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𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖉𝖆𝖞
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20 October 1942
Elena rolled up her parchments, putting them into her bag and going over the recipe in her mind. Her and Rin, over the past month had devised a potion that could hypothetically reverse Orion's Wilting Potion's effects. Today, they were going to test this potion with Slughorn and Orion. She was fairly confident that her and Rin had succeeded, however she did not trust herself enough to brew the potion correctly. The past month had also brought with it sleepless nights, where every two days she would find herself back in the cave and after that unable to sleep. She saw the effects in the mirror, her face had gotten paler and she had lost a lot of weight.
Tom had mostly stayed away from her, their only interaction was for group assignments. She was still wary of his sudden change in interest for her, seemingly abandoning his curiosities after the night in the Forbidden Forest. Elena's shock upon seeing him in Slughorn's office was therefore, only justified. He stood in a corner, brows knit and eyes on Rin. He was breathing slowly and there was a certain darkness surrounding him.
Elena rushed over to Orion, who was getting the ingredients ready. "What is he doing here?"
"Apparently he has a proposition as well. We are going to try both of your potions," said Orion. "Don't worry, I don't think his is going to work."
Tom still hadn't looked at Elena, it seemed he was purposefully avoiding her. She walked over to Rin and gave him the parchments. "I wrote all the instructions out last night. Use these, they look neater."
"Thank you," he took the parchments. "Are you okay? You look tired." He held her arm, looking in her eyes. "You're freezing too." He took off his sweater handing it to Elena. "Here, wear this."
"Thank you," Elena gave him a small smile and put on the navy sweater. She couldn't deny that over the past month they had gotten closer. Close enough that she could no longer be mad at Orion when she made joking remarks about the two of them. "Can I count on you to brew the potion?"
"Of course," he knit his brows. "Is there something wrong? You know you can talk to me."
"I know. Let's get today over with, I will tell you later." Elena wasn't lying, she wanted to tell someone. Sharing the pain could help dilute it. She knew that Rin wouldn't judge her upon hearing the name Grindelwald. Although he was careful not to go into those subjects when he was with her, she knew he still went to the rallies with his friends.
"Oh you're all here! How wonderful!" Slughorn came in carrying two cauldrons. His eyes lingered on Elena, "Mortem, dear, I do think green looks better on you." He laughed at his own remark and continued, "Malfoy, are the ingredients ready?"
"Yes, sir." Orion took the cauldrons from his hands and put them on the stations she had prepared for Tom and Rin.
"Wonderful, wonderful!" Slughorn clapped his hands. "I have inspected your drafts and am so excited to see if they will work! Let's begin, Elena, Tom my boy."
"Sir, Rin will be making the potion in my place. We worked on it together," Elena said, finally causing Tom to look at her perplexed. She quickly looked away, taking a step back and letting Rin get ready.
"Alright." Slughorn seemed to be underwhelmed, hopefully the potion would fix that.
Elena brought two chairs for her and Orion, and they sat down watching the two boys get to work. Orion occasionally made comments about how bad Rin's stirring technique was, which made Elena upset but she didn't let it show. In fact, she was focused on what Tom was doing. The first few steps were what they had come up with together but the rest was a surprise even to Orion. After an hour, both potions were ready.
Orion brought two spiders that were dipped in her original potion, giving them to Slughorn. He put them in the potions, waiting a few seconds before taking them out. Elena watched as their spider's leg grew back the muscles and tissue that were rotten. She couldn't help but smile. A quick look over at Tom's spider showed a different picture. The spider's leg was now silver, functioning like it had been. She looked to Orion surprised.
"I see you have both succeeded in repairing the leg," Slughorn said inspecting the spiders. "But I have to say Elena's is what I would consider the counterpart to Malfoy's potion."
"I, too, agree," said Tom. "My aim was not to give it a new leg, but to make sure that Malfoy's potion would not affect it ever again." He took the spider from Slughorn's hand and walked over to Orion's cauldron. The spider wasn't affected even after minutes in the potion.
"Interesting," Slughorn said intrigued. "I think you have both succeeded this assignment. Good job."
Elena turned to Rin and smiled, but he was looking elsewhere. His gaze was focused on Tom, who was also staring at Rin. Elena grabbed his arm, breaking their eye contact. "Come on, let's go celebrate."
•❅────✧❅✦❅✧────❅•
"You were amazing," Elena said as they sat down at Three Broomsticks. Rin seemed preoccupied but he soon returned to reality, smiling at the girl.
"We were amazing," he ordered their butterbeers.
"I bet Slughorn will want you in the Slug Club now," Elena said. "He wouldn't want to miss someone like you."
"I don't even think he knows my name, and I couldn't possibly compete with Riddle in his eyes."
"Well, you just did. And if it were up to me I'd say you won."
"What is his deal?" Rin seemed much more serious now. "I know he is from the orphanage, I heard the stories about him. Is he bothering you?"
"No, no." Well, Tom Riddle was a bother to her, but not one that she would need Rin's help to get over. "Him and I don't get on too well, that's all."
"I see," he paused, contemplating his next few words. "I know we are here celebrating but are you going to tell me about what's bothering you?"
Elena sighed, she felt a trust she couldn't explain to Rin, and if she was going to talk about Grindelwald to anyone it was him. "The thing is... I've been having nightmares."
"Nightmares?"
"Yes. Almost every night." She took a deep breath. "More like memories resurfacing. It's what happened in 1934." She felt her eyes tear up, but she held her composure. Rin reached for her hand from across the table, squeezing it two times. "Some friends from the orphanage and I had gone exploring into a cave," she wasn't going to mention Tom's involvement, Rin didn't need to know that. "Then... Then he came..."
A voice from the shadows whispered Elena's name. She wasn't the only one who had heard it, Tom and Dennis were looking into the shadows as well. "Elena Mortem. How nice to finally meet you in person," a deep voice echoed in the cave.
"Who are you?" Elena managed to ask, her voice shaking.
A tall man with blond hair and blue eyes walked out of the shadows, his face being lit up by the fire Tom had created. He took a stick out of his coat and pointed it at Dennis who was shaking with fear. "Crucio!" A string of red light came out of his wand and hit Dennis. He fell to the ground screaming in pain, his body tensing up in an instant.
Elena ran to the boy, "What did you do to him? What do you want?"
"I am just trying to make sure I'm not betting on the wrong horse. If you are really who I think you are you will erase their memories of what I've done." He turned to Tom, "You. If she can't do it in twenty seconds I want you to go bring the caretaker of the orphanage and tell him Elena brought you here and tried to harm you."
Elena took a deep breath, scared to look at Rin's face. He squeezed her hand with his, lifting her face up with the other. He didn't look shocked or disgusted, in fact he looked quite fascinated. "Did you do it?"
"Yes," said Elena. "Those muggles have no memory of what happened." She had stopped Tom from leaving the cave, and Grindelwald had left shortly after. Dennis and Amy knew of what Tom had done, but nothing else. "In my nightmares, I am back in that cave. I wake up in the middle of the night and I can't go back to sleep."
"I'm so sorry Elena," said Rin. "Why don't you ask Dumbledore for help? He trusts you." He took a deep breath, "The truth is I went to him to ask about you. I thought you were the one who had killed that man at the orphanage." Elena stayed silent. "He told me it couldn't have been you, that he would trust you no matter what. I think you can return that trust."
"I can't tell him about Grindelwald."
"Don't. Tell him about the nightmares. Let him help you."
And so Elena found herself in the Transfiguration classroom after returning from Hogsmeade. Dumbledore was aware that something was wrong, but he sat silently waiting for the girl to start. Elena talked about her nightmares and how real they felt.
"Are you sure they are dreams? If they feel real they could be memories." Dumbledore said afterwards.
"I'm not sure, Professor. What would be the reason such memories resurface?"
"I don't know yet," he sighed, "I will prepare a potion that will help you sleep without any dreams. Then we can assess the situation easier."
"Thank you sir." Elena got up to leave, feeling better about the situation.
"Elena," Dumbledore called out after her. "Is that all? Is there anything else you wish to tell me?"
"No sir. That's all."
•❅────✧❅✦❅✧────❅•
Elena decided she would spend the night in the common room until she could get the potion from Dumbledore. She had so much homework she had put off while working on Slughorn's potion assignment that the whole night could barely be enough time. It was nearing midnight and she was the only person left in the common room, apart from Tom Riddle.
"Are you going to stare at me the whole night?" Elena asked, having difficulty focusing on her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework.
"You're making a mistake."
"What do you want?" Elena turned to him. "I'm so tired, I can't deal with you right now."
"Why do you hate me so much?" Tom's voice didn't carry an ounce of sadness, it was manipulative, like he wanted to say something else.
"I don't hate you," Elena said. "But you make it difficult to like you when you try to trick me into using my powers."
"I needed to see for myself what you were capable of." Tom was now closer to her, his face lit by the fireplace behind Elena. "You trust that boy too much."
Elena scoffed, "I am not going to ask permission from you on who I trust. Now, if there isn't anything else, I really need to get this done." She pointed to the pile of books in front of her.
"I will tell you on Halloween," said Tom. "I assume you're going with that Ravenclaw."
"That is none of your business." Elena couldn't tell if he was annoyed or just teasing her.
"Either way, you're going to end the night with me. Good night, Mortem."