Evelyn blearily opened her eyes; the green curtains of a four poster bed slowly came into focus as she barely remembered getting back to her own bed. The memories of last night came crashing down upon her in the worst way possible as a searing headache threatened to split open her skull.
"Oh my—
Evelyn threw herself to one side of her bed, emptying some of last night's liquids into the floor, just missing her sheets.
"Evelyn!" came the shrill voice of Sylvia from the other side of Evelyn's bed, "Quite the party girl you were! Sorry we had to run like that, but I see you got back okay."
She could only hack and cough in response.
"Are you alright?" she asked suspiciously.
Evelyn quickly grasped her wand to clean up the sick before anyone could see.
"Of course," Evelyn recovered, still leaning with half of her body hanging over the edge of her bed, "just looking for something," she began rummaging around the parchment and quills scattered at her bedside.
"Oh alright…well, anyway, Headmaster Dippet wants to see you in his office."
"What does he want?" she asked irritably, now raking through old chocolate frog wrappers.
"Haven't a clue," she replied casually, "but if he mentions anything about after curfew parties, spare my name, won't you?"
"Oh…sure," Evelyn falsely reassured her. If it in fact did come down to her and Sylvia, she would divulge her dorm mate's name in a heartbeat.
Without another word Sylvia was off, in search of uncharted territory for more parties no doubt.
Waiting for the click of the door, Evelyn peeled off the sheets that had tangled themselves around her and quickly dressed. Pulling her unruly hair back, she wondered anxiously what the verdict was on her potential expulsion. If Riddle had told Dippet about last night's escapades then she might as well already start packing. But maybe he didn't…maybe he thought that if he told, then she would reveal his unorthodox practices or the fact that he had been in the forest that night. She couldn't count on this though, because like he told her in the library, "Go ahead, no one will believe you anyway." Evelyn couldn't forget that Tom Riddle had much more influence on the Hogwarts staff than she did. Hell, he probably drank tea with each of them once a week.
With this realization, she shrugged, expecting the absolute worst, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of the Headmaster's office door.
Clunk, clunk, clunk. The brass door knocker emitted a dull sound.
"Come in," Dippet said softly.
As Evelyn took a seat in the same short-legged chair, she noticed there were many papers scattered across the Headmaster's desktop, he took one of them and held it up, "These came from your file that the caretaker, Pringle has kept on you."
"File?" Evelyn sneered a little more disrespectfully than she had meant to.
"Yes, Pringle has been keeping files on every offense that every student at Hogwarts has been caught for since they've stepped in this school."
Evelyn's face melted as she recalled with much clarity how many times she had been caught out after curfew, using hexes in the hallways, as well as many other punishable felonies. She could already see the sheen of the ever approaching blade.
"I'm afraid that the evidence is mounted against you," Dippet said matter of factly, though she could have sworn she had detected a tinge of delight.
"Well?" Evelyn asked roughly, now ready to hear it.
"It is by the grace of Merlin that someone here was kind enough to defend your case to me," Dippet shrugged as if he was beginning to regret his decision, "and it has been agreed upon that you will continue your fifth year as previously planned."
Evelyn couldn't believe her ears, she shrunk down in relief and looked to Dippet's downcast face for confirmation as she wasn't sure if she had just imagined him saying that.
"But…who?" she asked skeptically, as she was not aware that any professor at Hogwarts liked her enough to defend her, especially not her own Head of House.
"Who helped me arrive to this decision? The only one here that would I suppose…Albus Dumbledore."
Dumbledore? The name circled around her head in dizzying speeds, 'What did it mean to him?'
"You escaped expulsion this time, but next time I won't have such a sympathetic ear—don't forget that I'm keeping a close eye on you."
Her heart lifted, she could care less if he was watching her like a hawk, all that mattered was that she was staying, which prolonged her time before life on the streets.
"Well," Dippet rose from his seat quickly, "go along now. I'm sure you have a class you're supposed to be in." He was right, she did have a class to be in, and ironically enough, it was Professor Dumbledore's.
Evelyn scuffled in to Transfiguration late, trying to make as little noise as possible. Professor Dumbledore graciously ignored her covert entrance, though he was well aware of her added presence. Conversely, Tom Riddle greeted her attendance with the utmost attention, carefully staring at her shrinking figure as she fell into one of the back desks.
Dumbledore stood in front of the very first desk in the classroom and began to pass out stacks of parchment. Evelyn carelessly reached for the piece of parchment that was being passed to her but almost choked when she realized what it was.
Quiz.
"Bugger," she swore under her breath and haphazardly reached for her quill, dipping it in the ink bottle and scribbling her name at the top of the parchment.
Her eyes quickly scanned down the quiz, trying to spot which questions she knew the answer to.
What are the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?
'One of them is…food, but what are the others?'
In what year did Gamp discover the first exception?
Explain in detail how one is to transfigure a beetle into a bowl.
Her eyes quickly scanned over the questions again and again, knowing that if it wasn't clouded with thoughts of Tom and disinheritance, they might be hidden in the back of her mind.
Why are there only—
Who was the first—
She read them off so quickly that they became a dizzying bevy of whos, whats, whens, and wheres. Evelyn desperately glanced over to her right, Malfoy wouldn't be her first choice but he would have to do. This proved useless upon remembering that Abraxas was left handed and covered his answers with his left hand as he wrote them in.
"I am going to have to ask you to pass your papers to the front."
Evelyn growled in irritation as she threw her quill down on the desk and noisily stuffed her paper in the hand of a Hufflepuff who was seated in front of her.
"If everyone will place last night's homework on my desk, then you may all leave."
Everyone stood up at once, racing to his front desk to deposit their homework and hastily exit the classroom. Evelyn was the exception as she lazily turned in her half-finished homework and was about to pass through the arched doorway when a hand lightly touched her shoulder.
She whirled around, meeting someone she had not expected.
"Can I see you in my office?" Dumbledore asked her softly.
Her heart jumped into her throat, had he seen her trying to cheat?
"Oh…of course."
She followed his withered frame into the warm light of his office and sat in an overstuffed chair adjacent to his desk.
He sat behind his own desk with the tips of his fingers pushed against one another and looking over his half-moon spectacles he said, "I couldn't help but notice that you were having difficulty taking the quiz this afternoon."
She should have known; nothing slipped past Dumbledore.
"Moreover, I happened to glimpse a certain homework assignment from you that was barely attempted. While bad quiz grades and unfinished homework is certainly nothing new at Hogwarts, I didn't expect this sort of behavior from you."
While it was well known that Evelyn may have been lacking in other areas of academia at Hogwarts, in actuality she rather enjoyed Transfiguration and found that it came very easy to her, earning her some of the top marks in her class.
"Well, it's just…" she stopped for a moment, looking for an excuse other than, 'I was at a party last night of which broke more than ten school rules at the very least.' Then a genius idea suddenly came to her, "it's…well, it's really nothing," she hinted, hoping that it was enough to encourage him to prod.
"So you find this level of Transfiguration too difficult for you?—Because if that's the case, then I can find someone to tutor you, in fact, I could possibly—
"It's not the work Professor," she corrected, trying to steer him in the right direction, "I just have a lot on my mind right now."
"So personal problems are distracting you?"
She only nodded, hoping to Merlin that he would ask what they were.
"I will not inquire as to the nature of them, but remember that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
Evelyn mentally shrugged, that was not at all what she was hoping to hear.
"Er…it's nothing that Hogwarts can help me with—unless—" she quickly cut herself off, as if stopping herself from asking something foolish.
"Unless what my dear?"
Jackpot.
"Look professor," she decided to end the run around, "I know that this is something you can't help me with, but my parents disinherited me, so after this term is up, I don't even know where I'm gonna go," her big eyes sparkled with farce tears.
"I see," his eyes roamed over her, appraising the situation, "there is one thing that I can do."
Evelyn lifted her head to show interest.
"I can bring it before the Headmaster."
The answer was the very last thing she wanted.
"Oh I'm sure he'll wanna help," she said forgetting her place, "he was, after all, the one that get me into this mess," she mumbled inaudibly.
"I beg your pardon Miss Westwood, but my hearing isn't what it used to be," he stated earnestly.
"Oh!—It was nothing."
Satisfied with this answer he began again, "So is that a fair trade? You supply the grades and I'll see if I can plead your case."
"Thank you Professor!" she feigned gratitude, very doubtful that Dumbledore would be able to do anything, though she did accomplish one thing. Dumbledore was now aware of the situation and that might factor in to the severity in which he graded her papers.
Sob stories gained sympathy points from most all professors with Tom, so why shouldn't it work for her?
She tried to leave the Transfiguration classroom for the second time when she was once again unable to do so by a flustered looking Professor Merrythought who pushed her side, barreling into Dumbledore's office.
"Albus! Hurry!" she huffed, "A student—injured in the bathroom!"
Evelyn immediately stopped dead in her tracks, allowing them entry into the hallway, moving as fast as she had ever seen them.
The two professors were in too much of a hurry to realize that Evelyn was trailing closely behind them.
The all arrived on the scene where an ever growing group of students were pushing each other, trying to see through the doorway while various prefects shouted at them to move along.
The crowd parted for Dumbledore and Merrythought as they made their way into the fourth floor bathroom; Evelyn trying to slide through as well. Some of the students started to clear away at the insistence of the prefects, but she kept her head down and pushed her way into the crowd.
"Did anyone see how this happened?" Dumbledore looked to the crowd, but no one could provide an answer. Evelyn tried to peer over other students' head, her five foot, four inch frame did not help matters.
"Who found her?" Merrythought asked.
"I did," a small Gryffindor girl stepped forward and answered meekly, "I was going to the bathroom during class and she was lying on the floor, in front of the sink."
"It could be a stunning spell," Dumbledore suggested calmly.
"I suppose it's worth a try," Professor Merrythought added and raised her wand, "Rennervate!"
A white light shot out of Professor Merrythought's wand, but the girl did not stir.
Evelyn was still trying to force her way thought the tightly-knit crowd when she felt her hand being tugged and her body was immediately propelled forward. The anonymous hand belonged to that of Tom Riddle who was now standing beside her at the very front of the mob of students.
Her surprise of seeing him again could not parallel the tightness of her throat as she recognized the Ravenclaw's prefect's badge lying on the floor.
She gasped at the sight of Margaret's brown hair, framing her pale face as she lay motionless, staring at Evelyn with large glassy eyes from the bathroom floor.
"We should take her to Madam Pince immediately," said Professor Merrythought.
"Levicorpus," with a flick of the wand Dumbledore lifted the stiff body of Margaret, her hair rippling under her as if floating on a gust of wind. The crowd parted once more, allowing her body to pass through the center of it and down the hall towards the hospital wing, Dumbledore and Merrythought closely following it.
Tom Riddle snapped out of the trance he seemed to be in and turned to the rest of the students, "Slytherins—back to the common room. The rest of you should do the same," he commanded. Everyone looked to one another questioningly but ultimately dispersed in different directions to their corresponding houses.
"What could have done this?" Evelyn asked aloud, still rooted to the spot.
"No one knows," came the dark voice of Tom, echoing off of the stone walls of the bathroom, "it seems like everyone was in class at the time of the attack—
"Attack?" she turned to look at his imposing figure.
"Well something must have attacked her."
"Or someone, is more like it," Evelyn added.
"You knew her?" he stood a little too close for comfort and memories of the previous night came flooding back.
"Uhm…" her heart threatened to leap out of her chest, "yeah, we were best—we've known each other," she added, remembering their current status.
A/N: Sorry everyone. I know it took a while to update this one, but one of my friends needed a place to stay for a while, so I've been playing hostess, and you know how that goes... It's been increasingly difficult for me to write since she has been here, so that's the reason for the delay. I promise things will get a little more interesting in the next chapter--I know there wasn't a whole lot of Tom in this one. :( Sorry. Please review!
Thanks,
Aiden I.