Pity the Living ♔ Tom Riddle

15 || Immobulus

"Slytherin."

"Me too! Although my brother says I'm too soft and would be better off in Hufflepuff. I would be disowned if that happened."

"How unfortunate," Tom drawled, trying his best to seem remotely concerned.

"Do you know anyone else here?" Damien smiled.

"No."

"Oh, well, I'll introduce you to some of my friends then. Slytherins must stick together," he grinned.

"I would appreciate that. Tell me, who are these friends of yours?" he queried, leaning forward in interest.

"Rodolphus Lestrange and Pollux Avery. Both sacred twenty-eight. They both prefer to use their last names. Rodolphus has his father's name, so it was confusing at family dinners, and Pollux... well, let's just say it's a rather unfortunate name," he sniggered. Tom took note of the new information eagerly.

"When might we be introduced?"

"As soon as they find me. They'll no doubt be jumping on at the last second. Both their mothers are suffocating, you see."

"I see. Anyone I might have to watch out for?" Tom inquired.

"Ah! Well, yes, you see, there's another group of purebloods who are, should I say, hard to impress. Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov and, of course, Malfoy. They don't like me much..." replied Damien, fidgeting with his hands. "And Orion Black, but he won't be at Hogwarts until next year."

"Interesting, hard to impress? In what way?"

"Well, all purebloods are well-off. They're just more well-off," he chuckled. Tom's heart sank, realising there was nothing he could do to alter that aspect of his identity.

Damien jumped in surprise at the sound of the carriage door screeching open, revealing the two boys Tom assumed he was just talking about. The first boy was tall and lean, with golden brown skin, short dark curls, and deep brown inquisitive eyes. The second was short, pale and stocky, with messy strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes.

"Lestrange, Avery! I thought you'd miss the train," teased Damien. The tall boy whacked him over the head with a book in return.

"Shush, Damien," he laughed, "We got held up."

"I see you've replaced us already!" joked the shorter boy, eyes directed to the unfamiliar figure in the carriage.

"Oh! Meet Tom Riddle. He's probably going to be in Slytherin too," Damien smiled. "The idiot who whacked me is Lestrange, and shorty here is Avery."

"Hey!" huffed Avery in protest.

"A pleasure to meet you both," said Tom, with an artificial smile.

"Riddle?" frowned Lestrange. "Never heard of that family."

"Just the English translation. My family is German," Tom replied confidently, hiding his nerves.

"Ah! The war?"

"Indeed," chuckled Tom, thankful the international crisis provided a decoy that needed no explanation.

"Well, Tom, I hope Hogwarts outdoes the famous myths of the mighty Durmstrang!"

Tom bit his tongue. How he wished to tell them all about Gisela, his wonderful friend who attended the infamous institute, and all her tales of the mysterious school. After the explosion, Klaus stressed how important it was to keep Gisela non-existence in the eyes of Grindelwald's enemies, the principal of which was Albus Dumbledore, the nasty Professor who had paid him a visit. She could be kidnapped to be used as bait. Tom would never cause such atrocity.

"Oh well, probably best you're here. It's not looking pretty on the continent," assured Damien, "my parents argue about it all the time."

"Yes, and it is only getting worse," Tom replied sternly.

"Well! Let's not get glum," Avery pushed in, "the famous sweets trolley should be along anytime soon."

As the conversation continued, Tom became more aware of just how out of touch he was. While he was mindful of Quidditch, he didn't keep up with the teams and latest tournaments. He personally found the idea of throwing balls around on a broomstick rather unappealing. Still, it appeared to be the centre of conversation with the young men his age. He spent most of the conversation absorbing as much information as he could, storing it for later. The ability to fly was important, and unfortunately, it was not something he could practice in advance. The inevitable lessons made him anxious.

Thankfully, the sporting conversation he couldn't contribute paused at the arrival of the trolley. A middle-aged woman with a toothy smile opened the door, offering a large arrangement of sweets to the group of boys. While Damien and Avery jumped at the opportunity and splurged with their abundance of coins, Tom and Lestrange refrained and settled for a chocolate frog each.

"Oh dear, chocolate frogs!" exclaimed Avery, "make sure they don't escape. Mother has to cast a spell to stop them moving for me."

Tom refrained from rolling his eyes, pulling his wand out and opening the lid of the box. With a whisper "immobulus", the frog was stopped before it could attempt to jump. He snatched it up and took a satisfying bite out of the marvellous chocolate, inwardly smirking at the shocked faces of the other boys.

"Can you do that for me?" asked Lestrange sheepishly. Tom nodded, whispering the same charm on the other frog as it escaped from the box. Avery and Damien's jaws dropped while Lestrange gave a grateful smirk.

"How do you do that? Cast the spell whispering, I mean. Father says you have to put force into your voice for spells to work," Damien asked.

"You just have to mean it," Tom smirked in reply.

Tom was surprised at just how impressed the boys were at a simple immobilising spell. It had been simple to master, and why on earth they were surprised he could whisper it was beyond him. Casting spells loudly seemed stupid, as it gives away the incantation to an opponent. Tom had almost been able to do the spell non-verbally, like a few other charms he had mastered. Whatever the reason for their reaction, he could use this to his advantage. If his magical abilities were really so advanced, they could distract his peers from his lack of status and wealth.

"You have to teach us when we get to school!" exclaimed Damien. "Then I'll have something impressive to show Father when I get home, which my brother can't do."

"I'd be happy to," he replied, casting a charming smile at the group.

Leverage already? How convenient. 

~~~~

Why hello, dearest readers. I am useless, I know. It has been over a year since I updated this fanfiction. University and work meant I only had a small amount of time to write, in which I prioritised my original works. I am glad to return to this fanfiction finally, and hope to also get back to "The Greater Good". 

Tom's plotline will begin to appear more equally to Gisela's now. My order of chapters is designed so I can go back and add chapters if I feel there needs to be something filled in. The reality of publishing chapter by chapter. This fanfiction will cover 1926-1950ish, so I need some flexibility to dictate 24 intense years of two people's lives.

A reminder that this is all unedited, so I understand there may be some mistakes. I will edit once I have completed the work, as that is my writing process to keep me actually getting words on the page.

Any questions, please ask.