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𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖓
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31 October 1942
Elena woke up to her body being relentlessly shake by an overly excited Orion. She cried out for her to stop, but the girl only ceased this torture when Elena got up from her bed. "Orion, are you bloody insane? It is 7 in the morning and it's Saturday. Why did you wake me up so early?"
"Today is Halloween! We have to get ready for the party!"
"Oh, that explains why you're acting like a child. Will we go trick or treating too?"
"You're unbearable in the mornings!" she frowned, throwing a pillow at Elena. "I am never waking you up for anything important ever again."
"I mean we should be glad I was falling asleep in the first place." Elena was really grateful for the potion Dumbledore had given her, the difference in her appearance was visible even after a week.
"I know. Anyway, get ready and we will go to breakfast. Then I will show you the dress I picked for you."
"I told you, you didn't have to buy me one." Elena sighed, smiling.
"And I said I wanted to. Can't you be not stubborn for a day and do as I say? Please? Halloween is my favourite holiday. At least do that for me."
"Very well, you win. I will let you decide everything about tonight, except who I dance with. Understood?" Elena laughed seeing Orion roll her eyes.
"Oh, we all know who you're going to dance with all night."
After a quick breakfast they returned to the dormitory upon Orion's request. She excitedly rushed to the chest next to her bed, taking out a red box tied with a black ribbon. She handed it to Elena, waiting impatiently. She opened the box to reveal a black and green tulle gown. The beads that caught the light looked like stars reflecting on a lake's surface. Elena was speechless.
"Do you like it?" Orion asked excitedly.
"I love it," she put the dress down and hugged Orion, "Thank you."
Orion didn't know what to do, Elena was not a hugger. "Elena are you alright?"
"Yes," Elena pulled away, "Why?"
"Nothing." Orion tried to contain her surprise. "I will set you free now but exactly at half past four we're meeting here to get ready."
"Alright," Elena said, "Nott asked you out, right? Like properly?"
"Yes, he has." Orion's lips curled into a smirk, "So... Who are you going with?"
"Nobody, at the moment," Elena shrugged. "At least this year Abraxas is free to go with whoever he pleases."
"He asked out Lucy Greengrass!" Orion whisper shouted.
"You're kidding! He's wicked! He's only going to break her heart."
"Well, it's for her to find out and for us to watch." Orion couldn't contain her laughter.
•❅────✧❅✦❅✧────❅•
Elena sat down at the library, taking out her Potions homework. Rin and her had planned to spend the day together studying, since classes were cancelled that day. Elena had made it to the library quite early however, two hours to be exact. She didn't mind being alone especially when she had this much homework. Her and Rin couldn't get much done studying together because the conversation would always drift elsewhere, and although it was enjoyable, it was unpractical. Two hours later, Rin put down his stuff across from her, a nervous smile on his face.
"Hey," he said quietly, "You're early."
Elena mouthed 'Orion' and chuckled. Rin walked around the table and pulled a chair next to her. "Is everything alright?" Elena asked.
"Yes," he took a few shallow breaths, "I wanted ask you something. Umm.. Would you like to be my date for tonight?"
Elena stood surprised for a few seconds, she had assumed they would spend the party together, but going there as dates? "Sure," she mumbled.
"If you don't want to, I wouldn't want to force you. I know I'm late, but I was trying to make sure you weren't going with anyone else-"
"No, no, I'm not." Elena smiled. "I was.. just not expecting you to ask."
"I- I also got you something," Rin reached for his bag across the table.
"You didn't have to," said Elena.
"It's nothing big," he took out and handed her a small box. "I thought it would suit you."
"Thank you," Elena opened it to find a necklace. It had a silver chain and its black charm was shaped like a triangle with a circle in it and a line going through it. "It's beautiful."
"Do you know what the symbol means?" Elena shook her head, "It's the Deathly Hallows." He took out a little book from his bag, "It's a children's tale. My favourite." He gave Elena the book, watching her look through the pages.
"Thank you," Elena said again. She decided to read the story later, on her own, but even the name made her wonder why she hadn't heard of it before.
Rin helped her put on the necklace, and smiled. "It looks perfect."
•❅────✧❅✦❅✧────❅•
When she entered the dormitory all the girls were in a rush, trying to get their hair and makeup done in time. Lucy was talking about how Abraxas had invited her and she seemed so happy. Anna was talking about how she would approach Tom and get him to dance with her. Elena rolled her eyes. She really did not like Anna, it was nothing personal, at least on Elena's side.
She quickly put on the dress, tying her hair up in a low bun and borrowed some mascara and lipstick from Orion. What she hadn't thought about was the mask, she was going to buy on when she was at Hogsmeade but she had forgotten. When she was ready she went to Orion's side, who was wearing a black knee length dress. "I forgot about the mask."
"No worries," she walked over to her bed, grabbing two boxes. "I asked Abraxas for two, here you go."
"You really thought of everything." Elena took the box, inside was a black lace mask. It complimented her dress beautifully. "Thank you." She went to put it on as a tiny paper fell down. She picked it up, taking a deep breath as she read.
Save the last dance for me? T. M. R.
"What's wrong?" Orion approached her.
Elena quickly hid away the note. "Nothing. Let's go, the boys should be waiting for us."
"Boys?" Orion wore a shocked face, "He asked you? He asked you!!"
"Orion calm down," Elena laughed, "Just.. go!"
Timothy Nott was waiting for Orion in the common room, with others from Tom's little club. She left Orion with Nott and exited the common room alone, looking around for Rin. She could hear echoes of whispers coming from the dark corridors. She walked over to find Rin and Tom Riddle, seemingly in a heated discussion. Tom stopped talking upon seeing her and walked away without saying another word to either of them.
"What's going on?" Elena asked Rin, who was still looking at Tom.
"Nothing," his eyes lingered a bit more before turning to Elena. A look of surprise washed over his face, "You look beautiful."
Elena smiled, "Thank you. What were you talking about?"
"Oh.. I just asked him where to find the common room, I was going to come get you."
Elena nodded. When they got out of the dungeons Elena could finally look at Rin. His dark hair fell messily around his face, covering his navy mask. His suit complemented his black hair perfectly. They entered the Great Hall together, the music was already playing and there were a few people on the dance floor. Elena looked around the room for the others, unintentionally locking eyes with Charlus, who was with a girl from Gryffindor. He looked away bitterly.
"Shall we?" Rin asked, holding out his hand. Elena took it, slowly moving towards the middle of the hall.
"I read the story," Elena looked down at her necklace, "It's too morbid for a children's tale."
"That can be because it's real," Rin said, prompting Elena to laugh. "You might not believe it, but it is. The Hallows exist."
"It's not that I don't believe it," Elena said, "It's just highly unlikely."
"Everything around us is highly unlikely."
They continued dancing through the night until Rin wanted to get something to drink. Elena was also starting to get hungry. Near the tables Rin got caught up in conversation with a few of his friends and Elena stood, looking around the hall by herself. She could see in the distance Nott and Orion dancing, she looked happy. On the other side of the room was a very bored Abraxas who was sat listening to Lucy talk. He mouthed 'Help me' upon seeing Elena. She quickly made her way across the hall to him, only to be stopped by a cold hand placed on her bare shoulder. Shivers went down her spine as she turned to face Tom Riddle, maskless.
"Did you not get my note?"
"What note?" Elena took a step away from him, "You were supposed to wear a mask, you know that right?"
"Does it matter?" he leaned over her shoulder, whispering in her ear, "Yours looks exquisite, only rivalled by the mask of innocence you wear every day."
"You didn't have to go to this much trouble just to get me to dance with you," Elena said, disregarding his last words. She held out her hand, Tom raised an eyebrow and took it. "This is not the last dance, I want to save it for someone special."
"Oh, so you did get my note," Tom said, moving with the music and leading Elena through the waltz. "You're putting your trust in the wrong person. He is not who he says he is."
"Says you," Elena scoffed. "I think he is perfectly fine. I enjoy being with him."
"The guy's mind is guarded like a prison. He is hiding something."
"It might be your own incompetency of legilimency. I have read his mind on more than one occasion." Why was Tom so interested in Rin all of a sudden?
"I must admit your power over the mind is remarkable," Tom talked more quietly, "but even you can be deceived."
"Why do you care?"
Upon Tom's silence Elena turned her focus to the hall. Everyone looking at them, including Rin who seemed weirdly angry. In the corner Orion was staring with eyes wide opened, questioning her actions. Elena rolled her eyes as an answer and Orion nodded in understanding. A very red Anna was watching them too, squeezing the glass she was holding.
"Everybody's staring."
"Let them," Tom said smirking, "It's not like either of us care about what they think."
The piece had finally come to an end, setting Elena free. She could see Rin walking towards them in the distance. "Thank you, but I have more dance in me tonight." She looked at Rin smiling.
"I told you, you will end the night with me," Tom said, taking a step closer to her. "You intrigued me Elena, the moment you killed the caretaker I knew there was something."
"What do you mean?" Elena wished Rin would hurry up.
"Something about you that was different, something that I had forgotten.." Tom watched as the smile on Elena's face faded and his smirk grew. She could feel her knees get weak. "Elena, you can run off and spend the rest of the night with whoever you believe that guy is. But don't you want to know what I learned?" Tom's face was stone cold now, "Two versions of the same memory in my mind, and one of them involves you."
"What's going on? Is he bothering you?" Rin was now with them, one hand on Elena's shoulder and eyes locked on Tom. Tom never took his eyes off Elena.
"Elena, I remember."
Elena held her breath upon hearing those words, this couldn't be. It wasn't possible. It was magic she had done long ago, but it should've been permanent. What did he remember exactly? Did he know about Grindelwald? Or just that she was there with them in the cave?
"Elena, let's go," Rin said, but the girl didn't move.
"You go on," she mumbled. "I'm not feeling too well. I'm going to go back to the common room."
"Do you want me to take you back?"
"Don't worry buddy," Tom said with his signature smirk, "I'll make sure she gets to her dormitory safely."
And with that, without another word, Tom took Elena's arm and led her out of the Great Hall. Rin watched confused, and wondered why Elena hadn't said anything before leaving. Elena didn't register where they were or who was around them until the harsh autumn wind hit her face. Tom had taken her out into the gardens, and she had finally came to her senses.
"I always wondered why you hated me so much," Tom said, looking at the sky. "Never knew you were there too."
"How long have you known?" Elena managed to say.
"I knew something wasn't right the day I saw you with that man. It was just a flash, but in my mind appeared an image of you, in that cave. You face was lit up by the fire, you were on the ground next to that boy. It took some effort but I finally gathered the pieces."
"How?" What did he mean it took some effort? How could he have found a memory that only existed in her mind- Slughorn's words echoed in her head, 'Seeing things that remind someone of the altered memory can help break it. Or using Legilimens to access the memory through another's mind.' Elena felt her eyes burning, "It was you. You tried to mess with my mind!"
"You figured it out quicker than I thought-" His words were interrupted by a slap.
"Do you know how many sleepless nights I had because of you? How many night I woke up shivering and crying?"
"You took my memories," Tom said, his playful tone shifting to a menacing one. "You should be glad it was only a few sleepless nights."
"Did you get what you wanted then?" Elena was laughing out of anger.
"I need to figure out just one more thing." Tom looked right into her eyes, "That man, the man in the shadows. The one who told you to erase my memories, who was he?"
"I don't know," Elena said. She knew all too well, and if Tom could reach Rin's mind he would know too. She didn't want to know what he could do with that information, and she didn't want to find out. She couldn't lose her place at Hogwarts, it was her only home. "I don't remember his face."
"Then I will give your mind some peace," Tom's eyes lingered around her neck, looking at the necklace, "Don't you think the mask and the necklace clash? Better take one off."
•❅────✧❅✦❅✧────❅•
A/N
First author's note of the year!! Maybe of the book? I am so happy that the rewritten version of this book is reaching new audiences. I am aware my uploads are far from consistent, but I will try to get as much done in the next two weeks to get to the point where editing this book doesn't take much effort. As this book enters its fifth year in progress I want to thank you all for the support.
Don't forget to comment and vote, they really do make my day. Until next time, take care <3