Tom could swear Evelynn looks the tiniest bit lighter as she heads back over to him, and he wouldn't be surprised if it was true - she never even got to bury Hedwig, never got the chance to say goodbye to her, and now she's got her Familiar back. Hell, she never even knew Hedwig was her Familiar.
And now she's got her best friend back...forever. Phoenixes are immortal, after all.
When she sits down, Evelynn murmurs "Best Christmas ever…"
Tom hums, pulls her into his side without a second thought, and says "You've got one box left. Want to guess what it is, first?"
Evelynn gazes at it for a moment, then hums and says "Well, it looks like a box for a piece of jewelry…" Though, she's not one for jewelry, so that pretty much rules it out altogether. To be fair, though, she was never allowed to have any kind of interest in pretty things at the Dursleys...and then, by the time she originally went to Hogwarts, it was pretty much beaten out of her.
After a minute, she opens it up…only to pull out a Time-Turner. Silver, with the inscription 'For when you need or want more time.'
After a minute, Evelynn says "Death…got me a Time-Turner." Even for Death, who somehow got her music from the future for her birthday...this is mind-blowing.
Tom hums, then says "I'd love to hear how he managed that. Probably the same way he got you the earbuds, right?"
Evelynn nods, then suddenly snaps her head around to look at Tom in glee. Because she just got a great idea for a second birthday present for Tom, if a bit early. "Tom?"
"Yes?" Tom tilts his head, wondering just what Evelynn could be thinking of to get a look like that on her face.
"Have you decided on anything with your relatives yet?"
Tom shakes his head, saying "Not as of yet. Why?"
Evelynn gets an innocent look on her face, and Tom doesn't buy it for a single instant - he knows that look, he invented that look. "Evelynn? What are you thinking?"
"What if I took care of them instead? Your father and your uncle, at least?"
Tom blinks, and asks "Uh…what now?" He'd been planning on killing all four of them, his father, his - as Evelynn would likely say, and its likely true - 'batshit insane' uncle, and his grandparents, sometime soon, but it had been pushed to a backburner what with this connection with Evelynn. So what brought this up?
Evelynn grins once more, moving to sit on his legs so she's got him trapped against the back of the couch - for once, but she did tell him she'd turn the tables on him one day - and says "Your father and Uncle have been fighting for years, Tom. Long before you were born, maybe before Merope even first saw your father. The Aurors are constantly going out to Little Hangleton to Obliviate your father and reverse whatever Morfin's done to him. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Morfin killed him, and it would be a hell of a lot less suspicious than the Riddles all dying of the Killing Curse and Morfin confessing."
Tom hums, his brow furrowing in confusion as he asks "Why would that scenario be suspicious? It'd be an open and shut case, after all." Like she said, Morfin and his father have been fighting for years. Morfin snapping after his stint in Azkaban wouldn't be suspicious at all.
Evelynn shrugs, saying "You would think so, and so would I, but Dumbledore…except, wait, he can't have…" Now its Evelynn that gets a highly confused look on her face, a look that's shortly replaced by disgust, fury, and horror. "Alright, so, he probably didn't get those memories years after they died." Merlin, what is wrong with that guy?! Does he seriously hate Tom so badly that he'd go to such lengths before he's got any proof whatsoever?!
Tom frowns, asking "Evelynn? What do you mean?"
"I mean I think Dumbledore was bloody stalking you! Nobody lasts that long in Azkaban, not without going completely insane, not even the most down-to-earth person. And, no offense, but the Gaunts were not entirely sane to begin with. Morfin shared- shares Marvolo's instability and temper, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they all had other health problems to after all the inbreeding. There's no bloody way Dumbledore visited him in Azkaban…what, ten, fifteen years later? Forget when I was in my sixth year and he was 'starting' to suspect you'd made Horcruxes."
"Which means he'd gotten the memories between me meeting Morfin by accident and Memory Charming him." Evelynn nods, a furious look on her face that matches how Tom's feeling at the realization. "So, what now, then?"
Evelynn gives him that shark's smile, and says "Well, you remember that Karma Hex I came up with?"
"The one that's utterly untraceable? The one that can't be detected whatsoever if another spell is cast on the victim afterwards? Or if they use magic?" Tom knows that particular spell of hers, she came up with it herself and he's very much a fan.
"The one that gives the victim exactly what they deserve. Yes, that one." Evelynn starts running one hand through Tom's hair, saying "I can get in and out of Little Hangleton easily, nobody will know I was there, and I can cast the Hexes Wandlessly seeing as I never actually invented an incantation for it. Just poured my magic and will into them getting exactly what they deserve. I don't know what exactly will happen, but if I had to guess based off of Morfin's temperament from the memories I was shown…it'll likely be lethal for your father. Putting Morfin in Azkaban, and leaving the Slytherin Lordship to you. And, incidentally, keeping you in the clear. Or they'll both die, perhaps, with the same result."
Tom raises an eyebrow at her, asking "You've really thought this out, haven't you?" In the space of a few moments to. Its all he can do not out simply melt into her hand running through his hair, especially when she starts playing with it.
"Think of it as a second birthday present? Since I'm almost finished on the one I was planning on giving you."
"Oh?" Tom raises an eyebrow, trying to keep his thoughts in order - because Evelynn's definitely playing dirty, switching from playing with his hair to rubbing little circles into the base of his skull - and asks "What would that be?"
Evelynn smirks at him, shifting slightly closer, and says "Telling, that's what that would be." Tom almost groans at her terrible joke, right up until Evelynn nuzzles her face into his neck…and starts speaking in Parseltongue.
If she was playing dirty before, using the connection between them and his not-so-secret love of when she plays with his hair to try and get him to say yes, now she's thrown it all into a pit of mud.
"Let me do this for you, Tom. Let me let you watch Dumbledore flounder, trying to find any proof of your involvement in their deaths and prove himself a fool when there is none. Let me make him show his true colors for everyone to see, with you in a front row seat with a bag of popcorn in hand."
Well, how can he say no when she asked so nicely? Especially in Parseltongue, he just about loses his mind when she speaks in Parseltongue. And she bloody well knows it, he thinks, as her lips twist into a smile he can feel against his neck and she shifts slightly. Parseltongue, and getting rid of his absentee father and abusive, insane uncle…how could he resist?
After a moment, Tom asks "You'll make them suffer? Those two bastards, at the very least?"
Evelynn pulls back enough that he can see her serious expression, any and all good mood absent from it as she says "I would never deny you that, Tom. You already know my opinion of people like our two Uncles." Tom nods, Vernon Dursley and Morfin Gaunt are apparently two sides of a very hideous coin. "And, as for your father…Love Potion or not, he shouldn't have abandoned Merope when she was pregnant. I'll make sure he gets eaten alive by the guilt until his dying breath."
He can just tell Evelynn's thinking of her own Godson, who she never got to raise - she left for a time, a short one at that, just to get her head on straight to be able to raise Teddy even halfway decently after breaking down about Remus and Tonks upon seeing his hair change color during their first and only meeting arranged by Andromeda - his hair went from brown to black upon seeing her, and she was suddenly having a meltdown - and she'd always intended to go back and be in his life. That never got to happen, though, since she was declared Dark and Evil, and was hunted down.
Still, she'd even had a Will made up that gave everything she owned to him before that happened, just in case.
If it had been her, he's sure he wouldn't have been in the Orphanage at all. Evelynn wouldn't have abandoned Merope, wouldn't have left him to rot at Wool's - and if they tried to keep him from her, if Evelynn couldn't find Merope in time for his birth and Wool's tried to keep her from adopting him, he figures she'd have either stolen him away some night or stormed the place in a fury.
Tom leans in to leave another mark on Evelynn's neck, murmuring "Alright, then." Strange as it is to admit, even to himself, he trusts Evelynn to enact this revenge for him. It goes against every Slytherin instinct he has - the phrase 'if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself' coming to mind - but he trusts her to pull it off. After all, she convinced Dippet that she was from this time and to let her attend Hogwarts.
Although, admittedly, nobody would just jump straight to 'this is the time-traveling Mistress of Death' as a logical conclusion. Which begs the question…
"Hey, Evelynn?"
Evelynn tilts her head slightly for him, and says "Mm-hm?"
"Why in the world did you tell everyone you time-traveled?!"
Evelynn blinks, and stares at him. Then snickers, which turns into full-blown laughter she muffles by burying her face in his own neck. "You thought of that now?!"
Tom shrugs, saying "Just a question I've had for a while now." Ever since she told him she actually did Time-Travel.
Evelynn pulls back, her expression mischievous now, and says "Wanted to see what everyone would do. And, honestly, they did exactly what I figured they'd do. Go into denial. And, to be honest, it was hilarious to watch - I'm getting a taste for making Purebloods drop their masks and lose their minds, I should warn you."
Tom chuckles, thinking back on the memory - in retrospect, their stunned expressions were very funny. After a minute, he asks "So, any plans for today?"
Evelynn nods, saying "After I get back, I could play some Christmas songs on the piano if you want."
"After you get back? Your leaving now?"
He schools his face into a pout, which makes Evelynn chuckle and kiss his cheek while saying "Let me get dressed first. I'll use the Time-Turner and be back before you even know I'm gone. Alibi, and all."
Tom seriously wishes, right then, that she didn't make such good points when she's being so ruthless. Because, when she goes all ruthless like that, it makes him want to do nothing more than drag her into his room and not let her leave…ever. Just as he's resigned himself to waiting in his room after she's gone to hers, someone slides down and leans into him - he's just about to Hex them for daring when he realizes its Evelynn. It takes him a moment to realize she's already back - she wasn't joking when she said she'd be back before he knew it!
His expression must be priceless, as she chuckles and says "I said I'd be back."
"I know, but I didn't expect you to be that fast. How'd it go? How will it go? Bloody time travel…"
Evelynn chuckles again, saying "I have that problem at least once a day, Tom. As for how it went…well. Your father and I had a little chat, I knocked him out after we were finished talking so he'd think it was a dream instead of going on about a strange girl appearing out of nowhere, then I did the Hex. Went to the Gaunt Shack, Hexed Morfin, replaced the Ring with a copy, just in case." And, Merlin, the Gaunt Shack was absolutely disgusting - Morfin's a pig, apparently, or perhaps some of that was Marvolo's doing. She certainly gets why its called a shack - despite having a bit of square footage, bigger by far than her old cupboard at least, it was old, dilapidated, and practically falling apart.
Tom stares at the Ring in her hand in shock - the Resurrection Stone, something straight out of a bedtime story, just sitting there so innocently. When he reaches for it, she closes her hand around it and says "Careful, its got a powerful effect on people even now. A lot like the Mirror of Erised, really. I'm immune because I'm the Master of Death, but anyone else is fair game to this thing. My advice? Keep it hidden in your trunk. I didn't want to make anyone suspicious with a family Heirloom being gone, but I didn't want Dumbledore getting his hands on the Stone and your family's ring either. Hallow or no Hallow, I'm not letting him get his hands on it." That Compulsion was one of Death's nastier tricks, by his own admission. Make someone want to use it, make them see their loved ones they can't be with...and, eventually, make them want to die.
Tom nods, and murmurs "It's the best solution. Thank you." From Evelynn's stunned expression, she didn't expect to hear those words out of his mouth. And, had it been anyone else, they wouldn't have.
Evelynn clears her throat after Tom puts the Ring in his pocket for now, and asks "I believe I mentioned Christmas songs? After I got back, I started setting up to pass the time."
Evelynn starts to get up, only to get pulled back to Tom and have him claim her lips once more before he moves to her neck once more. "What," she asks breathlessly, "did you miss a spot or something?"
Tom pauses just long enough to say "Yes." before going back to biting and sucking at her neck possessively. Evelynn's convinced he's going to keep leaving those marks on her neck whenever he gets the chance, laying claim to her for everyone to see.
He's probably getting paranoid about the weird behavior everyone's had when they're in the common room, honestly.
AN: Hey, everyone! Sorry about the late-night update...but, oh well. I've gotta work tomorrow, so it is what it is.
Anyway...hope you liked the chapter! Tom's father, uncle, and relatives are all still alive...for now, anyway, but I've got plans for some of them later. No spoilers, but its better than Tom's original route. At least, I think so. As to Dumbledore...he's gonna have one heck of a time pinning this on Tom. He had a hard enough time tracking down everything he did, one would think anyway, in canon. And that's assuming he hadn't actually been stalking Tom when the...what, sixteen year-old went to Little Hangleton. Seriously, I'm having a hard time believing Morfin Gaunt was sane after more time in Azkaban when I don't think he was all there to begin with.
Enjoy! More updates coming soon!