Harry Potter : Chapter 76: Incoming Avalance II

Surely with his insight, she'd be able to get started much sooner... But then she observed him carefully, and despite the healthy appearance of the wizard, there were deep bags under his eyes, and his smile appeared strained.

...

He's doing too much, look at how tired he appears to be. Seer willpower was what kept their tallest friend going, she knew that much, it'd be better for him to reduce the bulk of subjects and topics he tirelessly researched not to increase them.

Still, Minerva smiled, pleasantly surprised as Rubeus wasn't one to offer his aid so freely, but she shook her head: "It has to be my project, but thank you."

"Could Professor Dumbledore realize it?" Riddle asked with a blank face while he opened again his chosen tome, his shoulders tensing minutely as they always did when the Transfiguration professor was named, "He is an accomplished alchemist too."

"He surely knows the theory," Minerva replied while rolling her shoulders to work out the few knots she had accumulated with hours spent over her notes, only for her green eyes to dart from Tom to their tallest friend: "but realizing it... I wouldn't know."

"I'd have to explain what it's for in any case," Rubeus shrugged while he returned the neat notes on Alchemy to the shelf dedicated to Minerva's works, "so I can't ask him."

The witch crossed her arms expectantly and rose a challenging eyebrow towards the much taller wizard: "Well, you'll explain it to me in any case."

"You want to try again with those runes?" Riddle's question came out of nowhere, and Minerva briefly felt left out, not for the first time: when the mood struck them, Rubeus and Tom were worse than her younger brothers, communicating between them with allusions and silent glances, as if there was a secret language only they were made a part of.

"Let's sit, shall we?" Hagrid gestured towards the lit fireplace and the comfortable armchairs present there, his eyes finding Minerva's while he smiled knowingly, as if he had been able to immediately zero in on the cause of the witch's brief flare of irritation.

"I'm waiting to have an actual cure before writing down the whole process, but if you want to know, I'll tell you... if you're up for another trip to Greece before the winter holidays."

Minerva's eyes narrowed dangerously as she immediately guessed what he was aiming at: "You want to go hunting, again? Our first failure didn't..."

"I'd hardly call it a failure." Rubeus immediately interrupted her, a faint expression of annoyance appearing on his face.

"Tom almost died!"

"And you griffindorishly put yourself at risk of doing the same." over the witch's head, Hagrid's dark eyes met Riddle's, who had flinched minutely at the vehement reminder of his brush with death, only to add: "And now that everything is said and done, I think that he doesn't regret it."

The Gryffindor witch briefly glanced at her fellow prefect, who studiously avoided looking at her while a complex expression appeared on his face: his instinctive reaction was to deny Rubeus' words, only to feel put on the spot as he, now safe and away from the danger, evaluated the positive sides against the negative ones.

He had risked his life, yes, but Minerva and Hagrid had both proved that they'd easily put their own on the line to save his, he had witnessed and took part in a more unique than rare piece of magic, and he was now about to be able to learn more about the instinctive curses his tallest companion seemed capable of producing.

While Minerva had perfected the enlarging charms coupled with potions capable of turning common wood into so much more, and he'd soon dissect her thoughts on the topic.

Yes, as things were now, he couldn't bring himself to brazenly lie, not when he was under the knowing gaze of Rubeus. Besides, he was still extremely curious to see what the younger wizard would be able to achieve with the 'storing-ink' combined with chimaera's blood.

And at the prospected gains of the rendering of yet another magical creature, the orphan that had known hunger couldn't truly deny the stirrings of greed that brought with them the promise of a dependable amount of money available to him even before finding a job outside of school.

"Didn't you gain Flamel's interest thanks to the ritual?" Riddle's sardonic question forced the witch to bring her focus once more on Rubeus, who sat heavily on the armchair next to the lit fireplace.

It was telling that she didn't even stop to consider how serious it'd be to effectively run away from School for the time needed to hunt for a chimaera in Greece, and despite herself, she felt a faint stirring of eagerness at the thought of hunting once more...

"My explanation, Rubeus?" crossing her arms, the witch found herself tapping a foot impatiently against the stone floor of the Rùnda, and while the gesture almost made the tallest Slytherin guffaw, he managed to swallow the brief tang of hilarity he had felt, and nodded seriously.

Neither of the two Slytherin wizards let the witch see their satisfaction in knowing that she was definitely on board with whatever could prove itself useful to improve her understanding o her favourite aspects of magic, reasonable rule-breaking and personal risks aside.

Even if that understanding trickled down as a side effect or Rubeus and Tom' researches and experiments.

"So, here's what I figured out until now..."

Rubeus and Minerva sat near the flames and Riddle found himself smiling: he didn't want to miss the chewing out that the witch was going to deliver once Hagrid told her how close he came to being killed when he had carried on himself runes meant to direct Marie.

And if Hagrid glossed over those entertaining details, he'd have the choice between lording the truth over his head or busting his carefully spun tale.

Riddle hummed thoughtfully. Decisions, decisions.

...

In hindsight, I should have known that presenting Minerva and Tom with my decision of bringing another into the Rùnda wouldn't go well.

After a lengthy discussion about my even lengthier research about Lycanthropy, the opportune jokes and the unavoidable chewing up from Minerva, I had decided that it was the best possible moment to introduce the topic of Filius.

And by introducing the topic, of course I meant informing the other two of the fact that I had already gotten the first year Ravenclaw on the path towards the Rùnda.

At the news that I had given to a first-year some of my notes as a test to see if he'd make a valuable addition to our little group, the Grrifindor witch had began pacing in front of the spectacular doors she had transfigured previously.

While Riddle had lost the truthful uncaring air he had when he didn't bother with his mask, donning instead the pleasant expression that made him yet another face attending the Slug Parties.

"I can't believe you'd do something like this without warning us." Minerva's voice was scathing while she paced nervously, incredibly territorial out of nowhere now that she had been presented with the option of adding another to the Rùnda.

"I can believe it." Riddle sighed while he sat behind his desk, his dark eyes studying my form from across the room, his voice was cool and controlled: "It doesn't mean that it's even remotely acceptable."

Of course he'd be against adding Filius to our group: Minerva and I had proved ourselves, and he had given a chance to Minerva only because I had managed to use his curiosity against him back in my first year.

So I leaned back in the massive armchair that stood next to our lit fireplace, and merely asked: "Why?"

"Why?! What do you mean why?" despite my question being clearly directed at Tom, Minerva wasn't going to be ignored: "You gave a child an impossibly challenging task, dangling in front of him knowledge as if he's some kind of dog to train to follow your whims."

"And you were going to bring him here without warning us once he succeeded, which is, in regards to me and Minerva's peace of mind, much more severe."

Riddle easily cast aside the decidedly odd worry that the witch had expressed, knowing that it was merely the first thing to jump to her mindwhile she worked through the turmoil my news had revealed.

"The Rùnda was meant to be ours. A safe, tranquil spot from the mediocrity of Hogwarts..."

"And if Filius proves successful, he'd demonstrate the kind of raw talent and intellect that could only benefit from our company, and of which company we could only benefit." I raised a challenging eyebrow, consciously stopping myself from fidgeting.

"You're in your last year, aren't you, Minerva? And Riddle won't stay here much longer, and while I don't want to open this place to the unworthy, I don't want it to go to waste: how would we benefit from the Rùnda not being used once we leave Hogwarts?"

"So you only wanted to use our charisma to get the child used to you, and then exploit him!" the Griffindor witch huffed angrily while she crossed her arms, her pace slowing minutely while she kept elaborating why she felt so opposed at the idea of adding a stranger to the Rùnda

"How would we benefit from it being used?" Once again, Riddle was the one to keep us on track, and his smooth voice gave me the opening I needed.

"If it were up to you, you would have never even attempted to study with Minerva, and look where we are now!" I made an ample gesture with my arms encompassing everything in our secret room.

"We don't need a newcomer to be brazenly better than all of us put together, besides the sheer impossibility of such an event, he's a first year and hardly had the time to accomplish much on his own.

Doing as I did, we'd simply encourage his talents, offer an understanding, quiet companionship, and we'd have access to any interesting discovery yet to be made, to either reinterpret in our own projects, or for another to build something new from. Eventually, something useful is bound to come up."

"You're so disgustingly mercenary Rubeus... I'm appalled." Minerva didn't mind being on the other end of my utilitarianism.

Not after I had openly proven that I'd risk my life to keep Tom, and by extension her if their roles were reversed, alive.

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