The other Professor
Tom and Minerva trailed behind their families and talked. Both of them had never met another wizard or witch their age, so it was quite exciting. They chatted about their families, their pets and found out that they both had pets named after food (the McGonagalls had a cat named Biscuit). Minerva told Tom about her mom's old broom and how she enjoyed to fly through the woods with it, how she liked to bake and how her dad taught her to juggle. Tom on the other hand told her about his boxing and fencing with grandpa and his horse riding with his parents. He also showed her the snake he had embroidered onto his flat cap.
Minerva really wanted to become a professional Quidditch player when she was grown up and told Tom all about the game, the rules and her favorite team, the Montrose Magpies. Tom told his new friend of his favorite boxer, Thomas Pardoe, who had the same nickname as Tom himself and to whose fight grandpa Thomas once took him to. He even promised to show her his signed poster of Tommy Pardoe, that he planned to take with him, when he would go to Hogwarts.
Just as Minerva and Tom discussed weather potions or transfiguration were more dangerous, they had reached the white steps that led up to the bank. In all the times Merope and Tom had visited Diagon Alley, they had never gone to Gringotts. Tom suspected that the woman had gone there without him to exchange his dad’s money for wizard coins, which Merope liked to spend a lot. It was impressive. The whole building was made of marble and gold. Even grandpa and grandma, who themselves were very rich, seemed impressed.
Now the McGonagalls and the Riddles had to split up. Minerva's mother had a vault somewhere in the bank, where the McGonagalls would fetch their money. Tom wandered around the big marble hall and marveled at the big crystal chandeliers and the short goblins, who ran the bank, while grandpa Thomas filled out a few documents for the goblins.
Just as Tom considered climbing on a chair, to get a better look on two golden statues that seemed to be arguing with each other, mommy Cecilia called him back over. Just when Tom reached his family, the goblin grandpa had talked to handed lord Riddle a big bag of coins. Cecilia clapped her hands together with glittering eyes. She was clearly excited to go shopping in a totally new place.
“Are we not waiting for Minerva and her family?”, Tom, who had hoped to spend more time with his new friend, asked sadly. “No. Patrick here says we have to hurry, if we want to be home at a reasonable time. But maybe we will meet her again later. Come on, we have to buy a lot of strange things.”, mom explained with an apologetic smile. Tom nodded glumly and they stepped out into the narrow street again.
Their first stop was a big book store called “Flourish and Blotts". There Tom and his family split up to find all the curious books first years in Hogwarts needed and a few extra ones Tom found particularly fascinating. Especially a bright red one with the title “The art of setting long beards on fire” (that Dumbledore fellow had a really long beard!) and a dark blue one called “How to get rid of annoying family members” (we can use that on Merope, if she finds us!) caught his eye. Grandpa Thomas bought both for him, together with a thick book bound in black leather that bore the title “The horrors and weapons of wizard warfare”, that the old Colonel wanted to read himself.
After all the books were packed into bags and handed off to Patrick, the Riddles approached the second store on the list: Slug & Jiggers Apothecary. It was a small, horrible smelling store, that mom refused to enter, as the display of eyes on one on the shelves freaked her out, and that grandma really didn’t want to leave anymore. Different from Flourish and Blotts, that had been so crowded, that it had been hard to move around in it, the Apothecary only had one other costumer.
The man standing at the counter had a bright smile and a plump body. Dark brown hair bounced around his face and his smile got even brighter, when he saw Tom pick out his Hogwarts material. “Ah, say young one, are you one of the new Hogwarts students of this year?” Tom nodded hesitantly, “Yes, Sir.”, he answered. “That’s nice to hear! My name is Professor Horace Slughorn, I teach potions at Hogwarts. Are you looking forward to the start of term?”, the smiling man introduced himself.
“Yes, Sir, I am sure I will love the lessons.”, Tom lied. He honestly was quite scared to be so far away from his family in a scary magical world. At least he now knew Minerva. Professor Slughorn chuckled. “It’s okay to be a bit nervous. I was nervous too, when I first came to Hogwarts.”, he said friendlily. Tom decided that he liked this professor much more then Dumbledore. “Well, I don’t know many people in this world and even less nice people.”, Tom mumbled.
The Professor looked quite sad at that: “I’m sorry to hear that... oh, I don’t think I got your name yet?” “My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, Sir.”, Tom answered. “Well Tom, I am positive you will meet a lot of nice people in Hogwarts. I myself found great friends there and you surely will too. And if you have any issues, you can always talk to me, after potions for example.” “Thank you!”, Tom answered with a bright smile. Professor Slughorn did make him feel a lot better about going to Hogwarts.
“What kind of potions will we learn in the first year?”, the young wizard asked carefully, hoping that Dumbledore had not lied about the ban on love potions. Slughorn chuckled happily, obviously pleased with Tom’s interest on the subject. “Oh, we will brew rather easy ones, like a cure for pimples or a pepper up potion.”, he explained. “So no love potions?”, Tom asked directly. Professor Slughorn’s eyes immediately went wide. “Oh no, Tom! Love potions are incredibly dangerous and it is terribly immoral to use them on other people. They are not discussed in class up until you reach O. W. L. level.”, the Professor said sternly.
Tom nodded with a smile. “That’s good. Love potions are scary”, he replied. Instantly the smile returned into Professor Slughorn’s eyes. “Well it's good that you think so, Tom. They are very dangerous! Don’t worry though, they are not allowed in Hogwarts. And if you ever need something or have any worries, just tell me, yes? But I need to leave now. They are out of snake skin here and I do need some for my N. E. W. T. classes.”, Slughorn explained with a wink.
“Wait, Professor Slughorn, Sir! I have some!”, Tom yelled, just as the young teacher turned to leave. “You have snake skin?”, Professor Slughorn asked surprised. “Yes, Sir. My reticulated python Miss Noodles shed last week! I still have some of her skin in my pocket, that Miss Robin, our maid, didn’t find.”, Tom exclaimed proudly and handed the friendly Professor a big handful of crumpled, scaly skin.
Slughorn examined the pieces with narrowed eyes. “Your snake must be quite big, Tom. I can’t wait to see her in Hogwarts! You see, I used to be in Slytherin. Our house crest is a snake.”, he explained, with a happy glister in his eyes. Tom dropped his head. “But Professor, Sir, the letter said we are only allowed to bring an owl, a cat or a toad. I can’t bring Miss Noodles. She will have to stay at home, with my family.” He felt tears welling up in his eyes and was struggling to hold them back. It was just not fair, that he was not allowed to take his oldest friend with him!
“Don’t worry, Tom. I will talk to headmaster Dippet. I’m sure he will allow it. There are a lot of kids bringing other animals and I would love to meet Miss Noodles. She would also be a wonderful mascot for the Quidditch games, right? Just bring her with you, I’ll make sure it isn’t a problem.”, Professor Slughorn said kindly. Tom looked up to him with big eyes and, before he could really think about it, he leaped forward and hugged the teacher. “Thank you, Professor Slughorn”, he whispered. The Professor awkwardly petted his back and chuckled lightly.