Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle [Rewritten] ✓

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

When it came time to prepare for her duel, Evelyn felt confident. She knew that she was better at spells than Astrea, but Astrea would likely have been exposed to far darker magic than she had ever seen. Evelyn snuck out of her dormitory as silently as she could, avoiding Peeves on her route down to the forbidden forest.

With her wand in her pocket, she stalked out of the castle and down toward the forbidden forest. Although Evelyn knew she had plenty of time, she made her way across the castle grounds with haste, wanting to be there far before either Astrea or Tom in order to assess the area. She barely remembered her surroundings from her last adventure to the forest and surroundings were always important in a duel, especially in a duel she knew she had to win.

The forest was ancient: the trees thick and old, roots that were twisted around each other in a tangled display of affection. Although the forest was once filled with birdsong and animals that roamed freely, it was now aged past its former glory and was primarily used for teaching and detentions, or in this case duelling. Once Evelyn stepped deeper into the forest, the light from the moon began to fade; the canopy too dense to let in anything other than a sliver of silver. Crisp autumn air blew through her, rustling her hair and chilling her bones. With a shiver, she turned and made her way even deeper into the forest.

After a few minutes of waiting for the Astrea, Evelyn began to grow impatient, tapping her feet against the forest floor until she heard leaves rustling and from the clearing came Tom and Astrea. "Ready to be beaten, Rivers?" Astrea spat, pulling out her wand.

On instinct, Evelyn clutched her wand in her hands. "Now, you have the whole forest to duel, so keep it interesting," Tom began, " and I assume you both know how to duel correctly so take your positions ladies." Evelyn took her position opposite Astrea bowing before taking several steps away from her. "Wands at the ready?"

"Ready." Astrea and Evelyn replied and the duel began.

At first, Evelyn felt frozen, unsure of what spell to cast and when to cast it, but when Astrea called out "Stupefy", she flew into action, deflecting the spell with a simple movement.

"Confringo," Evelyn called out, sending a blast of fire towards Astrea, which she narrowly avoided by jumping to the side.

Astrea growled, "you could have burnt my hair! Incarcerous."

But this time Evelyn was too slow, and quickly several ropes began to form around her, trapping her body in its current position. Her skin burnt as the ropes dug in deeper, "Diffindo," they broke apart, revealing rope marks across her arms. The redness on her arms began to spread like wildfire, her anger quickly following suit. As she began to shoot non-verbal spells, she recalled her previous interaction with Astrea in the forbidden forest, every flashback earning her next spell to be shot with even greater force.

Evelyn shot spells with such force, she felt as though her wand may fly out of her hand at any moment. With each spell, she grew closer to Astrea, who had take refuge within the thickness of the trees and with each step, she grew closer to victory. "Reduc-"

"Depulso" Astrea called out before she could finish, sending Evelyn flying backwards into the clearing.

She wiped the leaves from her body as she stood back up, watching Astrea giggle maniacally at the sight of Evelyn on the clearing floor. Evelyn began to charge at Astrea with her wand at the ready, non-verbally deflecting all of Astrea's spells with increasing difficulty.

Astrea smiled, "Cruci-"

"Expelliarmus!" Evelyn cried out before she had a chance to finish. "Unforgivables are not used in duels!"

"Cruc-"

"Petrificus Totalus!" Evelyn shouted, causing Astrea to freeze immediately. She took Astrea's wand from her hand, "you won't be needing this now will you."

Tom nodded at her from the edge of the clearing, "not bad Evelyn."

She curtseyed dramatically at him, "now can I go?"

"Not yet, we should put Astrea's wand somewhere for her," he glanced over at Astrea's frozen body, "somewhere that will make her think before challenging you again."

"Not a bad idea," Evelyn got closer to him, "what did you have in mind?"

"Perhaps the Whomping Willow is in need of some company, I'm sure her sycamore wand would suffice, aren't you?"

She nodded, "I'm sure it would," a grin began to grow on her face as they made the journey to the Whomping Willow.

"That was some impressive duelling Evelyn," Tom said, breaking the silence between them.

"I am aware."

He glanced in her direction, "perhaps you ought to consider duelling more often."

Evelyn stopped in her tracks, "perhaps not." She began to walk again, speeding up and leaving Tom trailing a few metres behind her.

"Evelyn, I think you're just like me." Tom said simply once they arrived as close as they safely could to the Whomping Willow.

She glanced at him with a furrowed brow, "I do beg your pardon? I am nothing like you Tom, we both know that." She threw Astrea's wand as far she could towards the tree.

"What you did just there," he gestured to Astrea's wand, "you're just like me."

"Only I am not a monster." She added, resisting the urge to turn around and face him.

"Evelyn, I am not a monster, I promise you. I do the things I do because I have motivations, I have desires, hopes, dreams. Do you not?" She paused and thought, although she had an aspiration, she wasn't sure she had any real hopes or dreams. "You want more from this life Evelyn, and I could be the one to help you find that. Come with me," he held out his hand.

"Where?"

"In life." He spoke with such seduction, Evelyn could find herself becoming unable to resist. "I can give you everything," he took a step closer and Evelyn flinched. "I can give you money, knowledge, power. I can fuel your deepest desires, your burning passions, the ones you are not yet aware of." He took another step closer, Evelyn finding herself being pulled towards him. "I can change your life, I can make it anything you want, together we can do anything." His hot breath touched her neck, then his tender lips followed. "Come with me."