Chapter 6: Third Year, 1940-41
Chapter Text
"Spending so much time with Tom Riddle was a fascinating experience... From early on I could tell he wasn't like the rest of us, but couldn't put my finger on it at the time. One might think that only a fool could've overlooked his true nature, but you must understand that a close proximity doesn't always guarantee the greatest insight. I was drawn to him like a magnet, yet I couldn't find a way to detach myself, even if I wanted to..."
Ever since the third year had begun, Tom had completely changed his attitude toward other people. He was no longer as aloof to others as he used to and turned out to be quite a charismatic and charming individual despite his young age. The combination of those qualities had attracted like-minded people to him, such as Abraxas Malfoy and others whose families belonged in the Sacred Twenty-Eight.
One April night our group was spending the evening, slouching on the couches near the fireplace of our common room. I was seated in between of Tom and Jillian, halfheartedly paying attention to the chatter about the upcoming Quidditch game. Leaning my back against Jillian's arm I intently glared at Tom, who was immersed in the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. I observed the way his brows slightly furrowed while focused, and the way the flame of the fire place glimmered in his eyes, only to suddenly meet their gaze. Feeling embarrassed for getting caught, I quickly readjusted myself.
"Why don't you put the book down for a change?" I suggested for the lack of something better to say.
"I need to get a high score in the final exam if we wish to win the house cup", he replied. "Your scores matter too, by the way, and staring at me doesn't count as studying."
Instantly I felt my cheeks flushing bright red and hoped that the warm-toned light of the fire would be enough to cover it.
"I wasn't staring", I muttered but he merely raised an eyebrow and continued his studying. From then on I didn't dare to even glance in his direction and tried to focus on the chatter of the rest of the group instead. That turned out to be an impossible task as my thoughts constantly kept swirling around Tom.
Compared to our two previous years in the school, this one was by far the most successful in all areas of life, for Tom at least. There was only one cloud in his horizon: Austin Smith, a third-year Ravenclaw who we shared the Defense Against the Dark Arts class with. He was exceptionally gifted in the Dark Arts, just like Tom, who wasn't used to being challenged in this way.
"So, how did you do?" I asked Tom after we had received the results of our latest homework assignment. I took a look at his paper that said "98%".
"Not bad, Riddle", I said approvingly. "I got only 76."
"Told you, studying helps", he snapped playfully. "Be careful, Slughorn may kick you out of the club if your grades get too low."
I smirked and hit his arm with a notebook. "Oh come on! It was only one quiz."
But Tom had fixed his attention on to someone else. On the other side of the class was Austin, gleefully waving his paper that had a scarlet "100%" on it.
"Oh no, now Ravenclaw has the highest amount of house points now!" I whined, but Tom merely stared at the Ravenclaws across the class. For a moment his gaze was so menacing I was certain he would hex the boys right then and there, but in the blink of an eye the moment was gone.
"I suppose", he casually replied, appearing normal again. "Shall we go get some lunch, then?"
That night as I entered the common room after spending the whole evening with Jillian at her Quidditch practise I found Tom huddled up with Malfoy, Lestrange and Avery by the fireplace.
"Yeah, well I'm not losing the Cup because of a Ravenclaw mudblood", I heard Malfoy murmur as we got closer.
"Is he a mudblood? Oh come on!" huffed Lestrange.
"Sure is, I saw him with his muggle parents at Diagon Alley!" spat Malfoy. "Bloody git probably cheats on every test just to prove himself."
"Well, whatever he does is working", said Tom. "They're winning."
"Hey", I greeted and sat down on the sofa with Jillian. "What's going on?"
"We are discussing how Ravenclaw is leading the House Cup tournament and what we should do about it", replied Tom.
"I don't see how we could do much about it", said Avery. "I mean, Smith is too talented."
"Come on now, surely you don't want Ravenclaw to steal our earned victory?" said Tom. "Malfoy said it himself; the git probably cheats anyway. Well, maybe we should make the professors aware of that too?"
Malfoy glared at Tom, grinning knowingly as the other two exchanged mischievous glances. Furrowing my brows I turned to Jillian, who was staring at Tom eyes wide with excitement. Quickly turning away I smoothed my expression and gave my best effort to appear enthusiastic. But no matter how hard I tried to act otherwise, I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt.
Drip. Drip.
The sound of ink drops hitting the parchment nearly echoed in the empty library. It was lunchtime, but instead of joining the others at the crowded Great Hall I had chosen to use this time to take notes for the Dark Arts exam. The ink drops were the only thing I had managed to get on the paper, for all I could think of was the previous night's conversation at the fireplace. As I stared the drops, gleaming in the midday sunlight that streamed in from the large windows, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. It was Tom.
"Come on, Elara. I have to show you something", he said.
"Not now, I'm busy", I muttered.
"Yes, I can see that", he replied and glanced at the empty piece of parchment in front of me. Then he crouched down to my level to meet my gaze.
"Please, I need you to come with me", he said with a tone that was simultaneously soft yet persuasive.
"Get lost", I snapped.
Tom got up and vanished from my field of view and for a second I thought he'd actually left. But instead he appeared on my other side and dragged a chair right next to me.
"What's wrong? You've been acting weird this whole morning", he inquired.
"I don't know what you mean", I said defiantly, but he kept glaring at me with disbelief. "Fine! It's the thing we talked about last night... It bothers me."
"Why? Don't you want to win the House Cup?"
"Of course I do! I don't know what you guys are planning but you know as well as I do that Austin isn't a cheater. This doesn't feel right."
Tom took a deep breath and held my hand in between his. Even though I was angry at him the closeness and his genuine eagerness to get my help made my cheeks warm up.
"Maybe he isn't a cheater, but he is extremely arrogant. Malfoy heard Austin brag in the Great Hall about how he is going to wipe the floors with us Slytherins and do everything in his power to stop us from achieving anything."
"What? He said that?"
"Yes, and you know how the rest of the houses have always discriminated Slytherin students because Salazar and the rest of the founders didn't get along", he said. "I'm tired of that, aren't you? This plan of ours is just to teach Austin a lesson and I really need you help with it."
"Well, then... What do I need to do?"
Tom gave me a delighted smile. "I knew I could trust you. Come with me, I'll show you."
He got up and lead me out of the library so swiftly I almost fell out of the chair. He didn't stop until we were on the corridor to Mr. Filch's office. Malfoy and Lestrange were there already.
"So you came around, then?" snorted Malfoy and merely smirked when I gave him a deadly glare.
"So here's the plan", he continued and pointed toward Mr. Filch's office. "In that room, locked in the storage of Filch, is my trusted old cheating quill that unfortunately was taken away from me a while back. However, now we need to get it back so that we can gift it to our friend Mr. Smith."
"Hold on, you're going to frame him?" I asked. "Don't they have anti-cheating charms on every test paper?"
Malfoy smirked again while leaning against the wall. "Exactly. There's no way he won't get caught with it."
The whole plan felt so foolish yet brilliant that I had no choice but grin back at him. "So what do you need me for?"
"Your job", explained Tom, "is to get the quill out from behind the locks. There must be some protective spells on them, and you're the best in Charms."
"Uh huh, and as me and Malfoy are doing all the dirty work, what are you two masterminds up to?"
"We'll be the distraction", answered Lestrange. "Gotta make sure Filch doesn't burst in while you're in there."
"You'll be the most important part of this plan", said Tom. "But I know you'll be great."
"Merlin's beard, Riddle, I said I'm in! You don't have to suck up to me anymore", I snapped.
Tom rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Well I wouldn't know what to do, one minute you're moping in the library and suddenly you act like you came up with the idea!"
"Don't you yell at me, Tom Riddle! I only agreed to this because of-"
"Okay, calm down now", interrupted Malfoy. "The lunch break doesn't last forever and the less people around, the more beneficial it is for us, right?"
"Fine, whatever", I sighed. "Let's get this over with."
"We'll go and find Filch, then tell him that there's a group of first-years in the west wing playing with dungbombs or something", explained Avery. "Wait about ten minutes, after that you should be good to go."
Tom and Avery vanished behind the corner, leaving me and Malfoy near the door to the office. After what felt like ten minutes, we opened the door and entered the gloomy room.
"Wow, didn't know there could be a room as dingy as this in such a beautiful castle", whispered Malfoy. The office truly was dim and uninviting, with only a tiny window on the right wall.
"Okay, here they are", I said and browsed the bookshelf filled with locked boxes, full of forbidden objects and ancient records of rule-breaking students. My gaze rested on the one that read "Confiscated items, 1940-41".
"Bingo!" I whispered victoriously. "Now how do we open this?"
Malfoy was guarding at the door, cautiously glaring outside every now and then. "Don't ask me, that's your job! And whatever you do, do it fast."
"That was a rhetorical question, you moron", I muttered under my breath. While examining the box, it didn't seem to have any magical qualities to it. I poked it with my wand, shook it a little and even tried to open it by hand, but nothing happened. Only locking mechanism I could detect was a regular lock.
"Alohomora", I whispered. To my surprise, the lid sprung open without resistance.
"Are you kidding me right now?" huffed Malfoy and hurried toward the box to search for his quill.
"Sure was a great obstacle", I replied. "No one else could have done it but me!"
"Come to think of it, this kind of makes sense", said Malfoy. "If the boxes had magical protections, how could that squib open them himself?"
"All this risk-taking, and for what?" I sighed. "Come on, let's go."
Malfoy had grabbed the quill and returned the box to its correct place. Then we hurried out of the door and all the way to the Slytherin common room, where Tom and Avery were waiting. Malfoy waved the quill triumphantly in the air and slumped on the couch.
"So how did it go?" asked Tom as I got to him.
"I used the Alohomora-spell to open it", I told him wearily. "Filch is a squib, why would he have magical protection charms in his office?"
"Well, better to be safe then sorry, right?"
Raising an eyebrow at him, I sat down on one of the arm chairs instead of joining the others on the couch. For some reason, this incident had left me feeling fooled. Even though getting the quill back had been unexpectedly easy, the whole plan felt exhausting and troublesome.
A few days later, on the day of the exam, the four of us who had participated in this grand plan were waiting outside of the Dark Arts classroom. There was only one thing left to do; change Austin's quill with Malfoy's. Only a couple of minutes ago the Ravenclaw had arrived and chosen a seat on the front row. We only had to wait for an opportune moment. It came when he got up and joined a group of his friends on the other side of the class. Malfoy walked past his desk and discreetly switched the quills before finding a seat of his own. From the back of the class he glanced at us with a secretive grin.
After the quiz had begun, it didn't take long before our plan proved itself to be successful. Austin stared at the quill, looking astonished as it burst into azure flames along with the exam paper. The rest of the class followed the event curiously while the professor, who looked equally astounded, approached Austin and guided him outside of the classroom. The boy's confused complaints could be heard from behind the door but no matter what he said, he'd have to re-do the courses materials during the summer. Accomplishing a whole school year's work in a couple of months would be impossible, and he would fall behind with his studies, just like we planned. From the corner of my eye I saw a glimpse of Tom, victoriously staring at the closed door. The distressed voice of Austin didn't seem to bother him a bit.
As I was gathering my supplies after the exam, Albus Dumbledore entered the class. He seemed to be in a hurry and headed straight to the Dark Arts professor to murmur something into his ear.
"Well, it does seem uncharacteristic if I do say so myself..." replied the Dark Arts professor quietly and presented the quill to Dumbledore. "But the boy was caught red-handed with this... There's nothing else I could do, Albus."
While the Transfiguration professor took the quill to observe it I quickly finished packing my bag and headed out of the class, but just outside of the doorstep I heard something that made me freeze.
"Yes, I see", said Dumbledore. "That quill just happens to be quite similar to the one I confiscated from Abraxas Malfoy the other week, which strangely disappeared from Mr. Filch's storage a couple of days ago."
Oh no! If Dumbledore was onto us, we'd be caught in no time. I knew this was a bad idea!
A couple of minutes later I burst through the common room entrance and headed straight toward Tom.
"Dumbledore knows! He knows that the quill is Malfoys and that it's supposed to be in Mr. Filch's storage!" I hissed at Tom after pulling him to the side.
"Keep your voice down!" hissed Tom and glared around us. "What exactly did he say? Did he suspect any of us?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Then everything is fine, isn't it? No one could trace this back to us."
"He could trace it back to Malfoy!" I huffed. "I told you this was a bad idea!"
"Yet you agreed to it", blurted Tom, then gently lifted my chin with a finger to look me in the eyes. "Like we all did. Calm down, it'll be alright."
I threw him a defiant glare, intending to express my thoughts about the whole plan further, but as I met his gaze, I suddenly was at a loss for words.
"Yeah, I suppose it will..."