𝕬 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝕭𝖔𝖗𝖓 | 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 |

Chapter 16- Could You Do Me a Favor?

The cold feeling of neglect brought on by the holiday vacation had vanished completely after Christmas and they finally managed to get into the swing of a proper vacation. There was a strong sense of home that filled the school in this rare period. You could sit wherever. Talk to whomever. There were less prying eyes to judge you. However, despite the fact Tom and Frankie could actually be seen together in this secluded chunk of time, they were not together very often. For Frankie, it was five days of running around with Ethan and Rodger, playing in the snow, and hiding out in the warmth of the kitchens with cups of hot cocoa when they'd had enough. She'd also started talking with Minerva in the common room after supper about the various things on her mind. She was only a year older then Frankie, but she gave her more level-headed and mature advice then Rodger did as her prefect. Sometimes, Minerva would get distracted by a book and not have a moment to talk, but the common room still seemed unable to become completely silent. Ethan opened up with even more stories of his parent's greatest adventures. Rodger and Alice argued over pretty much everything and anything that somehow came up in this brief period of time. Frankie no longer felt the loneliness left by her roommates' departure. This was certainly better than home.

Meanwhile, Tom had officially started the search for his family's origins. He'd done a little bit of the work at the start of school, after Prue first gave him the tip, but quickly got caught up with the subjects they were actually studying. He couldn't afford to fall behind. So, Tom spent his five days of vacation gathering stacks of books on wizarding families. Turns out the librarian had left the key with Dumbledore and, when Frankie told him that Tom was eager to get back in there, he allowed Tom to make use of the deserted library in his free time. However, Tom was getting more and more frustrated with every passing day. He was getting nowhere. Every mention of 'riddles' in books were literal references. The name didn't exist in wizardry.

Also, in addition to finding nothing, Professor Slughorn had become a constant visitor to the library, after finding Tom had settled there. He distracted Tom with a strong mixture of intriguing questions and tantalizing tales of the wizarding world. Slughorn may not have looked like much, but he had stories for days. He was highly connected and knew almost everyone in the world who mattered. Although Tom should've found it irritating, he didn't mind Slughorn's company. Despite the rumors he'd heard about Slughorn's insatiable habit to vet students exclusively from good backgrounds, he seemed very keen on his future and didn't seem to give a lick about his past.

                                                  ─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was the final morning of the year. Frankie was rushing to get ready as usual, however, it was not a usual day. It was Tom's twelfth birthday. A loud day for him that was usually drowned out by New Year's Eve celebrations and the fact that none of the other orphans wanted to celebrate the birthday of someone who they believed to be the son of Satan. If they wanted to celebrate anything, it would be surviving yet another year in his horrid presence. Tom had never had anyone be excited about his birthday. So, Frankie had promised him that they would celebrate their freedom and he would have a proper birthday for the first time in twelve years. She'd even arranged with Dumbledore for a surprise celebration with the small number of people left in the castle. It wouldn't be much, but there would be cake.

They were supposed to meet promptly at ten and it was nine-thirty when Frankie slipped on her shoes. After being scolded by Tom so many times, she had given herself a lot of extra time to get there. She'd even borrowed Dumbledore's pocket watch, just to be on the safe side. Unfortunately, the watch wasn't exactly like a normal gentlemen's pocket watch. It was obviously something of Dumbledore's invention. It had twelve hands that were different lengths, different colors, and were twirling around the face at different speeds. In lieu of numbers, it had a multitude of planets orbiting around in a circle. Dumbledore briefly explained how the watch worked, when she borrowed it yesterday, and Frankie took it with a confident lie that she understood his instructions. She was too kind to tell him that his watch was only something he could possibly understand and was unable to come up with a viable substitute in time.