A Little Bit of Love

"Love, I've missed you so much!" Rose Weasley gushed, wrapping Philos in a hug with all the strength her body possessed. "You swore you'd write to me and I didn't receive a single letter from you Ms. Riddle! I was so worried about you," she announced then added, "and Sophie. I was starting to think your mother had finally jumped over the rainbow."

Philos grinned at her best friend and shook her head, her dark brown hair whipping over her face as she did. "No, not yet. But it's only a matter of time before she does and I can't wait until she does."

Her smile faded a bit as Mr. Weasley walked over to his daughter and pulled her into a quick side hug. He glanced down at Philos and gave her a strained smile. About 23 years ago he had lost family because of her grandfather. "How are you doing?" He asked her trying his best to be polite, but he met her eyes with a frigid glare that chilled what little warmth there was in his greeting.

Philos looked down at her shoes, wishing that the Earth would just absorb her into its warm center. At least there she wouldn't have to deal with the constant reminders about a past which wasn't her own. Nothing that occurred then was her fault; she hadn't even been alive when it happened. She wasn't even a thought for Merlin's sake! But could she say all of this? Of course not, so she settled for the all too trite response, mumbling down to her shoes "I'm doing well, thank you for asking."

"Good to hear." Sure it was. It wasn't like Ronald Weasley honestly cared a Knut about her. The only thing he cared about was his family. That wasn't so bad though. It must be nice to have a family to care about but all she had was her twin sister. Mr. Weasley turned back to his daughter and ruffled her hair fondly. "Now don't let me get any letters from the Headmistress, Rose and watch over Hugo."

"I will Dad," Rose answered innocently.

It was then that Hermione Weasley approached and Philos decided it was time to leave. "I'm going to go find us a compartment Rose," she stated backing off from the small family. "Bye Mr. Weasley, see you next summer."

"Bye, have a good year."

Philos nodded her head and turned away, "Thank you Mr. Weasley, erm...you too." With that she sprinted off to the train and slumped through the train until she reached an empty compartment. "Thank the stars," Philos muttered darkly as she dropped onto the seat. She allowed her messenger bag to thump to the ground and her old cat, Machus mewed from inside his cage pawing the gate mournfully. "Sorry buddy," Philos consoled briefly. "I'll let you out in just a second."

She stood up once more with a very light trunk and stood on tip-toe to push it onto the rack over the seat. It slid over the rods, clinking with each rod the hollow wood hit, but it wasn't without several attempts. Sometimes Philos wished that she had inherited some of Tom Marvolo Riddle's traits, such as height. She had heard from her mother, who apparently had worshipped the ground the Dark Lord walked on, that he was as tall as the Hogwarts entrance. Well, she always doubted that but the point came across and she envied him for it. What a bloody shame! Jealous of an evil man, long dead.

Philos sighed and shook her head as she settled back down into her seat with her mission accomplished. It was a classic Riddle emotion, or so she was told time and again. Riddles are prone to be envious of things that they shouldn't be. For example, her father had wanted to be just like Albus Dumbledore when he was a child; no, not wise as one might assume, but he did want the long, silver beard.

The door slid open as Philos giggled and Rose skipped into the compartment only stopping to ask why Philos was laughing. "Just remembered something about my dad," Philos answered shortly.

"Care to share?" Rose asked as she easily tipped her trunk onto the opposite luggage rack. Then she sat daintily on the seat, making sure her skirt wouldn't wrinkle as she did so. Rose Weasley was so pretty that it came as no surprise to anyone that she was popular with the boys. But she always took the time to look her best; constantly applying fresh make-up, smoothing down her clothes, re-curling her perfect lashes and twisting her long ginger hair into two flawless pig-tails.

Philos on the other hand, though she was naturally very pretty (a trait that she did pick up from her Riddle blood), never really cared about how she looked. She always found that there were other things to do than sit in front of a mirror making sure that every strand was perfect. She'd much rather throw on her uniform, and quickly run her hands through her shoulder-length hair. It was razor-cut, layered with the longest just touching her shoulder blades and the front done with bangs that often fell into her, shading her almond shaped eyes. It was convenient for her and to be perfectly honest, looks didn't matter much when she was the star Chaser on the Gryffindor team for three years straight and was on the Honor's List in all of her classes, topping it for Charms, Transfiguration, and Astronomy.

Philos stopped brooding on her differences for a moment and grinned at Rose with that radiant smile of hers. "I was just thinking about the really silly things my dad used to do." She shrugged and then stared out the window.

Rose stopped examining herself in the compact mirror that she always carried around with her. "Have you heard anything from your dad recently?"

"Not a peep," Philos answered with a non-committal shrug.

They lapsed into silence once more before Rose broke it again with a loud clap and a gasp. "So what happened with you and James? I was certain that the two of you would be an item by now. But James has given me absolutely nothing juicy and as your best friend, I demand to know everything!"

"Nothing happened at all, Rose." She sighed and thought about the said boy. James Potter had these crystal blue eyes that made her heart melt and her stomach flutter as if she were falling rapidly. Philos had liked him since she first understood what a crush was and took advantage of whatever opportunity she got to spend time with him.

"Well, he's happy about something," Rose pried relentlessly. "I know he has a girlfriend. He said so himself and my dad did this whole celebration thing to commemorate the event. James' First Date was written on this huge banner and there were pictures of him when he was little." Rose was a wonderful person but she sometimes didn't know when to quit.

Philos gazed at Rose, her amber eyes filled with a mixture of emotions. But the one that came out when she spoke was betrayal. "He's dating Sophia, ok? Can you drop it now?"

Rose fell silent and stared out the window her cheeks blazing red. When she finally spoke again it was with a mixture of pity and disappointment. "James is an idiotic jerk anyway. You two wouldn't have meshed very well."

"So I've been told..."

Suddenly the compartment door slammed open and Philos didn't even have to look up to see who had strutted in and plopped down next her. "Little sister! How is life?" Sophia Andromeda Riddle slurred as she made herself at home in the compartment. "I feel as if I haven't seen you in forever."

"Maybe that's because you haven't been home in forever, Meda." Philos stated coldly, not taking her eyes off the landscape whizzing by.

"Now Love, I hope you're not still sore with me for leaving you with Mum? She's not so bad, you know, when you strip away the rough edges." She cackled at this and Philos vaguely wondered how she was so beautiful when she had all the other qualities of a hag. "So how was your summer?"

"Fantastic as always," Philos muttered.

Sophia stood up and brushed off the imaginary dirt that had gathered onto her skirt since she had sat down. Philos glanced at her quickly and looked away suppressing a disapproving shake of the head. As always Sophia was dressed in her uniform with the hem a hand shorter than its usual length, the seeming perfectly redone and her blouse so tight that it seemed like it was painted until her perfect body. "Well, now that we had our little chat I have to go. Chaio Love," she glanced at Rose with a look of disgust and breezed out of the compartment.

"I hate her," Rose mumbled darkly. "She is such a bitch."

"She's also my sister..." Philos said with a yawn and stretched out onto the seat that Sophia had just vacated. However much she disapproved of her sister's ways or however much she was hurt by her sister's ruthlessness, Sophia was still her big sister; her twin sister. There was no way she was going to allow anyone to insult Sophia no matter how much she deserved it.

And Rose understood because she stayed quiet until the fiery steam-engine finally pulled into Hogsmeade Station.