Here I go again. Firstly, thanks to all those who read, fav'd, alerted and especially to those who reviewed!
Secondly, I'm going on vacation for about 2 weeks and I don't know when/if I'll able to update. I'll try, though...
However, here comes the next chapter; we're meanwhile in their fifth year - incredible, isn't it? Well, probably not. I'll stop rambling now.
I opened the letter and stared at in surprise. Or, rather, not real surprise. Delightedness. Pride. I had worked for this.
"You're silent, honey, everything okay?"
"Yes, mother, sure. It's... they've appointed me prefect."
She sighed heavily. I looked up as I hadn't expected that. I had expected... well, I had expected her to be proud of me.
"What is it?"
"You're adapting pretty well, don't you?"
"Why are you asking that?"
"Because only pureblood muggle-haters have a chance in the wizarding world. Now, I know you're not a fanatic like them. So, you gotta be adapting rather well."
I jumped up and snapped: "Why, yes, obviously I am."
"So, what do I hear about you and that Smith guy?"
"I can't imagine that you heard anything about that – it lasted so short, even I have barely heard about it."
"And you've called me abhorrent."
I looked at Tom. He had changed over the summer; he was a lot taller than I remembered him. I couldn't believe that we just started our fifth year! It felt like everything was going to end so very soon – what would we all do without Hogwarts? Without the mighty walls protecting us against the evils of the outside world? I sighed. All that Grindelwald-paranoia was already taking me over.
"You're not abhorrent."
"Oh, thank you. I'm charmed."
"Don't be silly."
"I've signed you in to do the rounds with me, I'm sure that's fine with you?"
Of course, he had been appointed prefect, just like me. I had reckoned with that; anything else would've been pure stupidity.
"I'd rather you ask me the next time, but sure."
"Perfect."
We've patrolled through the corridors and we didn't find anybody. This early in the year, most of the students still took bed-times seriously. And nobody was sneaking out to finish an essay or the other in the library last minute.
"What did your parents say? Proud that you're prefect?"
"Well, sort of."
"What do you mean?"
I shrugged. "They believe that anybody who is in charge in the wizarding world is just a pureblood-fanatic."
"And now they take you for a pureblood-fanatic?"
The idea of it was so absurd, we both had to laugh.
"No," I muttered. "But they believe I'm... just adapting. Saying nothing against it."
"Well, they're right."
"I'm hanging out too much with you folk, that's just it."
He shrugged. "I'm not going to tell you what I think about mud..."
"TOM!"
"Muggle-borns, sorry."
I nodded. In front of his "friends", or rather servants I would never say anything against it, but I wouldn't keep my rejection of this racism hidden when we were alone.
"Okay, so... any news from you over the summer?"
Tom shrugged. "Not really. Mrs. Cole is still the same stupid cow..."
"Tom," I protested softly, but I knew how deeply he hated the head of the orphanage.
"I don't think my father was a wizard," he suddenly said.
I frowned. All these years, he had been of the certain belief that his father was the magical one, as his mother died with his birth.
"Why do you think so?"
"I've been searching the trophy room, prefect lists... everything. He has never attended Hogwarts. No one with the name Riddle ever did."
I sighed. "So it's your mother, then. Impossible that you're a muggle-born."
"Right."
I stopped and looked at him. "Anything to go after?"
He sighed. "My second name. Marvolo."
"Your grandfather's name, I suppose."
"Yeah, right."
"Sounds like a wizard's name, in fact..."
He sighed again, heavily. "This is no good."
"This is just the way it is, Tom; you can't change where you come from. You can just change where you're going."
He took a step towards me. I raised an eyebrow and suddenly, his lips touched mine. I gasped in surprise. To my even greater surprise, I felt myself giving in, responding to his kiss. Shocked, I pulled away.
"We can't go there, Tom."
He smiled sadly. "I just decided to change where I was going."
I raised an eyebrow. "I'll never be one of your..."
"I didn't ask you to, did I?"
I stared at him. "We're going to ruin it, you know that?"
"What are we going to ruin? You told me to search for a girlfriend. Why would I want to be with any other girl than with you? You're already my best friend."
"Tom...," I muttered. It wasn't that I... that I didn't want it. I was just so scared to lose him.
Suddenly, his lips were on mine again, soft and sweet. I could tell he tried hard to be gentle.
He smiled at me as he pulled away. "You're talking way too much."
"My father found something."
Tom stared at me in surprise and I tried a weak smile. He wouldn't like this.
"Look, you know he worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry?"
Tom nodded.
"He still got some connections and I had him ask for anyone with the name Marvolo. We only found this."
I showed him the copy of what my father had received. It was the judgement for a man called Marvolo Gaunt, back from 1938, then living in Little Hangleton. He had been imprisoned in Azkaban for six months because he had insulted and attacked a Ministry agent.
"Marvolo Gaunt," he whispered and I nodded.
"My dad also found this," I handed him another paper. "Obviously, his son was even worse. Attacking muggles that lived in the village... he was imprisoned for three years."
Tom read through it and handed it back. "That has nothing to do with me. We're searching for my mother."
"Yeah, about that. My father has talked to the agent insulted. He said they lived under very poor conditions, but proud of their pureblood heritage. And he said, there was a daughter, supposedly a Squib. She was old enough to be left alone with all her family in Azkaban. Still, no one has ever heard of her again."
He stared at me. "A Squib?" he whispered and I shrugged.
"I don't know. Sometimes, magical abilities don't show when suppressed. But it's possible, is it? Just imagine, now left alone, she found a muggle whom she loved – a Tom Riddle, and she got you. Only when her father returned from prison, her now husband would of course find out that she was magical – no matter if she was a Squib or not – and he left her. Your mother would run off..."
"And die giving birth to me."
I nodded.
"That's possible."
I sensed that he didn't like it at all; I sensed that he felt miserable. And I felt the incredible need to comfort him. But how could I ever? He was Tom Riddle. He would never admit that he was hurt.
"Tom," I muttered and reached out to touch him, but he caught my hand before it reached his face.
"Would you mind leaving me alone for a bit?"
I looked at him, worried, but I nodded. Obeyed.
"I always knew you would get together."
"Why did it take you so long to tell us?"
"I just..." I didn't really know what to say. I had kept it from them because I hadn't been entirely sure that it worked out. I wanted to keep things normal – so that I had a chance to go back. I sighed. After all, there was no going back anymore. "I don't know."
"I knew it from first year," Olive stated. "I'm not that bad in divination after all."
Lydia laughed. "Honestly. This has nothing to do with future-telling. It was plain obvious."
I blushed slightly and shook my head in disbelief. I had feared their reaction – a talk about how bad Slytherins were for me, maybe or even worse. But they just... seemed to find it funny.
"LORRAINE!"
He rushed through the corridor and I turned around just in time, as he grabbed me and pulled me away from Olive and Lydia. I heard them giggle.
He pushed me into an empty classroom and locked the door. Suddenly his lips crashed on mine. After a few moments, I pulled back, chuckling. "What's up?"
"It's fantastic."
"What?"
"Remember the Gaunts? Marvolo and his son? The supposedly Squib daughter?"
"Sure, I do."
He nodded. "I did some research. The Gaunts are the last living descendants of Salazar Slytherin."
My eyes widened. "Merlin's beard..."
"Right. They would all speak the Parseltongue! Just like me – and even though I'm half-blood, I was sorted into Slytherin with the hat barely touching my hat! That fits!"
"You mean... then you would be the heir of Slytherin?"
There we go. Rather short chapter, sorry... still leave a review?
