White Blood ↣ T.Riddle

1, FOURTH YEAR BEGINS

CHAPTER ONE • FOURTH YEAR BEGINS

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September, 1941
THE YEAR STARTED OFF uneventfully, and Georgia was glad to be back at the place she called home. The warm glow of the lanterns that lined the building welcomed her as she sucked in a long breath of the Autumn air. Brown, red, and yellow leaves could be heard beneath her black boots, crackling, and her trunk slid along the ground with a low rumble; the Black Lake was reflecting the moonlight behind her and she smiled. It's good to be home, she thought.

"Hurry up," said a voice curtly behind her. It was a shock to her ears, but she could recognise it anywhere. Tom.

This was the first time he'd uttered a word to her in the six weeks they'd shared a room in the summer holidays. Whenever Georgia was there, he wasn't. Whenever he was there, Georgia wasn't. Between them, they'd silently constructed a timetable of when they could be in the room, although Georgia may have accidentally walked in on him once or twice whilst he was reading and then stumbled out, cheeks flushing an embarrassing shade of red.

Without looking behind her, she stumbled forward, her face burning. I will not give him what he wants. What he wanted was her to turn around and snap at him, she knew that much, but she would not give in.

Ever since they'd been at Hogwarts together, they hadn't spoke to each other, unless they had to. And Tom obviously had to, then, because he was an impatient, stuck up bastard who cared about nothing other than himself. And as much as she wanted to look at him, he'd broken her heart, so she would keep her eyes away from him even if it took everything she had.

She heard his footsteps behind her, and so quickened her pace. The chatter was warmly filling up the corridor around her and she smiled, ignoring Tom, distracting herself. Her fellow Hogwarts students were just as excited as her to start this year, she thought, judging by the majority of students who were sporting grins and catching up with their friends whom they hadn't found on the train.

This was Georgia's second year at Hogwarts, however she was a fourth year, taking her OWLs the next year; this was a scary thought as she had lots of catching up to do, and wasn't at all ready. But she was a quick learner, and always had been - perhaps this was the reason Professor Dippet had agreed to allow her to learn at Hogwarts, despite her lack of magical power until she was twelve.

She veered to her left into the Great Hall, after leaving her trunk outside. The hall was alive with students, and even more were filing in, including Georgia. She sat herself at the Hufflepuff table, which stretched from the back of the hall all the way up to the professors' table, in front of which the sorting ceremony was beginning.

Above her, the night sky was projected onto the ceiling, an exact replica of the actual sky. Candles floated beneath it, filling up the room with a bright, orange glow. Georgia often thought that she could be in Ravenclaw; her mind allowed her to think deeply about certain things and her shyness was the reason she kept quiet about them. Maybe that's why she spoke so little - her brain was forever thinking things that she'd never dare speak aloud. She was, like many people, that person who sat there, whom people ignored and thought she wasn't able to listen to their conversations, but oh, she did. She knew exactly why Abigail Peterson's boyfriend broke up with her and how Jacob Brown's dog died. This information was useless, but still, amusing.

But she hated it. Sometimes, she wished she was brave and outgoing and funny, like most of her friends. That was a problem she'd have to solve by herself; confidence.