𝕬 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝕭𝖔𝖗𝖓 | 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 |

Chapter 32- Fleeting and Fancy

The temperature seemed to be dropping every other second, as it started moving deeper and deeper into the last month. It was the beginning of a brutal winter that unfortunately didn't appear to have an end anywhere in sight. September and October had gone by rather quickly. Frankie managed to coerce Tom into participating in the Halloween contest, even though he was supposed to be on his best behavior this year in order to make prefect. He wanted a bit of fun and, after last year's incident at the event, it was probably best to keep Frankie close by him. They teamed up and certainly won for the best scares, which was another sort of unofficial contest in itself. None of the first years even made it to the dungeons. Tom and Frankie both settled back into school life seamlessly. However, ever since November started, things had begun to move slower and, by December, it felt like time wasn't going anywhere at all. One of the causes was the large amount of homework that needed to be done before the holiday break. Professor Beery was especially ruthless and was handing out loads of extra work to make up for the lost greenhouse time. To add onto his foulness, he'd also gotten hit with a nasty winter cold, along with a number of the other teachers. So, the work for all the students was piling up like anxious and stressful snow.

Another cause to the sudden stop of time was the rapidly dropping temperature. It's always fun to play around in the snowy hills, but after an extended period of constant snowfall, it becomes more of a hassle then a treat. The Hogsmeade trips almost got canceled due to a near blizzard. The castle had become freezing in most parts and students scarcely wanted to leave the warmth and serenity of the common room to do much of anything.

However, rain or shine, busy or not, it was once again Sunday morning.

"It's freezing out here." Frankie reported, wrapping her scarf tighter around her neck. The two were taking their Sunday walk in the blistering cold of mid-December. They hadn't even made it to the tree yet and she couldn't feel her toes anymore. "I sure hope all the creatures are doing alright in this dreadful weather—Is it alright if we stop by Ogg's later? Nougat is more likely to sneak into the castle and cause mayhem when he's cold. He's already stolen several of the Christmas baubles since Ogg put up the trees—"

"Enough already!" Tom hissed, angrily at her. He usually found her critter chatter befuddlingly adorable, but in the cold it had the opposite effect and stoked his tempers. "Let the little rat freeze! You're mine. Every Sunday for the rest of your life. You promised me that."

His cold attitude was a perfect mirror of the weather. However, that didn't make it warranted. Tom did slightly regret saying this comment, moments after he had said it. He usually never acted this way when he was with her, or at least he tried his best not to say anything that would make her too angry or upset. But he had made their childish promise sound like he owned her. It was an ugly thing to do.

"I'm sorry." Frankie apologized, flashing him a warm smile that melted through some of the cold bitterness. She either didn't seem to mind his hot-headed attitude or was simply oblivious to how truly rude and possessive he had been. However, Tom suspected she kept her arguments internally. It wasn't worth getting mad at every little thing.

"It's not really your fault. You don't need to apologize when I'm the one who lost my temper," he replied, letting her warm smile in, to ease some of his irritability. "If I ever say something too severe, don't be afraid to jinx me. I'll probably be even more cross about it in the moment, but I also wouldn't blame you."

"I'll hold you to that."

"—And I'll be sure to mind my manners next time." Tom mumbled. "Seriously though, just knit the bugger a sweater and be done with it."

They sat in the frosted grass and dawned the hoods of their cloaks now that they weren't walking towards the wind. The look was less obvious, unlike their previous winter outings, where Tom refused to where his scarf and they'd spend the walk conjoined at the neck. They had both finally gotten proper winter cloaks and he could easily conceal his scarf now. He thought it looked ridiculous, but the scarf was looking a lot more appealing nowadays, considering it was cold and the fact that being seen with Frankie was becoming more dangerous by the day.