Chapter Thirty-Six: Chaos Ensures

Tom's POV

They had gotten two weeks to solve the riddle. Two weeks to figure out what the second task was and prepare accordingly. Yet for some reason, even with Cordelia and Tom being the brighter minds Hogwarts had to offer, they couldn't decipher one crucial detail.

It was clear that the task would put one of them in danger and have the other rescue them. Tom had deciphered one of them would be underwater and Cordelia had come to the conclusion that the other would have to perfect a potion to finish the task. But the two of them couldn't seem to figure out what exactly the potion was.

The most frustrating part was how calm the Dumstrang and Beauxbaton champions were as if they had understood something that the Hogwarts champions couldn't begin to comprehend. The Dumstrang boys had taken to ignoring everyone except themselves after his knights' failure to recruit them, and the French girls would either swoon or sneer whenever Tom approached them.

It was as if they were vexing Tom for being oblivious to the riddle's answers, and he hated it.

With most of the school's inhabitant keen on having them fail, Tom and Cordelia didn't have many people to turn to which caused them to lay their trust in an old ally.

Slughorn.

Hell would freeze over before the joyful, pot-bellied Slytherin head of house would let his serpents lose, especially when the French were involved.

"The Draught of Living Death."

Tom paused at the professor's words, turning away from the various pictures on his wall to reply.

"I didn't say anything."

Slughorn shrugged, casually shuffling papers as a lazy smirk overcame his features.

"Tom, m'boy, I've known you long enough to know what's on your mind."

His words had the Dark Lord amusedly raising an eyebrow at the irony of his statement. While Slughorn was a skilful potion master and adequate wizard, he was nowhere near mastering Legilimency, much less surpassing Tom's mental guards.

However, it didn't hurt to let the pot-bellied professor have his fun.

"Thank you, professor."

Slughorn simply nodded at Tom, not bothering to lift his gaze as the brunette tyrant walked out of his office.

He had plans to make his way towards the Banquet Hall and inform Cordelia that he would handle the potion, revelling in her annoyance at being bossed around, but they were preponed as a familiar witch bumped into him on her way towards Slughorn's chambers.

The Hogwarts champions had evidently come to the same conclusion to their problem.

"The Draught of Living Death."

Cordelia furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before simply nodding and retracing her steps.

"So, Riddle apparently isn't too good at riddles."

Tom couldn't help the slight smile that slipped through his mask, but it was quickly replaced with an eye-roll as he realized she was most likely criticizing his skills with a humourous front.

It was peculiar for Cordelia to be so comfortable around him, but Tom had come to realize she usually let her guard down when she was nervous about the immediate future. For Cordelia, nervous moments made threatening people fade to the background, and Tom wasn't sure if he despised or liked the revelation.

Usually, it would have been something he would use to his advantage, but such an open weakness had Riddle worrying about others exploiting that weakness.

He should have been glad if another would get rid of her for him, content that she wasn't as put-together or smart as him, but the thought of another violating her weaknesses made him furious.

Cordelia Lucretia Black-McMillan was a problem, but she was his problem.

Tom didn't appreciate the thought of someone taking care of his enemies for him. It was the same with Dumbledore, Dippet and the orphanage kids. It was the same with his father, uncle and mother.

Tom Riddle despised the idea of needing someone else's help to dispose of an enemy almost as much as he despised working with his enemy.

Unfortunately, the second task seemed to be full of things he despised, including a large glass tank of freezing cold water.

The Banquet Hall's stage had been cleared of its usual gold decor and woodland nymphs, being replaced with three large glass tanks of freezing water accompanied by desks for the potioneers. Rows of seats were placed throughout the hall, but a separate row of armchairs was placed right before the tanks.

Students cheered as Tom and Cordelia, accompanied by Magnus and Danka, made their way towards the front of the hall.

Madame Maxime took to the stage as the champions lined up before her, their position beside the stage's steps making Olympe look like a giantess.

"For the second task, each school's champions will have to work together to rescue one another. One champion will be locked into the freezing water, accompanied by a Horned Serpent, while the other will brew the Draught of Living Death."

Murmurs broke out throughout the hall at the mention of Horned Serpents.

While it was usual to spot a Horned Serpent or two on the Ilvermorny campus, the long black serpent was considered extinct in Europe due to hunters. The ivory water snake was known for its icy blue eyes, white belly and white horns dotted across its head.

It was a lethal predator with a habit of head-butt hunters who attempted to cut its horns off. If the horns didn't do the trick, the serpent would usually use the small horns on its tail to beat the hunter to death.

Horned Serpents were lethal creatures with a tendency to despise magic folk, some would say they were more dangerous than the Yetis they faced in the first task.

And the judges wanted half of the champions locked in a freezing water tank with them.

Tom sighed as he turned towards Cordelia, running a hand through his curls as he finally accepted what had to be done.

"I'll go in the tank, you get the potion done."

She tried to hide it, but Tom noticed the way Cordelia raised her eyebrows in surprise and opened and shut her mouth while trying to form a response. In the end, she simply settled on a nod and turned away in contemplation.

Usually, Tom wasn't the type to offer himself up for such tasks, but as Salazar's only sane and alive heir, Tom was the only parseltongue who could influence the horned serpent. His heritage ensured he had an advantage, something that he refused to waste due to pettiness.

"Use a bubblehead charm."

Cordelia seemed to finally catch on as she muttered the advice to him just as Madame Maxime finished stating the rules and asking each team which champion would do what.

A group of French witches approached the champions to collect their robes, wands, and search them to ensure there was no cheating involved. Tom presumed the extra precaution was due to the ruckus Cordelia created after the first task.

She hadn't bothered openly talking about Camilla, that would have been too foolish and Gryffindor-like, she chose to rely on rumours and gossip to spread the word for her, to the point where even the French were questioning how skilful Camilla truly was.

"Good luck."

Tom had chosen to ignore Cordelia's mutter of luck, thinking it wouldn't matter as he descended into the icy water with only a dark green swimsuit as protection. He had come to realize how wrong he was as the brunette sucked in several breaths, his muddy pools never diverting from the icy blue eyes staring at him.

At first, Tom had presumed it would have been easy to manipulate the horned serpent into staying away from him. Unfortunately, being a parseltongue and a wizard meant the serpent viewed him as more a threat than other magic folks, and was keener on bashing in his skull.

However, with a few persuasive mutters and false promises the Dark Lord had convinced the large ivory snake to stay at the other end of the tank, only wrapping its tail around his ankle to ensure he wouldn't make any sharp movements.

He couldn't sneak too many glances towards her, but over the past half hour, Cordelia had been doing quite well and was nearly done with her potion. Magnus and Camilla were just as proficient as her, but the Black witch had a few tricks up her sleeve.

A few small changes allowed Cordelia to add the sloth brain while her competitors were dissolving their powdered root of Asphodel.

While the potion makers were neck and neck to one another, Danka, Estelle and Tom were in very different situations from one another.

The horned serpent with the Dumstrang boy seemed to take a liking to him as it curled itself around his small form and purred near his head. While Danka seemed worried about his physical health, Tom could tell he was more scared about the effects of the Gilleyweed slowly fading.

Estelle, on the other hand, hadn't thought of using a warming charm like the boys beside her, which led to her turning as blue as her swimsuit, causing the horned serpent beside her to panic and move away from the short witch.

Considering the pace their partners were going, Tom was certain Estelle wouldn't make it to the end of the task. The crowd spectating the task seemed to agree with him as they anxiously muttered amongst themselves, watching as the French girl curled into a ball and warily gazed at the horned serpent.

Just as Tom was certain things were going nicely, a screech echoed through the hall causing the horned serpents to go into their hunting stances.

A brief look to the side confirmed that Madame Maxime had triggered the serpents to spice up the task, and in doing so had put the three of them in grave danger.

The first to attack was the serpent beside Estelle, its white horns gleaming as it attempted to pierce the French girl. She dodged each of its attacks, but Danka wasn't so lucky due to his proximity with the serpent and suffered a wound to his foot before he broke away.

Tom, however, was in a peculiar circumstance. The horned serpent beside him decided to tug on his foot until the tips of his swimsuit touched the bottom of the tank, it used the momentum of the pull to its favour and yanked him towards the horns on its head just as Tom attempted to free his foot.

Several screams echoed around the hall as the Dark Lord wandlessly cast a Protego just as the horn nearly hurt him. The horned serpent was taken aback by the sudden obstruction and seemed furious as it growled at Tom and advanced towards him.

Yet another cacophony of screams diverted his attention as Tom looked past the serpent towards Estelle, who had fainted due to the cold and was easy prey for the serpent circling her body. Camilla acted quickly as she abandoned her potion and cast a protection charm on her partner just as the wizards on stand-by drained the tank.

Beauxbaton was eliminated from the second task, causing them to lose the advantage they gained in the first task.

Unfortunately, while Tom had been distracted by the chaos around them the horned serpent swiped its tail towards him at a part of his body he hadn't protected; his stomach.

For a moment Tom felt nothing as he retreated away from the blue-eyed serpent and extended his Protego to cover him like a bubble, but the pain seeped in just as his bubblehead charm began wavering. It felt like someone had jabbed their wand into his stomach and pulled it out immediately, causing blood to surround him.

With his physical, mental and magical state crumbling, Tom felt hopelessly powerless, his only solution being to rely on Cordelia as the water around him turned pink, and the bubbles protecting him weakened.

Tom didn't remember much of what happened after he closed his eyes for the first time.

At first, it was simply out of frustration regarding Cordelia's delay, but it later turned into an urge to fall asleep as people screamed and called out his name, presuming he had fainted, much like Estelle.

Then the water started draining and the horned serpent beside him whinied as its habitat decreased.

Tom desperately threw his eyes open as he wildly looked around, pushing against the wizards fetching him out as he muttered how he was fine. The thought of being disqualified and letting Dumstrang win had him fuming as Tom twirled on the spot, almost slipping as he attempted to face Cordelia.

His furious glare, however, did not meet his target and was obstructed by a bundle of blankets thrown onto his emerald clothing by the very girl he wished to Crucio.

"We won!"

The excited call made him furrow his eyebrows and stumble in surprise as Tom gazed at his partner, noticing the smile strewn across her face and the vial in her hand.

Cordelia didn't bother waiting for a reply as she led Tom towards the room behind the stage, away from the cheering crowds and whining serpents. She pushed him down into a chair and tugged at the blankets until her sapphire gaze settled onto the bloodstains on his abdomen.

She winced at the pungent scent of blood and recoiled away from him for a brief second before fetching her wand out of her robes and muttering healing charms.

Tom didn't bother complaining as he tiredly rested his head on the wall behind him, allowing his enemy to heal him as he finally spoke.

"You could have been faster."

Cordelia scoffed at his words, deliberately jabbing her wand near his wound as she replied with snark.

"You could have been smarter."

He hummed at her words, allowing his eyes to shut tiredly as he replied for a final time.

"It was American, what did you expect?"

Cordelia let out an atrocious snort at his question and pulled her wand away from him, once again wrapping his body with the blankets.

"I'll fetch a nurse to take you to the hospital wing."

Tom lazily opened his eyes as she spoke, noticing how Cordelia flicked his wet hair away from his forehead and muttered a few warming spells.

"You look worse than the Grey Lady."

He let out a small chuckle at the comparison but winced right after as he felt the hole in his abdomen slowly close in on itself.

As Cordelia walked away from him and left the Dark Lord surrounded by glittering instruments and blue blankets, Tom let his eyes shut for a final time. It didn't matter that the chair he was on had an uncomfortable cushion, or that his body was wet.

The warming charms were enough to lull him to sleep as Tom adjusted the blankets around him and tuned out from the world, letting his guard down and placing his trust in Cordelia for the first time since they met on the Hogwarts Express.