Death's Daughter || Tom Riddle

Dumbledore's warning | 24

The sudden appearance of Eve Mirage was what made Nyx suspicious of the new girl's real intentions. Sure, her background story was believable, (she had to move due to the uprising of Grindelwald's followers. For her safety, she had to transfer from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts,) but something just seemed off about the girl. When Mirage came to sit next to a rather nervous Abigail, and next to Nyx, she questioned if the girl could speak French. To her disappointment and frustration, Mirage spoke French fluently and with the most French accent Nyx had ever heard in her life. "Are your parents French?" Nyx asked, out of curiosity of course. "My mother, yes. But my father is English." Mirage replied, switching back to her British accent.

Dinner went by smoothly, with some conversations amongst her peers, mostly directed at the new girl, and Nyx constantly glancing at Abigail's way and Mirage's way. She noticed how Abigail was unusually quiet and how she started to play with her uniform's sleeve, Caelum was sneaking glances towards her and Mirage, often raising an eyebrow and directing his eyes towards the new girl when she made eye contact with him, Mirage was straightening her shiny blonde hair whilst chatting with Rosalina Black.

Soon enough, dessert was served and it was time for bed. With this, the sound of benches scraping the floor sounded. Students got up and filed out of the Great Hall to head back to bed or the library. Abigail was the first of the Slytherins to leave the table, not wasting a moment to dash away. Nyx followed suit, with Caelum rising up just behind her. To her surprise, Mirage, too, got up and smiled at her, "Do you mind showing me where the common room is?" Nyx hid her displeasure but guided the new girl to the dungeons, Caelum following close behind.

When the trio entered the large room, Nyx quickly left Mirage to head up the stairs, leaving the girl to look around, awed and blown away by the eerie atmosphere. Before Nyx entered her dorm, she knocked twice on the door. Although there was no response coming from inside, she pushed the door open, and there revealed Abigail sitting on her bed, staring blankly at the wall opposite her. "What's wrong?" Nyx started, catching the usually bubbly girl's attention. Abigail shook her head, a few cherry blonde strands of hair falling over her face. "I used to know Eve when we were young- and her sudden appearance is just overwhelming." The girl explained. She nodded her head and for a moment, she realized that she didn't quite know much about Abigail than she would like to admit.

Suddenly, the dorm's door opened, revealing two girls staggering inside, laughing at an inside joke one of them must've told the other. "What're you doing in here?" Abigail suddenly questioned, directing to one of the girls that just entered. Mirage smiled weakly and said, "I requested to share a room with you, and the headmaster so kindly agreed I could." Flora grinned, "Don't look so glum Abigail, from what I've heard, you two were the best of friends during your childhood." Nyx raised a brow, intrigued by this new information. "So you two knew each other and were best friends?" She asked Abigail. Abigail completely ignored her question and wrapped herself in her blanket. With that, Abigail was soon asleep.

The three other girls were dissatisfied with the cherry blonde-haired girl's reaction, however, they didn't push her any further and changed into their nightwear. Evergreen fell asleep first among the three girls. Her snores were audible in the silence but fortunately for Nyx, they weren't too loud to bear. Nyx tucked herself in but laid wide awake, not sure if she should fall asleep before Mirage or after since she still didn't feel comfortable around her. After what felt like hours, she finally let sleep take her, her eyelids shut, and everything around her went mute.

~—————————————————~

The next morning was a Saturday morning. Today was the day students could leave for Hogsmeade but since the weather was wet and windy, most of the students chose to stay at Hogwarts.

Nyx was one of the first in her house to wake up. She quickly changed into a grey top and a black skirt, then made her way out of her dorm room, making sure not to wake her roommates up.

She made her way to the Great Hall and sat in silence, still not hungry yet. She watched as one by one, a student entered and picked up some toast to butter up or either picked a scone and shoved it into their mouths. Perhaps after five minutes of sitting there, she heard a flapping sound above her head. When she looked up, she saw Ravenous soaring down towards her with a letter in his beak.

She watched the raven curiously as it finally landed beside her, dropping the letter into her outstretched hand. "What's this?" She asked the bird, even though she knew it couldn't give her a straight answer. Ravenous only ruffled his feathers and looked back at her with his black orb-like eyes. She smiled softly and slowly opened the letter. The letter contained one singular piece of paper with the following words;

Dear Nyx Rivers

Meet me at my office after your delightful breakfast.

Best regards, A. Dumbledore

Nyx stared at the letter for a moment, contemplating her revising her past actions. So far, she remembered she hadn't committed any wrongdoings in the past few weeks. What could her transfiguration want? Her curiosity longed to know so she decided to skip breakfast, even though the letter told her to meet the professor after her meal, and headed towards the transfiguration classroom, Dumbledore's office.

When she arrived in front of the door, she pushed it open, not bothering to knock, and looked around the classroom. The classroom was still the same as the last time she saw it. Neat, clean, and welcoming. But what caught her attention was the figure of someone she was starting to become used to.

Tom Riddle turned at the sound of the door opening, but once realizing it was only her, he turned back to the now-visible professor. "Thank you, professor, I shall see you in Monday's class." With that, Riddle turned to leave, his sides brushing her shoulder whilst walking past her. For some foolish reason, she felt butterflies in her stomach but she quickly recovered herself and walked towards the professor. "You wanted to see me, professor?" She asked, curiosity building in her. "Yes, indeed. Please, sit down." He indicated the chair opposite of him. She took her seat and waited impatiently for what he had to say, her nails piercing into her palms, nervous as to what he had to say since she had never been called to talk privately with her professor.

"I'm afraid you're in grave danger," he started off in a rather uncalled introduction. "You have better keep an eye out for Miss Mirage. Her sudden appearance at such a time is rather unsettling." Nyx nodded her head, not sure of what else to say. After a moment's pause, she said, "I have been thinking the same thing, professor. I thought I was just being paranoid but since you agree that her transfer is indeed suspicious, I'm afraid the whole incident is worth questioning." Professor Dumbledore smiled softly, with a twinkle in his eye, and said, "You're quite observant, Miss Rivers." Nyx gave an awkward smile and after promising to keep an eye on Mirage, she left the classroom.

For once, she and Dumbledore agreed on the same thing.

Eve Mirage was untrustworthy.