Thank you again for all your reviews and everything :) I've tried taking on board everything and I hope it pays off *fingers crossed*
I'd just like to add that I think this chapter perfectly highlights Tom as a first year; loose and unstable. I like to think that he learnt subtlety through the years and that before that he did made mistakes. Tell me what you think and remember – reviews are much appreciated :P
Thanks again & enjoy :) (Oh, and p.s. they're still first years :))
Chapter 15
He waited, as silent as a predator before catching its prey, as one by one all the boys in his dorm fell asleep, their snores filling his ears one after another.
Smirking as the darkest hour of the night approached, he crept out of his bed and out into the darkened corridors of the dungeons. It had been three days since that incident with Granger but he hadn't forgotten it, not at all.
Treading quietly he made his way to the third floor corridor where he knew Raven Greengrass was meeting up with Mary, his Ravenclaw girlfriend.
Finally reaching his destination he hid himself in an alcove and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
An hour had passed by and yet nothing at all happened; the corridor remained as empty as he had found it, except for the random ghost or prefect patrolling.
Tom Riddle knew better though, and so he waited as patiently as one can until he was rewarded with the smallest of creaks from the door nearest to him. He smirked as he saw the shadow of a boy's head peaking out before motioning for the girl inside.
"It's clear. Come on, I'll walk you to your tower."
"No Raven, you'll have more of a chance of getting caught that way. Don't worry, I'll walk myself there. I'll see you in class honey," and just as Tom knew she would, she walked away after pecking him on the lips, leaving Raven alone and defenceless.
Humming quietly to himself Raven began the trek back to the dungeons, oblivious to Tom's presence.
"Out late I see, Greengrass."
Raven froze, fear flooding him in an instant as he recognised Tom's voice.
"R-Riddle. What are you doing out here? It's past your bedtime." Snorting at Raven's attempt at bravery he quickly caught up to him, sneering at the obvious shudder that ran through the other boy.
"It's also past yours," he finally whispered, a vindictive smile twisting his features.
"I-I'm a prefect Riddle. It's my duty to patrol the corridors at night and-"
"It's not your shift today Greengrass but no matter, no matter."
Greengrass spluttered in indignation before replying.
"And how would you know that Riddle?"
His haughty smirk disturbed Raven and he waited with baited breath for Tom to answer.
"I know many things Greengrass-". He suddenly faltered as he heard footsteps rounding the corner. He quickly cast a nonverbal disillusionment charm on himself before falling silent and moving to the side.
"Greengrass. 10 points from Slytherin for wandering the corridors at night." Greengrass froze as he found himself face to face with Professor Merrythought and hastily looked around for Tom only to find nothing, as if Tom had only been a hallucination all along.
"I-I thought it was my turn to patrol the corridors, ma'am." She stared him down before marching past him muttering, "and that's another 5 points from Slytherin for blatantly lying to a teacher." She passed by Tom without a second glance and he mentally snorted at her incompetency.
His eyebrow rose though as he watched Greengrass walk hastily down the corridors, laughing at his pitiful attempt at running away from his fate.
Bad habits die hard, her mother used to tell her and she couldn't help but agree as she found herself wandering the corridors at night.
"It's so different," she murmured to herself, eyes lit with wonder as the light from the torches bounced off the stone walls and floors, flickering from an invisible wind, almost as if in the middle of a game.
Her eyes swept the rest of the corridor and she couldn't help but choke at the beauty that had escaped her before but was there for all to see. The corridors upstairs which Harry, Ron and herself had all memorised by now where always lit by the light of the moon but here, in the heart of Hogwarts, it was Hogwarts itself that kept the students safe and warm.
A boy suddenly staggered into view, disrupting the silence that had fallen. Limping and clutching his chest, whimpers escaped his throat before he crashed to the floor in a heap of limbs.
She stood there a total of a second before she ran frantically towards him, her heart beating a mile per second.
Her knees skid on the stone as she collapsed next to him, hand automatically reaching to check his pulse and she thanked Merlin when she found one, albeit a weak one.
"Hospital Wing," she muttered to herself and screamed as his hands abruptly grabbed hers.
"No," he barked, coughing up blood. He brought out his own wand and tried to heal himself only to make the wound on his chest worse.
Making a grab for her own wand, as she finally realised she could do magic, she froze as she couldn't locate it - but that was impossible! She always had it on her and time was running out she thought wildly, watching helplessly as the boy coughed up some more blood. But that was nothing to his chest which was oozing with blood so thick it was black. Tendrils of magic circled the wound and she watched horrified as they continued to slowly tear open the flesh from the corners, leaving the poor boy screaming in pain and anguish. Fluttering her hands uselessly she noticed he still had his wand held loosely in his hand and so made a wild dash from it, her brain finally catching up to the events and beginning to yell instructions at her which she followed blindly.
She quickly closed off his other wounds and fixed his leg as best she could before focusing on his chest. She worked furiously on the wound, casting Vulnera Sanentur only to watch the magic rip it open again furiously. She froze, dread filling her as she realised that she didn't know how to help him. That was the only spell she knew that could fix something as ugly as that wound.
Her brain shut down temporarily before she forced it to regenerate, her mind running past every single thing she ever knew to find something, anything, that would help her. Crying now as she kept reaching dead ends she finally hit on the spell that she was sure was used on the boy and she frantically skipped to the cure only to see the words, 'Cure yet to be found,' printed in front of her eyes.
"No…"
She kept reading, desperate to find a hint or clue or something.
'The Perpetua curse, created in the 1700s, is one of the foulest curses known to wizardkind…'
She frantically skimmed all the information while muttering Vulnera Sanentur over and over again.
'It can only be hindered for a week by a continuous flow of healing spells before the curse kills the victim. No amount of blood replenishing potions will suffice as the curse not only drains the victim of his blood and energy, but also of his magic which his organs suffer from…'
She stopped there, knowing that it was hopeless to keep reading.
She looked down only to be met his unconscious face and frowned as she finally recognised him; it was the boy that Tom had tried to curse before, the boy that had picked on Tom all those many weeks ago.
"I need to get you to Madam Weasley," She muttered and levitated him carefully into the air, continuing her chant.
Thanking Merlin it was on the first floor corridor she grunted as she finally reached the doors. Sweat covered her entire body and she felt like fainting from the strain.
"Madam Weasley," she called out pitifully, sighing as she finally laid Raven onto a bed.
"Madam Weasley!" She called out stronger this time and watched relieved as the door leading to the matron's office sprang open and out bustled the woman in her nightgown, the sleep instantly leaving her face as she found Hermione continuing with her chant on the still unconscious boy.
"What happened to him?" She asked, instantly recognising the spell Hermione was using and casting it in between her status spell.
"He stumbled into the corridor like this ma'am. It's the Perpetua curse, I'm sure of it. He had other injuries on him too but I'm pretty sure I've taken care of them."
She knew the matron understood her as she stiffened in horror and disgust.
"This boy needs to be sent to St. Mungo's," she whispered and it only took five minutes before Hermione was left alone in the Wing, the matron having gone along with the boy.
With nothing left to do she stomped down to the dungeons again, focused on her newly found mission and blatantly ignoring her tired body.
Tom lay there, smirking as the hour passed by in beautiful silence. He had finally taken care of that boy and obliviated him for good measure.
His musings were cut short however as someone began to pound on the door before blasting it open. He sat straight up in bed, thinking that he had been caught before rethinking his decision and lying back down, forcing his heart calm and feigning sleep. He was only thankful that his curtains were drawn.
Tiny footsteps marched into the dorm before someone ripped open his curtains.
He didn't make a sound apart from breathing in and out at regular intervals and waited for whomever it was to leave but they didn't, instead a small hand slapped him awake and he found himself face to face with Granger.