Moral Compass
Tom led her into the Dungeons of Hogwarts, telling her about all of Hogwarts as he had promised. He told her about how Slughorn was the most unbearable teacher in the castle, but also the most gullible one. He told her about how you need a permission slip from a teacher to take out a book from the restricted section of the library. “If you ever find yourself in need of a book from the restricted section, just spin some believable ambitious lie for Slughorn and he will gladly sign the permission slip for you, no questions asked,” he said, which could be a resource she could utilize as she would have to research various topics for her quest in unravelling the mysteries of her past.
He sprouted other random facts about the castle as she listened, nodding whenever appropriate. It was like they had switched personalities from their time apart. Before, Scarlett was the one who talked his ear off while he listened. Now, it seemed he was making more of an effort to connect with her than ever. Not that he hadn’t tried to connect with her in the past, but he had been more cold then. The thought of Tom completely warming up to her had her grinning like an idiot, causing him to raise his eyebrows.
“And what,” he drawled, pausing as her grin widened. “has you grinning like that? Not something I said, I hope?” He said.
She knew he was curious, but she wasn’t going to point out the change in his attitude towards her. If she did, it was possible he would clam up and revert to his closed-off personality. She didn’t want that, she liked this version of him better. The more open and expressive Tom. “That’s for me to know, and for you to never find out,” she said teasingly.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously as she met his gaze innocently. “Fine, keep your secrets,” he said, snorting. As they went behind a bare stretch of stone wall in the Dungeons of Hogwarts, he stated the password clearly. “Veritaserum,”
The door opened to admit them, revealing a dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. “Welcome to the abode of Slytherins,” He said with a grin. “This is the Slytherin common room. Your room would be down that hall, to the right,” he said pointing in the direction of where her room would be. “Normally you would have been assigned with roommates, but all the rooms were occupied at the beginning of the year.”
“Do you have roommates?” She asked curiously. “ I have a hard time imagining you willingly sharing your space with anyone. You always did look annoyed when I walked into your room unannounced,” she said, remembering all the times he had glared at her when she slammed his door open and strolled in dramatically.
Tom flashed her a grin. “Eager, are we?” he drawled, which had her spluttering. Since when had he learned how to flirt? His grin widened at her spluttering. “My room will be on the far end of the hall, to the left,” he said, pointing in the opposite direction of her room. “Come find me when you are done,” he said before turning towards his room, leaving her to stare after him, wondering what would warrant this change while she was gone.
In the privacy of her dorm, Crainer freely zipped around, excited. Her room was a small chamber, a four-poster bed covered in green silk hangings, and silver lanterns hanging from the ceiling. A wooden chair and dresser were located near the nightstand and the window.
Scarlett’s eyes caught on the glowing blue trunk, the magical paper crane floating beside the trunk expectantly. Knowing her guiding light would never lead her astray, she opened the trunk to see supplies, textbooks, clothing and other necessities prepared for her earlier by Dumbledore. Taking the Slytherin robes, she took to replacing them with her current outfit and quickly exited her room to go look for Tom, Crainer tucking itself into the pocket of her green accented robes.
She found him in the common room, back from whatever he had been doing in his dorm. They then walked to Potions together. Arriving in the Potion’s classroom, she followed Tom as he went to take a seat at the front beside a black-haired boy, who was most likely his friend. Surprise flickered onto her face. She had thought they would sit together, but she scolded herself for even thinking about it as Tom had been sitting with his friend since he had first started Hogwarts, it wouldn’t be fair of her to ask him to change his seating arrangement for her.
“Leave,” Tom snapped, which had her grumbling under her breath as she turned to leave. She understood him wanting to sit with his friend, but he didn't need to snap at her for it. Before she could get far though, his hand shot out to grab her wrist. “Not you,” he assured her.
She turned back to see Tom coldly glaring at his friend, which confused her. She was under the impression the two were friends. “Lestrange,” Tom said sharply, which had the black-haired boy looking at him, shocked that he was being asked to give up his seat.
She was about to intervene to tell ‘Lestrange’ that he didn’t have to give up his seat, but he begrudgingly got up, picked up his bag and prepared to go find another seat, not before giving her a resentful look. She averted her gaze, feeling guilty she hadn’t spoken up, but she did want to sit with Tom, especially when he wanted to sit with her too.
“Continue to look at her like that and I will gouge your eyes out,” Tom said threateningly to Lestrange, who turned pale and quickly averted his gaze, hastily moving to a seat at the back of the class.
Scarlet took the seat, placing her bag of belongings beside her on the floor. “You didn’t have to do that. I wouldn’t have been mad if you wanted to sit with your friend, but you had been a little harsh.” That was an understatement, especially with Tom threatening to gouge Lestrange’s eyes out, but she continued to scold him anyway. “This is his seat anyway, it wasn’t fair asking him to move.”
Tom frowned. “It was his seat. It is yours now. There are other seats he could take.” he said, emphasizing the ‘was’.
Before she could say anything to that, Slughorn had arrived, making a beeline for Tom. “Tom, m’boy!” he shouts, while Tom turns towards the Potions professor with his charming facade.
“Good afternoon, Professor Slughorn.” he greeted politely with a sweet and innocent smile that almost had her jaw dropping. His smile did transform his face, never mind that it was fake. Just then, Abraxas made his entrance and Scarlett gave him a friendly wave, him waving back and giving Tom a nod.
The Potions professor then turned his attention towards her. “Oho! You must be the new student, Miss…” he trailed off, looking at her expectantly.
She did not disappoint. “Rosewood, sir. Scarlett Rosewood,” she said, smiling for good measure.
“Ah, Miss Rosewood,” Slughorn murmured, seemingly lost in thought. “I gotta say, I have never heard of the surname Rosewood before. Tell me, child, what do your parents do?” the Professor asked eagerly.
Out of the corner of her eye, Scarlett saw Tom’s eyes flashing with fury at Slughorn’s invasive question but she barely paid attention to him. She now understood why Tom had said that Slughorn was the most unbearable professor in the castle, it seemed like the Potions Professor would show favouritism to students with influential families so he would leech off their eventual success or fame. It was no wonder why Slughorn was the head of Slytherins, he was cunning but hid it well under an easy-going facade.
Not wavering her smile, she sweetly replied “I wouldn’t know sir, I’m an orphan you see.”
Scarlett saw the moment the interest died from his eyes, cementing her theory. “I see,” he said in a tone that told her he didn’t see at all. He turned away from her, addressing the class. “Alright class, today we will be learning all about Veritaserum.” Slughorn held up a small vial filled with a colourless liquid that Scarlett recognized right away, all those readings she had done at Flourish and Blotts for years paying off. Slughorn continued, “Anyone tell me what this one does?”
Tom and Scarlett both raised their hands, both unsurprised at the other's intelligence. Scarlett noticed how the Potions professor was looking at her with interest again. It seemed like Slughorn also showed favouritism to students he thought were exceptionally talented or clever. “Miss Rosewood?” he prompted.
“Veritaserum is a clear, colourless and odourless potion, with just three drops it forces the drinker to tell the truth. It is almost indistinguishable from water. The brewing time is one lunar phase, approximately 28 days.” She recited from memory, surprising the professor and the students to the extent of her knowledge.
“Brilliant, Miss Rosewood! Take 20 well-earned points for Slytherin,” Slughorn said cheerfully, before continuing the lesson.
Tom from beside her, looked at her with mock sympathy. “You do realize he is not going to leave you alone now,” he muttered.
“Considering that I’ll probably need access to the restricted section, it’s a good idea for me to get into his good graces.” She muttered back.
When Potions class ended, Tom was held back by Slughorn and Scarlett quickly took her escape in case the Potions professor wanted to talk to her as well. She found Abraxas waiting for her outside the Potions classroom. “Brax!”
Abraxas grinned. “Scar.” he greeted, before leaning close and speaking in a low tone. “About the possibility of us being related, I wrote a letter to my mother asking about the Malfoy ancestry. I’m waiting on a response, but I’ll let you know what I find.”
Abraxas tensed when a sharp voice cut through the air. “Malfoy.” It seemed like Tom had gotten away from the Potions professor.
At Tom’s unwavering stare, Abraxas gave her a pat on the shoulder and left. “What did he want?” Tom asked once Abraxas was out of earshot.
“It’s possible that Brax and I could be related, with how similar we look. He’s currently looking into it and he’ll let me know if he found anything.” Scarlett filed him in as they both headed back to the Slytherin common room.
It was quiet except for their footsteps as Tom seemed to ponder. “Malfoy always did remind me of you. It hurt to look at him at times.” he finally admitted when they had reached the Slytherin common room.
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In hindsight, it probably hadn’t been the best idea for Scarlett to lie about her age to get into Tom’s year. Had Scarlett not already been knowledgeable in various topics such as potions and spells, she would have found herself drowning in all the work they were doing for the seventh-year curriculum. Despite having been going off of theory most of the time, she was an intelligent student excelling in most, if not all, of her classes. She was particularly outstanding in Potions. “Brilliant, Miss Rosewood! You are an exceptionally talented young lady.” Slughorn had said when he saw her perfectly brewed potion of the Draught of Living Dead.
As the end of November was approaching, marking her third week at Hogwarts, she found Abraxas sitting at one of the tables in the library, reading a book. She had been looking to confront him about Tom. “Brax. Wanna explain why you’re always tense and wary around Tom?” Scarlett asked with her arms crossed as she took the seat beside him.
“Scar!” Abraxas brightened, turning to face her. “How are you doing?” he asked, trying to dodge the question but she wouldn’t let it pass this time.
“Come on Brax, don’t avoid the question! Please? I want my two favourite people to get along.” she said with puppy doll eyes.
Abraxas snorted. “Going for flattery are we? Alright, alright, stop with that face, you look ridiculous.” He sighed, carefully placing a bookmark on the page of the book he was on before closing it and setting it aside, deliberately being slow about it.
Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “Go on,” she said, looking slightly amused by the fact that he was so determined to avoid the confrontation.
Abraxas shot her an exasperated look. “There’s not much to say. He’s really ambitious, Scar. He was rumoured to have formed a secret group, the Knights of Walpurgis. He’s too involved with dark magic for me not to be wary of him. He’s clearly capable of…” he trailed off at her frown and he hastily changed courses. “You both knew each other since childhood, it was clear by your reunion in the Great Hall when you first arrived here. You’re the only one who would be able to pull him out of the darkness before it’s too late.”
Scarlett was afraid to wonder what Abraxas had been saying before he cut himself off. She thought back to the time when Tom and she had first met years ago, it took a while for her to interact with him without his right hand twitching. He was always glaring at her and his responses had been cold. It wasn’t unlikely for him to have gone down the dark path. Especially with her having been gone for so many years, she hadn’t been there to anchor him. To be his moral compass.
Abraxas sighed again. “I can see the conflicted expression on your face. I didn’t say all that to make you afraid of him. You asked, and I delivered. Pretty sure I’m not the only one who can see it, but Riddle clearly has a soft spot for you.” he said gently, smiling at her.
She couldn’t find a response to that, and thankfully she didn’t have to as Abraxas had already moved on, not giving her a chance to respond. “I asked about the Malfoy ancestry, but my mother was rather touchy about the subject. I did remember my uncle was disowned when he married a muggle-born witch. It’s still a possibility that we’re related, we could be cousins. I wrote to my uncle as soon as I found out to arrange a meeting for you guys to meet.” Abraxas said, saying the last part hesitantly as if he wasn’t sure how she might react to him acting without her permission.
Scarlett sighed in relief. “Thank you for this, Brax. Let me know when the meeting is so I can mentally prepare for the possibility of meeting my parents,” she said.
Abraxas seemed to look panicked, which caused her to frown in confusion. “You see Scar,” he said, laughing nervously. “I already have it all arranged. On the 7th of December,” he said, waiting for her reaction.
That gave her a little over a week before the meeting. Her jaw dropped, scandalized. “Brax! How could you? That’s not enough time for me to mentally prepare.” She whined, burying her hands into her face.
Abraxas winced. “I know, I know, I’m sorry,” he said, but on the contrary, he didn’t sound sorry at all. As if he was doing it for the greater good. Which he technically was. “On the bright side though, you get it out of the way. Rip off the band-aid, you know? and you could make up for lost time by spending Christmas together.” he said cheerfully, trying to comfort her.
Scarlett removed her hands from her face, still looking soured. “I guess you do have a point…” she said sulkily.
“Aw, come on now. I’ll be there for moral support,” Abraxas said, bumping his shoulders to hers.
At that. She brightened. “You will?” She asked, beaming at him. With Abraxas there, he would be their buffer when or if things get awkward.
Abraxas grinned. “Of course. I haven’t seen my uncle and aunt for a while now, it’ll be like a little family reunion. Besides, I get to be there for my possibly little sister.” he said, ruffling her hair affectionately.
Scarlett batted his hand away. “No fair that you’re the older one,” she said in faux annoyance. “ Besides, we might be cousins, not siblings.” she pointed out.
Abraxas shrugged. “Cousins, siblings, same thing. It won’t be hard, considering how I already do see you as a little sister.” he hummed.
Scarlett smiled. “As for you, big brother,” she said, moving to ruffle his hair.
He looked at her, horrified. “Hey, that’s my move! And don’t mess with my hair!”
“Then don’t mess with mine!”