Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle [Rewritten] ✓

CHAPTER TWELVE

As much as Evelyn adored Hogwarts, she was grateful to be home for the holidays. Although she wished for the holidays to be a getaway from Hogwarts, she couldn't help but keep thinking back to what Tom had told her about her parents.

On Christmas Eve, Evelyn finally decided to confront her grandmother on the matter after buttering her up with several hot chocolates. "Granny," she asked as she took a seat on their sofa, "I wanted to talk to you about mum and dad."

Her grandmother was taken aback by this, Evelyn usually avoided the topic of her parents where possible. "What is it?"

"How did they die?" She blurted out, there was no other way about it, she had to be upfront.

Evelyn watched her grandmother flinch, "well, you know how they died Evelyn, they were hit by a motor vehicle."

"Someone at Hogwarts made me think that wasn't quite true, that it might have been something else..."

"Evelyn!" She stated abruptly, "whoever that was was greatly mistaken, I remember very well how my only child died and I would appreciate it if you did not bring the subject up again!"

"How do we know that that's what happened? None of us were ever asked to identify a body, what if they're still alive?" Evelyn knew the possibility was slim, but she wanted it to be true. "What if-" She felt the tears begin to form in her eyes, "what if they weren't hit by an automobile?"

Evelyn had never heard her grandmother shout before, "they were!" Her voice faltered as she spoke and as Evelyn watched her, there was something about her demeanour that made her doubt her grandmother was telling the truth.

"I just miss them, I don't want it to be true," by now the tears were streaming down her face.

Her grandmother held out her arms and took her in a warm embrace, one which could never last long enough for Evelyn. She was safe in her grandmother's arms, in that embrace she was cocooned better than any butterfly-to-be, she was safe from all that could harm her.

When Evelyn awoke the next morning, she spotted her grandmother over the stove who welcomed her with a smile into the kitchen, seemingly having forgotten about their conversation the previous night. "Good morning, pancakes?" She asked, nodding over to the stack of pancakes beside her.

As soon as Evelyn spotted the pancakes, her stomach rumbled. "I'm starving," she helped herself to three pancakes before taking her seat at the kitchen table.

By the time she had finished two of her pancakes, her grandmother came and sat opposite her, placing a large, gift-wrapped box onto the table. "I got you a few things,"

Evelyn quickly cut her off, "you said we weren't doing any gifts this year! I haven't got you anything at all!" She felt uncomfortable at the thought of not being able to give her grandmother anything back.

"You are the only gift I need, my dear," she squeezed her hand. "Now, dig in..."

Evelyn took one last bite of her pancakes, pushed her plate aside and began to inspect the box. It was too small for a broomstick, too large for a book, too square for a hat, Evelyn had no idea what could be inside. She carefully tore back the wrapping paper and opened up the large chest.

"Wow!" Evelyn exclaimed, causing her grandmother to beam at her joyfully. "There's so much in here," she began to lift out various boxes of confectionary from Drooble's to Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. "Is this a remembrall?" She asked as she picked up a small glass sphere.

"Yes, they're wonderful for alerting you when you have forgotten something, one of my dear friends told me about it and I thought it would make an excellent gift."

Next, she moved to the stack of books in the corner, "The Tale of the Three Brothers, Advanced Potion Making..." she called each one out as she began to stack it, "Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimency, what's that?"

"Legilimency? Well, it's the act of mind-reading, although a Legilimens would not be happy if you called it that!" Evelyn liked the idea of being able to read other people's minds, she had always wondered what others were thinking. "I gave something similar to your mother when she was younger..."

Eveylyn's eyes lit up, "really?"

"On this exact day when she was in her fifth year at Hogwarts, we sat down at this table and exchanged gifts," her grandmother smiled fondly as she recalled the memory. "Learning legilimency is a great gift, it is incredibly valuable as an Auror."

Evelyn nodded, she knew instantly that she would devour the book later that night. "I can't wait to read it! Thank you so much!" She squeezed her grandmother's hand tightly.

"Well, Evelyn if you don't mind I ought to head out for my daily walk, I would rather like to collect some seashells for your parents..." She trailed off as she glanced out of the window, "will you be okay on your own?"

Evelyn nodded again, "of course," she was grateful that her grandmother would be getting out of the house; although her grandmother may have forgotten about their conversation last night, Evelyn certainly hadn't.

Whilst her grandmother got ready to leave, Evelyn took her gifts into her bedroom, placing the textbooks on her bedside table and storing the confectionery in her trunk to take back to Hogwarts and share with Lily and Sara who would be over the moon if they knew. "See you soon Evelyn!" Her grandmother called out, shutting the door loudly behind her and as soon as she did, Evelyn knew it time to start her investigation.

Their cottage only had four rooms and only one was out of bounds, her grandmothers bedroom. If anything was being hidden, that was exactly where it would be. Despite knowing that her grandmother was out, Evelyn still tiptoed around the cottage, opening up her grandmothers door as quietly as she could and leaving it ajar so she would hear her grandmother return.

She started with the drawers, digging through their contents as though she were a starved predator hunting for some prey. Then, she looked under the bed, then the trunk, then behind the chair, then inside the wardrobe. Only when she was about to give up did she spot something peculiar, part of the back of the wardrobe was hollow, Evelyn could see markings in the shape of a square, surrounding the hollow area. Pressing her fingers against the corners, she felt them move, slowly but surely revealing the perfect hiding space. Evelyn had expected to spot vast amounts of hidden items but there was only one, a small folder which Evelyn knew she had to read if she ever wanted to figure out the truth.

As Evelyn went to open up the first page, her body froze. She simply couldn't, she wasn't ready to find out if everything had all been a lie, she wasn't ready to have her life changed by the contents of the folder. Taking a deep breath she whispered, "I'll do it at Hogwarts." That way she wouldn't be alone, Lily and Sara would help guide her through it, whatever it said inside, it would be okay, it had to.

Evelyn took the folder, making sure she returned everything in her grandmothers room to how it had been before she left. She slid the folder into the bottom of her trunk, loosely wrapped in her Ravenclaw scarf and tried t forget all about it.

Later that evening, Evelyn opened up her copy of Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimency and began to read.

The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing. It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly.

To a victim of Legilimency, it might feel as though several pins were being pushed through their ears and into their skull, creating a whole from which their thoughts may escape.

Evelyn stopped reading as the realisation hit her. Someone had been trying to read her at her first Slug Club meeting and she was almost certain she knew who.