"Where the hell is he? I'm tired of waiting!" I groaned loudly at the corner of Flourish and Blotts at Diagon Alley.
"Who cares?" sighed Lucretia. "Why don't you lot go without him?"
"Because we are supposed to meet here."
It was the 31st of August, 1942. We had stood waiting for Tom for about thirty minutes, and I was beginning to get worried and frustrated. Next to me stood Lucretia, Jillian, Malfoy and Nott, and we had planned to meet a few others from our little group later on. For the first time of my life, maybe excluding that year me and Tom wandered around Knockturn Alley, the trip to Diagon Alley was not an excruciating family event, but something to look forward to. I was thrilled at the chance to spend time with my friends again after the summer, and had become even more exited when my parents had stated we were all old enough to go without them. Orion had ran off with his friends a long time ago, and Lucretia too was impatiently swirling with her hair and glaring around at the crowd.
"What are you waiting for, anyway?" I asked her. "It's not like you need to watch over us anymore."
"And thank Merlin for that", she muttered. "I'm waiting for Beverly, but she's late again, and I have nowhere to go before she gets here."
"Yeah, or you could just stay with us", suggested Malfoy, smirking. "I wouldn't mind."
"On second thoughts, I should probably just go look for her", said Lucretia quickly while Malfoy threw his hands up in the air and Nott grinned at him mischievously. Jillian threw a sharp glance at Malfoy and I was trying not to burst into laughter.
"I'm going to go now", stated Lucretia and began to walk away, only to turn back toward us after a few steps. "And don't let all that newly acquired power to get to you, now that you and snake boy are Prefects!"
"Oh, I'll watch your every move!" I yelled, and she grimaced at me before disappearing into the crowd.
The Prefect badge had arrived in the beginning of August, along with the usual list of supplies for the following year. With it came a thrilling sense of new authority, something I certainly had never experienced in my life. Slughorn had discreetly informed me and Tom at the end of fourth year that it was most likely to be the two of us as the new Slytherin Prefects, so it didn't really come as a surprise. Nevertheless, I had instantly ran upstairs to write a letter to Tom and a few other of my friends, and suggested that we should meet at Diagon Alley to get our supplies and celebrate.
Just as I was about to complain about Tom's absence again, Jillian pointed at something behind me and exclaimed: "Oh! There he is!"
I whipped around and there he was indeed, making his way through the crowd. It was clearly Tom, except he looked nothing like his usual self. He was wearing brand new school robes, and had grown taller during the summer. So had I, but while he was looking elegant and poised, I felt rather clumsy and awkward in my suddenly stretched-out frame. And as I watched him walk toward us I couldn't help but to admit that he was ridiculously handsome.
"Nice robes", I teased when he had reached us. "I see you felt the need to truly flaunt your new status."
"As if you didn't feel the same need, seeing you have the badge on already", he replied, smiling dryly.
"We're expected to wear it at all times!"
"Not before tomorrow, though."
"Right. Well, we should we head first?"
We spent the afternoon touring the shops and acquiring all the necessary supplies and afterwards decided to go to the Leaky Cauldron for some food before it was time to go home. As we entered, there was quite the long queue in front of us. At the counter there was a family of three; a young girl and her parents who had gotten into a quarrel with the cashier.
"What do you mean you don't accept pounds?" the father bellowed while the cashier looked utterly bewildered. "This is the United Kingdom for God's sake!"
"Remind me again, why do we accept muggles into Hogwarts?" complained Malfoy as we took our place in the back of the queue.
"You must mean muggleborns, as they say", replied Nott snobbishly.
"A muggle is a muggle, despite the signs of magic they have allegedly presented", Malfoy spat. "A drop of water in a cup doesn't make it full!"
"Even a drop is excessive, at least by the look of those two", added Nott and nodded toward the parents who were collecting their pounds from the counter, evidently upset and having no clue how to navigate through the differences of our two worlds.
Would it be better if only those who had at least one wizard parent were accepted to Hogwarts? It certainly would be easier for muggleborns to just continue with their lives as usual, magical or not, instead of being launched into this bizarre world and having no one to introduce you to it. One could argue that the right to study magic belongs to everyone regardless of background, but can a person who's spent most of their lives being completely oblivious about the whole wizarding world ever compare to those who grew up in it? Had Salazar been right, would it be beneficial after all to be more selective with the students?
By the evening of the next day I had already forgotten all about the encounter with the muggles on the previous day. The return to Hogwarts and our new duties as Prefects had taken my mind off of everything else, and I was merely glad to be back at the Common Room, spending time with my friends. Only Jillian was missing, for she had been made a captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and was still in a meeting with them.
"So what do you think, should I try out to the Slytherin Quiddith team this year?" bragged Abraxas to a girl called Julia Selwyn, one of my dorm mates who was sitting on the arm of his chair.
"Oh come on Malfoy, you think Parkinson would let you in the team?" teased Nott, leaning against the dark, stony fireplace, grinning widely as everyone burst out laughing. Malfoy presented him with a certain universal hand signal and threw a sofa cushion at him, which unfortunately flew straight past Nott and hit the floor with a thump.
"With aiming like that you'll become a real star beater!" Nott continued, which only increased the laughter.
I could hear the door of the Common Room opening and closing, and turned around to see Jillian making her way toward us with her shoulder-length hair waving from side to side.
"Hi guys", she greeted.
"Hello. Care to join us?" I asked while making room for her on the couch. She nodded avidly and sat down next to me.
"So what's going on?" she asked, referring to Malfoy and Nott who where currently in the middle of an intense scuffle.
"Malfoy here wants to join the Quidditch Team this year! What do you say?" smirked Avery, while Malfoy rolled his eyes.
Jillian glanced at Malfoy with a sparkle in her eye. "Well, let's just say that you can always try", she teased and the laughter began once more.
We spent the rest of the evening there, chatting and laughing all together by the fireplace. It was the perfect first night back at Hogwarts, back with the people I felt at home with. It was already way past midnight when everyone had gone to bed but me and Tom, and I suddenly became awfully aware of how much I had yearned for a chance to be alone with him all day. Often in larger groups he was more of an observer, while somehow simultaneously making everyone aware of his presence. It was fascinating to witness, but I felt closer to him whenever we were able to have a conversation alone.
"Did you see how Jillian and Malfoy looked at each other?" I smirked while beckoning Tom to join me on the couch now that it was mostly unoccupied. "I don't think he has only the Quidditch in mind when he says he wants to join the team."
"I guess you're right", laughed Tom and sat down right next to me. Then he observed me carefully as I tried to suppress a huge yawn. "Do you want to go to bed too?"
"No. But I might have to do this", I replied, lying down on the couch and swinging my legs on Tom's lap. "That's better."
"Did you just invite me to join you on this couch to use me as a mere footstool?" he inquired.
"Yep. Pretty much", I replied, grinning widely. He glared at me, then rolled his eyes but didn't move my legs down. There was a silence, one that wasn't awkward by any means, but one I wanted to end solely because of the tension in the air.
"I have something I've wanted to talk to you about for a while", he began after a while. "Something I wanted to talk about alone."
"Yes?" I gasped, hopefully.
"Do you remember the Chamber of Secrets? That we talked about a few years ago?"
"Oh", I replied, struggling to hide the disappointment in my voice. "What about it?"
"Aren't you curious to know more?"
"I guess so, but there's not a lot of information about it. It's a mere myth."
"Well, you remember the books I found from the restricted section last autumn?"
"Vividly", I sighed.
"In one of them there were these detailed instructions for this potion.. Felix felicis."
"Felix felicis?" I repeated. "I think I've heard Lucretia mention it... Was it the luck potion?"
"Yes", replied Tom. "At first I thought I'd may be able to use it to find any of my relatives, so I wrote the instructions down. Then I gave up the idea and honestly forgot the whole potion. But during the summer I accidentally found it again."
He pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket and placed it on the table. It contained a list of ingredients along with the most complicated instructions I had ever seen.
"Wow", I muttered. "I'm not even sure if I fully understand what I'm reading here."
"It would be a challenge indeed", replied Tom.
"If you put it lightly", I said and gave him an incredulous glance. "You can't seriously believe you could pull this off successfully, can you?"
"Why not? There's no harm in trying", he argued. "If it really does make you succeed in anything you try, we would be able to find the Chamber."
"If it exists in the first place", I said while eyeing the list. "Besides, I don't even know where to get half of this stuff!"
"I overheard some sixth year students talking about this competition Slughorn has for his N.E.W.T. class. The reward is one vial of Felix. He must have everything needed here at Hogwarts."
"I don't know, Tom... It says here it takes six months to brew! Where would we hide it?"
"I'm not sure yet... But you must promise to consider this. It would mean everything to me."
"Riddle, you really are a pain in my a-"
"Will you?" he interrupted, leaning towards me with a gaze that expected an affirmative answer.
"Fine, then!" I exclaimed. "I'll think about it."
"It's better if we don't talk about this to the others, at least not yet", said Tom, sitting back again.
"Well, I wasn't intending to spread around information that could get us expelled", I sighed. "In fact, if this plan would go wrong it's likely we'd face consequences much worse than that."
"Only if we get caught", muttered Tom while staring into the fireplace. Then he suddenly took my hand and looked straight into my eyes. "Trust me, it'll be for the best."
"If you say so", I replied, holding his gaze even though my cheeks must have been burning red. He let go of my hand and gave me a reassuring smile, then got up and bid me good night. I got up as well and headed straight to my dormitory. As I lay down on my bed I knew instantly that sleep would avoid me for hours to come, even though the day had been long and exhausting.
Tom's request was absolutely mental, but what choice did I have? He would try to execute it with or without my help and then it would only be even more challenging. Besides, he was the descendant of Salazar Slytherin, so didn't that mean he had a certain right to find the Chamber? It would be his inheritance, in the same way the Black family fortune was mine. And with these thoughts relentlessly swirling in my head, I eventually drifted into restless sleep.
One morning a few weeks after school started me, Tom, Jillian and Malfoy were making our way to transfiguration class from the Great Hall. It was about to begin soon so we were swiftly making our way though the corridors until a massive group of people blocked our path.
"What the hell, has the whole school gathered here?" cursed Malfoy.
"Come see this, some third-year tried to smuggle a fire-breathing chicken into the castle!" called an older Slytherin from the crowd as he spotted us. "It got away and he has tried to catch it for like thirty minutes!"
"Where on earth would a third-year get his hands on a fire-breathing chicken?" muttered Jillian to me while we made our way through the crowd. At the center there was a large clearing where the largest thirteen-year-old boy I had ever seen stumbled after a furious chicken that was spitting flames at anyone who dared to get too close. The sight would have been extremely amusing if the boy hadn't looked so defeated and embarrassed.
"That's Rubeus Hagrid, he's in Orion's potions class", I explained. "Though he always tells me Hagrid is the lousiest excuse of a wizard he's ever seen."
"Well, I'm sure as hell that that's not even close to being pureblood", stated Malfoy condescendingly. "In fact, it's probably not even purely human."
"Why are these dangerous creatures like him even allowed to stay here?" growled Tom while Malfoy agreed by nodding avidly.
"Well let's get out of here, I know another way", rushed Malfoy after a while.
That evening I sat alone at the library, attempting to study. The incident with the chicken had made me return to my previous thoughts about the place of muggleborns and others in this school, and no matter how hard I tried to shake it off, the encounter occupied my mind for the rest of the day. Hadn't that been enough proof of their incompetence? It didn't feel fair to deny all of them access to education because of a lousy minority, but what other option was there? Not being fully competent magically could turn out to become dangerous to the whole wizarding world.
The Chamber would hold the solution to all of this. And there was only one way to find it. I immediately grabbed my things and left the library to search for Tom, and found him heading toward the Great Hall. I dragged him into an empty classroom before he had a chance to object.
"What is wrong with you?" he spat. "Couldn't you just start a conversation with a greeting like a normal person?"
"Sorry, but I can't risk anyone overhearing what I'm about to say", I huffed, out of breath from running around the corridors. "I think we should do it. The Felix thing, I mean."
His eyes lit up and his lips curled into a smug grin. "I knew you'd come around."
"Don't get cocky now, I'm still not sure how we'll be able to actually succeed in this. Where are we going to put the cauldron?"
"We'll figure it out", reassured Tom.
"Yeah..." I muttered as an idea struck me. "Or maybe we don't have to brew it ourselves after all!"
"What do you mean?"
"You said you overheard the sixth year students talk about the competition, where the price is one vial of the stuff, right? So what if we just steal the price vial?" I explained excitedly. "Oh, but Slughorn will notice it's gone, though."
"Not if we use the Doubling Charm and leave the copy for the competition", suggested Tom. "It'll be worthless, of course, but Slughorn won't have any reason to test it beforehand, since he thinks he brewed it himself and the winner would hardly know the difference. Even if they did, it'll be too late to find out who did it."
"That might actually work", I replied, amazed by the simplicity of our ideas. "When do you think we should do it?"
"At Slughorn's Yule dinner", said Tom. "He'll be occupied and won't notice a thing."
"But that's a couple of months away!"
"Perhaps, but it's the only option if we cannot brew it ourselves", replied Tom. "At least we'll have plenty of time to create a proper plan."
"Yeah, I guess so. We should tell Jillian and the others, it'll be easier with some extra help."
Tom glared at me carefully. "I don't think that's wise. It'll be harder to keep this a secret if all of them are included."
"Do you really believe they can't be trusted at all?"
"No. But I can't be completely sure, and therefore we cannot take the risk", he explained. "The only one I can trust is you."
"Really?" I blurted, with a more suspicious tone than necessary.
"Yes. I know you'll do your best to succeed in whatever it is you decide to do. I have once again placed you in a tough position, where helping me means you have to take great risks. Remember that I do appreciate it."
"Oh.. Thank you!" I exclaimed, astonished by this unexpected compliment. "It's really not that big of a deal. You can count on me, we're friends, after all."
Tom gave a little laugh and gave me long glance which made my cheeks burn yet again.
"Exactly", he said eventually. "Well, I think we should leave before someone finds us in here."
"I agree. Isn't it dinner time already?" I wondered as we stepped out of the room.
Before Tom had time to answer, we almost collided with Lucretia, who was hurrying around the corner. She startled and let out a shriek of surprise, but then calmed down as she recognized who we were.
"What are you doing here?" I inquired.
"Nothing, I'm just heading to the Great Hall for dinner-"
"You're sneaking around again, just like last time!" I exclaimed. "What's going on with you?"
She didn't answer, merely cast a swift glance at Tom, who was clever enough to take the hint.
"I'll go ahead", he said and disappeared around the same corner Lucretia had appeared a moment ago.
"Okay, now you have to tell me", I urged her.
"Fine", she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I've been seeing this boy."
"And?" I asked after a moment of silence, expecting the story to continue. "What's so special about that? You've had many boyfriends!"
"First of all, not that many, and this is different!" she replied. "It's more.. serious, you know?"
"Well, isn't that even better? Why are you guys keeping it a secret?"
"He's half-blood", she sighed wearily. "Maybe the kids in this school wouldn't care, but.. you know our family. And if the word got out that I was fooling around with a half-blood.."
"Yeah..", I muttered. "That would be quite unpleasant."
"Please, don't tell anyone", she begged. It was rare to see her like this, desperate almost. Usually Lucretia had quite a nonchalant attitude about her love affairs, so this one had to be even more special than she was letting on. Too bad it could never lead into anything long-term.
"Of course I won't", I promised, and she responded by giving me a relieved smile. "Come on, let's go get dinner."
She grabbed my arm and together we headed toward the Great Hall, when she suddenly flashed a giant grin at me.
"So, why were you sneaking around here with snake boy?"
"Don't you think it was time you gave up that nickname?" I sighed. "He's a Prefect, after all."
"He could be the Minister of Magic and I'd still call him that. Weird kid, that one", she stated. "But don't dodge the question."
"Well, it wasn't anything like your situation", I replied, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice. "Honestly Lucretia, I don't think I can tell you about that just now."
"I see", she said and smirked. "I'll get the truth out of you someday, just wait!"
"We'll see", I muttered, wondering what would happen if she really did find out what we were planning. Or if anyone did, for that matter. Now that Tom wasn't here to encourage me, my doubts were almost too overwhelming. Was the whole thing a giant mistake after all?
But I had made my choice, and now I had to be ready to face the consequences as well.