the secrets we all keep
Act One
That Riddle Boy
24th August, 1942
Over the summer, while she waited in idle boredom for the next school year to start, Everly Greengrass had taken to domesticating a particularly tetchy, suspicious cat.
First, she'd seen him on her trips through muggle London, on the same path she took to get to the library nearest to her. It was a bit of a trek, but she liked the excuse to get out of the house and enliven herself with the sense of adventure that always filled her when she braved the muggle world, especially so as no one in her family knew about her trips.
Terribly self-conscious, Everly had an acute awareness of the world and perhaps, if she hadn't been so tense, she might not have noticed him, small as he was. Not even making a peep, frozen still, and crouched, obscured by a pipe that ran up a muggle establishment. The thing was nearly starved to death, but was holding on with a sort of stalwart gleam to his eye.
Everly felt an immediate connection—one could not say the same for the cat, as, upon being noticed, it immediately raced off.
But she'd gotten a good look at the black coat and distinct spots of brown that might've been white, if not for the mud that had been matted into his fur. The even more distinct vibrant yellow eyes and shape of his snout.
As soon as she'd gotten home that evening, Everly had written to her father, requesting permission to bring him to the manor and then at the reluctant assent, went about locating the feline. And once she had, Everly had made it her mission to take him in, slowly but surely establishing trust and safety through food, scarves and blankets carrying her scent, and eventually, physical affection, as she gave polite chin scratches and gentle pets.
And now, as it was, her fifth year would begin in little over a week—it was do or fail, and Everly hated to fail.
"Do you want to come with me, little one?" she asked, receiving a quiet meow in response. "I have a box to take you in, if you'll humor me. It's much too long of a walk otherwise."
Visibly curious, but just as cautious as ever, the cat took to inspecting the box and seemed to decide it was safe, as he hopped in with a charming flick of his tail. While inside, he sniffed and inspected the blanket she'd folded up to give him comfort before he laid down, gazing up at her with curious eyes as if to say, what comes next, then?
"I'll take you home now, but there's much to be done. A thorough grooming, a health inspection, and of course we need to shop for a better carrier and other things we'll need if you're to come with me to Hogwarts. What sort of toys do you think you'll fancy?"
He chirped at her, a tiny, trilling mreow!
Everly didn't quite understand, and she suspected he didn't quite understand her, but both seemed content as they were as the two of them made their way through the smog-filled London streets.
She made her way home quickly, spotting the tall, stately building that existed just south of Oxford Street, a place that the broader world, the muggle word, had no idea existed. It was a peculiar spot, for several reasons. Unlike many pureblooded families, the Greengrasses had old money tied up with muggle ventures, political in nature, in a time before her father's time—and though it grated on her father to live side by side, neighbored with muggles, it wasn't as if they could move.
The land itself was rife with old, powerful family magic that was much too tricky to mess with. The outside was an illusion, unable to encompass the land that they owned, the gardens, the pond, and a forested patch and general manicured greenery that the family kept pristine for their namesake. The inside of the house itself was a much bigger and fuller manor that defied the space it seemingly took up, with several stories and basements. Dark family secrets were embedded in the walls, housing a history that spanned much farther, much deeper, than even the most famous names—though a Greengrass would never outwardly admit to it.
Self-preservation, the risk of societal death and all that.
Everly made her way up the stairs, the door opening of its own accord before swinging closed as she passed the threshold, setting the box down and watching the curious cat peek over the rim.
"We're home now, little one," she told him, and then contemplated a name. One did not come immediately to her.
But the cat took her words as permission as it jumped out of the box bravely and proceeded to track mud on the wooden floor of the entrance to her grand home. Everly was unruffled at the sight. The Greengrass manor housed a number of house-elves that were always eager to descend on any mess and scrub it away.
And yes, there, with a sound like that of a whip striking air, Mobey appeared with a great big grin on his wizened face, somehow able to stretch the corners of his mouth quite high despite the heavy sag to the folds of his skin. He was getting on with age, having been in service to her family for far longer than she had been alive, his white hair tufted behind his ears like candy floss. For an elderly house-elf he looked rather handsome in the forest green robes Everly's mother had sewn together years ago, a little worn down due to the age, but holding together quite well.
She beamed at him.
"Mistress is home! Mobey has awaited most eagerly! Master has left a message for you, here," he said with a scratchy voice, lifting his spindly arms up to hand her the note, before he spied the cat stepping around them to explore further in. "Intruder!"
"Oh, yes," Everly said, a bit distracted as she unrolled the paper with her father's tidy scrawl. "Would you mind giving that cat a bath?"
"Mobey will, happily!" In an instant, he had scooped up the cat, who from the sounds of it was purring, and Disapparated from the foyer.
Everly clucked her tongue, her disappointment growing with each word she took in from the note in her hand.
I'll be away for a few weeks, perhaps more. Heading to Bulgaria for work. Look after your brother, and make sure he gets to Hogwarts on time. Best wishes.
- J.N. Greengrass
And Erebus had been so excited for their father to send him off to school.
She headed for the stairs, ascending with heels that were beginning to make her feet feel sore. The clack of them over the wood was all she heard breaking the silence of the building, but the quiet didn't bother her. Quite the opposite in fact.
Everly traveled the distance, down the hall of portraits with moving subjects, all framed pictures of her ancestors, laying out glimpses into the history of her family, a mere scratch of the surface. Her father, quite proud, had made certain any and all guests staying over could see for themselves the proof of their long line of pure Wizarding blood, but without the darker aspects that might frighten or disturb.
Knocking on the door, she didn't wait for an answer before peeking in to see Erebus, standing in full view with his hand hovering over a floating broom. He looked up, cheeks reddening at the sight of her and he hastily kicked the broom underneath his large canopy bed.
"You know that they don't let first years on the teams, don't you?"
"I was just practicing, is all," he mumbled, not meeting her gaze.
"Hoping to live up to the glory of our Beater father?" Everly asked with traces of amusement.
He shook his head, and with great effort, choked out, "S-Seeker."
"Well then," she said airly and with a bright smile, "carry on." She turned to duck out the door.
"Wait!"
"Yes?"
"Where's that dirt on your face from?" Erebus asked, peering at her closer. Concern lit his expression and swallowing, he took a step closer. "You've been out an awful lot this summer..."
"Oh, I've just returned with a cat," she explained airly, not wanting to touch on where she got the cat. Everly was quite alone in her fascination with the muggle world, and it wouldn't do her any favors if news of it reached the wrong ears. Like her father.
Which reminded her.
"Oh, right. Father left me this," she said, just as he opened his mouth to question her for context to the newest addition to the family.
He eagerly reached for the note, but not even seconds later, his face fell, his skin paling.
"Really?" His voice was terribly small, warbling.
"At least you'll have me," she said, trying to cheer him up from the disappointment. "I was on my own for the first time too."
This did not seem to make much of a difference to him; he tossed his broom onto his bed and rushed through the doorway leading to his private bathroom, shutting the door with a soft click that was masked only by the sound of her sigh.
1st September, 1942
It seemed an impossible task but she tried valiantly to inject some sense of excitement into the stiff-form of her brother, who pinched his fingers on the sleeve of her jacket and stared with a grimace at the mass of wizards and witches milling about.
"It's your first day, little brother," Everly said, half-distracted by the hustle and bustle of nine and three-quarters, eyeing the Hogwarts Express which sat stationed in its full-glory for students to board. She had to keep waving to the students that waved towards her. She could recognize only half of them, as a great deal of them appeared to be of younger years, all glancing at her with hopeful expressions.
They had to have heard of her exclusive tutoring club she'd formed four years ago during her first year at Hogwarts. Exclusive because Everly liked to take on only the most troubled students, those that were deemed hopeless by the staff or were tetchy about receiving help from those in their year. Everly loved a good challenge.
"It's not my first day. My first day was a long time ago, when I was born," Erebus corrected.
She rolled her eyes. "It's your first day at Hogwarts, only the greatest school in the Wizarding world! Aren't you excited? Oh, which house do you expect you'll end up in?" When he cast her an apprehensive glance, she babbled on, unperturbed, "You know, it was a surprise to everyone when I ended up in Ravenclaw, but I suppose you'll be in Slytherin, like our parents. You've always been a lot like Dad, haven't you?"
Erebus looked a tad ill at this, his bottle green eyes darkening. "But I don't want—" He cut himself off with a sigh, shaking his head as his cheeks turned a shade pinker.
"You don't want what?" Everly pressed.
His shoulders drew in and with an insecure tuck to his chin, he mumbled, "I want to be with you, in Ravenclaw."
Everly stared.
Erebus snuck a glance at her through his dark blond lashes and screwed up his face. "Forget—!"
She let out a squeal, pulling him to her and pressing her cheek to the top of his head. "Oh, come now, one of us has to be ambitious enough to enter the house of our family. You'll be the one carrying on the Greengrass name, after all. I'm certain you'll do incredible things as a Slytherin, I just know it."
"If you say so," he muttered, casting another forlorn sigh.
"I know so," Everly said with a grin. "Besides, you'll soon find plenty of friends who'll keep you too occupied to even think about me." She pulled away with a ruffle to the blond curls of his hair. "And with all the learning you'll be doing, too tired to as well."
Erebus continued to look glum. "Boring," he said.
"What?" she scoffed. "Learning is the greatest joy!"
"It's just a means to an end."
Despite herself, she chuckled. "Such a Slytherin thing to say."
"I guess so."
She giggled, leaning away to tap him in the shoulder. "Learning is the greatest reason our society has managed to progress so far. Without it, we'd be without all the wonderful gizmos you adore so much."
Erebus squinted at her. "It's not the greatest reason! Without ambition, we'd be, well, we'd be like the muggles! Dad says so, you know."
"Oh?" Everly smiled. "Is that the worst thing you can think of? Well, you'll have to do better than that, little brother. The muggles themselves have their own set of ambition, so it's a useless comparison to make."
And she thought fondly of the curious contraptions they'd made, even if she couldn't guess their purpose or history, only that muggles got on as well as they could without magic.
Erebus's jaw tightened and he glared at her, nostrils flaring. "I take it back! I hope I end up in Slytherin, far away from you and your useless lectures."
"Useless? No way! I'll have you know, I'm at the top of my year, and I've already received my prefects badge," Everly bragged, knowing it was because she was just enough like her parents to take pride in her accomplishments. Perhaps a bit too much, actually.
But seeing as her father hadn't congratulated her, if she secretly cheered herself on, it wasn't as if she were terribly bigheaded for it.
"Enough! I'm getting on the train by myself, and don't you dare act like we know each other at school."
Everly sighed. He'd been so cute earlier, now it was all replaced with fake bravado, the sort kids like him used as special shields. Perhaps he was the reason why tetchy students were her very favorite to teach.
"If that's how you want it," Everly said, waving a hand as she stepped towards the train with her trunk at her side, and her cat, who she'd taken to calling Paper, asleep in the basket hanging off her arm.
"It is!"
She could only laugh at that.
.
.
"Alphard!" Everly called as she saw him further down, looking into compartments with a heavy trunk rolling on wheels behind him, a caged tawny owl hooting at the sight of her in his hand. He turned to face her, a sneer-like smile on his handsome face. His black hair had grown longer since she'd last seen him, and he'd resorted to tying it back with a leather string that somehow made him appear a lot older, more like a seventh year than a fifth.
Despite being in a different house to her own, Alphard Black had become the only person she dared call a best friend. They'd met in their first year and while animosity over grades had kept them apart, it was through the tutoring club that she found him the most tolerable. While he wasn't as keen on teaching as she was, he was nevertheless good enough to assist her and eventually they'd come to a mutual understanding of tolerance, and later, had become fond of eachother.
"Everly, is that a prefects badge I see?" Alphard shortened the distance between them, reaching a hand out to stroke the pin on her muggle inspired peach-pink coat. "Not surprising, I was sure Professor Dippet would make you one."
"Who became the prefect for Slytherin?" Everly asked, blinking at the absence of one on him.
"Go on, take a wild guess. It's only the easiest one you'll ever make," he muttered, clearly nonplussed at having been overlooked for the role.
Everly pressed her lips together and thought. "That Riddle boy?" she proposed, thinking of the only other Slytherin she happened to hear a lot about but had never exactly spoken to.
He'd always just been background noise to her.
"Professor Dippet's golden boy, yes. We're all supposed to feel sorry for him, being an orphan and all but between you and me, there's something..." Alphard made a face of disgust and shuddered, "off about him that I'm not buying into. The whole of Slytherin is obsessed with him though."
Everly blinked and though curious enough to ask more, the sounds of the train made her all too aware of the fact that she was supposed to be reporting for her prefect's duty. Queasy about being late, she shoved her trunk at Alphard and hefted her cat's basket into his arm, careful not to disturb Paper out of his nap.
His face lit up despite being packed on with her things in a rather rude manner. His voice was set into a whisper filled with awe, his eyes glued on the white-spotted black cat as he asked, "You got a c—?"
"Find a compartment," she ordered briskly. "I'll be round to change into my robes when I can."
"You owe me a galleon for this!" he called after her but she had other things to worry about, like making a good impression to everyone that she deserved the honor of being a prefect. Humming happily to herself, she rushed to the head of the train to receive her orders.
.
.
Her fellow Ravenclaw prefect was a muggle-born boy by the name of Steven Calloway and he was getting on her nerves.
Calloway, for reasons she found unfathomable, seemed to have something of a fancy for her. His eyes kept following her movements and he seemed unable to speak when her eyes were on him, his face going impossibly bright red. All the while she was busy keeping a watch on troublemakers in their compartments and navigating the lanes for those adventurous few that wanted to slip out and explore the train, and he'd been nothing but useless at her side while she'd lectured them.
Of course, she'd known Calloway for years, ever since they were eleven and had been sorted into the same house. She could remember sitting across from him, him shyly admitting that he was new to everything magic and the red-cheeked shame that filled his expression when an overhearing Slytherin had called him a mudblood for it. He'd been in her first formation of the tutoring club, having struggled adapting to everything that was so new and strange to him. She could recall telling him a great deal of things about the Wizarding world and had helped raise his potions grade to an E, but as the years progressed she could not say she'd seen a great deal of him.
Everly normally would have been quite happy to see he had come as far as joining her as a prefect if it hadn't been for his behavior, which she found distracting and worrying.
"Well," she said, checking her watch, "it should be time to change into our robes. Best be quick."
"Ever—"
"Be quick," she called after him, already off to the compartment she'd spied Alphard sitting in with Slytherins of their year that had come as a surprise to her seeing him with. Mulciber, Avery, and Nott were all boys he'd complained to her about, and she'd thought for a second she'd seen him with his second cousin, Orion Black, who they both tended to shudder when hearing the name of.
Her, because two summers ago she'd heard the news that Orion was intended to be her fiancé despite him being a full two years younger than her. His father, Arcturus, was a dear friend of her own and somehow the two had thought it was an excellent idea, the announcement having come as a nasty shock to her when she'd been under the impression she could choose her husband for herself.
Alphard, on the other hand, found speaking about his family something of a discomfort. He was something of a black—white?—sheep to the Blacks, as he preferred to be left to his own and found associating with any of his family in public to be a tad bit embarrassing seeing as it was a family known like royalty to the Wizarding community (as far as Slytherins were concerned, that is).
For all Alphard liked to accomplish things, he wasn't much for the spotlight. It was something they shared in common actually.
Everly walked past compartments and pulled up to where she could see Alphard scowling in the window, his hand protectively cupping Paper to his chest. Mildly alarmed, she slid the door open, peering at the faces of Mulciber, Avery, Nott and Orion, and found, to her surprise, that the Riddle boy was sitting across from Alphard. With his newly minted prefects badge glinting on his chest, he'd tipped his head back to laugh.
He looked up a second into her entrance, a strangely curved smile on a face she might have thought handsome if she didn't get such a bad feeling meeting his gaze. She didn't linger on the odd sensation climbing through her nervous system. Instead, she could recognize him now as the boy she'd once shared her Charms class with, at least in her first year. Her hours had switched around in her second year so that Hufflepuffs could share those classes with Ravenclaw.
Vaguely, she recalled how he'd amazed everyone with his ability to perform the incantations on the first try, and even more, had been so polite and quiet that the entire class had grown smitten with him. All through the years his talent hadn't seemed to diminish; she was always hearing things about him, usually from swooning girls who seemed to think he hung the moon. Everly had never cared too much, book in hand and fellow students to help teach.
"Who's this?" Mulciber sneered, jerking his chin towards her.
"My fiancé," said Orion.
"My best friend," said Alphard.
"Everly Greengrass," said Everly. "Aurelia is my middle name, if you insist on further details."
Riddle's brow went up. "A Greengrass—shouldn't you be in Slytherin then?"
"Don't be daft," Everly said impatiently. "The Sorting Hat decides all that."
Orion turned up his nose at her while the others hardened their expressions at her tone. "Weren't you a Hatstall?"
"Deliberated for a full fifteen minutes," Alphard noted, getting up to help her trunk off the rack after handing her Paper, who curled into her arms with a soft mewl of greeting. She knelt down to get her robes out of her trunk, and quickly shut it to keep the others from gawking at her things.
"A waste then," Riddle said. "You're that girl who's second best in our year, aren't you?"
"Second best?" Everly narrowed her eyes, meeting his dark-eyed gaze and surprised by the softening of his expression as he looked on at her. There was something distasteful about it, she found, though she couldn't pinpoint what. It looked disingenuous to her, like a mask covering the underneath, as if he were purposely making a point to appear charming and pleasant.
"Ain't no one better than Vol—Tom here," Mulciber said, his cheeks coloring at his stutter.
She shifted out of her coat and quickly threw on her robes at the sound of the train's whistles, and stood facing the compartment of boys that had their gazes on her, awaiting her response. Alphard was a bit green in the face, looking on with worry at Riddle and her.
"The best, second best, things like that don't matter," she said with a scoff and a sweeping of her bright gold hair from underneath the neck of her robes, expression haughty. "Don't you know? What matters most is what you do, much more than what you are."
And with that, she picked up her trunk and settled Paper in his basket before leaving to depart the stationing train.
.
.
"Find me in the library after this," Alphard said, leaning in to whisper in her ear after she'd sat down at the Ravenclaw's table for the annual Sorting.
"Wait," she tried calling after him but to no avail. Didn't he realize they were supposed to be going to their rooms after this? And that as prefect, she'd have to be the one to lead the new students to the Ravenclaw dorms? That boy, he was going to get her in trouble on her first day.
"What's he want?" LilyAnn Rosett asked, her eyes trailing after his back with a dreamy sort of look befalling her.
Everly shrugged evasively.
"You certain there's nothing between the two of you?" LilyAnn's brown eyes had narrowed on her.
Everly's nose wrinkled at the thought of what LilyAnn was asking.
"No. He's like a brother to me. Beside, I'm engaged," she muttered, gazing at her golden plate mutinously as she waited for the Sorting to be over with so she could eat.
"Has he mentioned liking anyone?" LilyAnn asked, leaning in with great interest.
"You should look on with affection to another boy," Aileua Lovegood said in a sonorous voice with kindness in her eyes.
"Why?" LilyAnn wondered, appearing disgruntled by Aileua's attention, which most found to be unnerving at best, and bizarrely strange at worst. She was a quiet girl who spent most of her time warning others of the dangers of imaginary beasts, placing fervent belief in their existing, but she was a great friend who used her curious view of the world to assist others.
"That boy is from a family that doesn't think too nicely of muggle-borns. Isn't that right?" Aileua turned her gaze onto Everly.
"Unfortunately," she answered. "They'd strike him from the family if he were to ever fancy one, I think."
Though, really, it wasn't the entire reason why things wouldn't work between LilyAnn and Alphard.
LilyAnn understandably didn't look too happy about that, but before she could say anything, the first years had started filling into the Great Hall, ill looks of apprehension and terror on the faces of the majority of them.
Somehow, she found her gaze flitting from them to that Riddle boy she'd spoken to earlier. He'd been laughing when the doors had opened, but now he sat with a calm—fake—smile, waving a hand to hush his friends who silenced themselves immediately.
She spied Alphard a few seats down from him, a grim look on his face. Inspired most likely by Walburga, who sat next to him with her smitten gaze on Riddle, uncaring to the sound of the Sorting Hat singing its song about the Houses of Hogwarts. Of his family, Alphard despised his older sister Walburga the most. He thought her to be pestilence given form as a teenage witch.
Oh, joy, Everly thought. She was going to listen to him complain for the upteempth time about Walburga and pretend that she cared even a little bit.
Alphard met her gaze and gave her a long suffering look. With a sigh, she realized that she'd have to run the risk of being caught with him, else she'd have the silent treatment to look forward to.
"Greengrass, Erebus," called Transfigurations professor, Albus Dumbledore.
She tuned back into the Sorting just in time to see Erebus striding to the stool, looked on by the staff and pale-faced for it. With a defiant jut to his chin, he hopped onto the stool and let the hat come down on his head.
"SLYTHERIN!"
Cheers erupted and Erebus looked slightly more alive, the color coming back into his cheeks, a dazed smile finding its way onto his face as he spotted Everly and waved. He rushed to the Slytherin tables quickly after that, noticing all the eyes on him.
She snuck another glance at Riddle, couldn't be too sure why, and found his gaze on her brother. Everly clenched her teeth at the sight, disturbed for reasons she found inexplicable. It was a bit exasperating actually.
Nevertheless, the feast began shortly after, and as the hour wore on, it was ended only by the clap of Professor Dippet's hand and a shout as he addressed the students.
"Before we tuck ourselves into bed this night, some word of advice; any rule-breaking will be met with corporal punishment, which will be mete out by the grounds caretaker with the additional risk of point reduction to your house total. Consider yourselves warned and engage with others in a dignified manner befitting Hogwarts, our esteemed School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Prefects," he said, lightning his tone to address them but appearing no less shrewd, "direct our first years to their respective common rooms. You are dismissed."
Everly rose and said over the din that seemed to burst after the silence of listening to Professor Dippet speak, "First years, Ravenclaw, here, here!"
Calloway materialized by her side, still looking as if he'd never manage another word in his life if he remained near her. He let her call to the first years on her own, and feeling rather annoyed, she began to treat him as invisible.
She led the eager ten and eleven year olds out of the Great Hall, shouting, "Ravenclaw Tower this way, if you please!"
They traveled westward and began to walk the stairs that would lead them to the fifth floor, all while she filtered out the sounds of their chattering in favor of pointing out to those who cared to listen, the most notable paintings on the wall, and its history. They watched the subjects move about in their paintings, heard the laughter coming from them as they enjoyed a festive party for the start of the year.
"Who's she?" someone asked, a girl with gleaming black hair.
She hadn't been pointing to a portrait though, rather, it was the Gray Lady herself, looking as haughty and aloof as ever. She passed by them without a word.
"Gray Lady," Everly explained. "Ghost of Ravenclaw—you'll see every house has one. The Bloody Baron for the Slytherins, Nearly Headless Nick for the Gryffindors, and Fat Friar for the Hufflepuffs."
Everly kept them walking until they reached a spiral staircase that as soon as they reached the top of, revealed a door with no doorknob or keyhole and had been affixed with only one thing.
"This," she indicated the door-knocker that had been shaped into an eagle, "is what you knock with. Once you've done that, it'll give you a riddle that if you get wrong, you'll be on your own waiting for someone else to get right. Until you get used to it, might be best to travel in pairs," she suggested, thinking of her own first year.
Everly turned to the door and knocked.
"What always ends everything?" the eagle asked.
"Death," said a first year in the back, at the same time she had answered, "the letter g."
"Was it too obvious?" the eagle wondered, swinging the door open.
"As you can see," Everly told the students gazing at the door in awe, "many of the riddles can have many answers. Rather than waiting for someone to give you the right one, don't be afraid to create your own. A good rule of thumb is that if it can be logicked the right way, the door will let you in anyway."
Which wasn't especially great for house security, but Everly's complaints about it had gone entirely dismissed.
With that said, she moved aside to let them begin filling the airy common room, listening to their oohs and ahhs over the arched windows hung with blue and bronze silks, as well as the midnight blue carpet accented by stars, stars that had been reflected onto a domed ceiling. Further, the room had been furnished with dark-wood tables, plush chairs, and several bookcases. The room's most notable feature, however, was the tall white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw herself, placed next to the door heading up into the dormitories.
"Your things have already been delivered to your beds, if you'll pass through there," she pointed out, in case it wasn't obvious. Excitement in each of their faces, first years went hastily to the dorms and older students shuffled after them, yawning and looking on in bemusement.
It took a while, a lot longer than she would have liked, but by twelve, the common room had emptied and everyone had gone off to bed. Not her though, she had to see what her idiot best friend wanted with her.
With great reluctance, she slipped out and down the spiral staircase, careful as she snuck around to listen for anyone who might be around to catch her. It made her progress in reaching the library slow, but eventually, she managed to get in and opened the closed doors with a wince when they squeaked.
Minutes later, Everly found Alphard near the Restricted Reading section, a hulking figure in the darkness. She might have been more apprehensive to close the distance between them had her wand not been shining brightly after having whispered, "Lumos." She could see enough of him to know it wasn't a teacher.
"That was a bad idea, being rude to the golden boy," Alphard said first thing as she got close enough to whisper, clearly uneasy.
"He was rude first," she muttered indignantly, straightening her spine. "He called me second best."
Alphard snorted at this, shaking his head with traces of exasperation and amusement in his expression.
"It's true! You heard him yourself."
"'The best, second best, things like that don't matter'," he said in a higher registry, mimicking her with a crack finding his voice on the last word. He was utterly shameless.
Glaring, she clenched her hands into fists before relaxing with a hand to her hip. "Tell me what I'm doing here already."
Alphard shook his head, muttering to himself, "She has no idea, does she?"
Her tone turned venomous. "None at all."
He tried to look innocent. "I'm warning you, is all, Ev. Against Riddle," he added at her bewildered expression.
"Why?"
"Because he kept looking over at the Ravenclaw's table and I know he wasn't looking at Aileua Lovegood."
"You're lying," she stated matter-of-factly.
"How do you claim that?"
"Because I kept looking at him," Everly said, ignoring his look of outrage.
"Don't!"
"I can do what I want."
"But why?"
"Because he's as off as you were calling him."
It took a moment for him to process that, but when he did, Alphard beamed at her.
"You noticed too?"
"It's hard not to," she muttered, and then with a tight frown, asked, "But what were you doing in that compartment anyway?"
His smile fell away and instead a look of disgust filled his features. "Your loving husband to be saw me, dragged me in with him. He thought because I'm a fifth year, we'd fit in with the other fifth years there. Walburga kept talking about Riddle all summer, must have made Orion curious."
"Why do you dislike him so much?" Everly asked, growing curious. When he stalled his answer, she added, "Is it jealousy?"
Alphard pulled away, insulted. "No way. Riddle loves attention and you know me, I find it utterly sickening."
"Then why?" she asked, baffled.
"He likes to collect people he thinks will be useful," Alphard said after a long moment of contemplation. "Outside looking in, I don't think any of the poor gits that follow him are really important to him. Not like you are to me, or anything resembling friendship."
"Has he attempted to collect you?" She wondered if that could explain his seemingly intense dislike for him.
"Unfortunately, but that stopped after second year. When he thinks you're too independent to be submissive, he moves on to easier targets that meet his criteria. I've noticed it happening with others that fell out of favor with him, which is when it turns really ugly."
"What do you mean?"
"You won't find any proof of this, they're very careful around the professors, but those followers of his?" Alphard dropped his pitch to a whisper. "Especially the more violent sort, well, they, you know, they beat on them, the kids that don't drop everything to worship him."
Everly found herself swallowing a gasp, almost not wanting to believe but knowing Alphard wouldn't lie to her about something like this. "That's awful! Is that what happened to you?"
He rolled his eyes. "No, because unlike you, I can pretend convincingly that I like people when I actually hate them."
Still concerned, she asked, "You mentioned a criteria, what is it?"
"Being pureblooded, for one. Being in Slytherin, for two. And having parents that work in the Ministry, but that's just a bonus for extra points with him."
"Creep," she muttered.
Alphard looked relieved upon hearing the word. "You understand now, right?"
"Yes."
"That you have to avoid him?"
"That I have to put a stop to him," she corrected.
Alarmed, he cried, "Ev!"
"I can't have him bullying others, he's a prefect. That's a dignity I can't let him tarnish," she hissed.
"You'll have to find proof for that, and it won't be easy," Alphard warned her darkly. "Professor Dippet is all mooney-eyed over him, too. Well, most of the school faculty, actually."
"I know—"
"Orion will be heartbroken to see his fiancée is sneaking off with his cousin behind his back," a new voice interjected, a few feet off from them.
"Riddle," she said by way of greeting, her tone dismissive. Yet underneath her projected calm, Everly felt her skin crawl and her heart gave a start that made her breathless. How much had he heard?
"Greengrass, you should know to be more responsible, being a prefect and all." Though his wand's light cast his face in shadow, he appeared to be smiling—smirking, more like.
"What about you? What are you doing here?" Everly asked, scowling at this sort of arrogance.
"Me? I'm returning this book at the request of Professor Slughorn." Riddle lifted the book in his other hand for emphasis, his tone still painfully polite.
Her patience had run dry, and with her inner mind insisting she didn't have to put up with him, she made her decision quite quickly.
"Al?" Everly said, turning to look at Alphard, who seemed to be doing his best to look invisible. He blinked at her dumbly. "We're leaving now."
"Not so fast. What is it the two of you were discussing?" Riddle asked, his gaze trained solely on her.
"Our elopement," she said, taking Alphard's hand in hers as she dragged him past Riddle, who raised a brow at them, appearing none too impressed.
Nevertheless, he didn't try stopping them again.
chapter one - end
Ah, this fic has been an intention of mine for almost a year now? Finally, I'm working on it and so glad to be. Even have a few chapters stocked up! Conceptually, this fic has had a lot of help from lisaflowers, Enbi, L1mey, and Outau. Without them, I might have never decided to read the Harry Potter books and write this.
Credits of the cover is to my lovely and spectacular twin sister, SassySizzleMonster, who's drawn Everly for all to see.
07/18/2023 Edit: Rewrote the opening scene with some bits salvaged from the since deleted scene that originally began the story. Much happier with it now. I've also made small edits with the writing in this chapter, so hopefully much more enjoyable.