Chapter 12
Just after he closed the door of her office behind him, he came face to face with Dumbledore. Tom was truly not in the mood for him at this point. His exasperation and irritation must be palpable because Dumbledore suddenly got even more curious.
"Tom, what were you doing in Professor Eccleshall's office in her absence? Shouldn't you be in the ball?" He said while looking at him with that suspicious look he very much abhorred
"Professor Eccleshall asked me to check on something in her office for her" Tom lied and obviously Dumbledore didn't believe him. "Besides professor, how do you know that Professor Eccleshall is not in her office?" Tom snapped back with an accusatory tone, venom slipping in that he almost didn't bother to hide at this point. Bellatrix may not have been totally paranoid in thinking that Dumbledore may come in snooping and Tom's heart was clenching in his insides. If she were careless... and he were to find out things related to horcruxes or who knew what other compromising things she had, both he and her would have been in a very very dire spot. Even if she wasn't going to say anything about him, their closeness was obvious, if not to others then to Dumbledore and that was worse than even the ministry knowing about it. As if to prove him right, Dumbledore looked at him gravely before saying
"It seems like you and Professor Eccleshall have a very good relationship" Tom was not foolish as to think this was meant as a well meaning observation or a compliment. It was an accusation. The office's door chose this point to open, it was Bellatrix, it seemed she came from her fireplace. Tom still didn't want her to know that he was in her office so he chose to talk first , saying something that would sure get her mind away from thinking about the possibility of him snooping in.
"Professor...it seems that Professor Dumbledore wished to see you, I saw him near your office" This got her features changing abruptly
"WHAT???" She screeched before snapping her head fast towards towards Dumbledore "Dumbledore! Did you want to snoop through my office?" She barked, Tom didn't expect her to accuse him directly.
"Now, now...Bellatrix, this is a serious accusation, Tom.." She interrupted him
"I do not want to hear you say a word about Tom!" Tom liked that very well but not as much as the embarrassment caught on Dumbledore's face "I do not want you anywhere near my office or I will go to the ministry and not the headmaster with this, it's trespassing on a colleague's property, is that understood?"
"I think there must be a misunderstanding you have about me Bellatrix. I have the impression that you dislike me quite a bit"
"I do in fact dislike you quite a lot, it would do you well to get a clue and stay away from us" Tom cringed a bit, she really didn't know any subtelty, he just hoped that she wouldn't start speaking about mudbloods and half-breeds mid-way as Dumbledore would be able to use that against her.
"Us? Bellatrix, it is inappropriate to favor a student to this degree and have him get free access to...."
"The only inappropriate thing I see here is your fixation on harrassing a brilliant student all on baseless assumptions and delusions. It's my duty as a professor to not turn a blind eye to your mistreatment and complete lack of professionalism. As for my relationship with Tom, that's none of your concern, it certainly seems to trump whatever disgraceful behavior you display towards him. When it comes to favoritism, we all know what the half-breed you protected did." While she may not be good in doing spywork, she was very good in stabbing and retorting where it hurts and also talknig nonsense, he found out. Too bad, he had predicted it that she started spiraling in a tirade. Dumbledore looked grave
"Professor, it is very inappropriate to use such terms when talking about students"
"Tell that to the m...to that poor dead girl. What a tragedy." Tom was thankful she was aware enough to not call her mudblood, she may then as well have told Dumbledore that she was glad about what happened. Though he supposed it didn't make a differnence except for Dippet to find out about it through the pensieve because Tom was sure Dumbledore suspected that he did it and that Bellatrix knew and supported him.
"It seems that this discussion is no longer pleasant, so we will leave it at that"
"Great, on your way then" She said while rolling her eyes as if she couldn't wait for him to disappear from her sight
"Would you be staying here, Tom? Your date, a very brilliant Ravenclaw student would be very disappointed"
"I would be staying here Professor, have a good night" He gave them one last grave look before going away. When he got out of sight, Bellatrix yanked him from the arm to the inside of her office.
"Do not speak. Help me check the wards"
She checked every ward and Tom got the opportunity to witness the plethora of very hostile dark wards she used on her office, most would lead to serious consequences. Tom was very sure that this type of warding was used by very old pureblood families mostly and some were very unknown, dark and improved version of them . Tom was only targeted by alert wards, if he were to be confronted with such heavy warding, it would at least have taken him enough time for her to come back before being able to undo half of them and even then he may not have gotten out with no consequences if he were that hasty. He guessed the wards would be extra vicious towards Dumbledore, they probably were dressed mostly because of him. She didn't notice the spells he added, those are different from warding. Warding mostly prevents someone from coming inside, not the interior spells done once someone did get inside. As for those that did target him, he was able to undo and redo them with no problem. Only after making sure that the warding was intact did she breathe a sigh of relief, Tom was not worried because he came before Dumbledore and he was sure he didn't come inside but he pretended to not know anyways just to not make her suspicious. Though, concerned he truly was.