A Christmas Carol
Chapter 05 - Merry Christmas
Tom Riddle felt a terrible pain as his face hit the cold floor. The boy moaned, before getting up and looking around… He was, once again, inside the Slytherin's dormitory and not in the bottom of a grave, inside a dirty coffin.
"What happened?"
The Slytherin saw that his bed was a mess: the green blankets were entwined around his legs, the white sheets were falling on the other side of the bed, along with his pillow. Tom looked at the watch he had left on the table next to his bed… 12 P.M.
"So?" a annoying voice called him.
Turned around, Riddle saw Myrtle's ghost sitting on his bed. Her legs were crossed and she rested her chin on her hand while looking at him.
"Myrtle…"
"What did you think about the spirits?" she gave a soft laugh.
"Was it all real?"
"Merlin!" the girl hid her face behind her hand, "Of course! What? Did you think it was a dream?"
"Well, you couldn't blame me for thinking that I was having a bad dream," he muttered.
"You decide it. Believe it was just a dream, if this seems better for you… But, if I were you, I would believe in everything I saw tonight."
And, saying that, the girl waved him good bye before getting up and walking through the wall. The young wizard kept staing at where the ghost had just disappeared, trying to figure out what to do next… Ignore everything or accept the fact that the three spirit had visited him?"
"It seems that everyone is in here, am I right?"
"Yes, yes… Well, except for Mr Riddle."
"He didn't come down to dinner yesterday," said Dumbledor.
"He told me he wasn't feeling very well. The poor boy must be stressed with all his studies," Slughorn shook his head, "With the OWLs coming up, Mr Riddle must be studying more than ever."
"Come on, Horace, the OWLs are still far away!"
"I know, Albus, but you know Tom Riddle. The boy is really responsible when it comes to studying, you know how he is terrified of not getting good marks at the OWLs."
"Such a responsible boy, Mr Riddle," the headmaster smiled.
"Indeed, headmaster," Horace laughed softly, "I tell you: I won't be surprised if, onde day, Tom becomes Minister of Magic."
"Talking about the future Minister," Dippet smiled and pointed at the door where Tom Riddle was standing with a strange expression on his face.
"Tom, my boy!" Horace waved his hand, watching as the boy approached them, "I thought you wouldn't come… By the way, merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas, professor," the Slytherin answered, looking a little bit uncomfortable as he looked around, "Merry Christmas, professor Dumbledore, headmaster."
"Merry Christmas, Tom," the Transfiguration teacher gave him a gentle smile.
Looking around the room, the boy saw Minerva McGonagall and Charlus Potter chatting on a corner… Just like he had seen them when he was accompanied by Luna.
"Professors, if you'll excuse me…"
"Ah? Of course, Tom," Slughorn laughed, "The poor boy doesn't want to hear our old men's talk."
Alright, what was he going to do? Approach the two Gryffindors and try to be nice to them, but how? The boy could almost see the looks of despise the two Quidditch players would throw at him.
"McGonagall? Potter?"
As he thought, the two students looked at him with confused look, before their expressions turned into something like despise.
"What is it now, Riddle?" Minerva asked, putting her hands on her waist, "Can't you leave us alone at least for today? I mean… It's Christmas! We don't need your fake gentleness today."
"Hey, Minerva, calm down!" Charlus whispered to his friend, "But, really, Riddle, what do you want?"
"I just wanted to you wish you two a merry Christmas."
The Gryffindors stared at him with widened eyes, surprised. Tom Riddle was actually being nice to them? Alright, it was normal to see the boy wishing "merry Christmas" to everyone around the castle, but always with a horrible lack of interest… But now it seemed that he really meant what he had just said.
"Ahm…" the girl watched as the Slytherin seemed to be anxious to know their reaction, "Merry Christmas to you too."
"Yeah… Merry Christmas," Charlus whispered, seeing how a shy smile appeared on the other boy's lips.
"Thank you! Thank you very much…!"
The Gryffindors kept staring as Riddle walked away from them, still not believing in what they had just heard.
"What was that?"
"I don't know, Minerva… I have no idea!"
"Do you think he is sick?" the witch asked, "He doesn't look good."
"He can't be feeling good! He's acting…weird."
It was true that Tom Riddle was acting in a really weird way, after all… It wasn't all the time that the Heir of Slytherin started talking to everyone who crossed paths with him on the corridors (even with some annoying third years girls), trying to be as friendly as possible.
24th OF DECEMBER, 1945
The war had ended and, finally, England was in peace, even though it was, also, destroyed. The Riddles hadn't been too affected by the war, just some buildings the family owned at London were damaged, but, aside from that, everything was well for them.
Alright, not everything. The fact that Mr and Mrs Riddle's son, Tom, had never married someone was kinda like a spot on the family's reputation. The young Riddle had never showed any interest in another woman since he ran away with the daughter of a tramp that lived in Little Hangleton… It was not as if there weren't girls all around trying to get his attention, no, Tom was a handsome man who could get any woman to be his wife, but he seemed not to be interested in none of them (or didn't he trust any of them?).
Well, but leaving aside Mrs Riddle's insistence for her son to get married and give her a grandchild, everything in the life of the Riddle family was very good. Thank you, very much!
Frank Bryce knew that very well. The gardener lived, day after day, watching the Riddles as they lived in a huge house, were the most influent people in the village, had money, were well known… Everything was great for them! Mr Bryce liked to work for the family, even though they could be pretty rude sometimes, they paid him well and even gave him breaks some times… Like during Christmas, when he could relax for a while before getting back to work… Or at least it was supposed to be like that.
"Open the door!" Mrs Riddle voice echoed inside the house as a knock on the front door was heard.
"Yes, Mrs Riddle," the maid who worked at the house answered as she got up from the kitchen's table where she and Frank were having their small Christmas dinner.
"I'll do it for you, Maggie."
"Frank, you don't have to work today," the girl laughed, "Don't worry about it."
"I just don't want to be left alone in here," the gardener smiled and followed her to the front door.
"May I help you…?" the maid's voice disappeared as she looked at who had just knocked.
It was a tall young man who couldn't be older than nineteen. She had never seen that boy in her life, but, at the same time, he resembled so much…
"May I see Tom Riddle?"
"Sir, I'm afraid Mr Riddle won't be seeing you," the girl answered and looked at the gardener, trying to see if he had noticed how this young man looked like the Riddles' son, "Why don't you come back tomorrow?"
"Yes, today is Christmas Eve and Mr Riddle does not wish to be disturbed," said Frank, "Why don't you go home, boy?"
"I really need to talk with Mr Riddle… Today."
"Oh… I'll try to call him."
Maggie looked at the boy one last time before walking away while Bryce kept staring at him. The stranger was really handsome, with blue eyes, pale skin and dark hair… But those clothes he wore were so odd! Who walked around wearing a green cloak?
After a few minutes, the maid came back. She had a scared expression on her face and Frank knew that it was because one of the Riddles might have yelled at her for interrupting their "family moment".
"Sir," the girl started, quickly glancing towards the gardener, "Mr Riddle will see you at his study in a few minutes."
Maggie leaded the boy to a small room full of bookshelves and asked him to wait. When she went back to the hall, she saw Frank looking at her with a curious expression on his face.
"Who is that boy?" she whispered.
"I have no idea."
"He is just like Mr Riddle! Oh, God! Do you think Mr Riddle…?"
The maid fell into silence as she saw the son of the Riddles approaching them. The man passed by her and Frank and gave them a quick, serious look, before making his way to the study.
Knock on the door, ask to see Tom Riddle, wait and talk with Tom Riddle. That was everything he had to do and, even though it seemed to be an easy task, the boy was almost breaking his own fingers as he twisted them while he waited for Riddle to appear.
"What is it now?" the wizard heard the door being shut and a man's voice whisper, "What do you want? In case you haven't noticed, today is Christmas Eve and I'm trying to spend the night with my family. Why don't do the same instead of bothering me?"
"That's what I'm trying to do, sir," the boy whispered, turning around and looking at the man.
It was as he imagined it would be. Tom Riddle Sr. was an older version of himself. It was obvious they were related to each other and, of course, the muggle had also noticed that.
"W-Who are you?"
"Take a deep breath and begin."
"My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, I'm nineteen years old and I lived my whole life at the Wool's Orphanage, at London… Until last year, when I moved to a rented apartment," he paused for a minute before continuing, "I'm a wizard. I graduated in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry last year… with honors. I'm the heir of Salazar Slytherin, one of the school's founders. I work as a trainee at the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic, but I want to try to become a Defense Against Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts…"
The boy stayed in silence just waiting to see a reaction from his father.
"And I'm your son."
The muggle didn't say a word, he simply turned around and walked out the room. The young wizard felt sadness starting to build up inside himself, noticing that all his efforts to talk to his father were in vain. The man simply ignored him as he thought he would do.
"What!" a woman's voice yelled somewhere on the second floor.
"Order him to leave, Tom!" this time it was a man who yelled.
"How much do you bet he just wants money? That woman must have sent him…!"
"Tom? Tom! Come back here! Don't leave us talking to the walls…!"
It didn't take too long for his father to show up at the room's door again, but, this time, he had a tiny smile on his lips and his eyes had some kind of fascination in them as he looked at his son. As he saw that image, Tom Marvolo Riddle felt like he had finally achieved something he dreamed since he was a child.
.end.
N/A: The last chapter ._.' So OOC, but I like it XD I really like to think Tom Sr would have accepted his son after everything Tom Jr said ... don't know XD I don't have much to say about this chapter... Well, thanks everyone who left reviews on the other chapters ( EllyRiddle , givetherabbitthefreakintrix , Dracarot and Girly-Black ) :D
Last year, when I wrote this fic, I did some fanart for it... here they are:
http : / arileli . deviantart . com / art / Ghost-of-Christmas-past-147772218?q = gallery : arileli / 23800140&qo = 15
http : / arileli . deviantart . com / art / Ghost-of-Christmas-present-147772865?q = gallery : arileli / 23800140&qo = 14
I really hope you enjoyed this fanfiction :D and, again, Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it (:
Ari.