Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle [Rewritten] ✓

CHAPTER THIRTY

Although Evelyn knew that everything at NEWT level would be harder, she had not anticipated how little free time she would have, she had even had to abandon the Ravenclaw Quidditch team due to the workload, something she had hoped to avoid.

Even when it came to the weekend, Evelyn spent her time in the library with Lily, whilst Sara spent her weekends with a boy and then copied their work. She missed the Quidditch team, but once she saw the training schedule, she was glad she had made the difficult decision to quit the Quidditch Team.

"Do you have much work left?" Lily asked, looking up from her essay.

Evelyn looked down at her incomplete essay, "I still haven't finished the essay for Charms!"

"Is it alright if I go back to the common room?" Lily looked guilty, "it's just that I could really do with a nap and I know you have your Prefects meeting later!"

Evelyn shook her head, "no, no it's fine! This essay looks like it will take me all the way to the meeting anyway, you go sleep!" She watched as her friend packed up her parchment before returning to her essay. It took Evelyn a good few hours before her essay felt complete, and by the time it did, the library had emptied out.

"What are you still doing here?" She heard Tom call out to her from across the library.

Evelyn sighed deeply, "well, I was doing my work until someone who I do not want to talk to came over and interrupted me rudely!" She kept her eyes on the essay.

"I thought you might want to hear what I have to say, I feel as though it may interest you..." He trailed off. When Evelyn didn't respond, he continued, "it's about Astrea Black."

Evelyn raised her eyebrows, glancing at Tom. "Why would I have any interest in her?" She spat, flinching as she recalled her encounter with Astrea.

"Well, I hear she wished to duel you."

"And why would I want to do that?" Evelyn began rolling up her essay, keeping her eyes on Tom at all times.

"Well," Tom began, "it would feel good to win against someone who did such thing to you, it would help you practice your magic, it would make your parents proud."

"Would it make you stop talking to me?"

"I guess it may, although I would like to be present for the duel, I'm sure it would be interesting." He tilted his head, staring intensely at Evelyn.

She stood up, "and whereabouts would this be?"

"She'll be waiting for you in the Forbidden Forest at midnight, as will I. I do hope you both leave in one piece,"

"Really?"

"Well, perhaps one more than the other." He stood up, leaving Evelyn alone in the library.

Evelyn sat quietly for a few moments, alone in the library, before she decided to make her way to the Prefects meeting. Like most meetings, it was taking place in an unused classroom and being headed up by the Head Girl and Boy, both of whom were rather stuck up Gryffindor students whom Evelyn had taken a quick disliking to.

"Glad you could finally join us," Amos Abbott said, rolling his eyes at the Head Girl Evangeline.

She scoffed loudly, "yes, as Amos said, glad you could grace us with your presence. Now, where were we?"

Tom Riddle piped up, "we were just discussing the abuse of the Prefect system..."

Evangeline blushed with a light giggle, "why thank you, Tom. Of course, as I was saying although being a Prefect is a great honour and allows you certain privileges, I do not want these abused!"

Amos wiped his badge, "I expect you all to be wearing your Prefect badges at all times, any individual seen without theirs will be reported back to the Headmaster, it is simply unacceptable!"

"Let me remind you of the certain duties and privileges you all have," Evangeline took a seat on the edge of a desk, "you are allowed to take house points away from houses, and that does include your own, however, you may not take points away from other prefects! You can also give out detentions as appropriate punishments if you deem necessary, although I would hope you attempt to avoid this option!"

"Shortly," Amos took over, "we will be sending you the patrol schedules and I expect you all to stick to them, you will be in charge of making sure students are not breaking curfew, and if they are you shall provide an appropriate punishment!

"You also have use of the Prefects Bathroom this year, this is located on the fifth floor. The password to get inside will be Lily Blossom and you are not permitted to share this, or the bathroom with anyone other than the other people in this room! Is that understood?" Evelyn felt as though she were in a class again once all the worried Prefects nodded beside her. "Now, I shouldn't have to say this, but we have had some issues. Please refraining from involving yourselves with the other Prefects! It makes my job so much harder!" Evangeline clapped her hands together once she had finished speaking, looking around the room at the Prefects with raised eyebrows as though to reinforce the message.

"Well, it was great to see you, please ensure you follow your timetables and keep Hogwarts safe!" Amos smiled at the group before heading out of the office, closely followed by Evangeline and the rest of the Prefects.

Evelyn sighed, glad to be freed from the meeting, but also dreading her encounter with Astrea Black later.

"You heard what they said," she heard Tom Riddle behind her, close enough to feel his breath on her neck, "please refrain from involving yourself with me Evelyn, it makes my job harder than it should be."