DISCLAIMER: MATURE CONTENT, DEATH AND ANXIETY

Circa May 1943:

HOGWARTS HALLWAY:

The castle was dark, and a disturbing and eerie atmosphere covered the school.

Torches lit up the walls, as the portraits moved in motion, glancing at the students below.

Muggle-borns stood far from purebloods, while half-bloods drifted between the two.

Most lessons were finished but the day was far from being over.

Septrim Seramore and his best friend Abraxas Malfoy were strolling through the grounds, bored of their young minds.

It was almost summer and not much has happened this year, they loathed it, trapped in an endless cycle of ennui.

Apart from Salazar Slytherin's chamber being opened, but other than that not much.

They pushed each other as they wandered through the school, hitting each other's heads, as the crowds of students parted as they walked through.

Their long robes grazed the floor, Septrim was very tall for his age, so was Abraxas, the two 16-year-olds stood at 6 foot 3, towering over the majority of their year.

Most of their group were the tallest members of the school.

Abraxas claimed it was their pureblood genes, Septrim didn't disagree, but he told his best mate not to say that too loudly.

Abraxas kept flicking his friend's ear, laughing as he tried running away, "I think Slughorn has a crush on Tom."

The Seramore wizard slapped his arm away, playfully glaring in his direction, "I wouldn't be surprised if he does."

"It like his mouth waters a the sight of him,"

Septrim grimaces at the thought, "I will never be able to look at the man the same." his friend snickers at his expression.

"What were you doing last night, you missed the second part of the party."

Slytherin parties were known to be the best ones out of all the houses, not because of the music, but due to the high amounts of alcohol and games that they would play.

Many people thought their events would be boring and too sophisticated, but boy they were wrong.

They may have started that way but as the clock turned 12 and the drinks settled into their systems, the atmosphere became unhinged and sensual.

Students' memories were always hazy and regretful the next day but that was all part of the fun.

Septrim gave his best mate a sly smirk, "Anastasia wanted to talk to me."

Not many words were exchanged between the two but they both came to some sort of agreement.

Abraxas chuckled at the insinuation , "The Avery twin?"

"Yes."

"Elias will be mad." the platinum-haired wizard teased. The Avery twins were close, but only when it came to appearances, they were still protective over the other despite rarely speaking.

Septrim scoffed, shaking his head, "Unless he wants another black eye and a few broken ribs he won't say anything about me and his sister." He spat, Abraxas knew his anger wasn't directed at him, but he did feel nervous at his tone.

The grey-eyed wizard swallowed his nerves, "I remember the last time you guys spoke, he almost looked dead by the end of the conversation."

"Well you know he shouldn't have talked badly about my father," Septrim spoke in a low voice, sending shivers down the Mafloy wizard's spine.

The moment the negative words left Elias' mouth, Septrim leaped up from his chair and lunged at him, almost beating him to an inch of his life, he spent an entire month in the infirmary, with several broken ribs, a fractured skull, and internal bleeding.

He didn't want to waste his magic on the boy; he also didn't want any of his hexes to be tracked, so he used his natural strength instead.

Only a few people were there to witness the altercation, however, if someone were to ask them what happened during that cold winter's day, none of them could remember.

Only people in Septrim's trusted circle were allowed to keep their memories of that day.

Since then, the Seramore wizard tried to keep his anger at bay every time he was in the same vicinity as Elias, it rarely worked, but ever since Septrim's eyes locked on his enemy's twin sister, she had been doing a very good job calming him.

Abraxas nodded understandably, "I know Sep, he was foul for that." he spoke angrily, the wizard occasionally stayed at the Seramore Manor, whenever his father made him unworthy and undeserving of his attention.

He had always felt welcomed by his best friend's house, the ambiance felt warmer, more accepting, unlike his own.

They were both lost in their minds, the only sound they heard was their designer dress shoes hitting the floor as they strutted through campus, Septrim cleared his throat, snapping his friend from his thoughts, "So how are you and Mcloughlin witch?"

Abraxas' grey eyes widened at the mention of the girl, his throat became dry, "Merlin's beard, that girl has some teeth on her, couldn't snog without feeling them." his voice broke causing Septrim to howl.

He couldn't stop his laughter and Abraxas' terrified gaze only encouraged it, "Surprised you can still talk, Merlin why are you seeing her, Braxy?" he received a smack to the back of the head.

"I was lucky to get out when I could."

Septrim tried containing his laughter, "Florence Mcloughlin and her mighty gnashers." They laughed, bending over holding their stomachs at Abraxas' trauma.

He'd rather laugh than cry, and that's what he did.

Sadly, their happiness dissipated when they reached the bottom of one of the staircases.

They felt the climate shift, whispers only grew as they drew closer, their smiles were wiped from their faces.

Medi wizards came down the steps, carrying a gurney, a girl lying on it, no life remained in her eyes, they had immediately covered her in a black tarp, concealing her frail body from the other students.

Septrim saw his friend: Tom riddle standing close to the scene, he noticed something twinkling in his dark eyes as he followed the corpse.

The Riddle wizard was called over by Dumbledore, Septrim turned to look at his best friend, the platinum-haired boy was frozen in fear, hands shaking, "Braxy," his deep voice snapped Malfoy wizard out of his scared state. "Are you alright?"

Abraxas tried to push back the tears pooling in his eyes, "Umm i- I don't know." he stammered. His hands continued to shake, as his eyes darted around his friend's face.

His breathing increased, chest rising and falling rapidly, he hated feeling vulnerable, something his father always scolded him for, telling him he behaved more like a woman and perhaps he should become one if he continued to act like one, so he usually suppressed his emotions and only showed them off to his pillow during the night when he couldn't hide them away any longer.

Septrim grabbed his friend's hands, not caring how they looked, he instantly felt the fear come off them, "Mate, why do you go back to the common room, wait for me and we'll go to Mente Striae?" He suggested cautiously.

The pale wizard harshly wiped away the tears that fell from his eyes, "Okay Seppy." he muttered, he nodded slowly.

Septrim gave his best friend a small smile, "Good lad, I'll be there soon, I just have to deal with something."

He frowned and looked away, "Okay, be quick... please," he winced at his tone, he didn't want to sound desperate but he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts.

The Seramore wizard gave him a reassuring smile, "I will Brax, hurry along okay." the younger wizard turned away and began walking towards the dungeons.

The short-haired wizards watched as his friend disappeared from his sight, fading into the darkness.

Septrim quickly made his way up the staircase, in pursuit of his close friend, he avoided Dumbledore, not in the mood to deal with his foolish quips.

He picked up the pace as he went past other teachers, he showed them his wide smile as he continued walking. He locked eyes with a couple of the female Professors, who he smiled at and they did the same in return.

He was delightful stupid, one who could obtain any grade he wanted only with a simple expression. He was far from an imbecile, he was tied for 1st in his classes with Tom, but he tended not to try in lessons he didn't care for.

He picked up his pace, running down the corridor, he reached out and gripped onto the pale boy's arm and pushed him up against the near wall, "Septrim get your hands off of me." Tom sneered, he attempted to push his friend off of him, but his grip was too strong.

"What is the matter with you?" Septrim shook his head and dropped his hands taking a step back from the boy.

He watched as Tom straightened out his uniform, trying to appear unfazed, "I have no clue what you are referring to." his eyes always shine with malignity, something that not many people noticed, they were always too focused on his perfect smile and adoring words.

Septrim let out a bitter laugh, "You may have fooled those professors, but not me, I'm not an idiot."

"I know you aren't," Tom spoke calmly, his eyes locking onto the younger wizards. Despite the age difference, Septrim was an inch or two taller than him, it drove him insane, he hated having to look up at anyone.

"Then stop treating me like one." Septrim sighed exasperatedly,  "I told you to keep it discreet and I even said I would aid you."

Septrim loathed messiness, not an untidy room or dirty dishes, although those things did piss him off, he didn't like situations where he could get caught.

So he always thought of alibis and ways out of things.

He liked chaos, but only when he planned it.

And now there is a possibility of the school closing due to the death of muggle-born, which meant that people were going to look at purebloods as prime suspects and more importantly people were going to suspect him, his family, and his friends, which only frustrated him more.

Tom's gaze only hardened, "Well I came to ask you, but your mouth occupied by Yaxley's." he was disgusted when he entered his friend's room and saw what he saw. 

He wanted to pour bleach into his eyes.

He wanted to kill Septrim for subjecting him to such a grotesque sight.

Therefore it only fuelled his homicidal tendencies and when he heard a muggle-born was alone and vulnerable, he set his plan into motion.

Septrim scoffed and a smirk pulled at his lips, "Well excuse me for wanting a simple kiss."

Tom shook his head at his friend, swallowing back the bile that threatened to spill from his mouth. "You're still disgusting."

"You're a sociopath."

Tom fake smiled, "I believe it Takes one to know one Seramore."

"Can we get back to my point," Septrim's playfulness left his tone, he stepped up to his friend, gazing down at his dark eyes,  "you're being overly confident," Tom scoffed, " And we both know you can't afford for Hogwarts to get shut down."

Tom glared at the boy, not liking their proximity, his jaw clenched, "I'm well aware of that." he spat.

Septrim almost felt bad for using Tom's wealth or lack of it to manipulate him, he saw the hurt flash through his eyes but he needed to humble him before the entire operation ruined their places at school."Stop letting your arrogance control your every move or it will be your downfall, my friend."

Tom's glare grew and his hand fell to his pockets, gripping his wand, ready to use it on the pureblood wizard.

Despite them both maintaining eye contact, trying to fight for their dominance, Septrim caught the action through his peripheral, he almost laughed, he knew that Tom couldn't and wouldn't be able to hurt him, without hurting himself.

Tom's breathing increased and his charismatic facade fell, their faces were mere inches from each other, neither was planning on backing down.

Breathes mingled together as they stood toe to toe.

It was like their eyes were glued to each other and neither would blink first.

Their vindictive auras began to collide and fight in a dangerous battle and the only casualties of their war was the time that chipped away at their mortal bodies.

The longer they stood, the harder it was for Septrim to suppress his laugh until it broke through his pursed lips.

The sound caught Tom off guard, he stepped back from the laughing boy, rolling his eyes and taking his hand away from his wand, and pulling it out of his pocket.

They always but heads, no one wanted to be around when they did, it was scary to witness and even worse whenever magic got involved.

Tom's face scrunched up in annoyance, "Stop reading those muggle books, they are rotting your brain." he recognized the quote from a muggle play he would always catch Septrim reading.

"I think you find other things that are rotting my brain." Septrim placed his fingers to his mouth and pretended to blow out smoke.

"I don't know why I keep you around."

"Because you would be deep shit if you didn't, my boy." he teased the Riddle wizard, attempting to put on his best Slughorn impression.

Tom ran his hands through his dark locks, his patience was running thin, "No I wouldn't "

"Okay, riddle me this," Septrim teased, he received a deadpanned look from his friend,  "who advised you to have a fall guy."

"You," he spoke, his voice was monotone and Septrim snickered at how angry his friend was getting, he didn't give a damn.

Septrim bopped the wizard's nose, Tom smacked his hand away, only increasing the laughter falling from the pureblood's mouth,  "And you say you don't need me."

"Shut up and go back to entertaining whatever girl or boy that is probably waiting in your room for you."

Suddenly something dawned on Septrim, he abruptly stopped laughing and started to rapidly blink, Tom shuffled away, disturbed by the odd expression on his face,  "Shit, I have to go.'' He almost forgot about his emotional friend that was waiting on him in their common room.

"You're a mess."

"And you're a fool."

Tom felt eyes on him, he turned away from Septrim and scoped out the deserted area, when he found nothing he turned back around, only to realize that he was alone.

"Bloody ghost."

***

June 13th, 1943:

SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM:

Myrtle's killer was found a couple of days after her murder.

The news spread like wildfire.

Literally.

Septrim drunkenly set his dorm on fire, the burning stench attracted Tom and he had to put it out.

It was revealed that Rubeus Hagrid, a third-year half-giant wizard was the culprit.

Who would've guessed it?

According to gossip, that Slughorn unintentionally spread to his favorite students, it was Hagrid's pet acromantula that attacked several muggle-born students and also killed one of them: Myrtle. 

She would be missed...

But not by Septrim though, he was not a fan of her weeping at every corner.

He even noticed there was a reduction in the use of toilet paper in the girl's bathroom.

The only reason he was aware of this, was due to the many time's Madeleine Flint had caught him after charms class and brought him in there.

Septrim was currently sitting in the common room, playing a long game of chess with Abraxas, they were surrounded by Frederick Lestrange, Etienne Rosier, and Orion Black.

"The mudbloods are finally safe," Abraxas muttered and moved his knight forward.

Septrim hummed, calculating his next move, "thank merlin, they can stop blaming us now."

Lestrange let out a chuckle, "That third year surprised me." Many Slytherins were surprised that a 14-year-old Gryffindor was capable of such a crime.

"That boy was a giant, murder is in his blood," Rosier said in disgust.

Septrim sucked in a deep breath, "And now that blood is on his hands..."

They burst out laughing.

Nott strolled in, dark circles under his eyes, he sat next to Septrim, he nodded at the other boys and picked up a bottle of dragon whiskey, and began gulping it down, not caring to listen to the conversation his friends were having.

The Seramore wizard made his next move, smirking as he almost had his best friend in check.

Rosier cocked his head to the side, "I mean the school feels purer."

Black nodded in agreement, "I won't argue with that."

"You never do." Septrim laughed.

"Shut up Seramore." he sneered, only making the group laugh more.

"What do you think Nott?" Lestrange turned to the intoxicated boy.

"Honest to Merlin," he rolled his eyes, "I don't care," Septrim snorted at his attitude, he preferred Nott the most, after Abraxas, as he was never a sycophant, just his own person, "I just want to drink and you guys keep disturbing me." he tossed his head back and closed his eyes.

"Who pissed in your cereal this morning?" Black teased

Nott let out a sarcastic laugh, "Your mother."

Black went to lunge at the drunk wizard but was held back by Lestrange.

"No let them fight, there hasn't been much entertainment recently." Septrim pouted like a child, making Nott chuckle and Black roll his eyes.

Abraxas made his move, smirking at his friend, the Seramore wizard held back an eye roll, he knew that he had him where he wanted him, but the Malfoy boy was too arrogant to notice.

"The mudblood's getting killed and tortured isn't enough for you?" the drunk wizard spoke.

Septrim shrugged, "Apart from that."

His friends snickered at his childish behavior.

The volume of the room rose as more students chatted amongst themselves.

That was until a certain wizard strolled in and the noise died down and people gawked at the boy, Septrim rolled his eyes at his peers. "Well, isn't it our savior?"

Tom wore his charming smile as he received praise from his other fellow Slytherin's.

"Aye Tommy." Tom glared at Rosier, hating how the nickname sounded coming from his lips. The pureblood shrunk back and nervously gulped, "Well done."

"It was nothing," he waved it off.

He was caught off guard by a pair of arms engulfing him, he grimaced as he looked down and pulled away from the witch, she giggled and smiled as she looked up at him, "Thank you, Tom, my parents would've had to send me to Beauxbatons and I would never see you again."

"If only," Septrim mumbled and looked back at the chessboard, grinning as he moved his piece and put his friend into checkmate. Abraxas groaned and almost flipped the board.

"You're welcome to Parkinson." She went to hug him, but he shrugged her off and approached his group.

Septrim rose from his chair and stood up graciously, he gripped onto a random bottle, "everyone listen up.'' The room went silent, "let's make a toast to Tommy boy over here." he gestured to the Riddle wizard, receiving cheers and squeals from around the common room.

Nott opened his eyes at the mention of more alcohol, he set up in his chair and started drinking again.

Tom shook his head, pretending to be shy and humble, "You guys don't have to."

"Yes, we do."

"The school is open because of you."

"You deserve that special services award, Riddle."

Septrim raised his bottle of brandy and nodded at him, "To Tom, our knight in shining armor."

"To Tom." They all said simultaneously.

They began chanting his name and a party broke out.

The two close friends shared a knowing look and went back to the celebrations.

***

Friday, June 14, 1943

SEPTRIM'S ROOM:

Tom knocks on the Seramore wizard's door, unsure why he was there in the first place.

He heard giggles coming from the room, the door magically opened, Tom's eyes went wide at the sight.

Septrim sat smug on his single-sized bed, with two witches on his side. One blonde; Kaya Selwyn the other a brunette; Nova Shafiq he recognized them from his transfiguration class.

During lessons he occasionally looked at Nova, admiring her brains, sometimes becoming entranced by her beauty, he always looked away before she noticed, but he wasn't aware that Septrim caught the way his eyes lingered on the girl's russet skin and olive green eyes.

"Why the am I here?" he sneered at the boy.

Septrim almost fell as he got out of the bed, "Tommy you've made it."

Tom rolled his eyes at his excited state, "why am I here Seramore?" his eyes drifted between the two girls, who sat smiling at him.

Septrim walked up to the door, placing a silencing and locking spell on it after he slammed it shut.

He turned to look at his bewildered friend, "I wanted to reward you." he shrugged with a sly smirk pulling at his lips.

Tom narrowed his eyes, "For what?" he gazed around the room, it wasn't neat, but it wasn't messy either.

Septrim dramatically waved his arms, "You saved the school Tommy," he chuckled, the girls stood from the bed and joined him, "Didn't he girls?"

They both nodded instantly giggling as they felt intoxicated by the wizards, "He did." the brunette winked at Tom, making him slightly blush. He tried composing himself but failed instantly, getting lost in Nova's olive green eyes.

"We're so very very grateful to Tom." the blonde witch insisted.

Septrim chuckled, "Yeah Tom, we all are."

Tom snapped out of his brief hypnotizes, clearing his throat, "Well you could've just said 'thank you," he turned to the door, " well I'm going no-"

Septrim laughed at the wizard, the two witches continued playing with him, "What, you don't want your reward?" he tilted his head.

Tom turned around begrudgingly, "What is it Sep?" he said impatiently. The dark-skinned boy rolled his eyes at the wizard's obliviousness.

He gestured to the Nova, "this little witch knows about your crush on her and good news she has one on you."

"What?"

To say Tom was shocked was an understatement, he didn't know what to do. He was angry about being exposed by his friend but the idea that Nova returned his feelings confused and excited him.

Luckily he wasn't inexperienced with girls, he just had other things to think about.

"This true?" He questioned the brunette that bashfully nodded under his dark gaze.

Tom swallowed back his anticipation and played with the family ring that clung to practically clung to his finger.

"You saved us and Nova wants to spend some time with you, whilst I stay here with my little friend," Septrim teasingly explained putting a smile on Kaya's face.

Tom's eyes looked the small witch up and down, with his mouth watering at the sight of her perfect face and body, his thoughts were nothing but sinful, "Are you sure?" He asked her.

"Yes Tom."

He sent one look to his friend, before hastily pulling her out of the room and into his private chambers.

No one saw or heard from the four Slytherin students for the rest of the weekend.

They stayed, confined in their rooms, as romance danced around their walls.

***

January 7th, 1944:

MENTE STRIAE:

It had been a couple of months since Septrim had started his 7th and final year at Hogwarts and he had started dating a beautiful pureblood witch called Sapphire Zabini, she was only 2 years younger than him, so she was in 5th year.

Septrim had retired from his playboy antics the year prior, which meant he had to tell the witches he was seeing that he would not be seeing them again. He didn't actually tell them, he insinuated the stakes at play and what could happen if his girlfriend were to find out and so the witches played along.

The only witch that he didn't meed to talk to was Nova.

The Shafiq girl started dating his close friend; Tom Riddle during the summer of 43'.

Tom was not a loving person, he didn't consider himself a person to begin with but he did try when it came to Nova.

He was very possessive over her, she liked it, even though he scared her sometimes.

She had witnessed on multiple occasions his possessiveness. He had hexed, cut, beaten, and almost killed many people for just looking at her.

Tom liked her for many reasons, her brains, beauty, wit, and charm. Her eyes drew him in the most. They were the perfect shade of green; olive green.

He would never admit it but he had gotten lost in them, they mesmerized and distracted him.

He loathed how attached he was to the witch, so he tried distancing himself from her but it didn't work, her eyes always pulled him back in.

Septrim always teased him for it, but he was also very happy that Tom had someone to spend time with, whenever he wasn't being a menace to society.

This wasn't the only thing Septrim teased him for; Tom had decided to rename himself 'Lord Voldemort' and made his followers address him as such.

For obvious reasons Septrim never called the Riddle boy that name, because he wasn't a minion and he would never be one.

He was not a part of the Knights of Walpurgis, despite being friends with some of them, it mainly because of the dumb name, which he also teased Tom for, he said that he should come up with a different name if he wanted to sound menacing.

Septrim had given his close friend a muggle book; 'Dracula' by Bram stoker. He knew that Tom was very obsessed with death, or more specifically how to avoid it, so he thought a book about necromancy was very fitting.

Even though Tom hated muggles and everything they represented, he begrudgingly sat and read the novel and he even was inspired by it and began writing down alternate names for his followers, since he knew that Septrim would continue to bully him about it.

"Ghost will you shut up, I don't love her." he sat on one of the two leather couches in the room, writing in his diary, whilst the Seramore wizard stood at his potions table, mixing and perfecting his potions for Slughorn's class.

Septrim chuckled and added another Leaping Toadstool To his potion "You almost killed someone for walking into her."

Tom looked up from his diary and gave his friend a knowing look, "So? They disrespected her." anytime he detected that Nova was unhappy, he became furious, he didn't know why but it never felt right with his soul...or what was left of it.

"She's small, it's bound to happen." The pureblood witch was only 5"2, so she has unintentionally shoved around whenever she walked the halls of the school grounds.

She had gotten used to it since she started Hogwarts, but that didn't stop Tom from defending her honor.

"Well that's why I have to be there for her," he spoke without thinking, causing Septrim to snicker, but cover it up with a cough when he received a glare.

He cleared his throat and continued to stir his potion, "What about your nickname for her?"

"What about it?" Tom asked in annoyance and went back to writing down more of his ideas.

"You don't give them out to anyone, you barely like calling people by their first names."

Septrim was right, he noticed that Tom called a lot of his "friends" by their last name, not because he didn't remember their first names, it was due to his lack of respect for them.

"Because why would I need to?" Tom rolled his eyes.

Septrim grinned and added a frog's brain into his cauldron, "So you call 'supernova', just because you like her." he stood back when the potion made his eyes water.

"Yes," Tom spoke through gritted teeth, he didn't like hearing her nickname come out of anyone else's mouth.

It was his nickname for her.

It was his witch.

His and his only.

"Like a friend or a wife?" Septrim teased.

"Sod off Ghost." The Seramore wizard laughed at his friend's irritation.

They both went back to their tasks, Septrim monitoring his potion and Tom reading through the muggle book, despising how helpful it is to him.

Septrim decided to break their comfortable silence, "I will never call you Voldemort."

"Lord Voldemort." he corrected him.

"That's even worse."

Tom sighed heavily and put down his quill, "How?"

"Because you sound like a pretentious prat," Septrim added a powered dragon claw to the cauldron, squinting at the pot, hoping that it would turn out perfect.

Tom ran his hands through his thick hair, "You told me I was a pretentious prat even before I named myself that."

"Because you were back then and now you've exceeded my expectations."

Tom wore a faux smile, "Fine then, I won't stop calling you Ghost." He hoped that it would piss off Septrim.

The pureblood shrugged, his face remained unbothered, which only ticked off Tom more, "And I won't stop calling you Tommy."

Tom's face scrunched up in repulsion, "You disgust me."

"And you love it." Septrim grinned widely, his pearly whites were on show.

Tom narrowed his eyes at the boy, who added another ingredient to his potion, "Do you not know what disgust means?"

"Of course I do," Septrim playfully rolled his eyes, "I'm ignoring the meaning of the word 'disgust' just like you're ignoring the meaning of the word 'love'."

Tom exhaled loudly, he started to clench his fists, "I know what it means."

Septrim shot him a smirk, "Oh so it's just that you don't want to say you're in love with Nova."

"I am not in love with her," he shouted and stood up, pulling at his hair.

He started to pace, muttering and cursing under his breath.

Septrim laughed at how his friend was having a meltdown in front of him, "You are Tommy, just in your own twisted way."

Tom collapsed onto the couch, placing both arms over his eyes, trying to gain control over his breathing.

Whilst he was having a meltdown, Septrim was checking if his potion worked, fortunately, it turned out well.

He poured the healing potion into a small jar and placed a lid over it.

He wrote down his notes and checked his potion books, changing the ingredients so they suited him better.

Once he was finished he placed his notes back into his book and put them on the table near the aconite plants growing near the window.

He hadn't even noticed that Tom had fallen asleep until he heard small snores leave his friend's mouth.

Septrim thought he had enough time to make another potion, so he started to brew an Exstimulo potion.

He was over halfway done, he had already added in a Bitter Root, some Re'em Blood, and 1 Snowdrop. He had gone to go and find some Granian hair, but his actions halted when he started to hear a hissing noise.

He only moved his head, trying to hear the direction the sharp sound was coming from.

He had begun to think there was a snake in his family room since he accidentally conjured up a one back in 4th year and never found it again.

He liked reptiles so he wasn't worried about it.

His feet unconsciously moved in the direction of the noise, his eyes went wide, realizing that it was coming from his friend.

He shivered at the waves of energy that were coming off the pale boy.

Parseltongue...

"i miei amici è il diavolo." He said quietly.

The noise irked him, but he still found himself being oddly comforted by the language.

So Septrim decided to do what he does best...learn.

He silently walked back to the plant-covered table and picked up a quil and a parchment and began writing what he had heard.

He hadn't realized that he had been writing for almost an hour, scribbling away, in a possessed manner, staring blankly ahead at the wizard.

When Tom stopped hissing and started snoring again, Septrim broke out from his bewitched state and looked down at the notes he had written, it was almost 4 pages long.

He nervously gulped and he turned around, searching for a place to hide them.

He transfigured one of his muggle books into a medium size box, he had spelled it so only his blood relatives could open it.

He even placed 2 charms so the box had infinite space but also had his family crest engraved onto the lid.

He carefully tucked the box away covering it with a couple of books and went to sit on the couch opposite his demented friend.

His eyes caught some of the words written in Tom's diary:

Death.

War.

Chaos.

Immortality.

Win.

Rule.

Always.

Septrim scoffed and narrowed his brown eyes at the head boy, "La tua arroganza sarà la tua rovina amico mio e che grande caduta sarà."

***

a/n:

kedar williams-sterling as 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲
christian coulson as 𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝗿
harry lloyd as 𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘅𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗳𝗼𝘆
logan browning as 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗾
sydney sweeney as 𝗸𝗮𝘆𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝘄𝗹𝘆𝗻

they are all 16-18 in this flashback

the fact Harry is going through Tom's memories hearing all this random shit.

I purposefully made sure that neither Tom nor Septrim spoke about the shit they have done, so they indirectly said it.

This shit took me so long to write.

Who did you like most in this chapter?

Who's relationship/ friendship did you like the most?