Tom Riddle Chronicles: The New DADA Teacher

Chapter 3: Deceptive honesty

The rest of the school day passed in a blur. After the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, every class was mundane and peaceful.

Professor Snape hasn´t been seen since he left to take care of Dumbledore´s assignment, so a new Potions teacher took his place. She introduced herself as Professor Alsius. She was very cold and dry, but beautiful. While she favored Slytherins, she didn´t show it nearly as bluntly as Snape.

Hermione had been going to the library whenever she had the chance, forsaking meals and free time. Harry and Ron were starting to worry. Hermione may enjoy studying, but not to such an obsessive degree. Clearly, something was wrong, but after her outburst, Harry and Ron were afraid to ask her about it.

Harry was eating dinner, glancing over to the Ravenclaw table whenever he had a chance. There was something different about Cho. Although grief still haunted her, she looked... happier. More hopeful. It was like she saw a shore after months of being lost at sea. Harry wondered what caused this change. Whatever it was, he was glad to see Cho feeling better.

After Harry finished dinner, he went to Dumbledore´s office. Harry hoped the Headmaster hadn´t really gone senile and that he could provide some insight into Professor Riddle´s identity.

When Harry reached the gargoyle that concealed the entrance to Dumbledore´s office, he realized way too late that he didn´t know the password. Harry sighed. Dumbledore had a tendency to come up with the most unlikely passwords, so logic was useless. At least all the passwords had a common theme: candy, which narrowed it down somewhat.

Taking a deep breath, Harry began rattling off all the candy flavors he could think of, no matter how unusual or disgusting they may be:

"Sugar quills, acid pops, jelly slugs, pepper imps..."

But no matter what he said, the gargoyle didn´t move a millimeter. Harry was ready to give up when he heard someone whisper:

"Skittles"

Sure enough, the gargoyle moved out of the way, exposing the entrance to Dumbledore´s office.

Harry scanned the area for his mysterious benefactor, but the hall was completely empty. He felt a soft breeze as someone (or something) moved past him. Curious, Harry went into the office.

At the first glance, it looked like it hasn´t changed one bit since the last time he was there. But after Harry looked closely, he saw a sleeping bag lying right by the table. The portraits looked at Harry for a brief moment and shifted their glances to Dumbledore´s chair. Their eyes twinkled with amusement.

"Hello, Harry."

Sirius was sitting in Dumbledore´s chair, holding what Harry immediately recognized as an Invisibility Cloak.

"Don´t scare me like that!" exclaimed Harry.

He was caught completely off-guard. He hasn´t heard anything from Sirius since last June. He assumed Sirius was too preoccupied with the coming fight with Voldemort to write anything. Harry never expected him to be here.

"I didn´t really have a choice," said Sirius, "it´s not safe for the most wanted man in the Wizarding World to walk around Hogwarts plain sight."

Sirius changed considerably since Harry last saw him. He was much cleaner and his hair was slightly shorter. His dirty, filthy robe was gone, replaced by a stylish black robe with yellow stylized Phoenix-like pattern on the front and yellow ornaments on his sleeves.

"What are you doing here!" asked Harry, "I thought you were supposed to stay at Lupin´s!"

"I did. And let me tell you: after spending an entire summer there, I was ready to dedicate myself to fighting against werewolf discrimination of the rest of my life. Anyway, a week ago Dumbledore told the to come to Hogwarts. He said he wants everybody close by in case of an emergency. Most of us are staying at Hogsmeade, but since I was a bit...conspicuous, Dumbledore allowed me stay in his office. That´s the last place anyone would look for me."

"Is it that bad?" asked Harry, knowing full well that if Dumbledore is telling all his forces to stick together, it had to be

"The word "bad" doesn´t even begin to describe it. We are outnumbered and outwanded. Many of our allies turned their back on us. We had to put down a Dementor uprising and deal with attacks from the Ministry. We haven´t heard anything from Hargid or Snape since they left on their missions, " Sirius sighed, "Bottom line is, things aren´t looking too bright right now."

"I am sure it will get better," offered Harry.

"I hope so too, Harry. I hope so too..."

For a minute, they didn´t talk, contemplating the uncertain future.

"What about you," asked Sirius, "how was your summer?"

"Same as usual, really, except this time, I had Voldemort to worry about. But nothing happened."

He didn´t tell Sirius about the endless nights he spent tortured with guilt, or the times he wished Voldemort would just come and end his misery. Sirius had enough to worry about as it is.

"Good," said Sirius. He obviously didn´t buy it, but he didn´t press the issue.

"By the way," asked Harry, trying to change the topic, "do you know anything about the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher?"

"Sure. His name is Tom Riddle. According to Dumbledore, he is an expert in all six major forms of magic," he smiled, " This is his first time teaching, so I hope you don´t give him too much trouble. "

"Well, I noticed something weird about him. He looks like Voldemort probably would if he didn´t go thought all his transformations. Except Professor Riddle looks too young to be alive fifty years ago... Bottom line is, the resemblance is unmistakable."

"Hmm..." Sirius rubbed his chin, "I never actually seen how Voldemort looked like before he went all gray and ugly, so I have to trust your judgment on this one. But Dumbledore has seen Tom Riddle and investigated the new professor. Obviously, he didn´t find anything wrong with him, or he wouldn´t be teaching. "

"Dumbeldore had been fooled before," pointed out Harry, "remember Barty Crouch Jr?"

"How was Dumbledore supposed to know he used the Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Moody?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Give Voldemort some credit. He would never resort to something this blatant. Besides, you can´t use Polyjuice Potion to change age. I once tried to make myself look older and wound up throwing up everything I ever eaten," Sirius winced at the memory

"But Ginny said she was sure Professor Riddle was Voldemort, and she knew him better then anyone."

"With all do respect to Ginny, she is in no position to make that kind of judgment. Voldemort´s diary left her traumatized. No matter how much time goes by, the scars will always be there. Seeing Tom Riddle must have brought it all back to the surface. Poor Ginny... She is confused and terrified. She probably doesn´t know what she´s saying."

Harry had to consent that Sirius had a point.

"Don´t worry, Harry," Sirius reassured him, "Tom Riddle is a friend. You can trust him. "

He sounded like he honestly believed what he was saying. And Sirius never lied to him before. Perhaps Hermione was right and Harry really was blowing it out of proportion.

"So, where is Dumbledore, anyway?" asked Harry, realizing that hasn´t seen him all day

"He left to take care of urgent business. He said he´d be back in the few days. He left me enough food to last a month. I also took a few candies from his supply of lemon drops. Just don´t tell Dumbledore that or he´ll have me skinned alive."

Harry wondered for a moment if Sirius was kidding.

"Well, I better get back to the Common Room before someone comes looking for me," said Harry, "I´ll visit you tomorrow."

"Aright. Just make sure you bring a copy of Daily Prophet, because I am getting really bored down here."

"Sure," Harry said, "good night"

"Good night, Harry"

Harry went out the door headed back to the Common Room. Just when he was about to tell the Fat Lady the password (Novellus) when Hermione came up to him. She was carrying a large folder full of papers.

"Come on, Harry, get inside," Hermione said enthusiastically, " I need to show you something."

Harry followed her, unsure of what she wanted but relieved that she doesn´t seem to be mad at him. They quickly found Ron, who looked very happy that Hermione was in a good mood. They found an empty table and sat down, eager to listen to what Hermione had to say.

"Ever since the Defense Against the Dark Arts class," she explained, "I had been looking through the library, hoping to find anything that could clear up who Professor Riddle really is. In the process, I found a few very interesting things.

"The library has a copy of every Daily Prophet ever published. I an expert in Defense Against the Dark Arts of his caliber would be mentioned in the news once or twice. I came up with two articles."

"You mean to tell us," Harry exclaimed in shock, " that you looked through all those newspapers?"

"Of course not," Hermione rolled her eyes, "I used the Accelero Expiscor spell "

She pulled out two newspapers from the folder. The headline read: "Mysterious Young Man Saves Village from Death Eaters."

Today, a small village near Hogsmeade was attacked by a gang of twelve Death Eaters. They forced all the villagers out of their houses and lead them to the town square. The soulless murderers threatened to curse each villager one by one unless all the "Mudbloods" come forward. But before anyone could get hurt, a mysterious stranger appeared.

"He looked about twenty years old," Margaret Hetch, who was one of the witnesses, told Daily Prophet, "He had really dark hair and he wore an opened black rope over Muggle clothes that were just as dark. I never thought I would see a person look at Death Eaters with such loathing. It was almost like he took the whole thing personally."

Without even using a wand, he attacked the Death Eaters, subduing them in the matter of minutes. According to Eric Attonitus, a Grindelwald War veteran who lived in the village, it was "the most spectacular display of magical combat I have ever seen."

The stranger told the villagers to call the authorities and Disapparated before anyone could ask him any questions.

We can only speculate on the identity of the mysterious hero, but one thing is for sure, he saved many innocent people. And those who owe him their lives will be eternally grateful."

The story came with a sketch magically drawn from witnesses´ descriptions. Harry stared at it in shock. The "mysterious hero" looked like a slightly older version of Voldemort´s younger self. Harry checked the date on the newspaper.

October 15, 1973

That did it for Harry. There was no way Professor Riddle could have possibly been Voldemort. He looked at Ron and saw that his best friend reached the same conclusion. But that still didn´t answer the question. Who was he?

Hermione took out a second newspaper. The first page had some story about the International Federation of Warlocks. Hermione flipped the "Business" section. The top story was titled: " Order of Phoenix Honored"

Harry didn´t even bother to read the story. A large picture atop of it completely captured his attention.

It was a photo of the entire Order. His parents were standing side-by-side and waving at him proudly. Sirius and Lupin stood on their right. Sirius held a V sign over his best friend´s head, winking at Harry. Lupin gave Harry an encouraging smile. Peter Pettigrew was standing in his father´s shadow, looking like he wanted to crawl into it. Harry looked away in distain. After all the trouble this vermin cost him, Harry had no pity for him. There were a few other people he didn´t recognize who smiled at him.

Standing inconspicuously to the right was Professor Riddle. He didn´t look that much older then his parents. He gave Harry a very weird look. While his mouth smiled, his eyes were filled with unspeakable regret.

So Professor Riddle was part of the Order of Phoenix. This meant that Sirius lied. He met Professor Riddle before. Why would Sirius deceive him?

After finding about that his godfather was innocent, Harry thought Sirius was one person he could really trust. Now, he wasn´t so sure.

"The article doesn´t have anything that would help us to figure out who Tom Riddle is," said Hermione, " nor does anything else. I spent the past few hours searching everywhere I could think of. Nothing."

"Don´t feel bad," Ron tried to comfort her, "at least now we know he isn´t You-Know-Who. Right?"

"Right..." Harry said distantly

"Look guys, I am sorry about the way I was acting earlier, " apologized Hermione, " it´s just that I have a lot on my mind, and it´s stressing me out"

"Like what?" asked Ron

"Oh, nothing that important," she replied evasively.

She had the same tone as when Ron and Harry asked her about her unusual schedule during their third year. This meant that Hermione had something important to hide. Ron didn´t want her to feel torn between being loyal to her friends and loyal to whoever made her keep that secret, so he didn´t pursue the subject any further.

"It´s OK, Hermione," he assured her, "we all have our bad days."

They spent the rest of the evening talking about nothing until they finally went to bed.

When Harry slept, he dreamt about a little girl with two cute raven-colored pigtails and emerald eyes singing him to sleep.

The next day, Harry decided to confront Sirius about what he learned. But first, he went to breakfast.

About a halfway though the meal, he realized that Professor Riddle wasn´t there. He had a bad feeling about this. As more time passed, he grew more and more worried. When breakfast ended and Professor Riddle still didn´t show up, Harry decided he had to find what was going on.

He told Ron and Hermione he´ll meet them later and ran to Professor Riddle´s office. As he tried to exit the Great Hall, he almost bumped into Cho Chang. An awkward silence seemed to have filled the room they stared at each other.

"Hello, Harry..."

"Hello, Cho..."

More silence followed

"How are you?"

"Good," she declared after an incredibly long pause. She didn´t sound good at all.

"Good," nodded Harry, feeling like he was going to burn up from embarrassment.

"Have you seen Professor Riddle by any chance?" she asked, obviously as desperate to end this awkward situation as he was.

"No," Harry shook his head, "I was just going to his office to see if he was alright."

Cho regarded him curiously:

"I was just about to do the same thing."

"Then perhaps we should go..."

"Yeah..."

Without saying another word, they dashed to Professor Riddle´s office. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry realized that Ginny wasn´t at breakfast, either, but he didn´t think it was important. If only he knew...

They were just about to reach the door when they heard the angry cry:

"Commodus Contundo!"

Harry was horrified to realize that the voice belonged to Ginny. And she was shouting a spell that Harry knew could flatten a person into a pancake. A spell she wasn´t supposed to know anyway. What was going on here!

Cho was way ahead of him. She pulled out her want and shouted: "Alohomora!" The door swung open, revealing a shocking scene.

Ginny was pointing her wand at Professor Riddle. Her eyes had a look of pure malice. Professor Riddle had his back against the wall. He was making a series of rapid gestures while chanting something under his breath. Suddenly, a strange glowing sign appeared in front of him. Ginny´s spell bounced against the sign without leaving any trace. Before she could regroup, Professor Riddle waved his hand and cried "anteishita nami ", sending Ginny flying into a nearby wall. She bounced against it and fell like a rag doll.

"What are you doing!" cried Harry, rushing to Ginny´s side. She was still breathing.

"What´s going on here, Professor Riddle?" asked Cho, who seemed to be more surprised then shocked.

"Don´t worry," he assured them, "this spell was meant to relax her. I think I overdid it and made her too relaxed. But don´t worry. The spell will wear off in five minutes."

That wasn´t good enough for Harry:

"Why were you and Ginny fighting?"

"She attacked me. I think she mistook me for Voldemort," he shook his head, "stupid diary. After all those years, it´s still causing so much pain."

Cho looked at him in shock. She didn´t know the truth about Voldemort´s identity. But Harry did. And as he listened to the professor´s voice, he realized that Tom Riddle didn´t just know about the diary: he remembered it.