Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle ✓

chapter seven

A thin stream of light shone through the arched window, illuminating the whole common room. Evelyn sat by the window- glancing out at the morning sunrise. The sunrise wasn't grey, it was a soothing lavender, a twinkling amber. The colours merged forming pinks and peaches, Evelyn adored watching the sunsets, after all, nobody ever knew how many more they would see.

Beautiful birdsong could be heard faintly through the window and the grey clouds of yesterday had finally disappeared. Her eyes waltzed around the common room, falling upon her best friend asleep on the couch, her blonde hair in tangles sprawled across it. With a loud yawn, she awoke from her slumber, stretched her whole body as she swung her legs off the couch. "Morning," She beamed, her eyes still fluttering shut.

"Good morning, excited for Quidditch trials?" At the sound of Quidditch, Lily suddenly shot up.

"Oh, I wonder who's signed up!" She sprung from the couch towards the parchment-covered notice board in the centre of the wall. Her fingers picked at the pieces of parchment stuck awkwardly on the board, until she eventually found the sheet and pulled it from the board.

"Lily Blake, Evelyn Rivers, Daniel Harvey, Markus Trent, Jolie Markson, Estella Jones, Roger Knotts, Bradley Stretton, Mary-Grace Prewett"

"We don't exactly have much choice for who we want on the team," Evelyn sighed looking at the brief list before her, "Hopefully we'll get some more turn up otherwise I'm not sure how well we'll do this year." Evelyn knew how unlikely this was, the majority of Ravenclaw had no interest in Quidditch, especially those with exams looming. Those without exams in the coming few months were involved in too many extracurricular activities to even be able to consider doing Quidditch.

"Let's go-to breakfast now so we can get to the trials on time." Lily smiled, pocketing the signup sheet and making her way out of the common room, Evelyn following closely behind.

Sliding onto their usual table, the two girls joined Sara who was already sat, happily munching on her breakfast.

Evelyn stared down at her meal, the steam floating off of it and dispersing around the hall. She shivered as the cold metal cutlery touched her skin, shaking and almost dropping it on her plate on instinct. She gently cut a small slice of her tower of bacon and syrup pancakes and devoured it with little elegance. The bacon broke over her tongue, perfectly crisp, perfectly salty. The flavour was like a bomb in her mouth, exploding in all the right ways. It was the way she started trial and match days, a sort of edible party to prepare herself for the exercise.

Evelyn was quickly finished with her meal, washing it all down with a tall glass water. Her fingernails anxiously tapped against the wooden table, a repetitive motion that gave her comfort in times of anxiety. Before long, Lily had also finished her meal, traces of syrup still left dripping from the corners of her lips.

With one last reassuring look from Sara, the two girls were ready for trials. Even though they were almost guaranteed a spot on the team, they both felt their anxiety growing louder with each step towards the pitch. Once they had their broomsticks firmly in their hands, all the worries in the world slowly drifted away. Nothing else mattered when they were flying, all they had to do was win.

Evelyn adored her broomstick, before her parents had passed they had bought her the newest Comet 220. She had used it for every Quidditch match since and even when she didn't win, she still felt victorious. When she stepped onto the pitch, she felt as though every fibre of her being relaxed, despite the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she felt calm. Evelyn and Lily weren't alone for long, within a few seconds of their arrival, a gaggle of Ravenclaw students filed onto the pitch, stopping in front of Lily who would be running the trials.

As soon as the group arrived in front of Lily, her entire persona shifted. "Shut up!" She called out, silencing the students before her. "You lot had better be ready to play for your lives, I don't let just anybody on to this team. Warn yourselves up and be back on the pitch in ten minutes!"