"Phoebe, I've made a terrible mistake!" cried Catherine dramatically. "I look terrible in these dress robes!"

I couldn't help grinning at Catherine's histrionics. She did, of course, look lovely, but she always panicked about such things. Her robes were a lovely shade of pink that went well with her tanned skin, and I told her as much.

"Well, I suppose I can deal with them for tonight," she sighed. "Now come on, you have to get yours on! The ball is only two hours away, and we have so much to do before then!"

I didn't object, because I really did like my dress robes. When I wore them I actually felt pretty. They were a deep navy blue with silver and bronze accents, and fit me perfectly. After I got them on I stood critically in front of the mirror. The dress robes looked nice, but the rest of me was rather dull.

"Let me fix you up!" squealed Catherine, and we spent the next hour or so doing each others' hair and makeup. I was actually pretty pleased with myself, although I felt like there was something missing from my appearance.

"I should get out that necklace I have," I told Catherine.

"Yeah, that would go perfectly with your outfit," she agreed.

I rummaged around in my small little jewelry box, but came up with nothing. I hurried over to my trunks and searched everywhere, but still couldn't find it. Finally I turned to Catherine and asked her, "You didn't borrow it or anything, did you?"

"No," she replied. "Is it missing?"

"Yeah, I can't find it anywhere." She helped me search around a bit more, but it still didn't show up.

"I probably just misplaced it," I said. "I really hope I find it though, my mom will kill me if it doesn't turn up. It's been in my family practically forever, and she really trusted me by letting me have it."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find it," Catherine said consolingly. "But we can't worry about it right now, because it's just about time for us to meet Nate and Garrett!"

So we headed down to the Great Hall, where we met up with the guys who escorted us into the Ball. The place looked absolutely beautiful. I've always loved Christmas and the Christmas spirit that goes along with it, and the room truly felt magical.

The four of us sat nervously at a table together, as the music played and no one got up to dance. Finally some brave seventh years went out to the floor, and more people followed them. Catherine convinced us to go out and dance to a few songs, so we did.

We had been on the dance floor for about half an hour when I looked over Garrett's shoulder and saw none other than Tom Riddle. He was alone, leaning against the wall. I was surprised he was even there at all. What surprised me even more was that for the first time in awhile, he was watching me. I immediately became flustered and stepped on Garrett's foot.

"Do you want to go sit down?" asked Garrett. "I can get us something to drink."

I agreed, and Garrett got some punch while I sat back down at the table. Catherine and Nate were off having a fabulous time, so I could tell she wouldn't be joining us anytime soon.

Garrett and I sat together rather awkwardly at first, but eventually the two of us relaxed into easy conversation. An hour passed before I even realized any time had gone by at all. Garrett was just so easy to talk to; I felt like I really connected with him. Since we finally felt so comfortable together, I thought it would be safe to bring up a topic I had been dying to ask him about for a long time.

"I suppose you haven't talked much with Tom Riddle," I said, trying to act casual.

"Of course not," he replied.

"Well," I started slowly, "there was just one thing I was wondering about. If you don't mind telling me, that is. Why did you become friends with Tom in the first place?"

Garrett looked uneasy, but began speaking anyway. "I don't mind telling you. Well, in our first year I was feeling rather lonely. I've never been great at making friends, and it seemed like everyone else had already found a group to hang out with. At that point the only other person that seemed alone like me was Tom Riddle. Looking back, I think Tom probably stayed to himself because he wanted to, not because he didn't have a choice. It was because of Tom's loner status that I first approached him."

He paused and then continued. "There was also something about Tom that I just found fascinating and interesting. He seemed like such a mystery, and I found that exciting. But we were never really close friends. We spoke sometimes, and hung around together, but last year he started spending his time with a different crowd. I found out early on that Tom did some bad things, like stealing, but I just brushed it off as a character fault. But now I think he's gotten worse. I have no actual evidence, but I just feel it. I don't trust him."

I wasn't surprised that Garrett didn't trust Tom, considering what had happened between them. Garrett added slowly, "I don't think Tom ever considered me his friend."

I didn't know what to say to this, and I nervously swirled a straw around in my half finished drink. After a bit Professor Dippet announced that we would be having the last dance of the night, and Garrett invited me out onto the floor.

When the Ball ended Garrett and I exited the Great Hall hand in hand. I hadn't even noticed at first that we were holding hands. I had lost track of Catherine and figured I would meet up with her in the common room to hear how her night had gone. As I went to say goodbye to Garrett and go our separate ways, I found him staring into my eyes. Suddenly he kissed me gently on the lips and then slipped away.

For a moment I just stood there, not moving. I didn't know what to make of what had just happened. I thought and thought about it, and desperately tried to search my emotions, but realized I felt nothing at all. I was completely empty inside.

A year or two ago I probably would've ended up in tears at this lack of emotion. Instead I just felt anger, and I kicked the wall hard. I limped back to the common room, seething at the unfairness of my life. Here was Garrett, a great guy that I got along with so well, that I could talk to about anything! Yet when he kissed me there was no excitement and no passion.

And then there was Tom. Tom Riddle wasn't exactly a great guy. He stole from people, had no real friends, and made me feel like a worthless human being. And yet there was a real passion between us- on my end, anyway.

A relationship with either of these guys seemed utterly impossible to me. Garrett, because I had no passion for him, and Tom, because he was a bad person. Then again, a relationship with anyone seemed as if it would never happen for me.

I felt like it would be so overdramatic to say that Tom had broken my heart forever by kissing me the way he did, but that was truly how it seemed to me. I wondered that night what would become of me, and if my life would ever seriously involve either Garrett or Tom.

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A/N: Please review, good or bad, as long as it's constructive- I love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Thanks to my reviewers, xxmadcowluvverxx, krillball6, super kai-chan, 404, Queen of the Badgers, Lauressa, Aladailey, Susie Q, and callista!

Xxmadcowluvverxx- I hope this chapter answered your question! You brought up a good point, so I decided to address it.

Queen of the Badgers- Well, in the 6th book it discussed how Tom Riddle stole from some of the other kids at the orphanage. And I personally don't see him stopping that once he went to Hogwarts. And that was a pretty good prediction of this chapter- I already had this chapter written when I read your review, so I was pretty impressed with your accuracy.

Aladailey- I've been trying to follow a timeline of Lord Voldemort's life I found on the HP Lexicon website. So this is Tom's 6th year, so he would have killed his parents the summer before his 6th year. Oh, and good guess. :-)

Susie Q- Ah, no, that's not what I meant at all. I'm open to all sorts of reviews, good or constructive.