You're My Flower || Tom Riddle

Chapter 5 : White Camelia Flowers

( please play 'the first noel' by Jim brickman)

For the first few days of December, Emily watched the snowflakes dropped outside when she couldn't sleep. She would think of her mother and the moments she spent with her friends, especially Tom. She liked the little frosts that gently fell from the sky, because they were pretty and delicate. It was a nice sight to see.

Tonight, she couldn't sleep again. Her mind was buzzing with the words from that thick green book of Potions, which she spent memerizing everything for the last month. Of course, she kept her promise for Tom. Professor Slughorn praised her a lot, earning good points for Hufflepuff.

Another snowflake dropped gently down and landed on the windowsill. Emily pulled the sheets up to her chest and rest her head on the pillow.
She tossed and turn for a few times, trying to fall asleep but her mind wouldn't rest.

She soon gave up and sat up wearily. She bend down and picked up her charms essay, corrected the spelling mistakes and looked out at the green slopes covered with pure, white snow.

Emily decided to put on her robes and took the little mulberry lantern with a bright ivory candle inside and wandered out into the hallways.

She walked with her cinnamon snow boots on, the fur tickling her ankles as she walked. The potraits glared at her but said nothing as the light burned out as she quickly moved towards the gates. It was approximately midnight, and everyone should be fast asleep in their comfy beds so Emily wasn't that worried about being caught at this hour.

She went outside and as she breathe through her nose, white puffy smoke curled out. Emily sat down on the cold, stone floor and stared up at the sky.

How she used to do this at home when she couldn't sleep, where she would sit at her garden that had a beautiful view of the mossy green, upwrap mountains.

Her clothes were already covered with snow. They landed on her nose and she brushed it off with her thumb. How quiet it was.

"What are you doing here?"

The voice made her jumped a little and she spunned around just to see that it was Tom.

"I can't sleep. What are you doing here?"

He shoved his hands into his pockets. In the dark light, he looked even paler than he was, with his dark tousled hair and cold eyes.

"I was in the Potions classroom," he moved through the snow and sat down next to her.

"Okay.." they sat in silence and Emily had to voice out because she hated the tension growing.

"Are you going back home for Chirstmas?"

He looked at her, annoyed. "No."

"Why not?"

"I just don't want to. Stop asking."

"Okay. I'm not going back too. I don't want to see my stepdad, even though I would really liked to see my mom," she brushed another bit of snow that fell on the tip of her nose.

"Your father died? "

Emily stopped talking and stared at the snow. She didn't know how he was like, but she wished he was alive at this very moment. Her mother told wonderful stories, how he was obsessed with collecting flowers and plucked them from the gardens just to stick them into that little scrapbook he had. He even wrote a song about white camelia flowers, and it was based on her and how he imagined her when she came out from her mother's womb.

"Yes, he died."

"People died all the time. You can't help it," Tom gathered the snow together with his worn out knitten gloves.

"Not unless if you're immortal."

His eyes glinted. "Immortal.."

"My mother taught me a song that my father wrote.. Do you want to hear it?"

He scowled. "No. Don't sing. You're going to wake the whole school."

Emily huffed, then rolled a snowball and threw it at his shoulder. "You're no fun."

He took out his wand and flicked it, and the snow gathered together and flew at her face.

"Hey! That's not fair!" she furiously wiped her face but there was still flecks of it on her nose and cheeks.

"Who says I'm fair?" he retorted and continue to conjured up more to throw at her.

"H-hey, stop it, Tom!" Emily's face was all covered in snow and she could barely breathe through it. Her clumsy hands swiped it off quickly but she still looked like she had been rolling in snow.

"Ah-my face -it's numb -"

Tom twitched his mouth and he helped her to dust them off using his slender fingers.

"Thank you."

They stopped and Emily scooted nearer to him. She took his hands and removed the gloves slowly.

"What are you doing? This is -"

"Shh,"she held them in hers and closed her eyes. I can do this, she thought, I just need concentration and with her memories, she sang the song about Camelia flowers. How they bloomed beautifully, as white as snow, and all the love her father wrote about it.

When she stopped, she opened her eyes and realised that evergreen shrubs popped out from the snow and the flowers bloomed quickly as if it had been grown there for months. The place had a whole patch of it, and it was very beautiful to see.

"How'd you do that?" Tom looked around, gripping her hands tightly. He was amused at her wandless magic.

"I don't know. It happened before.." she smiled at the grown flowers. Hopefully, they don't die quickly because it's winter. She felt his hands getting cold and pale. Alarmed, she pressed them against her cheeks and he didn't pulled away this time.

"Are you trying to warm them?"

"Yes."

"You can't."

"Nonsense. Let's keep it like that for a while."

They sat there in silence once again until she finally put them down. "I'm going back to sleep. Goodnight, Tom."

She wanted to give him a hug but he backed away quickly before she touched him. Emily felt embarrassed and she put her hands down.

"Goodnight."

She smiled a little and took her lantern where the candle had burned out, and skipped away like a happy girl.

Tom shoved his hands back into his pockets and made his way back to the dungeons. He hadn't been in the Potions classroom, and in fact, Tom stayed awake too and she just happened to be the reason why.