HP Cronos

Regulus has been very busy these two days, he always stays out at night, and he doesn't know what he is planning.

Nora scratched across the parchment.The options are pretty slim these days, with only two Horcruxes left, the Slytherin Locket and the Boy Who Lived.

The locket was nowhere to be found, and was probably closely guarded by Voldemort.The boy hadn't been made into a Horcrux just yet—was destroying all Horcruxes, including, keeping things that would have been Horcruxes from becoming?

In her sleep Nora would fall into one dream after another.

It was a Christmas.

Why is it always Christmas?

Well, anyway, on that Christmas day, although the Muggle world was still under the shadow of war, everyone tried their best to create a different atmosphere on this day, in order to tell the world that Britain was not defeated, and to tell Those Germans who can't go home for Christmas are dreaming of occupying Britain.

Nora stepped on a ladder to decorate the Christmas tree in the yard, Mom prepared Christmas dinner in the kitchen, and Dad read the paper at the kitchen table.

Nora finished the arrangement by placing the Christmas star on top.She breathed a sigh of relief, and saw the tall and thin boy standing at the gate of the yard.

He was wrapped in a thin overcoat, and snowflakes fell on his black hair.

Nora rubbed her eyes to make sure it wasn't her hallucination.

The Nora family moved out of the vicinity of the orphanage a few years ago and moved closer to the central city.After the move, Nora rarely saw Riddle during the holidays.She jumped off the ladder and threw herself in front of him: "Why are you here?"

Then Nora was hugged tightly.

The sudden embrace left Nora breathless.Her face was pressed against Riddle's chest, and he could clearly hear his heartbeat.Cautiously, she reached out and hugged him back.

"Any visitors, Nora?" Pa asked loudly from the house.

"Uh...a friend of mine, Dad." Nora hurriedly pushed Tom away, and replied falteringly. She pulled Riddle and reminded in a low voice: "My dad doesn't like things like magic. You just need to It was enough to tell him you were my friend from the orphanage."

"Let him come in and warm himself by the fire, Nora," said Mr. Gray.

"Okay, we'll come in right away." Nora went to carry the ladder under the tree, and Riddle carried the ladder one step ahead of her.

He met Nora's father, greeted him politely, and took the wrapped present from his coat.The two of them had an unexpectedly congenial talk.Nora had never known that Riddle had any knowledge of Muggle science.The mother who heard the movement in the kitchen came out and took a look, her expression froze on her face.

"Nora's friend, Mr. Tom Riddle," Mr. Gray introduced to his wife. "Have you met before?"

"I don't remember much," said Tom, smiling. "Have we met before, ma'am?"

Mrs Gray's lips quivered slightly, and she said, "We haven't seen one."

Nora felt a little strange about her mother's behavior.

After learning that Tom is an orphan, Mr. Gray warmly invites him to stay and have Christmas dinner with them.During the dinner, the two men chatted happily.Riddell's social skills are superb, switching topics freely, and all questions about schoolwork are brushed aside.Now and then Nora interjected.Only Mrs. Gray was unnaturally silent.

Mr. Gray invited Tom to stay the night after dinner, which he did not refuse.

"You haven't told me why you came here." After dinner, Nora and Riddle sat side by side in front of the fireplace roasting chestnuts, and Nora asked him in a low voice.

"Because I want to see you," Riddle replied.

A lie, it must be a lie.Nora's face was still red, and she remembered the hug at the Christmas tree.Fortunately, it was not very obvious under the firelight.

"I thought you'd stay at school for Christmas," Nora said. "Same as every year."

"Yeah, I would have."

Nora looked at him sideways, the firelight cast bright or dark shadows on his face."What happened?" she asked.

Riddle didn't answer her, and looked at the dancing sparks with a panel expression.Nora noticed a black ring he had never seen before on his finger.

"What is that?" Nora touched her hand, but Riddle held her hand instead, and said calmly, "It's not a big deal."

"Can I talk to you alone, Mr. Riddle?" The sudden appearance of Mrs. Gray made Nora withdraw her hand guiltily.Emilia Gray standing aside looked so cold that Nora felt strange.

"Of course, ma'am." Tom stood up and followed Mrs. Gray to the kitchen.Bored, Nora fiddled with the knobs of the radio.Most of the stations were just a noise, and the rest were playing Merry Christmas, with a bomb warning or two here and there.

Nora eavesdropped at the kitchen door, but unfortunately nothing could be heard inside.

They talked for a while, and by the time Riddle came out Nora was dozing off in the rocking chair.Mrs. Gray's complexion was still not very good. The nervous Mr. Gray thought that preparing Christmas dinner made his wife overworked, and suggested going to bed early.After the family had said good night, Mr. Gray led Riddle to the guest room and lent him his own pajamas, which looked funny because they were too short for the tall boy.

Nora, who had gone to bed early, was tossing and turning in bed, the hug from earlier still lingering in front of her eyes, and Tom Riddle was sleeping next door to her.The glass was empty, so she decided to go downstairs to get some water.

Nora saw Riddle standing alone by the window.The windows were open, and the wind was bitterly cold.Riddle was only in his pajamas.

"Aren't you cold?" Nora couldn't help asking.

"There's a Warming Charm," said Riddle, who casually cast one on Nora.

"Hey, you're crazy!" Nora screamed, "We're still students, and we'll be warned by the Ministry of Magic if we use magic in the Muggle world!"

"Don't worry," Tom said lightly.

Slytherin prefects never do things they're not sure about.Nora guessed that he might have used some method to disable Zongsi.

It's just -- so cool.She wants it too.

"What did my mother talk to you about?" Nora asked, standing beside him, looking at the snow.

"Probably a conversation between a mother and her daughter's boyfriend."

Nora jumped up like a cat whose tail has been stepped on: "But you're not my boyfriend!"

"Perhaps she thought we were," said Tom, laughing. "She warned me that if I did you any harm, she would come after me."

"Really? My mother really said that?"

"You didn't see the way she was talking to me. Her eyes seemed to say that if I moved one of your fingers, she would fight me desperately."

"Then...how did you answer her?"

"I said I love you."

Nora felt blood rushing to her face in an instant.

"And you, do you like me, Nora?" he asked.

Nora felt that she couldn't lose Gryffindor's face here, so she deliberately raised her voice and said, "I like it."

Tom leaned down and kissed her.Despite the Warming Charm, his lips were cold.After parting he buried his head in Nora's hair and took a deep breath.Nora put her arms around his shoulders.

"Nora," Tom whispered in her ear, "you'll always be here, won't you?"

"I'm here." She replied, blushing from her forehead to her neck.

Regulus would come back almost every morning.

Nora discussed plans with Kreacher over a perfect onion cream soup that Kreacher made.

After preliminary discussions, they came to the conclusion that it was no different from courting death for the two of them to fight Voldemort.

Nora didn't think she was to blame for this - Regulus' position was too embarrassing. Although he was unwilling to obey Voldemort, he also refused to join the Order of the Phoenix as a spy.

"Two solutions." Nora stretched out two fingers, "First, we try to get Slytherin's locket. You are a Death Eater after all, hasn't the mysterious man revealed anything to you?"

"No, he never mentioned a word to us about the Horcruxes." Regulus replied.

"Then how did you know the existence of 'Horcrux'?"

"He didn't mention Horcruxes, but he told us that he had transcended life and death." Regulus said, "I studied his words a little bit—it just so happened that my headmaster at Hogwarts was also his teacher. , the mysterious person asked him about the 'Horcrux' back then."

"The teacher who taught Tom Riddle... um... Could it be Professor Slughorn? That old man doesn't seem like someone who would tell people such things casually."

"I used some tricks." Regulus said lightly.

"Is there no chance that you have come into contact with that locket at all?" Nora asked unwillingly.

"If you want me to die." Regulus scooped up a spoonful of thick soup, "tell me about the second method."

"Secondly, we have to find the James Potters, you know them?"

Regulus nodded slightly.His brother's best friend.The most striking pair in Gryffindor as a student.Now it is also the backbone of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Their child is called Harry Potter, and he will become the Horcrux of the mysterious man by chance."

"Can a living person also become a Horcrux?"

"Yes, living people can do it too." Nora nodded, "But if he has become a Horcrux, the only way to destroy it is by the mysterious person himself, otherwise the boy will die too."

The look in Regulus' eyes revealed that he thought it would be a good deal to sacrifice a boy to destroy a Horcrux.So Nora decided to tell a harmless little lie.

"Instead of waiting for him to be made into a Horcrux, why don't we protect him in advance?"

"Can this be regarded as 'destroying' the Horcrux? Could it be that the mysterious man made something else into his Horcrux?"

"Of course." Nora said confidently, "He will definitely choose Harry Potter, because everything has been prophesied."

Generally speaking, Mrs. Black is not an easy person to get along with, but once she learned that the witch in front of her was from a pure-blood family and trusted by Voldemort, she immediately became amiable.

"I can assure you that Regulus is definitely the most loyal subject under the Dark Lord's command. He just...is not very good at expressing." Mrs. Black propagandized endlessly, "That child has been like this since he was a child, and he can't say anything. In his heart. He only works hard, but he doesn't know how to show his loyalty to the Duke of Darkness."

If she hadn't been discussing the plan against Voldemort with the "loyal" Regulus last night, Nora would have almost believed it.

"The kid has been a Death Eater since he was 16, older than his cousins—he's only 17 this year."

Nora almost sprayed Mrs. Black's face with a sip of black tea: "He's only 17 years old?"

She suspected that Mrs. Black's dementia had misremembered her age.Regulus' bitter and bitter face did not look like he was 17 years old.

Regulus Black is surprisingly a submissive son to his mother.In the face of all the unbearable and unreasonable nagging and demands of Mrs. Black, she never complained, which made Nora deeply admire.