Guile

It was the next morning when Harry and Ron discovered something rather shocking. When they were heading towards their first class, they saw none other than Tom. He was lying in the grass against a tree, reading the book on Norn Runes he had bought yesterday.

Harry and Ron thought they were seeing things at first, but they saw it was defintely Tom as they got a closer look.

"Tom?" asked Harry. "What're you doing here?"

"Why, hello Harry!" he said cheerfully, not looking up from his book.

"Tom," repeated Harry. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm reading," Tom replied.

"Ok, but, how could you..." began Harry.

"Dumbledore wouldn't let you..." began Ron. "He... wouldn't.... let you stay here, would he?"

"Oh, really?" asked Tom. He put his book down on his lap, and looked up at the two. "Why wouldn't he let me stay here?"

"Tom, come on," said Harry. "You... you're... Tom Riddle. Lord Voldemort." Ron cringed as he heard the name being said. "He... wouldn't let you stay here."

"That's not a reason!" said Tom, throwing his hands up in the air. "That's just repeating the same question you just asked!"

Harry and Ron stared at each other, and Tom went back to reading his book. They both began heading to Charms class, like they were supposed to be, when Harry put his hand to out to stop Ron as they were running.

"Let's go see Dumbledore," said Harry. "Something isn't right when Tom Riddle can just sit on Campus and read a book."

Ron nodded in agreement, and Harry led him to the enterance to Dumbledore's office, where a stone gargoyle stood.

"Cockroach Cluster!" said Harry. The gargoyle didn't move. "Uhhmm... Every Flavor Jelly Beans? Marmalade? Crunchy Frogs? Toasty Frogs?"

"Harry, what are you doing?" asked Ron.

"The gargoyle blocks the enterance to Dumbledore's office, and his passwords are usually candy and food items," replied Harry. He turned again towards the gargoyle. "Sherbet lemon? Lemon drop?"

"Peanut Brittle? Cauldron Cake? Treacle Tart? Sherbert balls? Sugar Quills?" asked Ron.

Harry and Ron began shouting out random names of candy they had heard, until someone said from behind, "It's Strawberry Jam." Harry and Ron spun around and to see none other than Dumbledore. His pet phoenix, Fawkes, was gliding behind him, and he was carrying a steaming cup of tea.

"I take it you've seen Tom?" asked Dumbledore. "Strawberry Jam." The gargoyle leaped off its base, and Dumbledore began climbing the small set of stairs and into his office. "Come on in..." he said to Harry and Ron.

Harry, who had been his office twice in the past, found that his office hadn't changed very much. His odd silver contraptions whirled around vividly, and Fawkes circled the top of the room before landing on Dumbledore's desk. Ron had never been in Dumbledore's office, and looked very suprised that he and Harry were even allowed in.

Dumbledore sat down at his desk, and pointed to a set of royal blue plush chairs. Harry and Ron sat down, and relaxed in the chairs. They were very comfortable, Harry thought. He turned towards Dumbledore, who was miraculously holding Tom's diary.

"Came to ask about this, correct?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yea..." said Harry, somewhat uncomfortably. "We saw him at Diagon Alley, Dumbledore, and, er... he said his diary had regenerated."

Dumbledore sighed, and then smiled. "Well, yes, it has. I didn't realize it when I looked it at three years ago, but Tom's diary does indeed have regenerative powers. I am not sure whom he used as his source of life to help him get back... an operative from the Ministry of Magic recognized him in Diagon Alley, and since they couldn't exactly kill him... well, I'm to watch over him and make sure he doesn't try anything."

Harry knew Dumbledore had a soft spot for everyone. He had taken in Hagrid as the previous Gameskeeper after he had been expelled. He invited Remus Lupin to be the Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher, though Lupin was a werewolf. But, for Dumbledore to allow Tom to simply stay at Hogwarts... Harry felt there was a larger picture and he wasn't seeing it.

Ron didn't exactly seem to like this story either, as he turned to Harry with a puzzling look. Harry shrugged, and then he looked back to Dumbledore.

"But, sir..." said Harry. "Tom's dangerous! He-"

"He won't hurt you," Dumbledore stated firmly. "I have his diary, and if he does anything to you, or any harm to any other students, I'm to do whatever I wish with his diary, and I've decided I would burn it."

"Why don't you just burn it now?" asked Harry. "This is... this is Voldemort we're talking about! Not just another student like us!"

"I know how you feel, Harry," said Dumbledore. "But even if I was to burn it now, he'd simply come back again."

Ron looked as if to argue with Dumbledore, but Harry kicked him.

"Er, thanks sir," said Harry lightly. "We'll just be going now!"

"Alright then, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Feel free to visit me anytime!"

Harry smiled, and led Ron out of the office, and back into the halls of Hogwarts. Ron looked a bit angry with Harry.

"Harry," Ron began, "there's something seriously wrong about that! Dumbledore would never just let Tom stay! Would he?"

"I know what you mean... pretty suspicious," said Harry. "But Dumbledore always has weird reasons for things... you never know."

"I know, I know!" exclaimed Ron. "But, but, oh, I don't know, it's so strange, and, oh lordy, we're about 45 minutes late for class!"

Harry gulped, and he and Ron ran as quickly as possible to the Charms classroom. They flew down the hallway, and into what used to be Professor Flitwick's room. Professor Kilocherie now stood in his place, and she was much taller, and didn't need a pile of books to stand on.

"Where have you two been?" snapped Professor Kilocherie as they entered.

"We were at the Headmaster's office!" said Harry breathlessly. "We needed to talk to Dumbledore about, er, a 'problem' we were having!"

"Uh, yea!" said Ron.

"Twenty-five points from Gryffindor," Professor Kilocherie told them angrily. "And a Detention! Now, sit down boys, and get out your Charms books! We're studying Locking Charms."

Professor Kilocherie warmed up slightly by the end of class, but she was still stuck in the Artic with Harry and Ron. Hermione didn't blame her. All throughout class she too was mean to the boys, and said it was very rude of them to come in 45 minutes late to her class. Ron tried to tell her it was because of Tom, but Hermione didn't seem to listen.

The trio had Transfiguration with Professor Valis next. Hermione had become slightly nicer since she did enjoy Transfiguration, but was thoroughly dissapointed Professor McGonagall wouldn't be teaching it. Harry and Ron were worried their new Professor might be biased towards the Slytherins as Snape had been, but luckily, they had nothing to worry about.

Professor Valis was fresh out of school himself, and only twenty-years-old. However, he excelled exceptionally at Transfiguration over the other branches of magic, and was also a Druid. The entire class was quite impressed by this, since Druids were capable of turning themselves into a wide range of creatures at will.

Professor Valis's class didn't drag on as McGonagall's usually did. Instead he started off quite simple with a few notes, and everyone was given a lit candle. The assignment was to change the candle into a cardinal bird, and of course, only Hermione could complete it.

After Lunch, Harry and Ron went up to Professor Trelaway's for Divination, and Hermione went to Professor Vector's for Arithmancy. Hermione had never told them exactly what she did in Arithmancy, or what Arithmancy was, but Harry had saw Tom reading a book on it out in the courtyard, and got the courage to ask.

"Tom?" asked Harry.

"Now what," Tom sighed longingly. "I come here to get a little peace and quiet, a nice change of scenery, and low and behold, you people come up to me and-"

"I just wanted to know what Arithmancy is!"

"Oh, well, that's simple," replied Tom. He shut his Arithmancy book, "Muggle Calculus Applications in Arithmancy," and looked up at Harry and Ron. "Arithmancy is kind of like Divination, only it's considered to be more precise. You predict things and probabilities and determine personality traits using numbers."

"Sounds really boring," replied Ron.

Tom flushed a deep red color to match Ron's hair. "Arithmancy isn't boring!" he roared. "It's better than Divination which is one of the most stupidest possible things magically related! There's no solid-"

"Ok! Tom! Shut up!" said Harry quickly. "We get the point!"

Tom snickered and went back to his book, and mentioned something about Harry asking the question in the first place. Harry and Ron went off to Divination, and gave Tom the peace and quiet he wanted. Ron saw Ginny in the Hallway on the fourth floor, and took the opportunity to tell her the bad news.

"Hey, Ginny," said Ron. "Uhm, did you know Tom's going to be... lurking around here?"

Ginny looked a bit taken back. "Oh.... really?"

"Eh, yea, we saw him a couple of times today out in the courtyard..."

"Oh...." replied Ginny in a hushed voice. Her ears reddened a bit, and then she too went off to class.

"Poor girl..." muttered Harry. "Worse enough having him appear up like that in Diagon Alley."

Ron nodded in agreement, and stood dormant, watching his sister walk slowly into Defense Against Dark Arts.

Divination had never been a favorite of Harry and Ron's. To the current day, they hadn't any idea why they took it in the first place. The teacher was Professor Trelaway, a nutty old woman whose classroom was very warm and misty, supposedly to help one's Inner Eye. All of her lessons were rather stupid, and she loved telling Harry that he was going to die. In all her years of teaching at Hogwarts, Dumbledore once told Harry Professor Trelaway had only made two real predictions, one of which Harry heard in his third year.

Today's lesson in Divination was using Tarot Cards. Ron and Harry were supposed to be looking up meanings of Tarot Cards, and deciphering what certain series of cards would mean.

"Hey, it's the Death card," said Ron. "And the Hanged-Man. So that means... I'll be reborn into a new person during a very frusterating situation!"

"I've got a.... Hanged-Man and a Love card," said Harry. "Would that be being faced with a very hard decision involving love?"

"Probably," replied Ron. "Sounds good enough!"

For thirty minutes, they scribbled card pairing meanings onto their parchments until their ink ran out, in which case they replaced the ink, then went back to the parchments. By the end of period, Harry had gone through one and a half bottles of green ink, and Ron went through two full ones. They handed the messy parchment pieces in before fleeing the North Tower and heading to dungeons for Professor Heinrist.

Professor Heinrist began the class nice and slow, introducing himself. The Slytherins didn't greet him with any warmth as they all dearly wanted Professor Snape back, but the Gryffindors gave the Professor a nice welcome. Since they had Potions with Slytherin and not Ravenclaw, Harry didn't get to see if Professor Heinrist was biased, but it didn't exactly matter. Heinrist was fair to both Houses, and that was good enough.

So, for the first time in the History of Hogwarts within the past five years, the Gryffindor House finally enjoyed Potions class. An amazing and perhaps even unorthodox thought, but the Gryffindors all loved Potions. They especially liked it since the first thing Professor Heinrist had them do was create Dungbombs.

Ron thought it was a joke, a very, very good joke of some sort when Heinrist told everyone he'd be starting off simple and having them brew Dungbombs. But Professor Heinrist smiled, and instructed the class to turn to page 137 of Moste Potene Potions, where there was a recipe for an exploding fume emitting potion, called a "Noisolpxe Potion," and was a simplified way to make a Dungbomb.

Even the Slytherins warmed up to Heinrist's lesson, and at the end of class, everyone reeked of Ode le Dungbomb, and the entire class was in hysterical fits and laughter. Hermione even joined in the insanity, and Neville managed to create one on his own. It didn't have as large of effect as everyone else's, but, Neville did make it by himself, and Neville making something without Hermione whispering him ingredients was something for the history books.

Dinner at Hogwarts was at eight P.M., and the students and the teachers gathered in the Great Hall as they had done during breakfast and lunch to eat. As the night before, various meats, vegetables, and treats were served for dinner, and the Hogwarts ghosts sat on the tables loathing the students.

The ghosts couldn't taste or smell food when they went through it, but it seemed that they could pick up the scents of rotten food. Harry, Ron and Hermione had found that out in their second year when they attended the Gryffindor House ghosts, Nearly Headless Nick's, Death Day party.

Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost, came out and talked to the Gryffindors that night. He apologized for not coming out the night before, but he had a few problems with Peeves the Poltergeist, and couldn't find the time to come.

Peeves the Poltergeist was an annoying pesky poltergeist that loved playing pranks on students. He had a reputation and was kind of feared by most of the students. Although a seemingly uncontrollable explosive, Peeves could be controlled by the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron.

Nick told the Gryffindors who would listen to him that Peeves had caused ruckus not only in the kitchens, but in the Library and Hospital Wing too. All the books from the Library were taken and shoved onto the shelves of towels and blankets in the Hospital Wing, and all the towels and blankets had been put into the large cauldrons of stew down in the kitchen. There was havoc and confusion amongst the house elves in the kitchen, and the ghosts were busy all night along talking of what should become of Peeves: should they kick him out of Hogwarts and let him stay.

The Bloody Baron didn't care, Sir Nick voted against him staying, the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost, forgave everyone and voted that he didn't care, and the Grey Lady voted against him, but the it was two keep, two stay votes.

Finally, it came down to a coin toss. Nick told the Gryffindors that the Fat Friar's coin levitated up in the air, and dropped on Heads, meaning Peeves had to stay. Everyone seemed quite disappointed in the result as Nick told his story.

~ ~ ~
Harry, Ron and Hermione had double Herbology with Professor Lette and the Ravenclaws the next morning. After nearly four hours of planting fire seeds that would grow into Fire Flowers capable of firing fireballs at untrustworthy people, they took a quick shower inside the bathrooms before going to lunch.

Before going to History of Magic, they saw Ginny sitting on the grass talking to Tom. Tom appeared to be ignoring her to the point where Ginny threw a rock at his head, which he transfigured into a rose in midair, and caught with his right hand.

He used it as a bookmark for his book, "The Elven Runes of JRR Tolkien: Wizard Edition," and headed in the direction of the Library. Ginny frowned a little, then straightened out her robes and headed off to Muggle Studies.

"I thought she wouldn't... enjoy his company," said Ron in a flat voice.

"So did I," replied Harry. "But he seems to be ignoring her."

"Do you think Tom's trying to redeem himself?" asked Hermione. "I mean, he hasn't tried to kill you, yet, he turned Draco into a ferret, allowed me hit him silly with a Firebolt, and he's ignored Ginny."

"Well, he could be," said Harry. "But there's just been eerie things happening all over the school. Last night I heard Dean and Seamus talking about hearing a large chirping noise from something on the roof."

"And Lavender and Parvati mentioned something about hearing a lion roar when they were in the dungeons," said Hermione.

"And Dumbledore's allowing Tom to stay here," said Ron. "We tried to tell you yesterday but you were too busy ragging on us for being forty-five minutes late."

They talked about weird theories and conspirators, and the possibility of foreign creatures coming onto the Hogwarts grounds all the way to History of Magic.

Professor Evelan greeted them all warmly, and called of their names for attendance. She then instructed them to get their History books out, and turn to page 43 Ð which began talking about the Greek wizards and how they used magic and astronomy to discover the world was round much longer before the Muggles, Copernicus and Galileo, existed.

History of Magic wasn't as boring as when Binns had taught them, but still a very sleepy class. Harry copied down a few dates and names in his notebook, and rested his head on the desk.

Hermione woke up Ron and Harry when class was over, and they went to the Great Hall for Dinner. They had apparently missed a few notes, but Hermione was willing to let them copy her notes. She stalled to do so at first since she didn't find Professor Evelan as boring as Professor Binns, but eventually she caved in and handed them other.

~ ~ ~
The next day came and passed, as did the next, and so did the months. Professor Engelwald, who seemed very normal as compared to the previous four Defense Against Dark Arts teachers, was having them studying survival and protection when in foreign lands in the month of October. Hermione especially paid attention because she had made plans to visit Viktor Krum during Winter Break.

Ron couldn't believe her when she annonuced the news to the boys, and really, no one believed her in the first place at all. She couldn't go during the summer because Harry needed a place to stay, and Viktor also was being drilled into fierce Quidditch practice all summer long. He had a game against the American team, the Washington Wizards, in mid-November, and had until February off.

Hermione responded that she'd be delighted to come, and soon they made their plans: Hermione would take the Muggle train, the tube, to France where she and Viktor would meet and spend a couple of weeks in the winter together. Ron begged her to get him an autographed Quidditch ball, or maybe even an autographed Broomstick, but Hermione rolled her eyes and told Ron she wouldn't even bring him back a minute signature if he didn't stop asking.

In Care for Magical Creatures, Professor Hazagma moved the students on from protection oneself from a Dragon, to how to handle Hippogriff's. When that was announced, the entire class looked at one another thinking history would repeat itself, but luckily, there was only one injury, and that was to Neville Longbottom who got off the Hippogriff in a bit of trip and fell on his face. But things like that always happened to Neville, so no one was worried when it happened.

Harry had Quidditch practice besides his studies, but before the Gryffindor team could start practicing, they to find a new Keeper. After a few short days of tryouts, it was eventually decided that Seamus Finnigan would be the new Keeper. The team also voted Angelina Johnson as their new beloved Captain. She wasn't as psychotic as Wood has been, but still drilled the team just the same.

In Herbology, because it was October and October meant it was time for Halloween, Professor Lette was having them grow enormous pumpkins. She also taught them how to cave Pumpkins using Severing Spells, and planned to decorate the school with the 5th, 6th, and 7th years pumpkin creations.

Eleven days before Halloween, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Parvati Patil saw their pumpkins outside the Astronomy Tower on the way to Astronomy at Midnight.

Parvati had carved a small star into the side of hers, so it seemed right for the Pumpkin to be placed in the Astronomy Tower. Ron's had a crescent moon mouth and multi-colored streaks down the back. Hermione's had little dots and she enchanted it to wink, and the stem spun around, and Harry at the last minute was encouraged to put a lightning bolt scar at the top of his.

Tom still wouldn't speak to Ginny, and Ron, Fred and George called a special "Weasley Males at Hogwarts Only" meeting, but invited Harry and Hermione. Fred and George planned to kill him if he touched their dear little sister, but Harry and Ron explained what Dumbledore had told them. Fred and George thought it was insane that he was even allowed on campus, but as Hermione told them before they went to bed, "Dumbledore will be Dumbledore."

~ ~ ~
On Halloween night, Professor Lette lit a few pumpkins up, and enchanted them to float around the Great Hall as the students ate their Halloween treats. Tom entered around nine P.M., and sat down by Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked. He put his book of the moment, "Creature Summoning made Easy," down on his lap.

"Sure, just don't kill us," said Ron, in a very matter-of-factly way.

Tom smirked, and sat down with the trio. Hermione was asking him a question about creature summoning, when Ginny came in, pouting, and sat down across from the trio. She didn't notice Tom, but rested her head on her arms and began to whimper.

"What's the matter?" asked Ron immediately.

"Draco," Ginny said through her tears. "He's such a jerk..."

"Good riddance," said Tom.

Ginny looked up at Tom. "Oh, hello Tom..."

"Hello!" replied Tom cheerfully.

"Nevermind Tom, what happened?" snapped Ron.

"Well... I was walking to the Great Hall from the Common Room trying to memorize more herbs and plants from my Encyclopedia of Toadstools, and Malfoy took it and leaped around taunting me."

"Then what?" demanded Ron.

"He ripped out some already loose pages!" Ginny dabbed her eyes with a napkin. "Then took it into the boys bathroom and threw it at a stall. Collin Creevey was nice enough to go in and get what was left of it for me."

Ron stood up in his place, but before he could move a foot from the table, Harry and Hermione were trying to restrain him.

"Ron!" yelled Harry at his friend. "Calm down! If you do that, you'll sink to his level!"

"Just accept defeat gracefully and go down like a man," suggested Tom.

"I can't believe I'd be hearing that from You-Know-Who," said Ron in disbelief.

"You know something?" said Tom. "You're right, I'm just telling you what any older person would tell you. So, uh, hows about I turn Draco into a ferret again? After all, it's Halloween!"

Hermione thought he might get in trouble. Her mind changed after Tom reminded her that he wasn't actually a student.

"I'll be right back then!" said Tom. He stood up and left the Gryffindor Table for the Slytherins'.

"Godspeed!" yelled Ron. He saluted Tom as he marched off with his head held high to the other table.

When Draco saw Tom approaching the Slytherin table, he leaped fifty feet in the air, and scrambled away as quickly as possible, bursting the doors of the Great Hall wide open and slipping on the floor as he went. The entire Great Hall except for the rest of the Slytherins began to laugh at Draco, and Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl who had the face of a pug and a crush on Draco, looked absolutely appalled.

"Salazar Slytherin rolls in his GRAVE because of you!" Ron called as Draco ran. He clapped his hands together and smiled.

"Come on!" Tom yelled to Ron. "Lets go follow him!"

Tom strolled out of the Great Hall after Draco, and Ron lovingly followed. Ginny frowned at the two's attempts to cheer her up, and thought they were taking things the wrong way since Draco was like this to everyone. Hermione agreed, but told Harry he ought to follow them so they don't end up killing each other.

Harry went into the Hall, and heard Ron's voice. He followed it until he found Tom and Ron looking absolutely astonished at a wall by a painting of a knight.

"Guys!" yelled Harry. He sprinted to catch up to their position. "What happened?"

"Uhm, well, I was stalking after Draco," began Tom. "Then we cornered him here, and as he got up against this wall, he fell through it."

"Uh-huh..." said Ron.

"Shouldn't we go in after him?" asked Harry.

"Why?" asked both Ron and Tom in unison.

"Well, it's the right thing to do," said Harry. "Come on!"

Harry put his hand through the wall, and then, his whole body. He stuck his head out through the other side of the wall, and notioned for Ron and Tom to come.

Tom stepped in, but as he did, he tripped on the bottom of Harry's robes. He grabbed Ron to catch himself, but pulled Ron along with him, and all three of them fell through the wall and found themselves rolling down towards what looked like a light.

They found themselves at the bottom of a circular room. It looked something like an old Roman Colosseum, with white crackling walls, seats for an audience, only at the top of the ring wasn't a sky, but some kind of roof.

"We've got to be at least ten miles underneath Hogwarts," said Ron breathlessly. "Maybe more-"

"Shut up, Weasley!" they heard Draco say.

Ron turned to his side, and saw Draco squatting down on the ground. Draco looked very frightened by something, and then nudged his head towards something moving in the audience seating.

It was a tall, golden lion.

Draco in a hushed voice, "It can hear and see just about anything..."

Harry, Ron and Tom all sat down by Draco, and moved up against the wall to the point where you just barely see anything if you looked over it. Harry nudged Tom.

"What?" Tom hissed.

"You're the genius," said Harry, "you get us out of this!"

Tom backed up against the wall, and thought for a moment, then turned to the way they came in, but wasn't able to find the right spot on the wall. He moved his pale hands everywhere over the white crackling wall, and still found nothing.

"Ok, you guys find the exit, and I'll distract the lion, deal?" said Tom.

"Sure," the other three replied quickly.

"But first, I'll need a wand," he told them.

During his past few months sitting around Hogwarts, Harry and Ron had asked Tom a few questions. One of which was, "Why aren't you trying to kill us?" and then Tom told them sarcastically, "Because, I don't have a wand."

Harry thought Tom not having a wand was wonderful, up until this moment in time. Ron had left his in his room, and Draco had dropped his in the passageway connecting Hogwarts to the place they were. Harry searched around in his robes until finally, he found his wand.

Harry took his wand out of his pocket, and handed it to Tom. Tom twirled it in between his long white fingers, and ran out into the middle of the Colosseum, and began yelling, "Hello Lion!" while Harry, Ron and Draco began touching the walls trying to find the exit.

"That guy's insane," said Draco as he searched the wall with Harry and Ron.

"Tell me about it," muttered Harry.

The golden lion began running down the seats, and charging towards Tom's position. Tom took a long deep breath, then aimed Harry's wand at the lion.

Tom yelled, "CRUCIO!" with an accent on the O, and the lion fell in midair, and began struggling on the ground. It roared in pain and agony, until Ron yelled, "STOP IT!"

Ron might've wanted to leave this place, but he didn't wish to see the lion get tortured. Tom used Finite Incantatum to stop the devestating effects of his Crucio, and the lion continued to fly through midair directly at Tom.

Tom was taken by suprise when the Lion suddenly landed on top of him. The Lion began to gnaw at Tom. It picked up Tom's body with his teeth, and threw it aside. Harry, Ron and Draco were sickened and shocked by the sight of Tom's body lying on the ground, covered in crimson red blood.

None of them said anything as the Lion roared, quite pleased with itself. The trio of boys looked at the sight in awe, thinking that Tom was dead.

Until Tom sat up and stretched bit, laughing to himself.