Chapter One: Evelyn Black

   September 3rd, 1997, Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry

...

Evelyn...

   The only thing could be heard through human ears was the loud music playing, and the crazy laughter of sick drunk Slytherins; the air was filled with the sharp, awful smell of alcohol and smoke. Cigarette smoke, or perhaps, it was drugs along with it.

   And the only thing that could be seen was nothing; I was blinded by the colourful, dancing lights swallowing the whole common room.

   I didn't know why I was there in the first place. Parties are pathetic; always a complete waste of time. But even though I had a good hold on all my emotions, there was something I could not help: my curiosity, which would get triggered when a party was thrown by a bunch of drunken teen Death Eaters, dancing recklessly in the centre of attention and drawing no attention to themselves at the same time.

   But one fact could never be changed: once the Dark Lord's son, the reckless Mattheo Riddle, would step foot in a place, there was a heavy chance that he would be carrying a disaster along. And, when a disaster was imminent, I usually had the desire, plus the curiosity, to witness it.

   But this time, I had been set in the middle of these young Death Eaters to witness. And that could be probably the reason I was not quite enjoying it anymore.

   I stepped into this trash of a party, nothing interesting happened, now the only thing I wanted was to rush out of it. And my friends __ Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Nott __ would not be happy about it. But I did not care. I didn't want to be there.

   I didn't want to be there, and the fact that my enemy, Mattheo Riddle, was in front of my eyes, drunk, dancing with a random Slytherin girl, made me ten times more interested in leaving; running away without telling anyone, and taking a big gulp of the non-alcoholic air outside.

   But I didn't run away. I just decided not to think, just for that night, about that I was to get close to him.

    Funny, right? My enemy __ let's not overstatement it, my non-friend mate ___ was my closest friend's, Theodore's, best friend. And between all the people in this huge castle, I had to get close to him, my so-called enemy.

   However, the title of 'enemy' was, perhaps, too much, for he had absolutely nothing to do with me; we mainly avoided each other in these years, hating each other in a loud silence, pretending our parents hadn't fought each other near the point of death for so many times. Our hatred for each other probably also had something to do with inheritance, because my father, who would be the infamous Sirius Black, and Mattheo's mother, the more infamous and crazy Bellatrix Lestrange, were always quite loathing each other with heart; to the death.

   Last year, when my father was nearly greeted by the endless peace with Bellatrix's hands, the only thing intercepting this fortunate event was the famous Harry Potter, with his pathetic, heroic gang, who saved him eventually. I had to add: I was unaware of anything happening out there, reading my Advanced Potion-making in the sheer peace of the common room.

   And I couldn't help, I sometimes really wished Harry wouldn't have saved him. It would make no difference for me, anyway. Because when he broke out of Azkaban with the help of the famous trio, when he shed tears while inviting Harry to live with him, I was completely clueless about having a father called Sirius Black.

   He had no role in my life, and I had none in his.

   It was obvious to everyone that he loved Harry, but hated me. No surprise at all, for I was a Slytherin, when they all thought Slytherin was evil. Or, perhaps, could be because I kind of looked like his dear cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, in appearance. But mostly important, Harry was James Potter's son, my father's dead best friend, and I knew he thought he was looking at his best friend whenever he looked at Harry.

   However, I didn't blame Harry for any of this. It would be stupid if I did, because it wasn't Harry's fault at all, that my father did not like me. Though, I definitely could not stand his arrogant head, even if I didn't hate him like he did me. Yes; he, too, hated me. Because I was a Slytherin, when he was a Gryffindor, and no one could deny that Gryffindors, considering he, hated Slytherin.

   I was deep into my own thoughts, unnoticed of anything that would happen in the party for the last thirty minutes __ or even past. Before my eyes lay on Theodore: he was dragging a sick drunk Pansy across the common room, his arm circled around her thin waist to support her weight, she, on the other hand, was clinging to the poor boy with her arm around his neck.

   In that pathetically uncomfortable position, they passed through the dancing, wasted Slytherins, making their way straight towards me.

   "She's drunk as hell," breathed Theodore, displaying his thick Italian accent.

   His steel-gray eyes were barely visible in the dull, colorful light of the common room; though his dark, tousled hair was plainly noticeable. Compared to Pansy, and me, he kind of was a thin but vigorously tall Death Eater __ which he actually was.

   "I can see that," I said lazily, straightening myself up on the couch.

   "Let go of meeh! I'm fineeeeh!" Pansy's roar made me even more sure about how drunk she was.

   Her jet-black, neck-length hair looked as though she was just coming out of a storm; her bangs were untidy over her pale forehead, and the rest of the oddly black hair was only better.

   "You are definitely not." Standing up slowly, I took a step towards them, smelling the more alcohol running into my nostrils.

   "Would you take her to your dorms?" Theodore asked.

   My nod was laced with the satisfaction of finding an excuse to leave finally. And so I reached out to lift Pansy's weight off Theo's shoulders, putting it on mine instead.

   "I don' need helppph!" the girl grumbled.

   "You do. Now be quiet or I will hex you." I grabbed her wrist, wrapping her arm around my neck while my arm circled around her waist to support her clumsy feet.

   "Why so harsh..." I hadn't noticed I was being harsh before she mumbled it.

   Trying to keep Pansy upon her feet, I caught Theodore staring at me with his smoky eyes. The cold exchange lasted so long before his smirk put a playful abrupt on it.

   "Don't die from drinking too much." My eyes squinted at him before I would know, and then Pansy was hauled by me out of the common room.

   "This is pathetic." My eyelids drooped.

   "I was jus' havin' funn!... It's not mye problem yo're boring!..." Pansy replied.

   "You are definitely right." Saying that, I felt like a mother agreeing with her child's bullshit.

   And then her stumbling nearly snapped something in me.

   I took a deep, long breath. "For Merlin's sake."

   Already annoyed, feeling something heavy hit my shoulder when it walked past me, I peeked around. My head snapped to stare at Mattheo Riddle, hand-to-hand dragging the girl he was dancing with earlier, with a hideous grin on both faces, towards the exit of the common room. The grin, which you would see on him only when he was drunk, or when he was with his 'boys'.

   "I didn't know you were blind," I hissed coldly, quiet but loud enough for them to hear.

   Even though my voice sounded nothing as anger or frustration, my insides were burning furiously. And, to my worsening, he did not do more than throw a quick glance over his shoulders at me __ his already awful but still-cold grin widening. Which made my jaw tighten unconsciously.

   Now I take it back: my hatred towards him had got the least to do with inheritance.

   We were enemies only because he was an annoying dirtbag.

   Because he simply deserved to be loathed.