A/N: Welcome, welcome to If I Asked for a Penny, Would You Give Me a Dime? I'd like to start off by saying this is a collab story between but you love me anyway and riboflavinB2. This began as our own enjoyment and we decided to post it for your enjoyment too. For further clarification, the unbolded sections are the parts by but you love me anyway. The bolded sections are the parts by riboflavinB2. Other than that, this is a ludicrously AU tale, so if you see something that strikes you as odd, attribute it to the AU. Now, before you grow tired of us already, read and enjoy!
But not without a little DISCLAIMER: You had better be thanking the Lord Almighty that we do not own Harry Potter.
IF I ASKED FOR A PENNY
WOULD YOU GIVE ME A DIME?
The train loomed over him, steam covering the platform. He was late. The idiotic children at the orphanage delayed him once more. The train was about to leave the station. Tom quickly boarded and, fixing his messy hair, set off to find his 'friends.'
His Legilimency was noticing some sort of sensation, which he most certainly had never experienced before. Tom walked in the direction where he felt the sensation, judging it to be a sense of power, and saw it led him to an open compartment. One girl was sitting nearest the window, and Tom took a moment to register what he saw. The girl was petite, pale, and had long light brown hair and blue eyes. Her face was a near perfect oval. She had high-arching eyebrows and high cheekbones, a long nose with freckles dashed about, and very pink and full lips. "Excuse me, may I sit here?" But he had already taken a seat before she answered.
"If you want." And at that moment she looked directly into Tom's eyes. He almost stopped in his tracks. The blue seemed to stare into his soul, his thoughts, his dreams. It was as if she already knew everything about him. His entire future. And truth be told, she did know his future. She was a Diviner, a seer, a prophetess. Tom was almost frightened of the evil in her eyes and soft smile, and her ghostly pale complexion certainly didn't help matters. Yet he launched into discussion with her, very interested in what she had to offer.
"I don't believe we've met before." Tom said, smiling very politely.
"No, we wouldn't have. I'm a transfer student from Denmark."
"Oh, well, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Tom Riddle."
"Josephine Waldensia," she answered curtly back.
It was another school-year, unfortunately, but this time Draco Malfoy wasn't quite so bored. Although he did have quite a job of attempting to escape from Crabbe and Goyle, both of whom seemed to have a strange obsession with him, he managed to locate a compartment that was nearly empty. Sitting in a seat nearest to the window was a girl about Draco's age, with curly dark red hair. Draco cleared his throat. "'Scuse me," he said, "do you mind if I join you?" Draco put on his most charming smile, cocking one eyebrow. The girl barely gave Draco half a glance. "Yeah, sure. Just keep it down, I'm trying to read."
"Waldensia? Isn't that a pureblood family?" The girl sitting in front of him looked up, eyes glaring.
"Yes. It is." Her accent was immediately noticeable. She was Danish most definitely. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pretend like you aren't here." Tom's mouth dropped slightly. No one, no one, dared speak to him that way. Didn't she know he was Tom Marvolo Riddle, the future Dark Lord? Actually, she did know. She knew what he would become. And that was the reason for her contempt towards him. As misunderstood as Josephine was, she still didn't like manipulative, psychotic, tyrannical, idiotic fascists. Tom glared at her. She glared back. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.
Draco frowned. He sat down across from the girl, who, irritatingly enough, had stuck her nose back in her book. Draco thought for about half a second before deciding that this girl presented a challenge, one that he quite wanted to accept. So he tried to start a conversation back up. "I've never seen you around here before. I'm Draco Malfoy." The girl looked back up, annoyance written all over her face. "Hi, I'm Shawn Byrd. I have never seen you either and now that I have I wish I hadn't." Shawn paused, eyes quickly scanning Draco. "Not that you look all that bad." Draco smirked, thinking he'd already won her over: then she began to read again.
Tom hated her. Josephine Waldensia. The little witch. Then he realized that it wasn't condescending to call her a witch... since she actually was one. Damn it. Tom clenched his perfectly white teeth and turned his tightly pressed lips into a fake smile. "Well, Miss Waldensia, I truly enjoyed our little talk. I do hope your year at Hogwarts is a great one."
"Likewise." With that, Tom stood up to find better company. He exited Josephine's compartment, but not before giving one last glance to the transfer student. She was looking at down at her wand. Tom almost swore he saw her eyes tear up. Weakling, Tom thought.
But who would have ever thought that Josephine's tears weren't shed for her parents that had died, or her grandfather who sent her to this miserable school in attempts to rid himself of her. Who would have ever thought Josephine was crying for Tom Riddle?
Tom set off to find suitable companionship. A couple of sixth year girls motioned for him to sit down next to them but Tom threw up in his mouth a little just thinking of them. Mr. Riddle then stopped in front of a compartment holding a redheaded girl and one of his followers, Draco Malfoy. He opened the door.
Draco was still trying to find his footing around Shawn, unsure of what to say next other than a cheesy pickup line, when the compartment door slid open. Draco glanced up at the same time as Shawn. Argh, bugger, thought Draco. This is just fantastic, now Riddle gets to see some girl totally snub me. Shawn, on the other hand, looked completely nonplussed at Riddle's entrance. "Who's joining us now?" asked Shawn, sounding sarcastically excited.
"The name is Tom Riddle. And who might you be?" Tom couldn't help but feel intrigued as to why his follower was wasting his time with this girl. She was obviously boring and definitely going to be in love with Tom before he exited the cabin.
Shawn raised her eyebrows at the superior tone of Riddle's voice. She swiftly spared Draco a look, and she didn't miss his expression. She made a quick decision between the both of them. It seemed to her that Draco was a better option than this obnoxious bloke. "Why, I'm Shawn Byrd. Just hanging out with Draco here." She tried her best to sound pleased about Draco's presence in the compartment, although the smirk on his face was not something Shawn particularly appreciated. Then again, he was fairly gorgeous.
The insolence of this girl was getting to Tom. The sad part was, he'd only been talking to her for a matter a seconds. Then Tom sat down next to Draco. "Right. Draco here is excellent company." Draco knew there was a reason he liked Tom. "He has helped me in times of peril quite often." Draco saw right through Tom's fake tone and smirked again. How he managed to look completely genuine while telling a complete and utter lie was unfathomable. Tom crossed one leg over the other. He was clearly not interested in Shawn's presence as he started talking to Malfoy. "I met a transfer student a moment ago. She was strange." The fact Tom was even talking to Draco about the girl suggested she piqued his interest in some way.
Shawn suppressed a giggle. Times of peril? She wasn't quite sure what perils a sixteen-year-old boy could manage to get himself into, other than maybe a schoolyard fight. But the moment of mirth was soon over, as Riddle began to speak to Draco, evidently uncaring whether Shawn remained in the compartment or not. Riddle said something about meeting a transfer student, but Shawn tried to ignore him and in a last-ditch effort reopened her book.
Draco tried not to notice Shawn going back to her book, but he couldn't force her completely out of his head. It bothered him, really, that he was so incompetent with girls that Tom had to come in and save him. At least Draco knew Tom would never mention it again - that was something Draco liked about his fellow student. But Draco did still feel that there was a silent challenge there, just hanging about in the air between he and Shawn. Draco had never had any problems making a girl fall for him - and he was not going to lose to a book now. Alas, Tom was still speaking to Draco of an apparently strange transfer student. "How was she strange?" asked Draco, trying to sound interested
"I'll tell you later." It was quite obvious to Tom that Draco wasn't listening. And he didn't want to give away any information about his Legilimency or something as equally comparable. Tom glanced to the girl not worth his attention. Then he glanced at Draco who was giving her attention. Really, Malfoy was just an open book. And Tom was sure that Shawn would read him just as she read the book in her lap.
Then the compartment remained silent for the most part of the ride. Shawn was reading her book, Draco, staring at Shawn reading her book, and Tom, staring at Draco who was staring at Shawn reading her book. It was going to be a long year.
Although Shawn was indeed in a compartment with two good-looking guys, she didn't prefer either of them; she was glad when the time to change into robes was called, as it provided an escape route. Once Shawn changed, she almost wanted to simply lurk in somebody else's compartment, but she didn't want to go Draco or Riddle-style. So Shawn haltingly returned to her original compartment, where Draco still lingered - but at least Riddle had disappeared. Draco looked up when he saw Shawn returning. "Hello," he said, nodding sagely. Shawn ignored him for the rest of the train ride although he did attempt multiple times to restart a conversation.
As the red and black train pulled into Hogsmeade Station, Josephine was wondering just how they would arrive at Hogwarts. She didn't understand why the students didn't just apparate into the building. It seemed a lot less complex. As Josephine sauntered off the train, she saw others slowly becoming aware of her presence. Of course, she knew Hogwarts didn't usually get transfer students. She would become the hot conversational topic for a while.
Josephine's eyes flitted across the crowds of Hogwarts students all greeting friends and shaking excitedly. She happened to look behind her and noticed a tall, jet-black haired sixth year by the name of Tom Riddle. He was staring at her. It looked almost like he was about to come over and begin talking again, so Josephine quickly entered a carriage drawn by the strangest horse-like creatures. She knew, of course, they were threstrals.
The carriage held two other students. A boy with blond hair and a devilish expression, and a redheaded girl whose nose was tucked safely inside a book. "Hello." She greeted the two. "Do you mind if I ride with you?"
Shawn looked up and almost died from relief. "Yes, please," Shawn said. "My only companion here until you came in was Draco, and he really is not much of a companion." Shawn had been considering the possible whereabouts of her friends, and she just now realized that they had probably been made prefects. The thought irritated her - it would be all Jessabelle and Annie talked about for the next two months. Shawn glanced toward she and Draco's new companion and tried to look more welcoming than Draco - it seemed he wasn't even bothering.
"I can see that." Josephine said to Shawn, knowing already the fate that would behold the two. "I'm Josephine Waldensia. A transfer from Denmark. What is your name?" Josephine felt strangely like a five-year-old again. Then again, she had been home schooled her entire life and never really socialized with other children her age. Well, whatever the circumstances, being stuck in a carriage with a bookworm and a fool was much better than saying two words to Tom Riddle. Josephine sat next to Shawn and pulled her wand out of her robe's pocket. She fingered the design on the side. Shawn noticed this but gave her name before entering the conversation more.
It was a little odd that there was actually writing, albeit elegant cursive, on Josephine's wand. Shawn couldn't help but ask about it. She folded over the corner of the page she was on and shut her book. "Do all the wands in Denmark have writing on them? I've never seen that before." Just after the question left Shawn's mouth the carriage jolted into movement, thrusting Draco into Shawn's side. Shawn promptly smacked his shoulder with her book before turning quite calmly back to Josephine.
"Yes, they do." Josephine kept it short and sweet. Well, not really sweet, because the coldness of her heart crept into her voice even when she attempted to be friendly. This was why Josephine stopped trying to be friendly. Draco's head was turned towards the forest around him. He clearly wasn't paying attention to Josephine. "You know, Draco, I'd stop hanging out with Riddle if I were you." Josephine threw this into Draco's brain ominously. If she was a transfer student, how did she know he hung out with Tom?
Then he remembered Tom talking about this strange transfer student. He understood why she was so strange. As he looked into her eyes, he felt like she knew everything about him.
Shawn had to wonder why Josephine was talking to Draco at all. Why not let Draco hang out with whatever prats he wanted to? Suddenly Shawn remembered Riddle's opening statement to Draco back on the train about the transfer student. The puzzle pieces clicked into place as Shawn realized this was the transfer student Riddle had been speaking of. She was strange - and she didn't seem all that nice. But to Shawn, it seemed more as though Josephine wasn't trying to be unfriendly; she seemed not to care about something as trivial as friendship. Shawn wished she could've started out at Hogwarts with this view. Then she wouldn't have to deal with Jessabelle and Annie's daily bragging about how phenomenal they were. Shawn had always preferred books to people. "How'd you know we hang out?" Draco asked Josephine, jerking Shawn out of her thought cloud. Draco's voice had a hint of both confusion and maybe fear, if Shawn was reading him correctly - then again, she probably wasn't. It was still a legitimate question Draco had asked and Shawn looked toward Josephine for the answer.
"Shawn, what book are you reading?" Josephine blatantly ignored Draco's question. That will teach that pompous, arrogant fool what being ignored feels like.
Shawn blinked, surprised that Josephine had actually asked - but then Shawn thought about Riddle and Draco and realized that they didn't care enough to ask. "Oh, it's a Muggle book. It's called The Hunger Games."
"Muggle? What a perfect way to waste one's time." Josephine looked away from Shawn careful not to give away that The Hunger Games would lead to Shawn's falling down the stairs and breaking of her arm. She tried to inconspicuously tell her to not read the book anymore, even if it came across a bit... snobbish.
Shawn bristled. "Excuse me. I suppose you're a pureblood. What would you say if I was reading Hogwarts: A History instead?"
"That's alright. Just no more Hunger Games." Josephine turned towards Draco again. The blonde teenager was staring at her with a look of defiance and utter dislike. "That expression is very unbecoming, Draco Malfoy." There she did it again. How did she know he was a Malfoy?
Shawn sighed. She considered crossing the carriage to sit on the empty bench on the other side, but she had a feeling that she was the buffer zone between Josephine and Draco at the moment. So she settled for reading some more Hunger Games as her act of defiance - although she did agree with Josephine that Draco's expression was quite unbecoming. Hatred was making his silver eyes glint and there were lines on his face from the deep frown he'd taken to. Draco, on the other hand, decided to keep his expression exactly the same as it was. He didn't like Josephine, and apparently that gave him something in common with Shawn, who evidently had no like of the girl either. "How did you know I'm a Malfoy?" Draco half-snarled irritably. He hoped this hellish carriage ride would end soon.
"Blond hair? Silver eyes? Slytherin? Terrible attitude? Please, Draco, don't insult me. I'd know a Malfoy from a mile away. How is your father, by the way? In Azkaban yet?" Josephine smirked. Good, she thought, now word will get out that I'm "mean." The fewer friends I have, the fewer visions I have to deal with.
At Josephine's words Shawn slapped her book shut and dropped it beside her. "Play nice, children," Shawn said icily. "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." She was quoting something she was sure neither Josephine nor Draco had ever seen before; although that didn't really matter, as both of them seemed to be ignoring her now anyway. Shawn pulled out her own wand, which Draco was also in the process of doing. "Seriously, don't mess this up on the first day," Shawn warned. "You'll both get in trouble and I'll get in trouble for being in the same carriage as you two prats." Draco, though, didn't care anymore; it always made his regular anger into a more fiery rage whenever someone insulted his father. Sadly it did happen quite a bit. Draco wondered sometimes when his father would go to Azkaban himself, but he'd never admit that. "Out of my way, Mudblood," he growled at Shawn. "I have some business with the girl on your other side. I think we all know what was rotten in Denmark now."
"You really shouldn't insult me Draco. One inch closer to that wretched wand of yours, and you suddenly won't remember how to breathe." Josephine glared at Draco. He glared right back. The air was extremely tense. Draco seemed to back off the wand a little. Josephine smiled. "Good boy, Draco. So Shawn, I see you're in Slytherin. Do you like it there?" Apparently, the extent of Josephine's knowledge of Hogwarts was vast. She would never dare admit she had read every book on the place in a single day. She happened to have a handy little charm that made her know the contents of a book without actually reading it. It was quite useful if one desired to be the best in her class.
"Look, lady," Shawn said, "if you don't care, don't ask. And if you really must know, there's no place I'd rather be." Shawn sent up a silent prayer in the following moments of silence for the carriage ride to end safely - or at least in a way that all of them kept their extremities. "By the way, you two, if anyone feels like blowing somebody's head off, don't. Then we'll all have to spend time in the Hospital Wing together." Draco did see the truth in that; he grudgingly placed his wand back in his robes. He didn't miss the smug expressionon Waldensia's face.
Josephine did look smug too. A moment before she had a vision he would use the very same wand to cast bombarda and she would just simply have to defend herself and sent the curse right back to him. Maybe I was a little too harsh, Josephine thought, great, I should probably apologize. "Forgive me if I have given you the wrong impression, Miss Byrd. And apologies to you also, Draco. As you can see, I don't make friends easily. Home schooling does have its disadvantages." Before either of them could reply to Josephine, the carriage halted and Josephine immediately glided out. "I suppose I shall see you two around, then? Have a good night." Despite her best try, Josephine still sounded unconvincing. She reminded herself she should at least act civil in the future. Her behavior tonight was a little off. But who could blame her? She had seen what Tom Riddle would do. All those poor souls he killed all flashed by her in a vision. The emotions sometimes carried by the visions reach her and it really is all too much for one sixteen-year-old girl to handle.
A/N: This completes our first chapter. If it isn't too much to ask for, would you kindly leave us a review? We would like to hear from you guys if we should post the remainder of the story, if it's good, or if it's too awful for words. And if you're severely confused (it should get better as the story continues) we shall have character bios and other fun stuff on our profile page shortly. Thanks very much! Oh, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!