Lost | Tom Riddle ✔

Epilogue I: Meanwhile

------> Part 1 of an epilogue

Once Tom confessed everything to Dumbledore, the beloved professor asked him to surrender to then Minister for Magic - Leonard Spencer-Moon. Proper litigation was filed on Tom Marvolo Riddle who confessed his crimes.

Since the killing curse was identified as unforgivable, Aurors were ordered to check the validity of the young wizard's claims. When the claims were found true, the lack of investigations had disappointed the British ministry. The ministry then launched a program and used this whole case as a prime example of a perfect crime. Tom volunteered openly for everything.

Dumbledore himself decided to defend the boy. He also made sure to present Professors of Hogwarts to confirm how the young Slytherin was a promising pupil in the school with exceptional potential for magic. Albus even claimed that the boy could offer a lot to their society if mentored correctly. The transfiguration master convinced Aurors from the rescue team to vouch how Tom, with help of Ms Winters, had managed to perform wand-less magic to help them during the conflict. They also confessed how he had used healing spells to try and save Antonio Avery, a very respected Auror, fruitlessly; despite losing a lot of his blood himself. Dumbledore also made sure to point out that the ministry wouldn't have found the real criminal, had Tom never have a change of his heart. The elder wizard acclaimed that Tom had performed those murders in a fit of rage and truly regretted what he had done. Perhaps these points actually convinced the minister, or it was just the fact that Tom had committed the crime when he was just sixteen, technically not an adult by both wizard and muggle standards.

In the end, the Ministry reduced his life imprisonment to the passage of 8 years in Azkaban. And then compulsory social service of 5 years under the wizard of his choice. During these 13 years, he was restricted from having any social association with anyone. Tom accepted the punishment while looking at teary-eyed Alexa who sat along with other witnesses. Not being able to be with her for more than a decade was going to be his only regret. The ordeal of this case was done in secrecy to protect the identity of Tom as he was still a juvenile. Ministry had forced everyone involved in the case to take an oath of secrecy.

Throughout those thirteen years...

Alexa was expelled from the school. Dumbledore tried convincing Dippet that she was not a casual werewolf, but an Animagus. He even reminded the elder wizard about the boy he had expelled years ago, but alas! The headmaster of Hogwarts was one stubborn wizard. He was so stubborn that he even suspended Dumbledore for two years for the crime of hiding Alexa's secrets and betraying the school in the process. While seeing Alexa silently crying in the corner Dumbledore couldn't feel any guiltier. She hadn't complained. She hadn't demanded it. Godric! She didn't even glance at him as she kept her eyes glued to the ground. She just nodded, defeated, at her superiors. The action had pierced Albus' gentle heart and in the flow of his emotions, he offered her a stay with him till they captured Grindelwald. Alexa had accepted reluctantly, as she didn't want to live a sheltered life anymore.

Alexa conveyed to her favourite professor that she would find a place for herself once she turned seventeen. She had seen how badly her life had turned out to be despite keeping herself hidden all this time. She wanted to stand up for herself. She was done living by letting others defending her, by letting them die for her cause. As she had no graduation certificate from Hogwarts, it was quite difficult for her to land any office job. However, by the time she had turned eighteen, she had found herself working in Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley as a caretaker of the books. In addition, she started working in Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. Alexa was unable to accomplish her dream of becoming a professional alchemist through her school, but that didn't mean that she gave up. Her first job allowed her to compensate for the knowledge that she couldn't gain in the school because of an expulsion. In fact, Alexa found more time for what she actually wanted to read. Her second job gave her time to work on her potions. Slughorn might have failed in encouraging her interest in potion-making, but during her last year at the school, he taught her one fact that any alchemist was a cripple without knowledge of potions. The only pitfall was that both these professions didn't pay her enough to afford accommodation in elite Diagon Alley. However, she managed a cosy cottage on the coast of Tinsworth. Her schedule might have been frantic, but Alexa was more than happy to stay occupied always. Her devotion towards Tom did not waver.