Lucy Riddle and the Boy Who Lived

Mum's Letter

Chapter Twenty-Three

During breakfast, the owls came zooming inside the Great Hall, and Lucy was surprised to see an unfamiliar owl land on her shoulder. Styx came following after it. The two owls stuck out their legs, and Lucy untied them quickly. Styx stole a piece of her meal and zoomed off, the other owl trailing after her.

Lucy opened the first letter:

Dear my beloved Lucy,

It's Fred Weasley. I'm glad to say George and I opened our shop! It's called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. I hope you can come down to Diagon Alley someday — we'd be happy to see our number-one customer . . . Hey, Lucy, it's George. Fred's hogging the parchment and won't let me have the quill. Well, anyway, we love you! Come down soon. Fred misses you a lot, you know. I hear him muttering about you in his sleep and — sorry, Lucy. That old George . . . such a kidder, hahaha . . . well, I hope we can see you soon.

From your favorite Weasleys
(Not Ron, Ginny, Bill, or Charlie; they're not your favorite anyway)

Lucy laughed. Fred had crossed out mostly the parts with George talking about her. She couldn't help but blush. Just knowing that he's thinking about her sent her heart doing flips.

The second letter was from her family, of course. There wasn't much going on. She still had to tell them everything that had just happened. Mum, Dad, and Grandma really missed her and couldn't wait until she came home.

And that reminded her something. She still had to tell the Golden Trio about the diary. She'd have to do it later — right now was meant to be spent eating breakfast.

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"Hermione!" Lucy shouted. "What in Merlin's pants is wrong with you?"

Lucy wished she'd told Harry and Ron first instead of Hermione. It probably would have gone a lot smoother than how it was now. Hermione was mental, and Lucy didn't know whether to throw her other book at her or jump out of the window.

"It's for your own good, Lucy. It's not even supposed to exist!"

"So you just had to throw it out the window?"

Hermione crossed her arms. "Yes."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Fine then. I'll just jump out the window and get the book back —"

But Hermione had already casted a Body-Bind curse on her.

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Lucy still wasn't happy with Hermione for throwing the diary out the window. She tried looking for it after class but with no luck. After lunchtime, Lucy didn't have another class until an hour later, so she took residence on her bed and tried to sleep. When she flopped down on it, something sharp and jagged poked her spine.

"What the —"

But right there, on her blanket, was the diary.

Lucy picked up the book excitedly and made sure no one was around before grabbing a quill and writing in it. She knew exactly what to ask, for she had been waiting for this moment.

Yo, Lucy again, er, so you said that Meredith Donavon was your lover. Tell me about her.

She waited. Words started to appear on the page.

Meredith Donavon was a beautiful, beautiful woman. Loving and adventurous, that girl was. Stole my heart the first time she talked to me. If you've read The Tale of the Four Bodies, that's how it all went down. I had written that story. And oh, she had an owl . . . she had named it Styx. Loved that bird with all her heart. Styx was the first bird she ever had. I believe you have her.

What, I do?

Yes, the mute bird? That's Styx, and there's a reason why she doesn't hoot.

Why?

Styx witnessed Meredith dying. Styx had experienced depression. We had gone to visit her family to show you to them, but they were dead. My Death-Eaters — er, friends — had killed them. They were jealous that I was spending more time with her family than them, but I killed them. They won't hurt you, Lucy. Don't worry.

My mother died?

Yes, she was sick after she gave birth to you. Check your broom. Meredith wrote something for you.

Why? What's it got to do with anything?

But there was no reply. Lucy didn't understand what Tom Riddle had meant when he told her to check her broom. What did her mother write? Lucy investigated. She eventually decided to use the easy way (also known as wizardry and witchcraft). "Accio Mum's letter!"

Her broom smacked her right in the nose. She groaned. Why did everything have to hit her in the face?

A piece of parchment fell onto her lap. She grabbed ahold it, and her eyes greedily took in every word, letting it soak into her brain.

The door of her room slammed open, and Lucy slid the diary and letter under her white, fluffy pillow. She hoped none of her roommates would be able to see the objects.

Hermione had strutted into the room with a smile on her face. "Guess who got an A plus on her Arithmancy?"

"Me?"

"Shut up. I did!"

The two celebrated for five minutes before Lucy had to go to class. They had a mini dance party. Harry and Ron weren't invited, Hermione decided. They weren't cool enough to be in the girls' dormitory (even if the dormitory didn't allow boys to go inside girl's room).

"Well," Lucy said with an exaggerated sigh. "Time to go to Transfiguration."

Hermione looped her arm with the older girl's. "Off we go then."

But Professor McGonagall decided that it was best for the class to review everything they'd learned. O.W.L.S were coming up, and McGonagall was going to help the students get an O.

McGonagall pulled Lucy to the side. "I want a word with you really quick."

"All right."

"Dumbledore wanted me to tell you that you won't be taking O.W.L.S."

"Okay, so I might not be the smartest —"

"No, it's not that, silly girl. You're sixteen. You should be ready to take N.E.W.Ts."

"Oh."

"So about those private lessons I told you about . . ."

"I'll be going."

And she did. That night, she stayed with McGonagall for five hours, leaving the classroom with a huge smile on her face for being able to do all the advanced lessons with great ease.