Serpentine [T.M. Riddle]

Lavender's Blue

Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue,
If you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you.
You will be sweet, dilly, dilly, you will be kind
But most of all, dilly, dilly, you will be mine.

If you should die, dilly dilly, as it may hap,
You shall be buried, dilly dilly, under the tap;
Who told you so, dilly dilly, pray tell me why?
That you might drink, dilly dilly, when you are dry.

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen:
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?
'Twas mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.

I love to dance, dilly dilly, I love to sing;
When I am queen, dilly dilly, you'll be my king.
Who told me so, dilly dilly, who told me so?
I told myself, dilly dilly, I told me so.

Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue,
You must love me, dilly dilly, cause I love you,
I heard one say, dilly dilly, since I came hither,
That you and I, dilly dilly, must die together.

.

The first thing Tom looks up the moment he wakes, is dreams. The second is visions. The third is Seers. He almost runs a trail to the library in his powder blue pajamas before coming to his senses: The library is closed. It is not a good idea to go out at this hour. Instead, he confides himself to the much smaller library within his common room. Most of the books are Slytherin records and history, as well as copies of pedigree certificates and detailed family trees, but his luck shines through and he finds two adequate books on the subject. He lays them out, open, alongside the torn page from the book he borrowed from Ximena.

He should probably return the bracelet.

He doesn't want to.

The page he ripped out of the book explains the basic functions: protection against evil and malicious intentions. Specifically the Evil Eye. One of the books (the smallest one, it's a detailed memoir from a Slytherin student in 1515 that reads like a manifesto,) is written by a Seer. It speaks about their predictions for the next millennium, cursed objects, and the sanctity of dreams. The second one is a basic dream interpretation manual with woodcut illustrations from 1624 Colonial America.

This is what he concludes after an hour of silent, diligent reading:

Bracelets like hers can rebound when taken away from their owners, particularly if they have been in their possession for a number of years. The magic from the bracelet and the magic of the owner feed off each other. Grow off each other. Communicate with each other. Like a wand and its witch. Even if the owner is a Muggle, the bracelet can bond strongly, and taking it away could result in a curse being placed upon the thief in question.

Luckily, he did not steal it. He found it.

No, he wasn't so stupid as to think that. He wanted to be, though. Ignorance of his situation is much desired.

As for the curse, it can manifest in various forms. Boils and misfortune are traditional, but he suspects that Ximena's former bracelet has worse in store for him. That whoever gave her that bracelet has worse in store for him. It does weigh heavy. Heavier than any threaded trinket has any right to weigh, and it does so increasingly as the days go by. Perhaps one day, if he kept it long enough, it would weigh as much as an elephant.