Miriam watched in horror as her friends were bound and gagged, unable to move. She herself felt like she couldn't move either; her feet were placed firmly on the ground. The hooded figures worked effortlessly around her, never noticing she was there, almost as though she were invisible. Marcella and Sophie could not have looked anymore frightened than they already did. Tears began falling from their eyes as silent ways of begging their captors for mercy, but their tears were only met with silence. Miriam tried calling out to them, to say that she was coming to save them, but her voice could not be heard not matter how loud she shouted. She screamed until her voice was hoarse and her throat sore, but her shouts fell on deaf ears.
The sounds of footsteps grew louder around them as a tall figure appeared from in between the group. Though she could not see his face, his walk - self-assured demeanor and cocky attitude - told her it was Tom. The others stepped away as he drew closer to her friends. Lowering his hood, he stared into their frightened faces with a strong look of gloating. His lip curled, and his bloodstained eyes narrowed.
"Too bad your friend isn't here to save you. I guess my sister is much too cowardly to do such a thing. Sad to say, isn't it, that she never cared for you as much as she said she did." He looked at them, taking his wand and slowly dragging it over their necks.
"Diffindo."
A thin line of blood began curving down Sophie's neck. Tom moved the wand with more force, causing the gash to become deeper. Sophie gasped as more blood started flowing out. Within a matter of seconds, Sophie collapsed onto the floor, her blonde hair turning a deep shade of red from the pooling blood. Tom watched this without single flinch. Then, pointing his wand directly at Marcella, he gave it a lazy wave and the spell tore violently into her midsection. Miriam vomited as she watched Marcella slump over Sophie's now lifeless form.
The room began to spin before her eyes as a bright burst of flames erupted in front of her. For a time, the only noise she could hear was the sounds of her friends' bodies being slowly moved across the floor. She cradled her head in her arms, trying to block out everything around her. But it didn't help: The sounds of Tom's cold laughter slowly crept into her ears. Opening her eyes, she leapt up from her bed and looked at her surroundings. Groggily, Miriam realized she wasn't watching her friends dying; instead, she was standing inside her bright room. It was the same room that she had been staying in for the past three days. Exhausted, she flung herself back down onto the bed and wearily rubbed her eyes as her heartbeat regulated itself.
She had been staying in Hogsmeade for a few days, and every night since she'd arrived, she had the same horrific nightmare of her friends dying. And every morning, she felt more exhausted than before she went to sleep. Because Miriam had managed to escape from him, Tom had resorted to the only thing he had left to hold over her: tormenting her in her dreams. Looking at her clock, Miriam leapt out of bed again when she realized that today was her first official day of assisting Dumbledore - and she was already a few minutes late.
~*~
In a bright swirl of green smoke, Miriam coughed and stumbled inside Dumbledore's office, where the aged wizard himself sat behind his desk pouring over a stack of scrolls. Looking up at who had just come stumbling into his office, he gave a small chuckle when he saw it was only a soot-covered Miriam.
"I'm sorry for being so late," she coughed, as she began to wipe off the soot from herself with a handkerchief she kept in her pocket.
"It is all right, Miss Riddle," he replied, a small twinkle in his eyes. "Just don't let it happen again."
Sensing that he was in a relatively good mood, Miriam opened her mouth, ready to ask him when they were going to save her friends. This question had been weighing heavily on her mind the past few days, but before the words escaped her lips, her question already received the one answer she did not want to hear: that Dumbledore wanted to build a small army before attacking Tom and rescuing her friends.
"I do not believe that he would hurt them right away. He keeps hostages of use to him alive," he patiently told her.
"But what use could they be to him?" Miriam asked.
"It is my understanding that he is looking for a way to get to you. By keeping them alive, he knows that you will eventually return to him, and that is what he is hoping for. But do not fear, plans for a small army are going according to plan, and it will only be a matter of time before we are ready."
Miriam sighed, perhaps more loudly than she had intended to, for Dumbledore kindly looked at her and rested a hand on her shoulder. His bright blue eyes were comforting to her, and she felt some of the anxiety in her leave.
"This is why I placed you here at Hogwarts. I want you close by, so when the time comes, you will be ready."
~*~
The day seemed to drag on with no end in sight; and by the end of it, Miriam was thoroughly exhausted. Her feet ached, her arms and hands were tired, and her brain felt as though it were about to explode. From early that morning, she began dealing with sick patients in the infirmary, helping out numerous professors by grading papers, and then working as a liaison between students and teachers. On top of it, not one word was mentioned from Dumbledore about when they would go to save her friends, only that he wanted her close by so she would be ready. Whatever that meant, she did not know.
The waiting was slowly driving her mad. But no matter how many times she tried to tell herself that patience was a virtue and he obviously must know what he was doing by waiting, it did nothing to calm her nerves. Every time she thought of them, Miriam could feel the fear her friends must have been feeling shiver down her own spine.
The following days went by in the same pattern. By the end of the week, Miriam was tempted to leave the school and her position of assistant, but the pull of wanting to save her friends was too strong. Miriam would have walked through Hell and back in order to save them, so she continued to deal with the arduous labor of being the school assistant without complaint.