I don't own Harry Potter. Damn it.
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Chapter 6 - What's in a Name?
The next morning, Harry woke up and walked down to the Common Room. He looked into the fireplace, but he didn't see the diary. Harry simply shrugged, assuming that the book had disintegrated and was mixed with the rest of the ashes, so he sat down and waited for his brother and friends. Once they had all arrived, the Marauders went down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Over the next several weeks, it had been remarkably silent. The attacks had all but ceased, and soon it was time for the students to return home for the Christmas holidays. (The parents of the petrified students had been informed that they had contracted a strange new strain of influenza, and would have to stay at Hogwarts to be treated.) Unfortunately, hours of research had turned up nothing as to what could have caused the petrifications, nor much about the enigmatic Tom M. Riddle.
"Something's just off about his name," Blaise moaned in despair as they climbed the Hogwarts Express. "If I could just find out what his middle name is, I could figure it out, but it's not shown in any of his public records!"
"We'll figure it out, Blaise," Harry said in an assuring tone. "Besides, aren't your grandparents stopping by for Christmas? Maybe you could ask them," he suggested. Blaise shrugged as they climbed into an empty compartment and talked about life in general. About an hour later, the door slid open to reveal Emma.
"Umm, Hermione, could I talk to you about something?" she asked nervously. "Alone?" Hermione looked at her friends in confusion before standing up and stepping out of the compartment.
"Okay, Emma, what's this important message you have to give me?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms and tapping her fingers. Emma looked around nervously and leaned over as if to whisper something to Hermione.
"I think…" she began, but stopped, as if the words had gotten stuck in her throat. She swallowed and tried again. "I think-" she began, but was cut off by a vacant voice coming from beside them.
"There you are, Emma," a small blonde first-year girl with wide eyes and a variety of strange knickknacks handing from her body. "I was afraid that the four-toed snoplicks had gotten you." Hermione looked from the seemingly insane girl to Emma and back again.
"Hermione, this is Luna Lovegood," Emma introduced. "Luna, this is my sister Hermione." Luna shifted her gaze to Hermione, who fidgeted slightly at her stare.
"A pleasure," Luna said, taking Hermione's limp hand and shaking it. "Anyone who can ward off the three-tongued wipsnags is fine by me." She paused a moment, as if in thought, before continuing. "My name is Luna, but most people call me Loony." Now Hermione was getting very nervous about this strange girl, and politely broke away and went back into her compartment.
"What was that about?" Michael asked as Hermione sat down.
"I wonder about my sister, sometimes…" she muttered, mostly to herself as she shook her head. "Emma was going to tell me something, but we got interrupted by some girl named Luna Lovegood." Blaise perked up at this.
"Did you say `Lovegood?'" she asked. Hermione nodded her head slowly. "My mum talks about that family. Says that they're a little…" she trailed off, holding a finger to her head and twirling it, indicating their questionable sanity. They made idle conversation the rest of the journey and went their separate ways once they exited the train station.
"We've got a guest with us today; a cousin of mine I hadn't seen since she was younger than you two," Sirius said as they walked back to 12 Grimmauld Place.
"Explain to me again why we aren't Apparating?" Michael shivered as they drudged through the snow.
"It builds character," Sirius said simply. "Besides, it's not that far away." After what seemed like an eternity, even though it was only half an hour, they arrived at the doorstep of the Black household, and stepped in, shaking off their snow-covered clothes. They stepped inside the dining room to see Lizzie talking to a nineteen-year-old woman with bubblegum-pink hair and clothes that wouldn't look out of place at a muggle punk rock concert, with Remus holding Morgan on his knee with one hand and sipping tea with the other. Lizzie looked up to see her husband and children and smiled widely. She rushed over and pulled them both into a tight embrace.
"I'm so glad that you two are alright," she said as she squeezed the air out of their lungs. When she finally relinquished her death grip, she raised a hand to the young woman sitting at the table. "Tonks, this is Harry and Michael. Boys, this is Nym-"
"Tonks!" the girl interrupted loudly. "Just Tonks, please," she added in a calmer tone. She stood up and walked closer to the two boys, tripping over her own feet as she did so. "You're a lot bigger than the last time I saw you. But then again, the last time I saw you two, you were both in diapers and drooling on everything, so I doubt that counts."
"Tonks tells me that she was accepted into the auror program," Lizzie said as she took Morgan from Remus' hands so he could refill his teacup. Sirius raised his eyebrows at her in surprise.
"Wow, Tonks, I'm impressed," Sirius said sincerely. "I didn't think you had it in you." Tonks chuckled modestly and shrugged.
"The stealth training part was really tough, but I managed to scrape by, and everything else is a breeze, so I'll probably get my graduation certificate next year," she said. A soft buzzing came from Tonks' pocket, and she reached in to see her wand glowing blue and vibrating. "I've got to go, training starts again in ten minutes. Well, it's been nice seeing you all again," she said, giving everyone a quick hug. "Bye, Remus," she said flirtatiously. Remus just gave a half-hearted wave in response. Sirius watched Tonks leave and turned to Remus, grinning.
"Ooh, looks like someone has a crush on dear Moony," he said, walking over and slapping Remus on the back. "Good for you, mate; it's about time you got a girl."
"Not happening," Remus said flatly, shrugging Sirius' hand off of his shoulder. "I'm too old for her."
"How old are you, Remus?" Lizzie asked as she gave Morgan her pacifier.
"About thirty-five," Remus said dully. Lizzie did some quick math in her head and nodded.
"So that's...sixteen years. I had a friend back in California whose parents were thirteen years apart. You're both consenting adults, what's the harm?" Lizzie asked.
"It's not consensual if I don't consent," Remus snorted. "Besides, what about my little...problem?" he continued.
"I have two words for you, Moony," Sirius said. "`Wolfsbane' and `basement.'"
"That's three words, Paddy cake," Remus said sarcastically. Sirius blanched at the pet name that Remus used for him.
"I told you not to call me that!" Sirius whined.
"`Paddy cake?'" Lizzie said in disbelief.
"Don't listen to him, dear!" Sirius said desperately. "Don't believe a word he says!"
"Oh yes, it was very funny," Remus said dreamily, drifting back into distant memories. "Sirius was sleeping in on Christmas morning, and we were tired of waiting for him, so we..." he reminisced, but he was cut off by a silencing charm from Sirius.
"Aww..." Lizzie, Harry and Michael groaned in disappointment.
"That's one childhood memory that I'd love to forget," Sirius grumbled as he slid his wand back into his pocket.
"You're no fun," Michael muttered.
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Miles away, Blaise was reluctantly mingling with her relatives. It turns out that her parents had stretched the truth about her grandparents arriving for the holidays. It was a bloody family reunion! Pompous gits, she thought to herself when she looked at her two cousins, flaunting around like they owned the Zabini mansion. What's more, she still hadn't been able to find her maternal grandfather to ask him about Tom Riddle. I hate being short, she thought sulkily.
After almost two hours of searching, she had finally found her grandfather talking to a distant relative she couldn't remember the name of about something.
"Grandpa Icarus, can I ask you something, please?" Blaise asked, smiling sweetly.
"Of course, sweetheart. Excuse me, Arcturus," Icarus Zabini said. Nodding, the other man left to mingle with the other guests. "Now, what can I help you with, dear?"
"You went to Hogwarts during the 1940's, correct?" Blaise asked. At his nod, she continued.
"I've been doing an extracurricular project involving Tom Riddle, but I haven't been able to find his
middle name. I was hoping that you might know it." Icarus furrowed his brow in concentration, and relaxed his face
a minute later.
"I think his middle name was Marvolo," he said. "Yes, that was it. Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was a powerful wizard, but I was never interested in joining that little club of his...." he trailed off. He shook himself out of his reverie, and looked down at Blaise. "Is that all you needed?"
"Yup, thanks, Grandpa," Blaise said. She hugged him and ran up to her room to get a piece of parchment and a quill. She dipped her quill into a bottle of ink and started writing.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
Blaise tickled her chin with the feather of her quill, chewing on the end in thought. Staring at the letters, she noticed something. Going lower on the parchment, she began writing again.
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The next week, Harry and Michael said good-bye to their parents, and walked through the barrier at King's Cross Station to climb onto the Hogwarts Express. They walked into their usual compartment to see Blaise sitting anxiously.
"Hey, guys," she said. "When Hermione shows up, I have something to tell you." Soon, Hermione showed up, and Blaise locked the door tightly. "Okay, I asked my grandfather about Riddle's middle name, and he said that it was Marvolo," she rambled, pulling a piece of parchment out of her pocket. "I thought there was something off with the name, so I started messing around with the letters. Last night, I figured it out," she continued, showing the parchment to the others. On it was written two sentences.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
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I hope that you liked this one. This part of the series is almost over!
Don't forget to read and review!
Edited 9/30/2007 for a timeline error.
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