Burning Obsessions; Tom Riddle

4: Another Year at Hogwarts

[victoria's pov]

"What first?" Serenity asked. The three of us were making bets on what would happen in our last year of attending Hogwarts. We had just finished changing into our school uniforms and our compartment was trashed with chocolate frog boxes (mostly by me, I couldn't help it.) Serenity was writing down a list with our names and predictions on a piece of parchment for us.

Serenity's predictions seemed to be more like teases toward Druella than actual predictions. "I think Cygnus Black will have a girlfriend by the end of the school year," she teased. "I bet three galleons for it." That, I betted with for a galleon but Druella betted against it.
"He's too introverted," she said. "No matter how openly he seems to flirt with girls." She did have a point.

Druella's prediction was a bit wild. "I think somebody's going to die again this year," she said quietly. I saw where she was coming from considering what happened last year.

"I mean, think about it," Druella said. "Warren's death was so unexpected and random! What if that monster's still around at Hogwarts and is just in hibernation?"

That theory scared me, but I said, "Hagrid's spider got caught. There's nothing left at Hogwarts to-"

"But last school year you said you thought Hagrid was innocent-?" Serenity interrupted. "How is he still innocent then? He may have more tricks up his sleeves."

I couldn't wrap my head around a single word of what she just said. The train began to slow down and Druella said, "Whatever, let's just hurry up and get onto Victoria's bet. We've still got this mess to take care of. What do you think, Victoria?"

"Huh?" I asked. I really didn't want to choose because if someone did die, I'd feel horrible or somewhat guilty... "I'll do whatever Serenity agrees with," I finalised.

Serenity, my favourite optimist, betted five galleons against it. "It just seems very unlikely since Hogwarts' security went up after that incident," she said. "And Hadrid's been expelled so there's really not much to worry about except for N.E.W.T.s."

It was my turn to make a bet now. After a serious topic, I felt like lightening up the compartment a bit with something easier to bet against.

"I think my random migraine blackouts won't occur as much," I said optimistically. "My low iron deficiency isn't affecting me anymore."
Druella and Serenity both betted against me because they thought I'd had a different reason to black out now that I was Slytherin's Quidditch captain and because they thought I was one of the "faint of heart." They laughed at me until after I said, "Oh, shut up." Though they had a point about quidditch. They bet against me for ten galleons.

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The great hall seemed to grow smaller every year I came back. Yet the starry sky never failed to impress. Tonight the stars were blended around the floating candles, making them seem reachable. The ceiling was a cloudy night sky with the same shades that reminded me of Theodore Nott's eyes.

"Agh! Shut up, brain," I mumbled under my breath as I walked past him to join my friends.
I sat down across Serenity and Druella, as I always preferred it that way to talk to them. Just like on the train.

"Slytherin!" The sorting hat cried out loud.
A little boy with sharp-looking bottom row teeth joined our table with a huge smile on his face.

Serenity sighed and said, "Not another ankle biter..."

I sniffled a laugh and Headmaster Dippet gave a long (very long) speech about Grindelwald's wickedness and how good (the Ministry, of course, is what he is referring to) will someday defeat him and his minions. It was quite boring and I was starving after all of those chocolate frogs.