Out of Time

Tom

Tom was awake. He knew he had been out for a long time, his muscles felt stiff. He groaned as he tried to sit up. The mediwitch rushed into his room and began casting diagnostics on him. Tom didn't like this, she was acting too familiar with him.

He had to clear his throat before he could speak. "Where am I?" ugh his voice sounded horrible.

The woman looked at him. "St Mungos. You have been here a while. Let me get healer that is on your case and they will explain everything." She told him and quickly left the room.

Tom looked around for his wand, it wasn't here. He tried to move every body part to make sure he was fine. Everything worked but he felt weak.

The same woman came in followed by a tall man. Tom looked at them carefully, he didn't like these people.

"Mr. Riddle, it's good to see you awake. You have been out for a long time." The man said

"I am aware, I feel fatigued just sitting up. Where are my personal affects?" He wanted his wand, he would feel better with it.

"They are safe, we have contacted your listed next of kin and they should be arriving soon." The man told him.

"I have no next of kin." He snapped at the man.

"It has Albus Dumbledore listed on your file." He said, still not even looking at Tom.

"Professor Dumbledore?" He said aloud. That was strange, why would he be listed as my next of kin? Surely the school would have Mrs. Cole, he realized then she was a muggle, this was obviously a wizard hospital. The though soothed him.

The door opened abruptly, the sight shocked Tom to his damaged soul. Dumbledore and Slughorn came through the door, and they looked so old. How long had he been here?

"Tom, my boy, you are awake." Slughorn blurted. He rushed over and looked closely at Tom. "You haven't aged a day." He said.

Tom was horrorstruck, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Well it had just now, but he obviously looked 16 still, if Slughorn was speaking true.

"Professor, what year is it?" Tom was scared to know the answer.

"1995." Dumbledore answered.

Tom sat back, how was this possible? Almost 50 years.

Dumbledore was talking with the healer and Slughorn was talking, but Tom was too busy trying to work this out in his head to listen. He was in his 60's technically. He remembers being at Hogwarts like it was yesterday.

Dumbledore walked over to Tom and handed him some of his clothes.

"Whenever you are ready, Mr. Riddle, we can head back to Hogwarts and discuss what our next steps will be."

Tom looked down at the clothes and smiled when he saw his wand on the top of the pile.

"Yes, Professor." He said as he picked up his wand.

The rush he felt holding it again made him feel like things would be fine.

After he had dressed and was ready to go, the three of them flooed to the headmasters office at Hogwarts. When Tom stepped through, he realized, Headmaster Dippit was no longer headmaster. This looked nothing like the immaculately clean office he remembered. 

"Have a seat Tom, we have to go over some things and then we will get this figured out." Slughorn told him and walked back over to Dumbledore.

The wait wasn't very long, a girl walked into the office and Dumbledore had her sit. She looked taken aback when he stood, waiting for her to sit. Manners must be different in the 90's. He was surprised when she had called Dumbledore, Headmaster. The office made sense now. Tom was deep in thought when he felt her turn to face him.

"I'm sorry I don't know your name." she said

Tom looked up at her and smiled. "Tom Riddle."

"I will be happy to help Tom catch up." She told the headmaster.

"Marvelous, you can start first thing in the morning. I will let Ms. Pince know you two will be allowed in the library as needed. That will be all Ms. Granger." He dismissed her rather quickly. Tom stood as she stood to leave.

He caught the small smile on her face at his gesture. She seemed awfully shy. He liked that. After she left he took his seat and waited again. The two men were digging through books and cabinets talking amongst themselves.

Tom let his mind wander he thought of old classmates, he had just begun to cultivate his closest friends into his schemes. They would all be old men now. He laughed at the thought. He wondered if his pet in the Chamber of Secrets was still alive. Surely she was fine, he'd have to be sure to check later.

He needed to look up a lot of information, so much to do. He let out a small sigh. It was time to eat before he knew it. He walked with his old professor and the Headmaster into the great hall. It looked almost exactly the same, just full of new faces.

He sat in an empty seat at the Slytherin table and began eating. No one spoke to him but they stole glances. It was very annoying. Tom would keep the peace though, he had a reputation to keep. The girl from earlier, Hermione, burst through the doors and headed to Gryffindor. She plopped down and filled a plate, then began working. 

No one spoke to her either, he noted. He watched her, she would read and the scribble furiously on her parchment.  By the end of the meal time, she had a few smudges of ink on her face.  Tom was intrigued by this tiny girl. He had noticed the relaxed dress code the school had adopted. Untucked shirts, no ties, short skirts, just to name a few. She had her tie undone, but her skirt looked the proper length. Tom liked that, not that the thighs on display weren't tantalizing, but these girls showed no self-respect.  

He watched her as she cleared her things and headed back out of the great hall. He was glad she would be his tutor, since they insisted he needed one. Tom was sure he could have found all the information he needed on his own. This could be acceptable.

He left as well headed to the common room. As he walked in, the room became silent. He continued to the 5th year dorms and was happy to see his old trunk in front of, what he assumed to be, his bed. He opened the trunk and smiled. His diary was there, untouched.

He placed his hand on top and felt the brush of his soul. He shuddered and removed his hand. He rummaged through the trunk. He was not very tired, he figured after 50 years of magic sleep, he wouldn't sleep for a while.

He worked long into the night, outlining his new course of action.