One-shots/Short Stories

Tom Riddle - Part III

The Past - Epilogue
Christmas came to Hogwarts; the only students in Slytherin at that time of the holiday was Riddle and Elizabeth.
At the same time the two emerged from their dorm to the Common Room, giving each other a small smile. "Merry Christmas, Tom." Elizabeth said softly.
"And Merry Christmas to you, Elizabeth." Riddle said quietly. They turned to the Christmas tree and saw underneath the plant it had presents. Eyes shining with excitement, Elizabeth ran to the presents, Riddle slowly following behind. He couldn't help but be enchanted by the sight of her happiness. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Presents!" she beamed. "I wonder who they're from?"
"Probably admirers and friends of yours." Riddle shrugged. "I doubt there's any for me -"
"Look! These are for you!"
"What?" Riddle sat beside her quickly, interest piqued. "From who?" Elizabeth quickly handed him his presents. "Slughorn -obviously-, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson -ugh-. . .you got me a present?" Riddle turned to her surprised, only to see her busy with opening her own presents. Looking back to his presents, he placed Elizabeth's to the side to open last, opening his other presents. He received a book on potions from Slughorn, a new feather and ink from Malfoy, sweets from Crabbe and Goyle, and a letter confessing her love for him from Parkinson that he didn't bother to read.
Turning to his last present, he held it in his hands for a couple of more seconds, biting his lip in contemplation. He couldn't handle the wait any longer and ripped it open. What he saw was something he did not expect.
It was a simple photo frame of a moving and non-moving picture side-by-side. The moving photo was of him and Elizabeth laughing at something together in the courtyard, nudging each other in the shoulder playfully. Riddle remembered that day; at first they were studying, but then Elizabeth got bored and started saying funny, cringe-worthy jokes. Even though Riddle thought they were horrible, he still laughed at the very few that were amusing to him. The one they were laughing at in the photo was a horrible impersonation of Parkinson, who fancied Riddle.
The non-moving photo was of Elizabeth and Riddle just simply sitting together in class, arms looped together casually. Elizabeth had her head resting on Riddle's peacefully, Riddle staring ahead with a straight face. But if you looked close enough, you could see the small light in his eyes from Elizabeth's gesture, finding it nice to find out that someone cared for him. Riddle was surprised that he had never noticed someone taking a photo of them.
"How -"
"Goyle had a new camera sent from his parents." Elizabeth explained. "He was trying it out by taking a photo of us."
"And the non-moving one?"
"That was taken by Dumbledore." Riddle stared at her in disbelief. Dumbledore, a man who saw past Riddle's mask and did not believe his lies, took a photo of them? "He's never seen a sight like that before, apparently. He wanted to capture the moment. Decided to give it to me afterwards, having copied one for himself."
"W-why?" Riddle was confused. "Why would he -"
"He sees good in you, Tom." Elizabeth told him. "You're not a bad person." A look of doubt crossed his face.
"I killed my father and his muggle family, Elizabeth." he muttered. "I also killed Myrtle. I'm a bad person."
"A bad person wouldn't have took notice of that being bad." she shook her head. "You knew, and you're guilty about it - if not, only a bit. If you were evil, I wouldn't be here right now. In Hogwarts. Celebrating Christmas with you."
Something suddenly took over the boy because the next thing he knew, he had leaned forward and brought Elizabeth Swan into a passionate kiss. What made him feel immense joy and relief -something he had never felt before- was the fact that she kissed back, evidently showing her feelings for him.
"I love you." Riddle admitted to himself and to her. "I love you, Elizabeth Swan."
"And I love you, Tom Riddle."

***

The future. . .
Spells were casted everywhere. People were dying everywhere. Draco Malfoy and his parents walked away from the battle before any of them could be killed. Molly Weasley defeated the evil Bellatrix Lestrange. And Harry Potter was fighting Lord Voldemort.
Suddenly, everything froze. The fights, the Malfoy family walking away, Harry Potter and Voldemort fighting. . .
A bright light surged from everywhere, blinding everyone - not really, since they were all frozen. The light travelled from the bridge to the courtyard, to inside the Great Hall, to the other side of Hogwarts. The last to be overcome with light was Voldemort. Despite being frozen, Voldemort knew that his plan had worked; he's finally knowing from right to wrong, from good to bad.

And then the light took him as well.

The End