Band of Brothers

The next few weeks went perfectly smoothly if you counted out the many attempts of Fred and George Weasleys plan to put Tom out of action. No, all in all Harry had a decent time at the Waltens for the rest of the summer. The journey to King's Cross was pleasant enough since it was Mr and Mrs Waltens that drove Harry, Tom and Michelle. They waited outside the magical barrier for the right moment to appear at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. The trick was that the magical platform was not seen to Muggle eyes and you had to go between platforms nine and ten and press against the barrier. So they did. The three of them materialized in front of a scarlet steam engine bearing the words 'Hogwarts Express'. Tom was feeling a bit nervous now that it was time to board the steam engine; he could feel Michelle felt the same way. Michelle was gripping his arm very tight as though his arm was getting numb from lack of blood circulation.

'So this is the Hogwarts Express hmm?' Tom said thoughtfully looking around. Students were waving good-bye to their parents while others were seen running up and down the isles of the train compartments. Trying not to draw attention to himself he left off for the last compartment. Turning around to tell Michelle and Harry this, he noticed that Harry had disappeared. Perhaps he found his friends? 'Hey Michelle, let's take the final compartment.'

She nodded and they hurried off to the last one. Tom opened the door to find Harry and Ron already there with a girl that had bushy brown hair.

'Oh hi Tom,' Harry said. 'Sorry, this is Hermione Granger. She's Muggle-born like you Michelle.'

The girl stood up and shook both of their hands. Tom grabbed a seat at the back of the compartment right behind Harry and Ron's seat. 'So which house d'you think you'll be in?' Hermione asked. 'I mean you are a transfer student and - ' she shuddered ' - You-Know-Who's nephew… wow… I though You-Know-Who killed his parents… well that's what Harry told me…'

'Sit down and I'll explain all.' Hermione sat down at her seat and Michelle sat down next to Tom. Tom breathed in and began, 'When Voldemort, or Tom Marvolo Riddle as he was called, graduated from Hogwarts, he came home and killed his father and his parents at their house. Tom's mother died giving birth to him and his father left him at an orphanage. You could feel how bad it was… and how bad Tom turned out later. He wanted revenge and that was what he got… he murdered his dad and his parents… Well of course the news got out and my grandfather thought it wouldn't be safe living in England now that Tom was on rampage so he left across the sea to Canada. Well life began normally and well… after a few tens of years I was born… That's my story!'

The passengers in the same compartment were looking at him full of surprise, everyone except Michelle who seemed bored. Of course Tom had already told Michelle about this for she didn't look the least bit shocked. Hermione was the first to break the silence. 'S-so you mean you want revenge on h-him? You-Know-Who? B-but…'

'I didn't say that! I just told my story that's all,' Tom fixed. 'Besides Voldemort wouldn't guess since we're family.' Tom noticed that Harry was looking doubtfully at him. Perhaps fighting Voldemort more than once can change a person. 'Trust me, Voldie's not going to kill me 'kay? Just chill - ' However at that exact moment the compartment door burst open. Three boys, one pale and blonde and two other huge kids.

'Get out Malfoy,' Harry muttered standing up.

'Scram, get lost, get outta here!' Ron followed standing up as well.

The pale blonde boy however ignored them but was looking at Tom. There was a smirk on his face, then he said, 'Well, well, well… I've been around the train and some people say they saw two new fifth years, transfer students they said.' The boy's eye shifted from Tom to Michelle who was looking back at him with intimidation. 'You'll make goods if you're in Slytherin,' Malfoy said, 'I can see it there. Don't join Gryffindor where all the losers are.'

'Rather Gryffindor then cursed Slytherin,' Tom sneered. It wasn't a first, but Harry could almost feel a Draco Malfoy in Tom himself. 'You might want wander off before you contaminate the air in here, it's already hard enough to breath with those two rocks - ' he said looking at Crabbe and Goyle ' - plus… heard about the Malfoys, evil gits, they are.' Draco Malfoy's face turned deep red of anger and was now itching for his wand.

'You might want to watch it Riddle!' Malfoy said. 'I heard about the Riddles! Last one that entered Hogwarts was sorted into Slytherin and so will you! And her!' Malfoy indicated to Michelle. 'Just watch your step because I'll be on you! We don't get transfer students a lot; in fact they're rare! Why don't you just go back to where ever you came from!' With that Malfoy left the compartment with door slamming shut.

Tom, Harry, Ron and Michelle sat back down in their seats, all of them sighing. 'Sorry but that was Draco Malfoy… he's in Slytherin, stupid git too,' Ron indicated.

'I know,' Tom said casually. 'Known his family for a while. Know that they're all corrupted and sucking the Dark Arts like ever… can see that Lucius' son is the same like him…' Tom took out his wand and fiddled with it. It gleamed? Harry noticed that the wand was not wood but… metal?

'Say Tom?' Harry said. 'Is that wand of yours supposed to shine?'

Tom laughed and answered, 'Yeah, supposed too. It's made out of metal so it'll last long… Actually it's my dad's wand. Julius gave it to me when we first met, said I was the next person to use it in the family. Guess the wand was passed down from generations to generations.' Tom pocketed his wand. 'Say Michelle, what about your wand?'

Michelle was looking out the window of the train. The voice of Tom seemed to have brought her back. 'Oh!' she said surprised. 'Oh, right… here…' Michelle took out her wand then examined it. 'Wood, ten inch with dragon hair string.'

'Twelve inch with who-knows-what inside! Julius never told me what's inside my wand so I guess I'll never know…' Tom pointed out. 'Well tell when we're there…' He took out his black school robes and tossed over his head and fell to sleep.

A few hours later Tom felt a hand pushing him. Taking the robes off he found Michelle looking straight back at him. 'Almost there, put on your robes,' Michelle said smirking, thrusting his robes back into his hand.

'C'mon the train's stopping soon - oh wait right now,' Michelle said.

The train began to halt as they neared the train station. The sky outside was clear and cloudless as Tom stepped off looking into the sky. A voice was booming somewhere 'Firs' years over here! Firs' years over here!' A giant, about ten feet or more was standing yelling to the first years. Tom and Michelle followed Harry, Ron and Hermione to the unmanned carriages. It was four to a carriage so Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville Longbottom took one and Tom, Michelle and two others they didn't know went with them. The carriages followed the same path through the forest of trees until it was a visible. A castle with at least ten levels was looming in the grounds. So this was Hogwarts, Tom thought. It didn't look much different then his school back in Canada. The carriages stopped in front of the gates of Hogwarts, it was their cue to get off. They disembarked the magical carriages and walked up to the entrance door. Harry was making his way to Tom with Ron and Hermione following from behind.

'Ready?' Harry asked breathlessly. Tom nodded. Harry was grinning widely, 'Alright let's go!'

The door was pushed open and Tom was faced to the Entrance Hall. They walked through it viewing the armor and shields that were stationed. Tom had a funny feeling that the armors were trying to reach for him, he didn't know. The door to the Great Hall was visible ahead. Just as he neared it a voice was called at them.

'Will the four transfer students please come over here!' the voice squeaked.

'Four?' Tom said dumbfounded. 'What d'you mean four? There's only two! Michelle and I!' He only began to move when Michelle began to push him forward.

'Stop whining and start moving!' she hissed at him.

Tom scowled back at her then continued forward. He suddenly met a very short wizard who barely reached his waist. This must be Professor Flitwick, Charms professor that Harry had told him. Professor Flitwick was a very small man with white hair. Just then two girls about as tall as Tom, both of them skinny. One was pale while the other was a bit tan. The pale girl had jet-black hair while the other one had blonde hair.

'Oh good, you're all here!' piped Professor Flitwick. 'Good, now you will all be sorted after the first years okay? You will be cued to enter the hall when it's time so please wait out here.' With that the Charms teacher left into the Great Hall. All four of them looked at each other. Tom however was having bad vibes about the two girls, really bad vibes.

'So how 'bout it,' the pale faced girl said breaking the silence. 'Getting sorted? Hope I'll be in Slytherin!'

'Same here,' the girl with jet-black hair added.

Tom and Michelle were scowling at the two. 'Hope I'll be in Gryffindor,' Tom said harshly. 'Same here,' Michelle said nodding, 'hope I'll make it to Gryffindor.' The other two girls were sneering at them; Tom just ignored them when he heard a voice in the hall.

'… now let the transfer students enter!'

The door opened. The four of them walked out in the Great Hall, the heads of everyone turning into their direction. The voice of witch rang out, it was Professor McGonagall. 'Now, I will call out your name to sit on the stool. You will put on the Sorting Hat and it will sort you into one of four houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Now for the first student, Beaucherie, Michelle!'

Michelle walked nervously to the stool and put it on. Tom waited anxiously hoping she will be sorted into Gryffindor. Suddenly, strangely, he heard her voice in his head? But she wasn't talking to him, she was talking to the hat and the most surprising part was that she wasn't moving her lips. Was she talking telepathically? 'No I really like to go to Gryffindor,' Tom heard the voice of Michelle. Was it possible that he was connecting a psychic link with her conversation? 'No, not Slytherin… Gryffindor,' her voice said again. 'Not Slytherin? But you got it all! Oh well, better make it GRYFFINDOR!' The last part rang out loud as heard cheers and applause from the Gryffindor table, boos and moans from Slytherin table.

'Henson, Joanna!'

The pale girl with black hair stepped forward looking the complete opposite from Michelle. She wasn't anxious but seemed confident. Her wish came true, 'SLYTHERIN!' was heard from the Sorting Hat.

'Iola, Terri!'

The blonde girl walked to the stool nervous like Michelle. She put on her cap then began to feel really anxious. Her expression was looking pleadingly as though she wasn't getting her wish. Just then her voice rang in his head '… please! Put me in Slytherin!' There was a moments pause. Tom's connection with the conversation was lost when the hat rang out 'SLYTHERIN!' Terri walked happily to the roaring Slytherin table on the far side. She sat down next to her friend Joanna and began to talk animatedly.

'Riddle, Tom!'

Tom walked nervously to the three-legged stool. Sitting down he put on the patch and frayed hat on his head. A few seconds he heard a voice in his head, the voice of the Sorting Hat. 'Now let's see here… Slytherin all the way! Blood of Salazar clearly stands out and - holy crap! Blood of Godric Gryffindor? You smoking pot kid? Well let's see… Gryffindor or Slytherin, your pick. You fit well in both so there's no disadvantage.' Tom thought for a minute. If he was ready for his job he'd have to go to Slytherin but he wanted to go to Gryffindor for phase two of his plan… 'GRYFFINDOR!' The table of Gryffindor applauded loudly with hoots of glee. Tom walked happily over to the Gryffindor where he felt people began to pat him on the back as though he had just won a marathon. Tom slid next to Michelle, Harry, Ron and Hermione and began to talk about their plans for the school year. Fred and George Weasley sat down beside Tom talking to him fast with anticipation about their newest pranks.

'… George says we'll probably roll in about a hundred or so canary creams in a week or so,' Fred said enthusiastically. 'Inside the canary cream is a little surprise…' and his face cracked into an evil grin, 'but don't worry Tom, we won't jump you.' Tom found this quite hard to believe.

'Yeah, cool…' Tom muttered as the twins left his side. Harry shoved over and asked him what the Weasley twins had said. 'Oh they said they'll roll in about a hundred or so canary creams… I might as well make my own food while I'm here, don't like the surprise.' Harry sighed and walled off out of sight, then Michelle slid next to him.

Tom hadn't noticed this before but she was looking tired and weary. What was causing her to strain like this was almost indicated right after. The two girls that were sorted into Slytherin came marching up to him, Draco Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. The pale girl, Joanna, spoke first, 'So a Gryffindor hmm? Well looks like we'll be rivals, won't we?'

'Yeah we will…' Michelle said coldly staring right back at them. 'Have you any business here? If not then you can shove off!' Her voice had a definite edge in it. She was staring furiously at one another, Joanna merely looked pleased.

'My, my… with a temper like that who knows what'll happen?'

'You'll know what happens after I get through you, Joanna!' Michelle was itching for her wand. Tom had never seen her so angry, but then again, Michelle always did surprise him. Tom grabbed Michelle's hand and signaled her to calm down. Standing up he said, 'You might want to leave now before someone gets hurt.'

Malfoy came up in front smirking. 'Whatever Riddle, just remember that you're the enemy now…'

With that the five Slytherins walked back to their table smirking at one another. Tom decided it was time to ask Michelle what was going on. 'So what's up? Already got a grudge?'

'It's them! I went off just for a while then met them!' she spat. 'Got into verbal insults and ended up stalking away with them following me! I never had trouble with people like them at home! Well a maybe a few…' she added. Tom sighed then stared back the staff table. Dumbledore was standing up for another announcement.

'Now let us begin the feast!

Food magically appeared in front of him. His empty plate now full of delicious food was ready to be devoured. Across all the house tables, dishes of strange food appeared out of thin air. Tom heard their was house-elves working at the kitchens, this must be their fine dine of cooking. The feast began with everyone digging in to their meal with forks or knives. After an hour later Tom found time to talk to Harry who was sitting to his left. 'Fine meal hmm?' Tom said, mouth empty. 'Never had one like this since a long time ago!'

'Gotta love it, Tom. The food they serve me at the Dursleys is hell if you know what I mean,' Harry said winking. 'I used to live in the cupboard under the stairs until Hagrid, the gamekeeper from the school, came and save me. Scared the hell out of my aunt and uncle.' Harry took another spoonful of Yorkshire pudding, swallowed then asked, 'What did you do? Before this I mean. I noticed when I was at your house that there was a Muggle rifle under your bed.'

Tom swallowed his share of food then turned to him. 'I found this whole lot of old Muggle weapons in the dungeon I built. Found it last year when I was fourteen - oh by all means I didn't mean to cause harm.' Tom added looking at Harry's frightened face. 'Just found it then I guess I decided to polish it or something. Found a bunch of old semiautomatics and some such. Nothing useful, just a bunch of rusty weapons, useless. I prefer my wand though… well I'll show you when we get to the common room.' He added the last bit with a wink. Whatever it was, Harry didn't really want to find out.

After the feast Dumbledore stood up, the hall went silent. 'Now I suggest the prefects of each house guide their new set of students to their house. Remember prefects, you are to set an example for the younger students.' With that the students stood up, the prefects of each house guiding them.

'Alright students please follow me!' said a voice at Gryffindor table. Looking around Tom caught site of Hermione, a silver badge pinned to her chest. 'Please follow me!' she said again.

'You're a prefect?' Ron said incredulously. 'You never told us that?'

'Prefect? Well how come I didn't see that coming,' Harry joked sarcastically.

Hermione didn't seem to pay attention. She turned on her heel and walked off out of the hall, the rest of the house following her. Ron smirked and began talking to Harry quietly, Tom supposed he wanted to find out a way to get back at Hermione for not letting them in about the news. Michelle came walking up next to him with rather high spirits than before. Fred and George Weasley seemed to be planning more pranks by the way they were grinning at each other, Lee Jordan from behind making suggestions. Hermione was very well the target for this years pranks.

'Looks like Hermione is going to get it this year,' Michelle muttered to him.

'You think so?' Harry said turning back. 'Hermione's are friend so I don't see why she'll be - oh right, the prefect thing…'

After many twists and turns they finally arrived in front of a large portrait with a fat lady in it. The painting was moving around, winking at the new students. 'This is the portrait of the Fat Lady. The password changes once in a while, this month's password is "wimbledimble" 'kay?' The house nodded, 'Wimbledimble' said Hermione. The portrait swung open. They climbed through into the common room full of tables and warm comfy couches. The fire in the fireplace burning merrily.

'Alright, to bed!' shouted Hermione. The house dispersed into their own dormitory through the staircase. Hermione waited until everyone but Tom, Michelle, Harry and Ron were left. She turned to them and said, 'Sorry.'

'You know you could've told us!' Ron said.

'I'll fill you in tomorrow Ron at breakfast,' Hermione replied. She sent them upstairs to their own dormitory for bed.

'Hey Tom, you said you wanted to show me something?' Harry asked.

Tom looked back then remembered, 'Oh yeah, here look.' He opened his trunk. Inside it was his schoolbooks, robes, items then Harry noticed an old American World War II helmet and a rough sandy green color. 'Found the helmet along with the weapons, I made the robe, cool huh?' Harry nodded then went to his bed. Fifteen minutes into the night everyone was asleep, the sound of Neville's snoring confirmed this.

Tom's eyelid drooped until they were closed. He had a dream… a dream that was so real it scared him. The dream began with the sound of gunfire during the Second World War…

'Holy shit! Where the fuck is everybody?' said the Sargeant. 'Where the hell is 3rd Platoon?'

'I have no idea!' Tom shouted.

The sound of gunfire was hitting against the stonewall behind him. Holding on to his Carbine he pulled out of the corner and released three semiautomatic shots against the enemy. He had no idea where his opponent was but all he knew was that the enemy knew where he was. 'Holy shit! MG is pinning us down Sargeant! Gotta get them to pull away!'

'Then do something Riddle!'

'Yes sir!' Tom pulled out a grenade from his gear. Pulling the pin but not releasing the spring, he ran towards the gunfire and threw the grenade inside the window. He plummeted to the ground, still alive as the outburst of the grenade exploded. 'Got 'em! I got 'em Sargeant! Oh crap!' Sounds of more MG were heard. The bullets were shooting everywhere. Turning around the corner of the house he released more rounds into the position of the enemy. Men of the 3rd Platoon finally arrived on the scene.

The Sargeant arrived at his side. 'Riddle, go!'

'You want to get me killed?'

'Just go goddamnit! Go you goddamn soldier!'

Tom breathed in and rushed out of his hiding. He could feel the bullets traces pass him. Some of them were ricocheting from the ground. Tom could feel the bullets almost killing him hundreds of time. Out of act of bravery he charged the house ahead of him firing at will. The clip of his Carbine emptied, his ammunition was out. Reaching in for another clip, he jammed it in and loaded. A few yards away… Tom could feel his success for a promotion or maybe a Distinguish Service Cross… Whatever he felt he never got to find out. Jumping through the window he started pulling shots off his gun. The sound of the clip that was released echoed all around. The Nazis, he supposed, were shot down, some of them fleeing for cover but failed. All he realized that there was someone coming. Turning around he felt something hit him in the arm. His weapon fell down. Pulling out his pistol he killed the enemy. The Sargeant came at him patting him on the back.

'Well, well, well soldier… I say that merits a Medal of Honor, promotion, maybe a Distinguish Service Cross or some such…'

Tom awoke with a start. Hanging over his head was Harry and Ron looking white and pale. Both of them were staring at him as though he was mad. The feeling as though he was shot felt fresh in him, but it couldn't be true, could it? Looking at his right arm he noticed blood pouring freely from it. On his left hand he was holding on to his M1 Carbine. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was dressed in his uniform. What was going on?

'Tom… are you okay?' Harry asked shakily.

'Yeah… did someone… g-get you?' Ron asked stepping forward.

Tom looked around at the gaping faces. 'I had a dream as though I was fighting a war… World War II to be precise… I got shot in the same arm and the next thing I know I wake up! I mean… that dream couldn't have been real right? There is no way I could be at two places at a time, just not possible unless…' He thought deeply. Did he actually fight that battle? Was it possible that all things that happened in his dreams could come true? His right hand began to feel numb with pain; he was losing a lot of blood. His bed sheets were covered with blood. 'I have to go to the Hospital wing… can you two point me out?' They both nodded dimly and followed him out into the common room. It was empty, breakfast perhaps…

After a while they came by the door to the Hospital wing and followed Tom in. Madam Pomfrey, the matron stared at Tom in the same manner like Harry and Ron. Suddenly Tom realized he was still carrying around his rifle. 'Oh shit…' he muttered.

'My god? What happened?' Madam Pomfrey asked speechlessly.