Can You Love Me Right? GxG

Chapter 15 - The Pensieve

"I am not family. But his name has been known to me since birth." Dumbledore replies

"I see," the woman says but Y/N can tell that she doesn't really. The woman stops and frowns. "I think I should tell you. He's a funny boy, Tom. Odd. There have been incidents with the other children. Nasty things."

"Perhaps you could give me an example," Dumbledore asks

The woman starts to speak, then shakes her head and moves off. As Dumbledore moves to follow, his eyes look upon a framed photograph on the wall. Y/N looks at the photograph, old and yellowing depicting a seaside scene of a sharp rock outcropping and a cave before he eventually exits.

The woman's hand appears and she knocks on the door before turning the knob. It reveals a  small room, grim and shadowy. A young Tom Riddle sits atop a bed, hands in his lap. He looks about 11. The walls crawl with reflected rain, oozing like oil down a grimy window.

"You've got a visitor, Tom." The woman replies

Dumbledore steps forward, extends his hand. "How do you do, Tom"

Riddle eyes Dumbledore briefly then looks away.

"Well, I'll leave you two to yourselves." The woman says before closing the door behind them.

Dumbledore studies Riddle, then begins to tour the room. The headmaster passes a tall cabinet, tracing his fingers over its surface, as if the wood's grain were braille. He then pauses, strewn on a small table are a grouping of seven dark drawings. A boy and girl, their faces anguished and a sea-swept cave. The same cave from the photograph. Dumbledore begins to reach out-

"Don't." Tom's voice cuts through the silence

Dumbledore stops and turns to find Riddle's level gaze on him. "As you wish."

Tom looks away and Dumbledore, for the first time, notices the boys hands. They are splayed, utterly still, and interlaced with a silky web, where a spider knits back and forth.

"You're the doctor, aren't you?" Tom says

"No. I'm a Professor." Dumbledore responds

"I don't believe you," Tom says "I hear Mrs Cole talking. Her and the rest of the staff, they want me looked at. They think I'm different."

"Perhaps they're right." Dumbledore replies and Tom frowns

"I'm not mad." He says defensively

"Hogwarts is not a place for mad people," Dumbledore says calmly. Riddle looks up and cocks his head ever-so-slightly. "It's a school. A school of magic. You can do things, can't you, Tom? Things the other children can't."

Riddle eyes Dumbledore intensely, unblinking "Yes." he finally says

"Tell me some of the things you can do Tom," Dumbledore says

Ton watches the spider in his hands "I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me. I can make them hurt, if I want." Dumbledore studies Riddle then the boy looks up. "Who are you?" Tom asks curiously

"I'm like you, Tom. Different." Dumbledore says with a small smile.

Riddle closes his hands and the web collapses. "Prove it."

Without breaking his gaze, Dumbledore's eyes narrow ever-so-slightly and suddenly, the wardrobe bursts into flames. Riddle wheels but then slowly a faint grin forms on his face. Dumbledore studies him then abruptly, the wardrobe begins to shake. Riddle's smile fades.

"I think there is something trying to get out of your wardrobe Tom," Dumbledore says

Terrified, Riddle steps closer to the burning wardrobe and throws open the door. On the topmost shelf, above a rail of threadbare clothes, a small box shakes violently. As Riddle's fingers touch the box, the flames engulfing the wardrobe vanish, but the box continues to shake, the only sound in the silent room.

"Is there anything in that box you ought not to have?" Riddle eyes Dumbledore, but he spills the box onto the bed, a yo-yo, a silver thimble, and a tarnished mouth organ are laid out "Why did you want these things, Tom?"

"I like having things that belonged to other people. It makes me feel close to them." Tom responds

Dumbledore studies Riddle's profile, pondering this. "Thievery is not tolerated at Hogwarts. At Hogwarts, you will be taught not only how to use magic, but to control it. Understood?" and Riddle nods "I'll be going now, Tom. Leave your window open tonight. An owl will bring you a message. Read it carefully."

Dumbledore starts to exit when Ton speaks up "I can speak to snakes too." and Dumbledore stops "They find me and whisper things. Is that normal. For someone like me?"

"It is unusual. But not unheard of." Dumebldore answers

The Headmaster then exits without a backward glance, leaving 11-year-old Tom Riddle alone. The image shudders and fades away.

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Harry and Y/N enter back into Dumbledore's office. The headmaster stands quietly in the room which has grown dim in their absence. Dumbledore gestures, and the lamps blaze back to life.

"Did you know, sir? Then?" Y/N asks

"Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark Wizard of all time? No. Had I-" Dumbledore falters, his expression troubled. Y/N looks up from the Pensieve, where young Tom Riddle's fragmented face floats on the surface then eyes Dumbledore.

"Sir" Harry says and Dumbledore sighs

"Over time, while here at Hogwarts, Tom Riddle grew close to one particular teacher. Can you two guess which teacher that might be?" Dumbledore asks

"You didn't bring Professor Slughorn back simply to teach Potions, did you, sir?" Y/N says

"No. I did not. You see, Professor Slughorn possesses something I desire very dearly, and he will not part with it easily" Dumbledore says eyeing the two teenagers wearily "I'd rather not divulge any more just yet. But I promise, in time you two will know everything."

"You said Professor Slughorn would try to collect us" Harry says

"I did," Dumbledore replies

"Do you want us to let him?" Harry asks

Dumbledore trails his ashen fingers in the surface of the Pensieve, vanquishing young Tom Riddle's face.

"Yes." He says "Now off to bed you two. Y/N I would like to see you for more lessons on wandless magic Sunday evening"

"I won't be late professor" Y/N replies and the two teenagers exit the office.

Y/N makes it back to the Ravenclaw tower and to her dorm. She quickly changes out of her clothes into her sleepwear and hops into bed, except she can't seem to sleep. What the headmaster showed her and Harry in the pensieve stuck with her. Eventually, after the Ravenclaw's brain gets tired, she finally drift off to sleep.