The Serenade of Persephone [tom riddle]

THE STRANGE RIDDLE || 05

THE STRANGE RIDDLE

WHEN DUMBLEDORE INFORMED THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC about the strange and unprecedented attack on Diagon Alley, the ministers were stunned by its brazenness. An assault on the busiest area of the British wizarding world—especially in the morning when students were preparing to depart for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—was a matter that demanded immediate and serious attention, particularly about strengthening security measures.

The Transfiguration professor based on the information he gained from the two students gave an essay to the Ministers instead of Tom and Althea. He did not want to delay them from starting their year with an affair as Grindelwald and his followers' whereabouts. Even though he touted that the ministry's trust and reliability were unshakeable, he had doubts. And Grindelwald's plans of destruction were uncertain.

The Alliance had started becoming bloodthirsty and the members of it inflicted pain not because they were following the commands of their leader, but because Grindelwald's absence had made them a mere menace who plotted and acted out of spite without instructional plans. Grindelwald at this point seemed that he only needed time to make his next move, without caring if his acolytes were one step before destroying the world.

Althea's father from the other side was rawer than Dumbledore. The inability of the ministry infuriated him and when he spoke about the safety of his daughter he could be a beast. The Alliance was a fool to strike again on the Lynch family, this was his declaration. Maximilian talked about a conspiracy that targeted now his daughter as if it was not enough the fact that they murdered Penelope Lynch, his beloved wife. However, Lysandre Silkwood, the former minister of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement guaranteed that such actions are not valid. He even doubted if these wizards were members of the Alliance.

"Perhaps some burglars?" he said then "We had several reports the past months about a small clique that commits several crimes in neighborhoods of London,"

Althea doubted if this was the case, but could not so easily again be sure that this attack had to do with the Alliance. In the end, all the ministry managed to do was to post guards on the streets of Diagon Alley and issue an arrest warrant as soon as a suspect fell under the suspicion of one of the guards. They assured Maximilian Lynch that there was no reason to fear for his or his daughter's physical integrity.

The two students left for school the next day, a little late, but justifiably so. The train to Hogwarts was scheduled to make one more run for Tom and Althea and even though the entire train was empty, Tom Riddle preferred to sit alone in a carriage at the other end of the train. Althea had offered to talk to him that day, but the boy acted as if she did not exist which made her extremely uncomfortable with him and herself.

Again, for the best student at Hogwarts, he was boorish and extremely eccentric.

"Better for me. I do not like company in narrow and small places,"