A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay- luckily I have a backlog of chapters written but because this chapter was three times longer than normal, it took me three times as long to review and edit, and I had a busy weekend, unfortunately. Enjoy!

Tom's nose was buried in the book in his hands, which was something he wouldn't normally do while walking around Hogwarts, but by this point he knew the dungeons just about as well as Wool's, and it was lunch, so very few of the students were down there wandering about. Given it was a Friday and he had no classes, he'd spent the morning in the library finishing up his homework from the week, then met with Slughorn during one of the Potions Master's free periods. The portly man had noticed that Tom had checked out several books on Salazar Slytherin and had offered to loan Tom a copy of a biography he had on the man that was out of print.

Slughorn had gleefully told him that it was a very hard find because of its age, but also because it was written by one of Salazar's descendants- though the author's name was "P. M. Black" so Tom didn't know if that was true or if perhaps they were a Gaunt who had married into the Black family at some point several centuries before.

The biography, titled "The Life Accounts of Salazar Slytherin, Hogwarts Founder" was definitely much more detailed than any of the other books in the library that Tom had been able to find, tying the man to specific wizarding and muggle events with approximate years. The author was surprisingly neutral in regards to the muggles described in the events, even using positive descriptions for several of the more notable muggles- referring to King Athelstan, the first muggle king of England, as diplomatic and fair-minded. Apparently Slytherin had been called to act as an advisor in the king's later years and was regarded by the court of the time as being the utmost authority on magic.

While Binns was an abysmal professor at the best of times, Tom truly did enjoy learning about how the magical world had impacted the history he'd grown up learning about in muggle school. He wished more of the history textbooks had the flourish and wit of the author and was smirking at something he was reading when the second year heard someone call out behind him.

Before he had time to react, a spell hit him in the back, sending him stumbling forward. His wand, which had been stored in one of the pockets in his robe, jerked but otherwise stayed put, and Tom clutched the book as he hit the stones- unwilling to let the old book fall to the ground.

He took the fall as best he could, shoulder first like Merrythought had taught them to roll when dodging, and continued the momentum, rolling over and back up to his feet, looking at whoever had thrown the spell. He had a sneaking suspicion it was the disarming spell, but because it had hit his back and all he'd been carrying was the book, it had been less effective. Tom wasn't surprised to see Nott walking towards him.

Tom pressed the book harder against his chest, holding it tightly with one hand while he grabbed his wand, pulling it from his cloak. He opened his mouth and shot off a quick jinx at the boy, but Nott ducked and the locomotor mortis was absorbed into the stone wall behind him.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Nott snapped, too close for Tom to duck or dodge, and he felt his limbs go cold as they seized up in position, still clutching his wand in one hand and the book in the other.

Tom glared at the other boy who was now sauntering up to him, looking too pleased with himself. "All right there, Riddle?" Nott asked haughtily, reaching out and trying to tug the wand from Tom's hand. Unfortunately for Nott, Tom had a habit of resting his thumb over top of the main ridge that marked the handle of his wand, and in his frozen state, the other boy could not yank it from his hands- nor the book, which was still clutched to his chest, though Nott did duck around and try to get it free before giving up with an exaggerated sigh.

"Utterly useless to me, even all frozen up," Nott said, shaking his head, getting up close to Tom's face where the only part of Tom that could even marginally move were his eyes and his nose as his nostrils flared in annoyance as he tried to take deep breaths.

"I don't know who you think you are," Nott said, scowling as he stared Tom down, "But you're going to listen good- Miles and Theon are good purebloods from good families- I don't need you infecting them with whatever you've done to send Sable and Delaney over the edge batting their eyes at you- it's disgusting."

Tom blinked in confusion, because he knew for a fact that neither of the Slytherin girls were interested in him- for one Sable hated almost every boy in their year, and Delaney had a crush on one of the third-year Ravenclaws. But it was good to know Nott was apparently jealous of anything and everything anyone did that wasn't revolving around him.

"So since you're a bit slow, and haven't picked up on it yet-" Nott grabbed Tom's shoulder, forcing the frozen boy to pivot on his immobile heels and slammed him face first into the stone wall behind them. Tom made a noise that might have been a groan, but his mouth was forced to stay shut- his nose and cheek ached with the impact and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to protect them as much as he was physically capable of as his face was smashed into the wall.

"Stop helping Miles, stop talking to Theon, stop pretending to be some nice bloke to the girls, and kindly go back to whatever fucking hole you crawled out of." Nott hissed nastily in his ear. Tom focused on breathing, in and out, trying to wiggle his toes or something- the full body bind only lasted so long, unless a significant amount of magic was tossed into it, but Tom couldn't move anything and tried to stay calm- Slughorn would leave his classroom, or someone would come back from lunch and interrupt them. If he was really lucky, it would be a prefect, like Justin.

Nott apparently had decided that his warning wasn't enough because, still gripping Tom's shoulder tight, he pulled the petrified boy back from the wall and then smashed him back into it, then two more times for good measure. On the final smash, an unbearable pain started in his nose and laced up his face- if he was bleeding, he couldn't tell because, and he wondered vaguely if blood would drip down from the wound, or if it stayed still because he was petrified.

It hurt to breathe through his nose and Nott let Tom fall backwards against the stone, the back of his head smacking the stone roughly, causing stars to appear in Tom's vision. The boy leaned over, slowly coming into sight, but it was hard to focus on him as Tom reeled from the pain in both his face and the back of his head.

Nott squatted down next to him, smiling sadistically. "And if you don't, next year I'll make sure you don't make it back home in one piece."

Tom was having trouble focusing on anything- Nott's face hovered but he knew seeing double or triple of it wasn't a good sign- he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to see if it helped the pain (it didn't), and somewhere in that span of time, Nott levitated him up and over to one of the nearby broom cupboards.

"Think really hard about it," Nott said, raising his eyebrows, "You'll be in here awhile." The boy stepped back and slammed the door shut and Tom starred as it went completely black, his eyes straining to make out anything. He let them close after a moment, because he found straining them only made his face and head hurt more.

Fuck- Tom wasn't prone to cursing- Mrs. Cole would whip them if they tried to start, Denson had spent a week unable to sit down properly after he'd said it the first time when they were younger, but now was as good a time as any to start.

It was a Friday and he had no classes- and while he was still on amicable terms with his study group, they had been distant since winter break. Not that he hadn't also been distant, but the point was no one would think it weird they didn't see him immediately. Lunch ran from noon until almost two Friday through Sunday so no one would think it odd that they didn't see him, assuming they'd just missed him. It wouldn't likely be until about nine that night when the prefects would check to make sure everyone was in the house- and even then they might write it off as him breaking curfew and not report it. Or maybe Nott would make it look like he was in bed already? Then he might not get help for more than a day.

He wanted to hiss with stress, but he still couldn't move his lips. His heart was beating away loudly in his chest and he realized he could feel a bit of wetness at the corner of his eyes and something trailing down his cheek- though he didn't know if that was just from tears, or if the blood had finally begun to drip down his face.

For a year and a half, Tom had hovered in the background of Slytherin House, trying to stay under wraps, make as few waves as possible, but Nott had taken offense to whatever it was about Tom and ran with it. And while he'd been worried about them discovering his ruse before, now he realized he was beginning to care little-

A mudblood? He was Tom Marvolo Riddle, son of two noble families, both muggle and magical, and as far as he could tell he was the only heir to both the Gaunts and Slytherins- Despite P.M. Black claiming to be related to Salazar, he couldn't find mention of the Black's having any ties to the Slytherin family in any of the books about them, and he knew they would flaunt that if they were able to. And if his father didn't have any other children, he'd be the heir to that as well. He wondered who else could claim something like that. There were only two other students who could rival him in terms of social standing, and that was Tammy and Potter, but not even any of the other Slytherins could say they had the same distinctions that Slytherin's line gave him.

The wetness in his eyes had gone away in his anger and he stewed. It was bloody unfair- all he wanted was a place to belong, and Hogwarts had been that- why did Nott feel the need to rip that away too? Darkness seemed to shroud him, his mind muddled from the pain and anger, and a horrible thought came to mind- what if next time he was the one who stalked Nott through the dungeon? What if he cornered him in the lavatories and stunned him and shoved his face into the toilet, letting the boy scream for mercy as he drowned-

Tom swallowed thickly, his brain screeching to a halt- the broom and mop and other supplies in the cupboard along with the door were rattling dangerously- and Tom panicked for a moment before realizing that he was doing it- He tried to take a calming breath but realized it was ragged. The rattling slowly stopped and he screwed his eyes closed even more tightly than before.

As satisfying as it would be to extract revenge on Nott, it was wrong. Not to defend himself, but taking it that far was… it was too much. Besides, if he did something like that, they'd make him leave Hogwarts. Hell, they'd probably arrest him. There were wizarding prisons, after all.

Not if they didn't catch me, a dark thought in the back of his mind whispered and Tom tried to shake his head, but was still petrified. Nope. Not worth it. Not worth losing everything- he'd heard a rumor if you were expelled before you finished Hogwarts they would snap your wand in half and that alone made all the dark thoughts halt.

He didn't know how long he'd been in there, and the worst part of it was, he had his wand and a perfectly good book, but was frozen into place and couldn't read or do anything except be stuck in his own head, waiting and waiting.

At some point he must have drifted off, his mind floating through random thoughts about what he could do to get back at Nott- nothing as dark as the first thought, but Tom thought Tammy might be up for helping him hex all of his best robes in various horrible colors and patterns. He only realized he'd moved from drifting in his thoughts to lucid dreaming when he felt tingling in his legs.

There was no sense of time- his head still hurt like nothing he'd felt before and the pain in his face never went away because it flared up every time he breathed. He only blinked his eyes back open and tried to focus when he heard the door to the cupboard gently rattling again.

Tom tried to stretch, this time he was able to move his fingers and toes, and tried to slowly shift his arms and legs- he didn't know if they were still recovering from the spell or if they were stiff from being crammed into the small cupboard- though it could easily have been both. All of his limbs were tingling with that white-noise feeling of numbness and each little movement felt odd. He managed to tilt his head from side to side ever so slightly, cracking it in the process. He wondered if Nott had put a physical lock on the closet (Tom wouldn't put it past him as his cousin had done it before), but he heard people outside. He tried to open his mouth and call out, but his throat was stiff and dry- he barely managed anything.

This time he could distinctly hear a loud but familiar meow. The door rattled again as the cat pawed at the cupboard door, shaking it, and Tom almost laughed as he saw one white paw swipe under the door.

"Kelly," he wheezed, his voice cracking slightly- he tried to clear his throat, but someone was scolding the cat and instead he lifted his leg as best he could and tried to kick the door. There was so little room it was his knee that collided with the wood and he winced slightly as the tingling sharpened for a moment. It was a gentle knock, but just enough and there was a long moment and then the door was ripped open.

Tom squeezed his eyes tight again, the pain exploding into the back of his head as the dim light of the torches still managed to blind him after being in the dark for so long. When his eyes squeezed tight this time, the rest of his face was free to move as well, and as he moved the muscles the pain came rushing back to his face, his nose and forehead most of all.

"Shit, shit-" The person in front of him was saying, two hands on his shoulders dragged him out and forward. Tom tried to straighten himself as he was pulled from the cupboard, but sagged almost immediately. Several arms grabbed him and he managed to catch sight of the one closest to him on his left.

Codie O'Brien- he was a second year Hufflepuff. The boy looked stressed and was pulling the book out of Tom's hand, which had still been clutched tightly to his chest (not that he'd had much of a choice with how tight the cupboard had been). Tom would have fought to grab it back, but his arms were sore and numb from having been pinned in place, and the muscles in his fingers barely responded when the book was pulled from his hand and Codie brought Tom's arm over his shoulder, helping prop Tom up.

Tom realized the corridor began to spin as soon as he tried to move his head to look around, and he was starting to see stars again, so he had trouble focusing on who was there. He made out the person to his right, another Hufflepuff boy in his year, Atkins, or something like that. He'd taken Tom's wand and being slightly shorter than both Tom and Codie, had one of his arm's under Tom's helping Codie keep him upright.

"-Can't bring him back to the den," Atkins was saying, scowling at someone.

"Oh, so we're just gonna levitate him up three flights of stairs?" O'Brien demanded.

"Marilla has a first aid kit for emergencies," Tammy said and Tom swung his head over to look in the direction her voice came from, but it made his entire world spin and his face hurt even harder- he could practically feel the blood pulsing in his face, making everything throb and he felt his stomach turn over. Between the pounding in his head and his vision spinning, he was beginning to feel sick to his stomach.

"Tom, can you walk?" Tammy asked, she had moved in front of him and Tom stared at her, processing the words.

"I- maybe?" His legs felt like ants were crawling on them from having fallen asleep, but otherwise didn't feel like there was anything wrong with them.

"Why can't we just take him back to the Slytherin's?" Atkins asked, sounding annoyed, "He's one of theirs and I know it's not far from here."

"We're bringing him back to our common room," Tammy said decisively, reaching out and pushing some of Tom's hair out of his face, "It looks bad, and I don't trust trying to hand him back over to the snakes- they're the ones who did it in the first place."

Tom opened his mouth to defend his house but realized he didn't have the energy to argue. It was only Nott and a couple of his cousins, but it wasn't as if anyone in Slytherin had really helped, and even with what Nott did, Tom knew with Nott's family connections Slughorn would barely give him a slap on the wrist.

"What- why?" Atkins demanded, shifting his grip on Tom.

"Okay, move more, talk less," Codie interrupted, looking around them. Tom tried to track his movements but was having a hard time staying focused.

"Why don't I levitate him?" Tammy asked gently.

"No!" Tom said quickly, the idea making his stomach turn immediately, "No levitating, I- I can walk."

Tammy gave him a look of disbelief and then looked at the two other boys on either side of Tom, "Are you going to help, or not?"

Codie and Atkins both awkwardly began helping Tom- he was able to walk for the most part, but he was dizzy and in pain and they helped steady him as they led him up the corridor. The pain in the back of his head had subsided somewhat while he'd existed in the dark silence of the cupboard, but after being ripped out of it the consistent pain every time he breathed was back and not helping him in any way. While he usually had a fairly good sense of direction in the castle- his disorientation meant he had no clue where they had gone and where they were leading him.

That was until they walked past an enormous painting of fruit and Tom looked over his shoulder at it as he walked past, Codie and Atkins still helping him as Tammy walked ahead. He looked around him, trying to see if there was any clear indication of where a portrait might open up.

But there were no portraits past the one that led to the Kitchens. The hallway that passed it looped back on itself and there was a single nook with storage crates and some barrels, nothing else.

Tom watched quietly, more focused on remembering to try and breathe through his mouth and keep his face from moving too much than anything else. Tammy walked over to the centermost barrel and raised her hand, rapping her knuckles on the wood surface.

There was a slight pause and then the wood surface of the barrel swung inwards, allowing entry, Kelly hopping up and in as if to indicate to the rest that they should follow. The passage was narrow enough that only two people could walk side by side easily, and Atkins fell behind while Codie continued helping Tom up through the earthy passage.

It looked like dirt- though Tom wasn't certain if it was dirt or just brown stone. When they emerged into the common room, Tom had not been prepared at all for how brightly the room was lit. There were windows along the top of the room, showing it was mostly dark outside, but the room was lit with fairy lights and candles, two large chandeliers hung, and very little of the room was dim. He threw a hand up to cover his eyes, and as he pressed his eyes shut again, his face began to hurt.

"What the hell happened to him?" Someone demanded and someone grabbed his elbow, pulling him forward and then pushed him down. He almost fell over with the action, but someone else caught his arm, as if remembering he was off-balance, and helped guide him to sit on what felt like an overstuffed couch.

"Marilla has a first aid kit on the bookshelf in the alcove, can you get it?" Tom heard Tammy asking.

"He's not a Hufflepuff," Someone else said. Between the brightness in the room and all the new sounds, Tom was quickly becoming overwhelmed- everything hurt and he wanted to go back to sleep and hope that rest healed whatever Nott had done.

"Oh come off it," Someone else said- too many voices for Tom to keep track of, instead, he kept his hand over his eyes and face, trying to shield himself from the bright light as they figured out whatever the hell they were doing, "Charles is always bringing Artemis here to snog her after they're done with their prefect duties, besides, that's not even an actual rule."

"Yes it is! Professor Merrythought told us we weren't allowed to tell students how to get in!"

"She said we can't tell them the passcode, she didn't say we weren't allowed to have friends over."

"Please," Tom groaned, and the voices paused around him, "Please stop talking all at once- I feel like I'm going to be sick-"

Someone made a noise of disgust and another person hushed them. "Dim the lights, he got hit in the face pretty bad, and the torchlight in the hall seemed to hurt his eyes," Tammy ordered. Tom felt the couch move and a weight on his lap- he peeked through his fingers to see Kelly climbing into his lap, kneading at his thighs and purring loudly.

"I found the kit!" Another voice said loudly and a few people shushed them.

"Tom?" Tammy was in front of him and he felt her hand wrap around his wrist. "Let me see your face- we dimmed the lights some for you- Kelly, move!"

Tom swallowed and let the girl pull his hand away, but didn't open his eyes immediately. Sitting there- the sounds were making his head throb, but being able to stop moving and sit low to the ground helped with his sense of dizziness. Kelly was either nudged off his lap or left of her own volition, but meowed from beside him on the couch, as if voicing her own concern.

Someone sucked in a sharp breath in front of him, but not close enough to be Tammy, who was lifting his other hand away. "Tom, what happened?" She asked sharply.

Tom swallowed again, but more reflexively than anything else because it felt like his throat was getting tighter. "Nott," he finally managed to answer, thickly. He didn't think he could get anything else out just then.

"Fucking bastard," Tammy hissed and someone gasped, "I'm going to kill him, I'm going to hex him and then kill him," she continued to hiss.

"Here-" Someone said and Tom flinched when something wet and warm touched his face. "Hold still, I'm going to wipe this up as gently as possible so we can see what's injured."

"You mean besides his face?" Someone said and then let out a loud "Ow!" like they'd been punched or kicked.

Whoever had the wet rag gently gripped Tom's jaw and very slowly dabbed at the skin and Tom finally tried opening one of his eyes again.

The lights were more dim and it was no longer blindingly bright in the room- There was a girl with curly black hair and warm brown skin in front of him, watching his face with concern. She was definitely one of the older students and she pulled the rag away and Tom could see dark marks of red staining it.

"Why didn't you bring him to the infirmary?" The girl asked, looking over her shoulder at someone else.

"I didn't think we could even make it there," Tammy said, sounding very cross. "And I didn't know if Nott would be lying in wait to finish the job."

"Another student did this?" The girl demanded harshly, her voice rising and Tom winced at the increase in sound.

"I knew we could help him here," Tammy said. Something touched Tom's shoulders and he reached out and realized someone had draped a blanket over him.

"Baggley, go put the kettle on the fire- O'Brien, there's a stash of less standard healing potions and creams in a crate at the top of the closet in the alcove, get it out." The girl turned back to Tom and looked over his face, "It's not as bad as it looks- but your nose is definitely broken. I can set it if you want, or you can wait and have Madame Pembroke set it, if you prefer."

"Can you?" Tom asked quietly, his face shooting with pain even as he said it.

The girl nodded and turned. Tom tried to look around the room, but with the dim lights it was hard for him to focus on details- just lots of light colored wood and yellows and blacks, along with earthy greens and browns.

"Tell me what happened," The girl said when she turned back. Codie must have brought back the crate she'd asked for because she had it in front of her.

"I… I was walking in the corridor and someone hit me with the disarming charm," he said quietly, watching as she pulled some bottles out of the crate. "They dodged my return and hit me with a body bind. Slammed me into the wall." Saying that much exhausted him and he wanted to close his eyes, take the blanket and lay down on the couch.

The girl paused and then put a finger out in front of him. "Look at my finger," she instructed. Tom blinked and obliged, but then she began to move her finger quickly from side to side and he immediately lost focus. "How hard did your face hit the wall?" She asked.

"Pretty hard," Tom answered.

"More than once? And just here?" She asked, raising her hand and gesturing to Tom's nose and the right side of his face, where his cheek and forehead had been slammed into the wall.

"I- a couple," he answered, trying to be truthful, but not fully remembering. How many times had it been? More than once for sure, but two times? Three? "Maybe three- I can't remember. And then after I fell backwards and hit the back of my head on the floor."

The girl gave him a look he didn't understand and she handed him the rag. "Hold still for a moment," she instructed, leaning forward. Tim froze as the girl invaded his personal space, her chest pressing uncomfortably close to his face as she leaned forward. She reached around and ran her fingers into his hair. At first he didn't understand what the hell she was doing, and then all at once she grazed the swollen lump on the lower part of his skull and he sucked in a breath and let out a hiss.

"Yeah- that's a pretty big goose egg," The girl said, moving to sit in front of him again. "There's a decent gash on your forehead, and your cheek- you're going to bruise for sure. If you're ready and I can try and straighten your nose for you," she said, pulling out her wand.

"Are you sure you can fix it?" Tom asked, looking at the older girl skeptically.

She nodded, looking confident, "Yes, this past summer I was studying healing with my aunt and cousin- it's what I'm going to do after I graduate."

Tom nodded his head slowly, "Yeah, sure-" He really didn't want to have to deal with the infirmary or with Madame Pembroke. She always tisked loudly and clicked her tongue when Tom came in with any kind of injury, like she knew something was going on.

The girl straightened up and held her wand out in front of her, pointing it at Tom's nose. "Episkey!" She said sharply, intently focused, and Tom felt a sharp painful twist in his nose and another shooting pain in his forehead. But as suddenly as the pain began this time, it stopped, and when Tom moved his nose and flexed some of the muscles in his face, most of the pain was gone.

"Better?" The girl asked, smiling, as Tom raised a hand and ran it over his nose and his face. It was still sore, but there were no more sharp shooting pains, and the horrible headache it had been causing eased substantially.

"Much, thank you," he said appreciatively.

"You're welcome," She said and held out a tube of ointment. "Here put this one anywhere that feels sore, including the bump on the back of your head- it should help with the bruising and swelling."

Tom took the tube and examined it and the girl held her other hand out. "My name is Marilla Ossett, I'm one of the sixth year prefects."

"My name is Tom Riddle," Tom said, reaching out and taking her hand in his. She initiated the shake, but kept it gentle and loose. Normally he would have put more thought into it, but he was too exhausted just then. "I'm a second year from Slytherin."

"I had guessed as much," She said, nodding her head, looking him up and down, and Tom looked down at his Slytherin robes, which looked all sorts of disheveled. "You're welcome to stay here- Baggley was right, there aren't actually any written rules about having over friends from other houses," Marilla said, pushing herself up to her feet. "They just like to be cautious of who has access to the dormitories."

Tom nodded his head and was pleasantly surprised it didn't hurt to do so.

"I have studying to do, but it was nice to meet you." The girl leaned forward and pulled a potion bottle out of the crate and handed it to Tom. "Better take this too in case the dizziness doesn't clear up in the next half hour." She explained and when he took the bottle she grabbed the crate and picked it up, carrying it to a hallway that Tom could only assume led to the alcove she had referred to before.

The couch sagged and Tom looked to his side and saw Tammy had folded herself into the corner. She had a new clean rag and held a hand out, silently requesting the tube of ointment, and Tom handed it over to her. Someone moved to sit on Tom's other side and he looked over and saw Mia, looking very stressed and concerned. He wondered when she had appeared, but Tammy raised the rag and was dabbing what he assumed was the last of the blood off his face.

"Tom," Tammy said, her voice sharp, "What happened."

He winced as she pressed on one of the bruises, but otherwise remained still as she finished dabbing at his face with the cloth. "I told you. Nott."

"You could stand to at least try and give the full story for once," Tammy sniped.

Tom took a deep breath and closed his eyes- he was mentally and physically exhausted. He was sore. He wanted nothing more than to lay down right there on the couch and sleep, and he wondered if Tammy had heard his original explanation to Marilla or not, or if maybe she didn't believe what he had said. "I was heading to lunch just after noon, finishing a chapter in a book Slughorn loaned me." He explained, keeping it as brief as possible, suddenly wondering where said book and his wand were. Hopefully Tammy had them, or Codie had put them nearby.

"Nott tried to disarm me, but my wand was in my pocket and it hit my back. Knocked me over instead, so I tried to bind his legs. He dodged it and hit me with a full body bind instead. He tried to take my book and wand, but couldn't get them out of my hands, so he grabbed me and slammed me into a wall, and then let go of me and I fell backwards."

He paused, trying to recall if he'd missed anything. "He threatened me and told me not to come back to Hogwarts next year, then shoved me in the broom cupboard." It sounded… dull, now that he said it out loud. Like it wasn't that big of a deal and felt stupid and petty that everyone, himself included, was making a big deal over any of it. What would Nott really do to him?

Tammy had pressed some of the ointment out onto her finger and was staring at Tom in disbelief before she raised it and gently rubbed some of the ointment into his cheek. "You need to tell Slughorn about this!"

Tom frowned, his eyebrows furrowing and he shook his head slightly. "There's not really a point- Nott is one of Slughorn's favorites, so the worst he'll do is get a slap on the wrist."

"Then take it to Headmaster Dippet!" Tammy practically snarled.

"Tom, he hurt you," Mis said quietly, still looking very concerned. "And this was- horrible, what if next time it's worse? He can't be allowed to treat you this way."

"It's not like he can do anything worse than this," Tom replied, trying to stay still and not flinch when Tammy touched a sore spot on his cheek right under his eye. And even if he did take it further, Tom found it oddly calming to think about death- he wouldn't have to deal with Nott anymore, or Wool's. Floating for all eternity in a void sounded like a heaven unto itself.

"I'll do something much worse than this if he so much as touches you again," Tammy hissed, looking feral. Her hair had come loose from her braid and some of her fringe was messed up, standing up at an odd angle. "If you won't tell Slughorn, I'm telling Merrythought."

Tom blanched- he got on well with just about all of his professors, but Merrythought was one of his favorites and the thought of her knowing about any of this made his stomach flop. "Please don't."

"You're only a second year- you don't know any spells that could do any serious damage," Mia said with a touch of exasperation, taking the damp rag from Tom's hand.

"Who said anything about a spell?" Tammy continued raging, "I have two hands and two feet and I can walk pretty quietly when I want to- let me catch that nasty twit alone for just a moment and I'll make him wish he'd gone to Beauxbatons."

"Tell her you'll talk to Slughorn so she'll calm the hell down," Someone said and Tom saw Codie walking over and standing just beside where Mia sat, the biography and Tom's wand in his hands. "Here."

"Thanks," Tom said, taking the items and holding them tightly again. Neither looked damaged by the ordeal, for which he was grateful. Since he had no plans to talk to Slughorn about this, he hadn't wanted to have to explain why his book had become damaged. Codie didn't linger, instead heading off to a hallway that looked like it descended downwards similarly to how the dormitories did in Slytherin, and Tom realized that most of the other Hufflepuffs had cleared out as well, leaving the three of them alone in the common room.

"Tom," Mia finally said, starting to sound less patient than she normally did, "I understand you think you can handle Nott without involving any of the professors, but we can't be with you every moment of every day-"

"Especially since you've been avoiding all of us like the plague," Tammy cut in bitterly.

"The point," Mia continued, glaring at Tammy before looking back to Tom, "is that if Nott does this to you and you won't talk to anyone about it- how many other people is he hurting? And what if they're refusing to talk about it too?"

"I doubt he has time to stalk anyone with the intensity he does me," Tom replied shortly, beginning to feel uncomfortable. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to not have to think about this anymore or worry about it.

"You are so incredibly dense it's a miracle you're as intelligent as you are," Mia finally snapped irritably, startling both Tom and Tammy enough that both froze entirely, Tammy in the middle of attempting to put some of the ointment on Tom's nose.

"If someone hexed me in the dungeons, broke my nose and gave me a bloody concussion, both of you and the rest of the house would be crying out for blood and hunting down Merrythought immediately," She said quickly, each words rushed out of her mouth quickly enough Tom had a hard time processing them. "But for some reason you have less of an opinion about yourself than you do the rest of us to the point you don't even know how to treat us as your friends and it's-it's-"

She finally stopped and her face winced and Tom had half a moment to feel horrified, worrying he'd somehow made Mia cry (Justin would kill him for such an offense)-

"It's very difficult because I want to shake you very hard right now and I am fairly certain I'm not supposed to do that if you have a concussion," She finally bit out- she didn't cry but her eyes did look a bit watery, so Tom wasn't fully sure if he was in the clear on that front or not.

"Mia," Tammy said, still staring at her in awe, "I love you, you know that? That was beautiful." She very gently and quietly clapped her hands together and Mia gave her a very harsh glare.

What did he tell them? Either of them? He brought one of his legs up to his chest and wrapped both his arms around it, gently tucking his face in, not looking at either of them. Once they found out he'd told them nothing but lies, they wouldn't want anything to do with him. He'd been trying to cut them off slowly by distancing himself, but even that had been difficult, and as much as he told himself he had no friends, he wanted them. He hoped for them. He wanted to feel like he belonged there with them, the rest of the group too. It was just hard when he was fairly certain if he showed anyone who he really truly was, they would turn and leave.

"We can't help if you don't let us in," Mia said softly, resting her hand on his shoulder and he flinched away from it, ever so slightly, and she immediately pulled her hand back.

"Just-" Tammy started to say and Mia shushed her harshly, surprising both of them once more.

If he told them- they would walk away. But at least it was done. He didn't think either of them would tell anyone else, they were both better than that, but the hardest part would be done and over with.

"Nott thinks I'm a muggleborn," He said, refusing to use the slur that Nott preferred. He'd heard Sable use it once the year prior when they'd been studying and the rant they'd gotten out of Tammy about it had made it very clear that most people, especially Tammy, found the word highly offensive.

"Why would he think that?" Tammy asked, her face scrunching with confusion.

"Because he had never heard of any wizards named Riddle before," Tom explained. He honestly was starting to have the feeling that that was only part of the reason over all, but it definitely seemed to be the root of it all for him.

"So?" Tammy asked, still making a face. Tom struggled to find the words to convey it all as quickly and clearly as possible, wanting to rip it all off as quickly as possible and get it over and done with. Mia was oddly quiet, watching him, waiting for him to continue, as if she knew he needed time to collect it all together.

"So… I only knew I was a halfblood after the Sorting Hat told me my mother's last name…" He finally got out. Tammy opened her mouth as if to say something and then just held her mouth open like she realized what he was saying.

"I lied to you both on the train because I didn't want to introduce myself and explain that I had spent the entirety of my life until that summer believing I was just a weird muggle living in an orphanage in London." This time he sounded rather like Mia had before- the words so rushed together he didn't know if either of them could even understand what he was saying. "I didn't want you to pity me or pretend to like me. And then I was worried you only liked me because I was a halfblood. Everyone in Slytherin made it very clear that being a muggleborn would be unacceptable so I couldn't tell anyone the truth."

His eyes hurt and he pressed a hand to them only to realize they were getting watery and he tucked his head closer to his knee, feeling ashamed. "The hat told me my mother's last name when I was sorted, but I couldn't find anything about them until a couple months ago, so I didn't have anyway to prove who or what I was and I just hoped no one would find out and if I just ignored Nott long enough then he'd get over all of this and ignore me."

It was quiet and Tom was certain they were angry, though he couldn't handle looking at either one of them. As much as he knew it was probably for the best to get it over and done with, to lose his friends now, he still didn't want to. He wanted to pretend to be normal for just a little while longer.

The couch moved and he took a sharp breath and Mia wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him so tightly it knocked the breath right out of him. Then Tammy grabbed the other side and he felt smothered.

"You didn't need to lie to make us like you," Mia said, voice muffled slightly with her face shoved into Tom's back.

"You're such a prat," Tammy said, voice more clear as her head was on top of his, "Chadwick knows, doesn't he? That's why you got so close." Tom didn't reply- he wanted to say they hadn't gotten close, but last time that had started a fight and he didn't want to fight anymore. He just wanted to sleep.

"I'm sorry," he just said instead, unable to think of anything else.

"You don't need to be sorry," Mia said, slowly releasing him.

"Unless you mean about being a prat," Tammy said, letting go as well, "In which case you do, but not about lying. It wasn't even a big lie- more like a little fib. Those are fine."

"Tammy," Mia hissed gently before continuing on, "you don't need to be sorry- it wasn't right to lie, but I don't think you did it to hurt anyone, just to protect yourself, and I can't be angry about that."

"And we're still your friends," Tammy added, "As long as you're willing to actually act like our friend and not like we're some kind of parasite clinging on to you."

"Tammy," Mia hissed again and Tom actually laughed at that, making both of them go quiet.

"I am sorry for lying- not in general, but to both of you." He said, wiping his hand over his face, making sure no tears had fallen onto his cheeks before he lifted his head up. "And- I'm not used to having friends, or people who want to be my friend," He explained, echoing back what they'd talked about before Christmas.

"Unless they want something from you," Mia said quietly, nodding her head, and Tom didn't know how she knew, so he just nodded his head as well.

"It didn't help that Justin told me at the beginning of last year that I shouldn't make too many friends outside of Slytherin, since it would make what Nott was doing worse." Tom added quietly.

"I'm going to punch him," Tammy said, looking over to Mia, "I'm going to punch your cousin. How much damage do you think I can do and how much trouble will I get in for hitting a prefect?"

"No punching Justin, but I am going to yell at him," Mia said, eyeing Tammy and holding a hand up in a calming gesture. "Just… do your best, Tom, or, if you're having trouble with something, you can just tell us."

"I… I'll try, at least," Tom said quietly, still not truly feeling like any of this was right- the clenching feeling in his gut was still there, and somehow he was still waiting for one of them to change their mind and kick him out.

"So, if you know your mom's last name, and that she was a witch," Tammy said slowly, as though thinking through each word before she said them, "Then why haven't you just told Nott? It would take the wind right out of his sails, wouldn't it?"

Tom shrugged. He'd thought about it, of course, quite a bit, and had even considered it the first time he encountered Nott after he had found out about the Gaunts. But he didn't know how he felt about the Gaunts- on one hand if he told them and anyone recognized the name, they would know he was part of the Slytherin family and Nott would likely back off. If he didn't recognize it he'd either continue on anyways, or look into it and then learn of the Gaunts' link to Slytherin. But Merope Gaunt wasn't marked in the book as being married to his father, and he had no way of knowing if the books updated themselves with information or if it was stagnant, and he'd found nothing else about the family, or his mother, in any other books. If that was the case, then Nott would probably want him to prove his connection and then he'd have to either construct more creative lies or tell the truth about Wool's and being raised alongside muggles. Never mind that while wizarding families seemed to have a slightly better view of bastard children than their muggle counterparts, the sentiment wasn't really shared among the high class purebloods that he lived beside in Slytherin, so if anything it might strain more of his relationships.

He had no idea which was the better option in dealing with Nott, and as such, he'd taken the option of simply not telling anyone anything and continuing on as he had been since he came to Hogwarts. It was less unexpected and he was able to navigate it easier than any of the other paths he had for options. And besides, a small part of him liked having this just for himself. He knew he was a half-blood. That his mother was a witch, that he was descended from Slytherin, and he honestly didn't want to share it with anyone. At least not yet.

He opted for the shortest and most concise answer again. "Because if Nott pushed then I would have to either come up with more lies or tell people about Wool's- the orphanage I was at and… I don't want to. I don't want people to look at me and only think "Orphan"." Tom explained, "Maybe I'll rub it in his face someday, but I don't want to right now."

Tammy and Mia were quiet, but neither looked angry or annoyed, more like they were just thinking very hard. He didn't prompt them for a reply, happy to sit in the silence for a few moments after so much talking. He was so tired, but now that the pain didn't take up all of his attention, he realized he was quite hungry. He'd missed lunch and dinner, from how dark it was outside. Tom reached up and touched the spots where Tammy had rubbed the ointment into, and found it wasn't as sore as it had been before.

It was about then that his stomach decided to voice its complaints, growling loudly enough for all three to hear and Tom blushed slightly.

"You must be starving," Mia said sympathetically, rising to her feet. "You missed dinner."

"And lunch," he said with a small sigh. He was very hungry but could wait until morning for breakfast. At least he was tired enough that the hunger wouldn't keep him up.

"Do you suppose we have anything here?" Tammy said, looking around the common room. "I know some of the prefects have a canister of corn kernels somewhere for popcorn, and I have some sweets in my trunk for an emergency."

Tom didn't have any food back in his dorm, and if any of his roommates had any, he doubted that they would share- nor did he particularly want to ask them. "How far are the stacked barrels from the giant painting of the fruit?" He asked suddenly, turning his head to look at both girls.

Both made a face at him, and he had a moment of realization that neither he nor Chadwick had mentioned to anyone else what they'd been up to during their first Christmas at Hogwarts and Tom felt a blush creep up his neck again. He wouldn't mention Chadwick then. It would just stress Tammy out.

"Not very far," Tammy said, looking to Mia and then back at Tom. "Why?"

"Because I know how to get to the kitchens," Tom said, smirking ever so slightly. Tammy hopped off the couch in excitement, hauling him to his feet.

"Well come on then!" She said, "Show us!"

Tom had no way of knowing what time it was, how close to curfew they were, or how far past it they might be, but as she showed them how to access the kitchens, he found he didn't particularly care- not even if a prefect gave him a month's worth of detentions. It was worth it.

A/N: Mia continues to be the only voice of reason. Tammy's here to fight a bitch- so is the rest of Hufflepuff. The badgers adopted a snake and he's their's now so if you fuck with him they're all gonna fuck up your shit.

So this is like three times as long as the normal chapter and I won't apologize for that. This was another instance in which I planned to do one thing and the characters took it somewhere else. Neither Tammy or Mia (or Chadiwck or anyone else for that matter) were supposed to find out any truths about Tom's home life or family relations until they'd learned he was a parseltongue in the future, originally in like fourth year. However, writing them leads to new places sometimes and while once someone told me that characters shouldn't control the plot, I find it tends to feel more organic when I let them do so. They don't know everything, but now at least Tom isn't worried about two of his closest friends abandoning him.