Tom knew that the situation with Elleria was becoming harder to resolve each day. She knew too much, she was not loyal to him, yet he could not kill her. Another death and hogwarts would surely shut its doors. As much as he had strained himself for a better solution, co-operation seemed to be his only option.

Elleria knew how dangerous placing conditions on a demand from Tom riddle was, yet she found herself caring less than she should. Atticus was safe for now, petrified yes, but safe. Alphard was one of Tom riddles own soldiers. As for herself, if he could of hurt her, he would of by now.

"Your late, Lestrange " Tom said back turned to the girl.

"How did you get slughorn to let you use his room" the girl ignored him.

"Next time you are late, I leave" the boy ignored her in return, now turning to face her.

Elleria rested her arms on the desk behind her and sighed at the boy.

"What are you going to teach me" the girl asked.

"I'm not, your going to teach me" the boy said, walking behind slughorns desk and sitting in his chair.

"Me teach you?" The girl smirked.

"Yes, about you" the boy said toying with a trinket on the desk.

She scoffed at this.

"You can start with why you want to learn about the dark arts" he waved his hand to gesture for her explanation.

"Do I need a reason?" She raised her eyebrow.

"Yes, Elleria, half of dark magic cannot even be performed without a reason to do so" the boy was astonished at the girls stupidity.

Elleria reddened slightly.

"Put it this way, riddle, I seek all knowledge, not just what's taught at hogwarts" she answered half truthfully.

"Then you may aswell give up now, that is not nearly enough" he shook his head.

"Can knowledge not be passion enough for some" the girl challenged.

"It's common sense, black. In old literature, those with magical abilities and darkness in their hearts practice dark magic and the good white magic" the boy was growing annoyed quickly.

"In muggle literature" the girl smirked.

Suddenly the girl felt a horrible pain in her head. She thought she may have fell to the floor but couldn't be sure. Before her eyes swam her darkest memories from grimmauld place. Then as if her conscious had settled and her focus fell in the deepest and most coveted parts of her mind, a memory came into focus.

She sat in bed hearing her father and Cassius argue. Their raised voices barely drowned out the sound of her mothers, whose guttural screams and the sound of furniture being thrown around echoed through the halls.

Sickened by the sound of the woman, the young girl, no older than 13, threw herself from the bed and out of her room. Her father and Cassius payed her no mind as she moved past them and down the hall towards the sounds of the maddened woman.

When she reached the room, the screaming stopped and she opened the door.

"Mother"

"Ah, El, I couldn't get the baby to stop crying" she said, skin glazed in sweat.

Elleria was used to her mothers fantasises about a baby. Elleria surmised her mother had suffered a sort of loss but no one would tell her details. She was also used to the constant referral to the child as just 'the baby', no gender or name.

"Perhaps you need a break, I can watch the baby" Elleria suggested.

The woman began shaking her head frantically, looking towards one spot in the room as if staring at a bogart.

"A day, or even a few hours, we won't leave the house" the girl begged.

Suddenly the woman looked to her daughter and nodded slowly.

"Where is it" she asked.

The woman pointed to the spot in the room where blankets lay stacked.

She made her way over and picked up the imaginary child. She made her way out to the door cradling the baby.

"Look after my baby" her mother called out to her as she exited the room.

As she shut the door she summoned the house elf.

"Dappy, in an hour, tell my mother something terrible had happened. Tell her the baby was stolen, or killed" The girl told the elf, whose eyes widened in fear.

Tom eyes also widened as he watched the conversation between the young girl and the elf. He hadn't expected to find something like this when he went into the girls memories. He hadnt expected her darkest memory to have been something she had done to her own mother.

The memory faded into what Tom assumed to be later that day. Elleria sat in her bed. Tom thought how nice the silence from her mother must of been after so long of hearing her wretched screams. As soon as the thought entered his mind, though, he heard what could only of been her mothers realisation that her 'baby' was not coming back.

What caught toms interest most, however, was he swore he saw the girls lips twitch at her mothers cries. Even for him, he must admit, Seeing a girl so young find some enjoyment in her own mothers anguish was puzzling. For anyone but him, the situation should be at least troubling.

With force Tom could of never anticipated, he was thrown out of the girls memory.

Now in reality, he looked at the girl on her knees breathing heavily.

"I think there may actually be hope for you, Lestrange"