Tom Riddle sat there in math class, studying. Class was yet to start, and the other kids were talking and fooling around. Tom didn't join them, though. They wanted nothing to do with him, the quiet freak, the loner. Well, I want nothing to do with them either, he thought. He was smarter than them, he knew. He taught himself how to do multiplication this year, while the other six-year-olds could barely do simple addition. He also knew about the sciences. Because Tom had nothing better to do than read, he knew basic astronomy, knew about several animals' life cycles, knew about plate tectonics and its effects, basic science like that. He knew, however, that the other childrens' minds were too petty to comprehend knowledge. Just proof that I'm better than them, that I don't need them, don't need anybody, Tom thought. Tom was reading about the rules of exponents when the door opened.
The math teacher came in, followed by a little girl their age. She had short, thick, raven-black hair, olive skin, and dark, brown-black eyes. She also had glasses. She looked around nervously, as if she had no idea why she was here. Another new one, Tom thought condensingly. Here was another foolish child who would probably annoy him to death.
"This is Sophia. She will be staying with us," said the math teacher curtly. Sophia took a seat at one of the half-broken, worn-out desks. She looked around, noticing people staring at her curiously, and the her eyes rested on Tom. She gave him a look that he couldn't decipher, then looked down at his book and smiled, and turned around to face the front.
"Okay class, we were working on higher-level addition. Can anyone tell me what is 11 + 4?" While the rest of the class started counting on their fingers, Tom raised his hand high in the air. He was surprised to find the new girl's hand in the air as well. Well, maybe she isn't a complete idiot, Tom thought.
"Yes, Sophia?" the math teacher seemed surprised as he called on her.
"15," Sophia replied quickly.
As the lesson progressed, it seemed that Sophia was pretty good at math. She could count by 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's easily and fluently. To trip her up, the math teacher asked her to count by 9's, to try to silence her. Tom figured that he hated smart kids, since they made him look stupid for teaching easy concepts. He looked at Sophia interestedly. He wanted to see what she would do.
" 9,18, 27,...36,..45,...54,...63,...72,...81,...90!" Sophia beamed. She had paused after the bigger numbers, but she had managed it. The math teacher didn't bother her after that. Tom realized that she was at least somewhat intelligent. He was wondering whether he should talk to her or not. After all, the other kids at the orphanage hated him. He hated them too, of course, but he wondered whether Sophia would hate him too, simply because others did. If that was the case, then she was just a petty girl who followed crowds. It couldn't hurt to at least try to talk to her once. Who knew, she might even like him? He shook his head though, not willing to let himself get his hopes so high. He couldn't remember a time when his hopes for anything other than merely being able to stay alive had been fulfilled. He didn't need Sophia, or anyone, but he had decided to try and started to make his way to her at the end of class, when she came towards him and held her hand out.
"Hello, I'm Sophia. What's your name?"

Sophia looked around and saw that most of the kids seemed rowdy. She would just be happy to sit there quietly and read, or maybe even study. She didn't particularly love studying, but her dad had her do math beyond her grade level, and she found that she was good at it. Sophia was glad that math was first, because math was her favorite subject. As she was looking around the room, her eyes rested on a boy with dark brown hair, which clung to his scalp a little shiny and sticky with grease, stormy gray eyes with streaks of alternating dark and light gray within the irises, thin, chapped lips with peeling scabs, and a pale face, which seemed to be marked with a couple of bruises. She noticed the book in his hands, though, and smiled, glad to know that she wasn't the only studious kid around here. At her old school, she had been the smartest person, and while she liked that, she sometimes wished for competition. She turned around, not wanting to be caught for staring. She pondered over that boy, though. Why does he have bruises on his face? Sophia wondered silently. And his lips look like there was blood before. He seems like a nice, quiet boy, and he doesn't seem like he picks fights with people. Do people pick on him because he likes reading? I'll have to be careful around here. I have no idea how I got here, it doesn't look like anywhere in Ohio, and it doesn't seem like a nice place. Oh, I miss home!

Math class was really easy for Sophia. She answered all of the questions correctly, even the hard ones that the teacher obviously threw at her to trick her."Ha! I feel smart!" Sophia thought. She noticed that the teacher had a weird accent. Now that she thought about it, so did all of the other kids when they talked. Hmmm... Sophia thought. At the end of class, she decided that she wanted to talk to the quiet, dark-haired boy. She figured that he would be the best person to try to befriend, since he wouldn't make fun of her for being studious like the others could. At the end of class, she went up to him and held out her hand.
"Hi! I'm Sophia!" she said, and smiled. The boy took her hand and shook it, but his face showed no hint of a smile. If anything, his face had a calculating look on it.
"I'm Tom Riddle," the boy replied. Why is he all doom and gloom? Sophia wondered. She decided to say something to break the silence, since she was a loud and talkative girl who found silence awkward and uncomfortable.
"So, the math class was pretty easy, wasn't it?" She asked.
"Yes, it was," Tom replied. "I already knew everything that we're learning since last year. I've taught myself more than the teachers have," he said smugly.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. My dad taught me math beyond my grade level, and it was pretty easy to get the hang of it."
"You know, I haven't seen you around before. You also have a strange accent! Where are you from? How did you get here?" Tom asked. Sophia wasn't sure, but his voice seemed to have a demanding edge to it. She was rather surprised at his random turn of the conversation, and taken aback by his tone.
"You could've asked that in a bit of a nice tone, you know," Sophia replied. "Demanding it like that makes me not want to tell you. And besides, I don't have a strange accent; you do."
"Sorry," Tom replied politely. "I was just really curious that you ended up here, at this orphanage, and I didn't even notice. And I beg to differ about the fact that I have a 'weird accent'."
"It's okay," Sophia said cheerfully. She then became a little bit serious."But wait, I'm at an orphanage? Honestly, I don't know how I ended up here. I fell asleep in my own bed last night at home, and this morning, I woke up to find myself in one of the rooms with three other girls. I want to go home, because I'm pretty sure that I'm not an orphan, but I don't know where home is. Oh no! What if I really am... No! But that still wouldn't explain how I ended up here. I don't even know this place. I've never seen it in my city."
"Where are you from?" Tom asked.
"Mayfield," Sophia replied.
"Where's Mayfield? I've never heard of it."
"It's a city in Ohio," Sophia said.
"Ohio?" Tom asked. Wow, did this boy not know his states? Sophia thought.
"Hah! You're kidding! Okay, I'll go along with it. It's a state in the United States of America! And most normal people in the United States have accents like mine, so there!"
"What?" Tom practically yelled out of surprise.

Tom was curious. While Sophia was talking, he noticed her strange accent, and figured out that she wasn't around here. He had never heard an accent like hers, so he wasn't sure exactly where she was from. He figured that she must be from a neighboring country. She must be Spanish, he thought, with her skin color and hair. Or maybe she's from a totally different and far-off country, but her family lived somewhere else, like in France. But then, how did she end up here? He decided to ask. It couldn't hurt, and she seemed nice enough, nicer than the kids at the orphanage.
"You know, I haven't seen you around before. You also have a strange accent! Where are you from? How did you get here?" Tom asked.
"You could've asked that in a bit of a nice tone, you know," Sophia replied. "Demanding it like that makes me not want to tell you. And besides, I don't have a strange accent; you do." Sophia sounded offended. Did he sound rude and demanding? He wouldn't know. It's not like I actually talk to other people, he thought bitterly. They think I'm too freakish. She's being nice to me, so it wouldn't do to offend her.
"Sorry," Tom replied politely. "I was just really curious that you ended up here and I didn't even notice. And I beg to differ about the fact that I have a 'weird accent'."
"It's okay," Sophia said cheerfully. She then became a little bit serious. Tom wasn't surprised. She seems lost, he thought."Honestly, I don't know how I ended up here. I fell asleep in my own bed last night at home, and this morning, I woke up to find myself in one of the rooms with three other girls. I want to go home, because I'm pretty sure that I'm not an orphan, but I don't know where home is. Oh no! What if I really am... No! But that still wouldn't explain how I ended up here. I don't even know this place. I've never seen it in my city." What? How could that happen? She must be joking. It's the only logical explanation. But she seems like a straight-forward, honest person. I doubt that she would joke about losing her family, and she really seems to miss them. She's confused.
"Where are you from?" Tom asked.
"Mayfield," Sophia replied. It sounded so... strange in a common way. It didn't sound horribly foreign like cities from other countries did.
"Where's Mayfield? I've never heard of it."
"It's a city in Ohio," Sophia said. Okay, he knew the states of surrounding countries a bit better, and he knew that there wasn't a place called Ohio in Britain, and once again, it didn't sound foreign like French, Spanish, or German cities might.
"Ohio?" Tom asked. He saw a look of disbelief cross her face, as if she couldn't believe that he wouldn't know where Ohio was.
"Hah! You're kidding! Okay, I'll go along with it. It's a state in the United States of America! And most normal people in the United States have accents like mine, so there!" She was from the United States? How did she end up here? Surely, she would've remembered if she and family had come to Britain for vacation, wouldn't she?
"What?" Tom practically yelled."Well, that explains your accent."
"My accent? You guys are the ones with strange accents! You guys sound like those prim, proper, uptight British!" Was this girl so foolish? Did she not realize that she was in Britain? But then again, I'm sure that she couldn't imagine that she randomly ended up across the Atlantic Ocean, so I shouldn't be hard on her. I'd think that I was crazy if I were in her place, so I can understand how she feels, Tom thought.
"You are in Britain! And get your science stuff out, science is about to start. Though this class is a bit of a joke. All of them are."
"You're joking!" Sophia whispered.
"I know how hard it is for you to believe this, but you must. Ask the teacher if you don't believe me."
Sophia asked the teacher, who was the same as the math teacher, and would be the same for all other subjects, what country was next to us.
"But surely you must know that Great Britain is an island! Or are you not smart enough to know that?" he sneered. Tom saw Sophia's eyes widen in shock, but she tried to hide it. The teacher didn't notice anything strange, though, and continued on with all of the lessons and classes for the day. When they were done, Sophia went up to Tom.
"How could this have happened? It's impossible! Not unless my parents flew to Britain and left me at a random orphanage, but I don't see why they would! I don't think we have money problems, and we were going to Nepal this winter, and my parents bought my ticket too and everything! I saw the ticket with my name on it! They wouldn't have done that if they planned on abandoning me?"
"Well, I'm sorry, I can't say," Tom said. "You seem to have appeared out of nowhere, and you'll have to get used to living here. Maybe you might end up back home the same way; you might fall asleep and wake up at home." Could it have been magic? Nah, Tom decided. And besides, why would she of all people end up here? She didn't seem to deserve such punishment. Not like he did, either. He was too special to be doomed to a place like this, but he was born here. She didn't deserve to be unceremoniously plucked from her happy life and dropped into this snake pit. "It's time for lunch, so I suppose you'll want to talk to some of the other kids, try to make friends?" For some reason, Tom hoped that she wouldn't. She was the closest thing to an intelligent person, and while he was yet to see if she was like other girls, he wanted to at least get to know her. It was possible that she wasn't. Who knows, he might even grow used to the foreign concept of...companionship. Friendship. Before she could reply, though, they were shoved hard to the ground.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here," two greasy, grimy, older-looking kids replied. Tom knew them. They were Billy and his friend Adam. They were two bullies who just loved troubling Tom, pushing him around and beating him up. While they were the same age as him, they were bigger in size, and two against one were never good odds for the one. Tom looked to his left and saw Sophia's eyes widen.
"Why did you push us? We didn't do anything to you! If you push others around, that must mean that you want to be pushed around. That must be the way you want to be treated!" Billy leaned in and punched Sophia in the nose hard. Blood started spurting out. Sophia tried to hold back a yelp but failed.
"OWW!" She yelled. Tom was angry. Not only did they bully him around, they've started bullying Sophia around? So now anyone who wants to be around me has to suffer at the bullies' hands? He admired Sophia's courage, but supposed that she had never come across bullies. No one who knew what the bullies could do ever stood up to them. He didn't get much time to think of all of this, though, when Adam started punching Tom while Billy was beating up Sophia.
"We is your betters, little girl. It would do you good to respect us. And you shouldn't hang out with the little freak over there." Billy indicated with his head toward Tom. "If you know what's good for you."
"Why do you care so much? It shouldn't matter to you who I hang out with. You don't even know me. You're such losers, both of you, that you have no meaning and use for your life. You are so useless that you waste time bothering us, even though we did nothing." Tom realized by the huge breath Billy took that Sophia had just provoked him by responding. He tried to look at her and caught a glimpse of Sophia trying to claw Billy with her fingernails. "Let go!" she screamed, and Tom could hear the pain saturated in each word.

"What you lookin at boy?" Adam asked. Adam looked over there for a second and Tom used the distraction to bite on Adam's hand. Hard. Adam yelped, and Tom got up. He saw Billy beating up Sophia ferociously. He was suddenly overcome with anger. These bullies were picking on him for no reason, and he couldn't fight back, which was enough. To top things off, they were picking on Sophia. She didn't know how to handle it. She'd never had to suffer like this, and now was suffering for being kind to him. He wasn't the devil here, they were.
"They'll pay," Tom hissed. He glared at Adam and Billy, and just when he was about to try to attack them with his hands, there was a huge boom. Billy and Adam flew back in the air and landed very hard on their backs.
"Billy, let's get away from them. They're not worth the trouble, and who knows what else the little freak can do!" Adam yelled, scared. Billy nodded, and they ran off. Tom stood there in wonder. A voice broke him from his trance.
"Tom? What did you just do?"
Meanwhile, somewhere that no one knows about, Fate sat there, writing in his book. He noticed how Tom saved himself and Sophia from the bullies. "I knew that de-aging Sophia to 6-years-old, wiping her memories of her life beyond 6, sending her back in time, and putting her in Tom Marvolo Riddle's orphanage was a good idea. They'll become friends now. And if things work out the way I want them to, then Tom Riddle will make a better soul mate for Sophia than one she could've gotten in her time."

When Billy was attacking Sophia, it was hard for her to fight back. This was the first time someone was bullying her, and she was doing her best to attack back. She tried clawing Billy since her nails were reasonably sharp, but her nails barely made a scratch in Billy's skin, and he was punching Sophia with all of his might. She was wondering how Tom was doing. Does he have to deal with this stuff a lot? Poor Tom, Sophia thought sympathetically. Then, she heard a yelp, and the other bully jumped off of Tom, clasping his hand. She saw Tom glance in her direction, and then he glared at the bullies. If looks could kill, they'd be dead, Sophia thought. Then, both bullies were thrown back. They flew in the air and landed painfully on their backs. Sophia thought she heard something break. She looked over at Tom, but he was still in the same position. He didn't seem to have moved at all.
"Billy, let's get away from them. They're not worth the trouble, and who knows what else the little freak can do!" Adam yelled, scared. Billy nodded, and they ran off. Sophia was amazed. Tom had just saved himself and Sophia from the bullies without lifting a finger. That was so cool! The bullies deserved it for picking on us for no reason! But how did Tom do that? I don't think I could.
"Tom? What did you just do?" Sophia asked in wonder. Tom, however, seemed to have mistaken her wonder for an accusation.
"I don't know. Honestly. I was mad at the bullies for picking on us, and I wanted them to stop. Then, they just flew back. I've never done anything like this before!"
"Tom, I'm amazed. That was wonderful! That will teach them not to pick on us! Is this seriously your first time doing something like this?" Sophia asked.
"Yes, I just said so," Tom said, somewhat annoyed.
"That was like magic," Sophia said. "And because we don't know what happened, let's just call it magic."
"Wow! I can do magic," Tom said. They walked back to their rooms, their scant amount of watery soup spilled by the bullies. They had finished the few spoons of soup left in seconds. Sophia's stomach rumbled. Tom might've been used to such meager meals, but Sophia wasn't. She was used to three big meals and an afternoon snack with milk. Living here is harder than I thought. I'm practically starving. Then she felt guilty with the thought that the kids here ate every day like this, and that they, and not her, knew the real meaning of the word "starving".
"Looks like someone is hungry," Tom said lightly.
"I'm not used to food like this," Sophia said. She hated it. "My mother told me not to be a picky eater, but I never thought that I'd have to get rid of my habits like this," Sophia said. "I feel so sorry for all the kids here. I miss my mother's cooking"
"I've never had my mother's food," Tom said quietly.
"I'm so sorry Tom. How could I be so... so...mean about this? I shouldn't complain."
"It's okay, Sophia," Tom replied. "It's hard at first. But if you ignore your hunger for a while, it'll go away." As they were walking, though, they were stopped by a shrill voice.
"TOM! SOPHIA!" yelled Mrs. Cole as she caught up to them. Tom and Sophia turned around. Tom had an impassive look on his face, looking almost bored, while Sophia looked scared. She couldn't help but marvel at Tom's nonchalance. Did he always get yelled at? Was he simply used to this by now, after six years of this?
"What did we do, ma'am?" Sophia asked, fear tinging her voice.
"Billy and Adam told me that Tom knocked them over. They said that you did something strange. They were talking to you, and you sent them flying in the air and then made them fall just by looking at them. Is that true Tom? Did you do that Tom? They have broken bones. Did you bully them?" Sophia could see Tom trying to control his anger.
"Mrs. Cole, they were bullying us," Tom gritted. "Sophia and I were walking to lunch, and Billy and Adam knocked us over. They started pushing us around, and-"
"Nonsense! Why would they bully you for no reason?" Mrs. Cole asked incredulously.
"Beats me, why would you think that we would attack them without reason?" Tom bit back.
"Don't give me any of your cheek, boy! You attacked them, didn't you! No dinner and breakfast for you!" Sophia couldn't believe it. This was unfair. Mrs. Cole didn't even listen to them. Now Tom was suffering because of her. Yes, he also saved himself, but he saved her too. Adam had let go of Tom when he bit him. Tom could've run then, but he did save her as well, no matter what his motives were. Sophia couldn't let him suffer like this. She knew what she'd do.
"Ma'am, don't yell at Tom. It was my fault. Tom is right, they were picking on us. I wanted to be friends with them, since I was new-" Sophia threw that in there to, hopefully, gain some pity from Mrs. Cole and make the story more believable. "-but they started being mean to me and Tom. I got mad and attacked them. I pushed them to the ground. They probably just exaggerated and said that they were thrown to the ground because they were probably mad at being beat by a girl," Sophia finished.
"Be that as it may, you should have come to an adult if something like that happened. Tom, I'm sorry. It seems as if your little friend is at fault. No dinner and breakfast for you, little girl!" Mrs. Cole said, and walked off to tell the cooks that. Tom looked at her in wonder.
"Why did you just do that? I'm used to little meals, and I've had my meals taken away many times, but it'll be hard for you. Weren't you just saying before how hungry you were?"
"I couldn't let you take the blame, Tom. You saved me from the bullies," Sophia replied quietly.
"But I also saved myself. I wanted to save you too, but it was more out of my immediate anger at the bullies." Sophia was a little disappointed at hearing that. It makes sense, though. Before this, if Tom was bullied by a bully, I wouldn't have tried to step in, so why should he do that for me? She felt bad again thinking that she wouldn't have tried to help Tom if he was being bullied. It made her feel weak. There was too much guilt in such a short amount of time for her to deal with, and it was all because she was here at this orphanage. It had shown her a new view of things. The only potential silver lining she saw now was her possible friendship with Tom because of this. Perhaps there were some other, nicer kids, maybe the girls, but he seemed smart, and Sophia thought that Tom could make a good friend. It was all she currently had, anyhow.
"It doesn't matter. You still saved me, and I didn't want you to be punished for that. Then you wouldn't ever save me again," Sophia joked. "I owed you that." Sophia held out her hand again, as she had when first introducing herself, and continued. "Can we be friends? From what I've seen in our classes today, you're smart. I might learn a thing or two from you, and you'll be better company than the girls in my room, since I can have an smart conversation with you. Also, it'll keep my mind off the hunger. And I'll be a good friend." Sophia looked at Tom eagerly. Tom considered this.
"Alright," he replied, not too grudgingly, and shook her outstretched hand. "Friends." Sophia thought she might even have seen a ghost of a smile at the words. She was thrilled.

Tom and Sophia were hanging out in his room, which was currently empty. Tom still couldn't believe that Sophia lied straight to Mrs. Cole's face and took the blame on herself. He had seen people lie to get themselves out of trouble, but this was the first time that he was seeing someone lie to get a friend out of trouble. So I'm her friend? I guess. I mean, there are some things that you just can't share without ending up liking each other, and I guess this was one of them. We helped each other too, so I guess it makes sense. Hmmm. Sophia is my friend. As much as he hated to admit it, he liked the sound of 'friend'. He noticed that Sophia's face had fallen when she realised that she'd have to skip two meals, but then she tried to hide it from him. He shook himself out of his thoughts, and decided to satisfy his curiosity about her life before she unceremoniously landed here.
"What was your life like before you came here?" Tom asked.
"I was born in India and lived there for three-and-a-half years," Sophia started. Before she could continue, Tom interrupted.
"Do you remember what it was like there?" he asked. Wow, a different country? On the East side of the world? Wow!
"No, not really," Sophia replied. "I do remember going to school there. But I have seen pictures of me when I was a baby. If I do say so myself, I was pretty cute as a baby." Tom could easily picture her as a bright, bouncy baby. Sophia just has so much energy, I'm sure she was even more like that as a baby.
"I'm sure you were." Tom replied. He realized right away that that sounded strange.
"Huh?" Sophia asked.
"I'm sure you were bouncy and energetic, I meant." He said quickly. While he did admit that babies were cute, their constant crying evened it out, and he hated hearing the babies crying. Especially since it was so hard for a person to figure out what was wrong.
"Yeah, that's true. I read my dad's journal where he wrote about me as a baby. I have to say, I had to laugh at some of the silly things that I did." It seemed that she had the maturity of the other kids. I'm not surprised though. She grew up around her parents, who seem to be loving. If I grew up differently, I might be more playful. Oh well, no use thinking about what I can't change.
"And what was school like?" Tom asked. He wanted to see what a normal life was like. At least, what a normal life where Sophia lived was like.
"Well, I came...er...went to the U.S. when I was about three-and-a-half years old. I went to preschool when I was four. It seemed like a lot of free time and play time. I painted pictures and played dress-up. We had a lot of circle time. I don't remember actually learning anything. At the library though, they had these headphones so you could listen along to books. The words were highlighted as the reader read along. I taught myself how to read, and I'm pretty proud of that. Dad said that they also helped me learn to read, but I don't remember my parents teaching me anything much besides math. Dad really liked teaching me math. He said that it was the most useful thing. I'm glad that I taught myself to read, because I think that that's more important." Tom agreed.
"Well, you're right about you couldn't read, you really wouldn't be able to apply math to real life like in word problems." Tom said.
"Exactly! Then, let's see, kindergarten seemed to be the same, but we learned about spelling simple words like 'got'. Dad taught me multiplication, and he made me memorize my times tables up to 12 x 10. First grade was different. We actually learned science and social studies. We learned about life cycles of butterflies, and even had butterflies in our classroom. The classes aren't really challenging, but school is fun because the kids are fun. I mean, I just couldn't imagine being home-schooled. In first grade, Dad taught me basic division facts, long division, and multiple-digit multiplication. I wonder what second grade would've been like." Wow, Sophia can talk,Tom thought. Well, Sophia is almost as smart as I am, Of course, I learned everything by myself, so that's more impressive, and I'm proud of it, but she seems to like a challenge. She sounded like she thought that unchallenging classes was a bad thing, so maybe she'd become an independent learner. But Tom still wanted to see if she was girly.
"Do you like dolls, princesses, you know, stuff like that?" Tom asked tentatively.
"Oh yes, I like braiding dolls' hair, dressing them up in different outfits, and other stuff like that. I also like the Disney Princesses. They're American characters." Sophia must've caught the look on Tom face though, because she added quickly "oh, but don't worry. I won't talk about that with you. I realize that boys don't like dolls and princesses, so don't worry. Also, I don't like playing with them all day. Plus, I doubt that this place has decent dolls. I mean," Sophia quickly corrected when she realized that she had sounded rude, "that my favorite dolls are probably different from British dolls, so yeah." Sophia said. So she was girly, but she was still capable of intelligent conversation. That was good, Tom thought. Having Sophia around would be an interesting change. A teacher came into their room and told them that they were allowed to go outside for an hour.
"Let's go outside, Tom," Sophia said. "I'd like some fresh air." Tom, however, thought otherwise.
"Are you sure that that's a good idea? I mean, the bullies might be there, and no sense in practically seeking them out," Tom said, remembering painful encounters with bullies, most of them outside where adults kept even less of a watch than they usually did. Sophia noticed Tom lightly fingering his bruises.
"Well, we can sneak out of your window. I don't think there's anyone in the place outside of your window." She looked out of Tom's window. "Yep, I was right." So Tom snuck out of his window with Sophia. However, as Sophia climbed out, she stepped on a snake.
"Ahh!" Sophia yelled, when she realized that she had stepped on a snake. The snake, looking at her angrily, hissed. Tom knew that Sophia had stepped on it on accident.
"Don't hurt her," Tom said.
The snake turned its head to Tom. "She stepped on me," it said.
"I know, but it was an accident. She didn't mean to." The snake looked shocked. Well, as shocked as a snake could look.
"You can understand me?" the snake asked.
"Yes, why?" Tom asked. His question was answered.
"Tom, you can talk to snakes?" Sophia asked, stunned. What? What was going on?

To say that Sophia was surprised when Tom started hissing at the snake she had just stepped on was an understatement. She was even more surprised when the snake started hissing back. It sounded like they were having a conversation. What was going on? First the incident in the cafeteria, then this? She felt increasingly... ordinary, boring. She saw a confused look on Tom's face.
"Tom, you can talk to snakes?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, I guess. I was talking in English, and the snake seemed to understand me. Didn't you hear me?" Tom looked confused.
"No Tom, you weren't talking in English. You were hissing. That's what I heard from you. Hissing. What were you saying?" Sophia asked.
"I was telling it not to hurt you, but I'm surprised. I didn't realize that I was hissing. It still sounded like English to me." Tom said. He turned to the snake, hissed some more, and Sophia saw the snake bow its head a little before it slithered off.
"Anyway, we might as well go back in." Tom said. They both snuck back into Tom's window. It was dinnertime. Sophia's stomach rumbled painfully.
"Get in line for the food anyway," Tom said. "Maybe no one will notice." But as they got in line, Sophia saw Mrs. Cole.
"No dinner and breakfast for you!" Mrs. Cole yelled loudly, catching the attention of a lot of kids. Sophia heard a lot of snickering. Her eyes nearly welled up with tears, but she tried to hold them back. No one would care about her feelings here like people did back home. At home, if she was upset, people besides her parents usually apologized. She quickly left, telling Tom, "I'll save you a seat," before sitting down at a table. She pretended to scratch her eyes. Tom sat down beside her.
"Why are you crying?" he asked.
"I'm not," Sophia replied.
"Yeah right," Tom scoffed. "You're really obvious, you know."
"Well, I'm sorry!" Sophia snapped. "I miss home. At home, the kids at school actually cared about my feelings. If people offended me, I'd tell them, and they'd apologize. I highly doubt that anyone would do that here."
"Well, that's what people are like here. I don't know what your home would feel like because I grew up here, and this is normal life for me. And I wouldn't be mean to you unless you were mean to me." Tom added. "But if you at least pretend like it doesn't bother you, you will look invincible, and while people won't admit it, they'll admire that.
"I'm sorry that you had to grow up here for all of your childhood Tom, and you're right. I guess I just need to get used to this. It is my first day, and I guess I hate being laughed at and being odd and lonely. But you're right. Crying has no place here. And why do I need these people. They're stupid, so I don't." Sophia's stomach rumbled again.
"Here." Tom said. He scooped some of the vegetables out of his soup. "Hold out your hand."
"Tom, I couldn't. The vegetables are the only filling part of your soup. And besides, I don't like the veggies." Her stomach rumbled again though, as if protesting. Tom grinned.
"Seems like your stomach says otherwise. And don't worry about me."
"Alright. I'll have one vegetable." Tom rolled his eyes, but dropped one vegetable in her hand. She ate it, gulping it down with a grimace on her face. When Tom was done with his soup, they walked back to Tom's room.
"Ok, let's read now," Tom said. Sophia didn't mind. She knew that it was the only other interesting thing besides talking to Tom, because she had seen the toys, and she didn't like them. I sound so spoiled, Sophia thought. But maybe being spoiled is a good thing. After all, I do want to study more because it seems more entertaining, and studying is a good thing. Tom showed Sophia some of his books. It was a science book, of about a third-grade level.
"I've already read it, but since your dad stressed math, I reckon that you might learn something from the book." Tom and Sophia studied in silence. Sophia liked it. When the other boys started coming into Tom's room, Sophia left, giving Tom's books back to him.
"Thanks," Sophia said. Then, she left.
Back in Sophia's room, the girls started teasing her.
"So, you were hanging out with the freak boy who always reads?" they taunted. Sophia ignored them. "But then again, you're a know-it-all too, so it makes sense. 'Tom and Sophia sitting in a tree,'" they sang. "S-N-O-G-G-I-N-G". She was about to retort when she realized that she was in Britain, and maybe they said snogging instead of kissing. She turned around and lay on her side. She remembered how she had snuck out of Tom's window with him. Hmmm... Sophia thought. I have a window in my room too. Maybe I could sneak out. And then she thought of how Tom had shared his food with her when she didn't have any. He's so kind, even though he has almost nothing. I should repay him. Her stomach rumbled, and at that moment what she craved more than anything was chocolate. Sophia immediately thought of Tom, who'd grown up here, and felt sorry for him. I bet he never tasted the magic of delicious, sweet chocolate. He deserves to, and there's no better way to repay him than to introduce him to chocolate. I wonder if I could somehow go out and earn some chocolate for him. Maybe I can help out in a store or something. I could get chocolate for Tom. After a pause, she added, and myself. I don't think I can survive without chocolate. Sophia fell asleep while making plans on how to get chocolate the right way, without stealing.
The next day, after classes, lunch, and reading with Tom, the two went outside by sneaking out of the window. She didn't think it was necessary, but she had to admit that it was more fun sneaking out. She told Tom part of her plan. She didn't tell him that she wanted to get chocolate, or that she'd get some for him too. She wanted to surprise him.
"It won't work," Tom stated simply.
"I think it will. But I just need a little favor from you. The matrons can't find out, so I'll sneak back in through the window. Will you open the window when I knock on your window?"
"Sure. But why would you go through all of this trouble for a couple of pence?"
"Because I can save up and buy things with the money."
"Alright. I won't take too long at dinner in case you get back then."
"Thanks, Tom," Sophia said. She ran to town, and went into the first store she saw, which happened to be a bookstore.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"Yes miss, how may I help you?" the manager asked.
"Would you be hiring help? I'd like to help out."
"How old are you?" he asked.
"Six, sir," Sophia replied. He shook his head, but Sophia widened her eyes as she looked at him with sadness welling in her eyes.
"Please, sir. I live in an orphanage. We barely get any food, and I really want some chocolate. I'll do my best to help out, I promise!"
"Alright, how's this - I'll give you six pieces of chocolate an hour. I have some chocolate that someone gave me as a gift, but I think I should stay away from chocolate." The man laughed. "And since you are so young, I won't make you do anything that requires a lot of work. Just some light help. Besides, I'm sure that you will like it here. It'll be a nice break from the orphanage, I'm sure," he said, looking at her sympathetically. "I wish I could help you more, I really do, but I don't have much myself."
"Thank you, sir. I'll try to help out an hour each day." Sophia was thrilled. Six pieces of candy? That was more than she had expected. That would be three pieces for her and three pieces for Tom. He'd be surprised.
After an hour of stacking books, the manager gave her six wrapped pieces of chocolate. Ecstatic, Sophia ran back to the orphanage. She knocked at Tom's window. Thankfully, Tom was in his room. He opened the window, and Sophia climbed back in.
"Tom! Look what I brought for you. Chocolate!" Sophia gave him three pieces of chocolate. She was happy to see his jaw dropped in an 'o' of surprise, his eyes sparkling with delight.

What? Tom thought. Sophia brought chocolate for me? Tom saw Sophia take out one piece of chocolate and eat it. She put the rest in her pocket. She had given him three pieces of chocolate. She had given him half of her chocolate. Tom saw how much Sophia loved chocolate by the way she was slowly savoring the creamy confection, and realized that she must consider him important for her to give him chocolate.
"I'll try to save the rest for after dinner and lunch tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to control myself." Sophia said. Tom unwrapped all of his chocolate and ate them in three bites.
"I've never had chocolate. I've just heard of how good it is." He chewed. "And it's amazing! Thank you Sophia. I'm glad that you decided to share your chocolate with me. But why? I mean, you've probably realized that chocolate here is a rare luxury, like gold."
"You're my friend, Tom. My only friend here. I want to share what little I have with you," Sophia replied simply. Wow, Tom thought in wonder. She makes me feel like I'm special. I mean, I know that I'm smart and special, that's obvious, but her kindness shows that I'm not the only one who values myself. She's also smart, and while she's not as interested in learning everything as I am, at least I can talk to her. I never realized this before she came, but having company is...feels... nice. I just hope that she never betrays me. I mean, my mom died and left me alone in the world, my dad isn't in my life, the people who're supposed to take care of me treat me like I'm worthless, and the kids hate me. She is nice, but I've lost trust in other people. I hope she proves my mindset wrong. Tom often went deep into his thoughts.
"Earth to Tom!" Sophia said loudly, waving her hand in front of Tom's face. She uses the oddest expressions, Tom thought, and nearly laughed.
"Sorry, were you saying something?" Tom asked.
"I was saying that I miss watching Hindi movies with my parents." What? Sophia had told Tom that Hindi was a language. For movies to be in a language, they'd have to have sound. She had watched television with sound?
"You watched movies? You had a television? Movies had sound?" Tom asked. Sophia looked surprised.
"Of course movies had sound. Of course I had a television. Most people have one, at least in America. What kind of a question is that?" She looked at Tom with an expression of disbelief.
"Sophia, televisions aren't commercially available yet."
"Well, maybe they are in America." Sophia replied.
"No they aren't. I've read about televisions. Here, I'll prove it." Tom went and got out a book. He opened it up and pointed to one of the sentences.
"Here. It says 'televisions are yet to be commercially produced in the world...'. Commercially means 'for public users,' Tom added after seeing Sophia's blank expression. She really needs to expand her vocabulary, he thought. However, she ignored that, and he figured that she was in fact thinking about something. Then she shook her head slightly, as if dismissing it.
"What are you thinking about?" Tom asked.
"I'm just that easy to figure out, aren't I?" Sophia asked ruefully.
"Actually, yes," Tom replied.
"What's the date?" Sophia asked.
"August 26," Tom replied. "Why?"
"What year?" Sophia asked back.
"Oh, you're testing me. Of course I know what year it is. It's 1933." Tom saw Sophia's eyes open wide. Her mouth dropped in shock, and her life seemed to drain out of her. She looked like she could fall over with a poke.
"What? Are you that surprised that I know the year?" Tom joked, but he knew that it was something else. It couldn't be, could it?
"Tom stop joking! Seriously?"
"Sophia, I'm not lying. See, look at the calendar." Tom pointed to the calendar. Though dusty, it said "1933".
"But how's that possible? I was born in 1997!" What? Okay, now Sophia was the one who was joking.
"Haha Sophia, very funny. You can't time travel!"
"Tom, I know that this sounds ridiculous, but you must believe me." Tom saw Sophia rack her brain for something.
"Unfortunately, a major event that I remember is that World War 2 will start about 1939 or 1940. I don't remember exactly which, so you won't see proof for 6 years. But Tom, they will add color to movies sometime this decade."
"Okay," Tom said doubtfully. "But for now, let's forget about this." He wasn't sure that he believed her yet, but he figured that it would be impossible for her to prove herself right away even if she was being honest. But then again, he had done magic, and he could talk to snakes, so maybe she'd sent herself back in time. But wouldn't she have remembered if she did? He decided not to give it more thought.
"Since we're on the subject, we might as well research televisions." They had been studying together for the past couple of days. It was their routine, but neither of them had formally established it. After all, Tom had most of the good books, so Sophia read Tom's books. Later that night, Tom started pondering the day's strange turn of events until he fell asleep.

Life had become routine for Sophia. Breakfast, classes, lunch, talking to Tom, studying with Tom, going outside and working at the bookstore for an hour, sneaking back through Tom's window and sharing half of her chocolate with him, dinner, spending more time with Tom, and then going to sleep. She seemed to learn more with Tom than she would with her parents and teachers back home. She supposed that that was because Tom was the first really smart kid she had met, so she kind of wanted to be as smart as he was. She realized that she was competitive, doing her best to beat him, even though she couldn't. Also, she had lots of time on her hands, and the orphanage was pretty boring, so it was easier to learn a lot from the books. The books were the only good things about the orphanage. She and Tom had gotten to be great friends, in part because they bonded over learning, and simply because conversation came naturally to her when she talked to Tom. She was happy. She had a lot of friends back home, but here she finally had a smart friend who was her equal, who understood her. Of course, Tom and Sophia had arguments. Like:
"Tom, did you know that there are three types of rocks? Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic! And did you know that they can turn into each other. How does that happen? I mean, pressing on a rock changes it into another rock? That sounds impossible, and -"
"Sophia, can't you ever just shut up? Do you always have to talk? You can be so annoying, you know? And you're really loud! Just learn to be quiet for once!" Sophia reeled back in shock, and then left. For the next couple of days, they didn't talk to each other. Is what Tom said true? Am I loud and obnoxious? Maybe he has a point. But he could have said it in a nicer way. And besides, that's just me. But maybe I shouldn't always voice my thoughts. Sophia sighed ruefully. She sat there, absorbed in her own thoughts. That's when she noticed something. She remembered her classes in first grade back in America. She had memories of classes that she had never had. She had a memory of a math test in that classroom that she had never taken. She had a memory of nearly getting a detention for talking to one of her classmates when she had never done that. What's happening to me? I'm probably just making stuff up. But it feels like part of my mind is sitting through class at my old school. Surely my mind wouldn't make up every boring detail of every minute of class. My mind kind of feels like it's sitting there and here, but my body's not. Why? What's going on? She got up to talk to Tom, but remembered their fight. He won't want to talk to me now. And I'm not desperate to talk to him. He was mean, and he'll apologize. At dinner, Sophia caught Tom's eye, but they didn't talk to each other. This continued for five days. In the meanwhile, Sophia started noticing more of her "memories" in America. Hanging out with Tom must've made me oblivious to... to this, but now that I'm alone, I've noticed it more. Finally, one day at dinner, Sophia couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't good at being mad at people. She walked toward Tom, who seemed to be surprised to see Sophia.
"Look Tom, I -" Tom interrupted her though.
"I'm sorry, Sophia. I'll be honest, I did mean it at the time, but these past couple of days, I've realized that, all in all, I like your talkativeness. It's you, and that makes you interesting. I was just annoyed that way, and when people annoy me, it's usually on purpose, so I lash out like that. I realized that you were just being you. I was just in the mood for a little bit of quiet at the time. But -" Tom broke off. He seemed nervous. I guess he's never apologized to anyone before, but they don't care about him, so it makes sense. He continued.
"- are you mad at me?"
"No Tom, I'm not. You kind of have a point, and friends don't get mad at friends for something like this. And you're my best friend here, maybe ever, so it's okay." Sophia had a memory of getting the math test back at her old school and getting a 100%. "Tom, I have to tell you something. You may not believe it, but it's as real as your... talent," Sophia finished. She told Tom everything she had noticed.
"You could be making these 'memories' up," Tom replied.
"But I wouldn't make up living through every single minute of my classes at one o'clock each day, you know." Sophia saw Tom thinking.
"Well, something strange had definitely happened to you. You came here with no memory of what happened to you, you may be from the future -"
"I AM from the future!" Sophia exclaimed.
"That's yet to be proven. And you seem to have memories of being at your old home. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were existing in two places at once as a 6-year-old. How that would happen I don't know, but that seems like something."
"Oh Tom!" Sophia burst, suddenly remembering something. "Here's five days worth of chocolate. I...well... kind of missed you, and saved your half of the chocolate for when we would be friends again." Tom was delighted, which made Sophia happy that she managed to control herself with great difficulty. She had unwrapped the chocolate so many times, almost eating it since she saw no reason to save chocolate for someone who had been so rude to her, but something had stopped her.
"Thank you." Tom replied.
In December, Sophia told the bookstore manager that instead of chocolate for two weeks, she'd like a book.
"It's for a birthday present for my friend, sir," Sophia said. The bookstore manager looked at her, and out of the holiday spirit, agreed. She told Tom that she couldn't control herself anymore and ate all of her chocolate. She saw a little disappointment in his eyes, but she knew it would disappear when he saw his book. She asked him what is one book he'd have if he could have any book in the world.
"I think I'd like an encyclopedia," Tom replied. Sophia realized that she'd have to rebargain with the storekeeper.
"If I work a month, can you give me an A - Z encyclopedia?" The manager thought long and hard about this, but decided that the little girl deserved this much.
"Alright, I'll give you an encyclopedia of one letter each day. If you get sick, make up the days in January. But if you don't, I'll take the encyclopedias back." Realizing how harsh it sounded, he amended. "I'm sorry, that came out badly. But it's just that the encyclopedias are expensive, but I see how little you have and how much this gift must mean to you. I'm trying to help you, really I am."
"That's okay mister. I understand," Sophia replied. So each day, she lugged home one book each day and crept through her own window instead of Tom's. Thankfully, even though her clothes weren't warm, she didn't catch more than a cold and cough. On December 31st, she crept into Tom's room and approached his bed, where Tom was sleeping peacefully.
"Wake up Tom! I have a surprise for you. And happy birthday, by the way," Sophia whispered.
"You're lying." Tom mumbled in his sleep. "I can't have a birthday surprise. I never get presents." Sophia felt sorry for Tom. She had always gotten presents. Last year, she had gotten a brand-new bicycle! She shook Tom until he woke up.
"Sophia! What are you doing here?" Tom asked in sleepy wonder.
"Come with me! Happy birthday, and I've got you a surprise." They crept together back to Sophia's room. She took out the encyclopedias from her temporary hiding place, which was under her bed, stacked them up, and pushed the stack toward Tom.
"Happy birthday, Tom." Sophia said, and smirked when she saw Tom's mouth open in wonder. "That's why I hadn't been bringing chocolate home for the past month. It wasn't because I was selfish." Then, she whisper-sang 'Happy Birthday'. "But hide them among your old books. I'll hide some with me. But don't worry, they're still yours. And sorry I couldn't get you a Christmas gift," Sophia said sadly, but Tom seemed too delighted with his present to care. This was the best present he'd ever had! Of course, it was the only present he ever had, but it was still the best he could imagine. The look on his face was priceless, and made the whole thing worth it. That night, Sophia suggested that they both sneak out of their rooms, go to their classroom since it had a clock, and countdown till the New Year.
"Why would you do that?" Tom asked.
"It's fun. Well, I think it's fun. You might think it's pointless, but it kind of feels cool to be awake when the new year officially starts. In America, we'd watch the ball drop in New York City on T.V. 'The ball' looks like a huge disco ball, and it starts dropping 15 min. before the New Year. It's part of the countdown. We can't do that here, but we can count down." Tom reluctantly agreed. When everyone seemed to be asleep, Sophia snuck out and went to their classroom. Tom joined her about 10 min. later.
"I just realized something. You can read a clock, can't you?" Tom asked.
"I can understand what an analog clock says, yes, but it's been harder to see out of my glasses lately, so I can't really read it well right now. Is it 12:00 already?" Sophia asked.
"No, it's 11:55."
"Did you enjoy your encyclopedias?" Sophia asked.
"Yes, I did. It...they...whatever... was the best present ever."
"I'm glad."
"It's 11:59, you know."
"Why didn't you tell me before? 60... 59... 58... come on Tom, count down with me. This is the fun part. We'll be awake and conscious during the first second of the new year." They counted down in quiet voices. "3...2...1...Happy New Year Tom!" Sophia whispered which as much intensity as she could. "I've lived the first second of 1934 consciously. It's 1934, and you're 7 years old Tom." She saw Tom smile.

Tom smiled. While he didn't really enjoy the countdown to the New Year - he didn't see what was so great about it, since they would've woken up eight hours later and experienced the New Year then - he liked sneaking out. It made him feel...brave. He could do this without getting caught. There was something mysteriously enjoyable about sneaking out at night. He couldn't place his finger on it, but he enjoyed it. He enjoyed the rebellious feeling. He recounted today's events. He was quite surprised when Sophia showed him the encyclopedias. Well, 'surprised' is quite an understatement, Tom thought. Tom remembered telling Sophia about how he'd like an encyclopedia, and he also remembered how Sophia had told him that she kept "eating all of her chocolate", but he never thought to connect the two. It would've seemed ridiculous, he realized. He wouldn't have believed that someone would do that for him. It would've been presumptuous, in a way, to connect the two. I can only imagine how much chocolate she must've given up just to get me a present and make my birthday special. I guess she really does care about me, Tom thought. Just when I thought that people stink, and that no one will ever be there for you, she comes along and does something like this and proves me wrong. I guess that maybe I just shouldn't judge people based on other people from the past. Of course, I'm not going to totally rely on her. After all, completely trusting someone is foolish and stupid, no matter how good a person seems, but just because I don't need her doesn't mean that it's not nice having her around.
Several months passed, and then, it was March 17, Sophia's birthday. Oh no! I didn't get her anything. She's probably missing her family, wishing she could do something fun on her birthday. Tom looked through his encyclopedias, trying to find something. When he got to 'O', he found it. Origami. The encyclopedia had also given directions for an origami crane as an example. Tom found some relatively clean paper in one of the other students' rooms, and carefully folded the paper according to the instructions. When he was done, he created a card and wrote some words on it. The fact that his handwriting was unnaturally neat practically made it calligraphy, considering the fact that he was only seven. Later in the day, when he saw Sophia, he approached her.
"I know that it is nowhere as good as the presents you'd normally get, but, here," and Tom handed Sophia the card. He had written; "Happy birthday Sophia" on the cover in his nice, fancy handwriting. Sophia opened it eagerly. Inside, it said:"Sophia, I don't know how you ended up here, but I'm glad that you did. You're a good friend, a good person, and if anyone deserves a happy birthday, it's you. Happy Birthday!" The paper crane fell out.
"Tom, thank you. That was the most heartfelt present I've ever gotten from a friend. Of course, you're my best friend, but still." Tom blushed. He wasn't used to expressing his emotions, and he wasn't used to thank-you's. He always felt that expressing emotions was a sign of weakness, and he had never felt affectionate toward anyone since no one was really nice to him. And now he felt embarrassed at his face, which felt hot from the blood rushing to it. His normally porcelain skin now looked a shade of pink that would've looked lovely on a flower but that didn't please Tom. But he was glad that Sophia appreciated what little he had given her. And Sophia seemed to smile a secret smile when she saw Tom's flushed face.
Time went on. Now, in addition to their books, Tom practiced magic while Sophia watched and helped however she could. Once, while they were practicing, Dennis and Amy had walked in. Dennis and Amy were two older children who bullied some of the younger children. So far, Tom and Sophia had, for the most part, managed to stay out of their way, but it didn't seem like they were going to be so lucky today. Dennis and Amy were shocked, but quickly got over it.
"What are you doing, you freaks? There's something wrong with you, little boy!" Then, they proceeded to try to punch Tom. They managed to get in one punch before Tom glared at them and managed to make them fall back as if they had been punched, as before. They left, saying "we'll get ya, ya little freak!" Though neither Tom nor Sophia had really been hurt, Tom was still angry at the two intruders, hot fire burning in his dark eyes, which made them glow dangerously.
"I'd love revenge," Tom glowered. Sophia looked at him. He braced himself for a lecture from her. After all, she just didn't get what it was like, being suppressed, and he didn't want to be suppressed. She didn't have the thirst for revenge that he had, so she'd never fully understand him.
"I know Tom, so do I," Sophia replied, stunning Tom."But what do you plan on doing? I mean, they deserve revenge, but I believe that they only deserve to somehow have the tables turned on them. That's the best way of taking revenge.You can do magic, Tom. We are capable of having the tables turned on them." Tom thought.
"But they're bullies! They bother me for no reason. I want them to feel intense pain. I want them to go crazy with the pain, the way I used to go crazy wondering what was wrong with me and why nobody liked me. Those thoughts burned in my mind for so long before I realized that I didn't need the approval of scum like them, before I realized that I didn't need anybody. But I want them to suffer the pain too. It's only fair, since they made me suffer."
"Oh, Tom, I'm sorry! I didn't realize that they affected you so much. But still, they should understand why they are wrong, and doing exactly what they do to us is the best way. I know my idea may sound stupid, but can we give it a try? If not, you're welcome to do whatever you'd planned." Sophia then told Tom her plan. It was worth a try, Tom supposed. Tom first tried their idea out on Sophia. After a couple of tries, where Tom tried not to crack up, it worked. Tom then changed Sophia back to normal. They'd try it tomorrow, they agreed.
The next day at lunch, the kids walked behind Dennis and Amy and then sat down at a lunch table in front of them. Tom and Sophia could still see Dennis and Amy's faces. Tom stared at them, and after two minutes, the transformation took place. Dennis's hair turned pink, and Amy's hair turned blue. On the front of both of their shirts, the words 'KICK ME' appeared. Everyone gasped, including Tom and Sophia so that they wouldn't look suspicious. Then, everyone started cracking up. The matrons ushered them out of the room and told them to go change. Tom and Sophia had already been there though, and all of their clothes said 'KICK ME'. Tom and Sophia couldn't stop laughing.
"Wow Sophia, that was funny! But what was the point of that?" Tom asked wonderingly.
"That was so that they would know what it was like to be laughed at for something that wasn't their fault. The next part of my plan is..." This part was harder, and took them two weeks of solid effort for Tom to manage. But it was worth it, and seemed more valuable, in Tom's opinion. When they were ready, Tom stared at the paper person that he and Sophia had built. Soon, it came to life. They made it walk until they found Dennis and Amy, and hid behind a door while the paper person walked up to them. Tom stared at the paper person and at Dennis. All of a sudden, Dennis staggered back, clutching his eye, while, at the same time, the paper person's fist had thrust forward. Amy charged toward the paper person, but before she could touch it, it punched her too. It started walking forward, punching Dennis and Amy, leading them into the cafeteria so that the whole orphanage saw what was happening. This time, no one bothered concealing their laughter. Then, the paper person instantly disintegrated. Later, Tom and Sophia approached a very humiliated Dennis and Amy.
"I'm sorry that you were humiliated like that when it was no fault of yours," Sophia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You must be upset for being attacked like that and having everyone laugh at you when you didn't do anything to the paper person. But let me tell you -" Sophia was practically hissing at this point. "- that God has seen how you treat other innocent children like Tom, who didn't do anything to you, and is now taking revenge. But if you promise that you won't do it again, and actually keep it, God might be pleased and may stop trying to humiliate you. Just a suggestion," Sophia grinned. A worn-out Dennis and Amy just nodded, not wanting to deal with anyone. Tom looked at Sophia, amazed.
"It's kind of funny," Sophia remarked. "Because I don't believe in God. But I figured that bringing the divine into the equation could explain this strangeness to them and scare them into behaving."
"Wow, you really know how to pack a mighty punishment," he said later, when they were back in Tom's room. "If I had carried out my punishment, I admit that they might've been scared of me without understanding that I wanted to hurt them because they humiliated me. You managed to make them feel how bullies' victims do, so that was a much better plan." Sophia seemed proud of herself.
"Thank you, Tom, but you did most of it. I wish that I could do magic. But I'll never hate you for your abilities, Tom, don't worry."
One day, however, something strange happened.

Sophia enjoyed the pranks that she and Tom played on the bullies. She didn't think the bullies would be bullying anyone anytime soon. She felt guilty with the realization that they had stooped to the level of the bullies, but she knew that that was only because the bullies had started it, and she and Tom wouldn't bother the bullies now that they had learned their lesson. Sophia didn't realize that she was changing Tom, changing time. She didn't realize that she had prevented one of the steps that Tom would've taken on his way to becoming Voldemort if he had hurt Amy and Dennis until they went mad. She did understand his thirst for revenge, but she was different because she had grown up around loving family and friends long enough to develop emotions, which assured her that there were kind people in the world.
Sophia and Tom weren't bothered by the other children anymore, but come August, Sophia had what she felt was a bigger problem to worry about. The 'other Sophia' in her other time, the one who was still growing up with her family, was moving. She was moving from Mayfield to Solon. The Sophia who was moving was excited about going to a new school, especially since she had heard that it was one of the best schools at the time, but the Sophia in the past knew better. When she had 'moved' to the orphanage, she had made an unknown social mistake and was now an outcast. Of course, she didn't regret it, but if Sophia made a mistake, her reputation might go down the drain, and she might be left without a friend. It was while thinking about this that she realized how much she relied on Tom for company. Sophia wasn't a loner, and knew it would be hard without friends. Be careful, Sophia thought to herself.
Who are you? Sophia was startled to hear the voice in her head seem like her own yet feel like it came from outside. I keep hearing your thoughts and memories, and I know that I've never been to Britain, even though that's where you seem to be. Sophia realized that she could communicate with the future Sophia, and decided to reply.
I'm you. It's hard to explain what happened, but I was sent back in time. Seeing how you're still in 2004, I must've been made younger when I was sent back in time. I just want to tell you that I've had the experience of moving, and you've got to be careful.
You don't have many friends, though, so what would you know? Future Sophia sneered.
That's because I'd rather be friends with Tom than have many other friends here at the orphanage. My heart has also hardened a little bit when I realized that there are lots of people who are mean. You, though, haven't had many people be mean to you, so you'll just have to be careful. I mean, be yourself mostly, but try to assess the situation and then adapt. Don't do anything outright stupid, and don't show that you're smart right away, unless there are other smart but nice people. If you're in a class of popular people, it'll be best to only act a little smart, because popular people are anything but brainiacs. And don't tell anyone about me.
Um, okay? I'll see. And of course I won't tell them about you. I'm not crazy. Then, the future Sophia stopped 'thinking toward' 1934 Sophia. Sophia was nervous for her future self. The first day of school came along. She saw herself see a group of girls talking. 'Hey! I'm Sophia. I'm new.' She saw the girls look at each other. 'Hey Sophia,' they said back, but they didn't invite her into their conversation. Sophia sat down by them and tried to talk to them. 'Do you think that the teacher will be mean?' The girls responded dully, but it was clear that they weren't going to be friends.The guys were just guys, and Sophia figured that they were mostly popular, too. There was one smart kid in their class, but he was just so annoying. He was like Tom in the sense that they were both smart and both preferred to be mostly alone instead of being around most other kids. But this boy, blond, tall, and a bit chubby, paraded around like a peacock, and Sophia hated him.
That school year started off badly. Despite the future Sophia's efforts to fit in, she didn't really make any good friends. Her future self missed her old friends so much that even Sophia found herself crying like she hadn't for years. She was so mad and sad that she looked up at the calendar, wishing that she could turn back the clock for her future self and that her future self could've stayed in Mayfield, or at least given her friends a better goodbye. All of a sudden, the calendar blew up. Ohmigod! Did I just do magic? She ran to Tom's room and told him.
"Tom! Tom! Guess what?" When she got to Tom's room, she was glad to find that Tom was alone in his room. "I can do magic!"
"What? How do you know?"
"I blew up the calendar." Sophia then proceeded to tell him what had happened, starting from her talking to her future self, to her crying over her future self's loss, and then ending with the calendar blowing up.
"You cried? Because your future self had to move away from her friends?" Tom sounded a bit condensing.
"Well, yeah. I feel sorry for her. She's not used to as much loneliness as I am, and she was so sad that it got to me, like a contagious disease."
"Well, you should tell her that you don't really need company, and that she should be able to do fine without it. You're smart, and you don't really need anyone. I like being your friend, but if you weren't, I wouldn't be devastated. I think that you're at least more like that, if not completely like that, and she should be like that too. After all, she must be like you, smart, creative, you know." Tom finished, stammering a bit at the end.
"You're right. I will tell her that. You have to admit, I might not have discovered my magic if I wasn't upset." Sophia and Tom practiced trying to do things with their magic along with their study sessions. In time, they could make pages of books turn on their own and summon newspapers. They realized that controlling their magic required extreme willpower, so they had to really want something to make it work. They had tried using magic to make each other origami presents, and their origami had turned out a bit better than usual.
Sophia had almost forgotten about her future self, until one day she felt her heart beat strangely faster. She then had a mental image of an unfamiliar pale boy with long dark hair, and Sophia innately understood that this boy was causing her heart to beat up. What? I don't even know him, she thought, bewildered. Her unspoken question was answered when she heard her future self's thoughts. I really like him, she thought wistfully. From the moment she acknowledged this, Sophia's mind was bombarded with the boy. It was almost as if she herself had a crush on this boy! She tried not to let it affect her, but was failing miserably.
"Hey Tom, since you are done with that book about space, can I have it?" Sophia asked him. She had been going out of her way to distract her unfortunate linked mind by throwing herself more into books and talking to Tom. She looked at him, but she found that it wasn't helping. Instead of distracting her from the stranger boy, looking at Tom her stomach felt light, airy. I guess this is the 'butterflies in the stomach' feeling, Sophia figured. Her mind quickly reeled back at the realization. What? Why? I'm not nervous, and I'm trying to forget the boy. It's working, too! I shouldn't be getting butterflies by looking at my friend! Tom, oblivious to her inner turmoil, handed her the book, and their fingers brushed, sending a tingle through her nerves and speeding up her heartbeat. Sophia was frozen still at the unexpected sensation.
She'd have to have a word with her future self again.

Tom realized that there was something strange lately, but he couldn't put his finger on it. One day, he saw Sophia looking a little bit upset.
"Why are you upset? What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing," Sophia said, but she wasn't convincing. She sighed. "Apparently, my future self fancies this one boy in her class. He's the only one who lets her be herself, he's there for her, he understands her and her situation, .etc."
"So why are you upset?" Tom asked. Why did that bother Sophia?
"Because it's contagious, and now I have a crush on someone who I don't know. Isn't that just brilliant!" Sophia groaned. Tom nodded. That did make sense. He couldn't imagine having a crush on someone, or falling in love. He had seen teenagers in love, and they just seemed like addled fools. I mean, what good does love do? He wondered with slight disgust.
"I can see why you're so upset, but don't worry about it." As the days went by, Sophia told him what her future self was going through. She also told him about the bits of advice she'd throw, which seemed to work for her future self, such as not telling anyone about her crush. That way, her future self stayed friends with her crush, and at least she had his friendship. Tom agreed. Especially if the boy didn't feel the same way back, telling him about it would've been a sign of weakness. He had noticed Sophia look at Tom strangely, but he was sure nothing was wrong with him or different about him. Tom and Sophia's tenth and eleventh birthdays came and went, and then summer was here. Around July, Tom noticed something different about Sophia. She was a bit uneasy around him, almost nervous.
"Sophia, why are you nervous around me? I haven't done anything."
"Oh, nothing. I just don't want to always hang around you and possibly annoy you." Tom could tell that Sophia was lying, though. She never seemed to worry about that. She hung around him a lot, and she knew that he didn't hate it, but he decided to let it go for now. Maybe it was just something her future self had said. One day, Mrs. Cole came into Tom's room.
"Tom! Oh Sophia, you're here too. I thought so. Good. You have a visitor!" In followed a strange man with an auburn beard. Brilliant. Mrs. Cole probably noticed our magic and thinks that we're crazy. He has to be from the nuthouse, Tom figured cynically. The man's eyes twinkled, and he seemed to smile at Tom, as if sharing an inside joke with him. Tom was puzzled. He looked over at Sophia, who seemed just as surprised.
"Hello," the man said. "I'm professor Dumbledore."
"You're from the nuthouse, aren't you? You have to be! I'm not crazy, and neither is Sophia!" Tom yelled.
"Shut up, Tom, and just listen! Sorry professor, please continue," Sophia said. Wow! Sophia is worrying about being polite to someone who's probably a madhouse doctor!
"Thank you, Miss Anderson. Mr. Riddle, if you hadn't interrupted, I would've been able to tell you sooner that Hogwarts isn't a school for mad people. It's a school of magic." Tom and Sophia both looked astounded. I knew there was something special about me, Tom thought. And Sophia was right, years ago, when she called my ability 'magic'.
"M - magic, professor? Is that what Tom and I can do?" Tom heard Sophia ask.
"Yes indeed. You two are very special children, indeed."
"But we haven't got any money for tuition, books, and supplies and stuff." Tom replied, his heart sinking. Surely this professor Dumbledore realized that they didn't have any money?
"The school will provide the money for the books, supplies, and uniform. The tuition and board is free. The school goes from September to June." It dawned on Tom then. He would be escaping from this orphanage. Well, for at least most of the year. And he didn't have to give up his friendship with Sophia, which meant that he would know one person before he even got to Hogwarts. One thing nagged at him, though.
"Where are we going to get the supplies, professor?" Sophia asked before Tom could.
"Ah, it's at the Leaky Cauldron. I can take you, if you'd like," professor Dumbledore offered, but Tom wanted to go alone; well, with Sophia, but without an adult. He didn't want and adult intruding in and ruining his first glimpse of the magical world. He wanted to enjoy it in the way that only unsupervised children can, wandering around with only his friend, and talking without an adult around. He also didn't want to have to rely on someone, anyone, besides himself.
"It's okay. We want to go ourselves," Tom said. He saw the look on Sophia face. She seemed to agree with him, but seemed upset by the fact that he voiced those thoughts.
"What he means, professor, is that we may want to take our time in enjoying our first glimpse of the magical world, and we don't want to tie you up, since you probably have other important things to do. Also, I dunno, the adults we've dealt with in our past have been uptight, and they always ruin our fun. Therefore, we're more used to doing things independently. We promise that we won't do anything stupid, sir," Sophia said politely and sweetly.
"Very well," the professor replied. He made a piece of paper and pencil appear out of nowhere, and wrote out something. "These are the instructions on how to get into the Leaky Cauldron, and then how to get to Diagon Alley from inside the Leaky Cauldron." He handed them to Tom, and then gave a pouch to Sophia and one to Tom.
"This is the money to buy supplies. I take it you two accept your place into Hogwarts?"
"Of course!" Tom and Sophia replied eagerly.
"Very well, then. I'll...erm...convince the matron to drive you two to the train station. Here are the tickets. To get onto platform 9 and 3/4, you must run into the barrier between platform 9 and 10. See you two at Hogwarts!" With that, the professor walked out. As soon as he did, Sophia rounded on Tom.
"Why did you have to be rude to him, Tom?" she demanded.
"Because - because he's a meddling fool!" Tom replied.
"I don't know why you think that, he's the one who gave us the escape route from this dump of a place, so at least be a little bit grateful. The least you could've done is pretend to be grateful! I mean, I didn't want an adult with us on our first major step into the world where we rightfully belong, but you could've been a little politer. He'll probably think the worst of you before you've even arrived at Hogwarts!" Tom realized that Sophia was right. It was just that, all of his life, the authority figures he'd dealt weren't pleasant, so he was convinced that authority didn't give a crap what happened to you, they just cared about themselves and their system. Now that he thought about it, this professor seemed different, but now he probably did think badly of Tom. Tom didn't care too much, since he didn't want to rely too much on adults regardless, so he had no reason to be polite. However, Sophia was definitely right about one thing. He could at least pretend.

Sophia couldn't believe it. Her future self had read a book series called Harry Potter. Surprisingly, it was about the wizarding world. In it, a villain called Voldemort had killed Harry's parents, and had tried to kill Harry himself, who was only one at the time. Harry somehow survived, and the killing curse rebounded, nearly annihilating Voldemort. Later, Voldemort tried to kill Harry to get the Sorcerer's Stone and bring himself back to life, and failed again. Her future self loved the series, and eagerly read the second book. Sophia wanted to see what her future self wrote, because she also enjoyed the book. At the end of the second book, though, Sophia received a shock. Harry had encountered the teenage Voldemort through a diary. The teenage Voldemort's real name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, which was her Tom's full name. She was now nervous around him, not knowing what he was capable of now, not knowing exactly what his thoughts, feelings, and intentions were. Sophia realized that she was probably a bit obvious, but she couldn't help herself. It bothered her even more that she seemed to fancy him. Wait, what? No! that was just my future self's infatuation rubbing off on me. He's a murderer, she thought. But he hasn't done anything yet, another part of her argued. Sophia saw a new side to Tom's psychopathic streak. Maybe that's why I was sent back in time, she realized. So far, I've been able to stop him from horribly hurting Dennis and Amy and driving them to insanity. Maybe I can change things.
When the professor had come from the school, initially, she had backed up Tom in wanting to go with him alone to Diagon Alley, but she later asked herself if that was a smart thing to do. She wasn't sure how much she trusted him. For all I know, Tom might take all of the money that was supposed to be mine for the supplies. He might not give me my ticket! However, she didn't want Tom to think anything was amiss, and she realized that those thoughts were ludicrous. Tom seemed to like her well enough, seemed to value her as a friend, so why would he want to keep her from going to Hogwarts with him? She also agreed with Tom and thought that it would be more fun going to Diagon Alley by themselves. And anyway, if Tom tried anything funny and she couldn't go to Hogwarts, she hoped that Dumbledore would realize.
They went to Diagon Alley the next day. The matrons didn't really seem to care that they were going by themselves. Tom and Sophia walked until they found the street they were supposed to be on. Then, they looked for the Leaky Cauldron. Tom and Sophia couldn't see it.
"Where is it?" Tom asked, frustrated.
"Oh, look! I see it!" Sophia exclaimed. It was a tiny, dingy shop. The eyes of most of the people on the street moved from the shop on the left of the Leaky Cauldron to the one on the right.
"It's almost as if the Muggles can't see it," Tom remarked. "Come on." They walked inside. The barman smiled and greeted them.
"So, here to buy school supplies?" he asked kindly.
"Yes, sir," Sophia replied. The barman walked with them. In response to Tom's quizzical look, he replied:
"You'll need someone to tap the bricks with a wand to get in. Ah, here we are." He tapped five bricks in a circle, and the wall rearranged itself to create a doorway into Diagon Alley. Sophia and Tom couldn't contain their expressions of surprise. There was practically an entire town hidden within this tiny shop!
"Wow!" They exclaimed. They went in.
"Alright, we need '1 standard-sized cauldron, pewter'," Sophia read from her list. They walked in, and bought their cauldrons. They continued buying all of the items on their list. When they got to 'three sets of black robes', Tom and Sophia walked into Madam Malkin's. As they were sized for uniforms, a girl of about their age walked in with someone who looked like her mother. She had thick, bouncy light-brown hair, light-brown eyes, and a nice, bright smile.
"Are you guys getting your uniforms for Hogwarts too?" the girl asked brightly.
"Yes, are you?" Sophia asked.
"Yes. I'm Emma. Emma Bell."
"I'm Sophia, and this is my friend Tom," Sophia replied, pointing with her hand to where Tom was being sized. He merely replied with a quite 'hello'.
"What house do you hope to be in?" Emma asked.
"House?" Sophia asked. They had houses at a school?
"You're muggleborn, aren't you?" Emma asked sympathetically. "It's always a big shock for them, since their parents can't tell them about Hogwarts, or any wizarding school as a matter of fact. Anyways, there are four Houses at Hogwarts. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. 'Their nerve, daring, and chivalry' set Gryffindors apart. Hufflepuffs are 'just, loyal and unafraid of toil'. Ravenclaws have 'got a ready mind, there, those of wit and learning will always find their kind', and Slytherins are 'cunning folk who use any means to achieve their ends'. I hope to get into Gryffindor, but I suppose any house is fine. I don't think I'll be a Slytherin, because I think I'm anything but cunning, and I certainly don't use any means to achieve my ends. What about you guys?"
"I sound like a Ravenclaw. I don't think I'm particularly brave, but I suppose I won't really know until the first day of Hogwarts. What about you, Tom?" Sophia asked, pretty sure about his answer. She knew, from the books that her future self had read, that Tom was the heir of Salazar Slytherin and therefore was in the Slytherin house.
"I think Slytherin sounds cool," Tom said quietly. "They sound like they achieve whatever they want, and sound ambitious."
"So, are you guys alone? Where are your parents?" Emma asked innocently.
"They're dead," Sophia and Tom said at the same time, in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Emma sounded near tears for her words.
"It's okay, Emma." Sophia said gently. "Oh, and I just remembered something that you had said earlier. You had asked us if we were muggleborn. What's that?"
"Muggleborn wizards and witches are born from Muggle parents. That's possible, and happens quite a bit." Emma replied. "Some gits think that they are better wizards and witches because of their blood status. They're pureblood if their parents, grandparents, etc. all the way back were wizards or witches, and some, mostly Slytherin families, think that they're better simply because of that. I don't, though. I believe that a wizard is better or worse because of their ideals and abilities."
"Well, that's good then, because I'm muggleborn." Sophia knew that she could say this confidently, because her parents couldn't do magic. As a matter of fact, her future self couldn't do magic, so how could she? Just add it to the list of unsolved mysteries, Sophia thought.
"I don't know," Tom said. "I grew up in the orphanage. Sophia came there when she was six." Emma was about to reply when her mother came in, signaling for her to leave.
"Well, I've got to go. See you guys at Hogwarts!" Emma, who was all done with sizing and whose mother was holding her robes, left.
"You two are done, too," the lady who was measuring them said. She gave them their uniforms, the two kids paid them, and they left.
"Now to the next part; books!" Tom sounded excited. They got all of their basic books, and paid for them. Sophia wished they could get the advanced books, but knew that they couldn't use the school's money to buy them yet. Well, at least they could get started on the school curriculum at the orphanage before school started. Her eyes caught sight of a book on a stand, though. It was titled 'Beauty Spells; Everything a Witch (or Wizard) needs to look their best!' She could feel her vain, girly side coming back, a side that had been repressed at the orphanage, where everybody wore shabby clothes and didn't get to shower too often. Sophia picked it up and leafed through it. One of the pages had a spell to straighten hair. "Rectum capillis, rectum capillis," Sophia memorized. She knew that she'd have to write it down.
"May I please borrow a paper and a pen? I'd like to write down the names of one of the books, so that I can buy it later," Sophia told the shopkeeper innocently. The shopkeeper obliged, and she wrote it down. On the next page, the spell to make it permanent was given. "Rectum comam semper," Sophia wrote. While she hadn't cared too much at the orphanage, now that Sophia was going to Hogwarts, she wanted to look her best. She wanted to look through the whole book, but Tom was looking at Sophia impatiently, though, so she quickly left.
"Now the best part; the wands!" Sophia was excited. This was the part that they were both waiting for. They got to Ollivander's and walked inside. An old, raspy voice greeted them.
"Hello. So, you are here for your first wands, are you not?" The children nodded. He looked at Sophia, then took out a wand.
"Give it a wave," Ollivander said. Sophia waved it, and the wands of the shelf in front of her fell off. "Not the right one, obviously," she heard Ollivander mutter. What would the 'right wand' do?
"Give this one a try." Sophia waved it again, and this time, nothing happened. "Never mind, never mind. Here, try this one." As soon as Sophia picked that wand up, she felt a surge of power. As she waved it, a burst of rainbow-colored sparks shot out from it. "This is it!" Ollivander exclaimed. "Twelve inches, oak, unicorn hair. Now, young man, it's your turn." Sophia watched as Tom went through about a dozen wands before Ollivander reached up and picked up a wand. Its box was velvet and dusty. Sophia already knew what was in the wand. "I wonder," Ollivander muttered. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches, yew, phoenix feather. Very powerful wand indeed. Try it." Tom looked delighted to hear that this wand was powerful, and waved it eagerly. Green sparks shot out. "That'll be one galleon for each of your wands, please." They handed over the wands and left eagerly.
"Yes! We have our wands! Now, we can do magic at the orphanage. We can practice some of the spells before school starts." Sophia was very excited. She couldn't wait to try them out, especially the one burning a hole on a piece of paper in her pocket. They walked back to the orphanage.

At the orphanage, instead of reading books about math and science like they used to, Tom and Sophia worked on spells from their spellbooks. Eventually, they could levitate objects, transfigure a matchstick into a needle, and had mastered all other spells from their spellbooks, seeing as they had over twelve hours to work on spells. They figured that it would be dangerous to practice making potions at a Muggle orphanage without being caught, but they read through the books to get an idea of various potions' contents. It's more fun than chemistry, Tom thought. He noticed that Sophia ignored her 'History of Magic' and 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' books.
"I hate history and biology," she explained simply. Instead, she spent longer on her other books, and he noticed her sneak out a few nights to look through the telescope she had bought.
"Magical telescopes are so cool!" she exclaimed when she saw that Tom noticed her outside one night.
Soon, it was the day that they were going to Hogwarts. Tom had all of his luggage packed, in which he brought his encyclopedias, because they were the only things besides his magic stuff that he had in terms of luggage. He didn't trust the orphanage children to leave those precious books intact. He dragged his luggage and found Mrs. Cole, who would be driving Tom and Sophia to the train station. Sophia showed up ten long minutes later. He saw her and his jaw dropped. Her hair was straight. It was perfectly straight and smooth. How had she done that? She had also seemed to have taken extra care to scrub her face clean, and she looked...pretty. Tom quickly shook that thought away.
"Come on, Sophia. We're going to be late." Tom said.
"Sorry, Tom," Sophia replied. "Let's go." Mrs. Cole put their luggage in the trunk and drove them to the station. She helped them put their luggage on two different carts, and then left. "Okay," Sophia said. "So we find platforms nine and ten, and run between them." They found them. "Okay Tom, you first."
"Scared already, Sophia? Surely, you won't end up in Gryffindor," Tom smirked, and then ran into the brick wall. He came out on the other side, and saw a huge red train that said 'Hogwarts Express' at the front. Sophia followed a minute later. They got their luggage off the carts and, using 'Wingardium Leviosa', levitated their luggage onto the train's luggage compartment.
"Wow! You guys can do spells already?" a familiar voice rang out. Tom turned around. It was Emma, the girl from Madam Malkin's.
"Yes, Emma, we practiced," Sophia replied.
"You guys must be talented, Soph," the girl replied. "But you won't be able to get away with it when you go back over the summer. Once you go to school, you won't be able to do magic over the summer, especially around Muggles. There's something called the Trace that detects the use of magic in underage wizards. If they detect you guys doing magic, you get expelled. You weren't caught now because you hadn't been to school, so they'll count it as accidental magic." Emma finished.
"That's stupid," Tom retorted. "How are we supposed to remember what we learned, then?"
"I agree, Tom, but what can we do?" Emma sighed. "And Soph, what did you do to your hair? I like it!" Tom felt irritated at Sophia's nickname. Soph sounded stupid, while Sophia sounded more mature, older. I refuse to call her by some silly nickname, he grimaced. Sophia seemed to like her new nickname, though, probably for the exact opposite reasons.
"I straightened it. I found a charm in a book at Flourish and Blott's. It was 'rectum capillis'." Oh. So that's what she was writing down. I didn't think she was girly or vain, Tom thought. But I suppose she wanted to make a good first impression on the other kids here. That was smart. Tom looked mostly clean, which was the best you could hope for at the orphanage, but he knew he should make more of an effort to look sharp at Hogwarts. After all, people do tend to judge other's based on appearances, and I want to let everyone know that I'm the best, he thought confidently.
"Should we go find a compartment?" Tom asked. They went and found a compartment. He'd have time to talk to other's later, he knew, but right now, people only seemed to be sitting with those they knew.
"Sure!" Emma replied. Emma seemed overly cheerful, but kind. The Hogwarts Express started, and Tom looked out the window to see tearful parents waving to their children. He felt a pang of envy. I wish my parents were waving to me like that. He quickly shook that momentary thought away. But I don't need to be missed. It doesn't matter, and it would just create unnecessary pain. Besides, I don't need parents. I am perfectly capable on my own, and wishing otherwise is weakness. On the way, Tom and Sophia talked to Emma about the spells that they had learned. Tom was delighted to know that Emma hadn't looked through her books at all. If everyone is like her, then I'll be the top of the class easily. Even Sophia isn't as dedicated to her studies as I am. She does hate at least history and Herbology, and slacks off in it. Tom felt almost gleeful at the prospect. But then, to his dismay, Emma started talking about how she had been flying on her broomstick all summer, hoping to get on the Quidditch team, even though first years hadn't been let in for forty-six years, as Emma had put it. Even though Tom wasn't that interested in sports, it pained him to realize that there might be one thing that he wasn't good at, as useless as Tom may consider Quidditch to be. And flying just couldn't be learned out of a book.
"Wow! Quidditch sounds exciting!" Sophia said delightedly. "I can't wait until we learn how to fly! Maybe I might be relatively decent." Tom could see the hope and excitement in Sophia's face, a sharp contrast to his queasy dread. Then, a witch came pushing a cart full of an assortment of sweets. Tom looked hungrily, his stomach rumbling, and saw the same look on Sophia's face. They both knew, however, that they couldn't afford it. Emma, however, perked up and took out a jingling pouch that Tom assumed had money in it.
"Give me three Chocolate Frogs, a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, and three pastries please." The witch took out the various sweets and gave them to Emma.
"That'll be two galleons, eight sickles." Emma paid the woman, and she left. Emma gave one chocolate frog and one pastry to Tom and Sophia each, and opened the box of beans and split them between the three people. Well, maybe there are kinder people out there, Tom thought with some surprise. It just seems like the non-magical folk are mean, and then again, they don't understand magical people. They think we're freaks. But the magical folk, they are nice.
"Thanks, Emma," Sophia replied with a mouth full of beans. Tom smirked at Sophia's manners - or, rather, lack of them.
"You're welcome. Oh, and I should've warned you before, when they say Every Flavor, they mean every flavor. Once, I seem to have gotten an earwax flavored one." Just then, Sophia groaned.
"Ugh. I tasted something gross. Tasted like broccoli or something of the sort." Sophia said disgustedly. Tom ate his carefully and was happy to find that he didn't get any strange-flavored beans.
"Emma, are the Chocolate Frogs actual frogs?" Tom asked.
"No, of course not. They just look like frogs, and have a charm that makes them jump, so be careful. They've only got one good jump in them, though."
"Well, you can never tell with the wizarding world. I mean, Bertie Bott's beans are every flavored." Tom replied. The friends talked happily the whole way there. Before they knew it, it had started getting dark.
"We should change into our robes," Emma stated. Emma, Sophia, and Tom went to their respective bathrooms and changed. Then, the train stopped, and everyone started getting out.
"We're there!" Emma said excitedly. Tom couldn't wait to see Hogwarts in it's full glory.

Sophia gasped. Hogwarts was beautiful. All of the lights were on, making the castle glitter in the surrounding darkness. She looked over at Tom and saw that his face had a more passive expression, but his eyes sparkled with a wonder that reflected her own.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Sophia asked in almost a whisper.
"It is wonderful," Tom said and nodded, indicating that he agreed. They didn't have time to say more, though, because they heard a voice.
"First years! Over here, over here!" All of the first years climbed into boats, four to a boat. Sophia, Tom, and Emma sat together along with a red-headed boy who seemed quiet. Knowing that Tom wasn't one to start a conversation with new people, Sophia knew that she'd have to.
"Hogwarts is beautiful, isn't it?" she asked the boy.
"Yes, it's nice," he replied. Sophia tried harder to talk to him. She was just a talkative person. She looked around, and noticed something move underneath the water.
"Wow, what was that? I think I just saw something move below the water."
"That's the squid," the boy finally replied. "My older brother told me about it. He said that the squid would try to attack random students, but I don't believe him. Not totally, anyway. Thing is, you can never tell when he's joking and when he's not." Yes. I got him to talk. If I keep this up, but not quite forcibly, I can make lots of friends here, Sophia thought happily.
"I don't think the teachers would have it here if it really could attack us, so don't worry," Sophia replied brightly. The boy smiled. "What's your name?" Sophia asked the boy.
"Septimus. Septimus Weasley."
"I'm Sophia," she replied. She sensed that she couldn't talk to him about anything else, and she, for once, had nothing to say to anyone else, so she was silent the rest of the boat ride, wondering what the Sorting would be like. Would it be in front of the whole school? she wondered with worry. Finally, they got to the school. The kids went in and were lined up alphabetically by someone Sophia recognized.
"Welcome, children, I'm Professor Dumbledore. I'm the Transfiguration professor," professor Dumbledore said kindly. "Now. You will be filing inside the Great Hall and staying in line until your name is called for the sorting." The children started filing in. Sophia was nervous. She heard someone saying something about fighting a troll, and she went through her head, trying to recount the spells she had learned from the books. She was near the front of the line, her last name being 'Anderson'. The students started filing in. When she got into the Great Hall, she looked around. There were four long tables with their respective House banners above them. There seemed to be no ceiling. Sophia noticed that the Gryffindors looked like the most cheerful and friendly lot. The Slytherins seemed the most calm and subdued. Sophia hoped to get into Gryffindor, because then she would be surrounded by a friendly and cheerful lot, but if what she'd heard about the houses was true, she wouldn't mind being in Ravenclaw. She hoped that they were at least a little bit fun, though, because she would now be having fun for the first time in over five years. She would focus on her studies, of course, but she vowed to also have a lot of fun. She noticed that the Ravenclaws seemed to always be in thought. She also noticed that the Hufflepuffs seemed pleasant and innocent but, and she hated to admit it since it sounded like prejudice to her, that the Slytherins mostly seemed pompous, nasty, or both. On her right, she saw a stool with an old, rugged hat on top. What will we do for the sorting?
"When I call your name, you will come up, sit on the stool, and try on the hat. Abbott, Myla!" The girl went up, and tried on the hat.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the Hat shouted. Two more kids went up, and then it was Sophia's turn. She put on the Hat.
"Ah, I see. Oh? You're from a different time? How did that happen?" she heard the Sorting Hat say. "Yes, I know everything about you. Ah, yes. You are willing to sacrifice for your friends. You're quite smart and wise, too. You're unyieldingly loyal to your friends and your memory of a family, but you want to prove yourself, and are quite ambitious. Hmmm... let's see. Where to put you?" the hat wondered. I trust your judgement completely, and I don't really have any preferences, Sophia thought. "That's good," the Hat continued. "But, I think you will be best suited for..."
"GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat yelled. Sophia beamed. After her, it was Emma's turn. She jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat yelled. The Gryffindor table clapped loudly as Emma nearly ran to her table. Many students later, it was Tom's turn. She looked hopefully as he went up and proceeded to put the hat on his head, hoping that the outcome wouldn't be what it was in the Harry Potter series her future self had read.
"SLYTHERIN!" the Hat yelled before it was properly on Tom's head. She saw Tom smirk as he headed toward his House table. She sighed. Just because he was in Slytherin didn't mean that he necessarily hated muggles and muggleborns yet, but she knew that she'd have to talk to him soon. On the other hand, she was very pleased to be in the same House as Emma, and it seemed that she could easily befriend the other Gryffindors. Perhaps she could even befriend Septimus Weasley, the last kid to be Sorted into Gryffindor. Sophia looked over at the Slytherin table and caught Tom's eye. He seemed to be happy with his Sorting, but looked a little unhappy that Sophia wasn't in his House. Oh well, it won't change our friendship, Sophia thought hopefully.
"Hello first-years, I am Headmaster Dippet. After dinner, prefects will lead you to you dormitories and will tell you the password. The Forbidden Forest is forbidden to the children. And without further ado, enjoy the feast!" On their plates, a lot of food appeared. Sophia's mouth watered. This was the best cuisine she'd ever had! I'll be able to get fat on this stuff, Sophia thought pleasantly, though she had no intention of actually getting fat. Anyhow, she was too skinny for her age from the scanty orphanage food, so she knew it would be awhile before she had to worry about that. After the main course was done, dessert appeared, and Sophia ate plentifully, savoring the sweet, creamy goodness of the various cakes and pies. She looked over to the Slytherin table and saw Tom enjoying his dinner just as much as she was. She smiled. She talked to Emma and a couple of other kids, but she didn't remember what she had said. When dinner was over, the prefects led the children to their dormitories.
"Bird's beak," the prefect said, and the portrait of the Fat Lady let them in. Sophia was beyond surprised at the moving and talking portraits, but when she went up to her room, she fell asleep without another thought.

Tom woke up the next morning in oblivious bliss. Why am I so comfortable? he wondered, and was suspicious. He opened his eyes, got a look at his silver and green surroundings, and in that instant, the previous day's events came back to him. I'm at Hogwarts! And I'm a Slytherin! He got up, saw that most of his roommates were asleep, and took a long, comfortable, hot shower for the first time in his life. When he combed his hair, he looked in the mirror and realized that he looked cleaner than he ever had. He always tried his best at the orphanage, but it was hard when you were only allowed to take showers twice a week and the soaps were often grimy from so many kids using it. Now that his hair was clean and he had used decent shampoo, he saw how it fell nicely, framing his face with dark, silky brown-black strands. Looks had never really mattered to him before, and they didn't matter that much now, but he realized that looks made a big difference in how people initially perceived a person. Now that he was in new surroundings with people like him, he wanted to present himself well. Tom smirked. His looks surely wouldn't hurt in this. He actually had to say that he looked pretty decent. My transformation is as good as Sophia's, if not better, he thought smugly.
He got out and got his books out. They would be receiving their schedules at breakfast, and then they'd head off to their first class after stopping at their dorms for their books. Tom slipped his wand into his uniform pocket. There was no telling when he'd need it, and while they weren't allowed to do magic in the corridors, he would if he had to. From the orphanage, he had learned never to leave his defenses down. He heard movement around him as the other kids slowly started waking up. One of the kids in the bed next to Tom's looked at him. He had blond hair and piercing gray eyes.
"Wow, you're up early," the boy remarked.
"I like to be ready for the day before everyone else," Tom replied, not wanting to say that he had to wake up this early at the orphanage.
"Right," the boy scoffed. "Anyway, aren't you that Riddle boy?" he asked.
"Yes," Tom replied warily. "Why?"
"Hah! Riddle is a muggle last name. No pureblood wizarding families in London are named Riddle. That means we have a half-blood or mudblood Slytherin. How shameful!" Tom realized that that was why the kids in Slytherin were looking at him scornfully. Was this going to be any different than the orphanage? However, he knew that he'd have to be on a good basis with these kids. And if he had a chance at that by lying, why not?
"That just shows how narrow-minded you are. You just automatically assume that I'm British. My parents were both Canadians, and they were pureblood. That's why you haven't heard the Riddles. However, you shouldn't just assume that I was anything but pureblood simply because of my last name." Tom decided that pretending to be Canadian was his best bet because it was a whole ocean away, so this kid probably couldn't verify his lie. Also, it wasn't famous like America, so he wouldn't be hearing much about it, and probably wouldn't find as much research material about pureblood families in Canada.
"Then how come you have a British accent?" Why does this boy have to pry so much? Tom sighed in exasperation.
"Because they moved to Britain to raise me. They thought it would be a good environment." Tom held his breath while letting his face take on an impassive look. The boy held out his hand, however.
"I apologize. My name is Abraxas Malfoy." Tom took his hand and shook it.
"Tom. Tom Riddle." And so, Tom made his first new friend at Hogwarts, not counting Emma. Tom didn't really count Emma yet, because she seemed more like Sophia's friend. When Abraxas and his friends were dressed, Abraxas introduced Tom to them.
"William, Adam, Charlie, this is Tom. Tom Riddle. Tom, this is William, Adam, and Charlie. Guys, he's alright. He's a Canadian pureblood. You know that I would've been able to tell if he was lying." The other guys shook hands with Tom.
"I was excited to come to Hogwarts." One of the kids, William was it, looked at Tom's things.
"How come your robes are so plain? And how come your books are so worn out?" the kids asked.
"My parents were murdered, and I had to grow up in a Muggle orphanage." Tom decided to be partially honest. "I didn't want to tell anybody because I didn't want pity, but I didn't want to lie about why I was poor. Because they hadn't written a will, all of their money went to the government in Canada."
"Oooh, I'm sorry, mate," Abraxas said, not sounding sorry at all. "Anyway, come on. Let's go to breakfast. I'm starving." The boys headed down to breakfast. They ate breakfast and talked about their upcoming classes and teachers.
"That Slughorn," started Abraxas, "is the Potions professor and our Head of House. He's quite an idiot." The others nodded and agreed. Tom noticed that they weren't a group of friends so much as they were a group with Abraxas Malfoy as the leader. He seems rich, and maybe he has high status. I must get in his good books, and then Malfoy may be, well, a worthy companion, Tom guessed. He knew that to survive in Slytherin, he'd have to take advantage of the others, all the more so because of his lack of status and wealth, at least for the time being. He started thinking about how he'd do that. Soon, breakfast was over, and the kids had all gotten their schedules. He had Potions first with the Gryffindors, then he had Transfiguration with the Gryffindors... As he looked at his schedule, he realized that he had most of his classes with Gryffindors! He was pleased that Sophia would be in a lot of his classes. He wanted to be able to talk to her about classes, and since she was in a different house, he'd have to use class time mostly. He wished that Sophia was in Slytherin, and when the Sorting Hat had taken a long time to Sort her, he was almost sure that she would be in Slytherin, but she got into Gryffindor, Slytherin's enemy house. He didn't really hate the Gryffindors - the innate rivalry hadn't yet infected him - but his Slytherin friends seemed to hate them. He'd have to find out why.
"Earth to Tom, Earth to Tom," Abraxas said. Tom shook himself out of his daze and looked at Abraxas.
"Hey, Abraxas, I was just curious. Why do Slytherins hate Gryffindors so much?"
"First of all, Gryffindors parade around acting all high and mighty because they are 'oh so brave, daring, and chivalrous'. Also, Gryffindors are the ones who trumpet their support for mudbloods the most. The other houses don't agree with us, either, they don't mind filth entering it, but the Gryffindors encourage it. We believe in keeping the school and the magical world pure. Gryffindors have the most mudbloods and halfbloods, too." Tom considered it. He didn't believe that he was a pureblood, but he didn't think he was muggleborn either. Still, he was glad that he had lied. After all, he had to survive in Slytherin, and they all seemed to hate muggleborns and even halfbloods. He didn't quite agree, because he knew that Sophia was muggleborn. Also, Sophia didn't know that she could do magic until about a year after Tom did, and yet she never judged him or hated him for his magic. But she was the only one. Still, muggleborns couldn't be that bad, even though Muggles seemed to be. He'd approach Malfoy with his viewpoint, but not until he had gotten into his good books. He went up to his dorm, got his books, and went to Potions with Abraxas and William. Charlie and Adam had Charms first.
In Potions, professor Slughorn greeted the kids joyfully.
"Welcome children! This is the magnificent class of Potions, where you will learn to brew a variety of liquids that can poison, cure, give you luck, even stopper death! But I have a question for you first. I don't expect many of you to know this, because this is from material taught near the end of the year, but here it is. Where would you look to find a bezoar?" Tom thought, remembering his books, and then raised his hand. He looked around, and saw that Sophia's hand was raised too. Tom expected it, since they had both gone through their potions books together. They were the only two people who knew, though.
"Wow! Two people who know the answer! So, Mr. Riddle," he said, calling on Tom. "What do you think?"
"You'd look in the stomach of a goat," he replied. He saw Sophia's crestfallen expression. He smirked at her.
"Correct, Mr. Riddle. Ten points for Slytherin. Don't worry, Ms. Anderson. You'll get your turn, too. But for now, let's open our books to page 10." The class opened their books, and Slughorn had them make a simple potion to cure boils.
"Now be sure to follow the directions exactly, for even a small mistake can result in disastrous results." Tom gathered the ingredients and started brewing his potion.
"Annnd time's up!" Slughorn walked around checking everybody's potions. He looked at Tom's potion. "Very nice, very nice," he remarked. Then, he stopped at Sophia's potion. "Look at Ms. Anderson's potion! It's the perfect shade of green. Excellent job, Ms. Anderson. Take twenty points for Gryffindor for brewing a perfect potion on your first day." Sophia beamed, and then sent a smirk back at Tom. Tom sent a scowl in her direction, but smiled internally. This was going to be good. Most of the other children didn't seem that brilliant, but at least he'd have competition.

Sophia was thrilled that she had almost all of her classes with Tom. The only class she didn't have with him was History of Magic, and because she hated it, so she supposed she wouldn't want to see Tom outsmart her in that subject, especially since she would already have to see Tom outsmart her in Herbology. Next was Transfiguration. Professor Dumbledore greeted the class brightly and introduced Transfiguration by turning himself into a bird and back again. Tom was sitting next to her. I'm glad his new Slytherin friends aren't in this class. At least now I can talk to him, she thought happily. Professor Dumbledore then paired kids up and had them turn their matchsticks into needles. Sophia's partner was Tom.
"I bet I can turn my matchstick into a needle before you can," Tom said.
"Yeah, I bet you can, too," Sophia replied. Seeing Tom's stunned expression, she quickly said the incantation that professor Dumbledore had taught them. Her matchstick became silver and pointy. She had done it! "Wasn't I right?" she asked Tom sarcastically. Tom quickly turned his matchstick into a needle, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Professor Dumbledore had noticed Sophia's needle.
"Excellent, Ms. Anderson! Fifteen points to Gryffindor for being the first to perform excellent spellwork quickly!" He then noticed Tom's needle, too. "And ten points to Slytherin for coming in close second!" Tom smirked at Sophia in victory, though Sophia could tell that it was an empty smirk, and Tom was not happy at all at being second. All the same, there was a funny feeling in her stomach, a feeling that always arose whenever he smirked at her. She was used to squelching it, but it was there all the same.
"You know that you trying to challenge me ultimately led to me performing the spell first, so that should be a blow on your pride," Sophia couldn't help but gloat. She turned around and saw her friend Emma still struggling with the spell. Emma looked at Sophia in envy.
"Make your wand movement a little smaller and sharper." Emma tried and got it. Sophia turned back to Tom. "Tom, are you friends with that blond boy and his cronies who are in your House?" Sophia whispered.
"Yes, why?" Tom wondered.
"I saw them bullying a girl who mentioned that she was muggleborn." Sophia watched Tom for his reaction, but to her surprise, he didn't seem to care.
"Yeah, they seem to be a bit more partial to purebloods," he replied. Sophia was stunned at his indifference.
"But how could you be so callous? It's not her fault that she's muggleborn, and it doesn't really matter. She seems to come from a loving family who sent her to Hogwarts, so that means her parents are Muggles who understand about magic. And does it really matter whether her parents were magic or not? She can do magic, so that's enough. And besides, how would you differentiate between witches & wizards and Muggles in the really olden days, when humans first came along? By seeing who could do magic and who couldn't. Magical ability defines a witch or wizard, not their parentage, so why does it matter!" Sophia was trying to keep her voice at a whisper, and she succeeded, but it was hard because she was so angry. She cringed at her rant, since she realizes that she was talking to Tom Riddle of all people, and not only was he someone who couldn't care less about this in the future, but he currently didn't have any context for her rambling. Tom's expression seemed to convey this, as he looked surprised at the way Sophia reacted.
"First of all, I'm not prejudiced against muggleborns. I didn't learn about the magical world all through my childhood until I myself could do magic, so I know that that's not in a child's control. You don't need to tell me that." Sophia disagreed, and with good reason, but she didn't tell him that. "Second of all, I may dislike most Muggles until they prove otherwise, but that's because no Muggle has ever treated me well, you know that from the orphanage, especially after they realize that I can do magic. But I don't outright hate them like the other kids in Slytherin do because though you couldn't do magic until way after I did, you still liked me, you still didn't judge me. For a while, we both thought that you were a Muggle even though we didn't know what that term meant, but even then, you were nice. That proves to me that Muggles can be alright, so I don't hate them until I know that they're gits. But you're not the one who has to survive in Slytherin, I do. And I'm waiting to get into Abraxas' good books before I express my point of view. But before that, I'll need a position of power amongst the Slytherins. I've had to lie and tell them I'm a Canadian pureblood to explain my last name, and since I don't have money, I'll need to figure out something else." Tom said all of this in a low, whispering hiss that Sophia could barely understand, so she knew that they hadn't been overheard. At least, no one could understand what they had said.
"Oh. Okay. But then, I should lie about my status too, so that they won't be scornful toward you for hanging out with me. Only Emma knows my true blood-status, and I trust her." Tom nodded in agreement. Class was then over, and professor Dumbledore dismissed them.
The rest of the day was similar to Transfiguration, without their argument. Sophia sat next to Tom and Emma in almost all of her classes for the day, because they were the only people she knew well up until now. She and Tom both had found their lessons fairly easy, having gotten a good head-start from the books, and both earned points for their houses, making Slytherin and Gryffindor neck-and-neck for House points. At lunch, Sophia and Emma mingled with other fellow Gryffindors. While others were complaining about the homework they had gotten on the first day, Sophia remarked about how cool it was that at least they were finally learning magic after having watched their parents either do magic or after not having known about magic at all.
"Think about it this way. Before, we could see our parents do these things, and now we get to do them. Or, if you're muggleborn, then you can learn to do things your family could only dream of, so at least there's that. Also, living at Hogwarts itself is worth it." They talked about the other classes, flying, and the upcoming Quidditch season. The more Sophia heard about Quidditch, the more she wanted to play, but the more she was scared of the sport as well. When the conversation turned to the House Cup, the other Gryffindors remarked that they were happy that she'd bring them House points.
"The Slytherins have got Tom, but at least we've got you," they remarked. One of the boys elaborated. "Those Slytherins, always going on about pure blood. We want to prove that that's not important at all, but it would've been hard if they had a smart person, whatever his blood status. By the way, you're not pureblood, are you? It would be so cool if you were muggleborn. That way, we could show them that there was a muggleborn smarter than all of those high-and-mighty purebloods in their house." The boy had straight but messy and unruly black hair that stood up, black-framed glasses with circular lenses, and a bright smile. Sophia agreed with him, but remembered what she had told Tom, and realized that that was more important.
"No, unfortunately, I'm pureblood. My parents belong to an old, American pureblood family." Sophia lied smoothly. Hmmm... maybe the Sorting Hat was right in the fact that I could've been in Slytherin, Sophia thought. Lying well marks cunningness. She saw Emma look at her with a confused expression, and she shook her head slightly. She'd explain later. The boy's face fell, but he smiled again.
"Wow, I forgot to ask you your name, and I've been talking to you for all of this time. What's your name?" he asked.
"Sophia. Sophia Anderson." she replied. She held out her hand, and the boy shook it.
"Edward. Edward Potter." Sophia decided right away that she liked the boy. He seemed kind, friendly, and bubbly. But then again, a lot of Gryffindors were like that. She knew that she was going to enjoy being in Gryffindor. It would be nice to make new friends, have new companions, and not have to rely on Tom as her sole source of company. Later, after all of their classes, Sophia walked up to Tom.
"I think it would be nice if we did our homework together." Sophia remarked.
"Why? Because you want to cheat off of my answers?" Tom asked teasingly.
"The way you're saying it, it sounds like you had that idea." Sophia teased back. "But I thought that it would be a good way to spend time together. I mean, we're in different houses, and I'm just kind of worried that we won't be able to talk much, which could affect our friendship. We've been friends for five years, and I don't want that to change," Sophia said, her voice a little bit sad now at the thought of losing a five-year-long friendship. "And, okay, I was hoping that you could give me help on the History of Magic homework. I mean, I hate it, so I can't write on and on like I can for other subjects." Sophia said, trying to lighten up the mood.
"Okay, but you have to help me in Astronomy. I know we haven't had class yet, but you'll still probably do better because I know that you like astronomy," said Tom.
"Alright. But please don't tell me the wrong answers. Or else I won't help you. I mean, we can compete in class, but outside, we should help each other if we need it. The only reason I say this is because I don't like taking help unless I absolutely need it, and I know that you're the same."
"What if I do give you the wrong answers?" Tom asked.
"Then I won't help you, and our bad marks in our homework assignments will show that we're both bad in one subject. Our scores will still be even, so wouldn't you rather have everyone else think that we're both good in all subjects? And besides, we won't copy off of each other's essays and homework, we'll help each other so that we actually understand the assignment." I've made a pretty convincing speech, if I do say so myself, Sophia thought. Tom agreed. They did their homework together, helping each other, and taking a little break between several paragraphs to talk about their Houses and their other friends. Once they were done with homework, they headed to dinner. At dinner, Sophia talked to the Gryffindors, who were all discussing their home life. She listened to others, and smiled at the funny incidents that they talked about. For instance:
"Once, I took my brother's broomstick, so he turned it into a snake in anger! Good thing I hadn't taken off, or else it would've been just a little bad," one boy recounted, eliciting laughter from the others. When they asked about her life, Sophia became quiet.
"My parents died when I was six, and I've grown up in a Muggle orphanage since then. That's where I met Tom," Sophia remembered. She knew that Tom had told Abraxas about growing up in a Muggle orphanage, so she knew that it was safe to tell her fellow Gryffindors about meeting Tom there.
"Oh, so that explains your competitiveness. I figured that it had strong roots," Emma replied. Sophia laughed and enjoyed her dinner and dessert. She felt so light for the first time in a long time. She was happy. She had found more friends. She finally belonged someplace. And she was happy that Tom was here too, because he, like her, belonged here. Later, when everyone was going to bed, Sophia found Emma standing at the foot of her bed.
"So, why'd you lie about being pureblood?" she asked in a whisper.
"Because Tom asked me to," Sophia began. "He's in Slytherin, as you know, and the other kids wouldn't have accepted him if he said that he wasn't pureblood. Forget acceptance, they would've made his life hell. He himself lied about being pureblood, and he asked me to as well so that they wouldn't trouble me or him about our friendship."
"Well, that sucks that you have to lie because of those stupid snakes. It would've been great for us to acknowledge your true heritage, brag to them about how a Muggleborn is way smarter than most of their House. Besides, you shouldn't have to lie about who you are anyway. Tom is stupid for making you lie."
"No Emma," Sophia replied, defending Tom. "He's doing it for my sake as well as his. This morning, I saw some of the Slytherins cornering and bullying a Muggleborn girl. Since I participate in class so much, they'd definitely notice me, and would be resentful of the fact that I'm helping give them competition. I'm sure I could protect myself, but it would be an unnecessary conflict."
"Well, I suppose you're right," Emma finally relented. "So, did you enjoy your first real day with the rest of us magical folk?"
"Definitely," Sophia replied with a grin. "I couldn't imagine being happier anywhere else." Sophia eventually fell asleep, tired and happy.

Tom fell into a nice routine at Hogwarts. He went to his classes, where he and Sophia competed for the top spot in class, had lunch with his Slytherin 'friends', did his homework with Sophia, and spent the rest of the little time left with said Slytherin 'friends'. He was glad that he didn't have to endure the company of most of his housemates for too long - the highlight of interactions with them usually involved Malfoy receiving a new, expensive gift from his father that the others were jealous of. Tom inserted expressions of wonder and commented in all the right places, but he had to work hard to fight off his utter boredom, which was why his time with Sophia was a nice solace. There was a lot of homework, but he didn't mind. While he didn't love homework, as most people believed, he was a perfectionist, and did his utmost best to attain full marks on his assignments. Sophia would help him with Astronomy, and, because he understood her point earlier, he helped her with History of Magic and sometimes with Herbology as well. One day, Gryffindors and Slytherins were having a class together that Tom was dreading. It was a class that they didn't have books for, a class where he couldn't learn what was taught out of a book. He would try, but ultimately, it came down to natural ability. Tom didn't want to make a fool out of himself in front of the Gryffindors because he knew that most of them wouldn't miss a chance to make fun of a Slytherin. He couldn't blame them; after all, most Slytherins were too pompous and focused on blood status, and he had to pretend to be like that around his friends right now, so the Gryffindors didn't know the real him. But Tom was still scared of this class. He dreaded the day they'd learn to fly on a broomstick.
The next day came all too quickly, and soon, Tom was outside with several Slytherins and Gryffindors. They were all standing next to brooms and were waiting for instructions.
"I'm Madam Hooch. First, you should hold out your hand above the broom and say 'up'." Everyone did so. Tom's broom rolled around on the ground. He looked around and saw that Sophia's broom in her hands and a smile on her face. Tom said 'up' about five times before the broomstick flew up unevenly and smacked his hand. Tom managed to catch his broomstick and clung tightly to it, worried it would spontaneously fly out of his hands. Then, when everyone tried flying, Tom pushed off, but the broomstick kept wobbling and threatening to throw him off. He leaned forward and landed, realizing that this was one class he wouldn't dominate in. Oh well, flying is useless, there are other ways to get around, Tom thought, but he was upset about not being able to fly well, especially since his broomstick looked in as good - or, rather, as bad of a condition - as Sophia's broomstick. Sophia, though, had managed to get the hang of flying, and was flying in loops in the air. She will never let me live this down, Tom knew. He was right, but since girls couldn't try out for Quidditch yet, it was a moot point. Tom, clearly, wouldn't try out, and Sophia couldn't. When no one else was around, she complained about how she probably could've tried out for Quidditch in her time, but Tom reminded her that her future self couldn't even do magic, and that issue was over. Sophia dragged him to the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game, and since Tom didn't really wear green robes to express team spirit - after all, he didn't really care for the sport to begin with - he sat with the Gryffindors. Sophia cheered when Gryffindor scored, and as the game went on, Tom found that it was relatively interesting to watch people fly around on a broom. He wasn't much of a sports fan, but watching people flying and throwing the ball in midair, he imagined, was difficult, and he admired the players for that, even if he didn't enjoy sports in itself.
Most of the year passed quickly. During Christmas break, he and Sophia were two of the few kids who had stayed behind for the holidays. Christmas was the best he'd ever had. Tom had gotten presents from Malfoy and some of his friends, and he decided to ask if Sophia had gotten any presents either. When Sophia came to the Great Hall, though, Tom didn't recognize her. He was used to her straight hair, but it was still choppy as she had never gotten a proper haircut during her time at the orphanage. However, now it appeared neatly cut and in layers. Her glasses were gone, and he noticed that her eyes were the color of dark chocolate. Those dark chocolate eyes held a bright sparkle, and her face split into a grin at the sight of him, enhancing the new look and making her face glow. Guess she's caught the holiday spirit even more than she ever did at the orphanage, Tom thought vaguely. Most of his mind was still marveling at her appearance, at how different. She looks pretty, Tom reluctantly admitted.
"New spellwork, huh?" he remarked, trying to hide his surprise. He knew that many girls were concerned with their appearance, but their over-concern made them look pretty in a cheesy, common way, with their makeup overdone and their uniforms 'conveniently adjusted' to show off their figure. Sophia, however, had kept it simple but nice. Less is more really does apply here, he mused.
"Yeah," Sophia replied, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Emma had given me the book I had seen at Flourish and Blotts that one time for Christmas, and I decided to try out some of the spells. The spell to straighten hair permanently was queer, and the transformation felt weird, like there were bugs moving around in my scalp. It was worth it, though. And I decided that I needed a haircut. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I made you something." She pulled out two watches and gave Tom one. "You press this button here, and I'll know that you want to talk to me. You say something, and I'll hear it. We can send messages this way, and if we want to find each other, we can." Tom put on the watch.
"Thank you, Sophia. I love it." She smiled. He then took out his present to her. It was a delicate silver necklace with a glittering silver butterfly at the end. Sophia gasped.
"Wow, it's beautiful Tom. Thank you! Where'd you get it?"
"I asked a teacher to help me with the transfiguration of it. I would've just ordered a necklace, but...you know..." Tom trailed off, embarrassed and wishing that he had the money to properly buy a gift for her. Sophia, however, looked satisfied.
"Oh Tom, that doesn't diminish the value of the gift. I still love it. Thank you. So much," Sophia paused emphatically to make sure Tom understood. Tom was pleased that she liked his gift. It felt good that she appreciated it, appreciated his efforts.
Soon, the whole year had passed. Exams were over, and Tom and Sophia had survived better than the others. Tom had enjoyed it, and while Sophia didn't enjoy the written exams, she liked the practicals, where they had to perform actual spells. Before they knew it, the last day looked around the corner. Both Tom and Sophia were sad to go, and Tom was already counting down the days until they would return, though he wouldn't admit it. As Tom was about to find and say goodbye to Malfoy and his group, he saw them bullying a fellow first year.
"Why are you bothering her?" he asked.
"She's a mudblood. She shouldn't even dare to come to this school. She doesn't belong in the wizarding world, and yet she had the audacity to step on my foot!" Malfoy replied coldly, with icy anger. Tom saw the girl whimper. She was rather petite, and Tom imagined that Malfoy's cronies seemed physically intimidating.
"I said I was sorry!" the girl squeaked. Tom wasn't sure what to do. On the one hand, he could help the poor, innocent girl. It seemed almost pointless to continue the charade, especially since Malfoy didn't seem like he would change anytime soon. He would have to change tactics with them anyway to try to convince them to change their views. On the other hand though, he didn't know the girl, and she probably wouldn't see him again, so saving her would be useless for him, and would only lead to Malfoy and his friends realizing the truth about Tom's mindset and making his existence in Slytherin miserable. His plans for having power over the other Slytherins would never come to fruition. Sacrificing all how efforts seemed to be a waste. However, he immediately thought of another Muggleborn girl. Sophia's face swam into his mind, and he could imagine what she'd say: "How do you currently plan on gaining power over the other Slytherins?" she would ask him. "By holding back who you are? By becoming another of Malfoy's cronies, a mere shadow of the stupid blond? Notice how subservient the other Slytherins seem. You'll never accomplish what you hope if you just continue to agree with Malfoy, especially since you don't really have anything he wants. The more you do, the bigger a hole you dig for yourself, and it'll be harder to back out later. You know you'll have to find another tactic anyhow, so why not do the right thing?" Tom sighed. He figured that he knew this all along anyway. He turned to the girl, and gently murmured, "It's okay. You don't need to apologize. They are only troubling you because of their stupid, empty prejudices." He then turned to Malfoy and the others, taking in the shocked expressions on their faces. Malfoy's jaw had dropped open in a rather unflattering manner.
"Better close your mouth, Malfoy," Tom sneered. "You don't want to swallow any flies. I don't think they would make a great five-star meal." Too late, he realized that he probably shouldn't have started off with such sarcasm, but Tom figured that if he was going to go against Malfoy, he might as well go all the way, in his style. "She apologized, didn't she?" Tom said angrily to Malfoy. "I've tried all year to understand your hatred of muggleborns. I'm pureblood, but that doesn't mean that I'm any better than her, purely because of parentage. Tell me this, Malfoy -" Tom hissed "- what makes you pureblood? The fact that your parents, grandparents, and so on could do magic." Tom found himself quoting Sophia from her speech to him at the beginning of the school year. He realized that his anger was no longer over the mistreatment of the poor girl, it was about something more. He didn't know how magical his parents were, but he was still better than Malfoy and his idiot followers, and he wouldn't let them make him feel - or even dare to think - otherwise. "Ultimately, when you get to the end of your family tree, what makes those ancestors witches and wizards? The fact that they could do magic, same as any muggleborn witch or wizard today! So a muggleborn witch or wizard is every bit as magical as your ancestors that you are so proud of. Muggleborns are as magical as you! And you may have grown up knowing about the wizarding world, but that doesn't mean that muggleborns can't learn! And I suggest that you think about this with a clear, unprejudiced mind. Forget for one minute about your status in the Wizarding world and think about this. Oh, and I had come to say 'see you next September', but perhaps I'd prefer ." Tom walked away, leaving a group of speechless, angry Slytherins in his wake. He sat next to Sophia, who was talking to Emma, a black-haired boy with glasses who he was was sure was called 'Potter', and one of the boy's friends.
"Where were you?" Sophia asked. He quietly told her what happened.
"See guys! He's not a typical Slytherin. Even as a pureblood, he recognizes that muggleborns are just as good as us. I think the only reason that he never said much in the past was because he had to survive in Slytherin." The Gryffindors, who up until now had been looking at him warily, smiled at him and started talking to him. Tom realized that the Gryffindors were quite relaxed, and while he found some of their conversations pointless, he was able to relax around them. He didn't have to be uptight like he had to be around Slytherins. He supposed this was the silver lining of him sticking up for the girl and risking his reputation in Slytherin. He had improved his reputation among the Gryffindors, and with Sophia as his friend, he could spend time in their company. They seemed at least more bearable than his own housemates. He didn't have to spend much time with the other Slytherins if he didn't want to, and he was confident enough that his magic skills would be good enough to protect him. Tom smiled. They were in London too soon, but he couldn't wait to go back home. Home to Hogwarts.

Sophia sighed. She was back at the stinky orphanage. She was so used to the hot meals at Hogwarts cooked by the house-elves that she wasn't sure how she was going to survive on cold leftover soup for two months. She missed Hogwarts. She missed the food, all the classes, even History of Magic, but she missed Emma and Edward most of all. Emma was her second-best friend, second only to Tom, and in some ways, she was better simply because she was a girl and because some things simply couldn't be discussed with boys. Edward had also grown to be a good friend, and he was just so nice, sweet, and funny! Edward was also carefree, something that Tom wasn't, and while she didn't judge him for that at all, she liked how she felt light-hearted around Edward, as if she didn't have a care in the world. Sophia remembered how she'd feel excited whenever she saw him in class or at mealtimes. She remembered how her heart would leap whenever Edward smiled at her and complimented her. Now, she missed him. She couldn't wait to see him again, to see his jet-black, unruly hair, in stark contrast to his light complexion, his stunning blue eyes framed by his black glasses, his bright smile... Am I fantasizing about him again? she asked herself, almost self-reprimandingly. Sophia had often had thoughts about Edward like this%

Tom bit his tongue to keep himself from gasping at the richly-furnished room, and succeeded. The room had rich, dark, mahogany furniture with gold accents. The chairs were mahogany with golden cushions, and gold designs spiralling down the arms and around the back of the chair. The tables were mahogany with similar patterns. The walls were a warm, rich, gold color, and the entire room was bathed with warm light coming from golden chandeliers that shone with the scattered light of the sparkling crystals that hung like tender teardrops from the lights. It is really stunning, he acknowledged. From his right, he heard Sophia gasp.
"Wow! This house is beautiful!" He heard her exclaim.
"Thank you," said Emma's father. "So we'll be staying here for a couple of days and then we'll head off to Spain." Tom heard someone come running into the room. It was Edward. Tom turned to Sophia and gave her a knowing smirk. Sophia blushed. She went over to Edward.
"Hey Edward! I'm so glad to see you!" She looked as if she was about to hug him, but at the last minute, she settled for just waving at him, creating a funny effect. Emma was laughing, but Tom was disgruntled for some reason, his smirk being replaced by a relatively smooth mask with a hint of a grimace. Why is she that excited to see him? Does fancying someone really have that much of an effect on a person? he wondered. I hope that never happens to me. I don't want to act foolish like she is! What's so great about him? I mean, she's never that excited to see me! He thought the final line with a pang, but quickly shook it off. You don't need to be needed by anyone, he reminded himself. Remember, you know from the first six years of your life that you can't rely on anyone. People always let you down. Reflecting on his thoughts, he realized how ridiculous he was being. And besides, I shouldn't be so upset. Sophia's not being mean, rude, or anything to me. She's just a little more excited to see a friend she doesn't see all the time, who she also happens to fancy. She hasn't let you down. Besides, she's with you everyday, and has been for the past five years. Having calmed down, Tom walked over to Edward.
"Hey Tom," Edward greeted enthusiastically. Tom wondered briefly if Sophia would be upset that she wasn't the only one he greeted happily.
"Hello, Edward," Tom replied. "How have you been?"
"Oh, I've been fine. I've been at Emma's house for a few days, and it's been fun. A nice change from home. What about you guys?"
"There's nothing to do, really. It's been quite boring." Tom answered honestly. Though he was sure that Edward knew where he and Sophia lived, he didn't want to bring up the orphanage himself.
"Well, don't worry mate," Edward said, slapping Tom on his back playfully. "That will change now that you two are here. We'll have fun, won't we Soph?" He asked, turning his eyes to her. Sophia seemed stunned for a second by his gaze.
"Yes!" she jumped in quickly, almost over eagerly, as if to compensate for her split-second lapse. "We definitely will." She looked at Emma when she said this, as if she was trying to include Emma in the 'we' as well. Tom and Emma exchanged identical looks of amusement at poor Sophia's plight, which seemed to have become bad over the few days they had been away from each other and Hogwarts.
Tom didn't realize how the rest of the day passed. He ate quite a bit, already missing good food at Hogwarts, and realized that the food at Emma's was better than at Hogwarts. He joined in a little bit of conversation with Emma, Edward, and Sophia, talking a little about the extra magic that he and Sophia had learned over the course of the year, from reading the books in the library. Soon, though, he realized that he couldn't really talk to Emma and Edward as well as he could with Sophia, that they were more interested in Quidditch and the likes, and that even though he tried, he couldn't make himself like these things. His idea of fun was different from others, and only Sophia's idea of fun mirrored both Tom's and other kids' ideas of fun. He was comfortable around her. Sophia, on the other hand, was evidently struggling to include Tom in the conversations, not really wanting to talk about academics with Emma and Edward, who were more of the fun types, but not wanting to completely ignore Tom and leave him out of the picture. He felt his heart pang with...something...as he looked at Sophia, engaged with Emma and Edward and seeming to give up on trying to include Tom. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and he wasn't sure what it meant. If he didn't know better, he would've thought it felt a little like loss. He decided to go find a book to read to distract himself.
"Do you have any books I might be able to read?" Tom asked Emma.
"Well, I think you are quite capable of reading English, and since it's the language everyone here also speaks, I should think that you will be able to read all of our books," Emma replied cheekily. "But yes, we have a whole library. Down the hall and to the left, actually. It's quite easy to find." Tom went to find it, and he gasped. The library was huge and just as grand as the rest of the house. He practically ran in there and got out all of the books.
The next couple of days passed the same way, and soon, everyone was heading off to Spain. When they got there, they checked into a Muggle hotel.
"Thought we should see Muggle Spain before seeing Wizarding Spain. Muggle Spain is quite interesting." Emma's mom stated. They went to a museum about World War I. Everything was written in Spanish, but Emma's dad took out six pieces of parchment.
"These will translate whatever you read, and they'll look like tour guides to Muggles." Emma's dad said. Tom couldn't help but admire that bit of magic. He'd have to learn how to do that. They wandered around for a while, Emma and Edward talking and gasping at some of the more gruesome facts about the war, Tom reading the facts with a mild interest, and Sophia doing both. "Okay," Emma's dad said. "You guys are all twelve, so I think -"
"We think," Emma's mom interrupted.
"Of course. We think that you guys can explore the museum for a little bit on your own. But stay together, the four of you. We'll meet up in the cafe in about an hour." The kids were happy at this little bit of freedom that they had. They walked off. Emma and Edward seemed surprised at the guns, and Tom and Sophia had to hold back chuckles as they explained what they thought was the simple concept of guns and how they worked. Soon, Tom had to go to the bathroom.
"I'll be back." He said. "I have to go to the bathroom." The others nodded. They went with him and stood at the door. When Tom came out, though, he was surprised. They weren't there. He wondered where they were, but his question was answered instantly as he heard a muffled squeal from somewhere to his left. He turned and saw Sophia in the dark empty hallway. A Muggle was holding her arms firmly as he looked through her pockets for money. He looked and saw Edward and Emma suffering a similar fate. The Muggles' backs were to him, though, so Tom realized that he could do something. However, he knew that, at least in Britain, underage magic could be detected, and if detected in the Muggle world, wizards and witches could be punished. He also knew, however, that only magic could be detected, not the perpetrator, and since Emma's parents were around, they could simply say that they had done it. However, he wasn't sure about the laws in Spain, and wasn't sure whether the magic's perpetrator could be detected here. He also knew that he needed to think of something fast. He did the smartest thing he thought he could do - he ran and got the attention of the closest Muggles.
"Help me! There are thieves there; they're stealing from my friends." The Muggles, thank goodness, ran and approached the thieves.
"Give them their money back," the Muggles whom Tom had approached snarled. The thieves, thank goodness, looked scared and gave the kids their money back without a fight. The three kids smiled at the Muggles who helped them.
"Thank you," they said politely, Tom a bit more sullen than the rest.
"You're welcome," the Muggles replied, and then they left.
"We should go back to Mum and Dad," Emma said in a scared tone. The others agreed, and they pushed the button on a little device that they carried with them. "Mum, Dad, let's meet up at the cafe now." Emma said urgently. "I'll explain later." Then, the children headed off. The kids looked shaken, but Tom seemed the most upset of them all.
"I know what happened must've scared you, Tom, but what's wrong? You seem very upset." Sophia said gently.
"Huh? Oh, it was just scary, seeing what happened," Tom replied vaguely. But many thoughts were running through his mind. First, he was upset at the laws that said that they couldn't use magic around Muggles. If the Muggles were bad and ill-intentioned, and maybe strong physically, then magic was the only advantage that an underage wizard or witch had, and they should be able to use it. Not all Muggles are good, Tom reflected resentfully. As a matter of fact, nearly all of the Muggles I know aren't good, and only Sophia and the Muggles that helped me today have kept me from utterly despising Muggles, because she was nice to me before she knew that she could do magic, and because those Muggles had saved them today. But the thing that scared him more was the feeling of utter helplessness he had felt. Even if he disregarded the laws about doing magic in front of Muggles, he had still felt helpless simply because he forgot about magic for that split second and didn't know how to save his friends. He realized that, in that moment, he was weak because the Muggles had people who were dear to him as hostage. Having more people in my life surely adds to worry, he thought. And, while he didn't want to admit it, he probably would've been more level-headed if Sophia wasn't in trouble. If it was just Emma and Edward, I probably would've tried to get Emma's parents here by that little device that they had given me. But because Sophia was there, I had to help instantaneously. He realized that he didn't want Sophia to be hurt at all, and that if anyone who was evil realized that, they could use her against him. That was a weakness, and he didn't want that. He couldn't tell Sophia all of that, though. She wouldn't understand. She seemed ready to embrace that weakness to have others in her life. What should I do about this? Tom asked himself.

Sophia was shaken from the day's events. When Emma explained what happened, Mr. and Mrs. Bell had panicked.
"Oh my god! I'm not letting you four out of my sight for the rest of the trip!" Emma's mom exclaimed. The rest of the trip passed quickly. Sophia didn't realize when it was time to go back to Britain. She had an amazing and fun time with Emma and Edward. Tom seemed distant, though, after the incident at the museum. He seemed to enjoy the trip too, but not really with the rest of them. He was even quieter than usual, and while he used talk to Sophia, or at least respond when she'd asked him something before, now he just didn't say anything. Sophia worried initially, but later, she decided not to be too concerned. He'll come around eventually, and I don't want to ruin my limited time with Emma and Edward for something which I can't do anything about. I'll try to figure it out later, Sophia decided. So Sophia had a good time talking with Emma and Edward, and she even tried flirting with Edward a bit. She seemed to be failing, and she was sure that she looked like an idiot when she did that, but Emma assured her that she was fine, and Edward didn't react weirdly, so Sophia was happy. She still resolved to give up on flirting though, deciding to act normally, and she was just glad that her past attempts hadn't made things weird between her and Edward. The three of them did their school homework together, and they had a good time. Before they realized it, it was time for school. Sophia was surprised to realize that she had gone almost two months without having a real conversation with her best friend. She felt guilty now for leaving Tom completely alone. On September 1st, the four boarded the Hogwarts' Express, having stayed at Emma's house all summer. Tom sat with Sophia, Edward, Emma and some of their other friends, but he was quiet except for the occasional reply when someone remarked on Tom standing up for the muggleborn student last year.
At the feast, the students now waited for what seemed like forever as the first years came, and Sophia felt sorry for the older kids last year who had to wait for her and the other first-years. Once the Sorting was over, dinner began, and that passed quickly. Sophia was deep in conversation with other Gryffindors, many of who complimented her on her appearance.
"Hey, you look great!" a girl named Velvet Brown remarked. "Did you do something to your hair?" She had changed her hair, as a matter of fact. Emma's mom had given her a new "haircut" with magic, and Sophia had to admit that she looked nice, and that her hair looked even better now that someone else had "cut" it than when she had tried to cut her own hair.
She blushed when Edward agreed with her.
"Yeah, you do look pretty," he had agreed. "Not that you don't always look nice, but you look different, and it's a good different, so..." he trailed off, looking a bit embarrassed. So Sophia was happy when she woke up the next morning. She decided to do something different with her stick-straight hair, and she curled it. She wore a bit of mascara that Emma had given her and put on medium pink lip gloss. She believed that this much make-up wouldn't be too much, and it would look natural but good. At breakfast, she got her schedule. To her delight, Emma was in all of her classes. Edward was only in half of her classes, which upset her. She went up to Tom, and asked him to compare schedules with her. She thought she saw a flicker of surprise when Tom looked at her, but his eyes looked impassive a second later. To her surprise, Tom did. He seemed a bit awkward around the rest of the Slytherins, but he seemed normal towards her, which was good. Sophia also shared all of her classes with Tom. Her classes were not that much different than last year. The holidays' homework was turned in, and Sophia found the things that they were learning in most classes easy since she had looked through the books beforehand. She didn't try too hard in History of Magic and Herbology, but it no longer pained her to see Tom beat her in those subjects now that he was in all of her classes. After all, she was pretty sure what she wanted to be when she grew up, and it didn't require excessive knowledge in those subjects. Later, Sophia decided to talk to Tom. She wondered if she should ask him why he had been odd these past months, but decided not to, at least not right then.
"Do you want to do homework together again? Like last year? I think that that arrangement had worked out quite well," Sophia asked.
"Sure," Tom replied. "It did work out nicely, and we got to talk," he said. After working in silence for a while, though, Sophia couldn't hold back her curiosity.
"Tom, I am your friend. I have known you for six years, and I know that something is wrong. Why were you avoiding me?" Sophia asked. "I mean, I don't think I did anything wrong, but I want to know if I unknowingly offended you or anything. I didn't mean to." Tom gave her a thoughtful glance, and then replied.
"You didn't offend me. I was just thinking that I didn't mix well with Emma and Edward, while you did. I wanted you to talk to them more, because I know that they're your good friends, and I was worried that you wouldn't spend time with them if you worried about leaving me out. If I acted like I didn't want to talk to you either, then I figured that you would talk to your friends more." Tom replied.
"Wow, Tom, you're a great friend." Sophia said, her voice thick with emotion. A part of her had thought, in fear, that his impassive behavior meant that he didn't care for their friendship anymore and that he was on his way to becoming the cold, uncaring, isolated Voldemort, when in fact he had been acting this way for her sake, so that she could be happy. Her heart swelled with happiness at the fact that their friendship was still as strong as ever. She had missed him, despite spending time with Emma and Edward, but now things were alright.

Tom was deep in his thoughts. He felt guilty for lying to Sophia, especially after seeing her reaction, but he couldn't tell her what he was really thinking. Sophia seemed to think he had acted the way he did out of pure kindness and selflessness, when it was more out of fear of his own weakness. He knew that Sophia would think he was being stupid if he told her the truth, and he couldn't have anyone thinking that he was stupid.
Tom was also disgruntled by the fact that Sophia had ignored him so readily over the summer. Though he he brought it upon himself, he felt that Sophia was all too ready to ignore him. Does fancying Edward make her forget everyone else? he wondered. She barely tried to talk to me and find out why I was so quiet. She seemed content to spend all her time with Emma and Edward, as if she didn't care about our friendship. If she had cared, wouldn't she have tried to find out what was wrong, why I acted differently? Maybe she's changing. That thought brought him to another little change in her that he noticed today. She had curled her hair, and she was wearing makeup, albeit a little. He had never thought that Sophia would sink to the girly lengths of caring about her appearance to that extent, by Tom knew whose benefit she was doing it for.
"So, trying to impress Edward, huh?" he teased. Tom hadn't talked to Sophia for two months, and he couldn't resist making fun of her now that he was. Sophia turned a light shade of red.
"No, I - I - is it really hard to believe that I could want to look good on my own accord, just because I can?" she asked indignantly, which confirmed that, while her words may have been true, he was right about her primary motive. Tom chuckled but said nothing in reply. After a few hours, they took a break to head off to dinner. Just like before, he thought contentedly. Nothing has changed. After dinner, he walked back to his dormitory when a sudden thought struck him. His mother had died during childbirth, so she couldn't be a witch, but he could speak Parseltongue, so he shouldn't be muggleborn because Parseltongue was a rare ability attributed to wizards. But he knew that he was named after his father, and the Slytherins had acted as if Tom Riddle was a Muggle name, so was his father actually a muggle or a muggleborn? He decided to ask professor Dumbledore, who Tom grudgingly admitted seemed like he would be the most knowledgeable about the past students of Hogwarts, since he couldn't bother Headmaster Dippet to ask a question that the headmaster would surely consider a waste of his time. So, the next day in Transfiguration, Tom stayed behind after class.
"Professor? Can I please ask you something?" Tom asked.
"You have just asked me something, but yes, you may ask another question." Professor Dumbledore replied. Tom had to resist from rolling his eyes.
"My father's name was Tom Riddle. Do you know if he was ever here at Hogwarts?" Tom asked tentatively.
"No Tom, I have never heard of such a student. I'm sorry." Professor Dumbledore said gently. But Tom would not be deterred. Maybe professor Dumbledore forgot. After all, he couldn't remember every single student that ever walked through the doors. Later in the library, Tom saw Sophia.
"Sorry, Sophia, but I can't do my homework with you. I have to look for something." Tom said curtly.
"Can I help? I would like to, if there's anything I can do." Sophia replied, surprising Tom. He was about to refuse. After all, he was Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he didn't need help from anyone. But he stopped and realized that Sophia wouldn't think any lower of him for helping him, and if he thought about it, it would be more effective if two people were doing the detective work.
"All right. I want to know about my father. He must've been a wizard, and I want to know about his life at Hogwarts. You can check the trophy rooms and the list of prefects to find a Tom Riddle, and I'll look in the books on Wizarding history." Sophia nodded, and then she left. Tom looked through the library for books on Wizarding history. For the next couple of days, the two friends looked for a Tom Riddle every free moment they had after finishing their homework.
"Tom, I didn't find anything in the awards rooms or the list of prefects," Sophia said sadly the next day.
"Well, maybe you can help me look in these Wizarding history books. I've gotten through a bit of one of the books, but there are lots of books, and you can help me look through the rest," Tom said, pausing on the help, a point that Sophia didn't miss. She just looked at him a bit though before she picked up another of the books.
"Okay Tom. You know, helping you look for you dad makes me feel like I'm looking for my own dad. Maybe it's because I haven't seen my own dad for six years. And I have known you for a long time, since we were both young, that you..." Sophia mumbled something, trailing off at the end.
"What?" Tom asked.
"Well, I feel like you're practically my brother," Sophia confessed. She thought about something, and got a faraway look in her eyes. She smiled and started humming.
"What happened?" Tom wondered.
"Oh, it was just that I had said 'we were both young' a second ago, and it reminded me of the first words of a song. The future me -" Sophia said the last part quietly "- likes this song called 'Love Story', and I have to admit that it's a nice song." Sophia went back to the books, humming happily. Tom shook his head. Despite knowing Sophia for so long, he couldn't understand her sometimes. Girls are so strange sometimes, he thought. Another couple of days passed as they looked through the books together. It almost took them a week for the two of them to get through the books because they had a lot of homework. Finally, the duo closed the last books that they were on.
"I didn't find anything, did you?" Tom asked, knowing that Sophia probably hadn't found anything, or else she probably would have told him as soon as she had found it.
"Well, Tom, I didn't find anything about your father. Of course, remember that these books cover mostly British wizarding families and a couple other ones from around the world, so maybe it's possible that your father was from an old wizarding family from somewhere else in the world. However, I did find something that I think might be valuable." Tom's breath caught in his throat.
"What? Don't keep me in suspense, spit it out!" Tom exclaimed.
"Didn't you tell me once that Marvolo was your grandfather's name?" Tom nodded.
"Did you find him or something in there?" Tom asked eagerly.
"Yes." Sophia smiled a little at this. "And you'll never believe this."
"What?"
"If your grandfather Marvolo is the same Marvolo that I found in one of the books, then... you're the Heir of Slytherin!" To say that Tom was surprised was an understatement. However, as Tom always did, he tried to disguise it as mere interest. Sophia handed him a book that Tom now noticed she had kept aside from the rest of the books. Tom opened the pages and skimmed through until he found Salazar Slytherin's family tree.
"A trait that characterizes Salazar Slytherin's descendants is the ability to speak Parseltongue, or 'Snakes' Language'. It was believed that Merope Gaunt married a Muggle, but that was never confirmed, and it was never known if they had a child, so it is believed that the Slytherin line ends with Merope Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt. They used to live in Little Hangleton, but Morfin now is in Azkaban and Merope is believed to be dead," the book read.
"She isn't just believed to be dead, she is dead." Tom said lifelessly. He saw Sophia look at him sadly, but then her face lit up.
"Hah! Don't you see? Have those Slytherin's been bothering you? You have more of a right to be in Slytherin than anybody else! You can speak Parseltongue in front of them, and they'll realize that they don't deserve to be in what they think is the 'greatest house' as much as you do. They can't bother you, and you don't have to worry about them." Tom saw Sophia get a sad look in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Tom asked.
"This doesn't change anything?" Sophia asked timidly.
"Change what?"
"You know. Your opinion on muggles and muggleborns and even half-bloods." Sophia looked at Tom eagerly for his answer. Tom thought about it. On the one hand, the Muggles at the orphanage had been unbearably unpleasant to him for no reason, and would have been even more so when they saw him do magic if he hadn't used it against them. His father was a Muggle - he was sure of it because of the book and the Slytherins' statement about his name being a Muggle name - and he had left him at the orphanage. As if she could read his mind, Sophia piped up.
"Maybe your father also, you know, died. It's possible that that's why he didn't come for you. You should try to research him a bit more before you hold a grudge against him. Try looking at Little Hangleton. Maybe you might find him there." Sophia suggested. Looking at her, he saw that she had always been there for him, even when she couldn't do magic. Since he knew a lot more unpleasant Muggles than nice ones, he had to constantly remind himself of Sophia. He supposed that, now that more and more wizards were muggleborns and half-bloods, more and more Muggles were getting to know about the magical world, and based on what he had heard from muggleborn and half-blood students, their parents were accepting it rather well. I guess Muggles are getting more and more open-minded, he admitted. But I think that students with non-magical families should learn about the magical world before coming to Hogwarts or other wizarding schools. It would make things easier for everyone. As to whether the knowledge of being the Heir of Slytherin had changed anything, well, he felt more special and more powerful, but it didn't change his logic flow for his feelings towards Muggles.
"No, Sophia." Tom finally replied. "It hasn't changed anything."

Sophia was worried. Her future self had gotten around to reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and in that book, she had discovered the truth about Tom's mother and father, and a bit about what Tom would've done in the future. She had learned about Merope Gaunt's passionate, unreturned love for Tom Riddle Sr. She had learned about how Merope had a horrible family life with her father and brother. She learned how Merope, once she was finally free, used her magic to make Tom Riddle fall in love with her. She learned about how he had left her once she had lifted the enchantments, and how Merope was left on the streets with an unborn baby, having lost the will to live and having died once Tom was born. Along with all of that, she had also learned about how Tom killed his father and his father's family. He still might do it if you don't do something about it, Sophia thought to herself. She could see, to some strange, twisted extent, why he would want to take revenge, but she knew that the act would mark his path to becoming Voldemort. She smacked herself for giving him the idea of searching for his father to find out about Tom Riddle Senior. I should've just left it at the possibility of his father having died, Sophia realized. But I gave him the idea of finding out the truth. She hoped that it wouldn't make a difference, but she knew that it was a naive hope.
A couple of days later, she noticed a change at the Slytherin table. Before, Tom would sit at the corner of the table, eating quickly and quietly. Now, he was sitting in the middle of all of the Slytherins and was talking to them while the Slytherins looked at him with what looked like respect. Sophia smiled, and then frowned. She liked the fact that he seemed happy, but she hoped that she herself wasn't helping the Slytherins form the Death Eaters. Sophia turned back to the conversation with Emma and her friends, trying to put her mind off of the issue. Later, when she saw Tom again, she brought it up.
"Looks like you've made new friends. I'm happy for you," Sophia remarked.
"Well, those people don't have personalities that would make them good friends, but they are useful to help my reputation." Sophia felt her heart sink. She was glad that Tom wasn't actually friends with them, because she agreed with his statement about their personalities for the most part, but she was worried at his statement and its tone. He was sounding manipulative, and it scared her a little, though she knew that her worry was due to her knowledge of the future. His statement on its own wasn't too bad.
"What do you mean?" Sophia asked.
"Well, while I am smart, anything I say and do will seem more powerful if there are other people who agree with me," Tom said. Sophia scoffed at his logic, questioning his choice of supporters in influencing the rest of the school.
"No offense, Tom, but are you sure that would be very effective? I mean, most of the school does dislike a lot of the Slytherins."
"Yes, but the Slytherins are my housemates, so it's easier to start with them. And it's working. Abraxas is already questioning his previous opinion on muggleborns. He hasn't changed much, and he still hates Muggles, but he's not as against muggleborns, which is a start. I mean, who can argue against my flawless logic?" Sophia cracked a smile at his characteristic arrogance. “And since a lot of people who are against Muggles usually think along the lines of ‘oh, I wouldn't ever be caught dead being seen in the Muggle part of the world', they probably won't harm Muggles. At least, not without being caught by the Ministry." Sophia nearly sighed in relief, but stopped in time simply because it would've looked weird.
The next day in Potions class, Sophia noticed something for the first time. She noticed the way Tom asked questions and gave answers. When Tom answered questions, he did so confidently yet quietly. However, when he asked a question himself, Tom tilted his head downward a little, as if he was shy, asked the question while looking at the floor, and looked back up at the teacher through the fringes of his silky dark hair. Sophia saw the way everyone else around them melted when he did that, especially the girls, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing out loud. Sophia had to admit that if she hadn't known Tom for six years, then she probably would've melted too, and she thanked the gods that she did know him. He was an interesting and somewhat nice person, even if he was a bit introverted, and she was happy to know the real him, not just the smooth outer shell. She was happy that she didn’t act like those other girls around him, and felt slightly mortified at the thought. But despite all of that, she had to admit that he was becoming more and more handsome. His hair was a bit longer, and the deep, almost-black hair contrasted perfectly with his pale had a rather defined jaw and cheekbones, but he wasn't bony in a sickly way now that he lived at Hogwarts and ate adequately. Even now, he looks as good as the actor Christian Coulson, who played the teenage Tom in the movie Chamber of Secrets, though Tom was younger than the twenty-three-year-old actor, so he still had a ways to go. I can easily see him becoming better-looking when he's older. No wonder he managed to charm everyone so well, especially girls. Sophia still thought the girls' reactions were funny, and hoped that she wouldn't have reacted to him that badly in such an open manner if she hadn't known him.
"Wow, Tom!" Sophia said later, quietly. "I just realized that you act all shy in class whenever you talk, and pretend to be all charming. So this is what you focus on instead of your lessons." Sophia did an imitation of his behavior. "Brilliant!" she mocked.
"I don’t ‘pretend’ to be charming, I am charming. And of course I focus on my lessons. That’s why I’m the top student in our year.” He rolled his eyes. “It took you that long to notice my behavior? Maybe you're not as smart as I thought you were," Tom remarked.
"Aww Tom, you think that highly of me? How touching. And I was too busy paying attention to the lessons all of this time. The lessons are more important than you are, you know, despite what other girls may think."
"The lessons are boring. We don't really learn much. I, on the other hand, am much more interesting and charming than the lessons and am definitely better-looking than the teachers." Tom smirked.
"Be that as it may, I have no reason to pay attention to you in class."
"So you do admit that I am good-looking, since you said 'be that as it may'," Tom replied. Shit, Sophia thought. Way to let him see what you were thinking and stroke his already inflated ego, she scolded herself mentally. He smirked gloatingly at her.
"That's not what I meant. I just meant that you were better-looking than the teachers, which isn’t saying that much, since most of them are relatively old. However, there are many guys better-looking than you. You're average." That was far from the truth, and they both knew it, but Sophia tried to keep her face from betraying that she was well aware of reality.
"You're just biased. If I was average, then why would girls react to me the way they do? You're just addled with thoughts of your sweetheart." Tom teased.
"I'm not addled,” she said as they walked towards their next class. “ I'm one of the smartest witches in our year. The other girls who are charmed by you are addled. And he's not my sweetheart. We're not together." Sophia said the last part quietly, and then she went into the next class and sat down, not willing to let Tom have the last word.
"Dear Sophia, it usually is majority rules, you know. That's how our national government works, and that's how a school's social 'government' works." Tom whispered in her ear, and then sat down at his seat, which was next to hers. He smirked at her, and Sophia quickly took out her book and tried to immerse herself in it to hide her expression. Because Sophia had felt herself blush when Tom whispered in her ear and called her 'dear Sophia', even though she knew it meant nothing. She wasn't sure why she was blushing, because she was sure that she like Edward and that she was over Tom. She had also felt the familiar funny feeling in her stomach when he had smirked at her both times. She shook her thoughts away though. He didn’t mean anything with his ‘dear’ remark. He was her friend, had been for six years, and it would just be too awkward for them to be together. Not that I want anything like that, Sophia thought. And besides, she thought ruefully, I doubt that Tom Marvolo Riddle can love. If he could, he wouldn't have become Lord Voldemort. And I don't think that I could make him feel love and change that. The most I can probably do is be friends with him and make him realize that the world isn't all bad and superficial, and maybe even make him realize that there are people who can and are willing to understand him, and that he does have equals. After all, I do understand why he would've shut out humanity before, when I wasn't his friend, because no one had bothered to understand him before, and then he came to expect the worst of the world and shut himself out. There are times when I think that he is right, because it seems like my future self doesn't have any good friends. Every time she thinks she has made a good friend, they let her down in some way or another. Even her old crush still hasn't forgiven her, even though she admitted her fault. People do let you down a lot. Sometimes, I think that it really isn't worth having the company of others. But I remember how good it feels, and that's the only thing that hasn't let me give up on finding good friends and true love. But I'm Tom's best friend. I understand him the most besides him himself, and I won't betray him if I can help it. I have to stop him from becoming Voldemort, but I'm not sure how to do that. Sophia shook her head and tried to pay attention to the lesson, but her mind kept wandering back to Tom Riddle.

Tom looked over at Sophia, who was sitting next to him. He saw her cheeks turn red, and he saw her try to immerse herself in the book. Her eyes had a faraway look in them, though, and he could tell that she wasn't really paying attention to a word it said. Maybe, despite all of her denial, she really does like me the way other girls do. He smiled a little at that. It just proves that I'm charming enough to even make Sophia like me, even though she's been my friend for years and we're practically siblings. But he felt happy about that. However, professor Dumbledore started the Transfiguration lesson, so Tom turned his attention to the class. Later though, after the class was assigned to transfigure a mouse into a goblet and Tom was done, he recalled recent events. Last night, he actually did his work in the common room for the first time, instead of in his dormitory. The Slytherins started teasing him and making fun of him cruelly again, but this time he'd had enough. He looked one of the Slytherins in the eye and imagined that he was looking at a snake. It wasn't hard.

"Shut up, or I'll hex you," Tom said in Parseltongue. The look on the Slytherin's face was so hilarious that Tom would've laughed if he wasn't too Slytherin to act impulsively on his emotions.

"You were...hissing. Were you, was that... Parseltongue?" the Slytherin asked. All of the other Slytherins seemed shocked as well.

"Yes." Tom replied. "I am Salazar Slytherin's heir." At that moment, a lot changed. All of the Slytherins looked at Tom with new respect.

"The Heir is here at Hogwarts..." Tom heard some of them whispered.

"A descendant of the very founder of this great House," others said in awe.

"Now the Chamber of Secrets can be opened!" one of them exclaimed. Tom was uncomfortable with this, but hid it well behind an impassive mask. He had read up on the Chamber of Secrets, and was sure that the creature was a snake of sorts, probably a basilisk since it could kill with a single glance from its eyes.

"No he won't!" a voice rung out. It was a girl. Parkinson, I believe? The girl continued. "He's the brave defender of the muggleborns," she sneered.

"However, we all know that Salazar Slytherin was a very powerful wizard, and as you can probably already tell, I seem to have inherited his power." Tom said this lightly, but no one missed the threat behind the words. The Parkinson girl shut up, and everyone quietly went back to what they were doing, but Tom could tell that a lot had changed.
Now, his attention back in the current time, he looked over at Sophia since he was still bored. He saw her look at him with worry. What could she be thinking about? She's always happy, and she never seems to worry about anything. What could be worrying her?

"Sophia, what's wrong?" Tom asked gently. She looked startled, and shook her head.

"No, no, nothing's wrong," Sophia said, but the expression on her face gave away the fact that she was lying. She had said that kind of loudly, and Tom looked around to see if people had noticed their conversation. There were girls looking at them with jealousy, Tom noted, and he had to fight to keep himself from rolling his eyes. Girls can be so petty, he thought. They get jealous if they see a guy who they don't have anything to do with talking comfortingly to his friend. Honestly! However, he decided to have a little fun with it. He smiled charmingly at them, blinking a couple of times and making sure his smile showed no teeth. The girls giggled and turned back to their work, whispering in a huddle to try to interpret that forced smile. Sophia saw the whole exchange, and Tom saw her fight back her laughter. Well, at least she seems to have forgotten her worries. I do wish that I knew what was wrong. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen that worrisome expression on her face. If it concerns me, I have a right to know, and if it doesn't, I should be able to ease her worry, tell her what she wants to know, or find out what she wants to know. If only I had Veritaserum, since I very well can't do the Imperius Curse; it's an Unforgivable curse. He supposed that there were books that told one how to brew Veritaserum, but they were probably in the Restricted section because of its danger. However, a plan was starting to form in his head, and if it worked, which he was sure it would, he would be able to use Veritaserum to find out what was bugging her.

The next day after Potions, Tom stayed behind after Potions. He had looked and looked in the library for the Potions book with Veritaserum in it, and he finally found it in the Restricted section, as he'd predicted. He noted the title, and wrote down a permission slip that he decided he'd get Slughorn to sign. He knew that the fact that it was a Potions book would make it easier for him to get permission from Professor Slughorn, not that it would be difficult to persuade the professor.
"Professor Slughorn?" Tom asked, adding hesitancy into his voice. Tom made sure that the hesitancy conveyed shyness, and not nervousness about doing something wrong as someone else might've ended up sounding. He knew that he could make a brilliant actor if he'd wanted to go into such a lowly, dull field.

"Yes my dear boy, what would you like?" professor Slughorn boomed.
"I wanted to do some extra reading, you know. Gain some knowledge outside of class..." Tom trailed off, knowing that Slughorn would take the bait.

"Yes, dear boy, I see what you mean. Gaining extra knowledge is always good, useful, helpful. I haven't seen students as thirsty for knowledge in a long time. Even your friend Sophia, while she is brilliant, bless her heart, isn't as inquisitive as you are. So, I take it that you'd like to get a book out of the Restricted section?" Tom nearly laughed at the undue credit that Slughorn gave him since he wasn’t checking the book out from mere curiosity. He was sure that Sophia wouldn’t have embarked on the task that he had, since she wouldn’t want to invade on a person’s privacy.

"Yes sir, please?" Tom handed professor Slughorn the slip of paper.

"Well, while you are a second year, I see no problem with you taking out this book. Nothing dangerous in here, and I suppose it is fine for one as mature as you for light reading," professor Slughorn said, heartily signing the piece of paper with his bold signature. "Here you go, m'boy."

"Thank you, sir. I really do appreciate it." Tom said silkily. He walked out calmly, and as soon as he was outside the Potions' classroom, he sniggered quietly into his hand. He knew that, if Sophia was here, she would've burst out laughing. Persuasion like that was enjoyable, and it seemed to be one of his talents. He proceeded to his other classes excitedly. Later, he sat down and opened the book to the page which explained how to make Veritaserum. It'll take a month for it to be complete? No matter, Tom thought. Sophia’s worry has lasted longer than that. He sat down to make the potion.

Sophia was in the library doing her homework with Emma and Edward. Tom was busy, he'd told her, researching his mother's side of the family. When Sophia offered to help, though, he'd declined.
"This is something I have to do myself," he'd said. Sophia understood that there were some things like that, and learning about a family that someone never had was one of those things. After all, he already knew that he was the Heir of Slytherin, so no more damage could be done. So now Sophia was helping Emma and Edward with their more difficult homework. She was a bit upset that she wouldn't get to spend time with Tom, but that was masked by her excitement about spending more time with her other two friends, especially Edward. She already had all of her classes with Emma, and the two girls often talked late into the night, but she hadn’t gotten to spend much time with Edward so far this school year. Sophia always had to keep herself from getting too excited whenever Edward smiled at her. He's smiling too much at me for those smiles to just be ‘thank-you for helping me with my homework’ smiles, Sophia thought excitedly, and then chastised herself for acting like her silly female classmates would around Tom. Great. Now I'm analyzing Edward's every smile. I'm just as pathetic as those other girls, Sophia lamented. But I have the right to, since I actually know Edward, but those girls don't know Tom well at all. She heard Emma asking her a question, so she tuned back in to the real world.
"Hey Sophia, what are the consequences of not potting a Mandrake correctly, exactly?" Emma asked. Sophia proceeded to answer her question, cringing at the mental image of the screaming, bawling creature of a plant.
Later, Sophia was reading some of the advanced books on Defense Against the Dark Arts. It’s important to be able to protect myself, Sophia figured, especially when there are students who would seem partial to the Dark Arts. Therefore, if she was going to do advanced study in any area, it would be most useful to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts. Especially, it pained her to think, if she had to use it against Tom. As of right now, the thing that is in most danger from Tom is my mind, she knew. He was her friend, so she knew (hoped) that he wouldn’t use Dark Magic or attack her. Even if Tom suddenly turns against all Muggleborns, including me, he didn’t seem to have done anything until his sixth year, when he opened the Chamber of Secrets, so I’m safe for now, Sophia figured. But he also learned Legilimency. I’m not sure when, but I have a feeling it was while he was at Hogwarts, and it would be natural for Tom to want to read everyone’s minds, especially of those close to him. He would want to confirm that his trust, concern, and judgement of people were well-placed, so as his best friend, I’ll be the first person whose mind he’d want to read. I should learn Occlumency so that I can protect my mind from him. If she learned it now, she could spend later years perfecting her Occlumency skills against the boy who would become the world’s greatest Legilimens If I didn’t know the future, Sophia acknowledged, I’d actually want Tom to read my mind, so that he could see just how much I care about him, just how much he means to me, just how valuable of a friend he is. However, she did know the future - his future - and it wouldn't be good for Tom to learn about it. If he does, he might like what he did in his later years, and that might persuade him to follow the path to become Voldemort. And worse, he could learn from his mistakes and make it harder for Harry or anyone else to defeat him. Sophia looked for books about Occlumency, and finally found a section in the library with a couple books on it. Thankfully, they weren't in the Restricted Section, which made things easier. She supposed that while Legilimency could be harmful if in the wrong hands, Occlumency was simply harmless, if difficult, magic and Sophia guessed that most younger students wouldn't be able to master it anyways. She picked up the slim book titled 'Occlumency and How to Master it'. She checked it out and sat down to read it.
'Occlumency is a very difficult branch of magic. It is utilized to protect one of the most precious treasures - one's mind - from unwelcome outsiders. If one masters it, his secrets will be safe from prying people. Occlumency protects against both Legilimens and Veritaserum, -' Wow, I didn't know that it could protect someone from Veritaserum, Sophia thought in surprise. If Harry knew Occlumency, he wouldn't have had to fear Umbridge's or Snape's threats to use Veritaserum against him. She read on.
'-but it requires intense concentration for the duration of the event, and if one lets his concentration slip for even a moment, a Legilimens could enter the mind, and one would have to use all of his strength to fight off the mental attack. If the Occlumens lets his concentration slip, and if Veritaserum was given, the Veritaserum will take effect and cannot be fought off.' Sophia was nervous. I'm not good at concentrating, and I'll need someone to help me, she realized. Someone who knows Legilimency. However, I would only consider trusting a teacher. But who? she wondered. Suddenly, the answer came to her. Professor Dumbledore. He was very calm, very level-headed, she knew. From the books, she also knew that he was a great leader and accepted things, no matter how far-off they might sound, without batting an eyelid. He would be perfect to ask to help her. But she knew that he’d have to read her mind, and she was worried about him finding out about Tom. After all, he already dislikes and distrusts Tom. Who knows what action Dumbledore might take if he knew what Tom could become? She weighed the risks, and though it was a difficult decision, Sophia decided that the risk of Tom reading her mind outweighed the risks of Dumbledore punishing Tom. Besides, Tom hadn’t done anything yet, so Dumbledore couldn’t punish him. Coming to this conclusion, she continued looking through the book, and read the instructions for Occlumency. First, she had to visualize one thing and one thing only. With intense concentration, she had to empty her mind of other memories. She tried, and she managed it eventually, but she knew that she'd need practice around a Legillimens, someone who would consciously probe her mind for the memories she was trying to block out.
The next day, after Transfiguration, Sophia stayed behind. "Go on," she told Emma and Tom. "I'll be there in a few minutes. I need to ask professor Dumbledore something." They nodded and left. Sophia then approached professor Dumbledore. "Professor? I want to ask you something."
"Ask away, Miss Anderson. I take it that it's not a question about the lesson, correct?" Professor Dumbledore asked quietly, but underneath it, Sophia could hear the sureness in his voice.
"You are right sir. Well, I'll get straight to the point. I would like to learn Occlumency." Sophia was glad that the professor hadn't reacted with outright shock and/or disbelief, though she could see mild surprise in his face. I was right, Sophia noted. Professor Dumbledore is the best person to approach for this. He is probably the only one who can understand my situation calmly.
"I see. And would you care to tell me why you would like to learn such advanced magic? I take it that you have a good reason for it."
"Well, sir, do you think that you can promise that you won't tell everybody about this?" Professor Dumbledore seemed taken aback at the request, but he replied.
"I will see, but unless anyone is in danger from what you're about to tell me, you can be pretty sure that I'll keep this a secret."
"Well, sir, I'm not positive about what happened to me either, but here's what I think happened, and I think it's the best guess I can come up with. You see, I know for a fact that I was born in 1997." Sophia saw surprise in the professor's eyes, but he gestured for her to continue. "March 17, to be exact. I was six when I ended up in the orphanage somehow. The year at the orphanage was 1933. However, as I grew up at the orphanage, there was, I guess, another me growing up in 2003. I mean, if I had been taken out of my time when I was actually six, there wouldn't be another me in 2003, would there? But there is. So I think that I was de-aged and sent back in time. I can hear my other me's thoughts, and she can hear mine, since we're technically the same person. However, I don't remember me myself growing up in the future. The only memories I have of that is that of my future self, so I suppose that when I was de-aged, my memories of my teenage years were wiped out as well. I guess the mind-link will only continue until my future self is sent back in time and there will no longer be two me's who are exactly the same age existing in two time periods at once. But I still know what the future will be like, and that could be dangerous if someone in the past finds out about the future." Sophia held her breath and waited for professor Dumbledore's reaction.
"That is certainly a remarkable story, but I don't see why you would be particularly worried. I mean, do you think someone is after particular information right now?"
"That's another thing, professor. The future me is a Muggle. Somehow, when I was sent back in time, I also got magical powers. And in the future, well, there is this book series about the wizarding world. In it, there's a dark lord. His name is Voldemort. He hates Muggles and Muggleborns. I'm worried that I might run into him and that he will read my thoughts. I know the book is true because..." Sophia trailed off. She didn't want to tell Dumbledore about Tom Riddle. After all, he hadn't done anything yet, and he still had a chance of improving, but she wasn't sure if Dumbledore would see that. "... well, how do I tell you this, professor? You're in that book. Obviously, you're a lot older, but you're trying to fight that dark lord." Professor Dumbledore stared at her for a few minutes. She remembered the Harry Potter books, and tried not to remember the second or sixth book. Then, professor Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"I see, Miss Anderson. I'm sorry, but I used Legillimency. I had to see if you were being honest. See, I couldn't have you learning Occlumency to hide truths from the staff. But you are honest, and your story is remarkable. I have never heard of Voldemort, but I suppose I could teach you Occlumency to arm yourself against him. Your information could be dangerous. He could use it to make additional precautions, making him harder to defeat. Okay. I'll give you private Occlumency lessons at eight every Saturday and Sunday evening. How's that? It's granted that you won't tell anyone about what you'll really be learning."
"Of course, sir."
"You may leave."
"Thank you, sir," Sophia said excitedly. Wow, I’m learning something so advanced, and it’ll be helpful! she exclaimed mentally with a smile. From then on, every weekend evening was devoted to Occlumency lessons. Since she had two lessons a week, she was able to pick up Occlumency pretty quickly. After about a month, Tom was talking to her more often again. She assumed that he had already found out as much as he could about his mother’s family, but now she tried to avoid him for a bit since she wanted to spend her free moments doing concentration exercises.
"What are you doing?" Tom asked. He sounded offended, and Sophia guessed it was because she appeared, in his eyes, to be blowing him off. He probably doesn't like being blown off, but I know that he’ll never admit that, Sophia almost smiled at his stubbornness when it came to feelings. He insists on acting so uncaring, it’s almost funny.
"Sorry. I've just been stressed, so I'm meditating," Sophia replied. It wasn't a total lie. After all, meditating wasn't just about crossing one’s legs and saying 'Ohmmmm', it was about relaxing and emptying the mind.
"Really? I don't see you crossing your legs and saying 'Ohmmmm'," Tom replied cheekily.
"Meditating is about relaxing and emptying your mind, Tom. You should try it. If you won't, leave me alone and let me meditate.” Sophia cringed at how harshly that came out. “Sorry, I don't mean to be rude at all. It's just I want to know that I can concentrate and completely empty my mind, you know. It helps me deal with homework stress. After all, you are the only person in our year who actually enjoys homework despite not needing it. I certainly don't.” She saw his expression, and continued. “Look, you're probably thinking 'Oh, who is she to abandon me, I don't need her, friends are useless and they abandon you, I don't want a friend, etc. etc. etc.'." Sophia nearly burst out laughing when she saw Tom's mildly surprised expression, which in Tom’s facial expression dictionary translated to utter shock. "No, dear Tommy-boy, I can't read minds. I've just known you too long. I don't know about other people you've known, but I'm not out to abandon you and our friendship or to be a bad friend, so I don't want you to assume the worst about me." Sophia then walked off, ignoring his grimace at the nickname ‘Tommy-boy’, sat down, and went back to clearing her mind. Eventually, professor Dumbledore declared, after about a month and a half since their lessons had started, that Sophia had mastered the basics of Occlumency.
"Good job, Miss Anderson. I've never know anyone who has mastered such powerful magic at such a young age," professor Dumbledore declared proudly.
"Thank you, sir." Sophia replied happily. She left that day, eager to talk to Tom. She could now tell when Legilimency or Veritaserum was being used on her, and could do basic defense against it, which meant that she could lie through Veritaserum and simply block her thoughts from basic Legilimency. Sophia suspected that professor Dumbledore had only done weaker Legilimency against her right now, so that she couldn’t block her mind from him, but that was fine with her. In fact, I’m glad that someone can read my mind, or else no one could verify my statements even if I am telling the truth. A situation could come up where I’d be a witness, and I can’t be too good at Occlumency, at least not now, Sophia acknowledged. On her way back to her dorm, she ran into Tom.
"Sophia, come here. I've been wanting to talk to you about what I found out about my parents. I've been wanting to talk to you for two weeks, but you've kept avoiding me, and by becoming friends with you all of those years ago, I've gotten into the habit of wanting to share things with you. It's pointless, if you think about it practically, because it's not like anything could be done about half the things that people share with each other, but I guess it’s force of habit," Tom said sourly.
"Tom, stop thinking about everything logically. We can't necessarily understand our feelings. Sometimes, we just have to go with the flow. So, what did you want to tell me?" Sophia asked. Her eyes traveled to Tom's hands, which was clutching a bottle.
"Butterbeer," Tom said, answering Sophia's unspoken question. "Nicked it from the kitchens. You have to tickle the pear in the center to open the kitchens. It's so silly that no one would think of it, which is its genius, I suppose." Tom said. The two friends went into an empty classroom and sat down. Tom cast a couple of charms. Sophia felt like something cool was trickling down her.
"We're now invisible, and no one can hear us. I found out that Salazar Slytherin's descendants had squandered their wealth, so that my mother and my grandfather had practically nothing for themselves. I discovered that none of them had ever been to Hogwarts or any other school of sorts. My father was, presumably, a Muggle, so I couldn't find out anything about him yet. But I found out that my grandfather and uncle had abused my mother because she was a squib." Tom said bitterly. "My father was a muggle, and even my mother, the descendant of the great Salazar Slytherin, couldn't do magic. She couldn't even stay alive for her son. And my dear uncle went to jail for attacking the Muggle Tom Riddle and my grandfather went to jail for attacking a Ministry official. My mother ran away from home and got married to a Muggle, according to what the wizards were able to gather from sources, and then she died right after she had me. I have such a good family background."
"It's okay, Tom. At least she stayed alive long enough to have you. And maybe she was weak from childbirth. That happens to women. Maybe she figured that the orphanage would be able to provide for you better than she could. If everything about your mother's family is true, then she wouldn't have been able to support herself, let alone you as well." Sophia was still wary about the drinks. Why did he have them?
"But she ran away from home! She didn't have to fear her father and brother! And if she married the Muggle, than she couldn't really have forced him!" Tom exclaimed angrily.
"Unless she used a love potion, or the Imperius curse," Sophia replied quietly, knowing the likely truth. At seeing Tom's expression, Sophia continued.
"It could be possible, you know. Maybe she could've given him a love potion, and then maybe she ran out, and he abandoned her then."
"Yeah, but she was a squib!" Tom was breathing heavily. He took a couple more breaths, and then seemed to calm down. "But I guess that you're right. My mother seemed to have done what she thought was best, even if it necessarily wasn't the best, and I should appreciate her for that. Can we make a toast to my mother?" Tom asked, his head hanging. He seemed so sad and innocent that Sophia almost agreed until something struck her.
"But you seemed to be angry at your mother before. I don't think that you wanted to make a toast to her before. So why did you have those bottles at the time?" Sophia asked warily.
"I know that you love it." Tom replied simply. Sophia then saw that Tom also had two glasses in his hand. He opened the bottle and poured two glasses. They clinked their glasses together. "To my poor dear mother," Tom said. Tom raised the glass to his lips and Sophia saw the butterbeer touch his lips. She was reassured. After all, he had poured his drink from the same bottle as her drink, and she knew that he didn't spike her drink after pouring it out for her. She took a sip of her butterbeer, and felt a queer sensation along with the heat and sweetness of the butterbeer. She recognized the queer sensation all too well. Veritaserum. What? she wondered. But how? If he drank the Butterbeer too, does that mean that he’s under the influence of Veritaserum as well? Or did he too learn to fight it off?
"Sophia, I have to ask you something. What was bothering you before, a month and a half ago in Potions class? You seemed to be troubled. What was troubling you that day? You know, the day that we were arguing about me, and how I acted around other teachers and students?" Even with the seriousness in his voice, she saw Tom smirk at the memory of that day. She nearly smiled, when the weight of the question hit her like a ton of bricks. “I’ve noticed you look worried other times, too,” he continued. “Why?” Though that day was so long ago, she remembered exactly what had troubled her, remembered that exact day clearly, since it was the day that she found about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Tom's actions were suddenly crystal-clear to her.

Tom held his breath in eagerness as he asked Sophia the question. Sophia got a faraway look in her eyes. Then she answered.

"My future self read a Muggle book series about the wizarding world. In it, there's a dark lord who hates Muggles and Muggleborns. When he was at Hogwarts, he even killed a Muggleborn, but stopped because the school was about to shut down. He then framed a fellow student. He went on to kill his remaining family, and he used those and other killings to split his soul and try to gain immortality. He lost what little humanity he had and became a ruthless killer, torturing and killing people who didn't do his bidding, who resisted him, and sometimes killing those who were just there in order to get to his targeted victims." Sophia looked at Tom with tears pooling in her eyes. The look that she gave him was pure sadness and regret. But why is she so sad about that? I would understand if she was scared, but she doesn't look scared, just sad.

"That's upsetting," Tom said. "But why are you sad about that? It's just a book."

"Think about all of the innocent people who die just because of one wizard's hatred for Muggles coupled with his desire for immortality." Sophia took a couple of deep breaths to try to steady her shaking voice. "Besides that, based on the dates in the book and everything, the dark lord would be in school around this time. The book takes place in the 1990s, and it said that the killing of the Muggleborn student happened fifty years ago, so that's about now. And the book really accurately describes the wizarding world. The description of Diagon Alley, the Leaky Cauldron, Hogwarts and its ghosts, they're all accurate, even though the book was, supposedly, written by a Muggle. I doubt that, of course, based on the extreme accuracy. Heck, even professor Dumbledore is in there, even though he's older and he's -" She trailed off, then inhaled a lungful of air.
"He's?" Tom prompted.

"He's sillier." Sophia finished. Tom nodded, not surprised at all. Professor Dumbledore was nice enough, and taught his lessons well, but he was too silly and goofy for his liking. Sophia's statement about the book shook him though. If the book was very accurate though, then the parts about the dark lord were probably true as well. But Sophia said that the book was a series that Muggles read. Did that mean that some Muggleborn gave away the secrets of the wizarding world to Muggles? he wondered with worry. Tom found that thought disconcerting. Well, Sophia said that it happened in the future, so he'd worry about that later.

"Surely you know his name though? If he does go to Hogwarts now, we'll know him from his name!" Tom said excitedly.

"That's the thing though. His name is Voldemort, and I've never heard of such a student." Sophia replied.

"That's probably a nickname, a fake name that he made up to go by since then no one would know who he was. But do you know his real name by any chance?" Tom held his breath, waiting for her reply.

"No. There's no other name that he's addressed by." Tom sighed, dejected at the lack of concrete information. There’s almost nothing to work with, Tom thought with disappointment. Well, at least he knew what was bothering her.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that right now, we've got Grindelwald to worry about, so don't worry about the future yet. I'll try to convince Slytherins that Muggleborns and even Muggles aren't bad, and that we're not better because of our magical abilities. It’s probably one of them. What you described is horrible, but now that we know about it, we can try to stop it. It'll be hard, since they've grown up with this mindset, but I'll try." Tom saw Sophia give him a weak smile. Then, she shook her head.

"I can't believe that you gave me Veritaserum, Tom Marvolo Riddle," Sophia hissed. "Don't even try to give me that innocent look. I know what it feels like, I happened to come across it in a book on potions. And...and you didn't drink it, did you? I remember it now, you only let the liquid touch your lips. Your lips were closed, though, so you didn't actually drink the Butterbeer; you just pretended to.” Tom’s jaw dropped in surprise at her angry reaction. He had never been on the receiving end of so much anger from her. Why is she reacting so badly? he wondered in shock. Sophia barrelled on. “I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I see it. Tom, you're my best friend. I really treasure our friendship, and I mostly trust you. I just didn't want to tell you about the future, because awful things could happen if I meddled with time. Up until now, most of the stuff we talked about when we talked about the future was about me and my life, and you can't affect that, since I lived in the Muggle world, so it was fine. But I didn't want to accidently tell you something that could mess up time. We don't know how the rules of time work!”

“Sophia, I -” Sophia didn’t let him finish though. There was no stopping her, Tom saw, once she was truly angry.

“And you used Veritaserum to force the answers out of me. Do you think that I didn't trust you? Well, let me tell you that I did! I did trust you Tom, because you hadn't given me a reason not to. In fact, now I dont! You should've known that if I wasn't telling you something, it was for a reason. After all, even Emma doesn't really know anything that you don't know, so that should tell you something." Tom was slightly taken aback at this. She’s admitting the previous extent of her trust in me and revoking it in one breath, he noted wryly. Wow, she trusted me more than Emma? Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed her like this, Tom thought almost regretfully. But then he remembered his original intent behind his actions, and he finally spoke up, getting his two cents in.

"I... I had no idea that your worry had to do with the future!” Tom replied honestly, still shaken by the sheer anger radiating off of Sophia in waves. “I...I thought that you didn't want to burden your problems on me because you didn't want to worry me. I..."
"Oh don't be so full of yourself! I'm wasn't worried about giving your mind tension because I know that it's not delicate!" Sophia calmed herself down and continued. "I know that you can handle as much as me, maybe more. I don't doubt your maturity and ability to handle troubles. But I am still angry at you for invading my privacy of thought and attempting to force information out of me, and you can't blame me. How do I know that you won’t do it to gain information that you can turn against me?” Sophia seemed to have finally explained the real reason that the whole thing made her furious. She’s afraid of me turning against her, he realized. She’s afraid that I’ll try to find her weaknesses through Veritaserum and exploit them. But why would she think I would try to use anything against her? he wondered, still bewildered. Besides, I’m her best friend. She just said so herself. I already know her well enough to discern weaknesses in her. It hasn’t been a problem before, so why is it an issue now? “You can have your Butterbeer!” Sophia said with finality. “Nicking it because I liked it, yeah right." Sophia stormed off. Tom stood there in confusion, a whirlwhind of emotions swirling through him. It was all a waste, in the end. I mostly only found out stuff that he couldn't control, that I can’t really do anything about. He went up to his dormitory, upset about the way things had turned out. But later, as he was about to fall asleep, additional thoughts plagued his mind. Didn't Sophia realize that I was only doing this for her? Didn't she realize that, as a friend, I wanted to know what was troubling her, and because I am a wizard, I simply used Veritaserum instead of bothering her until she relented, like a Muggle would probably do? That would’ve had a similarly annoying effect. Friends, they are so ungrateful. You try to help them, and if you don't always try their way, they get mad at you. Are friends really worth it? They're not really caring and understanding the way they seem to be. If they were understanding, then Sophia would understand why I did this. If she wants to be mad at me, that's fine! Two can play that game. Besides, she is the one who would be all alone and helpless without friends, not me. She is the one who needs reassurance that she is good from other people, not me! She is the one who needs a sweetheart, not me! His mind stewing in bitter thoughts like this, Tom fell asleep.

Sophia's thoughts were jumbled. She wasn't sure what was the right way to feel. On the one hand, she was extremely angry at Tom for using Veritaserum against her. How dare he? It was luck, or maybe Fate, that she had learned Occlumency, and quickly. That's not how you treat a friend! Just because he's a wizard doesn't mean that he has the right to use force to get his friend to tell him her secrets! He should trust me that I value our friendship enough that if I'm not telling him what's wrong, it is for a good reason. After all, what if I hadn’t learned Occlumency? He had asked me if I knew the real name of Lord Voldemort! I would’ve told him. He would’ve known it would be him, and everything would be ruined. But another part of her was taking another direction. He may have used Veritaserum against me, but since he thinks that it worked on me, he could've asked me anything about the future. But he didn't. He only asked me what was wrong. Sure, his tactic for finding out wasn't right, but it shows that he wanted to help me because he saw me in pain. After all, I suppose that having a friend won't turn his personality around one-hundred-eighty degrees. He'd still have some of the more forceful, commanding parts of his personality. He'd still have the need to know everything and anything that might be important. Her thoughts took another direction yet again though. The only reason he probably didn't ask me about the future is because he knows that I lived in the Muggle world in the future, so he probably thinks that my knowledge about the future is negligible in terms of the Wizarding world. The other side of her interrupted her rant. Yeah, but once he realized that I had read a book series that possibly has valuable information about the Wizarding world, he could've asked me what the world itself was like, or if there was anything about him. But he didn't. He only asked me about the Dark Lord who was bothering me. Who coincidentally happens to be him, but he doesn’t know that. Sophia was having a strong internal battle. He could've apologized, though, was the last ringing thought in her mind. His intentions may have been good, but his method wasn't. He knows that it bothered me, the force he tried to use, and he should realize that at least he owed me an apology for that. But he won't! So I have no reason for forgiving him and pretending that he did nothing wrong, or for pretending to be thankful for his ‘concern’. Sophia fell into an uneasy sleep, tossing and turning in confusion of the situation, unsure of what was the right thing to do.

Sophia had the thinnest sliver of hope that last night was just an awful dream, and that none of this had happened. That Tom would still be smirking at her while sitting next to her in class, eager to prove smoothly that he was smarter and superior. However, when she was in class, Tom didn't even look at her. He acted as if there was no one in the seat next to him. For some inexplicable reason, Sophia was deeply offended by this. She felt as if someone had taken a knife, plunged it deep into her heart, and twisted it. She wanted to apologize to Tom, but something stopped her. She was sure that his pride was stopping him from apologizing for using Veritaserum. Well, if he has pride, so do I, and I won’t apologize when I have reason to be angry. She'd had it with apologizing to guys for things she couldn't really control. Well, her Muggle future self did, but they were connected, so she was tired of stubborn, egotistical guys. She sat down and looked at her books, finally being able to fully concentrate on the content in the pages. Sophia couldn't control her feelings completely, though. She never could. She couldn't keep them bottled up inside of her, so she did what she thought was the most sensible thing she could; she told Emma what had happened. Well, at least part of it.

"Emma, I'm so upset! Tom and I had our biggest fight last night," Sophia told Emma in the library as they were doing their homework. Edward had gotten up to look for a book. Despite everything, Sophia still had time to revel in the fact that Edward separated himself from his other Gryffindor buddies to spend time with Sophia and Emma, simply doing homework. She would have thought that he just wanted answers if it wasn't for the way they all talked and had a good time with each other long after their homework was finished. Recently, Edward had started telling Sophia and Emma about the pranks that he and his friends played. While Emma would click her tongue at him jokingly in disapproval and then share a smile with Sophia, as if to say 'what can we do', Sophia loved hearing about the guys' escapades. Currently, the jokester in question was looking for a book right now, and Sophia took this opportunity to discuss last night's events with Emma.

"What happened?" Emma asked with a concerned tone.

"Something was bothering me in class one day. It wasn't anything important," Sophia said quickly, seeing the expression on Emma's face. "Just a book at the orphanage that I had read." Sophia said, quickly lying. While she felt extremely guilty for lying to her friend, now wasn't the time to tell her her life...er...lives' histories. "I was bored and my mind was wandering that day in Potions class. Tom saw me upset, and he asked me what was wrong. I wouldn't tell him, because it really was inconsequential. He asked me again last night. I told him, but I was angry at his insistence." Emma looked at Sophia dubiously.

"You don't have to give me the details if you don't want to, but I won't understand your point of view if you don't." At least she gives me my privacy, even though she could expect me to tell her since she’s my best friend. She’s not being forceful. Tom should learn a few things about etiquette from Emma, she fumed. Because of this contrast between Emma and Tom, Sophia almost relented and told Emma what happened, but Tom's face swam into her mind. Pathetic and needy, the mental image of Tom sneered at her. You need other people to understand you to reassure yourself that what you did was right. I, on the other hand, don't. I know that my opinion about myself is more important than any outsider's opinion, because they haven't been through the same things that I have, and they don't think exactly like me. Every person is unique, and you can't really truly understand other people because of that, so why even try? But be pathetic and tell your friends all of your carefully guarded secrets. I don't care. I don't need you anyways, you pitiful mudblood! Even though it was only a mental image of her imagination speaking at her like that, she was scared that Tom really did think that of her. Besides the obvious fear that Tom would inevitably become Voldemort and she and other innocents would be in danger, Sophia simply didn't want to lose her Tom, her best friend. She felt her heart start to shatter, little shards breaking off like glass being hammered, at the thought that he really did think of her as a ‘filthy mudblood’, that he actually scorned her, that their friendship had been a facade. She was also afraid that he was right about her being pathetic. Sophia burst into tears as Edward came back with a book in his hands. Great, she nearly groaned. Now I’ve wholly and truly solidified Tom’s point about being a pathetic weakling. Even though he didn’t actually call me that.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked. Sophia contemplated her options. In the end, though, she decided that she was not Tom Marvolo Riddle, and she would very well do what her heart wanted to. She was different from him, and it was his 'only trust yourself' opinion and his contempt for emotions like love, friendship, and trust towards other people that turned him into Voldemort. Maybe she trusted people too much, but she'd deal with that. It was what made her Sophia.

"Okay. I promise that what I'm about to tell you is the truth as I experienced it. But it's a long story, and I'll have to start at the beginning." Emma and Edward nodded. Sophia cast a 'Muffliato' around them."Here's how I think it happened, because it's the most logical explanation I can come up with. Once, there was a Muggle girl. She was at least twelve, maybe older. She was reading a fiction book about the Wizarding world. The book was also written by a Muggle, as far as we know. She fell asleep, and woke up in an orphanage the next morning..." Sophia told Emma and Edward the whole story about ending up at the orphanage, meeting Tom Riddle, and discovering that she was six years old and had went back in time, her memories of life as an older kid having being erased. She told them about learning that Tom could do magic, and realizing about a year and a half later that she could do it too. She told them about being able to hear her 'future self's' thoughts, thus realizing that she must exist in two times and places at once where both selves were exactly the same age. She continued with her story, telling them that she believed that the book was true because it had a Professor Dumbledore, albeit an older one. Emma and Edward gasped at this. Sophia finally got to the part about what was upsetting her that day, but only told them as much as she'd told Tom. She still didn’t want to reveal that aspect of the future. It was too dangerous. Besides, Sophia had to admit. I can’t trust them that much. It’s not like telling them this will do any good anyway.

"So you reckon that that Dark Lord in the book goes to school at around this time?" Emma gasped in horror.

"Probably a Slytherin," Edward muttered. At Sophia's reproachful look, Edward looked apologetic. "Sorry. It's just that everyone I know who thinks that purebloods are better than everyone else is a Slytherin."

"It's okay. I don't blame you." Sophia replied gently. She then told them about how Tom had used Veritaserum to try to get the truth out of her. Edward looked angry.

"No wonder you are angry at him. I would be too. His intentions may have been good, but his method wasn't," he said, echoing Sophia's thoughts. She couldn’t help but smile at how they thought the same way. Great minds think alike, she remarked mentally.

"Yeah, Edward, but he did what he thought was best to try to help her. He wouldn't have been able to if he didn't know what was wrong. Soph, I get your anger, but in the end, Tom did all of this because he cares about you." Emma said. "You should apologize to him."

"No, Emma. He knows that I was offended by his method, and he should have apologized to me for that," Sophia replied fiercely.

"Here's what we'll do," Edward interceded. "I'll try to talk to Tom, and see if you two can talk it out. Then, you can tell him that you understand why he did it, and that you just want him to apologize for the way he tried to get you to tell him what was wrong. And for now, you need a break from all of this, so guess what? You can join me and my friends on our next prank." Despite the seriousness of the situation before, a big, girly part of Sophia couldn't help but squeal internally. Maybe some good has come out of this fight, Sophia thought optimistically. I get more bonding time with Edward. Sophia immediately felt guilty at the thought, feeling bad that she had been happy about her fight with her best friend for the sake of someone she fancied. Sophia pushed her brooding thoughts away. Edward is my friend too. And he’s a kind, understanding friend who is like me in many ways. Anyways, pranks are so fun! I’m just no good at them. On the outside, though, Sophia didn’t let her face betray her inner thoughts. She simply beamed, a bright smile gracing her face.

"I'm up for it!" Sophia exclaimed, while Emma looked horrified.

"Two Edwards in our group! What'll I do?" Emma said jokingly horrified. She winked at Sophia, who blushed, knowing what was probably running through Emma's mind. The thought of her and Edward becoming closer as a result of the fight was the only thought that got her through the next couple of days, when she saw Tom looking pretty close to the rest of the Slytherins and started worrying about him and what he was doing.

Over the next couple of days, Tom noticed the glances that Sophia gave him. They seemed full of pain and confusion. He'd always look away, pretending that he never noticed her. I'm done with caring and being concerned about people. I thought that Sophia understood me, but she doesn't seem to understand that I only did this to find out what was bothering her to help her, he fumed. Maybe I was wrong to use Veritaserum, but my motives were good! But it seems that if someone doesn't do something the 'traditional' or 'right' way, people hate him. Well, the end justifies the means, especially since no one was hurt or harmed. But if she doesn't realize all of this and apologize for overreacting, then I don't see any reason to apologize to her for using Veritaserum. I don't need to apologize, since I don’t need her. With these thought running through his head, he ignored Sophia easily. Now that he was alone in terms of actual friends, he decided to have some fun with flirting with some of the other girls in his classes, the way he sometimes did before. It will be interesting.

In Potions, when professor Slughorn asked a question, Tom hesitated for a moment before putting his hand up in the air. That hesitation was necessary to avoid seeming like a completely annoying know-it-all. If it seemed like he took a minute to consider the answer, his genius would seem more natural. When he put his hand up, he put it up calmly. He didn't race to try to put his hand up in the air as fast as he could for the same reasons as before. Tom also made sure that his arm was relaxed, bent a little, and in front of him a little instead of raising it up straight into the air and having his arm be perpendicular to his shoulders. That was to make sure that he didn't seem like an overeager little child dying for the professor's approval at his right answer, and to help him look more sophisticated.

"Yes, Tom, what do you think is the answer?" Professor Slughorn asked in a jolly tone.

"Root of asphodel, sir," Tom said in a quiet voice.

"Excellent Tom, ten points to Slytherin!" Tom smirked. That was part of his usual plan. It was what he had been doing since he came to Hogwarts, and there was nothing new about it. However, now he turned to a group of giggling girls at his right a couple of seats down. They were staring at him, and when he saw them, they giggled again. Inside, Tom was retching. They barely have brains the size of peas, and they would hardly be able to understand my intelligence, merely being impressed by it and my good looks. Yet, the hopeless girls still vie for my attention! On the outside, though, Tom smiled his charming smile and winked at them. He didn't look at any one girl in particular, though, so he was sure that the girls would start an argument about who he had smiled and winked at. Sure enough, the girls were whispering loudly amongst themselves about who Tom had looked at. Tom wasn't sure if the girls were even trying to be quiet. These girls would get jealous when they saw Sophia talking to me, but there’s a reason I enjoy talking to her! It’s because she’s smart, and mature, and not empty-headed and shallow like them! Tom was surprised at that unbidden thought. He was mad at her, so why was he thinking of how he enjoyed talking to her? Before he could ponder the matter much, Professor Slughorn’s voice brought him back to reality.

"Girls, will you quiet down or will I have to put you in detention?" Professor Slughorn boomed. The girls seemed to sober up a little. Tom smirked, applauding himself silently at his performance. Then, he heard coughing from beside him. He looked to the left a little. Sophia was quietly coughing. She was attempting to cover up what seemed to be laughter with a cough, but her smile gave her away, for people usually didn't smile while coughing. Tom rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the feeling of nostalgia that hit him. It reminded him of that day in class earlier, when he had teased Sophia about her finding him attractive. How could I forget? Tom asked himself bitterly. That was the day that started this entire conflict. Or else we’d still probably be talking.
Later, he was talking to his Slytherin 'friends'. It was amusing to see them practically worship him, simply because he was the Heir of Salazar Slytherin. It was ironic because he was sure that he was a half-blood.

"What's the point of being nice to the mudbloods?" Abraxas inquired. "We make exceptions and let the mudbloods into our world, but we have to hide from the Muggles!"

"Well, see, I want to change that when I grow up. I want to become Minister of Magic when I grow up, because we need somebody competent for that position, and we haven't had someone competent for a while. I mean, I guess they have the right idea letting Muggleborns into our world, because if we keep up the pureblood thing, eventually we'll start inbreeding, and that has disastrous effects," Tom said confidently. He had no doubt that the other Slytherins would believe him, and a perfect example of disastrous inbreeding, though he wouldn't ever admit it to anyone but Sophia, who already knew, was his own family. The noble line of Salazar Slytherin had been nearly destroyed because of his and his descendants' extreme pureblood mania. That alone made him realize the vice of pureblood mania, and he was sure that it would keep him from ever supporting pureblood supremacy. Well, she doesn’t have to worry about that, at least, he thought. Besides, Sophia was right about one thing. Purebloods may have had wizard ancestors the whole way through, but even those ancestors eventually just had to have been born with the trait randomly. After all, if not everyone has magic today, Tom reasoned, then only a select, rare handful must have had magic in the olden days. If those wizards had all insisted on pureblood breeding, then there wouldn't be many wizards today and the effects of inbreeding would be worse. So Muggleborns were just as good as the 'pureblood ancestors', since they're both born with magical ability, Tom decided. Also, if any magical person isn't trained in magic, the magic could explode out at random times, eventually driving a person mad. Since there were a lot more Muggleborns and halfbloods, they would be harmful to society in general. Thus, he couldn't let pureblood mania take over. However, he did believe that wizards and witches shouldn't have to hide from Muggles. After all, a good witch or wizard would help society in general, and a bad Muggle with weapons like guns and knives could be pretty dangerous, he reasoned. Not to mention that Muggles had bombs, Tom knew from learning about World War I, which meant that one single Muggle could do more damage than a wizard could.

"Earth to Tom!" Abraxas nearly yelled.

"Sorry Abraxas. I was just considering my opinion on your views after thinking things through. I believe that you are right in the fact that we shouldn't have to hide from Muggles. Our powers aren't necessarily bad, they're just dangerous in the wrong hands. Besides, bad Muggles could be that dangerous. While pretty much every Muggle I have met has seemed too worthless to deserve to know about our world, the way Muggleborns talk about their parents, it seems like they are understanding, so I suppose that they are not all bad. Also, we shouldn't have to worry about Muggles bothering us to ask for magical solutions to their problems. Wizards and witches can just refuse, and if the Muggles get bothersome, then Muggle-repelling wards can be placed. So that's where I stand on this issue."

"But Muggleborns can't be truly magical like us purebloods!" A boy named Avery interjected. Tom rolled his eyes at the boy's stupidity.

"Are they at Hogwarts?" The boy nodded. "That means that they had enough magic to be detected. Are they utterly failing their classes?" The boy shook his head, nervous at the tone of the Heir. "So they're competent at magic. Some are probably more competent than you, and aren't you pureblood?" Avery looked shocked. Tom thought of the smartest Muggleborn he knew, and his fell for a split second. He straightened up again, as if he hadn’t been affected by anything.

"School, schmool," he muttered. "I can do real magic."

"Oh yeah?" Tom retorted. "Like what? What's real magic? As far as I know, magic is wandwork and making potions. Both are taught at this school. I've seen you do both, Avery, and let me tell you that by your standards of measuring magical ability, you'd be more Muggle than some of the Muggleborns." Tom said all of this in such an icy, sneering tone that none of the Slytherins could dare to deny it. They supposed that, if they were out by themselves in the real world, they wouldn't be very competent at magic. It was a good thing that a lot of them had their family fortune and could one day hire other wizards to perform magic such as making wards. They did seem to understand some of what Tom was saying, but whether it was because Tom was already a good orator or because he was the Heir of Slytherin was not clear. Tom knew that later, in a year or so, he would need to get followers who would support him once he was sure of what he wanted to accomplish and how. Britain did have a democracy, and Tom knew that he'd have to start the work of persuasion soon if he wanted to succeed as a politician.

Later that day, Tom ran into a familiar person. This person had messy black hair, bright blue eyes which were framed in glasses, and robes with a red and gold Gryffindor patch. It was Edward Potter. Sophia’s sweetheart, Tom sneered mentally. Tom felt an unexpected prick in his chest at the thought of Sophia’s affection for him, in contrast with her refusal to try and make up with Tom, and he clenched his jaw in response to the uncomfortable sensation, glaring instead at the Potter boy.

"Tom, can you come with me?" Edward asked.

"What do you want with him you stupid Gryffindork?" one of the Slytherins demanded. Tom was sure that his speech earlier had prevented the boy from adding 'blood-traitor.'

"It's okay. I think that I can deal with him," Tom said, sneering slightly at the end. "What do you want Potter?" Edward looked a little offended. After all, they had spent the summer together, and Edward was surprised at Tom's bitterness, as if the summer had never happened.

"Look, Sophia's been really offended that you are angry with her. She realizes that she was wrong to overreact, and she wants to talk to you."

"Why? How am I supposed to know that if she won't talk to me?" Tom replied.

"Well, you ignore her every time she even looks at you, so she won't be encouraged to even try!" Edward replied hotly.

"Whatever happened to the Gryffindors' courage?" Tom mocked. The other Slytherins behind him laughed. "She's so courageous, not having the guts to talk to me and sending you to do the talking for her."

"Well, I know exactly what happened, and I think that you were wrong. It's a wonder that Sophia is willing to apologize."

"I believe that I was right, so if Anderson is sorry, she'll have to come talk to me.” Tom used Sophia’s last name as part of the unspoken Hogwarts etiquette of referring to strangers by their last names. Tom took pleasure in the way Edward cringed at his chilly tone. He hoped to send a message to Edward by this, but Tom was doing it for his benefit as much as for the benefit of the public, as if to prove that the pinprick he had felt earlier at the thought of her meant nothing. Sophia is far from a stranger though, his mind scolded him, but Tom ignored it. “ Is that all you have to say? Well, you can leave now." Tom said coldly.

"You git," Edward muttered before walking off. Later that day, Tom saw Sophia staring at him. He turned towards her, and saw pain and guilt in her eyes. But then, her expression changed. Her eyes hardened, also holding stubbornness in them. She turned to Edward, and she, Edward, and his friends were in a huddle whispering about something. Why won’t she stop being so stubborn? Tom thought almost wistfully. That’s my job, not hers. Tom noticed Edward whisper something in Sophia’s ear, and she laughed in response. Her face looked so bright and carefree, her eyes sparkling with joy and her face glowing with happiness, making her radiate with an inner beauty that Tom saw for the first time. She looks...happy. I basically just rejected her right now, and she’s happy without me. And it’s because of Edward. She doesn’t need me. She couldn’t care less if I wasn’t in her life. For some reason, this fact really pinched him. After all that we have been through, after all of her supposed ‘care’ for me, I’m so discardable and replaceable? Tom’s eyes hardened at the sight. Well, I don’t need her either, he resolved. I don’t need useless companionship. It’s a waste of time. I don’t care if I never see her again. She doesn’t matter to me, he convinced himself. However, though he tried extremely hard, he wasn’t able to get her face out of his mind, the face with the beautiful, radiating smile.

Sophia smiled conspiratorially. Last night, she, Edward, and her friends had discussed a prank that they'd be doing. It involved a tricky spell found in the book 'A Serious Jokester's Guide to Pranks', but Sophia liked the prank, so she said that she'd try the spell. First, the group would try the spell themselves. Sophia rolled up her sleeves dramatically, emitting a chuckle from some of the boys. She flicked her wand in a jab-like motion, as instructed.

"Imperium Rictusempra," she whispered. At first, nothing happened. Sophia thought of Edward. Then, Edward started laughing, swatting at an invisible force as he fell to the ground. Through it though, he smiled at her, making her heart speed up and feel like it was floating again.

"It worked," he said. Then, Sophia thought of some of the other boys, and they started laughing as well. Sophia decided to stop the charm and looked in the book. She flicked her wand again.
"Prohibere Titillo," Sophia said, and everyone was back to normal.

"This is going to be great!" Edward exclaimed. They decided that they'd all do this in Professor Slughorn's class, to keep a constant and because Professor Slughorn would be the least likely to get them in trouble since he was the most oblivious. So the next day in Potions, Sophia sat next to Tom as usual because of their assigned seats and took out her wand. Tom didn't notice her, and Sophia was glad. This way, he won't suspect me. Then, once more or less everyone was in class, but class hadn't started, Sophia pointed the wand in Tom's general direction and said, "Imperium Rictusempra". She thought of Tom as much as she could. Tom, who was engrossed in a book, suddenly started laughing and swatting at himself to try to get rid of the invisible force. The group of 'Tom's fangirls', as Sophia had scornfully dubbed them, were looking at him with an expression of disbelief, and she was sure that they were wondering if their precious Tom had gone crazy. Well, she'd be kind to him by assuring his fangirls that he hadn't. She thought of one of the other girls by the name of Eleanor, and the girl started laughing and swatting too. She didn't make them all ticklish, or else they'd all realize that something was wrong. Sophia thought of other random people in the class, and the same thing happened. The people who weren't affected laughed boldly and pointed, while the people who were affected laughed and swatted. Not too many people were affected, but Sophia made sure to make it random so that it wouldn't look like revenge on a person or group.

"What is going on?" Professor Slughorn asked in a booming voice. Sophia immediately whispered, "Prohibere Titillo", and everyone stopped laughing.

"We don't know, sir," one of the girls said. "It felt like something was tickling us." Sophia hastily put her wand away, but not before Emma saw it. She raised an eyebrow but otherwise said nothing.

"Well, since it's over, I hope that you've had a good laugh and that we can start class." Professor Slughorn then started the lesson. Sophia saw Tom look around in wonder of who could've done it, and his eyes fell on Sophia. Their eyes locked, and Sophia held her breath. Does he know? she wondered. He turned back without reacting though, and Sophia breathed a sigh of relief and turned her mind to the lesson. While she was making her potion, though, a note appeared on her part of the table. She took it and read it under the table.

'I know it was you,' it said in familiar, neat script. 'No one else in this class is really competent enough to have performed such advanced magic well.' Sophia rolled her eyes. That was no proof. She and her new friends had practiced the spell last night, and while Sophia had gotten it first, it didn't take too long for the others to get the hang of it. They’re smarter than Tom gives them credit for, she thought defensively. She also couldn’t help but scoff at his semi-compliment. Considering that it was coming from Tom, it was a pretty satisfying compliment, but still. Something about the tone took away from it. When class was over, Sophia left, eager to see Edward and tell him about their prank's success. She saw him with three of his other friends.
"It went great! They didn't know what hit them." Sophia whispered excitedly. The others smiled brightly at her and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Good job! That was brilliant of you," they said. Sophia was feeling relaxed and free, more so than she had felt in a long time. Later, she saw Emma.

"I can't believe that you did that Sophia! How could you?"

"First of all Emma," Sophia started. "The spell, the prank was harmful. I did it before class started so it couldn't affect the potions and lead to disastrous results. We all decided last night that our prank wouldn't disrupt class, so don't worry about that. Besides, the worst thing that happened is that they laughed. Big deal. People need a laugh."

"I won't argue with you. But do you think it's helping you and Edward get closer?" Emma asked eagerly. "I know that he's one of my best friends along with you, but I can't help but ask. I think these jokes are juvenile, but if it’s helping your relationship I’m all for it.” Her eyes were gleaming with mischief and hope.

"As friends, yes. As more, I don't think so yet. But I'm grateful that I have this much, and that Edward likes me for me."

"Well my friend, I wish you luck as long as you and Edward being together won't ruin the friendship of us three." Emma stated sincerely.

Sophia didn't realize when the school year ended. It passed quite quickly as Sophia either spent a lot of time studying, pranking people with her friends, or having heart-to-hearts with Emma. She had felt a lonely pang at Christmas, when she and Tom were two of the few people who had decided to stay back for Christmas, but that went away when Emma and Edward decided to stay behind with her. It didn’t take away from the fact that this was her first holiday season without Tom in six years. She felt a raw emptiness gnawing at her stomach that didn’t go away until school started again, but she managed to enjoy the joyful season with Emma and Edward. Emma’s constant mission to get Sophia and Edward under some mistletoe was futile, but made Sophia laugh and helped ease some of the emptiness. Before she knew it, the last day arrived, and as Sophia was about to board the train, she looked back at Hogwarts sadly. Oh well, I'll be here in three months, but I sure will miss it. Emma was talking to Sophia beside her, so she turned her attention back to Emma.

"Hello Sophia. Stop looking at Hogwarts like that; you know that you'll be back. Besides, were you even listening? You're not going back to that orphanage. Ever. My parents filled out the paperwork, and they adopted you. I figured that you'd like that, since we're practically sisters anyways.” Sophia stared at Emma, not believing what Emma had just said. She finally understood the expression ‘feeling as if a bomb had been dropped’. Then, she squealed and hugged Emma.

"Thank you," Sophia said with sincere gratitude in her voice. For a split second, she thought about how Tom would feel. I hope he doesn't feel too bad. I mean, after all of this time we've spent together, we'll be separated. But then, her thoughts got defensive. He separated himself from me, not the other way around. We were already separated before this, figuratively, and that figurative separation was actually more concrete. This is no more of a separation. However, Sophia couldn’t help the guilt that inevitably came when she thought about their fight and how their friendship seemed as if it never was. I know that Tom had my best interests at heart. And besides, if I don't patch things up with him, he might become hateful towards people and believe that it's pointless to be nice to them. That could set him on the track to becoming Voldemort, and I could never let a little of my pride destroy him like that. Besides, I miss him anyway, so I’m not merely doing it out of duty. No, I'll apologize to him. "Emma? Can you save me a seat in a compartment? I want to go talk to Tom." Emma nodded understandingly and went. After all, she had been the first one to suggest that Sophia patch things up with Tom. Sophia went to look for him, and found him amongst a group of other Slytherins. He seemed to be at their head, almost as their leader. Sophia suppressed a shudder at the thought of future Death Eaters, and approached Tom.

"Tom?" she asked tentatively. "Can I talk to you?"

"You are already talking to me," he sneered.

"I mean, alone." Sophia braced herself for a reaction that was sure to come from at least one of the other boys, and sure enough, it did.

"Ooooh, she wants to talk to you alone," one of the Slytherins jeered. Sophia rolled her eyes.

"Grow up," she replied. “How old are you, five?” She then turned to Tom. "Tom, please?"

Realizing that she sounded like she was begging, she tried to plan her next words to help retain dignity. "After all, you told Edward that if I wanted to talk to you, I'd have to do so myself, so here I am. Now if you won't talk to me, you can hardly blame me for not trying to patch things up." Tom seemed to consider this. Please, please, please? I'd feel really guilty if I wouldn't get to apologize to you, because I know that I'm partially at fault, Sophia thought to herself, feeling that sensation of missing him again even though he was right in front of her.

"Alright," Tom said finally. "Malfoy, you and the others go find a compartment. I'll be there in a few minutes." The other Slytherins walked off, and Tom and Sophia stepped to the side. He cast a 'Muffliato' around them, and spoke.

"So, you wanted to say something?" he asked expectantly, a ghost of a smirk on his face, as if he was satisfied that she was the one who had to bow down first and try to patch their friendship up. Sophia remembered what her mental image of Tom had once sneered at her. “Pathetic weakling”, it had called her. Her blood boiled at the image.

"It's probably not exactly what you expect, so get that smug look off your face." Sophia snapped. If Tom thinks the same thing, then he is completely wrong, and he can go to hell! She cursed herself at sounding mean, and took a deep breath to calm down and amend her tone. "Look, that day, I was upset that you had tried to ask me stuff with force. I didn't like that, and I was mad at you for that. That very night, I realized that you were only doing that because you cared about me, and I wanted to apologize to you. But my pride got the best of me, and I was still angry about you using force. I was sure that you realized why I was angry, and I was upset when you didn't apologize to me. Then I felt that I shouldn't apologize to you. I wanted to, but I, well, didn't want to seem weak. I hated the thought of that. So I apologize for overreacting, but I don't apologize for my anger itself, which I felt was justified." She waited, eager to see what Tom thought because his face, which earlier showed a few signs of expression such as mild surprise, was now blank. Tom seemed to consider what Sophia had just said. Finally, he opened his mouth to reply.

Tom thought about everything Sophia had said. She really is sorry. But she let her foolish pride carry her away. I suppose that I did the same thing. I probably should've apologized for using Veritaserum. But I didn't because if she had trusted me in the first place, I wouldn't have had to do so. But I suppose that friends don't tell each other everything. We've been friends for six years though. She owes me that much. It doesn't matter now, though, because she apologized. As if Sophia had read Tom's mind, she started saying something else.

"Tom, you're my best friend, and I'm sorry for not telling you about that book. I do trust you, and I promise that I'll tell you everything, even if you don't want to hear it. You basically asked for it with this fight, so now I’ll bother you with every little worry and thought of mine," Sophia finished with a small smile. "And I'm just going to say this one last thing. I'm sincerely sorry for overreacting. If you want to accept my apology and say sorry for using Veritaserum against me, that's fine. If not, well..." Sophia trailed off. The air hung heavy with the tense silence, and Sophia turned around to leave.

"It's okay, Sophia,” Tom finally said. “And I'm sorry for using Veritaserum against you." Sophia turned around again and smiled. No, not smiled. She beamed, the grin on her face matching the smile that Tom had seen that day long ago, the smile that had been there because of Edward. Her smile now lit up her face, and it radiated just as brightly as it had that day. In fact, Tom thought, it looks brighter. Sophia’s chocolate eyes sparkled. She’s glowing more right now. She’s looking more beautiful right now. His mind recoiled at the unbidden thought. Did I just really think that? he asked himself. Did I really just call her beautiful? He was stunned at his sudden thought. Before he could dwell on it too much or analyze what his mind actually meant by that, he saw her smile turned into a frown. The glowing look on her face was gone, and Tom was simultaneously saddened and glad that it was gone. Saddened because he had seen such utter, transforming happiness on her so rarely, and it made him smile when he did see it. Glad because now she looked normal, and he didn’t have to deal with his confused, jumbled reactions. I’m just not interpreting things clearly, Tom assured himself firmly. It’s just because I haven’t really seen or talked to Sophia for a long time, so she has become a little unfamiliar. That’s all.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked.

"Tom, I won't be coming back to the orphanage. Ever." Tom's brain reeled in shock. Sophia, not at the orphanage? Why? Where would she be? he wondered in bewilderment. Sophia continued.

"Umm, Emma's family kind of, well, you know, adopted me. So now Emma and I are sisters. They filled out the paperwork, and it seems as if the orphanage was eager to get rid of its children, so I won't be coming back." Tom saw a mixture of happiness and worry in Sophia's eyes. She gets adopted and I don't, Tom thought with slight bitterness. Lucky her. But Tom supposed that it was unfair to think in such terms. After all, Tom wasn't really close to Emma, while Emma and Sophia were practically sisters. And especially after the fight, Tom never spoke to Emma. It would've been downright strange if her parents had decided to adopt a boy who was fighting with their daughter's friend and didn't speak to them at all. For an instant, Tom wished he had a friend good enough to want to adopt Tom, but he quickly banished the thought. He had survived so long at the orphanage. He could do it for five more years. He was strong enough.

"Tom, do you want to sit with Emma, Edward, and the rest of us?" Sophia asked.

"Who's 'the rest of us'? Tom inquired.

"Oh, Edward's friends. They're funny."

"Are they the 'funny people' who went around playing pranks on the rest of us poor, innocent, unsuspecting students?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You'd think that after a couple of days, the rest of you students wouldn't be 'unsuspecting', wouldn't you?" Sophia retorted. "The pranks were always before class actually started, and they never hurt anyone." Tom scoffed.
“Yeah, but they were irritating,” he retorted.
“That was the point,” Sophia replied, flashing him a mischievous grin before winking at him “You can join us in pranking people next year, if you want.”.

“No thanks. I am more mature than a preschooler, unlike some people I know,” he said, looking pointedly at Sophia.

“I am proud of my immense maturity,” Sophia sounded serious, but Tom could detect a hint of sarcasm.

"Anyways, I think that I'll sit with my other friends. They've saved a compartment for me, and besides, I wouldn't feel comfortable around your Gryffindork friends," Tom teased good-naturedly. Sophia rolled her eyes.

"Stupid Slytherins. Well, see you later," Sophia said. She went back to her compartment, and Tom went to find his fellow Slytherins. The trip passed agonizingly slowly for Tom, because as their leader, he had to pretend to be interested in their conversations. He couldn't be immersed in a book or talk to Sophia. When they finally arrived at the station, Tom got off, said goodbye to the other Slytherins, and went to look for Sophia. He found her with Emma and Emma's parents. Emma turned around and saw Tom, and Emma waved at him.

"Mom, dad, can Tom stay too? He and Sophia were fighting before, but now they made up. Please?"

"Well, we weren't ready for him, because of the fight that you told us about. But Tom can come with us. It won't take long to make arrangements for him."

"How much do your parents know about the argument?" Tom whispered to Emma.

"Nothing. I pretended like I didn't really understand what it was about, and they didn't pry." Tom nodded. He heard someone come up behind the trio and felt a tap on his shoulder. Tom turned around, as did Emma and Sophia.

"Well, goodbye," said Edward. "See you later." Then, he walked off with his parents, who waved heartily to Emma's parents and the three children.

"Edward won't be staying with us?" Sophia asked, trying to sound mildly curious but utterly failing. Tom could clearly hear the dejection in her voice. He'd have to help Sophia work on that.

"No, he won't," Emma replied. "Upset, are you?" she teased.

"Who, me? No, I was just wondering. Okay, maybe I'm a little upset because now I'll be the only prankster at your place, and it would've been nice to have someone else who didn't think pranks are stupid and a waste of time. I would’ve loved pranking you two, but I can’t do that as well alone." Sophia tried to sound nonchalant, but her blush gave her away. Tom smirked
.
"It's okay Sophia. You can admit to me that you're absolutely infatuated with Edward." Tom saw that Emma had a smirk on her face as well. She whispered something to Tom, and his smirk grew even more pronounced.

"But don't tell her yet, okay? It's a surprise." Emma finished whispering. Tom nodded.

"What, what?" Sophia asked eagerly. But Tom and Emma wouldn't say.

"We won't tell you. And don't bother asking my parents either. They're in on this too." Emma said.

"In on what?" Sophia demanded, but to no avail.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough. It's a surprise, let's just say that." Emma said, and smiled.

Sophia felt a slight ache in her heart out of sadness. Edward wouldn't be spending the summer with them. Tom was staying with them though, so she was glad. I’m happy Tom and I are friends again. Things feel right now. They feel complete, she acknowledged happily. Now that she and Tom were friends again, Sophia could admit that while she had been happy with Edward and Emma, her school life felt empty without Tom. He had been in her life for so long that his absence was accompanied by a hole in her heart, a hole that was filled now that they had made up. However, her satisfaction was marred by the fact that Tom and Emma seemed to be sharing a secret, a secret that she couldn't guess. Since when did Tom keep secrets from me? And why is he sharing a secret with my sister of all people? Sophia couldn’t help but wonder. Well, she mused, Tom Riddle is a secretive person, and I suppose that he was that way even before he decided to become Lord Voldemort. But this seems like a playful secret, a surprise. Oh, what could it be? They settled down and started talking, but Tom and Emma kept exchanging glances, which kept Sophia’s mind on the secret. It’s infuriatingly maddening to be out of the loop, she complained to herself. To distract herself, Sophia started talking to Emma about Quidditch.

"Oh, I do hope that I can try out for the Quidditch team either next year or the year after." Sophia said. "Flying is fun, but I haven't flown since our first flying lesson last year."

"Yeah, but I have two broomsticks if you want to fly. We can fly together, and it'll be fun." Emma replied.

"Why do you have two broomsticks?" Sophia asked.

"One is my younger brother's. But I'm sure that he won't mind sharing with you." Emma replied. Oh right, Sophia thought. Emma had a younger brother named Timothy, but they didn't talk too much about him and she hadn't seen him last year.

"Where was he last year?" Sophia asked.

"He was at his friend's place. And he'll be starting Hogwarts this year. He's excited. Oh look! There he comes now." Sophia turned. Emma's brother was petite, with light brown hair and a nice bright smile. He had a gorgeous mahogany broomstick in his hand, and Sophia was nearly drooling over the sleek beauty that seemed like the most aerodynamically sound broomstick in existence. Wow, if only I had a broomstick so wonderful, Sophia thought wishfully. I could always ask for it as a birthday present, I suppose. I mean, it can’t be that expensive of a gift, can it?

"The weather outside is perfect for flying!" Timothy exclaimed, snapping Sophia out of her daydream. His eyes then caught sight of Tom and Sophia.

"Hello," he said timidly. "You're Tom, right? And you must be Sophia. Emma has said so much about you." His cheeks flushed with color as he looked at Sophia.

"Well, that's nice," Sophia said, unsure of what to say. "You must be Timothy." But before Timothy could respond, Emma interjected.

"Hey, Timmy, do you think Annie could use your broomstick?" she asked.

"Don't call me Timmy and I will." he replied cheekily.

"Fine. Please Timothy?" Timothy relented, and Emma got her broomstick while Sophia took Timothy's broomstick. Yes, I get to use his broomstick! Sophia thought excitedly. Wow, the broomstick feels so wonderful to the touch! The two sisters then rushed outside and flew for hours. It's magical, Sophia sighed in wonder, and realized the unintended accuracy of the statement. The rest of the day flew by (wow, the day ‘flew by’ on the broomstick - ha ha, I’m so punny, Sophia thought wryly), and before Sophia knew it, she was fast asleep in her new room.

The next morning, Sophia woke up and went to have breakfast. To her surprise, there were three pieces of luggage in the dining room, one of which she recognized as hers. It seemed to be all packed. What is going on?

"Are we going somewhere?" Sophia asked.

"Yes we are," Emma said. "And we won't tell you where, so don't bother asking. Just change into a different set of clothes after breakfast. Your closet already has a few outfits which I picked out. We're about the same size anyway, and we can use magic to adjust the rest." Sophia wasn't upset about this arrangement for clothing, since Emma had good taste in fashion, and Sophia would need help dressing in the fashion of the decade. After eating breakfast, Sophia went up to change. She picked out a nice hot-pink shirt which, had puffy, short sleeves, making it pretty rather than boring and plain. The top clung to her body in all the right places, and Sophia had to admit that it was figure-flattering. She noticed that she was skinny but healthy from the Hogwarts food as opposed to skeleton-thin after eating at the orphanage for six years. Sophia paired the shirt with a black skirt which reached mid-calf, and she tucked the shirt in. She supposed that she looked nice. Emma's mom came up to Sophia's room.

"Do you need anything?" she asked. Though no one had mentioned anything about where they were going, Sophia had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that it was someplace special, so she asked Emma's mom if she could curl her hair. Well, she's my mom too now, Sophia thought. I'll have to get used to calling her that. Emma's mom obliged, took out her wand, and started curling Sophia's hair. She then put her hair up halfway so that her raven-black hair, which was in big, loose, bouncy curls, cascaded down her shoulder.

"You look lovely," her mom gushed. And Sophia supposed that she did. The best part was that with magic, she could change her hair as much as she wanted and it wouldn't damage it like the muggle flat-irons and curling-irons would. She went downstairs to join Emma and Tom. Emma was wearing a red shirt similar to hers, paired with a navy-blue skirt. Her hair, normally wavy, was pin-straight, which emphasized the natural highlights in her chocolate-brown hair. Tom was wearing casual black pants and a simple white shirt, yet he looked so well put-together. His hair was styled the same way as always, but it appeared shiner and silkier, though Sophia wasn’t sure if that was because he used better shampoo here or because the white shirt contrasted sharply with his jet-black hair. Sophia gazed at him, almost in wonder. He does look good. This outfit brings out his dark eyes as well. I guess I can see why the other girls act like fools around him. Not that I would ever do that, but I suppose I can see why they would do that. Ugh, did I just think that about my best friend? Ew. She caught Tom looking at her in what she guessed must be a similar fashion, but he raised an eyebrow at her, bringing her out of her reverence.

"You look different Tom," Sophia said, pulling her mouth into a smirk. "It's a good thing that your fan club isn't here, or else they'd start simpering and giggling, and it would make me sick. I wouldn’t want to puke and ruin the beautiful flooring." Tom blanched at the thought, and Sophia laughed.

"Although," he replied. "Since you're not a part of that fan club - at least I presume you’re not - for you to have made that inference you admit that I look good." Tom smirked at her, and now Sophia wrinkled her nose, though in her mind she was hitting herself on the head. How could she have been so careless? She did think that he looked good, but she didn't have to practically say that to him, did she? I shouldn't be allowed to talk. I should have to walk around with a big piece of duct tape on my mouth. Or better, maybe I should just have someone cast a 'Langlock' on me. But Sophia decided to try to preserve her pride and reply.

"I've simply had to deal with them in class and in our dorms enough for me to be able to guess their reactions," Sophia replied smoothly, but she realized that it was stupid logic. Maybe being around Tom Riddle has changed me. Oh well, I think it's a good change. At least I can keep my tone even. Now I just have to work on logic, she grimaced. But heaven forbid that I comment on his, well, nice appearance like that. I shouldn't do that, or let myself get distracted by that, until I'm sure that he won't be Lord Voldemort. After all, I'm sure that his appearance, combined with his feigned innocence, contributed to charming people to do what they wanted. I must be careful and focused. Still upset about her slip-up in admitting that Tom looked good, she tried to reassure herself. Well, at least he was looking at you differently too. It seemed similar to how you looked at him, so he silently admitted that I look good too. At least there’s that. Sophia would cling to that, even if it wasn’t so, so that she could feel better about making her thoughts obvious.

"So, is anyone going to tell me where we're going?" Sophia asked in frustration.

"Nope," Emma replied. "Here, hold on to mom's hand. I'll hold her other, and dad will Apparate with Tom." Her mom turned, and Sophia felt the sensation of being pulled through a long skinny tube. They arrived in a nice little village, and they all walked. After a short walk, they arrived to a rich, grand manor, as grand as Emma’s. It's beautiful, Sophia thought. The manor was huge, and shone almost blindingly with its creamy white exterior paired with a black roof. The sharp contrast was aesthetically pleasing, and it reminded Sophia of someone else wearing a similar contrast. The thought almost made Sophia laugh. Sophia guessed that there were around fifty windows that she could see. The grounds around the manor were perfectly trimmed, and they were very expansive. But the most surprising thing was not the manor, or the lawn. The most surprising thing was the face of the person who opened the door.

Tom saw the look of pure shock on Sophia's face. Her face lit up into a smile at the sight of Edward. She had that pure, utter happiness that he had seen twice before, which made her look lovelier than she already did. Tom quickly shook that thought out of his head. I think that she already caught me staring at her. I hope I didn't look like a stupid starstruck boy when it was nothing. At least I wasn’t as surprised as I was on the train ride back from Hogwarts. Tom nearly laughed when he saw Sophia run to Edward and hug him.

"These two," Sophia said, pointing accusingly at Emma and Tom himself, "wouldn't tell me where we were going and I was sad that we three were together and that you were missing out." Edward looked surprised.

"Well, yeah, Emma told me to keep it a secret from you too, to surprise you, but I had no idea that you'd miss having a fellow prankster around so much." Sophia looked at Emma and Emma smiled and nodded at her. Sophia looked relieved that Emma hadn't told Edward about her crush on him. It was, however, pretty obvious, and Tom wondered if Edward truly hadn't noticed anything. He shook himself out of his thoughts as everybody proceeded to go inside. Emma and Sophia's parents, Tom thought ruefully, laughed quietly at the previous exchange, walked a few meters away, and Disapparated. The kids all went inside.

"I was flying on a broomstick with Emma yesterday, and it was amazing. I missed flying more than I realized. I see why people are addicted to Quidditch in the Wizarding world. It's a sport, which grabs the attention of most people anyway, and it involves flying, which makes it even better." Sophia said animatedly.

"Well, how about we play a smaller version of Quidditch today? You and I can be the Chasers for each separate team, and Emma and Tom can be the Keepers. We have Quidditch posts out in our back yard, though they're not as big as the ones at Hogwarts and not as spaced out." Tom turned green when Edward mentioned having him fly.

"No thanks," Tom replied. "I'd prefer not to fly. I think it's boring." Sophia rolled her eyes.
"If I didn't know any better, Tommy boy," Sophia started, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "I'd say that you were scared. However, I know that our dear Tom can't possibly be scared. He's too above and beyond such trivial things." Emma and Edward laughed. Tom shook his head at Sophia's words, knowing that she'd seen right through him, even though he wouldn't admit it. "But if that's the way you want it," Sophia continued. "Then Emma can be seeker, if you have a Snitch Edward, and you and I can be Chasers. One-on-one Quidditch, more or less. And then you can't blame us for not trying to include you Tom. But you can watch if you want." Tom would usually rather read than watch a boring game of Quidditch, but he supposed that it would be impolite to Edward and his family, who had invited him, if he holed himself up in a room and read the whole time. More than that though, for he hadn't asked them to invite him, he supposed that he could afford to watch for a little while. It would be funny if Sophia randomly fell off a broom as long as she didn't hurt herself. Who knows, something amusing might happen.

"Alright, but just for a little while." Tom finally replied.

"Sure," Edward said. "But we're not going to play right away. It's too early. We'll relax, talk, and then play." Sophia and Emma agreed.

"Besides, Emma and I will change into something more suitable before playing Quidditch," Sophia said, gesturing to her skirt. Everyone settled down and started talking. Sophia, Emma, and Edward were talking about what classes they planned on taking next year. Tom was sure of only one thing; he was going to take advanced classes of as many subjects as he could, even the boring ones. Doing that would give him an advantage over other students. Sophia was saying that she would definetly continue with Astronomy, but was planning on dropping Divination. Unfortunately, she still had to do History of Magic.

"Oh well. I probably wouldn't care less if I got a T in History of Magic. It’s a stupid subject, really. But I suppose that I would care if the dunderheads at school got higher grades in History of Magic than I did, so I guess I would care, just not as much." Sophia said. Emma said that she really liked Herbology. She was considering becoming a Medi-witch, but she wasn't a hundred percent positive. Edward knew that he wanted to do Defense Against the Dark Arts since he wanted to be an Auror when he grew up.

"Tom, what about you?" the three other kids asked.

"Well, I'll take as many subjects as I can, but I want to be Minister of Magic when I grow up." Tom decided that since these three were his friends, especially Sophia, he should first try to get them to support his cause. They wouldn't instantly judge him for being a Slytherin. "I have some ideas." Edward and Emma looked eager, but Sophia looked a bit wary. She wasn't good at hiding her emotions, and Tom noticed that she was nervous.

"What kind of ideas?" Sophia asked.

"Well, I think that wizards shouldn't have to live their life in hiding. What have we got to hide?" Tom noticed that now, even Edward and Emma were looking at him apprehensively. Well, he supposed, he hadn't really started right. But all he could do now was continue so that they would see that he wasn't trying to crush Muggles.

"Wizards have let Muggleborns into our world, because they can do magic. But because of Muggles' prejudice, we're shut out of their world. We have to worry about hiding our magic, setting Muggle-repelling wards on everything, and it's all unnecessary. If Muggles were more open-minded, we could use our magic to help Muggles without worrying about what they would think, and they could be in a part of our world. They can't do magic, so they wouldn't get access to Wizarding schools, or fly on brooms or anything like that, but they could enjoy some of the other things, like the magical candy or the magical jokes from a joke shop. If they could see this side of the magical world, I doubt that most Muggles would be convinced that magic was evil. We're not doing anything wrong, and I think that Muggles should see that." Tom saw the other three ponder these ideas, Sophia with a somewhat content smile upon her face. Tom supposed that it was a good idea. After all, he reasoned, Muggles still wouldn't get access to the coolest, most important parts of the Wizarding world, but they'd know about the Wizarding world and would be allowed to access enough of it so that wizards and witches wouldn't have to hide their magic around Muggles. It would be a win-win situation, where wizards and witches still benefited more.

"But then, Muggles will find it easy to blame any inexplicable phenomena on wizards and witches," Emma said. "Like heat waves, mysterious crimes, even wars."

"Maybe, but the public also blames politicians for every little thing that goes wrong. But that doesn't mean that the politicians go into hiding." Tom replied.

"Muggles will look suspiciously at wizards and witches, convinced that any passing magician could harm them." Edward said.

"Well, that's faulty prejudiced thinking that should be fixed then, shouldn't it?" Tom countered. "There are Muggles who hide guns and randomly shoot people, but that doesn't mean that Muggles look at every fellow Muggle suspiciously. If they feel that way towards magicians, then that is prejudice that should be fixed."

"But they'll bother us, won't they? They'll want magical solutions to their problems." Emma said.

"Can't we refuse them?" Tom asked back.

"Is it really worth all of this bother? Fuss with a world that's working fine to try to integrate wizards and Muggles? I mean, there's all of these obstacles mentioned, and then the fact that even if it works, and wizards and witches are allowed to do magic around Muggles, what if Muggle-haters harm Muggles? It'll be easier with an integrated world to do so, and if we can do magic around Muggles, then it'll be harder to detect misuse of that magic, will it not?" Sophia finally said. Tom thought about this a bit. She did have a point. But he said:

"It'll be easy to tell a magical crime from a non-magical crime. And the government officials will catch the perpetrator of the crime." The others seemed to consider this. "Anyone can be good or bad. Most witches and wizards are good, and some Muggles are so bad that they do more damage than Dark wizards can. Look at World War I that occurred between so many Muggles of different countries." That seemed to be the main point. They all nodded, not being able to find anymore flaws with his logic. Of course they can't, he though smugly. My logic is always flawless.

"Your points make sense. We'll support your campaign to become Minister of Magic when you're older," they said.

"As long as your ways are right," Sophia finished. Tom looked at her strangely, wondering at the sliver of doubt in her eyes.

"Of course, Sophia." Tom said, wondering why she would think otherwise.

Sophia changed into a pair of slacks and went outside. Edward handed her and Emma broomsticks, and then they opened the box with the Quaffles, Bludgers, and the Snitch. Edward's mother had come out at this point, and she took Edward's broomstick, flew up in the air, and drew an invisible rectangular boundary around the backyard.
"Now the Snitch won't fly out of our yard," Edward's mom said kindly, and went back inside. Sophia, Emma, and Edward flew into the air. Sophia had the Quaffle. She leaned forward on her broomstick, and it responded to her body weight by rushing forwards. Sophia felt the cool breeze sting her skin and blow her curls back, and she reveled in the way the wind felt against her hands and face. She tried to fly past Edward, but he flew after her and, while trying to grab the Quaffle from her hands, grabbed her wrists. Shivers ran up Sophia's arms, and Edward looked stunned. Coming back to his senses, he tried to knock the Quaffle out of her hands, but Sophia yanked wrists out of his grasp and tucked the Quaffle under her arms. Her hands weren't gripping the broom in that instant, and it wobbled under her, but Sophia quickly curled her left arm around the Quaffle and gripped the broomstick again with her right hand before she could fall off. She flew past Edward and threw the Quaffle towards the goal. Her aim being horrible, however, the Quaffle missed the goal by about forty feet. Everyone else was laughing.
"It's not as easy as it looks Tom!" Sophia exclaimed. "I'd like to see you try before you laugh at me."
"But I'm not the one who wanted to play Quidditch," Tom retorted. Sophia sighed in exasperation. It was now Edward's turn with the Quaffle. He flew toward's the goalpost that Sophia was guarding. He seemed to have much bettwr command of the Quaffle, and as he prepared to thrown it into the goal, Sophia did the first thing she could think of - she tickled Edward. She only tickled him for a second, but it was enough to make him drop the Quaffle.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Edward yelped.
"If we're allowed to crash into other players in Quidditch, then surely we're allowed to tickle them?" Sophia asked playfully, even though they both knew he hadn't actually crashed into her. The game went on like that for a long time, with neither able to score goals, until Emma saw the Snitch and caught it. In their game, Emma was neutral and when she caught it, the game was simply over. It was tied with the impressive, record-smashing score of 0-0. They went back inside, and the childern were in good spirits. Emma was laughing (at the stalemate, she claimed, but Sophia suspected otherwise), Sophia was blushing, and she swore that Edward was too. Tom wasn't laughing, but his smile seemed marginally bigger, and seemed on the verge of a smirk. They went inside and had a big lunch, prepared by house-elves. Sophia, her future self by now having read all of the Harry Potter books, was shocked at that.
"You...have...house-elves?" she asked Edward, shocked. Edward saw the expression of disbelief on her face.
"Yes, but they like working. My ancestors set them free a long time ago, but they still feel loyal to our family, and like the fact that we're kind to them." Sophia sighed in relief.
"Ok. That's good." Then, Sophia saw Tom explore Edward's their house and curl up in the Potter library. She found it ironic that Tom Marvolo Riddle was reading books that belonged to the grandfather of the only boy who'd ever defeat him. You musn't think like that, Sophia chided herself. You must be optimistic that things will change. Look at his views on muggleborns. They're different - for now, at least - and hopefully they'll stay different. He doesn't even hate Muggles, so that's good. She was taken out of her thoughts when Emma dragged her to what was their room, and was giggling.
"You know, I had found the Snitch quite early into the game, but I figured that I should let you guys play your little game," she said gleefully. "You two seemed quite cozy up there."
"Emma! That's rubbish. It was my first time playing Quidditch, and I'm not used to the contact that is required to snatch the Quaffle out of the opposing Chaser's hands..." Sophia trailed off.
"That's a boatload of dung and we both know it," her new sister replied. "Anyways, I'm glad that Tom's views on Muggleborns and Muggles aren't bad. Looks like he hasn't been influenced by the other snakes." Emma said.
"Yeah Emma, not all Slytherins are bad." Sophia said, not letting her earlier worry leak into her voice. "But, I have to admit, I did...sort of...enjoy the Quidditch game earlier. Oh god I'm so girly!"
"There's nothing wrong with that. You can be girly and smart. Just because you're girly doesn't mean that you're a dunderhead like some of the girls." Emma then put on a mocking voice. "'Oh have you seen Marcus? He's so hot! He's got amazing muscles, he's so handsome, and he's good at Quidditch! How dreamy.'" Sophia was laughing till her sides hurt.
The rest of the summer proceeded in a similar fashion. Emma and Sophia would talk, they'd play Quidditch, Sophia would occasionly read with Tom and work on her homework, and she'd eat a lot. But the most interesting part of her summer was pranking Emma and Tom along with Edward. Their pranks included turning drinks into sludge just before Tom and Emma would drink them, hiding Tom's homework, and making Emma's wardrobe disappear. By the end of the summer, Tom and Emma were thoroughly sick of their pranks. Well, at least Edward and I can bond over our shared love of pranks, Sophia thought fondly. And who knows? Maybe some of Edward's love of pranks will transfer over to his partner prankster, she hoped with a blush. Before they knew it, they were on the Hogwart's Express.
"I'm glad that you guys liked it at my place," Edward said, looking at Sophia.
"Well, yes." Sophia said. She was getting better at controlling her blush around him. "It was fun playing pranks on these two." Sophia laughed at Tom and Emma, who pretended to look disgruntled. Then, Sophia and Tom then launched into a discussion about what they thought their new classes would be like. They were excited because they got to pick their classes this year, and they couldn't wait. It's like Muggle high-school, Sophia thought, where your choices have a big impact. Sophia was getting relatively good at ignoring the events of her future self, but that was probably because her summer was relatively uneventful. Her self had read a lot of stories called 'fanfictions', where other writers wrote stories based off of existing stories. Her future self had read a lot of Tom Riddle fanfics, and his character was mostly decipted as cold and unfeeling, with occasional stories showing him as emotional, but that was after he'd fallen in love with someone. Sophia was nervous. Would her friendship make a difference on Tom in the long run, if he didn't fall in love with anyone? Would she even matter to him when all was said and done? Her heart hurt with the thought of the possible answers to those questions, and she worked hard to push them out of her head.

Tom was happy to be back. When he sat down at his House table, the other Slytherins started talking to him. He responded with one word answers, but one of the Slytherins asked him something relatively important.

"Any progress with your mission?" he asked.

"Yes. I got a few more supporters, and they'll try to get more people to our case," Tom said impassively. He continued with dinner and later fell asleep. He figured that Slytherin was the right house for him, but he wished that he had worthy people in his house. He wished that Sophia was in his House. Tom realized that the Slytherins weren't too sure about his opinions on muggleborns and Muggles, but they followed him more out of fear than anything else. Even if he agreed with them, they were so obsessed with getting to top positions in society, money, and fame. Of course, he was also thinking about how to get to the top, how to become Minister of Magic, but that was to change society instead of merely personal and superficial purposes. He fell asleep.

The next day, everyone was in the Great Hall for breakfast. Tom got his schedule and looked at it. He wondered if Sophia would be in the same classes as he was, but he wasn't going to compare schedules with her right now while everyone was having breakfast, as she had done the previous year. I don't want to look conspicuous, and going to the opposing House table in the middle of the Great Hall would qualify as exactly that, he thought to himself. He figured that he'd talk to Sophia later, once breakfast was over. He ate little and with perfect, proper manners, as he always did, and once everyone was done with their breakfast and leaving the Great Hall, he got up and calmly found Sophia.

"What classes do you have?" he asked her. They compared schedules and found that they had four out of seven classes together.

"That's decent, I suppose. I mean Emma and Edward are fellow Gryffindors, but I only share two classes with them. They share all of their classes together!" Tom laughed lightly because Sophia sounded a bit angry and jealous. He could easily read her emotions like an open book.

"Oh well. Maybe you'll have classes with a relatively smart person besides me. There are a couple of those kinds of people; smart, sharp-minded, but not as enthusiastic about learning as we are. But maybe it'll be interesting."

"Yeah, maybe I'll make new friends. That'll be nice, I suppose."

"You don't need many friends. What will you do with more friends?"

"It'll be more company in my classes, especially since I don't share many classes with you three. Just because having many friends isn't needed doesn't mean that it's not nice. Hey, while I'm at it, I'll talk about your case. I'll just start by saying something like 'oh, it's sad that we can't use our knowledge to help Muggles much, at least not openly'.
"Good idea," Tom said. "And it's good if you introduce it like that. We don't want to sound like preaching politicians with an obvious agenda, but we also want to plant this idea into people's heads soon. After all, it's never too early to start, because that way when I campaign, our classmates will already be persuaded, and that'll be a good head start." Tom was surprised at his subconscious use of 'we'. Tom, always independent, was now working on his idea with a team, and it seemed to have become as much their goal as it was his goal.

"After all, it's the main reason we're doing this, right?" Sophia continued her earlier statement. "Not to take over them, but to live peacefully and openly with them, right?" Sophia looked at Tom expectantly, as if seeking reassurance for some reason that Tom still hadn't be able to figure out.

"Right," Tom said, but he didn't mention that the major reason he was doing this was not to help those prejudiced Muggles but in fact to get out of hiding. He didn't want wizards and witches to hide for no reason, when they weren't doing anything wrong. They headed off to their first class together, Transfiguration, which was one of the few classes that Sophia shared with Emma and Edward. That went as usual, but the four were separated for the next class. Tom had Potions while Sophia had Charms, and Emma and Edward had Herbology. In Potions, Professor Slughorn had his usual over-jolly attitude which irritated Tom to no end, though he didn't let it show on his face.

"So, let's see what you remember. What do you add to a cough potion that turns it orange?" Tom, as usual, pretended to think for a moment before he put his hand in the air, but to his surprise, there was another hand that had joined his in the air. Sophia wasn't in this class, and even she took a little longer to remember the answers, so who was it? It was a girl, Tom could tell, because of the long, pink, manicured fingers. He looked to see who the arm belonged to. The girl who had raised her hand was wearing a green-and-silver ribbon in her dark-brown hair. Her hair was curled lightly and had black lowlights woven through it. Her face was as pale as his, and she had prominent cheekbones. Her eyes were an icy blue which complimented the green and silver colors on her robes and in her hair rather than clashed with them, and her thin lips were pale pink. She was a rather pretty girl. She seems to have looks and brains, Tom thought. He couldn't remember her name, though he remembered that she was one of the girls who seemed the least impressed about him being Salazar Slytherin's heir. She was a little impressed, but it was one more of mild surprise and curiosity rather than reverence. He had admired that, though he didn't admit it.
"Yes Irina?" Oh, so Irina was her name, Tom thought. He deposited that nugget of information in a corner of his brain. Irina seemed worthy to remember.

"Root of Gabrodyl," she answered confidently.

"That is correct! Ten points to Slytherin!" Professor Slughorn boomed. "I now have two of my brightest Slytherins in the same class. I'm glad!" That confirmed Tom's notion of her being smart. He decided to perform one last test to see of she was a good adversary and a girl worthy of his time. He smiled his charming smile that would always have a lot of girls giggling and blushing at him and would have them analyze his smile to derive more meaning from it than was meant. Irina, however, raised an eyebrow at him while smirking at the same time, and then a second later, smiled a brilliant, charming smile that would have had a lot of other guys willing to jump off a cliff for. Tom was a lot more composed than that, but he had to admit that this girl was intriguing. She seemed to be like him. After class, he walked up to her.

"Hello. I don't think you've ever been in one of my classes. You seem like a smart, charming girl. What's your name?" Irina looked at Tom not with delight in her eyes but doubt.

"I'm Irina. Don't you remember from earlier in class?" the girl said bitingly.

"I apologize. I was simply trying to ease into a conversation, since that's usually the polite way to start talking to someone. You are right though, I did remember your name. Let me start over. Hello Irina, my name is Tom." Irina smiled.

"Irina," the girl said, a sliver more at ease than started walking to their next class, which was Herbology. Sophia is in this class, Tom remembered, and was curious. Irina probably hadn't been in any of Sophia's classes either because Sophia and Tom had shared most of their classes up until this year. How would class go with the three of them in it at once? It'll be interestingly competitive, Tom thought. They ran into Sophia on the way there. She was talking to a couple of Ravenclaw girls.
"Hey Tom! Glad you're in this class, otherwise Herbology would've been even more dull than usual." Tom nodded. Sophia then turned to Irina. "Hello. I've seen you around a couple of times but I haven't really talked to you. What's your name?"

"Irina," the girl replied. Sophia flinched at the girl's cold tone, but she continued trying to make conversation. Tom didn't understand why Sophia always tried to make conversation with people even when they evidently didn't care for conversation, but he was used to it after seven years.

"I'm Sophia." Irina simply nodded.

"How are the classes so far? What's Potions like?" Sophia asked.

"Easy, as usual," Irina said, and was silent. Sophia gave up trying to make conversation since it was clear that they weren't necessarily going to be best friends. During class, though, it was quite competitive between the three, especially between Tom and Irina. Sophia wasn't as enthusiastic about excelling in this class, but Tom wasn't surprised because Sophia didn't like Herbology, and she didn't really try as hard in the classes that she didn't like. She paid attention, sure, but wasn't as eager to go above and beyond. After he was done potting and watering his plant, which had seemed keen on attacking him, Tom couldn't help but compare Irina, the most unique girl he'd met, to Sophia, a girl he'd known for a long time. They were both smart academically, but that was about all they had in common besides their dark hair. Sophia was a loud, bubbly girl who was really nice, polite, and warm towards everyone, while Irina in turn seemed icy towards everyone. Sophia, though not as much as other girls, did gush about the guy she liked, while Irina seemed like she would consider such crushes trivialties, and Tom thought that she wouldn't bother with such things. Sophia was quite open, sharing her thoughts and feelings easily while Irina seemed like she masked her feelings behind either mild interest or annoyance. It seemed as if their appearances seemed to reflect these personality differences. While they both had dark hair, Sophia was somewhat tan, and though it had faded over the years of living in cold Britain, she still had a warm skintone. Her eyes were also a dark chocolate brown. Irina was almost the opposite. She had porcelain skin, and her dark hair made her skin look more dramatic. Her eyes were an icy blue, and looked as if they had shards of broken glass that would pierce through a person's mind and soul with a glance from her. Tom didn't realize when class was over. He got up, and walked out. I'll have to know Irina better.

Later, he was doing homework with Sophia. He figured that he wouldn't be able to do homework with Irina to get to know her better, and besides, doing homework together required some warmth between the two people, and he only had that with Sophia. However, he planned on warming up to Irina atleast somewhat.

"Irina was interesting," Sophia casually remarked.

"Yes, she's quite smart and intriguing, not at all like other girls." Tom said.
"Yeah, but she's a bit too cold, you know? Like those 'ice princess' types of girls," Sophia said. Tom looked up and saw a flash of something in Sophia's eyes. It looked like worry.

"Yeah. She's an equal. I want to get to know her better. But don't worry. I still know you better. You've still been my friend for longer." Tom hoped that she'd get the implied message that he trusted her more, that he was the most comfortable around her. However, he would never admit that out loud, because that would be too sentimental of him.

Sophia was ecstatic as she and Emma got on the train to Hogwarts. The past two years had been wonderful. Edward had asked her out during the third year on the day of their first Hogsmeade trip, and she was thrilled. She still remembered the day as if it were yesterday.

"Sophia, we get along really well," he had begun, almost nervously, his Gryffindor courage seeming to have evaporated. Edward and Sophia had taken a walk "We both have many things in common, not the least of which is playing pranks." She had been slightly confused, unsure where he was going with this. "And you're a great companion. You are fun, kind, caring, outgoing, and just a bright person, both in intelligence and personality. And...well..." he trailed off. " I like that about you. I like you. Will...will you be my girlfriend?" Sophia had squealed in glee and hugged him in response.

"Yes, of course I will," she said, smiling stunningly at him. "I've liked you for two years!"

"Oh," he had said sheepishly, "I didn't know."

From then on, Sophia, Emma, and Edward would hang out a bit, the three of them, and then Emma would leave the other two alone. Sophia kept her balance though. She still spent time with Emma and Tom; the only difference was that now her time with Edward had a more romantic feel to it, which was completely fine with her. Tom and Irina seemed to be getting along well, but Sophia's initial worry was quelled. Tom's attitude towards others didn't change from hanging out with Irina, and his opinion on muggleborns and Muggles hadn't changed. He hadn't really convinced Irina of his views, but she hadn't convinced him of her pureblood views; at least, Sophia didn't think so, because Tom still wanted Sophia and her friends to talk to others about his viewpoint. This past summer, Edward stayed at her and Emma's house, and they went to Paris for vacation. She and Edward had even gone on a couple of dates! Her future self had read even more fanfics, and Sophia was even more nervous because some of the ones which portrayed Tom as evil did a pretty good job of it, and while Tom seemed not to be anti-Muggle, she wasn't sure how he'd react if he learned the truth about his father, which she was sure he didn't know. She was excited about starting her fifth year. On the train ride to Hogwarts though, Sophia caught sight of Tom, and she frowned. Tom's face was an impassive mask, but his eyes seemed to have anger bubbling underneath the surface.

"Tom! What's wrong?" Sophia asked. Tom looked at her. Sophia had written to Tom while he was at the orphanage the past two years. Sophia wanted to invite Tom, but he said that he didn't feel as comfortable around Emma and Edward, especially now that Sophia and Edward were dating. He would've felt like the nonexistent fourth wheel, he said, and he preferred not to. He couldn't really talk to them all that much, so the other three kids had written to Tom and sent letters by owl. He was fine until now, and if something happened over the summer, he never told her about it.

"Nothing," Tom said calmly, but Sophia wouldn't be deterred.

"Tom, I've known you for nine years. That's enough time to learn to pick up on anyone's body language. I can tell that you're angry, it's in your eyes." Sophia could see Tom try to calm his eyes. "Too bad, I already know."

"Well, you're wrong," Tom said smugly, "so be quiet." That's the problem, Sophia realized. I'm being loud, and Tom doesn't want others to hear.

"Ok then. Guess what! Edward and I came up with an idea to prank Emma, and we'll need you to help," Sophia said. Emma was a short distance away talking to Edward, so she couldn't hear her. Sophia leaned in to whisper in Tom's ear, and said, "I'll be quiet for now, but you will tell me. Or else I won't leave you alone." Tom glared at Sophia in annoyance, and she laughed.

"Fine. But we'll get our own compartment. You can join Emma and Edward later," Tom nearly growled. Sophia agreed. She told Emma and Edward that she'd be sitting with Tom for a while, and told them to save her a seat since she'd be joining them later.

"We'll be discussing our homework and the more advanced material of our next classes, or else I'd have invited you." Emma gladly agreed, not wanting to participate in that. Edward seemed a bit reluctant for a second, but agreed without a trace of any apprehensiveness. He trusted his girlfriend, and he understood that her and Tom's friendship was deep. Sophia and Tom got a compartment, locked it, and cast a 'muffliato'. This is a very helpful spell, Sophia thought, remembering all of the times she had used it. "Now Tom. What's up? Why are you upset?" she asked gently. The anger that was bubbling right under the surface of his dark, and seemed to swirl violently in them.

"I was researching Little Hangleton. The town where my father lives," Tom spat the word 'father'. Sophia inhaled sharply, and started blocking her mind. Her lessons with Dumbledore were over, and she'd been learning how to plant false memories in her brain by herself, since Dumbledore wouldn't teach her. She didn't know if Tom could do Legillimency, but she didn't want to take a chance.

"Your father is alive?" Sophia faked surprise, and hoped it was good enough. She knew that Tom had a natural instinct for being able to tell when someone was lying. Of course she knew that his father was still alive; from the books, she knew that he'd live until Tom killed him, which according to the timeline was the summer following the next.

"Yes. He must've abandoned my mother. He, a mere Muggle, abandoned my witch mother, heir of Salazar Slytherin, and is now living comfortably in his wealth while my mother died at a filthy orphanage giving birth to me! How dare he! I've always wondered what it would be like to have a father, even after finding out that my father was probably a Muggle, but now I'm glad I don't because my father was a dirty slimy git!" Tom's voice was burning with so much anger that Sophia was surprised that there wasn't Fiendfyre coming out of his mouth. "I've never seen a single Muggle who was kind and accepting of the truth about wizards and witches. The Muggles at the orphanage, my father, they're all dirt!"

"Tom! Not all Muggles are like that. Look at all of the muggleborns' parents. They come from kind, accepting families."

"That's only because they see the usefulness of having a magician in the family." Tom said contemptuously.

"First of all, you just said that Muggles had to accept magic peacefully, not embrace it. Second of all, Muggle parents could be worried about their kids using magic against them. After all, kids can do so once they're seventeen, and Muggles don't come of age and can't legally go against their parents until they're eighteen. But the parents still love and accept their children despite this. Third of all, how would you know that Muggle parents only accept magical children because of their usefullness? How do you know that they're not simply proud of their children for their special abilities?" Sophia thew her questions at Tom indignantly.

"You're right. I wouldn't know," Tom said quietly. Sophia instantly felt guilty. She wondered if Tom was acting. Probably, since he never seemed to want a parent's love. However, I only feel guilty for my last question, not anything else, so he can't guilt me out of my opinions. She figured it was safe to express her guilt.

"I'm sorry Tom," Sophia whispered. Tom looked at the floor. I wonder if he's smirking, thinking he's fooled me, Sophia wondered. "Even if I accept your prejudice against Muggles, which I can't because I was nearly Muggle and I still accepted you and your magic, what's your problem with muggleborns? What have they done wrong?"

"They have those Muggles as parents and learn from them. They shouldn't be in our world."

"Tom, they can do magic. They're wizards or witches. They belong in the Wizarding world. Besides, what would you say about me?"

"You're different. You've grown up mostly away from your parents, so their Muggle teachings didn't infect you. Besides, you're smarter than the others." Tom stated matter-of-factly.

"Their Muggle teachings didn't infect me? Tom, what are you even talking about? So now it comes down to intelligence? There are smart muggleborns! Like Jane Wright who's in some of my classes. Just because she's not as much of a perfectionist as you doesn't mean she's smart. All of the muggleborns in Ravenclaw are the same way! Besides, we're both smart, and I'm definetly muggleborn while you were raised by Muggles, so you didn't have wizarding influence on your intelligence!" Sophia was angry now, and was glad about the 'muffliato'. "And what's so special about the purebloods? Edward and Emma aren't any nicer than the muggleborns, I simply happen to know them better. I am friends with muggleborns though. Plus, all of those Slytherin purebloods are just as prejudiced towards Muggles as some Muggles are towards magic."

"For good reason though! Don't you remember you told me about the Salem witch trials that took place in America? And those were for things as common and unavoidable as infant death and crop failure! Those Muggles believed that we joined hands witht the devil because of natural phenomena. None of the accused were even wizards or witches!"

"But don't hate all of the people before knowing whether they're against magic or not! That's not fair to Muggles who like magic! Like I nearly was." Sophia was near tears. If I don't try harder to convince him, I'll fail in my goal, and Tom will become Voldemort, she thought with agony. Pain sliced through her at the thought. Not only did she not want innocent people to lose their lives, she didn't want Tom's fate written in the books to come true.

"I'm changing my plans. The Muggles should know that they, their talentless ordinary selves, have no right to try to show their prejudice and hatred towards those more powerful than them. I plan to make sure that Muggles know that, and muggleborns will have to be careful. Don't worry Sophia. You won't be affected. After all, you were never like them."

"Tom, Muggles are probably scared of exactly what you said, which is probably why they act the way they do. If we assure them that we don't want to, I'm sure that they won't hate wizards, and everyone will be happy. Please think about that. I'll leave now." Sophia took down the 'muffliato', unlocked the compartment, and left. She joined Emma and Edward, sitting beside the latter and taking his hand in hers. She really needed that comfort now. She simply told them that Tom didn't want to so all of those things that he'd been planning on, and that he was rethinking his life, which wasn't a lie. Before long, she was laughing and talking with all of her other friends.

A whole year passed. Sophia and Tom were on relatively good terms, though Sophia kept trying to dissuade Tom, and Tom wouldn't be dissuaded. Tom seemed to be a bit busier as time went on, but Sophia put that off to more thorough and individual O.W.L. preparation. As the year went on, Sophia became more and more restless. She was extremely worried about Tom, and her heart sliced with a pain that reached her core whenever she thought about him splitting his soul, about him killing others, about him ceasing to exist at all by the time she was technically one year old. Her heart would stutter, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe whenever those thoughts ran through her mind. It's just because we've been friends for so long that I'm that concerned about him, Sophia tried to assure herself, but she knew that she was lying, and had been lying to herself, for the past ten years. Sophia finally had to admit to herself that she wasn't just concerned about him as a friend. She loved him. It had started as that crush she had on him when she was nine, and it never truly went away. She had just gotten better at squelching it. She remembered her future self once thinking 'if Tom existed, I'd have loved him. Truly love him'. She laughed mirthlessly at the way Fate seemed to given her exactly what she wished for, and then accompanied it with real, heartbreaking pain, not at the thought of him not loving her. That was a juvenile pain that all girls experienced, including her future self. That wasn't real pain at all. Her agony was at the thought of his future, at the way he would break himself beyond repair. He does exist outside of those books, and I do love him. What am I going to do though? I know I love Tom, but my feelings for Edward haven't completely disappeared. And because of that, I don't want to break up with Edward for a guy that I'll never have, a guy who has nothing but disaster in his future, especially when I know that I like Edward too, for now. Sophia barely realized what she was doing during her O.W.L.'s, performing on instinct. All too soon, summer came. I hope he doesn't spend the whole summer scheming, though knowing Tom, that's what he will be doing. When she was boarding the train, she saw Edward and Emma exchange troubled glances.

"What's wrong?" Sophia asked.

"Can I talk to you?" Edward asked. He seemed uncomfortable. Sophia nodded, and they stood out of the aisle.

"What do you want to talk about Edward?" Sophia inquired. Edward was squirming a bit.

"Look, Sophia, you're really nice, and sweet, and you're a wonderful girlfriend, but..." he trailed off. It clicked in.

"You want to break up with me," Sophia finished for him. Edward looked sheepish. Sophia was sad at having to let him go. They, after all, had a beautiful and perfect relationship. But what's perfect? It wouldn't have stayed perfect if we truly didn't love each other. And since we both love someone else, our relationship can't be perfect. But as long as we don't break up on a sour note and stay friends, I'm happy. Truly. I know that I'm not like other girls who cling on to their boyfriends desperately. Even if I still liked Edward, I would've tried to let go gracefully. After all, we started off as friends, and our friendship is still the most precious thing about us.

"Edward, it's fine. If you don't like me anymore, it would've been pointless to continue our relationship. I hold nothing against you."

"There's more," Edwared continued. "I...the thing is, I...well... kind of... like..." he mumbled at the end.
"Who?" Sophia asked.

"Emma," he whispered. Sophia turned shocked eyes to Emma, who was looking was blushing and looking sheepish.

"Emma, do you like Edward?"

"Yes," she said, embarrased.

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your sister, and I never realized some of your deeper emotions! All of those times when I went on about Edward, you never said anything. Oh god, I feel so guilty." Sophia shook her head, extremely upset.

"I'm your sister, though, and you two liked each other, so I didn't say anything for your happiness. You seemed happier than I'd ever seen you, and I didn't want to ruin that for you."

"You crazy girl!" Sophia hugged Emma. Then, she put one hand on Edward's head and one hand on Emma's head.

"I give this couple my blessings," she said teasingly and then giggled. Then, she sobered. "The thing is," she whispered. "I also like someone else. I kind of like, well, Tom." Emma nearly squealed at this, and Edward seemed happier, as if his guilt was eased.

"I'm sure that you'll get lucky too. After all, you two are so perfect together. I never wanted to say this because you were such good friends, and I didn't want to taint that by saying that you two were made for each other, but it's true." Emma grinned at her sister.

"I sure hope that's true." Sophia blushed, her emotions bubbling over. Her emotions changed from that of happiness to worry, but Sophia masked her emotions. She didn't want Emma and Edward to see her worry. Yet. She'd tell them later, but at the right time. For now, all she could do was try to plan and hope that Tom didn't start upon his path to become Voldemort

Tom went through all of his classes mechanically. He performed just as well as usual, and made sure that no one noticed that anything was amiss, but his focus was elsewhere. He thought back to when he and Sophia had discovered that he was Salazar Slytherin's heir. While reading up on Slytherin, he remembered reading something.

'Slytherin and Gryffindor were good friends, and the four founders got along well. But they didn't agree on the selection of students for Hogwarts. While the other three believed that anyone who could do magic should be admitted to Hogwarts, Slytherin believed that only children from wizarding families should be allowed to learn at the school. Slytherin and Gryffindor had an argument, which resulted in Slytherin leaving the school. Some historians say that Slytherin left behind a Chamber, which is now known in stories as the Chamber of Secrets. The Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's heir. In it lies a monster which the Heir could use to purge the school of 'impure blood'. No such chamber has been found however, so it remains a mystery.'

Well, if Slytherin created the chamber, then it must be cleverly disguised, so of course no other ordinary person could've found it. Only the Heir can open it, which means that I'll be able to, Tom thought excitedly. He thought about the monster and the chamber itself. If only the Heir could open it, then there must be a trait that separated them from everyone else. There's my intelligence, but I highly doubt that's it. He thought about it, but finally decided that he would think about it later, when his classes weren't distracting him. Later, when all of his classes were over, Sophia walked up to him, but he cut her off.

"Sorry Sophia, I want to do my homework alone. I need some time to myself for once," he said coldly. Sophia, looking hurt, walked away. Tom went to the library, which was his favorite place to just sit and think things through. Now. What could it be? Then, the answer practically slapped him in the face. Of course! Parseltongue! I remember reading about that, and that's what proved to those other Slytherins that I was the Slytherin heir! So... the monster must be a snake of sorts. Tom went and looked for a book of animals. He got out a lot of books and read through them all, but he didn't find anything until he got halfway down the stack. The book was titled: The Most Dangerous Beasts of All Time. Tom flipped through the pages impatiently until he found a picture of the bottom of what looked like a snake. Basilisks, the heading read. Tom continued to read.

'A Basilisk is a huge, monstrous snake. It is a very fatal monster, having the ability to kill with a single glance from its eyes. Spiders flee before it. The basilisk is quite rare. The crow of the rooster, however, is fatal to it. Not much more is known about the basilisk.' Tom closed the book, upset that he couldn't learn more, but sure that he knew what the monster was. Now all I have to do is find the Chamber. He completed his homework and walked out of the library. On his way out, he ran into Sophia.

"Tom, are you alright? You're upset about something, I can tell. You can tell me, you know. I won't bug you about whatever is bothering you, but I'll just tell you that I'm willing to listen if you want to talk." Tom nodded.

"Thank you Sophia, but I'm fine." Tom lied. He supposed he was feeling better at the prospect of opening the chamber and letting the monster loose on the muggleborns, but he knew that Sophia wouldn't consider that 'fine'. Sophia is muggleborn too, he thought. Would I hurt her? No, I suppose not. I know her too well to know that she's not like other muggleborns. If she gets in my way, though, I'm not sure what I'd do. I'd have to set the basilisk on her. I hope that she can understand this from an objective point of view, like me, instead of her emotional point of view. If she does, then I wouldn't have a reason to hurt her. However, despite trying to reason it out in his head, the thought of setting the basilisk on Sophia made him anything but happy. A mental image of her lying on the ground, stone-cold, with her eyes gazing lifelessly at him, entered his mind, and Tom shuddered involuntarily at the thought. He walked away, his thoughts in turmoil.

Over the next couple of months, Tom looked for the Chamber. Since he was a prefect, he had an excuse to walk the corridors at night, and he used that to his advantage. Unfortunately, Sophia was the Gryffindor prefect, which meant that she could guess that he was up to something, He decided that he'd simply say that he thought he'd heard something, if she ever found him wandering. He was a good liar, he knew, and was sure that he'd have no problem. Indeed, he searched through each classroom, each corridor. He even looked through the Great Hall and the kitchens, once he'd figured out that he had to tickle the pear. The technique he used was, in his opinion, simpler than trying to find a random entrance that was probably disguised. He closed his eyes, imagined a snake, and said 'open' in Parseltongue, as he was sure that it was the way to open the chamber. However, it never yielded any results. Many house-elves swarmed Tom, asking him if he wanted to eat, but Tom politely declined. He got out of the kitchen, but ran right into Irina.

"What are you doing out so late?" Tom hissed quietly.

"I'm the other Slytherin prefect. Or did you forget?" Irina replied, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, but what are you doing here?" he asked back.

"I could ask you the same thing. I saw you heading to the kitchens, and I followed. I saw you tickle the pear, and I was about to do so when you walked out of the kitchen. Were you sneaking a late-night snack?" Irina asked dubiously.

"No, of course not. I thought I heard something strange, so I decided to investigate." Tom said smoothly.

"We both know that's not true. You know that there are house-elves in the kitchen, and I didn't hear anything strange. Seriously, what were you looking for? I've noticed you look for something each time it's our turn to patrol. I didn't think much of it at first, but when I saw you do it every time we were on patrol, I figured that I'd have to ask."

"Well..." Tom looked at the floor, feigning embarrassment. "If you must know, I was, well, looking for the Room of Requirements," he improvised, hearing about it from many Slytherins who claimed to have found it. "I'd heard about it, and I wanted to see if I could find it."

"You're lying," Irina said accusingly. "Why bother? You know that I can see right through your lies. Besides, I might be able to help you." Tom decided to tell her part of the truth, since she was a pureblood Slytherin who also believed that Muggles, muggleborns, and half-bloods don't belong in society.

"Well, I'm looking for a snake carved in somewhere," he finally decided to say.

"Why?" she asked.

"I won't tell you." Tom countered. Irina looked impassive, but Tom was sure that she was trying to figure it out.

"Alright." Irina said. They walked to the Slytherin dormitories wordlessly.

Christmas came, and Tom woke up to find three packages by his bed. He opened them up. Edward had given Tom a book on Quidditch. An attached card said: Maybe you might like Quidditch better if you read about it in a book rather than watched it. Merry Christmas! -Edward. Emma had given Tom a silver-and-green scarf and hat set. He opened Sophia's present last. She had gotten him a silver necklace with a silver serpent pendant. Here's to celebrate your utter Slytherin-ness. Hope you like it. Merry Christmas! Your good friend, Sophia. Emma and Edward had gone home for the holidays, but Sophia was still here. He'd have to thank her. Tom decided that while he wouldn't usually dream of wearing jewelry, especially a necklace, he figured that he could wear this necklace because of its symolicness. He put it on. He saw Sophia at breakfast that morning.

"Thank you Sophia," Tom said. "I liked your present. I'm sorry that I only got you a mere book."

"But I loved your present" she exclaimed. "I mean, a joke book! How perfect," Sophia replied. Tom decided to spend a little time with Sophia instead of spend his holidays searching for the elusive chamber. After all, he'd looked everywhere he could imagine for the Chamber, but hadn't found it. Maybe it really is only a myth. No matter. Tom was surprised that Sophia had even chosen to stay behind at Hogwarts for the holidays instead of choosing to go home and spend them with her family, but she said that she wanted to cherish every moment of her last two years at Hogwarts while she could. He spend the day walking around and talking to Sophia, catching up on a few months' worth of events, and Tom realized that he had missed out on a lot.

"So, what have you and your sweetheart been up to lately?" he teased.

"Oh, Edward and I broke up at the beginning of summer," Sophia mentioned casually. Tom was surprised. What? he wondered. What happened to their perfect relationship?

"Oh, it wasn't a fight or anything. He liked Emma, and I didn't quite like him as more than a friend anymore." Tom felt strangely satisfied at the news of their breakup for some reason. Just goes to show that relationships and the fickle 'love' are a waste of time and don't really exist, he thought smugly. He was right about love too, just as he was right abo everything else. However, there was something else about that satisfaction that he couldn't place. He also couldn't place Sophia's slightly strange tone at her admission that she didn't like him anymore. Before he could ponder it, Sophia continued.

"Didn't you notice Edward and Emma walking around as a couple?" she asked with surprise.

"I'll admit, I've been so busy with studying that I haven't noticed the trivial details of my classmates' lives," Tom retorted. Sophia laughed at his tone, and they continued to enjoy Christmas. They celebrated his birthday in a similar manner as they did Christmas, except that Sophia didn't get him a separate birthday present. It had been a tradition from their first year at Hogwarts for Sophia to combine his Christmas and birthday presents.

"I can afford to get two birthday presents, but it's hard to come up with things that you like besides books," she said matter-of-factly. "Here, you can come with me to Flourish and Blots during the summer and pick out a half-birthday present then or something."

Soon, the holidays were over and everyone else was back. Classes started as usual. However, one morning, Irina came up to Tom on his way to Potions.

"Tom! I found something yesterday. In the girl's bathroom on the third-floor corridoor!" Irina whispered urgently, so softly that he barely caught what she said. Tom did hear what she said though, and was excited. Could it be?

Sophia paused in her tracks, hardly daring to believe what she had heard. It couldn't be. She swore she had heard Irina tell Tom that she found something in the girls' bathroom. I must've heard wrong, Sophia thought. After all, Irina was whispering so softly that I bet it was hard for even Tom to hear it. I just was listening because I care more about Tom's conversations than about the conversations of the other students. And, okay, maybe I was curious as to what Irina could be whispering to Tom. Another part of her brain was arguing with her though.We're in our sixth year though, it said, and that's when Tom opened the Chamber of Secrets. Besides, it would make more sense for a girl to have found the Chamber. I am surprised that Tom told Irina about what he was trying to do. It makes sense that he didn't tell me, but I didn't think that Tom Riddle trusted anyone. Maybe he didn't tell her the whole story, only part of it. Yes, that seems like the kind of thing he'd do. Sophia walked to her class, her mind whirling with worry. She tried to go to the third-floor corridors whenever she had free time. She started doing her homework in that corridor, but she didn't catch anything. She was able to wave away Emma and Edward's concern for now by saying that she just wanted to study more, but she knew that it wouldn't work for long. She figured that she should tell them the truth soon anyways. Two days later, a muggleborn student was Petrified. Sophia knew that she'd have to tell her friends soon. But each day there was a new attack, and with each passing attack, Sophia became more terrified of telling her friends, worried about how they'd react to the news.

"Sophia, is something wrong?" Emma asked her. "I know that you are probably upset about Edward's friend getting Petrified, especially since you knew him pretty well. After all, you, Dan, and Edward played lots of pranks together. But you've been upset for days. What's up?"

"Emma, get Edward. I have to tell you something." Emma nodded and went and got Edward. He was looking quite upset.

"What happened Sophia? Do you know something?"

"I'll have to start at the beginning. You know how I ended up back in time and de-aged? How I ended up across the Atlantic Ocean? How, in the future, there is a book series about the Wizarding world?" They nodded, unsure of where she was going with this. "Well, in the second book, we find out at the end that the person who opened up the Chamber of Secrets in this time period was Voldemort as a teenager. And...and..." Sophia was holding back a sob, nearly in tears. "I know who it is. I never told any of you, because I didn't think that you'd understand, and a part of me was overconfident that I could change time, but the person who opens the Chamber of Secrets and later becomes Voldemort is...is... Tom Riddle!" Sophia brought her knees to her chest and hugged her legs, resting her chin on her knees. Emma and Edward exclaimed in shock.

"What?" they said. "Tom...Tom Riddle? How could it be? You must be mistaken."

"I am not mistaken!" Sophia nearly yelled. "At the end of that book, Tom...well, a memory of him preserved in a diary essentially, had written his name in the air with a wand, and then he waved it so that the letters were rearranged. They spelled out 'I am Lord Voldemort'. That's an anagram of Tom's full name." Emma and Edward thought that over in their minds. Sophia was right, they realized.

"But Tom is in favor of muggleborns and even Muggles," Emma protested, trying to convince herself that it wasn't true. She didn't think that Tom could do something like that, but more than that, she was thinking of poor Sophia. She must be devastated, Emma realized sadly. Emma couldn't imagine what it would be like to love someone when she knew all along that he would end up a cold, ruthless murderer. Not only that, but Sophia is truly muggleborn, so it must be even worse.

"He was, before he found out that his Muggle father abandoned his witch mother. If I hadn't gotten sent back in time like I had, then I think that he would've grown up hating Muggles, and therefore muggleborns by association. He knew that I was muggleborn, almost Muggle, and that I was nice to him. I was nice to him despite knowing about his magic before I could do magic myself. During that time, I was basically a Muggle who had accepted his magical abilities, and that was probably the only thing that stopped him from that. Since I was the only one, though, it became a moot point when Tom found out about his father."

"How long have you known?" Edward asked timidly, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Since before first year, when we were at the orphanage," Sophia replied quietly.

"How did you stand to be around him?" Edward shouted. "Knowing that he'd turn out to be a murderer? How could you love him when, from your descriptions of Voldemort, you know that he was incapable of love?"

"Because when my future self had read the books, she was able to understand why Tom did what he did! The Muggles at the orphanage were horrid to him, and since his father abandoned his mother the way he did, I can't blame Tom for hating Muggles! Plus, it's human nature to dislike something by association, so it makes sense in a somewhat twisted way that he'd hate muggleborns. I'm not saying that what he did was right, but I can see why." Then, Sophia spoke in a faint whisper. "I know that, at least initially, I had somewhat of an effect on him because when he discovered his magic, he didn't use his magic to mindlessly hurt the Muggles, he only used it to give those bullies the same injuries by magic as they had given us with their fists. Once they got a dose of their own medicine, they left us alone. For years, at least he realized that it was nice to have a friend. He became my best friend. Even my future self believed that he should get a second chance. Besides, you two remember that he once was in support of coexisting peacefully with the Muggles, don't you? He told you about his original goals, remember? That proves that I was almost successful in changing him. It would've lasted until he found out about his family, so his future hadn't been ingrained until now. I don't know how or why I still love him, knowing what he could become before, and knowing what he almost certainly will become now. I can't answer that. But don't worry. My love hasn't blinded me, and I won't help him. I'll try to do something. Maybe it's not too late. I believe that's the reason why I was sent here to this time so inexplicably. However, you must promise not to interfere. If I don't succeed, you must promise that you won't try to step in."

"Why not?" Emma and Edward both asked, bewildered. They wanted to help Sophia as much as they can! Tom seemed potentially dangerous, and it was admirable of Sophia to be strong enough to go against him. As her best friends, they didn't want her to face this alone!

"Because you guys don't exactly understand him like I do. Besides, trust me. I won't let things get worse, no matter what. Imagine what would've happened if I hadn't gone back in time. There would've been no hope until the 1990s."

"But we won't just stand here and do nothing after all we know!" Edward said indignantly.

"Edward, Tom's powerful. There's no doubt about that. If you tried to get in his way, then he'd kill you. Same for you Emma. And you guys can't die, not you of all people. I'm sure that you two end up get married, and it's your grandson Harry who kills Voldemort. If you guys go off and get yourselves killed out of Gryffindor pride, then there may be no hope for an even longer amount of time, if ever. We can't risk changing the future. I'm not even supposed to be in this time. I wasn't in the original timeline until after Voldemort died, so..." Sophia paused, gulped at what she was about to say, and continued. "as long as I sont let Tom see the future, it doesn't matter what happens to me." Emma and Edward were stunned, looking knocked into silence. "Edward, can I have your Invisibility Cloak? I'm going back to the third-floor corridoor." Edward went and got his cloak. She wore it and headed off, tiptoeing when she finally got to the corridoor. She looked into the girls' bathroom. Sophia heard loud sobs coming from inside. Then, she saw Tom coming towards the bathroom. This seems familiar, she thought. Then, it hit her. Ohmygod! Myrtle! She's going to die! Tom walked in, oblivious to Sophia. He hissed at the faucet. She heard what sounded like a huge snake starting to slither out. Sophia stuffed the cloak in her robes, grabbed her wand, and ran into the bathroom, eyes on the first cubicle.

"Myrtle! Don't look up! Look at the floor only. Please! Or else you'll die. Just do as I say!" Careful not to look at the basilisk, Sophia then turned to face Tom, who had whirled around in shock.

Tom was stunned at the sight of Sophia in the bathroom. He was sure that he didn't see her in the corridoor, and she couldn't have come here so fast without running, which he surely would've heard. Maybe she used a disillusionment charm, he thought, mentally cursing himself for not remembering to check for that. Tom realized that she must've suspected him ever since that dratted boy in their History of Magic class had asked the teacher what the Chamber of Secrets was. The teacher had told them, albeit reluctantly, about the myth and how only the Heir could open it. On instinct, Tom sent a 'Stupefy' at Sophia. She blocked it and sent a curse back at him. He dodged it and decided that he should first take care of Myrtle. Sending a silent 'Petrificus Totalus' at her, Myrtle dropped to the ground frozen, her eyes wide open.

"Kill that girl," Tom hissed at the basilisk in Parseltongue. The basilisk met eyes with Myrtle, and Tom knew that she was dead.

"No! NO!" Sophia yelled. She pointed her wand at Myrtle, undoing the 'Petrificus Totalus', and ran to her side, her eyes on Tom the whole time. She felt Myrtle's hand, but Myrtle was still and cold. Tom sent a Confundus charm at Sophia, which she blocked easily, and Sophia sent a jet of purple light back at him. They kept dueling for a while. Tom wasn't able to defeat Sophia because she was surprisingly skilled at dueling spells. She's good at dueling, he thought in wonder. She stood against me for so long. Tom sent two quick spells at Sophia, one right after the other. Sophia dodged one of them, but the other, ironically the simple Expelliarmus, hit home. Sophia's wand flew out of her hand and Tom caught it. Sophia looked at Tom tiredly.

"You could've been a good Seeker, you know," she said with a small, tight smile. Tom sighed and rolled his eyes. Only Sophia would say something like that to someone who was attacking her.

"You killed me!" a voice yelled, interrupting his thoughts. "Why did you kill me?" Tom turned around, surprised to see Myrtle.

"Because you're a filthy muggleborn," Tom hissed in response. "Why are you still a ghost?"

"I haven't gotten back at Olive Hornby for teasing me about my glasses. Oh well, I suppose I could annoy her better by haunting her," Myrtle responded. Tom saw a solid hand try to grab one of the wands in his hands. Tom stretched his hand, the one with both wands in it, out of Sophia's reach. Because she was about a head shorter than him, and because he had long arms, she couldn't get the wand. He smirked at her struggle, almost playfully.

'Should I kill the other girl?" the basilisk asked.

"No, not yet," Tom asked. He decided to consider his options. To his surprise, he saw that Sophia hadn't even tried to run. Maybe she's gotten stupider, and I haven't noticed. Oh well. First, he waved his wand, and the bathroom had a door, which was locked.

"I wasn't going to try to leave, you know. The main reason I came here was to talk to you," Sophia replied. So she does know what she's doing. But what could she want to talk about? And why would she stay when she'd just seen him try to kill a muggleborn? Tom didn't respond. "Why Tom? Why are you doing all of this?"

"It's my inherited duty. Besides, Muggles are filth, and therefore, so are muggleborns since they are descended from Muggles." She might tell on me, but who would believe her? After all, I am Tom Riddle, the perfect orphaned child, smart, handsome, charming, and prefect. Dumbledore might though. He's seen the rude side of me at the orphanage, and he never seemed to take things at face value. But Sophia wouldn't have proof. The fact that they thought that he was Slytherin's Heir was solely based on the fact that Slytherin had a descendant by the name of Marvolo. That happens to be the name of my grandfather, but there could be other Marvolos. There's also the fact that I speak Parseltongue. But even that's not enough proof. This is the magical world though, and she could use her memories of right now as proof. He decided to perform a test to see if he still had hope. He probed her mind, trying to perform Legilimency on Sophia. She felt it, and blocked him. He withdrew, satisfied.

"You know Occlumency, and you're pretty good at it," Tom smirked. "Now, even if you try to use your memories as proof, then they won't believe you because a good Occlumens can plant fake memories." Sophia, who seemed to have been thinking along those lines, groaned and put her head in her hands. She looked back up at him, her normally kind, warm eyes now dark like bitter chocolate liquor and hard like steel.

"So what are you going to do now Riddle? Kill me?" Sophia asked coldly. While Tom didn't let his reaction show on the outside, he flinched internally at her use of his last name with such a chilling tone. They had known each other for so long that his last name sounded strange, even alien-like from her, especially in the tone she said it in.

"If I had planned on that, why would I have given you a lecture about not telling anyone?" Tom responded casually, his voice smooth, not betraying his discomfort at the sudden unexpected turn of events. No one was supposed to find out about him opening the Chamber, but instead Sophia of all people saw the very act itself.

"Why did you do this though? Why did you kill Myrtle? Why are you against the muggleborns? And why are you not against me?" Sophia asked, her voice laced with hints of a sob. Tom nearly scoffed at her weakess. So much for Gryffindor courage, he thought.

"Like I said, Muggles are filth. Did you see those Muggles at the orphanage? They were so petty, so undignified, and they acted like dirt. Don't interrupt Sophia, I know that you were about to. I'm not against you because you treated me well even before you knew about magic, and even before you knew about magic you were more dignified than those Muggles. Had you been Muggle, you would've been unique, and you're still a unique witch. Harming you would be a waste. Besides, you are a more objective person than most. If you think about this without emotion, you'll see that I'm right." Tom realized that Sophia would be a great companion for his mission. She was smart, and if she agreed to follow him, then he could use her knowledge of the future to help him. A slithering sound behind him reminded Tom that the basilisk was still there, and the sound brought back the image of Sophia frozen to death by the glare of the dangerous snake. Tom turned his thoughts away from the thought. The basilisk is under my control, Tom reassured himself firmly. She won't kill unless I tell it to. And Sophia is apparently smart enough not to look up into the basilisk's eyes, if her earlier actions are anything to judge by. Maybe she knows what it is too? All the same, Tom considered warning her not to look, but before he could she replied to his earlier statement with a question.

"But you didn't think this way before last year, when you found out about your father. Did that change your mind?" Sophia asked.

"No, it simply made me see the truth about Muggles. I mean, he obviously abandoned my mother if she had to give birth in such a dingy orphanage. And if Muggles can abandon family after finding out the truth, then they're obviously scum."

"But Muggleborns' parents haven't abandoned their kids after finding out that their children could do magic. That proves that not all Muggles are like that." Then, her voice took on a more understanding tone. "I'm sorry that your dad did what he did. I'm sorry that you got unlucky and had your dad do that. But the fact is that they're not all like that."

"They just see the usefulness of having a magician in the family," Tom spat.

"Tom, no. The biggest reason Muggles may not like magic is because they're scared of what people could do. Most Muggles won't blame wizards and witches for mishaps like a bad crop season because they have become more advanced in the sciences. Besides, Muggleborns' parents still accept them despite knowing that it is possible for their children to use their magic against the parents. If they still accept them, it's purely based on love for their children." Some of what Sophia is saying is makinig some sort of sense, Tom thought. He refused to succumb to her logic though.

"But there are still a lot of Muggle scum who try to get rid of us because of our power. Look at my filthy Muggle father! He abandoned my witch mother! She was more powerful than him. How dare he abandon her. And why would my mother marry such dirt?"

"Tom, your mother loved your father. Your father didn't know of magic. He was rich and well-known in Muggle society, which was pretty much the epitome of power in the Muggle world. Your mother grew up with a father and a brother who hated and abused her. When she saw your father, she fell in love with him," Sophia explained. Her eyes widened when she realized the extent of the information she revealed. Tom was shocked at her knowledge.

"How do you know all of this?" Tom asked with narrow eyes. Sophia hung her head.

"It was in that book series," she said faintly. Tom didn't need to ask her which book series. But why would I be in it? Why would they describe my parentage? I mean, I made an anagram of my name this year, which is 'I am Lord Voldemort', so I'm in the series as Lord Voldemort. That means that they must've been describing my past and future when they described Lord Voldemort's life! If that's the case, then Sophia probably knows, and has known for years!

"How do you know that it was my mother and father?" Tom demanded. Sophia looked at the floor and whispered inaudibly.

"They mentioned your father's name. Tom Riddle." Tom was taken over by a sudden, intense anger. He reached out and slapped Sophia hard across the face.

"How dare you keep such information from me! How dare you not tell me about my own parents! I deserve to know more than you." She looked up at him acceptingly, not surprised at all.

"I was worried that that would set you on the path to becoming Lord Voldemort. I didn't want that to happen if I could help it."

"Well, your efforts were in vain," Tom said icily. "Do you know anything else?" Sophia looked away, as if pondering something. Tom reached out, grabbed her jaw, and turned her face to face his, looking straight into her eyes. Her shoulders slumped in resignation, and she continued.

"Your uncle had attacked Tom Riddle, your father. A Ministry official came to investigate, and your grandfather and uncle were rather unpleasant to him. Your grandfather abused your mother in front of the official though, so the Ministry arrested your grandfather and uncle. Merope, your mother, was free. She loved your father, and while no one knows the details, your father soon ran off with your mother. It was a huge scandal in Little Hangleton." Sophia paused, and Tom took this opportunity.

"So my father is a bigger piece of slime than I thought. He ran off with my mother and then he abandoned her!"

"Tom, your father had a girlfriend. Harry was looking at a memory of the Ministry official when he came to the Gaunt house, and during it, your father rode past the house with a woman he called 'Cecilia darling'. Your father didn't love your mother, and we can make a reasonable guess that Merope was able to do magic after her father and brother were in Azkaban. She could've used the Imperius curse, or used Amortenia, which would explain his sudden decision to run off with your mother. He came back a couple of months later, saying that he was 'hoodwinked and taken in'. He must've realized what had happened, but didn't truly say it in fear of appearing crazy. Your mother was devastated, and either her unreturned love sapped her magic away, or she was so broked-hearted that she didn't have the will to stay alive."

"My mother was so weak as to let love swallow her. Pathetic," Tom sneered.

"Tom, she...she sold her heirloom, Slytherin's locket, for ten galleons. That shows how desperate she was for money. She must've thought that even that orphanage would've been able to provide for you better than she could've. In the end, she did what she thought was best for you, Tom." Sophia said softly.

"How dare my father abandon my mother, who was the Heir of Salazar Slytherin?" he asked furiously, his blood boiling. I hate both of my parents, he thought with a burning glare at the wall behind Sophia. "How dare he leave her, thinking that he with his money and stature was better than my mother, who had such a powerful ancestor? How dare he -" Sophia cut him off, exasperated.

"That has nothing to do with love though Tom! Even if he did know the significance of your mother's ancestry, it wouldn't have changed anything. He wouldn't have loved her. You think that love is based on how powerful someone is, how rich they are, or their ancestry? You're wrong. It's preposterous. I didn't fall in love with you because you're Salazar Slytherin's heir!" Sophia yelled. She realized what she had accidentaly blurted out in her outburst at about the same time as he did. "I... I meant..." But then she stopped trying to cover it up, and instead glared at him defiantly, as if saying 'Yes, I do love you, and I dare you to say something about it'. Tom had never been more shocked than he was at that moment, not even when he learned about Sophia's knowledge of his future. This piece of information had been so unexpected, that he nearly stumbled back at its impact. Tom thought back to the first time they had met. She had been so kind, so caring. Even when he had wanted to take revenge on the other kids at the orphanage, she understood him. Yet she wasn't cruel or evil. She didn't want to hurt other people if she could help it. He thought about the way she seemed to accept him. She didn't like him merely for his intelligence, for she had intelligence nearly good enough to rival his own. She liked him as much when they were younger as she did now, so it wasn't merely his good looks that attracted her. Does all of this show her love for me? he wondered. No, it doesn't. It just shows that she considered me a good friend. And how can she love me still after knowing what I am now, what I do? She doesn't love me, she merely thinks she does.

But do you know what love is, then? the other part of him asked. If you are so sure that she doesn't love you, then what do you think love is? Tom had to admit that he didn't.

And besides, she knew, that other part of him said. She knew what you would be for four years, and yet she still was nice to you. She still helped you find your ancestry, and she didn't hate you for it despite knowing what it would lead to. She gave you a chance, a chance to be a different person, before she judged you. I don't think most friends would be capable of that.

I know, he told himself. I know now why she was angry at me for using Veritaserum on her. Things would've been quite different if I knew about my future, and I might've pursued the path of becoming a dark lord sooner. She still forgave me for using Veritaserum on her. And considering how kind and non-violent she is, she's still trying to be understanding, trying to see why I am doing what I'm doing. For the first time in his life, Tom was genuinely and throughly confused.

Sophia was getting more and more nervous with each passing minute of Tom's silence. Why won't he say anything? I mean, I just told him I love him. Either he's really ecstatic about it, which I doubt, or he hates the fact and is disgusted by it. Either reaction is instantaneous. What is he thinking about? The longer she waited, the more she feared his cold rejection. Well, you already know he's going to reject you, she thought bitterly. Things can't get much worse now, unless he puts me under the Cruciatus or something. Finally, Tom spoke.

"Yes, you should probably leave," Tom said frostily. "After all, I'm sure that you won't tell anyone. You can't, really. But you're welcome to stay if you want." Tom fished out a diary. This must be THE diary, Sophia thought. It was engraved with Tom's name on the front. Sophia sat there, staring at the horrible sight in front of her, but she couldn't look away. She watched in horror as a piece of her best friend and beloved's soul was torn out of his body and entered the diary. The scene made her want to retch. It was agonizing for her to watch Tom destroy his soul, his essence, himself. Tom's brows furrowed, and at one point he squeezed his eyes shut tightly, as if he was in pain but trying to hide it. If Tom's face is contorting at all, then the pain must be agonizing. Why is he doing this to himself? she asked herself sadly. When it was over, Tom looked over at Sophia and smirked, as if reveling in her discomfort at the horrible sight in front of her. He didn't look any different, but Sophia knew that he was, more or less, damaged forever.

"Yes Sophia, I think you might have an idea of what this is. I am now invincible," Tom said proudly.

"Tom, I don't completely understand your aversion to all Muggles and Muggleborns, but more than that I don't understand your craze to achieve immortality. Why do you want to mutilate your soul, yourself?"

"Death is a weakness. What comes after death is also a mystery. Why should I let myself be defeated by death? I don't want to sucumb to something like death, which I can't prepare myself for."

"You don't need to. Death is a natural part of humanity which we can't and shouldn't fight. And I take it that this is why you're scared to love? Because it is unexpected?"

"Don't snivel. I don't want to love because love is probably the second biggest weakness, next to death, and it is completely useless. I've never seen or understood the good that could come from love. All those people in love, they all act like fools. Besides, I don't need love. I don't need to rely on anyone to gain a sliver of happiness. I can trust and rely on myself, and that's all I need." Sophia's heart twisted in pain at the way he regarded her confession of her love for him so carelessly and lightly, as if it were a broken toy that he wanted to discard. She didn't let her hurt and anger show on her face except through the narrowing of her eyes.

"I act like a fool?" Sophia asked incredulously.

"Well, you were begging and pleading just a while ago. I don't think you would've done that if you cared only about yourself," Tom replied. Ultimately, all guys are like this, Sophia thought angrily. Even if they don't act like it at first, if they don't like a girl back they scorn at her. Well, she'd show him.

"If people didn't care for anyone but themselves, I doubt the world would survive as it has. Most people would exterminate each other. And besides, I did not beg and plead. I was asking you to reconsider your position, and not for your sake, but rather for the sake of others. I couldn't care less if you went and died in a hole, but I don't want innocent people losing their lives," Sophia snarled back angrily.

"I'd be careful of what I said if I were you," Tom whispered dangerously. "After all, I still have your wand." His voice returned to its mocking tone. "Besides, I can't go 'die in a hole' as you so eloquently put it. I'm officially immortal now. Seriously, are all American phrases that stupid?" Sophia glared at Tom.

"Can I leave now? And can I have my wand back now? I'm sure that you don't want an inquiry, courtesy of the school, as to how my wand is in your possession and why you refuse to return it to me."

"Sure," Tom answered lazily. He handed Sophia her wand. "Besides, I defeated you in our little duel." Sophia returned his remark with a withering, burning glare. If looks could kill, Tom would be dead by now, horcrux or no horcrux. Sophia stomped out of the bathroom, but before she left, she heard Tom say, "You know, if you ever change your mind, I'd be happy to put you near the top of our death eater ranks. In fact, you'd be second only to me." Sophia shook her head and left, hearing laughter coming out of the girl's bathroom. However, just as she thought, her anger at Tom for scorning at her disintegrated as soon as she left. After all, this was Tom Marvolo Riddle, the future Dark Lord, and considering that, he had treated her well on finding out about her love for him. He was offering her a top spot amongst his Death Eaters. While she would obviously never take him up on the offer, the gesture was nice coming from him. If I were to accept his offer, it would, in a strange, twisted way, almost be like being his queen, she noted wryly. After all, the queen is second only to the king in power. She laughed mirthlessly at this dark turn in her twisted fairy tale. Nevertheless, I hope that I'm wrong about loving him. After all, the fact that I'm probably his best and closest friend doesn't mean that he loves me, or that he should. If he doesn't love me, now or ever, then that means that I probably don't truly love him, so I will get over him. But if he does and is denying it, then nothing can take him out of denial and I'll be doomed to be heartbroken for the rest of my life.

Over the next couple of months, Tom and Sophia drifted apart. Sophia wasn't surprised; it was to be expected, and she probably would've been surprised if things had managed to resemble some sense of normalcy between them, especially after they both knew that she knew everything. As she had known, the teachers told everybody that the school was being closed down, and Tom 'miraculously' caught the 'Heir of Slytherin'. Sophia nearly cried when Hagrid was expelled, and her guilty conscience wouldn't let her sleep for days until she convinced herself that she truly wouldn't have been able to do anything helpful even if she wanted to. She guessed that Emma and Edward must be feeling the same way as well, but none of them had solid proof to convict Tom, and despite everything, a tiny part of her didn't want to. She felt disgusted that she could even think those thoughts, that she would forgo justice for murder just because she cared for the murderer. Maybe Tom is right, she thought bitterly. Maybe love is weakening me. As the days went by, Sophia kept getting more and more nervous. My existence in this time is dangerous, she thought to herself. I don't think I can do anymore good. I don't think I can save Tom. He seems to have made up his mind. In fact, I only pose a danger, since Tom knows that I know details of his future. He could try to read my mind. Maybe he has been perfecting his Legilimency so that he can fight off my Occlumency attempts. If he succeeds, there is a great chance that the Wizarding world as we know it will be doomed. There's only one thing I can do to at least prevent the situation from worsening. Sophia went to the library and searched through long shelves filled with endless numbers of books. Finally, she found a book that seemed to have what she was looking for. 'The Truth About Time', the title read. The book looked very new, seeming to have been published sometime, at most, in the past decades instead of decades or centuries ago. Sophia picked it up and leafed through it until she found the section that interested her most: Power of Portkeys.

"A Portkeys is an enchanted object that can transport a person. Most people know that a Portkeys can transport a person to a different location, and indeed that is the most common usage of a Portkey. However, a Muggle by the name of Albert Einstein theorized that space and time are related and linked as a single entity called space-time. He stated that there are three dimensions of space and one dimension of time, and that space and time curve in a complimentary manner to keep the speed of light constant. This theory may seem irrelevant, but the witch Melinda Rivers realized that the implications were huge. Since space and time are connected as a single entity, a Portkey, which can transport a person to a different point in space, is also capable of transporting a person through time."

Sophia was stunned. This means that I can create a Portkey back to my original time, she realized. I can go back. That way, Tom won't be able to find out about the future, and the timeline will proceed as described in the Harry Potter series. A sickening jolt rocked through her body at the realization that she would have to uproot her happy life in the Wizarding world, in the best school she had ever been to, with the best friends and sister she had ever had, to return to a world which seemed to hold no happiness in the foreseeable future. Her future self was utterly miserable in her loneliness, she knew, and had to cling to the slightest of reassurances to be remotely happy, and Sophia was now going to return that existence. But what happiness? she asked herself. Happiness now will only be a façade here too, considering the turn of events. Tom knows that I know about the future. Our friendship is in ruins, and probably forever this time. And you love him, so that will pierce through your heart as long as he's around. And even your relationship with Edward and Emma cannot be normal with the weight of the knowledge about Tom hanging between the three of us. I can't really be happy anyway, knowing what havoc Tom will wreak on the Wizarding world I know, so it's better if I take my unhappiness where my presence won't endanger the world and people I love. Besides, if Tom were to find out that Emma and Edward's grandson will defeat him, then who knows what he will do to them? She took a deep breath to calm her erratic breathing, her throat choked with sobs. Her head was spinning since she was both worried about Tom and worried about what Tom would or could do to her friends and many more people. Tom, she thought as she inhaled shakily, pain ripping through her body. His face swam in her mind, and it killed her to think of him as not only the victim of his own decisions but also as the enemy of the world they both knew and loved. Her head spun with the irony, and she put her head down to stop the spinning. She quickly got up and checked out the book, and then Sophia all but ran to her dorm. Once there, she hid under the covers and finally let the tears flow silently down her face. She convinced herself that Emma and Edward were better off without her, were safer without her, and her heart stopped hurting over them. She would still miss them, she knew, but it was a bittersweet pain that sh could deal with. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop hurting over leaving Tom. He had been in her life the longest, and their bond was unique. He was one of her best friends for sure, and would've been her absolute best friend if she hadn't had to worry about hiding the future of the books from him, since that was a big part of her worries and was the only thing she really hid from him. But most of all, she loved him. She loved him more than she had ever loved anything or anyone, and she loved him so much it hurt. She hadn't realized how she'd slowly fallen for him, but there was no going back now. Her mind replayed memories of her times with him, from the moment they met to the moment when she stormed out of the girls' bathroom a few months ago, and she realized that, somehow, she loved everything about him. She hated the fact that he was willing to murder, and she hated his prejudice, but she had known about all parts of his personality for the longest time and still cared deeply for him. She loved his intelligence, charm, and wit for sure, but she also loved his serpentine, venomous cruelty that had its own dark, twisted grace and the aura of power and control that he exuded. She had embraced both the light and dark aspects of him, and could therefore say with certainty that she had fallen wholly and truly in love with him, despite knowing that the dark parts of his personality would keep him from being able to return her love. But I can't do anything anymore, Sophia reminded herself. Even if I were to forget about the rest of the Wizarding world - which I could never do anyway - Tom will mutilate and break himself beyond my imagination. I can only imagine how badly he will transform himself, and it'll kill you to watch him do that to himself and be powerless to stop it. So better to miss Tom and still remember the good times I spent with him rather than to taint my memory of him with his self-destruction, a step that will also help the Wizarding world where I found my home. With that, Sophia wiped her tears, steeled her mind for the task ahead, opened the book she had gotten from the library, and learned how to make a Portkey that could transport her back to her original time period in the United States.

March 17 came along. Sophia received presents from Emma, Edward, and a couple of other people, but she wished that Tom had given her something. If only he would give up the path to becoming Lord Voldemort. I couldn't ask for anything more, she thought wistfully. There's no use for wishing for things that won't come true though, Sophia explained to herself. On her way to the Great Hall though, she ran into Tom.

"Today we're going to Hogsmeade. Meet me near the outer edge of Hogsmeade. I want to talk to you." With that, Tom walked off. Sophia was stunned into silence. What could he want to talk about? Should I go? I mean, will it be safe for me? Sophia considered for a long time, but finally decided to go. Maybe some good would come of it. After all, she had her Portkey tucked away safely in her robes. She had decided on making, fittingly, Tom's necklace that he had given her during their first Christmas at Hogwarts. It had taken a lot of effort for Sophia to get the Portkey into her robes without touching it, but she finally managed. She went to Emma and Edward and told them about this.

"Sophia, no! It's dangerous! What could he possibly want to talk to you about?" Emma asked worriedly.

"I won't know until I find out," Sophia replied.

"We should come with you," Edward said.

"No. I have to do this myself," Sophia replied. "I have to go see Tom. I have to talk to him. And I have to do this alone. Don't worry about me," Sophia replied with a small smile. However, though she tried to cling onto what little hope she had, Sophia had a heavy feeling in her stomach.
"And hey, I don't know for sure, but I..." Sophia felt her throat choke up, and she found it hard to get out the next words. "I might be leaving soon. Forever."

"What?" Emma and Edward nearly yelled in shock. "Leaving? Where are you going? And why?"

"I might be going back to my original time in America. I'm sorry that I can't tell you more than that. It's not safe, you know. I made a Portkey to go back to where I originally came from, and I have been carrying it around with me since. Who knows when I might need to use it? If Tom tries to find out about the future, I can stop him by leaving, so that I am no longer in this time period, and the timeline returns to normal."

"I understand why you made the Portkey," Edward started. "It actually makes sense, even though I'm going to miss you a lot. But if the Portkey is a precaution against Tom, then why are you going to talk to him alone? That's just inviting trouble! Don't you want to be here, in this time period with us, as long as possible?" Edward asked incredulously.

"I do, but I might as well go talk to Tom. If I don't, I'll never know what he wanted, and I'll curse myself for not finding out, for not giving him a chance. I'll spend forever wondering what he wanted to say, because I might not get a chance to talk to him again. What if he wants to say that he has changed, but I don't give him the chance to tell me that? His anger could backfire. Besides, I know that I am only delaying the inevitable by staying here." Emma, who up until this point had just looked at Sophia sadly, now had tears pooling in her eyes. She suddenly hugged Sophia tightly.

"Goodbye, sis," she sobbed through her tears.

"Goodbye, Emma," Sophia responded, patting Emma on the back to try to calm her. "I'm really going to miss you. You know that, right?"

"Of course!" Emma said. Then, Sophia went and hugged Edward.

"Goodbye, Sophia," Edward said, and though he wasn't sobbing like Emma was, his voice was lower and quieter, and it conveyed as much sadness.

"Goodbye, Edward," Sophia managed to get out. "You are one of my best friends, and I'll miss you. I don't think anyone in my future likes prank the way you do, and it'll be lonely trying to prank people on my own," she stated with a small smile. Then, Sophia turned and walked away, towards the carriages to go to Hogsmeade. The Portkey felt heavier in her pocket with each step she took. As she walked to the carriages, she came face-to-face with Irina.

"You're going to talk to Tom, aren't you?" Irina asked lightly, but Sophia caught a hint of a sneer laced into Irina's voice.

"Yes," Sophia replied simply.

"You two seem to not be friends anymore. Did Tom finally realize that he was making a mistake by being in your company?" Irina questioned.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were jealous Irina," Sophia commented.

"I have no reason to be jealous of you. I'll give you some friendly advice. Don't waste your time. You don't know Tom as well as you think. I truly know the real him, and I know that he will never bother with you after you've fulfilled his purpose. He'll never love you," Irina sneered.

"Irina, I know Tom much better than you think, so you shouldn't presume me to be utterly uninformed. I don't care if Tom doesn't love me. I think that you fancy him, don't you? But I happen to know that he's quite incapable of love, and I know what I'm doing. If you two did love each other, I'd be quite happy for you. Truly, I want my friend to be happy." As Sophia said this, she realized that it was relatively true. If Tom and Irina truly loved each other, heck even if Tom and any other girl truly loved each other, she'd be happy that Tom was able to love, and she'd hope that he got a happy ending. Based on the original timeline though, either Tom never fell in love or his love had a tragic ending, so if Tom did get a happy ending with his love, whoever she (or he, Sophia added as an afterthought) is, then Sophia would know that she, as one of his best friends, would've had a hand in that. She'd be satisfied with that, and she'd probably be able to move on. Besides, considering that she knew what Tom would do, she had more serious things to break her heart than her unreturned affections. "I'm merely going to discuss something, and I doubt that you'd be able to relate, Irina." With that, Sophia climbed into a carriage. Once the carriages reached their destination, she walked towards the edge of Hogsmeade. It was quiet, with a bit of greenery.

"Yes Tom? What did you want to talk about?" Sophia asked.

"Happy birthday Sophia. I wanted to give you something, but I assumed that something from me would've been unwelcome, especially after the events of the past couple of months." However, Tom held nothing in his hands. A childish part of her was disappointed that he hadn't gotten her anything, hadn't seemed to consider her enough of a friend to give her a gift, but Sophia cursed herself for being so shallow and materialistic. Sophia sighed, hating how Tom would always twist around the issue. Normally, it was amusing and charming, but it wasn't so in the current situation.

"Cut to the chase and tell me what you want Tom," Sophia snapped.

"Yes, that was always one of the things I liked about you. You know, I was just curious about that story of yours that you had read. I wanted to know more." Sophia groaned. Of course, so this is it. I should leave, she thought with slight panic. She, however, couldn't help but say some things that she'd wanted to say.

"Tom, why are you so adamant on being evil? Like I've said, I understand some of your anger, but I don't see what you hope to accomplish with this."

"And as I've said, I hope to make sure that wizards and witches can live without fearing those filthy Muggles who are hardly as gifted as us. So what does happen in that story?" Tom inquired.

"Tom, I won't tell you anything. But I'll say this much; the path you decide to take will have its consequences."

"Well, then enlighten me. What are some of the mistakes I make? I'll be sure not to make those mistakes. Who knows, avoiding those mistakes will convince me to take the better path?" Sophia knew that this was the hook. She paused. If I did tell him, would it persuade Tom to let go of the idea of immortality? Would he realize that his path of destruction was wrong, because it would backfire? No, because his opinions will be the same. He'll just find another way to accomplish what he wants, and I'll have no way of knowing if the new way will be better or worse. I can't take the risk. While pondering, she felt something push at her mind. Immediately, she put up barriers around her mind. The force strengthened though, and Sophia realized that she didn't have much time. I'll try to distract him.

"You know that this is evil though," Sophia said. Wow, way to even try to distract him, she thought sarcastically.

"There's no good and evil. There's only power and those too weak to seek it," Tom replied. Sophia rolled her eyes at what would become Tom's 'catch phrase'.

"That's a load of rubbish and you know it!" Sophia yelled.

"No, actually I don't. Why don't you tell me? Why is killing people evil?" Tom asked innocently.

"Because nearly all of them have definitely not done anything that makes them deserve something like that," Sophia retorted.

"So you admit that death is something that one would do well to avoid?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Gah! You're so frustrating! No, that's not what I'm trying to imply. However, it is safe to assume that death is different from life, and that if people are born into this world, and especially if they haven't done anything to harm others irreversibly, then they deserve to live their life, to experience it. It's their choice how they decide to, but who are we to condemn someone for living his life like a fool?"

"So why do people always cry when someone dies?" Tom asked.

"Because the worst thing about death is being separated from those who you love! When one of my friends dies, then the sad part will be that I won't be able to be with them until I die. The only ones who have to fear death are those who do evil things!" Sophia was all worked up about her point of view of life and death and good and evil. Wow, it feels like I'm in debate club, except that people wouldn't debate such topics in it. Sophia suppressed a snort at this random silly thought.

"Even if I did agree with what you are saying, you still haven't explained to me why my path is evil. What is evil? Who defines evil?" Tom asked in an annoying snobby tone. Sophia then felt the pressure from her mind lift. She relaxed a bit, still having the barriers up a bit, ready to strengthen them if needed. Tom had got her there. After all, good and evil is ingrained into one's conscience, and is inexplicable in words. However, after thinking for several seconds, she had what was probably an at least somewhat decent answer to a question that most people probably wouldn't be able to answer.

"What is a human's ultimate purpose on Earth? It's well...you know..." Sophia trailed off and blushed. It had sounded so much better and less embarrassing in her head. "To...add more humans to Earth." Glad to get that part out, Sophia continued, trying to ignore Tom's pleasure at her discomfort. "And being a killer goes against that, so therefore it's not right. And because we have a working system in place for wizards to survive peacefully, so you don't need to kill people to achieve that. That doesn't mean that people should fear death, it just means that people should get there when the time is right, unless a person has truly wronged someone else. But the only people who deserve the death penalty are those who are dangerous enough to take others' lives for no good reason."

"I don't plan on killing people anymore," Tom said smoothly. "You've truly enlightened me." Sophia scoffed. Tom was so obviously lying. If nothing else gave it away, it was the fact that his tone was all cool, smooth, and slippery, like the way it was around other people. If he was using this tone with her, it meant that he was lying. Sophia decided not to push it though.

"And, well, hurting people unreasonably is just as wrong. Pain is associated with doing something wrong. It's almost like a punishment to prohibit someone from making the mistake again, like when one injures himself. But people shouldn't have to suffer if they haven't done anything wrong, like hurt others. And if this is all you want to talk to me about, then I'm leaving." Sophia turned to walk away, but Tom grabbed her right wrist roughly to stop her from leaving. Sophia struggled and reached for her wand with her other hand, but Tom grabbed that wrist as well. He resumed the Legilimency, and this time the force against her mind's barriers was many times stronger than before. Sophia knew that she wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer. I really am going to have to go back to my time to prevent him from reading my thoughts and finding out about the future. But before I can, I have to do something. It's something I won't get to do otherwise. Sophia then brought her hands up to Tom's face, pulled it roughly towards her, and kissed him full on the lips. Tom stiffened in surprise at her spontaneous action, but Sophia but didn't break the kiss. Finally, still holding her wrists, Tom responded. Delighted, Sophia deepened the kiss. The force on the outside of her mind didn't go away, and Sophia had to work harder to maintain concentration on her Occlumency, but the kiss was helping her mind not wander otherwise. The kiss wasn't gentle, and Sophia was glad. She didn't think she would have liked gentle. She had dated Edward, but Tom was her first kiss. Wow, I don't think even heaven is as blissful. Too bad I... As she kissed him, a number of love songs played through her head, most of them Taylor Swift. The song 'Last Kiss' though kept repeating over and over in her mind. 'Never thought we'd have a last kiss, never imagined we'd end like this, your name forever the name on my lips'. I never thought that those words would ever be so accurate, Sophia thought mirthlessly. Sophia broke away first. She thought she saw disappointment flick through Tom's eyes, but it was gone a second later, and Sophia thought that she must've imagined it.

"Tom, I love you. Know this, no matter what. I know that you think love is weak, but it isn't. Love helps you find happiness in the smallest things. Love makes you feel lighter, more carefree. But most importantly, love makes you feel complete. I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to fall in love, and despite your life's decisions, I'm glad that I fell in love with you." Sophia felt her eyes pool with tears as she said this, but she fought to keep herself from succumbing to her emotions. It's time, Sophia thought to herself. She stepped away, wrenching her wrists out of Tom's loosened grip on them, and took out the carefully-wrapped necklace from inside her robes. Sophia's unwrapped it, took a deep breath, and took the necklace in her hands before Tom could do anything to stop her. She saw the world around her fade, her head spinning dizzily, and heard a loud "POP!" before she was pulled away, back to the future. The last thing she had seen was Tom's face, full of shock.