Perception A Tom Marvolo Riddle Fanfiction completed

Chapter Five - Memories

The next morning after Ancient Runes Tom stopped Cassiopeia before she could leave the classroom. "May I have a word with you?"

Cassiopeia nodded and followed him out of the classroom. Tom quickly led the way to the prefects' common room. They entered the empty room, and Tom locked the door and cast a Silencing Charm with a flick of his wand. Then he turned towards Cassiopeia, his wand still in his hand. "Avery didn't know anything."

"I told you, he gave me the note." Cassiopeia held his gaze.

Tom cleared his throat. "I wanted to ask whether you'd show me your memory."

Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to ask, pretending I had a choice?"

Tom pursed his lips and eyed his wand, twirling it idly between his fingers. "I don't only pretend that you have a choice. If you don't want to show me I won't force you. I promised not to mess with your mind again, and I intend to keep my promise." He paused and looked up and into her eyes. A smirk crossed his face when he added, "Don't ask me why because I don't know."

There was a long silence. Cassiopeia wondered what had happened that night out on the grounds. Unfortunately, Tom had vehemently refused to tell her. She gazed into the fathomless depths of his dark eyes, and finally she sighed. She knew that she had already made her decision a long time ago. Judging from his smug expression he obviously knew that as well. Wordlessly, she turned around and walked over to the window. Tom slowly followed her, still twirling his wand. Cassiopeia sat on the windowsill.

She took a deep breath and said, "Well then, I'll show you." She closed her eyes and braced herself for the familiar piercing pain, while trying to concentrate on lowering her mental shields. But when she finally felt him enter her mind, it was nothing like the last time. She could sense that Tom was truly struggling to be gentle. She tried to suppress her astonishment and quickly shoved the memory of Avery giving her the note to the front of her mind, shielding her thoughts from his view.

Tom caught a glimpse of her surprise before it was replaced by the memory he had asked for. He concentrated and looked at the memory again and again, trying to find anything of importance. After a while Cassiopeia opened her eyes and found Tom standing right in front of her, staring blankly at her face, completely absorbed in reliving her memory. Cassiopeia couldn't help thinking how deceptively innocuous and innocent he looked, with this expression of intense concentration on his face. For a moment she desperately wished this peaceful deception were real and things were easy. She wished he were standing there, truly looking at her, truly seeing her, not staring at some memory inside her mind, effortlessly using advanced magic he actually wasn't even supposed to be capable of yet.

Then he blinked, and she felt him retreating from her mind. He leaned against the windowsill beside her, obviously lost in his thoughts.

"Did it help?" Cassiopeia asked at last.

Tom took a long time to answer. "There was something about the way Avery....moved....and behaved." He paused. "I think someone put him under the Imperius Curse. Whoever did this probably also cast a Memory Charm, erasing Avery's memory." Tom's voice trailed away.

Cassiopeia glanced at Tom. "But who? And why? And how did he get the note with your handwriting on it?"

Tom absentmindedly twirled his wand between his fingers again, a frown on his face. "I don't know."

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Tom lay on his bed in the Slytherin dorms and tried to get his thoughts straight. Whoever had sent that note to Cassiopeia and had attacked them out on the grounds knew a lot about him, actually quite disturbingly so, and was truly skilled at magic. The stranger had successfully cursed Avery, though Tom had to admit that this part was not overly impressive, and he had somehow acquired a paper with Tom's handwriting on it. Tom suspected that his handwriting could probably be faked by using magic, but still the stranger had to be quite close to him to do so. Then the stranger had attacked him in the very moment when he had felt weakest, during the procedure of creating a Horcrux. He had to have known what he was doing, as well as when and where. And he had to have known how to get into the Chamber because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to give the necessary instructions to Cassiopeia. Furthermore, he had to have known about the prefects' patrolling schedule and their rounds. And, finally, he had actually dared to attack them out on the grounds.