Hi everyone, sorry about this late update, my brain's been on summer mode for a while - not a good thing. Anyhow, I wanted to thank RGreymeadow, Infected, Jane, Sachita and Loserluigi for their thoughtful reviews, much appreciated! I'm glad everyone's liking both Tom and Minerva so far. Hope I can still please with this chapter.

Let me know:)

Chapter 3: The Swim

Natalie had been reading quietly by the fire for a while now. The Common Room was barely populated, since it was now well after ten o'clock and most Gryffindors liked to sleep well. She was an exception. Usually by now, she'd sit with Minerva and chatter away in between readings. They would laugh so hard they would wake up a couple of angry Third-Years and they'd laugh some more just to get them to bed again.

Tonight, Minerva was nowhere to be seen. Last time Natalie had talked to her, she was studying in the library. She figured it was Minerva's turn to patrol tonight, though she could have sworn it was tomorrow. Perhaps she was at an unscheduled Prefect meeting. Whatever it was, it was keeping her best-friend away and it did not bode well with her.

She waited for a couple of minutes longer before the Portrait swung open quietly and a small figure stepped in. Natalie heard the sound of water trickling down the floor.

She rose from the sofa.

A dripping-wet Minerva McGonagall limped more than walked towards the fireplace.

'Minnie!' Natalie yelled in fright.

'Not so loud please,' Minerva winced. 'My ears are still full of water.'

Natalie noticed she had tried to magically dry herself but she had only managed to do half of her body, namely from the waist down.

'What in Godric's name happened to you?'

Minerva sat down with a large thump and extended her hands towards the flames.

'Do you want the short answer or the twelve-inch essay?' she asked, smiling wryly.

'Both preferably, one after the other,' Natalie said, helping her dry up.

She conjured a towel and pulled it over her shoulders.

'Well, Macnair and Avery threw me in the lake,' Minerva said bluntly.

Natalie doubled up.

'Macnair and Avery...in the lake...' she mumbled, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. Then it dawned on her.

'Riddle!'

Minerva nodded grimly.

'I told you, Min! I told you you'd get in trouble! Why did you have to go and be brave?'

'It was only a swim, Natalie,' Minerva said, trying to sound cheerful.

'Only a – well, Minerva McGonagall, don't tell me they just wanted you to have a swim?' she asked scandalized.

'I'd lower my voice if I were you and no, they didn't have that in mind exactly. They were going to let the lake creatures have some quality time with me.'

'Good Lord!'

'However, they didn't try to drown me, which they could have. They weren't aiming to kill me, or something as gruesome as that,' Minerva said, trying to sound nonchalant.

'Oh, they just thought you'd freeze and get captured by merfolk?' Natalie inquired annoyed.

'They didn't take my wand, so there's that. They just immobilised me and threw me in the lake. Well, the trip to the lake was equally unpleasant.'

Only then did Natalie notice the bruises on her friend's legs and arms.

'Safe to say, they...dropped me a couple of times.'

'Minerva, we are going to Dippet at once!'

'And what do you think he'll do? They've been doing this for as long as I can remember and except for a couple of detentions and warnings here and there, they won't get any sort of punishment. You yourself mocked me when I gave them detention last year.'

'Detentions sound lovely to me right now, if nothing else,' she said, feeling miserable.

'They'd only get angrier and cause more damage. Those detentions only keep them for two hours, at most.'

'Minerva, you can't tell me you'll take this sitting down!'

'No, I am a bit furious, you can imagine.'

'I can, actually!'

'With myself.'

'I – What?' Natalie asked disconcerted.

'Well, I was shamefully duped. I could have prevented the whole thing had I not had my head in the clouds when I left the library.'

'Oh, yes, you should always expect Slytherin's finest preparing a secret attack!'

'Well, I should have expected it. I did catch the look Riddle gave to Macnair yesterday. I just didn't expect the lake of all things.'

'I hate being right, Minnie, I really do. But you see, I am and always will be about Tom Riddle. You should have kept quiet and not put up a fight.'

Minerva pulled off the towel from her shoulders and stretched her legs in front of her, massaging her bruises.

'You're not right about this, Nat.'

Natalie slapped her forehead in irritation.

'Unbelievable! You're still trying to convince me otherwise?'

'No. It's just...it's been six years, Natalie. Six years of this. It's been a long time.'

'Yes and we've got two more years to go and then no more Mr. Riddle,' Natalie said, smiling encouragingly.

'Yes and then we'll meet another Mr. Riddle and we'll cower before him as well until at long last we are free, but by then we'll be history,' Minerva said sourly.

'There won't be another Mr. Riddle. Not like him. And we'll be older and wiser,' Natalie argued.

Minerva didn't seem convinced.

'I don't understand why this is such a big revelation to you all of a sudden,' Natalie continued. 'We've known this for a while. It took you six years to feel enraged about this?'

'No, I've always felt rage. Happily, too. At least, I've tried to fool myself I was happy. And I am sometimes. I am... happily enraged.'

'Then? Why not keep living with the rage, like we have all this time?'

'I don't know. Maybe I am being very stupid.'

'Yes?'

' This Potions project, it's a pretext I know, but I'm clinging to it as hard as I can. I don't want to give this up too. Not just because I love studying, not because I'm expected to be academic. It's a matter of principles too. It's about myself. I can't explain, or maybe I can, but you won't want to hear it. But I need to do this.'

Natalie sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

'I assume you thought this over.'

'While I was fishing for my wand in the lake,' she explained.

'I can't understand how you can be so nonchalant about this. Min, you could have died tonight.'

'I'm not and I am aware of that, but I didn't die and I wouldn't have, knowing me, and strangely enough, being here with you, it almost feels like it never happened,' Minerva said, smiling suddenly, as if a dream had crossed her mind.

'Oh, Min, stop it.'

'No, really. It's far away now. I can't even feel sad about it anymore,' Minerva said, laughing. Natalie could detect the pain in her laughter, though. It was small, but it was there.

'What are you going to do?'

'What my Nan always says I should when faced with an obstacle. Fight.'

The following day was a Saturday. It was an unusually cold day outside even for autumn. Everyone was staying inside, trying to occupy their minds with homework or pleasure.

The only students mad enough to go out were the Quidditch players. They had practice.

Natalie had gone to watch the Gryffindors. Minerva had teased her that all she wanted to do was sit and watch Charlus Potter prance around the field in his tight uniform. Natalie had defended herself by saying that everyone else was going for the same reason.

Minerva, on the other hand, wanted to begin working on her Potions assignment.

She left early for the library, making sure this time she would not be taken by surprise by any Slytherin. She would have a quick hex in mind the minute she saw a lingering shadow behind her.

The Slytherins weren't double strikers though and she knew that.

She sat quietly at her usual table and worked for two solid hours, gathering research and making necessary notes. Her table was placed right next to one of the tall windows and she could take a break from time to time and watch the dull sky or observe the green grounds. She would let her mind wander over the Forbidden Forest and the snowy mountain peaks while her ideas took shape.

It was during one of these breaks that she caught someone's reflection in the window.

She turned around quickly. Malfalda Black, the Slytherin beauty.

If she was here, it meant she was looking for Tom Riddle, because she never came here without him, if she could manage it. He was probably not too far himself.

She had to go search for two volumes on the proper uses of Manticore's blood anyway, so she might as well move around the library a bit and maybe catch a glance of the nefarious couple.

Little did she expect to find Tom Riddle himself at the appointed section of the needed volumes.

She stopped in her tracks. Malfalda was nowhere to be seen.

Riddle's eyes travelled from the shelves to her figure. She looked like a dark spot against the white windows.

Minerva knew it would be idiotic to turn around and leave when she needed those books. Not to mention it would be cowardly. Something that wasn't in her blood.

She walked up to him and looked up at the shelf where his hand had previously traced some book spines.

She noticed from the corner of her eye, he was staring at her. He didn't look pleased, but he didn't look upset either. Only curious. He was expecting something. A reaction of some sort.

Suddenly, she rolled her eyes.

'Of course you are searching for the same books. We do work on the same project,' she drawled in exasperation. 'Only you have to be stubborn about it and do it all by yourself.'

Riddle almost flinched. Whatever he was expecting, it was not this. Her brash, almost reprimanding words stirred a certain cold anger in him.

'Honestly, it's just absurd. No one is trying to hurt you, or make you feel uncomfortable. I only want to take some of your workload. Which you have to admit, would be helpful. You are rejecting help, Riddle, help.'

He remained stoically quiet, though she could tell he was building up a rage.

She decided to say what she had in mind, anyway.

'Is it really wise of a leader to reject help?'

A feeling of triumph washed over her body. She knew it was small and insignificant, but at least she had got the words out.

Riddle was simpering.

Eventually and surprisingly, his gaze travelled towards the books. He pulled them out of their shelf.

He put them under his arm.

'I don't know you very well, Minerva McGonagall,' he began carefully. 'But I do know you've been trying my patience for a while now.'

'You are, by all looks, another practiced overachiever,' he continued, 'struggling for acknowledgement and achievements. You probably worry about every single grade you get. When I told you you'd get an O that wasn't enough for you, even though that was infinite kindness on my part. No, besides being a moron, you want to be an ethical moron as well.'

Minerva was about to open her mouth, but he stepped forward and that seemed to stop her momentarily.

'I'll teach you something about ethics. They are very convenient. They tend to appear and disappear at the right moment. It's a natural preservation of our kind. We forget about them when needed. So, unless you want your body to rest at the bottom of the lake, I'd suggest you forget about them.'

During this little speech, Tom's eyes had carefully stabbed hers with repeated violent flashes. Minerva had to blink several times to push away the sensation of having something on her retina. It was a feeling of discomfort, like something was stuck there and it would hurt to pull it out.

Her courage was faltering. Riddle's words were a bit more terrifying than usual. In the back of her mind she knew his powers were limited, but it did not seem that way when he was in front of you.

But she recalled what he had said in the beginning. I don't know you very well, Minerva McGonagall.

Obviously. That gave her some strength. She knew more about him, everyone did. He just liked dividing people into classes. He liked to consider them non-entities, disposables. He didn't know them at all.

Once again, not wise for a leader.

'Oh, are you talking about the swim I had last night?' she asked, keeping her voice light. 'Yes, that was quite something. I haven't had such a refreshing dive since last summer.'

Tom thought he had heard wrong. For a moment, he just blinked, trying to keep his face neutral. But a deep line started splitting his forehead in two.

'Refreshing, you say?'

'Well, I wouldn't have minded if it had been daylight, to be honest. But I'd never had a swim at night. It's true what they say, it is invigorating.'

By now, Tom wasn't trying to hide the fury anymore. It was written across his face. Still though, it was a passive fury. She figured he probably had it on most of the times when things didn't go perfectly.

'I'm glad then,' he retorted.

'Me too. When you're done with those two,' she said pointing at the books, 'you can find me at my table. You probably know it since you had Macnair and Avery watch over me. It was thoughtful of you. This way we can collaborate from afar. Things do work out in the end.'

Tom was mildly impressed. He'd never seen anyone use politeness as a weapon with him. Not like this anyhow.

He was about to reply something in return, but someone coughed behind him.

'Am I interrupting something important?'

Malfalda Black stood before them in all her glorious elegance, trying to hide her curiosity.

'Nothing at all,' Tom replied.

'Yes, Riddle was only telling me he would lend me his books once he was done,' Minerva said, smiling innocently towards her.

'Oh?' she asked, slightly confused.

'He is being excessively kind today. Must be the weather,' she said, excusing herself as she passed between them as light as a feather.

Minerva walked back to her table, feeling both elated and dejected somehow. She would have wanted to be bolder, but so far, it was the best she could manage. She would go talk to the librarian. She was bound to have some saved copies.

Tom meanwhile, had walked back to his own table, followed promptly by Malfalda.

'I know that girl from somewhere,' she muttered wrinkling her nose.

'Potions partner,' Riddle said, throwing the books on the table.

Malfalda raised an eyebrow.

'Is something the matter?'

'You didn't hear?'

'I did. But she's a Gryffindor. She's basically vermin.'

Riddle thumbed his black-stoned ring. 'Vermin tend to develop a smell.'

'Do you want me to take care of her?'

'No. I can do that by myself,' he assured her, staring towards the other side of the library, where Minerva McGonagall was sure to be.