Tom gets back into his Trunk, and heads to the Ritual Room - he went to ask Orion and Theodorus about a book he found from Evelynn's treasure trove from the Room, and subsequently left them speechless. Who knew a book titled 'Spells for All Occasions' could shock them speechless like that?
Apparently, it was written by Circe herself - and someone lost it?! They took it to Hogwarts?! Everything in him is a mix of furious at whoever was so stupid and careless as to lose such a treasure and disbelief that Evelynn just happened to find it. Because only Evelynn would stumble onto such a find by accident.
From what he read of it - before he had to stop due to the headache it was causing him, since it was written in an old dialect of English - there were spells of all kinds, one's he's never heard of before. From Charms to Wards to Runework, and some highly inventive Curses and Hexes…if you can think of a subject, its probably in there bar Potions. He's sure there'll be a book on that subject as well, somewhere in the four trunks of books Evelynn found.
Needless to say, he's keeping it. A find like that, alone, is utterly priceless - almost a crime to sell it!
When Tom gets to the Ritual Room, he knocks and waits a minute. When there's no answer, he cautiously opens the door - only to find Evelynn sitting on the floor, completely absorbed in copying down what can only be Runes from the Pensieve. He waits for her to start rolling up the parchment, a sure sign she's done for now, and walks over while saying "You'll never guess what that old book we found was."
Evelynn looks up, green eyes gleaming, and asks "Oh? What was it?"
Tom incredulously says "Written by Circe herself!"
Evelynn chokes at that, coughing and spluttering for a moment before recovering and staring at Tom in utter shock. "Well," she finally murmurs in shock, her expression blank with it, "I guess that explains the dialect."
"And the headaches we got trying to read it." Because half the words they have to guess at with help from the context, as there seem to be multiple ways to spell the same word and it all depends on the writer's mood when they wrote that specific bit down. Incredibly frustrating, not to mention migraine-inducing after a while. "You know," Tom reluctantly says, even as he's walking over to Evelynn, "we're going to have to tell them something for where we found a book like that."
Evelynn says "Just say we stumbled onto the Room and packed it all away to look through later. I'm sure you can think of some way to spin it."
Tom sits down directly behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he murmurs "I'm sure I can to. Finished with the Pensieve?"
Evelynn nods, taking in a shuddering breath before saying "Yeah. I finished copying the last of the runes right before you spoke. Get this, all the magic that goes into a Pensieve means the base substance has to be completely magic-less. Not a drop can be cast on it before hand, not even a levitation charm. The residual magic will interfere with the delicate combination of Charms, forget the interaction between the Runes and Charms. Though, that also means we could make one if we had enough Muggle clay and several hours of spare time to ourselves, the hard part would be inscribing the Runes correctly. The Charms seem to partially merge with one another, like fitting puzzle pieces together almost, and-"
Tom turns her face towards his, entirely incapable of holding onto his self-control one moment longer as she starts into the interactions between the Charms and the way the Charms interact with the tiny Runes - Merlin, but his self-control goes straight out the window whenever Evelynn really shows off her intelligence. The only reason he's yet to lose it in class is because she has to play at being a semi-ordinary teenager learning everything for the first time rather than a time-traveler getting the chance to fill in any knowledge gaps Dumbledore forced on the entire school.
Orion and Theodorus get into Tom's trunk to ask where he got the book and can he please make copies of it, only to find he's not there. Orion glances around, and says "Either the Library or the Ritual Room. It's Tom, Evelynn clearly knows him…scary-well, actually."
Theodorus shrugs, and says "I'm still saying they'll be engaged or more by the time O.W.L.s will come around."
"That's one and a half…actually, if they do stuff like this for one another, then probably." Maybe sooner, even - Tom's possessive, it's a well-known fact in Slytherin House, and he almost certainly sees Evelynn as his.
They're just walking down the hallway when they hear Tom's voice ask "Finished with the Pensieve?"
They hear a shuddering breath get taken in, and then Evelynn says "Yeah. I finished copying the last of the runes right before you spoke. Get this, all the magic that goes into a Pensieve means the base substance has to be completely magic-less. Not a drop can be cast on it before hand, not even a levitation charm. The residual magic will interfere with the delicate combination of Charms, forget the interaction between the Runes and Charms. Though, that also means we could make one if we had enough Muggle clay and several hours of spare time to ourselves, the hard part would be inscribing the Runes correctly. The Charms seem to partially merge with one another, like fitting puzzle pieces together almost, and-"
The two boys share a glance when Evelynn suddenly stops talking, wondering just what could've cut her off - along with where they got a Pensieve to study! Those things are incredibly rare and expensive! - and cautiously poke their heads in. The sound of their jaws simultaneously crashing through the floor should legitimately clue the two other teens in, but it seems this time they aren't in time to interrupt Tom.
Because unlike with that snowball fight, Tom's in a heated kiss with Evelynn - and if they had any doubts at all that he's head-over-heels for Evelynn Peverell, they'd be utterly obliterated with that kiss. Its hot, heated, and full of more desire than Tom's shown about anything in the past few years. He's shown anger before, all but obliterated the Purebloods that tried to put him in his 'place' back in his first year with his power, and he was self-satisfied for months after that incident when everyone was scared almost witless of him. And certainly quietly smug about how all those upper years were all but groveling to him, begging forgiveness for their massive fuck-up earlier in the year when he hissed at Abraxas to leave his homework be late at night.
But he's never shown real desire before - at least, not like this. He's ambitious and undoubtedly desires achieving his goals, but that's in the abstract. Not…in the moment. Not like right now, where he's possessively tugging Evelynn closer by the back of her neck even as one of her hands makes its way to his hair.
The two intruders - for that's very clearly what they are doing, intruding on a private moment - snap out of their shocked daze when Tom moves from her mouth to her neck, making Evelynn hiss something and tug at his hair before retaliating. They slowly take their heads from the doorway, actually tip-toe back to the ladder and out of Tom's trunk and room and then bolt to Orion's and throw up as many Wards, Locking spells, and Silencing spells as they know.
After a moment's silence, Orion opens his mouth only to do a goldfish impression. Theodorus ends up doing the same thing, then just gestures towards the door. Finally, Orion finds his voice and asks "What…did we just…"
"See?" The Black Heir nods, and Theodorus slowly says "I've…no idea. None whatsoever."
"You think this is how Tom feels all the time about Evelynn? Eternally confused?" How he used to feel, anyway. Its pretty clear those feelings have long since changed.
After a moment, Theodorus asks "You think one of them is drugged on a Lust Potion as some sick prank by a Gryffindor?"
"You think both of them are?" They've never known either teen to be anything but cautious about their food, but this is a school for magic and they're only third-years. Things can happen, and it would certainly explain…that. As much as they want it to be real, for both their sakes, Slytherins are used to looking at something from the worst angles first. Expect the worst, and all that.
Still, the sheer passion in the moment was almost to the point of uncomfortable for the two outsiders - most Purebloods get arranged marriages. Worst case scenario, they can't stand one another but are stuck together - if they're lucky, they can learn to get along or were friends before the marriage went into effect. Some get lucky enough to fall in love, but it doesn't usually happen - Orion's parents, for example, get on well…but there's no passion in the relationship, no love between them. They're friends, yes, companions, and fond of one another, but not much else. So to see the two Halfbloods utterly lost in one another, it's a sharp contrast to say the least.
And then Orion runs a hand through his hair, something he usually never does, and says "Tom's a lucky guy."
Theodorus nods, and says "Beautiful, incredibly smart and powerful…what are the odds?"
"Astronomical, that's what."
And then a thought strikes Theodorus, and he asks "How long do you think they've actually been together?" It's a valid question - Evelynn's a private person, who won't exactly give her life's story at the drop of a hat - they're pretty sure she gave such vivid descriptions of the treatment she received at the hands of her relatives so they'd stop asking, which they did pretty quick - and they don't doubt that she'd want to keep something as personal as a relationship private. And Tom would more than likely agree, since he's never once said anything about where he goes for the summer or what his own life before Hogwarts was like.
When they next see the two of them, though…they don't look like they've spent however long secretly ravishing each other in Tom's trunk. There's not a mark on them! At all!
They figured Tom would, at the very least, leave some kind of mark to claim Evelynn, for Merlin's sake - and they saw him move towards her neck! Instead, nothing. Not a bite mark, not a bruise, not a scratch - it makes them wonder just how long the two of them have actually been together when there's no physical evidence for as much.
It also makes them wonder just how long Evelynn was calming Tom down about the odd behavior they noticed in the Common Room, if she eventually just went and directly asked what was going on.
Unfortunately, they're not so suicidal as to ask. They're also not so suicidal as to reveal the real betting pool, though - even though he's got a sneaking suspicion all the dates are wrong. Really, really wrong.
AN: Hey, everyone! Next chapter is up! Hope you like it, because I honestly can't think of anything exciting for the rest of the school year - so, revealing the details of Tom and Evelynn's secret relationship seemed viable enough. It's not going to get out to Dumbledore anyway, since Slytherins know how to keep a secret. In related news, I've planned out just how I'm going to have Dumbledore royally screw up - it's going to be utterly beautiful. If anyone wants to take a guess, I'll drop a hint - it's got to do with Halloween.
Enjoy! More updates coming soon!