Chapter 19
Tom felt frustrated but he knew that he could do nothing more. Besides, it would do him well to go back with Hogwarts, specially with Grindelwald going around foreseeing things about him and sending his followers to "hand him over". He shoved away all his feelings til the safety and privacy of his chambers. Tom would have gone to the headmaster's right away had he not understood that today was busy and Dippet wouldn't listen to him, besides he needed time to calm down himself away from the noise and everything. He wouldn't even go to the great hall for dinner, he wasn't sure he could keep his composure if he was asked. As a prefect, he should be doing his duty guiding the students but he could explain it that he was shaken from what happened. He threw an invisible charm on himself as he activated the coin back to Hogwarts, he had no desire to be talking to anybody.
Once he closed the doors to his chambers, he collapsed with his back against the door. He couldn't forget how she put herself in front of him, how she sent him away. He was furious at her, how could she send him away at such a critical moment? Did she think him to be weak? He could handle Rosier or any of those by himself, if they were together, they may have at most gotten away with some few injuries at most but she decided to risk her life because she thinks him to be incapable of defending himself? Because she thinks more of coddling him than taking a proper decision? He hated how helpless she made him feel once he found himself at Hogwarts unable to go back to her, how she robbed him of his will, making decisions in his place for him and it was no matter to him if it was for his sake. By now, he understood that she has a skewed understanding of his abilities, he may have played up the miserable part to manipulate her before but never had he regretted doing such thing so much. He hated how she got him away like a child, never once thinking of relying on him, but merely of protecting him.
Above all, he absolutely hated Grindelwald or any of his useless followers. He would make them pay for making him feel so horrible, for trying to destroy his belongings. His chest hurt when he thought of the state she must be in, it must take her weeks, if not months to recover completely. He would have to find a way to let Dippet allow him to visit her... at this thought, he remembered the letter.
He got up from his seat and took it out hurriedly going through all the details in it. It not only made him the inheritor but he was able in her incapacity to take decisions in her place, that didn't merely mean properties and assets, it also meant her health and condition. That would be enough to convince Dippet to let him go to the hospital as much as he wished, he may even convince him to let him get access to the fireplace while she is there if he claimed that Bellatrix didn't have anybody else she knew.
He forced himself to sleep the night so that he can be in a proper state tomorrow. He calmed his mind forcefully before heading out to the great hall. Once there, he noticed how all students and staff was looking his way and whispering, what was it this time? As he made his way to Slytherin's table, Nott seemed to understand him and was quick to hand him the prophet. He forced himself to not look like he was in a hurry to see whatever it was and only opened it after sitting down. The whole of the prophet focused on the attack of course but on the main article, it was talking about how the Hogwarts new DA teacher risked her life defending a student by the name of Tom Riddle and killing two followers of Grindelwald while managing to also wound Vinda Rosier. The minister desperate to save his reputation claimed to give Bellatrix the first order of Merlin and would give her the best healing resources at Saint-Mungo. Tom stilled, it seemed that something good came out of this whole affair, he would be able to play up this part about him being targeted by Grindelwald and Bellatrix getting the order of Merlin was benificial to him too. It seems like it would be even easier for him to be asking Dippet to let him pass, he may even be scrambling to. It seemed that they knew of this whole ordeal from interrogating the acolytes they managed to catch.
"Tom, are you ok? I am sorry about what happened" Elvyn Rosier said while chewing his bottom lip. Elvyn was one of his knights. He knew that they and that aunt were not really that close, and he wouldn't be that stupid to antagonize him over it, specially not now when he needed all the support he could have.
"It's ok, Elvyn. It's not your fault" This seemed to relax him a bit. Other students even coming from the other tables kept asking him questions about his wellbeing and Slugghorn was looking at him with a worried look from where he was sitting. Tom plastered a grateful look and thanked them all. However, one question truly did rise his irritation even though he tried hard not to show it
"Did Professor Eccleshall really risk her life for you, Tom?" He pursed his lips before answering the question as perfectly as he thought while also making great claims about her, Bellatrix having a good reputation was also good for him. He barely ate a bit, he couldn't wait for breakfast to be over and for him to finally be able to talk to Dippet.
Only after extirping himself from Slughorn's worried questions did Tom finally manage to reach Dippet's office. He couldn't help notice that Dumbledore didn't come to bother him, probably ashamed of what transpired with Grindelwald , another good thing from this ordeal it seemed. When he got inside, he played up the part of being sad and frightened before showing Dippet the letter, it did raise some questions and he ended up making a lie about Bellatrix being close friends with his mother and only having him and nobody else to take care of her. Dippet was probably very happy at the story of Bellatrix and the ministry that he granted him free access to the fireplace for as long as she was hospitalized. He even gave him the rights to skip lessons as long as he could keep up during this time that he had to take care of her.
Tom made a last detour to his chambers before taking any necessities with him and heading towards Slughorn's office where he was given the right to use the fireplace and excused from the day's lessons. He dropped the powder and landed at Saint-Mungo. It was a very white and sterile place, not that different from the muggle ones in the way that it was reeking of that sanitized sense of illness. As he walked down the corridor to the reception, he remembered her tattoo and he thought that it was good that he was given the right to Bellatrix's health decisions and could force privacy on the healers otherwise if she had nobody to make that decision, it would then be up to the ministry and therefore they would be very much aware of that Lord's branding and instead of First Merlin Order, she may get interrogated under veritaserum.
Once he got to the desk, he showed the nurse the letter and asked her to talk to the healers. Once she knew who he was here for, she immediately called them and Tom could see from their expressions that they were already quite suspicious. Before he even asked them about her health status, he forced them to swear to privacy under every circumstance while going in head over any legal loophole that may circumvent a patient's right to privacy. Only after he was satisfied did he ask about Bellatrix's state. It was as horrible as he thought it would be, once he got hold of the report, he could see the plethora of curses and physical injuries that had to be healed. There was severe blood loss, so much so she was not expected to awaken until two weeks from now at the earliest. Tom crumpled the paper as he felt rage burning under his skin. He forced himself to calm down once he noticed the healers looking sick under his magic, he didn't need to make a commotion. He asked to be taken to her room and he was told that visitation are best postponed before he retorted that he has the authority to decide over her health. Just as a caution, he added that nobody aside from him should be visiting her or entering her room, he didn't want Dumbledore to find out more than he needed to, in case he got over his shame.
Once he got in front of her room's door, he asked to be left alone with her and chased the personnel away. Tom found out that he almost couldn't gather the strength to open the door and go inside which just made him enraged at his weakness. He gripped the handle forcefully, opened the door and went inside Once there, he first cast a plethora of privacy spells on the door before walking to her bed. She was in a terrible state, full of bandages and patched up. Tom could even until now see blood leaking from some places yet repeatedly getting healed by runes the healers put there. He felt air leave his lungs and like he was suffocating. All he could do to not feel weak is be angry, angry at Grindelwald, angry at Rosier and angry at her for putting herself in such a situation unnecessarily, simply because she thought him to be some fragile thing. With his chest raising with anger, he sat on the bed she was sleeping in. He looked down on her face, a little bit buried within her heavy locks. Despite his agitation inside, he delicately got a rebellious lock away from her lips before playing with it for a bit, it was smooth, rich and thick. Once he got the lock away, he raised her chin cupping her face and leaned forward before angrily kissing her. It was only after starting to lack air did he stop before burying his face in her neck, it smelled like her, like how she hugged him that night after he made the ring horcrux but it also smelled of blood and of healing potions and Tom absolutely hated that. It was quite a long time before he got up reluctantly from her neck. He decided that he had things to do, mainly looking around the room she got properly. It was a decent room even for an individual one , it seemed the ministry did keep their words of giving her the best treatment resources. He calmed himself down and forced himself to think of other ramifications. Now that he was sure that she was alright, he decided to think how this could affect him and how to make the best of this situation. The healers said that Bellatrix wouldn't be able to wake up at least two weeks from now, he just hoped that it wouldn't take her longer than that as he didn't want her to be replaced at Hogwarts. Once he looked at her sleeping figure, Tom's brain deduced that maybe this whole situation actually came with many perks. For example , when she was incapacitated, Tom would have the liberty to have free access to her vaults, mainly the artifact. He would also have two whole weeks where he would be free to inspect it. It was not only the artifact that he could inspect clearly , he thought as he approached her and looked down at her forearm. He delicately raised her sleeves and he saw it properly this time and for as long as he needed. It was a faint mark with a snake and a skull, bizarrely it looked like something he would have came up with. Seems that he did have another thing in common with that...lord. He extended his hand and ran a finger over it and to his suprise, it reacted to him. The mark suddenly got as dark as ink and it started moving. Tom frowned at what happened, why did it react like that? Did it do that everytime someone touched it or just to him? He looked at it one last time before he lowered her sleeves. Since he thought about getting the artifact, he wouldn't waste one more time and he would head to Gringotts. However, just before he reached the door, he cast one last spell with his wand. After he closed the door behind him, only the bouquet of white flowers was left as a testament of his visit.
It didn't take him long to reach Gringotts. As he was led to her vault, Tom could feel the thrill deep inside of him. Once inside, Tom noted curiously that it seemed like a newly made vault, not like one belonging to an old pureblood because there was a lot money but so few jewelry and artifacts. It seemed that he was right as the goblin confirmed the vault's creation merely the summer before the school year started. Tom frowned, it was one thing for her to lie to get to Hogwarts, but why even the vault was new? Goblins were neutral and didn't obey the ministry, Tom felt that it was another added mystery. If there was one good thing about a "new" vault is that it didn't take him very long to find the artifact. It was this inconspicuous dark looking hourglass made with rotten wood with some red sands inside. It did look ominous but it also looked like one of the scam artifacts sold at knockturn alley. Even after casting a plethora of spells on it for about an hour, Tom couldn't figure out what was special about it. However, he wasn't willing to give up yet so he put it in his robes for further examination later and exited the vault. Once outside of Gringotts, he teleported back to the edge of Hogwarts and walked towards the castle.