Life and Limb

It took about thirty seconds before the door opened, but it wasn't Dumbledore who answered. Instead, it was Armando Dippet. He had a monocle stuck into his left eye and he was wearing what appeared to be pajamas underneath a dark green fluffy robe.

For a moment, Marie thought she was hallucinating. Maybe she was charmed. She blinked a few times but Dippet was still there with a silly white nightcap atop his head.

He yawned uncaringly. "What do you want, Miss Fugazi?"

Marie closed her open mouth. "I wanted to speak to Professor Dumbledore."

Dippet rubbed his un-monocled eye with the back of his hand. "Well, you're just going to have to wait. Dumbledore isn't here at the moment and he wanted me to watch his office for some strange reason. Not that I care to complain. His bed is quite comfortable."

Marie resisted the urge to snort with laughter. "When will he be back?"

"Any questions or concerns you have can be taken up with me," Dippet reminded her, his tiredness slowly fading from his voice. "What is it that you need?"

Marie bit her bottom lip. She had wanted to see Dumbledore, not Dippet. Dumbledore was the only man she really felt she could trust, despite the fact that he had apparently been the mastermind behind her switching Houses. He was still the same man who listened to her when she talked and believed in the words she said. That was good enough for Marie to trust him even now.

"Sorry Professor. It's a private and personal matter. I can only talk about it with Professor Dumbledore," Marie implored. "When will he return?"

Dippet rolled his eyes, possibly without meaning to seem rude. It was just a natural human reaction when his students were being so difficult. "I believe he said he would return in two weeks."

Her heart sank. Two whole weeks? What if she had more visions? And this time, what if they didn't stop?

Without a word of thanks or goodbye, Marie turned from Dippet and hurriedly took off down the hallway. She tried to find a rational explanation for her visions, possibly even a Muggle malady. Was she epileptic? Did her family have a history of psychosis? She didn't know, but she was fairly certain that everyone was healthy as possible. That left only illnesses known to the wizarding world. She surely didn't have Vanishing Sickness; her body parts were still intact. So what could it be?

Marie was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't see Tom rounding the corner to meet her.

They crashed into each other.

"Tom!" Marie sputtered as she tried to pick herself up from the floor. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Tom, who had managed to remain on both of his feet, chuckled while crossing his arms across his chest. "Spying on you, of course."

No explanation, no excuse, just the raw truth.

Marie glared at him. "What for?"

"What do you mean 'what for?' You just took off like a shot! You can't expect me to just stand in place while you run off like that. I got curious and went after you," Tom admitted with a casual shrug of the shoulder.

"Well, don't do it again," Marie demanded lamely.

Tom laughed. "Can't make any promises, love."

Marie smiled a bit but then started to stare at him. Whenever she had those odd moments where she hallucinated or blacked out, she had been with Tom Riddle. That couldn't just be a coincidence. There had to be a reason behind it all.

With that in mind, Marie couldn't help but wonder if she knew Tom in her past life at Hogwarts. Was he an old friend? An enemy? Or was it just a total fluke, and that there was something just totally wrong and different about Tom Marvolo Riddle?

Tom seemed to notice her staring. "What is it?"

Marie swallowed forcefully. "You're...you make me feel strange."

"Warm and fuzzy inside? Helplessly in love? It's my devilishly good hippogriff-ass looks, isn't it?"

Marie ignored his attempt at humor. "Who are you? And I don't mean your name. Who are you really? Did I know you when I was a first year? Before now?"

Tom's jovial attitude melted away within seconds. A Cheshire cat's grin spread over his pale face. He didn't look friendly anymore. Instead, he looked menacingly amused with her.

"I'm so glad you finally decided to ask," he said.

Marie was suddenly frightened. She thought Tom had just been warming up to her, and she to him. What was going on?

"What do you mean by that?" Marie asked carefully. She involuntarily took a step back.

Tom stepped forward, towering over her. "You haven't figured it out by now? Why we're pulled together, as if by destiny? This isn't the first time you and I have met before."

"So we do have a history!"

"Oh. We have a history all right." Tom's grin seemed purely demonic now. "I'm the one who got you expelled in the first place."