Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle ✓

chapter ten

The hospital wing was fairly empty considering the amount of reoccurring Quidditch injuries that usually resulted in a short stay in the wing. It was fairly common for a player to be constantly in and out of the Hospital wing however the recent weather had forbidden any Quidditch from being played leaving the wing almost empty. Evelyn was perched up on the side of her bed, flicking through her copy of the Daily Prophet which was slowly crumbling down from the corners from multiple uses.

"Miss Rivers, you may leave when you are dressed. You should proceed directly to the Great Hall where lunch is still being served" Madame Truckle stood at the end of Evelyn's bed surveying her. "You look much better than when you were brought in." She smiled lightly at Evelyn before leaving her to attend to the other patients.

Evelyn's lips curved upwards with glee, she had been waiting to be discharged since the moment she awoke in the morning. Pulling a screen around her bed, she quickly slid into her dress from the night before and made her way out of the wing. "Thank you." She smiled as she passed Madame Truckle who looked up briefly before returning to folding sheets.

With everyone at lunch, the corridors were silent. Evelyn trawled through them slowly, her eyes and mind wandering more with every step she took. Before she got to the Great Hall, Evelyn heard her name called down the corridor.

"Evelyn." She turned to see Professor Dumbledore stood behind her with a puzzled look on his face. "Perhaps we could have a word."

Evelyn followed him without a second thought when a professor called you had to answer. The pair walked silently through the corridors until they reached his office. Dumbledore's office was fairly small with little trinkets scattered around the room. What little furniture was in his office was a muted Gryffindor red, matching the emblems he had painted on the walls.

"Do take a seat, Evelyn." He pointed her to the red sofa where she collapsed almost instantly, melting into the sofa. An uncomfortable silence fell throughout the room as Dumbledore took his seat.

"In all your years at Hogwarts, you have never once been on the hospital wing until last night. You play Quidditch, yet you've never been injured and suddenly last night you became unwell." He paused, unwrapping a liquorice lace and popping it between his lips.

Evelyn expected him to say something else but instead, he simply enjoyed his liquorice lace and gave her a blank stare. "It was very hot. I got a headache." She toyed with the sleeves of her dress, pulling them over so that they enveloped her hands. She wasn't lying, the office had been hot, but there had been something else going on that she didn't wish to share.

He finished his sweet slowly, leaving another awkward silence between them. "Evelyn. "I believe this would be a whole lot easier if we both agreed not to lie to each other, don't you?"

"Of course professor, but I'm not lying. I had a headache, perhaps it was simply the heat."

"But..."

"It could have been something else professor, I'm not sure what but my skull felt as though it was being cracked open." Evelyn shivered, recalling the pain that she had felt last night.

Professor Dumbledore knew exactly what Evelyn meant, he knew what had happened to her. "Evelyn, I believe you were a victim of someone using legilimency on you, whereby they accessed your mind in an attempt to harvest information from you."

Evelyn's eyes widened at her professor, "Why would someone do such a thing?" Evelyn held no secrets, no dark past, no information that anyone could possibly desire from her.

"Perhaps you have something they desire, something you do not know that you have." Dumbledore pocketed another liquorice lace as he rose from his seat, stalking out of the office without another word.

"Professor!" She called out with no response as she was left alone with nothing but her thoughts.

As Evelyn walked into the Great Hall, a few students murmured and turned their heads towards her. Evelyn could feel the eyes on her back, as though they were burning a hole straight through her.

"Evelyn!" Her two friends called as soon as they laid their eyes on her. She sat down beside them with a smile, instantly feeling safer once she sat between them.

"People are looking." She sighed, glancing around the hall at the countless heads turned towards her.

"Someone fainting is possibly the most exciting thing to happen at Hogwarts Evelyn!" Sara began, "Hogwarts is boring."

"What happened last night?" Lily placed her hand of Evelyn's, as though it was acting as a shield.

"I'm not sure, I think I just got overwhelmed, it was very loud and busy in there."

Sara found herself smiling, "I would have got overwhelmed too if I'd been around all those boys! I heard Joshua was there with Rudolphous and Tom! You were spoilt for choice."

Although Evelyn appreciated Sara trying to lighten the mood, she found herself feeling drained. She nibbled at the plate of sandwiches in front of her, making polite conversation with those around her until she was done. Half a sandwich and a handful of sentences later, Evelyn needed to leave.

"Do you need one of us to come with you to the next lesson?" Lily began standing up, ready and willing to help her friend.

"I'm alright, it's not too far." Her eyes looked across the hall, tracking Tom Riddle as he made his way out through the entrance. Evelyn took a few hurried steps, speed walking out of the Hall hot on Tom's tail. He was the only one at the meeting who knew her, the only one who would have answers about what happened last night.

"What happened last night?" She called to him, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Why would I know? We were all having a lovely discussion when you ran out of the room. The next thing I knew, someone heard a thud and it was you on the floor. You interrupted a rather great time Evelyn." He started walking towards her.

"Don't act like you were enjoying it there, you looked almost as bored as me Tom." She could see straight through his facade. Although she had no evidence that he was guilty, there was no evidence against anyone else.

"I admit I wasn't having the greatest time Evelyn. Although your little episode did spice things up." He smirked at her, eyeing up her outfit from last night.

"I don't know what you're doing Tom." She admitted truthfully to him. "But something is going on and you need to leave me out of it, I don't have time for this rubbish, Tom.