Extra Ordinary (Riddle Era)

Chapter 48

From the moment Ella Johnson was found petrified, Hogwarts was in a state of mild tension. But only mild. Something strange had happened. People were concerned. But this was a magic school. Strange things happened frequently enough not to cause panic. That this was an unexplained strange thing made it worth noting. Worth worrying over. But not worth panicking over.

This was perfect, in Tom's opinion. Sure, it wasn't much, but as a start... well. With one simple move, he had made teachers start whispering when they thought there weren't students nearby. He had made students discuss between classes what might have happened to Johnson.

And then, when the whispers were starting to fade, when people were starting to think this had been some strange, one-time thing like so many oddities in this castle, Tom struck again. And Myra Elliot's petrification led to much more than just worries. It led to fear. Tangible, palpable fear that followed groups of students down hallways, that whispered in the frown lines on teachers faces, that hung in the silence after a suggestion to make sure everyone was in bed well before curfew.

It was a shadow in the corners, haunting people and Tom was drunk on the feeling of it. Of watching them, these ordinary folk and their little tics. Their little tells. Their fear was an elixir and Tom couldn't get enough because everyone was showing it. Everyone, of course, except Lucy Steele.

Frankly, Tom wasn't even upset. Everyone but Steele had somehow become equivalent to everyone who mattered because Steele... well. She didn't really count amongst those ordinary folk, did she, no matter how she protested. And other than her, he'd gotten to everyone. Hell, he'd even managed to get Dumbledore stressed. The man didn't show it much, but it was there. He didn't smile as much in classes, didn't have the same vague, ditzy air about him as he had before. He was more serious. His mask was slipping. Because he was afraid.

But Steele? Stone cold. Ice cold. As cold as Tom himself.

It was impressive, especially since she didn't know - as he did - that she was in no danger at all. Truly, the only effect it seemed to have was in the extra time she spent comforting others. Because everyone else seemed to need comforting these days and Steele seemed to be the person everyone wanted to comfort them. Because of course, she was good at it. Even Tom knew that.

He wasn't the only one who noticed it in those days either.

It didn't surprise Tom in the slightest that a week after Myra Elliot's petrification, when the school showed no signs of calming down, a prefects meeting was called. It was something that usually only happened at the start of each term, a gathering of the prefects from every house to discuss their responsibilities.

Of course, this wasn't about their responsibilities. At least, not in the way those start of term meetings were. This was about something else. Something more. About the whispers and worries none of the staff seemed to want to give a name for. Or have a name for.

Out of the ordinary though it was, it remained, in Tom's view, an expected development. Prefects were, after all, touted as student leaders. With the students so worried, it seemed only natural to Tom that they would be called on to handle it in some capacity.

So he wasn't surprised by the invitation. What he was surprised by was the fact that Myra Elliot's place at the meeting had already been filled.

When Tom walked into the staff room where they'd been asked to go, side by side with a slightly huff Olive who was using annoyance to cover a certain level of fear Tom found very satisfying, it was to find the Ravenclaw prefects chatting with the Hufflepuff boy and Lucy Steele standing in the far corner, nodding as Professor Dippet spoke to her.

Tom wasn't sure how to feel about that, of course, but he wasn't going to decide here and instead, he simply joined the conversation, one that danced around the topic at hand in favor of wondering, not what had caused the attacks, but what they, the prefects might be asked to do about it.