The One Who Got Away

The Hogwarts library was empty except for one boy on the Saturday of the first weekend of March. All of the students in third year or higher were away at Hogsmeade and most everyone else had found something better to do than study.

Tom Riddle was the exception. His best friends, Bart and Timothy, had convinced the flying instructor to give them extra lessons in hopes that they would make the Quidditch team next year. Tom couldn't care less about Quidditch.

'Hogwarts, A History' lay open in front of him as he slouched over a table towards the back of the library. He had read it cover to cover four times since arriving at school in the fall and had perused the sections pertaining to Salazar Slytherin more times than that, but nothing new appeared to him on each subsequent reading.

Tom sighed and glanced up from the page. He was still alone, save the witch who ran the library. She was puttering about behind her desk, and Tom considered for a moment asking for her help.

"Are you crazy?" he muttered to himself. "Ask her for help in finding the Chamber of Secrets? Bloody insane, that is."

He slammed his book closed once more and stood to put it away when he saw movement from the corner of his eye. The library door was swinging closed as Minerva McGonnagall made her way to the librarian. Tom watched excitedly as they conversed for a moment, but when Minerva turned to go retrieve a book from a shelf, he slid back into his chair, opened his book hurriedly, and began to read the page in front of him: a short biography of Helga Hufflepuff.

Minerva walked to a bookshelf a few feet away from him and began searching for a book. She hadn't yet noticed Tom.

He watched her eagerly, muttering to himself, "Be cool, be cool..."

Suddenly, she turned and saw him, "Oh, Tom, I didn't see you there!" Minerva pulled a book from the shelf and came over to his table. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"No, no, not at all... go ahead!"

"Okay," she grinned, sitting down. "What are you reading?"

Tom looked surprised and glanced down at his book, then back up at her. "Oh, um, well..." he showed her the front cover, "it's 'Hogwarts, A History'."

"I don't think I've ever known anyone who read that before."

"I like to read," Tom spoke defensively.

Minerva laughed, "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, Tom. Just that you're the first."

"Okay," Tom shrugged his shoulders and straightened the book on the table before him.

"Well, I've got to read this book," she showed him the book she'd just taken from the shelf, "for a research paper for my arithmancy class."

"Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?"

"Well," she began, "my friends were all going, of course, but I really do have a lot of work I need to be doing. It seems to me it's quite irresponsible to go to Hogsmeade when there's schoolwork to be done."

Tom glanced at her questioningly. She didn't seem to be entirely sure of what she was saying, but he decided not to question it.

"What are you reading about?" she indicated his book.

Tom glanced down at the book, contemplating whether to tell her the truth or not. Finally, he spoke, "I'm trying to find more information about the Chamber of Secrets."

"What's that?"

"A secret room left in the school by Salazar Slytherin himself," Tom grinned. "It's the home of a basilisk."

"A basilisk?"

Tom nodded, still grinning.

"Tom, you've got to leave that alone. Basilisk's are... well, they're monsters, Tom," she cautioned. Tom shrugged his shoulders again. "Tom, promise me. If it's really true, that's a dangerous beast. You don't realize what you'd be getting into. Promise me you'll leave it alone, Tom, stop researching it."

Tom looked down, toying with the book in his hands. She stared at him nervously as he remained silent. Finally, after a few minutes passed in silence, he glanced back up at her and saw fully the pleading expression on her face.

"All right," he muttered. "Okay, I promise." She smiled at him, and he tried to smile back, but couldn't help scowling down at the book he wanted to be reading. Then, he looked back up at her book. "I don't see you doing too much research."

"What?"

"Well, if you've missed Hogsmeade to be doing research, shouldn't you be doing that now, instead of talking to me?"

Minerva grinned sheepishly at him. "Do you want to know the truth?"

He nodded eagerly.

"All right. I was actually looking to avoid my friends."

Tom was genuinely confused. "Why would you want to do that? They're your friends!"

"I don't see you here with your friends!"

"They're practicing Quidditch," he scowled.

"All right, then," Minerva smiled. "I wanted to avoid my friends because they've been teasing me relentlessly ever since Valentine's Day. I got an anonymous Valentine, and they won't let me live it down."

"I'm sorry," Tom whispered, surprised.

"What have you got to be sorry about?" she asked. Minerva smiled, "It was actually rather sweet. Had a bit of a poem on it, Mike Weasley said he thinks it's something Muggle..."

"It's Marlowe."

Minerva looked quickly down at him, "What?"

"It's from a play, 'Dr. Faustus', by Christopher Marlowe. An old Muggle writer," he looked quickly down at his hands.

Her eyes widened. "How do you... Tom... did you send it to me?"

He didn't look up but shrugged his shoulders again.

"Tom?"

Finally he met her eyes. "Yes. I sent it."

"Why did you do that, Tom?"

He shrugged his shoulders once more and looked back down at his hands. "I don't know. I just... I think you're nice, that's all. I'm sorry, I won't do it again." He grabbed his books, stood up, and hurried out of the library.

As he slipped out the door, he could hear her voice calling his name, but he didn't stop or even pause to look back.

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"Uh oh, Tommy's upset again," Timothy crowed as he and Bart entered their dorm room to find Tom sitting on his bed staring at the wall. "Better watch out, Bart, he might curse you."

"Don't think I won't," he growled without looking at them.

Bart dropped his cloak on his bed and stepped over to where Tom was sitting. "What happened?"

"She didn't like it."

"Who?" Bart asked. "Didn't like what?"

"Are you daft?" Timothy shoved Bart out of the way to step closer to Tom. "Minerva. She didn't like the Valentine."

Bart stepped forward, pushing Timothy out of the way. "Why didn't she like it?"

"Said her friends make fun of her for it."

"Do they know you sent it?"

"No," Tom muttered. "She does."

"How does she know?"

"I told her, you idiot."

Bart stepped in between his two friends. "Don't fight," he admonished. He glanced over to Tom's trunk and saw 'Hogwarts, A History' sitting there. "Here, Tom," he picked it up. "Why don't we all look up stuff about the Chamber? That always makes you happy."

"Yeah," Timothy added excitedly. "Then, if you find it, you can set the basilisk on her friends, and they won't make fun of her anymore. Then she'll like you!"

"I can't," he growled. "I promised her I wouldn't."

Timothy glanced at Bart, then back at Tom, "And you actually meant it?"

Tom glared at them. "A promise is a promise." He took the book from Bart and stowed it back in his trunk. "Talk about Quidditch so I'll have something to focus on."

"I thought you didn't like Quidditch?"

"I'll focus on ignoring you," Tom growled and returned to staring at the wall.

To be continued...