I'm not too certain how this one turned out. It's my attempt at a lighter toned story but I'm not sure I succeeded... And by the way, I am well aware that Voldemort is 25 years older then Bellatrix but use your imagination! Bonne lecture!

I do not own Harry Potter.

"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever." Francois Muriac

A riddle in the park

By The Silly Frog

It was a very warm day; not one of those pleasant sunny days but a humid, sticky kind of hot that makes people just want to sit in the shade and wallow in their one misery. The streets were completely deserted, except for the occasional businessman hurrying to get out of the sweltering heat and into a nice air-conditioned office. People lay limply in their houses, in front of their fans as they did nothing but curse the overwhelming heat. All together, it was one very uncomfortable and lazy day.

In one particularly dirty and crummy-looking neighbourhood stood an equally dirty and crummy-looking playground. The metal monkey-bars burned the children's hands and the dirty sand stuck to their feet. The overflowing garbage bins filled the air with the not-so-pleasant scent of hot decomposing food and dirty diapers. The buzzing bees and flies hovered around the trash, like starving men around a feast. But no matter how unpleasant were all those factors, the worst was the large metal slide that glistened in the sun, daring the children to test its capability of burning a child's backside so badly that they would not be able to sit for the next week. Of course, being ever so reckless, the children attempted to overcome the slide, boasting loudly that they were not afraid of the heat. Much to everyone's pleasure, those who boasted loudest were the ones who whimpered in pain as they ran for their mothers, clutching their backsides.

A little further away from the sticky sand and bothersome children stood an old swing set that was left alone by the other children, seeing as that it was directly under the sun and, therefore, the warmest place to be at that moment. However, there was one little girl who did not mind the sun so much. She sat on the swing, burying her bare feet in the long grass. All the parents in the playground shot her intrigued looks as she continued to stare at her feet, swinging back and forth lightly. She stood out from the other children. She looked spoiled and aristocratic, with her tailored white summer-dress and her long bushy black hair tied in an elegant bun at the back of her neck. Nobody quite understood what she was doing in a park in that attire.

Bellatrix Black was bored and in a strangely rebellious mood. Perhaps it was the sweltering heat that was keeping all logic at bay but all Bella knew was that she wanted to do something spontaneous. Yet unfortunately, being the perfect daughter of the Black family, she did not know what to do. Her first attempt at being impulsive was to run away from home for a day on streets by her self but, as she walked the lone streets, she realized that her parents probably hadn't noticed her disappearance. She then thought it would be pretty fun to take off her shoes (oh how she would love to see her mother's face!) but that proved to be far less exciting then she had hoped. So now she sat on the swing, feeling very bored and sorry for herself.

As she sat there, someone caught her attention; a little boy, about her own age, sitting alone behind a big bush, looking miserable and angry. He was a strangely handsome boy for his age; there was a certain dignity in his dark eyes and the way his brows were furrowed with thought. She liked the way his skin shone like a pale light under the aggressive sun; unlike all those street brats who had skin so brown and burnt they might have been working on a farm. Another peculiar thing about this boy was his outfit. He wore an unattractive grey uniform that appeared to be too small for him. But all of things did not interest her as much as the fact that he was doing magic. She would recognize it anywhere and she knew that the bush leaves that he was touching were not crumbling like ash by chance. He was a pureblood, she was certain of it. She could not say why but she knew that no one as handsome and noble-looking as that boy could be a mudblood. The only thing that bothered her was the fact that he wore such horrid clothes! But then again…perhaps he was looking to be a little defiant as well. So she watched him out of the corner of her eye while pretending to look at her feet.

After five minutes or so, the mysterious boy seemed to get bored of his game of kill-the-leaves and stood, his eyes suddenly fixed on her. Bella blushed in delight and looked up, meeting his stare head on. He took a step towards her, then another and another until…

"Move"

Her smile faltered and her pleased expression turned to one of cold shock.

"What?"

"I said move." His voice was cold and silky, like the back of an icy hand stroking her cheek. Bella could not help but shiver.

"No." She replied, refusing to be bullied. If he was a pureblood, he should have known he was talking to!

"I can make you." He replied, his eyes narrowing.

Now her cheeks flushed with anger and she pressed her sun-chapped lips together.

"You touch me and I'll punch you so hard you'll go running back to your mommy." She snapped and was pleased when she saw him turn slightly pink. Out of anger? Embarrassment? Fear? She did not know but she was glad she was having an effect on him.

"Besides there's another swing right here." She added, gesturing to the one beside her.

He grunted something inaudible and sat down, staring at her cautiously.

"What's your name?" The way he asked her was like an order. His eyes were narrowed sceptically as they lingered on her face and Bella noticed how cold his eyes looked, like dark pits of coolness and she had the sudden want to dive into them and hide herself away from the heat.

"Bellatrix Black." She answered, slightly surprised by the fact that he didn't know her but definitely not passing up a chance to make a new friend, especially someone as interesting as him.

"But everybody calls me Bella. You can call me that if you like. Except for Cissy who insists on calling me Trixie and my grandfather who calls me little girl" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I think that's such a silly name! I mean…I'm almost ten. A real big girl! So I told him-"

"You talk too much."

She froze, her mouth hanging open in surprise. To say that she was just a little shocked would be the least. She had never been treated like that before. People always just offered her everything she wanted and then ushered her away in order to talk in her back. She never ever heard someone be so painfully honest with her. She did not know why but, oddly enough, she liked it. She found it interesting and mysterious. She liked the way he seemed to be much older and mature.

"And you too little." She replied, a smirk appearing on her face.

He gave her a quick glare before looking away, as if Bella wasn't worth his time. But she wasn't discouraged. On the contrary, she rose to the challenge.

"What's your name?" She asked curiously.

"Why should I have to tell you?" He replied.

"Because I told you mine."

They stared at each other for a moment, as if measuring each other's stubbornness before he looked averted his eyes and said "Tom Riddle."

"Tom Riddle..." Bella tasted the words on her tongue. "You know it suits you. Although you probably get teased an awful lot. I mean...there so many jokes you can make with Riddle! "Riddle me this!" and "Tom, here's a riddle..." You know my father's friend's called Tom as well. Not very nice though...I heard him once telling father that I should be sent to some boarding school for etiquette for the next year! I mean... I'll already be in a boarding school when I turn eleven, won't I?"

Bella stopped when she saw the resentful look Tom was giving her and frowned, exasperated. What was wrong with him?

'He really is a riddle.'

Bella could not help but burst into a fit of giggles at the thought of her not-so-funny pun.

"What?" Tom asked, frowning.

"None of your business." Bella replied, a wicked smile on her lips. Much to her surprise, the corner of his lips twitched upwards ever so slightly.

For a moment, they both sat in silence...well as much silence as one can find in a park full of noisy children. Bella snickered as one particularly chubby kid came sliding down the ever-so-intimidating slide and gave out a howl as he practically leaped off it and the other kids began to laugh and chant; "Tony is a fat cake! Tony is a fat cake!" After that, nothing very interesting happened for a couple minutes so Bella decided to ask Tom more questions.

"Where are your parents, Tom?" She asked.

"They're not here...they're at home."

Bella leaned towards him eagerly.

"But where is your home? Maybe we're neighbours!"

Tom did not reply, He simply dropped his head a moment and then asked with a sudden large amount of interest; "Where are you're parents anyways?"

Bella merely shrugged, immediately forgetting her previous question at the chance of talking more about herself.

"I don't know. They were home when I left but their probably gone to a party or something. I thought I'd get out and do something fun. It's been raining all week and stuck in the house with two younger sisters is about as unbearable as sitting through one of mother's lectures! I-"

"You're doing it again."

Bella frowned.

"What?"

"Talking." He replied bluntly.

"Well what else are we supposed to do? Do you want to try the slide or something? What do you normally do with your friends?"

He said nothing for a minute or so, simply watching her with those strange eyes of his.

"You're not my friend." He said at last, as if he were coming to a conclusion.

"Well good then!" Bella snapped. "I certainly don't want to be friends with someone like you!"

The sun continued to torture them with its unbearable heat and Bella could not understand how anyone would want to stay outdoors for more then ten minutes...except for her, of course, because she know had a riddle she wanted to figure out. So she accepted the sun and sat beside the boy, feeling a little awkward. She didn't even know why she was putting up with him. He obviously wasn't the friendliest of people but, then again, neither was she. But why was he still sitting beside her? If he looked so miserable, why didn't he just move? As she thought all of this over in her mind, Bella noticed the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. That's when she noticed that his unfashionable uniform was actually made of wool.

"What?" He asked, eyes narrowed as her expression turned to one of horror.

"How can you wear that?" She asked, eyes wide.

Tom glanced down at his uniform as if he hadn't noticed how warm he was.

"Why? Is it bothering her majesty?" His icy tone dripped with sarcasm.

"Don't call me." Bella replied, annoyed. "It's just that it's so bloody hot out here. Why don't you put something else on?"

"Why are you wearing that silly dress? You're not at one you of your daddy's precious parties." He retorted, equally annoyed.

"Oh never mind then! Be a baby if you want to!" She replied, holding back a smile.

Tom Riddle...He was arrogant, annoying and allusive and yet, Bella was finding him more and more appealing by the second. She did not know why his curt replies made her want to smile as much as they infuriated her. So once again, they fell into silence, both staring at nothing in particular. Tom was the one who broke the silence this time.

"You know you shouldn't be here. This isn't a very safe neighbourhood."

Bella grinned at him as he averted his eyes again, keeping them fixed on the horizon.

"I can take care of myself. I'm scarier then any boy I know." She curled her hand into a fist and hit the palm of her other hand lightly, as if to prove her point.

"What about you? What are you doing here?"

"Like you said, I can take care of myself." He answered, now looking down at his open hands.

"Well then maybe I'll see you next time I come here."

He raised his eyes to meet hers.

"Doubt it"

Bella raised her eyebrows and shrugged, refusing to let him provoke her. She couldn't help but smile when she saw the look of irritation cross over his face, clearly disappointed by the lack of effect he was having on her.

"You know..." She said with a bit of a smile. "I only came here because I wanted to do something spontaneous, something out of the ordinary."

"And did you?" He asked sounding only mildly interested. Bella couldn't help but wonder if he was acting uninterested on purpose.

"Well I left my house without permission and came here. Mother told me never to come to this filthy neighbourhood. There's lots of muggles here, you see. I'm glad you came along or I would have been terribly bored. There's even a muggle orphanage down the street." She laughed. "So I thought it would be pretty rebellious to come here. But it doesn't feel special… So then I decided to take of my shoes." She held her feet up and wriggled her toes. Tom laughed arrogantly at her foolishness. She said nothing seeing as that she was well aware that her ideas were stupid and that she would have laughed at him had he been the bare footed one.

"Don't you feel like doing something exciting?" She asked him.

"No." He shook his head. "There isn't anything exciting to do here anyways. If you think otherwise, you're wasting your time."

Bella nodded, allowing her eyes to wonder thoughtfully over his face as he looked away again.

"Guess you're right." She sighed putting her hand in her dress pocket and pulling out a paper bag full of chocolate chip cookies.

"So I guess the only fun thing left to do, seeing as you don't want to talk to me all that much, is to eat cookies."

She held them out in front of her triumphantly, like a Quiditch player holding the Quiditch world cup. She was highly disappointed when she saw Tom's nose wrinkle with disgust as he glanced at the bag, before looking away again.

"Want one?"

As expected, he refused immediately. But as Bella gave a sigh, she noticed the way his eyes lingered hungrily on the bag before shifting and she couldn't help but observe how thin he was. Maybe his family had put him under a strict diet? Her mother had done that to her for many years when she went through her 'chubby' faze, as they called it in her family.

"Go on!" She pressed, taking one out of the bag for herself. The cookie was warm and the chocolate chips were melted – probably from the heat but Bella liked to think that she was at the children's dining table and that her elf was taking them straight out of the oven at that very moment. The elf had made them that morning and Bella thought that it would be unpractical to go on an adventure without anything to eat.
"Have one! I'm not going to eat all of these on my own!"
"Then why did you bring so many?" Tom asked, eyeing the weight and size of the paper bag.
"Well…" Bella's lips curled into a naughty grin. "I couldn't very well let my sisters have them, now could I?"
For the first time, Tom gave a smile. The two children grinned at each other, mischief shining brightly in their dark eyes. He took one without a word and bit into it, obviously suppressing the urge to smile. After all, Bella's elf did make the best cookies. They ate hungrily, not even stopping to say a word. Bella watched Tom attentively, trying to understand what lay behind those two dark pits. Strangely enough, it was not his eyes that she ended up staring at, but his lips. She hadn't noticed how perfect they were until now, as he brought the last bit of cookie to his mouth and licked away the melted chocolate that lingered on his bottom lip. She did not know why, she was quite aware of how silly she was, but she had the sudden want to kiss them, if only to feel what they were like. She didn't of course because that was not how a young lady from the House of Black acted. So she suppressed her curiosity and went on munching on her snack.
"You know..." She said, between two bites. "I rather like the name Tom Riddle...it sounds nice."
"You like lots of things, don't you?" He smirked, obviously treating her as if she were a naïve little girl. Bella smirked back.
"Well...I like you, even if you are an arrogant ass."
She was pleased to see him turn pink again as he gave her an angry glare. She knew he didn't hate her as much as he let on. She guessed it was only natural for him to try and look tough. She too did it at home. Being the eldest meant that you could never look weak or sad or even too happy for that would pass off as being silly and immature. She guessed that he was probably the eldest of his family too.
"Don't be so angry." She said, giving him a much softer smile as a sort of offering of peace. She was about to add something else when an old plump lady appeared out on the street across from where they sat.
"Oi! Tom get over 'ere! What ya doin'?"
Tom merely threw her a fleeting look at her before he turned a shade darker and glanced back at Bella. He opened his mouth but then hesitated and closed it again. Bella looked at the woman, seeing quite clearly that she wasn't his mother. She already had a few strands of grey hair and she looked exhausted from a long life of hard work. In her arms lay a screaming baby, crying for its mother. Behind the woman stood two much younger children, dressed in the same grey uniform…understanding hit her like a tone of bricks and she looked back at Tom, shock shinning clearly in her eyes. Her expression acted as trigger for him. He automatically made his face turn cold and hard, silently challenging her to laugh. She didn't though. She felt a very strange fondness for him and she suddenly knew what spontaneous action she wanted to take. She leaned forward quickly and gave him a kiss on the lips, just like she had been wanting to ever since she saw him eating the cookie. He felt just like she'd expected. The thought made her blush and she couldn't bring herself to look at him for fear of seeing his expression of disgust. She jumped off her swing, smiling at the patch of trees and sky over his shoulder.
"Don't worry, I won't tell." She said before turning around and making her way out of the park and back towards her house, bringing her fingers to her lips thoughtfully. She hadn't completely figured out her riddle but, at least she'd fulfilled what she had set out to do.

So what did you think? I know Bellatrix and Tom might seem a little OOC but I tried really hard to keep them in character...it's just so hard when they're little kids! Please don't hurt me! I tried! The weather was based on the terribly humid and gross weather we've been getting for the past week here in Quebec. And the Tone (the fat kid) getting called "fatcake" was actually based on one of my personal experiences :P the guys in my primary school thought that it would be funny to give each girl a mean nickname...I was the fatcake :P actually I wasn't fat at all. I was the thin/long nerdy type :p Anyways I hope you liked it!
Lots of love from the silly frog
-xxx-