I had a dreamless night, thank god. I didn't feel up to having that battley dream again. It realy creeped me out. I woke up at 7 o'clock with an owl tapping on my glass. I sighed and got up. Having a closer look at the owl I saw it was Hedwig- you know, Harry's owl. I opened the window and took the letter from her leg.
Dear Mya,
First of all, is your Aunt okay? I know it must be serious if you had to floo straight there. I thought you were going to owl when you got home... Ron's worried. Write as soon as you get this, okay? Hedwig won't leave you alone until you do. See if you can come to Diagon Ally today, won't you? Me, Ron and Ginny will be at the Leaky Cauldron at 12:00 today, and then will be looking for Christmas presents in the afternoon. Want to come with? Ginny says hi, and how's your mum and dad, and Ron's eating, as normal. He's saying something but I have no idea what. See you at Diagon Ally?
Harry.
Shit, I thought. We'd have to limit our schedule if Harry was coming. He'd seen both Riddle form AND the Volde-form, so he'd recognise dad anyway. Unless we used Pollyjuice Potion. I was still pondering this when I got downstairs for breakfast.
"Good morning Sophia. Good morning owl flying behind Sophia." my father greeted me and Hedwig sarcastically.
"Hedwig, this is dad. Dad, this is Hedwig, Harry's owl." I introduced then passed Harry's letter to him. He read it twice then handed it back to me.
"Send back a letter saying you'll be there at the Leaky Cauldron, but we'll go shopping in the morning. By the way it's ironic that Potter has a light-coloured bird and I have a dark-coloured bird. And I still haven't given you your present. Dotti!" he called. She apperated almost instantly.
"Yes master?" she asked politely.
"Could you please bring in Sophia's, uh, present?" "Of course, master." Dotti walked out and came back in with a small tawny owl, screeching merrily. She handed the owl to my dad, who gave her to me.
"You got me an owl?" I asked uncertainly.
"Her name is Arabella." he smiled warmly. I smiled back and opened the cage door. Arabella flew onto my left shoulder gracefully and I stroked her wing. She cooed.
"Love at first sight,"
"Shut up."
When I got back into my room to get ready, I wrote two letters. One to Ginny and one to Harry.
Dear Harry,
I'll see you at the Leaky Cauldron, then.
Mya.
Dear Ginny,
My dad is fine, and my mum... well my mum is dead to be honest. And according to my father Harry's my twin brother! My dad and Lily Evans's love story was realy interesting. You know, the typical school-kid love, break up then meeting each other randomly, and get talking stories. Followed by her having his baby- babies in my case! Me and dad are coming to Diagon Ally this morning instead of afternoon so that we can get our shopping done. How are things with you?
Love Phia.
I wrote Mya on one and Phia on another because Ginny will understand it- Phia is short for Sophia. I gave Harry's letter to Hedwig and Ginny's to Arabella, then gave her instructions.
"Arie," I instructed, "This letters for Ginny Alice Weasly. Follow Hedwig, she'll show you the way to the burrow. Ginny's the youngest redhead there. Okay?" she cooed in reply and she and Hedwig flew off. I grabbed a bag and stuffed in a few essentials.
"Sophia, are you ready?" my father called.
"Coming!" I yelled back.
In half an hour we were strolling down Diagon Ally. It's realy clever how they named it, see, the road goes down diagonally, giving it the name 'Diagon Ally'.
"First stop: Gringotts." my father smirked. I'd only been in Gringotts a few times, and it was just how I remembered it. Marble floor, chandeliers and a million or two goblins sat at mahogany desks working passionately. My father walked briskly to a table and I had to trot to keep up with him.
"Yes?" a goblin asked without taking his eyes of his work. His quill scribbled fastly across the page and I wondered if it was a quick-notes quill like Rita Skeeter had.
"We would like to see the Riddle vault, please?" my father said to the goblin, then to me, "The Gaunt vault was renamed to our Riddle when your great-grandfather died."
"What's your name?" the goblin continued, using the procedure.
"Tom Marvalo Riddle and Sophia Lily Riddle."
"And does Mr Riddle have the key?"
"Here." my father stuffed his hand in his pocket and held out the golden key with three sapphires welded into it.
"Follow me," the goblin sighed and got up from his desk. He led us into a dark passageway. Remember that I'd never been into the vaults before so I found it a bit scary but at the same time thrilling. After we'd gone to Gringotts, we went dress shopping. Normally I hate dress shopping, but oddly today I loved it. First of all two witches took me and dad to be fitted, then they brought out three dresses that could suit me (but of course Dad got suits). The first dress was deep crimson red and swept down to the floor. At the top it had little beads that were charmed to sparkle wherever I was. It had three roses sewed onto it. "It's lovely on you; I love it!" praised the shop attendant, Lucy.
"I don't know... there's something that just makes me think it's not me." I frowned. I wasn't going to say it out loud but I'd be crazy to wear it at the ball. I mean, it'll be full of Death eaters. Gryffindor hating Death Eaters. And this dress was Gryffindor colours. The next dress was like the first, in a way, but more plain. It was slinky, and a navy blue with one single rose on its corner. Did all the dresses in the shop have flowers on them?
"Hm..." Lucy looked doubtful. I echoed her thoughts. It didn't sit right on me. "Third time lucky?" In a way, she was right, because I decided that this one was absolutely perfect. It, like the last, was strapless. Across the strap was a small sash with a green ribbon. It sort of puffed out at the hip, but in a non puffy sort of way. And, my favourite part weirdly, it was Slytherin Colours.
"I love it; it fits you perfectly," Lucy giggled as I twirled and whirled around in it.
"So do I," I admitted. "Dad! Look at this!" I walked out and saw my dad standing stiffly in a small- titchy, even- green tux.
"Wow," he gasped, wheezing in an attempt to breathe.
"Dad, I think that tux is just a little bit too tight." I laughed. "Expandio!" the tux let in a little air and my dad breathed a sigh of relief.
"Expandio. Is that even a real spell?" he asked.
"Must be otherwise it wouldn't have worked." I mused. "So, what do you think?"
"I think wow." my father answered.
"Thanks." I gushed. "So you will be buying these?" Lucy asked us. My father nodded.
Later that day I walked through the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. I was immediately attacked by a hug.
"Mione!" Ginny squealed.
"Gigi!" I gasped, "Squeezing me to death now!" she let go and blushed.
"Sorry," she apologised.
"Ginny, what has it been, two days and you act like she's been gone for a year!" Ron exclaimed from the table behind her.
"Hi guys." I greeted as I sat down. I took some presents out of my bag and handed them one each.
"For Christmas. I would send them on the day, but Arabella probably wouldn't make it- she's so tiny."
"Who's Arabella?" Ron asked.
"My owl. She did turn up with Hedwig, right?" I questioned in return. Harry nodded.
"She and Hedwig arrived this morning. Arabella's quite the flyer, isn't she?"
"Hopefully. I haven't seen her fly yet, I only got her this morning."
"How though?" Ron quizzed, "Your parents are Muggles." "I was shocked as well." I admitted. No lie- I had been shocked by here appearance.
"So how come you went to Diagon Ally this morning instead of afternoon?" Harry asked me. What was this, interrogation? "What is this, interrogation?" I asked, "How about I ask you some questions as well." "Okay but answer my one first." Harry replied. I sighed.
"The visiting hours in the hospital. We're not aloud there in the mornings. 12 o'clock until 3 to visit only. Anything exciting happened with you?" I asked.
"No." Ron and Harry shrugged simultaneously. Ginny snorted into her food.
"Yeah, nothing happened at all," she looked at me. "Harry fell off his broom." I dropped my knife and fork.
"Harry!" I gasped, "How? When? Are you hurt? How high did you fall from?"
"Mione," Harry cut me off, "I'm fine." "Tell me everything." I insisted.
"Don't over-react. We weren't even that high up. It's just that I made the mistake of joking about Ginny beforehand. She had the quaffle, and she threw it straight at my..." Harry trailed off, looking down. Ginny smirked and I put two and two together.
"Ginny you said he fell!" I scolded.
"It's his fault he lost his balance, not mine. I'd probably have caught it instead of sitting pretty." she replied, and I snickered.
"What happened then?" I asked.
"Well I fell, didn't I." Harry snapped.
"Into the pond," Ron added, "Whoosh, PLOP! Face-first covered in mud. He lost his glasses and spent the whole day looking for them..." "Shut up, Ron." Harry muttered.
"And mum couldn't get all of the mud off, so there are still clumps of mud all over them. And let us not forget the sound he made when he fell. It was a kind of... 'Balugaulugawowo!'" Ron carried on.
"Shut UP, Ron!" Harry gave him a shove, and soon they were wrestling on the floor.
"You should tell your dad that. He'd find it hilarious. What's up with you?" Ginny whispered.
"Well my dad does crosswords." I stated, and Ginny laughed. "He also plays Cludo. Harry Potter Cludo. And a few nights ago, I had the weirdest nightmare..." and then I proceeded to tell her all about my latest nightmare, and the haunting voice that I just couldn't shake.
"Harry killed you?" Ginny asked dubiously.
"Well I guess you would if your best friend turned out to be on the opposite side." I figured.
"Opposite side of what?" Harry popped up from under the table.
"We're discussing my nightmare." I replied. "I was a Deatheater."
"I see why it was a nightmare." Ron commented.
"It wasn't that part. I didn't do anything apart from actually have the mark. The reason it was a nightmare was because Harry killed me."
"Why would I kill you?" Harry asked.
"Because I was a Deatheater. I betrayed you." I answered. I turned green. That was exactly what I was doing. I was betraying them by being a Deatheater. And not to mention Voldemort's daughter. "Are you alright, Mione?" Ron touched my shoulder. I nodded faintly.
"I... It's time for me to go." I got up and walked away. Ginny ran after me. When we were outside the Leaky Cauldron, she grabbed me.
"Mione, seriously. What's wrong? I read you like a book."
"That's what I'm doing, isn't it, Gin. I'm betraying Harry by being Voldemort's Daughter. And a Deatheater."
"No Mione. You aren't betraying Harry. I know that look in your eyes. You want to tell him you're sorry. But let me tell you one thing, misses. You don't have to say sorry for being who you are. If someone's your friend, then they'll like you even if you're Snape's daughter. Heck, even if your Vernon Dursley's daughter!" Ginny told me comfortingly. I chuckled.
"Okay," I nodded.
"So what are you going to do tomorrow?" Ginny asked, changing the subject.
"We're going to have a ball!" I squealed.
"Lucky!" Ginny exclaimed. I nodded.
"Only bad thing about it will be that it's full of Deatheaters and their kids," I smirked.
"I wish I could come all the same!" Ginny whined.
"It'd be a lot more fun if you were there, Gin." I admitted. "But there might be someone from Hogwarts." She sighed.
"Oh well. At least I went to the Yule Ball." she looked around. "Shouldn't you be going now? Harry and Ron will be wondering where I am."
"I'll see you soon Gigi." I hugged her and we parted, neither of us seeing the dark green beetle perched on a wall behind us.