Alone. That's how Evelyn would describe the weeks after Halloween. Completely and utterly alone.

She didn't realize that when Tom said she wouldn't be going anywhere, it didn't mean that he also wouldn't be going anywhere. It was to be expected. Tom lived in the shadows. In his mind, in his room. It made sense that he would disappear back into the darkness from which he came as soon as being in the light was no longer convenient.

Evelyn kept her word. She stayed in his room at night; he had somehow found somewhere else to stay in the meantime, leaving her feeling alone in an unfamiliar dormitory deep within the heart of the dungeons. Tom wasn't keeping an eye on her, at least not that she knew of. Her eyes searched for him in every room and yet she always found nothing. No Tom. No shadows.

Little Dove, you forget that a part of my mind lingers in yours. I always know where you are, what you're doing, what you're seeing. Even when I cannot be with you, a part of me is.

Evelyn had yet to see that part.

Unfortunately, the departure of Tom also brought the departure of his brother. Mattheo had gone back to his rowdy group of thirteen-year-old boys, seemingly released from his babysitting. Even though she missed him terribly, she didn't want to complain. He should be with his friends. He shouldn't be hanging out with a depressed seventeen-year-old with no friends.

Still, she missed the boy.

Evelyn made her way to potions class, skipping past the Great Hall, though that didn't stop her from peaking inside to see if a certain someone was inside. He wasn't, though Mattheo was, chatting away with his friends. Evelyn sighed and kept walking. She never felt like eating anymore. Not that anyone would care if she ever did. That would require noticing she was missing and even Mattheo didn't do that anymore. Whenever she saw the mounds of food on the long tables, she felt like she was going to hurl. She had gone her entire life without such a spread... it felt wrong to eat it now. She didn't know why.

No one was in the classroom, not even Slughorn. Evelyn just took her seat at the edge of the room and waited. Waited for this class to be over, for this day to be over, for this year to be over. For everything to be over. For the world to be blissfully silent, nothing heard but the occasional sound of leaves on a falling grave.

She missed her father. How was that even possible? Regulus was as much a stranger as any other wizard. And yet he wasn't. He was the man she talked to when she found herself unable to crawl through the throes of life anymore, the father she allowed herself to hope she would see again, the wizard who died in a way she still hadn't figured out. He was more than a stranger. He was in the blood running through her very veins. He was in the soft black waves framing her face. He was in the high cheekbones gaunt as if neither of them had ever quite had enough to eat. He was in her, in the girl who desperately longed to meet him.

Perhaps soon, she would.

Evelyn didn't know her purpose. Did she ever truly have one or was she just the result of a myriad of coincidences, each one of them a mistake that longed to be corrected? Did she just consume oxygen, feeling day by day as it slowly left her lungs with every breath that wasn't meant to be taken?

She wished she had a father. She wished she had a mother. She wished she had anyone. Now, she had no one. Just the empty words of a man who pretended to care and a cousin who pretended to be her family for a few weeks.

The potions classroom was still empty. Evelyn found a spot on the stone across the room and stared at it. She hadn't felt like reading lately. She hadn't felt like doing anything. Doing something reminded her of the fact that she felt like nothing, of the fact that she had felt utterly empty from the moment Tom cradled her cheek, only to leave the moment she fell asleep. Reading reminded her of a world she didn't exist in, words on a simple piece of paper that were just as easy to erase as she was.

She bit the inside of her cheek until it drew blood, then bit it some more. Anything to try and remind herself why she was here, why she continued to go day after day. Because right now... right now she wasn't sure why she did. And she wasn't sure how much longer she could continue.

I don't want to be here anymore. The thought appeared in her mind as if it were carried on a passing breeze. I haven't wanted to be here in a long time. Perhaps it is time to go.

Yes, go somewhere quiet, somewhere calm, somewhere dark. Somewhere where Regulus resided with his arms open and waiting for his daughter to rejoin him. An image suddenly came to her mind, a moment of clarity almost. The lake in front of her grandparent's estate, that evil, dreadful lake. The one with a lingering fog, the one that had drawn her in from the moment she first stepped out into the driveway alone. Swim in me. Drown in me... Just like your father. Was it a vision of the future or the past? Or was it a vision of both?

Swim...Drown...Swim... Drown. Inhale, exhale. The lake called to her with each breath. Perhaps during the Christmas break she could—

The door thudded open with a loud Bang! Evelyn jumped at the wide noise, her bag clattering to the floor when she stood. But before she could look at who strode into the room, a hand wrapped around her throat and pushed her against the cold wall of the dungeons.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" Tom hissed. He was furious. If the pain on the back of the wall from his quick entrapment didn't say enough, his face did. His eyes were angry and dark, his hand cold and callous. He was firmly cutting off her air supply, staring at her with a lethal expression. Tom's mouth was thin. He was furious. "Don't you ever fucking think about getting near that lake."

"Tom, you're hurting me," she gasped through his hand.

"Good," he spat. "Then maybe you'll snap out of those pathetic thoughts... If you think for one second that I'm letting you leave me, even for Death, then you have severely underestimated me, darling. Death fears me and it won't be taking you until I allow it."

She could feel her eyes begin to sting, though not from pain. At least not the physical kind. "I don't want to be here, Tom."

He brought his face even closer. He smelled like musk. Mahogany and shadow. That's how she would describe it. A delicious, intoxicating scent that she never wanted to leave. "Well, that's too bad, Little Dove. Because I want you to be here and I outrank you in every argument."

Evelyn furrowed her brows. "You don't care—"

"Don't finish that fucking sentence because I do care and you know it." His fury was... unnerving. Unnatural. Evelyn was a little startled by it. She was so used to seeing Tom cool and collected. This was odd. This was different. She just knew it. She knew that somehow, the idea of her going into that lake was destroying Tom from the inside. And she also knew that he was trying desperately to hide it.

"But I don't know it," she whispered, looking deep into his dark eyes. They were beautiful. She had always thought so. Consuming every bit of light but consuming her, too. There was no warmth in Tom's eyes and yet she always thought she had seen them soften whenever they looked at her. Just a little but enough to make her heart flutter wildly. "I haven't seen you, haven't heard from you. I've been alone ever since that night."

He let out a soft breath. "I thought you'd want some time to adjust. To this... to me."

Evelyn shook her head. "I don't need time to adjust. I need..." You. Her mouth went dry before she could get out the word. It wasn't until Tom's eyes widened that she realized he heard her thoughts.

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

"No," she whispered immediately. "Should I be?"

Tom gripped her throat even harder. "The entire world should fear me but... but not you. Never you. You are the one person who shouldn't."

"Why?"

His grip on her throat softened. She saw the slight gulp he let in, the only show of emotion Tom would allow himself to display. Always a mask, always a veil of darkness. "Because you are mine."

"Then let me be yours."

He shook his head. "Evelyn..."

Her eyes began to burn and her voice rose. Because this hurt, this constant feeling like he didn't want her when he said he did. This feeling of being abandoned night after night in a cold, dark room when she would have much rather been with the cold, dark man. This feeling of looking in a crowd for even a glimpse of him but just seeing a dozen other faces that blended in with each other.

Feeling like she had no one and everyone all at once.

His face temporarily lost that mask of indifference. "You have torn yourself up for weeks over me, Little Dove. Why?"

"Because I don't want to live like this, Tom. I- I don't know what's happening to me. All I can think about is you. All I want is to be with you."

"You can't possibly want that—"

"But I do!" Her throat began to burn, her eyes stinging even more. "I don't want to be in that empty bed without you. I don't want to walk the halls without you. I don't want to eat without you. I- I hardly know you—you certainly do not know me—and yet you have consumed me entirely."

Tom raised his hand off of her neck and brought it to her jaw. His thumb played with her bottom lip while he mumbled, "I know you, Evelyn Black."

A stab, there in her heart. When she spoke, her voice broke. "And that is why you have avoided me?" Just like everyone else. You saw me and left.

Tom's eyes lit up with anger again. He must have read her thoughts. "I have avoided you because it is best for you. I have spent every free moment I have pursuing the people who have threatened to destroy you. I have stayed away from you so they would not know how much you mean to me."

Evelyn felt her eyes widen. "I mean something to you?"

"You stupid girl," he hissed softly. His hand tightened around her jaw, though she wasn't sure if he meant for it to. "You mean everything to me. I cannot let some childish need to see me interfere with your safety. I will not let it. I would much rather you be miserable and alive than lying at the bottom of a lake like your father."

She bit her lip and looked at the floor. "I fear your life would be much easier if I was. You wouldn't have some 'stupid girl' to watch over. Your commitment to Snape would be finished."

Tom chuckled darkly. It was a sound that would have unnerved her had it not stirred a feeling in her core. "You think I'm doing this because of a silly lie I told a professor?"

Evelyn raised her head and looked at him with confusion. "Isn't it?"

Another bitter laugh. "No, Little Dove. Not even close." She bit her lip and remained silent, studying every curve of his face. Tom had no imperfections, not one. Just smooth, pale skin over the most handsome face Hogwarts had ever seen. His black eyes studied her intensely, watching her just as she watched him. "What are you thinking?"

"Can't you just read my mind?"

His lips thinned. "I try not to. Sometimes you project your thoughts, shout them at me, almost. But I try not to look unless I have reason to believe it is necessary for your safety."

"What reasons are those?"

He stroked her lip again. "If I feel your fear, if my spies haven't seen you, if something seems suspicious or off. Tonight... I felt your resolution. I felt Death creeping up onto your soul, ready to claim you with his relentless claws. If I had not shown up, you probably would be dead by now. But as I told you, Death fears me. And you will not be leaving this Earth for a long time."

Evelyn remained silent. Then, she thought gently, Can you hear this?

Yes, he responded immediately with a deep voice that made her knees buckle. It was so smooth, so sultry, so... We're in a classroom, my darling. I suggest you rein in those feelings before I am forced to act upon them.

A bright pink blush came to her cheeks. So you can feel my emotions?

"It would appear so," he responded out loud.

"Why?"

"I don't know." She got the feeling he did. He was keeping something from her but... but Tom would never put her in danger. If he wasn't telling her something, it was probably for her own good. Evelyn looked back up into his eyes, his beautiful eyes. She could get lost in them for eternity, drowning in them just as she would have in that lake. "What are you thinking about, my darling?"

"You," she breathed. "Always you."

His eyebrow raised. "All bad, I presume."

Evelyn shook her head, her throat suddenly feeling dry again. "N- no. I think you're wonderful."

The corner of Tom's lips turned upward. "Would you believe me if I told you that you are the one that is wonderful?"

She smiled softly. But it wasn't a happy smile, not really. Just one masked behind many years of sadness and pain. "No."

"Well, it's true, Little Dove," he crooned.

"You can't know that. You've hardly seen me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you think? My, my. Your peripheral needs to be better then, darling."

"Do- do you mean that you've been watching me?"

Tom smirked. "Yes. I told you I protect my belongings. Does that bother you?"

"No," she whispered, looking back up at him. "I'm yours to watch."

"Damn right, you are." He grinned a little sinisterly. Evelyn wondered how it would look to see a smile on his face, a genuine one filled with happiness. With a sinking heart, she wondered if he had ever known happiness at all or if his life had been filled with the same kind of darkness as hers, the darkness that came with being the eldest son and heir of the darkest wizard of all time. "I need to go. We're about to no longer be alone."

Evelyn frowned. "Can... can I see you again? Tonight?"

He seemed to consider it for a moment. "I shouldn't."

She reached up and grabbed onto the arm that still clutched her jaw. "No one can protect me better than you."

"I need to eliminate the problem. You need to be safe, Little Dove."

"I need you. I need to not be alone anymore. I need..." Evelyn looked into his eyes and pleaded. I need you with me, Tom. Please.

He clenched his jaw. "Fine. But don't think I'll forget that you begged for it. You'll find yourself regretting the pleasure of my company."

She could barely conceal her smile. "I doubt it."

"And you owe me. For the lack of progress I will be making on this insolent faction."

Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'll make it up to you."

Tom's jaw clenched so hard that she was sure it would shatter his straight teeth inside. "I need to leave. Now. Or Slughorn and his little club will see something that is only mine to look at."

Her breath faltered as she considered the words, then the lust that pooled within her afterward. "Tonight then?"

He nodded softly. Then, he withdraw his hand from her jaw and used it to grab hers, which was hanging limply at her side. The barest whisper of a kiss was placed onto it with his cold lips. It made her shiver. "Tonight. Until then, my Little Dove."

She smiled. "Until then, Tom."

Just as the sound of students and a senile professor began to reach the classroom, Tom looked at her darkly. Then, he apparated, leaving behind only the barest hints of shadow in his wake.

"Ah, Miss Black! Eager for class today, are we?" Slughorn asked with a slight chuckle. He had always liked her, saying that she reminded him very much of her father, though he would never really tell her about him. She was a member of the Slug Club, though she never went to the meetings.

I haven't either, Tom's voice said in her head. She almost fainted at the sound of it. She missed him already. Though perhaps now that I have a date to make them more tolerable, I may find myself at a few more of his little functions.

She smiled. You assume that I haven't already got one.

If you do, he may find himself disemboweled in the center of the Forbidden Forrest.

Her eyes widened. You wouldn't.

Oh, darling, I very much would. I hardly need the motivation, though if you insist on giving me a reason, I will happily take it. You are mine, Evelyn. And I do not share. She blushed before attempting to push him from her mind—it probably didn't work but at least she could try to not project to him anymore.

"Miss Black, are you alright? I sense something is different with you. Something... darker. You haven't been meddling with the Dark Arts, have you?"

She smiled softly. "No, professor. Just a boy, is all."

He looked relieved. "Thank heavens. The last time a student of mine meddled in that particular area... well, we know how it went." She did know. Voldemort attempted to split his soul using magic Slughorn had told him about but he was unsuccessful. It was probably the only ease on the professor's conscience, though she could see in his pale eyes that he was haunted by the boy he knew so long ago. Not too haunted, though, to not include his son in his special club. "May I ask: what boy has finally caught your eye? I suspect he must be bright to capture your attention."

The opposite of bright, actually. "Tom Riddle, sir."

Slughorn lightened. "Oh, that Tom! I've always liked the boy—very bright, very charming—though I've never noticed his interest in activities with the opposite sex. Perhaps you've finally ensnared the unsnarable."

Evelyn smiled. "Perhaps, Professor." She went back to her desk, her mind still a bit frazzled by Tom's appearance in the classroom. More students began to filter in through the doors, smelling a bit of whatever lunch the Great Hall had served. Even the smell made her nauseous again.

She reached down into her bag to grab her textbook when something stopped her. The feeling of something that wasn't there before.

It was a piece of parchment, small with the most beautiful cursive writing she had ever seen. As Evelyn touched the paper, she could have sworn that she felt bits of shadow lingering on the page. As she read the words, she felt her heart do somersaults.

Little Dove,

I've thought of how you could make up for the pleasure of my company this evening. Wear the little nightgown and robe you wore on Halloween.

Yours,

Tom Riddle

The slow burn is beginning to burn. Well, it's slow burn for me at least lmao. Over 30,000 words in and no kiss is a win for me haha. Let me know what you all think! I really hope you're liking it so far. If you have any predictions, wishes, etc. let me know!