Resolution – By Slytherin's Dragon
19/08/13
Chapter 13: Reveal
When Evander got up the next morning at his habitual early hour, all was quiet except for the crackling of the green fire in the laboratory's fireplace. He crawled out of the tangled mess of patchwork quilt and thick sheets that were lying on the stone cold floor. He was halfway through his morning exercise regimen when he remembered the events that had transpired last evening. He stopped midway through a one-armed-push-up to stand up. He examined his body carefully, trying to see if there were any residual after effects. He shrugged; he felt pretty damned good on a Saturday morning.
Looking towards the benches, he saw the slumped figure of Felix sitting on a stool. His head was lying on one of his many lab books. Closer inspection revealed the presence of a puddle of liquid that Evander strongly suspected was drool bleeding into the ink on the page that Felix had fallen asleep upon. Evander shook his head in parts dismay and amusement – the soft life of Hogwarts was eroding away many of Felix's Auror skills. Felix had been supposed to stay up and monitor him for any negative reactions from the encounter of magicks unknown. Deciding to be magnanimous, Evander let the sleeping Felix lie, considering that he felt fine and left the laboratory.
He knocked on the stone slab that served as the entry point to Severus' personal chambers. He knew that Severus was an early-riser like he was. He waited a good minute before the stone moved, revealing the Potions Master in a simple shirt and trousers. He had a mug of steaming tea in hand.
"What brings you so early to my domicile?" Severus asked.
"Breakfast?" Evander replied with a smidgeon of hope.
"Odd..." Severus muttered more to himself. But the taller man stepped aside to let Evander in before allowing the slab to slide quietly back into place.
Evander soon made himself at home at the dining table, which was already teeming with the breakfast goodies of Missy, the busy house-elf girl who rushed to and fro between the kitchen and the living room. Picking up one of the buttery biscuits from a plate, Evander took an appreciative bite, just as Severus pulled out the chair across from him and sat down.
They ate in companionable silence for the most part. Evander downed a glass of milk in addition to the other hearty English breakfast necessities – sausages, bacons, fried bread, eggs and tomatoes. As his appetite began to be somewhat sated, Evander asked bluntly.
"Did you ever kill anyone - in your Death Eater days?"
It was a simple question, really. Severus froze when he realized what exactly Evander had asked, fork midway from his plate and mouth. Evander was well aware that Severus had killed Albus in his old life, but he had wondered if Severus had done the deed during his younger years. He remembered how easily Severus had fired the Killing Curse back then on the Astronomy Tower. Prearranged or not, Evander was pretty sure that Severus had done it before. He certainly wasn't judging the man though; he himself had killed both directly and indirectly, although never with the Avada Kedavra.
"Yes or no?" Evander prompted.
There was a moment of indecisiveness on Severus' face before he spoke. The clatter of his fork on his plate pierced the silence. A piece of sausage was still speared upon it. "I have. It was so long ago. Most of it was via... more... indirect means."
"Potions?" Evander speculated.
"Poisons, toxins, potions that did unthinkable things to people before the final mercy of release by death – I was a creative bastard... that I was." Severus said slowly, encouraged by Evander's prompt. There was a ghost of a smile on his lips that lasted barely a second. He continued, "and directly too – Sectumsempra, the Killing Curse... Sectumsempra was my curse – you know." His face turned passive. There was a cool look to his eyes. "I won't lie to you, Evander; I enjoyed my first kill. It was very nice to be validated by the Dark Lord - a little pet on the back. And that power I felt just as I uttered the incantation... It grew distasteful quite quickly – it was fortunate that I had other skills to offer the Dark Lord. Potions Masters were in short supply but not killers in the ranks. But anyhow, I ought to be rotting in Azkaban for my crimes. I wasn't an innocent man." Severus then laughed darkly. "Was this more information than what you expected?"
"No, actually," Evander replied. Fucking hell, he could relate to Severus on so many levels. "I can understand. You had an abusive father who was a Muggle. You grew up hating the bastard. You met my mother – dare I say it – you fell in love with her at some point. The problem: she was a Muggle. You went to Hogwarts. You met my bully of a father. You were ostracised by the majority of your peers. You wanted to be in prestigious Slytherin – you wanted to be great; to make something of yourself – to show your good-for-nothing father that his son could make an impact on the world. You met the fraction of Slytherins who went on to join the Dark Lord – their ideology or the politics suited you – the exact reason I cannot fully discern – but I can offer a multitude of guesses. You won yourself a place amongst them. You were accepted in a way that you never were –"
There was a loud sound of an explosion. Severus was standing up from his chair looking half incensed and half bewildered at his empty wand hand while Evander had Severus' polished ebony wand gripped in his dominant hand.
"I saw that coming." Evander said calmly.
"I apologize for my lack of self-control. The past is not something I enjoy contemplating about." Severus hung his head in what Evander perceived as shame. His voice was sincere – a strange tone that Evander had never heard issued from the Potions Master's lips. The Potions Master's hair swung forward like a curtain as he sat back down. He then asked sharply. "How did you do that? And where's your wand?"
"Trade secret," Evander winked. He looked down at Severus' wand, fingering the smooth and hard ebony wood. The wood was as unyielding as its owner. "I have powerful enemies, you see."
"You brought up way too much at once. I haven't thought about my roots for a long time." Severus admitted, "You know too much, Evander... It makes me incredibly uncomfortable that I don't know exactly what you know about me – especially since I know almost nothing in regards to the older-you. I am a guarded man – I don't part with secrets easily..."
"I figured the past is always a good place to start." Evander said philosophically. "If you ever want to turn your life around, you have to accept yourself – and all the bad and the good that comes with that. Because your past can easily catch up with you." Evander tossed Severus' wand across the table. Severus caught it, nimbly.
"It won't erase the things that I've done." Severus said in a small voice after putting away his wand in his sleeve. "The irredeemable things..."
"No, it doesn't." Evander agreed. "You can't change the past..." He then added brightly, "But you can change the future."
"That's the whole point of this soiree, isn't it? To change the future." Severus' voice was normal again, "Something happened to you that made you return back here, didn't it?"
Evander shook his head. "I wasn't lying when I told you I have no idea how Felix and I went back in time. Granted, we were both nearing the ends of our ropes – me more so than Felix. I like to think of it as Fate reaching out and fishing out two drowning kittens from the ocean as much as I hate intervention from unknown forces."
"That can't be true, can't it?" Severus asked bemusedly, "You, the vanquisher of the Dark Lord – the Chosen One, the Golden Boy –"
Evander laughed harshly. He then admitted, "I lived a fairly good life post-Voldemort. I rose quickly through the ranks of the Aurory. I became interested in Runes – mainly because I wanted to learn more about magic. I quickly realized that Runes was one of the safer ways that one could manipulate raw magic."
"That is still an incredibly dangerous field that you've gotten yourself involved in." Severus said in a surprisingly concerned tone, "Things can go horribly wrong – the consequences are endless... some even unimaginable -"
"I don't take it lightly, mind you." Evander said. He then said seriously. "That's probably how Miriam Lovegood died –" Upon seeing the look of confusion on Severus' face, Evander elaborated, "She's done some pretty good work in the spell – ..."
"Lovegood?" Severus interjected, "As in –"
"The third year Ravenclaw girl, yes," Evander affirmed. "I think it was a few years back when Luna was visiting me – it was before she married, actually. There was an unfinished hexagram in red ink that I had framed somewhere in the house and she remarked that it looked incredibly familiar from her childhood days. I was surprised – it was my one and only attempt at one of the holy grails of Rune Derivation – to manipulate the fabric of time."
"A hexagram – really?" Severus looked incredulous. "I might not be as skilled as you are in Runes, but I know for sure that you need more than a hexagram to –"
"That's why I was so surprised! Very few people would have attempted such a thing." Evander added, "That she was able to recognize it. She was even able to vaguely mention that it had something to do with time – I forgot the exact wording she used. It was such a peculiar occurrence. The doorbell rang after that, and we couldn't talk more about it. The topic just never came up on subsequent get-togethers."
"So you are sure that particular hexagram of yours is not responsible for –"
"I am pretty sure it wasn't. I never finished it for one thing. And I promised Hermione that I wouldn't meddle with the other dimensions after she found out what I was doing." Evander refuted, "She was livid about the whole messing with time thing even though she was the one playing with Time-Turners back in our third year... We compromised by agreeing that she was a hypocrite and that I shouldn't continue those kinds of derivations."
"That's never really stopped you –"
"From doing stupid things?" Evander looked at Severus with amusement. He then said honestly, "I guess not."
"That wasn't what I was going to s-"
"You were thinking it."
Severus sighed resignedly while Evander fell into a thoughtful silence. The clock on the wall behind Evander ticked the seconds. He wandlessly summoned a piece of parchment and a quill from somewhere in Severus' quarters. With practiced precision, Evander drew out the basic hexagram. He erased several guidelines while bolding others. Drawing the solution to a Runic derivation was something that Evander never did for practical use unless he knew for sure that he had the answer committed to memory; it was ridiculously dangerous otherwise.
"Hoping to jog her memory?" Severus finally asked several minutes later.
"Worth a shot if I get an opportunity. It's more for personal interest, really." Evander shrugged. "It's probably going to be a dead end – but you never know."
It was almost ten when Evander finished drawing his hexagram. Severus had summoned some of his journals from the coffee table in the living room and had spent the past hour leafing through them. Evander folded the parchment neatly into a square before tucking it in one of his robe pockets. He stood up, deciding that a nice shower in the Ravenclaw dormitories was necessary.
"See you later, Severus."
Severus merely nodded at Evander before Evander left the quarters. As he headed upstairs, he realized that he had inadvertently avoided mentioning the reasons why he had described himself as a drowning kitten. He shrugged – he didn't particularly relish the idea of bringing up his past again.
Your past can catch up with you...
His own words to Severus ominously rang in his mind.
It was always easy to give advice, but following it yourself was always another matter.
/(I)\
A shower and a change of clothes later, Evander found himself going for round two of breakfast at the Great Hall. He had spied Neville sitting by himself at the far corner of the Gryffindor table, walked over and pulled out the chair across from the Gryffindor. The dirty-blond boy looked somewhat glum over his eggs and toast.
"What's eating you, Nev?"Evander asked lightly as he snagged a piece of apple from the large fruit bowl nearby.
Neville shrugged, "It's just life in general. Nothing unusual – I burden you with enough of my problems."
Evander replied, "You look kind of upset. Seriously, it's no big deal if you tell me."
Neville smiled slightly, "Thanks Evander..." He sighed, "I just got a letter, that's all – from my grandmother." He looked downcast. "I know she means well, but every time she writes – she likes to write about my parents, the family honour – things that she thinks I ought to have accomplished by now and –"
"It makes you feel like crap?"
"That's one way to put it." Neville nodded. "I mean, when she found out that Harry got chosen as the Champion, she wrote me a letter about how I should have –"
Evander shook his head. "Seriously Neville, it's not worth brooding over, really." He then said, "If anyone makes you feel like shit, Neville – don't listen to them – even if it's your grandmother. You've managed to accomplish a lot this year –"
Neville added dryly, "Like not pissing in fear in Snape's class, every class – look at this!" The boy then rummaged excitedly through his bag and pulled out a roll of parchment. It was a Potions unit test. There was an E at the head of the parchment accompanied by the word 'adequate' in Severus' characteristic spiky handwriting. Otherwise, the parchment was devoid of Severus' merciless red pen with the exception of a few curt suggestions regarding the essay question at the bottom. "I wanted to jump up and down in excitement when I got it back yesterday in class."
"I am sure Severus would appreciate that." Evander smirked humorously.
"I mean an 'adequate' from Professor Snape is equivalent to a smiley face or something like that!" Neville grinned.
Evander laughed. "I will be sure to inform him so next time."
"Please don't mention my name." Neville suddenly looked nervous, "I would like –"
"Of course I won't." Evander said reassuringly. "I was just fooling around." He added, "I know what will cheer you up – let's go flying after I finish my Runes set!"
"I am horrible fl–" Neville interjected.
"Nah, I will teach how to fly like a professional," Evander offered quickly. Flying had been one of those things he had always wanted to teach Neville; the older Neville had never gotten the hang of flying. "It takes practice – that's all. Anyone can do it!"
Neville gave Evander a skeptical look before they were both interrupted by Hermione, holding a stack of parchment in hand, sitting down beside Neville.
"Do I even want to ask what those are?" Evander looked warily at the pile of papers on the table surface.
"Notes about the Triwizard," Hermione sat down and helped herself to a banana from the fruit bowl. She unpeeled it as she continued speaking, "I am trying to help Harry –"
"His heart isn't really in it, is it?" Evander added, "It's unfortunate – really – because you need focus to survive, let alone win."
"Did you find anything?" Neville asked Hermione.
"Not really –" Hermione sighed. "Especially not anything that we could accomplish in the three days that we've got – and it's really difficult to help someone who doesn't want to participate."
Neville and Hermione almost jumped when the clunk-step of fake-Mad-Eye approached them. Neville managed to drop his fork. Evander merely looked disinterested when the DADA professor interrupted rather ironically, "Convenient, isn't it? Potter has to compete regardless of his own wishes –"
Evander kept his voice cool, but even he couldn't fully suppress the dark humor of his tone, "Really, it's almost as if someone put his name in the Goblet in the vain hope that the boy-who-lived will die in the attempt."
He could have sworn that he saw a shadow cross over not-Mad-Eye's face, but it was gone just as instantly as he had noticed it. Hermione and Neville had cringed towards the end of Evander's sentence; they looked as if the temperature in the space that they were occupying had dropped below freezing. Evander kept looking at not-Mad-Eye until the professor was forced to take a step back.
"I don't know where you get your ideas, laddie –"
Oh yeah I do – from you! Evander laughed inwardly.
"It's almost like a conspiracy – really." Evander interrupted, "I mean, the Triwizard Tournament got reinstated this year – somehow Potter's name got into that Goblet – conveniently when he is ill-prepared to deal with the challenges as a Fourth Year –"
"It's like they ran out of low-level crazy things for Harry to deal with," Neville broke from his frozen state, "There was that foul smelling Quirrell bloke, then there was a basilisk and then an escapee from Azkaban –"
"And then bam! Notoriously dangerous tournament unlocked!" Evander finished.
Not-Mad-Eye loomed closer to the three. His prosthetic eye spun crazily. "Well, lads and lassie – if you feel that strongly about there being someone out there to get Potter, then I would like to enlist your cooperation into helping Potter make the best out of this tournament. I promised Albus that I'd keep an eye out on and give Potter a tip or two to even the scales."
"Well, it's not like I've got nothing better to do with my time." Evander said rather flippantly. You just don't want Harry killed at the wrong moment, don't you, Barty? And to make everyone think that you were on Harry's side all along. "What say you two?"
"I am doing that already," Hermione said just as Neville nodded.
"Good." Not-Mad-Eye nodded with some sort of satisfaction. "Remember, think of Potter's strengths." He headed towards the Head Table which was empty.
"Well, that was an odd conversation." Neville broke the awkward silence that had fallen.
"I think odd is an understatement, really." Evander helped himself to a plate of ribs that had materialized on the table a few seconds ago.
"So, library?" Hermione suggested while standing up.
"Let's," Neville slung his bag over his shoulders.
Shrugging, Evander picked up his plate of recently ordered ribs and his bag. He followed the other two out of the Great Hall.
/(I)\
Felix awoke to a horrible sulfurous smell. His back ached as did the rest of his body from sleeping in his slouched position. It took him a moment to think through why he was sleeping in such an uncomfortable position in the dungeons in lieu of his nice comfy four-poster bed upstairs, but when he did, he jumped. He frantically got off his stool and looked bewilderedly at the mess of sheets and quilt that Evander had left behind. He then began to roam the rest of the large laboratory until he was interrupted.
"Looking for something?" Severus' voice caused him to turn around sharply. The Potions Master was brewing the noxious smelling Potions that had aroused him from his slumber, "Or should I say, someone?"
"Evander – have you seen him? He wasn't feeling well last night –" Felix asked and explained.
"He looked fine when I saw him this morning. He wolfed down enough breakfast for two." Severus mused. "He never made mention of being ill during –"
"Ate breakfast for two?" Felix wondered. That was odd... Evander ate like a bird on most days.
"He's fine." Severus cut into Felix's thoughts.
"Alright then," Felix took Severus' judgement. It was also likely that Evander had expended a great amount of energy when attempting to possess the dragon last night; hence, why Evander might be eating a lot to make up for the loss. He then asked, "Do you need anything brewed today?"
"Check the book!" Severus gestured with his free hand. "There are always things to brew." He then added, "There's food left over from breakfast in my quarters."
Panic averted, Felix leisurely took his time to wash up in the laboratory washroom. He ate a hearty breakfast with Missy fussing over his every need in Severus' living room before heading back. After looking over the master logbook detailing the Potions brewed and needed to be brewed, Felix picked a few. He pulled out his lab book from his drawer and started to devise himself an algorithm for brewing the Potions in the least amount of time possible.
The next hour was filled with scribbling, the gurgle of Potions, the methodical noise of chopping knives on the wooden board and a variety of smells, flowery to putrid. Figures, Felix mused as he turned his attention to his whiteboard, Evander's out having fun while I am toiling for money. The white space was decorated with his proposed synthesis of Viagra and the runic-Arithmancy equations he used to derive his main project – the Nerve-Regeneration-Elixir.
Hell, he would have to come up with a catchier name than that.
He erased a few numerals with his hand and added another variable to his equations – something about Growth-Associated-Protein 43 expression that he had read recently somewhere. When he was done with that, he sat on his stool – temporarily bored – as he had to wait for steps to finish.
Impulsively, he got off his stool and opened Evander's drawer. He reached for the familiar pincushion which seemed to curl up more tightly just as his hand picked it up.
"Hey, where's the glass bottle?" Felix asked out loud. "I mean, flask."
Severus looked up from whatever step he was doing. "Which flask?"
"The one in Evander's drawer – the one used to hold –" Felix stopped talking. He didn't know how much Severus actually did know about the beetle-thingy or if Evander wanted his little secret to be shared with the Potions Master.
"A beetle?" Severus finished Felix's sentence with a great deal of amusement.
Felix looked surprised. "How much do you know?"
"I should be asking you as well. Draco brought the existence of the beetle to my attention yesterday." Severus explained. "The bottle was covered in a lot of interesting enchantments. My hands are tied at the moment but if you would go fetch it from my personal drawer..."
Felix obligingly did so. He held the flask in his hand. The leaves had reached a later decomposition stage and were starting to smell. Whatever moisture that had been in there had evaporated.
"Now do a simple charm-revealing spell." Severus instructed.
Felix gave his wrist a swish to summon his wand. He gave a practiced elaborate swish over the object. He had a lot of practice doing such revealing spells on suspected cursed, unknown and Dark artifacts during his days as an Auror trainee. It hadn't been too interesting; the most dangerous and interesting objects were usually saved for a legitimate Curse-Breaker.
The flask shone a rainbow of colours.
"Anti-shattering charm, two-way silencing charm, air-permeation charm..." Felix listed. He continued listing while periodically repeating the revealing spell.
"It sounds more bloody secure than Azkaban," Severus quipped just as Felix froze upon seeing a certain shade from his spell.
Felix repeated the spell several times just in case he was seeing things before saying, "I will be right back." He hurriedly left the lab and entered into Severus' quarters again. He recalled seeing a book on Spell-breaking in the Potions Master's quarters. After a quick scan, Felix pulled the tome out of the shelf. It was a little dusty so Felix blew on it gently. He brought it over to the coffee table. He hunted through the table of contents. He flipped the pages gently until he found the decoder for the general revealing spell.
So I wasn't mistaken...
Felix ran out of Severus' quarters and back into the lab.
"So what did you see?" Severus asked with veiled curiosity that Felix saw right through.
"There's an Anti-Animagi charm on this flask, Severus." Felix tried to say in a controlled manner. "So does that mean that this pincushion-beetle creature an –"
"Animagus?" Severus completed. He then remarked dryly, "Well, that makes things infinitely interesting and complicated."
"So, is there anyone missing in action these days?" Felix wondered. "Person's probably an illegal. I don't recall a beetle being on the registry. So what do we do with it?"
"Nothing." Severus said curtly. "Although I am curious to see who Evander would go through all this trouble for – a most interesting revenge plot."
"I don't know." Felix admitted. "I mean, I don't actually know Evander all that well even though I am sure everyone around Hogwarts thinks that we've known each other since forever. I knew him in a professional capacity before this whole involuntary adventure –"
Felix stopped when he heard the sound of the lab door opening. It was only Draco, dressed impeccably in simple robes of dark green.
"Draco, would you mind fetching us today's Daily Prophet - actually make that all the Daily Prophets from the past week." Severus turned his attention to his godson.
Draco blinked a few times at Felix and his godfather before letting out a reluctant sigh. Lethargically, the boy turned back towards the door and headed out as if leaving slower would induce Severus to take back his demand.
"Always the little dramatic prince of Slytherin, isn't he?" Felix mused when the door closed.
"Always," Severus acknowledged nonchalantly, "Ever since he was in diapers."
Felix almost choked.
/(I)\
"Oh, you are going to take Neville flying?" Hannah asked Evander after the three had left the library later that afternoon.
"Yeah," Neville answered with a mixture of nervousness and reluctance.
"I want to come too!" Hannah exclaimed excitedly. "Come on Neville, you look as if we are taking you to the Healer or something –"
"Then you better go get your broom, Hannah," Evander suggested.
"What's Neville going to fly with?" Hannah asked curiously.
"Felix's. We are heading off to the Ravenclaw Tower to fetch the broom." Evander answered.
"Oh, the Nimbus 2001... That's an excellent broom – it will look after you, Neville – no worries! Say, Evander, could I go for a ride on your broom?" Hannah asked hopefully, "I've always wanted to try the Firebolt!"
Evander nodded. Hannah beamed, rather much like a person whose dreams had suddenly came true. "I can't wait to tell my father that I got to ride a Firebolt! I will meet you guys at the Pitch!" She dashed off towards the nearest stairwell.
Evander and Neville walked up the long spiral staircase which led up towards the Ravenclaw dormitories. The riser and rails of the stairs were made up of bronze and on the newels that stood at the landing, there were statues of an owl and raven standing sentry-like. The birds stretched out their wings as both boys passed. Surrounded by the banners of Ravenclaw, the formidable door with the eagle doorknocker came into view.
"No portrait?" Neville mused, "How do we get in?"
Evander merely reached for the knocker and knocked once.
"I am tall when young and I am short when old – what am I?" The musical voice of the guardian of Ravenclaw inquired.
"Bloody hell, there's no password either?" Neville looked at Evander bewilderedly.
"Hang on there, Neville. I've got this." Evander proceeded to think for a moment. "It's a candle, isn't it?"
"Well done." The door swung open.
"That was an easy one." Evander said as he gestured that Neville ought to go in first. "There was a day where I ended up sleeping in the dungeon because I couldn't answer the question."
"That sucks," Neville followed Evander up another flight of stairs heading towards the fourth year male dormitory.
They walked out of the dormitory with Evander carrying his Firebolt and Neville gingerly carrying Felix's Nimbus 2001. Neville had also borrowed Felix's cloak, which was slightly too long for him. When they got to the Pitch, Hannah was already there, soaring in graceful circles on her Cleansweep. Neville placed Felix's broom on the ground.
"You still remember how to mount a broom, do you?" Evander asked.
"I think so. It's been awhile since First year." Neville looked at the Nimbus. "Up!"
The broom shot up slightly higher than knee level. Neville looked at Evander who nodded. Slowly, the fearful boy placed his leg over the broom.
"Come on, Nev – it's fun!" Hannah called from above, "Give a kick!"
"Give a good kick." Evander instructed – repeating Hannah's instruction.
Neville took a deep breath before bending his knees. Seconds later, he finally gave the ground a kick and he took off while clinging on to the handle for dear life. "Arghhh! Why did I agree to do this?"
Evander mounted his Firebolt and followed suit. Hannah had already beaten him there and had managed to get Neville to gain some control over his flight.
"See, you can control the direction of flight by shifting your weight –" Hannah was explaining patiently to Neville as Evander passed her.
Seeing that Neville was in safe hands, Evander proceeded to leisurely fly around the Pitch. With the excitement of the Triwizard first task and all those Potions that he had to brew, the Quidditch games had been temporarily suspended until probably the next month. It was cold today, but the conditions were great – the sun was out and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. He wondered what Felix was doing at the moment.
"Evander! Look – I can fly!" Neville exclaimed as he demonstrated some simple turning. The Gryffindor then paled when he looked down. "Merlin, I am up so high!"
"Don't look down, then!" Evander shouted back.
Everything progressed uneventfully with Neville feeling slightly more comfortable in the air than when he first started. Hannah had started doing some more daring aerial acrobatics much to Neville's awe and discomfort. It was then when Evander first noticed something strange – there was a strange odour that his nose was picking up – it was a mixture of damp, manure and some strong musky scent that he couldn't name.
"Do you guys smell something weird?" Evander asked loudly.
"No, I don't smell anything," Hannah stopped, "It smells of fresh air – like it always does."
"What do you smell?" Neville asked.
"Something strong..." Evander wrinkled his nose. "Never mind, it's gone now."
"Can we swap brooms now?" Hannah asked, "You promised!"
"Yeah, sure –" Evander agreed.
They both headed towards the ground.
"Thanks, Evander!" Hannah looked reverently at Evander's Firebolt. She took the broom carefully from Evander, mounted it and kicked off. "Merlin, it's so smooth! It's as if it can read my mind!"
Evander grabbed Hannah's Cleansweep and took off after her. Evander knew that Hannah's broom was probably the fourth best broom on the market during this time period, but years of flying the best had really spoiled him. He had to exaggerate his movements to get the broom to do what he wanted. Five minutes into the broom exchange, the musky odour was back. He then felt a sense of dizziness, but it was gone just as he had registered it. When he looked towards his hands that were gripping the handle of Hannah's broom, they had a strange scaly look to them. He blinked several times and his skin had returned back to their normal pale and smooth state. Merlin, what the hell was wrong with him? Evander mused. He decided to head back down before something even more serious happened.
Midway through the descent the dizziness was back, accompanied with a very strong compulsion to vomit. The world seemed to be spinning in Evander's mind – and his hands which were in front of him had returned to their scaly dark form. He had the odd sense that he was much larger than he actually was.
"Evander!" He could hear Hannah's shout from above, "Neville! There's something very wrong with Evander – we've –"
He had no sense of what was up or down, but he did know that the broom was going down. He shut his eyes in order to cut himself off from the visual disorientation and he instinctively tried to jerk his legs up. The broom seemed to respond by changing its trajectory in the direction that Evander hoped was the upwards direction.
"Do you know any good cushioning charms?" Neville asked urgently, "I wish Hermione was here!"
"We've got to – Arresto Momentum!" Hannah stopped mid-sentence presumably to retrieve her wand from her cloak pocket.
"Quick thinking, Hannah!" Neville praised moments later, "Merlin, that was bloody close!"
Evander felt Hannah's broom come to a halt. He slowly opened his eyes and he was horrified at what he saw. His fingers were long and thin and seemed to be connected to each other by delicate membrane – rather like the wings of a bat – or dare he say it – a dragon. His eyesight was funny too; there were strange colours that he had no words to describe. No... no – he couldn't be going crazy – couldn't he? And why the hell was there a tree in front of him – He shook his head violently and blinked.
"Evander, Evander!" He could hear Hannah's concerned voice nearby, "What's going on?"
Evander opened his eyes. Everything seemed to have returned to normalcy again. And he realized what Hannah and Neville had been so concerned about – he had managed to fly upwards but he had been heading towards the bleachers.
"Do we need to take him to Madame Pomfrey?" Neville asked Hannah. "At any rate, I don't think he should be flying –"
"Take me to Felix – please." Evander spoke with great effort before turning around and he vomited on to the bleachers nearby, "Blech, he should be in Severus' office."
"Evanesco," Neville pointed to Evander's mess just as Hannah incanted, "Wingardium Leviosa."
She levitated Evander and her broom back down to the ground, and Neville landed nearby. Evander mused that Neville had something else to worry about now instead of his awkwardness about flying that he didn't need any instructions on how to land a broom.
"Do you need help walking?" Neville asked as he picked up his broom and Hannah's Cleansweep.
"No," Evander replied, "But thanks for the offer. And Hannah, thanks for stopping me – you did good. You can borrow my broom whenever you'd like."
"Thanks, Evander –" Hannah grinned excitedly, "I think you will get sick of me very soon. You know that I am a flying fiend!"
Your August fix!
Notes: I am not a chemist (I am working my way through a cell biology degree): if I make mistakes, please tell me. In other news, I finished my summer semester (yay!) – still pretty busy though.
I do know who Evander's taking to the Yule Ball at this stage. ;P (that might be 3 chapters away)
I am going to start dating my work too so it's easier to keep track of when I wrote what. I would love to get the next chapter out before September but I don't want to make any false promises.
Review?