Harry Potter and the Perfect Stranger: Updated Book 3 - Page 42

Originally posted by: guy3

Oh! Estella is really like bellatrix-fancying herself as the dark lord's favorite gal!! Good, you are finally giving our softie tom some brains!

Originally posted by: xxx1234

Awesome update...😃
Finally caught up with all the updates...

Good to see Tom putting his brains to some use...one way it is good that he found out all on his own.
When it comes to judging people he never listens to Harry.

I guess what both Roy and Estella drank was actually not Veritaserum..🤔 Estella managed to change the contents of bottle, right? That could be the only explanation that they both could lie through their teeth.

Harry using James to keep Tom inside HG...😆 poor James.

And Roy will have a change of heart I suppose, coz Estellla seems beyond redemption...😡

Now I wonder what is the mystery behind those twin lockets..🤓

Where are you peri? Waiting...

Hi guys

I am so sorry for such a late and a disappointing reply. My computer has crashed again and I just wasn't getting time to use my smartphone. I don't carry it to work.

I am hoping to get my pc fixed in a few days. I will post regularly once I get that done.

I feel so bad u guys have to wait n I miss writing and staying in touch with u guys

No worries peri, take your time

Yes, ur right!! I forgot I had already posted it!!! It's been so many days since I have worked on my ff... I will post new part today

Hey Guys!

Erm...why did u repost part of the chapter from page 52 here in page 54, peri?

This time though he did not knock when he reached his office door, he opened it and entered in. He did not wish him and started off without any sort of greeting.

"What do you want, Harry?"

When Tom had entered he hadn't noticed a couple of first years standing in a corner of the office looking quite frightened who looked even more afraid at his tone.

Harry who was taken aback by Tom's behaviour stood up. This sudden change was something that Harry could not understand. "I..." he began then realized he was standing and sat down quickly continuing. "I-er-called you to ask you for a favour."

Tom told himself to calm down when he saw the students and asked politely. "What are students doing in your office, Professor?"

"Well, they came here to inform me about a problem down in the Dungeons."

"What, problem?" Now Tom actually felt irritated. He needed to go and Harry was telling him something he wasn't quite getting.

"They came across a couple Trolls down there."

"Trolls? Down in the Dungeons? Surely, locked up?"

"Actually, not."

"That's not possible." Tom answered resolutely. The trolls stayed locked up at all times except when he wanted to take a lesson with them for older students. "I have the key that keeps them locked and not many people are aware of it. Those trolls can't just break out without the key." Tom thought out loud. He still had the key. He had seen it when he had opened his wardrobe to pull out his clothes a few minutes before.

Harry concealed a smirk. Of course, the trolls hadn't gotten out without the key. Only Tom didn't know that. Tom who had slept almost half the day hadn't heard a disillusioned Harry sneak into his room and steal the key that he kept in his cupboard. Dumbledore had told Harry about the whereabouts of the key. Harry had, at quite some risk, entered Tom's room knowing that the Elder Wand was not functioning properly for him and his disillusionment charm could wear off any second, yet, he had to take that chance. He knew Tom would want to leave the Castle to see Estella today when there was nothing to keep him busy. He had to create a reason to hold him to the Castle. Thankfully, it had worked. Harry had released the trolls, bound them by his own magic and replaced the key in Tom's room.

Once, Dumbledore had informed him Tom was getting ready to leave, he had released the trolls in the Castle. A couple of first years had been exploring the dungeons and seen the trolls first hand before dashing back to their dormitory and informing Padma about them.

Padma had brought the students to Harry who had instructed her to keep news about the trolls to herself and not to involve herself or any other teachers in restraining them back. Although, she had looked angry at understanding Harry's intent for this, she had not argued. She knew what Harry was doing was probably for Tom's benefit. And Harry knew, now, that there was nothing more important for her than Tom's benefit.

"I don't know how they broke out. But now they're loose in the Castle."

"But Harry, who could have done this?" Tom asked still lost about how this had actually come to be.

Harry realised Tom wouldn't give up without a satisfying answer. "I believe James Potter has been looking for a reason to dodge his detentions."

"Well, I don't really blame him." Tom said quite abruptly. He hadn't realizes that the two first years were standing there listening to their conversation silently. At his last words both of them stared at them with raised eyebrows. An argument between the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmaster was not a very common scene at Hogwarts.

"Excuse me?" said Harry though inside he was smiling himself as he saw Tom's mouth open wide up into a smile that exposed all 32 of his teeth.

"Never mind, really." said Tom trying to cover up. Now he felt the conversation should be privatised. He went to the first years who were not concealing their own smiles, bent down, smiled, and asked politely. "Have you two had any physical contact with the Trolls?"

At his question they became serious. "No, Professor."

"Very well, then. If you two are feeling completely well and do not feel hurt in any way then you might as well leave and enjoy the beautiful day outside."

"Thank you, Professor." Both students replied at once and left Harry's office.

"So, Tom, shall I assume that you will take care of the Trolls and make sure they're locked in?"

"Harry it's just a couple of Trolls. Anyone can take care of those."

"If I could ask anyone else I would have done so. Unfortunately, all the rest of our teachers are busy making examination papers for our students. They believe there might not be time after Spring. And anyways I'd of course consult the concerned person first, which is, you. You're the DADA teacher, Tom. Who could handle a couple of Trolls better than you?"

"You could." he said, still wanting to leave. If he didn't go today then he'll have to wait till next week. It was already 5.30. He had slept too long and taken all the time in the world to get ready hoping today he would have all the time in the world to spend and now he had another task being given to him.

"I could, but I wouldn't because I've work other than chasing Trolls to do. And as your schedule didn't have any work included in it for today I hoped you could rid me of this worry, but I believe I have to sort everything out myself, with Transfiguration's examination papers to make---_"

"Alright, I'll do it." said Tom understanding quite clearly what Harry was getting at.

"Thank you, Tom. You might as well get going before one of them leaves the Dungeons."

Tom nodded and left the office heavily. He might have time to leave after he's done with those Trolls. Poor James, he must have been desperate to have let the Trolls out.

Tom, though unwillingly, left Harry's office taking his wand out of his pocket at the same time making for the Dungoens. He walked quickly because he didn't want the Trolls to leave the Dungoens before he arrived there but to his disappointment both had left by the time he reached down there, to where, he didn't know. He needed to know where they were. He decided to search the Castle floor by floor.

He left the Dungoens and made to the Great Hall where a few students were having their evening tea. No Trolls were there, and there was no sign of a chaos there to suggest that any Trolls had passed through here. He went up to the first floor but no Trolls were there either. Accordingly, he went through all the floors of the Castle up to the seventh floor and still there was no sign of a Troll anywhere. He felt like an idiot running around the Castle like that. He had been searching for half an hour and had no luck at all.

Finally, when he was climbing down from the sixth floor he saw one down in the Grounds walking towards the Castle gates. The filthy grey creature, with a giant club in his hand was walking pretty slowly but Tom decided to hurry and he was lucky that he did. He rushed down the stairs but when he reached the Entrance Hall he ran straight into a house elf or perhaps the house elf had run straight into him.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked politely as he got up and pulled the House Elf up by its filthy apron. It was Xia.

"Yes, Professor..." said Xia getting to his feet. He looked ruffled. "I was looking for you, Professor."

"For me?" asked Tom confused and wanting to leave before the Troll walked out of the Castle gates.

"Yes, Professor Potter said, you could handle the Troll trouble."

"Well, I'm working on it, but why is he announcing it in the Castle?"

"Professor Potter did not announce it to anyone, Professor Tom, he told me so when I went to ask him to help with the Troll."

"What are you talking about?" asked Tom who was extremely confused and frustrated now because he knew by now the Troll would be quite near the Castle gates to escape.

"A Troll broke into the Kitchens, Professor Tom, so I went to ask Professor Potter for help but he told me to find you and ask you for help. He said you were up to the task to catch them."

"What! He could've sent me a patronus and he sent you to look for me?!" said Tom thinking if Harry had informed him about a Troll blasting about down in the Kitchens he needn't have climbed up and down the Castle searching for it. It had wasted so much time of his but now he would not waste any time at all. He would deal with the Troll in the Kitchens first then see what he could do about the one in the grounds. "Let's go." He said to the elf breaking into a run to the Kitchens while the elf followed.

The moment he entered in he saw what the chaos in the Kitchens was all about. The Troll stood in the far corner of the room from where a trapdoor led into the pantry where all the food was kept to serve. Tom understood. The Troll had broken into the Kitchens to eat, as much as he could. The house elves were putting up a great fight against it but none was able to conquer it. Tom caught one of them as it flew straight over his head and put him down gently. He told him to stay away from the Troll and that he would take care of it and also tell others to do the same.

When all elves had subsided Tom shouted, "Stupefy!" but he missed his target as the moment the Troll found the elves backing away he put his foot through the trapdoor and bent down putting its hand right through it to grab food. Tom fired another stunning spell at it as it straightened up sluggishly with a piece of cake in its hand. The Troll, its hand on its way to its mouth which was open to let the food in, hit by the spell staggered for a few seconds, wavered a lot while its club swung violently vandalizing more of the Kitchen fell with a thud on the floor in the same position.

Suddenly everything became very quiet because the Troll had been stunned. Tom walked over to it and looked into its pathetic face. He stood there for over a second and he felt pity at the creature. It had the piece of cake in its hand on its way to its mouth. The poor thing was only hungry. Thinking so, he decided it would be cruel to keep the creature from food and reverted it. That's exactly where he made a mistake.

The Troll groaned loudly swung its club at Tom who hadn't realized its arm was right beneath his feat. The blow struck him hard on his knees and he fell backwards on the floor as his head collided with one of the tables. He fell to the floor as everything around him started vibrating, not only because the Troll was getting to its feet but also because his head had collided pretty hard and now everything felt like it was moving for him. His head had started hurting. Thankfully, it hadn't started bleeding but the pain was blinding him.

He staggered to his feet aiming for the Troll as it made out of the Kitchens and missed. He shook his head to shrug the pain off and to see properly but to no effect whatsoever. He balanced himself on the very table he had collided with and sat down on one of the chairs to get his head back in place. After a moment when he could see properly and had massaged his head enough for the pain to have ceased for a few minutes he stood up again and followed the Troll outside the Kitchens.

Quite unhelpful for him the Troll had entered the Great Hall and all students there who were having their evening tea had run outside it making it difficult for him to aim again. Finally, when the Great Hall had emptied he entered it to see the Troll turning over one of the tables. When the Troll saw him he lunged at him but this time there was no pity in Tom's eyes as his head was cracking to bits and he couldn't see properly.

"Stupefy!" He shouted and within a second the Troll lay stunned before him. He would have sighed with relief but he needed to hurry. "Levicorpus!" He took the Troll to the Dungoens by the tip of his wand and locked it inside putting his own spells for protection around the Dungoen doors so no one could let it out again. Now, he could see properly but his head was still throbbing. Harry had totally ruined his holiday and the Trolls were the cream on the cake.

Tom left the Dungoens and ran back up to the main Castle doing so quite gingerly. He walked out in the grounds expecting to find them empty. But to his surprise, it wasn't. The Troll that should have left the Hogwarts' gates ages ago was fighting the Whoomping Willow. Apparently it had tried to get near it and faced its wrath. But how had the Troll changed course suddenly?

There was no time to dwell on this. The Troll was destroying the ancient tree and Tom needed to stop it. Problem was that the tree had the Troll grabbed in its branches sprawled on the floor flailing its arms wildly along with its club trying to break through the tough braches. If Tom needed the Troll stunned he would first have to pull it out of the branches and that meant going near the Willow himself.

He proceeded towards it without another thought, ducking and jumping as one of the branches tried to lift him off his feet. He avoided contact with the tree several times and luckily reached to the Troll still thrashing on the floor unharmed. "Relashio!" The Willow's branches slashed apart leaving the Troll free. "Stupefy!" The troll who had just groaned with the pleasure of freedom was stunned a second later by Tom. "Levicorpus!" He had just hovered the Troll beside him when a branch of the ancient tree lunged at his face and he ducked thankful to have seen it before it had struck but a second later found himself sprawled on the floor as he hadn't noticed another one making for his torso and had knocked all air out of him along with breaking a few ribs.

The troll was sprawled next to him, unconscious. Tom sat up spitting out a mouthful of blood. He was making to his feet when one of the branches grabbed him around the ankle and threw him high into the air. He went up 60 feet into the air before he started falling. Thinking furiously he tried to slow down his fall and insanely his wand slipped out of his fingers. Furious and scared he couldn't find a way out of this. He knew he would fall and it would be bad. If only his wand hadn't slipped out but there was no time to think, he needed to do something. Of all the things that could've come up to him, came the weirdest of all, Wow, Voldemort could fly without a support?'

Tom had seen Riddle do it as well but he knew he couldn't do it. But right now, he simply didn't have the time. He closed his eyes and concentrated on nothing but to levitate himself. If Riddle could do it so could he. He let everything that was happening or was going to happen out of his mind and thought of nothing but to fly. He was falling face first, he tried to pull his body up in mid air. To his surprise, he started slowing down and unlike earlier now his posture pointed towards the skies and not the grounds. Slowly he felt he could move his body at will in mid air. Two feet from the Grounds he stopped but something told him to not let go. His eyes still shut he made to fly upwards. He flew even higher as cold air rushed past his face making him feel light as a feather. Finally, when he opened his eyes he was levitating almost ten feet above the ground without a broom or any kind of support.

He had just let the fact sink in that he could fly and taken a deep breath to enjoy the feeling of being so light when a sharp pain pierced his lungs and his concentration broke. He fell to the ground face first with a thud. Only, if he hadn't taken that breath. He got up gingerly his head heavier and more painful than before while his breathing becoming intense because of broken ribs. The moment he got up he looked around for his wand. There it lay far away from the Willow. Tom summoned it and the stunned troll to himself, hung it with the tip of his wand beside him and made back to the Castle. This time when he entered, he felt grateful to see Roy in the Entrance Hall looking for him.

"What did you get yourself into?" he asked the moment he saw him pulling out his own wand at the same time.

Tom motioned to him to lower his wand, "Nothing left to take care of except this." He said pointing to the Troll beside him and putting it down on the floor. "Please, do me a fa-v-our and l-lock it down in the Dungoens, I'm tired as hell hunting these things down ...and hurt." he nodded at Roy's look of concern who looked at nothing else but his blood stained shirt.

Tom who had experienced way more than the beating by the Troll or the Willow felt happy. Hurt and exhausted as he was something about him could tell he was feeling good about something. He was feeling good at the fact that he flown like he had always wanted to. He was happy for the fact that he could do great things with his powers and today he had found another aspect of those. He wanted to go to Harry's office to tell him what had happened. But he remembered about the willow. "Oh, yeah and ask Eric to aid the Willow, this thing nearly des-t-troyed it."

"I think I should ask Madam Brown to aid you because the Whoomping Willow perhaps nearly destroyed you." said Roy still concerned about him seeing him half smile, half frown.

"Please do what I said, I'll help myself." said Tom assuring Roy he would visit Madam brown after he'll have seen Harry.

As Roy left with the Troll Tom made to Harry's office then halfway down there stopped. If he told him now, broken and battered as he was, he would sound ridiculous and he hadn't specialized the art of flying yet. He wouldn't tell Harry, not yet. He would practice and he would make himself perfect, then he would shock Harry with a live demonstration.

Changing his mind he went to the hospital wing. Madam Brown took one look at him and started off but he didn't have to listen for long as the moment he sat down and strained his broken ribs he spat out a mouthful of blood again and fainted.

The next day Tom thought of nothing but leaving the Hospital Wing and going on the roof to practice but Madam Brown would not let him. She had mended his ribs in a second but his head was till heavy. Somewhere, he knew that he would not be able to concentrate; still he just wanted to leave the Wing. He had woken up way after afternoon and just had his lunch when Harry paid him a visit.

"How did it go with the trolls, Professor?"

"Horrible!" said Tom but to Harry's surpirse he was smiling. It seemed like he was in a good mood. But why?

"Are you alright, Tom, you seem hurt and...happy. That's...one strange combination."

Tom smiled again. He could not contain what he was feeling. He was bursting to tell Harry what he had experienced but he just wanted it perfected before he did. "I'm not hurt that bad and I'm happy because I finally got to rest unlike usually when I have to take detentions each night."

"Those detentions will continue to remain, Professor Riddle."

"Harry, don't call me Riddle." Tom reminded him.

Harry was completely taken aback by that. For so many days Tom had been formal with him on purpose because of Estella's expulsion then one day he suddenly forgets being formal with him and now he's behaving like nothing's ever happened between them and everything's back to normal.

"I'm sorry, I forgot." said Harry shortly but he needed to know what was happening. "Tom, is everything alright? I mean, are you sure, you're fine. There isn't anything that's been bothering you, or perhaps something that you're going through...I mean, I'm just concerned, is everything Ok?"

For a second Tom thought Harry had seen right through him but he didn't want to tell him now. Harry could guess all he wanted. "Yeah, everything's fine. At least until I don't die in here."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"Well, Madam Brown's not letting me go. I've got to start making examination papers for the students because I too think that it will not be possible after spring."

"You could summon your stuff here and do it here. It's quieter down here than the rest of the Castle."

"Yes, that is true, but I get to see nothing but these curtains around my bed and if I want fresh air I have to poke my nose out that window to have it, so I'd rather leave, please Harry, do something."

"Alright, I'll ask Madam brown to let you go when I leave. I'll tell her I require you out in the Castle."

"Thanks!" said Tom with a wide grin which made Harry smile too. Finally, things were normal between them. He'll pull Tom out of the detentions in a couple of days, then tell him why he had done it. Everything would be crystal clear then, there will be no lies, then.

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"Why the hell isn't he visiting me, anymore?" Estella shouted at Roy. "Have you told him anything?"

"I haven't told him anything, Harry holds him up for one thing or another."

"That Harry Potter! Bring him to me, Roy."

"What do you think, I haven't tried? He isn't spending time with me either. "

"Fine, if you can't do anything then I'll do it myself. If he won't come to me, I'll go to him."

"You've been expelled from the school."

"Harry can't stop me walking into the Castle and seeing him."

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Originally posted by: guy3

Erm...why did u repost part of the chapter from page 52 here in page 54, peri?