Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers

Chapter Three - The Visitor

Tom spent the next few hours answering questions from both Harry and Ron, Michelle came in afterwards followed by Hermione. Not only that, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall enters the Hospital wing shortly afterwards. Professor Dumbledore was calm but Professor McGonagall looked panic-stricken. Her eyes kept travelling from Tom to his weapon.

'What do you have to say?' Professor McGonagall asked but looking white all the same.

'I keep telling you, the dream actually is real! It's as though I'm living two lives! I mean… this is the first time this happened to since…' he cut short.

Dumbledore however wanted to know what. 'Since what Tom?'

'This isn't the first time this happened,' Tom explained. 'Second actually. The first time this happened I was dreaming I went skating but fell. When I woke up I felt cold and all bruised. My parents or rather my guardians tried to comfort me but I knew something was going on. Well last night I dreamt that I was fighting a battle during World War II. I was sent into a fight and then I got shot… I was wounded in the arm and… well I woke up and here I am, in the Hospital wing.'

Dumbledore seemed to have agreed but Professor McGonagall didn't think one bit of this story was true. If Tom had to get out of this he needed a witness, someone who saw what happened or knew that no one came out of the tower… the Fat Lady was he answer.

'You can ask the Fat Lady if I got out of my tower,' Tom suggested. 'But I know I wasn't sleepwalking or anything, it was real. The dream actually did happen!'

'Can anyone prove it?' Professor McGonagall asked.

'Ask the Fat Lady! She'll know everyone that entered or exited last night!' Tom replied fiercely.

'Very well, Minerva would you please follow?' Dumbledore asked kindly.

She sighed then nodded. 'Of course I will,' she said dignified. Michelle who was waiting outside the door hugged Tom so tightly around the neck he felt as though he was going to black out. His arm was sore because Madam Pomfrey had just removed the bullet from his right arm. Michelle was looking white as ghost. 'Hermione told me at breakfast that you've been shot! Of course I thought it was a joke but then when I came inside the Hospital wing… I thought I was gonna faint!'

'I'm okay, just a little sore that's all,' Tom reassured her.

'You sure?' Michelle asked worriedly.

'Dead sure - no that's not what I mean!' he said at her horrified face. 'No I'm not dead okay?' She merely nodded horrified. 'Well here we are…' The portrait of the Fat Lady was in view after their long walk from the Hospital wing. The Fat Lady greeted all of them with a merry wave. 'Oh, um… did you let anyone in to the Gryffindor Tower yesterday?' Tom asked the portrait.

She spun in her portrait once then looked at him surprised. 'Nope, not a soul! No one entered or exited the house last night as far as I can remember. I would know too if I was asleep.'

Professor McGonagall looked puzzled, then white and then horrified. 'So the story you told to the Headmaster is true Tom?' she asked. Tom nodded. 'Headmaster,' she turned to Dumbledore, 'what type of magic do you think is at work here? Surely no one now can do such trick, not even Dark magic!'

'No one in this school can, but maybe someone on the outside can. Perhaps Voldemort?' said Dumbledore.

'You-Know-Who? The Dark Lord? How is that possible?' Professor McGonagall asked shocked.

Tom found thousands of reason where it's possible. He held a deep secret only he and Michelle knew about. Both of them knew the deepest secret that both held. This is as dangerous as fight Voldemort himself because if he slipped then he'd be screwed, and not only him but Michelle along too…

'… well then it looks like we'll have to see if this goes on. If it does then we'll take action, be careful Tom,' Dumbledore said.

'Yes sir,' Tom said. He opened to portrait hole with Michelle following from behind, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall left back to the Great Hall. 'Oh… hi…' Everyone in Gryffindor tower was staring at him wildly. 'I'm okay just - keep you hands away from my Carbine, George - no really, you can't touch it, yes it is a Muggle weapon and - oh screw this I'm going outside for something.

The portrait hole behind Tom opened again. Harry, Ron and Hermione climbed through holding the same expression like everyone else. 'Don't ask,' Tom told them. He walked out of the portrait hole, Michelle, Harry, Ron and Hermione following from behind. He spun around and asked, 'Why are you guys following me?'

'Because - '

' - for your safety.'

'My safety? Hell I'm alright by myself!' Tom said dignified. 'Anyway you wouldn't be interested in what I was going to do next.'

Harry caught up to him and said, 'What are you going to do next, Tom?'

'Going to try this thing out! See if it's as good as a wand, don't you think?' Tom explained. 'Besides I think I'll keep this gun… can't find too many of these, these days. Besides, I think I know how to use it - '

Hermione who was a prefect wasn't going to back down with this though. She held him back and said, 'As school prefect I demand you to hand over that weapon!'

'Oh chill, Herm,' Michelle scoffed. 'It's not like he's going to hurt himself with it.'

'He could!' Hermione said worriedly. 'Besides he's underage! Doesn't even have a damn license for that thing!'

They were outside in the yard. Tom stopped, took out his wand and waved it around. Five targets appeared out of thin air. 'Well I'm going to try this out…' He unfolded the stock from his Carbine and took aim. All of them around him held their breath. Aiming dead center, he pulled the trigger. The recoil of the Carbine was much stronger than he suspected. He could feel the foldable stock of the gun push back against his shoulders as the bullet exited the weapon. 'Dead center…' he muttered. After his first taste of firing the gun he did it again, and again and again. It was a semi so he was only able to pull off one shot. Another ten or more rounds fired Ron shouted something at him.

'Perhaps we should go back! Before we make anymore commotion! We have Potions!' Ron shouted.

Everyone stopped dead. Potions was supposed to be the worst subject, or maybe it was because a very nasty professor, Severus Snape, occupied the position. 'Damn,' Harry swore loudly. 'Alright let's get back to the castle!'

Tom folded the stock, swung it over his shoulders and ran after Harry to the castle. After ten minutes of running he was face to face with the portrait hole. 'Wimbledimble' The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open. Hurrying to his staircase he opened his trunk and threw in his M1 Carbine inside.

'Don't forget to change into your school robes, Tom!' Harry said from the door. 'Snape'll try to find every chance to take house points away from us, you and Michelle mostly since you two are newbies.'

'Thanks for the notice,' said Tom throwing off his other robe and putting on his black school robes.

All five of them entered Potions classroom, however Snape wasn't inside. Harry, Ron and Hermione took the farthest seats from Snape's desk while Tom and Michelle tried to take one not so far from the desk. From what he heard Snape was supposed to be the worst professor of all… he was just going to find out how bad.

Professor Snape walked in through the door minutes later. He had shoulder length greasy black hair and deep black robes that made him shiver. His pale skin looked unnatural with his rather yellow teeth. Snape turned on Tom and leered at him. 'Well, well, well… the last Riddle that came to this school was a Slytherin who later became the Dark Lord. I believe we should watch out for this one…' he said in a deadly whisper to Tom only. Snape turned away and sat down at his desk. 'Take out a piece of parchment and quill and copy what I write on the boards down!'

The Slytherins looked okay but the Gryffindors were looking quite poisonous to Snape. Looks like Harry's tale was true, Snape was as bad as Harry described. Tom pulled out his quill, dipped in his inkbottle and began copying down instructions for 'Poison Healing Potion'.

'You think he'll poison on of us?' Tom asked Michelle.

'Maybe… probably… yeah, definitely,' Michelle answered.

'Stop bickering you two!' Snape snapped at them. 'That will be five points from Gryffindor! Anymore talking and make that ten!' With that he turned away and continued to write on the boards. Tom scowled at Snape behind his back and returned to his parchment.

After the double period with Slytherin they were due for Defence Against Dark Arts. They had not met their new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher yet, but they will soon. Harry who wanted to get into the classroom quickly banged open the door. Inside was a man with shabby robes, Harry, Ron and Hermione recognized this man.

'Professor Lupin!' the three chorused.

'Hello there Harry! Ron and Hermione, nice to meet you again!' Lupin then turned on Tom and Michelle and smiled, 'Ah, you must be Tom and Michelle, I've heard quite a bit about you!'

Tom didn't know what to say, neither did Michelle. 'Oh… really?' was all he could say. 'That's nice… what did you hear?'

'Oh just the usual,' Lupin said mildly. 'You're Voldemort's great nephew and the most recent Riddle to come to Hogwarts. Everyone thinks you might turn evil and hex everybody with their back turned, quite funny, don't you think?

'Funny, right…' Tom said darkly.

'Just kidding… anyway remember about the Boggart, Harry?'

Harry thought back to his third year when he was first introduced to Professor Lupin. 'Yeah I remember,' Harry said with a smile, 'it was fun. Why? Are we doing it again this year?'

'You read my mind,' Lupin said grinning broadly.

'Really?' Ron said practically hopping. 'We're going to face against the Boggarts? Haven't we already done that?'

'Yes but I figured it would make a good start for the term.'

Tom of course knew Boggarts. It was his first real opponent to practice spells, charms and other spells. In fact, he had a Boggart in his own room although he never let Harry in on that secret. He even practiced Dark magic on his Boggart for testing a couple of times.

'You do know what Boggarts are, Tom, Michelle?' Lupin asked.

'Of course we do!' Michelle answered for the two of them.

'Good then! Well it looks like we'll have to wait for the rest of the class,' said Professor Lupin.

In just a few short minutes their conversation with Lupin was burst. The fifth year Gryffindor students immediately swarmed Lupin and began asking him what he had planned for them. Lupin just shrugged at these questions and said 'Wait and see'. He told the class that he'd start the year off with everyone having a turn with the Boggart. With this the Gryffindors burst into excitement as mouths began to work conversations about what was their worst fear.

Clearly everything was proven in just a few short minutes. The most fearful one so far was Ron's giant hairy spider that turned into a leg-less spider when Ron yelled 'Riddikulus!' Harry was next. The Boggart stood there for a minute until pop! A tall hooded figure loomed over Harry. Its hood hid its face as it advanced on him. Tom suddenly felt weak. His knees felt as though it was made out of water, cold sweat going down his face. This was a Dementor.

'Expecto Patronum! Riddikulus!'

The Dementor stopped suddenly as a silver stag erupted from Harry's wand tip. It circled around the Dementor twice before the Dementor retreated then pop!

'Tom, your turn!' Lupin said.

Eagerly awaiting his turn, he took out his wand and waited for the Dementor. What was it going to change into? Voldemort? Death Eaters or just another Dementor? The Dementor-Boggart stood in front of him for a few minutes then pop! A cloud of smoke appeared then slowly disappeared; there stood… a dark hooded figure holding a giant scythe. Death. Death stood facing the whole class swinging its scythe back and forth. Tom stood his ground looking determinedly back at it.

'Alright, come and get me,' Tom whispered.

He raised his wand just as Death raised its scythe. Bang! A gold jet of light shot out of Tom's wand and blew a hole through the enemy. Death, if possible, made a sort of scream that sounded like a Banshee. The scythe dropped to the ground as it began to writhe and shriek then suddenly - it stopped. The Death-Boggart was gone. Everyone was staring speechless at him.

'Well… uh, that was quite a lesson…' Lupin said looking at the spot where the Boggart stood only minutes ago.

'I think we should go back to our common room,' Harry suggested.

'Yeah… for the sake of all of us!' said Ron but Hermione scowled at him.

Lupin nodded to let them go. Everyone was still a bit shaken but other then that, the conversation in the Gryffindor common room did not change. Everyone ignored the bit about Tom's fear while Tom planned to let off a few of the Filibuster Bombs in Snape's cauldron.

'I say let one off the minute he sticks his face over it,' Tom said. 'Hopefully it'll be a swelling potion!'

'You know you might get expelled for that,' Hermione warned. 'Actually if he found out you'll probably be dead.'

'Snape can try,' Tom said shortly.

The evening past by normally, or as normal as it gets before dinner. Tom's falcon appeared and dropped a letter on his lap sometime after the Boggart incident. Opening it up he read:

Dear Tom,

Meet me in the Great Hall at midnight. Come alone!

From,
Anonymous

He folded the letter then looked thoughtful unaware that Michelle, Harry, Ron and Hermione were around. Who would want to meet him at the dead of night? Surely he would get detention and lose major house points if he was caught… could it be a joke? But then what if it wasn't? He had to know.

'You better not go!' Hermione said taking the letter from his hands. 'You'll lose Gryffindor house points that we earned and I don't like the feeling of being last place in house points.'

'Oh come on Herm!' Michelle said. 'What if this is important?'

In the end Tom was set to go visit the sender of the letter. If it were going to be a trap, Tom would use the Invisibility Cloak that Harry leant him, if it was for real, then he'd confront the sender. All in all it would be quite dangerous going out at night.

'Alright, midnight…' Michelle whispered in the common room.

'See ya,' Tom said as he left to the portrait hole. 'I'll be back in - oh say, an hour?'

Tom opened the portrait slightly, just enough for him to squeeze through. He walked down the dark corridors a bit. The armor in the hall scared him, it creaked sometimes as though it was trying to grab him but then… a thought hit him. Could the armors talk? If so then he'll be caught in no time.

Just in no time he was inside the Great Hall but… no one was around. Tom took seat at the Ravenclaw table and waited. After ten minutes he decided to check his watch: it was 12:32 p.m. Just then he heard a creak of a door. Tom spun around and was met by a dark hooded figure.

'You Tom Riddle?' the figure spoke in a low voice.

'Yeah that's me,' replied Tom.

'I have something to tell you,' he spoke in a low voice again. 'Something that will eventually save you from a near death.'

Whatever Tom was expecting, it wasn't this. What was the stranger on about trying to save him from a near death? Could he brew up some sort of Elixir of Life? All he knew was that the stranger was speaking again. 'Have you been having strange dreams?'

'Hmm? How d'you know about those?' Tom asked. 'I've only had two, one in my childhood and one last night! So how can you save me? What's causing it?'

The stranger paused for a minute then spoke, 'To prevent these from happening again you must - ' But something made him stop. Tom could here footsteps coming from the corridors - Filch. 'Shit! Get outta here, you! You're gonna get me caught!' The stranger heeded and then pop! How did he do that? You couldn't disapparate or apparate in school grounds.

Tom had no time to think about it though, he threw the cloak over him. Soon enough he couldn't even see his own hands or feet. The figure walked through the hall, it was Filch. Mrs. Norris was by his side. Filch was holding a lantern on one hand sweeping it around to see who was in the hall.

'Who's there?' he called out.

Tom ran for out of the Great Hall as fast as he could. Looking behind he could still see Filch walking around the Hall looking for the intruder. But where did the stranger go? Hogwarts was charmed so that no one could apparate in or out. 'Wimbledimble,' Tom said to the Fat Lady. She opened her eyes and looked at him puzzled.

'What we're you doing out so late?' she asked.

'No time for answers now "Wimbledimble!"' Tom replied angrily. She puffed at him but swung open reluctantly.

Inside the common room was Michelle fast asleep with her head lying on a table. Walking over to her carefully, Tom prodded her a few times until she woke up. At first Michelle didn't know who it was but then caught sight of him.

'So… what did he tell you?' she asked urgently.

'Well said he could save me from the nightmares I guess…' replied Tom.

'And?'

'Well he was about to tell me until Filch came in. I had to run for my life to get the hell outta there!' he said throwing the Invisibility Cloak aside. 'Strange thing is that the guy could disapparate from the Great Hall. I mean… isn't this place charmed so that you can't apparate or disapparate?'

Michelle looked thoughtful then replied, 'Well I should hope so. Hermione said so too! How d'you think he did it?'

'I don't know… well I'm off to bed, it's one o'clock in the morning,' Tom said going up through the boys' staircase. 'See you in the morning.'