House of snakes

Chapter 10

"At first I thought it was a joke, you know," Pomona stated.

"As did I, Pomona," Minerva replied. The staff meeting had not yet officially began, and so of course it was the perfect time for the professors to gossip on the thing that had been bothering some of them: how they could forget one of their students so completely.

Of the Hogwarts professors who'd taught when Marvolo Riddle had supposedly attended Hogwarts, only Minerva, Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick, and Septima Vector remained. Well, and Albus as the headmaster.

Minerva frowned, thinking of Albus, but pushed it aside.

"I have a suspicion," Filius stated in his squeaky voice. The other professors turned to the half-goblin.

"Filius?" Minerva asked.

"It would have been a powerful ritual indeed, but it is possible, I think, to have indeed erased all our memories of the boy." Filius sighed. "Even Horace doesn't remember the boy and you know Marvolo's father was one of his favorites in school."

Septima began murmuring to herself about the complications of such a ritual as Pomona gasped in dismay.

"But why?" Minerva asked. "Is there a way to be sure, Filius?"

Filius shook his head. "A ritual of such nature would be permanent. If indeed that is why we cannot remember this boy though the records say he was here... to be honest it is suspicious that only his Slytherin yearmates remember him."

"Not so suspicious," Severus said from the corner of the staff room.

Minerva turned to the Potions' professor and raised an eyebrow. He scowled.

"Think!" the man growled. "Who is this Marvolo's father?"

"Tom Riddle," Minerva stated. "We do know that Severus. I went to school with Tom, you know. We were Head Boy and Girl together. He was a delight to work with, truly the best of Slytherin." Minerva frowned. "The best of Slytherin...."

"I remember now," Filius said. "Those rumors, Minerva. That Tom was the Heir."

"He is an heir," Septima stated. "If we're to believe The Prophet."

"And who else was an heir?" Severus hissed.

Minerva paled. "Severus! You wouldn't dare instigate that Tom was—"

"No, no," Filius cut her off. "I see where Severus is coming from. For He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would have dearly like to pull young Marvolo into his services, wouldn't he have? I think, indeed, that is why Tom left the country."

"I would have left too," Pomona stated. "Rather than fight against an insane cousin like that."

Filius nodded. "Tom was always very powerful. He would have been able to do the ritual. Indeed, I imagine only Marvolo's closest friends remember him because of the nature of that friendship. It is not so easy to completely wipe seven years of memory from their minds, at least not permanently, but from ours...."

Minerva took a deep breath. "I don't think we can blame Tom for that, then." She ran a shaky hand over her smooth hair to her bun. "It does make too much sense."

"It does indeed," Pomona said, patting Minerva on the hand kindly.

Minerva noticed Severus retreat back into the corner just as Albus finally made his way into the room. Minerva drew herself up, composing her thoughts for the meeting.

.o.o.o.

Hadrian, Harry, Sirius, and Remus all flooed to the Burrow for Easter brunch. Molly met them immediately upon their arrival. She kissed Hadrian on the cheek, which was a bit surprising, but she hugged the other three. Hadrian could tell that Harry still wasn't used to such contact, but he hugged back much easier than Hadrian would have in his past life.