Extreme Ways ( A Tom Riddle fanfiction )

Chapter 5

"His powers were surprisingly well-developed for such a young wizard and - most interestingly and ominously of all - he had already discovered that he had some measure of control over them, and begun to use them consciously"
HP6

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Evelyn hadn't been able to get used again to her relatives' house after spending a year at Hogwarts.
Summer seemed so long and boring.
When she jumped up the train heading to Hogwarts, she felt alive again.
What she loved the most of her first second year term were the practices for Defence Against Dark Arts, specially dueling.
She learned fast how to outsmart her rivals and what their weak points were. She could win everyone, except one. Tom Riddle was the one who always won against her.
She hated how he played with her, letting people think that she was willing just to take her by surprise and defeat her with a banal spell. And she had to fight her wild instinct each time he walked to her offering a hand to kindly help her stand up.
Perhaps if she was allowed to use more spells than those taught by the teachers, results could have been very different.
"We could practice sometimes together on our own if you'd like to improve".
Evelyn froze feeling his breath tickling her skin.
They were walking out of the classroom after the evening sessions of duelling and she didn't expect for him to talk to her in whispers like they were secret partners in crime. She looked around but nobody was caring about them.
"Is that a mischievous way to ask me out?" She replied with a mocking smile "You know it's forbidden to practice without the teacher".
Riddle smirked more mischievously "And I want you to know that with me you can try anything forbidden. You like breaking the rules as much as I do, don't you?".
"If this is a way to make me get detention.." She was still irritated that Slytherin won the last Cup of Houses. She knew that Riddle made earn so many points to his house.
He scoffed at her "That's up to you to find out. What would I get from your detention? Anyway, meet me at the Entrance Hall tomorrow at midnight. If you won't show up, I'll understand your reasons".
Evelyn watched him fast stepping away to turn to the staircase towards the dungeons while she had to take the one to her tower.
Her tired mind wondered why he insisted on pushing her to break rules with him. She startled when Adele grabbed her arm and asked in a confidential tone "What did Riddle want from you?".
Evelyn shrugged trying to free her arm in vain "Just to mock me for losing again".
"But you won all the other nine duels! If only we could practice on our own..".
"Don't tell me that" Evelyn cut her off rolling her eyes and leading the conversation to other minor problems.
She was exhausted but her mind didn't want to let her sleep.
It seemed so far away when Riddle helped her against her cousin Milly. Being in the same house should have put the two Slytherins on the same side, but Evelyn was glad that he chose instead to side with her. Milly didn't remember anything of the accident, but didn't stop to tease her, sending menacing looks at her during the whole summer break but never really put those menaces into practice.
Evelyn casted all the protection spells she knew on the picture of her parents and kept herself ready to any attack from her cousin, having learned the way she was thinking.
About Riddle, they just kept being very competitive. Evelyn didn't forget about his unexpected help, but he acted like he didn't remember it, so things were just back to the normality.
And she was confused that he challenged her to meet him at night, when she was used to wander on her own.
In the next night she sneaked out of her tower when she had been thinking of not going there until few minutes early.
Suspecting that in the end Riddle might have been allied with her worst enemy made her deeply worried, but she needed to take the risk to find it out. She wasn't easily scared. She was prudent. But she had a weak for adventures and troubles.
And she couldn't afford to miss an adventure with the boy who was able to perform a good memory charm since his first year.
The bells rang the midnight and Evelyn stepped down to the last staircase , spotting the tall boy on the place he chose.
She even thought he might have invited there just to make a fool of her and make her caught out of bed after the curfew. But there he was.
Riddle welcomed her with a smirk, then nodded for her to follow him down other staircases.
"Are you afraid of the dungeons?" He asked after a while to break the silence.
"No, I'm worried for what you have in mind".
"Just because I'm a boy?"
She rolled her eyes "Just because you're Tom Riddle. I heard that you scared the first year students".
"And how would I have done that?".
"I don't know. But I tend to believe them" she said diffidently.
He led her to an unused large classroom.
"Have you already been here?".
"I don't know. I saw many rooms like this" she shrugged.
"You like exploring, don't you?".
Evelyn couldn't help but smirk "I love it. Another thing we have in common, I guess".
He turned his back to her and walked on the opposite side of the room, then pointed his wand at her, ready to duel.
"Ladies first" he said waiting.
She clenched her jaw, holding her wand tightly and thinking of all the spells and hexes she knew so far. She didn't want to let him humiliate her again, she couldn't afford to appear like a weak witch.
She attacked starting the duel.
There were no teacher to watch over them nor any other living creature, so they were free to use any spell they knew. And Evelyn got another proof that Riddle knew too many advanced magic for his young age. He was a rival too good for her to outsmart him.
The duel seemed endless, since Evelyn was determined not to surrender easily even if she felt terribly exhausted.
She still had her wand and even if he tried hard to disarm her, she resisted.
A spell made her legs weak and unable to support her anymore.
Evelyn cursed, keeping her wand up and while she was falling a spell left her lips before she could stop it.
"Pugnictus!".
Tom didn't prevent that and the hex made him fly backwards.
Evelyn gasped shocked but inside she grinned.
The boy sat up touching his bleeding nose. When he saw his fingertips wet of his blood his eyes turned gloomy for a moment, then he stared at her who stood up and waved her wand again saying "Episkey!".
He winced, then scowled at her "I could have done it myself".
"Yeah, and then you'd kill me" she rolled her eyes, extending him a hand to help him up "I already have troubles with other riddles".
He smirked taking her hand and his pulling almost made her lose her balance.
He stared at her in what she uneasily felt as admiration.
"You used dark magic".
She retreated troubled "What do you mean? It's just a spell I found in an old book".
He snickered "Well done. I knew you could do better with just a little push. I'm glad you came. We could do this again".
She couldn't decide if she had to like or dislike it, but mocked him to hide her doubts "Don't tell me you're starting to like me to break your nose".
"I liked more that you fixed it" he smirked "Are you already tired?".
"Not much" she lied.
"Would you like to have a walk?".
"Where?".
"Out".
"Out of the castle?" She gasped "So you can torture me and throw me into the lake?".
He rolled his eyes "I'm not so evil, Evelyn. I'm sincere. I'd like to take a walk with you into the Forbidden Forest".
"The Forbidden Forest?" She repeated shocked.
"Yeah, a place familiar to you. But I have to go there alone again, haven't I?".
She felt confused by his confidence. It was like he had been stalking her and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing "What do you have to do there? Looking for troubles?".
"No, the same reasons as yours. It's a peaceful place specially at night, that gives you goosebumps sometimes, but that's right what makes it more interesting. And nobody's patrolling there as into this castle now".
Evelyn stared at him with surprise, wondering for a moment if he had been reading her mind. Or just he was like her.
She never heard anyone appreciate the forest's beauty before.
And she never thought of visiting the forest with someone. Definitely not with someone like Riddle. Maybe deep inside he wasn't that bad and dangerous guy he tried to appear.
Maybe he just needed a friend, someone like him.
As he said, the walk was just a normal one. The forest was quiet, some distant noises made Evelyn shiver, but nothing bad happened.
They came back to the castle safe and sound, but then Evelyn was barely able to sleep. And she paid the price on next morning, when she had to fight hard to stay away and had a sequence of awful hours of lesson.
She had some peace in the afternoon, when she could study outdoor.
But she was so distracted she didn't notice that her nasty cousin was chasing her, until she felt something wrapping around her foot, making her losing her balance and dragging her towards the back of the castle.
Evelyn tried to struggle and ask for help. She took out her wand, only to see it rolling behind her.
The vine that was dragging her ended in Milly's wand. The Slytherin girl kicked Evelyn to stop her journey.
Evelyn coughed feeling her body aching and scowled at the girl who was smirking at her.
"What the hell?".
"Enjoyed the journey? That what you should do, crawling around and cleaning our shoes" Milly brushed the bottom of her shoes on the cousin's robes.
"You'll get expelled for this, Milly. You're wicked".
"You won't ever be able to do that. Maybe you should be careful because that will be your destiny".
Evelyn looked for her wand but it was out of reach. She cursed herself and tried to kick her cousin, but she got the opposite result and whined when she got kicked in her stomach.
"You freak, I'll make you driven out of this castle by the end of this year. Then where will you go? To cry to other's parents?" Milly kept kicking her.
"Milly, stop it now!".
"Not before breaking some bones to you since your brain is so useless".
Evelyn looked for her wand in despair and raised a hand against her, who got hit on her head by something flying and fainted.
Evelyn froze realizing she unwillingly used wandless magic, making a small rock flying from the wall. She stood up sighing for the pain, but she was so shocked she didn't know what to do.
"Well done. I'm impressed".
The girl jumped at the sound of that amused male voice.
She turned to see Riddle walking to her, then she stared at her senseless cousin.
Blood started to pour from the wound the rock caused.
Evelyn then realized how dangerous her act had been and moaned covering her open mouth with her hands.
"Oh Merlin, I killed her!".
Tom stopped next to her scanning the other girl.
"She's still alive. Can't you see she's still breathing?".
Evelyn sighed in relief, seeing that he was right.
"She deserved it" he said coldly and handed her her wand "It's impressive you can already use wandless magic".
She grabbed her wand and used it to clean herself "What are you doing here?".
"I saw something was wrong and I came to help. But I was in time to see that I wasn't needed".
Evelyn felt tears in her eyes and fought them hard "We can't stay in the same castle. I mean her and I. She wants me dead".
"Your place is here. She is the one who has to leave" he stated firmly.
"But I'll get expelled for it".
"No, if we modify her mind, or worse we delete her memory" his mischievous smirk scared her.
"No!" She complained "We can't do that. Are you able to manipulate people's mind? I am not. It's too dangerous. You'll get in troubles because of me and I can't accept that. And I know that you too want to stay here more than anything else".
He shrugged "Alright, then I'll delete her memories of this last hour and we'll leave her here in this filth where she belongs while I'll carry you to mend all your wounds".
She felt dizzy and simply mumbled "Good plan".
Riddle took control of everything while she observed him mesmerized for his abilities, then he walked her to the infirmary pretending that she tried to train for Quidditch. Luckily the mateon didn't care to investigate any further. Riddle was able to charm people with just the sound of his voice, Evelyn noticed.
The matron gave her some lotion to heal the bruises and Evelyn was free to go back to her room.
Riddle stopped on the bottom of the Ravenclaw tower, his face showing disagreement.
"What?" She asked facing him.
"You should have been a Slytherin" he whispered trying to appear blank. But she imagined how helpful it would have been for his House to have her too, instead she was a rival.
"I know. But that's what I wanted" she said with a secretive smile and before he could ask to explain herself, she ran up to reach her room, thinking about all the things that happened and why Riddle was the only one who appeared when she needed help.
She got the sense she was unwillingly trying to understand him. Solving a riddle called Tom.