AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello everyone and thank you for reading! This is my first story posted on this site and I can't wait to see what you guys think of it. This is a Tom Riddle/OFC and it might be a little slow at first, but things will definitely become interesting! Enjoy the first chapter.

Chapter 1: Broken Souls

Thunder rolled threateningly outside. Lightning flashed, eliminating the dark afternoon sky. Rain poured down, splashing against the already wet earth, causing the young students below to run for shelter. A young girl stood inside a warm, yet so cold, room, watching nature work in its mysterious ways. Bitter tears ran down her face, mirroring the drops that tittered against glass outside, the power of the lightning and thunder contradicting the emptiness she felt inside herself. Sighing, she lifted her fingers to the cold glass, wishing more than anything to drown herself in the rain as easily as she was drowning in her pain. Things weren't supposed to be this way, she thought to herself as she wiped the tears from her face. She sniffed loudly and listened to the battle of nature as it fought in front of her eyes. The trees on the grounds of Hogwarts swayed and bended in the wind and the waves of the lake below crashed into the shore before drawing back.

"Amy?" the girl turned, eyes focusing on her friend who had silently come into the dorm behind her. The other girl gave a forced smile as she shut the door quietly. "How are you doing?"

"As best as one can do when their parents were just murdered less than a week ago," Amy answered in a flat tone. Her eyes focused on the quidditch poster behind Clarissa's head even as the tears continued to stain her cheeks. Clarissa winced as she watched her best friend struggle against the powerful sense of grief she must be feeling. Tentatively, she took a small step towards the sixteen-year-old girl. Immediately, Amy backed away before turning back to look outside. When the lightning flashed, she could see Clarissa's reflection in the window, her eyes showing an intense display of sympathy.

"What do you want?" Amy asked, not caring how she sounded. For the moment, she wanted to be alone. Couldn't anyone see that she needed to grieve by herself before she could fully accept everything that happened in the past few days?

"Is there…is there anything I can do for you?" Clarissa questioned gently. She watched sadly as Amt's head shook, her disarrayed hair spilling over her shoulder. "Are you sure? There must be something you need."

"I need them to come back," was the only reply she got.

"Amy, you know-"

"Yes, damn it, I do know! But that doesn't make it any easier for me to accept any of this!" Amy burst out. She turned around abruptly, her eyes flashing, though not with anger, but instead with distress and desperation. "Can't you just leave me alone? That's what I need! I want to be by myself!"

"Amy, I can't do that," Clarissa responded quietly. "You know I can't just walk out of here when I know you're up here crying and wishing for your parents to come back."

"What the hell should I be doing if not that? A potions essay?" Amy asked sarcastically. "Do you expect me to just pick up my old life so quickly and say 'well, this sucks'? Is that what I should be doing?"

"Of course not. You know I wasn't insinuating that," Clarissa told her. "It's just that…it's just that you're my best friend, and you have been for six years now. I want to know what I can do to help you. I know you're going through a rough time, an unfair one, and I just want to be there for you, Amy." Amy looked at her and shook her head.

"There's nothing you can do to help me. My parents are dead. That's the end of it," Amy said bitterly, not bothering to wipe the tears rolling unchecked down her flushed cheeks. "I can't bring them back. You can't bring them back. Hell, Voldemort couldn't even bring them back. Not that he would want to, they're just stupid muggles to him." And with that, she burst unexpectedly into tears. Covering her face in her hands, she leaned heavily against the wall behind her as her body shook with unrepressed sobs.

"Amy, I know how hard this is for you, but-"

"DON'T!" Amy roared, snapping her head back up. Her blue eyes connected passionately with Clarissa's as she clenched her hands into fists at her side. "Don't tell me that you know what I'm going through because you don't! Because if you did, you wouldn't be asking me if there was anything you could do to help me. Do you know how it feels to know that the very people who brought you into this world are gone? Do you know how empty and draining this feeling is?"

"No."

"Then don't tell me how hard this is for me. And don't stand there pretending like you know what it does to you."

"I'm sorry," Clarissa whispered. Amy glared at here for a few seconds before collapsing on to the floor and covering her face once more. Her cries echoed off of the walls in the small room as Clarissa immediately rushed to her friend's side and enveloping her in a tight hug.

"Th-th-they're gone!" Amy sobbed. She rocked back and forth as she finally let herself go. The tears spilled on to her hands and her eyes closed tightly as if to block off the reality of the situation and all the pain it was causing.

"It'll be okay," Clarissa tried to soothe her, whispering into Amy's dark hair. "Everything will be okay, Amy. You'll see."

"H-h-how can it b-be?" she cried. "My mum…my dad…I'm all alone!" Clarissa pulled Amy away from her, pried her hands from her tearstained face, and forced her to look at her.

"Listen to me, Amy, and listen closely. You are not alone. Do you hear that? You are not alone!" Clarissa told her almost forcefully. She stared Amy in the eyes as she tried to get her message across. "You have me. And you have Laura and Jake and Andrew and Mike and the rest of our friends and professors. We'll get through this. You'll get through this." She reached out and grasped her friend's face in her hands as tears started to well up in her eyes. "You'll move on because life goes on, Amy. I'm not saying this to sound cruel, and I'm not saying that you'll forget any of this, because you won't. I'm saying that you'll keep living, taking each day at a time. And you'll have me and everyone else at your side. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but-"

"No 'buts', Amy. I've been your best friend since we first met on the Hogwarts Express back in first year. I've been with you through all the late study nights, disastrous quidditch matches, crushes, break-ups, and sicknesses. But you've got to promise me something, Amy. Can you do that?" Clarissa watched as Amy slowly nodded her head, tears still bright in her eyes and clinging to her lashes. "You've got to promise me that you'll never give up. You've got to promise me that you'll come to me, or someone else when you need help or someone to lean on. Promise me, Amy."

"I promise."

"Thank you," Clarissa whispered, closing her eyes. "Now, come with me down to the common room. Everyone is off at dinner and Jake brought up some hot chocolate and pastries. Can you do that?" Amy nodded her head reluctantly and moved to stand up. Together, Clarissa and Amy walked over to the wooden door and Amy, with a sudden thought, glanced outside. She wiped her tears and with a small and unnatural sense of relief, she noticed the sun peaking our from behind the clouds. With one last look, she followed her friend out of the dorm down to where her closest friends were waiting for her.

That's it! I hope you guys all like it. For those of you who realllllly like Tom Riddle, I'm sorry to say that he won't be in for a few more chapter probably. And though I know that it is disappointing, these first few chapter really kind of set up the mood for the rest for story. Anyways, I hope you guys all enjoyed it and that you comment on what you liked, didn't like, or what I can do to improve it. I will not tolerate an flamers but I look forward to any constructive criticism you might have for me. Thank you again!