h e r d a r k s o u l

c h a p t e r 7

Tom dropped his arms and took a quick step back. He thought Evelyn would stumble, but she righted herself just as quickly and leaned back against the door.

"Never mind that then. Here is a perfect place to start our lesson," Evelyn said and with a swish of her hand swung open the door, only for six boys to drop back onto the floor.

The group of boys looked wide-eyed between Evelyn and their leader as Evelyn's smirk grew.

"Oh my, what do we have here? What did you say, Riddle? About eavesdropping not being an attractive trait?" Evelyn teased. She stepped over Malfoy's legs and plopped herself down at a desk behind them.

"M-my Lord." Malfoy stammered as he stood up shakily.
Tom's deadly glare swept across his followers lying on the ground before him, his anger of Evelyn always getting her way boiling over.

"Get out," Tom snarled. None of the boys hesitated before scrambling out of the room. Tom slammed the door shut behind him as he mumbled the sound-muffling spell over the door. He turned towards Evelyn as she smiled coolly at him.

"That was one way to clear a room," Evelyn laughed. It was breathy and for once not directed at him. It quelled the flame of his anger slightly.

Evelyn's eyes scanned to the front of the classroom as she waved her hand and two chairs swept to the front and faced each other. Tom watched Evelyn use wandless magic with envy. He had not completely mastered it yet, and it made him increasingly frustrated every time he watched her use it with ease.

Without looking at him, she strolled over to the two chairs and pointed at one.

"Sit," she demanded.

Tom hated being ordered around and he hated not having the last word, but every time he was around this girl he couldn't help, but obey her. It was as if she had an imperious curse on him and he was simply her puppet.

He walked as slowly as he could towards the chair before Evelyn and sat down. Evelyn sat in the chair opposite of him. The two were so close that Evelyn's knees had to fit slightly between his own for them to be comfortable at all.

Evelyn shrugged off her Slytherin cloak and dropped it to the side of her chair and then loosened her tie from around her neck. She then leaned forward, towards Tom and reached up to his tie. His hand grabbed her wrist quickly.

"What do you think you are doing?" he sneered, tightening his hold on her when she didn't let go of his tie's knot.

Evelyn just stared back calmly, almost a little irritated. "Tom, don't let everything go to your head. The first step is relaxing and focusing. You can not focus if you are so uptight. Loosening up your brain starts on the outside," Evelyn said and gestured towards herself. She curled his fingers off of her carefully. "As Slytherin students, we wear our uniforms perfectly; as if they are honorable, as if we are above the rest. But the tie and cloak are suffocatingly prestigious. To help you relax, it helps if you lift some of those tightening grips of perfection."

Tom watched as the purple and blue bruises formed around her little wrist, but Evelyn ignored them and simply started untying his tie again. Her hands then slipped down his shoulder and under the edges of his robe, hooking her thumbs on the collar, letting her hand rest wholly on his shoulder before she slowly slid her hands down his arms, bringing the cloak with them.

Tom's nose brushed against Evelyn's neck as she dropped his robe from her clutch. She didn't stop her progress as she deftly unbuttoned the first two buttons of his uniform shirt.
Evelyn then reached for the sides of his head. Her palms rested on his cheekbones as her fingers tangled themselves into his hair above his ears. She breathed in slowly, her nose almost touching his. Tom sucked in a quick breath as she massaged the side of his head slowly, the motions almost hypnotic, with the confidence of a memorized routine.