Son Of Riddle

Chapter Thirty-three - After the Storm

  A blast of cold air hit the quartet as they walked outside. They looked at each other as they realized just how long they had been at the ministry, the sky was pitch black, with not even the stars to light it.
"Lumos!" James flicked his finger and a bright beam of light shone from his fingertips.
"Do you think McGonnagle's gonna punish us?" Lucy asked as they walked away, back to the school.
"I mean...She did give up permission to go..." Adam pondered. "But then again, she didn't know we'd be taking on all of Rodolphus's army of death eaters."
"We didn't take on his entire army." James interjected.
"...Sorry?"
"We didn't take on his entire army." James repeated. "There's more. He wouldn't have sent the entirety of it, besides, we saw how many there were at my father's mansion, that wasn't nearly how many as there was tonight. Not to mention that he's definetly working for some higher power. This war isn't even close to being over."
"...Well, that's a cheery thought." Lucy sighed.
They walked for a few more moments in silence, until they felt something soft and cold land on their exposed skin.
"Is it...snowing?" Lucy asked, a smile creeping up on her face.
"Oh, lovely." Adam commented, continuing to walk.
"Oh come on, it's happy!" Lucy laughed, collecting snowflakes on her small palms.
James just stared up into the sky as the soft crystals landed on his face, his breath turning to steam in the cold winter air. He couldn't remember when the lst time he's seen snow was.
"Pretty, huh?" Benjamin came up behind him, catching snowflakes on his tongue.
"Yeah..." He replied, following Adam and Lucy back towards the school. "You did very well back there." He commented.
"Oh...thanks..." Benjamin said, his pointed ears turning ever so slightly pink. "It's a little hard to believe, but I've had some experience with killing things."
"It's actually not that hard to believe." James reassured him. "You did tell us your past, you were raised by vampires, so of course you've had experience killing things."
"Oh, I see..." He said quietly, but happily. "I'm happy I'm not the only one."
"Me too."
"So...exactly how far away from Hogwarts are we?" Lucy asked, slowing her pace to talk to them.
"...I'll turn into a dragon again." James said, inadvertantly answering the question.

As they flew towards the castle, the unanswered questions about Rodolphus Lestrange and his unknown employer plagued all their minds like a contagious sickness.
"What do we now?" Benjamin asked, eating some kind of candy from who-knows-where.
"All we can do is wait." James answered, using his telepathy spell again. "Whoever employed Rodolphus has covered his tracks too well, there's not a single thing we can do."
"And that's coming from you." Adam said, his eyebrows knotted. "We're screwed."
"We'll be fine."
The rest of the flight was quiet and calm, a nice change from the entire rest of the day, and on the very edge of the horizon, a soft orange glow had started to ascend, and soft beams of light peeked up from the grassy hills all around them, the soft sunrise adding to the calm of everything.
By the time they actually got to the school, everyone aside from Riddle was fast asleep. Riddle couldn't blame them, it had been an eventful week, he himself could have dozed off right there if he hadn't been the thing that was carrying his friends.
When he landed, a few windows in the castle were illuminated, but most of the students appeared to still be asleep. He deleberately landed as violently as he could to jolt his friends awake.
"Whatappend?" Benjamin immediately jumped up, alarmed, and promptly fell to his face.
"We're home." James informed them, trying to keep from laughing.
"Oh ok...can I go back to sleep now?" Lucy asked groggily, stumbling around disoriented on the ground.
"If you can make it to the chamber of secrets, you can." James told her, changing back into a human.
They all made/ stumbled their way to the entrance to the chamber of secrets, but everyone froze in fear and paled when they got there, the tired shocked out of them.
"Well, it's about time you got here." McGonnagle reprimanded, her mouth a thin line on her face, the lines of age showing on her face as her expression changed.
Standing next to her was a very tired looking, very angry Hermione Weasley.
"What made you think you were allowed to fight for the bloody ministry?" McGonnagle asked, walking briskly towards them.
"What did you think we were going to do?" James asked, incredulous.
"I had imagined you were going to see what was going on, not get yourselves involved in a battle with the death eaters! You could have died, and you endangered your friends! Do you know how much you worried me?"
"....we won." James muttered.
"Barely." Hermione scoffed. 
"You couldn't have won without me and you know it."
"We are aware of that fact, Mister Riddle." McGonnagle told him, massaging her temples, fighting a headache. "And that's why we're not expelling you."
"...You're not?"
"No, Mister Riddle, not today." McGonnagle said kindly, though still miffed.
"You're still just as soft as you were when I was in school, Professor." Hermione said, shaking her head. "I wouldn't trust this one." And with that, she flicked her wand, and dissapeared before anyone else could say another word.
"...Bit uptight, her." Adam sighed. "But she'll come 'round soon."
"Now, before anything else happens," McGonnagle began. "Up to your dormitories, all of you. I don't want to hear another peep until you've had some decent rest."
Everyone nodded eagerly and ran up the corridor, save Riddle, who just walked over to his bed of snakeskin and lay there.
McGonnagle sighed and flicked her wand, and Riddle bolted upright, confused as his snakeskin pile transfigured into a proper bed.
"You could've done that yourself, if you'd wanted to." McGonnagle clucked.
"...It never came to mind." Riddle told her, sitting down gingerly on his bed, which donned his house colors.
"Mister Riddle, I'm going to give you a warning." She announced. "If you or your friends go outside the school ground on another escapade befre the school year is over, I'm going to have no choice but to expel you."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that professor." He informed her. "Rodolphus is dead, and whoever he was working for is cautious, so I have a feeling they won't do anything else for a while."
"Good, I can't have you sneaking out, fighting god-knows-what in the middle of the night."
"...Why do you care?" James asked her, a confused look on his face.
McGonnagle was silent for a moment. "Because you're my responsibility, now that you're a student." She told him. "I have to make sure nothing happens to anyone."
"Yes, but you've been keeping a close eye on me specifically, more than anyone else. Do you still not trust me?"
"...It's because I care about you." She sighed. "Whether or not I can help it."
"...Why?" James was genuinely confused at this moment.
"I've never had any childeren of my own..." She began carefully. "And some part of me feels an uncontrollable urge to care for you as my own son."
She began to walk away. "I suppose I'm still just a silly old lady." She said over her shoulder.
James was in a daze and couldn't answer her as she walked away.