evelynn | t.riddle

7 | MYSTERIES UNVEILED

Tom watches as most everyone leaves for the Winter Break - very few Slytherins stay for the winter holidays, preferring to return to their Manors and parents. The thought makes the usual small flash of jealous hurt flare in his chest, but he pushes it away as usual - he's made it this long without any family, and he doesn't need them now. And Evelynn's words in that first Potions class with her convinced him that much more.

"You too, huh?" Speaking of whom.

Tom glances over at Evelynn Peverell when she sits down, only a foot between them on the bench. He glares at her half-heartedly, saying, "Like you know what this is like." He then meets a cool green gaze and immediately wants to grab those words and shove them back into his mouth. Her expression alone says, 'Yes, I most certainly do know what it's like to watch everyone around you go off and enjoy their holiday with friends and family.'

However, Evelynn says, "Never had a Christmas with family. Haven't got a clue what they're in for." The Dursleys never counted, especially since all she ever got to do was decorate the whole house and cook the meals and never got even a bit of wrapping paper for all her work. The Weasleys don't count anymore after Ron and Ginny hunted her down, Molly helped Potion and spell her, and she doesn't know where everyone else stood in that matter, and her one Christmas with Sirius was monitored at every moment.

Tom blinks, then says, "I thought you said you lived with your nonmagical relatives."

She gives him a slight nod and says, "I did. But just because they shared blood with me doesn't mean they were family. They never wanted me to begin with, and they ensured I knew. So, while they celebrated Christmas, I never got to join in beyond decorating every inch of the house and cooking all the food."

She keeps writing in her notebook for another few moments - which he's long since suspected is much more than a book of Potions notes, but it's all he sees in it whenever he gets a peek - then gets up and says, "I'll see you in the Common Room, Tom."

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She heads off down a corridor, maybe to the library. Who knows? He does know he'll never be able to follow her, though. He keeps his gaze on her until she disappears, discretely keeping track of Dumbledore as he does the same. That old man has been staring at Evelynn almost nonstop since she arrived, and it's grating on Tom's nerves - Evelynn's a mystery, but his mystery. Certainly not Dumbledore's - she hates him even more than he does. And that is quite the feat, considering just how much he hates the old man - for Evelynn, though, it seems much more personal than for Tom. Yeah, the man scared him witless when he set his wardrobe on fire - all to prove a bloody point, as if making his wand light up or transfiguring his chair into something wouldn't have worked - but Evelynn's hatred seems to have much deeper roots.

Another thing to learn about her, though he needs to figure out where to begin. Perhaps he can corner her in the Orphanage at some point and make her tell him the entire story? How he's supposed to make her do so is another mystery - she's not afraid of him or his acquaintances, does not need protection since she's easily as strong as he is, and he finds he doesn't want to hurt her.

For whatever reason, be it her power or charisma when she uses it or even the fact that she's such an intriguing mystery, he finds he doesn't want to harm her. Why that is entirely beyond him, he's never hesitated before when it comes to making someone do what he wants. He'll go through with his threats if intimidation doesn't work - except he's yet to threaten her. He tried once - the time Headmaster Dippet called them both into his office and said Evelynn would be staying at Wool's with him - but before he could even honestly think up a threat for her, she was already swearing a Wizard's Oath not to tell anyone anything.