An Exquisite Pain

Hogsmeade

The morning of October the third dawned cool and crisp, though the sun peeked out from behind the clouds.

Danielle Bailey stood in front of a large mirror in her dormitory, trying to decide what to wear for her "date" with Tom Riddle later that morning. She now wished more than ever that she hadn't been so stupid and asked him out in the first place. It had been more to see whether he'd say yes than anything else.

And he had. Danielle sighed and tried to pull her brush through her wild curls. After she had heard the conversation between Riddle and his friends the previous week, she had been constantly berating herself for being so childish. Riddle obviously had a problem, and she should stay away from him.

Too bad that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon. He was wherever she went. In classes, Prefect duty…everywhere. Sometimes, it was all Danielle could do to not scream, "I know what you're up to!" as loud as she could.

"Cla-ra!" Alyssa sang, skipping into the room. "I have the perfect outfit for you!"

"Alyssa," Danielle began, "It's not a date. I don't need to dress up, honestly—"

"Tut, tut," said Alyssa, wagging her finger at Danielle. "You asked Tom out, and he said yes. You're going to Hogsmeade. It's a date."

Danielle opened her mouth to argue but then closed it. Nothing she could say would change Alyssa's mind.

The red-headed girl opened her suitcase and began throwing clothes out haphazardly. Danielle dodged pieces of flying clothes, finally having to hide behind the dresser in fear of getting bombarded.

Eventually Alyssa straightened, triumphantly holding out something red and velvet.

"No," said Danielle, turning away from the cocktail dress. "I'm going to Hogsmeade, not a ball."

Alyssa gazed at it longingly. "Are you sure? You'd look so cute in it."

"I don't care. Get it out of my sight." Danielle huffed and crossed her arms.

Alyssa rolled her eyes but did as she was told. "Fine. How about…this one?" She held out a piece of beige fabric.

Danielle squinted at it. It was a strapless fawn-colored dress that looked as though it belonged at the beach. She sighed. "I suppose. But isn't it a little…revealing?"

Alyssa frowned. "Not in my opinion."

"I think it's terrible," a snooty voice said from the doorway.

"Thanks for that, Olive," Danielle said through gritted teeth.

The second that Olive Hornby had discovered Riddle and Danielle were going to Hogsmeade together, she had instantly turned on her. Danielle had had to avoid Olive's curses more than once. She was almost unbearable to live with now. But, keeping in character, Danielle was still nice to Olive. However, her patience was wearing short and Danielle wasn't sure how much longer she could keep her temper under control.

And of course, big-mouth Alyssa had yelled it out in the hall, and now the entire school knew Tom Riddle and Clara Ashford were going to Hogsmeade together.

Dylan had changed, too. He barely spoke to Danielle anymore and she noticed he walked around with a miserable expression most of the time. She'd asked him about this, but he refused to answer.

Riddle wasn't acting any different, however. He just smirked and nodded every time someone commented on this. For the thousandth time, Danielle wondered why he had even said yes in the first place.

"Go away, Hornby," Alyssa snapped. Now that Olive was no longer pretending to be friends with Danielle, she'd had a ready-made excuse to insult her longtime enemy.