Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle [Rewritten] ✓

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Evelyn spent the evening playing muggle chess: she had always preferred it to wizard chess, it was less violent and far more enjoyable. She fingered a black pawn, waiting for her opponent. Underneath the table, her feet shuffled impatiently, but her expression remained cold and stoic. She stroked her chin, anticipating many moves ahead. She placed the pawn on the chessboard, in a direct line to the King. He was trapped. She found a simple grin forming on her face, she found it amusing how somebody of such power could be brought down by a simple pawn. How, in a game with no violence, one could be struck down.

Like a tonne of bricks, it suddenly hit her. She realised why she had been failing her task, why she was lagging behind. She was playing muggle chess whilst Tom was playing wizards chess. She wasn't attacking but he was, she was merely observing and occasionally acting upon her thoughts, she was thinking about her moves far more than she should be; Evelyn needed to be strong, she needed to finally do something. She watched the clock tick as her opponent sighed, giving up.

"You won again!" The sixth-year said, looking rather distressed.

Instead of replying, she just shot him a friendly smile and began packing away the chessboard. By the time that the table was cleared, it had been almost two hours since she had spoken with Tom and she decided it best to leave. She placed the chessboard back where it belonged and left the common room and left the common room. She stalked the corridors with confidence, occasionally checking her watch to reassure herself of her timekeeping abilities.

Tom waited for her against a wall his eyes watching the hands tick on his own watch.

"I think you'll find I'm right on time," She smiled as she saw him glancing down at his watch.

"Well, congratulations." He huffed with frustration.

"Now," She took a deep breath, "What was it you were going to show me?"

"Follow me," He said, leading her through countless corridors and eventually coming to a halt opposite a wall.

"This is a wall," Evelyn stated with confusion, glancing at Tom who seemed to be pacing up and down with a thoughtful expression on his face. He paced beside the wall three times before pausing as though he was awaiting something. Evelyn opened her mouth, ready to ask what in Merlin's name he was doing when a low rumble caused her to stop. She glanced up at the wall, her mouth falling open as a large door began to appear on the previously empty wall. Evelyn found it almost impossible to suppress the curiosity that was simmering within her.

As soon as the door was fully formed, Tom swung it open, gesturing to what was inside. Evelyn hesitated, eyeing him warily, but after a short moment, Evelyn stepped into the large room. She was quickly overwhelmed by the vast size of the room and furrowed her brow, wondering how she had never seen this room before. She walked slowly forwards, her fingers trailing across the wooden drawers, and looked around her at the stone walls, which were covered in large paintings. Each painting held the same malevolent-looking man in emerald robes; wearing a small golden locket with the letter 'S' engraved on it.

She furrowed her brow before turning to the rest of the room and that's when she stilled for breath. There were hundreds upon hundreds of books, covering a vast majority of the room and towering above Evelyn like guards. "What is this place?" She asked in awe, turning to face Tom who waited behind her.

"I stumbled across it one night whilst I was on a walk, it turns into anything you require," Tom said with a small smirk. "I like to think of it as a Room of Requirement."

"Why are you showing me this?" There had to be some kind of catch or at least a twisted reasoning behind it. She walked towards the green armchair that sat beside a bookshelf and took a seat, placing her elbow on her knee and looking at Tom intensely.