Beauty and the Beast

additional scene

It was a winter morning at Hogwarts in early 1993. Ginevra Weasley was alone in the girl's restroom, holding the diary that belonged to Tom Marvolo Riddle: She was sucked in by the power of the journal, wanting to learn the secrets that lied within. She had heard a few stories and knew much about the creator of the horcrux. She picked up her quill and dropped it into the ink. Onto the blank parchment, she wrote, "This is Ginny."

"Welcome back, Ginny. What is it that you wish to hear?"

"Can you tell me about your friends?"

"I can."

It slipped to the space below. "I had two close friends. Both of them were girls, and both of them were Slytherins. One was Raine Baker, the school prankster. A beater on the quidditch team. The other, I adored more. More than anyone else in the world, maybe. Her name was Samantha Dalton. She was intelligent, more than anyone else in our year. A prefect, like myself. She was the seeker on the quidditch team, ever since her third year. Let me show you the two, and the most important memories I have of them."

The diary first flipped to the first of September in 1938. And a bright light shone, before Ginny was transported into another time and place. It was the Hogwarts Express, but with less technology, as it was deep in the past. An eleven year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes sat in a compartment by herself. She moved her hair behind her ear as a young Tom Riddle walked into the compartment. The ginger girl followed behind. "Um... excuse me... uh... can I sit here?" The brown-eyed boy asked. The girl looked up from her book to look at the incomer. The girl gave a polite smile. "Of course you can." The two exchanged names before time flew to after the sorting ceremony, where there was a short memory of the first conversation between Raine and Samantha. Next was a few scenes of the trio through their years in Hogwarts.

Ginny was soon transported out of the book again. She then wrote in the diary, "Did you love Samantha or Raine, like romantically?" The ink on the page began to fade, where it was shortly greeted by new writing. "I did love Samantha. Throughout all of our years together. Let me show you one of my fondest memories." The parchment pages soon flipped again, moving more to the beginning of the book. "25th November, 1942" was in the top right corner of the two pages. As the Gryffindor entered the diary, the environment around her grew colder. There was a grey sky above them, and it was lightly snowing. The Hogwarts courtyard only had about ten people in it.

Samantha and Tom were both fourteen years old. They sat together on a bench, reviewing the instructions to brewing a rather complex potion. Sam recited the instructions to it perfectly. "You're so smart! How do you do it?" Tom asked. The girl shrugged. "It just comes naturally, I guess." The two looked at each other for a minute before Samantha broke eye contact. "You're good at everything, Sam. Quidditch, potions, charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, making friends..." Tom listed.

"I'm not THAT good. Besides, you're the best herbologist in our year!" Sammy told her friend

"Don't be ridiculous," Tom said, glancing at her hand.

And a voice read the boy's thoughts. "I knew I adored her from that day. She's humble, intelligent, brave, just... lots of things, really. We started dating midway through our sixth year, while the chamber was first open. I got her a cat for her seventeenth birthday, I recall. We danced together at the Septannorum Ball in our seventh year. As far as I recall, that night was so-"

"Excuse me, but what is the Septannorum Ball?"

"It's a party for seventh years."

"Hmm. My siblings never went to one."

"Oh. Well, it's such a shame that they discontinued it," Tom's voice spoke. The scenery changed into a ballroom. Multiple pairs of seventh years were standing in front of one another.

The music began, and the couples started slow dancing. Ginny sat down on a bench and watched closely. Tom and Samantha gazed into each other's eyes. After a minute, the young man told his date, "You look beautiful, Sammy". The girl's face went red from blushing. In response, she spoke, "Thank you. And you're quite handsome as too." A smile found its way into Tom's face. "I appreciate you saying that," he thanked. "You didn't have to."

"Tom... I-I just want to be there for you. I remember, all these years, you never had someone you cared about you send you an owl or pick you up from King's Cross. I just want you to feel as important as any other person." The Head Boy didn't know how to respond. All the words he could utter were, "I love you." The phrase put a smile on Samantha's face. "I love you too."

The scenery went empty as Ginny left the book. She was glad that Tom had someone who cared. But the story seemed incomplete to her. She dipped her quill in the ink and wrote, "What happened to your girlfriend?" The text faded and, as usual, new words appeared. "After a year in the real world, I would go on to marry her," the page wrote. "And we were to have a child. Everything was perfect. Until he came. One night, I was gone, doing some business. While I was out, an evil man named Adam Carlsen broke into my house and murdered my beautiful Samantha. And it was all over." The Gryffindor was about to close the book, when the last piece of the story wrote itself. "And when I found her dead, I returned to my old ways. I was angry and restless. I wanted to seek revenge. My true identity called me."