Chapter 19 - Secrets

Yes, I'm back! It's been a crazy two years at university and I haven't had time to breath let alone write, I've got a super busy summer so I will warn you now updates will be sporadic, however I said I would finish this and I'm not going to go back on that. I love writing this and I hope you'll enjoy my next chapter. (Just to remind you, reviews do make you wanna keep writing ;p )

To all that reviewed – There seemed to be a pattern of people moaning he's going after the philosophers stone. Now from my way of looking there are certain personality traits which are fixed in each of us, nothing to do with our environment but totally genetic. I know that no matter how I was brought up, I'd be interested in Science. For Harry I believe that he has this inbuilt curiosity which he cannot deny. No matter whether he's a Gryffindor, Slytherin or even a Hufflepuff! There are also a lot of other traits of Slytherins that make me think they'd do this and Why the other Slytherins followed him, however if you disagree that's your prerogative. However don't despair, he still is a Slytherin and can you really see a Slytherin blindly running in after the alarm went off…

Tom sat staring at his book forlornly as the transfiguration class went on around him. He knew he should be paying attention however he was finding it hard to concentrate on classes at the moment. His mind kept on wondering back up to the third floor corridor and the philosopher's stone. He soon snapped out of his stupor when Professor McGonagall asked him a question though. He forced thoughts of the philosopher's stone to the back of his mind and carried on reading about PLM.

Dumbledore paced in front of the man's desk waiting for the printer to spit out the piece of paper he needed. "This will tell you the most recently known locations of the final 5 children who fit your search parameters. I have to warn you that the data is very sparse but it's the best I could come up with." Dumbledore snatched the paper from the bureaucrat's hand and with a mumbled "Obliviate" removed all knowledge of himself and his quest. He swept out of the room and down the corridor pushing past a lady heading to the room he'd just come from, she was about 5 foot 9 with a few grey hairs and a prim look about her. She looked in shock at Dumbledore as he walked past her, however he was too busy looking at the sheet in front of him to care.

Department of Social Care

Confidential - Do not copy or allow to leave the building

Name Last recorded Location

Michael Taylor - Under state care in

James Walker - Adopted by Mr and Mrs Thomas

Jonathon Clarke - Died in Hospital

Thomas Starling - Adopted by Mary Wood

Brian Thompson - Imprisoned for Manslaughter

Tom breathed heavily leaning on an upturned desk's leg. "Well done Tom, you're learning quickly but you always forget that I've been doing this much longer than you so you can't expect to beat me. One day you will I'm certain of that but for now you must accept you can't…" Before professor Flitwick could finish that sentence he had to roll out of the way as a stupefy came flying towards him from Tom's wand. Tom was on the offensive and he had something to prove, yes he may have less experience but that didn't mean he couldn't beat his professor. A stunner from said professor's wand soon put an end to that thought. Professor Flitwick walked over to him and with a muttered "Enervate" Tom was brought back round. "Getting frustrated with yourself will not help the situation it will merely hold you back. Now go through those spells I asked you to learn."

Tom shook himself off and decided that if he couldn't best him, at least he could show how good he was at learning. He went through the spells explaining what they did, why you did the hand motions and then performed them at various intensities. Once Flitwick was happy with his ability he was set another list for the next week and left to go back to the dungeons.

Tom hurried through the corridors using the marauders' map to avoid the patrols as yet again he'd been let out after dark. He reached the common room and hurried inside. He was greeted by the sight of Daphne, Blaise and Draco sat around the fire and staring at him.

"And what time do you call this?" Draco berated.

"The time when you became my mother" Tom quickly retorted and tried to carry on to his room only to be stopped in his steps by a quickly placed sticking charm that meant he could no longer move his feet. He could have easily removed the spell but knew this would only anger his friends so he turned around. "Ok, you want to know where I've been I suppose." He considered his next line carefully, these where his friends, however he couldn't let them know too much. "I've been going to an abandoned room down the corridor and training. I wanted to invite you along but, well, I didn't want to until I'd set up all the precautions so you'd not get in trouble. I'm almost done though, would you like to see it?"

The other three looked at each other and their excitement outdid their suspicion and Blaise released the sticking charm on Tom's feet. They opened the common room door and checking the coast was clear they crept through the corridors to the abandoned classroom. Here they saw the dummy's that Tom had transfigured from the tables. There was also what looked like an archery range and a table with a variety of implements on it. When the door was closed they felt a weird sensation run over them and they all looked to Tom. "You know the muggle repelling ward." At their nods he continued. "Well I did some research in the library and found that there are easy ways to subtly change spells. I have therefore made the one on here repel wizards. Of course being in the room negates the effect and I have written myself, you guys, Hermione and the twins into the ward so we can find the room!" The others looked at him with a mixture of awe and shock. Blaise managed to blurt out a shocked "How" to which Tom just shrugged and laughed a bit. "We'll research it some more while we're in here I hope!" The others just nodded dumbly and with a final look around the group of first years followed Tom back to the Slytherin common room.

Once in bed Tom thought to himself how lucky he'd been to get away with that. He no longer had a private practice space but it would be good to help his friends train. He'd need them by his side in the future and the better they were the more help they'd be. His thoughts went back to the Philosopher's stone, somewhere above his head, but he quickly removed that thought and forced himself to go to sleep.

"Hello and welcome to the third Quidditch match of the year! I'm Sam Jackson and I'll be leading you through the highs and lows of today's match. With both Slytherin and Ravenclaw having won their first matches this is an important game for their chances to win the coveted house cup." The Ravenclaw team came flying on to the pitch and after their lap came to a halt by the centre circle. As soon as they had landed the Slytherin team came out and did their lap to a mixture of cheers and boos. Tom spotted Hermione sat in the middle of the Ravenclaw stands due to her being the only one wearing any green. She was wearing a scarf which was blue and green with pride and Tom almost bumped into the player in front as the smile broke on his face. "…and after the last game Slytherin now have Tom Murphy in the seeker position. We wish him luck against Cho Chang who hasn't been beaten to the snitch in all her games yet."

The team captains shook hands and madam Hooch blew her whistle. The thought of what Madam Hooch did when not umpiring matches went through his head for a second but he soon got rid of that thought and started hunting for the snitch. He shot up to the top of the pitch and circled like a vulture his eyes darting around looking for the glint of gold. He spotted Cho completely ignoring him, obviously not seeing him as competition in the hunt for the snitch. He hadn't realised how time had gone by until he heard Sam's voice over the noise of the wind in his ears. "So with that amazing shot the Ravenclaws have gone even further into the lead with 120 to 10." Tom soon realised that in order to win this game he needed to catch the snitch and soon. He looked around with renewed vigour and spotted the snitch just by the Ravenclaw beater's ear. He shot off towards the beater and was soon followed by Cho.

The beater looked at Tom and then looked around for what was causing the Slytherin seeker to come charging towards him at over 70 miles per hour. He didn't spot the tiny speck of gold now flying behind his back but he did see a bludger heading towards him in the other direction that he smacked with his bat causing it to fly towards Tom. By this time Tom was going too fast to be able to manoeuvre his broom to avoid the ball flying towards his head. He therefore did the only thing could think of, he ducked. He felt the wind as it rushed past him with a relative speed of 100mph, Cho however didn't feel the wind but the full impact of the ball in her chest knocking her from her broom. Tom kept on his course and after passing the beater did a vertical U turn which ended with him flying upside down towards the falling Cho. He tried to use the Wingardium Leviosa spell both wandless, however it just wouldn't work so he just had to try his best to reach her in time. About 5 foot from the ground he caught her and after doing a little spiral he landed on the turf with Cho over one shoulder and the snitch in the hand of his other arm that was outstretched in triumph. When Madam Hooch landed beside him he asked her, "Do I get bonus points for catching the other teams seeker as well as the snitch?"

To which she scavingly replied "We do have cushioning charms on the ground Mr Murphy, however if you do insist on showing off please do it elsewhere!" However she had a small smile on her lips that made Tom realise she was only teasing. The Slytherin team all landed around him and picked them up on their shoulders and carried him back to the common room where some of the 5th years had managed to smuggle in some firewhiskey.

By 1am it was just the team left in the room, a silencing spell had been cast on the room so no-one heard the team chanting at Tom.

"Tom is the weirdest Slytherin,

At times he's like a Gryffy witch,

But now we know he's one of us

Coz he got the girl and caught the snitch!

But as he almost lost the match,

And the seeker had a lucky escape,

He's going to drink another shot,

Or enjoy a night with Snape"

The thought of a night with Snape for company had sent shivers up Tom's spine and it was certainly motivation for the first few shots. By the time he'd reached five though the room was spinning and no matter how much he wanted to avoid the alternative he was unable to bring the glass to his lips. This was the point where the team decided that Draco would take any shots he couldn't. Best friend's duty they said, Draco eventually relented and that is what meant they were in this condition.

Tom woke blearily eyed to find Blaise jumping on his bed. "Wake up Tommy boy!"

"Ergh! Blaise…stop...go away…please! Do you have any idea how much I drank last night?!"

Blaise just jumped on him even more and in the end rolled him out of bed. Tom was rolled towards the shower and once inside Blaise put it on full blast on the coldest setting. Tom jumped up and ran out of the shower shouting obscenities at Blaise. He begrudgingly got dressed and walked over to see Draco who was sat on his bed, dressed, but looking very green. They looked at each other in sympathy and walked down to breakfast with Blaise laughing every time they groaned. The hung-over pair walked into the great hall but before they made it halfway to the table they ran back out to the toilets clutching their stomachs as the smell of the food overcame them. All of the Slytherin table laughed as they knew what was the cause although quite a lot of the Quidditch team looked a little under the weather.

Once Draco and Tom felt better they wandered back into the dungeons and made it to Professor Snape's class just in time as the doors opened. They took their places and for once Tom didn't like not having a partner. Draco literally just glared at Weasley and he hurried off and got the ingredients. Draco sat there and in the 2 hour lesson he managed to cut up the nettles and stir the potion for 5 minutes, whereas Tom had to make the blood replenishment potion by himself. At the end of the class when they handed in their sample bottles and got their grades Tom was very nervous expecting to get a T. He was shocked however when he got an O and 10 points for Slytherin for an excellent specimen of the potion. Tom knew he'd made much better versions before but when he saw the attempt of a smile on Snape's face he realised this was his well done for the Quidditch win.

That evening Tom sent an owl to the twins and Hermione asking them to meet him in the corridor just down from the Great Hall at 9pm. He went to the Training room and put the finishing touches on the room. Once he was sure he was happy with everything he went to the Slytherin common room and told Draco, Daphne and Blaise to meet him in their room in half an hour. To anyone listening in it would sound like he was saying to meet them in their dorm however they all knew what he really meant. After that he went up to the corridor to meet Hermione and the twins. As he expected Hermione was 5 minutes early and the twins 5 late so Tom enjoyed getting to have a catch up with Hermione. The four of them walked down to the room in silence as curfew was at 9.30. They were still within that time limit but they didn't want to risk awkward questions as they were a rather unusual group to be in the dungeons. They reached the room and Tom whispered to them, "Welcome to our room!"

Hope you like and with such a long Haitus I need your reviews to tell me how it is now!