c h a p t e r 1 2

28.7K 1K 893
                                    

t o m   s t o p e d                   and stared at Evelyn

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

t o m   s t o p e d
                  and stared at Evelyn. He shouldn't have been surprised by her sudden presence or her obvious eavesdropping– she knew exactly when to appear and what to say when she felt her involvement would be interesting. This was her game and if Tom wanted to play he knew he had to try his best not to be affected. He had to remember that Evelyn loved to watch people squirm.

He hadn't decided what to say to Evelyn when she hooked her arm with his and began escorting him down the hallway. He had been far from the Slytherin common room, almost to the Gryffindor tower. As a prefect, he should be asking her what she was doing in this part of the castle, but she would ignore his question. Or avoid it. She was already prattling away about school; the work she had to make up and how annoying the teachers were being about the upcoming O.W.L.s exams.

"I do love exams, usually because they are almost laughably easy," Evelyn said as she waved at a suit of armor that had bowed toward her. "I learned O.W.L. level material around my first year, or perhaps a bit before that."

Tom stopped them in the middle of one of the bridges leading towards the wing that held the dungeons. He knew Evelyn only talked openly when it was just the two of them.

"Why would you learn O.W.L level material that young?" Tom spoke leaning against one side of the enclosed bridge.

Evelyn didn't seem to mind the pause as she mirrored his movements. The blue stained glass windows made her glow as the moonlight crept along her face. She pulled her hair over her shoulder, leaving the smooth column of her neck exposed. Tom tracked the movement without thinking.

"I suppose it is because I had already learned everything else," Evelyn said matter of factly. She looked over at him and he saw that there was no need to boast about that particular achievement.

"Why come to school at all if you already learned everything you were going to learn here?" Tom asked as he balanced himself down into the small lip of the window ledge. He crossed his ankles together, putting his weight back against the glass of the window, trusting there was some magic in place for it not to break.

Evelyn twisted her lips, "I thought we went over the fact that my father needed me to recruit. To gain more loyalty towards him or me– whichever was easier to do." Evelyn looked down at her shoes, tipping the heels back until she was balancing on them. "My father wanted control and children will follow anyone who they deem as smarter and stronger than them, Tom. Remember that," Evelyn finished sternly.

Tom wasn't fully comfortable with the edge that Evelyn's voice had taken. He straightened up and offered his arm to her once more. She leaned forward from the wall dropping back to the flats of her shoes in one graceful movement. There was no hesitation as she wrapped her arm around his once again.

h e r   d a r k   s o u lWhere stories live. Discover now