The Girl in Blue

Aurora had no plans to go to Hogsmeade that day. She sat down by the fireplace in the Slytherin common room while her fellow classmates bundled up and had their pockets full of sickles and galleons. She opened up her Potions book and started on the essay Slughorn had assigned to them.

"What do you think you're doing?" She looked up, mid-sentence, and saw Tom above her. He looked like he was going to go to Hogsmeade.

"Writing my essay." Aurora said, as-a-matter-of-factly.

Tom rolled his eyes.

"Come on." He said, lifting Aurora up by the arm.

"What? Why?" She asked, very confused.

"You're going to Hogsmeade." He said, rather bluntly, as if she were stupid. Aurora shot him a look and yanked her arm away, "Why?"

"Because--you need it." He said. He pushed her towards the girls' staircase, making sure he didn't get near it so it doesn't turn into a slide, and he said, "Get dressed. It's snowing."

Aurora kept glancing back at Tom until she could no longer see him and she entered her dormitory and found Madelyn there, alone. She stood by her bed and wrapped a scarf around her neck. She looked at Aurora when she walked in and gave her a smile.

Ever since Madelyn had come back from the hospital wing, and many weeks of being Petrified, she's been nicer to everyone, including Aurora. It must have been some sort of trauma but Aurora didn't mind since it was one less person to hate her.

Madelyn left the room and left Aurora alone to get dressed. When she came down, bundled up in a snow jacket and a large scarf and her hair pulled up in a ponytail, she was slightly surprised to see that Tom was still there.

"Thought I was going to leave?" He smirked, jerking his head and the two of them went down the passage and out in the halls of Hogwarts.

"Yes." She said. "I thought you were joking."

Tom smirked. "I don't joke."

The two of them headed down in silence and when the oak front doors opened to let them out, a burst of coldness hit them and it was a winter wonderland. The grounds were covered in snow and little snowflakes fell from the sky. Winter was truly there.

People ran by them, laughing and poking at each other. They looked like they were having loads of fun.

Aurora glanced at Tom who kept his eyes straight ahead, as though there was nothing around him.

They reached the village and Tom turned to her and said, "Anywhere in particular you'd like to go?"

"Um," She shrugged. "Want to try Honeydukes?"

Tom led the way to Honeydukes and when they entered, the shop was filled with Hogwarts students. It seemed they always went to Honeydukes first and then visited everything else.

Aurora didn't buy anything, but she looked around. She grabbed at a few samples and put them in her mouth--she could help but smile. Candy stores always made her smile.

"I dare you to try this." Tom held out a black looking thing that wiggled. Her eyes widened and she shook her head. He smirked and put it back, leaning against the wall and staring at nothing in particular.

Aurora went around, and looked at all the stuff. She felt eyes on her and when she turned around, she saw Tom, who immediately averted his eyes and focused on something else. She shrugged and went back to browsing.

Aurora wasn't looking at all and she suddenly felt herself smack into somebody.

"Oh--" She exclaimed while the boy in front of her exclaimed, "Bloody hell!" and dropped all of his belongings.

"Oh!" Aurora exclaimed, seeing his stuff scattered across the floor. "Let me help you!"

"No, it's alri--" He looked up. It was Remington.

Aurora immediately stopped, and stood up straight and cleared her throat. Remington stood up too, leaving his stuff, and he stared at her.

"Um," She said, awkwardly. "I will just--"

"Oh, why are you here?" James appeared. He pointed his eyes at Aurora and had a grimace on his face.

She was shocked. "What? Am I not allowed to visit Hogsmeade like the rest of my classmates?"

"You'll Petrify someone." James sniggered with his friends. Remington, she noticed, didn't say or do anything. He just stared.

Someone cleared their throat behind her and Tom appeared. James looked between Tom and Aurora and he said, "Oh, Riddle. You shouldn't fraternize with a dangerous person like Jenkins here."

Tom was unamused. "Don't tell me what to do."

The laughter left James' face when he realized that Tom was being serious. He furrowed his eyebrows and turned around, muttering to Remington, "Let's go."

Aurora watched them as Remington glanced back at Aurora with an unreadable expression on his face. When they were clear out of their line of vision, Tom turned around and looked at Aurora, before saying, "Let's get out of here."

She followed Tom as he led her out back in the cold again. She shivered even though her jacket was meant for intense cold weather. Tom saw and he suggested, "The Hog's Head."

"What?" She asked, but Tom kept walking towards a wooden shack. It had a sign that said 'The Hog's Head' on it and Aurora wondered why she never saw it before.

They entered and she was surprised to see that they were some of the only few there. The man behind the counter made her do a double-take because she swore she thought that it was Professor Dumbledore.

Tom sat down at a table and Aurora sat across from him. Tom snapped his fingers towards the Dumbledore doppelganger and suddenly, two glasses full of butterbeer floated towards them. Aurora took hers and set it down on the table while Tom sipped from his.

"Don't let them get to you, Aurora." Tom said, breaking their silence.

She didn't say anything.

"Hastings only has one friend and thats Arias. No one else can live up to his expectations."

"I just wish they didn't string me along." Aurora sighed. "I'd rather be hated for the rest of my life than have fake friends. That's fake happiness. None of it was real."

Tom cleared his throat and he leaned back in his chair. "Power is happiness."

"What?" She said, confused.

"Hastings is quite, ah, popular in Ravenclaw." He rolled his eyes. "He has power over people."

"Do you believe popularity can bring you power?"

Tom shook his head. "No." He leaned and lowered his voice so that the other people couldn't hear their conversation. "It all has to do with talent. Whether you know people or not--it's not going to get you anywhere. Knowledge can bring you power."

"Why do you need power, though?" Aurora asked, taking a sip from her butterbeer. She raised an eyebrow at Tom who smirked and answered, "To rule the world."

Aurora laughed, even though Tom was not joking. She did not notice his serious look and continued to laugh.

"Are you done?" Tom said, rather angrily. She calmed down and said, "Tom, that's ridiculous. Ruling the world, what the bloody hell would you accomplish by this?"

"By getting rid of muggles and Mudbloods." Tom said. Aurora stopped laughing, immediately. Her parents always taught her that she should never call a muggle-born a Mudblood. Tom had realized that she suddenly became quiet and he raised an eyebrow, "What? Are you one of those people?"

"Yes." She said, as-a-matter-of-factly. "That's a horrible thing to say, Tom."

He rolled his eyes. "Cruel world, Rose. Don't hide from it."

Aurora took her glass and sipped from it and fascinated herself with something else rather than their conversation. The Hog's Head was a rather dingy looking place, but it felt kind of...home-y. It was much less crowded than the Three Broomsticks, but there was some sort of aura to it.

"You aren't a talkative pair." Aurora jumped when someone who was not Tom spoke. She turned her head and looked up at the Dumbledore doppelganger.

"I said something to make Aurora angry at me, Aberforth." Tom said, a sly smirk on his face. "She's sensitive."

"I'm not sensitive!" She exclaimed, standing up, knocking her glass full of butterbeer over. "You are just outright rude. You have absolutely no sense of what's right and what's wrong. I don't even bloody care if you're joking, you're an idiot."

Aurora turned on her heel and stormed out of The Hog's Head, not even watching where she was going. She just wanted to go back to the castle and work on her Potions essay.

"Aurora! Wait!" She heard Tom behind her. She groaned and started to walk faster.

"Aurora, stop." He caught up to her and grabbed ahold of her wrist and stopped her and her pulled her into the small space between the buildings of Zonko's and Honeydukes where no one could see them. Aurora turned around and said, "Let go."

"I'm," He sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't, ah, mean any of the stuff I said. It was only a joke."

"You said you don't joke." Aurora glared, pulling her wrist but Tom's grip on it was very tight and it was starting to her. "Tom, let go--"

"What happened to when you said that you were just done with everyone treating you like dirt. I am the only person you have--"

"Why are you persistent on this, Tom?" She cried, trying to yank her arm away. "You said you didn't do friends, you said that you didn't want to be my friend."

"I like to call them acquaintances." Tom commented. "And things change..."

"What are you getting at?" Aurora asked, not believing him. "Tom, I really don't understand you. I mean, you make me feel like a mad person. One minute, I think maybe, just maybe, you are an alright person and that I could trust you or something, and then the next, you do something and I can't stand you. You were never like this."

Tom stared, his jaw was clenched.

"Why can't you be like the old-Tom?"

He shook his head. "We're the same person."

"What happened to the boy who stole my cupcakes whenever we had them for dessert? What happened to the boy who gave it back to me? What happened--"

"He grew up!" Tom exclaimed, angrily. "Aurora, get it through your head that seven year old me is not the same as fifteen year old me."

"He is certainly better." She muttered. Tom let go of her wrist and said, "I don't understand you, at all."

"What is your real reason for taking me here, then?" Aurora asked.

Tom leaned against the wall that belonged to Zonko's and he said, "I thought you needed someone to be here for you."

"I thought you didn't you that...mushy stuff." She glared, still disbelieving.

"I'm serious." He said, flatly. "I honestly like you more than Hastings or Arias. I'm on your side here."

Aurora sighed. "Okay. Fine."

Neither Tom nor Aurora moved. They stayed in the tiny little crevice between the two shops and they didn't even blink. Tom's eyes moved to Aurora's blue necklace and he stared at it, remembering all the times kids at the orphanage would take it from her and he had to threaten them to get it back, even though they were only joking. Aurora followed his gaze and her hand immediately went to her necklace; Tom's eyes flicked up to hers.

"We should go." He whispered.

Aurora nodded yet they still hadn't moved. She didn't even notice that she took a step forward and their faces were only centimeters away.

What am I doing? was her final thought before she pulled Tom forward and attached her lips to his. Aurora didn't even realize that she was the one who initiated it, but it seemed that Tom didn't mind because his lips moved with hers and he pulled her in closer to him.

Aurora broke the kiss off and the two of them gasped for air. She looked at him, flabbergasted, and said, "I'm--I'm sorry..."

He shook his head. "You don't need to be."

"Why do we keep doing that?" She asked, panting. Tom smirked but he didn't say anything. He looked at Aurora again and said, "We really should go."

She nodded and followed him out. A blush was permanent on her cheeks and she couldn't stop glancing back at Tom, who looked a little flushed himself.

"You're a curious boy, Tom." Aurora said, suddenly. He looked at her, a confused expression on his face and she said, "You're interesting."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Tom asked.

Aurora shrugged and said, "That you are an interesting person. I don't really understand you and I don't think I ever will. I didn't think you'd care enough for me to defend me in front of Remington and James."

"I've always done that." He mumbled.

She nodded. "I know. But you said yourself that you've changed. I just--didn't think that --nevermind, I don't really know what I'm saying." She chuckled.

Tom didn't say anything. Aurora felt very awkward before she muttered, "Thank you."

He looked at her and she looked at him. They stopped in front of the entrance to the castle and he nodded his head without saying a word.

"Tom!"

They turned around and saw Lestrange beckoning him.

"I should--" Tom started but Aurora nodded and said, "Go ahead. You're finished with me for today."

He cleared his throat and turned around, leaving Aurora alone by the doors. She watched Tom walk away and meet up with Lestrange, who started talking. Tom said something back to him and he glanced at Aurora, and she saw a hint of a smirk.

Tom Riddle confused her and she wasn't sure if she liked it--but he was certainly getting at something. Aurora wasn't sure if she should have been scared or not.