Saturday, December 17th, Hogwarts.

It was a dark cold night, the last Saturday of term before the holidays. For most students it would signal the end of a period of work, so spirits were high. But for Tom, Amana, Hiroto and Angelica it was just like every Saturdays night, end of term or no. Every week they would make their way to the Hog's Head Inn and meet with Tom's out-of-school friends for drinks. The trip was cold and dark in the winter, but they had their upstairs table reserved and could sit in peace and catch up on the week's news with a good glass of vintage. Their journey was punctuated by the silent winter winds that wrapped themselves around Hirotos bare cheeks, turning his fingers a ghostly white. As they approached the inn, on the Main Street of the village, a tall silhouetted figure was standing outside the doorway. It was Reinhard Lestrange, scowling in that terrifying way of his in the dark.

"Lestrange, what are you doing out here?" Tom asked coolly. Hiroto glanced over to his face for a sign of reassurance, but it was totally still.

"Apparently the whole of Hogwarts is out in Hogsmeade tonight." Said the sultry voice of Walburga Black, who spoke for Lestrange as she stepped out of the doorway and on to the cold ground, pulling her fur coat over her shoulders. Lestrange was never much of a talker. Of all of Tom's friends, Hiroto found him the hardest to get behind. Walburga, on the other hand, was mesmerising. She always had been.

Tom merely raised an eyebrow, and glanced at the doorway as Abraxas Malfoy walked through it, a look of curling disgust on his face. Hiroto peered in over Tom's shoulder, to see the Inn filled to the brim with rowdy, noisy students. Usually students preferred the Three Broomsticks, which Zabini had once called the 'child friendly' pub of the village. The Hog's Head was their spot, and as far away from the rest of the student body as they could get. Over the past few weeks Hiroto had noticed a few rosy cheeked Gryffindors elbow their way in, but it had never been anything like this.

"They're swarming, like bloody bees." Abraxas' voice cut through the hubbub of inn, full of disdain and self importance, his cold silver eyes squinting out cruelly as he pulled his fine black leather gloves over his slender fingers. "Well, Wally, where are we supposed to go? You're the one with answers to everything?"

Walburga shrugged, deciding not to fall to his level tonight. Abraxas and Walburga always used to bicker, especially when he called her Wally. "There's always Hogwarts."

"Yeah," suggested Hiroto hesitantly, clearing his throat looking up at Tom for approval. "What about the common room?"

Tom smiled slowly at him, before looking at the others. "Well, it's easy enough for us to get in. And by the looks of things the whole castle is out tonight. Swarming like bees." He added, repeating Malfoy's words in affirmation.

And so the group of friends trudged towards the castle in the dark, heading back the way they came. Hiroto had never actually 'smuggled' anyone in to Hogwarts before, but it proved to be remarkably easy. They were met by the the caretaker, Caldous Pettigrew, a stout, ugly little man with a club-headed cane, who seemed surprised, but tipped his hat graciously at his superiors, prompting a snigger from Malfoy as he strode passed down towards the Dungeons.

Hiroto was last to step through the portal into the dark velvety green of the common room, but he could see already that students were shuffling quickly out of their way and into the dormitories like scared mice. It had been a few years since Lestrange, Malfoy and Black had left, but it was clear that their reputation had not been forgotten. Hiroto was pretty sure it was just Lestrange's intimidating demeanour, but it didn't really matter. They now had the whole common room to themselves.

Tom gestured for Hiroto to get the drinks and he obliged, whilst the others caught up with courtesies. By the lake-side, on the wall, was a small drinks cabinet that he remembered ogling at as a boy. At home, the drinks cabinet meant trouble, and was clearly labelled as 'out of bounds' and 'adult only'. Ever since he'd learnt the password, he had always felt a sense of smug pride as he opened the little glass door to retrieve the drinks. It meant he had passed the threshold from child to adult, and he was not to be denied anything any longer.

Tom had always told him that  fine wizards drink fine wines - he was under no circumstances to be allowed to drink ale or butterbeer, or any such low-grade filth as that. Since that conversation, Hiroto had taken it upon himself to stock up the drinks cabinet, and surreptitiously took his parents finest wine from their stores at home. When he was last home, he snuck into their cellar and pulled out as many old bottles as he could manage without getting caught. So far, he had received only complements.

He looked up as he finished pouring the last glass of warm-gold sherry to see the faces two figures staring at him from the darkened hollow of one of the common room's bay windows, bathed in the inky green light of the lake above. It was Marlow Nott and Janus Ollivander, talking quietly, who had clearly not left the room with the other scared students. Nott and Tom had history, and it felt as though some quiet statement was being made as the pair remained in the room, apparently undeterred by the senior presence of Lestrange and the like. As far as Hiroto could tell, he and Tom were fairly similar people, except Nott had none of his charm. It seemed surprising that Lestrange had not ushered them out with that cold stare, but Hiroto knew better than to question those sorts of things. He gave the slightest smile before murmuring "Wingardium Leviosa" and sending the drinks one by one over to the group before rejoining them.

"Filthy bloody mudbloods everywhere, Tom." Abraxas was saying, as he brushed a strand of that long hair he took such great care of away from his lips. "I hear they're even letting them in to Slytherin these days. To think; one of them could have been sitting right here on this armchair? I'm glad I left when I did."

"I had always thought the Hog's Head had a no muggle-blood policy." Said Hiroto, referencing the unruly crowds that had gathered in the Hog's Head and taken their table. It was obvious that most of them were not of pure blood.

"Money's money, Avery. Even Gustav Goyle is willing to let them in if they pay. That's the problem." Replied Angelica Macmillan a little dismissively.

"Hogwarts is changing. It has been going down hill since Dippet took over from my grandfather," added Walburga. That was evidently true, and everyone knew it. Dippet was useless, and there had been movements to replace him from someone with a proper name, but efforts hadn't been fruitful. He was there to stay. 

"It's not just Hogwarts. It's everywhere. The whole of the Wizarding world is infested."

And so the conversation continued. But Hiroto had stopped listening to them, and found his gaze on Tom Riddle once more. Tom had not spoken once since they had settled down, but everyone knew that it was Tom who was the glue that held them together. Tom always had answers. Suddenly, he stood to his feet, and the conversation suspended for a moment as they watched him swirl his glass, and take a sip.

"I say we find somewhere of our own." He began slowly, in a measured tone, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Not the Hog's Head, or here. But somewhere proper, suitable for our status. And we fill it with the proper people. A Gentleman's club, if you like." He paused for effect. "Our club, you see, will be the most exclusive, the most elusive in the whole of the country. And once you become a member, a valiant knight, let's say, our crusade has one goal. Reclaiming the promised land, and annihilating those who think they can take it from us. And after that, we knights won't ever have to set eyes on mudbloods and their filth ever again." Tom scanned the group, with a steely confidence.

"So, Gentlemen, Ladies, will you take up your swords?"

❛ ━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━ ❜

Hello everyone, thank you for reading and thank you for your patience with me - I know I took a long time getting started, but your interaction means a lot to me. The more you interact, the more you keep me interested!

For those of you not familiar with my writing, I like to introduce characters naturally, rather than force everyone into chapters, so your characters may not be in the first few chapters, but I promise you I am excited to explore every single one. And for those of you with characters not in the cast, thank you very much for reading. As I mentioned earlier, I am not sure what happened to Amana's admin, so if I hear no news I may replace her. Nonetheless I like the character and was looking forward to writing various dynamics, so I may not. Regardless, I hope you're all well, and continue to and enjoy yourselves.

Also if you spot any spelling mistakes etc, let me know. I never spend a huge amount of time editing after I've written the chapter, so there will likely be some at some point.

Peace and love,
Ash

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TOUJOURS PUR, 2021
riddle era applyfic