the moon is no door ↠ Tom Riddle

60

The journey to Hogwarts at the beginning of Saffron's sixth year was far superior to the experience of her previous year.

For one, she wasn't coffee-logged. And, though she still had a bad feeling, it was less of a Seeing thing and more of the knowledge that, around Tom Riddle, things always went wrong eventually. By then, she was used to that feeling.

Rory, Lionel, and Bennett were sharing a train compartment with her. Pippa was fulfilling prefect duties elsewhere.

"So, I heard Soren was made Head Boy," Rory said about an hour into the trip after the group had engorged themselves with candy and played a few rounds of Exploding Snap.

Saffron groaned and rolled her eyes. One of the side benefits of spending most of her time out of the house was that she managed to get away from her brother's incessant reminders about having been made Head Boy.

He'd gotten the letter just after Saffron returned from her trip with Tom. From then on, it seemed as though if he didn't mention it at least once every waking hour he would explode.

"Yes, I've heard too," Saffron said irritably.

"Soren basically wrote me an essay on how happy he is," said Lionel. "Apparently, that was his highest aspiration since first year."

"Merlin, I am so sorry, Lionel," said Saffron. "That's worse than what I had to go through. I mean, you can't tell a letter to shut up."

Lionel grinned and shrugged. "It was a little much, but it was kind of sweet. He's dreamed of it for so long, and he definitely deserved it."

Saffron only shrugged in response. Bennett pointed at Lionel and said, with a licorice wand hanging out of his mouth, "Tom Riddle will be Head Boy next year. Ten galleons on it right now."

"Yeah, I'm not betting on that. Tom is Dippet's golden boy. He'd never choose someone else," Lionel said. Saffron wondered if she imagined the brief flash of dislike on Lionel's face. But, she couldn't ask him about it with Bennett there.

Not too long after, though, the Gryffindor's Seeker came into the car and drew Rory and Bennett away for a Quidditch team meeting, leaving the train car to Saffron and Lionel.

Once the others were gone, Lionel said, "Soren also mentioned that you spent a great deal of your summer with Tom Riddle."

"Yeah, I showed him around Muggle London. He'd never even seen Westminster Abbey before," Saffron said, her smile gradually fading when Lionel's face remained stony. He leaned over to pick up his jacket and started to fish a copy of the Daily Prophet from it.

"Does he know about this?" asked Lionel, handing Saffron the newspaper after he'd opened to a specific page.

Muggle-Mystifying Murder Solved

Investigations into the murder that mystified Muggles have concluded. Earlier this August, all three members of a Muggle family were found dead in their Little Hangleton home. The Riddle family included Thomas and Mary Riddle and their adult son, Tom. The locals were left baffled by the deaths, but the Ministry instantly suspected Morfin Gaunt.

On several prior occasions, Gaunt has demonstrated that he has little regard for secrecy. Gaunt, along with his father, Marvolo, were once briefly imprisoned in Azkaban after an attack on Wizard police. Sources say that Morfin Gaunt was questioned after hexing one of the Riddles. Reportedly, he became enraged after his sister, Merope Gaunt, showed romantic interest in the youngest victim.

Gaunt himself explains that he killed the Riddles as vengeance for his sister's affair with Tom Riddle. After Gaunt was taken into custody, he voluntarily admitted to his crime and even seemed to take pride in the deed. The inciting affair between his sister and the Muggle took place over fifteen years ago, and it is unclear what prompted him to take his revenge after so long.