Hello my little feathers! I have come back with another chapter in a long while!
How has 2021 been treating you all?
This chapter is a little shorter and mostly filler as we progress into the month of October. Everybody please welcome Tom's POV!
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Tom strode down the halls of the castle, his perfectly shined shoes noiseless as the moonlight streaming from the windows cast an imposing shadow of his profile upon the walls he passed. His eyes darted around reflexively, movement smooth purely due to being ingrained into muscle memory. He stopped at a fork, looking to the right and the left before choosing the latter, walking briskly along it.
He rarely had to think about his patrols now. He knew this castle like the back of his hand, creeping about it whenever he could, finding its secrets. But then again, it was a big castle and he was only fifteen. He had plenty of time to discover all that Hogwarts had to give.
However, his thoughts hadn't moved to his goal. They had instead gone the other way as they seemed to do a whole lot nowadays. Tom wasn't happy about it.
Lately, his mind had taken to thinking about one person, as if that was more important than deciphering what he really needed to succeed in his plans.
Rose Revel.
An acrid taste glazed his tongue at the bare mention of her. It coated thick in his throat and he had to swallow to contain the irritation that rose up in him.
She was becoming an increasingly familiar and annoying presence at Hogwarts, and especially bothersome if she continued to plague him like this.
He remembered meeting her, setting his eyes on her in Cole's office. He had been confused admittedly. He had been summoned and he never got called anymore for anything. His hold on his magic was superb and even when he did do magic, he made sure to cover his tracks well – no muggle or wizard would be able to detect a whiff of it.
But he had walked down, looking at the girl with hidden disdain.
A normal, average girl of fifteen...what could be so important that he had to be called for this?
It was then that his eyes had landed on the older wizard next to her and his back had stiffened. Earlier disdain faded into anger but he was careful not to glare. No point in making anyone else aware of the frostiness between himself and the man who had taken him to school. He was sure nobody would bother, but in these times, he couldn't risk people asking questions.
If he was here, then the girl would have to be a witch...
And he was right...
Dumbledore had personally taken him out to have a conversation about Rose Revel. Her story seemed straightforward enough; parents killed in the war, an orphan who now needed to come to Hogwarts to complete her education.
He hadn't understood why she needed to be homeschooled. He was bound to think of many reasons, but perhaps the simplest was the truth.
Her parents might have been the kind who thought their precious snowflake was the most special thing to walk the earth and couldn't bear to part from her. He snorted from sheer disgust.
Of course, she had surprised him.
For one, she was afraid of him. She curled up and her eyes darted around when he was around, almost as if she looked for places to hide. Her hand withdrew into her pockets when he drew closer, and he had a shrewd suspicion she grasped her wand.
It would've been amusing, this fear of hers, this aversion. It did trouble him, though, considering he would've liked to inculcate her within his ranks.
She was powerful, no doubt. Her magic crackled and thrummed around her, boundaries thick whenever he tried to breach into her mind. She would've made a powerful ally. Her addition to the Knights would only strengthen them, strengthen him.
He had tried, he wouldn't lie. He had tried to act pleasant, seem friendly to the lone girl, and lure her to think he was a friend she could rely upon, if only to coax her into his circle.
That had faded, once he saw how easy she found it to mesh with the muggle scum living in the orphanage.
She was half-blooded, yes, and may have had a lot of interaction with muggles during her hiding, but something about the way Whaley and Stubbs carted her around and she willingly went along said a lot about her respect for magical blood. He couldn't find any use for that within his Knights. He had wondered again, idly, if he could sway her.
But then they arrived at Hogwarts...
And she changed. Perhaps it was the castle, and the presence of a large number of witches and wizards but she no longer seemed cooped up within herself. Instead, she was now brash, sarcastic and much too sure of herself. Some of it may have been earned; he had seen her do wand less magic when she thought nobody was looking. A summoning here, a little incantation there, she was the only fifteen year old besides himself who could do that. And he had been devotedly practicing since he was thirteen.
He might have chanced to be impressed, if not for the bitter annoyances she caused him. Made to sit next to her, he could see she was still skittish around him, but she now was too confident to let it stop her.
She bit out spite, sassed him at any given point, and had started appearing places she shouldn't be. Even if it was the library, she was definitely not browsing while she chanced upon him. The image of her dumbstruck face at being told she was holding a love magic book made him smirk just so.
And she had been standing in front of the kitchens...
While she may have truly been lost, her steely glare when told to leave made him resist giving her any leeway.
He couldn't bring himself to stand the needless over confidence she oozed, the careful prancing around him. She treated him as if she was his equal and she had no business entertaining that thought at all.
She was almost like one of the wily Gryffindor that dotted the school campus, walking around with Lila Macmillan, Fawley and Black, crowing too loud.
Tom stopped in front of a large window, overlooking the grassy lands and part of the woods and Forbidden Forest.
But even through the façade of it all...there was something...something not quite right.
Part of it was her ever-changing personality, quiet and observant one time and rude and inappropriate the next; shying away from him, but then leaning near him as if his proximity didn't bother her at all.
Her association with Dumbledore – his eyes narrowed – was the next. He had taken guardianship of the girl, after all. He would've thought that keeping his ward away from him would be the first thing he would do. But it didn't seem like they talked of him...
She was troublesome; to be thinking about her for this long wasn't going to get him any results.
He wanted answers. He would need to act, but in such a way that Rose Revel would never be the wiser for it.
He glanced one last time through the glass, catching a glimpse of the star strewn night sky before turning on his heel and walking down the corridor again, his robes swishing around his legs before he disappeared into the darkness, a single wand light the only hint that he was there.
The next day, he sought out a Slytherin.
It wasn't too late. Most of the house had already gone down to supper, including Revel and her group. He'd caught her with a handkerchief, whining about soup and wrinkled his nose.
The boy he wanted was sprawled out in one of the squashy couches, leg thrown over an arm as he chatted with Avery.
"Malfoy,"
His voice was enough to have the silver-blond boy sit up, turning to face him while Avery straightened in his seat.
Tom sat in the armchair, casting one look at Avery, who took the hint. He nodded his head at Tom, getting to his feet and heading out the stone opening. They heard the snake doors close after him, leaving them alone.
"Did you need something, Riddle?" Abraxas asked immediately.
Tom considered the boy in front of him. Normally, he wouldn't rely on anyone to carry anything that he thought was personally important to him, but he couldn't risk being the one caught asking questions. There were rumors already that he didn't want to fan and he couldn't risk word getting back to Dumbledore.
Abraxas would have to do...and he better do a good job.
"I want some information, Abraxas; something that I cannot go look for myself. Do you think you're capable enough for the job?"
Malfoy hesitated, natural ego and his fear of Tom clashing. "Yes, I am." He said finally, a little defensively.
"Good," Tom didn't push it. "I want you to find out everything you can about Roselle Revel."
There was a pause.
"Roselle Revel...? Why do you want to know about her? She's just a half-blood and not really interesting. Weren't you in the same orphanage?"
"The 'why' is not important for you; you're only to find out information on her. Only you, am I clear? Surely you remember our conversation in Diagon Alley?" Tom's eyes hardened at the mention of the orphanage.
Malfoy nodded slowly, unsurely.
Tom leaned back, looking into the fire as a sign of dismissal and after a few moments, Abraxas got to his feet, eyes still puzzled and not very happy on him.
"Abraxas," Tom called him back as he made to follow Avery.
He turned.
"Be subtle about it. And don't get caught, least of all, by Revel herself."
***
And there goes Malfoy!
Please let me know if you like Tom's POV and if I should show more of those in the future!
Until next time!