Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle [Rewritten] ✓

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Evelyn's mouth hung wide open once she'd emerged from the water. Tom Riddle would become a monster. After regaining her breath, Evelyn finally found the confidence to speak. "What was that?"

"Evelyn that was the boys future. That was what he will become without intervention." Dumbledore strolled back to his seat, tucking into a liquorice lace.

"Well, why haven't you done something yet then? If this really is the future, why haven't you reported it?" Evelyn found herself becoming defensive. "Why have you shown me such a thing?"

"A memory gained through unlawful time travel is not exactly the evidence that the Ministry of Magic would want. I cannot do anything to stop this, I cannot change the course of my own destiny, but you can. Your future is not set in stone and his doesn't have to be either, although this event will occur in the future, it could occur anywhere in the future, it could occur differently from how it did before, and that could be down to your actions."

Evelyns eyes widened, "mine? Professor I do not understand, what are you asking of me?"

"I wish for you to do whatever Tom Riddle asks of you in the future, but I wish for you to have this memory in your mind. I wish for you to continue to befriend him, show him empathy, show him the emotions that make you human, I wish for you to help him. You cannot stop him, you can only delay, or alter his future, and I believe that this is a job that only you can achieve."

"I-I" Evelyn stuttered, she could barely believe what she had just heard, "I-I don't think I can..."

"Oh but you can, it's what your parents would have wanted for you, trust me." Both of them knew that mentioning her parents would convince her, it was exactly why Dumbledore had done it.

"You knew them?" She leant closer to him.

"I taught both your mother and father, in fact I was one of their references to become an Auror. They would be very proud of you for what you are doing Evelyn, very proud indeed." He popped another Sherbet Lemon into his mouth.

"I'll do it Professor, I'll do what I can, but I'm only a child!" Evelyn had no idea how much she would be able to do, but she knew it would likely be less than someone older than her.

"And that," he rose from his seat, opening up the door for Evelyn, "is what makes you so powerful."

Evelyn found the energy to lift herself up and made her way independently out of his office and towards her common room, pausing to lean against the wall and regain her strength every few steps. As soon as she entered the common room, Lily rushed towards her and grasped her arm in an attempt to support her.

"You look awful," Sara smiled lightly as Evelyn walked down the stairs towards their dormitory with Lily's support.

"Thank you," she attempted sarcasm, barely managing to smile as she collapsed onto her bed.

"Dippet wouldn't let us visit you, we tried, but he wouldn't budge!" And in that moment, Evelyn was glad to have rekindled her friendships with Lily and Sara, she wasn't sure where she would be without their support. "He wouldn't tell us what happened either. Was it linked to that time you fainted a few months ago Evelyn?"

"I think so." She couldn't say anything else, she didn't know how to carry on lying, especially to the people that had known her since she was just a child.

Lily opened her mouth as though she had more questions but before she could speak Sara quickly cut her off. "You missed so many assessments! Lucky git!"

"I'll have to catch up on those later but first we should get to class. We're already late I think." Evelyn said, levitating her books beside her and slowly making her way out of the common room.

"Be safe Evelyn," Lily warned, following closely behind her, her hands held out as though she expected Evelyn to drop like a ragdoll.

Walking into History of Magic, Evelyn had expected people to look her way, but to the extremes that she experienced. As soon as she entered the classroom, the students simply stared, they asked no questions, said nothing to her, but just observed as she took her seat at the front of the class.

Noticing the tension in the classroom, Professor Binns began the lesson. "Now!" He clapped loudly, causing students to avert their gaze, "we will be looking at the ability to converse with snakes, formerly known as..."

Lily raised her hand, "parseltongue!"

"Excellent, five points for Hufflepuff-"

"Professor, I am in Ravenclaw," Lily glanced at him, then at Evelyn with confusion.

Professor Binns waved his hand in the air, "yes yes, Ravenclaw. Now everybody open your textbooks and read the passage on parseltongue, I will be questioning you after so you must read it in full!"

Evelyn flicked open her textbook with shaky hands, searching for the correct page. "It's one hundred and forty two," Lily nudged her gently, helping her friend turn to the correct page. Evelyn gave Lily a sweet smile before beginning to read the passage.

Parseltongue is everything but simple, but it is very concise. Snakes will only give you the information they feel you need and expect you to read between the lines to understand them. This is what has led to the belief that they are being shady, or manipulative. In reality, that is simply how their language is built. Most sentences will be very short and consist only of the subject, object, and verb. The rest has to be pieced together based on the listener's knowledge, context clues, and loose interpretation.

Parseltongue is, when spoken, a hissing sound, similar to that of a snake; as such, normal people cannot understand it (one known exception being ). Apart from merely communicating with serpentine lifeforms, Parselmouths also seem able to influence the will of serpents to a certain extent. Aside from serpent-based creatures, Parselmouths can communicate with each other with the language. Nearly all known Parselmouths are descended from Salazar Slytherin

"Has everyone finished?" Professor Binns did not wait for an answer before he began the questions. "Now do sentences in Parseltongue tend to be long or short, Bradley?"

He turned to face a Ravenclaw boy in Evelyns year who turned crimson as the students turned to face him. "Lo- no short, no it's long!"

Professor Binns sighed, "you were so close boy! They are in fact short! Now, who are nearly all know parselmouths descended from, Evelyn?"

Evelyn was lucky her brain had been able to absorb the final sentence of the passage. "Salazar Slytherin."

"Excellent! Now, to an individual who does not speak the language, what would it sound like, Eliana?" He turned to a small Hufflepuff student.

"I believe it would sound like hissing."

And that's when the cogs started turning in Evelyns mind.