"Oh dear." Muttered Dumbledore as he tugged fretfully at his ginger beard. Both the professor and Tom Riddle stared at the pile of clothing and limbs sprawled across the hall. "I'm afraid we'll have to discuss this another time Mr. Riddle, excuse me." Dumbledore began his trek across the hall and Tom contemplated whether he cared enough to investigate the strange occurrence. Usually he would've been happy for an excuse to escape Dumbledore's company, but during the split second the girl had stared at him, Tom realized she was an absolute stranger to him. How strange…

Tom made his decision and hurried to catch up with his least favorite professor, "Wait sir! Let me help." Before Dumbledore could protest, Tom had already pulled his wand and murmured 'mobilicorpus'. The girl (corpse?) rose before them and they began the journey to the infirmary in tense silence.

Tom's eyes roved over her floating body in a purely clinical manner. He didn't really care either way, but she was breathing. He continued his assessment. She seemed to be around his age and a Ravenclaw.

He knew for a fact that he had never seen this person in his entire life.

She was short, with wide hips and narrow shoulders. Her hair was dark chocolate brown and in the longest braid he had ever seen outside a fairytale. Her face was round and covered in light freckles that could rival any Weasley's, but what really caught his eye were her lips. They were a garish red that was popular among muggle women, but unheard of in the wizarding world. It was smeared across her left cheek, making it appear as if she was bleeding. He resisted the urge to wipe away the offensive streak. Tom turned his eyes forward and tried to keep his inner confusion off of his face. Who was this strange creature? Why did she collapse upon sight of him? How did she have a Ravenclaw uniform? And, dear Merlin, why was the skirt so much shorter than all the other females in the castle? Above the knee, absolutely scandalous.

All of this contemplation occurred in the few short minutes it took to find the hospital wing. Tom lowered her, gently, onto an empty hospital bed and then hesitated. He didn't want to leave before she awoke. He wanted answers.

As if the gods themselves had heard his thoughts, the girl's eyes flew open and she soared upright. She spotted the two wizards and Tom watched her eyes fill with abject terror as they landed on him. He had never even seen her, let alone crucioed her! Her hands grasped at the front of her jumper looking for something. Realizing she was searching for her book bag, Tom picked it up from the floor where Dumbledore had placed it and handed it to her with what he thought was a charming smile. She leaned back hesitantly, but then her hand struck out and snatched the bag from him. Ungrateful chit.

With a relieved sigh the girl pulled out a toad of all things(?) and set it on her shoulder. Disgusting. Then continued to rummage until she pulled out a chalkboard. Stranger and stranger.

"I'm sorry Tom, but I'd like to speak with her privately." Tom resisted sneering at Dumbledore. Did the old fool want him gone because he didn't trust him or because the girl seemed terrified of him?

"Of course sir." Tom took one last look at the girl's downturned face and then left the room.

Tom hadn't seen the girl for the rest of the day, but couldn't escape from the image of her fearful gaze and her aorta colored lips. He wanted answers, immediately if possible. Dinner found him sulking at the center of the Slytherin table, not that anybody would be able to tell thanks to his usual mask of perfect calm.

"Students!" Headmaster Dippet's magically enhanced voice caught everybody's attention and Tom felt a surge of adrenaline. His answers had hopefully come. "Good evening, I have some exciting news for you all." He paused to make sure all eyes were on him. "We have a new student here at Hogwarts." Whispers shattered the silence and the headmaster let them have a moment before speaking up again, "This is Ms. Hypatia Canis. Come here dear." the mystery girl, Hypatia, stepped forward from the far back corner of the hall. How long had she been there? Tom cursed himself for not noticing her sooner. "As you can all see, Ms. Canis has been sorted into Ravenclaw." Dippet clapped and polite, albeit confused, clapping followed from the Ravenclaw table.

A derisive snort came from Abraxas Malfoy who was sitting directly across from Tom, "Canis?" he whispered, "Yeah she looks like a dog."

Orion Black high-fived Abraxas, "She's a fucking mudblood too!" hissed Orion. They glanced at Tom for approval and the smiles fell from their faces as they saw his glare. Tom turned his head back to the front and watched Hypatia as Dippet prattled on. One would think she was perfectly calm if it weren't for the vice-like grip she had on her bookbag. There were no more classes for the night, she didn't need that stupid thing.

At least her skirt was the proper length now.

Dippet finished his cheesy little speech and motioned towards the Ravenclaw table; their newest member nodded and scurried over. A space was cleared for her at the center so that Tom and Hypatia were back to back. Tom turned forward so that he wouldn't be caught watching too closely, but continued to listen. The girl was instantaneously swamped with inquisitive Ravenclaws and their never-ending barrage of questions. There was a long pause while everyone fell completely silent. It seemed that the rest of the Great Hall was listening as well. Tom heard shuffling and assumed she was digging through that odd bag of hers, another pause and then a tactless Ravenclaw cried out, "You're mute?!"

Not the answers he was looking for, but at least it was an answer.

A/N: So it turns out that I'm stuck on this ship indefinitely. I've spent the last two weeks in Spain and my barracks don't have wifi. I really don't like having to put pants on just to read fanfiction or check facebook. On the Brightside we'll be stopping in Italy on my birthday.

Thanks again for the reviews and feel free to send suggestions for scenes you'd like to see. Especially since you have a better idea of what's going on now. :)