Extreme Ways ( A Tom Riddle fanfiction )

Chapter 41

"Ten years separates Hokey's memory and this one, ten years during which we can only guess at what Lord Voldemort was doing..."

HP6

~~~~~

Evelyn was back to her ordinary life as secret wife of Tom Riddle and shop assistant of her uncle. The shop was into its golden years as Caractacus brought gradually up the treasures from underground.
At first Evelyn fiercely opposed the idea of letting anyone going back down there. She wished that place to be sealed and forgotten forever.
Tom had dealt with Mordred's dagger and made it disappear. Evelyn didn't believe that he had destroyed it. It was more realistic that he hid it somewhere, but it was enough for her to know that it's wasn't hidden under their bed.
Caractacus started to travel frequently underground, often accompanied by Tom, assuring that they would not rise any other curse.
After days of panic, Evelyn started to get used to watch them climb downstairs and later climb up carrying precious things. So she calmed down and even desired to go back there.
The undergrounds had a dark appeal of her for another reason.
She persuaded herself that Tom still didn't know about her secret quest. She couldn't know what he did when she lost conscience after he stabbed her, but she hoped he didn't mind to check what book had fatally distracted her. And she got proof that he didn't murder the crazy man because she saw how he and Caractacus turned obsessed with protecting the treasures underground with complex and also dark magic.
Tom also involved his knights to find and seal the other secret passages that linked the underworld to the surface.

Quiet months passed. The shop was living its best days, although Caractacus never stopped worrying about possible sudden visit of inspectors from the Ministry.
Evelyn couldn't understand his worry since Tom was around most of the time and he was ready to use his manipulative skills or his memory charms to protect the shop's secrets. Anyway sometimes he was sent to missions for not raising suspects.

Evelyn wondered when they would move in to a better place than their small and cheap flat.
They were earning a lot of extra money that she was saving at Gringotts. They were rich enough to improve their lifestyle, but Tom was determined to save them for their travels worldwide.
In the evening he spent his free time making plans, studying magic world maps. Underground he had found more hints about unvisited magic places all around the world and he was impatient to visit them and learn a lot. He was so thirsty of knowledge that Evelyn realized that he wouldn't fit as owner of a shop in Knockturn Alley. So she relaxed and just feared that if he succeeded in being hired at Hogwarts, they would have little time to spend together.
But they already were a little distant, when Tom was busy at examinating the treasures he had taken from underground or at planning future trips. And Evelyn had to fall asleep alone most of the nights, sometimes forced to wake up when Tom needed some night activities to force himself into sleep.

Evelyn glanced around, trying to look beyond the illusions that made their flat appear much more better than what it was in reality. It seemed a concrete version of her life.
She exhaled deeply, hoping to blow away the bad ideas that sometimes crossed her mind.
She needed to talk to Tom. Things had to change. Their plans had to change. But she wasn't sure he would easily agree.
"He's probably going to destroy this whole place" she said bitterly aloud "He hates to change plans, specially if they are his plans.. He's surely going to blame me. Do you think he's going to kill me?".
Evelyn looked down at Hydra, who was slithering under her feet.
Remembering the pain when the snake had bit her made Evelyn very diffident towards that beast, but Tom had worked hard to bring them close again, mainly by giving strict orders to the snake.
Evelyn felt pity for the animal and that's what persuaded her to trust Hydra again: she could crush the snake under her feet as much as she wanted and the snake wouldn't react. Because that was what Tom ordered and the snake was somehow forced to obey. Or that's was just what Tom promised her, since Evelyn couldn't understand Parseltongue, but she saw how strict he was to the snake.
Evelyn stared at the beast, imagining if there was room an animal like that in a normal life. Would Tom teach a kid to kill mice to feed the snake?
Evelyn laughed bitterly to herself. Keeping a snake was considered creepy out of Knockturn Alley. Being a Parselmouth was enough to be labelled as dangerous and creepy for the rest of someone's life.