Huffily Puffily || Golden Trio

Into the Past || xxxix

The bright moonlight streamed upon the astronomy tower, and sitting outside on the grand parapet was a small girl, shivering in her cloak. There was no wind tonight but a deep freeze had encompassed the castle; her hands were stiff from the biting air. If anyone had stumbled across her, they'd think her out of her mind, sitting outside on New Years Eve with a plain, black diary in her hands.

She regarded the diary almost solemnly and opened it. She brought the tip of her red muggle pen to the first page and write, in as elegant a script as she could manage,

December 31, 1992

Tom Riddle appeared in front of her in an instant. His eyes first looked to her and he opened his mouth to say something, but then he registered where they were.

"I told you five days ago to stop wandering around at night," he said, slightly annoyed that she hadn't listened to him.

She set the diary down and looked at him with her hands clasped gently in her lap. "I can't believe you, Tom," she said in a quiet voice.

He froze for a slight second and then rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about, Lucy? Get inside, you'll freeze to death out here."

"I can't believe you would hide this from me," she continued.

"You'll have to be a little clearer." His eyes were narrowed now and his gaze flickered around them to see if anyone else was watching.

"I can't believe..." she took in a deep breath. "You didn't tell me... it was your BIRTHDAY!"

As soon as she finished the word, green confetti shot out of her wand. She burst out laughing at the sheer disbelief in Tom's eyes as the green and silver sparkles passed through his form.

"That's what— how did you even find that out?!" He demanded.

Beaming, she pulled a piece of parchment out of her cloak. "Fred and George found the old caretaker's office for me," she said proudly. "They had loads of records— there was an entire cabinet dedicated to birth dates."

"Why were you looking for old records?" He said suspiciously.

"I was going to look for whoever got expelled last time the Chamber was opened, but I found this by accident." She held up the piece of parchment listing everyone born after September 1st. "Just in time, too! Happy birthday, Tom."

Tom stared at her long and hard, like he was unsure how to respond to such a thing. He then rolled his eyes. "You realize I have been in this diary for fifty years, right? Birthdays are meaningless for me."

"Yeah, everyone says they don't like their birthdays, but secretly they do," she said dismissively. "So, after I found this little piece of paper, I got to thinking. What do you give someone who can't touch anything? Rings and other Slytherin stuff are out. Cake? No chance, you probably hate cake anyway. And then it hit me— you give him knowledge."

"This is a surprisingly good monologue."

"Thanks," she grinned. She worked hard on it all of last night. "I have something that I think is really going to interest you, Tom. Can I come into the diary?"

He gave her a bemused look. "You couldn't have asked me, I don't know, in the safety of your own dorm?"

She went to retort but tilted her head. He had a point. "Alright, yeah, I could've. Thought this would have been more dramatic though. I think it really sets the scene. Besides, aren't Slytherins supposed to have an air for the dramatics?"

"We're more the sneaky type."

"Tell that to Draco Malfoy." She could list ten separate occasions that Malfoy caused a dramatic scene in this year alone.