Note: This chapter's tittle is from the song "Evil Angel" by Breaking Benjamin.

Also this chapter is not betaed. It appears my beta is off the grid. So, sorry if there is (probably is) any mistake.

Chapter 10

Evil Angel

Over the next few days Harlene had been on her guard constantly. Mad-eye's words "Constant vigilance" was ringing in her ears all the time. But nothing happened after the attack. Everything returned to normal as if the attack never even happened.

Most of the students didn't realize her 'constant vigilance' mode except for those who knew. Whenever Tom and Harlene would cross path with each other they would give each other a silent nod, indicating that they had their eyes and ears open.

.

At the morning of Halloween something happened that surprised Harlene. A letter was delivered to her by a first year Slytherin when she was sitting by the Black Lake reading a book she had gotten from the library.

The first year gave her the letter in trembling hand and ran from there as soon as Harlene took the letter.

There was no name on the envelop. But the handwriting of the letter was all too familiar. Harlene read the letter with attention.

Miss Peverel,

I know this is sudden to contact you through letter. But I think it is better to communicate this way so that your attacker doesn't realize about our allegiance. Until we can find out who your attacker is, I believe this means of communications is better.

As for the reason of this letter, I believe rather than waiting for the person to attack, you should prepare yourself. I have seen you in duel. I am in no doubt that you can handle yourself. But sometimes to have the upper hand in a duel you must push your limits.

There is a study group in Hogwarts, where we learn beyond our academic lessons. There you can lean a lot of things that they don't teach us in the academy and improve your skills.

If you are interested then meet me in front of the Room of Requirement after the Halloween Feast. I am not saying you must join, just come and attend one meeting. If it doesn't interest you, you won't have to attend anymore.

Yours most sincerely,

TMR

P.s. – Tap the wall with your wand three times in a triangle.

Harlene didn't understand how to react to the letter. She wondered whether it was an invitation to join the Death Eaters or not. Whatever the case it was a very tempting offer.

At least he didn't sign it as Lord Voldemort.

Harlene thought to herself with a small smirk. Harlene knew that she would never join the Death Eaters even if it was the last thing in the world. But she could go and see what this was all about.

I'll go for only one meeting and see what all this is about.

Gellert Grindelwald's days were going rather well. He had found out that Hitler, his muggle puppet was doing rather well against the Allies. He had taken over France by now and moving forward toward middle Europe.

But what made his day was the discovery of the last Peverel. It shouldn't mean anything to him as he was already the most powerful wizard of the century by being the wielder of the Death Stick, but it was still a great privilege to find the last heir of the family that had a close encounter with Death itself. Also if she happened to be in the possession of anther hallow the better. Even without it, she would make a prized possession for him.

He sat at the MacMillan Manor in England, remembering what he had learnt from the Goblins of Gringotts the other day.

Miss Harlene Peverel, the last direct descendent of the Peverel's. Descendent of three noble families; Peverel, Slytherin and Griffindor.

She has a very rich blood indeed.

Born on the day of Samhain. Father, a pureblood wizard while her mother was a muggleborn. Her magic is something a common wizard will consider Light, but in reality she has more silvery magical core then a pure white of a Light wizard. She is not Dark witch in any perspective. Her magical core is rather unique which cannot be defined.

She is getting more and more interesting each passing day.

Her wand is made with holly wood and has a phoenix feather core. A very powerful wand with an unknown magic ridden inside of it.

'Ms. Harlene Peverel you will be an excellent possession when I acquire you. Your power is all alone magnificent enough. But I am still eager to meet you face to face, to put a face to the name.' Gellert laughed manically at that thought.

But his laughter died down as he remembered that she was under Dumbledore's protection. He grimaced thinking that Dumbledore had gotten to her before him. But no problem she will soon be his.

'But for that I shall have to wait for an opportunity. After all, all great things come to those who wait.' He smirked at that.

Harlene sat at the Slytherin table with Catalina on Halloween feast, laughing and eating the various sweet dishes that were in front of them at the table. Every once in a while Harlene would glance at Tom, who was sitting at the other end of the table. Catalina noticed this and asked her about it.

Harlene just shrugged and said, 'I am just trying to figure out if he was the one who had attacked me in my room.'

'You don't think it was him?' Catalina asked her with a surprised voice. She was staring at Harlene. She had stretched her hand to take more cauldron cake but she stopped at midair.

'I am not sure. I mean he doesn't have any reason to attack me.' At least not at this time.

'I think Riddle is just evil and a sadist. Who knows why he does what he does? I mean he was interested in you before, right? As you didn't bother with him, he probably got angry and attacked you.' Catalina said while retrieving a cake to her plate. 'Simple as that. Who else other than him would have a motive to attack you?'

Harlene frowned at her statement. Catalina's sudden surprise at her previous statement didn't miss her eyes either.

Why is she trying so hard to prove that Riddle was the one behind my attack? And why did she react like that about what I said? Does she know something?

Harlene eyed the female Slytherin with suspicious eyes but she didn't say anything right then.

What are you hiding little snake?

Harlene decided to think about it later as she pushed the thought out of her mind; she had more important matter at hand.

After excusing herself from Catalina, saying she had to go to the library; Harlene came out of the Slytherin common room.

She walked toward the Room of Requirement when she came across Slughorn. He was delighted to see his new found Potion prodigy.

'Ah, Ms. Peverel. What a surprise to see you! Out for a night walk are we?' He said in a delighted voice.

'Yes, professor.' Harlene said with a forced smile on her face.

'Very nice, very nice. But before you go I should tell you that every other week I held a small dinner party at my office. I will be delighted if such a young potion genius such as you come and join me.' Slughorn told her.

Oh God!

Harlene tried to find any excuse to not go to the dinner party but she was coming up with nothing.

'I…will be delighted to come, professor.' She finally said after failing to come up with a valid excuse.

'That is wonderful. I will let you know about the date and time, my dear.' Slughorn said in delighted voice.

'Thank you, professor.'

'Well, I wouldn't make stand here anymore and leave you to your night stroll.'

With that a very happy looking Slughorn left. Harlene sighed watching his retrieving form.

I miss my Invisibility cloak.

Suddenly an idea came to her mind. But she wasn't sure how she should call it. Harlene turned her head up ward and said in a clear voice, 'Death.'

Nothing happened at first, so she called out again in a higher voice, 'Death.'

Suddenly light breeze grazed her face, blowing her ponytail and strands of hair that was lying beside her cheeks. Harlene felt a presence behind her as soon as the wind stopped.

She spuned on her heels to find the dark hooded figure of Death. It had its scythe in its pale boney hand, face hidden behind the hood.

'Mistress called?' Death said in its metallic voice with a slight bow of its head.

'Yes, I did.' Harlene said after getting over the shock. 'I wanted to ask if I could have my Invisibility cloak. So, can I?'

Death didn't answer at once, but after a while it said, 'Of course, it is mistresses after all. I only kept it with me so mistress can have it in the time of her need.'

With that Death raised its empty right hand, making a curtain with the sleeve and brought out its other hand leaving the scythe standing on its own on the floor; it pointed its index figure of the left hand and ran it horizontally trough the fabric of the sleeve, cutting the fabric in its trail.

After finishing up, Death held out the silky silvery cloak with two hands and presented to a wide eyed Harlene in a respectful bow. Harlene took the cloak from Death's hands and felt the familiar fabric of the cloak. She looked up and said, 'Thank you.'

Death did another bow and took the scythe from the floor. It glided backward into the darkness and vanished.

Harlene stared at the place where it had vanished for a moment and then pulled the cloak on head.

Harlene walked silently until she reached the seventh floor. She stopped in front of the wall where the door of the Room of Requirement should be and pulled out her wand and tapped the wall three times with her wand in a triangle.

At first she didn't understand what Tom meant by it but she understood it as soon as she saw the wall. Harlene watched as the wall turned into a big wooden door.

She inhaled a long breath and pulled the handle to reveal a large room filled with people. The room resembled a lot of the room which Harlene used for DA meetings.

Harlene watched as Tom walked toward her. He wasn't wearing his school rob and vest and had also taken off his tie. He had folded the sleeves of his white school shirt and unbuttoned the upper button of his collar.

Harlene's breath caught on her throat as she saw him. She quickly looked away from collar bone skin before he could notice her staring there.

Why am I reacting like this? What is wrong with me?

'Ms. Peverel, glad you can join us.' He said to her when he reached her standing at the door.

'Well your letter was very persuasive.' Harlene rolled her eyes at him. 'You stand with what you said, right; that I will not have to come here again if I don't like it?'

Tom looked at her for a moment before answering, 'If you don't find it interesting then yes, you will not have to come here again. You have my word.'

'And I will not have to take part in any torture activities.' Harlene stated forcefully to Tom.

'Now, now Ms. Peverel what kind of meeting do you think this is? This is merely a study group not some kind of mob gang.' Tom said to her.

Harlene only just quirked an eyebrow and walked into the room with Tom trailing behind her. Everyone in the room stopped whatever they were doing and looked at them.

Harlene stopped in the middle of the room. She smirked seeing some death glares that were being sent toward her. Tom walked passed her and addressed everyone in the room.

'Fellows let me introduce you to our guest Ms. Harlene Peverel. She has come here on my request to see if she can learn something other then what they teach us here. So I hope everyone will co-operate with her.' Tom said the last part eyeing the females that were shooting glares at her. He shot them a warning glare.

'So let's begin today's meeting.' Tom said and walked at the other side of the room.

'Today we would duel with each other. It is very essential for a wizard to learn how to duel.' Tom said to everyone in the room and addressed Harlene, 'Ms. Peverel if you wouldn't mind, would you duel with one of them and show some of your skills in dueling?'

Harlene shrugged and pulled out her wand, and went to stand a few steps ahead. Tom gestured Abraxas to take his place as her opponent. He nodded and went ahead to stand in two feet away from her, others stepped back toward the wall.

'Duelers, wands ready.' Tom's voice boomed around the room.

Harlene and Abraxas put up their wand in front of their face in a respectful manner. Abraxas winked at her from behind the wand causing Harlene to narrow her eyes at him.

They put down there wands and turned around to walk few steps behind, they turned back and pointed their wands at each other, ready to fight.

'On the count of three; one. Two…Three.' As soon as Tom finished counting Abraxas shot a stunning spell at Harlene which she deflected very smoothly with just simple flick of her wand.

Remember how you fought at the war against the Death Eaters, Harlene.

Abraxas shot another curse at her but she just stepped aside and let the curse fly right passed her shoulder. Tom raised his eyebrows at that.

She didn't even flinch when the curse flew right below her ear!

Tom took a good look at Harlene and he was surprised at what he had found. Her face was scrunched up in concentration. She looked like a predator, ready to pounce at her pry.

She is in battle mode! Her magic seemed to be radiating from her!

Tom thought as he watched Harlene dodge Abraxas's spells with such grace. His heart sped up as he watched their battle, more precisely as he watched her in battle.

Malfoy doesn't even stand a chance against her.

Tom chuckled at that. Oh, how much he wanted her to be in his possession. He felt ecstatic watching her.

Harlene fought with Abraxas with ferocity, Harlene let him make his moves first but after that she cornered him with her counter attacks.

Abraxas was cornered as Harlene shot curses after curses at him. He was hardly able to dodge her curses, and it was making him frustrated to no end. In his frustration he shot a curse at that Harlene couldn't identify. She deflected it with a flick of her wand but a thin thread of the curse grazed the skin on her upper palm, turning the skin black and lifeless. Shock shot across her face, but only for a second as she recovered and shot back spells at him.

Tom's eyes narrowed down as he recognized the curse, he fumed in anger. No one harms what is HIS.

She didn't let Abraxas make another move after that as she shot curses of her own, making him back down. With another swift movement of her wand she sent him flying backward, his wand flying out of his hand toward Harlene, which she caught very easily.

The whole room was silent as the duel ended. The scenery was astounding; Abraxas was lying on his back on the ground while Harlene was standing several feet away from with two wands in her each hands.

After a long pause Tom exclaimed from where he stood, 'Excellent! Now that is what a duel looks like!'

'But I can assure you one thing a battle won't be a same thing as a duel.' Tom's voice grim like. 'In a battle won't be subtle or respectful. So you should be prepared for that.'

Tom walked toward where Harlene was standing with two wands. 'Ms. Peverel here has an excellent reflex, which is a great advantage in a battle field.'

He took Abraxas's wand from Harlene's hand, brushing his figure while taking it which shot jolts of electricity through her. But he didn't notice anything; he threw the wand at Abraxas who was still sitting on the floor where he had landed.

'Malfoy you use your wand too much. Think with your head not with your wand. You attacked Ms. Peverel at first chance; surprise attack is good only if your opponent is unprepared. If you attack without a strategy it becomes easy for a strong opponent as Ms. Peverel to slaughter you.'

Harlene watched in admiration as Tom analyzed the duel. He was a charismatic leader, drawing everyone's attention toward him within a second. Now she understood why he could draw so many followers.

'Also your defense is very weak; you have to work on your defense. As soon as Ms. Peverel started to attack you couldn't even protect yourself.' Tom said to Abraxas who was listening to every word without any protest.

'And Ms. Peverel.' Tom addressed Harlene, who was watching his every movement with rapt attention. 'Your dueling skill is very good; especially your defense skill is excellent. But I believe you can become an even better dueler if your offensive skills are more sharpened'

Harlene nodded in acknowledgment. She knew she lacked in offensive skills but she always filled the lacking with her defensive skills. No one had ever been able to realize that until today.

Tom went along with his lecture. He made others to duel between them and made comments on their lacking, but he didn't ask Harlene to duel again. In fact he didn't even look at Harlene again that night, which made her a little irritated.

After an hour or so he called it a night. He told everyone to go to their dormitory before curfew started. Harlene made to leave with the others when Tom stopped her.

'Ms. Peverel, if you would stay back a little.' Tom spoke to her in a calm voice. Harlene nodded and returned inside the room.

She waited till everyone left the room then she turned around to face Tom, whom she found standing right behind her. It startled her to find Tom Riddle standing so close to her. His eyes were focused on her. They held a foreign expression that Harlene couldn't understand.

'R-Riddle, w-what are you….' Harlene didn't manage to finish as her breath hitched in her throat, when Tom gently took her wand hand in his palm.

He tore his piercing icy blue eyes from her surprised avada kedavara green eyes and looked at her hand. Harlene watched in utter disbelief as he gently touched the place where Malfoy's curse had hit her.

Tom inspected the injured hand, making sure it wasn't a permanent damage. It wasn't a big damage but her pale skin had turned black, enough to enrage the teenage Dark Lord.

I'll kill him for damaging MY things.

'You should treat the wound before it makes any further damage.' Tom said to her in a calm voice as he brought his wand and murmured incantation to heal the wound. Soon the blackness disappeared from her skin, leaving her pale skin in its place.

WHAT THE HELL?!

When he was done he looked up to find a wide eyed Harlene staring at him with open mouth. He quirked an elegant eyebrow at her but didn't comment.

'T-thank you.' Harlene still couldn't believe what just happened. Did the Dark Lord really just heal her wound?

OH MY GOD!

'So what do you think about the meeting?' Tom asked her distracting her from the current situation.

'It was interesting I have to say.' Harlene already distracted from the conversation that she didn't even notice that Tom hadn't drop the hand he was holding. In fact she felt calm as he gently stroked the back of her palm with his thumb in small circle in a soothing manner.

'But I don't think I want to hear someone commenting on my offensive skill.' Harlene told him with a small smirk, drawling at the words 'offensive skill'.

Tom frowned at her words, 'Really? What a shame! Then will you not be joining us anymore?'

He dropped her hand, making Harlene frown for the sudden empty feeling. But she soon forgot about it.

'Nope, and you can't make me.' Harlene said to him with a smirk. She was challenging him to try.

Harlene frowned at her words inwardly; she couldn't understand what was making her act like that. It should felt wrong talking to Tom so casually. But it didn't, rather it felt natural; which scared the hell out of her.

Tom replied to her in a calm tone, 'Then I guess this is a good night. Although I must say before you leave; even if you refuse to come here again, I will not leave you to protect yourself alone. I will help you to find the person who is after you. I promise.'

Harlene's eyes widened at those word, making her blush slightly. She couldn't reply to those words.

'Oh..um….'

She gave a small laugh and said, 'Fine, I'll come. Let me know when the next meeting is. Will you? You really do know how to manipulate people. Don't you Riddle?'

With that Harlene turned around and left the room with a small smile on her face. She couldn't even hear the reply Tom gave her as she left. An evil grin formed on his lips as he watched her form disappearing out of the door.

'You have no idea, Ms. Harlene Peverel.'

AN: Okay before everyone jumps on me on the birthday fact, let me clear it out; Harlene's original birthday is 31st July but Voldemort chose her as his equal on Samhain. So, for me (for other) she was reborn on that night. I will explain more later in the fic. So please dont kill me.