Extra Ordinary (Riddle Era)

Chapter 58

Tom stepped off the Knight Bus the evening of the third day of break and found himself in front of a quaint little cottage on a cobbled lane bordered by hedgerows that glittered with a dusting of sparkling snow. The scene, Tom thought, couldn't possibly have been more picturesque. More homely. And it couldn't possibly have made him want to run more. He'd barely taken in his surroundings and registered a thought along the lines of 'of course Steele lives in a place like this' before he'd decided there was nothing for it but to get right back on the bus and go back to Hogwarts.

Of course, by the time the thought had passed through his head, the bus was gone and the front door of the cottage was opening to reveal Steele in a grey knit sweater that looked like it had been washed a few times too many. She beamed at him. Tom forced a smile in return.

"Tom," she said warmly, "Come in."

And that was that. There couldn't be any turning around once she saw him and even if this entire scene made him want to run for the hills for reasons he wasn't at all willing to examine, he refused to give Steele the satisfaction of watching him flee. And he refused to have the conversation that would inevitably follow.

So, instead, he picked up his luggage and followed her inside.

Inside, it turned out, was in some ways worse. And in other ways, better.

The inside was entirely as cozy and homey as the outside, with garlands hung up around the doorways and framed photographs on the walls. This, of course, made it worse. But it was better than he had feared. Because the photos on the walls weren't the slap in the face he'd been bracing for. He'd expected, given the house and the area and all of it really, that the photos would be family photos. But they weren't. Instead, the entryway at least had photos of an ocean view and a girl silhouetted against a storm grey sky.

Even as Tom progressed further inside, the most the photographs ever showed was a mother and daughter, and even then, photographs of the two of them seemed to be sparse. Indeed, Tom spotted only one - a picture clearly taken around Christmas, showing Steele and a woman who had to be her mother with their arms around each other. Steele's smile, Tom thought, had a shadow over it. It didn't reach her eyes the way he knew her smile could.

He didn't have time to unravel what that shadow might be, however, before the woman from the photo rounded a corner and, drying her hands on a distinctly stained apron, beamed at him.

"You must be Tom," she greeted, holding out a now only slightly damp hand to him. He shook it, forcing a smile of his own. "I'm Maryanne. I've heard so much about you from Lucy, you know, and I'm so glad you've come to join us for the holidays."

Tom let his smile deepen. "I hope it's not an imposition," he said politely, guessing that, though she would have denied it, Steele's mother's opinion was rather important to her. "I don't want to get in the way of any traditions."

Steele's mother waved an impatient hand. "Nonsense. The more the merrier. Besides, I never get to meet Lucy's friends. If I didn't know better I'd think she was hiding them from me."

Steele sighed slightly at this and Tom heard an exhale that sounded distinctly like god, mum. He stifled a smile that had too many complicated undertones to be trusted.

"Hopefully I give Lucy's friends a good name then," he joked lightly.

Steele's mother chuckled, her mirth suffusing her face the same way her daughter's sometimes did. "You're off to a cracking start," she informed him with another little laugh that made Tom think the job of impressing this woman would be almost hilariously easy. "Now, Lucy, darling, why don't you show Tom the guest room. Dinner should be ready in just a little bit."