The Girl in Blue

Aurora felt her heartbeat speed up as she walked closer to the place that was once her home. She stared at the building--remembering the last time she was there and she sighed. Her intention was different.

She walked through the doors and went up the woman behind the counter.

"Hi, am I supposed to have an appointment or something if I want to visit someone here?" Aurora asked. The woman gave her a curious look and nodded her head, writing something down on the paper in front of her.

"Name?"

"Aurora Jenkins."

"Are you just visiting?"

Aurora nodded. The woman was silent for a second after that until she looked up again and asked her who she was visiting.

"T--Tom Riddle?"

The woman stared.

"Tom Riddle?"

Aurora nodded again.

The woman looked completely taken aback. Someone came to visit Tom Riddle? Aurora remembered how he never got visitors. And visitors usually meant a family coming to see if the child was a good fit to be adopted. Aurora received many of them. Tom never got any. He was just too strange and gave off a creepy aura.

"Alright, well, come this way," she said, standing up and walking down the wall.

Aurora followed, feeling nervous for some reason, and they went up to a room. Aurora couldn't believed her eyes--it was the same room. She glanced at the one across from it--her previous room--but the door opened.

"Tom, you have a visitor."

She spun around and her eyes locked with Tom's, who had to must confused and curious expression on his face. Once he saw that it was her, he didn't stop the staring match.

"Scream if you hear or see anything strange," the woman muttered under her breath, so only Aurora could hear.

Aurora gave her a look and said, "I think I'll live."

She looked up at Tom again, once the woman was out of earshot, and she said, "Hi." She stepped inside and pulled Tom by his shirt into a kiss.

"What are you doing here?" Tom pulled away, sounding on the verge of being angry. She furrowed her eyebrows--she thought he would be happy to see her.

"How did you know I'm still here?"

Aurora looked around his room. Everything was the same as she had remembered and a smile grew on her face from all the memories that the two had shared. Her sneaking off after bedtime and reading books with him...the two of them scheming to embarrass Leilani Sherwood or Jack Barstow...

"I came by during Christmas break to, uh, to find out about my real parents and Mrs. Cole said that you were still here..." Aurora said.

Tom never liked Mrs. Cole. She was always on his case and it got annoying. Plus, she acted like she cared about him too much. But really, it was just pity--a sixteen year old still at an orphanage. Tom loathed it.

"What are you doing here?" Tom asked again.

"Am I not allowed to visit you?" Aurora sat down on his bed. The last time they were in his room, Aurora was telling him about how a family came and visited her (the Jenkins') and they were strongly considering adopting her.

"I'd rather you didn't," Tom grumbled. "Do you...live close?"

Aurora shrugged. "A train ride away."

Tom leaned against the wooden desk at the corner of the room, and he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I don't--I don't really know why I'm here," Aurora said. "I just found myself going in this direction and thought I'd pay a visit."

Tom didn't say anything.

"How is it here?" She mumbled.

"Boring. Stupid. Pointless." Tom shrugged. "It hasn't changed much, unfortunately. Except the kids are a lot easier to scare."

"You're still doing that?"

"Of course, I am."

Aurora rolled her eyes. She was once a victim of Tom's scares. He brought her to the forest behind the orphanage and told her to go inside because there was a 'present' waiting for her. Aurora didn't believe him so she didn't do it, but Tom didn't stop there. In fact, he brought the 'present' to her. A snake came out of nowhere and at first, Aurora was so scared but she saw that Tom was mumbling something and she figured that he was just controlling it. She ran away, still, but she approached Tom and asked him about those powers. It wasn't until a few days later when Tom saw Aurora make an apple levitate that she was just like him.

Then they never left each other's sides.

"How is your family?" Tom asked, kicking the ground.

Aurora nodded. "It's still awkward, but we're getting there."

There was a silence. Aurora didn't expect it at all, in fact, she expected her time with Tom to be a little more...romantic? Maybe that's not the right word, but she didn't expect there to be any kinds of silence...

"Tom, have you ever figured out anything about your real parents?" Aurora asked. Tom's eyes locked with hers and she immediately added, "I mean, you always used to talk to me about my real parents, but you never said anything about yours. I just thought that--that after all this time you would have figured it out by now?"

He shook his head. "That's not the biggest priority right now, Aurora."

"What do you mean?"

He smirked at her and said, "You'll find out soon enough."

Aurora cocked an eyebrow. Another secret to be kept? She couldn't help but wonder--after he agreed that he wanted her--that he had a reason behind it. He said so himself that love was never an option for him--so what was his reason?

Aurora opened her mouth but closed it again. She was going to ask him about that--on if he was going to use her for something.

But she immediately decided she would wait it out--see what he wanted to do. The worst Tom Riddle had ever done was set a basilisk on muggle borns, and even that stopped once someone was found dead.

It couldn't be worse than that, right?