It was Tuesday night and Tom had headed down to the Chamber of Secrets after finishing with his prefect-duties. The basilisk had greeted him respectfully as he entered the study. It didn't take him long to find the book he had started reading a couple days prior; a book on parselmagic shields. The young heir had yet to try any of them out. During his last visit to the Chamber he had merely done some reading and had taken some notes on specific shields.
There were several categories of parselmagic shields; Tom had skipped those on more trivial protection against things like compulsion-charms and potions and had learned about those that protected against offensive magic. Since he wouldn't have the time to try all of them out tonight, he took note of the three that sounded most promising and decided he would perfect those before moving on to the others.
When he climbed out of the statue's move, the basilisk had left again. It went out to the forest as often as possible, claiming it had been cooped up for far too many centuries. Tom had found a way to charm the dummies he practiced his spells on to attack him with mild spells and curses if he wished. It surely wasn't as effective as face-to-face combat with another wizard but would suffice for the time being. One last time Tom reviewed his notes on the shielding-spells before pushing the notebook back into the depths of his pockets.
One of the major perks of being a parselmouth was, that parselmagic generally did not require the use of a wand. So, if Tom were to be disarmed in a real fight, he would still be able to rely on his parselmagic. As soon as the charmed targets started moving and firing minor stunning spells at him, Tom hissed the sequence of syllables he had learned with as much intent as he could muster. The air around him started to swirl as a knew, foreign power surrounded him.
He knew the shielding-spell had been successful as he watched the stunners dissolve into nothing. This magic, the protective parselmagic, felt a lot different than common magic. It was wild, lively and it felt so very familiar. It was as though he had cast or seen someone cast this sort of spell before; perhaps not the exact same shield, since the magic he remembered had felt just the tiniest bit different, but definitely an extremely similar spell. Maybe even one of the others he had written in his notebook.
Tom hadn't noticed that his eyes had closed shut at the wonderful feeling of the serpent-magic swirling around him but when they snapped open his brain came to a crashing halt. He remembered. Remembered a wordless shielding-spell and the feeling of a strange magic washing through a room that others didn't seem to sense. He remembered birds bursting into flames and Abraxas Malfoy's shocked face when he was disarmed. Tom felt like laughing. All this time and he had never once thought of this option.
Had Seraya Cassedy seriously performed a parselmagic shielding-spell in a student-duel? was that the reason why she had so desperately avoided any unnecessary contact with the Slytherins? This new theory brought so many sudden revelations to Tom's mind. To perform such a spell would require her being a parselmouth. And if so, was she just a third person with the ability with a current connection to Hogwarts or was Seraya Cassedy, mysterious transfer student, in fact the same person whom he'd seen in the Chamber of Secrets weeks ago?
Should the second theory prove to be the truth, that would mean that the girl was a murderer. A triumphant smirk spread across the boy's face. He finally had her. Even if she threatened him with the exposure of his family-background, Tom knew this new revelation would most definitely trump that. If he was correct with his assumptions, she would never see this coming. A plan formed in his head. He would make her crack and he would watch with great delight as she tried to talk herself out of this one.
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Wednesday, what a horrible day. Two days since the last weekend and two days until the next. Of course, if anything bad were to occur, it was bound to be on a Wednesday. Since breakfast she had found Tom Riddle intently staring at her whenever he got the chance and it was highly unnerving. Seraya tried not to interpret anything into it and went on with her day as any other. When classes ended in the early afternoon, she had almost forgotten about it.
That was until a hand suddenly covered her mouth and she was forcefully dragged down to a deserted and secluded part of the dungeons. She had just been on her way back to Ravenclaw tower after Potions class and had been trailing behind the other students. Although not being able to see who was currently manhandling her, she made a wild guess that it was one of Riddle's guys.
It wasn't like she wouldn't have been able to free herself but another display of powerful magic was to be avoided and admittedly a part of her wanted to know what this stunt was all about. A dimly lit room with a dark wooden door seemed to have been their destination since her kidnapper came to a halt and let her go. Seraya stumbled back several steps before bumping into a wall.
The one to have brought her to the room had closed the door and was performing several silencing spells and raising privacy wards. She could make out the strong profile of Alan Yaxley, the buffest and strongest guy in Riddle's inner circle. Seraya let her gaze wander through the room. Eight others were standing in alongside a wall. Tom Riddle, unmistakably, at the front while the rest of his followers stood in a line behind him.
Upon ensuring the privacy of whatever was about to go down, Yaxley joined his friends in the line. "What is this about, Riddle?", Seraya broke the silence trying to make sense of the situation. "You", came the curt answer. She had suspected as much. "Look, Riddle, we've been over this. I will not be revealing anything to you, ever." Her tone was harsh but Riddle didn't seem to care. "I'm well aware of that, Cassedy. I just wanted to inform you that I will not let you use me in that little game you're playing", the dark-haired wizard provoked.
The girl snorted at the irony: "Oh, now I'm the one playing games." "Indeed," Riddle said in a menacingly cold voice, "You're nothing more than a pathetic girl with significance issues. Constantly trying to be oh so mysterious so people might finally acknowledge your existence. You have never had any friends and you never will. 'You're just an enormous waste of magic and a fre'-". He was cut off as Seraya yelled: "'DON'T YOU DARE FINSIH THAT SENTENCE'!"
The Slytherins behind Riddle looked startled and slightly intimidated by her sudden outburst, their leader however held a smug expression and laughed, while circling her like a predator: "'Or what? What will you do, huh? 'Will you petrify us?'" Seraya suddenly managed to notice that something was off about the way Riddle spoke. His voice had deepened mid-speech and a slight hissing-sound followed his words. The young witch abruptly stopped herself from retorting.
In a single moment the extreme anger she had felt dissipated and made way for fear and comprehension. Oh, that brilliant bastard. She had always been able to tell English and Parseltongue apart under normal circumstances. When her emotions were overriding however, it became exceedingly difficult to differentiate. "Well, well, well...what is this?", Riddle's voice broke her from the dawning realization, "The little eagle speaks like a snake."
How could she have run directly into his trap? Obviously Riddle had figured it out beforehand and just needed solid proof. The other Slytherins still seemed completely shaken up and Seraya assumed they hadn't been told what the meeting would be about. But like the loyal dogs they were trained to be, they blindly followed their master's orders. "How did you figure it out?", she asked the question most prominent in her brain, her voice back to its cold and emotionless self.
"Oh, you know", Riddle dragged on while obviously enjoying her horror, "I was down in a certain Chamber reading through some rather old books when I decided to practice one of the spells described. Imagine how surprised I was to find that it was very similar to the one you used in your duel against Abraxas here. A parselmagic spell no less. And voilà." The book. In all the time she had spent trying to stop Riddle from catching on to her, she had forgotten the most crucial thing.
Not only had she carelessly performed parselmagic during class but had also left the book that contained the spell in the study for Tom Riddle to read. Exhausted the young witch asked, not daring to look at the Slytherins in front of her: "What do you want, Riddle?" He gave her a short contemplative look and answered: "What I've always wanted. Answers." He paused for a few moments, then resumed: "Why don't we head up to that secret room of yours? I believe there is a conversation that needs to be held."
He looked back at his followers: "You, go back to the common room. I will join you for dinner. Needless to say, what happened here will not leave this circle, understood?" The eight boys nodded and quickly scurried out the door. Tom Riddle looked at Seraya for another moment then left for the door taking large steps and beckoning for her to follow. The Ravenclaw knew there was no getting out of this and prepared for a very long conversation.
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Madness- T.M.R.
Fanfiction"There is no good and evil, only power and those too weak to seek it." "You're wrong, there is only madness and those too scared to admit it."
