Extreme Remedies ( Tom Riddle Era )

Chapter 40

"Now I will tell you what I've done for you
Fifty thousand tears I've cried
Screaming deceiving and bleeding for you
And you still won't hear me

Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself
Maybe I'll wake up for once
Not tormented daily defeated by you
Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom
I'm dying again

Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies
So I don't know what's real and what's not
Always confusing the thoughts in my head
So I can't trust myself anymore
I'm dying again

...

So go on and scream
Scream at me I'm so far away
I won't be broken again
I've got to breathe I can't keep going under

I'm dying again
I'm going under
Drowning in you
I'm falling forever
I've got to break through
I'm going under"

Going under, Evanescence

~~~~~~~

The following days brought no news.
The official version was that Emma Rosier was victim of an unpleasant Halloween joke.
Evelyn couldn't forgive herself for feeling somehow responsible for what happened to her friend. She also started to fear for the safety of all the other people close to her.

After sitting for some time next to the bed where Emma laid, Evelyn stood up, mentally saying bye to her.
Emma had been changed into pyjamas, but her red dress was still wrapped on a chair next to her.
Evelyn had thrown her own red dress deep into her trunk.
"Sleeping beauty" Evelyn murmured noticing how her friend was beautiful also in simple pyjamas.
The question was what was keeping her sleeping that way.
She wasn't petrified like the victims of the basilisk. She looked like simply in a deep sleep.

Lost into her thoughts, Evelyn bumped into Tom busy with his patrol shift in the corridors.
"Have you been to see Emma again?" he asked frowning at her blank expression.
Evelyn nodded "Nothing changed. She's still quietly sleeping while we are sick and worried for her".
"The matron is sure that she will wake up soon. We just need to find the right solution, just like we'd need the right key to open a door".
"You're right" she murmured absentmindedly.
Tom inhaled deeply "You are not bothered if we spend some time alone now, are you?".
"Of course not" she eyed him surprised by his question and his careful tone "Why are you asking?".
He pondered his words before saying them aloud "Because of me. I need to know that you can trust me. So I offer you a challenge".
"What challenge?" she inquired impatiently.
Tom stared deeply into her eyes, saying firmly "Come back into the Chamber with me".
She felt her jaw dropping "That Chamber?".
Tom nodded "Don't mistake me. I haven't been there since... Well, you know. But these attacks are reminding me of that time. And I'm sure you feel the same. So I wish to check that nothing is related to that place".

Somehow she felt she wanted to go back in there.
"Alright" she said without a second thought "I'm glad you ask me to come with you there. If you go without telling me I would never forgive you".
"I know" nervously he offered her a hand.

Evelyn looked at his hand while dark memories broke into her mind.
Her struggles to keep her eyes closed while she felt the giant snake moving in the Chamber, the attacks, turning Tom in and her sacrifice. The dark shadows of the Wizengamot and Azkaban...
She didn't want to go through all of that again.
But she understood Tom's request.
If after all that mess they made it out alive and together, she had to choose who to trust.
Replacing the dark memories with happier ones, Evelyn felt more confident and with a sigh she grabbed his hand.