Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle [Rewritten] ✓

CHAPTER TWENTY

"Professor Dumbledore," Tom said, causing Dumbledore to turn around in an instant.

"It's not wise to be wandering around this late, Tom. You should be back in your common room." He warned.

"Is it true sir, is the school really closing? They wouldn't really close Hogwarts, would they professor?" He asked with more emotion in his voice than Evelyn had ever heard before.

"Headmaster Dippet may have no choice, I'm afraid," He said with sadness, Hogwarts was his home too.

"Sir?" He paused, "If it all stopped if the responsible person was caught..." He trailed off.

Dumbledore looked at him in a state of utmost confusion, "Is there something you would like to tell me, Tom?

Tom paused again, pondering. "No, sir. Nothing"

Dumbledore studied him for a moment before muttering, "Very well then, hurry along."

Tom hurried around the corner and waited for Dumbledore to leave before circling back around again. He turned to face Evelyn with a sinister expression, "I take it you heard all of that,"

"You aren't really going to turn yourself in, are you?" Evelyn queried with a puzzled look on her face.

"Evelyn, why would I turn myself in if I have not done anything wrong?" He said, shooting her a smirk.

"I don't follow."

"My, for a Ravenclaw, you really aren't the smartest." He stated, receiving a stark glare from Evelyn. "I never did anything wrong, though I have heard that a Gryffindor is currently keeping an acromantula as a pet. Perhaps that's the beast that killed the poor girl."

"You're going to blame somebody else, you're unbelievable" Evelyn sighed deeply.

"Actually, many Professors find I'm quite the believable student which is why I'm sure they'll have no problem with expelling the boy and keeping Hogwarts open."

"Why would you even want Hogwarts to stay open, you hate it here?" Evelyn asked, squinting her eyes at him.

"Believe it or not, Hogwarts isn't the worst place I could be." He said simply, and with that, he was off.

Evelyn didn't know how to respond. The events from the past few days were enough to overwhelm her completely, and now she knew someone innocent was about to be expelled. Evelyn barely had time to think before she felt Lily and Sara behind her, grasping at her hands and leading her towards the common room.

"Where have you been?" Lily said as she took her hand, "We didn't know if something had happened to you?"

Quickly, the three girls made their way into their dormitory, each one collapsing onto their respective beds with an exaggerated sigh.

"I can't believe someone dead," Lily spoke in a hushed tone, breaking the silence between the three girls.

"People die all the time Lily," Sara told her, staring up at the ceiling.

"Yeah but it was here, in our school, it could've been any one of us. We have no idea what's going on and we're just going to be sent home. What are we supposed to do?" Lily spoke quickly, almost as though she feared she would run out of oxygen.

"We do whatever Headmaster Dippet tells us, we comply with his rules and we go home," Sara said, sensibility overcoming her. She knew that somebody had to be composed in this situation and judging by the state of her friends, for once it had to be her.

"Aren't you even the least bit curious to find out what's happened though?" Lily questioned, "I mean somebody has died and we're just expected to shove it under the rug and pretend it never happened."

"Well, what do you want us to do?" Evelyn said with irritation, she didn't want anything more to do with this.

"I think we should find out what really happened. Let's go to the second-floor girl's bathroom," Lily smiled and looked at the other two girls, looking for their agreement.

"Fine," Sara and Evelyn sighed, seeing it easier to just agree than to argue. Evelyn wasn't sure how she would be able to cope with returning to a place she only had negative memories of, but she knew her friends would worry more if she didn't come.

As the common room emptied, the girls rose from their seats and quickly snuck out. It was highly likely that they would be caught but putting Lily's mind at rest was important. They crept through the darkened corridors, the only light being a dim Lumos from Evelyn's wand, following after Lily who seemed to have declared herself in charge. By the time the girls got the bathroom, it was extremely late; Evelyn had almost hoped it would be shut, preventing the girls from entering but much to her dismay, they walked straight in.

Silently, they crept into the bathroom and as they turned the corner, their mouths dropped: the cubicles were shattered, pieces of wood were thrown about the room like an unfinished jigsaw. The bathroom was silent except the eerie sound of a dripping tap, the sound echoed across the room and sent a chill down Evelyn's spine- this felt all too familiar. The floor was wet, pools of water swirling together.

Evelyn took off in a different direction to Lily and Sara who wanted to explore what had happened. Evelyn already knew what had gone down in the bathroom, she knew it all too well. As soon as Evelyn noticed the flecks of red dancing in the water, the fire inside her began to burn. Her mind felt like it was being crushed and strained with confusion and her breaths were rapidly increasing. Her anxiety was spinning out of control, her hands trembling visibly. She couldn't take it anymore. And as she heard the familiar slithering sound fill the bathroom, she fled.