Huffily Puffily || Golden Trio

Welcome Home || xxvii

"Was your handwriting always this good, or did you put in a lot of hours for it?"

It was a valid question in Lucy's opinion, but Riddle didn't seem to appreciate it. She had a week before she'd leave for her second year at Hogwarts, and she had spent most of it reading out of Riddle's Book. It was an album of his discoveries, spells he found useful, and notes on Dark creatures. She particularly liked the spells portion of it— there were only so many she could practice in Mallory's shop without the witch growing suspicious.

Riddle sat with his legs crossed on her bed, and she sat next to him with the book open on her lap. He always finished reading before her– he was such a git– and whenever her attention would wander, he'd set her back on track. It was like having a tutor who wouldn't go away.

"Just read the book, Lucy. There's important information in there," he said instead of answering her question. Hah. He definitely spent hours practicing it.

Her gaze wandered to his prefect badge and she snorted. "Such a prefect answer."

"You'll be a prefect eventually if I have anything to do with it," he told her casually.

She looked at him in absolute horror. "Merlin, I'd rather die!" She said, aghast. Her, wielding a prefect's badge? Having to look out for students? Be responsible? Attend meetings?

Riddle scoffed and rolled his eyes at her dramatics. "Prefects get a lot of opportunities past Hogwarts. If the job you want was between you and a former prefect, they'll certainly choose the prefect."

"Jokes on you, Riddle. I don't plan to get a job. I plan to wander off into a deep, mysterious forest and lose my mind to the secrets within." She said this so seriously that he actually looked disturbed for a few seconds. The more she thought about the idea, the more it appealed to her. Living in the forest with nothing but her wand, no laws and no one to stop her? She'd live like a king...

"Quit being ridiculous," he scolded. He tilted his head to the side, thinking. "I do wonder– what do you actually want to be after Hogwarts?"

"An evil overlord," she said automatically.

"...Really?"

Okay, he believed that? She stared at him blankly for a few seconds, but Riddle seemed to genuinely believe her. "No! Really, Tom, who plans that from the moment they're twelve?"

He shifted slightly. "I've heard of it happening," he said. "Now answer the question."

She huffed and stared ahead of her, thinking deeply. What did she want to do? "I don't know many wizarding careers," she admitted. She knew of healers, professors, and ministry workers, but none of those sounded very appealing. Mallory's shop sounded nice but it was mostly the shady dealings that excited her. "Something exciting. A little dangerous, too."

Riddle nodded, and a small smirk pulled at the corners of his lips. "I think we would have gotten along greatly in my time."

"Really?"

"Definitely. I didn't have quite your humor for tricks when I was your age, but I liked to get away with things." His eyes glimmered with excitement, thinking back on his Hogwarts days. "I think we would have made a great team."

She smiled to herself. She imagined what it would have been like if she and Tom grew up in the orphanage at the same time, or even if they had met each other at Hogwarts. She'd have probably driven him mad— but the pranks they could pull together, the trouble they could get into.

"Well, in a way, we're going to Hogwarts together," she reminded, grinning. "For six more years, in fact."

"If you don't lose the diary," he said dryly.