"The Sapphire Pendant"

Chapter One - The Last Christmas Together

A/N I: For the purposes of this story, let's assume that Armando Dippet is so incompetent, that he had to rely on other people's help to get Christmas dinner for the students organised. I refer to the Hogsmeade pub as being the Hog's Head. I think that this is the name it had around this time (and not the Three Broomsticks like later), and when Hagrid refers to it as such in PS/SS, it was just a mere slip of the tongue. I am fully aware that there could be two pubs in the village, but I like my theory better. Besides, Hagrid did have quite a few slips of the tongue in PS/SS. (

It was snowing softly outside the dormitory window. The room was quiet for once. All the gossipy and snobby girls had gone home for the Christmas holidays, which left Ceridwen and Myrtle alone. Ceridwen put the finishing touches on her Potions essay and left it to dry on her nightstand.

"What does limpid mean?" Myrtle asked from the next bed.

"I don't know. Where did you hear it?"

"I read it in my book just now. 'She gazed up at him, looked into his limpid eyes and declared what she had been dying to do ever since-.'"

"Umm. that's enough. It's most likely a disease of the retina," Ceridwen explained, barely keeping a straight face.

"You are no fun."

"I know." Ceridwen replied, laughing.

Myrtle dog-eared the page she was on and threw the book onto her nightstand. "I was wondering, who did you get Christmas presents for this year?"

Ceridwen paused before answering, trying to think of all the names. "Well I got one for my Mum, Dad, Aine, Pat, Kennan, Shannon, Kassie, Culin, Deirdre, Allan, Gemma, Molly, Arthur, and you of course. Why?"

Myrtle shook her head. "I don't see how you can keep so many family members straight, and still remember almost all your friends. How do you pay for so many?"

Ceridwen shrugged. "My summer job at St. Mungo's gives me some spending money. As for keeping track of my family and friends I guess it helps to have a good memory. Wait, what did you mean by 'almost all your friends'?"

"You didn't get one for Tom."

"Why would I? He's said loads of times that he hates Christmas, and that he doesn't keep any of the presents he gets. You didn't get him something this year, did you?" Ceridwen asked, seeing Myrtle's face fall.

"I've given him something every year. I always thought he was just awkward about it because he'd never got any before coming to Hogwarts. He might think it was charity or something. I didn't think that he would throw it out!"

Ceridwen jumped off her bed and hugged her friend tightly. Then she held onto her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Maybe he really does want presents, how should I know? If he really didn't keep them for himself, I'm sure he just kept them until he went back to the orphanage and gave them to someone there so that they wouldn't be wasted."

Myrtle stopped crying, but started to sniffle and made an attempt to wipe her face on her sleeve before Ceridwen stopped her and handed her a handkerchief to blow her nose with.

"Look, it's Christmas. We're supposed to be happy today. Besides, we've got dinner at the Hog's Head to look forward to. It'll be nice to get out of the castle."

Myrtle started to wail again.

"It's easy for you to stay cheerful! You're going to be seeing your family in Hogsmeade today! I won't see mine 'til June! Everyone likes you and they never EVER tease you about anything just because you're a Healer. Plus no one you're in love with throws away the presents you've given him! Just go away and leave me alone!"

"But I want to help."

"I don't want your help! I don't want you to Heal me! You've done enough of that already! Don't bother trying to cheer me up, I'm not going to that stupid Christmas dinner!" she shouted before throwing herself onto her stomach and hiding her head under her pillow.

Ceridwen quietly closed the navy hangings on Myrtle's bed and left the dorm room. Myrtle would never understand that being a Healer meant you had to devote your life to just that, and nothing else. Ever since she had been five, she had had dreams of playing for the Holyhead Harpies. But she would never get to do that now. She couldn't even be a Mediwitch for the team because she had to stay at St. Mungo's in order to help as many people as possible. She had wanted to be a Prefect, and Head Girl, and all of the rest of it. But she couldn't. She had to give up all her dreams the day that she had discovered she was a Healer.

* * *
Ceridwen sighed. She was used to Myrtle being emotional all the time. So were most people. But it seemed to annoy everyone else whenever Myrtle would burst into tears and run off, especially Olive and Tom. Some days, even she couldn't handle Myrtle. Olive teased Myrtle more than anyone did, but Tom kept his annoyance to himself. Well, it would have been totally to himself except for the fact that she could feel his emotions. He had let her Heal him before, at least physically. Ever since the first attack, he wouldn't let her Heal him anymore, even though he felt really stressed. He probably felt guilty too. She had told him in the strictest confidence that Apollyon Pringle was a squib, and he had let it slip at a Prefect's meeting. Soon, the entire school knew. A week later Pringle had been attacked by Slytherin's heir. Whoever that was. They had learned a little about Slytherin and his goals from Professor Binns when Laura Grant had asked about the Chamber of Secrets. Unfortunately, the History of Magic teacher was more interested in the International Warlock Convention of 1289 to tell them very much. She needed to stop thinking about this so much. Christmas was a time to be full of joy, not depressed. She headed towards the doors to the grounds with a good solo Quidditch practise in mind. She was just about to go out one of the doors when-.

"Ceridwen, going somewhere?"

"Tom, hi! I was just going to go out onto the Quidditch pitch for a while."

He grinned. "You aren't exactly dressed to go outside."

She looked down and realised that she was still in her pyjamas, slippers and dressing gown. She could feel her face begin to heat up. "I could have sworn that I had changed. I guess I didn't. I'll go back to Ravenclaw tower."

"I'll go with you," he announced, joining her on the stairs.

"Pardon?" Ceridwen asked, a little confused.

"I'll go with you. I'll just wait outside your common room. There's no one else in our year in my house, and I wouldn't mind some input on my Potions essay."

"Sure, I'll help you. You can wait in our common room if you want. It's just Myrtle and me left this year. Everyone else has gone home."

"That's fine." He seemed to be lost in thought after that, until he broke the silence again. "Is it odd for you, not being surrounded by so many people?"

"It is a bit lonely. I'm used to having a big family or all my classmates around all the time. I miss them, my family I mean. But I'll get to see them tonight at dinner. Then I'm going to go with them to the Inn, stay there for an hour or two because they're staying there for the holidays, and we'll exchange presents." She paused at the top of a flight of stairs, thinking about earlier that morning. "Myrtle doesn't seem to be coping very well with all these attacks. She thinks that she's a target because she's Muggle-born. But she's perfectly safe. She was upset for a different reason this morning, though."

"What now?"

"I told her that you don't keep any presents you receive. She's got this idea in her head that you just chuck them away." Ceridwen said wearily.

He started laughing a cold, high pitched laugh that didn't suit him.

"Stop that! She's really upset! You didn't really throw away all her presents, did you?" Ceridwen asked, anxiously.

He stopped laughing abruptly. "No, of course not."

"Why don't you tell her that?"

"If she really is upset, she'll still be caterwauling. I don't want to go near her if she's like that." Tom explained.

"Caterwauling, honestly. She's not a cat."

"You could've fooled me. Whenever she's angry or upset her voice gets all high-pitched and irritating like a cat whose tail you've treaded on. Whenever she's not angry or upset she's still whining and complaining."

"That's so nice of you to say so." Ceridwen took out her wand and said the password. "Eagle quill."

The suit of armour she had just tapped with her wand lifted up about a foot then did several spirals to the right to allow passage into a corridor that had not been visible moments before. As they came near, the torches lit themselves. After a couple twists and turns, the two of them came to a short spiral staircase. Finally, they walked into a room even taller than the Great Hall. An underwater scene had been charmed onto the ceiling. Dolphins were doing a sort of underwater ballet in one corner of it. Two walls in the room were charmed to be an oceanic blue, while the others were lined with thousands of books. The chairs were a darker shade of blue, and the tables a nicely finished dark wood, all of which were useful and practical pieces of furniture. A bronze statue of an eagle on a rocky crag was centred in the room. There were several corridors branching off of the common room, Ceridwen headed towards one of them.

"You can sit down if you like. I'll just be a minute," she called over her shoulder.

"Is that the way to your dorm room?" Ceridwen stopped and turned to look at him. "Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering."

Ceridwen turned back to the stairs and called over her shoulder. "I'll be right back." She disappeared into the middle corridor. It was quiet for a few minutes until-

"AUTUMN! You ruined it!" Ceridwen screamed, then stormed into the common room a minute later with some battered looking pieces of parchment in her hand. "Stupid cat. My essay is all smudged with inky paw prints. Now I've got to do it all over again," she sighed. "At least it cheered Myrtle up. She said that she might actually go to dinner now."

"We can only hope." He said sarcastically. "Why don't we go to my common room? There aren't any cats there now, and we won't be disturbed."

"You're the only one left in Slytherin, and you don't have a pet. It wasn't that hard to figure out that there wouldn't be any cats roaming around there." She looked down at her essay, then back up at Tom. "Let's go."

The two of them walked out of the common room, holding hands just as Myrtle came downstairs from the dorm room with the offending calico in her arms.

"Poor thing. You didn't ask her to yell at you, did you?" She doesn't care about you at all. Isn't that right you pretty little kitty?" Myrtle let her down. Autumn meowed, looking at the passage to the rest of the castle. "You want out? Okay, follow me."

* * *
There was a blurry face in front of her. Slowly, it began to come into focus. Tom.

"How are you feeling?"

She put a hand to her head to stop the room spinning. She tried to sit up on the black velvet couch she was on, and her stomach did a somersault.

"Like someone dropped a dragon on my head."

"You just collapsed while you were reading my essay. I brought you over here so you could lie down."

She looked over at the part of the common room that had tables and chairs. There were papers and books laying on one of them. She vaguely remembered something about inky paw prints. Her hand was cramping up badly now too.

"Do you remember that?"

"Not really. I'm probably just a bit tired. I've Healed Myrtle every day for the past few weeks. I just need to go to bed. I'll lay down for a bit, then I'll be all rested up."

She got up off the couch quickly, and swayed a bit.

"Are you sure? You can sleep here in one of the girl's beds if you want. They wouldn't mind."

"No, I'm sure. I just need to go to bed, my bed. I'll go now." Ceridwen staggered towards the entrance to the common room. She had no idea why she knew where it was, as she couldn't remember coming here before.

"Don't you want your essay? It's a bit smudged, but you can still read parts of it." He came towards her with a couple pieces of parchment. Once he was near her, her stomach did another somersault. Something in her gut was telling her to run as fast as she could- away from him.

"No, no. I don't need it. I've got a rough copy back in my dorm room. I've got to go."

"You don't want to stay? You don't look so good. You really can rest here if you want."

"I'm fine, really. I'll just go now. I've got to go." She started shivering, and went through the entrance. She almost stepped right on her cat. It had been clawing at the entrance the whole time she had been in there. Tom followed her out into the corridor. He glanced down when he felt Autumn tearing through his shoes with her claws, and looked furious. Ceridwen panicked, picked up her pet and ran. She didn't pay attention to where she was running. Finally what was left of her strength gave out and she collapsed beside the statue of the one-eyed witch. She was just catching her breath, when she heard footsteps. They were getting near her, closer and closer. She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of the person whose feet were coming close to her. She hugged her cat to her as close as she could. The footsteps stopped. She opened her eyes.

She saw a pair of twinkling, blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles. Dumbledore. Relief swept over her.

"Professor! Can you help me to the hospital wing? I don't think I'll be able to make it there on my own," she asked, almost in a whisper.

"Yes, of course."

She put her cat on her shoulder, and he helped her get up and walk to the hospital wing. Only when she was sitting on the edge of a bed did she venture to speak again.

"Could you take Autumn to Pat? He's in Hogsmeade, and I'm too weak to go to dinner and take her myself."

He looked at her intently. "Is there any particular reason you feel she should be with your brother instead of here with you?"

"I." She trailed off, unable to tell him her newfound fears about her friend. "I just don't think I'll be able to take care of her properly."

"Is there something else you wish to tell me?"

"No, there isn't professor." She held up Autumn so she that was facing her. "I'm sorry, Autumn. I have to give you to my brother for a while. You'll be fine with him." Tears streamed down her cheeks. Ceridwen passed her kitty to Dumbledore then wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"It is a shame that you cannot make it to dinner. But I must ask you why you are so weak. Did you just Heal someone?"

"No. At least. I don't think I did. One minute I was fine, the next thing I know I'm lying on a couch in the middle of the Slytherin common room."

He looked surprised. "The Slytherin common room? What were you doing there?"

She paused again, not sure how much she wanted to tell him. "I was helping Tom work on some homework."

"Tom? Tom Riddle?" he asked, suddenly looking very serious.

"Yes, why?"

"Nothing to worry about right now." He stood up from his seat on the next bed. "Rest up. I'm sure your family will want to come up to the castle and see you. You have to save up your strength if you want to rip open all your presents. I'm sure Madam Pompfrey will be over to help you into bed in a moment." Autumn meowed mournfully as he carried her out the door.

He left her feeling quite confused. Ceridwen allowed Madam Pompfrey to help her change into pyjamas, and get into bed. She didn't remember much after that.
A/N II: My beta was giving me some insight into dialogue, and I just had to share this example she gave me with you all. (

"Hello," she said to Tom. "I'm glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you too." Tom smiled at her, then said, "I've been meaning to tell you, Ceri. I'm really a Siriusly evil overlord."

"No kidding." Somehow Ceri wasn't surprised.

A/N III: The limpid eye joke was taken from Keeping Up Appearances (one of my fave Britcoms). I wish it were mine, but it's not. The part about a calico cat called Autumn walking all over homework and smudging it is real too. Needless to say my sister wasn't too happy about having to redo all those Algebra equations. ^_^