The Heir of Slytherin

[choki]

As the potraits quietened down back to their domant status, Artus moved forward to both Arsenio and Tom. He saw a rather pale looking Arsenio shivering as if he was afraid of someone or something.

"Are you okay?" Artus asked. The reply he got from Arsenio was incoherent.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

"Matron..." Arsenio mumbled. "I need the Matron. Go..."

He vomited. Tom Riddle drew back in an act of disgust.

Riddle stared at Artus. "You heard him," Arsenio heard Tom say. "Go get the Matron."

Artus hesitated for a moment, acting annoyed at being ordered around. Then, seeing as it was for the best, he trudged off in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

Arsenio and Riddle were alone; he was annoyed - he had wanted Tom to go and fetch the Matron. He layed his head on the long, thin carpet. It was not as much of a comfort as he had hoped, it was like lying on the stone beneath it.

When he looked back up at where Riddle had been just a few seconds ago, he jumped.

He was gone.

Tom Riddle was gone.

[choki]

Artus hurried to the Hospital Wing only to find the Matron away. The only sounds were the one made by the two occupied beds at the far corner.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Arsenio stood up, seemingly well again. He needed to follow Dumbledore's orders - they occupied his mind completely. He had no idea what had caused the mysterious illness, but in some way he thought it could be attributed to nerves of some sort? He wasn't sure... perhaps one day he'd find out.

It was clear to him at that moment though, that he had only 4 minutes to get down to the dungeons. He sprinted away, and some of the portraits growled at him for making such a noise.

It took 2 and a half minutes to get down to the corridor in question. It was dimly lit by torches. There was a torn rag that went the length of the hallway. There was noticeably no portraits down there.

No one has been down here for years, Arsenio thought. He wondered how many places like these there were in Hogwarts. He was very, very spooked. He slowly put one foot in front of the other.

Then he heard a noise behind him. Someone was coming; he knew who it would be. Suddenly he couldn't remember Dumbledore's instructions. What room was he supposed to enter?

He ran to the nearest door on the right hand side, and shut it behind him carefully. He was just in time; he heard the light steps of evil open the door to the corridor and briskly walk down it.

Now Arsenio examined the room. He gulped.

He had seen this before.

[choki]

Artus stepped in closer to investigate the hospital wing. He recognised the two. They were Hufflepuffs, who always seem to hang out in a group of three.

"They seem to be in a bad shape," Artus commented as the two continued to groan. "But where's the Matron?" Artus looked around. Indeed, there was no sign of the Matron who was supposed to be looking after these students.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

He hid in the back-left corner of the room. It seemed that there was nowhere left for him to run. Tom Riddle was at the door now, turning the handle. The door swung up, creaking at the hinges.

Riddle barely glanced around the room; his concentration was solely on the centre, where there was ... it was almost too dark for Arsenio to make it out. He squinted.

For a second time he got a feeling of familiarity. He had been here before, or ...


Dreamt about it.

Before his mind finished the thought, the pictures all came back to him. Images of terror; Riddle splitting himself, evil... Arsenio didn't no if he could bear watching it all again.

He remembered the last section of the dream; the part when Riddle noticed that he was present. He shivered. He had woken up from the dream at that time, but he was very confident that if it happened in real life he would not be so lucky.

Who was Dumbledore to send him here?

He recalled one last memory. Being obliviated by Tom Riddle. He knew what his friends called him these days, it had started a year or so ago. His stature grew even more, arrogance hand-in-hand with it.

Lord Voldemort, they called him.

[Q.Araignee]

As soon as Artus was out of sight, Tom had made himself invisible and left Arsenio- he'd be back before the Gryffindor returned with Matron anyway.

In the darkness, he hurried down to the dungeons- taking a few detours to avoid any possible notice before turning into a corridor that hadn't been used by any teacher for decades. The thick layer of dust, untouched by the caretaker, muffled his steps- and there were definately no portraits to poke their noses into his business.

Now, he removed the invisibility spell and walked towards his destination- a small room, on the right. The door was solid oak, cool to the touch- Tom pushed it open slowly, wincing slightly at the creaking hinges. But as soon as it was closed again behind him, his gaze fell upon the small book in the centre- barely visible in the heavy blackness of the room.

Tom took a tentative step towards it, not sure of what might happen if he looked inside it. After all, the spells he had used were not exactly well-recorded or known about...anything could happen.

But nothing would keep him away from this book. All doubts forgotten he took another few slow steps forward and knelt in front of the book. His hand stretched forward to open it, his fingertips brushed the cover when something caused him to snatch them away again. It had been a rustle, barely audible and probably insignificant- but enough to put Tom on edge. In one fluid movement he stood and gripped his wand, his dark eyes scanning the room for anything out of place.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Arsenio knew what would happen next. He'd looked into Tom Riddle's eyes and seen him for what he was ... in those brief moments where he seemed to be tearing himself apart, Tom seemed to have almost slit-like eyes. Arsenio was petrified; Riddle was a killer, cold and calculated.

But he couldn't kill me, surely? Arsenio thought. How could he explain it? People would notice... Dumbledore wouldn't rest until he knew the truth.

There was nothing to be done - it was over. Tom peered around the corner and did not find empty space; he looked straight into the eyes of Arsenio and glared a glare that made him shiver.

And then the tall pale boy spoke, softly and rhythmically. It was in a strange tongue, and sounded mainly like it consisted of a variety of different hissing techniques.

Arsenio Parkinson remembered something his father had said about the sign of a true dark lord... a master of the dark arts. Slytherin himself had been known to possess the sign, the ultimate symbol of dark magic.

Riddle was a Parseltongue.

The Heir Of Slytherin... as the writing on the wall named him. The direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. It must be him? Then that girl that was attacked...? Surely Dumbledore at least suspected? Dippet obviously not, Riddle had him around his little finger, but Dumbeldore?

How did it come to this? Even though he didn't know how powerful Grindelwald was, there were rumours of his unlimited strength. But Arsenio couldn't help thinking as he looked into Riddle's reddish eyes, that Grindelwald would be nothing compared to Riddle when he grew up..

He had to stop him now. He wasn't so inept.

"Dumbledore!" he shouted and then raised his wand to meet Riddle's.
"Expelliarmus!" he cast quickly. Riddle blocked the spell and snarled.

Flames were starting to appear all around the room; they coiled and wrapped themselves around a single point in the opposite corner. When the flames withdrew, Professor Dumbledore was standing there, with a furious look on his face.

When Arsenio turned to glance at Tom, it was he that was glaring into open space. Riddle was gone, and so was the book.

[Scarlet Lioness]

Mervanai was denied access to see his friends everytime he went to the Hospital Wing.

It made him angrier everytime.

He spent his time hiding in his Dorm or sulking in the Common Room, he wasn't pleasant company at all.

[choki]

Just as Artus was about to step out of the Hospital Wing, the Matron came rushing in.
"False alarm all the time..." she muttered as she walked in.
"What are you doing here, Potter!" The Matron asked, surprised to see Artus inside the Hospital Wing at such an hour.

"There's a student... Parkinson, he collapsed down the dungeon walkway." Artus said, urging the Matron to follow him.

Within minutes, the two reached the walkway and to Artus' surprise, no one was present. No Parkinson, no Riddle, there was simply silence.

"Mr Potter... it's been a real busy night for me... and I WOULD definitely appreciate if you would STOP ALL THESE PRANKS!" After a long lecture, the Matron stomped off, leaving Artus puzzled.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Professor Dumbledore stood in the corner of the room; he looked much older than he had a few days ago.

"Professor," said Arsenio. "It was Tom Riddle. He was right here, doing something... there," he pointed. Dumbledore followed his hand to the centre of the room, and stood there for a few moments. Then he jumped back as though there was a nasty smell there. Possibly there was, Arsenio thought.

"I know, Arsenio. And I can ask no more of you," said Dumbledore, his beard drooping, "than to forgive me."

"Sir?"

It seemed Dumbledore had nothing else to say. A tear was visible for a few seconds as it rolled down his face.

"Come," the professor said. "I'll lead you to your Common-Room."

"Sir, I know where it is."

"Nevertheless, it would make me feel better."

Arsenio decided to follow him without further argument. Dumbledore looked like he had fallen apart by the seams. He looked... ashamed. They walked in silence through the dungeons until they came to Slytherin's base. Just before the professor walked away, Arsenio callled out to him, "Sir?" He turned around.

"You wonder what I am going to do about tonight's incident?"

Arsenio nodded.

"I'll do what I always do," he said softly. "Tell the Headmaster that young Tom needs to be carefully watched.

Arsrenio shook his head. "That's not enough."

"No... it's not. But I made an astronomical error of judgement tonight, Arsenio, and I cannot let it happen again."

"But Sir..."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know. But there is nothing more I can do. I am only a teacher. There is nothing more I can do without the Headmaster's support."

"But Dippet eats out of Riddle's hand!"

"Professor Dippet, Arsenio."

"But... the Heir of Slytherin."

"One attack does not make the rumours real."

"But somebody attacked that girl!"

"Yes - and they will be caught and punished. And if it is Master Riddle... but I fear at that end of this it will not be young Tom that will be punished. The world is not as it should be, Master Parkinson. Just look at the muggles. Wars, Arsenio. We cannot panic.

"I can ask no more of you, Master Parkinson, than to forgive me for tonight. And to look after yourself."

[Scarlet Lioness]

Mervanai looked up sulkily over his Potions essay as the common room door opened.

He was suprised at the two familiar faces he saw. He wanted to run and hug them, but mentally told his body not to move.

I can't be going all soft now...just don't look too excited to see them or let them see ho wmuch you missed them.

"Hello Joke. Kay. I think you have some explaining to do." Mervanai said wishing he could mention the fact he was a complete wreck without them.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Arsenio trudged against the hard floor of the Slytherin Common-Room. A couple of people glanced at him, but nobody really seemed to think anything was different, because it wasn't.

Everything was just the same...

He walked down a narrow tunnel to his dormitory; Riddle was already in bed, but probably not asleep, Arsenio thought.

It was strange... everything seemed so normal, like nothing had changed. But it had. He got changed, and went to bed.

[Q.Araignee]

Tom silently berated himself as he sat in his bed- he hadn’t checked the room, he hadn’t disposed of Arsenio, he had almost been caught by Dumbledore…every possible thing that could go wrong had done so, and all because he had forgotten his basic precautions.

The dormitory was dark and cool- the other boys were asleep, apart from Arsenio who was presumably still with Dumbledore. But Tom still didn’t dare to look at the book he had brought back with him. It was hidden in the room, protected by every spell he could think of to hide it and to repel undeserving readers, and would not be retrieved until the next opportune moment.

Tom brought his right hand up to eye-level, and examined the ring it bore carefully- now that his eyes were accustomed to the gloom. It was large, gold, of a rather distasteful style and mounted with a large cracked black stone- apparently engraved with the coat of arms of Peverell. Since the summer, he had taken to wearing it as a kind of reminder of what he had learnt.

A sudden noise alerted him, and he quickly lay down and feigned the deep slow breathing of true sleep. At this time of night, it was surely Arsenio returning- from the laboured breathing of one who has been recently ill, Tom assumed he was correct. There were a few minutes of material rustling, and then the sound of bedsprings creaking. After no more than ten minutes Tom was certain that the boy was asleep.

A sudden urge to reach for his wand and kill the traitorous boy threatened to overwhelm Tom’s senses- if he hadn’t been so sure that Dumbledore was just outside Slytherin House, waiting for any hint of a violent act, he might well have done so. Instead he slowly closed his eyes, allowing his desire to play out in his imagination…as he finally fell to sleep, a diabolically satisfied smile flitted across his face.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Strangely enough, Arsenio had dreamless sleep that night. When he awoke, he heard loud noises erupting from the Common-Room. He walked down the slim stone pathway in bare feet, and peered into the room. There was some sort of commotion...

His feet hit the thin carpet and were warmed, if only a little.

"What's happened?" he asked the young second year standing beside him.

"It's Slytherin's monster!" the boy sounded excited. "It's attac-..." he turned around. Arsenio had already gone, his cold feet barely skimming the stone corridor back to his dormitory, where he found Tom Riddle still lying in a peaceful sleep, undisturbed.

He sat on his bed. Lessons would be cancelled for the day, and possibly Friday. That meant he didn't have class for 4 days. He laid his head on his pillow, and thought.