All the Time in the World

Chapter Twenty Four

The three new students took their places in the Slytherin table, looking nervous. The other Slytherins-never a warm-hearted bunch- did not pay them much attention. There were the odd nods and smiles, but no one went out of their way to make them feel welcome.

Tom watched them with narrowed eyes. He had them pegged for Gryffindors from the first time he saw them and yet, they were placed by the Sorting Hat into Slytherin. Tom's fingers drummed the table, a frown on his face. It was an inconsistency, there was something here he did not understand and Tom Marvolo Riddle hated secrets. Especially when they concerned Dumbledore and mysterious fifth years who appeared out of thin air to attend Hogwarts. Tom did not like it. It made him wary. It made him angry.

He studied the three again. They looked nervous and uncomfortable. It was natural if they were coming to school for the first time, but there was a singular lack of curiosity for three students who have never been to Hogwarts. The first years were all looking around and up into the ceiling in awe, but not these three. The girl- Granger- did look up and around occasionally, but she did not seem surprised. Even the ghosts didn't make them gasp. It was very odd.

Tom turned his attention to his food. He would solve the mystery of these strange students. They were in the same House after all. He had always been able to charm anyone into doing what he wanted. These three would be no trouble at all. After all, he had charmed a whole house of pure-bloods into accepting and even looking up to him, a half-blood. After that, these three were a piece of cake. He smirked into his plate. They were never going to know what he was up to, till he had all their secrets from them. And then if it turned out he was correct and they were planted by Dumbledore to spy on him, they would pay the price.

Tom would have been surprised had he known that his quarry were engaged in thoughts not unlike his own. Harry, Ron and Hermione were fidgeting. They could not even discuss anything since they might be overheard.

Fortunately, there was so much noise in the table and they were sitting next to first years. Which prompted Ron to whisper in Harry's ear,

"Have you any idea how we got sorted into Slytherin?"

Harry shook his head. "I never thought it possible." He paused. "It was as if it was confunded or something.... It was very silent today. Just said Slytherin, nothing else. That's quite unlike that hat."

Ron nodded. "Tell me about it!"

They were silent again. Ron was wondering anxiously what he had got his friends into. If he had never suggested to Harry that he pretend to Merope to be Dumbledore's deputy, they would have been back in Hogwarts, safe and sound. At that time, it had seemed like a good idea. Till that first time he went back in time with Harry, Ron had thought of Time Travel as a kind of lark, something fun.

He raised his head to see Tom Riddle staring at them intently. He hastily lowered his head. This was no fun. It was dangerous, more dangerous than he'd realized. If anything happened to them here, it would be his fault for being so idiotic as to suggest that plan to Harry.

Ron gave himself a mental shake. It was no use worrying about what was done. They had a plan, though how to execute it was beyond their understanding right now. They had intended to befriend Riddle, to get close to him, and in the process, get him to care for them. That too had seemed like a good plan, back in the safe warmth of their common room. Here, faced with the reality of Riddle's cold eyes on them, he could not believe they had been that naive. But they had no option now. They had to go ahead with it. They had to find a way to break the barriers that Merope's spell and his own anti-social tendencies had constructed around Riddle.

Ron stole a glance at Riddle and sighed. They did have their work cut out for them.