Your reviews make me utterly happy... i cannot explain... :)
Anyway... I've been thinking about the appropriate ending for this
fiction and i came out with my decision... I'll let you know... for now
keep up with me and my english... i didn't say it but it is not my first
language soooo... well... whatever...
I like how this is coming out, but i am already proud of Magic Works lol
maybe you'd like to read that one... lol :D
Disclaimer applied...
Thanks to Amarantine and SlavatoreDamonlover...
your reviews made my day... :)
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9
Christmas's Ball…
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1944
For the next months she busied herself with studies, preparing for the oncoming tests, she locked herself in the room and spent hours there reading books and doing chores, she'd go to the usual classes avoiding Tom in DADA and potions…
Worried because recently she'd been forgetting her dreams…
There was to be a Ball on Christmas' Eve, everyone was happy to have a bit of fun… all the girls talking about the dresses and shoes, and with whom they'd like to go to said dance…
Aurelia was too busy avoiding Tom to actually think about it…
Even if she was avoiding him she noticed he seemed more tired than ever before, he seemed paler and the dark bags under his eyes were awfully noticeable now…
She was heading for divination now… next to her Suzanne was complaining of how much she hated the subject, it seemed she was in bad terms with Sloper, but she wouldn't say why… they sat together on the same round table…
The glass bead shining with the faint light coming from the windows and everyone chatting idly… Aurelia got to work almost immediately…
"Tell me what you see, okay?" Suzanne said excitedly.
"I'll think about it…" Aurelia joked.
"Come on! I need to know if Michael is in my future or not…" she argued and Aurelia laughed.
As she started to make out figures and places on the bead she realized this place to be the dungeons again…
She could see Tom there and gasped, even if before she assumed Tom was there this was the first time she saw his this clear in the glass bead… he was there giving his back to her, he had his wand in one hand and in front of him were his diary and a ring… she recognized it from her dream that time… Marvolo's ring…
"Seven times… seven is the number… the most powerful number…" she heard his voice as a soft whisper.
"What?" Suzanne's voice interrupted her… Aurelia looked up losing concentration.
"What?" she asked with wide eyes.
"You said something about seven times… seven times what?" Suzanne asked impatiently.
"I…" she turned to look down and saw Tom's figure still there, she couldn't lose this chance… "Suzanne, I need you to keep quiet and tell me if professor Penrose is approaching…" she said so seriously that Suzanne could only nod and swallow…
Aurelia looked down again and saw Tom waving his wand over the ring… His eyes were focused and he was unfazed, she could almost swear she was there with him…
"Anima mea requiescat…Vivo ego in aeternum…" Tom was whispering some kind of spell while she widened her eyes and got even closer to the bead; Suzanne had her eyes wide in fear and kept looking around for any signs of professor Penrose. "Dabo tibi animam hanc…" Aurelia wanted to know what that spell was…
She saw in horror the way the ring suspended itself in the air and it glinted in red, Tom smirked…
"Tom Riddle…" he whispered… "My father… Take the part of my soul he ripped…" Tom was smiling and suddenly the ring glinted more ardently, Tom contorted with a strangled scream and bent over in pain… he was trembling and sweating… his breath raggedly…
Aurelia saw his face slowly face the ring and saw horrified the way his eyes were not golden-brown anymore, they had a red tint to them…
He extended his hand and the ring fell on it… he looked satisfied with the results and then slid his finger on it… after admiring his work he turned to the diary and suspended it in the air too…
"Anima mea requiescat…Vivo ego in aeternum…" he recited even more excitedly, his wand pointing at the book and then continued… "Dabo tibi animam hanc…" It was the same spell he used before, he was smiling…
The book glinted in red too and then Tom widened his eyes once more, he seemed frantic.
"Myrtle Morseferth Loperbec… the mudblood… Take the part of my soul she ripped…" Aurelia watched in horror once more as Tom doubled over in pain coughing and breathing raggedly, she saw the horrible way his eyes were turning redder by the second…
Aurelia saw how the images faded while Tom's laugh rang in her ears… everything faded to red… she felt cold and shivering…
"Aurelia?" She looked up and saw Suzanne there looking at her with a worried expression. "What the hell did just happen?" she asked looking around.
"I…" Aurelia couldn't speak… she felt horrible… "I don't… know…" she muttered and fell off the stool when she fainted.
"Aurelia!" Suzanne yelled and a second later professor Penrose kneeled before her.
She was taken to the infirmary, Suzanne close behind crying… she was told Aurelia was in good hands and that she should go back to classes which she did not so happily about…
She entered professor's Merrythought classroom and sat not thinking about anything else… should she talk about it with someone?
Tom got in the room and looked around, he didn't spot Aurelia but he did spot her friend she had a frantic and horrified look on her face, she had been crying, everyone was astounded to see the cheery Ravenclaw as if her best friend was… dead…
Tom frowned when the thought invaded his mind… he walked to her with his diary in one hand and the other one in his pocket…
"Excuse me, Miss Davies…" he said and Suzanne flinched with his voice she looked up and shivered… she remembered the way Aurelia had said his name…
"Y-yes?" she trembled.
"Where's Miss Weasley?" he asked politely since everyone else was looking.
"S-she… Aurelia's in the… in the infirmary…" she replied with croaked voice. Tom frowned.
"Did something happen?" he asked worriedly, truly worried… could it be that Sloper had done something?
"She… she fainted…" Suzanne replied shortly, she wasn't sure if she trusted him…
"Oh…" he said and tried to compose himself. "Well… I truly hope everything turns out well…" he smirked and went to the other side of the classroom and sat.
He was thinking about it… he wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he missed her dearly, he closed his eyes and sighed… he knew she had divination before DADA… and suddenly something clicked in his mind… she fainted during divination… he frowned and turned to look at Suzanne… his reddish eyes collided with her blue ones and she turned to look somewhere else… she was scared…
He knew something had happened… and by the look of it he was involved…
He stood and saw the way she swallowed, he was about to walk towards her again when professor Merrythought put her hand on his shoulder and made him sit again…
"Class just begun, Tom, take a seat…" she smiled and he saw Suzanne sighing in relief.
Aurelia was staring wide eyes at the ceiling in the infirmary… she knew something had happened, but she couldn't remember what was… it was important… she knew it was important and when she saw Penrose and Dumbledore coming in behind Dippet, she knew it was more than important…
They seemed worried; when Dippet saw she was awake he smiled and left the room saying she was just tired…
Professor Penrose was looking at her worriedly and professor Dumbledore gave her a reassuring smile…
"Maybe we should ask Miss Davies… she was with her when it happened…" Penrose said.
Aurelia frowned… Suzanne knew what had happened to her… she wanted to talk to her, but she felt so tired and her mind was blank she couldn't muster a single memory…
She closed her eyes and let the sleep take over her…
Aurelia spent 3 days in the infirmary unable to have visitors since it was as if she didn't have thoughts at all, she felt isolated and sad; she wanted to know what was happening…
Suzanne was with her the day she abandoned the infirmary, she helped her to the quarters where she found a largo box in her bed nicely decorated, it was a gift and there was a letter over the top… they both frowned…
"It came this morning…" one of her roommates told them… they both nodded and Aurelia went to read the letter…
"Maybe it's from your parents, Aurelia… they came to visit, but you were unconscious…" Suzanne told her.
And she was right, Aurelia recognize the nicely done calligraphy that belonged to Cedrella…
Aurelia:
This was the dress I wore for my first Ball in Hogwarts; since I was a Slytherin the dress is green, but hopefully you'll like it…
Hope you're better and have a good time…
Love, Cedrella, Septimus and Bilius…
"It's her dress; she wants me to wear it for the Ball…" Aurelia said lifting the box's cover…
She lifted the dress and Suzanne and their roommate stared at it with awed eyes… it was a simple jade green dress, short sleeves, a little sash below the chest line with a little bow, the cut reached her calves and the shoes were green too, low heels with a thin belt around her ankles…
"When's the Ball?" Aurelia asked with a smile in her face.
"Tomorrow…" Suzanne grimaced… she knew Aurelia didn't have a date.
"Okay…" she answered.
The next day there weren't classes since everyone was too busy taking care their appearance for the dance… the common room was turned into a beauty salon, and the boys were trapped in their dormitories…
"So… I actually broke up with Michael last night…" Suzanne said while combing Aurelia's hair.
"Sorry to hear it…" she muttered.
"Not big deal… I mean I don't know how it happened, but on my way back here… I ran into Riddle and Black…" Aurelia looked up and saw her through the mirror…
"Tom?" she whispered and Suzanne grimaced.
"I don't like him… while you were in the infirmary he kept lurking around the place… and saying he was worried… I think I judged him before time… he was most pleasant last night, he actually introduced me to Orion… can you believe that?" she yelled almost dying…
"He introduced you to Orion?" Aurelia asked surprised…
"Yeah… and well… Orion was nice… not a sweetheart but… nice… he said he wasn't going to dance… but Tom convinced him of going with me… I was on the verge of building a shrine for him and start my prayers…" she laughed, Aurelia smiled…
"You never told me about why I fainted…" Aurelia muttered and saw the way Suzanne widened her eyes and stopped her ministrations on her hair…
"It was awful Aurelia… please don't go back to divination ever again…" Suzanne pleaded and Aurelia frowned. "Your voice wasn't yours… it was as if you were possessed… Talking about Tom saying something about death and souls… you even mentioned Myrtle… I think… I think you saw Tom's death or something…" she said worriedly.
"Tom's death…" Aurelia pondered… could it be Tom's death…?
"Anyway, let's get you ready for that Ball…" she said standing again and working on Aurelia's hair. "By the way, Tom said he'd take you… since you didn't have a date I told him I'd tell you… but by the time I got here you were already asleep…" she said and Aurelia stood harshly and turned to her friend.
"Tom's going to take me?" she yelled.
"Well… I thought you were friends and all… Aren't you?" she asked. Aurelia sighed heavily.
"I don't know anymore…"
When the clock read 7 pm Aurelia decided she'd go to the great hall alone, she walked down the halls and stairs and reached the place, she gaped at the work done…
It was like an ice castle, it was snowing, but the snow didn't reach the floor and the sky above them changed colors; blue, purple, dark green, dark red… it was beautiful, the candles inside the iced lanterns illuminated the whole room, the floor was pristine white and glistening like frost on snow, the tables decorated with tall figures made of ice…
"Miss Weasley…" she turned and smiled up at Dumbledore…
"Professor… this place is amazing…" she sighed.
"I'm glad to hear it… I helped a bit…" he winked and she laughed. "You don't have a date?" he asked curiously.
"I don't know… it's complicated…" she muttered.
"Weasley!" she turned and saw McLaggen walking towards her. "Looking good!" he exclaimed.
"Thanks McLaggen…" she smiled. "You look good too…" she blushed a bit.
He was smiling down at her with his warm brown eyes, and then just a soon he was grimacing at someone behind her…
"I'll see you around…" he turned at left. She turned and saw Suzanne and Orion followed by Tom, the three of them approached Dumbledore and her.
"Professor…" Suzann smiled.
"You look absolutely gorgeous, Miss Davies…" Dumbledore said, and it was true, her dark hair tied in an intricate bun and her blue eyes shining with the same color of her dress, Orion looked handsome but purely bored…
"Thank you!" she said, Orion bowed a little and drag her on to the dance floor.
"Tom… do you happen to be the complicated date of Miss Weasley…?" Dumbledore asked and Aurelia refrained from doing a face-palm then and there… Tom turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
Aurelia lowered her eyes and stared at her green shoes, she wouldn't admit he looked downright handsome his black suit and green tie… She couldn't even look into his eyes…
It'd been months since the last time they have spoken…
"I think I am, professor…" Tom smirked.
"Well… please have a good evening…" Dumbledore left them there and Aurelia was about to turn and head for a table when he grabbed her hand…
"How have you been? I heard you fainted a few days ago…" he said in his whispery voice, she shivered and grimaced at the effect he had on her.
"Yes, nothing serious I think…" she said staring at a point behind him.
"Won't you look at me…?" he asked it was a weird question coming from him; normally he'd demand her to look at him while talking… She looked up and frowned, his eyes… they were not the shade of brown she remembered… they were more reddish than golden… "Is something wrong?" he asked.
"N-no…" she lied…
"Shall we dance, then?" he said extending his arm for her to take…
And so they danced, at an arm's length, she kept wondering if he had missed her or something, they were on friend's term again, but she couldn't help to remember the kisses he had given her…
And when the night was over and she was already tired of the uncomfortable silence that'd occasionally fell on them she stood to leave, excusing herself with Orion and Suzanne that surprisingly enough were having fun… Tom did the same and she cursed…
They walked in silence, Aurelia ahead and he falling behind… she felt the hairs on her nape standing, she was nervous…
She got to her stairs and turned and took a few steps back when noticed he was too close…
"Tom… I don't think this is healthy… I mean… I…"
"You hate me… yes… I do remember that…" he said through gritted teeth… "…and to be honest I don't think I can handle all of this…" he said frowning.
"All of this?" she asked confusedly. He looked up at her and sighed, for a moment there she thought his façade was about to crumble… "Tom… What's going on?" she asked.
He stared at her with his reddish eyes, it almost seemed as if he was about to cry or shatter in pieces…
"You need to know, Aurelia… and you should know by now…" he said and she frowned. "I need you to find out… please…because… telling you wouldn't be friendly of me…" he said tucking a piece of hair behind her ear…
"Tom… just tell me…" she said nervously.
"No… just… just know that… you mean a lot…" he said and turned and left the place, she felt cold and alone…
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Sorry if this one was kind of boring... i promise next one's better... :)
I'm still thinking if i should upload it today or tomorrow...
Thanks for reading! Hopefully it was good enoough! :)