February 18th, 1942
I can't believe what I am about to write. It seems so unreal, so unlike Tom: He has runaway from Hogwarts.
He wasn't at any of the meals today, and when Professor Panes (the head of Slytherin) searched the Slytherin common room and dormitories, he was no where to be found. A hunt for him commenced, and all the teachers looked everywhere in the castle for him, but to no avail.
---
"Miss Riddle, would you please come to my office at once?" Dumbledore asked solemnly. Miriam was sitting in the common room with her friends going over some bits of homework (though she had a tough time concentrating on it with Tom being reported missing and all) when Dumbledore had poked his head through the portrait opening.
It had been a difficult day for Miriam, as she was questioned by everyone about why her brother had run away from the place he was always most eager to go to during the summer. Seeing Dumbledore's worried expression gave her sense of dread as she followed him to his office. Depressing thoughts filled her head as headed toward the office.
What if he's... died?
No, I can't think that....
"Miriam, has this happened before?" he asked. "Your brother running away?"
"Yes," she replied. "It happened once before. He ran away from the orphanage just this past summer. Fortunately, he returned not too long after."
"Has he shown any signs of wanting to run away from Hogwarts?"
"No. We... we haven't exactly been... speaking to each other recently."
"Anything you'd wish to share on the matter?"
"I noticed that when Tom ran away from the orphanage, he was following a figure in a long hooded cloak," Miriam said, avoiding his question altogether.
Dumbledore seemed a bit surprised, though she didn't understand why.
"Hooded cloak, you say?" he repeated.
She nodded her head fervently. "And I think the person he was with had a wand, too. When I watched them, they disappeared almost instantaneously."
Dumbledore's solemn face suddenly grew concerned, and his blue eyes lost their usual gentle sparkle. He knew something more about the situation, yet he wasn't telling her anything. His piercing eyes bored through her, almost as if he were trying to read her mind.
Miriam quickly looked away and broke the contact between them. Her head was reeling. Tom just wasn't acting like himself at all.
February 20th, 1942
Tom came back to Hogwarts late last night. I haven't spoken to him yet. I'm afraid that if I did, I would have seriously brained him into next Wednesday.
Unfortunately, avoiding him wasn't meant to be....
----
Herbology class, which was their last class of the day, ended a bit earlier than usual, so the students had a mini break before dinner.
Miriam had decided to head back to the common room and use her bit of free time to unwind before heading down for dinner. But as she headed toward Gryffindor tower, her plans got sidelined. Reaching the second floor hallway, she literally had the daylights scared out of her as Vipera jumped out in front of her and hissed rabidly at Miriam, baring its sharp teeth at her. Miriam nervously took a step backwards and lost her footing, causing her to fall down in a very awkward position. Vipera leapt toward her and would have attacked if Miriam hadn't quickly taken off her shoe and thrown it squarely at the approaching snake.
Thrawp! The shoe made direct contact with the snake's face.
"HEY!" a voiced yelled. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Vipera slithered away, injured, as Tom came running down the hallway looking extremely perturbed.
"Vip - Vipera tried to attack me!" she gasped breathlessly, but Tom didn't seem care.
"You could have hurt her!" he shouted.
"Didn't you hear? It tried to attack me!"
Tom glared furiously at Miriam but looked away abruptly when they heard screams coming from the Great Hall. They rushed down the hallway, down a flight of stairs, and arrived just in time to see a group of horror-stricken Hufflepuffs pointing out a the entrance to a small figure that was Vipera slithering out of Hogwarts and into the vast grounds, eventually making it to the mouth of the Forbidden Forest.
Tom grabbed Miriam by the arm and dragged her outside in hopes of trying to catch up with Vipera.
~*~
"Thomas Riddle, we're lost!" Miriam scolded as they trekked through the dense woods. "If you'd just learn to keep a better eye on your pets -"
"Excuse me?" Tom retorted in disbelief. "If memory serves me correctly, you were the one who threw your skanky shoe at her."
"Because she was hissing and lunging at me!" Miriam yelled. "You don't even care!"
"I've only got one nerve left, and right now, you're getting on it."
"It's the principle, don't you see?"
Tom continued walking away, so he didn't see or hear Miriam sigh in exasperation, roll her eyes in disbelief, or kick the ground in a fit of rage. Inside, she badly wanted to scream bloody murder and strangle Tom.
"I'm not done talking to you!" she yelled after him.
"But I am with you."
"You know, you can be such a pain-in-the-ass when you want to be!"
"Fine. Whatever."
"Fine!" she yelled back.
She continued trudging through the forest, neither one speaking to the other. After walking for what seemed like forever and delving further and further into the forest, the sun was beginning to set, and Miriam didn't think they would ever find Tom's pet snake. Stopping for a moment to catch her breath, she leaned herself against a large oak tree.
Snap. Creak. Miriam looked around. She heard the noises again. Somebody was following them, and they were close by. A weird feeling started to come over her, like something was watching her. She hurriedly caught back up with Tom who was still a few feet in front of her. He didn't seem to sense that anything was wrong.
There came a rustling in the bushes behind her, and at that point, Miriam knew for certain that they were being followed.
"Tom?" she called tentatively to her brother.
"I thought we weren't speaking," he answered rudely.
"Will you just drop it!"
"But you were the one who started talking!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in aggravation.
"Just shut up for a minute, will you?"
Tom sighed, and Miriam continued. "Look, I think we're being followed."
Turning around to face her, he asked with a very bored expression etched on his face, "And you would know this... because?"
"Because," she said through gritted teeth, "I hear twigs breaking and snapping behind me, and the bushes were moving a moment ago."
"Wow!" he said with a hint of sarcasm dripping in his voice. "Your powers of perception astound me. But in case you didn't know, there ARE things living here in the Forbidden Forest. Why else would it be off-limits to students if it was just your run-of-the-mill wooded area with nothing living in it?"
Miriam opened her mouth to make a retort when she noticed Tom's eyes grow big and round. It sounded like there were footsteps behind her, coming from a dozen or so people. Slowly, she turned around and came face-to-face with a band of half-man, half-horse creatures, some of which where wielding bow and arrows at them.
"Why are you trespassing on our land?" a black centaur asked, pointing a bow directly at Miriam.
Her ability to speak seemed to have left her at that moment. "I - I... we... you see... we were just -"
"- looking for my pet snake," Tom managed to finish.
"Pet snake, you say?" another centaur asked walking up toward them, this one with white-blond hair and a palomino body.
Tom nodded his head. "She's small, large fangs, kinda light in color with dark markings..."
"Ah, yes, I remember seeing it," the blond-haired one replied. "It was terrorizing our colony not even a few moments ago."
"Hush, Firenze!" the black centaur roared, rearing up on its hind legs. "We do not need to tell these... humans about our colony!"
"Bane, these humans are merely children from the school up ahead," Firenze answered, as Bane reared up on his back legs again in anger. "They mean us no harm. It's in the nature of the centaur to not harm innocent foals."
"And it's also the nature of the centaur to not take sides, as you are doing defending the children!"
Miriam glanced sideways at Tom, she knew exactly what he was thinking. They had been called loads of things before in the past, but they had never been referred to as animals. If the situation hadn't been so dire, it would have almost been comical. Miriam stole another sideways glance at Tom and could see the corners of his mouth slowly creep up into a small grin.
While the two centaurs continued their heated discussion, Tom and Miriam slowly backed away. They made it a fair distance away from the centaurs when the one called Bane yelled, "Get back here!" He caught them with three giant gallops, picked them up by the backs of their school robes with his hands, and then turned around and galloped back to where the blond centaur waited.
"We don't mean you any harm!" Miriam pleaded.
"I just want my snake back!" Tom whined.
Bane dropped them to the ground.
"Oomph!" the children groaned as they landed hard on their bottoms.
"Just hand over Vipera, and we'll be on our way!" Tom yelled, still rubbing his side. Fortunately, at that precise moment, something could be heard slithering overtop the leaves and broken twigs on the ground, a faint hissing sound emerged.
"Vipera!" Tom exclaimed. Upon Vipera's entrance, several of the quiet centaurs in the back reared up on their back legs, but the snake ignored them and continued over toward Tom, who picked it up.
"Now that you have her, we'll... we'll just... be on our way," Miriam said casually while trying to get out of their predicament.
Tom and Miriam dashed back through the forest in hopes of getting as far away from the centaurs as possible and making it to the castle before dark. Once they reached the edge of the forest, they thought they were home free as they saw the Hogwarts castle up in the distance, but little did they know that caretaker, Maugi, had spotted them.
"What are students doing in the Forbidden Forest?" he bellowed.
"I - I had to find my pet snake!" Tom stammered.
"Students aren't allowed in the forest, no matter what!" Taking hold of them by the arms, he maneuvered them directly into Professor Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was a bit surprised to see Maugi walking into his office with Tom and Miriam being held by the arms.
"Can I help you with something, Maugi?" he asked pleasantly, looking up from his newspaper.
"I caught these two coming out of the Forbidden Forest, sir."
Dumbledore turned to face Tom and Miriam. "What were you doing in the forest?" he asked, shifting his glance from Maugi to Tom then to Miriam.
"Looking for my pet snake," Tom answered.
"But you know that the forest is off limits to students. It's not a safe place, especially when it's becoming dark," Dumbledore replied sternly. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you both. Twenty points will be deducted from both Gryffindor and Slytherin." He got up briskly from his chair and whispered something to Maugi before leaving his office.
"You two are to stay here while I find Professor Panes and discuss this matter with him," Dumbledore ordered. He left his office and went in search of the Head of Slytherin house. He returned a few minutes later with the dark-haired professor in tow. Upon entering the room, Panes whispered something to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore nodded his head in agreement.
"Tomorrow, you both will report to Maugi's office for your punishment," Dumbledore announced gravely.
February 21st, 1942
Thanks to Tom and his complete carelessness, we now have detention after school today.
---
"Good going, Tom," Miriam chided. "Because of your stupidity, we now have DETENTION!"
"Miriam, do me a favor will you and just SHUT-UP! I really don't want to start this crap again," he replied as they made their way to Maugi's office to begin their punishment.
She had a good comeback in mind to throw at him, but she noticed that Maugi was waiting outside his office. She knew better than to open her mouth and say something that could get her in even more trouble.
Upon entering his office, Maugi handed them each a bucket and sponge and told them to "get cracking" on cleaning the third floor corridor.
"Peeves thought it funny to throw snowballs all over the place, and now it's all wet. You two better get up there and clean it before he decides to come back with more."
And so, the kids spent the next couple of hours sopping up Peeves' messy prank, each one grumbling to themselves but never speaking to the other.
Just as they finished, who should appear but none other than the poltergeist himself.
"Wee Widdle kiddies cleaning up Peevesies mess. But lookie here! Peevesie has bought MORE snowballs! Never fear!" He began bombarding them at Tom and Miriam, making them cold, wet, and shivering.
Tom reached down into his sweater and pulled out a half-melted snowball that had managed to slide its way down there. Shaking his hand to rid of the cold snowball, he hollered, "Do you want me to get the Bloody Baron?"
"Mr. Baron isn't here!" Peeves taunted as he made a rude gesture with his hand at the kids.
"Of course I'm here, Peeves!" a voice boomed.
Peeves black eyes grew large as he slowly disappeared from sight, mumbling. "Oh! I'm... sorry, Sir! Peevesie will go now!"
Tom looked around expecting to see the Bloody Baron himself, but was pleasantly surprised too see Miriam grinning, her hands on her hips and a smug look on her face. Tom couldn't help but laugh in spite of himself.
"Let's get back to Maugi before Peeves comes back," she said.
As Tom walked around the corner to make sure that Peeves truly wasn't coming back, Miriam noticed something on the ground... it was a piece of paper. Quietly bending over to pick it up, she let curiosity get the better of her and unrolled it. It looked to be a page that had been torn out of an old school library book. The paper read:
"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets has long been shrouded in mystery. Throughout the centuries, many people have tried to locate the entrance, but none have ever found it. Speculations have arisen that no such Chamber even exists, but there were doubts about that as well."
Underneath the writing was a diagram of the school with Tom's familiar scribble surrounding it, some of which he had obviously crossed out. She tried to hide the paper in the palm of her hand just as Tom came back into view. He looked up and noticed the strange look on her face and commented on it.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked, raising his eyebrow slightly.
"Nothing! Nothing at all!" she lied.
Hiding her hands behind her back, she asked Tom to grab the buckets and carry them back to Maugi's office, as she was afraid to accidentally have the paper slip from her palms. Unfortunately, her request was met with a lot of whining and complaining from Tom.
"Why can't you? Arms broken or something?" he asked crossly.
"No, but why can't you? Too good?" she replied with the same fussy demeanor.
Grumbling, Tom reluctantly picked up and carried the buckets back. During their walk toward to Maugi's office, she could hear him muttering something about "worthless menial labor."
March 1st, 1942
Hagrid's in LOADS of trouble again. He came back to the common room all bloodied and bruised, looking exactly as he did back on December 18th. When I asked him what had happened, I noticed he seemed a bit out of it, but in good spirits all the same.
---
"If Professor Dumbledore catches you like this, he's going to be really furious! He might even expel you!" Miriam exclaimed.
Hagrid's only response to this was a loud, "I - I finally beat them!"
"Beat who?!" she asked worriedly. After she said it, Dumbledore came walking stiffly into the common room. There was something about the way he looked that suggested that he was in a very grim temper.
"I have been informed that Mr. Rubeus Hagrid has been breaking school rules again by entering the Forbidden Forest. Please tell me that these allegations are extremely erroneous?" he asked gravely. But upon looking at the disheveled Hagrid, Dumbledore knew at once it was true. Miriam was still piecing this case together. Before she could ask what was going on with Hagrid, Dumbledore had lead Hagrid away and out of the common room.
~*~
By dinner that night, news had managed to leak out to the whole school. Rumors were flying that Hagrid had apparently been wrestling with some mountain trolls, which had caused his injuries. Miriam couldn't believe it, nor could she believe it when her own brother was heard saying, "That's what you get for letting half-breeds into the school."
That was so un-Tomlike, she thought. At least... the Tom I used to know.
Hagrid had been given a two-week detention and twenty-five points had been docked from Gryffindor.
~*~
As Miriam passed by the trophy room on her way to the Quidditch field to watch the team practice three nights later, she was surprised to see Tom kneeling down and polishing the schools awards and trophies.
Maugi, who was with him, noticed Miriam standing in the doorway looking in, the confused expression on her face clearly evident.
"Your brother was caught in the girls' bathroom yesterday," Maugi said simply.
Miriam wasn't sure what to make of this. Her only response to this was a drawn out "Oh-kaay," as she watched Tom scrubbing and polishing (and complaining occasionally).
"Oh, someone thinks they can get away with that!" Maugi said to no one in particular as he brushed by Miriam, apparently in a hurry to catch some student soiling his clean hallway. Once he left and was out of earshot, Miriam walked over toward Tom as he quietly cursed while scrubbing a plaque that read "Special Services to the School" until he saw his reflection in it.
"You know, I sure as hell better get one of these before I leave the school," he mumbled, more to himself than to Miriam.
"What could you do that would deserve a plaque?" she asked, peering over his shoulder and seeing her own reflection beside his. "Certainly going into the girls bathroom IS NOT going to help any. What were you doing in there anyway?"
She realized after she said it, she probably didn't want to know the answer.
"Just shut up," he hissed as he sat the plaque down. By then Maugi had returned, a triumphant look on his face.
"They'll think twice before doing that again!"
Miriam looked at her watch, sighed, and left Tom to his punishment, mentally shaking her head in disbelief as she walked out.