"You're very charming. Not just charming, but beautiful in the sense that the world could almost pardon you for your sins."
- ✧ -
Victoria Locke and Tom Riddle are practically strangers. They're nothing more than that. It remains that way until she...
The great hall was packed, due to it being a freezing Saturday morning. Not to mention, the same morning Theo and I had agreed to meet up at the gates for lunch.
Because of the weather (and meeting later,) I had decided to wear a brown jumper that had the Holyhead Harpies' (my favourite Quidditch team) debut year sewn onto it; A fleece pair of pants that Gwendelyn had bought for me and mailed to Hogwarts' muggle post station; and a scarf that Druella had gotten me for my birthday a while ago. (When's your birthday, reader?)
Serenity and I joined Druella (and Black, who seemed to follow Druella around everywhere now.)
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"I mean, he bought you a stash of snacks!" Serenity cried as we entered the Great Hall. "How is it not clear to you? Pretty soon he'll be shopping for wedding rings for you!"
"Serenity, sometimes I'm concerned about what goes on in your head," I said, flustered by her comment.
Serenity had been going on and on about Theo fancying me. Though, I liked the way things currently were so I didn't press matters further.
"My brother in law, Orion, recently got married to Walburga so now we have another in the Grimmauld Place," I overheard him complain to Druella. "He's quite a bore, always complaining about the ministry not doing anything about non-purebloods."
Serenity and I sat down.
"Don't forget our little predictions," Serenity sang. "Victoria: one galleon, and I, three."
She gave Druella a little wink and Druella laughed awkwardly, hoping Cygnus hadn't heard anything.
"It's not the end of the year yet, silly," Druella sang, and kicked our feet under the table for laughing at her reaction. Cygnus was clueless about the situation and asked Druella what we meant.
"Nothing serious," she assured with a forced smile.
Cygnus didn't press matters further and said, "You know, my great, great, great grandfather's name was Sirius. Sirius is the previous headmater's relative, which makes me related to Phineas Nigellus, the previous headmaster. Orion seems to like that name–Sirius–so now he wants-"
I didn't listen to their conversation further, as Serenity had taken the headline of the Whinging Times to my attention.
"Morfin Gaunt, a year passes since his imprisonment," Serenity read. "Today marks the date Gaunt was brought into Azkaban after being sentenced to life imprisonment and admitting his crimes for the murder of a muggle family."
The surname Gaunt had sounded familiar to me, but not familiar enough for me to remember where I had heard it.
Before I could comment, a Gryffindor, who I knew as Jaxon Lee (I imagine Jordan Lee for some reason, no one else), came running in with a copy of the Daily Prophet, yelling from the top of his lungs.
