December 6th, 1941
I truly do not know how I can write what I am about to put into writing, for it is indeed most heartbreaking….
---
The day had begun innocently enough, there was nothing to indicate that it would suddenly turn horribly wrong for one of the Gyrffindors.
"Mail should be arriving shortly," Sophie said to no one in particular. No sooner had she said it when owls began pouring in, each one delivering letters and packages to their respective owners. One in particular, a large dark-brown owl, fluttered in over the Gryffindor table and landed right in front of Miriam.
"Sorry 'bout that," a deep voice called out. The owl flew off and a large hand scooped up the letter the owl had dropped.
"Oh, hi Hagrid," Miriam greeted the giant boy.
"Hullo, Miriam," he replied as he sat down next to her and began to open his envelope.
Their breakfast was beginning to appear, and feeling rather famished, Miriam started to grab a couple of the plates in front of her. As sh served herself from a plate of scrambled eggs, Hagrid let out a loud bellow that almost made Miriam drop the plate.
"Hagrid! What's wrong?" she asked concernedly. He mumbled something incomprehensible and ran out of the Great Hall in tears. Miriam glanced bewilderedly toward her friends, but they returned the same dumbfounded expression she had. It was a look reflected by everyone else at the table.
“What’s wrong with Hagrid?” Minerva inquired, sliding her way down the bench toward where Miriam was.
“I wish I knew,” she sighed.
Hagrid’s booming voice had been heard around the Great Hall by the three other houses. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables looked sympathetically toward the Gryffindor side, but the Slytherins could scarcely control themselves. Between their fists beating down on the table and their howling laughter, Miriam thought that was just plain rude of them. Frowning at them, a blondish brown-haired girl began snickering loudly, clearly audible over the others, “Little baby, run away home!”
December 7th, 1941
Something most dreadful was reported in The Daily Prophet today. Across the sea in America, a terrible tragedy has struck….
---
As soon as Miriam sat down to read her copy of The Daily Prophet that morning, she saw the atrocious headline:
“Tragedy strikes Muggles and Wizards in America.”
They had reported that across the sea in a place far away called Hawaii, terror had struck a Muggle Naval base, killing thousands. As Miriam sat, horrified, reading the article, the Great Hall was soon filled with anxious murmurs.
“Says here,” Sophie began, “that quite a few of the victims were wizards. Someone by the name of Adora and Charlotte Morreaux, twin sisters, lost their only brother in the tragedy.”
“How awful!” Marcella exclaimed.
Though Miriam thought this was a horribly monstrous thing to have happened to so many innocent people, she couldn’t help but think about the two sisters named Morreaux.
No, she thought, it has to be just a simple coincidence....
December 18th, 1941
Poor Hagrid. It seems as if getting into trouble is the new thing for him. Why, just earlier today, Professor Panes caught him staggering out of the Forbidden Forest all bloody and bruised with his one eye partially swollen shut. He was sent straight to the nurse's office where he received quite a yelling at from Michellina. Things didn't get much better after that, as from what I've been told, Professor Dumbledore wasn't too pleased, to say the least.
Come to find out, this would be the least of Hagrid's problems.
---
“Miriam, as you may not know,” Dumbledore began slowly choosing his words very carefully that evening after dinner, “that one of your housemates has suffered a traumatic loss recently.”
“Who?” she asked, her heart starting to race as nervousness began setting in.
“Rubeus Hagrid. Twelve days ago, he received a letter from St. Mungo’s stating that his father had passed away.”
This startling bit of news sent an icy cold chill though her. The only comprehensible thing she could spit out of her mouth was, “How is his mother taking it?”
“He doesn’t have a mother, I’m afraid.”
Any ability to speak literally escaped her as the thoughts of someone else having to endure life as an orphan swirled through her head. It was an experience she would never wish on anyone else. Dumbledore looked abjectly toward Miriam as he continued. “On top of it, his grades have been drastically slipping, and that’s why I wanted to talk to you. Please know that I’m not forcing you to do anything, but at least consider my offer.”
“Okay,” she murmured, slowly finding her voice again.
“You’re smart, bright... and well,” he sighed, “would you consider being a student assistant to Hagrid?”
“You mean, like tutoring him?”
“Precisely. I wouldn’t have asked if I knew you couldn’t do it. You’re our top student, but this, of course, would mean more work for you, on top of your other activities and being the head the of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.”
“I... I would be honored to help tutor Hagrid,” Miriam declared.
December 19th, 1941
Marcella and Sophie have just recently acquired dates to the Christmastide Celebration. They’re going with some Ravenclaw boys, Daniel Boot and Patrick Jones.
Speaking of the Celebration, I just realized something very crucial in my going to it... I DON’T HAVE A DRESS TO WEAR! Naturally, that should be the least of my concerns as of this moment… let me explain why.
As I’m writing this in the desolate common room, I can truly say that I’m officially weirded out. By chance, I ran into a first year Ravenclaw, Myrtle Vranda, as I was heading to the Great Hall for lunch. Myrtle turned out to be a really pleasant and sweet girl despite looking and acting rather glum all the time. As a matter of fact, when I met her today, she looked to have been crying. Her eyes were slightly pink and puffy.
But the thing that got me the most about her was that she has a rather peculiar taste in boys in my humble opinion….
---
“Your brother Tom is really cute," Myrtle sniffled as they walked to the Great Hall that chilly, December afternoon. Miriam opened her mouth to respond, but she was totally caught off guard by Myrtle's irregular remark.
"Y - You think... Tom's... cute?!" Miriam gagged, repeating Myrtle’s comment to make sure she heard her accurately.
"Um-hmm. Do... do you think he'll go to the Christmastide celebration with me?" she inquired, wiping her eyes with her robe sleeves.
The words 'snowball's chance in hell' reverberated through Miriam’s head.
"He really doesn't seem like your type,” she answered, in desperate hopes of nipping this girlish infatuation in the bud. “There’s a really nice Hufflepuff boy only a few years older than you. His name is “"
"Please ask him!" Myrtle interrupted, pleading with Miriam. She looked into Myrtle's glistening eyes and bit her lip. Sighing, she reluctantly gave in.
"Look, I'll ask him, but I'm NOT promising ANYTHING! So don’t get your hopes up, okay?"
Myrtle squealed in delight as Miriam mentally formulated a plan of attack on how to best approach Tom on this matter.
~*~
"You're kidding, right?" Tom asked, folding his arms over his chest, his eyebrows partially raised. Miriam had spent the better half of her Monday searching Hogwarts for her brother. When she finally found him and told him about Myrtle's 'request,' he wasn't exactly jumping for joy over it.
"I know what you're thinking and probably going to say, but before you actually come right out and say it, I just want to say that she'll be really let down."
Tom eyed at Miriam incredulously and thereupon enquired, "A pity date?"
"Uh, sort of, I guess," Miriam answered tentatively, rubbing the back of her neck apprehensively. "But when you put it that way, it sounds so… so…"
"“ seedy?" he imparted.
"Yeah, something like that."
As Tom thought about it for a moment, an idea, a truly twisted idea, popped into his head and a devious grin squirmed its way onto his face.
"Sure, I'll go to the Christmastide celebration with Myrtle."
"You… you will? Oh, she'll be so happy to hear this!" Miriam exclaimed, mentally releasing a sigh of relief.
Tom grinned deceitfully. Unbeknownst to his sister, he had something devious up his black Slytherin sleeves.
December 24th, 1941
It’s around 2 AM, and I’m completely and utterly pissed off at Tom.
Upon my return to the Gryffindor common room after the celebration, I was greatly relieved to find it empty as I found it rather relaxing to be able to chuck my books around and break anything within five feet of me and not have someone think I was mentally disturbed.
This is what happened…
---
“Are you ready to go, Miriam?” Sophie asked, yelling up the stairs toward the girls’ dormitories.
“In a minute,” she called out. Miriam checked herself over one last time in the mirror and smiled. Three hours on hair and make-up, an hour finalizing our dresses (mine borrowed from Sophie), and finally we’re ready, she thought as she looked at her reflection. Her jet-black hair was pulled up into a chignon, and her face had just the right amount of lipstick and blush appropriate for a girl her age.
Pleased with her appearance, she slowly walked down the steps leading to the common room where her friends smiled, each one eagerly waiting to head to the Great Hall. Once she reached the bottom, she twirled around as she held her pale green dress, provided by her good friend Sophie.
“You look fantastic!” Sophie complimented her friend.
“Thank you so much for lending me this dress,” Miriam replied.
“Aw, it was no problem,” her friend blushed, her face soon matching the pink dress she was wearing.
Marcella, who wore a lavender dress, giggled, “Henry won’t know what hit him!”
The Great Hall had been decked out in its Christmas best. Twelve giant trees were placed throughout, and shiny fairy lights decorated every inch of them. Special magical icicles were hung from the ceiling, bathing the entire Hall in an ethereal silvery glow. Everyone seemed rather nervous at first, but the festive glow of the Great Hall was like an infectious bug, and soon all the students found themselves taking part of the festiveness.
What an odd couple Tom and Myrtle make, she thought, as they entered the Hall. For one thing, he was a Fourth year Slytherin: tall, slender, and good-looking, and the recent desire of all the girls at the party. And yet, here he was with a first year Ravenclaw girl, wearing pigtails and glasses. They received many a strange glare upon entering the Great Hall, but soon everyone became accustomed to seeing this rather mismatched couple.
Miriam still couldn’t fathom why Tom had agreed to go to the Christmastide celebration with Myrtle. It was like he had a plan or something. Something she couldn’t put her finger on…
Unfortunately, Myrtle’s perfect evening didn’t go off without a small hitch. A girl known as Libby Macnair made crude comments as she danced by Myrtle.
“Fat, ugly, Myrtle,” she whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.
Someone (whom she guessed correctly as Carrey) even made it a point to whisper loudly, “She has a big head and a face so unattractive, it’s almost fascinating!”
“At first I thought Tom was walking his dog. Then I realized it was his date,” came another belittling voice, which she guessed was Murdoch’s.
“Knut for your thoughts,” Henry whispered, disrupting her reflections as she danced absentmindedly with him.
“Sorry, Henry,” she replied, as they waltzed around the gaudily decorated Great Hall.
Too preoccupied with thinking that there must have been some sinisterly ulterior motive for Tom agreeing to go with Myrtle, she didn’t know she had even stepped on Henry’s foot in the process.
“I am so sorry!” she breathed as she helped Henry stagger over to some nearby seats to sit down.
Me and my blasted clodhoppers!
“It’s okay,” he winced, taking the incident with good humor.
Miriam sat down beside him and watched the other dancers waltz on by. Tom had seen what had happened, and though he was still dancing with Myrtle, he still found time to razz Miriam whenever he passed her. She secretly longed to yell a few choice words to him the next time he passed by her. Sighing, she turned her attention to Sophie and Marcella who were busily dancing and laughing over something their dance partners had said. Even the teachers were having a merry time. Professor Dumbledore was dancing the Charleston with Professor Ambley.
“This was quite a popular Muggle dance a few years ago,” she overheard him telling her.
Headmaster Dippet, meanwhile, was sharing a drink with Professor Luchtig; sitting by himself, away from all the merriment, was Professor Panes, who was glaring at the passersby over his drink.
“Thank you so much for arranging this,” a squeaky voice piped up from behind her. Looking behind her, she saw an extremely cheerful Myrtle.
“Oh, hi Myrtle. Where’s Tom?”
“He wanted to take a bit of a break,” she replied, sitting down next to Miriam. Checking around the Great Hall, she didn’t see him, but she figured he must have been outside taking a breather. Miriam whispered something to Henry and she left to go outside herself. It was a bit chilly outside, but it felt good after being in the stuffy Great Hall and working up a bit of a sweat. As she walked around the front of Hogwarts, her pale green dress swaying slightly in the cool breeze, she heard something strange... footsteps coming from behind her.
"Hello, Miriam," a voice called out smoothly to her. She looked behind her and saw Carrey Malfoy walking, or more like strutting toward her, an undeterminable grin upon his face. A weird sensation traveled through her body as Carrey made his way closer to her.
"What do you want, Carrey?" she enquired, watching him suspiciously.
"Did you see it?"
"See what?"
"Over here. It's the most incredible thing," Carrey lied.
Miriam raised an eyebrow. Something about the situation was nagging at her insides. There was just something that didn't seem kosher to her. "What do you want to show me?”
"It’s over by the lake. C’mon."
Miriam debated over whether to follow him or not. Her internal alarm was going off at full blast. After a minute of arguing with herself over the matter in her head, she took a deep breath and decided against her better judgment to follow him to the lake.
“All right, what do you want to show me?” she demanded, stopping by the edge of the lake. Carrey stopped walking abruptly, and before she could even react against, he swooped her into his arms and kissed her on the lips.
That bloody creep! she thought bitterly as she struggled to pull away from him. But Carrey had a rock-steady grip on her. She felt something strange... something wet on her mouth.
Ewwww! He's trying to French kiss me! The bloody pervert!
Pulling away proved ineffectual, as Carrey kept tightened his grasp on her. She could feel his hands rubbing up and down her back.
It’s now or never…
Raising her left foot, she thrust it down hard onto his right foot. His iron-tight grip on her suddenly loosened as he grabbed his foot and cringed in pain. “My... my foot!” he screamed.
Finally free from his clutches, she smacked him hard across the face, causing him to fall backwards into a shallow part of the lake with a large splash.
“What the bloody hell is wrong with you, you pervert?" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Talk... talk to your brother!" he shouted, water dripping down onto his face, his pale blond hair covering his eyes as he tried to maneuver his way out of the water. “It was all his idea!”
"You know something Carrey?” she yelled out. “You’re just lucky I didn’t kick someplace higher!” Turning on her heels, she stormed off leaving a completely soaked and freezing Carrey in her wake in order to find Tom and brain him for such a foolish idea.
Raging through the massive front lawn of Hogwarts she searched high and low for her idiotic brother, eventually encountering him in a sight that made her stomach turn acidic.
"Tom!" she squeaked, scarcely capable of finding her voice. "What are you doing out here?" she inquired, looking at him with mingled surprise and nausea as he tried to get out of a very compromising situation with... “Libby?! Libby Macnair?”
“In the flesh,” she answered sneeringly.
“Thomas Marvolo Riddle, you little insolent pain-in-the-ass! How could you - NO - HOW DARE you tell Carrey he could kiss me and try to have his way with me when you know damn well I already have a boyfriend!”
Her anger was boiling over inside her.
Tom walked up to her with a cool indifference. “What do you see in that duffer anyway?” he inquired silkily.
“Don’t call him that!” she shouted. “Besides, that’s none of your concern! At least Henry is nice and considerate, unlike your little… little… slut over here who’s rude and inconsiderate!
“Don’t you call her that! I’m not sleeping with her!” he fumed, his face slowly turning red.
“I… don’t… care WHAT you do in your spare time, but stay the hell out of my personal life!” she screamed. After she had said it, a malicious glint shimmered in his green eyes.
“How could you be so heartless to Myrtle?" she asked. “Don’t you even care that you breaking her heart?”
"I only agreed to go with her so Carrey could have a shot with you."
Miriam opened her mouth to respond, but she was stupefied by his comment.
“Let me get this straight,” she scowled. “You only agreed to go with Myrtle so Carrey could go with me? That does NOT make a whole lot of sense, considering I wasn’t even informed about it!”
Tom merely glanced at his hands and nodded his head nonchalantly, throwing back his jet-black hair as if he didn’t care in the slightest.
“You really should have gone with Carrey. At least he has a brain, unlike Henry who is merely insane with brief, lucid moments of stupidity!”
“That’s low, really it is,” she snarled. "You are so going to pay for that, Thomas Riddle!"
"What are you going to do to me? Send Henry after me?" he mocked, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. “Like I should really give a damn?”
"You'll see," she threatened. "You’ll see that paybacks are a bitch!" Taking a step backward, she took one last look at them before bolting back across the darkened lawn and running squarely into Henry.
“Whoa! Careful!” he exclaimed, wobbling slightly from the collision. “What’s the rush? I came out looking for you “”
“I don’t want to talk about it!” she responded abruptly without even looking up at him. Hurrying away, she didn’t even bother to look back to see his confused expression; she just continued on her way back to Hogwarts.
Upon reaching the front steps to the school, she slumped down on them and sighed. Not wanting to go back in there with all those happy and cheerful people, she stayed out on the steps, looking over the massive grounds as dark thoughts filled her head like a noxious mist.
“Miriam, is Tom coming back?” Myrtle asked, suddenly appearing behind her.
How do I best explain this to her?
Not knowing how to respond, she kept quiet and pretended she didn’t hear her. Her charade didn’t last long because Myrtle sat down next to Miriam. From them on, she was forced to acknowledge her. As Myrtle looked onto Miriam’s troubled face, words did not need to be exchanged for Myrtle to know exactly what was going on.
“Tom’s not coming back, is he?” her voice creaked solemnly. Miriam’s answer was a simple nod of her head. It was all the verification Myrtle needed before her eyes started glistening.
“I should have known,” she mumbled dejectedly, her squeaky voice going slightly higher and screechier now. “I should have known that someone as cute as he would never in his right mind want to go to the Christmastide celebration with me. Olive Hornby was right,” she moped, her head in her hands. “Nobody would want to go to the Christmastide celebration with fat, ugly, miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!”
“Who’s Olive?”
“Olive Hornby. She’s some Slytherin girl who takes great joy in teasing me - especially about my glasses,” she moaned as fat large tears spilled over onto her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, really, really sorry,” Miriam sighed. “I should have listened to myself and never let you go with Tom. I don’t know what’s wrong with him lately, but ““
”It’s okay,” she whimpered as she wiped her glistening eyes dry. But wiping proved futile as tears began gushing over faster than she could wipe. Miriam placed her arm around Myrtle and tried to comfort her as she cried.
"I thought Tom liked me!" she moaned, her voice getting squeakier again with every syllable.
Miriam didn’t know how to answer it. Telling her that Tom only went with her so Carrey could enact the truly perverted plan Tom had created for him was most definitely not the thing to tell her.
Eventually, Henry reappeared from the grounds and was ready to ask Miriam why she was so short with him earlier, but as he approached the steps, Miriam gave him a look that said that now was not the time to talk. He walked on by, and once he was out of earshot, Myrtle whispered, “Was he with another girl?”
“Libby Macnair.”
She didn’t know how long they sat out there for, watching the twinkling stars in the velvety black sky, but eventually Myrtle got up and slowly walked (and whimpered) back inside the castle, leaving Miriam alone and feeling much worse than she already did.
By this time, it was around midnight and the Christmastide celebration was nearing its end. Most of the crowd was gone from the Great Hall and only a few stragglers remained. Sophie and Marcella were nowhere to be seen, and Miriam figured they had gone back to the common room without her. Stifling a yawn, she decided to head there herself as it was getting very late on this emotionally draining day.
As she walked back to Gryffindor tower, she contemplated on the day, and slowly the sadness she felt turned into anger. Revenge had to be taken against Tom.
I'd best bide my time, she thought to herself. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold.