"Hallyn," Emily called. Hallyn opened her eyes and immediately shut them closed. She moaned and rolled over in her bed. "Hallyn, get up!"
Hallyn squinted her eyes trying to keep out the bright sun that lit up the room.
"What?" Hallyn groaned.
"It's time for breakfast," Emily said plainly. Hallyn shook her head.
"Not hungry."
"Yes, you are," Emily sighed tugging on Hallyn's arm. Hallyn gave up and rolled out of bed. "Now, come on! Get dressed."
The two girls sat down at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall just as the breakfast foods appeared.
"Yum," Emily said. She immediately reached for a slice of bacon.
"I don't know how you stay so thin," Hallyn said shaking her head. "You eat so much."
Emily shrugged still chewing her food. Then, the familiar flapping of wings and screeches of owls filled the Great Hall. Hallyn spotted Alastaire flying in her direction with a letter clamped in his beak. Emily looked up as well. She suddenly bounced in her seat as she saw her own owl headed in her direction.
"I've got something!" she exclaimed.
"Me too!" Hallyn smiled as the owl dropped a letter onto her plate. Emily caught a small box from the air. Their owls swooped above their heads and hooted as they left the Hall. Emily immediately ripped open the paper and opened the box. She pulled out a small, transparent glass ball that filled with red smoke at her touch.
"A remembrall?" Emily said. She wrinkled her nose disapprovingly. She picked up a small note and read it silently. "It's from my mum. She says that when the smoke is red that means I've forgotten something."
"Well you must have forgotten something already then," Hallyn laughed.
"What a load of rubbish. It doesn't even tell me what I've forgotten." Emily put the remembrall back in the box and looked at Hallyn who was now staring at her own letter.
"Who's it from?" Emily asked. Hallyn read her name that was written in messy cursive on the front and recognized the handwriting immediately.
"It's… from William," Hallyn muttered curiously.
"It's his reply!" Emily squealed. "Go on; open it! What does it say?"
Hallyn tore the envelope open at the top and pulled out the sheet of paper with the same messy cursive written in delicate lines on the page. Hallyn read it silently and then cleared her throat and looked at Emily.
"What does it say?" Emily repeated. Hallyn read the letter aloud:
Dear Hallyn,
I received your letter yesterday. I'm going to be honest; I've been staring at this blank page for the past couple hours. I didn't know how to respond at first. I was thinking of a way to say this gently but then I decided that it was best to be honest with you. I want to say that I'm glad you wrote me. It means a lot. Thank you but I must stick to my word and be honest. I don't see a future with you any longer. Please don't take this the wrong way. I will always love you just as I said before. I can't do this though. I'm sorry, Hallyn. I've met someone else. You're beautiful and wonderful and we had a great time together this past summer but I've moved on. I hope you will understand and move on as well. I'm sorry.
William
P.S. Disregard the small blood stains on the paper. Your owl bit me.
"Oh no!" Emily quickly drew Hallyn into her arms. She put her hand on her head. "Shh," she whispered. "It will be okay."
Hallyn struggled out of her arms. Emily looked at Hallyn expecting to see her cheeks flushed and her eyes filled with tears but she was shocked to see that there was no trace of tears in her eyes at all. Emily narrowed her eyebrows.
"Why aren't you crying?" Emily asked bluntly. Hallyn shrugged. "Aren't you upset?"
Hallyn shook her head slowly.
"I should be, shouldn't I?"
Emily tilted her head to the side.
"Well?" she said.
"I'm not though," Hallyn told her.
"You're positive?"
"Positive," Hallyn answered. Emily sighed and then narrowed her eyebrows. "What?"
"Does this behavior have anything to do with Tom Riddle?" Emily asked. Hallyn immediately blushed, and when Emily raised her eyebrows, Hallyn wished she hadn't. "It does, doesn't it?"
"It's nothing," Hallyn assured her. Emily crossed her arms, not believing her one bit.
"Did something happen last night?"
"Nothing… important," Hallyn said praying that Emily would just believe her and stop asking questions. But, of course, Emily continued.
"Which means that something did happen, right?"
Emily could always see right through her. Hallyn gave up.
"Well," she began. "We met by the staircase. He walked me out to the grounds. We talked a bit about ourselves. Well, more about me, really. He didn't want to say much about himself. He was more interested in what I had to say," Hallyn realized this as she said it and suddenly felt a little uneasy. She ignored the feeling and continued, "I told him that I liked to dance. He held out his hand to me and we danced together."
Emily beamed.
"How romantic!" she squealed. "What happened next?"
"Well, we got closer and he…" Hallyn paused.
"What?!" Emily said excitedly.
"He kissed me," Hallyn told her. Emily squealed, jumped in the air a little, and then pulled Hallyn into her arm squeezing her tightly. Emily let her go. "It was just a small kiss," Hallyn admitted.
"I can't believe Tom Riddle actually kissed you!"
Hallyn nodded with a small smile.
"Yes, me either."
"I wonder how he's going to act in Potions today," Emily wondered, reading Hallyn's exact thoughts.
"I'm worried about it," Hallyn admitted.
"Don't be," Emily assured her. "It will be fine." Emily squealed again. "Oh, I'm so excited for you!"
Hallyn laughed.
"Yes, me as well."
"Get ready," Emily told her. "It's about time for class!" She gave Hallyn a mischievous grin.
The Draught of Living Death was the most complicated potion Hallyn had ever tried brew. She, along with the rest of the class, was struggling. Emily let out a frustrated groan beside her. The sophophorus bean slipped out from under her knife. It flew in the air and pelted the boy sitting next to her in the side of his face. Emily's eyes widened.
"Watch it, will you?" the Slytherin boy snapped shooting her an angry glare.
"Oh my! I am so sorry," Emily told him. The boy rolled his eyes and turned back to his potion. Hallyn looked over at Emily and laughed silently. Emily smiled and shrugged her shoulders. As Hallyn stirred her potion, she dared herself to look over her shoulder towards the back of the room. Her eyes scanned the two back tables but Tom Riddle was nowhere to be found. Hallyn sighed and turned back to her potion. Where is he? Hallyn wondered. As class continued, she found it hard to focus on brewing, instead she thought about Tom. Tom didn't seem the type to skip class especially after what happened last night. But Hallyn admitted to herself that she still didn't know him entirely to make such judgments. So she let her worry fall away until the end of class when Emily pried into her thoughts.
"Where was Riddle?" Emily asked. Hallyn shrugged.
"I'm not sure."
"That's… strange," Emily pointed out. "Why would he not come to class the day after you met him?"
"Maybe he's ill?" Hallyn offered.
"You would think a little bit of snogging would make him—"
"Good afternoon," said Tom Riddle. He had turned into the corridor and spoke just in time for Emily to shut her mouth.
"G-good afternoon," Hallyn replied.
"You've missed the lesson," Emily told him. Tom looked Emily straight in the eye, a stern expression on his face. Emily cleared her throat and looked away.
"I was," Tom paused, now looking at Hallyn with that secretive smile playing on his lips again, "…ill." All the blood drained from her face in embarrassment. A silence hung in the air.
"Well, you're feeling better now then?" Emily piped up. Tom looked at Emily again and put a small smile on his face.
"Yes," he said. He looked at Hallyn. "Much better…"
"We're, um, headed for Divination," Hallyn said finding her voice. "Will you walk with us?"
"No," Tom said quickly. "I must be going. Hopefully I will see you again soon, Miss Wickersham?"
"Mmm," was all Hallyn could manage to say. Tom reached out for her hand and then brought it to his lips.
"Goodbye." Tom let her hand drop and left the girls standing there with blank expressions on their faces.
"Strange," Emily said. Hallyn couldn't help but agree. It was indeed a strange encounter but nevertheless Hallyn brushed it out of her mind and touched the hand where he had kissed her. He was mysterious, but charming, and he was good-looking—oh so good-looking. Hallyn sighed as she stepped up the tall staircase to the Divination tower. Then, she gave up. Hallyn realized it the moment she had received William's reply and felt nothing—she had a crush on Tom Riddle.
