how it feels to be alive {tom riddle}

seven: war

WAR

As Lucia stirred awake, she felt the cold morning air striking at her skin. She must have tossed and turned in her sleep, as the covers were tangled in a white twisted mess around her.

Tom was already awake. A busy mind allows the body little time for sleep. He was writing in his diary of course, brushing the soft feathers of the quill over his lips in thought.

The morning light gave a warm glow to the room, a clear contrast from the cold moonlight the previous night.

"Morning." He greeted, looking over at Lucia from his page. His hair was messy from sleep, but his eyes looked quite awake.

"Morning." She responded, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, "Have you been awake for long?"

"Only about an hour." He told her, running his slender fingers along the brown feather of the quill.

"Do you want coffee?" She asked, walking over to the kitchenette to put the small kettle on, and pulling two instant coffee sachets from a draw, "It's just instant so it's not great, but I really need a caffeine hit."

"Yes thanks." He responded.

She pulled out two mugs and leant against the counter, waiting for the water to boil.

"I was thinking, today we should go to the museum. It would be cool for you to see what's happened in the time you skipped." She raised, looking over at him.

"That would be interesting." He replied.

Tom's academic side emerged. He was very intrigued to see what had come of the muggle wars, and how everything had developed since the 40s.

"I'll book on my phone. Maybe we can get something for breakfast when we leave." She organised.

The kettle boiled furiously, so she took it off and poured the hot water into the two mugs. She added one of the small milk packets into her own, but knew Tom liked his black.

She carried the two steaming mugs over to Tom's bed, holding out his for him to take.

He put his diary and quill on the bedside table and reached out to take it from her. The mug was very hot on the outside, so their fingers entangled as they transferred grip on the curved handle of the mug.

Lucia sat on the side of Tom's bed with her own mug, taking a sip and enjoying the warming sensation that seemed to spread through her whole body.

"We can just get the train to the museum. There's a stop directly outside it so it's really easy." Lucia planned.

"Yeah that sounds good." He responded, running a hand through his dark curls.

"Did you see much of the second war back home?" She asked curiously.

"The wizarding world was generally pretty separated from it, but whenever I was around the muggle world you could see it." He explained, "The bombings were hard to ignore."

"That's horrible. Wars, both wizarding and muggle, are such a ridiculous idea, so many innocent lives lost." Lucia responded, agitation clear in her tone.

Tom was silent.

He thought of the muggle wars as quite pointless, but he saw the wizarding ones as much more necessary.

"Anyways, I'm going to get dressed." She announced, sitting her finished coffee cup on the sink as she walked to her trunk to gather her clothes.

Tom saw her grab a white lacy bra similar to the black one in the photo, and averted his eyes.