DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

~ Silver Splinters ~

Tom was not expecting trouble during one of his usual midnight visits to the Chamber of Secrets to see his basilisk, and he was not quite sure how to handle the problem when he found it waiting for him. Or, more accurately, he was not quite sure how to handle her, for the problem waiting for him was none other than Walburga Black.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, unable - in his shock - to think of something more articulate to say.

"What are you doing here?" she retorted. "This is a girls' lavatory, you know."

"It's the middle of the night," he said. "I very much doubt that you walked all the way over here just to use the facilities, when there is a ladies' room much closer to the Slytherin dormitory."

"I was patrolling, as part of my duties as a prefect," she explained calmly, apparently determined to keep up the charade.

"Liar," he snapped, and the sudden burst of rage that filled him drove away any instinct for caution. "You were waiting for me." He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "How much do you know?!"

Walburga was unsure how to respond. Truthfully, she knew nothing more than that Tom seemed to have an affinity for visiting the haunted toilet. After investigating the room itself, she had found nothing of particular interest - which meant that she would have to catch him at whatever it was that he was doing in there. Of course she realized he would not be pleased when he found out that she was trying to uncover his secret, and she had thought she would be prepared to deal with him if it came down to a fight; she had, however, not expected him to lose his temper so completely.

The silence stretched on for a long moment, punctuated only by their unsteady breathing.

Too late, Tom realized his shouting may have attracted unwanted attention. He didn't hear the footsteps outside until a split second before the door began to creak open.

It would do no good to have another person questioning his motives for sneaking into this room, not to mention-

As the door swung fully open to admit the latest interloper, Tom - making a snap decision - pushed Walburga against the wall and sealed his mouth over hers. Luckily for him, she either figured it was better to be caught in a compromising position than to be caught fighting, or she was so stunned by his actions that she responded to the instincts of her body over those of her mind.

Although she was a bit unenthusiastic in her reciprocation, she did slide her arms around his neck and return the kiss. And while the teens knew that someone had entered the room, they both pretended to be so absorbed in their amorous activities as to not notice the intruder until the person purposely called attention to himself with a rather embarrassed-sounding fake cough.

Professor Dumbledore wasn't quite sure what to expect when he went to investigate the shouting of a male-sounding voice from the haunted ladies' room, but he was most definitely not expecting to walk in on a pair of students in flagrante delicto, much less that one of the two would be Tom Riddle. When it appeared that the young couple were not aware they had an audience, Dumbledore cleared his throat delicately to get their attention.

"What is going on here?" Dumbledore asked, even though it was rather obvious to him what had been going on.

The couple broke apart. The girl - who Dumbledore now recognized as Walburga Black - was trembling, and Tom gathered her against him protectively. The boy seemed more annoyed than surprised as he looked back over his shoulder at the Transfiguration teacher.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Tom said, not sounding apologetic in the least. "We weren't doing anything bad, not really... We just wanted some privacy, you know?"

Tom mentally cringed as he made his admittedly lame-sounding excuses. If it were any teacher other than Dumbledore, he was certain he would have been able to charm his way out of trouble.

Luckily for him, Walburga was a better actress than he gave her credit for and, seeing what a hash he was making of it, decided to take over the explanation.

Walburga lifted her head from where it rested on Tom's shoulder, and met Dumbledore's gaze.

"You see, Professor, we are courting... and while it is still several years until we both come of age and can be married-" At this point she flushed scarlet and averted her gaze, but continued to speak despite her apparent unease with the subject. "-we desired to... how shall I put this? Relieve a bit of tension..."

Seemingly too embarrassed to go on after having said this, she pressed her face against Tom's shoulder once more. Tom awkwardly petted the girl's hair and murmured a few soothing words.

"Well..." Dumbledore said slowly. "I was young once myself, and I understand how these things go, but rules are meant to be obeyed. Miss Black, as your behavior is normally exemplary, I will let you off with a warning this time. Mr. Riddle, I'm afraid I'm going to have to assign you a detention."

Tom looked like he wanted to argue that his behavior was normally exemplary as well, and assigning detention to him alone was unfair, but he glanced down at the girl in his arms and swallowed back his protest before it had a chance to exit his mouth.

"I'm not going to dock any house points," Dumbledore continued. "But if this happens again, I won't be so lenient next time. Now, come, children. You should have been asleep hours ago."

Hmm, Dumbledore thought to himself as he escorted the errant students back to the Slytherin common room. Perhaps I was wrong about him and he's growing up to be a normal young man, after all.

~end~