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Sasha Sayer (aka the only one who can't speak Parseltongue)
By the time Sasha reached the inn's breakfast table, the other Sasha and her husband were already there. The other Sasha looked up and smiled faintly as she approached, looking tired.
"Good morning." Sasha said, settling herself into a chair at their table.
"Morning." The other Sasha said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yea, you?" Sasha asked and her counterpart shrugged.
"Well enough." She said, shooting the tiniest glance out of the corner of her eye at her husband. Tom sat in silence, picking at his food with a faraway expression.
Sasha looked between the two of them. The air felt heavy and Sasha was sure they were both deeply upset about something. She wondered whether it was the argument on the train the day before or whether it was just the stress of being stranded in an alternate universe. Or was it something else entirely?
"Where's the other Tom?" Sasha asked and the Tom in front of her finally looked up, as if triggered by the name.
"I don't know." The other Sasha replied, with a shrug. "We haven't seen him yet today."
"The ferry leaves at 10 am." Tom said, speaking at last. "If he's not back in the next half an hour-"
"He'll be back." The other Sasha said firmly, but Sasha could hear the unease in her voice.
Her husband rolled his eyes and took another bite of his biscuit. Sasha bit her lip, not feeling comfortable enough to say anything else. Clearly the other two were on edge and Sasha didn't fully understand why.
She stood up, going to get food from the buffet. She felt herself relax somewhat as she got further away from the table. Whatever the other three were going through, she wanted no part in it. Unfortunately, it seemed she was stuck with them for a while. She didn't know how she was going to get through the next few weeks listening to them hiss angrily at each other like snakes while she sat there, wondering what it was they were all going on about.
Sasha started piling eggs onto her plate and reached for the toast when she saw the Tom of her universe enter the room out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to notice her too and walked directly over to her. She put down her plate and looked at him, noticing that he looked even worse than the other two did. The circles under his eyes were more pronounced than usual and he was clearly already in a terrible mood.
"Tell them we have to leave in 15 minutes." He said, glancing over at the couple from the other universe. "Meet me outside by the blue welcome sign. We're going to have to walk down to the ferry docks."
Sasha nodded. "Sure." She said. "Did you already eat?"
Tom looked pointedly over at the other Tom and Sasha again, seemingly not even registering the question she had asked. "Make sure they're not late." He said, and then turned to leave.
Sasha bristled with annoyance, pressing down just a little too hard on her toast with the butter knife. She wondered for the millionth time whether Tom Riddle had always been this rude, despite his glowing reputation, or whether this was a recent development.
The rest of breakfast passed too quickly and Sasha had barely scarfed down her food by the time they had to head out to meet Tom by the blue sign. Unsurprisingly, he was already there, leaning against it with a sour look on his face. As he saw them approaching, he started walking down the road, not even stopping to see if they were following.
"The arrogance." The other Sasha whispered, rolling her eyes.
"I wonder what he would do if we just didn't follow." Her husband replied, looking equally miffed.
"We could try and find out." The other Sasha replied, her eyes glinting with amusement.
Sasha looked over at her twin in amusement. This other version of herself was so much more mischievous and bold. She seemed less afraid, more confident, and funnier. She was like an improved version of Sasha. It was enough to make her stomach twist with the uncomfortable feeling that maybe she was not her best self.
Where had she gone wrong? Was it all the bad relationships that had ended in failure? All the fake friendships she'd held onto because they were better than being alone? Had she failed to push herself out of her comfort zone enough? Failed to take enough initiative?
Why did she feel as if she had somehow missed something important? As if her life had not turned out the way it should have?
"Or we could wait until we're out at sea and push him overboard." Tom replied, after a moment.
His wife laughed. "Now that's an idea." She said.
"He wasn't like this at Hogwarts." Sasha said, before remembering who she was talking to.
The other Tom looked at her and Sasha suddenly felt transparent. "That's because his real personality wouldn't have gone over very well." Tom said, and his wife let out an amused snort.
"Tom is very good at pretending to be whoever someone wants him to be." His wife said.
"It's just common sense." Tom replied, with a shrug. "You give them what they want and they give you what you want."
"This is also called manipulation." His wife said, rolling her eyes.
"So you're saying his whole reputation at Hogwarts of being a polite, kind person was just an act?" Sasha asked, intrigued despite herself.
Tom snorted. "I suppose you could call it that." He said. "But isn't that all manners really are? An act we perform for the sake of social norms?"
"Most people don't change their entire personalities to ingratiate themselves to people." His wife replied. "That goes beyond mere manners."
"Then why isn't he being polite now?" Sasha asked.
"Because he doesn't need to be." Tom replied, bitterness slipping into his voice. "He knows we need his help so he can treat us however he pleases and he knows we'll still follow him across the continent."
"And besides," He added. "There would be no point in trying his act on himself."
"You don't look like him." Sasha blurted out, her cheeks flushing when Tom's eyes snapped up to her face. "I mean, you look more like the Tom I remember from Hogwarts. But he looks..."
"Sick and twisted?" Tom suggested, disgust dripping from his voice.
Sasha shrugged, unable to disagree. "Sure. He looks ill."
Silence fell over them for a moment before Sasha glanced back over at Tom. "Is he ill?" She asked uncomfortably.
"I wouldn't know." Tom replied, and Sasha nodded, looking back out at the ocean that had just become visible through the trees.
"I think he is." The other Sasha said quietly, her voice sounding almost sad.
Her husband set his mouth in a hard line, his jaw twitching with what looked like suppressed anger.
Sasha bit the inside of her mouth, half wishing she had not asked the question and half wanting to keep prying. It seemed they knew more than they were letting on about his apparent illness, but what it was, Sasha couldn't say.
Sasha Sayer (aka Tom's wife)
Sasha followed the others onto the boat, her mind still reeling from the previous night's revelation. She kept close to her husband, brushing her hand against his every now and then just to get the reassurance of contact. He was still the Tom she knew. He was okay. He wasn't the psychologically damaged person his counterpart was. These were the things she repeated to herself as they walked, trying to calm her nerves.
But still, she couldn't help but feel as if they had narrowly averted some kind of terrible destiny. She had not realized, when they were 16, that he had almost killed his father and grandparents. The fact that he had gone as far as to make a plan...and an elaborate one at that... How could she have been so blind? She should have been there for him more. She should have realized how upset he was and she should have done something.
Had she been self-centered all these years? Had she failed to grasp just how much the orphanage had damaged him? She had thought she understood him completely, but suddenly, she wasn't so sure. She had always known he suppressed his emotions but perhaps she had not realized to what degree he kept them hidden from the outside world. What other things did she not know about him?
Sasha brushed her fingers against his once more, glancing up at him. He looked back down at her, his gaze heavy, and Sasha's heart constricted painfully.
They came out onto the top deck of the ship and Sasha pulled her eyes away from her husband to look at the sea glittering all around them. Behind them, the houses of Dover rose up above the shoreline. As the boat began to move, Sasha walked over to the rail and looked out, searching the horizon for a glimpse of the foreign land they were sailing towards. There was nothing except blue for as far as the eye could see.
When she turned around, she saw that her husband's counterpart had disappeared. "Where did the other Tom go?" She asked.
"Does it matter?" Her husband muttered testily.
Sasha sighed, supposing the risk of him giving them the slip was pretty low considering the fact they were on a moving boat headed out into the middle of the ocean.
Her other self came up to stand next to her. "It's beautiful." She said. "I've never been to France. Have you?"
Sasha looked at her counterpart curiously. "No." She said. "We considered going for our honeymoon." She said, glancing over at Tom. "But we decided to go to Spain instead."
The other Sasha's eyes clouded over at this and she looked away, seeming uncomfortable. Sasha felt a flicker of guilt. Perhaps she shouldn't be talking about her marriage to a version of herself who had never married.
"How did you two meet anyway?" The other Sasha asked, finally daring to look back at them.
Sasha glanced at Tom, her stomach clenching the way it always did when someone asked this question. The truth just simply wasn't an option and so they had settled on a plausible lie. However, Sasha always found a part of her squirmed when she was forced to lie.
"We were prefects together." Tom said, coming to her rescue. "We started chatting during evening rounds."
The other Sasha nodded slowly. "Tom and I never had evening rounds together." She said, and Sasha got the distinct impression her counterpart was trying to figure out why she had not ended up with Tom in her universe. Little did she know that it was probably for the best. The Tom of her universe had killed 3 people at the age of 16 and Merlin knew what else he had done since then.
"Weird." Sasha said, averting her eyes. "Seems there are lots of differences between our universes."
"Yea..." The other Sasha said, frowning. "I stopped doing evening rounds after 5th year because of...well...you probably know what happened."
Sasha's counterpart looking at her expectantly and Sasha stared back dumbly, completely lost. Something had happened in 5th year? Sasha searched her memory trying to remember everything about that year. She had met Tom near the end of it but other than that... "What happened?" Sasha asked, unable to remember anything else of note.
Her counterpart tilted her head to the side, looking slightly surprised. "The Chamber of Secrets?" She asked, and Sasha's heart skipped a beat.
"Oh, but I thought-"
"So he did open it in your universe?" The other Sasha asked.
Sasha glanced at her husband. "Yes, but I just didn't think you would have known about it. How did you find out?"
Her counterpart looked at her as if she had two heads. "Everyone knew, first of all. But also I was the one who found Myrtle's body."
Sasha froze, that same cold dread that had seized her the previous night filling her lungs once more. Beside her, Tom inhaled sharply.
"Myrtle Warren?" Tom asked as Sasha struggled to breathe.
The other Sasha nodded. "Yes. She was killed by the monster that Hagrid let out of the Chamber of Secrets."
"Hagrid!?" Tom asked, his voice laced with the same panic Sasha felt. "As in Rubeus Hagrid? The half-giant?"
"Yea, this didn't happen in your universe?" The other Sasha asked, looking between them in confusion. "I thought you said the Chamber of Secrets was opened?"
"But no one was murdered!" Tom practically snarled, and Sasha felt a wave of nausea pass through her. She wished the boat would stop rocking. Why couldn't it just stay still?
"Oh Hagrid didn't mean to kill anyone!" The other Sasha said quickly. "It was an accident. He didn't know his spider would hurt anyone-"
"His...spider?" Tom choked out.
The other Sasha frowned. "Yes. The monster inside the Chamber of Secrets was a spider." She said. "A giant one."
Tom stared at the other Sasha in silence as Sasha finally found her voice.
"Sasha..." Sasha said tentatively. "How did the spider kill Myrtle? Did it use a web or...?"
The other Sasha shrugged. "I don't know. When I found Myrtle she was just dead. There were no signs of what killed her. Dumbledore said it looked as if she had been petrified but a spider couldn't do that to a person. No one ever discovered exactly how she died."
Sasha felt the nausea return and ran over to the side of the boat, throwing up over the railing. The grey blue of the waves splashed along beneath her, making her feel even more woozy. Why were they on this boat? Why had they come on this trip with this...this...
Sasha felt Tom pull her hair back from her face, his other hand on her arm. She looked at him, her heartbeat slowly calming down. His eyes were wide and so human. They were the eyes she knew. The eyes of a man who would never kill anyone...who never had killed anyone. They were filled with concern for her and a fear so deep it was almost palpable.
This same fear had shone in his eyes the day she had entered the second floor girls lavatory in search of Myrtle Warren. When she'd found the girl unconscious but alive and she had discovered Tom's Chamber of Secrets. This had been the day Tom Riddle had ceased to be nothing more than a handsome Slytherin prefect. And this was the story Sasha always thought of but could never share when people asked her how she had met her husband.
Sasha Sayer (aka Tom's wife) - 9 years earlier
Sasha walked through the halls sighing heavily. Myrtle had run off again crying; upset about something Tracey had said about her glasses this time. If Sasha were honest, she was getting a little tired of Myrtle's meltdowns. It was true, of course, that the other students didn't treat Myrtle the way they ought to. But Myrtle didn't make it easy for them either. Bursting into tears at the smallest slight, completely ignoring boundaries, obsessively following around those who treated her with kindness, and going on long monologues about her own problems while ignoring the needs of just about everyone else...well these were only a few of Myrtle's lovely tendencies.
Still, as the prefect on duty, Sasha had to go make sure the girl was okay. And so Sasha found herself walking down to the second floor girls lavatory. This had become Myrtle's preferred hideaway as of late. Already students had begun to complain about Myrtle constantly crying in the bathroom stalls.
Sasha sighed, pushing open the door to the bathroom. She entered the room, looking around for the girl when she froze, a cry escaping her lips. Myrtle lay on the floor in front of her, unconscious. Sasha ran towards her, checking for a pulse. When she felt one, she heaved a great sigh of relief, running a hand over her face. Clearly someone had gone way too far this time. It seemed as if the girl had been stupified. She would have to deduct heavy house points for this transgression.
Sasha shook her head and began to gather the girl up in her arms when a sound made her freeze. She looked up and realized for the first time that, where the sinks should have been, there was instead a hole. Sasha frowned and carefully placed Myrtle back down onto the ground. She walked over to the hole and peered inside curiously. She leaned over it, her hand gripping the sink, trying to see anything in the dark pit beneath.
There was nothing to be seen, just emptiness and darkness. But suddenly, as if coming from the depths of the hole, a rustling began. A slithering sound, growing louder and louder until Sasha felt the sink begin to shake. She moved to step away from the sink when a hissing sound came from behind her. The sound startled her, causing her to lose her balance. and she felt herself begin to fall. She reached out but before she could grab anything, she found herself suspended in the air above the hole. Her heart pounding in her chest, she felt herself moved through the air and dropped onto the cold hard ground of the bathroom. When she looked up, she found herself face to face with none other than her fellow prefect, Tom Riddle.
He stood there, his dark eyes wide and panicked, his wand pointed at her.
"What is this?" Sasha had asked. "What happened to Myrtle?"
Tom had merely shaken his head. "You shouldn't have come in here." He said. "Oblivi-"
Sasha had turned into a dove, flying away from him before he could cast the curse. He hadn't known she was an animagus, clearly. She heard him curse from below her, spinning around in an attempt to reach her. Sasha flew around the room, looking for a way to escape as Tom shot curse after curse up at her. Realizing there was no way out, Sasha finally settled for landing on the opposite side of the room and turned back into a human. She held out her wand, her hand shaking.
"What did you do to Myrtle!?" Sasha demanded, her voice trembling.
"Nothing." Tom replied, sounding almost exasperated. "She's fine. Perfectly unharmed."
"She's unconscious!" Sasha cried, aghast by his lack of concern for the girl.
Tom shrugged. "She'll wake up in an hour with no memory of anything. As will you."
Sasha felt a shiver run down her spine.
"What's under the sink, Riddle?" Sasha asked, tightening her grip on her wand. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing." He replied.
"If you're just going to obliviate me anyway then what's the harm in telling me?" Sasha asked furiously, and, to her great annoyance Tom smirked, as if amused.
"Or do you doubt your ability to prevent me from leaving this room with my memory intact?" Sasha added for good measure.
Tom rolled his eyes at this, looking even more amused. "Nice try." He said, shooting another obliviate curse at her.
Sasha just narrowly managed to duck it, shooting out a stupefy as quickly as possible. The spell missed him, but in the split second he was distracted, the craziest idea formed in Sasha's head. She turned into a dove again and flew straight towards the hole. She heard Tom call out after her but ignored him, diving down deep into the darkness. As she sped down into the depths, she heard Tom jump in after her. She thought she heard him hiss but then she heard a hiss that was even louder, coming from down below and questioned whether the sound had just been echoing off the tunnel walls.
Reaching the bottom of the tunnel, Sasha emerged into a tall cavern. It was dark and Sasha struggled to see where she was flying until she heard Tom land on the ground. Moments later, rows of torches flared to light along the sides of the walls. Sasha landed far away from him, turned back into a human, and pointed her wand at him once more.
"What is this place?" She asked, more terrified than ever.
"Do you have any idea how reckless coming down here was?" Tom cried, fury painted all over his face.
"Do you have any idea how wrong it is to oblivate your classmates?" Sasha shot back angrily.
"I am trying to protect you, you idiot!" Tom cried, marching over to the far side of the wall.
Sasha nearly choked at this. "Protect me!?" She cried. "Like how you protected Myrtle?"
Tom spun around at this, his face livid. "She would be dead right now if it weren't for me." He snapped.
"Why would she be dead?" Sasha demanded, shoving down her terror.
"Fine, you want to see? I'll show you." Tom snapped, spinning around and walking up to a giant hole in the wall. He looked into it and then he hissed again. This time, Sasha was sure the hiss came from him. What was this boy? Part snake?
"What are you doing?" She asked uncertainly, beginning to regret having come down here with this crazy boy.
"Satisfying your curiosity." Tom snapped.
The ground began to rumble and Sasha took a few steps back, preparing to turn into a bird at any moment. A moment later, the largest snake Sasha had ever seen emerged from the hole. Sasha stumbled backwards, feeling her hands come up against the wall, as the snake stopped in front of Tom. Tom reached out to touch the snake's face and Sasha realized that the snake's eyes were closed. Tom hissed at the snake and it hissed back to him, as if they were communicating in their own secret language. For a moment, it almost seemed as if they had forgotten Sasha's presence entirely.
And then the snake looked at her. Well, not looked, exactly, because it still had its eyes closed...but it turned its head in her direction. Tom looked back at her and then walked over to her.
"This is Almeda." He said, gesturing up at the snake. "Salazar Slytherin placed her in a chamber underneath Hogwarts a thousand years ago and she has lived here ever since."
"How are you talking to her?" Sasha asked, struggling to remember how to breathe.
"I am the last living descendent of Slytherin." He said. "Everyone in the Slytherin bloodline can speak to snakes. The language is called Parseltongue."
"Why are her eyes closed?" Sasha asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the snake.
"To save your sorry life." Tom snapped. "The gaze of a Basilisk is deadly. One look from her and you would die instantly. Petrified."
Sasha inhaled sharply. "So Myrtle..."
"Myrtle saw Almeda but Almeda's eyes were closed. I removed any memory Myrtle had of it. I sent Almeda back down to the Chamber but then you arrived." Tom said, glaring at her as if she were the most annoying inconvenience to have ever befallen him.
"And you don't want anyone to know about her." Sasha surmised, glancing over at the giant snake.
Tom crossed his arms. "What do you think the Headmaster would do if he found out there was a giant snake living underneath a school full of hundreds of children?"
"Is she dangerous?" Sasha asked, and Tom scoffed.
"She's lived down here for a thousand years without harming anyone. And besides, she listens to me completely. She would never attack anyone unless I told her to." Tom said.
Sasha nodded slowly. "And you wouldn't ever..."
"Ever what?" Tom prompted dangerously, raising an eyebrow.
Sasha hesitated, wishing she hadn't said anything, but Tom finished the question for her. "Ever release a Basilisk on Hogwarts?" He asked. "No. What would be the point of that?"
Sasha nodded, taking a step away from him and the giant snake. "Okay, well then I won't tell anyone about your pet." Sasha said. "If that's what you're worried about."
Tom laughed at this. "My pet?" He repeated, looking amused.
"Your friend?" Sasha tried again, only succeeding in drawing more amused looks from Tom.
"Look, whatever she is, I won't tell anyone about her. I promise." Sasha said emphatically.
Tom snorted and took a step towards her, and Sasha glanced down nervously at the wand in his hand. "So you're saying I can trust you?" He asked.
Sasha took a step away from him. "Yes." She said.
Tom looked her over, as if considering whether or not to believe her. At last, he seemed to come to some kind of decision. "Alright." He said, simply. "Go ahead. Fly out of here."
Sasha stared at him in surprise for a moment, finding it hard to believe he would just let her go after all the effort he'd gone to to obliviate her. "You're not going to obliviate me?" She asked.
"No." Tom said, with a casual shrug. "I trust you. Simple as that."
Sasha frowned. It felt too good to be true but, then again, perhaps if she wanted him to trust her, she should give him the benefit of the doubt and trust him back?
"Okay." Sasha said, glancing up at the tunnel they had come down through. She began to pocket her wand to turn into a dove when she saw Tom move out of the corner of her eye.
"Stupefy!" Sasha cried, her red light clashing with his just in the nick of time. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought as they began to duel. Why had she trusted him? She should have listened to the feeling inside of her telling her he was lying. Why had she ignored it?
Sasha circled him, each of them shooting and blocking spells faster than Sasha could keep up with. He was too good. Of course he was, he was Tom Riddle, the best student Hogwarts had ever had. Everyone knew that. She felt panic begin to set in as she struggled to block his relentless attacks. But then she heard Almeda moving behind her and Tom looked up, his eyes opening wide in panic. He hissed something and the snake seemed to stop. Sasha took advantage of his momentary distraction and pointed her wand at his face.
"Stupefy!" She cried and Tom fell down unconscious.
Behind her Almeda roared and Sasha didn't need to know Parseltongue to know the snake was furious. She didn't waste any time. Without daring to turn around and see if the snake still had her eyes carefully closed, Sasha turned into a dove and flew out of the room as fast as her wings could carry her.