Metanoia~ Tom Riddle

Chapter 24

Tom had searched. Of course, he didn't even wait for the sun to come up... he had headed straight to the library after Moony left him to his own devices.

He found one sliver of information about the Penderwicks. A small book, written by a Mrs. Renee Penderwick, had spilled the rather short story.

They came from Italy, back in the 1770s, awed the British wizarding community with their craft (no detail there), married into the ancient Castors family, and today Renee and Casper Penderwick lived in Salazar's Chateau... they were a line of Slytherin's.

"What on earth does that mean about Veruca?" he muttered, flipping back a few pages. The only piece of the book that mentioned anything about a 'Veruca' was the small backstory about the brother and sister, Veruca and Vincent, who were the ones that brought the family to England.

Tom snapped the book shut and dropped his head into his arms, which were propped on the desk he was sitting at. He had been in the library since 2 a.m. and it was now 8. It took him four of those hours just to find the 199-page book.

"It's useless," Tom mumbled to himself, for it did indeed seem like it was. He got up and shoved the book back on the shelf he had found it on. He did so with such force that the books on the shelf above shuddered, one even fell to his feet.

It was a small black leather one, with no title on the spine. Opening it, he found a journal entry.

Dear no one in particular,

I wanted to say something. Anything, to keep the conversation going. He didn't talk to me much, even though Moony told me he stares at me as if I were an alien.

"Moony?" Tom wondered aloud. He read the rest of the entry, his eyes widening more as he went on. Upon finishing it, he battled with himself, wondering if he should or should not find the damned cat.

He decided to do so, stuffing the book in his pocket and racing out of the library, through a secret tunnel and back to the Slytherin common room.

When he didn't find Moony in the common room, he headed towards the girls' dormitories. He cast a "Muffliato" spell on the two doors before Veruca's to be sure he wasn't heard, then he rapped on her door sharply, "Moonwhatcher! Open up!"

There wasn't an answer. After a few moments of waiting, he decided to head to the room of requirement.

Entering the room, a short walk later, he found the cat sitting atop the desk scrutinizing the papers scattered across it with an unfriendly glare that turned to Tom as he approached.

"I've found something," Tom said, placing the book in front of Moony.

"What is this?"

"Something big, that might turn out to be incredibly tedious." Tom sighed, dropping himself into a plump chair.

"How so?" Moony asked, studying the book. When Tom didn't answer the cat looked up to find him fast asleep.