𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 ☆ 𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟

𝑌𝐸𝐴𝑅 𝑆𝐼𝑋 ☆ 6

Rosalyn had received a letter the next day, from Dumbledore. It told her that he wanted to see her, and her alone, that evening.

She knocked on the door of his office at that moment, having just ascended the winding staircase. She opened the door, peeking inside it, before hearing Dumbledore's voice. "Ah, Rosalyn, you got my message, come in."

She opened the door fully, walking into the office properly. "How are you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Fine," Rosalyn answered, but, really, she wasn't. After all the drama with Neville and Hannah, it was hard to feel anything but annoyed or sad.

"And how are all your classes? I hear Professor Slughorn is very impressed with you."

"I think he overestimates my abilities, to be honest, Sir," Rosalyn said, smiling sheepishly.

"And what about your activities outside the classroom?" Dumbledore pressed on. "You and Harry are getting along very well, these days, I hear."

"Yes," Rosalyn grinned. "I mean, we have Ron and Hermione, but I'm glad that we have each other."

Dumbledore smiled back. "But enough chit chat, you must be wondering why I summoned you here tonight."

He led her over to a cabinet with lots of vials in it. They all contained a silvery liquid.

"What you are looking at are memories," Dumbledore answered her unasked question. "In this case, pertaining to one individual, Lord Voldemort. Or, of course, as he was known then, Tom Riddle."

He took a memory out of the cabinet. "This vial contains a most important memory that is mine. It is the day I first met him. I'd like you to see it, if you would."

So Rosalyn went over to Dumbledore's pensive, which she had visited once before, and poured the memory in it. She then leaned over the pensive, hovering above it before she felt the feeling of falling. She didn't cry out this time, however, because she knew it was going to happen.

She fell until her feet touched the ground. She was outside a building called Wool's Orphanage, according to the sign above the gates. She felt Dumbledore beside her, and he guided her into the building.

She saw a younger version of Dumbledore inside, with a woman who appeared to be in charge. "I must say we were quite surprised at recieving your letter," the woman told him. "In all the years Tom's been here he's never received one visitor."

Tom Riddle... Rosalyn thought, he was brought up in an orphanage, of course!

"There have been incidents with the other children," the woman warned him in a whisper, but Dumbledore didn't seem put-off in the slightest.

They reached a door that the woman pulled open, saying. "Tom, you have a visitor."

"How d'you do, Tom?" Dumbledore (young Dumbledore) asked cheerfully.

Soon, Dumbledore and Tom were alone. Rosalyn took this moment to take in eleven year old Tom Riddle. Hair slicked back, face unblemished... Rosalyn hated to admit it, but he sort of looked handsome.

"You're a doctor, aren't you?" He said coldly to Dumbledore.

"No." He answered calmly. "I'm a Professor."

"I don't believe you," Riddle said plainly, not blinking an eye. "She wants me looked at. They all do. They think I'm mad."

"Hogwarts is not a place for mad people," Dumbledore smiled. "Hogwarts is a school. A school of magic." He changed tack completely. "You can do things Tom... can't you? Things other children can't?"