A Christmas Carol

Chapter 02 - The Ghost of Christmas Past

Tom couldn't sleep, even after rolling on his bed during a long time, getting up, walking around the room and opening and closing the curtains of his bed's baldachin a dozen times. He simply couldn't fall asleep, not while the image of Myrtle talking to him in the common room still fresh in his mind.

"You're behaving like a fool! She is a ghost, congratulations to her! Who told her to be so unhappy in her life that she would come back as a spirit after dying?"

Sighing, the boy lied down on his bed and closed his eyes, but opened them again when he heard a noise of book's pages being turned. Sitting up on the bed, Riddle could see that something on the other side of the green curtains of his bed was emitting a bright light that penetrated trough the green fabric.

The Slytherin took a deep breath before opening the curtains and seeing, in front of him, sitting on Abraxas Malfoy's bed, a girl.

"Who are you? How did you enter here? You couldn't have apara…"

"It's impossible to apparate inside Hogwarts' grounds," the girl completed his speech and pointed to a book that she was apparently reading, "It's in Hogwarts: A History, page…"

"Page 130," he whispered, "I read Hogwarts: A History."

The girl closed her book and looked at him. Tom noticed how she emitted a faint light, as if she had a golden aura around her body. The unknown girl was wearing a Hogwart's uniform, Gryffindor's uniform, to be more specific, as he could see the dark red in some parts of her robes. Her brown eyes were locked on his blue ones.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past," she answered, smiling softly.

"Ghost of Christmas…? I can't believe that what that mad girl said was true!" the boy said, watching the girl trying to tidy her extremely bushy brown hair that seemed to be floating around her head, as if she was underwater.

"Follow me," the spirit whispered, putting her book aside and getting up from the bed, before walking to the dormitory's window.

"You want me to go with you?" she nodded as she heard his question, "I'm not a ghost like you, if I try to go out of that window I'll end up drowning in the lake."

The girl laughed softly and approached him.

"It's true, but with if I touch you here…" she extended her hand and touched his chest, right above his heart, "You'll be able to come with me."

Tom's eyes were fixed on the girl, who was now holding his hand. He couldn't help but notice that her skin, unlike Myrtle's, was warm against his. Smiling, the ghost pulled him lightly and, before he couldn't notice, they were going through the window, crossing the Dark Lake and, finally, flying above Hogwarts' grounds. Riddle squeezed the girl's hand and tried not to look down. He didn't like flying thanks to his first flying class that turned out to be a disaster back in his first year. The spirit seemed to smile when she noticed how terrified Tom was.

After a while, both of them landed in a dark, snow covered street. By the end of the street stood an old building that Tom recognized and which the sight of made Tom regret had followed the spirit.

"Do you know this place?"

"Of course I do, I come back here every year," the boy whispered, "I wish I didn't have to."

The girl shrugged and started walking in the orphanage's direction, followed by Riddle, who seemed to hesitate to approach the place. She opened the front door and let the Slytherin get in, doing the same later. Inside the building there were children running and laughing all around, all of them happy with the fact that it was Christmas Eve.

"Spirit…?"

"Hermione," she interrupted him, "Call me Hermione."

"Alright, Hermione… Are they able to see us?"

"We're invisible to their eyes, they are only shadows of your past, you know? They're not really here."

The girl leaded the way to the second floor and walked down the corridor where the children's rooms were located until she stopped in front of a particular door.

"Everyone is down there, celebrating," she whispered, putting her hand on the doorknob, "Except one boy… Ignored by the others, he stays in here until one of the staff members show up to bring him down."

She pushed the door open and they saw a dark haired little boy sitting on an uncomfortable-looking bed. The children's blue eyes were fixed on his own tiny hands that played with the fabric of his shirt. Tom felt bad while he watched the boy, the same empty feeling that he knew the kid was feeling at the moment… After all, it was him sitting on the bed, waiting for someone to remember that he existed.

"It's not as if he didn't like Christmas," Hermione spoke, sitting down next to the younger Riddle, "He likes, but he feels that this day is not for him. After all, Christmas is a day to be reunited with whom you like, your friends and family…"

"But he doesn't have friends or family," the words slipped through Tom's lips before he could have noticed.

The older boy didn't dare to approach the spirit, he simply stood by the door, watching the scene that took place right in front of him. His younger self looked at the door for some time, as if waiting for someone to show up there, before lowering his head and hiding his face into his knees. It was possible to tell that he was crying thanks to the way his shoulders were shaking and to the quiet whimpers that could be heard.

Hermione smiled sadly and put her hand on the boy's head, caressing his dark hair, as if trying to comfort him, and gestured for the older Tom to approach them. The teenager walked slowly until he reached the bed, where he sat down near himself and the spirit.

"Your lips are trembling," the girl whispered, touching the wizard's lips and then his right cheek, "And what is it on your cheek?"

He felt her fingertips drying a stubborn tear that had managed to slip from the corner of his eye. The ghost smiled and held his face with her hands before putting her arms around his body, pulling him into a hug. Tom was petrified; he didn't know what to do… No one, besides Mrs Cole or Martha, had ever hugged him that way.

"Let us see another Christmas," the girl's soft voice whispered in his ear.

When Hermione's arms let go of him, the teenager noticed that they weren't in the orphanage anymore but at Hogwarts, inside Slytherin's common room, where a group of students were reunited around the fireplace. Tom Riddle, who couldn't be older than twelve, was sitting on a couch between two other boys, watching the other students talking.

"Malfoy, be quiet! No one wants to know about the family of your future wife!" a dark haired boy laughed, punching a blond one lightly on the shoulder, "Riddle! You're too quiet… Tell us about your family."

"I…" he started talking, "I don't like to talk about it, I mean, and it's not really entertaining."

"Come one! You can't be a mudblood, even though your name is a mudblood's name," the same dark haired student laughed loudly.

Both, younger and older, Riddles blushed with both anger and shame as they heard what the other boy had said. The other young wizards and witches laughed, making the younger Tom frown, cross his arms in front of his chest and look away from the others.

"That was your first Christmas at Hogwarts, the first Christmas you spent with your friends," the ghost said as she turned around to look at the teenager Slytherin behind her and seeing that he was restraining himself from attacking the kids in front of them, "After this year, they lost their interest in spending the holidays at the castle…"

"They go home every year," Tom whispered, "Manors full of treasures that were passed down their pure-blooded families."

"And you always stayed here."

"Yes."

"After this year you started to think that it would be better to be alone during Christmas," she took his hand and pulled him towards the common room's door, "That it would be better to be alone instead of having to listen to the others talking about their pure families…"

Everything changed again. It was still Hogwarts, but they were in the middle of the Great Hall. There was only a long table where teachers and students were eating dinner. Tom, who looked at least thirteen years old, was among the students, sitting next to Slughorn. It was possible to notice how the Slytherin's attention was far away from the teacher's conversation… Riddle was staring at a group of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors who were talking and laughing without minding if they were looking silly or not. The boy's blue eyes were sparkling with desire… He wanted that, he wanted to be part of that group of friends who seemed to be having so much fun.

"That is your image of a perfect Christmas, isn't it, Tom?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, spirit."

"Hermione. I don't like when people call me spirit," the girl answered, "See how you look at them? You obviously want their friendship… Oh, Merlin, my time is ending."

The ghost turned to look at Tom, gently holding his hand. Hermione stared into his blue eyes and then touched his face, closing his eyes.

"And now?" Riddle asked.

"Now you'll wait for the next spirit to show up," the girl smiled and hugged him, "By the way, I know you wanted to know this since you first saw me…" she whispered in his ear, "I'm a muggleborn," Hermione moved away and gave a quick peck on his cheek, making him blush lightly, "Good bye, Tom Riddle."

When the Slytherin opened his eyes, he was, once again, standing next to his bed.

N/A: Here is the second chapter (: My favorite, I believe... I choose Hermione to be the Ghost of Christmas Past because this Ghost always seemed to be really kind and sweet, just how I imagine Hermione. You can also see a lot of "cute" scenes between Tom and Mione in this chap... That's because I love TomMione :D I couldn't help but write those sweet moments between the two of them, hehe.

Tomorrow I'm traveling with my family. I really wanted to post the last chapter of this fanfiction on the 25th... I hope I manage to do it ._.'

Thank you, EllyUchiha, for the review (: and for pointing a mistake in the last chapter :D I've already corrected it.

Hope you enjoyed it (:

Ari.