“And that’s it? Dumbledore just up and left?”
“Yeah,” Tom whispered to Max. They hid in the back of the library pretending to browse the stacks.
“What about Gordy and them?”
“Don’t know. I guess nothing happened to them.”
“What,” Max said louder than he should have, “That’s a load of--"
Tom shushed him. “Like I said, I don’t know. Maybe he did talk to them or something. Dumbledore does things weird.”
“Don’t I know it...man, it’s like he’s got eyes everywhere.”
“I know it,” Tom pulled a random book from the shelf and opened it to a random page. Scanning it he said, “He creeps me out.”
“Who?” Max suddenly looked puzzled.
Tom closed the book and slapped Max across the arm with it. “Dumbledore, genius. At least try to keep up with the conversation.”
Max smiled, “You’re a jerk, Tom.”
“I know. It’s my...vocation,” Tom grinned as he savored the sound of the last word.
“Vocation? You sound like you’re applying for a Ministry job.”
“I’m preparing…to become royalty. Man, I going to be dubbed Grand Marquise,” Tom paused as he thought of a clever name. Giving up he said, “Moldedshorts.”
Max covered his mouth and held his laughter in. “Man, where do you get this stuff?”
“I’m just too smart; too smart and handsome.”
After dinner, Tom hurried back to his dormitory and dropped to his knees in front of his footlocker. Glancing back at the door with an almost playful grin, Tom took the key from his pocket. Unlocking and lifting the lid, Tom took out a black bag. Shooting another look at the door, he slid a piece of parchment, a journal, a quill and some ink from the footlocker into his bag. He slammed the lid down, locked it up and crammed the key into his pocket. He tucked the bag under his arm and checked to make sure he dropped nothing.
He ran through the common room and barged through a group of first years as they were entering. He darted down a flight of stairs, taking the last 5 steps in one leap. Stumbling slightly at the bottom, Tom checked to make sure he hadn’t drawn any attention. Certain he was alone and unheard, he ducked under the stairs. Just enough light fell under the stairs to let him see. He nestled himself into the corner where the slant of the stairs butted up against the wall and took out his quill, ink and parchment. He began to write: Hey pop, I bet you never thought you’d hear from me.
He set down his quill and cleared the ink away with his wand. Taking the quill up again he wrote: Dear dad,
Again he cleared the parchment. He scratched his head and put the quill to the paper again.
Tom Riddle, I’m very nervous about writing to you. I don’t know how to say what I want to say. My name is Tom Riddle too. I’m named after my father. I’m in my seventh year of school and I’m head boy. I’m pretty popular. Not saying everyone’s my friend, but some people just don’t know what they’re missing, right? There’s so many thing sI want to tell you that I could write pages. So, maybe I should close before I go overboard.
Can’t wait to hear back from you,
Tom
Tom folded the letter and put it in his bag. He opened his journal and ran a hand over the smooth, blank page.
Tom felt no need to sneak around Hogwarts during the night. He left the owlry and proceeded back to his dormitory doing nothing to hide his presence. A crash coming from another hallway gave him a start. He charged in the direction of the sound. Rounding a corner, he found the broad backside of a bent over student directly in front of him. The student had knocked over a suit of armor and was trying to gather it up. Tom spoke firmly, “Hagrid.”
Hagrid whirled around to face Tom. “Oh…hello, Tom,” Hagrid said, “I was just…picking up…”
“You only need to explain why you’re out of your dormitory.”
“Well, I…I’ve got a pet downstairs. I was just taking him a bit of food.”
“What kind of pet is this?”
“Just a spider. He’s harmless.”
Tom glanced at Hagrid’s bandaged fingers. He was about to ask how harmless the spider really was, but the sound of footsteps forced him to make a split second decision. Tom pointed to the direction he had come from, “Take those stairs to the owlry. I’ll come up for you.”
Hagrid bolted up the stairs, and Tom purposely fumbled with the armor. He let the pieces clank and fall as he tried to lift it. Filch snuck up behind him with the grace of a large, snorting animal. “Riddle! What do you think you’re doing? Vandalizing school property…”
Tom continued to fumble with the armor, “Oh, man, good thing you came. I don’t know who they were. I yelled at them, but they took off.”
“They?”
“Yeah. Uh, two of them. Both guys…they went running that way,” Tom gestured with his head, “I couldn’t tell what house they belonged to.”
“That way?”
“Yeah, you want me to go with you?” Tom asked as he let a piece of armor slip from his arms and crash on the floor.
“No,” Filch commanded, “You do what you’re doing.”
Once Filch was out of sight, Tom let the armor fall to the floor. Taking out his wand, he levitated it into place. Tucking his wand into his back pocket, he went back to the owlry to collect Hagrid.