Guile

As agreed, Harry and Hermione would meet Ron at Gringotts on August 10th. Mr. and Mrs. Granger loaded Harry and Hermione's trunks into their car, and road on the underground to London. Harry and Hermione had sent Ron a letter earlier, and all three agreed to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer.

The marble doors of Gringotts were still there, but there was no Ron by the time Harry and Hermione arrived. They sat eating a box of Jelly Beans until they saw an army of red heads coming towards them.

"Hullo Harry! Hullo Hermione!" yelled Ron. He dashed up to meet his two friends at the doors. "See your still in one piece! So Hermione didn't kill you with boredom?"

"Nope, not yet at least," said Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two, and went to the exchange counter to change her Muggle money out for Wizard money. She waved good bye as Harry, Ron, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley got on the Gringotts cart. The cart in Gringotts was a fast, and wobbly and highly uncomfortable little cart, but still a good little cart - no one had died by falling of it yet, to say the least.

They came to the Weasley's vault first. The Goblin in the cart, Griphook, unlocked the door with the small golden key. Mrs. Wesley turned red as her hair, and scooped out a handful of sickles and knuts, and three lone gold galleons. The Weasley's didn't have much money, and Harry would've loved to just shove 3/4 of his fortune at them, but he knew they'd never accept it.

At Harry's vault, Griphook once more used a small golden key and opened the door. Harry took a small leather bag, and filled it with a portion of money, then sat back down. They met up with Hermione once more, who pulled out their school lists for this year.

"Guess what?" said Hermione as she read her letter. "I'm a Prefect!" She removed a silver P badge from within her letter, and squealed with delight.

"Wow, really?" asked Ron. "I'm SO surprised." He rolled his eyes and looked back to his letter.

Hermione hit him over the head with her letter, and went back to reading her letter. Her eyes shifted from the formal introduction to her book list.

Hermione needed "Matrix and Hexology Study" for Arithmancy, and Harry and Ron needed "Expecting the Expectable" for Divination, and all three were going to needing a "Standard Book of Spells Grade 5" along with "Elementalism" for Charms as well as "Advanced Transfiguration."

"That's odd," said Hermione. "Professor Flitwick said we wouldn't be starting Elemental things until Year Seven when I asked him last... and Professor McGonagall has us use Intermediate Transfiguration until we're in Year Six."

"And we need a new History book, that's amazing," said Ron. "It's called, 'Painted History of the Wizarding World.'"

"Uhm, I think we need a new everything book," said Harry rather dully.

Besides his new Divination, Charms, Transfiguration and History books, the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, whomever they might be, requested they have books called "Curses of Foreign Lands" and "Creatures of the Night." For Herbology and Potions, they now needed "Basic Compounding," "Poisonous and Venomous Plants and Creatures," and the last one Harry had to read over twice before he got it.

"Guys," began Harry, "I think something's wrong with Hogwarts this year."

"Why do you say so?" asked Ron. He leaned over Harry's shoulder and looked at the thing Harry was pointed at. "No, way..."

Hermione as well leaned over Harry's shoulder and stared in awe - "Moste Potene Potions," the book they used in their second year to make a Polyjuice Potion.

"That's the book we used in second year for the Polyjuice Potion!" said Hermione in a hushed voice.

"Yea... when we thought Draco was the Heir of Slytherin-" began Ron to retell the event.

"Did someone call?" asked a hauntingly familiar voice from behind.

Harry felt his entire body freeze. Sitting there on a bench with a chocolate ice cream cone and a leather book bag was a black haired boy dressed in black Hogwarts robes. He had a Slytherin tie, and his scruffy bangs just barely fell to his eyes, as he looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione. He looked like a regular handsome young man, but, well...

"You," breathed Harry out the corner of his mouth. He turned around so he faced the boy face to face.

"Who?" asked Ron.

"Nice to see you too," the black haired boy replied lightly. He shuffled past the trio, and down the street.

"Harry, who was that?" asked Hermione with great concern. "Uhm, Harry? Harry?"

Harry swung around and bellowed, "Aren't you DEAD?" Harry thought twice about what he just said. "Er, uhm, aren't you... gone?"

"Hehehehe...." the boy laughed a bit, and faced Harry. He casually strolled up to him, and took something out of his robe pocket... it was the diary. Not just any diary, the one Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. A certain mister T.M. Riddle's diary.

Ron and Hermione suddenly understood, this person here was the one Harry had told them about from his journey down in the Chamber of Secrets. It was the true face of Lord Voldemort, Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he was standing a mere foot away from Harry.

Tom bit into the last of his ice cream cone, levitated the napkin into a trash bin, dusted his clothes of crumbs, and turned towards Harry. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked between stepping backwards and catching his breath.

Harry felt his back so smack against a wall. Tom lifted his arm up and put his arm on the wall next to Harry's head. He put all of his weight on his hand, and put his other hand on his hip, and just smirked.

"Well isn't that an interesting question," he said once more, and rather pleasantly. "I guess you can say that.... you shouldn't've given my diary back to Lucius Malfoy... it regenerates... you know.... did that just in case it got destroyed... coated each page with Ether... very strong fortifying and healing substance."

"Lovely," replied Harry feeling rather sick.

"Oh, but isn't it?" asked Tom mockingly. "Not like I'm going to touch you or anything... I've got better things to do."

"Like what?" asked Harry. "Kill people in the most tortuous ways possible?" He got morbid thoughts from that, but it did sound like something Tom would do.

"Well, while I do admit killing people is something I'd do, God put me on this miserable Hell to do something else!" Tom said, sounding rather excited.

Hermione and Ron suddenly placed their wands against Tom's neck. Their hands were shaking as they held them up. Tom kind of made this drunken smirk, before Harry heard him whisper, "idiots." Tom stood upright, and turned around holding his arms up by his sides like Harry had seen many Muggles do when they were getting arrested.

"Oh looky here!" Tom said with a false sense of fear. "They have wands! I'm so afraid of you two!" Ron and Hermione both took a step backwards, and Tom walked towards them, then he reached and grabbed both their wands. "No disarming spell required people!"

Ron kind of made a whimpering noise, while Hermione made an annoyed face while she looked at her empty wand hand, then up at Tom. Then she made a bold and daring attempt. She kicked Tom in the leg.

"OW! HEY!" Tom leaned over to aide to his shin, while Hermione picked up her and Ron's wands.

Ron looked at her in absolutely amazement, to the point where Hermione had to take his arm, put it in front of him, and place the wand in his hand, then wrap his fingers around it. Harry, still standing near the wall, was gasping at Hermione.

But this wasn't all the bold action she had in her, because as Tom rose with a rather angry look on his face, Hermione grabbed a broomstick a little girl was holding outside the Apothecary. The little girl began crying and ran to get someone as Hermione thwapped Tom over the head with it. Tom kind of laughed at her first hit.

"Heh..! That was pretty good...." he began.

"Oh, well, thanks," Hermione said in a mocking tone.

".... good for a girl, at least!" he howled with laughter.

"I have PMs and I know how to use it!" half shouted Hermione, who became focused on wiping the grin off of his face. She began beating him in random places with the broom. Ron and Harry simply stood dumbstruck.

"Hermione's, NEVER, like this," said Ron. "This is like....... wow... uhm... I'm speechless."

"Should we take... pity on Tom?" asked Harry. He was a bit uncertain of this decision, but Hermione had never gone mad on people like this before.

When Ron didn't reply, he decided it'd be better to stand and watch.

"Ow!" Tom yelled in-between the broom stick bashes. "All I did was say 'hello!' Can't a diary get some- OW!"

"YES!" Hermione said breathlessly between hitting. She paused, with the broom gripped in her hands the broomstick resting on her shoulder. "You CAN get some 'ow!'"

Katie Bell, a Chaser on the Gryffindor House Quidditch Team, emerged from the Apothecary. She looked down at the steps where she had left her precious Firebolt in care of her sister, then looked to Ron who was yelling, "HERMIONE! STOP!"

It took a while, but Katie soon realized it was her Firebolt.

"Hermione!" she whined. "Stop hitting that guy with my broomstick!"

In her distraction, Hermione was swinging down the broom, and Tom caught it and ripped it out of her hands. It took a while for Hermione to realize the broom was gone, and was shocked when it was suddenly removed from her hands, then she heard a snapping noise, and looked up to see Tom holding the broom, which was now snapped in half.

"What did you just do to my new Firebolt!?" screamed Katie. "I worked all summer long to get enough money to buy it! Look, buddy, I worked a lot for this Firebolt! Either you repay me or-"

"Repair it?" interrupted Tom. He picked up Ron's wand, which had slipped out of his hands in the events of Hermione hitting someone with a broomstick, and pointed it at the two broken pieces.

Tom casted Reparo, and the two pieces merged together. The Firebolt looked brand new, and Katie looked a little more calm and pacified, but it was obvious that she was still quite angry.

She grabbed the broomstick out of Tom's hands, and continued to rant. Finally, it looked like Tom had enough of her, and with a quick dose of the Obliviate spell, Katie was sent down Diagon Alley, a bit confused about the events of the passed three minutes.

"If you're all done abusing me," Tom said sounding rather annoyed, "I'm going to Flourish and Blotts now."

"That's it?" asked Harry. "No, 'time to die,' or, 'I'm going to kill you,' or-"

"No, actually," replied Tom. "Been there, done that, now I want a book."

And with that, Tom walked into Flourish and Blotts. Harry stood where he was, uneasily, with Ron and Hermione looking at him.

Ron was about to speak when they heard a female scream that was easily identified as Ginny's voice from inside Flourish and Blotts. Ron immediately recognized his sister's voice, and dashed in followed by Hermione and Harry.

When they had burst into the store in a blaze of confusion, they saw Tom looking at Ancient Runes books, and Ginny backed up against a book shelf watching him. Her body froze there, and she didn't bother to say anything, and he didn't say anything to her.

"I think this 'Guide to Norse Runes' looks pretty good..." he said.

The shopkeeper came rushing around with his wand. "Did someone scream over here?"

Tom turned around and smiled. "ER, no! She just thought she didn't have any money with her, and that she got mugged!"

Ginny held up a small girls handbag. "Set it on a shelf."

The shopkeeper put his wand in his pocket looking relieved, and the trio were all shocked at Ginny.

Tom went up to the counter to pay for his book, and Ginny seemed a bit more calmed by him ignoring her, but was still very suspicious of him. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny watched him pay for his book, shove it in his bag, and walk out the door.

Ginny slowly walked towards Harry. "Why is he here?!"

"ER, his diary...." began Harry. "Well, I was stupid enough to give it back to Lucius Malfoy at the end of year, and it regenerated itself."

Ginny hugged herself, and her eyes twitched as she processed the information. She began pacing around the trio.

"He's playing with us!" shrieked Ginny, "just like he did before! Get all friendly with us, take our friendship, and stab us in the back with it!"

"Ginny," began Hermione lightly, "he said he had other things to do-"

"And you believed him?" asked Ginny.

"ER, uhm, never mind... how about we get some ice cream?" asked Ron uncertainly.

Ginny dabbed her eyes on her shirt, and followed her brother out of Flourish and Blotts. Hermione smiled approvingly at Ron, and began to follow out after him.

"Shouldn't we get our books while we're here?" asked Harry.

"Oh, right," said Hermione.

~ ~ ~
Harry and Hermione carried the brown paper wrapped books outside and under their arms, and went to Florean Fortescue's. They found Ginny devouring a banana split, and Ron eating a bowl of chocolate. They put a set of schoolbooks by Ron, and he repaid them in sickles.

Harry sat down, pondering Tom's appearance, and ordered a signature sundae, while Hermione ordered a strawberry cone with berries mixed in. They ate their ice cream in silence, until Draco Malfoy showed up.

Draco Malfoy had a talent for being an absolute pain the ass. He was the typical rich school yard bully... only worse. Everyone thought the ought to have a great big slap in the face, but everyone was to afraid that the Slytherin House Master, Severus Snape, would catch the culprit immediately, take 100 points from their house, and give them a months worth of detention.

For about four long years, Harry, Ron and Hermione had dreamed of getting him expelled, or at the very least embarrassed. The worse that had happened to him included his face getting swelled, a slight slap from Hermione, and being turned into a bouncing ferret by Professor Moody. Today, Draco would not only be slapped, not only be turned into a bouncing ferret again, but he'd also have to wash dishes.

The worst day in Draco's life began when he intercepted Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny at Florean's. He casually walked up, and shoved Ron's head into his bowl of chocolate ice cream. Ron threw down his napkin and got up to punch him, when Harry stood up immediately, knocking his chair over in the process, and held Ron back.

"Hello, Weasley," he snickered. "Did Potter and Mudblood girl pay for that ice cream? Never knew your family could afford it."

Ginny stood up looking infuriated as well, and ready to give Draco a good kick the leg, when Hermione had to hold her back.

"Oh, and the little Weasley girl is here too!" Draco continued. "Surprised to see you still alive! The Heir of Slytherin didn't kill you in your sleep, eh?"

As if he had a mental link to when a person said "Heir of Slytherin," Tom strolled out of a second hand shop with another bag full of things, and came up to the table at the ice cream parlor.

"Hullo, all," Tom said in a tired voice, not noticing Draco. "What've you been up to?" He then noticed they were in a fighting stance with Draco. "Ok, never mind, guess you were about to beat someone up... never knew you had it in you..."

"Oh, and who's this?" asked Draco. He strolled over to Tom. "What poor quality of robes..." he said, grasping some of Tom's black robe. Tom quickly shooed his hand off. "I'd have to say you were about as poor as Weasley." Draco took the opportunity to take Tom's two leather book bags. He opened them both up, and emptied them onto the ground. Tom didn't move, just stared. Draco kicked them around until they were dirty, and thrust one at Tom's chest.

"Hah! Look at the quality of these pieces of junk? Can you even read it?" snapped Draco.

Harry saw Tom's mouth and eyes twitch a bit, but nothing came out. Ginny, as much as she wanted to see Draco get a good kick, began making a "no" notion to Draco. Hermione followed in suit, and Ron, however, nodded his head as in "please continue." Harry could only sit in his chair as if he was tied there, in disbelief that Draco was so low as to make fun of someone based on appearance.

Tom stood up, and towered over Draco in a frightening way. Harry say Draco bite his lip, and move a step back, but Tom leaned over to pick up his books, and load them back into two bags. Draco looked relieved, and whetted his look. To add to his already snobby appearance, he crossed his arms and stared down at Tom.

"Did you get all that at a second hand shop?" asked Draco. "Or a third hand shop? Not even Weasley here is poor enough to have to buy from a third hand shop!"

Tom simply lifted his book bags, like as if nothing had happened, and sat back down. He might not have cared, but Ron couldn't take it anymore. Knocking over the parlor table in process, Ron lunged at Draco, who backed away. Ron screamed a jumble of curse words, as he fell straight on his face over the table, and got covered in the ice cream previously on the table.

Finally, Ginny marched up to Draco, and slapped him with all her might in the face. Draco was taken back by her brash movements, and held his face, and tumbled backwards onto the ground. Tom finally removed himself from his seat, and pointed Ron's wand, which he still had, at Draco's forehead.

"I remember now," said Tom. "You're Lucius and Narcissa's lovely little 'Ray of Sunshine.'"

"How do you know my parents?" spat Draco bitterly. Then, randomly, he called Tom, "You.. you Mudblood!"

It would've been OK had Draco just stopped at "How do you know my father?" but the adding of Mudblood... well.....

"Mudblood? Did you just call me a MUDBLOOD?" roared Tom.

Harry slapped his hand to his head, and muttered "damned idiot," under his breath, and Hermione and Ginny looked ready to slap Draco for saying Mudblood. Ron, who still laying on the ground over the parlor table, laden in ice cream, suddenly yelled, "Turn him into a ferret!"

"You know," said Tom. "There's worse things I could do-"

"TURN HIM INTO A BOUNCING FERRET!" yelled Ron, in slight pain.

"Oh, so now it's a BOUNCING ferret?" snapped Tom.

"Just do it!" Ron snapped back. "AND HE'S RUNNING AWAY!"

Tom rolled his eyes, and turned back to Draco, but Draco was indeed running away. Tom yelled "IMPEDIMENTA!" to slow Draco down, and ran after him yelling, "COME HERE FERRET BOY!"

Tom chased Draco a good length of Diagon Alley. Ron, in all his misery, stumbled to his feet, and ran after them. Deciding he was a bit too desperate to see Draco as a ferret, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny began cleaning up the mess Ron had made outside the parlor.

At least ten minutes later, Tom and Ron returned quite triumphantly, carrying a cage with a ferret in it. Hermione looked as if to ask where they had gotten the cage, but quickly decided not to, while Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes.

Ron looked quite pleased, and any feelings he had against Tom for almost killing his little sister, splitting apart his family forever, and killing two of his friends, well, it was pretty much gone.

~ ~ ~
The rest of the summer went by very quickly. Tom didn't show in Diagon Alley much the last two weeks, much to Ginny's pleasure. They never learned why Tom was there, but ended up tolerating him (excluding Ginny) whenever he managed to show up. They never learned what happened to Draco, but weren't surprised to see him on the train September 1st being his usual snobbish self.

Draco boasted about his summer, careful to leave out the slapping and ferret details, to his fellow Slytherins. He had ridden broomsticks in Romania, been courted by a Princess but refused to marry her because he still had schooling, and his father had created him his very own mansion to live in when the time came. No one but his lackeys, Goyle and Crabbe, and heavy set Millicent Bulstrode believed him.

When the Hogwarts Express arrived at it's destination, the new students followed the Gameskeeper, who Harry didn't recognize, to the boats, while Harry, Ron and Hermione went across a muddy path to the carriages. They hoped into one, and were joined by Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom.

Seamus and Neville were also Gryffindor 5th years like Ron and Harry. Seamus was Irish, and at times a bit whiney, while Neville was an accident waiting to happen. He was quite accident prone, fell off things, over things, onto things, and made them fall down.

They chatted about Summer, and Seamus teased Harry when he mentioned he stayed at Hermione's house. Ron boasted he got to see Draco turn into a ferret again, and Seamus and Neville looked absolutely loatheful. Ron smiled proudly, and bragged about it until the carriage stopped.

There was a large commotion inside the Great Hall of Hogwarts, and Harry tried to figure out what was going on. Finally, George and Fred Weasley pointed out that there was almost a totally different staff. Professors Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout weren't there. He was also very surprised to notice that Hagrid wasn't there.

After the first years were sorted into their houses during the Sorting Ceremony, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up, and tapped his goblet to get everyone's attention. It took a while for the students to stop talking and give their full attention to Dumbledore.

"As you have noticed," began Dumbledore. "We have not one new teacher this year, but six. I'm pleased to introduce Professor Valis, Transfiguration, Professor Kilocherie, Charms, Professor Heinrist, Potions, Professor Evelan, History, Professor von Engelwald, Defense Against Dark Arts, Professor Lette, Herbology, and Professor Hazagma, Care for Magical Creatures."

Many students clapped, especially Harry who thought Professor Heinrist looked nicer than Snape, and a handful of male Seventh Years cat called Professors Kilocherie. She was rather pretty, Harry thought. Professor Valis looked more like a fellow student than he did a teacher, but Professor Evelan couldn't have been as boring as Binns. Engelwald had fair features, and Lette also looked very young.

After the noise died down, Dumbledore continued. "Professor Valis is the head of the Slytherin House this year, Professor Heinrist is the head of the Ravenclaw House, Professor Engelwald is the head of the Gryffindor House, and Professor Evelan is the head of the Hufflepuff House.

"We also have a new Gameskeeper this year... this is Randell Grunshiek, and I expect all you to treat him just the same as Hagrid....." Dumbledore eyed the Slytherin table as he said this.

"Some of you might wonder why changes in staff were needed, but, Lord Voldemort has definitely risen again, and it was decided we needed a very powerful staff who would help protect Hogwarts, should he ever come here."

The students frozen upon hearing the name Voldemort after the tragic events of last year. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw girl who he had a crush on, become very teary eyed. Her previous boyfriend was Cedric Diggory, whom had been killed by Lord Voldemort.

Harry felt rather bad about this since he felt it was partially his fault. He stared sympathetically at her, and Cho managed to spot him looking over at her and winked. Harry felt himself feel rather foolish, and turned his attention towards Dumbledore.

"Now... with that out of the way, I advise you all to eat before the food goes bad!" Dumbledore clapped his hands, and the once empty plates filled with delicious foods.

Various meats, pastries, and fresh produce were only a fraction of the dinner. Treacle tarts, Yorkshire Pudding, Shepherd Pies and various stews were served as well. Last year, they discovered it was an army of house elves who had made all this food. Hermione had gone on strike against it calling it "House Elf Slave Labor," but later managed to get over it.

During dinner, many students went to the staff table to say hi or ask questions to the new teachers. Ron mentioned he wanted to ask Professor Kilocherie if she was single and looking, but Hermione said she'd hit him over the head with "Hogwarts, A History," if he did. After Tom and the Broomstick, Ron didn't even want to move from his seat.

Stuffed with food, Harry followed the Gryffindor's the Common Room. Hermione had to lead the First Years to the Common Room, and as he watched them go, Harry and Ron recalled the nostalgia of Percy leading them up to the Common Room, and the events on the train, and how Hermione first became their friend, and the infamous Petrificus Totalus moment which aided Gryffindor in winning the House Cup. The times had changed since then, obviously. Voldemort had a body, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all smarter, and Neville Longbottom had a tiny bit more faith in himself.

Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean Thomas went into the Gryffindor 5th Year Boys dorm, and laid down tired on the four-poster beds. Ron went to sleep dreaming of food, being hit by "Hogwarts, A History" and turning Draco into a ferret, and Harry dreamed of Tom being sympathetic and helping him court Cho Chang with a Love Potion.

~ ~ ~