Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle ✓

chapter five

When Evelyn went to sleep, she lost herself in nightmares the same way she had lost herself in her work the previous day. Each night was different but when Evelyn tried to recall them, they all merged together into one blurry picture, a puzzle missing half the pieces.

When Evelyn awoke, the sun was barely visible, still hidden behind the horizon. She was alone in the common room with not a single sound coming from either of the surrounding dormitories. Although Evelyn was always quiet, she tiptoed as an extra precaution to prevent waking up the other students. She tiptoed until she reached the corridor where the sound of her shoes hitting the ground quickly began to echo across it.

With homework still left to do, Evelyn made her way towards the library which was where she tended to spend the majority of her free time. Once she got there, she unfolded the parchment tucked between her arms and took her usual seat by the window. After dropping her parchment on the table to secure her seat, she set off towards the rows of bookshelves scattered across the library. At the charms section of the shelves, Evelyn paused, taking the time to read each of the book titles before carefully selecting one on summoning charms and retaking her seat.

Once she had all of her materials ready, Evelyn got to work. She had been assigned charms homework which involved writing an essay on the summoning charm Accio, one of Evelyn's favourite charms to use. As soon as she had skimmed through the book, Evelyn was away. Words were flowing from the bottom of her quill with barely a thought required. She wrote and wrote until her hand ached and she could barely hold a quill any longer.

By the time the sun was up, Evelyn was done. She rose from her seat, placing the book in midair and watching as it floated away back go its rightful place on the shelf.

With still almost an hour to go until she had her first lesson, Evelyn decided to get her broom and take it out onto the Quidditch pitch. She took herself outside onto the grounds, shivering as she took a step outside and felt the cool morning air on her skin. Inside the changing rooms, Evelyn made sure to change into her gear as quickly as possible to maximise her time outside.

Flying gave her a sense of freedom that nothing else could. Feeling the air against her skin with no resistance made her feel invisible, but at the same time, she felt more alive than ever before. With a non-verbal command, her broomstick was firmly within her grasp and a split second later, she had mounted it. In an instant, her broomstick lurched forwards as she took off in flight.

Evelyn flew a figure of eight loop, climbing higher as she circled back round to face the castle. With the wind in her hair, she felt unstoppable. After she had got her bearings of the pitch, she began making more dangerous moves. Her broomstick took control, sending her flying in loops until her insides had been twisted around so much she thought she would be sick. Her entire body felt as though it wasn't real, the chill of the autumn air barely touched her as she soared higher into the September sky.

As she watched the sun creep higher, Evelyn became aware of the time and knew it was time to go. Breakfast was something she didn't want to miss, especially after such an exhilarating flight, her body needed refuelling. Leaning backwards, her broomstick began to lose speed and height, sending her closer to the ground and closer to the reality of life.

After changing back into her robes, Evelyn scurried across the Hogwarts corridors and made her way to the Great Hall for her favourite meal of the day. Before she had a chance to serve herself, her attention was diverted from the glorious food and towards the bundle of owls flying in above her. Evelyn barely thought to look up at the incoming post-delivery as she never got post, so when the familiar call of her owl erupted in the hall, she furrowed her brow and turned to see Olympia swooping down towards her. Beside her, countless copies of the Daily Prophet were being dropped to her friends, with only a small envelope finding its way onto her table. With a great red Hogwarts crest sealing off the envelope, Evelyn knew the post had come from inside the castle. Her fingers slid under the seal, popping it off and pulling the letter out from inside its envelope.

Dear Miss Rivers,

It has come to my attention that you are already exceeding expectations in all academic aspects, an obvious favourite being Charms judging by your test results from last year. It would bring me great pleasure to have you attend the first of hopefully many Slug Club dinners. During these gatherings, we will simply talk and eat with other students of similar interest to me as you.

If you wish to attend, they shall be held fortnightly, the first meeting will be starting on the third Sunday of November at 6:00 in my office. I very much hope to see you there.

-Horace Slughorn.

Evelyn's eyebrows furrowed again in confusion as she read the letter. Her eyes glanced across the room at the other students in the hall, scanning to see if anyone else had seemingly received the same letter but without her glasses, she could barely tell. The only other person she could make out in the hall with a similar-looking envelope was Tom Riddle, an obvious option to invite as almost every person in Hogwarts found him interesting. Whether they liked him or not, nobody could deny that he was mysterious.

Upon looking at Tom, she could tell that he too was scanning the room for others with the same letter and had finally stopped searching when he saw Evelyn looking him dead in the eyes, holding the same letter he had in front of him. Neither Evelyn nor Tom looked away, instead, they seemed to be investigating each other, running their eyes across their whole body a few times before looking away.

After Evelyn looked away, she could tell that Tom had not yet done the same. With an uncomfortable feeling in her body, Evelyn pocketed the letter and headed towards her next lesson.