Peculiar ~A T.R fanfiction~

Chapter 16 ~The discovery~

Julietta spent her first few days back at Hogwarts reestablishing her routine at Hogwarts. It took awhile but soon enough her life was back in order. She would spend her mornings running, she would spend the day in classes, her afternoons would be spent with her friends, her evenings would be spent with the creatures in the forbidden forest or with the basilisk in the chamber of secrets. The exact same routine as the one she had before she left. At this point in time, Julietta was sitting in the chamber of secrets doing her homework.

Julietta was happily doing her work when the doors of Salazar Slytherin's chamber opened. In walked Tom Riddle, he stopped when he saw Julietta while she looked up at him. "How long have you know about the chamber, Riddle? I must say it must have been awhile as if it was your first time you would have a reaction to the chamber yet your only reaction was seeing me in it. Marvolo isn't a very Muggle middle name meaning you must have wizarding roots. So tell me Riddle are you a Gaunt or a Burke or were your muggle parents just creative? I am betting Gaunt as you are in the chamber made by Salazar Slytherin himself." Julietta said and he looked genuinely shocked but he recovered extremely quickly. 

"Well, Goldwood you know how I got in here. I would like to know how you entered my family's chamber." Tom Riddle demanded and Julietta got up and walked over to him. She stood in front of him and answered "Well I am a Goldwood. I entered your family's chamber using my family's knowledge. Now Tom if you will excuse me I must..." She paused when she noticed his obvious discomfort at his name. Julietta's keen eyes caught this and she observed "So you don't like the name, Tom. Very well I will continue to call you Thomas. I knew you didn't like it but I didn't realize your complete disdain for your own name. So goodbye Thomas, I am returning to my dorms to get a good nights sleep. You should do the same, you know."

With that Julietta returned to her dormitory leaving Tom Riddle alone with his pet. He smiled as he remembered how she changed his name at Slughorn's party. Tom was an abomination yet the way she said Thomas was exotic and interesting. It made him sound dangerous and important and far better than the boring and ordinary Tom. He liked it far better as it distanced himself even further away from the man his father was. In this moment he decided that one day no one would know him as Tom Riddle and that he would one-day give himself a new name.

Julietta thought of Tom Riddle and how nice it was to know someone her age, outside of her family who could match her intellect. It was refreshing to match wits with someone new for once. They said no more than 15 sentences to each other but there was almost an unspoken agreement between the two. Almost a promise to once again match wits in the chamber. A promise that the two of them both wanted very much to keep. You see Julietta kept to herself a lot as it was hard to find people who could understand her. She had made friends at Hogwarts but even her friends only understood her to a certain extent. That is the true reason the Goldwoods were such a tight-knit family because very few others understood them. Kadia's lover understood her as Coral had always been alone and misunderstood in her small muggle town. Julietta's Father, Castiel Goldwood loved his wife Parisa Valoup-Goldwood because she was more brilliant than him and equally misunderstood. 

Julietta walked back to her dorm with a little more skip in her step. Not that anyone would notice unless they had the sharpest eyes but it was there none the less. When she arrived back at her dorm Jezebel and Maria were still awake and playing exploding snap. "Well, of course, the assignment is hard. You took year six potions what did you expect. Gosh Bel, what did you exp... Oh, Julietta why are you back so early? You normally don't get back until midnight at the earliest." observed Maria. "Oh I ran into Tom Riddle, we talked for a bit and then I left so he could have the place to himself. It was rather pleasant to be completely honest," said Julietta and her two roommates stared in shock. 

"Tom Riddle! Tom Riddle! Only you Julietta Goldwood could get Tom Riddle to voluntarily talk to someone outside his friend group. Honestly, about half the girls in this school want to marry him yet you are the only one who can get more than two sentences out of him. I would ask how you do it but we all already know your smart, you're stunning, you're a Goldwood and you're the living definition of magical." shouted Maria before throwing her hands up in the air dramatically. Then Maria bid her friend's goodnight and they all went to bed soon after that.

The next morning the friends were sitting at the Ravenclaw table eating their breakfast when Tom Riddle raised from his seat at the Slytherin table. Eyes were drawn to him as he began approaching the Ravenclaw table instead of the exit of the great hall. He walked to were Julietta, Eileen, Jezebel, and Maria were sitting while arguing about the amount of homework they were given at Hogwarts. Tom Riddle placed a book in front of Julietta that she recognized as her defense against the dark arts textbook. "You left it in the chamber Julietta." he said and Julietta replied, "I know Thomas." Then the two stood up without another word and began making their way to their next class together. This caused the entire school to break out in gossip about the two. The rumors about the two began but nothing could be confirmed or denied about the two as they were always had an air of mystery about them.