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14 | immobulus

immobulus

charm; immobilises living targets

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CLASSES SEEMED LONGER SOMEHOW, the blistering cold not making things any better. It was late October—the 28th, to be exact, and All Hallows' Evening was to be celebrated. Although Hogwarts did not do more than it's usual feast, it was a fun way to take some time off and not have to do the gruelling work that the life of a student required. The jack-o-lanterns were a must, and this year there was a rumour that the teachers were even planning a bonfire in addition to the customary festivities due to the incident involving the Chamber.

The prefects were in charge of helping decorate the halls and the school for the traditional activities and right now, it was the last thing that Evelina wanted to do. Transfiguring rotten pumpkins into firm, bright orange ones that could be carved wasn't how she imagined spending her day.

But at least she had been partnered with Tom; his presence made the job bearable.

Picking up another box, she curled her arms around it and stumbled towards him, panting a little. "Why are we stuck with this job. Honestly, the first years could do this!"

"I know," He sighed, taking it from her gently. "If only, if only."

"Oh, stop it."

"Stop what?" He asked mischievously. "I didn't say anything."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're amusing yourself with my irritation at this task."

Tom only snickered in response.

"Tom." Evelina warned, throwing him a warning glance. His blue eyes were cast downwards as he tried to hide his laughter and she's never thought he'd ever looked as beautiful as he did in that moment, like a rare animal that could be scared into reality at any moment.

"I know," He said, sobering up, back straightening as he towered inches above her. "Désolé."

Evelina nodded in appreciation. "Oui, merci beaucoup."

"So if that's all fine now, let's get back to work." He said as enthusiastically as he could.

She only groaned in response.

"Come on, let's get this over with," He said again.

"Fine." She said, slowly walking over to the railing of the stairwell with her wand. "What should we do here?"

"I don't know..." Tom replied, moving towards her. "Wait, maybe garlands of fall leaves woven through it?"

"I guess that'll work," Evelina muttered. With a wave of her wand and a small phrase, burgundy, golden and orange leaves slithered through the gaps in the staircase.

"It's beautiful, just like I said it would be." He smirked in victory.

"Yeah, yeah."

The next few hours were spent as such, decorating the rest of the castle festively and occasionally running into other prefects. Although tedious, it wasn't as bad as Evelina had expected, and she was actually proud of her work. Hogwarts looked glorious when they were done, and it was all in a day's work.

Pride blossomed in her heart in place of boredom, and she let a smile take over her features as she glanced at everything they had accomplished. There was something magical about the autumn themed decorations, like it was a land that she'd read about in her books when she was younger.

"Let's go?" Tom asked her, placing his hand on her arm gently.

"Okay," She whispered.

They walked back to the dorms together, and Evelina slid into the chairs, sighing as she felt the soft, plush velvet against her calves. Her legs ached; standing up for more than four hours straight did not do anything good for them. She flexed them gently, stretching them out.

Tom sat down gently, practically slipping into the chair in a way that made her feel clumsy.

His gaze turned to her, and she shifted uncomfortably under it's steadiness, a tingle making it's way up her spine. For what felt like hours—but was probably only a minute—he looked at her as if he was analysing her. She could feel him picking out her flaws, her insecurities, the lies, but there was nothing she could do; she was frozen. For a moment she wondered if she'd been petrified, but then she realised foolishly that it would be much too dangerous for Tom to try without revealing himself as the person she knew him to be.

Even though recently he'd shown her a supposedly different side to him, Evelina was smarter than that. He was playing with her and she knew it.

He was handsome.

He was intelligent.

He was charming.

He was manipulative.

But he wasn't hers.

So in that moment, Evelina Moreau, 'greatest female wizard in Hogwarts' resolved to find out who he really was and what he was doing, because she knew one thing for sure:

It was nothing good, which meant she had her chance to get rid of her only competition.

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translations

desole = sorry

oui, merci beaucoup = yes, thank you very much

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sorry for the lack of updates, i was really busy [founder's day at my school is coming up] and i had writer's block ughh. this chapter is only half-way done but i'll upload it anyways [so sorry that i always do this] because i'm so late. if you comment i'll reply when i'm finished that i'm finished so you'll receive a notification. anyways, i hope you enjoyed this chapter and all the fluff because this is the peak of their relationship. but... as you can see, evelina's making inferences and they may be true, or they may be false.

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unedited

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