Epilogue: 10 years later
Elias breathed a sigh of relief as the hat called out: "Slytherin!"
Quickly rushing to the correct table he sat down at the nearest vacant seat, trying not to draw any attention towards himself. To his right sat two girls who he thought were probably in their second or third year. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, and Elias tried to listen in unobtrusively.
He didn't know much about Hogwarts, and was therefore eager to get the lay of the land and gain any new information that he could. The only thing he had been told in advance regarding his new school was that he was expected to be in Slytherin and if he was not the consequences would be dire. He had not even known how he was supposed to get into Slytherin until the hat had begun to sing mere minutes ago. Any time he had tried to ask his parents about it, he was told Don't ask questions.
"Who do you think the new person sitting at the staff table is?" asked the girl sitting closest to Elias. "There, talking to Professor Potter."
Elias looked towards the staff table, where two men sitting to the left of Professor McGonagal were conversing excitedly, their dark heads close together.
"I don't know." Her friend replied, glancing in the same direction as Elias. "It is odd. As far as I know there are no vacancies for him to fill. Maybe he's teaching a new elective?"
"Well," concluded the first girl, shrugging, "we'll find out soon enough. Professor Potter seems to like him, so he can't be too bad."
"Shh, it's my sister's turn now!"
The girl in pigtails that was walking up to the stool was promptly sorted into Slytherin, and Elias clapped along with the rest of the house as she sat down next to them.
After the sorting was over, the girl introduced herself as Greta and Elias fell into easy conversation with her as well as some of the other first-years that were sitting nearby. The feast was almost unbelievably abundant and delicious, and Elias's happiness could only be topped by the eager conversation with the children around him regarding which classes they were looking forward to the most.
Once the feast was over, the headmistress stood up. It only took a small clearing of her throat for all the students to fall silent and look to her expectantly.
"Good evening, students. Hogwarts is happy to welcome you to another year of learning and hard work. Before you all head off to your dormitories and go to sleep, I would like to make a quick announcement: We have a new addition to our staff this year. Professor Riddle will teach a new subject, Magical Theory, to the first two years of students. From the third year and on he will teach the elective of 'spell crafting' to those interested. Professor Riddle has written some of the leading books on magical theory and is also famous for having discovered the seven uses of moon rocks in potions. We are very lucky to have him here.
"In addition to his teaching, Professor Riddle will take on the new role of being in charge of students' wellbeing. Students are encouraged to come to him with social troubles or any other problems they may have. Over the coming weekend, all first year students are to report to him for a basic health checkup. The times of your appointments will be posted in your common rooms. Please don't be late. Thank you."
Professor McGonagal sat back down, and as Elias got out of his seat to follow the prefect to the common room, he observed to Greta that she seemed rather strict.
Greta nodded fervently. "According to my sister, she has a well deserved reputation for being strict, but she's fair, too. She doesn't favor her own house."
Elias was pleased to have such a good source of knowledge regarding the school, and they discussed the Hogwarts staff all the way down to the common room.
Elias arrived panting at the door to Professor Riddle's office with only ten seconds to spare before his appointment; he had gotten lost on the way.
He knocked on the door and was told to enter.
In his first class with Professor Riddle two days before, Elias had gotten the impression that Professor Riddle was very nice. This opinion was confirmed when the Professor offered him a chocolate frog once Elias sat down. Elias eagerly accepted, and was in the process of unwrapping the squirming creature when Professor Riddle spoke.
"How are you enjoying Hogwarts so far, Elias?"
"It's good." Elias replied, focused mostly on his chocolate.
The Professor smiled and then proceeded to let Elias eat his chocolate in peace, as he launched into an explanation of what they would be doing today. "Do you have any questions for me before we begin?"
"Yeah," replied Elias nervously, suddenly uncomfortable with the thought of being examined. "How come we're having these checkups? If any of us are sick, couldn't we just go to the hospital wing? Why do we need to be examined in advance?"
Professor Riddle leaned back in his chair, and closes his eyes thoughtfully for a moment. "There are two reasons I insisted on these checkups as part of my new job. The first is that some students suffer from problems or maladies that they are embarrassed or uncomfortable about, and would rather get along on their own than bring it to the attention of Madam Midgen. The second is that some students may be suffering from a compulsion or spell to keep them from speaking about whatever their problems are."
Elias felt his heart rate increase. Professor Riddle met his eyes and gave him a sad little smile. "I once knew a boy who had an evil spirit controlling his soul when he came to school. He couldn't tell anyone about it, because the spirit kept him from doing anything it didn't like. The kind of magic required to detect that sort of thing requires extensive knowledge of the dark arts that I'm afraid Madam Midgen simply doesn't have."
"Were you able to help him?" Elias asked, fascinated.
Professor Riddle nodded his head. "Eventually. But perhaps something might have been done sooner, and a lot of heartache and pain prevented if there had been a person at Hogwarts to do what I'm doing now. Are you ready to begin?"
Elias nodded with fascination as Professor Riddle waved his wand and different lights began swirling all around him. Elias didn't know what they meant, but Professor Riddle was examining them thoughtfully.
"You're slightly underweight." He told Elias with a small frown. "And you need more vitamin D. It's nothing a few nutrient potions won't take care of. I'll send you with a note to Madam Midgen; she'll take care of it."
Elias nodded shyly.
Professor Riddle smiled at him. "I'm happy to tell you that there is no dark magic affecting you. Only compulsion spells left to check for, and then you're free to go."
The professor went back to waving his wand and examining the results, nodding at them approvingly, until he came across something that made him frown. "I've come across a tongue tying jinx, Elias. Did you know that you had one cast on you?"
Elias nodded nervously, afraid of saying anything.
"I see." said Professor Riddle.
He waved his wand and summoned a chair to right in front of Elias and sat down on it. He bent over so that he was at eye level with Elias, and began speaking softly.
"Elias, look into my eyes, please. There, just like that. I know you can't talk about who it is that cast the jinx and what they were trying to prevent you from telling anyone. I don't want you to struggle against the curse, you'll just hurt yourself. Instead, please just concentrate, and think about the person who cast it and why. Try to recollect the moment you were cursed."
It was a easy to cast his mind back to the day he had been cursed, it had barely been two weeks since it had happened. His mind drifted to the image of his father towering over him speaking angrily. He always sounded angry when he spoke.
"And once you get into Slytherin, and you will get into Slytherin, or you won't like the consequences, I don't want you to go blabbing to any of your little friends about our private family affairs, got that? It's nobody's damn business what spells I use in my own home or how I choose to discipline my child. So if I find out that you've gone bitching and whining to any of your teachers about how your daddy uses dark magic, there'll be a mountain of Crucios just waiting for you when you get home. By the time I'm done with you they'll need to book a permanent bed for you in St. Mungo's right next to the Longbottoms. Got it?"
Elias had no idea who the Longbottoms were, but he was frightened. He nodded forcefully, trying to look as obedient as possible.
His father eyed him suspiciously for a moment, before declaring: "I'm not taking any chances with a disobedient little brat like you."
The next thing Elias knew, his father's wand was pointed at his face and his mouth was burning up. It felt like fire was sliding down his throat. He wanted to scream, but found that he couldn't make a sound. Eyes blurred with tears, he looked to his mother for assistance, but she was paging disinterestedly through the Daily Prophet, paying no attention to her husband or her son.
Elias wrenched his eyes away from Professor Riddle's with a great effort. To his shame, he could feel tears filling his eyes.
Nervously, he chanced a short glance at Professor Riddle to see if he'd noticed. There was a look of such sorrow on the Professor's face that Elias was sure if he met his eyes he'd start crying in earnest. So instead he looked down a his lap wondering what would come next.
Two months later
Elias knocked on Professor Riddle's door. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes, Elias, hello. How was your session with the mind healer?"
Professor Riddle had been the one who insisted on Elias seeing a mind healer. He had arranged the appointments as well as making sure that his studies would not suffer as a result of his missing some classes while he went to St. Mungo's. Professor Riddle had arranged private lessons for Elias with older students to make up for missed classes, and got him extensions on homework assignments if Elias felt he hadn't enough time to complete them. Sometimes it happened, since Elias had less free time than his peers between his tutoring sessions and his meetings with the mind healer, Mr. Grey.
Elias grimaced. "Mr. Grey is nice, but the meetings are unpleasant. He always asks about things I don't want to think about. I suppose the meetings have been helpful, though. I've been... dealing better with, well, certain things, ever since I started them."
"I'm glad to hear things are improving for you," said Professor Riddle, smiling softly. "I'm afraid it was too much to hope for it to be a completely painless process, but I believe you will persevere. I admire you very much, you know."
Elias blushed.
"You must be wondering why I called you here," Professor Riddle changed the subject upon seeing Elias's discomfort. "I just got word- the trial has concluded. Your parents were sentenced to Azkaban. Your father has received a life sentence, and your mother was sentenced to ten years. Even after she is released she will be forbidden from seeing or contacting you without your consent."
Elias shrugged dully. "She probably wouldn't have any interest in seeing me even if I did give my permission."
Professor Riddle frowned, but did not contradict him. "How are you feeling about this?"
"Mostly relieved," Elias admitted, "but also a bit nervous. Do you know what will be done with me now? Will I be sent to an orphanage?"
Professor Riddle examined Elias solemnly for a moment before answering. "That is an option. However, there's another possibility for your placement which depends on you."
"What's the possibility?" Elias asked.
Professor Riddle ignored the question and instead asked him: "Tell me; what do you think of Professor Potter?"
The non-sequitur was puzzling, but Elias answered enthusiastically that he liked Professor Potter very much. "He knows so many spells! And it's not just the theory, he's been in real life-threatening situations and always won! Greta says that one time, he killed a Hungarian Horntail using just a wand. And Richard told me that he's friends with the mermaids at the bottom of the lake. And when he was only twelve, he saved the life of Ginny Weasley. The Ginny Weasley from the Holyhead Harpies! And I heard a fifth year says that one time a Basilisk bit him, and it died! He's really awesome! Also-" this a little more shyly, "Once I got one of my essays about hexes completely wrong and mixed up the theories, and instead of giving me detention, he stayed with me after class and explained it to me until I understood. And he was really nice and patient about it."
Elias suddenly realized that he was talking an awful lot, and shut his mouth quickly. He didn't want Professor Riddle to think that he liked Professor Potter more than him. Professor Riddle had been the best thing that had ever happened to Elias, and he was the kindest person Elias had ever met. Elias didn't want him to think that he didn't appreciate him just because, unlike Professor Potter, Professor Riddle had never faced down Voldemort and lived to tell the tale.
He looked up nervously at Professor Riddle, and was relieved to see that he was smiling. "Professor Potter is pretty amazing, isn't he?" he said contentedly. "And handsome, too."
Elias nods hesitantly, even though it never occured to him before to think of his Professor in those terms.
"Well-" Professor Riddle clapped his hands "-I'm glad you feel that way. You see, my husband and I are looking to adopt."
The end.
I very much hope you all enjoyed the epilogue (and the rest of the story as well). Tell me your thoughts!
