Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 107 - Tom Riddle

Thanks for reading! :)

 The next week passed in a flurry of homework and trying to find Daphne, Theo or Draco and eventually hanging out with Harry, Ron and Hermione. They weren't too bad, to be honest. Ron could be a bit insensitive and moody sometimes, but he was quite funny. And Al got on really well with Hermione, something that surprised her every time she thought about it. It seemed Hermione had grown out of her teachers pet phase and was now up for hexing Snape as much as Al was.

 She still hadn't heard anything from Remus, despite sending him the package last week and began to wonder if she should've bothered. What if it gave him away? What if he got killed because of her? She tried not to think about it, but the thought still pestered her mind. Thank Merlin for all her letters with George - she didn't know what she'd do without her updates that said, 'Still alive, don't worry'.

 Al's detentions with McGonagall involved sorting through old essays and figuring out from the dates whether the students were still at school. She also had to log all the textbooks and find if any new ones needed ordering, and clean the classroom, but it wasn't too bad because they only lasted an hour. This meant that Monday nights were pretty hectic for Al. She had her detention from six, Slughorn's dinners from seven, and prefect rounds from nine until eleven.

 Sunday came and that meant another dip in the pensive with Dumbledore, so she hurried straight up to his office after lunch, excited for what he had planned. She knocked on the door and went in straight away, sitting down as she was told. "Have you got any updates on the situation with Draco Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked, remaining sat on his desk.

 "No, Sir," Al admitted, "But I'm planning on doing it this week. I've left it long enough."

 Dumbledore nodded, "Good. Today I will be showing you my memories, of where Merope's locket went, and of the first time I met Tom Riddle."

 "Which one, sir?" Al asked.

 "Tom Marvolo Riddle," Dumbledore said, "I never did meet Voldemort's father." He stood up and moved round the table, indicating the stone basin. He poured a vial of the stringy white liquid into it and out rose a figure. "Yes, we got it under curious circumstances. Young lady came in just before Christmas saying she badly needed the gold. That much was clear - covered in rags and heavily pregnant. We checked everything was in order, and it was indeed Slytherin's locket. Happy to take ten galleons for it."

 The figure disappeared as soon as it had come. "Ten galleons?" Al repeated, "That's practically theft!"

 "A mark of how desperate Merope had become," Dumbledore said gravely, "That was one Caractacus Burke."

 "As in Borgin and Burke's?" Al asked and Dumbledore nodded. "So Voldemort probably went back there? Maybe he like the rare objects?"

 "Precisely. You will see in this next memory that Tom Riddle liked very much to collect things. To hold possession of them. Shall we?" Al nodded and plunged her head into the pensive, the cool almost-liquid rushing past her ears until she landed next to Dumbledore in front of a dark and gloomy looking building.

 Al followed Dumbledore and young Dumbledore - clad in a plum velvet suit - up the front steps and into the building, following a woman named Mrs Cole into her office. The two of them discussed Tom Riddle and his place at Hogwarts, before finally discussing how he arrived there.

 "I remember it well," Mrs Cole said taking a large gulp of gin, "His mother came up the steps on New Year's Eve. Gave birth within the hour and was dead within the next. Told me his name was to be Tom Marvolo Riddle, after the boy's father and her father. He's a funny boy. Always been a little...odd."