A/N: Tom learns about Halloween. Short drabble about young Tom Riddle Jr.
Submission for:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): History of Magic Assignment #6 - Write about Tom Riddle's celebration (or not) of Halloween.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"Halloween is the eve of All Hallow's Day, a day to remember those who have departed," Tom read in the dim light of the candle by his bedside. Though he detested the other children around him, one thing he loved was their books. He would often steal them after everyone had fallen asleep, reading them into the wee hours of the morning and then replacing them before they knew.
But tonight was October 31, Halloween, or as the book said, All Hallow's Eve. Tonight people were supposed to remember their dearly departed. The book said that some kids would dress up like monsters and ask for candy. Tom thought that was so odd, walking through the streets like common beggars for fun. Tom didn't envy that part. It was however traced back to a belief that the monsters would ward away evil spirits. Tom scoffed as he looked about the drab, cold dormitory of slumbering children. None of that was happening here.
As for All Hallow's Day, that was another odd day that wouldn't be celebrated. It wasn't like he had anyone to remember. He was an orphan who never knew his family, or even his parents. How could you remember someone you never knew? The matrons had told him he was named after his father and what little they knew of his mother but he had not cared much to listen. His father was absent at his birth and his mother was weak. She had died giving birth to him, leaving him to rot in this place alone. He did not want to remember anyone who had abandoned him.
Tom soon fell asleep, his thought of monsters and spirits taking him into his dreams, a hazy-looking female figure dancing among them and keeping them at bay.