The Last Gryffindor (Sirius Black)

Chapter VIII: Parting

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Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell.

—EMILY DICKENSON

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"Hey, Remus? Do you know a Tom Riddle?"

"Tom Riddle?" He pondered the matter for a few seconds, tapping his pointer finger contemplatively on the table. "Can't say I do. Why? Who is he?"

"That's just it! I don't know!" Aeliana slammed a book on the table, startling Remus, who had been resting his head on only inches away. "And believe me when I say, I've looked everywhere, but it's like the bloke just vanished into thin air. That's not normal, right? I was able to track him all through Hogwarts; Head Boy, awarded for special services, a Slytherin," she made a face at that detail, "it looked like he was going places, but then he just dropped off the map a little after his Seventh Year. Even before Hogwarts, I managed to trace him to some muggle orphanage, but can't tell who his parents were. I assume he's half-blood, since that whole Slytherin anti-muggleborn thing. There are no wizarding Riddle families, however, so his father must be a muggle."

"Could he have died?"

Lia shook her head. "Way ahead of you there. No death certificate."

Remus lifted his head out of his arms, which he'd been using as a pillow, to grab some more of the "provisions" he brought with him.

Popping a chocolate frog into his mouth, he asked, "And why, may I ask, are you stalking this poor man?"

"It could be nothing, I mean, it's probably nothing, but I feel like something is definitely off here, and I think that if I could find out more about this guy, things would make sense. Something about him is just like an itch I can't scratch. I want to ignore it, but I can't."

"Talk about answering a question without actually answering the question."

Annoyed, she fired a well aimed Berty Bott's Every Flavor Bean at his unsuspecting head. He yelped, knocking over a heap of mail that had been piling up. As he bent down to pick them back up, he said, "Hey, this one's from Hogwarts. How come you haven't opened it yet? Class starts in less than a week and you still need to get your books."

Not waiting for a response, he tore open the letter, only for a circular badge to fall out. He picked it up, examining it.

"Will surprises never cease? You, Head Girl?" he asked, forcing feigned shock into his voice. He pinned the badge to her robes, despite feeble attempts to swat him away. "Just kidding, although if you had told me James was going to be Head Boy three years ago, I would've said you'd been on the receiving end of a particularly vicious comfundus charm."

"It doesn't really matter who's Head Girl. It's just extra work."

He let out a fake gasp and leaned over, placing his hand over her forehead, as though taking her temperature. "Are you ill? For years you've spoken of nothing else but becoming Head Girl. Sirius, for one, found it extremely bothersome."

Smacking him away again, Lia shot him a flat look. "Priorities change. And you're beginning to act a little too friendly, if you ask me, just like Sirius before he started being so pissy."