Orion and Theodorus trade looks as Tom glances around the Common Room - its only a month into the term, but its become almost painfully clear to practically the entire house that something changed between Tom and Evelynn over the summer. Nobody's sure what, exactly, but its there in the little things if one only pays attention enough.

Tom's eyes are almost perpetually drawn to her, for one, and she seems to relax slightly whenever he's around. She's also in the Common Room more, usually occupying a table in a darker corner of the room to be out of the way - but, if you pay attention, she's listening to whatever it is that the others are discussing, particularly with Tom. The glare Tom gets whenever someone more than glances at her - aside from Dorea and Walburga, who got close to Evelynn last year by way of sharing a dorm with her - is a bit of a giveaway, though.

Also, the touching - nobody gets to touch Tom, and he doesn't touch anyone either, but suddenly he's leading her around by the wrist or she'll give his arm or shoulder a squeeze or sit down right next to him if there's no other seat available.

And sometimes if there is another seat available.

Honestly, the two female Blacks are right - its like the two of them are together…but they just haven't acknowledged it yet. Or they accidentally got together and haven't figured it out or done anything.

At the moment, however, Evelynn's…nowhere to be found. She's been moody all day today, but nobody seems to have any idea why - and then she disappeared after lunch and hasn't been seen since, good thing it's the weekend and there's no classes. Deciding to take a leap of faith - and hope Tom doesn't Curse him straight away - Orion asks "Theo, you have any idea where Evelynn is? Dorea said she has a book I need to take a look at." He could feel Tom's intense gaze snap to him at once, but thankfully no Curse hits him.

Theodorus, catching on quickly, says "No, sorry. Haven't seen her since lunch where she helped Warren with Olive Hornby." And wasn't that an amusing sight - Olive Hornby having to hop all the way to the professors' table to undo the Leg-Locking Jinx because nobody was willing to risk Evelynn's wrath after the death-glare she gave Hornby. All she did, though, was make a shield that reflected the other girl's own Jinx back to her. And Warren seems to be hero-worshipping Evelynn now, something that horrifies the girl to no end - hence the three days she spent finding books for Myrtle Warren so she could defend herself.

Tom smoothly says "Let's go find her, then."

Knocking on her door gets no response, and Tom eventually says "She's not in there. I can't sense her magic inside." Well, that's not strictly true - he can sense her magic in there…but he can sense that its all spells she's cast or the magic she used last night, not magic that's coming from her.

Dorea clears her throat behind all three of them, asking "Looking for Evelynn?"

Orion nods, and says "Its about that book you said she had, I need to take a look at it." Theodorus, however, points to Tom where the other teen can't see.

"Ah, course. Well, she hasn't been back here. We split up in the dungeons, something about her having a day and needing to be alone for a bit. She said she'd be back later."

Tom frowns, trying to think of where she might go or what she might do if she wanted to be alone - the Chamber is too obvious, and if she truly wanted to be alone she wouldn't go there because its where he'd go to look for her. the Room of Requirement is an option, but its not in the dungeon - and he really hopes she hasn't gone to the Room, since if she asked it to make somewhere she could be alone for a while they'll never get in. After a minute, he says "There's dozens, if not hundreds, of unused rooms in the dungeons. If someone wanted to be alone, that'd be the place to start."

Its Theodorus that finds her first, and its pure chance that he finds Orion and Tom before they do as well - she's just holed up in one of the old rooms deep in the dungeons.

Playing piano.

All the dusty, rickety old furniture is piled up along one wall in the back, from what he saw, and there's a grand piano in the middle of the room now with Evelynn playing it. Playing it, his mind distantly notes, like she's been playing it for years and was taught how to do so by an expert.

As such, when he finds Orion and Tom, his expression puts Tom on edge at once while Orion just raises an eyebrow. "Did you find her?"

Theodorus makes a note that Tom's getting more and more on edge as they can't find Evelynn, shoves it into the back of his mind far behind his Occlumency shields, and says "Yes, c'mon. You have got to see this. Also…" He quickly casts a Charm to keep their magic hidden from Evelynn.

Orion raises an eyebrow, asking "What was that for?"

"Just c'mon, you'll see soon enough."

Its very clear Tom's making an effort not to simply make Theodorus explain - possibly because the Nott Heir is closest to him out of everyone bar Orion - and Orion dearly hopes this is going to be good. He knows it will be when he hears the first strains of Piano Music - a Grand Piano, if he's not mistaken. Perfectly tuned, to.

Theodorus puts a finger to his lips, Disilliusions the three of them, and murmurs "Two doors down, on the left." He keeps one hand on Tom's shoulder cautiously, fairly certain Orion does the same with Tom's right, and leads them to the room. He, at least, has the presence of mind to get them out of the doorway as Evelynn keeps playing - he doesn't recognize the song, but its haunting and melancholic. And its very beautiful, despite or perhaps because of that - it seems that whatever emotions Evelynn doesn't understand get channeled into her music. Her fingers seem to fly across the keys, but the song doesn't sound rushed at all - no, she's playing like she's been playing for years, and is very good at it. He can practically feel the despair and what he'd describe as betrayal in the song, which turns to anger.

And, Merlin, her magic - even they can sense it, so Tom must be all but drowning or suffocating under it considering he's able to sense magic all the time. Its like she's meditating, except she's just getting lost in her music and letting her magic run free. Until she ends the song, taking in a shaking breath and running her hands up her face and through her hair. And breathing out "Dammit, why today…damn them all to hell…"

Theodorus figures she must mean Grindelwald and his fanatics, he certainly can't think of anyone else she'd be cursing. She breathes out another sigh, then says "Play another song, Evelynn. Better than moping." Why did she have to have a dream about her old life last night? Really, why? And it wasn't even something she saw, but an imagined scene about Dumbledore calling Ron and Hermione into his office and telling them she would go Dark and would need to be killed if she survived the war.

Tom is oh-so-thankful he's Disillusioned, as he can't help the smirk on his face when she starts playing 'The Cat and the Moon' from her playlist. She doesn't sing any of the lyrics, but she's smiling and quietly chuckling about halfway through the song as he plays the words out in his head. She then switches to what he recognizes as 'Once Upon a December' - either that thing is set to random again, or Evelynn made a playlist for when she plays. If she's listening to it at all. She usually listens to that one, though, when she gets nostalgic.

Evelynn's just about to start another song when Dorea comes through the doorway, and she whirls around at once in her seat. Eyes gone wide as saucers, and twisting to what looks like an almost painful degree, at that. Her legs are still facing the piano, while her torso twists around almost 180 degrees to face Dorea - how she managed that is something they'd like to know, doesn't that hurt?!

Dorea, for her part, just blinks then asks "You play Piano?"

Evelynn nods, and says "It's a bit of a hobby I picked up over the years."

"This is why you took Music as an elective! You just wanted free access to…this isn't the school's Piano. The school doesn't even have a Grand Piano!"

Evelynn shrugs, saying "Found it, fixed it up. Its something to do." Which isn't a lie, it was in the Room of Requirement and fixing it gave her something to do for a good month.

"Can you play something?"

Evelynn blinks at Dorea, that blank look coming over her face for a moment that says she never expected anyone to say that. "Come again?"

Dorea nods eagerly, saying "Play something! Please?"

Evelynn shrugs, then asks "What do you want to hear?"

"Anything!"

Evelynn blinks, then starts playing the Hogwarts school song. Which gets a laugh out of Dorea, even as she starts saying a few of her favorite lines.

Once Evelynn's done playing, Dorea sits down next to her and says "You play like you're an expert at it, did you know that?"

Evelynn blinks, then asks "What?" How would Dorea know that? And why would she say as much?

Dorea nods, and says "Music is usually played at the various balls all us Purebloods attend, and you play the same as the Pianists that are hired when the hosts didn't set up a spell to play. Same posture, same movements…"

Evelynn ducks her head, not quite hiding a blush spreading across her face as she says "I'm no expert, its just something I taught myself…"

Dorea rolls her eyes, then asks "Does anyone else know? Tom, perhaps?"

Evelynn looks over so fast she should legitimately have whiplash, saying "No! No, I haven't told anyone." The blush she was trying to hide is about the color of a Stunner, and making its way across the rest of her face. Impossible to miss, and all but actually glowing. "'Sides, why would Tom care? He's going to change this entire bloody world, what's a bit of music compared to that?" The blank look on Evelynn's face says she really believes that, and her tone of voice is like she's talking about the weather.

There's a moment of silence, and then Dorea says "Oh, Merlin. C'mon, lets head back to the Common Room. Someone must be wondering where you are by now." The exasperation written on the Black's face is clear to everyone, even as Evelynn shrinks the Piano down and stores it in her pocket for now - after casting a series of Charms on it to keep it from getting damaged.

Its after Evelynn and Dorea are out of the room that Orion makes them reappear, and Theodorus takes the Concealment Charms off them revealing shocked expressions on all their faces.

Orion's the first to speak, saying "Bloody Merlin!" When he went looking for Evelynn with Theo and Tom, he didn't think that would happen! Evelynn just saying Tom's going to change the entire world as casually as if they were talking about the weather...she's got it bad.

Theodorus is not much better, saying "That…happened." He'd think for a minute that it was all for show, that she knew they were there, except for the look on Evelynn's face - utter panic at the thought of Tom finding out about the piano...he didn't take her as insecure about herself, but it looks like her relatives affected her more than he thought. Which, in hindsight, is more surprising than it honestly should be.

And then the two of them glance at Tom's expression - he's a goner, he's one hundred and ten percent screwed. The look on his face, in his eyes, says it all. Looks like its all a matter of getting one of them to make a move of some kind, then, because they are apparently so oblivious that its almost painful.

One thought goes through both Purebloods' heads right then - 'Merlin help anyone who asks Evelynn Peverell out.' The very thought would probably have Tom cursing the idiot before he could get anywhere near Evelynn.

Well, this might not actually be as hard as they'd thought - Evelynn apparently has something for him, and from the look on Tom's face it's not in vain. At least, not if they can get the two of them to figure out their emotions - honestly, the two of them are emotionally constipated at the best of times it seems.

AN: Hey, everyone! Next chapter is up! You guys think these two are oblivious enough? I hope so, it took three tries before I got something that felt right. Speaking of change...any suggestions for things to be changed about Wizarding Britain? I've got my own ideas, yeah, but feedback is always nice.

Anyway, enjoy! More chapters coming soon!

PS. Anyone know if there's actually anything to do in Little Hangleton? Or is it just this little town - no pun intended - where everyone has to go to a nearby city to do anything at all? I know the Riddles and the Gaunts lived there, and that the Riddles weren't particularly well-liked around there...but i don't remember there being any description of the town itself.