It was the early morning of December 31st. Tom was sitting on his bed, awoken prematurely by some icicles that had fallen near his window. Unlike last year, he'd woken up before his parents this time, so he was waiting for them now.
All of a sudden, he heard the telephone ringing downstairs. Not wanting it to disturb his parents' sleep, he went downstairs to answer. Only, he wasn't sure who would be calling them at six in the morning... friends, relatives? Or, perhaps it was Myrtle. It wouldn't be out of character for her to do something like this.
He reached for the receiver and put it on his ear, only to be nearly deafened moments later.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOMMY!", a familiar voice screamed, making him almost drop the receiver out of shock. After that, he put the receiver next to his other ear because he started hearing ringing in the first one.
"Myrtle, please keep it down, my parents are asleep! You also deafened me in one ear...", he said after a few moments.
"Oh, sorry, sorry! I thought it wouldn't be too loud...", she said anxiously.
"Anyway, thank you for the birthday wish.", he said.
"I suppose you've called in order to plan out the day?"
"Why yes, I did, Tommy.", she said in a quiet tone.
"The concert itself will begin at 9 PM and probably last until midnight. As to where we will meet, I'm thinking about some bus station that's equality distant from the two of us. You know that one near the bakery? That one will do. Also, let's go a bit earlier, for example four. I want to visit some places on the way to the concert hall with you to make the day more interesting. Sound good?"
"Alright, I'll see you at four at the bus station."
"Your parents are already out of town?", he asked.
"Uh-huh! Well, if they weren't, I wouldn't be here talking to you, especially this early. I just couldn't help myself!", she said as she laughed.
"See you at four, Tommy!"
"Bye, Myrtle.", he said as he put down the receiver.
Tom was sitting on the living room sofa, impatiently waiting for the time to pass. It was currently quarter past three, he'd planned to go at half past three, but it wouldn't hurt to be a little early. Notifying his parents that he was going and putting on his coat and shoes, he made his way to the door and left. Walking down the stairs, he was looking through the windows in the hall, but when he looked down, he saw a... hunched over crouching figure in a corner? Out of curiosity, he went up closer to it, since it was in the dark and he couldn't see who it was.
"Aww, who's a cute little spider? You are!"
"...Myrtle?"
In an instant, she jolted her head towards him while pushing off a few spiders off her hands. Shortly after, she stood up, her face red from embarrassment and eyes not daring to look at him.
"Uh... hey, Tommy. Happy birthday...?", she said in an unsure voice.
"You've already wished me a happy birthday today, Myrtle, no need to bother yourself with that anymore."
Myrtle was still too embarrassed to talk, so she just smiled awkwardly.
"What's the matter? Surely you know that I wouldn't judge you for something like this? I was just surprised to see you here.", he said.
"I've missed you so much.", he said as he walked over to her and hugged her.
After that, Myrtle seemed to loosen up a little, returning the hug.
"I've missed you too, Tommy."
"Oh, and this is for you!", she said, noticing the decorated bag on the floor and picking it up.
"Just a few gifts for you in here and a birthday card, hope you'll like them!"
"Thank you.", he said, examining the bag and it's contents.
"Alright, let's finally get going, shall we?", she said.
"I haven't eaten anything since I woke up, I think I'm going to starve to death."
"Are you in the mood for some cake? I'll be going back to put the gifts away. Feel free to tag along."
"What? I don't want to be a bother for your parents. I'll buy something on the way, it's no problem."
"Are you sure? It's strawberry flavoured~", he said with a smirk.
"...Fine.", she said after a long pause.
"Your owl doesn't have a name? That's a crime, Tommy!", said the cake-stuffed Myrtle while waiting for the bus.
"I'm going to help you solve that problem right now, like it or not!"
This was going to be a wild trip...
"First of all, is it a boy or girl?"
"No idea, Myrtle", he replied.
She let out a sigh.
"Alright, what does it look like?"
"Mostly black with a hint of some lighter tones."
"Aha! I know... what do you think about Shadow? If not that, Midnight? Both are neutral."
"Midnight sounds good, I'll go with that.", he said.
"Yes! One more poor animal saved from the excruciating pain of not having a name, all thanks to Myrtle Warren!"
"Be sure to notify me of other animals with the same problem, be it snakes, lizards or uh... spiders... yeah."
"Also, I love all animals, not only cats and dogs like that bint Olive Hornby... she runs off every time she catches a glimpse of a snake, pathetic."
Well, that would certainly be... useful information.
"Myrtle, forgive me for asking this, but why are you still so fixated on Hornby? I don't recall the last time I saw her or her friends bother you."
This seemed to raise her temper quite a bit.
"Fixated on Hornby? Tommy, that moron refused to leave me alone ever since I came to Hogwarts! Do you know how many times she pulled a nasty "joke" or trick on me? Enough to make five lists as long as a double-decker! Just because she stopped only recently doesn't mean I can just forget all the horrible things she's done to me! In fact, I can still sense that she wants to get back to that nasty business of hers. Her and her stupid friends...", she ranted.
"I'm sorry about all of the things she's done to you over the years, but at least now you can be sure that she won't even catch a glimpse of you at Hogwarts. If there's a single hair missing from your scalp because of her, there will be problems.", he said calmly.
"Thanks, Tommy, I knew you'd have my back."
Just then, the bus line they needed had arrived and stopped at the station. Both of them quickly climbed and entered the bus. It was packed with people, almost all of the seats taken. All except one just nearby Tom and Myrtle.
"Look, Tommy, there's a free seat!", she whispered.
"Go and sit there!"
"No, you were the one who was outside since the early morning, go sit before it's too late.", he quietly replied.
"So what? It's your birthday today, you get special privileges on that day. I'll have many more chances to sit down."
"That doesn't make sense. It doesn't matter if it's my birthday or not, you need some kind of rest after that!", he half shouted, catching the attention of a few people.
"Said who?", she said bluntly as she lightly pushed him near the seat.
Seeing no point in arguing over such an insignificant thing anymore, he conceded and sat down on the seat. Myrtle walked over to him while wearing a sly grin.
"Was this really that necessary, Myrtle?", he asked.
"Yes. Yes it was, Tommy.", she said with an innocent expression.
After that, both off them were mostly silent for the rest of the bus ride. Bus stations coming and going, yet they still had a lot more to go. On one of the stops, a peculiar older man entered the bus, standing near Tom and Myrtle.
"Young man, how could a gentleman such as yourself allow this young lady to stand in such a crowded bus? Have some respect and lend her the seat.", he said.
"It's his birthday today.", Myrtle quickly replied, annoyed.
"Besides, shouldn't you be minding your own business-"
"It was her own choice, sir. I offered her the seat at first, but she decided that she's more comfortable standing instead of sitting.", he replied calmly, interrupting her.
The man opened his mouth to say something, but quickly decided against it, going to the other side of the bus to hopefully find a seat.
"Old people these days, I swear...", she said to him while rolling over her eyes.
"Annoying, wasn't he? It took patience to reply in a polite way...", Tom replied.
Following that event, there was thankfully no awkward encounter in the bus after that. Soon after, they exited the bus and began making their way towards the pedestrian-only zone.
"We're really close the the concert hall itself, just need to walk down the street.", she said.
"Let's me know if you see something interesting here, I brought 50 pounds with me to spend~"
"But, first, I'd like to go to the bakery to get something to eat... the sweetness of the cake is getting to me, I need something savory..."
After about thirty minutes, they had visited multiple stands and around three sweet shops. Before that, he'd eaten some sort of plum flavored puff pastry, being pestered by Myrtle to get something from the bakery because she felt guilty eating by herself. It was nothing extraordinary, but it was still good. But, after that, Myrtle seemed really eager to go for a ride on the carousel they'd just come across, despite the long waiting line. It was a little odd, even making him a little nauseous, but still an interesting experience nonetheless. Since it was already dark outside, the strong contrast between the sky and flashing lights of the carousel really helped highlight the beauty of the atmosphere around them.
"That was really fun, Tommy! I'd go for another turn if there weren't so many people waiting in the queue.", she said upon getting off.
"What do you think?"
"Well, I've never really experienced an amusment park type ride, so this was a first. I'd say it's interesting so far.", he replied.
"Never experienced anything like this before? Yikes..."
"Well, I'm glad I got to be with for the first time! Hopefully we can go again sometime..."
"Now, let's get back on track. We've actually spent a lot of time here..."
And so, they continued their journey to the concert hall, almost pushing their way through the throng of people in front of them. They kept close to the entrance of the shops, finding it less crowded than the middle of the street. Upon passing the shops, some kind of spark happened to caught Tom's attention. Glancing back at it and suddenly stopping in his tracks, he started taking a closer look at it.
A little purple gemstone, neatly presented in a small, wooden box. Next to it, there were loads of other things. Candelabras, necklaces, coins... one could only go on from that.
"Saw something, Tommy? If you did, let's enter!", Myrtle said upon seeing him gazing at the shop window.
Without replying, he entered with her following after him. Before that, he briefly glanced up, noticing that this was an antique shop.
Upon entering, the inside of the shop appeared to be merely the extension of what he saw in the shop window, just all the more filled up with old treasures.
The first thing that caught his attention was a little golden locket. It's neatly made chain, the spectacularly done crest in the locket and it's hard texture. What was this object's backstory? Who had wore it? Where did it come from? All of those questions ignited a feeling of curiosity inside Tom.
Then there was the silver necklace with a large sapphire jewel attached to it. The chain part of the necklace wasn't that interesting in particular, it was mostly the jewel. He grabbed the necklace by it's accessory, running his long fingers across the smooth surface of the jewel. It must of come from some remote place, only being affordable by royalty in it's time. And to think about the various people that it had to of been passed down to...
All the necklaces, the vases, the candelabras... all of those objects had to have some precious history. A history only possible by all the people who put their soul into their craft. All of those people were dead by now.
Or, perhaps they weren't.
Their legacy certainly lived on in the form of these objects, which have long since outlived them. In a sense, they were timeless, ageless... immortal.
"Tommy?"
He didn't budge, continuing to ogle an ornamented statue which he held in his hands.
"Tommy? Hey!", she quietly said while snapping her fingers.
Again, nothing.
"Tommy!"
In a last resort, she briskly waved her hand right in front of his face. This seemed to work, making him snap out of his trance. After his recently returned clarity, he blinked once, but dropped the statue out of his hands unintentionally. Luckily, Myrtle managed to catch it just before it hit the floor, falling to the floor herself and barely missing the other displayed artefacts. After a few moments, she slowly stood up.
"That was close... let's get out of here before we get kicked out, the shopkeeper was looking at you weirdly for gazing at everything so intensely. Also, I think I saw at least five objects that were corrupted by some kind of dark magic, but that's the shopkeeper's problem, not ours.", she whispered.
"...You're right, let's go.", he said, still mostly out of touch with his surroundings.
Soon after, both of them exited the shop as quietly as possible. All of this left Tom bemused, rarely did he lose touch with reality this badly. He wondered what had cause this, all he did was admire the historical and artistic value of the objects. Or was there some ulterior, subconscious motive which he was not aware of? Something he yearned for?
He himself wouldn't say so...
"Are you okay, Tommy? I mean, I have nothing against you looking at those things all day, but you just seemed so, I don't know... fixated on them. You didn't respond to me, even after I called you multiple times...", she said, sighing.
"I'm alright, Myrtle, I promise. It won't happen again.", he said reassuringly.
"Right, I'm glad to hear that. The day still isn't over yet, let's make our way to the concert hall, lots of interesting things await there!", she said enthusiastically, raising one of her arms in the air.
Following those events that he shoved at the back of his mind, they walked a short distance down the street and were met with grandiose doors which let to the concert hall soon after.
"Ah, here we are! I know this place like the back of my mind... after you, birthday boy!", she said, smiling brightly and opening the door.
"Myrtle, I appreciate the kind gestures, but I think you did more than enough of them today. I can do all of them myself just fine.", he said.
"Shush, Tommy, it's only today. You'll miss the things I'm doing for you now~", she said with a grin.
"Right, definitely.", he said with a small grin, letting out a mild laugh and entering with Myrtle right behind him.
Entering the concert hall itself, Tom's eyes hastily darted to each of the building's features, carefully examining them. Firstly, was met with a very large space with a beautifully ornamented high celling. Beside them, there were various posters that all showed the dates of scheduled concerts, both the ones that had already aired and the ones that awaited. Apart from that, there was a large spiral staircase which led to who knows how many floors and-
"Oh, no! You're not slipping in a trance again!", she quickly said, tightly gripping his wrist and dragging him up the staircase with her.
"Myrtle, it's not what it looks like. I promised that it wouldn't happen again.", he calmly stated while tripping on almost every stair.
"Well, better safe than sorry! Anyway, we actually do need to go up the staircase, I need to find my violin professor to tell her we're here. Not that I wanted to say hello, it's because of the tickets. I don't want to pay when I have connections, ahaha!", she said brightly, still holding his wrist.
Upon reaching the second floor, Myrtle briefly stopped to turn left and finally let him go. Finally, she seemed to stop at a door at the end of the hallway. Soon after, she placed her ear to the door, attempting to listen at what was happening inside. Concluding that it was fit to enter, she moved away from the door, preparing to knock.
"Wait here, I'll be right back.", she quickly said.
After that, she entered, closing the door rather destructively. Failing to resist the urge, Tom put up his ear to the door, curious at what they would be talking about. He heard a woman talking, and a rather shy voice talking back to her. It was really unlike Myrtle, reminding him of the first time they had met. He could say he was very proud of her, her confidence had drastically improved in the months they had been friends. Only, it seemed that she was only fully confident when he was with her. That wasn't a really good sign, but he was sure that she would overcome that, too. She just needed some time.
Hearing the room become quiet, Tom stepped back and waited for Myrtle to exit.
"Here I am, hopefully I wasn't long. Look.", she said, grinning and showing the tickets as if they were something forbidden.
"Sadly, we've got, or rather I've got, some tasks to do. You don't need to help me if you don't want to, but I could certainly use it."
"...You already know what it is, don't you?", she said with a smirk.
"No need to hide it from me, who wouldn't stick their ear up to the door in order to hear something they're not supposed to?"
"...not you and me, certainly.", she said after a brief pause.
Well, that was a small surprise.
It appeared that Myrtle was given the task of checking on the children's ensemble that would be performing today. Interaction with young children, one of her least favorite things to do.
Upon reaching the stage with Myrtle, they saw multiple children fighting with one desperately trying to take control but failing miserably.
"You see that bloke there?", she said, pointing with her finger.
"He's called Charles. Always seeking validation from everyone he meets! And for some reason, my professor hasn't seen his fakeness yet! Isn't he just a jolly little fellow!?", she said, gritting her teeth. After that, she cleared her throat.
"Let's show them how it's done."
With a checklist in hand, he stepped onto the stage with Myrtle. The children stopped fighting and looked at them in surprise. All of them except the aforementioned Charles, who looked annoyed. They walked over closer to them.
After that, they first approached Charles, gradually making him give up his position of power. He was stubborn, but there just something about Tom that made him uncomfortable that he couldn't bear to have a word with him again. After that, Myrtle took control over the ensemble, forming something that was best described as a dictatorship.
"What are you doing!? Did you even look at the dynamics or the tempo?"
"Your violin is so out of tune! Give it to me..."
"You think this passage is hard? Let me show you how it's done..."
"How dare you forget to bow down? The audience didn't come here to be disrespected by you! Come on. Bow. Down."
As she was yelling at the poor children, Tom wrote down everything she said on the checklist, which was a report to be sent to her professor. He couldn't decide whether to laugh or feel bad for all the children. The icing on the cake was that after she said all those things to the children, she made them wish him a happy birthday. He knew none of the wishes were genuine, but it was still amusing to watch.
"Alright, Tommy. We've done our job.", she said while she dusted off her hands.
"Let's finally take a break while we wait for the show to start. We can choose any seats we want."
"Also, I expect those toddlers to at least have an acceptable performance, now that we've helped them out...", she said with an evil grin, her voice echoing through the hallway.
Tom and Myrtle sat at the top of the concert room balcony, waiting for the show to start. Almost all of the seats were taken, which meant that the concert would probably start soon.
"Programme, programme... let me reread what it said."
"Folk music, Haydn's surprise symphony to wake everyone up when they least expect it, Beethoven six and seven, Vivaldi's sacred vocals works..."
"I like it. We could go without the folk music, but it's fine.", she said, stretching herself.
"Also, it's getting quite hot in here. Let me take off my coat..."
It was quite cozy and the temperature was nice up there, given that Tom had already taken off his coat. He could only imagine how uncomfortable Myrtle must be.
"There... much better.", she said after throwing her coat behind her.
Under her coat, she was wearing a dress with a MacQueen tartan pattern with a very fluffy skirt and a white shirt underneath. Apart from that, she had an endearing golden bow tied to her hair on the back of her head, white stockings and long, brown boots. But, despite obviously planning out her outfit, she looked very much disheveled. It didn't really matter to him, she still looked outstanding and he knew that she had insecurities because of her appearance, so he'd try to fix that.
"I like your outfit today, Myrtle. The effort you put into it can clearly be seen.", he said kindly.
"Thanks, Tommy...", she said, her face gradually forming a soft smile.
"I spent all night choosing what to wear, so that means a lot."
After that, as if on cue, the lights turned off, meaning that the concert has begun.
"Remember, Tommy. No clapping in between movements!", she whispered.
"Of course. I wouldn't make such a puny mistake.", he replied.
First up was the folk music, which was to be performed by the children's ensemble. Even from such a large distance, Tom could still see the looks of fear they'd instilled upon them. Somehow, they'd managed to perform without a making a single abrupt stop, and they weren't even that bad. After about half an hour, they had finished their part. Following that, the adult orchestra took over, starting with Haydn. The quality in tone majorly shifted after that, letting it be known that they were in for a real treat. It was much different hearing a live orchestra perform than listening to it on a gramophone, as Tom found out. The sheer strength that the orchestra conveyed was indescribable. Even if he already did listen to Beethoven's 6th and 7th symphony, this felt like the only time he heard them how as they were supposed to sound.
But, the more concentrated you were on the music, the more draining listening to it became. In the end, it was worth it to listen thoroughly, since it filled him up with a feeling of power at the end of the concert.
You could say that it was a different kind of magic.
"Well, Tommy, how was it?", Myrtle asked, stretching herself and yawning.
"It was extraordinary, I don't think I've ever experienced something like this before...", he said in awe.
"I'm glad you liked it! Remember, you can always ask me for more of these concerts, I'm always up for it. Just need to find good opportunities, that's all."
"Let's get going, I think the crowd has cleared up enough."
He stood up, but in such a way that he looked like he was drunk, almost falling back on the seat. Myrtle grabbed him by his wrist, just in case.
"Yes, I know that feeling... I was exactly the same at my first ever concert...", she said, giggling a little.
"Though, I wonder why the crowd has cleared up so fast, they usually stay in their seats for no apparent-"
All of a sudden, a loud bang could be heard from the outside. Both of them turned to the windows, noticing the colors in the sky.
"Fireworks.", he said.
"Yes... Goodness! I've completely forgotten that it was New Year's Eve today!"
"Let's go watch them! Hurry, Tommy!"
And so, they ran through the entirety of the concert hall in a breeze, tripping several times and getting surprised by the cool air at the entrance.
"Oops! Forgot to put on my coat!", she said, prompting Tom to do the same.
Swiftly putting on their coats, they watched the fireworks and their various shapes and colours. Just as one line of fireworks shot up and died down, another one would be fired, making a pompous splash of colors.
But, in the midst of all of this, Tom turned to look at Myrtle.
"Myrtle, I can't thank you enough for this."
"I'm pretty sure this is the best birthday I've ever had, and it's all thanks to your efforts."
"I... I love you.", he said with a wide smile, close to tears.
Myrtle immediately broke eye contact with him, her eyes darting to the ground.
"Oh, shut up! You're going to make me cry, too!", she said, laughing and smiling like an idiot.
"Come here!", she said, spreading out her arms.
And so, he jumped right into her arms, hugging her fiercely while the fireworks raged on.