The Golden Thread

Chapter 3: An Unexpected Beginning

Slytherin.

So that was to be her house. Lucie, not knowing much about any of the houses besides what Dumbledore had told her, remained relatively neutral on the matter. The way things were going, she was sure that Dumbledore would figure out some way to allow her to return to her own time, and remain safe. Even in the few moments she had spent with him, she already got the feeling that he knew more about her situation than she did. It was odd, really, how different he seemed from the man she had learned about in school.

As Lucie removed the old, dilapidated hat from her head, she saw something flash beneath her. Looking down, she realized that her plain black robes were now emblazoned with green, and there was a small snake right above her heart. The robes looked, more or less, like the ones she had always worn. In front of her, one of the tables, at which the students also wore green, began to clap respectfully.

Lucie glanced warily back at Dumbledore, but he merely smiled cheerfully, offering no help whatsoever. With a slight twinge of annoyance, Lucie turned around and stepped down from the dais, making her way quickly over to the table that had clapped for her.

There was an empty seat across from a pretty girl with wavy, light brown hair, and Lucie lowered herself into it, trying not to think too hard about how much she must be blushing. By this point, Dippet had risen from his chair at the center of the staff table and walked to the place that Lucie had just vacated. He began to make a speech, but Lucie was distracted by a tap on her shoulder.

It was the pretty girl with the brown hair, and she smiled widely as Lucie met her gaze. To the girl's left sat a blonde boy, who struck Lucie as oddly familiar.

"I'm Grace Cavanaugh," said the girl. "It's nice to meet you."

"Lucie Selwyn," replied Lucie, though the girl already knew her name.

Grace laughed lightly. "Yes, we heard. This is my boyfriend, Abraxas Malfoy." She gestured to the blonde boy, and Lucie was taken aback. He was, it seemed, related to Scorpius, the boy Lucie had been about to marry. It was no wonder he looked familiar—there was an uncanny resemblance between the two.

Was the wedding really just this morning? she thought, then shook her head a little. No, of course it wasn't. It's almost eighty years from now. Lucie looked around the Great Hall, eerily registering that some of the people in the room with her at that moment had been dead as she had walked down the aisle with her father.

Grace was talking again, and Lucie pulled her attention back to the girl. "And this is Eileen Prince," she was saying, gesturing to a thin, wiry sort of girl with dark hair and equally dark eyes to her right. Lucie granted Eileen a smile.

"I've heard of the Selwyn family," said the boy named Abraxas. "They're a very respectable pureblood family, like my own." He paused and smiled at Grace. "The Cavanaughs, though, rival my family in wealth."

Grace returned his smile, and then looked at Eileen. "That may be, but the Prince family are no Muggles, either."

As Lucie gazed at the three people across from her, she was struck with a very sad thought. It wouldn't do to become overly attached to anyone in this timeline, of course. She would never see them again when she returned to her own time, and it seemed very unwise to forge too many connections in a place where she didn't belong. Just as Lucie resolved to remain relatively distant, she thought of how lonely she would be, and that thought frightened her even more. Lucie had never been without someone to keep her company.

They areall pureblood, she thought. I suppose it wouldn't be too terrible to form casual friendships with them. I'll just need to be careful not to get too close to them.

"So, Lucie," said Grace, pulling Lucie from her reverie, "why did you come to Hogwarts so late? We've never had a transfer this late before."

Lucie took a deep breath. This was it—the first of many times when someone would ask her such a question. She had to tread carefully, and make sure she told her backstory the same way each time.

"As Professor Dumbledore said, I was homeschooled until this year, but my parents were starting to get nervous about the wars, so they sent me here to finish my schooling. They thought it would be safer, I suppose." After she had finished her recitation, Lucie felt quite proud of herself. She'd remembered all of the details, without the slightest hesitation.

Grace, Abraxas, and Eileen all nodded politely before turning to the platters in front of them, which had suddenly filled with food. Thankfully, none of them questioned her further, and Lucie was able to eat her meal in relative peace.

As she chewed quietly on her shepherd's pie, Lucie suddenly felt as though she were being watched. Her first instinct was to look towards the staff table, sure that it was just Dumbledore, but he appeared to be deeply engaged in conversation with the old woman whom he had sent to fetch the Sorting Hat at the beginning of dinner.

Perplexed, Lucie looked around the hall, trying to locate the culprit, but to no avail. Shrugging, she did her best to shake off the feeling, and turned back to her meal.

When dinner had ended, and the leftover food on the platters had disappeared, Lucie rose and began to follow her new friends out of the hall.

"Miss Selwyn!" Lucie turned to see Dumbledore, looking quite triumphant about something, approaching her. She stopped, assuring Grace, Abraxas, and Eileen that it was all right for them to go on without her, and waited for Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir? Is something wrong?" she asked when he had reached her.

"Hmm? Oh—no, Miss Selwyn, not in the slightest. You see, I was just informed that the young lady who was meant to be our female Slytherin prefect this year will not be returning to school this term. Her parents, in fear of Grindelwald's forces, have taken her with them into hiding."

"That's too bad," said Lucie sincerely, wondering why Dumbledore was bothering to tell her this.

"Indeed it is," said the Transfiguration professor, eyes twinkling. "I came to ask if you would like to take her place—as the Slytherin prefect, I mean."

Lucie's eyes widened. "Me? But—but, sir, you barely know me! Not that I'm not grateful for the offer, of course, but—"

Dumbledore held up a hand to silence her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I know it seems sudden, Miss Selwyn, but there is a reason for everything. I prefer to think of it as—how shall I phrase this?—ah, destiny, or fate."

Lucie wanted to say that she did not believe in destiny or fate, but thought it unwise, as Dumbledore had just given her a prestigious position of power at the school. "Of course, sir. I would love to take her place."

"Very good, then," said Dumbledore with a smile. "Allow me to introduce you to your fellow prefect. He is waiting for us by the door." Lucie scanned the crowd, eyes coming to rest on a boy her age lingering near the main entrance to the Great Hall.

He was tall and very, very handsome, and Lucie found herself immediately struck by his intense dark eyes.

"Miss Selwyn," Dumbledore said when they had reached the boy, "this is Tom Riddle. Tom, this is Lucie Selwyn. She will be your fellow prefect in Miss Rookwood's absence."

"Of course," Tom Riddle replied with a small nod of his head. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Selwyn." Lucie gazed at him curiously. As he spoke to Dumbledore, he was perfectly composed and polite, but Lucie, who had been raised around falsified charm, could detect the tiniest amount of stiffness in Riddle's tone. It seemed that he liked the Transfiguration professor much less than he was letting on.

The name 'Riddle' was curious as well. She didn't remember it as being a pureblood name—there were only so many—and that was odd, because from what she had seen in Grace, Abraxas, and Eileen, blood purity was rather important in Slytherin.

When Lucie and Tom had been sufficiently introduced to one another, Dumbledore bid them a good night and took his leave. Tom led Lucie out of the Great Hall, offering to accompany her to the Slytherin dormitory.

After a while, Tom Riddle spoke. "I must say, it is rather odd to have a transfer student join us in sixth year. Hogwarts doesn't get many of them at all, and certainly not this late in one's schooling."

"Yes," Lucie replied, keeping her eyes trained ahead of her, "well, my parents have been growing increasingly worried about the wars for some time now. I had a feeling they'd ship me off sooner or later."

"Well, I trust you'll find Hogwarts to your liking," replied Riddle, granting Lucie a dazzling smile.

They kept up their polite small talk all the way to the dormitories, and Lucie found it comically easy. She'd been trained in the art of courteous dribble all her life. She noticed that when Tom Riddle spoke to her, the stiffness in his voice when he'd been talking to Dumbledore was gone. He maintained his polite facade, of course, and his voice was carefully devoid of all emotion, though Lucie was sure that the silky perfection of it would stick in her mind. Tom Riddle was, by all accounts, just like the aristocratic boys she had encountered growing up.

Except for one thing, that is. Tom Riddle was perhaps the handsomest boy she had ever seen, even more than Scorpius (who was widely loved by girls their age), but his robes contrasted with the rest of him. They were well-worn and slightly threadbare, not quite as crisp and pristine as those belonging to the rest of the members of Slytherin house. Lucie couldn't help but wonder if his family had any money at all.

Finally, they had reached the Slytherin common room. Riddle gave the password to the stone wall ("Veritaserum"), and just as they were about to go to their respective dormitories, Lucie felt a long-fingered hand catch her arm. She turned to find Riddle eying her with something like a mixture between curiosity and disdain.

Then, charmingly, he said, "I am sure will we get to know one another very well this year, Miss Selwyn."

The statement sent an inexplicable chill down Lucie's spine, and she had to suppress the urge to shiver. Without another word, Tom Riddle turned on his heel, and was gone.

…

The next morning, Lucie half expected to find herself back in her own bed, realizing that everything that had happened was simply a dream, fueled by anxiety over her wedding. Alas, when she opened her eyes, she was in the emerald-draped dormitories of Slytherin house. Lucie sighed, rising from her bed. When she pulled back her curtains, she found that Grace, Eileen, and the other girls in the room were already up and dressing for the day.

"What did Dumbledore want to talk to you about last night, Lucie?" asked Grace, pulling on her robes.

"He asked me to be a prefect, since the girl who was supposed to do it isn't come back to school." Grace and Eileen both stopped what they were doing, pausing to stare open-mouthed at Lucie.

"Prefect?" asked Eileen. "You just got here! That's amazing, Lucie. Headmaster Dippet must have high hopes for you." Lucie smiled, not bothering to say that Dippet probably had nothing to do with the decision. She changed out of her pajamas, dressing herself in her new robes.

"He also introduced me to Tom Riddle," she said finally as she began to lace up her shoes. By this time, all of the other girls in the room had gone down to the common room, leaving Lucie, Grace, and Eileen by themselves.

"What did you talk about?" asked Grace.

Lucie shrugged. "Not much. Just senseless small talk, really."

"Tom Riddle has got to be the most attractive boy in this school," said Eileen, gazing dreamily somewhere past Lucie. "He's certainly the only one I've ever taken a liking to."

Grace scoffed. "Yes, Eileen, but have you heard the rumors? Despite what he tells people, he's not pureblood—I mean, he doesn't have a pureblood name, after all—and he was raised in an orphanage. No money at all."

Eileen offered no retort, and Lucie followed Grace and Eileen down into the common room, where Abraxas was waiting for them. The four of them walked down to the Great Hall, and Lucie allowed herself to become immersed in their conversation about classes they would be taking that day.

Once more, as Lucie ate her breakfast, she felt the sensation of being watched. This time, when she looked up, gaze traveling to the other end of the Slytherin table, she locked eyes with none other than Tom Riddle. Realizing that he was the one who had been staring at her the night before, Lucie's face began to turn a hideous shade of magenta.

Thankfully, she was then distracted by the old woman from the previous night (she had been identified by Eileen as Galatea Merrythought, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor), who had come to give Lucie her timetable.

She looked it over and saw that Charms, her favorite subject, was directly after breakfast, with the Ravenclaws. When breakfast ended, Lucie followed her friends out of the Great Hall, and was careful to keep behind them as they made their way to the Charms classroom, so as not to make it obvious that she already knew her way around the castle.

When they entered the classroom, the first thing that Lucie noticed was that Tom Riddle was already there. He was sitting alone, just as she suspected he would be, and she certainly had no intention of changing that. As she lowered herself into a chair beside Eileen, Lucie thought that Tom Riddle, for all his charm, made her rather uncomfortable. He could be impeccably polite one second and then the next, when he thought no one was looking, fix her with an intense stare that she had never seen the likes of.

Before her thoughts could progress any further, Lucie forced them to a halt and mentally berated herself. She rationalized that she was over-thinking things, and it wouldn't do to be rude to Riddle, especially since they would have prefect duties together.

From that point, the day passed rather quickly, and Lucie found herself quite astonished by how different the Hogwarts of 1943 was from the Hogwarts of 2022. In her time, all of the lessons, no matter how objective they claimed to be, had an undercurrent of how important it was to worship and serve the Supreme Ruler, and students were only taught enough magic to make them useful to the Dark Lord, not to further their own ambitions.

During History of Magic, while the ghostly Professor Binns was boring all of his students to the point of sleep, Lucie found herself remembering something that had happened with her sister, back when Lucie herself had only been in second year.

"Lucie, you would have loved it," said Anastasia, her voice laced with girlish amusement.

"It was one of the best lessons we've ever had!" said one of Anastasia's friends, coming to sit beside Lucie. "They brought in some Mudblood prisoners, and we got to use them to test out the poisons and Hallucination Draughts we've been working with." The girl said this as though she'd never done something so exciting.

"There's nothing like real hands-on application," said another of the friends. All of the girls began to giggle, and Lucie, catching Anastasia's eye, laughed right along with them. She felt an odd sort of disgust at what the girls were telling her, but tried her hardest to ignore it and find the humor in the situation.

Lucie shook her head slightly, trying to clear it of the memory. Despite what Lucie had thought at the time, Anastasia and her friends hadn't done anything wrong. Of course the Mudblood prisoners deserved it, because the Supreme Ruler deemed it so. Wasn't that what she had always been taught?

After the last class of the day, Lucie went down to dinner with Grace, Abraxas, and Eileen. They had left History of Magic a bit late, because Grace had lost track of her favorite quill, and they'd all had to spend ten minutes helping her find it. When the precious writing utensil had been recovered, they'd made their way down to the Great Hall to find that the evening meal had already begun.

The middle of the table, where they usually sat, was filled, and so the four friends were forced to sit nearer to the end. With a prick of unease, Lucie found herself not far away from Tom Riddle. If he wanted to, he could lean over and talk to her without disturbing anyone.

Lucie, forgetting her manners entirely, openly observed him while she ate. For a time, she didn't think that Riddle noticed, but eventually he turned to her, a small smirk playing at the corners of her lips, and asked her politely what she was staring at.

Lucie felt a bit of panic settle in her chest. "I—you just look quite like a neighbour I used to have, that's all." Even as it left her mouth, Lucie knew how pitiful the lie was. Riddle quirked an eyebrow skeptically, but thankfully said nothing more before turning back to his own food.

Face flushed, Lucie turned back to her friends, vigorously determined to include herself in their conversation.

"So that arrogant Gryffindor, Charlus Potter," Abraxas was saying, "was showing off in Defense Against the Dark Arts, as usual. Of course Professor Merrythought was fawning over him. My attempt at a Patronus was far better than Potter's, but Merrythought gave ten points to Gryffindor anyway." As Abraxas continued to complain, Lucie vaguely realized that this boy Charlus must be related to Harry Potter, the coward who had been defeated by the Supreme Ruler in the Second Wizarding War.

Eileen smirked. "Charlus has every right to show off, as good-looking as he is."

Grace laughed and kissed a sulking Abraxas on the cheek. "Potter isn't nearly as handsome as you, darling." This coaxed a smile from Abraxas, who placed a hand over his girlfriend's.

After dinner, Lucie told her friends to go on to the common room without her, as she wanted to go to the library to study a bit. Eileen offered to walk her there, thinking that Lucie was still unfamiliar with the castle, but Lucie waved her away.

"I'm sure I can manage to find it, and if not, I'll just ask one of the portraits."

Finally alone, Lucie made her way to the library. She found, upon arrival, that it too was vastly different from her own time. In this Hogwarts, there were thousands upon thousands of books, covering every magical topic that one could think of. In the Hogwarts that Lucie had left behind, a great number of the books before her had been outlawed, every copy of them burned with Fiendfyre.

There were a few other students in the library, but Lucie eventually found a quiet corner where she could study in peace. The time passed quickly as she went through book after book, writing notes down here and there, and all of the other students began to leave, one by one. Lucie stayed in her corner for nearly two hours. When she finally glanced up at the clock on the wall, she realized that it was almost time for curfew.

Gathering her things hurriedly, she made to leave the room. She was almost to the door when something appeared in her path, and couldn't come to a stop before she ran directly into it.

With a yelp, Lucie was thrown off balance, her books flying every which way. She fell hard to the ground, landing on her behind. Looking up, Lucie found herself face-to-face with a surprised-looking boy of about her age. For a moment, she was disoriented, but then quickly collected herself, remembering that it is not proper for a lady to appear flustered.

The boy stretched out a pale hand, and Lucie took it, allowing him to help her to her feet. Wordlessly, he crouched down and began to pick up her books. Lucie hurried to help him, and in a few moments they had righted all of her things.

"I'm terribly sorry about that," she said finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I guess I wasn't looking where I was going."

The boy grinned shyly. "It was my fault, really. I'm sorry." Lucie took a moment to appraise him. He was tall and lanky, with dark brown hair, caramel eyes, and a kind face. The boy gazed back at her, just as curiously.

"Well, I should really be going," said Lucie, and before he could say another word, she all but ran from the library, feeling his eyes on her back all the way out of the room.

As Lucie walked, she tried to fathom why she felt so jittery. It wasn't a bad feeling, she surmised, but it was foreign to her nonetheless.

A short distance away from the Slytherin common room, Lucie heard two voices, one male and one female, drifting out into the corridor from an empty classroom. Thinking that it was perhaps just a bickering couple, Lucie resolved to walk by the slightly open door, and give no more thought to the matter. Just as she came within hearing range of the conversation, though, she recognized the male voice as belonging to Tom Riddle.

Lucie stopped dead in her tracks. Admittedly, her curiosity was piqued, and she did something she had never done before—eavesdrop.

"You had promised me this would not happen," said Tom to his companion, sounding quite calm. "It is a pity that you could not keep your word."

"Tom, please, I'm sorry! Please, don't do this," said the girl, sounding terrified. Lucie realized that it was Walburga Black, one of her roommates. She had no idea that Walburga even knew Riddle.

"It seems I don't have a choice in the matter," replied Tom. "It has to be done."

"Lucie!" For one wild second, Lucie feared she had been caught. "Lucie, what have I taught you about eavesdropping? It is never befitting of a lady of breeding!" With a jolt, Lucie realized that the voice was in her head, and that it belonged to her mother. It was as though Drusilla was right next to her, giving her youngest daughter yet another lesson on what it meant to be a fine young lady.

Lucie felt suddenly ashamed of herself, for reasons she could not explain. Riddle was having an argument with his girlfriend, that was all, and there she was, listening in like it was any of her business! Face reddening for what felt like the thousandth time that day, Lucie turned away from the classroom and hurried on towards the common room.