For the Greater Good || Tom Riddle ||

Chapter Fourteen: The Task

Meanwhile, Tom Riddle was back at Hogwarts. A great majority of the older students were away at Hogsmeade, and only the first, second, and third years remained at school.

However, their curfew was set early due to the events that occurred earlier that week. By seven o'clock, the younger students had to be in their Common Rooms. That was about the only precaution that Headmaster Dippet instilled after the mudblood was found petrified.

And it allowed for Tom to amble around the castle wherever he saw fit. Currently, he was headed for an ideal location of his own making.

He had stumbled across a peculiar room late last school year—a room he did not know existed until he direly needed to evade a group of giddy girls that had trailed after him from Advanced Arithmancy class.

He had been striding down the seventh floor corridor, looking for a place to escape to when he came across a door he had never seen before. In essence, he had found one of Hogwarts' deepest secrets.

He called it the Room of Requirement.

The room morphed itself into whatever creation of architecture he desired. Sometimes, he enjoyed turning it into a dueling chamber. Occasionally, it would become a vast library filled with thousands and thousands of books. Other times, it would be crowded with miscellaneous artifacts. There would be stacks upon stacks of towering tomes, broken furniture, trunks full of cloaks and furs.

When it took on this form, he liked to call it the Room of Hidden Things. And he planned to use this room to hold the latest of his meetings.

However, Malfoy, Lestrange, and the others were too busy prancing around Hogsmeade, stuffing their faces with disgusting sweets and spending their money on foolish purchases. Now, all Tom was seeking was a place of peace and quiet where he could write in his journal.

He climbed up the stairs of the seventh floor corridor. He passed by the familiar tapestries. Just as he was about to enter the room, the piercing shriek of a large, heavy door sounded behind him.

"Tom," Dumbledore mused over his half-moon spectacles as he shut the door of the Alchemy classroom. "What are you doing up here?"

Tom felt a dark, blistering feeling surge inside of him. He was not particularly fond of the Deputy Headmaster. The man only brought back memories of the place Tom hated with a passion. Dumbledore had been the one to introduce him to magic, yes, but he had also left him to rot inside that filthy muggle orphanage. Tom despised him for that, and many other things.

But Tom was a master at disguising his emotions, so he put on his façade.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore," he greeted politely. "I figured that it would be wise to begin my prefect duties early tonight, with everything that has happened this week."

"I don't think that will be necessary, Tom," Dumbledore frowned. "Professor Kettleburn has been on watch in this corridor. He hasn't seen anything suspicious. Unless, you have?"

Dumbledore stared at him in a way that nearly made Tom sweat. He was the only person that could ever make Tom feel genuinely threatened; like he suspected him of all his wrongdoings. All of the other professors adored him, trusted him, and praised him. Yet Dumbledore always had a wary air about his person.

It made Tom want to wring his throat.

"No." He plastered on an innocent smile. "I'm sorry to say that I haven't. It makes me worried that the assailant has not been caught."

Dumbledore raised his brow and sighed. "Yes, I only hope that whomever did this to Miss Thompson comes forward soon."

"You believe it to be someone inside of the castle, sir?" Tom queried.