Into Your Gravity - Tom Riddle & Luna Lovegood

Chapter ten: Christmas

"All right, then, I'll see you at dinner, I suppose," Luna said, already her eyes beginning to daze away as she returned to her head.

Tom didn't respond and started towards the Great Hall. He hesitated in the entrance hall for a moment, feeling somewhat flustered and not sure why. Reaching into his pocket, he felt the box with the quill, assessing that it was really there.

Rather than heading up towards the library, he turned and stepped through the oak front doors for a breath of fresh air. He was chilled as soon as he opened the door due to his lack of cloak, but he stepped outside nonetheless and peered out on the several inches of snow which covered the grounds.

Something dark in the blanket of white snow caught his eye just a few meters away from the oak double doors. Tom took a few steps towards it. It looked small, grey, and furry. At first, he thought it was a kitten, but as he looked more closely at it, he noted a lion-like tail and enormous ears. He realized it was a baby Kneazle, which had now noticed him and was mewing and shivering pathetically while staring at him.

"Well, go on then," he snapped. "Find someplace warm."

He turned and began to walk back towards the front doors. Suddenly, he felt a searing pain in his right leg. He looked down and saw that the Kneazle had clamped its jaws down through his pant leg and into his skin. "Get off me!" he yelled, and he gave his leg a violent kick. This only succeeded in causing the Kneazle to dig its claws into him as well. In all this, he suddenly slipped, falling over and landing in the snow.

Tom now reached down to pry the tiny beast off of him, but it bit his fingers, drawing up pain and blood. "Curses," he growled. The Kneazle landed another bite on his hand. "Fine! I'll take you inside."

The Kneazle immediately stopped attacking his hands and started to purr. Tom scooped it up begrudgingly before standing up himself, soaked through from the snow. "Should have just jinxed you," Tom muttered, to which the Kneazle dug its claws gently into Tom's hand, as though warning him.

Tom entered the castle very cold and very wet. He had just shut the oak door behind him and stood shivering, clutching the Kneazle, and dripping on the stone floor when Luna's voice drifted toward him.

"Tom! What's happened to you?" she said as she emerged from the Great Hall.

The Kneazle was nuzzling his fingers, trying to get him to pet it. Tom scowled.

Luna glided over towards him. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at the ball of fur in his hands.

He made the decision in an instant, shoving the baby Kneazle into her hands and saying, "Your Christmas present."

Luna inspected the Kneazle, then gasped and smiled in delight. "Oh, Tom, you've got me a Kneazle! I love him! Thank you!" As though oblivious to the fact that Tom was dripping wet, freezing, and hostile, Luna held the Kneazle in one hand then placed the other on his shoulder. In a quick, fluid movement, she stood on her tiptoes and pulled down gently on his shoulder, bringing his cheek just low enough for her to plant a split-second long kiss on it before she scampered away upstairs to play with her new pet.

Tom stood stock still for a few heartbeats, of which he was acutely aware due to the fact his heart was thudding in his ears, as well as the throbbing pain in his fingers. He stared at the stairs up which she had disappeared and reached up his hand with Marvolo's ring on it to his face, his fingertips brushing the place her lips had touched his skin, and he felt oddly warm when just a few moments before he had been so cold.