Chapter Three
Wools Orphanage, December 22nd 1928
The dining area of the orphanage was hung with sad Christmas banners in preparation for the upcoming holiday. Before Christmas however was Gwyn's birthday – and Tom would be arriving.
"Gwyn, letter for you!" called one of the patrons, and Gwyn jumped up from her supper. Her birthday was almost over, but tomorrow Tom would arrive and they would celebrate again. Grabbing the letter, she rushed out of the dining room and up the stairs. Tom's room was empty still, and she opened it with the key she'd stolen from Mrs. Cole.
Sitting down on Tom's bed she crossed her legs and briefly touched the silky hair ribbons holding her short pigtails back. She loved seeing her name in Tom's handwriting. Tearing it open, she read it hungrily.
Gwyn.
By the time you get this it should be your birthday. Happy birthday! Hogwarts is everything I have hoped and puts Wools to shame. Christmas here is a large affair, but today I celebrate you.
I'm sorry to tell you though that I will not be returning to Wools for Christmas –
Gwyn stopped reading. She read the words again, over and over. Tom wasn't coming home for Christmas, for her birthday.
Tearing the letter in half, she let it drop to the floor. Then she tore out her hair ribbons, tugging painfully at her hair, and left them with the letter. The door was locked behind her.
Tears spilled over her eyes and she retreated to her room, where her roommate Hettie came in later, worried.
"Would you like to come play a game, Gwyn?" she asked quietly.
"No." Gwyn hid further beneath her covers.
"Is something wrong?"
"I don't feel well." She mumbled weakly, facing the wall.
"It's Tom, isn't it?" Hettie sat on her bed hesitantly.
Gwyn sat up. "He's not coming home for Christmas, Hettie."
"Is it too expensive?"
"All expenses paid." The words came out as a sob and Hettie hugged her friend.
"I don't understand why you even like him, Gwyn." She said quietly. "He's not very nice, I mean – you know what he did to Billy's rabbit."
Gwyn pulled away, backing up against the wall. "He didn't do that." She said harshly. "I – I'd like to be alone, Hettie. Please." Tom would be so pleased Gwyn continued to defend him even while he was away. After he broke her flighty heart.
Hettie nodded and left. Huddled in the corner on her bed, Gwyn shook. With anger, with disappointment – with love even. A love that at twelve years old Gwyn did not understand. Her desire to have Tom at her side, the wish for him to have all the best when he was so cold, even to her...it was love in the purest, twelve year old form.
Gwyn Phi loved Tom Riddle with her faulty, just-turned-twelve heart. That heart skipped beats for Tom and Tom only, and because of this she returned to his bedroom, picked up the hair ribbons. She wrote him a calm letter wishing him a merry Christmas, a letter of forgiveness. Gwyn would always forgive Tom.
A/N: So somehow this chapter got deleted? I don't know. Here it is anyhow.
Rose