Hey guys! I managed to find some time and have typed up another chapter. I hope you guys enjoy!

Also, shout out to my reviewers for Chapter 6, Potter's Tardis, EriksAngeldeMusica, and nerdyninjaunicorn! It really encourages me to upload these chapters faster the more reviews that I get!

Potter's Tardis: Thanks for checking! I truly appreciate it!

EriksAngeldeMusica: I'm really happy that you're excited for this story to proceed! You will not be disappointed :)

nerdyninjaunicorn: Thank you! I'm delighted to hear that you like it!

Also - there's a bit of a time lapse here, but nevertheless, I hope you enjoy!

Weeks fly by in the blink of an eye, but Tom and Lily both have little success in their own missions. As the time passes, Lily grows increasingly obsessed with her lack of control. Before long, Tom doesn't even have to try and drag her away from her friends. When she isn't in classes that aren't with the Slytherins or in her dormitory, Lily finds herself in the company of Tom. Even her meals are often rushed so that they can continue practicing.

It doesn't help that Tom's help actually turns out to be a little fruitful, after all. Although her professors understand that she needs extra help, most of them do not have the time or the patience that Tom seems to possess. In fact, after spending about four weeks practicing for hours with him, she is finally able to levitate the feather without causing havoc all around them.

She is so surprised that she drops her wand, breaking the spell, but that's the least of her worries. She did it. It took her much longer than she wanted, but nevertheless, success has never been as sweet.

Tom smirks and places a hand on her shoulder. "You see? I knew you could do it. All you needed was lots of practice and a friend who cares."

A friend who cares. Even though it has been four weeks, and even though Lily's time with others is so incredibly limited, Tom still continues to drop in little reminders that he is her only true friend. At first, it used to bother her, but now that she has seen the reward of listening to him, she feels compelled to submit further to him.

"Thank you," she smiles. "Let's try another spell."

He shakes his head. "No, let's look for more clues to find my father now."

Lily resists the urge to sigh. They have browsed through countless books, but there has never been even the slightest mention of a Riddle, not even one. As the weeks swept by, she started to believe that her first thought was probably right. Perhaps Tom is a Muggle born after all, and his theory of Slytherins is flawed. He should simply drop it and move on.

How could you think like that, Lily? Tom never gave up on you. What kind of friend are you, giving up on him so easily?

A pang of guilt courses through her. The small voice in her head is absolutely right – she has to continue hunting with him. Perhaps his situation will be just like hers. It may take them a long time, but perhaps they will be successful after all.

With her mind made up, she nods and pulls yet another book on purebloods, while Tom chooses a different one at random. After spending hours searching through the book, Lily's eyes freeze on a particular passage.

"Tom, come look at this," she whispers just loud enough for him to hear. Quizzically, he shuts his book and leans over to hers.

One of the most well-known purebloods of all time is none other than one of the founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Salazar Slytherin himself. His genealogy was legend – one of the only true pureblood line that never wavered, unlike most others which included at least a half-blood. As of right now, only one last descendant remains.

The Gaunt family was the last relation left of Slytherin. After the death of Merdain Gaunt, her husband, Marvolo Gaunt, was left to raise his son and daughter, Morfin and Merope Gaunt, alone. Unfortunately, after a ghastly incident with a Ministry of Magic employee, Bob Ogden, and the hexing of a Muggle, Morfin and Marvolo Gaunts were taken into custody, where both were sentenced time in Azkaban.

It is not known what happened of Merope Gaunt, but after her disappearance years ago, most have concluded that she has perished. Marvolo Gaunt died soon after his release from Azkaban, as the time had taken its toll on him. Morfin Gaunt remains to be Slytherin's last descendant, becoming the only one to bear the legacy.

Tom shivers as his lips mouth the word "Marvolo".

"My middle name is Marvolo," he whispers. "My mother must be Merope Gaunt."

Lily's heart aches for Tom. It only makes sense that he desperately wants to have a sense of belonging, but it does not mean he can think irrationally.

"Tom," she says, squeezing his shoulder with her hand gently. "I know you want to know about your family, but we don't know anything about the Gaunt family or you. This can be a coincidence, or maybe your family were inspired by this Gaunt family and named you after Marvolo while you may not even be related to him."

He glares at the book, clearly refusing to believe her. But instead, he takes in a deep breath and looks calmly into her eyes.

"You may be right, but this is the closest I have ever been to learning more about myself. Thank you for being here for me, Lily, but I think I can take it from here now. We should still keep working with your control, however," he responds.

Lily sighs. Tom is definitely not going to give the other books a chance any longer, now that he is set on finding out as much about this Marvolo guy as possible. Although she has only known Tom for about a month, she can still tell that once he has made up his mind, there is no changing it.

She glances at the clock. It is nearly time for them to return to their dorms.

Tom reads her mind. "Let's pick this up tomorrow, shall we?"

A small smile plays on her lips. Slinging her bag along her shoulder, she makes her way back to the Ravenclaw Tower with Tom.

As always, the door asks her a riddle, and as always, Tom is the one who can answer it, not her.

"If I have it, I don't share it. If I share it, I don't have it. What is it?" the door asks.

Lily scratches her head. "Ummm… candy?"

"Incorrect!" the door responds, remaining tightly shut.

"A secret," Tom says.

"Right as always," the door replies happily, swinging open.

Lily rolls her eyes. "Why am I even in this bloody house when I can't even get in here and you can? We should trade."

Tom smirks. "Ah, but I don't have to be in Ravenclaw to solve riddles. You see, it's in my name."

She can't help but burst into laughter. "Alright, I will admit, that's true. Anyway, you better head back to the dungeons. The last thing you need is more trouble."

"Exactly, considering you are more than enough trouble, as we saw yesterday."

"Hey!" Lily pouts. "It's not my fault the Black Lake's water started levitating. I didn't mean to do that."

"That's like saying it's not your fault you did badly on an essay because 'you didn't mean to'," Tom's lip curls a little further.

Exasperated, Lily pushes Tom playfully. "Leave."

Chuckling, he turns around and makes his way back to the Slytherin common room. Lily takes a few steps in and finds the common room to be completely deserted.

Her fingers fumble slightly with her wand. Could her attempt have truly been successful, or was it just a fluke? There's only one way to find out.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she places the feather on the desk and points her want at it.

Instead, the couch behind it lifts. She inhales angrily, breaking the spell. The couch slams to the ground, making such a loud noise that she jumps.

Great. Someone will be here soon enough. Lily scampers up the stairs to the girls dorm and shuts the door, pretending to not have been there at the common area at all. She waits for a little bit, but no one comes knocking out of suspicion.

Exhausted, Lily heads straight for her bed and falls asleep within minutes.

As usual, the dream starts with her father being forced into the ritual, and the silky, taunting voice constantly bothering her. At this point, she has become accustomed to the mental torture and has learned to deal with it.

Over the past four weeks, the dream continued to grow slowly, revealing more and more of the event. Her father and the creepy snake-man accidentally bring back lots of ghosts where their spells collide. Once the spells break, the ghosts crowd around the snake-man while her father grabs a dead body and uses a portkey to leave the graveyard.

Closer inspection showed that the portkey is none other than a trophy itself. But what trophy? The Triwizard one? She didn't know whether or not he won, since nobody would tell her anything. All she knows is that he participated, and apparently that was an accidental leak, too.

Could this entire scene be her mind's opinion of what one of the Triwizard tournament tasks must have been like? The very idea makes her feel sick to the core. What is wrong with her? Why would she dream of something so dreadfully horrid? And the voice that accompanies it…

Perhaps this is a cause of the time-travel. The sudden change has altered her so that her thoughts must be subconsciously demented. Yes, that must be it. Fortunately, they are only subconscious, right? She would never actually try anything harmful.

Right?

The bright sunlight streaming straight onto her closed eyes jolts her out of her nightmare. By now, she isn't surprised that she is in fact in her dorm and not in the graveyard. Too many days dreaming of the same thing has helped her recognize when she's dreaming and when she's not.

A small gasp escapes her lips when her eyes fall on the clock. It is one in the afternoon. She had promised to meet Tom at the Great Hall for breakfast and lunch.

Jumping out of bed, she rushes to the bathroom and gets dressed. Within thirty minutes, she finds herself in the library – the one place where Tom will be waiting for her, probably with his nose buried in some book.

As expected, that's exactly what he's up to. The difference is that this time, he hastily stuffs the book into his bag once he spots her. She gives him a quizzical look, one which he ignores.

"You missed breakfast and lunch," he notes.

"I was tired," she complains, sinking into the chair next to him. He smirks.

"It doesn't matter. After much research, I have found a solution to your problem."

Lily's eyes widen. How is it that Tom found a way to help her when her own professors, including Dumbledore, couldn't?

"What is it?" she whispers.

"There are a few spells that I have read up on. They are supposedly a lot easier to control than your average spells. Perhaps if we start with those, you will be able to progress better."

She nods. "What kind of spells?"

"Oh, it's a surprise," he smirks, getting to his feet. "And I have the perfect place for you to practice."

"An empty classroom?" she guesses, following him out of the library and up some stairs.

He shakes his head. "You'll see."

They continue climbing several flights of stairs until they reach the seventh floor. Tom leads her to a deserted corridor and glances around, making sure that there is no one else but the two of them around.

Lily frowns. "An empty corridor?"

He ignores her and begins pacing. A couple seconds later, a large, brass door magically appears where there once was a blank wall.

Lily's mouth falls open. "How did you find this place?"

Tom shrugs and pushes the door open. "It's a long story."

The large, spacious room is full of life-size targets, bookshelves full of all sorts of books on spells, and bean bags in various spots. Lily explores the room in awe, running her fingers through the books.

"How did you do this?" she asks.

"I paced outside of it and thought to myself three times, 'I need a place to practice some spells.'"

She freezes. So this is the Room of Requirement. At least there were some things her parents had allowed her brothers to tell her about, although all she knew was that it exists and can accommodate for most needs, not its location and other details.

"Shall we begin?" Tom asks. Nodding, she joins him in the center of the room.

He pulls out a small spider from his robe pocket and enlarges it until it comes up to their knees. Lily secretly thanks her parents for making sure that she was always comfortable with all harmless creatures. She can only imagine the reaction her dorm friends would have if they came across this spider.

"Now, hold your wand out and try casting a spell on it. The spell is Bolatus. Keep in mind, you will have to place a lot of force into this spell," he says.

She frowns. "I've never heard of such a spell before."

"Just try it, will you?" he responds, slightly irritated.

"What does it do?"

"You'll see."

Realizing that this conversation is going nowhere, she relents and stares intently at the spider. It scurries all around the room, but never strays too far from them. Taking in a deep breath, she extends her arm and follows Tom's instructions.

"Bolatus!" she says forcefully.

A bliss she has never known fills her body, coursing through her veins. Every fiber of her being relaxes, slipping her further into happiness. She strengthens the spell, increasing the strange, addicting sensation. The manic smile on her face only continues to grow.

The spider comes to an abrupt halt and flips over. Large, purple boils the size of Lily's fingers cover its body, causing it to writhe in pain. One by one, the boils burst, oozing a murky, yellow liquid down its body. By the time the liquid has completely covered it, the spider has disintegrated.

At the demise of the spider, the spell breaks, snapping Lily back to reality. Her gaze stays transfixed at the spot where the creature last was.

Mixed emotions cloud her mind. What has she done? She just brutally killed – no, destroyed – an innocent little critter. And what for? Just her own selfish reasons.

But the cool, elating sensation doesn't die out completely. It still nudges at her ever so gently, not forcing her to do anything but constantly reminding her what it once felt like. All she has to do is to cast the spell again and she can return to the sensory overload…

The mixed emotions soon give way to the elation instead. The sensation is far too powerful for her to resist. There is no way she can push it away when it coos to her ever so softly every second.

"That was Dark Magic, wasn't it?" she whispers half-dreamily.

"Correct," he whispers back, standing right behind her so his lips are close to her right ear. "And you had full control. You did what you wanted."

"Mmm," she smiles even more dreamily. "I shouldn't like it so much. Why do I? Does this make me a bad person?"

He chuckles softly. "Absolutely not. It simply makes you a determined person. You're willing to do what it takes to control your magic. Try casting that levitating spell again."

She directs the spell at one of the books in the bookshelves. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The book in question rises from the shelf, floating wherever she sends it to. After about thirty seconds of playing around, she returns it to the shelf.

"It worked last night too, but it turned out to be a fluke. What if this is, too?" she asks.

"Try it again," he encourages.

This time, she attempts to lift one of the blue beanbags and send it to the other end of the room. The beanbag complies easily without the slightest problem.

"You see?" he says. "If you practice more of this type of magic, you will be able to have a firmer grasp on your magic. I will be more than happy to assist you. In fact, we can do this together."

A small voice in her mind squeals at her to ignore him. Dark Magic is still dark, no matter what the benefits are. Who cares if she feels happy? Who cares if she can complete her hearts desires? It shouldn't be at the expense of others.

She shoves the voice away. It's wrong. She has every right to be happy, and this is the type of magic that will help her return home. Like Tom said, it only makes her a determined person, not a bad person. Besides, she only hurt a spider. It's not like she's plotting on using the same spells on a human being.

"I would love that, Tom. Thank you," she smiles, turning around to face him.

His smirk turns into a broad smile. "Of course. After all, what are friends for?"

So, what do you guys think? How far do you think Lily is going to go? Please review and let me know what you think, and definitely any suggestions at all!

I will also like to advertise that I have just started another Harry Potter fanfiction that I will also be working on called The Boy Who Killed My Father, which is a Harry/OC cannon. I hope you guys will check it out!

One last thing: there will be another time lapse in the next chapter, as more of the intense action will continue on later, when our duo is a bit older. Also, since there will be some sensitive topics, I will be changing the rating of the story to M. I will also make sure to mention which sensitive topics may be in that particular chapter at the beginning so that you will know what to expect, and I will also mark the beginning of that section. Thanks!