Tom and Evelynn have finished getting all their supplies, when Tom notices a shop that looks interesting near the entrance to Knockturn. Borgin and Burkes. The place he ended up working for a time in Evelynn's previous life. He's pulled out of his thoughts when Evelynn nudges him in the ribs, asking "See something that interests you?"
Tom startles, glancing down at Evelynn in surprise, then nods and says "That shop over there. Want to go take a look?" He'd usually sneer at someone for talking like that, and he never talked like this to anyone before. Of course, nobody he's ever known before could send a warrior race of irascible Goblins, guards and all, trembling with utter terror. They were practically bending over backwards to please her while still keeping their reputation, for Merlin's sake. So, yeah…he can swallow his pride long enough to not give her orders.
Thankfully, she nods and says "Why not. Fair warning though, if you see a hand marked 'Hand of Glory' in there, for the love of Merlin don't touch it. Scared me outta my mind when it latched onto my hand."
Tom chuckles, then asks "Why would you even touch anything in there?"
Evelynn looks around, unsuccessfully trying to hide her blush, saying "Floo accident, I didn't know what the place was. Only that I sure as hell had no idea where I was." Tom can only stare at Evelynn - she traveled through time, became the Master of Death, and had the Goblins practically on their knees in fear of just her presence. Yet…she can't Floo.
"Hey, in my defense, it was my very first time." Her indignant expression has Tom chuckling in amusement, even as her indignation grows. "It is not funny, Tom!" His amusement only grows - honestly, it really is funny. She can pull off feats most people can't even dream of, she traveled back in time, successfully got back into Hogwarts…but she can't Floo. He's still chuckling, and getting a mock cold shoulder from Evelynn when they get into the shop.
Evelynn rolls her eyes when Tom heads straight to the shelves of books, he's pretty predictable if you get him into familiar territory. The woods near the Orphanage, for instance. Or a magical area - if it's the latter, he'll always go for the books. He's a bit like a bloody sponge when it comes to knowledge. Alright, she corrects herself, exactly like a sponge when it comes to any kind of knowledge. Any knowledge at all.
She wanders over to the jewelry section, filled with diadems and necklaces that probably cost a fortune to make alone, wondering just how many desperate people sold their inheritances looking for money just like- no, it can't be. Evelynn crouches down quickly to get a better look at the green-gold glint that caught her eye, and feels her breath catch in her throat just as fast. Salazar Slytherin's Locket, as though thinking about Merope and her desperate actions summoned the Locket, is sitting on display right in front of her.
How in the world…I never knew when it was sold, but…
Her head snaps over to the door when the bell rings, and she sees a familiar person enter the shop. Hugely fat body, ginger wig, and baby pink robes and all, Hepizbah Smith in her prime…of sorts.
Probably looking for antiques for her collection…BLOODY HELL!
She signals to Borgin quickly, and points to the Locket saying "I want to buy this, please." If she can get it now, keep Hepizbah from getting it...well, it'll be one less thing Dumbledore will have on Tom. And one more thing Tom will have from Slytherin - she knows all about suddenly finding a piece of family out of the blue, after all. And the Diary piece, at the very least, was immensely proud of being directly related to Salazar Slytherin.
Borgin dismissively says "A hundred Galleons."
Evelynn feels her temper rear its ugly head and her magic unleash enough for even Borgin to feel it, and she darkly but quietly says "You or your partner paid a desperate, destitute pregnant woman ten Galleons for her family heirloom. And that is exactly what your going to be paid for it, not a Knut more." How she hates people like this guy, preying on the weak and desperate to line his own pockets. Burke knew exactly what he had at first glance, she's sure, and he conned Merope out of money that could've saved her life had she spent it at St. Mungo's. The way she sees it, that's indirect murder - had he paid her a fair amount, she might've survived. These guys are the other side of the coin that was drunk-thief Mundungus Fletcher, the guy who made a living being a conman and stealing from people. He certainly cleared out Grimmauld Place in the year after Sirius died.
Borgin shudders violently at the suddenly-suffocating feeling of her magic, feeling like he's breathing in ice when he takes in a shuddering breath, and hastily nods his head saying "Sounds fair, young lady…" Even still, his hands are shaking like he's got Palsy when he finally manages to unlock the case and undo the spells to keep the items from being stolen. The ten Galleons get dropped into his hand and she snatches the Locket up at once, stuffing it into her robe pocket before glancing back towards Hepizbah Smith. Only to see her talking with Tom, her cheeks a brilliant red.
Evelynn comes to a singularly infuriating conclusion right then - Hepizbah Smith is utterly sick. She's got to be at least fifty, if not sixty, and Tom is thirteen. Completely, and utterly, sick. Evelynn stalks over to the pair, pasting a smile on her face that would make a shark swim the other way as fast as possible, and links her arm with Tom's saying "I'm so terribly sorry, Ma'am, but we have to get going. We should get something to eat before finishing up for the day. Goodbye!"
Tom lets himself be all but dragged out of the store, not having seen anything in the books that he had to have - and, hopefully, this will let Evelynn cool off a bit. Something got her angry to the point of killing Smith, and he's not entirely sure what. When they're well away from Borgin and Burkes - and, really, why did he work there?! - he casually asks "Did you get anything? Because I didn't see anything worth buying. Though, your magic went crazy for a minute there." And it. Was. AMAZING.
Evelynn nods, and viciously says "Yes, an epiphany about that woman."
Tom raises an eyebrow at her, and asks "And? What was it?"
Evelynn all but explodes "She's utterly sick and twisted! Bloody demented! An absolute pedo!"
Tom says "Relax, Evelynn. She was just going on about how she was Hufflepuff's heir, and how she often came to the shop to buy more antiques. And her collection, apparently its rather impressive."
Evelynn's scowl deepens almost immediately, and she says "Because being a bloody hoarder is so impressive, right. Being the Heir of a Founder doesn't mean much when someone doesn't have the good sense to preserve their legacy. Such as not spending all their gold, for instance."
Tom hums, reminded of the Gaunts suddenly, then asks "So, what got you so angry? In the store, your magic went crazy." It was incredible to sense, he hasn't felt it that strong since…well, since she arrived, actually. It was utterly glorious, seductive and alluring - he's starting to understand why people flock to him…and why the Goblins were so terrified of her mere presence. Darkness seemed to spread from underneath her feet when she truly got angry at Borgin, he was amazed Smith hadn't stopped talking when it was so obvious to him that Borgin was in real trouble should he not do what Evelynn wanted. One little push, it seemed, and she'd have ended Borgin where he stood.
A dark, semi-murderous look flits across Evelynn's face for a moment, and she says "I got angry with Borgin, but it worked out well enough."
Tom raises an eyebrow, and asks "And Smith?"
Evelynn makes a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, and says "She's got to be in her late fifties, early sixties, Tom. Maybe older, considering Witches and Wizards tend to live longer than Muggles. And your thirteen. I might be overreacting here, but her telling you she goes to Borgin and Burke's often sounds a lot like a hint to hang around there hoping she'd come back." She scowls even further, glaring back towards Borgin and Burke's like the place has personally offended her.
Seeing an opportunity to tease Evelynn, Tom asks "Are you…jealous?"
Evelynn immediately asks "Of what? An immensely fat hoarder that apparently has a thing for you no matter what age you are? As if!" Translation, Tom thinks, yes I am but I'll deny it until the end of time.
Right, wasn't she the one I got the Cup and Locket from? And framed the House-Elf, that's it.
He can think on that more later, right now he's got an irate Master of Death to calm down before she decides to finish Smith off herself just to keep the old bat from getting any other thoughts. Tom grins to himself, but before he can say anything Evelynn says "C'mon, I'm in serious need of an ice cream from Fortescue's after that. What kind do you want? My treat."
Tom blinks, then says "Not a clue, never had ice cream before. Are you sure?"
Evelynn blinks, then promptly grabs him by the lower arm and says "Well, can't have that, can we? I'll get a Banana Split, they're big enough for two easily. And they've got just about every topping available." Tom doesn't get the chance to protest, just gets a table for two in a corner and watches as Evelynn comes over with a foot-long boat of ice cream scoops, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, strawberries, pineapple, and cherries. And two spoons. The first thing Tom can think when Evelynn puts the ice cream boat in front of him is 'Merlin, its huge!' She really wasn't exaggerating when she said it was big enough for two.
After a minute, he asks "Why are you doing this? All of this?"
Evelynn stares at him in confusion over the top of the ice cream, then quietly says "Because I want to. That's all, though. No strings attached, no hidden agenda. I just want to do something nice for you."
Tom forcibly reminds himself that this is the same girl who, by her own admission, came here entirely by accident. No plans to come back and change anything - bar destroying Dumbledore and his reputation, though she only decided that once she was already here - and no plans to do him in to prevent that horrible future. Still, its once she's taken a bite of the ice cream on her side that he relaxes marginally and takes a spoonful for himself. And, Merlin, its bloody delicious. And one more thing to add to the list of things she's done for him for no apparent reason.
"You want the cherries, Tom? They're good."
That's it, he gives up! Now he knows what the others talk about when they complain about girls and how you never know what they want or mean! He never knew or cared what they meant until Evelynn Peverell came into his life - and, dammit, she seems to embody that particular complaint. He can never guess what she's going to do next, or what she'll suddenly pop up with out of the blue!
He's the smartest student in Hogwarts, and has everyone else figured out…but Evelynn seems to just be one mystery after another, even after she told him everything about herself! Bloody tease.
When they get back to the Orphanage, they find two boxes and a folded note lying on her pillow - two simple black boxes, about the size of her palm, wrapped with a blood-red bow. When Evelynn opens them up, the first is a small black case, one that fits in the pal of her hand easily. 'Mistress, thought you might miss your favorite musics. And, since time is meaningless for us, I figured I'd surprise you. Especially when you try them at Hogwarts. Happy Birthday.'
Evelynn blinks, and Tom asks "What is it?"
Evelynn numbly says "For one…my birthday."
Tom blinks, then asks "What?!"
Evelynn just shrugs, and says "I completely forgot, to be honest."
After a minute spent processing that, Tom says "You remembered my birthday, which I never told anyone and never celebrated anyway, yet you forgot your own?"
Evelynn shrugs, then says "I never really celebrated mine either, Tom. It was always ignored by my relatives, never even acknowledged. Unless you count my cousin and his friends always seeking me out to beat me up extra badly that day or getting even more chores than usual." She just shrugs, and adds "I hadn't even noticed it in…five years, actually. And whenever I did see the date and realize it had passed, well…its not like I could celebrate it with anyone."
Tom has to grit his teeth not to go off on a rant in Parseltongue at that - some parts of Evelynn's life sound so dangerous and death-defying, no pun intended, that its almost impossible to believe. Other parts though, like this part, sound lonely and devastatingly awful far beyond anything he's ever known before. Instead, he asks "Did Death do stuff like this often?"
Evelynn nods, saying "Yeah. I did say he was the only being I could rely on for those twelve years. He'd warn me when my ex-friends were closing in on me, or when they'd set a trap or something. Helped me learn to use the Hallows. And he helped me get my story straight here. Honestly, he did more for me in a few months than Magical Britain did in sixteen years - including helping me piece myself back together. I was a bit of a mess, for a while."
Tom thinks that last part may well be the most unsurprising thing she's ever told him, that she was a mess for a while after being blindsided like she was. Deciding to try and take her mind off the subject, Tom asks "So, what's being the 'Master of Death' about? You said the title was a mortal idea."
Evelynn chuckles, and says "It is, and it amused him greatly after he got past his outrage over the implication that someone could just order him around like a slave. You cannot master Death, not really. You can't deny him his due, can't bring people who're long dead back to life. Either they've been reborn, they're in limbo because they aren't ready to be reborn for whatever reason, or they're serving some kind of penance before they're reborn. The Stone summons shades of them, its true, but they aren't really there. Its like a memory, rather than a ghost like at Hogwarts. On the other hand, you can't try to bribe your way into the position either, like Grindelwald. He's going around slaughtering thousands, in the hopes that he'll earn Death's favor and be chosen to deal out mass destruction. Even if he managed to get all three, he wouldn't be chosen. Everyone dies eventually, but if enough people die at once it makes it extraordinarily difficult to put souls back into the world. Mortal bodies need a few specific things, you see, to last a while, and one of those things a large gene pool in the family. Else they have...problems, lets call it all. I was chosen because I didn't seek the power out, didn't kill thousands but didn't try to avoid dying either. In accepting my own death, and having become the technical owner of all three Hallows as soon as I held the Stone...I was deemed worthy."
Then she opens the small black case, and out comes two objects about the size of her thumb - also black, unsurprisingly. Black as Evelynn's hair, likely to blend in. The second box holds what look like a regular wristwatch, with Silver numbers and emerald-green hands, but when she snaps the clasp together at the inside of her wrist a small display lights up on the inside of her forearm. With a list of songs and artists, most of which he doesn't recognize. A famous piece here or there, such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons, as Evelynn flicks through it, but most of which is entirely new to him.
Tom tilts his head to the side, and asks "You like music?" In hindsight, the revelation isn't particularly surprising - Evelynn's entire life fell to pieces, and she's basically sworn off alcohol after her Uncle's temperament while influenced by it. So its hardly surprising she turned to something else, especially something as easy to come across as music.
Evelynn nods, keeping her gaze fixed on the small objects in her palm, and says "Yeah. It…it helped, if that makes any sense. It was something to do, something to distract me when I was all alone."
Tom nods at the black objects in curiosity, asking "So…what are those?"
Evelynn quietly says "Earbuds don't become popular until 2001, and then suddenly they were everywhere. This looks like a wireless set. And, Merlin, some of these songs hadn't been written yet when I was cornered. It was only 2010 when I came back." And then she holds one of the 'earbuds' out, hesitantly asking "Do you…want to listen?"
Music from the future? …Why not? It can't be worse than the Orphanage.
Two minutes later, they're desperately trying to stifle their laughter at a drinking song called 'The Cat and the Moon' - Evelynn said she listened to it when she needed to cheer up after it came out. As it turns out, its impossible not to laugh at the song since its so ridiculous.
And then the next day they get two diaries that leave the both of them speechless - the one from Evelynn's memories, that he used as his first Horcrux, and one of her own. Bloody hell!
An: Hey, everyone! Hope you like the chapter - and my explanation for being the MoD. I mean, Dumbledore had all three Hallows for a time - even if he didn't have them all at once, and yet he still died thanks to that Curse on his hand. Even now, I've no idea for how he was there in Limbo for canon Harry though. At least I've got a way to work that should it ever come up in the story, though.
As for the music...I like music, a lot. And Evelynn made it to 2010, so I know songs she would've heard. And 'The Cat and the Moon' is absolutely hilarious, I listen to it for laughs all the time. As for the earbuds...they're Skullcandy brand, because its hilarious.
Anyway, enjoy! More updates coming soon!