Chapter 1

Anna looked over at Tom. He was staring out of the window, his mind lost somewhere else. Anna knew he was thinking about the chamber of secrets. He always thought about it, especially now that they were talking about closing the school. Tom had no place to go, and it killed her to see him struggle like this. He was her only friend. Anna had never been the greatest witch, she had never been able to stand up for herself, and Tom had protected her. Since their first year at Hogwarts she had stayed by his side, completely loyal. She knew she was Tom's only real friend too. He had boys he spent his time with, girls he flirted with, but there was no one who really understood him, who cared for him, except for Anna.

"You could stay with me, you know. If they close down the school." She would give anything to ease his suffering, but when he turned to look at her she saw he was no longer suffering.

"They're not going to close down the school. I'm going to turn Hagrid in. He and his stupid spider have been the cause of all this."

"You're blaming Hagrid?"

"He did it."

"You don't really think I'm that daft, do you Tom? I know it's you. The way you talk about it all, the way your eyes light up when they discover another attack. It's bad enough that you do it, but to blame Hagrid. He'll be expelled, or worse!"

"Good. Serves him right." Anna glared at him and Tom sighed. "If you knew, why didn't you say anything?"

"Say what? I know you're trying to kill people. Hell, you even succeeded once." She stood up, turned around to leave, but stopped at the sound of Tom's voice.

"Do you hate me then?" He sounded hopeful, and that scared Anna more than anything.

"Never." She walked off towards the dormitories.

Anna had never felt more nervous. She stood in front of the wall that led to platform 9 ¾ alone. Her parents had not even gotten out of the car to say goodbye. This was not unexpected, her parents were neglectful and selfish and had always been. She had gotten used to doing most things for herself, but running through a barrier that led to a train on its way to the most wonderful school was completely overwhelming. Anna took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and plunged into the wall. She stood still for a moment, not opening her eyes. She took a few more deep breaths and opened them. She inched herself through the crowed towards the train. A few hurried students bumped into her and she felt like she might cry.

When she was safely on the train in her seat she released a breath she had not realized she had been holding and finally relaxed her muscles. It didn't last long. As soon as someone walked past where she was sitting she tensed, afraid that someone might want to sit by her or that no one would, she was not sure. People whizzed back and forth, nameless faces, and no one asked to sit with her. Then the whistle blew and she was alone. The last few people past by and then one boy with dark hair stopped and looked at Anna.

"May I sit here?" the boy asked.

Anna, unable to speak, nodded her head. He sat opposite her and looked out the window. Anna couldn't help but stare at him. The train picked up speed and the boy closed his eyes. He was strange, like her, and she kind of liked that.

The train slowed to a stop. Neither Anna nor the boy had spoken a word the whole way there. The boy quickly leapt to his feet and made his way off the train. Anna watched him go and then slowly got to her feet. As she got off the train she stopped. She hadn't thought it was possible to be more overwhelmed than she had been at the train station, but she was. The school was big and beautiful, a giant castle next to a gorgeous lake. She followed the other student trying to keep up and only fell behind twice.

The sorting ceremony seemed to drag on and on. She recognized a few faces of children of her friends parents, but she had never really been friendly with them. Then Anna's name was called and it took her a moment to register what was happening. She made her way up to the sorting hat and sat on the stool.

SLYTHERIN.

Anna let out a sigh of relief. Her parents would be pleased. They had both been slytherins, and if Anna had been put anywhere else it would have made for awkward conversation. She took a seat at the slytherin table. One older girl said "hi" and Anna nodded back. Then she turned her attention back to the sorting. A few more students came to the slytherin table. A small blonde girl whose name was Zillah sat to Anna's left, but the seat on her right continued to remain empty.

"Riddle, Tom" The professor called out and Anna saw the dark haired boy who had sat with her on the train come forward.

SLYTHERIN.

How funny, Anna thought as the boy named Tom walked towards the table, and to her amazement, took the empty seat on her right. He didn't look at her when he did so, and didn't answer any of the Hi's that many students uttered.

When the sorting was over the feast began, but Anna was not all that hungry. She ate what she could so as not to look too abnormal, but her nerves were getting the better of her.

"I'm Eydie." the older girl who had spoken to Anna earlier said. "Third year."

"Anna." she said, but it wasn't much more than a whisper.

"That's a nice name." The sound of his voice made her jump. Tom hadn't spoken since he had asked Anna if he could sit with her.

"Th-thank you." Anna stuttered. She hated not having control of herself.

Tom nodded and went back to eating in silence.

Anna laid in bed remembering that first day at Hogwarts. So much had changed since then, and at this moment Anna wasn't sure if it had changed for the better. Anna closed her eyes. She saw Tom, eyes closed, in the seat across from her, young and mysterious. It was more clear than any memory she had.

The next morning at breakfast Anna didn't sit next to Tom. She saw the shock on his face as she passed him and sat on the other end of the table next to Zillah. Anna had been mad at Tom plenty of times, but there had never been a morning when she hadn't sat next to him at breakfast.

"Are you mad at Tom?" Zillah asked.

"No." Anna lied. "Why?"

"Well, you always sit by him and..." She couldn't finish the thought.

Anna shrugged and Zillah left the subject alone. Anna did her best to eat with confidence and not look at Tom, but she couldn't help herself. She turned to catch Tom quickly turning his head to avoid her. He started flirting heavily with the girl next to him, Angela, and Anna felt her cheeks flush. She scolded herself for losing control of her body like that and continued to eat.

Luckily Anna didn't have any classes with Tom that day until after lunch. It was just what she needed, time away from him to clear her head. In the back corner of her mind, however, she knew she didn't have anything to think about and that she would forgive Tom like nothing ever happened. Because she needed him.

Anna's very first class at Hogwarts was charms. She wasn't quite sure if she was excited or if she wanted to run back to her room and hide under the covers. Then she saw Tom. There was something about him that made him stand out from everyone and she wasn't quite sure what that was. She walked towards him slowly, but that had been a mistake because someone else beat her to it and sat down next to him. Now what? Anna thought. She saw the blonde girl named Zillah and asked to sit by her. She smiled and said "yes". Out of the corner of her eye Anna could see that Tom was looking at her. It made her nervous and it made her cheeks flush. She didn't like it at all, she felt out of control again. She was barely able to focus during class and ended up counting the number of times she turned to look at Tom: 7.

When she was out of the classroom she realized Zillah was talking to her. "...my father bought it for me for my birthday last year."

"It's great." Anna said not knowing what she was complimenting.

"I have a lot of headbands, because I have such thick hair you see, but this one is my favorite."

Anna looked at the headband in Zillah's hair. It was green and studded with diamonds. "Well it really makes your eyes pop."

"Thanks. Um, I have to go to the bathroom, but I'll see you in class okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Anna said and started to walk towards class when she realized she didn't know what class to go to next. She reached in her bag and pulled out her schedule. Potions, that should be fun, Anna thought.

Anna took a seat near the door, her nerves were starting to get the better of her again and she wasn't sure she would make it much farther. It didn't help that when Tom walked in he stopped right in front of her. Instead of asking this time he nodded his head towards the seat next to Anna and she nodded back. Tom looked straight ahead and Anna watched the door, not knowing what else to do. Zillah walked in and Anna could see the disappointment on her face when she saw Tom sitting next to her. Anna could hear herself breathing the whole time during class and could see Tom smirk every time Anna gripped the desk to get a hold of herself. When class was over Anna bolted out the door and into the nearest bathroom stall. She leaned against the door and tried to catch her breath. It didn't seem like this was going to go very well at all.

Anna and Tom were down by the lake. She had sat next to him at lunch, but had not said a word to him. Now they sat in silence as they both thought of what to say.

"Have you turned Hagrid in yet?" Anna finally said.

"No, I will though. I'm not changing my plans Anna."

"I don't expect you to."

The rest of the day went by as it usually did, the next day as well. The day after, however was a different story. The students had all gathered around to watch Hagrid get expelled and have his wand broken. Anna felt bad for him. Sure he was strange, but that was no reason for him to suffer. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if she couldn't use magic. She searched the crowd for Tom's face. He was smiling.