Work Text:
Summer, 1944
Dear Mr. Riddle,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected Head Boy for the coming year at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please meet the Head Girl, Dorcas Meadowes, in the first compartment on the Hogwarts Express on September 1, 1944…
The letter continued, but Tom stopped reading it. He was not surprised by his own appointment as Head Boy as there was really no competition among the wizards in his year. But he had been wondering who the Head Girl would be. Dorcas Meadowes. He couldn’t quite place her, which made him…curious. On the one hand, he assumed that she was such a non-entity that he would have no problem taking the lead this year.
On the other hand, how had he gone six years at Hogwarts not noticing someone who was accomplished enough to be Head Girl? He frowned, but quickly pushed his curiosity aside. It wouldn’t do to become curious about a person. That had never served him well. He would just have to focus on his summer plans and find out who this Dorcas Meadowes was on the Hogwarts Express.
*~*~*~*~
September 1, 1944
The summer seemed to fly by and soon, Tom found himself boarding the Hogwarts Express as Head Boy. He glanced down at his hand, a little disappointed that he could no longer wear the Peverell ring; it was such a nice, tangible link to his illustrious ancestry. Although, he supposed that it was a small price to pay to take one more step closer to immortality. Tom walked down the corridor of the train, slowly approaching the Head compartment. He greeted several of his Knights along the way, smirking at them as they eyed his Head Boy badge enviously. With a spring to his step, he pushed open the door to the Head compartment, feeling a rankling of disappointment to see it already occupied. And worse still, the girl didn’t even look up from the book she was reading.
“Hello, you must be Dorcas Meadowes.” Tom said, trying to hide his irritation. Dorcas looked up from her book and blinked at him, before smiling.
“Hello, Riddle. I’m not surprised you made Head Boy.” She stood up and extended her hand to shake. Tom took her in from her artfully arranged and curled dark hair, to her Hufflepuff tie, and nicely pressed uniform. He took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“Indeed, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He said. Maybe he could charm her. After all, there was no small number of witches who had eyed him appreciatively as he walked through the train. Dorcas merely snorted.
“We’ve been in the same classes for six years, but yes. I suppose we’ve never been formally introduced.” She said and moved to go back to reading her book as they waited for the Prefects to arrive. Tom felt rather wrong footed all of the sudden.
“We’ve never partnered for classes.” He pointed out, moving to sit beside her. Dorcas nodded, not looking up from her page.
“True. I’ve noticed you only partner with your fellow Slytherins. Or Ravenclaws. And never girls.” She mumbled, Tom wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to him as she was so focused on her book.
“So, you’ve noticed me?” He asked with a flirtatious smile. Dorcas, finally put her book down, marking the page as she turned to give him her full attention.
“I supposed everyone has at Hogwarts. You’re best in the year.” She said and Tom couldn’t help that he puffed out his chest in pride. Dorcas chuckled. “Although I suppose being best means you don’t necessarily do a lot of noticing.” She smirked at him and Tom deflated slightly, feeling wrongfooted by her once again.
“I notice all the important things at Hogwarts!” He said indignantly. Dorcas snorted again.
“Yes. I suppose me being a Hufflepuff and a female does make me rather unimportant by your definition.” Tom sputtered, unable to think of a reply. Dorcas merely laughed and waved her hand. “It’s no matter to me. After all, the honey badger is the most fearless animal in the animal kingdom. It’s been known to hunt and kill cobras and shake off their venomous bites.” She looked at Tom playfully, raising her brow in challenge.
“Well, I hope that we never have to test out that theory.” Tom said, with a gleam in his eye that Dorcas took for humor. She laughed again.
“Of course not! I think we’ll become great friends this year.” She said with a smile and moved to greet the prefects as they trickled into the carriage.
“Yes. This year.” Tom replied, but too quietly for Dorcas to hear him. Time to get to work.
*~*~*~
October 31, 1944
Hogwarts still celebrated some of the old traditions for Samhain. Tom looked at the bonfire, from a distance. This was the second year that he had celebrated Samhain since he had created his first horcrux with the death of Myrtle Warren by his basilisk. He had felt the pull of the bonfire then, but now, with the creation of his second horcrux after murdering his family, the pull to the Veil was even stronger. He couldn’t help but try to keep his distance, even though the Scottish air was quite chilly and the bonfire would do more to warm him then his thin cloak. At least he had pleasant company.
Tom couldn’t help but smile as Dorcas told him some story of her younger brother chasing seagulls on the beach. Dorcas’s family was from the southern coast and it seemed she had a million stories about growing up there. Usually, Tom found that such stories of happy families set his teeth on edge. But with Dorcas, he felt somehow that he was included in whatever hijinks she retold.
“Riddle, a word.” Tom glanced and up and looked at the frowning face of one of his Knights, Rodolfo LeStrange.
“In a moment, LeStrange.” Tom replied.
“It’s ok. I’ve got to go catch up with some friends. Nice talking to you, Tom.” Dorcas said and waved before heading over to a group of Hufflepuff seventh years who were standing close to the bonfire. Tom turned to LeStrange.
“What is it, Rodolfo?” Tom snapped, annoyed that LeStrange had driven Dorcas away.
“Why are you talking with Meadowes?” Rodolofo asked, refusing to be cowed by Tom’s temper. Tom rolled his eyes.
“We are both Heads this year. I have to talk to her.” He replied and Rodolfo looked at Tom skeptically.
“I guess, but you don’t really need to talk to her here.” Rodolofo said, swallowing in fear reflexively as Tom’s eyes flashed red at him. “I mean, we’re all gathered over there.” Rodolfo said and gestured to where the rest of the Slytherins that had “made the cut” to be inducted into the Knights of Walpurgis stood. Tom glanced over and noticed the superior smirks they all wore on their faces.
Dorcas would never look like that. Tom thought, before he ruthlessly crushed the stray thought.
“Indeed. I will be over momentarily.” Tom said aloud. Rodolfo looked like he had more to say and Tom merely arched an eyebrow at him. “Something you want to add?”
“Meadowes is just a half-blood.” Rodolfo said. He rushed on at the anger that seemed to overtake Tom. “I mean, she’s from an undistinguished line of wizards on her father’s side and her mother is a muggle. A poor muggle. And she had two brothers, both were squibs.”
“Were?” Tom asked.
“The older one was killed in France, I heard he was some sort of muggle soldier. And the younger one was killed in an air raid. Apparently, a bomb hit his school.” Rodolfo watched Tom’s face carefully. He winced internally at his misstep, but hoped that having all the teachers around would save him from another round of the Cruciatus curse.
“Thank you, Rodolfo. I must think about how to use this information.” Tom said. Rodolfo nodded his head and moved quickly back to their crowd of Slytherins, clearing hearing Tom’s dismissal.
Tom watched him go and took a sip of his pumpkin juice. He made a face at the taste. He had never really acquired a taste for pumpkin juice, a trait that he assumed he had inherited from his filthy, muggle father. He looked over towards Dorcas again. She was standing rather close to the bonfire and, in this unguarded moment, he could see a sadness in her face that he realized had been in her eyes when she was talking about her brother with him earlier.
In the past two months of knowing her and working with her, Tom could admit that Dorcas was a rather brilliant witch and they had much in common. He had been wondering if maybe he could keep their friendship after Hogwarts. Now that he knew that her two brothers had been killed by the filthy muggles fighting their war as Grindewald waged his own war on the continent, well. Perhaps he could persuade her to his line of thinking? He smiled as he thought of all the subtle digs he could use to make Dorcas see sense and perhaps even initiate her as one of his Knights.
After all, no friendship was worth giving up his plans for.
May 9, 1945
VE day + 1 day
Wednesday
Tom looked at the front page of the Daily Prophet and frowned. The headline declared that the Muggle War in Europe was over with the capitulation of the German army. It also talked about how Dumbledore had defeated Grindewald. Tom knew that, to some extent, this was what he needed. Another pretender to the title of most powerful Dark Lord had been eliminated and he hadn’t had to do anything. But there were two things that were bothering him.
The first, was that Dumbledore would get much glory from his victory. Tom thought that it was rather ridiculous that the wizarding world should rely on a school teacher to defeat a powerful Dark Wizard like Grindewald. And Dumbledore had waited so long to fight Grindewald, why did he have to leave now, at a critical part of the school year when OWL and NEWTs were approaching? Tom crumpled the newspaper, smooshing the picture of Dumbledore’s smug face.
The other thing that annoyed him was how this would impact his goal to bring Dorcas over to his way of thinking. Ever since he had learned of her family’s losses over the course of the muggle war, he had, he thought, been insidiously placing mistrust and disgust of muggles in her mind. But now, with all that at an end, he worried that all of his good work would come to nothing. Standing from the table, he made his way to his first class, Charms, where he was partnered with Dorcas. Perhaps he could bring it up then.
Tom sat in his seat and watched as Dorcas bounced in and took her seat beside him. Today, they were going to study Protean Charms, which would surely be on their NEWTs. With NEWTs starting in only a couple of weeks, they would have to master the Charm and understand its theory rather quickly. He listened carefully to Flitwick’s explanation of the charm, as he had great plans on how to adapt it for his own uses.
“Alright! I’ve placed some stones on the table in front of you. Try the charm for yourself and I’ll be around to help and answer any questions you may have.” Flitwick said and the class devolved into its usual controlled chaos. Tom knew it would be the perfect place to start his conversation with Dorcas.
“Did you see the paper? About the war?” Tom asked. Dorcas broke off staring at her stone and turned to Tom.
“I did. I’m rather curious why Dumbledore chose now to go and fight Grindewald when it’s been more than 10 years since Grindewald started to amass power on the continent.” Dorcas said. Tom felt his stomach leap in glee and couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face.
“That was my thought exactly.” Tom he tried to control his expression, but he was rather ecstatic that all of his subtlety seemed to paying off.
“Although, I suppose it’s good Grindewald is defeated and the muggle war is finally over.” She said, a bit of a far off look in her eyes. Tom didn’t really understand what she could be thinking of when she looked like that. Only that it made him feel uncomfortable.
“What does the muggle war matter, really?” He asked. “Muggles will always find one reason or another to kill each other and pull us into their depravity.” Tom frowned as Dorcas sucked in a deep breath.
“That’s a rather unkind way to look at it.” Dorcas said lowly, turning again to stare at the stones they were supposed to be enchanting.
“After all the death that I’ve seen in London how can I think anything else?” Tom asked, trying to keep his voice even. It infuriated him that after all this time talking together she still hadn’t been brought over by his point of view.
“It was horrible, yes. And those of us who lived closely to muggles saw more than our friends who live in the old villages-“
“How can you even defend them? They’ve bombed London to rubble. They do nothing but destroy everything around them. They don’t deserve the same rights as wizards.” Tom hissed at her.
“Grindewald was a wizard and he destroyed plenty, too.” Dorcas said, turning to look at Tom.
“Grindewald was only trying to level the playing field and help us all, wizarding kind, take our proper place in the world. Without magic, you’re nothing.” Tom said, not realizing his eyes flashed red as he made his impassioned speech. Dorcas paled at his tone, but quickly pushed it aside as one of his “jokes”.
“Come on now, Tom. That’s not very sporting. You have to play fair.” Dorcas said with a smile, still trying to convince herself that he was joking. Tom felt his insides curdle as she turned around to help one of her useless friends with the Protean Charm.
“Right. Play fair.” Tom muttered. He was annoyed. Usually, he was so good at spotting talent in others, but it seemed that he was totally mistaken in Dorcas Meadowes. She might be intelligent. She might be skilled at magic. But when it came down to it, she was only an overly optimistic Hufflepuff and he was ashamed that he had wasted so much time this year trying to cultivate her to his own ends. What a waste of his last year at Hogwarts.
*~*~*~
June 30, 1945
This was it. Dorcas stepped out of the boat that took the seventh years from Hogwarts Castle back to Hogsmeade. Hogwarts was over and she was standing on the platform with her friends getting ready to head back to London and the rest of their lives. Dorcas was so excited she was bouncing on her toes. She found out a few days ago that she had been accepted for a post in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and couldn’t contain her excitement. Her friends in Hufflepuff had thrown a party in her honor in the common room and they had celebrated well into the night.
Today was the first time that she would see Tom since she found out the news and she couldn’t wait to tell him and see what he was going to be doing now that they had graduated. Perhaps he would work in the Ministry too? She figured that the Department of International Wizarding Cooperation would appeal to him. Over the past year, she had started to consider Tom a friend and it would be nice to have a friend at work already. She spotted him further down on the platform, talking to LeStrange.
“Tom! Over here!” Dorcas called out. She saw Tom nod to LeStrange and head towards her. He seemed more remote than usual and Dorcas wondered if he was worried about his NEWT scores. She knew you had to get top marks to start out in the Ministry, especially if your family wasn't “connected”. But she was sure Tom had done brilliantly.
“Dorcas, pleased to see you. It’s been a while.” Tom said upon approaching her. She blinked a bit at the coldness to his tone. She had thought that they had become friends over the last year.
“Er. Yes. I looked for you the other day, but one of your friends said that you were working on some project or other.” Dorcas said with a shrug. Tom inclined his head in agreement. “Well, I was thinking that we could catch up a little. Maybe share the Heads compartment before going to sit with our friends?” She asked and Tom inclined his head to agree and they walked towards the Heads compartment on the train in complete silence. Tom opened the door for her and followed her inside. They sat, in silence, until the train started moving.
“Well? Was there something specific you wanted to discuss?” Tom asked. Dorcas blinked at his tone. Her friends had all told her there was something not quite right with Riddle, but Dorcas had just attributed it to shyness. Perhaps she had been wrong?
“Well, I just wanted to see how you thought you did on your NEWTs and where you thought that you’d work now Hogwarts is over. I mean, we’ve got to get our NEWT results of course, but I’m sure you’ve got a lot of contingent offers.”
“Yes. I did.” He paused and glanced at her, annoyed. She looked as though she wanted to drag out this conversation longer. “And you?”
“I think I did well enough. I’ve got a contingent offer with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so I think I’ll end up there.” Dorcas said. She paused but Tom merely raised a brow at her. She frowned in response. “So, where do you think you’ll go?”
“Borgin and Burke’s. I’m to help with the stock.” Tom said, looking rather bored with the conversation. Dorcas was taken aback.
“Really? But I thought for sure you’d want to be at the Ministry. What with your ideas about change in Wizarding Britain?” Dorcas replied with a slight frown. Tom sneered at her.
“I’d like to work towards that change happening in the next century! And the Ministry has too many cogs and not enough Wizengamot sessions to actually affect any change from within.” Tom snapped. Dorcas merely looked confused.
“But Borgin and Burke’s? I don’t understand how that would help you-“
“You are not privy to all of my plans, Meadowes.” Tom said with a glare. Dorcas looked at him as though she had never known him. She realized, perhaps she hadn’t really known him. Perhaps her friends were right and Tom Riddle could charm where he wanted, but underneath it all, he was really only out for himself and everyone else was a tool for him to use until they had no more use to him. Dorcas stood from her seat and brushed off her skirt. She gave Tom a cold look.
“I see. I’ve been mistaken. Safe journey.” Dorcas said and she left the room. She was a loyal Hufflepuff through and through. But as she told Tom at the beginning of the year, a badger could be fierce and would fight until its dying breath. As she walked back to her friends, feeling sorrow at the end of her supposed friendship with Tom Riddle, she steeled herself. She was a badger and she would not surrender.
*~*~*~
May 6, 1981
Dorcas knew that her luck had caught up with her at last. She looked up from her spot on the ground, surrounded by Death Eaters, and saw Tom staring down at her. He looked very different from the last time she had seen him on the Hogwarts Express in 1945.
“So. It’s come to this.” Dorcas said as she rose to her feet, absently wiping at her bleeding knee. Dorcas Meadowes would not just give in. She would not die at his feet like a dog.
“Such a pleasure to see you again, Dorcas.” Tom said in a mocking voice. Dorcas didn’t bother answering, instead she sent a wordless cutting curse his way.
They began to duel. Absently, Dorcas heard Tom tell his minions not to interfere, but she didn’t really pay attention to much more than the curses flying her way. She blocked and parried and sent curses of her own flying out at her one-time-friend. While her career spent at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had only honed her dueling skills, she was still hard pressed to match Tom; his time spent in his own private research had clearly served him well. At least, as far as dueling prowess was concerned.
Suddenly, there was a rustling in the underbrush, and a crowd of Aurors burst from the bushes. Dorcas used their appearance to her advantage and was able to cast a few incarcerous spells at Tom’s minions.
“Now, now Dorcas. Play fair.” Tom said in a mocking tone.
“You’re one to talk, you psychotic snake!” Dorcas yelled. She thought she saw a flash of Alastor Moody as she blocked Tom’s latest curse. She pinched her lips together and grunted as she performed a complicated piece of magic on the trees around her. The great oak trees uprooted themselves and moved towards Tom, at once defending her and attacking him. Tom sighed.
“Really Dorcas. There’s no need to be so dramatic.” He said and set the trees on fire. Their screams were terrifying and Dorcas was distracted for an instant that their temporary sentience allowed them to feel pain and to scream so similarly to a human. But Tom had no such empathy for any living being.
“Avada Kedavra!”
And Dorcas Meadowes fell to the ground, dead, her eyes open and unseeing.
Voldemort apparated away, leaving nothing but sorrow and destruction in his wake.
*~*~*~
Alastor Moody sighed as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named apparated away. He looked over and felt his heart sink. Dorcas was dead. He had suspected as much when the fight suddenly ended. He quickly cast incarcerous charms as several bound Death Eaters managed to escape their bonds. One of them disapparated before he could recapture the bastard.
He slowly walked over to where Dorcas lay. He knelt beside her and closed her eyes. With a sigh, Alastor looked up at the sky. Dawn was just breaking and he would have to report first to the Ministry and then to Dumbledore. Moody slumped in despair, his head falling to his hand.
He paused for a moment, allowing himself to sink into his feelings, for just a moment. They were losing this war and they had just lost a powerful fighter, not to mention a wonderful, kind person. He pulled himself together and turned back to the remaining Aurors.
“Clean this up. I’ll take Meadowes back to her family.”
They would fight on. He vowed that his old friend would not have died in vain.