If it had been me
"I was merely feeling…"
Tom's earnest voice trailed off, head tilted down in some play of apologetic or embarrassed. Harry eyed him. He was very aware of what had to be a play and act, he'd spent enough time around Tom that he knew it was one. The charming ploy used until it did not work. Logic too.
"Cooped in," Tom finished. His dark brown eyes flickered back, peering up at Professor McGonagall by the corner of his eyes. "Surely you can understand, despite my…rather rash behavior."
As though Harry had not been sneaking him out at night every so often. As though Tom had not snatched a wand. As though he'd likely been planning and waiting for Harry to lower his guard, for Harry to have an…upsetting day, to do what he'd done.
The return though. That was still bothering Harry. Why had Tom returned here?
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes at Tom, raising up an eyebrow underneath the brim of her hat. "And surely you can understand why you are to remain put, as we have discussed this, thoroughly Mister Riddle. As well as our reactions and concerns to your disobedience to restrictions set and agreed upon be—"
"Mister Evans, please."
"I…" Startled, off-footed, Professor McGonagall blinked down at where Tom sat. Harry was doing much the same. "Beg pardon."
Contritely, Tom folded his hands onto his lap, gazing down at them. "I am aware, professor, that at the beginning of my stay here, it was decided that you and Madam Pomfrey were to refer to myself as either Tom or Mister Riddle. As I am more familiar to my original surname. However, I am finding myself more…attracted and amenable to the surname of Evans."
Tom was what? Harry goggled. The man still had his gaze downcast toward his clasped hands.
"I…" Professor McGonagall drew herself back upright. "As you prefer then. Mister Evans, back to the point of this conversation, you understand our reaction to you racing off like some ill-behaved child."
Amusement flashed across Tom's face. He unclasped his hands, turning one to take in the whole palm and long fingers. Then clasped them back together, amusement gone from his face as he looked back up to Professor McGonagall.
Harry was still stuck on Tom voicing a preference to Evans. Acceptance? Or… Right after that run for it, that didn't seem likely, but… The weird return back and giving Harry his wand back. Perhaps? Harry could not fully believe it though. Not so quickly.
"I understand and you are well within your right to be upset with me as I gave you my acknowledgment. I suppose the granted books from outside this meager area and the view…got to me. And it did not sit right, to not take full advantage of Hogwarts as what felt my rights as a student."
A pale finger tapped along the back of his hand, then stilled as Tom drew his shoulders back further, chest forward as he looked to Professor McGonagall straight on. Harry straightened. Here. Tom was going for full impact and pleading here. What for?
"As a student, I would like to take the end of the year exams for a sixth year and inquire as to the possibility of completing my education when the next term begins. I am well aware I have likely already completed it, that there is a one Mister Tom Riddle in the books. Seeing as the reason I am here," Tom emphasized with a gesture to his section of the hospital wing. "Negates that, I am pressing the importance and my desire to you, Professor McGonagall, as to completing my education during my year under…"
Tom's mouth pursed in his pause.
"Observation," he completed. It was clear to Harry that Tom wished to use a different word.
And, the sheer gall.
Harry stared, finding himself shaking his head.
Tom had just done a runner. To coat his voice in charm and pose any bit of logic did nothing to remove the fact he had just done a runner. Why would he think this was the time to ask for the ability to move freely about the castle as a student? Giving more chances and opportunities and room to do another runner.
Perhaps there was something of a Gryffindor in Tom. Ambitious, Slytherin, yes. Bold? That was there too.
Harry nearly wanted to laugh. And turned to Professor McGonagall, anticipation thrumming through him at her response to this. A little bit of anxiety too, he supposed, for if Tom took it badly. Mostly anticipation though.
"I see no issue with you taking the sixth year written exams."
And any hint of emotion on Tom's face halted.
"But not the practical portion," he said. Face void of expression. "I see."
"You appear to have a mind for logic and I am sure you can understand our pressing the importance of a wand, or lack of, in your hands at this current time. You did yourself no service in your actions earlier. And to where you were discovered."
Annoyance flickered across Tom's face, thoughts turning behind his eyes. Harry had not thought of that. Not right away. That a simple ask of continuing education would lend to the possibility and push for Tom using a wand or chains removed to continue his education properly. They'd already bought extension of time in Tom being told Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were running tests and making sure to any of Voldemort's 'previous influence' on and over him for many years. That the observation could last a full year.
"Miss Warren's death," Tom mused out loud. "Was due to him? Using…"
Tom's fingers tapped against each other. Quickly. And agitatedly.
"She was meant to be a guardian to all occupants of the school. Was a guardian," he muttered distastefully. His eyes snapped up to Harry, then back to his hands. "Gryffindor. Act first."
Startled, Harry stared, arms falling loosely to his sides. "She? You mean the basilisk?"
Tom's chin jerked down.
"Spent years taking her meals from the countryside, free grazing animals outside of Hogsmeade. The family that had been taking care of her meals, generation to generation, only had one son to pass it onto several years back. Which became an issue last fall, ah." Catching himself, Tom corrected. "Fall of '42. He joined up with Grindelwald. Grindelwald..."
"Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in 1945," Professor McGonagall informed Tom briskly.
"Er, I can bring you books," Harry added in helpfully. Tom had yet to shift his sights off of Harry since he began explaining. And Harry didn't feel as though he should look away. It'd be…rude? Inconsiderate? As though he wasn't giving Tom's explanation the attention Tom felt it deserved in going to the length to explain to Harry?
"Much appreciated. Perhaps old and recent editions of newspapers?"
"Erm, sure?"
Older ones, for sure. But Tom was sure to want to read about his 'evil twin counterpart' at some point. Those Harry wanted to put off a little. Or to at least be here when Tom read those articles.
"She'd come out from her latest hibernation and found her usual hunting ground bare, managed to find something on the outskirts, but later went hissing through the pipes trying to gain attention of a parselmouth to answer her questions. Apparently," Tom's mouth twitched upwards in a show of humor. "Finding a parselmouth had never been an issue for her before. There had always been a few, always at least one staff member, passing down knowledge of her in case the school needed her assistance in protecting it. When she was young, the concern had been in muggles searching for real witches and wizards to burn."
Harry pulled his eyes from Tom, checking over to Professor McGonagall. Whom seemed surprised at this information. Not sure about it, Harry looked back to Tom, voicing his doubt.
"I thought, wasn't the basilisk put there by Slytherin to rid the school of any muggle-borns? And," Harry added on hesitatingly. "Only able to be controlled by Slytherin's 'true heir'?"
Tom's head tilted slightly at Harry. "Not according to her. I assumed it was a wording mistaken over time."
Harry stared.
Talk about being thrown for a loop. On both Slytherin and Tom in releasing the basilisk all those years ago. This was Tom before Voldemort. It left Harry bewildered and wondering what changed, why the attacks, when the Tom before him appeared truthful. And it was not as though Harry could ask anyone else. Slytherin was long gone. Tom was not Voldemort. The basilisk was no more. Any past parselmouths were likely passed on. As was the family outside of Hogsmeade that had apparently supplied the basilisk with meals for when she woke from times of hibernation.
That answered Harry, Ron, and Hermione's wonderings on its eating habits during all that time though.
"You never spoke to her," Tom said as though he was summing it all up. Jerked from his thoughts, Harry took in Tom's face and fidgeted at the simply stated fact. "Gryffindor. Prone to reacting. Good in certain circumstances, but such a shame."
Harry couldn't speak at that. Tom tapped a long finger, a thoughtful look on him. Then drew his shoulders back once again.
"If it had been me," he began slowly. "In trying to figure out how a death occurred inside the castle due to her… Taken by surprise right upon coming out? I'd wager Miss Warren's presence inside the girls' bathroom had not been realized by the speaker or yet scented. The issues of a past parselmouth staff member seeing to pipes being placed inside the school lined up the new entrance point for her. While optimal for placement of mirrors for a safety measure, it did create a slight…blind spot or visual impairment for her."
"While interesting and makes for a good rediscovery of part of Hogwarts history," Professor McGonagall broke in to Tom's further explanation to Harry. Tom shifted his attention off of Harry and onto her, waiting with a curious look on his face at McGonagall. "Why the attempt to figure out how a deadly creature created a death, as though you are assuming it an error, that a death inside the castle by a basilisk is a surprise, Mister Evans?"
Ah. Good point. Harry spun his head back to the man sitting on the bed. Tom's eyes widened the slightest at Professor McGonagall. "You're taking my discovery far better than Slughorn," he murmured appreciatively. "Are you sure you are not of the Slytherin house in your propensity of wearing our colors Professor?"
"He knew?"
Dark brown eyes rolled. Rolled. The gesture both so out of place and ringing true of an aggravated youth.
"Barely," he scoffed. "I no sooner than brought up the notion of parselmouths being a group Hogwarts once and may have housed to broach the topic with him, that he waved the entire idea aside and best discussed with the history professor if I were so inclined to discover more of the castle's history. The same old man who could not even be bothered to remember my last name was not the incantation against a boggart. And who cared for little else besides the more…bloody history."
Harry's mouth twitched at the description and annoyance.
"Binns?"
Aghast, Tom's head spun to him. "He's still alive? And teaching?"
Professor McGonagall had her own mouth twitching too. "Under tenure and he still has the ability and will to remain."
Tom frowned. "Will to… Professor Binns is a Hogwarts ghost? And will remain teaching here for years? Because of tenure? That's… That's just deplorable!"
"Oh, you will not find me voicing disagreement to that, Mister Evans."
The man shook his head.
"To answer your enquiry, I assume the death an error and my surprise to it due to the knowledge that if there would be any intruders inside the castle, she was to petrify first. That the parselmouth or parselmouths with her would conjure a large mirror for that exact purpose. Or in splitting up if there were uncertainty as to where the intruders were at, one of Hogwarts' ghosts would travel with her. She said it was so the occupants of the castle roaming with her would be protected, not harmed, by her."
That… That explained possibly a lot, Harry thought. He certainly wanted to run off to Hermione and Ron, possibly Ginny, to tell them this and talk about it. Possibly Ginny. They had only argued last night. Which already seemed like ages ago.
"I believe I have been made aware of something to discuss with the Hogwarts' ghosts," Professor McGonagall said. Her eyebrows were still raised up at Tom and his whole explanation. "This conversation has been quite enlightening over aspects of Hogwarts' history I was previously unaware of. And to many others. I'll be borrowing Mister Potter."
It took a few seconds to comprehend and click. Harry turned from Tom, blinking blankly over at Professor McGonagall whom had made her way to the door. She paused. "Mister Potter," she intoned. Then opened the door and left.
"Er, right! Coming!" He turned back to Tom. "Uh, I'll be just a moment, Tom."
Tom's mouth pursed a moment, then smiled up at Harry, hands reclasping together tightly. "Go ahead, Harry. While the concern to sooth any guilt of leaving me is…nice, I am clearly not going anywhere."
Harry laughed weakly. "Yeah. Right. I'll be back."
Hurriedly, feeling the guilt now after Tom said he thought Harry would be when Harry had not, Harry exited the room. And found Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey waiting for him. Both leveling him with no-nonsense eyes.
He was definitely going to be able to discuss Tom's explanation and information about the basilisk with Hermione and Ron soon. Maybe. Perhaps touch on it. Okay, he should probably save that topic for later.
Push had come to shove on figuring out more of a long term plan for Tom. With everyone in the know to meet up. Discuss the tests and observations and the fact keeping Tom cooped up could not last forever. Even with the late night outings. Not that the rest knew about Harry doing that, but… Tom wanted to live his life. And they knew there would be push back at some point. That there would come a point they would have to shift gears. To Tom living his life with Harry visiting his grandfather. Keeping somewhat of a check on the man. Or shift the other direction if there were worrisome signs that Tom remembered enough of what had been obliviated.
Well. At least George would be happy about it. Even if Ginny may not be.
Harry swallowed at the idea of the possibility spoken, that Ginny and Tom would share classes.
Ginny with a wand was much more terrifying than Tom at this exact moment.