Tom Riddle

A Trade-Off

"Tom! Tom, come on already! We don't have all day." A beautiful, dark-haired girl was dragging her abnormally tall friend by his arm to the courtyard.

"So where to today?" The tall youth inquired. He was used to his friends antics. They had known each other for six years and she was just as passionate and energetic as she was as a mischievous first year.

"Just around the grounds. It's a beautiful day and I don't intend to waste it." She said with a bright smile. It was an oddly good day. New Years was a few weeks ago and the students of Hogwarts were granted a reprieve from the cold as a warm front settled over the grounds.

The girl dragged Tom over to the very edge of the grounds, mere feet away from the wards surrounding Hogwarts. The girl stood as stiff as a rail and abruptly fell backwards onto the ground, emptying her lungs of oxygen on the way down. Tom rolled his eyes at her behavior.

"I still don't understand why you do that. You could simply lower yourself onto the ground without the risk of a bruised backside."

"Should I be concerned about your attention to my backside?" she asked innocently, but smirking victoriously at the sight of Tom's blush.

He stammered embarrassingly before the girl decided to take mercy on the poor boy.

"Oh come off it Tom, I'm only teasing." she said grinning up at the boy towering over her.

He rolled his eyes and deliberately lowered himself gently onto the ground next to her.

He sighed contently. "This is nice."

The girl moaned in agreement. The sun was warm on their skin and a faint breeze ruffled their hair.

Suddenly the girl shot up, completely alert. "What do you think happens if you step outside of the wards?"

Tom groaned in annoyance. 'I swear a kneezle has a larger attention span.' He propped himself up on his elbows and watched as his friend inched closer to the wards.

"If I tell you this is a bad idea will you listen to me?"

She actually seemed to consider what he said, but he was not surprised by her response.

"No, probably not." With that she disappeared from sight as she stepped over the wards.

Tom scoffed, "Of course not." and plopped down and closed his eyes. He lasted twelve seconds before he groaned and got up to go after his friend.

"I swear that one day I'm going to leave you to your own stupidity." he said as he stepped over the wards surrounding Hogwarts.

"Well hello." Tom's eyes widened as the scruffy looking wizard was revealed. What was even more alarming however was his wand pointed at his friend's head as he held her in a headlock.

"Tom run!" she screamed. Her eyes were frantic, darting to Tom, the wand pointed at her, then Tom again.

In the coldest and deadliest voice he could muster "Let her go." Slowly, so that he didn't tip the older wizard off, Tom slipped his hand into his robes and wrapped his fingers tightly around the handle of his wand.

The wizard noticed unfortunately.

"If I see a wand, she's dead before you say a single spell." he said. to emphasize his point he pressed his wand into her temple hard enough to elicit a wince of pain.

Grudgingly, Tom let go of his wand and drew his hand out of his pocket where the other wizard could see it.

"What do you want?" Tom growled.

The man sneered "Why I want her of course. I need an heir and she'll do nicely."

Stamping down the beginnings of panic, Tom asked as calmly as he could "Why would you need an heir?"

"You mean you don't recognize me? Of course you don't. Old Dumbledore, trying to shield his students from everything the world throws at them." the man said with obvious contempt for the professor.

Tom's eyes widened in horror. "Grindelwald."

The man's self-satisfied smirk made Tom want to hex him into oblivion.

"Ah so you have heard of me. Well as much as it pleases me to meet a fan I really must be off."

Just before the dark wizard could apperate with the terrified girl Tom called out "Wait! Take me!"

Grindelwald turned to Tom "Oh really, and what can you offer me that she can't?"

"I'm at the top of my class." He said although he knew that he wouldn't care.

"Sorry not interested." he said.

Getting a little desperate, Tom used the only bargaining chip he had.

"My mother's maiden name is Gaunt, she was a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin!"

He seemed only slightly interested, but Tom could see the greedy gleam in his eyes. He got him.

"I suppose I could take you as my apprentice and heir instead."

Tom swallowed his fear and stared stoically at him. "Let. Her. Go."

With a scoff Grindelwald shoved the girl to the side. He reached out and snatched Tom's arm. His grip was so strong that Tom had to bite down on his cheek to stop himself from crying out.

"Well I guess its time that we leave." as soon as Grindelwald finished talking they apperated away.

The last thing Tom heard was his best friend screaming his name as he was taken away from the one place that he considered home.

"Tom!"