Chapter seven: Awaiting
Unfortunately, the next day at Hogwarts wasn't much better. For some reason, Ginny was furious with Harry, and every time he tried to ask her why, she'd completely ignore him, but she was always muttering on how to hex Tom.
'Girls are so weird!' he'd think every time.
Snape wasn't very happy with Harry as well. He did not vanish Harry's potion like he did all last year, instead he'd shake his head at it and spit out a rude comment, threatening to send Harry to McGonagall if he 'didn't stop his nonsense'. But Harry couldn't figure out just what nonsense he was doing, so Potions class was a bit puzzling at times.
During the afternoon, Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville were all sitting beside each other at lunch. It was quiet until Neville piped up a question.
"Hey, Harry," he said, leaning over. Seamus and Dean from nearby stopped chewing so they could listen in nosily. "Are you still doing D.A. this year?"
Harry had completely forgotten all about it. He had to think fast..
"Er...well, since we actually have a good teacher I don't think it's really necessary, you know--?"
"But, hey!" said Seamus, his mouth full of food. "I still want to know how to do stuff!"
"I'm sorry, Seamus, but...Kin--err..Professor Shacklebolt is a good guy, he'll be a great teacher, I promise. You won't need me by the time we're done with his classes."
After much discussion on this topic, Seamus and Dean unconsciously broke off into another topic and Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.
"Did I just do the right thing?" he asked uncertainly.
"I think you did," said Hermione. "You're right about Kingsley. He'll be a good teacher."
"Even though we'll miss having it," added Ron.
Harry shrugged. "I have a feeling we're going to be quite busy this year anyway."
They both nodded.
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As they headed for N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Kingsley was standing beside the entrance of the classroom, and he winked at them as they walked in. The class immediately fell silent as Kingsley closed the door. After all, they hadn't spent much time with him...
"Good afternoon, class," he said in his deep voice. "As I explained yesterday, I am Professor Shacklebolt, your new Defense teacher, obviously. This is my first experience teaching, so I'm not very good at it, but I'll try as hard as I can to meet Dumbledore's expectations. Yes?" he said as Parvati Patil raised her hand.
"What exactly happened to Professor Dumbledore?" she asked curiously.
Kingsley paused. "He currently has an issue to deal with, and is unable--temporarily--to be Headmaster. As for the exact reason, I'm sorry, I cannot disclose that information."
She sighed and leaned back in her chair with a slightly wilted appearance.
"You will be happy to hear that I am not a very firm believer of bookwork, so we will have more hands-on teaching instead of copying down words. Don't get me wrong, we'll have it every once in a while, but rarely. I would have explained this yesterday, hadn't things been a bit hectic."
The class whispered to each other.
"But for today, I'm going to ask you to copy down the rules on the board, and I'll go over them. Tomorrow will be much better, no copying from boards and books."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiled. Oh yes, Defense Against the Dark Arts would be much more fun this year.
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At the end of a busy second day, the trio was heading back toward the common room when Draco Malfoy came around the corner and almost ran directly into them.
"Idiots aren't allowed to walk on this hallway," he spat loudly.
"Then I guess you better find a different route," snarled Harry, walking past him.
"Excuse me," laughed Ron, running completely into Malfoy and then walking around him as if he had accidentally ran into an unimportant and insignificant object.
Malfoy was becoming steadily more red-faced as Hermione came up towards him.
"I won't comment," she said, proceeding to walk around him and run after the boys.
They all laughed as they walked around the corner.
"That was excellent!" commented Ron. "It's about time we've made him speechless!"
Hermione was smiling.
Harry opened his mouth to say something when he heard voices down a different hallway.
"Honestly, Albus, you think I'm actually going to stay in there?"
He immediately recognized the voice. Tom.
"I don't want to keep you up like a dog in a kennel," said Albus, but by the sound of his voice, it sounded quite appealing to him to keep Tom in a dog kennel. "But you're going to have to stop this wandering."
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry, who was rolling his eyes.
"Is that...Dumbledore and Tom?" asked Hermione quietly.
"Certainly is," said Harry with a sigh. "Tom seems to have escaped again. Come on, let's go up to the common room."
"I want to see what they're talking about!!!" whispered Ron excitedly.
Harry frowned slightly. "They're going to come around this corner and run into us."
"About like Malfoy," muttered Ron. "Okay, let's go."
They hurried down a different corridor.
"Lucius Malfoy came up here today," said Albus, his hand tight around Tom's arm as they took a detour toward Tom's room, passing the corner the trio had been standing at.
"Oh really?" he said, not sounding very surprised. "For what reason, I wonder?"
"Undoubtedly looking for a way to talk to you," Albus hissed, "and it is not going to happen in this school, under any circumstances."
"I didn't realize you were in charge of my talking privileges--"
"Don't be ridiculous, Tom," he interrupted, "I know you contacted him. I know you intentionally brought him up here. He said he wanted to talk to Severus about his son but in reality, he wanted to find you. Is this another cunning plan to capture Harry?"
"Now you're being ridiculous," he said angrily. "I'm not going to kill Harry at Hogwarts, it's way too risky. Plus, there's you, and even though both of us are stuck in damned sixteen year old bodies, it's too big of an issue."
They stopped after coming right outside the wall where Tom's room was.
"A doorway, please," said Albus, slightly frustrated. "I do not want to see Lucius Malfoy on these grounds while you are here again. Especially coming without my knowledge. I'm going to charm the door. With what, you wouldn't know, I made it up. People can come in and out, but not you. Only until the potion is ready will you be allowed to come out of it."
He pushed Tom inside, but not too hard.
"Goodbye, Tom Riddle," he said, closing the door and placing the charm upon it.
Inside his room, Tom shook his head. "He's worse than Harry."
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Harry, Ron, and Hermione were doing some Transfiguration work in the common room about an hour later when the Transfiguration professor herself walked in.
"Potter!" called Professor McGonagall.
Harry stood up from over behind a chair and looked at her. "Right here."
She looked over at him and beckoned for him to come to her.
Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione, who looked just as puzzled as he did. When he reached her, she told him to follow her and walked out of the portrait hole.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you," she said, her expression indecipherable.
"What for, Professor?" he asked, concerned.
"I believe it is about Tom Riddle," she said, saying the name with particular disgust.
Harry nodded and they made their way toward Dumbledore's office, not saying a word to each other.
"Now, Potter," said McGonagall. "He's just up there, the password is...it's something strange...err...oh! Feathered flipping flamingos."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Fleath--I mean--feathered flipping flamingos."
He grinned. "Let me guess. Alb--sorry, Professor Dumbledore chose your password even if he's not actually the Head of the school right now?"
"I don't see how you guessed, Potter," she said, obviously joking, but trying to be serious at the same time. She walked away at a brisk pace, her robes flapping behind her.
"Feathered flipping flamingos," Harry sighed.
The gargoyle jumped aside and Harry mounted the moving staircase, which took him up to the door, upon which he knocked.
"Come on in, I've been expecting you," said Albus's teenage voice.
Harry walked in, and among catching sight of the office in its reinstated cleanliness, he frowned and froze in his footsteps.
The memories of the last time he was in this office came to him so quickly that he felt lightheaded. A feeling of sorrow weighed him down so much he quickly took a seat and looked to his left where that spindly table sat with its trinkets, which were now working properly.
He did not notice Albus watching him closely, sitting in his normal chair, which didn't seem to have quite the impressive effect it used to when he was older. He dare not say anything this very second, he knew Harry was reliving the night of his godfather's death.
Harry looked up at the portraits on the wall. Phineas Nigellus sat in his frame, looking back at him quietly.
And the Boy Who Lived's eyes turned to Albus.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"Sorry?" repeated Albus, his eyebrows knitted with puzzlement. "For ever what, Harry?"
"I'm sorry for smashing your office to pieces, a few months ago."
Albus leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Harry, you know as well as I that your emotions were at their highest that night."
"But that's no excuse for me to wreck your things," said Harry bluntly.
"I was never angry with you for it, Harry, everything was replaced as soon as possible and my office has been restored to its original state."
Harry nodded. "To change the subject so I won't get..err...emotional or anything, you called me up here?"
"Yes, and I'm sorry to interrupt your homework time."
"Ah, I don't care much, I'm not much up to doing homework lately anyway."
"I just wanted to talk to you about Tom. He's becoming extremely difficult to keep enclosed, I'm sure you've noticed," said Albus. "I thought he'd act better here than he did at the Dursleys'."
"I guess that as soon as he got back to the Wizarding world, he felt a bit more....daring," said Harry, shrugging. "And he has a pair of my underwear, I've just realized, I'll be getting those back shortly."
His eyes narrowed at the thought of Tom stealing his underwear.
Albus smiled. "Mine are extremely faded, after being washed time after time. Luckily I've come home to have hundreds of more pairs."
"They were washed a lot. I couldn't leave them in the dryer, Dudley would steal them--"
"We're getting off subject," said Albus, laughing. "I just wanted to tell you that if you ever see Tom doing anything suspicious or out of his room, tell me and throw him back in there. I've put a charm on the door, but I don't see it lasting very long, I'm only a teenager right now..."
He sighed. "It was good while it lasted, but I long for my old age, and my old life. Reliving teenage life is too hormonal for me, I think. I don't believe I'll ever ask to be young again. It's taught me a lesson." He grinned at Harry.
"Well, I'm glad you got something out of it," he said. "Yeah, sure, I'll keep an eye on Tom, I'm going over there after I leave here so I can get my underwear back."
"Good luck on that, Harry," he said, standing. "And don't forget, Hagrid has wondered about you visiting..."
"Oh! How could I forget?!" he exclaimed stupidly. "Well, Albus, I best be going, I'll talk to you later then," he said, standing.
"Goodbye, Harry."
"Bye."
He walked out and looked at his watch. It was around eight o' clock, he had an hour or two until curfew. In that time he'd regain his underwear, gather Ron and Hermione, and go visit Hagrid.
Walking quickly, he came to Tom's room and whispered the password, and the door appeared. He knocked for only a second before coming in, his eyes wandering the room.
"Anybody here?" he said to an empty room.
He closed the door behind him and out of nowhere, the bathroom door burst open and Harry pulled out his wand as a reflex.
Tom had come out and was looking at Harry, who had his wand in his face.
"Didn't the Dursleys teach you manners?" he said, glaring at him. "It's rude to point wands."
Harry lowered his wand and tucked it in his robes and snorted. "The Dursleys? Teach me wand manners? You just startled me."
"I see that," said Tom. "Now what exactly are you doing in my room?"
"I have come to repossess my green underwear."
"Repossess, eh?" Tom said, amused. "I didn't know you knew such big words--"
"Come on, Tom," snapped Harry waspishly. "Give me my underwear and I'll leave."
"Why should I?" he asked.
"BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED TO WEAR UNDERWEAR--!!"
"Okay, okay! Geez, keep screaming to a minimum, for God's sake, take your damned underwear..."
He pulled the said green underwear out of the drawer and threw it at him.
"Thank you, Voldie-poo," growled Harry. "And make sure we don't have to go through this incident again."
"Oh shut up," said Tom tiredly. "Go to bed or something..."
Harry walked out snickering, ignoring Tom.
Tom froze in the process of closing the drawer. "Wait a minute, what did he just call me??"
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As Harry was returning to the common room, he met Ron and Hermione before he even got there.
"Hey!" he greeted. "Let's go see Hagrid!"
To Ron and Hermione, this was rather out-of-nowhere, but there was plenty of time until curfew.
Ron shrugged. "Sure."
"We can see what he's done with Grawp, then," said Hermione.
As they walked down to Hagrid's hut, Harry told both of them about getting his underwear back from Tom.
"Well, I suppose it's wrong to say, but...well..." she said hesitantly as they reached the front of the hut. "He's a bit...err...cute."
Ron, luckily, had not heard, but Harry heard perfectly well. He turned to gape at her as Ron knocked on the door.
"Excuse me, what?" said Harry loudly. "You know Tom Riddle is who we're talking about, right--?"
"Come on in, the whole lot o' yeh!" said Hagrid over Harry's voice. "Thought yeh'd forgot 'bout me..."
"We thought we'd stop by, see how things are going," said Harry, trying to forget what Hermione had said.
"Ah, things are grand, Harry, grand," said Hagrid. And he looked truthful, too.
"What about Grawp?" asked Hermione, as they all sat down at the small round table inside the hut.
Hagrid smiled. "Knew yeh'd ask 'bout that. He's doin' really good, knows a bit o' English now, yeh know, I reckon he migh' understand few o' the words yeh say to him."
"Has he become more...err...manageable?" asked Harry.
"Oh, loads!" said Hagrid excitedly. "Sometime, I'll let yeh all see him, he still tears up trees though, gotta get 'em to stop that...Anyway, 'nough 'bout Grawpy, I heard Tom Riddle's been stayin' with yeh over the summer, Harry..."
"Yeah," said Harry heavily. "He's--"
He broke off, not knowing what to say. Tom had accused Hagrid of opening the Chamber of Secrets and ordering Aragog to kill people, when it was really Tom himself, back some fifty years ago. Hagrid frowned slightly.
"I reckon he's annoyin', ain't he?"
"That about sums it up," smiled Harry.
After some tea and some chit-chat about the Order, curfew was almost up and the trio decided they should head back up to the castle.
"Hagrid really doesn't like Tom at all," said Hermione. "I can understand..."
Ron nodded and Harry decided not to comment about Hermione thinking Tom was cute in front of Ron, so they walked in virtual silence all the way back up to the common room. They sat there for hours, talking, until Harry decided he'd finish his Transfiguration work. Ron and Hermione retired to bed, Ron saying he'd stay up and wait for him (Harry knew he wouldn't, he'd end up falling asleep) but Harry nodded and continued his work.
As he finished and got his things together, he was on his way to the staircase to the boys' dormitories when the portrait hole opened, revealing Severus Snape.
Harry gaped at him, he'd never seen him come into the Gryffindor common room before, and he certainly looked out of place. The Potions' master scowled around at the room before his eyes fell on Harry.
"I'm surprised you're awake, Potter, I have news for you," he said stiffly.
Harry set his bag down, not really wanting to know what it was. "Tom hasn't escaped again, has he?"
"No, Potter," said Snape sharply. "And keep your voice down."
Harry glared at him with anger. He wasn't talking loud in the first place.
"I wanted to let you know, Potter, that the potion is ready, and your presence is requested in my office."
The hour struck twelve midnight as Snape walked out, Harry rushing to follow him.
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A/N: Sorry that this seems like quite a rushed ending, but I never planned for the chapters to be more than eight! But I've added a bonus to chapter eight...a deleted scene...I hope it compensates a little bit for making this story so short??