Life and Limb

Around lunchtime, Marie was finally beginning to settle into the life of being a Slytherin. It wasn't all bad, she learned. The kids in the House were nice enough once they got used to her presence. That also might've had to do with the fact that she was hanging around Tom a lot and his own presence was quite intimidating and demanded respect. But that was beside the point. Marie was able to enjoy herself for the first time since she arrived at Hogwarts this year.

Tom introduced her to a few fellow sixth-year students. There was Dennis Turner, a medium-sized brown-haired boy who didn't speak much but when he did, he had a strong voice and even stronger convictions. There was also Nicolette Wray, a skinny pale black-haired girl who reminded Marie strongly of a vampire. It was only until Tom informed her that Nicolette was part-vampire that Marie understood. Finally, there was Jack Fontaine, a tall boy with white-blonde hair and almost black eyes. He talked a lot, almost as much as Tom.

The five of them were sitting together at the lunch table when someone tapped Marie on the shoulder. She turned and was surprised to see Victoria standing behind her.

"Hey Vic," Marie greeted her friend. "How's everything?"

Victoria shrugged one shoulder as she looked warily at the people sitting around the Slytherin table. "Nothing much. Just wanted to see how you're doing. You, uh…made new friends," she observed, watching as Nicolette tore into a rare piece of meat ravenously.

Marie nodded. "Yeah. It's not so bad, being in…being here."

"I see." Victoria sounded dubious. She cleared her throat. "Well, when you have time on your hands, we should hang out soon."

"Yeah. Definitely," Marie added, sounding relieved. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Victoria walked away without answering. Marie turned back to the table, a slight frown on her face.

Next to her was Tom. He nudged her with an elbow and said, "Something the matter?"

"Victoria doesn't like the fact that I fit in here," Marie admitted to him. She took a bite of her food and washed it down with pumpkin juice. "She's just worried about me is all."

"She thinks we're going to corrupt you?" Tom asked, amused.

"Probably."

"That's funny."

Marie quirked an eyebrow and looked at him. "Why's that funny?"

"Because obviously if you've been Sorted into Slytherin, there's already something corrupt about you."

Marie's face turned red and she tightened her grip on her fork. "Don't just assume that. You don't know a thing about me, Tom."

"I know that you obviously did something bad that resulted in you being placed here," Tom reminded her. "That alone is enough for me to make an assumption."

He was so infuriating! One minute they were arguing, then they were getting along fine, and now they were arguing again. It was as if Tom couldn't make up his mind on how to treat Marie. To be honest, she was getting sick of it.

Marie shoveled down the last of her food without a word and began to stand up from the bench. Tom stopped her with a hand on her elbow.

"I didn't mean it like that," he told her, almost apologetically. "I just meant…well, why else would you be placed here with us? Otherwise you would've just been put back into Gryffindor."

"Forget about it. I don't care," Marie said nonchalantly. She removed her arm from Tom's grasp and grabbed her school bag in one swift motion before storming out of the Great Hall.

Predictably a few seconds later, she heard footsteps behind her.

"Marie! Marie, wait a second!" Tom's voice carried through the empty hallway.

Marie stopped walking and whirled around, her bag on her shoulder and her other hand on her hip. "What?" she asked.

Tom looked down at her, taking a mental deep breath as he did so. He rarely ever felt bad about anything he did, but for some reason injuring Marie's feelings was the last straw for him. "I'm sorry. I really…I need to learn to shut my mouth. I didn't mean anything I said. Honestly."

He shifted his gaze towards his feet. Apologizing definitely wasn't something he did on a daily basis. He was feeling a little uncomfortable until Marie sighed.

"Just…don't do it again, okay? It's a touchy subject for me," she explained.

Tom nodded and looked at her again. "I understand. I'd be the same way."

"Thanks."

They stood in awkward silence for a moment before Marie spoke again.

"So, how'd you meet Dennis and the others? Seems like a…diverse group of friends for you," Marie observed curiously.

Tom shrugged one shoulder. "Believe it or not, Slytherin has its outcasts within a group of outcasts. Dennis isn't very well-liked because he doesn't speak much. It's obvious for Nicolette why she's shunned. I mean, would you feel safe being friendly with a half-vampire? And Jack is a little too aggressive for most peoples' tastes. But for me, I don't mind any of them. They're my friends. My only ones."

Marie noticed how sad Tom looked when he spoke of friends. She assumed he mustn't have had very many of them while he was living his life before Hogwarts.

"Not a lot of friends where you came from?" she decided on asking him.

"I came from an orphanage. Nobody liked me. I was the weird kid. Too different," Tom explained.

Marie nodded understandingly. "So when you came here…" she started.

"It felt like I finally found a place to be myself," Tom finished for her. He sighed. "I guess I owe my introverted attitude to the fact that I was a wizard and I didn't know it." His eyebrows then furrowed. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell this to anybody, by the way. I don't usually open up quite like this."

"Your secret's safe with me," Marie promised him. She touched the skin on the back of his hand reassuringly.

FLASH.

Help me. Help me. What happened? Where am I? Is that…oh God. It's blood. What did I do? No, I didn't do anything. It wasn't me. Somebody! Anybody! Where are you? Help me! I need help! Please! I didn't do it! I didn't do it!

I DIDN'T DO IT!

"Marie, are you feeling all right?" Tom's voice brought Marie back down to earth.

Marie blinked, gasped, and stumbled back a few steps, clutching her chest. Tom followed and grabbed her shoulders to steady her. She backed up against the far wall and nearly slid down to her knees until Tom kept her upright with his strong grip.

”What happened?" she asked him weakly, holding one hand up to her forehead.

"You tell me," Tom gasped. His heart pounded. She had nearly fainted!

Marie gulped down some oxygen and tried to regain control of her heartbeat. She looked up at Tom with wide eyes. "I…I need to go to the hospital wing."

"I'll take you there," Tom offered, extending his hand.

Marie shrunk back like she had been stung. "No! No, i-it's fine. I can take myself there."

"But Marie-"

Before he could finish his statement, she had taken off down the hallway. What Tom didn't know, however, was that Marie wasn't heading for the hospital wing. Twice these strange flashes of voices had invaded her mind, and twice they were brought along when she was with Tom Riddle. There was no way the hospital wing had any remedy for something as odd as this.

No. Marie was going to the one person she knew she could trust with something this strange.

After a good five-minutes jog through the meandering Hogwarts hallways, she finally stopped outside Professor Dumbledore's office and knocked frantically on the wooden door.