Wall

After the inane activities decided by Professor Dumbledore were done and over with, everyone returned to their common rooms.

Upon entering the common room Tom was greeted with an unusual sight.

He saw Black talking to one of Hogwarts House-elf's.

Tom had gotten to know about them when he had been introduced to Hogwart's Kitchens by Heir Malfoy last year and he still couldn't reconcile himself with the fact that these half-human creatures liked being subject to the whims and mercies of others.

Even their speech abilities were somewhere closer to that of a three-year-old child and when he had read about how the house-elves would hurt themselves for any perceived wrongs they had committed against their masters, Tom had wondered if this was the reason why most purebloods had the holier-than-thou attitude because they had grown up surrounded by these servants.

The elf seemed excited and nervous all at the same time.

"Yes, Young Master Black?"

Tom had the errant thought about how these creatures that couldn't even string a proper sentence with the right grammatical structures to save their lives, always remembered to address everyone by their birthright.

Had he been the one to call the elf, he would have been greeted by, "Yes, Master Riddle?" instead.

"Ah! Can you bring me the ingredients for a Samhain Sabbath Ritual?"

"Yes, Young Master Black. Mimsy be bringing all things," and with a pop, the elf had already vanished.

When Black saw him standing in the doorway, he blanched but then carried on with his actions.

A few seconds later he turned towards him and questioned, "Do you know the ritual?"

Tom replied cautiously, "I have read about it in the books, but I don't remember the words used verbatim."

The other boy paused at his words and then asked, "Do you want to participate in the ritual? Since you don't know the words, you won't be able to perform the rites, but you can still be a part of it."

Tom didn't need to be asked twice, he definitely wanted to be a part of the traditions that had been passed down generations in the magical world and things he had been ignorant about prior to last year.

He readily agreed.

By that time, the elf had already returned with all the things required to go through with the ritual.

He was enthralled as he watched Heir Black go through all the preparations with a single-minded focus and he could feel the magic in the air around them thickening as all the preparations for the commencement of the ritual were completed.

Tom had to admit that he was ecstatic to be a part of the ritual and he couldn't contain his curiosity.

When he opened his mouth to ask his questions, Heir Black shook his head and he knew instinctively to not talk unnecessarily right now.

Later.

Afterwards, he would have all the time to satiate his curiosity and for now, he would do things as Heir Black said.

Then Black motioned for him to sit in the centre of the pentagon and gave him a small nod before he started speaking words that seemed like a chant in Latin.

The nod seemed to be as if affirming and approving of his decision to participate in the ritual and Tom felt an irrational surge of pride in his heart at the approval that shone through Black's eyes.

As soon as the three chants were finished, Tom felt an even bigger change in the magic around them.

However, before he could even think about it, he felt the ground underneath him shaking and watched stupified as a wall raised from the very floor of his dorm and separated him from Heir Black.

The pentagon and the room had been divided into two!

Though the wall was transparent and he could look at Heir Black, Tom couldn't get out of the enclosed space he had been confined into.

At that moment he felt fear rise in him.

What was this?

He had never read or heard about Lady Hogwarts behaving this way.

He had seen the moving staircases and even doors that one had to tickle instead of push or pull to open them but a wall rising of its own accord without anyone casting any spell or charm was a different matter altogether.

No matter how hard he tried to beat the surface of the wall separating him from Black, it seemed as if even his voice couldn't travel to the other person.

Before he could give way to full-blown panic, Tom recalled that he had read that Lady Hogwarts was sentient and that it would never bring harm to anyone residing within it.

Trying to calm his furiously beating heart, he tried to think about the present situation in a logical manner.

Though magic was already a thing that was at odds with logic - otherwise, how could one explain the myriad of things that were impossible according to science, magic also followed some basic rules and he knew Lady Hogwarts wouldn't use Chaos Magic to build the wall that had gone up without a moment's notice.

Therefore, this was Light Magic and as Professor Merrythought had explained Light Magic was orderly and structured.

Thinking about it a bit further, Tom realised that the wall had only arisen after he felt the second change in the magic around them during the ritual.

So, the only reason the wall arose was that either his magic or his body couldn't handle the potent magic in the air or if his magic was incompatible with the surrounding magic.

As his mind worked through things, he finally calmed himself and his ragged breathing.

However, before Tom could do more than take a deep breath, something else unexpected happened!