Darkness and Devotion - A Tom Riddle Story

The Thunder

Evelyn lasted 24 hours. Less than that, probably.

It wasn't that she wanted to come crawling back to him like she did. No, she would have much preferred to beat his taunts about her lasting a week and she would have... and then the storm started.

Evelyn had never done well with storms. Never. She could say that a part of her didn't like the booming thunder because it was thundering on the first Halloween her grandmother hit her or because a large lightning bolt hit a tree in the backyard and fried it to ash instantly, scaring her indefinitely but... both those would be half-truths.

Because the reason Evelyn couldn't stand thunderstorms, the reason she cowered with every bright light followed by a loud boom, the reason her heart fluttered with fear as she trembled to the sound of every new clap in the sky... was her father. She wasn't sure how she knew—whether it was an old sort of magic that tied their two souls together or if someone had perhaps let it slip once in conversation—but Evelyn knew from the bottom of her heart that her father died in a thunderstorm. And there was a part of her that was scared she would too.

It was irrational, she knew that. Evelyn had spent many long, lonely nights wishing she was dead so she could be reunited with Regulus again so why should the idea of perishing during a storm matter to her? No, it wasn't rational but fears weren't ever rational at all. They consumed you to the point of no return until your mind was flooded by nothing but complete and utter terror as you gazed helplessly into the beyond, into a land occupied by nothing by fear and dread and death. Evelyn wasn't afraid of much but she was absolutely terrified of thunderstorms.

And that night, while she slept restlessly in her bed—part of her wishing she was once again surrounded by the scent of darkness and musk—a storm rolled in.

She woke to the light pitter-patter sound of rain. She wasn't surprised. After all, Mattheo and her had constantly remarked on the incoming clouds yesterday by the water. And professors had been warning the students to stay indoors for the next week in case the storm got particularly nasty. Care of Magical Creatures classes had been cancelled, not that she would have ever taken that class anyway as animals had a habit of hating her and avoiding her at all costs. Quidditch wasn't cancelled but then again, Quidditch was never cancelled, something that Mattheo, the Slytherin team beater, was all too happy about. He told her that Tom used to play Quidditch—"He was a wicked seeker; it was like the snitch was afraid not to be caught by him! Honestly, it probably was"—but he quit after last season to focus on being head boy. "Or maybe to focus on hunting his victims." Mattheo said it as a joke but they both knew he didn't mean it as one.

She, however, would be happily content to remain inside. Her waves always tangled messily in the water so she tried to avoid getting wet whenever she could. Plus, she didn't have any classes outside so the only reason to venture beyond the castle walls was for a breath of fresh air and she would be fine without that for a few days. Yes, the soft drumming of rain on her window would make for rather pleasant reading, she reasoned, so perhaps this week of showers would be rather pleasant. She was almost happy with the turn of events.

And then the thunder started.

It, of course, waited until the most inconvenient time to begin. After she had spent a day distracted by classes, lunch with her cousin, an evening reading in the library, and a rather lively supper surrounded by, again, her cousin and his friends. After she had bid them all goodnight, took a long, relaxing bath surrounded by the calming scent of dewy bubble soap. After she had brushed her wet hair and crawled into her favorite nightgown, surrounded by the familiar (and somewhat disappointing) feeling of her sheets. After she was alone.

The first bit of thunder came in with a bang—pun not intended. It was incredibly loud, so loud that it shook the walls of the dungeon as it echoed through the valley. Evelyn jumped in bed and clutched her duvet to her chest as if the thin fabric could protect her from the storm.