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17 | melofors

melofors

jinx; encases targets head in a pumpkin

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EVELINA PUSHED PAST YET ANOTHER FIRST YEAR as she headed into the great hall. This time it was a young girl of eleven, her hair swinging in a curtain the color of chocolate. Her eyes widened slightly as she eyed Evelina warily, realizing who she was and what she was wearing. Another time, this girl would have simply stood there in awe, but at this moment, she rushed off to one of her friends, pointing at Evelina and whispering in the young one's ear.

Evelina rolled her eyes and stalked past them as Arden bumped into her.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She said, slowly looking up. "Evelina?"

Evelina smirked, green eyes twinkling in the ambient light of the hall. "Hello, Arden."

"Hey, Ev. Where have you been?" Arden said, swallowing dryly and looking slightly to the left of Evelina's head.

"Arden..." The girl straight at her and then glanced away. "What are you hiding from me?"

Arden blushed a little, and then dragged her to one of the many benches marked for Slytherin use.

"There's been so much that happened today." Arden groaned. "It's all so much... I haven't gotten a chance to really think about it."

Feeling a rare connection to her best friend, Evelina spoke. "I know Arden. It's the same for me."

"What happened?"

"At this point, I'm not really sure." Evelina sighed. "I've been feeling so much; too much, these days, and it's all very confusing..." Seeing Arden's shocked face, she continued cautiously. "Although I'm sure it's nothing."

Evelina had occasionally felt angry, betrayed, or disgusted, but never these new ones... The jealousy wasn't exactly a first, but before it'd always been over marks, a new cloak or something controversial, nothing like a person. This, this was strange. It was strange, but some of it felt good, like a warm sweater after the cold of winter had embraced her.

Funnily enough, today the chill of winter was starting to really set in; she could feel it deep in her bones. Although it was not snowing yet, she knew it would soon, as it was only a matter of time that the clouds grew swollen and heavy with gray underbellies instead of white and fluffy. Storms were predictable, and it was easy to tell in england, although the weather changed every few seconds.

Winter not only brought snow and ice, and chances to slip and fall and break a bone, but hot chocolate and cuddling, and a warm blanket at midnight —

     Cuddling? What was she thinking?

She knew it. This must be some type of sorcery from Tom's side; something she'd been unable to block... But then how would she suspect it?

Arden had been walking silently by Evelina's side for the past few minutes when a Gryffindor student of their year hustled past them. He looked lost in his own thoughts, and Evelina recognized him as Rubeus Hagrid, a young man in her potions class. He was not particularly well known but had a knack for dealing with magical, and non-magical for that matter, creatures.

He was not especially popular, but had a good reputation with the teachers, and had a few friends who he could rely on, although none of those were human.

Evelina had heard rumors about this; that he was befriending some type of monster, but she wasn't sure. It was just a rumor, after all, nothing more, nothing less. However, only a few new about it, and she doubted Tom knew as this was something the girls had shared as close friends.

Hogwarts was noisy, especially around dinner time, and the clinking of a fork against a plate distracted Evelina from her thoughts. She sat down silently next to Arden, mulling over everything.

Maybe she should tell him about Hagrid.

Maybe she shouldn't.

But if she did —

"Evelina." Arden whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?" Evelina smiled a little, shoving her mask back into place.

"Evelina... I'm worried about you. You seem more..." Arden stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"What?" Evelina muttered.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"No; now you must tell me." Evelina pushed.

Arden sighed loudly and noticeably, giving in. "Fine. I was going to say that you seem more vulnerable," Evelina fumed silently but kept up her happy act. "but you're clearly not if you can still act like you're happy."

"What?"

"Oh, Evelina... I've known you since you were born; I know everything there is to know about who you are. I can predict what you are going to do, and I can tell what you did, but for once I don't know why you're so confused. Please, tell me. You need to confide in somebody."

"Okay... I suppose I should tell you," Just as a happy sparkle shown in Arden's eyes, Evelina resumed. "But you have to tell me what's going on with you first."

"That's fine." Arden looked down and scooped some mashed potatoes onto her plate. "But you're going to be so mad at me."

"No promises," Evelina winked, making her friend laugh. "Now tell me."

"Rodolphus told me that he fancies me." Arden said quickly, and then clasped her hand against her mouth.

Evelina nearly spit her soup out. "What?"

"And here's the thing..." Arden pursued. "I like him too." At Evelina's shocked face, she whimpered slightly. "You don't like him, do you? Is that what you wanted to tell me? Oh what a bad friend I am!"

"No, no, Arden it's completely all right. I don't like him. I just wanted to tell you that I had a headache and went to the infirmary." Evelina lied smoothly.

"I highly doubt it..." Arden murmured. "But whatever you say. Anyways, what should I do? He wants to court me, but I wasn't sure."

"Go ahead, Arden." Evelina said, the wheels in her head turning mischievously. "I'm sure you two are perfect for each other."

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double update, thanks to stardust24601 again for motivating me so much; i hope you'll enjoy! [hopefully there will be tons of updates now yay!]

NOT ONLY THAT BUT TYYYSM FOR 20K READS WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK NOT JUST THAT BUT OVER 1.5K VOTES AND OVER 1K COMMENTS OMGOMGOMG <33

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unedited

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