Korlian's PoV
My heart racing, eyes dilated, breathing hard. Last night…last night? My eyes flicker up to the lights on the wall. What had happened?
Then I remember. Tom Riddle's ghost-when did that happen?-had attacked Ginny a month ago. I went wild trying to kill his ghost (sure…why am I so stupid? How the heck can you kill a ghost?). But then last night…I find it hard to remember again. I take out my wand, frowning at it.
A faint scraping sound. I spin around, my dress flying as a rock almost hits my forehead. A young and incredibly familiar boy jumps backwards with surprise. I can't help it.
"What's the big deal? Another boy trying to attack me? I've had enough of that already!"
His face goes red, and he sputters something. "I-i…well who are you? Nobody cares anyway!" he snarls, and I realize where I was.
Someone attacked me last night. A girl. Who was a rat. I killed her. She killed a faux Horcrux. Tom vanished. Something…something had gotten him. And I traveled here. Fifty years back…so this must…this must be…
I repeat the words that are flowing silently to me like a stream. Memories in this orphanage are pounding me like drums. "I'm Korlian Velasquez. And, oh, so I can't get lost, can I?"
"As a matter of fact, you CAN!"
I try hard to smirk. "How old are you anyway? Ten? Eleven?" This is so amusing it's all I can do not to fall over laughing like a maniac.
His face contorts into a mask of rage, so different than his usual seductive, sly and sarcastic mask.
"I'm TWELVE!" he shoots at me.
I stalk out the door, and he slams it behind me. Silently I open the one besides his room, close it and break out laughing. The lost memories were flowing back.
This was my first time in the orphanage. The police had just caught me and thrown me into another one. My parents are dead. Killed in a car crash. And the boy…I cast a smile at the wall. That boy was the one that, in a few years, would start to act a bit strangely whenever being around me…
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. I watch the old second-hand clock tick away the seconds that I am anxiously waiting for to pass. Tick, tock. 5:30. I throw myself onto the hard bed and lie there, unwilling to move. Bo-ring. I finger the Year-Turner that I created a few months back and leave it in my pocket. It will not move. My magic forces it not to. Time. A special thing that is not to be messed with. But this is called for. I need to see him again. Remake the times. See if I can get him to remain himself forever…
It seems a million years before the hour hand reaches six. I jump out and dive for outside, where peaceful silence greets me.
Tom's PoV
I get off my bed wearily, and place my book, Year Two Spells, and sigh. That girl…she looked like me. Angry face. Dull eyes. But a fake proud mask hides the true feelings, the bitterness. And she's an orphan as well…Korlian Velasquez. I taste the name on my tongue, thinking about what she may be hiding.
The clock strikes six, and I open the door and peek up and down the corridor. No sign of Velasquez. I sneak outside, and walk out into the last of the sunlight. I almost gasp, but in time I clasp my hand to my mouth without a sound. She's standing there, the rays of light striking her long light blonde hair.
I freeze. What is she doing here? Slowly, I bend down and pick up a rock, and aim. She moves away, towards the fence, either unwilling or unable to sense my presence.
The rock drops from my still fingertips, and I hesitate. What am I doing? I always seek revenge, not at school, but she's only a little girl! A Muggle who doesn't deserve anything, a fool like my dead mother!
Her silhouette is almost obscured by the rosebush in front of me. A small hand reaches out and plucks a rose that has fallen to the ground. The girl-I refuse to call her by her name, last or first-catches a glance of me and she straightens up, her face a mask of quietness. She turns away again, and I back into the building, and run into my bedroom, my face burning with embarrassment and confusion.
What the hell just happened?