In the throes of two wars, Tom Riddle returns to Hogwarts for his fifth-year, determined to achieve his megalomaniacal goals of immortality and power. In the meantime, Evadne, elected prefect for Slytherin House, is a talented witch eager to uncover...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter 22: Dumbledore's Plea
"There is the same power also in the serpent called the basilisk. It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass, too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse, as well. To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self."
- Pliny the Elder
* * *
Evadne tossed and turned in bed, fraught with nightmares she couldn't shake. She dreamt of burning villages and men clad in wrought-silver masks, cloaked head-to-toe in black attire, uttering outlandish enchantments she couldn't decipher. She awoke covered in sweat, terrified by her own mind. Why was she working machinations against herself? Was she her own enemy?
The night before Christmas Eve, Evadne was summoned to Professor Dumbledore's office by a piece of parchment outside her dormitory door.
To Evadne Verlaine,
It is of utmost importance you arrive in my office soon as possible.
- Albus P.W.B Dumbledore
"Are you all right?" Katherine asked from her own four-poster.
