[1] prophecy → tom riddle [EDITING]

Chapter Twenty-Five: Douglas Beach, Brandy and Sand

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It was Christmas eve, by now so much snow had fallen that the muggle cars and trains could no longer operate. The remaining children that were still outside playing in the snow were called in by their mothers before the night ended.

Ophelia sat in her bedroom staring out into the back garden her mind was set on only one thing, proving Edvard's innocence – as it had been for everyone else's.

She knew once this was all over everything would go back to normal.

She knew that once Edvard's name was cleared her own and Rune's lives back at school will somewhat go back to normal too, no doubt they'll be bombarded with questions which they'll kindly ignore.

There was a light knock at the door followed by her father's soothing voice, "Ophelia dear, I think it's about time you go to bed."

"I've tried, but there are too many things on my mind," Ophelia whispered as she turned from her window to her dad.

"Sweetheart, I understand you want everything to go back to normal, but right now your mum and your family are grieving, and so are you. I've never seen you like this before, you're having constant mood swings," George continued the whisper, as he came over and hugged his daughter.

"I'm fine, dad, honestly," Ophelia smiled up to her dad, "just want New Years to come as quick as possible."

"Me too, Lia, me too," George kissed the top of his daughter's head, "get some rest, sweetheart, it's a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah okay, dad," Ophelia smiled as she crawled into bed whilst her dad closed her curtains, "and wait for it... Merry Christmas, dad."

"Merry Christmas, sweetheart," George left the room turning off the light and heading out to his own room to where his sleeping wife lay.

Unlike the Lockwood family, who fell asleep instantly, Emory Oliphant was unable to fall asleep as he looked out his bedroom window, looking over what he could see of the town of Douglas. Some snow had set but the harsh winds from the sea caused snow to rarely settle enough to make snowmen and have snowball fights.

Emory left his room heading towards his front door, his pet dog, Brandy, followed closely behind him as he reached the bottom of his stairs. He grabbed the nearest coat and his dog's lead and opened the door.

The only lights from the town were the Christmas decoration shining across the main streets Emory sat on the small bench underneath a cover that protected snow from directly falling in the front garden of the Oliphant household. He put on his shoes that were sat underneath the bench and proceed to walk out the front gate, this time Brandy was in front and leading Emory towards the shore just on the other side of town.

A five-minute walk didn't bother Emory nor Brandy as they reached Broadway Beach. The tide had only just gone out as the sand was still wet from where the water had been less than half an hour ago. The slight sea breeze mixed with the cold winter air hit Emory hard enough to send chills all over his body. There's only so much warmth a nearly eighteen-year-old can have if they're just wearing pyjamas and a coat by the shoreline with the wind blowing gently but still enough to give you a cold.

Further up the sand, Brandy has begun to dig at the sand, covering himself and leaving a big pile of sand behind him. Emory walked further up and sat on the bench that was no less than ten steps away from where Brandy was digging.

Brandy occasionally looked up at Emory, a big grin on his face and then went back to digging the whole in the sand, something that Emory was going to have to cover up just in case someone fell in later on in the daytime for the Christmas walk on the beach.

Emory sat there, thinking about everything that had happened within the past week. Rune's dad, Ophelia asking for Tom's help, Tom lying to Ophelia, and finally Ophelia's outburst from being wound up by him every so often.

But what was really stuck on his mind was how Ophelia was so easy to forgive Tom after he lied to her, she got over it just by saying I'll ask him at the New Year's party. If that was him, Ophelia would have been in a mood with Emory for what felt like an eternity.

Since the breakup, he had become so envious of Tom, jealousy was ridden in his veins, he feared how he would be if he were to teach the two when they were in their final year. He wondered if he was going to be able to maintain being professional or use his jealousy of Tom as an advantage and issue out minus points from Slytherin and give out detentions, but then he didn't want Ophelia to think less of him than she already did.

All these thoughts that traced through his head caused him to zone out, Emory hadn't noticed that Brandy had fallen asleep in the whole he had dug, nor did he notice the blood ruining down his face from his nose, he didn't even notice the pounding headache that ran all around his head until he saw the sun in the distance begin to rise.

He woke Brandy up and began to run back to his house. The usual five-minute walk knocked off two minutes as the two ran. Out by the front door stood Emory's mum with a worried look on her face.

"Oh thank goodness, Emory love, I thought you'd gone," Karen Oliphant cried out and reached for Emory's face, the small women of only five foot two inches somehow managed to bring her six-foot son down to her height so she could hug him in her motherly way.

"Don't worry, mum. I was only taking Brandy out for a morning walk down on the beach," he smiled as his mother let go.

"Emory, it is freezing out here, and your nose is bleeding!" Karen began to tell him off, "have you got one of your bad headaches again?"

Emory just nodded and Karen grabbed his arm and dragged him into the house. She dragged him into the kitchen and went over to the sink whereas Emory sat on the small table.

Karen grabbed a paper towel and added some water to dampen it. She cleared away the blood running down her son's face just in time as her daughter – who was absolutely prettified of blood, came into the kitchen.

"Merry Christmas!" Olivia, Emory's fifteen-year-old sister, yelled.

"Merry Christmas, Liv, mind not yelling though? Got a bit of headache." Emory smiled as his sister sat on his lap.

"Thinking of Ophelia again, is it?" Olivia asked looking up at her brother.

Just then their dad walked into the kitchen but swiftly turned around on his heal heading towards the living room muttering "I'm not talking to him about that girl no more".

"Liv, it's Christmas, let's at least try and go the day without mentioning her, I'm trying to get over her," Emory asked calmly.

Olivia got up and grabbed an apple, "trying to get over her and never will get over her don't sound the same to me." She took a bite out of her apple and headed towards the living room where the family's Christmas presents lay.

"Liv, I'm going to kill you!" Emory yelled.

"You will do no such thing on Christmas day, young man, you're not running this day by murdering your sister, do it any other day but today," Karen pointed the spatula at him, as she pointed from the small gap that peered into the living room and then all across the kitchen.

"You know, mum, I find it promising that you allow me to murder my sister any other day besides Christmas!" Emory stood up smiling and engulfed his mum into a bear hug, leaving the room and heading upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Olivia asked.

"To have a nap," Emory yawned as he climbed the stairs.

Brandy wagged his tail and began to follow him up the stairs leaving a trail of sand along the way.

As Emory had finally climbed into bed, with Brandy lying on top, there was a yell that came from his dad downstairs, "why is there a trail of sand in my godforsaken house?"