Unravelled² → Tom Riddle [Rewritten]

CHAPTER NINE

Evelyn made her journey up to Inverness feeling lost. Her trip to Hogwarts had provided nothing, no new memories, barely even an inkling of what she needed to remember. She could only hope that whatever Lily had to tell her would prove more useful.

"Evelyn," she turned to spot Lily behind her, greeting each other with a warm embrace, "it's been so long." Lily smiled, her smile barely visible from all the smoke filling up the station. "How was your journey?" She asked politely.

"It was good, I was just at Hogwarts, I met with Professor Dumbledore," Hogwarts was the only thing she could remember they had in common, it seemed the only safe middle ground.

"How was that?" Lily ushered her out of the station, "I'm just a short walk away..." she added, leading the way down a set of cobbled streets.

"It hasn't changed a bit," as much as the memories were missing, Evelyn still remembered the surroundings. "it was... eye-opening."

"I thought as much." Lily nodded at her, Evelyn getting the impression that it might be quite obvious why she was all the way up in Inverness.

"Yeah..." she mumbled in response, the pair not uttering another word until they arrived at Lilys house.

"Come on in," she beckoned Evelyn into the house.

Evelyn followed close behind her, walking into the room and taking a seat beside her on a petite sofa, barely visible under the dim lighting.

"So..." the two exchanged a look like no other.

"How have you been?" Evelyn asked politely, "what did you turn to once you left Hogwarts?"

"Well, I first travelled for a short period," she began, "I wanted to pursue Quidditch but instead I commentate and report on the games! I mostly work for The Montrose Magpies; it's a dream come true!"

Evelyn smiled, Lily was truly beaming with happiness, she seemed to have finally came into herself. "That's lovely to hear."

"Anyway," Lily changed her tone, "I knew when you called you didn't just want a catch up, what did you need Evelyn?" There was a bitter feleling in the air, a feeling that Evelyn couldn't quite shake.

Evelyn took a moment, "I need to know about him." She knew she wouldn't need to say more, Lily knew exactly what she was talking about.

"What exactly?"

"I need to know everything about me and him, anything we did together, anything he told me that I shared, I just..." she paused, "I need to know anything important."

"I don't know how helpful I can be Evelyn," she raised her brow, "you didn't tell us much about you and him."

"Please," Evelyn pleaded, "please try." She needed to know, it was important, and not only to her. 

"You started talking to him at the beginning of Fifth Year, Slughorn did those Slug Club meetings and you were both invited. I don't know what you spoke about but I know that's when it all started. You started to change. Then, there was the Christmas party and..." she stumbled, "he bought you a dress."

"He bought me a dress?" Evelyn said with disbelief, "I-I why would he do that?"

"You never told us Evelyn, but he bought you a dress and you went to that party with him. Both Sara and I thought something happened that night, when you came back to the dorms, you didn't seem yourself. Then you went home for Christmas and we didn't speak much, but when you came back, we found out what he had told you. You thought someone had lied about how your parents died."

Evelyn gasped audibly, her parents death had been something she had finally overcome, that chapter in her life had been sealed shut for years and it felt as though someone was picking at the scab. "And-and did they?"

Lily frowned, "we never found out. You became cold with us straight after you had told us, then you were in the Hospital Wing and we were so worried," she took a breath, "then there was the incident with Myrtle and you just kind of vanished."

"Vanished?"

"Yes," Lily continued, "you didn't talk to any of us over summer. Nobody heard from you until Sixth year. You were sneaking in and out of the common room, then you went away at Christmas-"

"Albania," Evelyn cut her off.

"And we just sort of stopped talking after that."

"So what happened in Albania?" Evelyn had this image in her head, she remembered something, she knew that she had gone to Albania...something had to have happened there.  She flicked some kind of switch.

"You never said, but something happened, something changed. You were already distant, but whatever happened there, whatever he did, it stuck."

"How am I supposed to remember that?" Evelyn felt her eyes beginning to fill with tears, she had to remember this. She had spent all that time with the boy, surely she knew something, something that could take him down.

"I'm not sure Evelyn," Lily sounded sympathetic, "I'm really not sure."

"I want to remember, I really do. I need to know. I need to stop him."

Lily interjected, "and you will eventually. You need to be patient, you were a child."

And she was, she was a shell of a child, an empty russian doll that everybody hoped contained more, but what if she simply didn't?

"Maybe go back to Hogwarts, take Dumbledore up on that offer."

"You know?" She wiped the tears before they could fall.

Lily smiled, "I knew as soon as you arrived at Olives', I've been in the loop for a long time now Evelyn. Dumbledore wants to protect you, and I think you should let him. Hogwarts is where it all happened, maybe it can be where you remember it all."

"I have to go back, don't I?"

"I can't tell you that you have to, but I think it's what you need." Lily almost whispered now, "I  think Hogwarts is the safest place for you right now."

Evelyn paused, "I think so too." As much as Hogwarts was an almost blank picture in her mind, the familiarity was comforting, it was the only place she knew, the only place left that she could go.