Tonight is our first Defense club competition. I’m nervous about entering it, but Sophie and Marcella assure me that I could “hex the robe off of any opponent.”
---
“Welcome students to Hogwarts’ first ever Defense club competition!” Professor Williams announced jovially as the students waited anxiously in the Great Hall. “I posted the list of everyone who will be competing and their opponents on the door to the exit of the Great Hall.”
The students made their way over to the door to see who their competitors would be. Being relatively on the small side, Miriam was able to squeeze her way to the front to view the list.
1. Miriam Riddle, Gryffindor vs. Estella Tikhonov, Hufflepuff
2. Emily Chang, Ravenclaw vs. Abigail Bones, Gryffindor
3. Minerva McGonagall, Gryffindor vs. Samantha Graystone, Hufflepuff
4. Eva Lovegood, Ravenclaw vs. Frederica Parkinson, Slytherin
5. Naomi Gregory, Slytherin vs. Hannah Evans, Gryffindor
6. Georgina Adams, Hufflepuff vs. Libby Macnair, Slytherin
“Aw, crap, they wrote me down as Abigail... I hate being called by that name!”
“You’re worried about a name? I’ve got to compete against Frederica Parkinson! I hear she cheats!”
“At least you didn’t get Libby! She’s worse!”
Miriam gazed at the list; most of the other girls didn’t like who their opponents were. Looking down further the list of names, she spotted her brother.
1. Daniel Boot, Ravenclaw vs. Carrey Malfoy, Slytherin
2. Peter Longbottom, Gryffindor, vs. James Rookwood, Hufflepuff
3. Carl Potter, Gryffindor vs. Stephane Lestrange, Slytherin
4. Murdoch Black, Slytherin vs. Patrick Jones, Ravenclaw
5. Tom Riddle, Slytherin vs. Henry Diggory, Hufflepuff
Tom is going to be dueling Henry! A weird feeling came over her. They wouldn’t be practicing simple disarming spells this time; they would be outright dueling one another. A heavy, acidic feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, which gave a weird.
“All right, class,” Professor Williams announced, “now that you’ve seen the list, let’s get this competition going!”
Pointing toward Miriam and Estella, he motioned for them to join him on the platform. After giving them a brief once-over on the rules, Williams began the duel. “On the count of three... one... two... three!” Miriam and Estella bowed then raised their wands....
“Expelliarmus!” Estella shouted. The spell nearly hit Miriam, but she was able to move out of its way just in time.
“Petrificus Totalus!” she yelled.
“Protectorius!”
The spell Miriam sent toward Estella ricocheted off her shield and shot off toward the ceiling.
Well, someone has certainly been practicing since last time, she thought bitterly.
“Tarantallegra!”
“Protectorius!” Miriam shouted.
So, that’s how it’s going to be....
As Estella opened her mouth to shout out her next spell at Miriam, Miriam had her wand pointed directly at Estella and yelled, “Stupefy!” Estella completely froze over as Miriam prepared to disarm her. “Expelliarmus!”
Estella’s wand flew out of her frozen hand amid applause from the crowd watching attentively.
“First-rate, Miriam! Congratulations!” Professor Williams congratulated. She jumped off the platform while Professor Williams unfroze Estella with a flick of his wand.
The other Gryffindors (Abby, Minerva, Hannah, Peter, and Carl) welcomed Miriam back with high-fives and slaps on the back.
“Way to go, Miriam!”
“That was excellent!”
“Thanks!” she grinned, her cheeks beginning to feel flushed.
“Well, well, well... what do we have here?” a cocky voice remarked.
Miriam looked throughout the crowd to see who was talking. A girl with blond-ish brown hair made her way forward, wearing a hard and bitter look in her brown eyes and a spiteful grin on her face. “Where’d you learn to duel like that?”
Miriam was a bit taken aback. “Uh, just practiced, I guess.”
“Oh. Well... I much look forward to dueling against you, if we ever get the chance, since I happen to be an outstanding dueler. I practice all the time at home.”
“G - good for you then,” Miriam replied as she turned to the other Gryffindors and raised her eyebrows as if trying to say this girl was completely insane.
“So, are you going to stay and watch Tom duel Henry?” Minerva asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied truthfully. “I don’t know if I can watch it.”
“Who are you rooting for?” Peter asked.
Miriam thought about this for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t know. I want Tom to win, but I also want Henry to win.”
“Well, there’s only one way to settle this then,” Carl announced. “Rock... paper... scissors.”
“Oh, not that lame ol’ Muggle game,” Abby retorted, rolling her eyes and shaking her head in disbelief.
“All right Miriam, do you know how to play it?” Carl asked, completely ignoring Abby. Miriam shook her head no; she had never even heard of it before.
“The object of the game is simple. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beats paper. The hand movements for it look like this. This is rock,” he said with his hand in a fist. “This is paper,” his hand now unclenched and flat as if he were going to shake hands with someone. “And this is scissors.” He clenched up his hand again, but released his pointer and middle finger. “See,” he said, “scissors.”
“How exactly is this supposed to help me?” Miriam questioned, dubious of such a thing, yet enthralled by it all the same.
“Simple,” Carl replied. “If you win, you’ll root for Henry. If I win, you’ll root for Tom to win the duel. So, are you ready?”
“I - I guess...”
“One... two... three!”
Miriam and Carl went along with the game, but they both wound up picking paper.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“We do it again,” he answered. “One... two... three!”
Miriam elected to go with scissors this time, and luckily she did as Carl had stuck with paper.
“I win!” she exclaimed.
“So you’re gonna root for Henry?” he asked.
“I... suppose,” she stammered. “But couldn’t I... you know, root for Tom as well?”
Carl suddenly looked aghast. “You want to root for a Slytherin?” He noticed Miriam’s confused look and added, “I was joking. If you want to root for Tom as well, go ahead.”
~*~
An hour had passed, and finally it was time for Tom to duel Henry. Miriam, Abby, Carl, Minerva, Hannah, and Peter were sitting along the back of the Great Hall watching the competition. Miriam’s stomach was doing somersaults....
Professor Williams gestured for Tom and Henry to join him up on the platform.
“You both know the rules. On the count of three... one... two... three!”
As Tom and Henry bowed and raised their wands, an anxious Miriam couldn’t help but watch the duel.
“Petrificus totalus!” Tom shouted, and Henry became completely motionless, bound together by invisible ropes as Tom shouted, “Expelliliarmus!”, sending Henry’s wand out of his hand
“My word, that was the fastest duel I’ve ever seen!” proclaimed Professor Williams, wide-eyed with surprise. “Many congratulations to you, Mr. Riddle!” Tom merely nodded his head nonchalantly as the Slytherins all whooped and hollered in excitement. In the back of the crowd, the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were completed flabbergasted.
“How... how long did that take?” Abby inquired quietly to Carl, whose eyes looked like two large Galleons.
Carl glanced down at his watch and replied, “Uh... five seconds... tops.”
“Mother of mercy...,” Abby muttered, turning to face the platform once again.
Miriam wasn’t sure what to say, though she was just as much stunned as the rest of them.
~*~
Later that night, once the competition was over and everyone was headed back to their respective common rooms, Miriam was still mulling over Tom’s incredibly quick victory over Henry. It was quite a feat, she had to admit. But poor Henry. Professor Williams had to perform magic to release him from the spell. Yet what was more, as soon as Professor Williams had freed him, Henry immediately began looking for Miriam.
When he found her at the back of the Great Hall, he wore a highly embarrassed look on his face, and a rosy crimson color slowly colored his pale cheeks. Miriam merely grinned at him, and his flustered appearance reluctantly faded from his face.
“May I walk you back to your common room?” he enquired.
It was Miriam’s turn to fluster brightly now. “Sure,” she squeaked. Henry held out his hand and together they walked out of the Great Hall.
“I guess we should go, too,” Carl said, yawning.
“Yeah,” Peter agreed. “I’m beat.”
“Let’s... uh, wait a moment,” Abby smiled, watching as Henry and Miriam left the Great Hall.
“Why?” Peter asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Can’t you see?” Minerva sighed dreamily.
“See what?” Carl demanded.
“We’re giving them a little time to be alone,” Hannah sighed. “Isn’t it really romantic?” Hannah, Minerva, and Abby sighed in unison.
“I think I’m gonna retch,” Carl muttered to Peter, who had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.
Miriam and Henry enjoyed their little walk to the Gryffindor common room, though Miriam had to help direct him there as he didn't know where it was.
“I... I guess I should be leaving now,” Henry said, once they stopped in front of the picture of the large lady in the pink dress.
“Thank you for walking me back to the common room,” Miriam replied, her face turning red again.
“It was all my pleasure, milady,” he said. In the blink of an eye, Henry leaned in closer to Miriam and kissed her on the lips.
She had never experienced anything like it. A weird, but pleasant sensation passed through her, and she felt like she was floating on air.
When he pulled back a moment later, Miriam looked into his endearing eyes when suddenly.... “Just wait till Tom hears about this!”
Henry and Miriam looked to see who had caught them: Stephane Lestrange. He had a look on his face that said he absolutely couldn’t wait to share this juicy bit of gossip with everyone in the whole of Slytherin house.
“Stephane! What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I’m allowed to roam the castle. It’s a free country. Besides, I’m Head Boy, in case you didn’t know. I have a right to be out late, unlike you two.”
”Look,” Miriam answered as nicely as she could muster at the moment, “please don’t...”
“Don’t what?” he asked mischievously. “Don’t ruin this little interesting tidbit, you mean? Aw, bloody hell, Miriam.” He shook his head in disbelief and walked off. Yet there was something in his walk, a stride, that signaled to her that by tomorrow, the whole school would know about her kissing Henry.
“I’m really sorry about that,” Henry apologized, blushing once more. It was a match on who was blushing more, he or Miriam.
“No, no, it’s all right. Really.” She tried to muster a smile, though her face was burning hotly. Henry smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he left.
If it were possible to never wash this cheek again, I would.
Feeling happy again, she passed through the portrait of the fat lady and was almost instantly met with a gruff voice.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s just me, Hagrid,” Miriam replied. “Why do you ask?” Loud thumps sounded as the giant first year student appeared. “I ‘ave ta go!” he muttered quickly running past her carrying and trying to conceal something in his arms.
February 16th, 1941,
As I expected, news of my kiss with Henry got out, thanks to Stephane himself. At breakfast today, I was met with a lot of whispers, pointing, and even some laughing.
I swear... I could kick Stephane right in the... as I was saying....
---
It was completely torturous that morning at breakfast. Miriam was nearly tempted to just skip the meal completely so she could get some peace before her classes began.
Hopefully, they’ll forget about it soon and the teasing will stop. But unfortunately, it didn’t. It carried over into classes, but the worst of it came during Potions class with Professor Panes.
“Is it true what the Slytherins were saying? You really kissed Henry?” Sophie whispered to Miriam, who was currently cutting up daisy roots for a potion they were required to make. Miriam squinched up her face and whispered back, “Yes.”
Marcella and Sophie looked at each other with excitement etched on their faces. “So... what was it like?”
“Fine. I really don’t wish to ““
Miriam looked up and saw Professor Panes glaring down at her.
“Miss Riddle, nobody cares what happens in your silly personal life, so keep whatever it is you’re going to say until after class. Ten points from Gryffindor for talking in class.”
This lead to heavy snickering from the Slytherins while Miriam wholeheartedly wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. Her face burned a lustrous scarlet color.
End... my... life... NOW!
As if the day couldn’t possibly get any worse, it did. During Herbology class, which the Gryffindors shared with the Hufflepuffs, Miriam tried to not look into any of the Hufflepuffs students’ faces, as she knew what they were going to ask her if she did. She had kissed one of their house-mates.
Her only moment of peace came when she headed to the library to get some school books. There was nobody in the library, so the place was completely hers.
As she meandered around grabbing the books she needed, she realized that she wasn’t as alone as she'd first thought. She spotted Tom at the far end of the library, hidden behind a stack of books, his face down inside an open one. She quietly walked over to him, ready to speak, when she realized he was sound asleep... and snoring semi loudly.
Silently sitting opposite him, she opened her books and began to read... or at least she tried to. Tom’s snoring proved to be too difficult to try and concentrate through. Sighing, she closed her books and looked at Tom. The corners off his mouth looked... shiny.
Leaning in for a closer look, she saw he was drooling.
Muffling a small giggle, she gently tried to move the book from under his head so it wouldn’t get ruined. Tom snorted, but he didn’t wake up as Miriam snatched the book from under his head. Holding it in her hand, she realized it wasn’t a library book; it was his journal. Temptation filled every inch of her. Questions lingered in her mind, such as if he were still having those ‘attacks’. Biting her lip, she debated whether she wanted to take a quick peak or not.
Oh, what the hell, I did it once before....
Opening the book, she came across his latest entry.
“February 16th, 1941,
Since the seventh, I hadn’t experienced anymore “attacks”... until today.
I know now for a fact that it is Grindelwald who’s been controlling me. He comes to me in my dreams at night, telling me to ‘release the monster and to rid the school of the un-pure.’
In these rather vivid dreams, he tells me that deep within the school is a chamber... a chamber of secrets that holds a monster, and it’s up to me cleanse the school.
Before I can get any more info out of him, I wake up.
I still haven’t told Miriam about any of this... I still think she’d probably reckon I was some kind of nut-job.
To top it off, apart from Grindelwald invading my dreams, I sometimes find myself being awakened from a dream by a blinding flash of green light. I’ve been having this nightmare on and off since we’ve been here at school.
I’ve never told Miriam about that either, she’s too busy snogging that retarded Diggory fellow.”
Shutting the book, she placed it beside her sleeping (and still drooling) brother. Picking up her books, she began to leave when a soft, muffled voice called out from behind her.
“Miriam?”
Turning around she saw Tom looking up at her groggily.
“What’s wrong, Tom?” she asked, shifting her books around in her arms.
“Nothin’,” he replied. “Hey, how long have I been asleep?”
“I... I don’t know,” she replied, walking back over and sitting down next to him.
“So... Henry... actually... kissed... you?" he asked, the sides of his mouth beginning to curve up into a small smirk. He stared at her for a moment then burst out laughing. Miriam felt deeply insulted.
"What's so funny about that?" she snapped.
"Henry kissed you?!" he said again, tears of laughter now streaming down his face.
"What's the big deal about it?"
"I'm surprised Henry even knew where his mouth was!"
"What in the name of Merlin are you talking about?" Miriam inquired, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Henry's not the brightest galleon in the bag," Tom quipped, rolling his eyes. “He’s a Dufferpuff.”
“How would you know he’s not smart? You hardly even know him. Besides, Henry’s not dumb, he’s smart... intelligent.”
“Whatever.”
“You know, Tom, you infuriate me sometimes!” Miriam yelled. With her books in her arms, she huffed out of the library, completely enraged at her idiotic brother.
March 18th, 1941,
Duel competition has been going well. I’ve won three more of my matches, as has Tom. If things keep progressing like this, we’ll be dueling each other by the end of the semester.
Speaking of Tom, he has been very secretive lately. Each night after dinner he, Carrey, Murdoch, and a few other Slytherins leave the Great Hall and head toward the dungeons. They can’t possibly be heading to bed this early....
...I sense something fishy abroad....
---
That evening, Miriam decided to follow closely behind them and try to see where they were going. Once the Great Hall had cleared of most of the students, she slipped into the door they just entered and traveled behind them to an empty classroom in the dungeons. Tom was the last to walk into the classroom, and he shut the door behind him. Yet the door didn’t catch and remained slightly ajar. Remaining hidden behind the door, she watched the events inside the classroom unfold.
“Hey, Tom, glad you could make it!” a voice called out. Miriam glanced inside and saw Stephane Lestrange looking down at Tom with an approving expression upon his face.
“This meeting of the Junior Knights of Walpurgis will now commence.”
“As you know,” he began, “the Knights suffered a horrible defeat last year when that oaf Dumbledore and his radicals fought against them. It’s up to us, the future Knights, to help carry on Grindelwald’s noble work and join him once we leave this school. But until then, we’re stuck here on the sidelines of this... this... Muggle-loving cesspool of putridness,” Stephane said airily, waving his hand as if he were shooing away an irksome fly.
“So, does anyone have any business they’d like to bring up?”
“I have something,” someone announced. Miriam knew at once that the voice speaking belonged to Carrey Malfoy. “I have our mark finished.”
“Great!” Stephane exclaimed. “Let’s see it, then!”
Peaking inside, she could make out Carrey proudly walking up to Stephane with a rolled-up paper under his arm. Stephane glanced at the paper and grinned. “This is great!”
Turning it around for everyone else in the room to see, Miriam was able to see the mark clearly. Stephane proudly showed them the image of an entwined snake and sword.
“Unfortunately, I only know a spell that would make the mark temporary,” Carrey admitted.
“What’s the spell?”
“It’s an old Russian spell that witches and wizards used to mark themselves,” Carrey explained, rolling up his robe sleeves. Holding out his left forearm, he continued, “It goes something like this... myetka!”
Pointing his wand at his arm, the wand emitted a dark ray of light as a shape began to form on his arm.
“Ta-da!” he announced proudly. The group huddled around Carrey’s newly tattooed arm, which bore the mark of the snake, sword, and the dagger.
“Amazing!”
“Smashing!”
“I want one!”
“All right everyone! Line up!” Stephane announced as Carrey began tattooing the arms of the eager crowd.
As Miriam watched the mark slowly brand itself on Tom’s arm, she felt a heavy ball rest in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t take watching this anymore, so she turned around to leave, leaving her brother to his little freak party.
Bad enough that most everyone in Slytherin is, in some form, supporting Grindelwald, but now they’ve gotten Tom supporting him as well. What’s next? she questioned piercingly. Tom becoming the next Dark Lord?
Deeply absorbed in her thoughts, she walked out of the dungeons and back up to the main part of the school. Unfortunately, she didn’t see the gray-hair and sour face of caretaker Maugi.
“Students aren’t allowed in the dungeons after classes!” he bellowed. “You’ve got yourself detention, missy!”
This day can’t possibly get any better, could it?
“Report to my office at six ' o clock tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied with as much politeness as she could manage. As soon as his back was turned, Miriam gave him a rude gesture with her hand.
Great. My brother is now a junior Knight and tomorrow I have detention.