An Otherworldly Experience (Tom Riddle Era)

Chapter Nineteen

Kelli always liked Halloween at Hogwarts - she didn't really celebrate it hardcore in her own time - she was more interested in staying in her room and being on the internet with her spoopy memes. It was a few weeks away, but Kelli was getting excited about Halloween. There were always hollowed out and lit up pumpkins that were charmed and floating through the top of the Great Hall. And classes seemed to have taken up a theme.

For the first time, Professor Stone appeared to have found a boggart for the duelling club.

"I'm out," Kelli said very quietly to her friends, not wanting it to turn into Tom, which was someone that she feared a lot. "Goodbye, see you next time."

"Oh, no, Miss Watson," called Professor Stone as Kelli took a step back. "You're going first."

"But-"

"Miss Watson, please stand by me," Professor Stone told her, not having any of this. "You must learn to face your fears."

But I know my fears, but why does everyone have to know it? Kelli thought, practically dragging her feet towards him. She really didn't want to go up there and being first. She finally came to halt after what felt like an eternity of walking what would usually be seven steps. Kelli reached for her wand.

"When it manifests into your worst fear, Miss Watson, you will point your wand at the boggart and shout, 'Riddikulus!', alright?"

Kelli nodded. He shot a spell, blowing the lock off the cupboard door and opening the door. Stepping out of the cupboard was, as she expected, Tom Riddle. But it wasn't the teenage Tom Riddle. It was the much older CGI Ralph Fiennes, no nose, snake-like Voldemort of the films, all clad in black robes.

Kelli froze. She didn't want to deal with that. That was so much worse than normal, teenage Tom Riddle who hadn't discovered that he was the devil quite yet.

That was really quite horrifying, to say the least.

"R-Riddikulus!"

The spell cracked against the boggart and Voldemort turned into a blue butterfly. Maybe she was afraid of CGI Ralph Fiennes?

It wasn't that a butterfly was funny to Kelli, it was just the idea of Voldemort turning into a butterfly was.

The butterfly turned into something else, a fear of someone else, but Kelli was still a little nervous about making a dark wizard appear in the room, even if nobody knew who he was right now. One day they'd think back and wonder how the hell did Kelli know what the darkest wizard of their time would be. Even though currently they thought it was Grindelwald.

Kelli watched around the room, not really taking note of everyone's fears or what they thought was funny enough for people to laugh at a boggart.

After their club which had everyone in an excited talk as they left, Kelli stayed behind, watching the other students wander off animatedly. Their worst fears didn't terrify them nearly as much as hers scared her. Even Tom's boggart, which was just his dead body, didn't scare him too much.

"Kelli," Katie's voice suddenly called from out in the hallway, "Aren't you going?"

Kelli looked over at her about to nod but Professor Stone said, "Not yet." Kelli looked back at him before looking up at the ceiling, having realised she'd been loitering for a tad too long. Once all the students had left, Professor Stone asked her, "Miss Watson, do you feel quite safe here at Hogwarts?"

Kelli looked at him again. "Quite safe, Professor," she said with a small smile.

"Your boggart," he said. "It shows the signs of a man who has split his soul too much, would you say that's metaphorical for something?"

"Honestly, Professor," Kelli said, looking away from him and looking at the exit that Tom had left through, "I'm not sure."

"You weren't being entirely truthful about feeling safe here," Professor Stone told her. "I've known you for five years now, Miss Watson. From your first fight as a first year, not quite making it to the school before getting into trouble. You're much more distracted these days, especially over the past month. Even nervous."

Kelli looked at him.

"Are you threatened by that wizard?" he asked.

Kelli found there was absolutely no indication available for her to give, not even a nod or shake of her head. "Goodnight Professor," she told him before leaving.

Kelli head out into the corridor outside the Hufflepuff common rooms, wanting to head off to the front of the castle for some late night fresh air. With a sigh, she spotted the door for the bathroom close. She walked over, opening the door and spotted Tom who turned around very swiftly when the door creaked.

"Get the hell out," Kelli told him.

"I-"

"Out. There is no reason for you to be in the girl's bathroom this late at night."

"Actually," a female voice started, "we-"

Kelli didn't realise her hand was on her wand until she pointed it at Tom, strangely enraged by the mere fact that there was a girl with him in the bathroom.

"We were just leaving," Tom cut in, walking towards the door.

Kelli shot a glare at his retreating back when they'd both left the bathroom.

"You should go off to bed," Tom said to her.

"You're one to talk," Kelli replied in a mutter, putting her wand back into her robes trying not to be too embarrassed after having it out for jealousy purposes, before heading off to her dorm, to her room to grab the map, intending to keep an eye out on him. She found the Slytherin common room and found Tom quite fast.

She supposed it was his room. Kelli had never had much interest in finding out about the Slytherin dorms, but they had two people to a room, which did seem a tad smaller compared to Kelli's three-bedroom which was quite spacious even with all their things.

The thought that she had one-upped him a little by knowing where he slept was made her feel rather creepy. She knew where he slept, she felt like a stalker knowing that. Kelli dropped the map onto her bed and watched Tom's name settle in his room.

Soon, Halloween arrived and Kelli couldn't help but be excited about Halloween. She loved Halloween at Hogwarts - though the costume choice was pretty limited to witches and wizards. But besides that, it was a day of themes. Except for History of Magic.

Professor Binns was obnoxiously boring. It took all of Kelli's mental capacity to remain listening in History of Magic and she generally wanted a nap after the mental exertion.

But she didn't have History of Magic on that day, so she was probably going to be spending most of the day conscious. Professor Sunash, the Charms professor, had the class get into groups of six and create something like a Halloween short. A few minutes for each team. Kelli's team's story was about a ghost who mysteriously resembled Peeves behaving like a normal damn ghost. Honestly, Kelli was annoyed it was mostly her brain that had to put that magic together because it was a terrible story.

In Transfiguration, Professor Dumbledore had them turning pumpkins into crows - why crows? Who knows, maybe he wanted students to not have nice, shiny things?

It didn't sound particularly fun but it kind of was when the crows did steal people's shiny things and some students had to go find their crows on the school grounds.

The day passed relatively fast and it was time for dinner part way through her homework. Because it was a feast, she didn't plan to miss it. So she pulled all her homework from the library desk and organised all the pieces of parchment into her bag before leaving and running down to the common room and put her bag on her bed.

She quickly adjusted her robes, cleaned stray ink off her arms and fixed her hair before she left her room again to walk up to the Great Hall. But before she got there, she heard something big seem to move. Kelli came to a stop and pulled out her wand, immediately using aguamenti to flood the floors around her.

Please be a cat throwing stuff off edges.

Obviously, that wasn't going to be it when she saw the glimpse of scales in the water. And then nothing. If she had the time to think it, Kelli would have thought, Son of a bitch.