Riddle's Riddle • Tom Riddle

Riddle's Riddle [ENG]

"Calm down, please, Mr Wiseflow," Dippet said definitely, causing the two to fall silent. "You too, Miss Rhyser."

"Yes, sorry, Professor," Diana said quickly, looking down. Edward reluctantly sat back on the chair.

"I do not think that Tom Riddle was the culprit, either," Dippet explained, causing Edward to glare at him, "but Professor Dumbledore has certain doubts. That's why I have to ask you, Miss Rhyser, were you with Tom when this happened?"

Diana shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She bit her lip and Edward was looking at her expectantly. She eventually looked up at Dippet, determination on her face.

"Yes," she said definitely, "I was with Tom."

"What?!" Edward shouted. "You weren't!"

"Oh, yeah? Where's your proof?"

Dippet silenced them by raising his hand.

"How one lie can change the history..." said the real Dumbledore thoughtfully. "And the things people do out of love..."

Harry was trying to process everything in his head. This girl has just lied for the most evil wizard of all time at her own will, without any threats. She had no idea what she was doing...

Right after that, the door of Dippet's office opened and Harry's heart sank. There were three people: Tom Riddle himself, some man - probably a teacher - Harry didn't know and, to his sadness, Hagrid.

"I think we've found the culprit, Professor Dippet," said the man and Harry noticed he and Riddle were holding Hagrid by magical ropes. Dippet examined the scene.

"Well, I knew Miss Rhyser was telling the truth," he said and Riddle's eyes turned to her, surprised. "You should come back to your dormitory for now. The same goes to you, Mr Wiseflow, Mr Riddle. As for you, Mr Hagrid, I believe we have something to talk about."

"It wasn't Aragog! Yeh can't blame him!" Hagrid cried, but Dippet silenced him with his hand.

Harry didn't know whom he hated more in that scene: Dippet, Riddle or Diana.

"Go, the three of you, it's late," the Headmaster commanded. Riddle put his wand away as Diana stood up from the chair and both of them left the office. Edward followed shortly after them.

Diana and Riddle were walking through the dark corridors next to each other while Edward remained a bit behind them, but he could still hear what they were saying.

"So it was Hagrid, huh? We should have predicted that," said Diana with disgust.

"You stood up for me?" Riddle asked her out of the blue, expressionless. She gulped and looked at her feet.

"It was the least I could do."

"Why?"

Diana took a deep breath, still avoiding Riddle's eyes at all costs.

"I don't want to lose you," she said really quietly. Riddle came to a halt and so did she. Edward walked past them, pretending to be ignoring them, but the moment he turned a corner he hid behind a pillar so he could see what was happening.

It was really dark, but you could definitely tell what they were doing. There was no noise in the corridor other than Diana's heavy breathing.  Riddle put his hand under her chin and forced her to look up at him. There was eternal silence and suddenly, completely unexpectedly, Riddle leaned in and kissed Diana full on the lips. Harry gasped in shock so loudly he almost thought they could hear him. Edward's mouth fell agape. Riddle pulled back after what seemed like ages and began walking away without any words, his expression as blank as ever. Diana, on the other hand, was glued to the spot. She put her hand on her chest, smiling like a maniac, and eventually followed Riddle's steps.

"Well, I think that's everything we needed to see," said Dumbledore and soon he and Harry came back to reality.

"Edward Wiseflow was murdered a month afther these events and the murderer has never been found, apparently," Dumbledore explained, sitting behind his desk. "The only person who knows what happened after that to Tom and Diana is probably Voldemort himself."

Harry gulped.

"Did... Did he kill her?" he asked, shivering at the thought.

"No," Dumbledore replied simply. Harry didn't know why he felt as though something heavy had been lifted off his shoulders.

"So what happened to her?" he asked, surprised once fear has escaped him.

"Diana Rhyser is still alive. However, she's been kept at St Mungo's for a while now. She was questioned about Voldemort at some point, of course, but her memory had apparently been modified so well no Obliviator can fix it. And I think both you and I know very well who did it, Harry," Dumbledore explained, using his wand to take the stone Pensieve off of his desk as Harry sat down.

"Voldemort kissed her... I don't understand..."

"He didn't do it for nothing, Harry.  Especially not out of love. It was just to gain even more of her loyalty. However, I dare say the moment he kissed her was when he was closest to loving someone he has ever been."

Harry shook his head in disbelief, feeling sick just at the thought of that.

"Tom Riddle had lots of fans, as I had told you, but he chose Diana for a reason. A Prefect, a very good student almost as good as him, and a girl he could easily trick into liking him with his intelligence. He predicted he would need her at some point and well, you saw it. Of course Professor Dippet was more likely to believe a top student and a Prefect than a rebellious boy like Edward, no matter what arguments they had. Voldemort certainly knew what he was doing."

Harry wasn't surprised at this. He could definitely picture McGonagall listening to Hermione, but not himself or Ron.

"How come nobody else knew about them?"

"Well, Voldemort made sure to dispose of almost everyone who knew, including Diana's husband. The others
are some of his Death Eaters today."

"What about the diary, sir? It was this diary, right?"

Dumbledore opened one of the drawers in his desk and then showed Harry the destroyed diary.

"The very same," he replied. "I believe this diary is the Horcrux Voldemort created to forget about her. It's all a guessing game, but he probably thought that if he locked that piece of him away, he would never remember about her again. However, you destroyed the diary four years ago - and he might have remembered her again."

Harry said nothing, absorbing everything.

"Well, I think that's enough for today, Harry. You should come back to your dormitory."

He nodded and stood up, then walked up to the door. However, he turned to the Headmaster one last time.

"Sir, why didn't Voldemort kill her? Why did he even bother to modify her memory when he could just...?"

Dumbledore smiled and shrugged.

"Nobody knows, Harry. The way he has felt about Diana is probably Tom Riddle's own riddle."