Not Broken, Not Yet | Tom Riddle

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

Christmases of my youth had been some of my most dear memories. Some of my happiest. Flashes of my parents dancing before the Christmas tree, long before my father's obsession took hold of him, my mother and me decorating cookies, our cat forcibly being fitted into a Santa hat and the fairies glittering in the forest around our cottage. I saw it through the daze of my childhood like some sort of strange vision from another life. A beacon of light in a sea of darkness.

I celebrated my last real christmas at the age of merely seven. At... their house I didn't celebrate anything and the years I spent in the orphanages were not ones worth celebrating. I even avoided the yuletide at Ilvermorny, opting to lock myself in my dorm and waiting for the festivities to subside. Christmas was a time of joy, and for the longest of times that was an emotion foreign to me.

I suppose I had thought Hogwarts would be different. And well, for a minute it seemed like it would be. Surrounded by my friends and with Aiden by my side the dream of a normal life, and with that a normal Christmas didn't seem all that impossible. But now, with all my friends at home with their families, stuck in a snowy castle the vision felt as foreign as ever.

Then again I suppose I wasn't the only one avoiding the festivities, not the only one unfamiliar with Christmas joy. Tom had, not long after sunrise, left the Room of Requirement and I had not seen him again since, not even during the rather impressive Christmas breakfast. Once more the teachers and students had been seated together. This time I was sitting next to Marion who was wearing a red cardigan with white trims and a dark skirt. She was looking particularly lovely with her dark hair curled around her heart oval face. A heart shaped silver necklace with a white diamond in the middle boasted over her heart. She noticed my gaze.

"Mother and father got it for me," she said and touched it lightly, "beautiful, isn't it?"

"Looks heavy," I noted and tried to look away.

"Oh it is," she agreed with a chuckle. "I suppose father feels bad for leaving me in this place at Christmas."

"Careful Mare," Charles said by her side, he too was dressed for the occasion in an elegant emerald suit that matched his green eyes quite perfectly. "The orphan might steal it. I doubt she has ever been this close to real diamonds." His gaze travelled over my dress, it was the same one I had worn the day before. His lips twitched, a malicious smirk flashed by.

Marion slowly shifted her gaze to her brother. I couldn't see her eyes but Charles looked taken aback. "You know what," she said sweetly and grabbed her necklace. "Here, Amberly, take it. I have so much jewellery already, besides, I don't want father getting the idea that he can buy my forgiveness." Her voice dripped with poison and she shot a nasty glance at the shining silver watch on Charles' wrist before handing me the necklace. A faint blush spread across his cheeks.

I was taken aback. "Oh no, I can't possibly."

"See, you startled her, Mare, the orphan wouldn't know what to do with such a fine piece to save her life," Charles said condescendingly, but he made sure to keep his voice low for Professor Dumbledore's eyes had shifted to us at that moment.

"Don't be ridiculous," Marion said gruffly and disregarded her brother completely. "Turn around and hold your hair up, I'll put it on for you. Don't look at me like that, Green, just do it."

I obliged cautiously, allowing her to put the necklace on me and snapping the lock into place. As she let go I was taken aback by the weight of it. I gasped. Marion chuckled. For once her green eyes didn't strike me with their normal chilliness. Her twin didn't look all too pleased.