Serpentine [T.M. Riddle]

When One Person is Cursed, Two Graves Are Dug (Part I)

Tom can count on one hand how many Muggleborns are left at Hogwarts.

It's of no surprise to him that many of them aren't here. Hell, he's sure that the majority of them wouldn't want to risk coming into London for the train. Even those that lived in London might not want to emerge from their bomb shelters long enough to risk it (Wool's goes to a public shelter, there being no money to spare for a private one).

It's the halfbloods that are missing that surprise him. It should be easy pickings to apparate onto Platform 9¾ (he had learned the previous year that there were designated spots at the station for such a thing) along with one's child, but apparently not every wizard was able to do so without something called splinching. Pathetic. Being held back from one's birthright because the parent that was supposed to be useful can't fulfil their promise to help you in your time of need. It is assumed that most, if not all of the halfbloods at Hogwarts will continue their education at home, following an emergency degree allowing it.

Muggleborns are shit, out of luck. He doesn't see any of the ones he knows of, and with the amount of empty space at every row of tables, he knows there's more missing. How will they receive that missing education? No one's answered yet, though in all fairness, he never asked. Because he's not one of them. He went out of his way to ensure that he'd be on the train to Hogwarts before any more bombs fell on London. The Matron woke up to his room being empty. She didn't care.

In front of him, the smallest crop of first years walks through the grand doors of the Great Hall. Not even ten of them, as a matter of fact, compared to the thirty who were there just the year before, and the forty the year before that (several seventh years had once told him that before Grindelwald's rise in the twenties, the oncoming first year classes would reach the hundreds.) None of them have that uncertainness that accompanies Muggleborns. All of them, while looking in wonder at the ceiling, have the self-assurance of nearly every one of his Pureblooded peers.

Tom decides he hates them on sight.

While the sorting hat sings its song, he glances over the Slytherin tables to try and spot the rest of his classmates. He sees Ximena almost immediately, speaking quietly to Yami, of all people, rather than reading as she usually is (though last year, she had been staring towards the front, at Adam). He watches them for a few seconds before Yami's eyes flicker to him, keen and sudden.

Immediately his eyes go to his lap, pretending like he wasn't looking at all.

We are still not friends. What kind of a send off was that to write in a letter? He hasn't stopped thinking about it. Don't friends write to each other with letters? Although he did also write to Dion and Katux, so maybe that's not a good instrument to measure friendship. Still, how many other people is she writing letters to?

...

...How many other people is she writing letters to? He's never thought about that before. Surely she hasn't reached that level of intimacy with that group of halfblood witches in Slytherin to constitute any communications over the summer. They're not even sitting together! Was it Yami? Is that why they're chatting? When before, the older witch seemed wary of her? What changed? What are they talking about? Is it about him?

His gaze searches for Mali at the Puff table, wondering if crows can cross the ocean to deliver messages? Or would Ximena go about the way of a normal telegram? It's much faster, surely, and perhaps more cost effective if one takes into consideration the quality of the parchment or paper that the message is written on. It's a form of communication he would have gone with, were it not for the fact that it was another 'filthy piece of Muggle invention' (he wonders, then, why the camera and steam engine were allowed to transfer over to the magical world). Mali, even as a pureblood, wouldn't be opposed to receiving a telegram, he's sure, but does she even know what it is? And does she live amongst Muggles, does she live in a place where she could easily receive it?