All the Time in the World

Chapter Thirty

Tom started watching Potter surreptitiously. He was yet to figure out how Potter knew Parseltongue. It seemed quite impossible, and yet, he'd heard him. Besides, there was the fact that neither Potter nor his friends ever made eye contact with him. Which indicated that somehow they knew about how he used Legilimency on almost everyone around him. None of the others even suspected and these three new students just knew? Tom was no fool. They had knowledge of him, knowledge that they shouldn't be having. And that story about Potter's parents... There was something wrong about that. It was the only time Potter had ever looked him in the eye, and there had been no lie there. Yet, there was something wrong. Had a dark wizard made his appearance in Britain, the newspapers would have been full of it. And if any deaths had resulted, he would certainly have come to know of it.

Tom was interested in Grindelwald and he followed his career as avidly as he could. But he knew for a fact that due to some reason, Grindelwald feared Dumbledore and hence neither he nor his followers were much active in Britain. Of course, it was quite possible that Potter's parents were abroad when they were killed, but the murder of a British couple should also have made it to the papers. It was all very mysterious and Tom hated mysteries he could not solve.

Potter and his friends had seemed nervous around him from the beginning, he remembered. Now, three new students being nervous around a Prefect might not be very odd, but there was more than nervousness in them. There seemed fear. And Tom could not for the world think why they should fear him. Of course, a day would come when people would fear even to speak his name, but that day, unfortunately, was still far off.

And then there was the connection to Dumbledore. That in itself was suspicious because Tom had never trusted Dumbledore and never would. But even Dumbledore could not know about his plans. They were his! And he had never told anyone about them! The ones who followed his lead here only knew of his ultimate aim- to purify the wizarding world of all impure elements and to establish a society where wizards would hold dominion over muggles.

Grindelwald held aims similar to his own, and he seemed determined to bring wizards out of hiding. And Tom could empathise with that. They were far more powerful than any muggle. They should not have to hide at all! And yet, they were forced to. Why? What was the need for a statute of secrecy? What was the need for all those laws to protect muggles? Who cared about muggles? Wizarding laws should protect wizards, not muggles. Wizarding society had laws against werewolves, vampires, giants, Dementors and yet, they sought to protect muggles who were of far less use and had no magical abilities. The wizarding laws saw magical creatures as sub-human and muggles as human. How was that sensible? Muggles were no different from werewolves, contaminating everyone with their blood and their dirt and their stupid fears about things they don't understand. Because a group of beings so much beneath them as to be dust beneath their feet feared them, they decided to hide? Tom was furious at the very thought of it.

I will change all that, thought he. Of course, there was always the possibility that Grindelwald might succeed in doing it. Tom could not explain to himself the twinge of disappointment he felt at that thought. He wanted to be the one to do it.

But first, he had to solve the mystery of the new students. And he had no idea how to go about it