A/N:Yes, yes, we know we said late January not early Feb. Let's just say a lot has happened lately and we've barely had time to breathe. AHEM. Anyway, don't be upset for the lack of Elena/Tom action. We can't exactly have cute/fuffy moments when Tom and Elena are barely even friends yet; just acquaintances by chance. Well, Elena is under the impression that they are friends but Tom is merely beginning to find that she is not as irritating as he once thought.

So anyway. This is NOT A FILLER. It addresses some important issues; you get a little more about Elena's past (ohhlala XD) and some new (and old but dormant) characters.

A/N no. 2: Ok, so flyingcrispi and Elle Q Kaye. WE SWEAR YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE IN THIS FANFIC! Now is just not the time for your characters to make their appearances, but rest assured they WILL. Ok, now on with the chapter!

Chapter 16-What's Hallowe'en without a bit of mayhem

Elena was having a bad day. Again. First off, she looked into the mirror and saw a miniature Jupiter staring back at her from the middle of her admittedly large forehead. The scream she elicited reverberated through the entire dormitory as she came out of the bathroom fully dressed except for her tie which was missing once again.

"Hey, has anyone seen my tie?" she called out.

After a chorus of resounding 'no's, she heard a very quiet 'I think it's over here.' Elena edged over to the voice and looked questioningly at the owner.

"Oh thanks, uhh…" She stopped and realised to her utter embarrassment that she had forgotten the girl's name.

"Oh it's Renee." The dark-skinned girl stared back unabashedly and held out the tie.

"Oh right. Thanks Renee, I'll see you around." And with that, Elena rushed out of the bright red dormitory.

Lately, Elena's moods ranged from dissatisfaction to irritation with everything and everyone. It had been two weeks since her dramatic return from London and Tom Riddle hadn't spoken another word to her since he bid her goodnight. He seemed oddly pleased as of late, something which coincided with his ignorance of her. This of course, irritated Elena to no end because she was under the impression that their relationship was at least one of civil acquaintance (she really was getting the hang of this 40s vocabulary.)

Tom Riddle was seemingly under another impression.

To make matters worse the professors were piling on assignment after assignment so that Elena was frequently up till midnight in the library trying in vain to keep her marks up. This did not help her unhappy disposition, something which warranted her friends to remain within one yard of her at all times.

"Oi Grey, is that a pimple or are you growing a second head?" Noah Bennett hollered at her from the other end of the common room, causing many heads to stop their conversations and swivel in her direction.

Elena narrowed her eyes, pulled out her wand and cast a swift silent furunculous right at his face causing it to erupt in large painful boils which made her pimple look like freckle in comparison. Noah howled clutching his face while the common room exploded in laughter. Elena raised her face defiantly -pimple and all- and stormed out of the common room.

"Blimey, what the bloody hell's gotten into her?" asked Charlus Potter.

"Time of the month," Emery Johnson very wisely muttered back earning him a smack on the head from his girlfriend Charlotte.

Elena peered at the empty breakfast table. For once her appetite wasn't present. Grabbing an apple, and a slice of toast, she slowly walked out of the castle and into the grounds. The sun had just risen, casting an unearthly golden glow onto the grounds making them appear enchanted. With a sudden burst of anger, she tossed the toast into the lake and watched it disappear as the giant squid claimed it.

"Bloody fucking hell," she muttered. She sagged against the beech tree that was bordering the lake and pulled her knees close to her chest. She was tired, and it annoyed her to no end how everyone else could be so bloody cheerful. Even the bloody squid didn't look as repulsive as it usually did in the morning light.

What was she doing here? Really? It all seemed pointless. Tom Riddle was destined to be Lord fucking Voldemort and there was not a thing she could do about it. And making him eat waffles and accompany her to a fancy club wasn't going to change anything. Why the hell had Snape chosen her? She wasn't any better than the next witch, and apart from the fact that she cared, she really had nothing going for her.

Then, unbidden an image came into her mind of being pushed on a muggle swing by her father, her laugh ringing out into the deserted park and her father's voice urging her not to let go. She raised her head off her knees and allowed herself to be immersed in the memory.

After what seemed like an age, she saw a pearly white fox materialise in front of her father. "Where are you, William? Dinner's getting cold" the fox said in her mother's cold voice and vanished.

"Come on Ellie, it's time to go now," He tried to gently coax her off the swing, but her four year old self didn't want to go.

"Why Daddy? I don't wanna go now!" She whined and stuck firmly to the swing.

"Alright Ellie, Mum's setting for us, we need to hurry." And with that he picked her up in his arms and turned swiftly on the spot, only to reappear moments later in front of their mansion. As they walked to the door, he whispered in her ear "And remember darling, not a word of this to Mummy. We were at the ice cream parlour, weren't we?"

Sighing contentedly, the four year old Elena whispered back "Yes Daddy, but can we go back tomorrow?"

"Of course we can."

Elena was wrenched back to the present by a loud bell ringing in her head, signalling the start of class. Thankfully, she had a free period and continued to sit by the lake. That was one of the happiest memories she had of home. Even her four year old self knew her mother's hatred of everything muggle and her father's secret love of it. Even then their marriage hadn't been happy, and it all ended when her father passed away less than a year later. Elena could barely remember it now, in fact she couldn't even recall his face – only the feel of his arms around her and the reassuring sound of his voice surrounding her.

She bitterly wondered how long it would take for Carmen and Camilla's faces to fade away like her father's and how long it would take for them to become faceless memories.

All of a sudden, she was angry. It wasn't fair on her to give up now. It wasn't fair on her father, it wasn't fair on Carmen and Camilla, it wasn't fair on Dumbledore and it wasn't fair on Harry Potter, and everyone else who had gone down with a fight. She felt a sense of purpose come over her, and realised that her approach to her mission had been all wrong.

Instead of battling it head on, she had to be more subtle and smart – ironically enough like Tom Riddle. She knew she wore her heart on her sleeve, and she was usually proud of it. But it was going to take a lot more than that to crack Riddle, and she would have to become as adept at concealing her emotions as he was. It was the only way she could get to him, and more importantly find out what the hell he was up to.

As she quickly strode back to the castle, she did not see a face looking at her from the topmost window of the Gryffindor girl's dormitory.

The door to the Slytherin common room burst open and two teenage boys ambled inside. "So, what do you think is the matter with the Dark Lord now?" Avery asked Malfoy.

"Well, judging by the looks that Grey sports nowadays, I'd reckon they've come to a misunderstanding, if you get my drift," Malfoy smirked and sat down on a green velvet sofa.

"Hmm, you may have something there. But the Dark Lord hasn't looked happier since the whole Chamber affair…" Avery answered and frowned at the ceiling.

"Yes that is puzzling…I say, you don't suppose he's found another one, do you?" Malfoy suggested.

"Another what precisely?"

"You know…another…outlet…for releasing his…his um…frustration…?" Malfoy stuttered.

"You mean he's shagging someone else behind her back‽ (A/N: this awesome punctuation mark is called an interrobang and was invented in the 1960s. It's basically '?' so now we no longer need to be grammatically incorrect. Seriously. Google this shit. After you finish the chapter and review of course.) " Avery yelled out loud.

Malfoy, gnashing his teeth said "Could you have shouted that a bit louder? I don't think the bloody house elves heard you down in the bloody kitchens!"

"Sorry, sorry. But you really reckon he's doing that do you?"

"Yeah I do, as a matter of fact. I bet it's a library swotter, the Dark Lord is always holed up in there," Malfoy answered with a relish.

"Or maybe it's a bloke, which explains her anger and his secrecy," A snarky voice came from the open dormitory door, followed by a tall, burly body belonging to Augustus Rookwood, current seventh year and Death Eater.

"Are you joking Rookwood‽ The Dark Lord, a fucking ponce?" Malfoy said, disgust evident in his tone.

"Maybe it's not that bad…it does explain things," Avery said quietly.

"Not that bad? Not that bad? I'm not going to fucking follow order from a bloody poof, you understand that? It bloody well better not be the case!" Rookwood hissed dangerously.

After a long uncomfortable silence, Avery picked up his bag and announced "I'm going to the library…have to uh return my book…" And he immediately left the common room.

Two Weeks Ago…

Quick footsteps beat a staccato on the cold stone floor of the seventh floor corridor. Tom Riddle had been pacing that stretch for the last hour, wracking his brains for a solution on where to search for the elusive book on Horcruxes. He had combed the school library with fine toothed brush, covering every nook and cranny of the place, but he was as far from reaching his goal as ever.

The Grey girl hadn't helped matters. She had only served as a distraction and Tom realised that this was going to stop now. Unbidden, an image of her standing next to an unconscious Bennett, calling out his name with a blush, came into his mind.

Shaken, he stopped pacing and impatiently shrugged it away. Oh for God's sake, I just need the book NOW! It's the key to everything.

Suddenly a door appeared on the wall in front of him. Wonderingly he touched the handle and turned the large oak doors. The sight of a large comfortable round room met his eyes. It was covered in shelves after shelves of books, creating an effect of being at the bottom of a well full of books. It had a skylight window at the top, where the light of the stars filtered through, as the sun had still not risen. There was a crooked stepladder to his left, which magically expanded or contracted depending on where one wanted to search. It was well lit, with torches as appropriate intervals and a fireplace directly in front of him, complete with a pair of couches and a table.

Smiling he looked at the room in delight. Hogwarts, his only home, never failed to amaze him, and this time it had outdone itself. He supposed the door was enchanted only to appear when a seeker was desperate enough for it. He pushed the mystery of the room's appearance for another time.

Hurriedly he strode over to nearest shelf and picked a book at random. Secrets of the Lost Art was the title and it appeared to have step-by-step instructions on creating Horcruxes. Immersed in the book, he sat down onto the nearest couch and proceeded to read.

Several hours later, when the torches had gone out, and natural light came in through the window; Tom finally found the book that had consumed him for the last few months. Horcruxes: The Tainted Magick was nestled between Soul Searching for Wizards and Skills of the Darkest. Tom reached for it and his euphoria at achieving what he had set out to do returned with full force, and if someone had happened to walk past the Room at the time, they would have heard a dignified whoop from within.

For the next few weeks there was a spring in his step. Everyone else seemed so insignificant compared to what the book had revealed to him. Even the Grey girl was just part of the background now, irrelevant to the course of things, to his future.

Present…

The halls and corridors of Hogwarts Castle were subject to only one topic of discussion these days – Hallowe'en. A delicious smell from the kitchens permeated the castle in the week leading up to the Feast, and by the time Monday (the day before the Feast) rolled around, the house elves were forced to put Imperturbable Charms on their doors, for fear of students nipping in for a 'snack' before dinner.

Elena made sure to keep up a cheerful countenance for Hallowe'en. This caused everyone around her, from her dorm mates to Noah to the professors, to breath a sigh of relief, as she was no longer as touchy as a blast-ended skrewt. Truth to tell, she wasn't as happy and carefree as she had been before, but there was no one, sadly, that close to her in these times who could tell the difference and they all assumed that she'd been having a bad time, as most teenagers are bound to do sometime in their angst-ridden teenage lives.

To celebrate the upcoming feast, the professors seemed to have taken it upon themselves to stretch the sixth years to breaking point, and assigned so much homework that even Tom Riddle was seen up late at night at the library, attempting to finish it all as fast as he could, so he would be able to sneak into that marvellous room again. Elena was also spending most of her time at the library, though making sure to keep a safe distance away from Riddle – she could not risk him seeing through her façade, as he would do in a second if she allowed him. And so this is where Monday night found Elena Grey – engrossed in a fascinating book about flesh repelling fungi, with scrolls of parchment carelessly strewn around her.

"Hi! There you are!" An annoyingly chirpy voice interrupted her homework session. Elena looked up and saw it was only Noah, looking slightly mischievous.

"Oh, yeah hi…" She appeared a bit disgruntled, but quickly put a smile on her face. "So, what's up?"

"What's…what? You say some strange things Elena. Anyway, I was wondering…Potter, Johnson and I are getting a feeling that things have been too quiet lately…" He trailed off, smiling at her.

"What things?"

"Oh, you know, things around the castle…and so we thought…what's Hallowe'en without a bit of mayhem, no?" He was grinning evilly now.

In spite of herself, Elena felt her mouth stretch into a wide genuine smile and said, "Go on Mr. Bennett, I'm listening."

"Right, so do you want to accompany Potter, Johnson and I as we attempt to spike the pumpkin juice with, let's say a… ahem…special potion?"

"What kind of potion?" Elena asked, packing away her books, and deciding that flesh repelling fungi could wait for another time. The two of them walked out of the library, and unbeknownst to either, Tom Riddle's dark eyes followed them out.

"Well let's just say that when old Dippet wakes up the morning after, he'll be furious."

"Right, that sounds like fun!" Elena's good mood had returned and she suddenly realised how fond she was of Noah. "So, when are you guys planning to do this?"

"Round about three in the morning tonight…are you good with that?"

"Yes, absolutely! I'll see you then!" Elena said, and bounded into the common room, up the stairs and into the girl's dormitory. There she rummaged around for her old alarm clock, set it for 3am and collapsed on her bed, thoughts whirling in her mind.

She had, for the last week, successfully kept up the charade of being her 'normal' self – with a few exceptions. She was undeniably cool towards Tom Riddle – she only talked to him when absolutely necessary and acquired the same cold, disinterested tone when she did. This did not seem to have a profound effect on him; in fact she doubted he noticed anything at all. But everyone around them did, and the only logical conclusion that they drew from this was that she and Tom were having a fight.

Elena was perfectly satisfied with this conclusion, and grateful that her reputation wasn't being compromised. She had also, however, begun tailing him around. It was very difficult to do at first, but after casting the strongest Disillusionment Charms she had ever done before, she became much more confidant in her espionage skills. So far, she hadn't gleaned much from her observations, but this did not deter her in any way.

She was exhausted though, and strangely looking forward to the prank with Noah and the others. She wistfully realised she was going to miss him a lot when she returned to her own time. And with that thought in mind, she fell into a disturbing sleep.

The shrill alarm clock rung at precisely 3am in the morning and Elena abruptly awoke. Stifling the alarm clock's noise with her blankets, she waited a few seconds to make sure everyone else was still asleep. They were all sleeping, and no one stirred except for someone on the bed at the far end of the dormitory – she appeared to be having a nightmare. Elena cautiously got up and tiptoed to the girl's bed. It was Renee – the one whose name Elena had forgotten last week. After watching her twist and turn for a few minutes, Elena bit her lip, torn between what to do.

Finally she decided there wasn't much she could do now, and made her way to her own trunk, pulled out a thick jumper, scarf and a pair of shoes and walked out of the dorm.

"What took so long? We were going to come up there in a minute," Noah whispered, annoyed.

"Ha, like you could. You'd get dumped on your arse if you tried," Elena said, smirking. She gestured to her scarf and jumper and added, "I just was getting ready."

"Well then my fair lady, let us proceed," Charlus Potter grinned holding out his hand.

Elena rolled her eyes but took it anyway, and the four of them climbed out of the portrait hall, waking up the Fat Lady in the process. ("Get back here you ruffians, I'll teach you to disturb my sleep!")

"So, what potion exactly are we spiking the pumpkin juice with?" Elena asked.

"Oh you know, you'll see," Noah grinned.

Elena elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "Ouch! Fine. God. I'll tell you," he said, "Emery here thought we could just turn everyone into a pumpkin but come on how utterly boring would that be. Then we've got the clichéd frogs, chickens and other animals. But this little potion here," he brought out a suspiciously small flask, "is going to cause everyone to blurt out their innermost, thoughts; their deepest, darkest secrets, in the Great Hall; right in front of everyone else. Come on tell me I'm a genius."

"Well, it sounds hilarious but how in Merlin's name did you three manage to brew it?" Elena asked.

"Didn't," he answered, "For some reason, Sluggy already had a huge cauldron full of it. Don't understand why but all the better for us."

Having already had a very bad experience with one of Slughorn's potions, Elena seemed to have somewhat of an idea. Why would a potions Professor need Body Changing Potion anyway? Or the potion Noah was talking about. Elena personally thought Slughorn was illegally brewing potions and selling them on the black market. As a matter of fact, she had always thought so. Even when she was back in the future, she'd heard rumours…

Soon, the Gryffindors reached the kitchens. Carefully, they ticked the pear and tip-toed in making sure they did not wake the house elves who were all fast asleep. "Honestly you idiots," Elena whispered casting a quick charm that silenced their footsteps.

Slowly, Charlus Potter ambled forwards opening the fridge (Everyday, the pumpkin juice was prepared in a huge cooking cauldron, and chilled overnight in magical refrigerator to get the temperature perfect), which gave a loud, high-pitched creek. Elena looked around frantically but fortunately, the houselves were still fast asleep. Charlus tipped in the potion- an iridescent purple, viscous liquid. A surprising amount of potion was concealed in the tiny flask and once the entirety of it was out, the pumpkin juice glowed a bright dangerous purple.

"Why the hell is it glowing?" Emery whispered irately.

"Oh, shit," Noah whispered, "We forgot to research the potion, no one's going to drink glowing liquid."

"No shit!" Elena hissed, "Are you boys wizards or what?" And with that she cast another charm, this time, one that quickly returned the pumpkin juice to its original colour and characteristics. "There, now no one will know what's in there. Quick, let's get the hell out of here before we get caught."

The four Gryffindors made their way back to their common room, with similar gleeful grins plastered on their faces. For the first time in weeks, Elena was actually looking forward to waking up the next morning.

A/N: ohhh dear, a potion that reveals one's deepest secrets? What are we going to find out now? Please, please PLEASE review, it means the world to us. What did you think about Elena and Tom's new epiphanies? Now we know the Slytherins are homophobic; what does this mean for Noah and Gavin?

ooooh

dun dun dun TENSION :D

Special shoutout to SilverUkami for reviewing every chapter. Seriously, you don't know how much we appreciate it; thank you so much!

And now for a delicious excerpt to tantalise your minds and keep you begging for more:

Muriel's face took on a slightly sick expression. She clapped her hands over mouth, her eyes bugging out, desperate not to say what she was eventually going to have to.

"Ohhh, I wonder what Weasley got to hide," Kate said, sneering at her.

"I-I-I'm in love with NO NO I WON'T say it...his blonde hair catches the sunlight...NO I WILL NOT..."

TUNE IN NEXT TIME ON HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO TO FIND OUT WHAT MURIEL SAID.

Mwahahaahahhahahahahahah. :D