Captured In The Night || Tom Riddle

04 - An Unexpected Trip

"Who the heck are you?" She asked.

The house-elf gave her a once over and grunted.

"Lazybones." He muttered, then turned and spit into the sink.

Sofia made a disgusted face and grabbed a loaf of bread and began making toast. She sat down at the table watching the house-elf warily. "So you have a name?"

"Skull." He said in a rough voice.

Sofia burst out laughing.

To her surprise the house-elf turned and glared at her, silencing Sofia. He then went back to scrambling the eggs.

"Sorry, it's a lovely name. You um, always make breakfast?" Sofia asked.

"Who do you think has been feeding you all week?" Skull asked.

Sofia nodded while the house-elf put the eggs on a plate and held it out to her.

"Oh, no thanks." She declined.

Sofia's eyes doubled in size as Skull slammed the plate on the floor shattering it. Pieces of egg and glass went everywhere. He then turned and flipped off Sofia before vanishing.

Sofia was still recovering when Riddle came in. He spotted her at the table and nodded towards the door. "Let's go."

She grabbed his luggage, not having much to pack for herself. She had thrown it all into Riddle's suitcase and followed him out the door. Riddle didn't mention the eggs so she didn't say anything either.

"So where's Snape?" Sofia asked.

"He should be at the train station," Riddle said.

They arrived and Riddle boarded without looking back. Sofia followed him into an empty compartment and put the luggage on the shelf above them.

Riddle was reading The Daily Prophet and Sofia leaned over, peeking at one of the articles.

The Future of Muggles has never worked outside of their given space since the end of the war with Grindewald. Is the Pit really a fair place for muggles to...

Riddle saw Sofia reading and put away the newspaper, then put his head back and went to sleep.

The train pulled up to the station and came to a stop. They arrived at Hogwarts. Sofia wondered if most students had stayed at school as the train was half empty. Sofia trailed behind, dragging the wheeled luggage, wondering what the Pit was.

"Come on," Riddle said.

Sofia snapped out of her small trance and hurried after Riddle who got into the first carriage. She struggled with the luggage, pulling it up next to them.

An even bigger surprise awaited them at the gates. An angry crowd of wizards and witches shouted and cursed.

Sofia looked out the window, wondering what all the commotion was about.

"Go back home, you filthy mudblood traitor!" A witch spit right in Sofia's face. She jerked back as if scalded, wiping at the foreign saliva.

The crowd seemed to become even more riled up as they began pounding at the carriages, trying to push them over.

Riddle moved past Sofia and stepped outside causing the crowd to take a step back.

"Are we going to have a problem?" He shouted at them.

They all seemed angry but terrified of Riddle even more as they began to back away.

"Unless you'd like a one way trip to the Pit." Riddle finished with a smirk.

The crowd quieted down and backed away even farther as others apparated out of sight.

What in the world had that been about? Since when did Hogwarts have witch and wizard protesters?

Keeping her questions to herself and her head down, she followed Riddle inside.

"Leave it at the door," Riddle said.

She left the luggage as instructed and followed Riddle into the Great Hall. She looked around, taking in a very different Hogwarts than the one she remembered.

At least 75% of the students were missing. The familiar flags of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw were gone. The four animals now shared one flag, one animal in each corner with a border around it. The flag had lifeless colors of black and gray. On one side read Hogwarts in reflective grey letters. On the other side read pure-blood, leaving a sick feeling in the pit of Sofia's stomach.

Several students sat scattered around while some stood against the walls to the side. Sofia started to sit down when Riddle caught her eye and shook his head in a firm no. She sighed and stood back up against the wall. Riddle sat upfront with the other professors.

Don't tell me Riddle teaches magic here, Sofia thought.

Professor Dumbledore should be here. She looked at the various teachers, though some seemed to be missing. None of them looked familiar. Dumbledore must be late or busy?

After a few minutes, Riddle stood up and went to the podium. The room went instantly quiet.

"I hope everyone had an eventful Christmas break," Riddle said.

Sofia's mouth formed an O of surprise.

Wait, was Tom Riddle the Headmaster of Hogwarts?