Tom Riddle.
The first few weeks of Year Two proved normal until a series of messages appeared on the walls of the school's corridors. They warned that the "Chamber of Secrets" had been opened and that the “Heir of Slytherin" would kill all pupils who do not come from all-magical families. She knew technically she was safe because she was a pureblood, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about anyone who wasn’t. Despite being a Slytherin, she wasn’t the evil type that everyone figured Slytherins to be.
It was a normal evening. She’d graduated from her afternoon class of flying lessons last year, so now from 6:00pm to whenever she chose to head down to the Great Hall for dinner. She liked to eat closer to 7:30, so she currently walked back to her dorm— and upon going to her space in the dorm, she found a package. It was the shape of a book, wrapped in brown cardboard-like paper.
Was it silly of her to hope it was something cooler than potentially a book? Probably.
She gently picked it up from her bedsheets. Finding her name scribbled onto the backside in handwriting she didn’t recognise, she gently plucked at the paper and slid the object out— finding it to in fact be a book— but not a reading one, it was a journal— perhaps a diary. It reminded her of her father. Upon turning over the smooth leather book in her hands. Inscribed within the backside was a name. ‘Tom Marvolo Riddle.’ She thought it might just be the company that makes these books— since the entire inside was blank. She decided it would become her diary. She left it at her bed to have dinner.
Upon returning to her dorm, she picked up the book and grabbed a quill. She sat at her desk and dipped her pen to ink— she wasn’t sure what to write first— so she simply wrote
‘Hello’
She paused, unsure of what to write now— before coming up with something the ink seemed to sink into the pages and disappear— and then the ink rose again, and beneath it, in a new handwriting, it said
‘Well, hello there.’
She paused. Was she truly seeing this? Was she crazy? As if the book read her thoughts, it replied?
‘You aren’t crazy, Darling.
I’m Tom Riddle.’
Darling?? Excuse this guy?? Pause— there was a GUY inside her book????— and then it clicked. Tom Riddle was the name on the back of the book— this was HIS book. She hesitantly wrote back:
‘I’m Jules Black..
I’m sorry for writing in your book.’
And the man’s response was so sweet.
‘It’s quite alright, darling.
This book is barely mine anymore.
I am trapped within the pages,
but I’d love to be your friend.’
That made her smile. So she began to write.
‘Trapped in the Pages??’
He didn’t respond, so she asked the only question she could muster:
‘Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?’
And he replied:
‘Yes.’
Okay… good start.
‘Can you tell me about it?’
‘No.’ He wrote.
No??… Bitch— but then he continued:
‘But I can show you.
Let me take you back
Fifty years ago.’
‘13th June’ he wrote.
Jules was told the story, and she found him rather handsome— though she didn’t say that. After learning about him, Jules ended up telling the man things she’d never told a soul— because who he could tell? He’s literally in a book. The man was so kind, understanding, and supportive. He agreed with her on most things, voicing his opinions which often mirrored her own. He’d often compliment her, rather it was the poetry she wrote for him to see, or her handwriting. How it was messy when excited, or neat when she was trying to impress him.
Eventually, he asked for her help, and because Tom had been so sweet, she agreed. She was tasked with giving the book to Ginny Weasley, and keeping an eye on Harry Potter. She agreed, after he’d promised he’d see her again.
She did as told, leaving the book for Ginny the same way it was left for her… and watched the havoc commence.