~•For You, I Would•~

The Journey

It was the early morning of the 1st of September 1943 and Alice Bellemore was already wide awake. She lived in a small, English countryside village called Maple Grove with her parents. They resided in a peaceful cottage in the centre of the village. The village was a quite place, however with all the new evacuees from London, it had become rather loud. Not that she was complaining, the war was hard on everyone. She had heard that children in orphanages from various major cities had been evacuated to the countryside like the other children. Apparently, even the older teenagers had been evacuated. Of course, they weren't all pushed into Alice's village, but spread out through various villages. She hadn't seen any of them though. It was quite a fast decision, but as the bombing had increased, they thought that it would be good to evacuate them promptly. Luckily, Maple Grove had an orphanage without many children already. This meant plenty of space for the evacuees.

   Anyway, Alice could barely sleep the previous night. She couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts. She loved her home in Maple Grove but Hogwarts was just an entirely different experience. By 6 in the morning, she was ready to leave. Her parents on the other hand, were just waking up. Since they were to leave at 7, she had an hour to idle around and sort out any last minute things. Firstly, she decided to check through her trunk, making sure she didn't miss anything. That took 15 minutes alone. Next, she read another chapter of the book 'Little Women' which she would be bringing with her to read on the train. She wanted to make sure she had lots left for the journey so she didn't read much. This took around 10 minutes. With nothing much left to do, she decided to take a walk around the village.

   As she walked down the paved path (making sure to stomp on any dry autumn leaves), she looked around at the village that she would be leaving behind for a few months. It didn't seem like a long time, but to her, everytime she came home, it felt like years since she'd been there. Since she was looking around at the bricked buildings, she completely forgot about actually watching where she was going. *Thud* Surprise surprise, she walked into something. Or rather, someone.

"Terribly sorry!" Alice exclaimed, standing up. She looked at the boy who was still standing firmly on his two feet.

"No matter." He muttered back before briskly walking away. He wouldn't ruin his reputation so fast over something so petty.

"Right," she said uncertainly as she brushed the dirt off of her skirt. Alice was wearing a white, short sleeved blouse, paired with a blue, plaid skirt. It suddenly clicked in her mind that she was meant to leave at 7. Checking her watch, she realised that it was 6:55. "I'm in so much trouble," she cried as she began sprinting home. Luckily, it was a small village so it didn't take long. Arriving back at her house at 7:05, her parents scolded her.

"It's past 7 o'clock, Alice. We understand that you were just going for a walk but you need to be more aware of the time. You'd best learn to watch the time before you start your lessons, young lady or you're in deep trouble. Do you understand?" said her mother.

"Yes, mother. I do apologise." Alice replied solemnly.

"Well let's not waste any more time," began her father with a clap of his hands, "Let's get to the station in good time while we still can." They walked to the bus station by their house and were on the bus to King's Cross Station in no time and prepared for the long bus journey. As soon as they arrived, they wasted no time rushing through the wall onto the platform. By the time they'd done all of this, it was already 8:55, leaving them 5 minutes until departure. They said their goodbyes and Alice hopped onto the train to find a compartment. Unsurprisingly, the train was very full. She looked around and could only find one that wasn't completely packed. She peered through the window, about to knock when she realised she recognised the person inside from earlier. It was the boy from her village. She knocked quietly and his head snapped up immediately. He stood up and pushed the door open.

"Yes?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"I truly apologise for disturbing you, but I was just wondering if it were possible for me to sit in this compartment too. I'm afraid everywhere else is full." She asked hopefully. He stuck his head out of the compartment and glanced left and right down the corridor. She wasn't joking. There were a lot of children this year. Some of them were even sitting on their trunks in the corridor. It seems he had no choice so he decided to let her sit in his compartment.

"Thank you kindly," she said gratefully, taking a seat by the window. The boy sat opposite her and gazed out of the window silently. To break the silence, Alice began to introduce herself. "I'm Alice Bellmore. It's a pleasure to meet you." He glanced over at her.

"Likewise." He said flatly, not seeming to really mean it. Alice paused for a moment before she spoke again.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Riddle. Tom Riddle." He answered quietly.

"Well Mr Riddle what year are you in?" Alice question. Tom looked slightly irritated but answered anyway.

"I'm starting 5th year." He sighed.

"Oh me too! It's peculiar how we haven't ran into each other before."

"We ran into each other earlier. In the village." Tom pointed out.

"Oh so that was you. I was wondering, you see, because I wanted to apologise again for not watching where I was going."

"Apology accepted. Do you think it would be possible to have a silent rest of the journey?" He asked grumpily.

"If you want." Alice murmured. After around 5 minutes of awkward silence (we'll awkward for her anyway), she suddenly remembered her book that she'd bought. She pulled it out of her bag and began reading. Wondering what all the noise was about, Tom turned his gaze from the window to Alice. He seemed interested with her book until he read the title.

''Little Women', how pathetic.' He thought to himself, turning back to the window. After 3 hours of travelling, Alice had finished her book and most students had changed into their robes. Alice was thinking that it was about time that she got changed too.

"Um... Mr Riddle?" She started nervously.

"Hm?"

"Don't you think it's about time we get into our robes?"

"Then be my guest and go to the toilet to change." He replied, annoyed the silence was broken.

"I'll go first then." She said before hurrying out of the compartment and towards the toilet. After around 10 minutes, she returned only to find Tom in the same position he'd been in all train ride, except he was wearing his robes. Deciding against questioning him, Alice sat back down and continued the rest of the journey in silence.

   After a long 4 hours, the train finally pulled into Hogwarts. However, before they stood up, Alice stuck her hand out to Tom.

"Would you like to be friends?" She asked sweetly.

"No." Tom replied blatantly disgusted.

"Why ever not, Tom?" Said Alice sadly.

"It's Riddle. And to answer your question, I don't have friends."

"But Tom, everyone needs friends." Insisted Alice.

"Riddle. And I don't. So goodbye, Miss Bellmore." Tom said, standing up and walking off the train, leaving behind an upset Alice.

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