The Years of Riddle

Chapter Four || Hogwarts, January 31, 1938

Chapter Four

Hogwarts, January 31st 1938

 

               A letter sat in Tom Riddle’s lap, hidden partially by his robes.

“Happy birthday, Tom!” another first year called as they retreated to their dorm room.

Tom nodded thanks and sat back in the window seat, watching the black lake swirl outside. Gwyn’s letter would either yell at him or forgive him for not coming home for Christmas. For some reason this made him nervous. If he returned to Wools in the summer and didn’t have Gwyn as an ally everything would go wrong.

With a determined look in his eye, Tom opened the letter and took out the parchment within. Gwyn’s delicate handwriting was slanted across the page, flowery and feminine. She used words that he didn’t know where she found – she sounded much more educated than she was.

Dearest Tom,

Thank you for your letter. Though I was looking forward to spending the holidays with you I understand your desire to stay away from Wools for as long as possible. If I could spend Christmas anywhere but here I would – anything to escape Mrs. Cole’s turkey.

I hope Christmas at Hogwarts is everything you have ever wanted in a celebration, and that you have friends there. If my world could be as full of magic as yours I would take it in a heartbeat.

Don’t be so surprised, Tom – I know the school is for magical children. Otherwise they would have left your sorry arse for my much more intelligent one.

Happy birthday Tom, I wish you all the best. I wonder if you will be taller than I when you come home.

Love Gwyn xx

Tom almost laughed – of course she’d figured it out. How could he have thought her dim enough to not to? She must have found something in his letters.

“What’s this?” Lestrange appeared by Tom’s side, reaching for the letter.

“Nothing.” Tom shoved the letter into his pocket, standing swiftly. Over the few months he had been at Hogwarts he had learned how to manipulate the boys his age, charm the teachers. He was so smart, so sweet – and no one suspected what he really thought.

“Is that from your parents?” asked Avery, his hulking figure the opposite of Tom’s lithe one.

“No.” he thought of a lie quickly, or it could be truth – he wouldn’t know. “They’re dead, didn’t I say?”

Avery and Lestrange looked startled. “No, you didn’t.” Lestrange said, looking guilty. “Hey, want to sneak into the kitchens? I think the house elves leave out uneaten desert. It is your birthday, after all.”

It was something Gwyn would have suggested, and for the slightest second Tom almost missed his faithful friend. However, she was just a filthy Muggle like the rest.

“Yeah.” He said, scrunching up the letter in his pocket. “Let’s go.”

A/N: Hmm, could Tom possibly like Gwyn more than he likes to think? What a charming, sweet boy. 

Question: What do you think awaits Tom in his futur at Hogwarts?

Rose