Tomorrow was another day. He hoped that it would be better then the previous one. Because he had prefect duties, he could sleep for a little more and miss the first two classes.

After he got up, he noticed that the common room was empty with untidy beds everywhere around him. He slowly got up out of his bed. His vision was a little blurry, his eyes still swollen after crying for so long.

He went to the toilet to make himself at least a little presentable, put on his robes and went to class.

History of magic was his first class, or third if he went by his timetable. Once again, he just listened and scribbled some notes. Since he just got up, he didn't need to worry about accidentally going to sleep again. The class ended quickly, to his delight.

Next class was astronomy. Nothing special went on in that class, their professor lectured them and they looked at some constellations and analyzed them. Thankfully, after that class was lunch break. You didn't actually need to go to lunch right away, you could go outside to take a fresh breath of air. So, he did that. He sat beside a pillar and considered reading something. Nothing interesting came to his mind, so he just sat there, alone in his thoughts.

At Honeydukes sweetshop, a girl arrived, intending to buy a gift.

"So, he likes plums...", she concluded after watching him, "And chocolate."

She looked at the sweets that were on display and behind the counter.

"Hello, miss, what brings you here?", the shopkeeper asked her.

"Do you have something plum or... chocolate flavored?", she asked.

"Of course we do", he said, while rummaging behind the counter, "I'll show you what we have in stock."

It took him a few minutes to get out the sweets out. It was worth it, there were many sweets to choose from. Tarts, muffins, mini cakes, wrapped candies, ice cream...

"I don't have a lot of money, something simple, but nice should do the trick.", she thought.

She chose a box of candied plums covered in chocolate.

"I'm sure he'll like it."
"I'll take this, please.", she said, while giving him the box-

"Great choice, miss, that'll be 7 sickles and 10 knuts."

She handed him the money, took the change and got out of the shop.

"Bye!"

"Goodbye, miss! Come again sometime!"

The box of candy was beautifully decorated. It looked so good that she wished that she could eat it. Since her schedule was tight today, she couldn't give him the box of sweets. And she was shy, not that she would ever admit it. She eventually built up the courage to give it to him, hopefully when no one was looking.

"I don't what them to tease me..."
"Is ThAt yoUr boYfrIEnd!?"

And so, she waited until the perfect opportunity.

Tom's thoughts trailed off and he forgot about his surroundings. He was thinking about what to do. Was he ever going to get some peace? When would it stop? He didn't even realise that someone was trying to get his attention.

"Hey!"
"...Hello?"

After that didn't work, she resorted to shouting.

"HEY!"

And she managed to get his attention. It felt as though he got pulled out of an abyss.

"Wha-", he stammered.

The girl was standing in front of him. What was she trying to do? Was this some sort of joke? Probably some sort of prank from Abraxas, he probably got someone to do his bidding. But something seemed different. The girl, for starters, was not from Slytherin. She was from Ravenclaw. She had round glasses and pigtails. Didn't he see her already before? Strangely enough, she was holding a box of sweets. Candied plums with chocolate, for that matter.

What was this? A strange coincidence? Abraxas had to be behind this sick joke. But, the girl didn't give off that feeling of uncertainty. She really looked like she was genuine. Was she really approaching him without wanting to pull something off?

"Hello.", he said cautiously.

"Um...", she stuttered. Was was she going to say? She didn't even think about that part.
"This... box of sweets... is for you.", she said, while trying to think of an explanation.
"You... were kind to me yesterday. I don't usually get that treatment from others, ahahaha...", she laughed nervously.

Tom was puzzled. What did he even say to her? And why did she deem it so important that she had to give him a gift? He wanted some answers.

"Why are you giving me this, exactly?", he asked.
"Don't get me wrong, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, but I just don't get it. Why are you treating me like this, others don't like me."
"Be honest, please.", he demanded.

This made her a little annoyed. Why was he jumping straight to conclusions? She only wanted to thank him for his kindness, and she even bought him a gift!

"Well, you said it yourself, silly! I treasure the moments in which somebody actually treats me decently! I'm not trying to pull something off, because I suffer from the exact same things. Somebody's always waiting around the corner to take my glasses, or pretending to be my friend just so that they can get a good laugh out of it later!", she vented to him.

Tom wasn't expecting this girl to just tell him all the things that have been bothering her. He just met her, right? He only talked to her directly once before this encounter. But, it didn't bother him. Actually, he was secretly very happy that she said that to him. It made him feel like he wasn't the only one to suffer from this. And, she gave him a gift. How lucky was that?

"I'm sorry, I didn't know.", he began,
"I'm used to being the subject of many different tricks. Annoying, isn't it? How they treat you for some stupid reason."

"Right? They just glanced at me and thought that it was a good idea to make fun of me! How stupid is that!?"

"Exactly, they are only foolish superstitions, with nothing to back them up.", Tom said while getting up.

As their conversation progressed, she noticed that Tom started looking more and more alive. When she got there, he looked really gaunt. Messed up hair, eyes that were a bit swollen and bandaged bluish veiny hands. In all honesty, it was weird seeing him like this. Every time she saw him, he was perfectly presentable. This made her wonder if something unpleasant was lurking in his thoughts. She of course wouldn't tell him anything out loud, it would be very displaced and impolite. Nevertheless, they just continued talking. Tom's eyes lit up, and he even cracked a smile at one point.

"We are a bit alike, don't you think?", she giggled.

"Yes, it's refreshing to see someone that has the same problems."
"To know that you aren't alone."

It really was. He didn't even notice that he was really engaged in this conversation. This girl honestly seemed like she was interested in talking with him. Unbelievable, wasn't it? Maybe she could even be his... friend? The first friend he ever had? Thinking of that made him giddy.

"Tell me more."

"Well...", she began,
"I don't know about you, but there's this one girl in Gryffindor who is really annoying, and I mean it. There isn't a time when she isn't planning when to steal my glasses, or to test some hex on me. Oh, those friends of hers. The worst part is their laughing. I sometimes still hear it echoing in my head, it bothers me sooooo much.", she said,
"But I didn't see her all day! Now that's a strange thing, she would always make sure to pay me a visit in the morning. And to top it all off, even her friends are looking depressed! It's rather pleasant seeing them like that, after all of things they've done to me. What about you?"

"I actually have someone that's quite similar to her. Maybe you know him? His name is Abraxas Malfoy.", Tom responded.

"Oh, I do! He's a real bigot! Luckily, he doesn't target me all the time, I'd say that my tormentor does her job well, ahahaha. I hope that he doesn't bother you that much, I would rather die then share a common room with him!"

"Consider yourself lucky. Thankfully, I don't share a common room with him, although he is in the common room that is below mine. Very irritating and annoying experience. Always trying out new spells, and to make it worse, his little gang always cheers for him. Bunch of idiots, I can't wait for him to step out of line so that I can teach him a lesson."

Sometimes it was nice being a prefect. Yes, he had to patrol at night, but he had his own bathroom and he could punish other students. He was careful not to abuse his power, because that threatened his position as a prefect. And he would only punish those who asked for it.

"Speaking of our tormentors, can you tell me what yours is called?", he asked her.

"Oh...", she exclaimed,
"My bad, I completely forgot about it. Her name's Olive Hornby."

"Olive Hornby?", he asked her again.

"Yes. Did she pull a trick on you, too? Don't worry, I can tell you how to avoid them. Luckily, she's nowhere to be seen today. I'd really like to know what happened to her, I hope she got detention somehow.", she said with an evil smile on her face.

"Well, do I have good news for you.", Tom exclaimed with a smug smile.

She was dying to hear what he had to say.

"While I was on my prefect patrol at night, I stumbled upon miss Hornby. She was sneaking out of her common room, trying to get to the Ravenclaw common room. My guess is that she wanted to do something to you, probably to steal your glasses, or to cast some sort of spell, but I don't know how she would of done that without entering the common room."

"She's stupid as always. Continue, please."

"Luckily, I caught her on time in one of the halls. She tried to stupefy me, but I blocked it. That way, I could give her a more severe punishment because she tried to attack a prefect. I caught her with a simple petrificus totalus and escorted her to the Gryffindor common room."
,,As for the punishments..."

She was excited. Punishments? As in more then one? This was going to be thrilling.

"The reason as to why you aren't seeing her today is because she is spending all her free time cleaning and polishing the many treasures Hogwarts has. I don't think that she will finish it all today, if not, she always has the next day to complete her task. I also gave her some time to spend in the forbidden forest, specifically one hour, with only a lantern to keep her company. And I took 50 points from Gryffindor because of her. So, I don't think that you'll be seeing her anytime soon, because she is also on "house arrest" after she snuck out last night."

Her gleaming eyes were filled with awe, and her mouth forming a sinister smile. She could buy him a hundred more boxes of candied plums for that matter.

"That'll do her right. Thank you.", she smiled.

,,Of course, no one deserves to get bullied. Besides, she knocked me out yesterday, I also have a grudge to hold."

"Kind of funny that we are both bonding because of our hatred of those brats."
"Actually, it doesn't matter. It's fun talking with you."

"I can say the same about you. It feels really good to have someone who's willing to listen to you for once.", he said.

Because they skipped lunch, although not intentionally, Tom decided to share the sweets with her. She was the one who bought them for him, after all. They sat down beside the pillar and ate them. Soon after, a bell rang, signifying that they should go to their classes.

"The bell rang.", she exclaimed with a mouth full of sweets.

Tom swallowed the candy before he started to speak.

"Shame, we were really starting to get along."
"I look forward to our next meeting.", he told her.

As he was ready to leave, he noticed that he forgot a very obvious thing. Her name. He spent all that time chatting with her, and didn't even get to ask her her name, nor introduce himself. He felt embarrassed.

"Oh! I almost forgot.", he exclaimed, drawing her attention.
"We didn't even get to introduce ourselves."

He walked over to her and drew his hand out for her to shake.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle, pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, we really did forget, didn't we?", she said while giggling and drawing her hand out to shake his.

"I'm Myrtle Elizabeth Warren. I can't wait meet up with you again. See you for now!"

"Bye!", Tom exclaimed while he walked away to his class.