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Tom considered the request. His mother would probably want to tell Snape, but that was her business. In any case, he could do as Dumbledore asked. "All right, then," he said. "I swear."

"And I swear," Hermione added.

The professors exchanged a glance. "I accept your word," Dumbledore said. "Now... our findings. Neither Professor Slughorn nor I could find any student who knew anything, but we did question other possible sources of information."

Tom and Hermione waited.

"The people in Hogsmeade were not all honest with you," Dumbledore said bluntly. "Most of them didn’t see the assassin’s face, because of where they were when she tumbled onto the street, but two people did."

Tom’s face darkened. "They didn’t speak up," he said harshly. "We asked, and no one said anything except for a pupil who claimed that her hood didn’t fall off."

"Her hood apparently didn’t fall off, but the two people that Professor Slughorn and I found did catch a glimpse of her face."

"Who were they?"

"Lord Thomas, they asked that I not reveal their identities. You must understand that it would be dangerous for their names to become known if they did identify Lady Bellatrix Lestrange as a would-be assassin."

This information, dropped in the middle of this sentence, did what Dumbledore meant it to do. Tom’s interest in the informants instantly disappeared.

"I knew it," he snarled. "I knew it."

"This is extremely dangerous information," Professor Slughorn finally spoke up. He was almost shaking with anxiety. "You understand that better than we do, probably."

"It is dangerous, but not entirely surprising," Hermione said. She was surprised at how hard and cynical her words were. "Who else would care so much about harming me?"

The professors looked down, sadness in their faces.

"It’s a good question. Could anyone else have known?" Tom asked. "Anyone like, for example, Lord Armand Malfoy?"

Slughorn closed his eyes and shuddered at Tom’s brashness. "We don’t know."

"We encountered Adel—Lady Adelaide in the hallway," Tom said. "She made a comment that she was "surprised Hermione survived the year.’ She claimed that it meant that she didn’t think Hermione would have been able to do the magic, and I did look her in... I mean...." He broke off. "I just wonder."

Dumbledore and Slughorn exchanged uneasy glances. "It could be what she said. Alternatively, her mother might have told her what she attempted, only after you—and later, I—questioned her about the attack," Slughorn said.

Dumbledore was thinking of something else. "You "did look her in’—her eyes? Lord Thomas, are you learning Legilimency?"

Caught out, Tom stared stonily at the professor. "Yes," he said sullenly. "I have a gift for it."

"It’s true," Slughorn said. "I told him that myself."

Dumbledore considered this information for a moment. "Be careful," he finally said. "It is easy to reveal the ability if you go about it in a brazen way. Your subject can tell at once that you are perusing their thoughts, if you aren’t subtle. I could instruct you in the subject if you would like."

"Thank you," he said coolly. "I will consider that."

It was perfectly clear to Hermione that Tom had already done all the "considering" of the offer that he ever intended. "What do you think we should do about Lady Adelaide, then, if she does know now that her mother tried to kill me?"

The professors exchanged another glance. "I think you should do as you have done this year," Dumbledore said. "Protect each other. You might also consider making friends in the other Houses—and, Lady Hermione, I’ve noticed that you and Master Potter have done just that. And, too, please remember that no one has any evidence that Lady Adelaide does know what her mother did. If you, Tom, did read her thoughts in the hallway, and still didn’t find what you feared, she may not know. Children do not deserve to be punished for their parents."

"I wish everyone thought that," Hermione said unhappily.

"Why don’t you like Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione asked Tom when they were in one of their private alcoves that evening.

Tom stared out the window. "Last year, he caught me reading certain things in the library and scolded me for it."

Hermione frowned. She did not think that a professor of magic should disapprove of a pupil who wanted to read about the subject. "Reading what?"

Tom seemed unwilling to answer.

"Reading what, Tom?"

"Books that the school owns, that are in its own library, so he had no reason to—" He broke off.

"Books about Legilimency?"

"No. You saw for yourself that he was willing to teach me. It was something else. Old magic." He turned away from the window and looked at her. "Hermione, I’m worried about something. What if Bellatrix Lestrange knows Occlumency? She could teach it to Adelaide."

Hermione considered that. "Is there any evidence that she does? Have you heard that?"

"No, but it’s always possible. And if it’s true, then there could be someone in our own House, someone who sleeps just a few rooms away from you, who knows that her murderous bitch of a mother tried to kill you and is covering up for that. That means she could be potentially a killer herself."

She shook her head. "Tom, you make too many assumptions. You don’t know that Lady Lestrange can even do Occlumency. If she can, you don’t know that she would have taught her daughter. And you also don’t know that Adelaide is capable of murder. Personally, I don’t think she is an Occlumens at all, whether her mother is or not. Does anything—anything—about her seem subtle to you? Do you think she would even be capable of keeping her mouth shut if she had sensitive information, let alone training her mind?"

He scowled. "She will have all summer with her family—or the Malfoys, if they are fostering her now."

"Then we should certainly observe her closely when we come back in the fall, but we would anyway. She is an adversary."

Tom did not argue with that.

She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He instantly enveloped her with his. "You should tell your mother about this, though."

He kissed the top of her head. "I intend to. We’ll see her tomorrow, after all."

One of Merope’s house-elves was waiting for them the following day in the main street of Hogsmeade. Hermione was going to visit her parents, but not immediately. She would spend most of the warm months fostered at Parselhall, since it would be her home someday and she would be lady of it. Tom was glad. He was really looking forward to having a mostly empty castle in which to spend time with Hermione, not to mention verdant grounds. Summer in the country would be very different to summer in a city like London. Tom had already gotten a taste of it in the previous year, and this time, Hermione would be much more than just a semi-friend whose presence he tolerated because it was the gentlemanly thing to do. The broad tree-lined stream, for one, might be a great place to bring his serpent Dunlaith. The animal might want to sun itself on the rocks, and he and Hermione could bring books there....

The house-elf took hold of their hands and Apparated them, interrupting Tom’s pleasant imaginings. But in the next moment, after the unpleasant dark sensation, he was standing at the gate of his castle, just outside the Apparition boundary surrounding the edifice, with Hermione and the elf next to him.

They were presented to Merope at once. Tom noted the satisfied smile on his mother’s face. She showed them to the family dining room, where another house-elf brought buttered bread and ale.

"We have something important to tell you," Tom said.

Merope nodded. "As do I... and Lord Severus. He will be here soon. He lives in his own house, the Prince manor, now."

Tom wondered about that but did not remark on it.

In a moment, Severus Snape showed up. He took his seat and nodded silently to Merope.

"If you will, Tom, you and Hermione may give your news first," she said.

Hermione spoke up before Tom could. "Thank you," she said politely. "Last night, High Master Dumbledore summoned us to his office, where he and Professor Slughorn explained that they had concluded their investigation into the attack on me. In short, someone did see the face of the assassin, and it was Lady Bellatrix Lestrange." This news did not seem to surprise either Lady Merope or Lord Severus, Hermione noted.

Tom was staring at her with wide but impressed eyes. "The professors wouldn’t tell us who saw Lady Lestrange, but apparently they were residents of Hogsmeade," he added.

Merope nodded. "This is as we suspected, though it is good to have confirmation of it."

"We wondered about whether she could be an Occlumens," Tom said.

Snape frowned, and Merope noticed this. "That I cannot answer... and I am not sure if Lord Severus can, either, but for our information, it is best if he explains."

The wizard cleared his throat. "I had independent reasons to believe that Lady Lestrange was the assassin, but as your lady mother says, it’s good that we have confirmation of that fact. I do not know if she can do Occlumency, but I can attempt to find out." He paused. "I am able to do it, and it may be best for you to learn it, both of you...."

Hermione perked up. "I would be very interested in that. Tom is already learning Legilimency...."

"Is he?" Merope said, giving him a significant look.

"He is," Tom replied, his tone surly. "Professor Slughorn said I was gifted."

"It’s not easy to become a master of both," Snape said. "It’s very difficult to close one’s mind while also being able to read other people."

"Maybe, but I am sure I could do it. I have no difficulty keeping secrets."

"I did not say you did, your lordship. But if you wish to learn Occlumency as well as Lady Hermione, you may find that it’s not as natural for you as Legilimency apparently is."

Tom eyed Snape, who returned the look.

"There is something else," Hermione spoke up, hoping to calm the situation. "A friend of mine, Harry Potter, told me earlier in the year that your lordship had written to his godfather, Sirius Black, to make inquiries about a wizard named Peter Pettigrew."

Snape was visibly startled, which Tom noticed with smug satisfaction. "I should not have been surprised that Black would pass that information to others," he said harshly.

"It was a letter he sent by owl to Harry. He doesn’t think that Black told anyone but him and his parents."

Snape considered this, scowling deeply, before he spoke again. "It hardly matters. It did not have to be a secret. Pettigrew—if he’s still alive—is a wizard who is sworn to Lady Riddle, but he disappeared, with his mother, just after the death of Lord Marvolo Gaunt and has not been heard from since. I wrote to Sirius Black because Pettigrew was a friend of his in Hogwarts."

"If Pettigrew still lives, I will insist that he come to this castle and reaffirm his oath to this family," Merope said tautly. "It is possible that he doesn’t know any of the family remain, though."

"When did my grandfather die?" Tom asked.

"About three years ago," Merope said. "He was a very imperfect lord, with a tyrannical streak, but my brother had that streak and was incompetent. Most of our vassals, except for Lord Severus, fled, vanished, or swore to other lords."

Tom considered this silently. In the lull, Hermione spoke up with the other juicy piece of information that she and Tom had learned from the spring discussion with Harry. "Apparently, Sirius Black and Harry’s father are Animagi," she supplied.

This also shocked Snape. "He said that?"

Jerked out of his contemplation, Tom nodded eagerly. "I used Legilimency on him," he said pointedly, looking at his mother and Snape in turn. "He acknowledged it, but he said he didn’t know if Pettigrew was too."

"I will write to Black again and ask him," Snape growled. "He did not see fit to tell me that piece of information in his reply. Did young Potter happen to say what the animal forms were?" He scowled again, obviously resenting asking Tom and Hermione for information.

"Black’s form is a dog," Tom said with a shrug. "That should be obvious."

"Tom," Merope began to say in a very sharp tone.

"I also saw it in his thoughts. Potter’s is a stag."

Snape gave the young wizard another hard look. "It should be obvious, you say, but independent confirmation is always better than assumptions... which can be faulty." He turned to Merope. "I will tell Black that I not only know of his ability, but also his form—and Potter’s. I wonder very much now if those two are harboring Pettigrew in an animal form of his own...."

"Harry didn’t even know if Pettigrew was an Animagus," Hermione said, eager to defend her friend.

Snape’s face softened, inexplicably to Hermione. "That’s true. Lord Thomas did say that... and that’s important. I cannot imagine that Potter would conceal that information from his wife, and if she knew about it, I cannot imagine that she would keep it from her son."

"Why would he hide among the Potter family, in any case?" Hermione inquired. "If he really is doing that, he would just about have to know that Lady Riddle rules here, which would mean that he was deliberately avoiding his duties—and that they were helping him."

"That’s very true," Snape said. "He probably isn’t. But," he continued, "I know that Black definitely did not tell me everything, so I have to wonder just what else he kept from me."

Merope studied Snape shrewdly. "You were not friendly with them at Hogwarts, were you?"

"I was not." Snape closed up, clearly not wanting to elaborate further upon that subject. "And then there was the uprising in Godric’s Hollow in 1130...."

Hermione’s eyes widened. "Uprising?"

Snape almost regretted mentioning that, but he supposed that they would hear about it sooner or later anyway. "A small group of wizards and witches attempted to overthrow the lord that Abraxas Malfoy had placed there as a regent for his son, but it turned out that someone had told the Malfoys in advance and so Lord Lucius was there to quash it."

"Potter’s parents and Black were part of that?" Tom asked.

Snape hesitated. "No one knows who was part of it. They were disguised, or else Lord Lucius would have executed them all. But Black and Potter have certainly seemed to hold me in contempt for, in their eyes, staying in service to a lord whom they saw as an ally of the Malfoys."

"Well, it failed anyway, so that’s a stupid thing for him to judge you for. Typical Gryffindors. And Mother certainly isn’t an ally to the Malfoys," Tom declared proudly.

Merope wanted to scold Tom for his obvious house bias, but she could not bring herself to do so. It was not just his Hogwarts house, after all, but his family.

After this discussion, Tom went to his bedroom, where he found his serpent familiar coiled in a sunlight-drenched chair waiting for him. The snake flicked its tongue out of its mouth at the sight of its master.

Tom extended his arm, and Dunlaith curled around his wrist.

"Where is your mate, master?" the snake hissed.

Tom raised his eyebrows. "She is in the castle, in her own room. And don’t call her that."

The snake seemed truly confused. "Why not? Is she not anymore?"

"She never was—not yet. She is just my betrothed."

"I do not know this word, master."

"It means that she will be my wife—my mate—someday."

Dunlaith considered this. "Humans are strange to me. My kind do not wait if we want to mate. We do not postpone the opportunity to have offspring, because we may not have it again. There are many predators."

Tom had suddenly had quite enough of this conversation. "Well, my kind do wait. Our lives are more complicated than yours, but also safer, so we can make long-term plans. We have "predators’ too, but they are our own kind and we can fight them."