Sunday Morning
September 12th, 1943
Harry rolled over, tangling the sheets up in his legs as he looked out into the vast beauty of the lake. Such a sight so early in the morning had proven to be relaxing and stress relieving, something he sorely needed after concluding his first full week at a Hogwarts that seemed vastly different to when he'd gone.
He wasn't sure if it was due to him finally taking challenging classes rather than those that he could coast through with minor effort or if the school was simply a different beast altogether this far in the past. If it were his latter guess, it'd make sense with how able Voldemort's minions had been in the future.
Thinking on the future Dark Lady, her joint efforts with her smarter followers in preparing him for the two courses he was greatly behind in hadn't been a waste of time. That wasn't to say he'd done amazing or even moderately well in Ancients runes or Arithmancy, quite the contrary actually.
What mattered to him and the Professors of those classes was he understood the basics in addition to other portions that could be considered the cornerstones for them both. They'd half expected him to be in far over his head (which he thought he was, not that he'd tell them that) and were extremely surprised when they quizzed him on the starting information with success on his behalf.
Riddle had done well, he'd admit, though it wasn't a surprise considering the eight-hour shifts she'd been making the group pull. Hermione hadn't even been that bad the few times she'd managed to convince him and Ron studying for something particular was necessary.
In stark contrast to how he'd performed in his new classes, he'd done very well in most others. Each curriculum was almost the same as it'd been in the future but more streamlined and with additional work on casting rather than parchments about the spell.
Dumbledore's class was far harder than he'd have thought too, the older man with mostly grey hair pushed his students past what they thought could be done, going so far as to snap once before apologizing quite quickly. Harry was thankful for the push from the Professor and at the same time, it felt off. He'd spent a lot of time with the man he'd come to see as something like a Grandfather and while he may not be overly versed in his mannerisms, he liked to think he knew Dumbledore well enough to pick up on character differences.
Others didn't seem to know him overly well either as nobody had mentioned anything in regards to the Transfiguration Master's attitude. He wouldn't speak to Riddle on the matter or rather shouldn't, considering it was about a man she clearly wasn't fond of.
No, Harry would have to watch the man with just his set of eyes and ears. Dumbledore hadn't been hostile with him in the meeting even if he seemed short both in class and during the aforementioned talk.
Sometimes, people just have bad days or stressful weeks; he knew that considering the week he'd just had.
Yawning and rolling back over in his bed, Harry looked around the room, starting with the beds farthest from him to see who else had slept in as much as he had.
As usual, Abraxas and Yaxley were gone with their beds already made. He'd never seen it happen with his own eyes but those two were always gone no matter the time he'd wake up at, Aster had told him they woke up earlier than Riddle to be ready for anything she needed them to perform.
Harry couldn't imagine waking up so early in the morning after staying up so late every night just to do the bidding of a person that treated them like servants. If he'd known Yaxley better or cared about Abraxas, he'd have said something about it.
Next in the two rows of beds were other fifth-year boys in his house that he'd not gotten overly familiar with, though not for a lack of trying. His time was always monopolized by one of three things; Riddle and her group, Aster and Reinhard looking to bond as always or Goldhorn with her sisters and the Gryffindors that always seemed around her. Those three factors made it very difficult to mingle with people that didn't fit into those groups.
It didn't matter that he had time at this moment to speak with them either, considering all of the beds were empty.
When he moved on to Aster, Reinhard and Corbin, the boy who slept beside Reinhard, he noticed much like all the others that they were gone.
Groaning and stretching his arms before grabbing his wand, Harry yawned out a "Tempus."
His eyes went wide when the time answered him back as two in the afternoon.
Harry's initial thoughts were to rush himself dressed and bolt out of the dorm, but rationality came back to him. He'd already slept in this long and Riddle was likely already very annoyed with him, what would another ten minutes be on the hours late he already was? Thinking about that, why hadn't the girl sent Abraxas or another servant of hers to rouse him?
With no flashing answer for him to grab, Harry stood up from the bed and made his way over to the showers.
He bathed himself at a leisurely pace, enjoying the hot water before eventually changing into his uniform. Fresh for the remainder of the day, he exited the boy's dorms and made his way into a rather empty common room.
As usual, Walburga and her group of followers were in the far corner looking to be plotting something that likely didn't concern him overly much.
Why Riddle let the girl do so in the open was a mystery to him.
More important things on his mind, he left the dungeons and made his way to his first stop - the Hogwarts Kitchens.
Aster had told him before that the House Elves were sometimes generous enough to provide a snack for students who missed meals and thus, Harry was hoping to experience said generosity.
He knocked on the door and waited for a response, which came almost immediately. A smaller than normal House Elf popped beside him and in the usual pattern of speech, asked him what he needed.
His response was he'd missed breakfast and lunch on account of an illness, letting the elf come to its own conclusion which it quickly did. Due to that gracious conclusion it came to in a matter of seconds, Harry found himself with a whole plate of food. He hastily wolfed down, thanked the elf and made his way towards stop number two, the library.
Sure, he'd already missed his studying time with Riddle but he wouldn't miss his chance to brush up on the two subjects before Sarah arrived to go over potions with him again. It helped that the girl wasn't stuffing his brain so much that even his dreams involved the subjects.
On his way to the library and lost in his thoughts as he was, he'd not noticed the person standing in his way until he bumped into them at speed.
"Blimey Pev, where are you going so fast?" Reinhard had rocked backwards at the impact while Harry staggered almost a yard.
"Have to get to the library to me- study." Probably best that he'd not mention the Hufflepuff girl too often.
"You woke up from that deep of sleep, to study?"
"No… yes, no. I woke up and then decided to study since I missed the session with Riddle."
Reinhard nodded somberly, leaning back to peak around the corner he'd just come from. "I heard she was looking for you actually. Best say you were in the hospital ward or something of the like, likely to raise a fuss she is."
"Oh, tell her you haven't seen me then will you?"
"Unlikely that, girls a bloody mind reader, if she questions me she'll know I'm lying!"
Harry groaned. "Why didn't you two wake me up anyway? You have every other morning since we've been here!"
Reinhard scoffed. "We did try, seven times no less! You're a stubborn sleeper Pev." Reinhard then looked back around the corner again and this time, stayed looking.
"Should have tossed water on me or som-" Harry was cut off by the bigger boy pushing him forward and when he looked to see why his friend had gotten hostile, he saw him looking nervous.
"Our Head Girl is coming with Carrow, best be off."
Harry wanted to question why that should worry him but didn't, instead, he ducked into the closest empty classroom while Reinhard leaned against the wall opposite of it.
He only needed to wait a few seconds before the two girls were around the corner, Daphne asking a question the moment she'd seen Lestrange.
"Who were you speaking with?"
Reinhard answered, "Speaking with myself, thought I'd lost something but now I can't remember what it was. Figured I'd stand here until I remembered in case it was back that way."
Daphne didn't immediately respond and he'd not heard Carrow at all. When he strained to listen, he could hear the movement of robes and the door was flung open; Harry ducked into a corner.
"Need help looking for something?" Reinhard offered, his voice louder now that the barrier between them was opened.
No response was given to him as one of the girls peeked into the room briefly, they seemed bored based on the quickness of their search along with the effort committed for it.
Corene's voice sounded for the first time. "Not in there."
Daphne groaned and the two girls were off just as quickly as they'd come, Reinhard following them while talking about Aster.
He let out a breath and looked at his hand which was grasping his wand, an action he hadn't even remembered taking. Harry hadn't been overly nervous the two girls would do anything, especially if they were looking for him on the order of Riddle as they seemed to be but being hunted would always be at the least, nerve-racking.
Harry waited a few minutes to make sure they wouldn't come back around and once they were up, he decided to his best bet would be to head back into the dungeon to look for an empty classroom in the least used portion of the castle rather than stay above as he'd been doing. Maybe he could use the Slytherinesque one that Riddle had very quickly gone over - he doubted they'd all check for him in such an unused room, especially if even Riddle said it was too far out of the way for them to be bothered with. He knew without even being told that the only reason it'd been shown to him was because of the decor in it that happened to match his new 'family' at Hogwarts.
He didn't think they were lying in the lack of usage it got either, not after he'd seen how dusty and dated the former classroom was.
Their going after him was annoying too, considering how he'd wanted to study in the library for the wealth of information it provided but that was now out of the picture with them patrolling the halls for him.
Quietly and amused at his using her knowledge against her, he made his way over to the closest set of stairs and descended. Once he was at the bottom he bolted in the opposite direction of the common room entrance until he was sure he was in a portion of the castle he'd only ever been in once. So remote and unknown was it, that he was sure he'd not once been here in all five years he was a Gryffindor.
Figuring no better place existed to waste time in peace, Harry ducked into the very dated classroom. Sure enough, this was the room Riddle had shown him and based on its appearance, the last time a Professor remodelled it was centuries ago and said Professor had certainly held a fondness for Slytherin's. Tapestries of his new house hung from the walls and ornate snakes were wound around the support beams. It didn't strike him as odd at the time but when he looked back on the memory that night, the room wasn't as dusty as it should be nor did it smell overly soured - that wasn't saying it was overly kept either.
Seeing a room behind what he guessed to have been the Professor's desk, Harry made his way over to it and listened for any sound. He hadn't been expecting anyone or anything to call out but still, better safe than sorry he thought. Considering it was Hogwarts, for all he knew, a three-headed dog could be in this next room.
After waiting half a minute, he put his hand on the door and tried to crack it open.
Nothing happened, at least not anything to the door.
Figuring it was locked, Harry turned back around to sit at the Professor's desk and was greeted with a minor glow in each of the ornate snake's eyes. Every single one of them wrapped around the supports were glowing and he'd noticed enough upon his entrance to recall that they hadn't been until he tried entering into that room.
Curiosity striking him, he made his way over to the closest one and ran his hand along the length of the immobile art. When nothing happened, he figured that it was likely a ward on the door meant to send people running or something far less interesting like a simple lock that showed no access was given.
Having the time to waste and genuinely wondering just what it was, Harry went back over to the door and put his hand to the handle. He looked over his shoulder as he did so to see if the snakes wrapped around the pillars would move - they didn't. Whatever he'd done had likely only had the one visible effect.
At the locked door again with his hand on the handle, he attempted to open it, expecting much of the same to happen as the initial try. Only this time, the handle turned at the same time a hissing that he was familiar with greeted his ears when the door was opened just a fraction.
" Welcome ."
Harry jumped back from the door, startled from the sound. He'd not expected to hear Parseltongue in a long-unused classroom, especially after opening a door that seemed to be under some type of magic unknown to him.
He turned and looked at the snakes wrapped around the beams again, hoping to notice another change if one had taken place upon his opening of the door. It was good that he'd done so too, but the change wasn't what he'd expected it to be.
Their glowing eyes were once again normal and no other obvious signs of alteration presented themselves. Looking back at the cracked open door, Harry could see faintly green torch light much like that which was found in the Slytherin common room. He'd not noticed that upon his initial opening of the door and because of that, he wasn't sure if the torches were already on when he first made his attempt at entering or not.
Grabbing his courage, he tentatively took a few steps towards the entrance and waited for the voice to call to him again - it didn't and so he moved another couple steps forward again. When nothing happened and he was standing right where he'd been before, he pushed open the door fully and took in the room.
Whoever had made it chose to model it very similarly to the Slytherin common room but made it much gaudier. It had pillars just like the classroom that hid it, the only difference being larger snakes wrapped around them that seemed reminiscent of the basilisk he'd fought in second year. Their eyes weren't glowing but he was sure they could if he could only figure out what had happened initially.
In addition to the similar structural support, it had large windows that looked into the lake framed by more snakelike ornate carvings into the stone, very old seating in greyish colours and no small number of books on shelves that were free of dust or debris. There was even a bed that looked like an older version of those found in the dorms tucked away in one corner with a desk opposite of it, portraits were beside them both, though empty of anything but snakes. Upon closer examination of the desk, there were parchments half-written on it with a pile of books next to it.
Harry came to the conclusion that somebody had used this recently or that magic was more present in this room than most of the others. How else could he explain the ward that seemed to let him in, the glowing snake eyes, the voice that greeted him initially but made no follow-up attempt at communication or even the simplest thing, the cleanliness of the room? He was sure the longer he spent in the room the more he'd find that would make him question it.
Luckily for him, he had more than enough time on his hands to use in exploring this room and what stood out to him as most important, was finding where the voice had come from.
His initial cursory glance around the incredibly large, open room had shown him the obvious. It was a study and private resting place for whoever seemed fortunate enough to find it - or unfortunate enough, depending on the information those books contained.
He made his way back over to the door and examined either side of it along with above it. No magical portrait was present to have communicated with him, only tapestries and unmoving pictures greeted him. Harry moved his attention to the door and looking it over, found nothing - at least that was what he'd thought until he noticed the faintest bit of red on the handle. When he looked closer at it, what it was raced to the forefront of his mind and caused him to look at the hand that'd been on the door. Sure enough, an extremely small cut went across his palm, the cut being so shallow that it had only gone through the first layer of skin leaving behind a minimal amount of blood.
Harry cursed himself for failing to notice it at the time, thinking that the cut could've been the cause of the glowing snake eyes but if it were, what caused the voice?
Hoping to understand a piece of the puzzle the room provided, he put his hand back on the door and held it there for half a minute. When nothing happened, he gripped it repeatedly thinking that maybe that would do something - it didn't.
He pulled back from the door and looked at the portraits around the door, all of which unmoving. Each of the names he examined under the aforementioned portraits were wizard's he'd never heard of, all but the last one that was right above the door.
Salazar Slytherin.
The founding member's portrait was huge and stood above the door. Harry figured that it made sense if that were the one to have spoken to him, but why would it have done so in Parseltongue and why would it now be silent with him in the room?
"Hello?"
No response greeted his speaking aloud and Harry made the decision to close the door, at least mostly - he left it cracked a few inches for peace of mind, knowing deep down that if the magic in the room wanted him trapped inside the room, it would do so.
He tried again. "Who spoke to me?"
A brief bit of movement from the corner of his eye made him jump back in reflex and snap his head in the direction of the offending motion.
The portrait above the desk had been the one to catch his attention and when he moved over to it, he could make out nothing that had changed. All of the snakes that had been in it were still in their same spots to the best his memory could recall and no moving was done while he focused on it.
He could've sworn that something had moved and was now wondering if he'd imagined it when more motion from the corner of his sight startled him, only this time when he turned towards it, he caught what it was full-on.
A book from the shelf nearest the door slowly and deliberately floated over to the desk, gradually declining in height until it rested within arms reach beside him.
When he reached out and grabbed it, he felt a pulse of something unidentifiable go throughout his entire body - whatever it was refused to let him release the book until the feeling went fully away. Once it passed, at best, he could only explain it to himself as the feel of magic.
Annoyingly to him, there seemed to be no outward or otherwise immediate effects of the magic. If whatever had happened caused an inward change, he didn't know the spell (if one existed) to check.
Knowing whatever had happened was already likely done and it was too late to drop the book now, Harry looked for the title only to find it blank, in fact, nothing at all was on the cover of the ancient-looking book that could be used to identify it. Due to that, Harry opened the book and viewed the first page, seeing that it contained only a set of signatures, all of which varied. Some were as ancient-looking as the book itself, some were fresher, some were remarkably neat and others aggravatingly sloppy.
Most importantly to him, was the absence of 'Elaine Riddle'.
He didn't know if that had meant the girl was yet to gain access to this specific book or if that meant the room at large. What he did know, was that many Peverell's and Gaunt's were signed into the book to the point it was almost exclusively them.
More motion greeted him and this time, the source was right in front of him, coming from the desk. A blood-red quill that was extremely similar to the one Umbridge had used on him in his last year in his time was present at the centre of the drawer. He didn't move to immediately pick it up, knowing full well what it was.
Harry only vaguely knew the power blood contained from offhand remarks and sources that made The Daily Prophet seem credible. He was fully ignorant of the truth of it but he knew well enough that magic wasn't fully understood by any living being and until he knew more about the room, he wouldn't be giving away his blood to a book that could very well be similar to the one Tom Riddle had used in his time.
Stepping away from the desk after gently setting the book down and seeing the drawer stay open, he made his way over to the shelf where it'd come from. A vast majority of the books were unlabeled from the side and when he moved to pick one up in examination, it shocked him. He tried again assuming it could be like the door and reeled when the shock repeated itself. Knowing that meant to leave it well enough alone, Harry walked over to the shelf beside it and tried a random book from that one to the same results.
A thought came to the forefront of his mind to try Parseltongue in the room but he ruled it out until he was ready to leave, just in case it had any side effects he wasn't wanting to deal with just yet - time also played a factor, he knew he had more than enough of it now but should something happen, well, he'd already missed Riddle and didn't want to miss Sarah too.
Harry decided to examine the door again, searching for any sign of what had sliced his hand to the barest degree that it had and hoping that whatever it was could be revelation causing.
No such luck existed, as upon extensive examination, the handle proved to be what the name implied with no visible secrets for him to discover - whatever had cut his hand had done so purposefully and was unlikely to do it whenever he touched the handle, he just didn't know why.
All that left for him to examine was the bed and the great windows of the room, both of which were far from interesting when compared to the warded door, moving books and desk that wanted him to sign his name to the list he'd never heard of.
It was clear to him that the secrets within these walls would take time for him to unravel and at his current level of knowledge on the deeper understanding of magic, it would take him much longer than he cared to think. He cursed himself again for not having been as studious or focused on education as Hermione had been, for certainly the girl would be in a better position to understand the room.
He stomped the floor in annoyance and decided right then to double down on his efforts of learning, even if that meant having to spend time with Riddle.
With a huff, he did a quick once over of the bed and found that it's one use was what he'd imagined it to be. No hidden notes, parchment, wands or other items were hidden within the sheets and when he looked through the windows into the lake, there was no large writing hidden under the water.
Whatever this ancient room contained, he'd not know by aimlessly walking around it and he certainly wouldn't be signing his name in anything until he had a far better understanding of the implications behind it.
No, he would need to learn more about magic as a whole and find a source of information old enough that could potentially contain anything regarding the mystery room he was in.
Now with no other option than to speak Parseltongue in hopes of it doing something, he tried it once he'd made his way over to the door, standing half in and half out of the mysterious room.
" Hello? "
Results were immediate when the portraits all noisily came to life and the eyes of the snakes began to glow in both rooms - including those in the portraits somehow.
" Another comes? "
Slytherin's portrait above the door questioned him with a very deep gravelly voice, Harry having to crane his neck up just to see the man speak.
" Y-yes ." Normally courageous, something about the room and all that he'd ever heard of the man he was speaking with setting him on edge.
" What are you called ?" An aggressive undertone in the man's voice made it clear he was looking for something.
" Har- " Harry could only get out the first half of his name before loud, echoing footsteps in the corridor sounded off. Somebody was jogging at speed towards this room and whoever it was had to know the secrets it contained, at least that was his thinking at the moment.
A tingling from panic shot throughout his body when he realized whoever it was could've been listening in on him with means he's unaware of. If that were the case, should they catch him - presuming they don't already know who he is - they'll know he speaks Parseltongue. That was a secret he very much didn't want getting out to the general public of the school.
With inaction being the worst action he could take, Harry shut the door as quietly as possible and sprinted. He used another door on the opposite side of the room to make his retreat, not looking back until he was in an entirely different hallway and very far from the room filled with secrets along with a potential peeper.
He ducked into another abandoned classroom, closing the door quietly behind him as he swept his eyes over the room for any Slytherinesque apparel - should he see anything even remotely similar to the room he'd been in prior, he would flee again. Thankfully, he saw that this was indeed just an ordinary old and unused classroom. He seated himself at the closest desk, resting his head in his arms. His adrenaline had spiked as if he'd been playing Quidditch, only this time it wasn't fun that'd caused it.
Harry let out a deep breath to calm himself, he very much needed time to think on what he'd found and considering nothing was overly pressing at this point in time, aside from Riddle's looking for him, he was content to think in this long-forgotten room tucked away in the very bowels of the castle.
That private and warded room had been in a classroom tucked away in the far end of the dungeon. So private was it that he'd been shown it for the first time during his tour with Riddle where she had set such a brisk pace he basically had to jog to keep up with her. Thinking back on it now, Riddle hadn't shown any indication that she knew about the hidden back room during the tour - she was just boastful of having found the 'beautiful' room as she'd called it.
Whilst he was positive Riddle was a master of masking/controlling her emotions, thoughts and actions, the fact that the self levitating book lacked her signature gave credit to the theory that she didn't know of the room. But, if it was unknown to her, another student must have been in it at least fairly recently, the room was too suspiciously clean to think otherwise.
Adding on to the point of recent but not overly recent usage, the blood ink on the most recent signature was old and with a name he could've sworn Dumbledore had mentioned to him at least once - though he couldn't be certain with a bit of it being smudged.
M Gaunt .
That was all that was legible in the most recent signature and try as he might knowing that the thought was just escaping focus - he couldn't remember who it was.
Huffing in a mixture of annoyance and anxiety, Harry switched focuses back to the room at large.
He very well could ask Riddle about it but he didn't want to risk it. Giving the future Lady Voldemort access to a room with old mysterious magic and magical texts that he didn't know the first thing about screamed 'danger' to him. This same line of thinking also ruled out any other Slytherin's and Marcus Potter's group too. While the former would go directly to the girl should he mention anything about a room holding any sort of relation to, from, or information on, the Slytherin line. The latter was far likelier to do the same just to brag they knew something she didn't - he was basing that on what he knew of them thus far though, as there was a chance they might be helpful but a chance wasn't worth the risk. That left only two men he could speak with and both were risks themselves, potentially even greater than those he'd already thought of.
Professor Slughorn was knowledgeable and extremely political from what he'd been told so far in addition to what he'd seen. For certain the man would have at least one contact that could identify something in the room if he himself proved unable to, but outside assistance doesn't come without outside attention. It was also likely the man would use the room too, as the decor alone was something that would likely appeal to the Professor on top of the prestige it'd bring being seen in it regardless of the location.
Professor Dumbledore was the second he could go to, the man was educated and experienced enough that whatever secrets were in that room could probably be broken by him. Based on his private meeting however, he wasn't sure how well he could trust his former instructor. No conflict had arisen from their time together, though the older man had warned him on his inquiry. It also seemed something was being problematic, stressful or otherwise bothersome for him too, based on the extra edge he'd had in class - that edge wasn't in wits either, no, it was in attitude. Whatever caused it hung over the man like a stormcloud, dampening his mood.
Briefly, his mind went to the girl he was due to meet shortly, Sarah, but that thought left as quickly as it'd come. As intelligent, polite and helpful as she'd been, the girl wasn't on the level of Riddle much less two Professors.
His only option would be to go about figuring the room out himself, which meant he would be piling more to do onto his already considerably hefty workload, in hindsight, maybe taking the harder classes hadn't been the brightest idea.
Regardless, he couldn't change it now. He sighed at the thought of extra work and slunk further into the seat, the next three years were going to be exceptionally trying between his studies, this new mysterious potentially dangerous room and Riddle.
Casting a tempus and seeing he still had an hour before he needed to head to the library to meet with Sarah, he decided to head there anyway.
Harry knew of two places where he had a chance to get any sort of information on the room or the magics used within, and that was his new manor considering the amount of Peverell signatures in the book or the Hogwarts library.
After all, Hogwarts library was the biggest collection of magical texts in Magical Britain.
"Fancy seeing you here Pev, looking for our lovely Miss Goldhorn? The eldest one of course!" Henry Prewett teased outside the entrance to the library.
"Nah, I'll see her in about an hour or so mate. Figured I'd catch up on something before then." Harry took a few steps past the boy but stopped again when he responded.
"Unfortunate that, your future misses is already inside doing the same, she's not alone either." Prewett walked over to Harry and patted him on the shoulder. "Best not wait any longer."
Harry looked at the now retreating figure of Henry Prewett and questioned louder than he should've "What?!"
Not responding with words, the boy laughed loudly leaving Harry to be scolded by the librarian for having raised his voice.
Thoroughly chastened and extremely eager to see what the boy meant, Harry made his way over to their usual table to see that Sarah was indeed seated at it. Henry hadn't lied either, the girl wasn't alone. His comment made sense too, considering the tall, pale girl with a flushed appearance seated beside her who instantly snapped to look in his direction.
Riddle had somehow found out their time and place for meetings, not that he'd kept it overly secret. Evidently too, the girl planned on staying for his time with Sarah based on the books around her.
Sarah saw him a few seconds after Riddle had, tracing her vision when the girl didn't reply to her. "Harry, you're early!"
"I am…" His voice trailed off as he looked between the two girls.
Sarah tilted her head and motioned to the seat in between the two girls. "Come join us, we're just discussing the new shop in Hogsmeade!"
His stomach dropped further than it already had, he hoped the girls didn't discuss the two dates he'd been set up for - especially since one of the two girls seated at the table didn't seem to play well with others.
"That sounds… fun?" In his mind, his voice hadn't shaken as it did when he spoke aloud.
"It's brilliant, can't wait to see all the new sweets they'll bring!" Sarah sounded very excited at the possibility of new candies and once again, motioned for Harry to take the seat between the two girls, Riddle jumping in when he failed to budge.
"Sit with us, Harry, it's the least you could do for skipping out on time with your friends." Her voice was calm, controlled and maybe even teasing - entirely the opposite of what he'd have thought.
No way out lest he be considered rude in front of Goldhorn, Harry took the offered seat and waited for the girls to continue speaking, which they did - only not about what they had.
"You didn't tell me that you were going with Riddle, Harry!" Sarah had turned in her seat to look at him and at the same time, flicked his ear lightly.
"I told you that I already had plans!" Was his response as he held the abused lobe to protect it from any more incoming punishments.
"Plans she'll now be included in." Riddle stated while leaning back in her chair, watching the two of them with some form of contemplation mixed with something else.
Harry directed a question in the form of a look at the girl but Sarah intercepted it. "Elaine had come in looking for you, she's heard that we'd sometimes study here together. When she failed to see you but saw me, she came over and made conversation. We didn't really know much about one another and considering a shared hobby of tutoring you, figured it could be beneficial for all of us. That's how I found out about you going with her - at first, I thought you were secretly dating too!"
He choked and Riddle laughed lightly, causing Sarah to look between them with narrowed eyes while trying to search for any sign of chemistry between them. When she saw none or got bored of looking, she continued recounting what he'd missed. "Anyways, when she told me you weren't dating but instead going as friends she insisted that I join the two of you. Of course, I tried to refuse so as to avoid interrupting your time together but Elaine can be very persuasive."
Sarah took a deep breath after saying so much and as she did, a familiar cool hand ran down his arm.
"Harry already knows as much."
He laughed awkwardly at Riddle's remark, at least until Sarah looked between the two of them again and asked a very straight forward question in an incredibly monotonous tone of voice.
"Are you sure the two of you aren't dating?"
Harry choked on the air he'd taken in after his forced laughter and Riddle's fingers ceased their movement on his arm, the girl seizing his inability to speak.
"I've tried to get him to notice me, unfortunately, he seems to prefer education and the company of his friends."
For all of five seconds Harry was wavering, ready to flee as fast as he could, then the two girls laughed… and laughed. They were as loud if not louder than the one word he'd yelled out earlier that earned him a scolding but yet, no librarian came for them.
Stuck between them as he was, he could do nothing but wait for somebody to come by to quiet the girls or for them to cease their laughter. When a minute passed, it was obvious the latter would have to happen, and it did - after another minute of outrageous girlish laughter that devolved first into giggling before they were back to normal.
"Was my delivery not as satisfactory as I thought?" Riddle questioned her accomplice.
Sarah almost burst back into a fit of giggles just from the question, having to put a hand over her mouth until she got better control of herself, eventually getting out, "No, no, you did great! I think he was too panicked to see the joke!"
Truth be told, he'd been frozen for two reasons. First and foremost, when they broke into laughter, he'd known they weren't completely serious. Riddle herself had mentioned very early on in their complicated relationship that she wasn't looking to date. Then again, he didn't necessarily believe that based on what Sarah herself had told him along with how keen she seemed to be in monopolizing all his time.
Second to him, if he ran out, he'd leave the two girls together. Sarah's been extremely helpful and he liked to think of her as a true friend, something he still didn't fully think of Aster and Reinhard, let alone the rest of Riddle's groupies that attached themselves to him. How could he in good conscience leave the girl to Riddle?
"You don't mind though right?" Sarah was back to her normal self after the worrisome joke, and that meant shyness was her strongest showing trait again.
He didn't mind that in the slightest, he rather found it attractive, not that he'd say that to anybody.
"Not at all, if Riddle invited you then come with us."
Sarah smiled widely at him and the cool hand that'd gone still earlier resumed its motion in a far more urgent manner than before.
"I told you he wouldn't mind." Riddle's voice spoke up while he was still eyeing Sarah, causing him to turn towards the girl only to turn away abruptly. Sometime in the last few seconds, the girl had gotten right against him, with her face being only inches away from his.
Uncomfortable with her behaviour, he stood up from the seat, excusing himself from the two as he did so. "I think I'll be headed back to the dorm's actually, I just need to check out a few things before doing so." Seeing the looks both girls were throwing at him, he elaborated. "Not feeling amazing, must've been what Aster had given us all. I'll see you two tonight yeah?"
Not looking at their faces, much less waiting for their responses, Harry tore off in the direction of the librarian. Sarah had been fine in the presence of Riddle and quite obviously struck some form of mutual acquaintanceship - that meant he didn't have to worry over leaving the girl with Riddle. Besides, even if on the off chance something did happen, they were in a very public portion of the castle frequented by dozens of students at any given time from what he'd seen so far.
He also had a matter of importance to get to as an idea had struck him on which books he should start with in regards to the room. Most people would probably have gone for books on advanced wards, old magic or something similar, but he had a different way of thinking. Whatever had given him the right to access had done the same for a very select group of people, almost all of whom shared the very same set of names, those being predominantly Gaunt and Peverell.
Harry would look for books written by either of the families and if he couldn't find any, he would look for books regarding them. At worst, he could try to find a book on Parseltongue along with how it's passed down.
"Wait!"
Sarah was behind him with Riddle just over her shoulder at the front desk, the former girl apologized immediately from the look sent at her by the librarian. Much quieter, Goldhorn handed him a sealed letter.
"It came from my parents a couple of days ago and very nearly slipped my mind completely. I didn't read it either, so you'll have to tell me what it says after you open it. Feel better by supper, Harry." She finished with a soft smile and quick hug, making her way towards the exit while skipping - Riddle notably stayed behind and looked between them, her smile now gone just like the presence of the Hufflepuff girl.
"Well, boy, what is it you're checking out? Be quick about it!" His attention was quickly grabbed from Riddle's oddness by the forceful voice of the aged woman behind the desk.
"I'd like to know if you have anything on or written by House Peverell or Gaunt, if you don't, I'll take whatever you have on-" Harry leaned in and whispered the last word "-Parseltongue."
Seeing the aged woman's eyes narrow, he expected some manner of rebuking or otherwise angry response - only he got nothing but one word that was ground out.
"Pass?"
Harry furrowed his brows and asked what she meant, only to have her bark out that he needed to present a pass for the restricted section if he wanted to check out the few books they had on those subjects - the woman wouldn't go into any detail when he pressed her as to why it was needed. All she told him was that without a pass, he'd be getting nothing that he wanted.
Frustratedly, he turned away and began moving towards the exit, already concocting an overly elaborate plan to get the books when an all too familiar cool arm captured his.
"I have one that you can use, I won't even ask what you need it for." Riddle's voice was soft and directly in his ear.
Knowing better than to turn and face her, he responded while looking straight ahead. "What would you get out of it?"
"What makes you think I'd get anything out of it, Harry ?" A jolt ran through his body due to the way she said his name, causing him to try and tear his arm from her hold - the girl not letting him do that.
"There's going to be a catch, it's you."
"Yes, there will be a catch, only not in the way you mean." Her voice was deeper, as it'd been the first time he'd met her when she shifted into what he perceived to be the real her rather than the mask she so often wore. "You see, when somebody skips out on meeting with me, it hurts my reputation, Harry." Riddle's grip tightened on his arm, the girl now being the one to take the lead of their movement. "If you were Abraxas, a simple reminder would do. Aster would be similar… though more hands-on. Corene and Daphne, well, they wouldn't make the mistake in the first place."
Harry cut her off and attempted to steal back control. "I'm not any of them, I'm me and I know who you are, Elaine."
Elaine lazily looked over at him, a sloppy smile on her face the likes he'd never seen before. Everything was always so perfected and well-practised that the very motions she went through contradicted all he knew of her.
So thrown off by the girl, he failed to notice the turn they'd taken until he was shoved into a classroom by her.
He stumbled back a few feet before catching himself on a desk and by the time he turned to face her, he saw she'd locked the door with a swipe of her hand while looking at him with a serene smile.
"You're a very bright boy Harry, you can imagine the frustration on my behalf when you act… silly."
Harry was inwardly panicked at her actions, especially with how unhinged she seemed to be in this moment. He had no delusions that he'd beat her or even come close to beating her while she stood before him in her prime.
This could very well be the end - but he didn't need to make it easy for her. He quickly went for his wand and the moment he had it in hand, it was seized from him. So much force was used by her that he feared it would snap should he try to hold on, the thought stunning him long enough for his grip to let up at the moment.
Now he knew it was the end and with an iron will, he looked directly at the slowly approaching girl. Harry wouldn't give her the satisfaction of closed eyes, no, he would stare her down defiantly to the bitter end.
Elaine walked closer and raised her eyebrows at his bravado, laughing lightly at the way his body tensed at the sound.
Eventually, she'd walked so close that the entirety of their bodies were touching. Her being taller, the girl grasped his face gently with one hand until their eyes connected.
"You asked for the catch, here it is… " Riddle pushed her face even closer to his, their lips separated by half an inch at most and the girl's eye contact briefly breaking as she looked down then back up again.
When she spoke next, her tone was soft and made him react in ways that confused him "We'll be staying here all night, Harry ."
Did she intend to torture him then?
Riddle abruptly pulled back from the contact but kept her eyes locked to him, joining together two nearby desks with another wave of her hand before tossing her satchel on top of them. Her cheeks were red when she sat down at one of them and motioned for him to do the same.
"I'll give you the pass after we finish going over Topology."
"What?"