THE ESSENCE OF TIME
~SPELL, SPARKS, AND SMIRKS~

•••

THE TRIO, NOW FINISHED WITH THEIR lunch, walked towards the door of the Great Hall and said goodbye to Lysander who had Muggle Studies. Now only two, Evangeline and Emily made their way to Transfiguration.

The face of Dumbledore greeted the pair once they made their way inside the classroom. Settling their satchels on the seats that they have chosen in the middle of the room.

"Ms. Lunaris, Ms. Blythe." Dumbledore greeted with a nod.

"Good Afternoon, professor." Emily greeted back with a smile, sitting down in her seat.

Evangeline was about to follow suit but Dumbledore's voice had stopped her movements. "Evangeline, how are you settling in?"

Evangeline looked at him, "It's going quite well, sir."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at that, "Glad to hear." He smiled, allowing Evangeline to finally sit down beside Emily.

Unbeknownst to her, Tom Riddle had entered the room along with Theodore Nott, hearing the conversation beforehand.

He was immensely curious about the new girl. First, she shows up out of nowhere and dares to correct him and defend Muggle properties, then proceeds to call him immature and has the nerve to blow him a kiss and a wink. And as much as Tom hates to admit it, he couldn't shake her image out of his head ever since breakfast, especially her eyes. Now, Dumbledore was asking about how she was.

Tom rolled his eyes at the professor, he should stop trying to be the good guy and put on a caring front for his students when Tom knew damn well that it was all an act. Just like what he did to him.

Dumbledore took notice of the two Slytherins that just entered the room before forming a plan in his mind, smirking at what he thought, he turned around towards his desk, sorting through his notes.

After a few minutes, the classroom was now filled with students, indicating that it was time to start the lesson. Dumbledore cleared his throat and all the chatter in the room ceased to exist.

He stood up from his chair and examined each of his students.

"I have decided to assign seats for each and every one of you—" Not having to finish his sentence, the students made noises of complaint as soon as he started.

Dumbledore raised his hand to signal the class to quiet down, "I know that this might seem like a horrible decision—"

"Absolutely foul!" A student yelled, causing Dumbledore to chuckle.

"Like Calloway's stench!" Another student chimed in causing everyone to stop and look at the person that yelled.

A Gryffindor student cowered in his seat, avoiding any form of eye contact.

"I don't stink, do I stink?!" Said a different person, assuming that this was Calloway. A scrawny Hufflepuff, looking at his seatmate who avoided his glance and looked at the ceiling.

"I didn't know Hogwarts had wooden ceilings." She wondered at loud.

"What the fu—"

"Moving on!" Dumbledore interrupted Calloway. "This is about fostering house unity. Merlin knows that we need that." Dumbledore mumbled.

Evangeline knew for a fact that that wasn't his reason, it may be part of it, but it sure as hell isn't the main one. She looked at the man and gave him the rudest glare she could muster. She wished that Snape had killed him before this class had started.

Motherfucker, you better not put me next to that poster child for bad decisions.

"I will be reading out your names, those will be your partner for the rest of this school year."

Emily huffed and looked at Evangeline, "This is absolutely ridiculous, I really don't want to be sat next to a Slytherin who always acts like they're better than anyone. A Gryffindor whose ego is higher than the Lovegoods and a Hufflepuff—" She cut off her thinking, "I don't know actually— I have nothing against them, maybe except for Calloway, he really does have a foul smell." Emily said, looking at Calloway who was conveniently picking his nose, she shuddered in fear.

"Everhart and Hiddleston, Holland and Posey, Stilinski and Hale, Kensington and Wheeler..." Dumbledore started naming the students, hearing some occasional groans and the rattle of bags that were being lifted by their owners. One by one, the students went to their assigned chairs whilst the others waited for their names to be called.

"Blythe with Langley." Emily let out a sigh beside Evangeline and looked at the person who would be her seatmate. A girl with auburn hair and matching Gryffindor robes stood up and walked to where they were supposed to be sitting.

"It's better than a man." Emily smiled with content as she approached the girl, giving her a smile before sitting down.

Dumbledore let out a few more names before smiling and looking at Evangeline. Sensing his stare, she glared at the man, resisting the urge to raise her fist and lift her middle finger to the man's face.

"Lunaris and Riddle."

Upon hearing their surnames, Evangeline let out a noticeable huff that Tom took notice of. Both of them went to their seats and got comfortable— even if Evangeline felt like a thousand ants were crawling under her skin.

"I wasn't aware that you and Dumbledore are well acquainted with each other, Lunaris." Tom broke the silence, his gaze not leaving the book he was reading.

Evangeline looked at him and let out a scoff before rolling her eyes, "Eavesdropping now, are  you?"

"I don't eavesdrop,"  Tom replied, closing his book and facing the girl. "I merely walked in as the conversation began."

"And what's it to you, Sniffles." She shot back without hesitation.

Tom froze at her insult, Sniffles? What does that even insinuate? He masked his confusion, refusing to let the bizarre insult rattle him.

"I was simply curious. You see, Dumbledore doesn't usually check in with students."

Evangeline was getting bored of this conversation and decided to spice things up.

"Why do you want to know? From all these questions that you keep throwing, one might think that you want to talk to me, Riddle." Now looking at him and giving him a smirk.

Tom'a gaze sharpened at her retort and felt heat creeping towards his neck and onto his face. He wasn't expecting that response from her— or anyone for that matter. Sure, many girls had flirted with Tom before but those were more like throwing themselves onto him. She was insinuating that Tom wanted to talk to her and not the other way around.

Composing himself, he decided to play her game. If she wanted something spicy, he was going to give her a firestorm.

Smirking back, "Maybe I just like hearing you talk."

For a split second, Evangeline faltered, she was expecting him to glare at her before shutting up but his words made Evangeline's heart skip a beat. And not in a romantic way but in the way that she felt like she was having a nightmare.

But then again, as we all know, Evangeline wasn't going to back down, "Careful, Tom. I do love to talk, your ears might bleed."

"Fortunately, I know a spell for that." His smirk matched hers, but his tone carried a tone of amusement. Resting his elbow on the desk and letting his face rest at the palm of his hand, looking at Evangeline with a sly expression.

"I'm a new student, Riddle. It's not that surprising that a teacher is checking in on me." Evangeline scoffed at the boy, she wasn't aware of Tom's game.

"Now that wasn't so hard, darling." Tom sarcastically smiled at her, before going back to his book.

During their banter, Dumbledore had finished arranging the students to their seats and told everyone to open their textbooks on page 4.

Without their knowledge, someone had been listening to their whole conversation and was now seething in their seat. Staring at the girl with a newfound hatred.

•••

Classes ended rather quickly, Evangeline was fixing her stuff when Tom stood up to leave. He looked at the girl who was already staring at him, he blew her a kiss and winked at Evangeline before letting out a chuckle and meeting up with Theodore who was waiting for him.

Evangeline turned red, That noseless bastard! He's stealing my moves! She thought, stuffing some parchment into her satchel.

Before she could fume further, Dumbledore approached, "Evangeline, I'd like to see you after dinner. Come to my office when you've finished eating."

Evangeline nodded, her curiosity piqued, but Ton still within earshot, stiffened Why would Dumbledore have a private meeting with a student? Something isn't right. Tom grimaces at the thought, determined to find out their relation to one another.

Evangeline was now walking towards Emily, both of them left the room and started talking to each other.

"You flirted with Tom Riddle, and he actually flirted back!" Emily said to the girl.

Evangeline only shrugged in response.

"He gave you a wink and blew you a kiss!" Her eyes now widened at Evangeline's nonchalant form.

"Eh, it was all banter. Both of us were trying to piss each other off."

"By flirting?!" Emily was flabbergasted, "Merlin! Tons of girls have flirted with Tom before but he all turned them down, either nicely or harshly but he has never flirted back with any of them! You are the first." Emily exclaimed, a bit terrified at the fact but the excitement was evident in her voice.

"So?"

"So?! This might be the start of something new!"

"What happened to stay away from him?"

"Never mind— that I'm a sucker for romance! Maybe you could change him." Emily laughed.

Evangeline rolled her eyes at her friend and was about to reply when someone appeared out of thin air, yelling at the girl.

"Stay away from him!" A voice called out from behind, she hadn't noticed her before but knew she was in one of her classes. A girl a bit taller than Evangeline by an inch or two, approached her with her wand pointing at her. She had dark curly hair that was a bit messy, similar to that of Hermione, and had a small mole on the side of her mouth. Her nose was as sharp as they came but she couldn't deny that this person who was about to hex her looked quite beautiful.

Narrowing her eyes, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I hadn't realized that Tom had a 'No Entry' sign. You see, my eyesight has always been terrible and I'm in dire need of glasses." She answered sarcastically.

This made the girl more infuriated, "Stupe—" she started but was shocked to see her wand flying out of her hand. "Expelliarmus!" Evangeline was quicker.

"That was awfully rude of you," Evangeline said.

"You! Ugh! You will pay for that one!" The girl growled.

Evangeline walked closer to the girl and stared her down, "Bother me again and that wand won't be the only thing on the ground." She said through gritted teeth. Giving the girl one last glare before grabbing Emily's arm and pulling her to their destination.

The girl let out a frustrated yell, grabbing her wand on the ground and leaving the scene.

Tom was amidst the student population who watched the scene. He was impressed at the show Evangeline created, granted, he was also annoyed at the girl who claimed him like she was her property but all that washed away when Evangeline stood up for herself and threatened the girl.

It did something inside Tom's stomach. Seeing the way Evangeline disarmed her opponent. And it definitely wasn't the growing tent in his pants. It was something else.