Harry Potter x Reader Oneshots - All Generations

Tom Riddle x Katelyn

Requested by: KatelynCrouch

The sun had settled long before Katelyn did. It's warm body nestled under blankets of the thick grass covering the Hogwarts grounds. She watched it fall and dismissed it. It was a beautiful phenomenon that any other person would have loved to see, but her mind was too blurred by general depression paralleled with heave medication. Some self indulged, others prescribed by the many doctors who couldn't figure out her problems. Late into the night and early into the morning her eyes stayed open. Her irises were barely distinguishable from their pale and bloodshot surroundings. Even under her covers in her bed she could not sleep. The sheets were full, but light, and surrounded her body. The pillow comforting against her pounding head, and her brown hair stayed nice and smooth against the satin pillow. It was all too good. Her normal bed in the orphanage was small and stiff, and creaked against the floorboards in the night. Her blanket was thin and unwinding threads of wool fell to the floor as she would toss and turn. Her pillow the most extravagant object in the room, a thick cushion surrounded by cotton that caused immense frizz in her hair. After years of sleeping on the same bed in the orphanage with no hope, the enchanted beds in her dormitory had even less promise to them. The orphanage had trust and love in it, while the bed she tried to lay in now filled her with empty lies of a better life.

The morning came slowly. Hours of waiting in the darkness, during which she'd always be dissapointed by the time when she checked it. The sun wasn't glorious or comforting. It was a tired body with a tainted glow, it wanted to see her as little as she did it. It looked worn and as red as her eyes from countless journeys across the world with no rest. It greeted everyone, while seeming to greet no one. It continued on its trek across the world for another day, ignoring those below it to mindlessly travel. Katelyn sympathized with the sun for a moment. It seemed an all too familiar feeling to be wandering through with no purpose other than just to exist. There had to be more to life. She thought about it for a moment, but the light from the sun became brighter and her headache became unbearable with it. Her eyes stung and her mind felt hammered and numb all at the same time. She slipped out of bed, still in the clothes she'd worn the previous day, the clothes she'd worn all night. Her bare feet felt cold against the floor, the fires in each room would not start until eight. Katelyn had another hour to wait, but she didn't mind the time feeling like she was back at the orphanage again, even if in a small way.

She showered, like every morning, but did not feel the will to clean her hair. It stayed greasy and tangled, the water only making it more frizzy and knotted. It floated in a large bump above her head then lazily fell down. She reached her hand up to run through her hair, but as it touch the brown mess she let it fall to her side again. It wasn't worth it to even try. On a chair beside her bed there were fresh clothes that had waited for her all night. An outfit set out for her by her friends as an attempt to help her keep her appearance up. She appreciated the gesture and smiled as she picked the clothes up. It felt good to smile again.

Katelyn's dorm mates began to stir and smiles were brought to their faces to see her wearing the clothes they'd picked out. The closest to her, Tylen, sighed at the sight of Katelyn's mistreated hair. She set to work with many bobby pins and a bit of magic in an effort to fix it, before even becoming dressed herself. Katelyn sat quietly as Tylen worked and looked down mindlessly at the clothes she had put on. A flowing, purple, long-sleeved shirt with high waisted blue pants with buttons along the side at the top and flared bottoms. It was a very muggle looking thing, but she enjoyed looking at the almost comical way that they all fight together. Tylen jumped off the bed she'd sat on to do Katelyn's hair and Katelyn assumed she was done. She touched her hair carefully, making sure not to disturb it. She had used magic to form tight curls in Katelyn's hair, and from what she could tell it was pulled into a messy ponytail with some buns spreading it across the back of her head. The mirror didn't tell her much more than what she felt with her hands. She slipped her shoes on, black shiny heels, and her school robes. It was a hogsmeade weekend, the last one before the Yule Ball. She hid her outfit under the robes, to avoid the teachers seeing it. The heels were difficult to walk in and she stumbled a few time on the stairs but was able to sufficiently master them before reaching the courtyard. The air was warm and the wind was still, leaving the sun's heat to settle in the air around them. The form she needed to exit school grounds was signed by the orphanage director, he legal guardian for what she assumed would be until she was an adult. No one adopted teenagers, too much work to deal with.