Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle [Rewritten] ✓

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Evelyn, Lily and Sara stayed awake for hours searching through the folder, but they found nothing. Neither girl could understand what any of it meant, there were various articles from the Daily Prophet, random sketches, letters with each individual house crest on it, but none of it made sense.

"It's okay Evelyn," Sara said with a comforting smile, "we can read it all tomorrow and see if we spot anything."

Lily perked up from where she had thrown herself onto her bed hours earlier, "what about asking a teacher?"

Evelyn had thought about it, but who would she ask and how. Investigating her parents' death wasn't exactly the kind of project she would get set for extra credit, it would raise alarm bells that she did not want to raise.

"Let's sleep on it, it can all wait until tomorrow." Sara was right, there was no point going over it all again, the sun was already rising and if they didn't get to sleep soon, they would likely not make it through the day.

Despite the few hours sleep that the trio were able to get, they still barely made it through their lessons. As soon as they entered the library after their final lesson, Lily rested her head on her textbooks and immediately began to zone out.

"So," Evelyn began, looking at Sara with slight concern, "last night Daniel said something about the two of you... being together."

Sara blushed lightly, "he did? That's so wonderful!"

Evelyn took her friend's hand in her own, "Sara, he won't be good for you, he isn't a good person, have you not seem him over all these years?"

"He treats me different though, I'm not like the others he's been with, he said I was special."

"He's just saying that."

Sara rolled her eyes, "well, what would you know? You've never had a boyfriend and the only boy you talk to is Tom Riddle who barely even counts!"

"I'm just worried about you, I want to make sure you're safe, you're my friend..." She trailed off.

"Well, there's nothing to worry about! And even if there was, it would be none of your business anyway!" Sara slammed her textbook on the table, waking Lily with a start, before storming out of the library.

"W-what happened?" Lily asked airily.

"Did you know Sara was dating Daniel?"

Lily chewed on her cheek, "yes."

"And nobody thought to tell me? I thought we were supposed to be friends!" Evelyn could feel the anger boiling inside of her, "Friends tell each other things!"

"Evelyn you've been so distracted lately, you're so busy revising or going to Slug Club meetings, we don't hang out like we used to anymore!"

"Real friends would still talk to me, they would make an effort!" She knew she had hit Lily where it hurt. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she left took her textbook and left the library, leaving Evelyn alone.

Evelyn sighed deeply, everything since returning to Hogwarts after the holidays had gone wrong. The only hope of changing that would be to figure out what had happened to her parents, it was all she needed, she had to do it.

Knowing she was unlikely to retrieve more information on her own, she knew exactly who she had to turn to. "Evelyn, I believed we were staying away from each other?" Tom said eyebrow raised as he spotted her making her way towards him.

She took a seat opposite him, pulling out the letters she had stored inside her textbook from the previous night. "I need your help." She said plainly.