Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle ✓

chapter two

Bronze and blue silks were draped across the walls, flowing down onto the floor. As Evelyn looked up, she saw the sky she used to dream of. Swirls of blue and white paint collided in the most beautiful way, dancing around each other to form clouds with stars lingering in the background. After her first year at Hogwarts, Evelyn and her parents had painted the exact same mural on her bedroom room so she could always feel as though she was at Hogwarts.

"Your dormitory arrangements are on the notice board. Unpack, get some sleep and get ready for the magic of tomorrow." Evelyn slouched down into a chair as the first years scuttled away towards the notice board; a few grunts and groans later and they were gone.

"That was impressive." Daniel smiled at her, seating himself in the chair beside her. "It honestly looks like you were made to be a prefect Evelyn, you seemed complete back then. I've only seen fragments of you since your parents died but that, that made you seem whole again."

Evelyn was taken aback by Daniels kindness, she had never really interacted with him in anything other than an academic capacity, she barely even knew his last name but still, he went out of his way to be kind to her. "Thank you." Evelyn couldn't think of much else to say to him, she didn't know him in the way he seemed to know her. Sensing Evelyn's discomfort, he rose from his seat and disappeared into his dorm, leaving Evelyn alone in the common room. Evelyn took a moment to be still before she wandered into their dormitory to see both Lily and Sara sat on their beds.

Scanning the room, Evelyn quickly laid eyes on her owl, Olympia, perched on the balcony. Due to Evelyn's grandparent's cabin being in an unsafe area for both muggles and wizards, Olympia stayed in an owlery over summer to keep her safe. Evelyn's fingers ran across Olympias soft, brown feathers, their eyes locking onto each other. "I swear she knows me."

"Of course she knows you, she sees you at school every day for half the year," Sara muttered, looking up from her book.

"No but she really knows me, it's like we have a connection." Evelyn had first got Olympia in Diagon Alley, only a few days before she had begun at Hogwarts. Within seconds of first seeing her, Evelyn knew that Olympia was the one for her.

"She's just an owl, I'm not sure how much she could really understand you Evelyn" Lily chimed in.

After changing into a nightdress, she climbed into her bed and slid on her reading glasses. Despite being a talented witch, her poor eyesight was something that she was unable to correct with magic, much to her dismay. Reaching down into her open suitcase, her fingers grasped at the spine of a Potions textbook. Pulling it onto her lap, she opened it up to the page of a potion she had been struggling with over summer. Much to her grandparents' dismay, she had been badly practising potions all summer, only perfecting around half of them before the six weeks were up. She skimmed through the page, her eyes focusing on the key information in the hopes that it would stay in her brain for her first lesson tomorrow.

After a few minutes, she gave up. She decided it would be best to tackle the potion again another day. Sliding the book back onto her bedside table, she slipped under the covers. "Goodnight." She called to Lily and Sara, who were both already tucked up in their beds. Before long, Evelyn found herself sucked into the deep abyss of sleep.

Evelyn found herself in a dark corner of the room; what room she hadn't quite figured out. The scent was familiar, almost like old wood. She followed the corridor, keeping her eyes set on the tall oak door at the end of it. Evelyn had no clue where she was, she just knew what she was doing, and she just had to go through that door. It was though something was controlling her body, taking over her mind and preventing her from making her own decisions. Her legs grew weaker with every step, as though she might collapse before she even got close to the door.

"Hello?" She called, to nobody in particular, hoping for a response to give her some idea of where she was. She kept pacing towards the door, her pace increasing with each step; eventually, her hand clasped the firm golden knocker and slid the door open. The floor was slimy, almost wet, drenched in a thin substance that Evelyn had never encountered before. Flecks of red ran through the substance, pouring fear into her heart. After one final glance around the room, Evelyn knew her location; she was in the girl's bathroom.

On instinct, Evelyn pulled out her wand and held it in front of her, ready to attack. The stalls are destroyed, wooden frames from the stalls were flying everywhere, landing all across the room; scattered like a tiresome jigsaw puzzle thrown in anger.

"Hello?" She called again, unsure of whether she wanted a response, she wanted assurance of what was occurring but she didn't know who from. She just wanted somebody to tell her what was going on, someone to get her out and stop the terror that was clawing at her heart. Her mind felt like it was being crushed and strained with confusion and her breaths were rapidly increasing. Her anxiety was spinning out of control, her hands trembling visibly. Her heart froze with every step she took closer to the pile of broken cubicles in fear of what she might find. Dust particles scattered themselves through the air, Evelyn, unfortunately, gathering the dust in her breath and coughing heavily. Sheepishly she took another step forward, another, eventually she stood before the pile of wooden frames. She bent down, assessing the positioning of the wood and cautiously removing a few from the top; throwing them towards the sinks.

Her eyes widened with fear, shock, and pain as she removed another piece of wood revealing something that she had prayed she wouldn't find. A body. The leg lay twisted and bent in an awkward angle. Evelyn didn't want to take another piece of wood off the body but the curiosity was growing inside of her, begging to escape. Before she knew it, her hands found their way towards another piece of wood, removing it to uncover another piece of the body. This time an arm was uncovered, holding tissues drenched with tears. Evelyn didn't dare remove another piece, scared for a life to uncover the identity of the body. She stood up and stared down at the mess that lay before her, sighing. Somebody was dead, she had to tell somebody. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound escaped her lips. She quivered softly, hands shaking with fear and collapsed mentally. Tears streamed down her face, moistening her skin and running onto the floor.

She tried to move but her legs were jelly, the sound of heels clashing with the floor awakened her senses and she ran towards the other door in the corner. Something fell from her pockets but she had no time to check what it was as the clashing noises grew louder. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her and collapsed as the door slammed behind her.