[HP]Aluet

I slept poorly that night and woke up early.I quietly packed up my books and left the bedroom door. There were only a few people in the lounge.

I immediately met Riddle's eyes looking up at me with an unknown meaning, and I felt my heart tremble suddenly, but fortunately he just glanced indifferently.

I hesitated for a moment, and sat silently closer to him as usual.

I saw a very obvious wound on his hand, which tended to scab over the night.

"...What happened to your hand?" I struggled for a long time before slowly asking.Maybe it was because of guilt, so I didn't dare to look at his face, and didn't wait for him to speak, so I hurriedly continued, "Let me help you."

He didn't speak, just stretched out his injured hand.I gently put my hand on it, and with the faint white light, his wound gradually faded until it disappeared.

He took his hand back and said indifferently, "Thank you."

I looked up at him, and he was reading as if he had never spoken.I had no choice but to take out a book from my bag and read it silently.

The number of people in the lounge gradually increased, and when the bell rang at eight o'clock, everyone got up and went to the auditorium to have breakfast, and Riddle also stood up, carried his bags and went out with the crowd.I picked up my bag and walked behind, and he quickly walked to a few seniors who were at the same level as him, and went to the auditorium while discussing something with a list.I lowered my eyes to stare at the toe of the shoe, and walked forward in silence, deaf to the noise around me.

Since that day, his attitude towards me has been lukewarm. I suspect that he probably guessed or already knew something. However, he didn’t mention a word. In addition, he is about to graduate and has many things to do. From this point of view It seems that I can get a reasonable explanation for rarely taking the initiative to talk to me.But I'm sure that our relationship has indeed become more and more distant, even when we talk normally, the feeling is completely different from before, but I can't confirm the reason.

One night, I went to the top of the Astronomy Tower and happened to meet him.He wasn't reading or writing anything, but was leaning against the stone railing overlooking Hogwarts, tapping his fingers lightly on the stone platform.

"Hi...what a coincidence." I greeted in a low voice.

He glanced back at me, not surprised, nodded in response, everything seemed natural, only I knew that the air was almost freezing at this time.

"Tom?" An ethereal female voice sounded from nowhere, and Riddle's originally indifferent expression softened a little, and then he revealed a slight smile.

"Aisley?" The gentle and dignified face turned to me, and smiled slightly in surprise, "You're here too."

"Ms. Gray." I smiled and nodded at her.

"You..." She circled around us, looking very curious.

"By chance," Riddle said.

"Oh, yes. I forgot, you are not in the same grade." She suddenly realized, "I thought you were acquaintances."

Riddle smiled noncommittally, without explaining anything.I opened my mouth, but finally chose to remain silent.

"Do you have a lot of homework recently?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Don't stress too much. If you have any problems, you can come to me." She said, "Don't go back too late, it won't be good until the curfew. I'll go first, see you next time." She waved to us, Then disappeared through the wall.

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Let's go." He glanced at his watch, passed me, and stopped when he reached the stairs. "I just came out to catch my breath. It's almost time. You should go back too."

I watched his back going straight down the stairs, and it took a long time before I started to walk down.

It's really time for me to go to the night watch.

The days passed and it was almost Christmas again.Every year after the Christmas dinner, there will be a dance, but it can be said that it has nothing to do with us. Unless there are foreign schools coming to exchange, it is the graduation dance of the seventh grade. Those who have not accepted the invitation cannot participate in the seventh grade.

For me, it's two years before I even think about prom, and I'm usually not that interested in that kind of event.But the seniors in the seventh grade—especially the seniors—seemed to be looking forward to it.

Except for Riddle, he was still immersed in various work and studies every day as always, and he was never seen preparing for a prom.There were also a few seniors who approached him, but he declined them all.

He didn't think about it belatedly until the day before Christmas, but it seemed that most people had already found a partner, and he still took his time.

"Tomorrow, you and I will go to the ball," he said.

I froze for two seconds before agreeing: "Okay."

He hummed, and didn't say any more, as if he knew that I would agree to it a long time ago—or, he didn't care at all.

Before the Christmas ball, I changed into a white dress in the bedroom, let my hair down, and stared blankly at myself in the mirror.I couldn't be happier.

I always feel that I did something wrong to cause this situation, but I don't know what I did wrong, and it seems that there is nothing wrong.

It was just the overwhelming sense of remorse and guilt squeezing the air I breathed from all directions - I really didn't know what to do.

The face of the person in the mirror was a little pale, expressionless, and the numbness in the eyes made me feel a little strange and scared.

Looking at this childish face, I was in a trance for a moment.Time flies so fast, if you go back to a certain point in the past, maybe what it will be like now.

The sound of the door opening woke me up.

Burst stopped at the door for a while, looked away from me, closed the door and sat quietly at her table to pack up the luggage for going home during the Christmas holiday.

I turned back and continued to look in the mirror, and finally applied a little lip balm.

"Do you need it?" She asked suddenly when I reached the door and stretched out my hand to push it out.

I turned around and saw a bottle of perfume in her hand.

I accidentally maintained the posture of pushing the door for a few seconds before I smiled and took it.

"Thank you." I didn't use much, just sprayed a little on my wrist and gave it back to her.

"Merry Christmas." After she said this, she immediately lowered her head and continued to rummage through the boxes and boxes.

I went directly to the auditorium, and there were already many people waiting at the door, chatting and laughing together.

I didn't see Riddle, so I waited silently until the door opened, and people walked in and sat down one after another. I found a corner seat and drank a few sips of butter beer.

When the melodious dance music sounded and people began to dance to the music, Riddle arrived late, took a glass of wine and said a few words to the people next to him, then walked to me and put the glass on the table.

I took his inviting hand and was led slowly into the dance floor by him.

From the beginning to the end, I didn't dare to look directly at him, and kept looking down at my toes, or at other people around me.

"Can't you dance?" he asked.

I shook my head.One of his arms was around my waist, and I moved closer to him unnaturally, my steps were even stiffer than before.

When the first song ended and entered the second song, I obviously felt his pace slowed down. I looked up at him, and his eyes were not focused when he looked at me. After disappearing, he came back to his senses again, his face became a little colder.

"Tired," he said, "rest." He let go quickly, and left me to get a glass from the table to finish the rest, then walked around the dance floor to the garden.

I sat alone on the seat for a long time, and Riddle never came back, so I went to the garden.

The fountain was buzzing, and he sat on a bench not far from the fountain, leaning there lazily and staring at the splashing water from the fountain.

"What's wrong?" My small voice was swallowed by the sound of water.So I sat next to him, one person away from him.

After being so unusually quiet for a long time, he suddenly said, "I want to hear you sing, Ashley."

"Huh?" I was taken aback.

"Last time, how many years ago?"

I thought about it, and finally shook my head, but hummed the song anyway.At the end of the song, he finally stopped smiling at me, but he didn't say anything, rested for a while, then stood up and left.

As if something was suddenly disconnected.

I was still sitting there, looking back at the statue next to the fountain.It blocked the sight of the dance hall in front of my eyes, only revealing a gleam of light and the music and laughter from the other end, and since then it has been divided into two worlds of silence and hustle and bustle.

The cold wind in February is biting, and there is no sign of spring at all.

The time I can concentrate in class is getting shorter and shorter, almost relying on Orion's notes to barely keep up, and my grades have dropped sharply.The professors tried their best to understand what the problem was at first, but over time, they stopped caring. Anyway, my grades would not fail me any more.

As for employment after graduation, I didn't pay much attention to it. After all, it would be a good choice to be a therapist at St. Mungo's Hospital.

Today, the students seem to be very interested, and they are more energetic than usual in class, especially the class of Professor Binns. Looking around, no one is sleeping—even though it doesn't look like they are listening to class.

A paper bird brushed my hand and flew onto the braids of the Gryffindor girl in front of me. I looked back, and a boy waved at me awkwardly and made a "sorry" mouth Xing quickly turned his head to cover his face and whispered to his deskmate.

I idly circled on the parchment, the paper bird's wings trembled slightly with the girl's movements of raising and lowering her head, but they were still firmly hanging on her hair.

I hesitated to tell her, but finally I touched her on the back lightly. She turned her head, her light brown eyes lingering on my emblem for a second, but she quickly turned her gaze to my face.

I have no way to describe that smile, it feels like the warm and cool wind in early spring, I am surprised that I haven't found a girl with such a beautiful smile beside me in five years.

Or maybe, I didn't pay attention at all.

I took the paper bird off her head and handed it to her.She took it in surprise, with puzzled eyes, as if asking who gave it to her, but I shook my head and said nothing.

"Thank you." She turned around, lowered her head and opened the paper bird under the table.

I don't know what was written in it, the girl quietly put it in her pocket after reading it, and continued to make class notes, but I noticed a faint blush on her ears.

I remembered.

Today is Valentine's Day.No wonder the atmosphere seemed so unnatural everywhere.

This kind of thing is relatively rare in class, and it will be more when we eat in the auditorium at noon. It is only at this time that we can see the scene of four college students interspersed in the auditorium to give greeting cards and chocolates.

Riddle is still popular as expected, but my place is still the same as before.

Lively usually has nothing to do with me.I lost interest, finished my meal silently and left the auditorium.

As I was walking back to the common room, I was stopped around the corner by a Hufflepuff boy.

"Hi, hello." He scratched his head a little nervously. "Do you know Dorsey?"

I thought about it: "I know her. What's wrong?"

"May I trouble you... to give this to her for me?"

He was holding a box, presumably chocolates, and a Valentine's Day card.

"Why should I give it to her?" I asked.

His face turned red visibly, and then he glanced into the distance: "There is someone next to her... and I feel, in Slytherin... you seem to be more communicative..."

I looked at him in astonishment, and suddenly something strange came to my mind.

"Can you?" he asked carefully again.

I froze for a few seconds before smiling at him: "Yes, leave it to me."

"Thank you, thank you." He pursed his lips a little excitedly, handed me the things, and then took two steps back.

"I wish you success." I added back, and went to the lounge under his gaze.

I waited in the break room until she was alone before handing the things to her.

"Is that Jerry?" She took the box.

"I don't know, I don't know him."

"Thank you!" she said.I nodded in response and went elsewhere.

The day's class is over soon.I put my bag back in the dormitory, stretched myself, and walked slowly in the corridor.At this time, the sunset outside was still very dazzling, so I walked towards the Astronomy Tower and went up to the top of the tower.At this time, the wind on the top of the Astronomy Tower was a little stronger, but it was not as cold as it was during the day.

I saw Ms. Gray standing there with her back to me looking into the distance.I wanted to say hello to her, but in such a quiet atmosphere, I didn't really want to disturb her.

Until, light footsteps sounded, and I, who was sitting in the corner, turned my head and saw Riddle walking up.

It was a bit of a coincidence.But I don't want him to see me.After all, since the end of the dance, we haven't even greeted each other when we meet - I don't know why, it's just a natural thing.

I turned into a bird and hid under the desk.He glanced in my direction, and I'm not sure if he saw me, but he crossed the line impassively, walked behind Ms Gray, but made no attempt to sit down.

I flew low, intending to leave quietly, but he suddenly spoke, blocking my train of thought.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Ms. Helena." Riddle approached the mottled light of the Astronomy Tower at dusk, but stopped in the shadow, and bowed to her gentlemanly.

Ms. Gray turned around and looked at him in surprise, with an unknown emotion flashing in her eyes, but her final tone was still flat and gentle: "Tom." She lowered her head and smiled, "Thank you, I haven't noticed for a long time Have these holidays. After all—I'm still different from you, and no one notices me."

Riddle was silent for a while.

"So today, am I the first to bless you?" There was a hint of a smile in his voice, but there was no sense of frivolity.

"Yes."

"I have something for you, can I hold out my hand?" he asked.

"What? You know, I can't touch something—" She shook her head in disbelief, but held out her hand anyway.Riddle tapped on her palm, and a gentle light radiated from the lifeless gray, an unknown flower bloomed, and even attracted a butterfly to dance around her hand, Reflected in her brightened eyes: "Where did you learn it, what kind of magic is this?"

"This is your unique gift. I hope you can have a wonderful day." He just smiled and bowed slightly to her again, "Good night, Ms. Helena."

I flew down the stairs before he backed away, back into human form and trotted down the long hallway, and finally trotted out of the backyard, slowing down under the beech trees.

I stood there in a daze for a few seconds, then sat down.

He gave blessings and gifts to others on Valentine's Day, but he didn't say a word to me.

Actually, I'm not too sad.People are always responsible for what they do, and they should accept any due consequences as a matter of course.

It’s just that he didn’t say anything, leaving a string of vague ellipsis at the end of the story, as if I wanted to dig out the sentence “Let’s end it like this” from him, and he also knew that I understood everything.

Except for the sparkling stars reflected in the setting sun, the surface of the lake is as calm as my current mood.

After staying here for a while, I stood up, went back to the dormitory, put my bag on the table, sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath.

Burst has already lay down, flipping through some book with his back to me.

I think it's time for me to take a break too.

I took out today's books and put in the books I need tomorrow.Suddenly, I found a small box from my bag, which contained several chocolates and a simple but exquisite greeting card that was not signed.

[Happy Valentine's Day. ]

I froze for a moment.As the corners of my mouth curled up, I felt the warmth sliding down my cheeks.The writing in front of my eyes is completely blurred, but I can still read it.

It's Orion Black.

When I hugged my shoulders on the table and my whole arm was wet, I didn't know why I was crying.

Facing the blue window, I controlled my sour eyes not to blink, and controlled my breathing to try not to make a sound.I feel like I'm running out of breath.

To be honest, I really don't know what the hell I'm crying about.

I don't think I was saddened by Riddle or happy by Orion's card.

I just thank him for noticing me who didn't say a word in the noisy crowd.Only now I understand that it's not that those noisy emotions have nothing to do with me, but that I don't pay attention to anyone, and no one pays attention to me, that's all.