Even days after the incident, students and teachers were none the wiser concerning the origins of the lethal attack on the Womble girl. Seraya and Tom had discussed beforehand to leave out all mentions of Slytherin's heir or the Chamber of Secrets, seeing as Dumbledore would immediately trace the attacks back to Tom. He was already annoyingly suspicious.
The body had been sent directly to the parents in order for them to prepare a proper burial for their daughter. Timothy had been all over the place once the matron had released him from the hospital wing and he had caught up with what had happened in the ancient castle.
Obviously new rules for the students' and staff's security were enacted. Headmaster Dippet had appointed groups of teachers, ghosts and prefects to patrol the halls after hours and between classes. Tom found it ironically amusing that they were sending him of all people to watch out for the unidentified threat.
Once again aurors had been sent by the Ministry of Magic to investigate the horrible incidents at the school. Since a basilisk's glare left no visible or magical trace on the corpse, no one was able to sort out the cause of death, not even Dumbledore. The old wizard seemed rather restless since the sudden death of the mudblood, Seraya had allowed herself another peek at the professor's mind and thoughts.
Compared to the last time, his mind seemed especially disorganized, sudden memories or presumptions would surface and then fade away. More than once, she could make out Tom's face. Apparently, the old man automatically laid a connection between Tom Riddle and any bad occurrence. Quite prejudiced, really.
Most of the thoughts in the swirl of Dumbledore's mind weren't overly exciting but what stood out was the image of what seemed to be a milky glass ball about the size of an apple. A little tag was wrapped around the little stand it was placed on. 77 was written in cursive letters. When Seraya pulled out of the teacher's mind she frowned. She knew what that object was; a prophecy globe holding the prediction a seer had made about the imminent future. How very curious. Every cell in her body was itching to know what the old man had heard. Why was the memory of a prophecy connected to his memories of Tom Riddle?
- - - - -
The both of them were once again sat in Slytherin's study. Tom had just gotten back from patrolling the deserted and dark corridors with the female Slytherin prefect and Seraya had snuck past the girls in her dormitory to head for the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets that was closest to the Ravenclaw tower.
"Tom?", the boy looked up once she mentioned his name. He looked tired yet accomplished and proud. "I think we should break into the Department of Mysteries," Seraya continued and watched as the boy's facial features grew into a deep frown. Logically the young witch was well aware that breaking into the Ministry of Magic would be highly risky and a very delicate affair but something inside of her was nagging at her to go there; as though something was there, waiting for the both of them to discover it.
Seraya could only assume it had to do with the prophecy she had seen in Albus Dumbledore's brilliant mind. "And why, pray tell, do you want us to break into the Ministry? Do you want to get caught?", Tom sounded utterly confused, understandably. "If we proceed with caution and a good plan, we won't get caught. I know it is sudden and equally risky but my gut is telling me that in order for us to succeed that is where we should go. I believe, no I am fairly certain, that they are storing a prophecy concerning you in the Hall of Prophecies," she admitted, watching the sudden change in Tom's demeanor.
He sat up straight looking both intrigued and slightly worried. "A prophecy about me? That is indeed quite interesting. I assume you got your information from a reliable source." Seraya nodded and Tom continued: "Prophecies can only be retrieved by those whom they are about which is why you need me to accompany you to the Ministry, am I right?"
Again, the young witch gave a nonverbal agreement. Tom hummed deep in thought and Seraya figured it was time for her to elaborate her plan. "Getting us to the Ministry of Magic won't pose any problem, getting to the Department of Mysteries however might be a bit tricky. Going during daytime would be extremely difficult with all the people running around uncontrollably but even at night they have Unspeakables guarding the Hall of Prophecies."
"How many?", Tom asked now totally in his zone. It was easy to tell that using his genius and fair amount of criminal energy to plan illegal endeavors was his forte. Seraya briefly thought back to all the books she had read on the British wizarding community and especially the British Ministry of Magic prior to coming to Hogwarts.
"Five from 7am to 10pm after that only three, I believe. In any case with the two of us, we might be able to silence them for a while. As for the trickier part of actually sneaking into the Ministry, I believe our best option to be Polyjuice Potion. I told you that I was planning on brewing some anyway, might as well increase the portion."
"Lestrange's father works for the Ministry; Claudius might know of two employees we could potentially turn into. I shall ask him once I get back. When were you planning on infiltrating the Ministry?" Seraya knew that it would be to their advantage that Tom had many influential connections. It would surely be no difficulty for the Lestrange heir to find two suitable ministry workers.
"I haven't set a specific date for our endeavor. Obviously, it will take us at least another month until the Potion is ready so I guess sometime in March should be realistic. Personally, I believe once the plan is set up and everything is dealt with, we should waste no time", the young witch said and Tom Riddle nodded in agreement. There was a silence, both brilliant students thinking about what was yet to come with the tingle of excitement, curiosity and slight anxiety.
Should things go very wrong and they got discovered in the Ministry of Magic many miles away from Hogwarts, both would have to face immediate expulsion from the school as well as an inquiry before the Wizengamot and its head, Albus Dumbledore. Seraya had to make sure that they had an air-tight plan before indulging in their adventure, the consequences of failure were too dire.
[Obviously I do not have a schedule that I update this story by. I'm honestly very surprised at how well this story is doing considering I ony update once in a blue moon. I also want to thank those of you who have been leaving friendly comments, asking for me to update. It gives me the motivation to not completely abandon this work. I hope you are all holding up well under given circumstances.]
VOUS LISEZ
Madness- T.M.R.
Fanfiction"There is no good and evil, only power and those too weak to seek it." "You're wrong, there is only madness and those too scared to admit it."
