January 4th, 1940,
Classes have started back up, and once again we're preparing for our end-of-year exams. I was talking to Abby earlier today, and she said that the end-of-year exams are nothing compared to the OWLs we take during our fifth year or the NEWTS during our seventh.
---
Miriam sat throughout their Potions class that day pondering their "fate" in fifth year. Of course, being in Potions offered little chance for her to think all that much about their OWLs. She was busy trying to make the Sleeping Potion their teacher had set them to. But whenever she got the chance to take a breather (usually while waiting for her potion to bubble), the thought of those fifth year tests would creep back into her mind.
When Panes had his back toward the class, Miriam whispered to Sophie, who was her partner in making the Sleeping Potion, about the OWLs.
"At least we don't have to worry about them until our fifth year," Sophie whispered.
"True, but doesn't thinking about all the studying we have to do for them make you a little nervous?" Miriam whispered back.
Sophie nodded. "Yeah, I guess I am a little worried about them, but if we pay attention in our classes, then when the time comes, we'll be prepared for them."
January 16th, 1940,
We have another Quidditch game tonight. We're playing against Slytherin, and Abby has been working the entire team nonstop this past week. Every night has been nothing but practice, practice, practice, and more practice. It's a miracle I'm even able to finish my homework and get it in on time.
---
"Okay guys. As you know, Gryffindor is in the lead, but Slytherin is close behind in second place. We can't afford to lose a single game, or we'll lose the Quidditch cup," Abby Bones grunted, pacing through the locker rooms that night before the game against Slytherin.
Abby then continued rambling, giving the team her mundane pre-game pep talk. Miriam looked over at Carl Potter, who was pretending to be asleep, complete with fake snoring sounds. Abby walked over in front him of him and said, "You think this is funny? Do you want to lose to Slytherin tonight and lose the Quidditch cup as well? Well, do you?"
Carl opened his eyes and looked up at Abby who was giving him a malevolent glower. "No Abby, I do want to win," he said.
"Good," she replied. "Now let's go!"
The Gryffindors marched out of the locker room, each one dead on winning.
"Captains, shake hands," Professor Luchtig dictated. Stephane, wearing a smug grin, walked forward to Abby with his hand extended. "May the best team win," he growled.
"I'm sure of it," Abby replied, through gritted teeth.
Miriam scanned the Slytherin team and saw Tom looking back at her. His face was stony, and he was chewing his lip profusely. Looking away, she mounted her broom and pushed off into the air. Immediately Professor Luchtig released the balls, and Markus Goyle from Slytherin grabbed the Quaffle or more likely snatched it from Abby's clutches.
He sailed through to the Gryffindors side and tried to score, but Aaron Wood was able to stop him.
"A nice save there from Gryffindor Keeper Aaron Wood!" Patrick yelled.
"Girls, let's play a little trick on the Slytherins," Abby said to Maria and Miriam. "Listen up. I’ll snatch the Quaffle from Markus -- I know his weak spot -- but I'll pass it to you, Maria, and then you pass it to Miriam. Try and score."
"Let’s go!" Maria and Miriam chimed.
Abby, Maria, and Miriam put their plan into action. Abby, while being chased by the Slytherin Beaters, threw the Quaffle to Maria, who carried it part way down the field. When the Slytherins began chasing her, she passed it to Miriam, who was able to score their first goal of the game.
"Good work, girls!" Abby exclaimed. Maria and Miriam high-fived each other. Meanwhile, Stephane was diligently planning his revenge. He glanced over at Tom, who was busy sending the Bludger down toward a Gryffindor player. Suddenly an evil plan took shape in his head.
"Tom!" he yelled, getting the attention of the boy flying below him."You're about to learna hard and difficult lesson in Quidditch: Injuries... are... inevitable... even to the best of players."
When the Bludger came back, Stephane used all his strength to hit the Bludger so hard toward Miriam that it knocked into the tail end of her broom, forcing the broom handle up into her stomach.
"Miriam!" screamed Abby as Miriam went spiraling down toward the ground, the air knocked out of her. Before anyone could do anything, Miriam hit the ground with a loud thud. Abby called a timeout and flew down to where Miriam lay motionless on the ground. Maria and the rest of the Gryffindor team were right behind her. Only one other person flew down as well... Tom.
"She's been knocked out," Aaron Wood said, checking her pulse. "No doubt from the hard fall she took."
"Good going with the Bludger, Tom, you jerk!" screamed Maria. "You just knocked your own sister out!"
"I... it wasn't me who sent it," he stammered. "Stephane..."
Aaron held up his hand to quiet them both down, but unfortunately he couldn't drown out the boos that were emerging from the crowd. He bent over and picked Miriam up and headed to the hospital wing with Tom and the other Gryffindors behind him.
Abby ran over to Professor Luchtig "I'll be back in a few," she said. Professor Luchtig nodded as Abby ran to catch up with the rest of the team, who were already in the castle.
By the time Abby found them, the team was seated beside Miriam in the hospital wing.
"How... is... she," struggled Abby, trying to catch her breath after literally running all the way.
"She's still out," Maria replied. "Obviously she won't be able to play the rest of the game tonight... or any game until she's awake."
Abby knelt down beside Miriam. She scowled across the bed at Tom, who wore an unreadable expression on his face. He left the hospital wing just before Michellina came into the room and asked everyone to leave, saying that the other patients (and Miriam) needed their rest. Sadly, the team slowly got up and left the hospital wing. Once they made it back out to the Quidditch field, Abby had a determined look on her face.
"Let's win this game for Miriam."
January 31st, 1940,
I woke from my coma two days after that Quidditch game. When news of my wakening spread, Sophie and Marcella were the first people to see me. They informed me that Gryffindor pummeled Slytherin four-hundred and fifty to one-hundred....
---
"It was extraordinary!" Sophie recounted, her eyes growing wide as she told Miriam the tale. "The Slytherins didn't know what hit them... uh, no pun intended," she quickly added.
Miriam laughed. Since that game, there had been no other Quidditch games involving Gryffindor. In that time, Miriam slowly got back into the habit of homework and Quidditch practices, although Abby was reluctant to take Miriam back so soon after her injury. After much persuasion, Abby agreed, and Miriam was back on the team.
"I wish you could have seen what happened after the game," Marcella snickered. "Professor Dumbledore deducted seventy-five points from Slytherin for 'extreme poor sportsmanship and an obvious attempt to seriously hurt a young player'."
Sophie laughed. "You really should have seen Stephane's face. I thought his jaw was going to hit the floor! The Slytherins tried to dispute it; however, Professor Dippet agreed with Dumbledore and so Slytherin is still seventy-five points behind where they were before that game."
Miriam laughed so hard that she fell out of the chair she was sitting in. This bit of news was too hilarious! "How did Tom take it?" she inquired.
Sophie and Marcella looked at each other. "Well... we're not too sure. He left the field as soon as he could, so we never got a chance to talk to him. But Abby did tell us he was in the hospital wing when you were first brought there. She told us he had an indecipherable look on his face."
They both shrugged, as they didn't know quite what to make of it.
February 14th, 1940,
Abby has been preparing us for the upcoming Quidditch match against none other than the Slytherins themselves. We'll be playing them for the Quidditch cup sometime in March. It'll be the first time we've played them since my accident.
---
"Professor Luchtig has promised me that nothing will go wrong and if any of those slimy Slytherins pull another stunt like that again, she'll disqualify them," Abby informed Miriam as they walked into the Great Hall on Valentine's Day morning.
They walked up to their table and sat down as the morning's mail began to arrive. The only thing Miriam received was The Daily Prophet. After paying the owl a bronze knut, she opened the paper began reading. For the last few weeks they had been reporting about a Muggle war that has been going on. She knew that wars were atrocious, but this one must have been exceptionally horrible in order for a wizard newspaper to report it. Miriam avidly read the newspaper while she ate breakfast.
Afterwards, since it was a Sunday, Miriam could spend the whole day doing whatever she wanted. Eventually she decided to head to the library to prepare for the upcoming final exams.
As she made her way to the library, she ran into Sophie and Marcella, who had just returned from the common room.
"Are you studying for the year end exams, too?" Miriam inquired.
"Yeah," Sophie replied. "We thought we should try and study harder for them. My parents weren't too pleased last year with my mediocre marks," she said as they went into the library together.
Meanwhile, Tom and his friends, Carrey and Murdoch, were also in the library -- but they weren't studying. They were huddled close together next to the Restricted Section. Luckily, Miriam and her friends didn't see them as Tom and his friends looked like they didn't want to be bothered.
"How do we get in there?" Tom asked.
"Easily," Carrey replied, holding up a piece of paper in his hand. "A permission slip," he said, proudly waving around the slip of paper. "Professor Panes was more than willing to give this to me when I said I needed it to study."
"Didn't he ask why a second year would need to study in the Restricted Section?" Tom asked.
Carrey sighed. "It's not the point, Riddle. The fact is, we can now do more searching on the Chamber of Secrets. We'll probably have much better luck looking in there." They went up to Madam Zuzellam's desk, who, with a questioning look in her eyes, reluctantly unlocked the door and let them into the Restricted Section.
"Where do we begin looking?" Tom asked.
"I don't know," Carrey admitted.
"Well if that isn't just great! We finally get into the Restricted Section, and you don't even know where to begin looking," Murdoch muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Listen here, Black, do youknow where to look?" Carrey shot back. Murdoch didn't reply, he just continued to walk ahead, ignoring Carrey as if he wasn't even there. Carrey grumbled.
They walked deeper into the room, each one glancing at the titles of books on the shelves. One of the books there caught Tom's attention. He stopped and picked it up.
"Famous Dark Wizards of the Last Two Centuries," Tom muttered, quietly reading the title of the book. He opened it up and inside, a name caught his attention -- Grindelwald. Suddenly, he remembered Miriam telling him about Grindelwald back during the Christmas holidays. They believed him to be responsible for the murder of an entire wizarding family. Tom couldn't bring himself to put the book down, so he continued reading it while he walked.
It stated that Grindelwald had once gone to Hogwarts, but upon the year of his graduation, he sank deeply into the Dark Arts. Once he left school, he became the first Dark Lord in England in many, many years.
"Hey Tom, what are you looking at?" Carrey demanded, suddenly snapping Tom out of his little daydream. It was like he had become hypnotized by reading that book.
"Uh, I was just looking at this one book here," he mumbled, carefully placing the book underneath his arm. They continued searching for something, anything that could tell them more about the Chamber of Secrets.
Back inside the main library, Miriam and her friends were reading about the goblin revolutions recently talked about in their History of Magic class.
"This... is... so boring," sighed Sophie as she looked over the stack of books in front of her.
"I know," Miriam replied, equally bored, "but we have to study it for the upcoming exams."
Looking over her stack of books, she sighed heavily. "There sure have been a lot of books written about it." Opening the next book in her stack, she began to read.
After about an hour of studying the boring history of the goblin revolutions, Miriam threw down her book and sighed loudly. "I don't know about you, but I think we should look at something different." Marcella and Sophie wholeheartedly agreed, nodding their heads fervently.
"Let's look at something a little more interesting," Miriam said. "Maybe we can practice our Charms, or something." She got up from the table and went to find some books on Charms. By that time, Tom and his friends had reemerged from the Restricted Section. Tom was carrying a stack of thick books in his arms.
"I'll see you guys later!" Tom said, turning to face his friends. He walked backwards, trying to balance the heavy books in his arms. This unfortunately prevented him from seeing where he was going. He took a tentative step backwards and stumbled into someone. His books went crashing loudly to the ground along with someone else's.
He turned around. "Miriam!" he exclaimed.
"Tom! What are you doing here? Miriam asked, returning the same amount of shock.
"I was just getting some books," he muttered as he scurried to pick back up the books he'd dropped. Miriam knelt down and began picking up her books. She found and grabbed her Charms books, and went to pick up what she thought was her book until she read the title, Famous Dark Wizards of the Last Two Centuries. Before the title could even fully register in Miriam's head, Tom roughly jerked the book out of her hands and stomped off. As she slowly got up, something clicked in her head.
That book, she thought, was about Dark Wizards. Miriam had a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. Why would he want a book on Dark Wizards? Could it just be mere curiosity... or something more sinister than that?
Sighing, she stood back up and gloomily walked back to the table where Sophie and Marcella were waiting. She plopped back down in her seat and remained quiet throughout the rest of their studying, leaving her friends to wonder why she was acting so strange all of the sudden.
February 17th, 1940,
Seeing Tom with that book the other day in the library is still weighing heavily on my mind. I can't help but feel that he really is being 'corrupted' by the dreadful people he is in contact with daily., those rotten Slytherins.
I've also noticed subtle changes in him as well. He used to say 'hi' to me whenever we passed by each other. Now when he says it, it's barely even audible. Whenever we share a class, he used to wait for me when it was over, and we would leave together. Now he is one of the first to leave with his Slytherin friends. We hardly even talk anymore.
I can’t help but wonder why?
---
"Remember class, you should start practicing for your final exams," Professor Dumbledore reminded his class as they prepared to leave Transfiguration. Sophie, Marcella, and Miriam hung back from the rest of the crowd, something they normally did as Tom would occasionally wait for them and they would walk out of class together. But today Tom was one of the first people to leave the classroom.
Miriam slowly packed her books away as not to draw attention to the fact that she was one of the last to leave, one of the things she usually did when she and her brother shared a class so they could meet up outside afterwards.
Picking up her bag with her books in it, she flung it over her shoulder and looked up with a smile at her friends, but they were wearing a look of uncomfortable sorrow. They shuffled their feet and clasped their hands together as they led Miriam out of the classroom. Once they got away from the classroom, Sophie cleared her throat and said with a terrible note of sadness in her voice, "Tom didn't wait for you today."
"He... he was one of the first to leave the class," Marcella chimed in, her voice equally bleak.
Miriam must have looked crestfallen because Marcella and Sophie both sighed heavily. In a way, Miriam should have known that Tom wasn't going to wait for her. She had begun to notice over the last few months that he seemed to be avoiding her for the most part.
"We're so sorry," Sophie whispered, as Miriam looked at her friends.
"It's quite all right. I mean, who would want to hang out with their sister, after all?" She gave a weak laugh to show her friends that she didn't mind it at all, but inside it was a completely different story. Inside, she felt very depressed.