Solving Riddles

New Beginnings

Disclaimer: You don't own sandwiches, and I don't own Harry Potter.

"Tom, we've got it, we've got the book!" Tom rushed inside at the sound of Grindelwald's voice. "The old bugger sold it so cheap too!" The man was obviously excited, he waved it about like a child with a balloon before slamming it onto a table, dust billowed from the book, and Tom had to shield his face to stop himself from coughing.

"How'd you get it?"

"Well, just as I thought, Bourgin and Burkes had it safely stored. The lad at the counter, a silly thing, didn't seem to understand the simple phrase 'get me the book' he kept asking 'what book sir?', and of course I kept shouting 'the book!'..."

Tom stopped listening. He could go in for hours like this if he wanted to, Grindelwald was rather peculiar and childish in that way. Tom let his thoughts wander to things he seldom thought about, like Hogwarts, the death eaters and Hermione... She's on break now, wonder what she's up to. Does she think of me?

"Tom, are you listening?" Grindelwald's accusing tone snapped Tom out of his thoughts.

"Of course, do go on," he muttered with a half-smile.

"Well, after he comprehended, he went around the back and came back with it in his hands, his bare hands! I stared at him thinking 'probably doesn't know he can die from that.' Well anyways, I got it for fifty galleons. On my way out I bumped into some stupid girl leaning against the door, nose pressed and everything-"

"Girl?"

"Yes, girl. Wild hair, pale and the ugliest bag I've ever seen, wretched thing. Why?"

Tom blinked, that sounded oddly familiar, could it be? "Did she say anything, anything at all?"

"Not that I recall, no. She did see my face however, perhaps she recognized me-" he dismissed the idea with a wave. "I doubt it, but perhaps..."

Tom jumped at this. "I'll track her down for you-"

"Don't be silly-"

"I'm not if she saw you she could report the sighting. We'll have Aurors on our scent in seconds if she does."

Grindelwald frowned, thinking over this. "Very well, track her down, but for the love of Merlin don't make a mess."

"I won't, sir."

XxX

"Hi," was the first thing Maximus said to Alexander when he saw him. He doubted that he would get along with the boy but he stood corrected. He found Alexander rather amusing in a peculiar sort of way, in early memories of him he thought the boy to be rather dull and gullible- but now he found that it was perhaps just because he at the time he hadn't any interest in people that were different. He was programmed to accept only a specific kind, thus, at the time, that was exactly what he did.

Now though, he had developed a tolerance, for the most part, and truly didn't care about the differences. He found Alexander and his stories absolutely fascinating. The boy had such a peculiar way of thought that Maximus couldn't help but be drawn into it.

"I wish my father were dead sometimes," Alexander muttered while fidgeting about with a toy bludger Maximus' father had got him when he was a child.

"Dead? Why?" Maximus looked up from his writing and raised an eyebrow.

Alexander shrugged. "He's an evil man."

"What does death have to do with it?"

"He's done so much wrong, the least he can do to compensate for everything is to die," Alexander through the bludger into the air and kept his eyes on it as it fell through the air and landed neatly in his palm.

Maximus let out a small laugh, Alexander laughed too. "There's nothing funny about it," he said, while smiling, ironically enough.

"Actually there is,"

"Enlighten me,"

"Well, dying wouldn't change time, everything he's done will still remain, he wouldn't be here to undo anything, his death might just make things worse."

"Ah I hate poetic logic," Alexander sighed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "But I suppose there's no ridding ourselves if it, is there Maximus?"

"Not that I would know of," Maximus shrugged and gave a small smile.

Maximus knew that this would be the right moment to ask Alexander about his father, carry out the purpose of him being here, but he didn't want to upset him. And so he kept his mouth shut, just as he'd been doing for the past three weeks.

XxX

Dimitri Darnaeus hated the solitude of his home, he walked around in its halls that seemed to never seemed to end. He regretted the day he bought the damn manor. He had hoped to see his son before he had left, but he expected that he'd leave before he was able to see him. The only reason he was there in the first place was to hide, Grindelwald had been seeking his presence at his latest calling, and he had absolutely no intention of going. He'd given him the Riddle boy, wasn't that enough? No, nothing ever is. He scowled unconsciously and fisted his hands. Hopefully, he wouldn't be found here, hopefully.

XxX

Abraxas sighed an threw back his head, he let out a groan of frustration and threw his quill on the wall, the ink splattered all over the white paint, he scowled and turned back to the parchment on his desk. I can't bloody do this!

He'd been in his room all day, his mother had tried to lure him out several times to no avail, at some point she threatened to hex his door down when he refused to eat. He did eat just not what she cooked. He'd been trying to write a reply to Hermione, it'd been four weeks since he'd last seen her, and one week since her last letter, she'd continued to write him although she'd never gotten a response. He'd been wracking his brains trying to think of something to say to her, but his mind went blank whenever he thought of her, utterly and completely blank.

He ran a hand through his hair, giving himself the appearance of a mad man. There was only one thing to do to fix this.

Abraxas wrapped his coat around his broad shoulders and smiled up at the rickety building before him. The leaky cauldron sign hung meekly in the darkness, he chuckled to himself and walked into the warm, cheery bar.

As he walked up the stairs to Hermione's room her muttered her room number over and over again 102, 102, 102. Upon reaching it he found himself frozen, would she want to see him? He shook his head, it didn't matter. He knocked on the door and held his breath as he waited for it to open. He couldn't help but smile when the door opened and he set eyes on her soft face.

"Hello."

XxXxXxX

A/N: Ayeeee