Who knows?" McGonagall said. "We can only hope that the attacker will be found and punished, though I can't really see that happening. I must leave now though, my class is starting."

"Farewell then, Minerva." Dumbledore said, as she walked out of his office, heading to her classroom."

Break

The next day, both Dumbledore and McGonagall were extremely angry at what happened, along with most of the staff.

It started in the Great Hall, during breakfast. Harry was sitting by himself. Ron was at the Quidditch tryouts, which for some reason Angelina had decided that the other team players need not be present for. It was extremely confusing, as she had just been berating him for missing the last keeper tryouts, which were moved to that day due to bad weather.

Hermione however, wasn't at breakfast due to the fact that she went to Professor Flitwick's office for help with her extra bonus homework, or as many people called it, the 'Hermione Homework', which Hermione received whenever she completed the regular homework and the bonus.

Suddenly, the doors opened, and Minister Fudge came storming in with a smirk on his face, no less than ten Aurors at his side. Harry had a sudden feeling of Déjà vu, mainly because it was almost exactly the same as what had happened several days ago, except this looked much more serious.

Fudge strode up to the High Table, everybody watching his movements. Stopping in front of the new Defence Professor, who looked extremely worried, he nodded to one of the Aurors. The Auror walked up to Professor San-Claw, and said "Algernon San-Claw, you are under arrest for the brutal attack on Senior Undersecretary Umbridge."

Whispers went around in the Great Hall, and Harry was tempted to bang his head on the table. Fudge was extremely stupid in his opinion, mainly because of the idiotic accusations that he made against random people.

Dumbledore quickly stood up as the Aurors cuffed Professor San-Claw, and spoke, his voice extremely angry, to no one's surprise. "What reason would Algernon have for attacking Professor Umbridge? This whole arrest is ridiculous."

Fudge glared at Dumbledore, clearly not happy. "It's obvious Dumbledore! Before this, he had no job at all, and now that he has attacked the Defence Professor, he has a job. It's a clear motive, any fool could see that. Take him away."

The Aurors immediately marched him out of the Great Hall as fast as they could walk, and Fudge followed them. Dumbledore, a look of anger on his face, strode after them, people looking shocked at what had just happened.

Break

"Could you not have saved Professor San-Claw from being arrested as well?" Harry asked Tom as soon as he walked in through the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was a frequent location to find Tom in the previous few days.

Tom glanced up from a cauldron, green smoke covering him slightly. "Why the hell would I care about one of Dumbledore's friends? The only reason I stopped you from getting arrested was because you are the only person who knows of my presence, and I cannot currently risk telling somebody else because you managed to get arrested for attacking a teacher."

Harry glared at him. "You attacked her, not me! Which reminds me, which curses did you use on her? She was in a really bad condition apparently, and even Dumbledore couldn't identify the curses, or the magical signature, something which I was hoping he would identify so that I wouldn't be alone in this."

Tom smirked. "He won't ever identify my magical signature. I'm a time traveller, because of that my magic is not traceable while I am still here. He won't be able to detect a thing. And also, stop moaning about all your problems to me! I do not care, and never will. I'm a Dark Lord, sadistic and uncaring. Don't expect my heart to bleed for you; you'd have to kill me for that."

Harry continued to glare, not happy. "Don't tempt me."

Break

Harry was sitting in the common room, still alone, when Ron suddenly walked in. Harry sat up, eager to speak to him. When Ron walked over he immediately asked "How did the tryouts go? And did you hear what happened at breakfast."

Ron sat down wincing, clearly worn out. "It went great, but for some reason Angelina wants to wait for several days until she can decide between me and a few others. And yeah, I heard about Fudge coming in. Blimey, he really is getting crazy, isn't he?"

Harry nodded. "I heard that he's already found a replacement teacher for Professor San-Claw, and that Dumbledore couldn't do anything about it because no one else wanted the job again."

Then Hermione suddenly walked in, her eyes tired, and a stack of books in her hands. She spotted them, and walked over quickly.

"Ron, Harry, did you hear about Fudge –"

Harry interrupted her. "Yeah Hermione, we did, I was actually there, some of us have breakfast in the mornings."

Ron and Hermione both blushed. "It's not my fault that Angelina wanted to see how good we were without any food to keep us going." Ron muttered.

"Whatever." Harry muttered. "I'd just like to point out that you never played when Wood was captain. That would have been ten times worse." Ron nodded, remembering all of the times that Harry had walked into the common room, muddy and soaked.

Break

"I would like to introduce Professor Muff, who will be taking over as teacher of Defence against the Dark Arts, for hopefully the rest of the year."

Professor Dumbledore was wearing what looked like a forced smile, and most of the students were snorting into their breakfast at the new Professor's name.

Professor Muff stood up. Harry noticed that he didn't look too happy to be there, and Hermione looked mildly annoyed as well. He suspected that Fudge must have appointed this man, and that he was yet another spy, though it was unlikely that he would try anything more than surveillance.

"It's so very nice to be here, among all of you. Looking at you reminds me of myself, many years ago. I hope that all of us can have a nice time here, and that none of you… displease me." He had a slightly disturbing smile on at that point, and most of the teachers were frowning. It almost sounded like a threat, and in fact was a disguised threat.

Break

"We have got to fight back Harry!"

Harry sighed. It had been several weeks since Professor Muff was appointed, and already he was hated by most of the school. Even the Slytherins, who were fawned over by Professor Umbridge (during the limited time that she was actually teaching), despised him, not that they wanted to be seen as having the same opinions as the other houses.

Harry sighed. "Ron, what do you think? Do you think that we should do anything to fight back?"

Ron looked at both of them, unsure. They both glared at him, and he tried to look away, but failed. "Look mate, I think that you might want to think about it, don't you hate him? Wouldn't it be great to stop taking the rubbish from his "lessons" and start to learn yourself?"

Harry suddenly looked a bit unsure, and Hermione seized at the opportunity. "Come on Harry, it's perfectly justified. I wouldn't break any rules unless it is necessary, and it is necessary in this case. The man is a menace, and he must be stopped!"

She suddenly sounded a lot more determined at the end of her sentence, and for the first time, Harry was seriously considering it. Professor Muff was a terrible teacher, and they didn't learn anything from him. But did that necessarily mean that they should start their own rebel group?

"I need some time to think about this, guys. I'm going up to the dormitory; don't wait for me to come back."

Hermione nodded, satisfied that he was actually considering her proposal, while Ron still seemed to be having thoughts about it.

Not much had changed in the past few weeks, however he and Tom had developed a slight relationship. He definitely wouldn't call it a friendship, but he definitely would say that he didn't hate Tom and want him to die anymore. Instead, he just focused his hate on who he saw to be the real evil, Voldemort.

"So, had fun down there in the common room?" Tom asked him as soon as he walked in. Harry didn't reply, but instead pulled the Marauder's Map out of the trunk, touched his wand to it and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry watched as thin lines spread around the parchment, and quickly formed a map. He scanned it for Professor Muff, and found him in Dumbledore's office, along with Cornelius Fudge. 'Unsurprising.' Harry thought. 'They're probably trying to get Dumbledore sacked.'

He suddenly felt movement above his shoulder, and looked up to find Tom standing there, an expression of mild interest on his face. "Where did you get this map from?" He asked.

"Why do you want to know? It belongs to me, it's not like you will ever get to use it."

Tom smiled. "I beg to differ. Anyway, what were you talking about with your miserable friends? Extra homework, maybe?" He asked in a mocking manner.

Harry didn't respond to it, trying to not let the irritation get to him. "Actually we were discussing the possibility of starting a rebel group against Muff and learning Defence ourselves."

Tom looked up sharply, Harry having caught his interest. "No! You are not doing anything of the sort. I shall not allow it."

"What!" Harry said. "That's ridiculous, why in Merlin's name does it make a difference to you?"

"Because," Tom glared "If you start a rebellious group, then chances are that with the current idiotic Minister that you have, you'll end up in Azkaban prison before the day is over. And you are not going to prison while I am still here. I need you here; I cannot take the risk of using somebody else for my purposes."

"And you'd miss me, wouldn't you?" Harry said. Tom glared at him, not amused in the slightest.

"Fine, you may start this group, but only on one condition."

Harry frowned. This was not going to be good. "What is your condition?"

Tom smirked. "I am going to supervise and teach this group.

Break

"Dumbledore, how many times to I have to tell you, Hogwarts needs Alexander Muff as a High Inquisitor! The teachers definitely need to be monitored, we cannot let them do whatever they like and give a bad example for all the students here! And speaking of the students, I think if they know that Professor Muff has been granted more power by me, they might stop acting like this is a playhouse."

Dumbledore sighed, highly irritated from the conversation. He spoke carefully, trying not to show his anger at the way that the minister was acting. "One would think that the Headmaster should be seen as more powerful, Cornelius, and the reason that students shouldn't misbehave, not a new teacher."

Professor Muff glared at Dumbledore, and spoke before Fudge could go into a rage. "Professor Dumbledore, neither you nor any of your current teachers represent the Ministry. I however do, and should be the more powerful person. I am trusted by the Minister himself, which should count for something."

Fudge nodded, and spoke again before walking out. "I shall see to it that Professor Muff is appointed as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and I think that you should watch your step, Dumbledore, or you might find that there is nowhere left to step."

With that he picked up his bowler hat, and walked out. As soon as both the remaining people were sure that he was gone, they began to speak.

"This is getting worse and worse, Professor Dumbledore. I hate having to not teach the students properly, and just teach them stuff out of that stupid book."

Professor Dumbledore nodded, agreeing with him. "I know, Alexander, but if you do the slightest thing he will be able to tell, and will replace you with somebody else. And then what would happen? I am afraid of what the next person Cornelius appoints would actually do. He is pushing the school further and further, and the term has not even finished yet. I shudder to think how bad it can get."

"I know, I know," Muff muttered "But it is still horrible. I'm not sure what he expects me to do as the High Inquisitor. I'd rather not fire any of the staff, though he may pressure me."

"Do not worry, if you are careful enough Cornelius will let you do what you want, and you won't have to do anything like that. Also, we have an Order meeting tonight at 8:00 P.M, make sure that you are not late, we are discussing extra security measures for the Department of Mysteries, and it is extremely important that everybody is in attendance."

"OK," Muff nodded. "Same place, right?"

"Indeed. I shall see you there, and hopefully we shall do something productive, the last meeting wasn't especially good."

Muff snorted. "That's an understatement. Black had Snape in a headlock. How is Snape, by the way? Still coping with his injuries?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I wish that you would simply speak to Severus, Alexander. I am sure that if you both had a calm conversation, you would be able to sort things out between you. Your hate for him is even worse than the mutual hate between him and James Potter."

"I know," Muff growled, "But as you know, I have an extremely good reason for this hate. I shall not be speaking with him calmly anytime soon."

"As you wish." Dumbledore replied. "But one day you'll have to speak with both him and Mr Potter."

Muff glowered. "I don't think that Potter is ready to hear what I have to say yet. I still find it hard to accept, and it happened many years ago."

Break

Harry sat down in his usual Potions seat, next to Daphne Greengrass. Over the last few weeks they had developed a slightly closer friendship, and Harry happily converse with her during every Potions lesson. He didn't mind the fact that Snape had sat him there anymore, seeing as they were friends. Suddenly, he had a thought.

"Daphne," He muttered to her as he chopped up his ingredients. She looked at him, and then replied. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Do you think that it is a good idea to start a Defence group, to gather together and to learn what Professor Muff refuses to teach us?"

She thought about it for a moment. "If you had trustworthy members, a place to learn, a leader, and a name, then sure, I don't see why it would be a bad idea to start a Defence group. Why, are you going to start one?"

"I think so. Hermione suggested it to me, and I didn't want to do it initially, but I changed my mind, mainly after having a conversation with somebody."

She frowned. "A conversation with somebody? Who was it?"

He smiled. "You don't really want to know."

Flashback –

"What, are you insane?" Harry yelped. "Firstly you mention that you don't want to risk telling other people about yourself, and now you're all for it?"

"Let me explain first!" Tom snapped. "I wouldn't be properly revealing myself. Instead, wherever you choose for it to take place, I would cast a charm on it so that if you are in that room with me, you know that I am there, but when you leave, you forget all about me. This way nobody would find out about me, and I can still have my fun."

Harry sighed. "I'll let you do it, but on one condition, which you have to promise to listen to."

Tom smiled. "And what would that be?"

"You will not hurt anybody, unless you're doing some sort of demonstration, and even then you shall not hurt them severely."

Tom groaned. "You take all of the fun out of life, Harry."

Harry frowned, suddenly realizing something. "Wait, what am I going to tell them while you're there? I can't tell them the truth, they'll refuse to learn, and try to run."

Tom waved his concerns away. "I can cast a Confundus Charm on a room, and then they'll all believe that I'm some tutor that has been smuggled into Hogwarts."

"And Ginny?" Harry asked. "She's the only one that'll recognize you."

"The girl who my diary possessed? Don't worry about her, the Confundus Charm will take care of that, she won't notice a thing. Besides, I thought she was just possessed. Did she ever even see my face?"

"Actually no," Harry remarked, "But I thought that she may somehow recognize you anyway."

"Well don't worry, it'll work out perfectly."

The Present –

"Ok Hermione, I give up, we might as well start this Defence group against Muff."

She smiled. "I knew you'd agree to it! Let's get started."

Harry sighed. 'This is going to end very badly.'

Author's Note: Hope you liked it. The next one should come out reasonably soon, though maybe not this week. Also, I'd like to mention the fact that this story is mostly going to be skipping through a lot of the year, and will focus more on how Harry and Tom's relationship develops. Until the next time, please review, bye!