DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, BUT I DO OWN MY CHARACTERS.
Evelyn crossed her arms as she waited outside her common room. Her eyes glanced towards the night sky. It was late, she thought to herself. Too late for her to get up and do some duties, but she had made promises to someone. Plus, it wasn't as if she was going to get some sleep either way. These days, she was getting less than five hours of sleep every day.
It wasn't as if she was trying not to sleep. She was trying her best. She even shed some tears in frustration. It had gotten to the point where she would pray to God or any universal being to let her sleep even though she wasn't religious. Yet she couldn't. Her nights were plagued by thoughts and she should just give up on thinking she could sleep.
When she heard a few steps coming up the stairs, she straightened her back and dropped her arms. A sigh of relief escaped her as she saw Professor Flitwick climb up the stairs, holding a basket filled with food.
"Good evening, professor." She greeted him as she walked up to him.
"You know you should be in bed, Miss Sinclair King. Staying up all night doesn't help anyone." He pointed out. "I bet Miss Hadi can get used to this too. She probably feels guilty seeing you awake so late in the night."
Evelyn shook her head. "It's no bother." It was quite the bother, but Evelyn couldn't tell that to her professor or Nailah. After all, she had to be the perfect student and prefect. "Thank you for getting the food, professor."
"I hope Miss Hadi enjoys it." He took a step backwards. "Good night, Miss Sinclair King." Evelyn bid him goodnight as well before entering the common room.
She found Nailah sitting on a blue armchair, looking up at the ceiling that was painted to look like the night sky. The gesture reminded Evelyn a lot of Don. He also used to stare up at the ceiling whenever he was bored or needed to calm down.
"Got the food," Evelyn announced making Nailah look away from the ceiling. She walked up to the nearest table and started to set the food for the girl.
"You don't have to do that," Nailah told her as she sat down. "You can go to your dorm and I can finish this on my own."
"No, it's alright. No one should be eating alone." Evelyn knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep. She knew that would lead to her overthinking and these days, she was avoiding the overthinking. Sometimes, she did it so long and often that her whole body would shake and she felt nauseous for the whole day.
Soon enough, the two girls sat down. Nailah started to eat her food while Evelyn just sat there and said nothing. Of course, the silence didn't last long as Evelyn didn't want it to turn awkward.
"So, Nailah?" The girl looked up. "Your last name sounds familiar. Did you have any family members here?"
She nodded her head. "A brother and a cousin. My brother Emir was a Hufflepuff who graduated last year while my cousin was a Ravenclaw who graduated two years ago. Her name was Aisha."
Evelyn's eyes widened when she realized how she recognized the name. "Aisha Hadi? She was Head Girl in her last year. I remember her working with Edgar Bones." She nodded her head. "I don't know why I didn't connect the dots before." She tilted her head and inspected Nailah's face. "You even look similar to her."
Nailah only smiled at her. Even though Evelyn had talked to her a few times, the girl kept on being shy. It reminded Evelyn of Gabriela in the first year.
"How long have you been fasting?"
At her question, Nailah shifted before answering. "This is my second year. I did my first month of fasting last year."
Evelyn pressed her lips together as she found herself curious about the subject. "I'm sorry to ask this, but why do you fast? I don't know much about Islam or the practices of it."
"While we do it for three reasons." Nailah began to explain. "The first reason is that Ramadan is the time to feed our soul, not our body. It's basically time to get in touch with both your inner self and God. The second reason is to remind ourselves how people who have no food or water live. It's for us to be grateful for what we have. The last reason is to cleanse and heal your body from the inside."
Evelyn had no idea of the reasons for this. She wasn't much educated in religions, let alone Islam. Most things she knew about religions came from her friends. She didn't even have books about religions. So, she made herself a note to buy herself a book about them.
"Are there any celebrations in Islam?"
"Yes. After Ramadan is over, we have Eid Mubarak." She answered Evelyn. "Usually, it's time for us to spend time with our family, eat some good food and open gifts." As she said those words, a sad smile fell on Nailah's lips.
"What's wrong?"
Nailah looked down and cleared her throat. "It's just that this year I won't be able to celebrate with my family. I don't think the school would give me two days off."
"The school gives me five days off to go to my dad's to celebrate Thanksgiving which is basically a celebration of genocide." Nailah raised an eyebrow at her. Of course, when she went there, she celebrated her dad's birthday more than she celebrated Thanksgiving. "You can probably have tow days to visit your family for Eid Mubarak."
"Do you think I will be allowed?"
Evelyn smiled at her. "Yes because I'll make sure of it." She declared as she knew that she had to talk to Flitwick as soon as possible. If it didn't work with Flitwick, she would have to talk to Dumbledore and she needed to prepare herself for that conversation.
As their new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, professor Quinby, passed their table, Evelyn's mind immediately drifted to Kieran Hart and her last talk with him. In that talk, he had revealed that he had an accomplice. The accomplice had told him about her and Sirius and he merely repeated the words. While Evelyn didn't think Hart was entirely blameless, she knew that the blame fell on the accomplice. He had been the leader of this operation and the person who had collected this information about them.
Evelyn couldn't even wrap her mind on how he gathered this information. She didn't know about Sirius, but Hart had cut deep with his words about her. He talked about her deepest secrets and insecurities. He dug deep into Evelyn's essence and it made her sick. Yet he merely repeated words someone else found out about them.
How did this person find out about this? Why did she choose Sirius and her out of all people to have this talk with her? How were she and Sirius related to this? Were there others in this little muppet show?
She scratched her forehead as she had no idea. She didn't have the smallest of clues. All she knew that this person wasn't a Death Eater. While it was a bit relieving, Evelyn was quite aware that the Death Eaters weren't the only bad people in this world.
As she thought more about it, her mind wondered about her dream. Did the dream have anything to do with this? Was the person behind this the silvery woman in the dream? Why did she tell Hart to have that talk with her? Why did she show those kids? Was it possible that those kids were the future? Was it possible that boy and girl were her kids?
"Oi, Evelyn!"
Christina's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned her head to see all of her friends looking at her with wide expressions. By their looks, she realized that her name had been called quite a few times.
"I'm-I'm so sorry." She murmured under her breath. "I wasn't paying attention."
"Yes, we got that." Edrick teased her as he was the one sitting in front of her. "Are you here with us?" She nodded her head. "Good because we wanted to ask you something."
Evelyn's heart started to beat fast. She didn't know why, but it just started to. "What do you want to ask about?"
"If you're free to hang out with us this weekend," Christina informed her. "We haven't hung out as a group for a long time and we think it's a good idea to do that this Sunday."
She tensed. She had made plans with Rabastan to spend Sunday together. "I can't." She mumbled. "I already made plans with Rabastan." She whispered.
"So? Cancel them and hang out with us." Christian suggested and Evelyn was a bit taken back by the suggestion. She couldn't believe that her friend brushed off her plans with Rabastan. Maybe Rabastan was right when he said that her friends hated him.
"I can't do that." She insisted. "I can't cancel plans with them."
Diana raised an eyebrow. "You really can't?" Evelyn shook her head. "Because we really want to hang out together. We're discussing my birthday party preparations." She furrowed her eyebrows. She had no idea that Diana's birthday was coming soon.
"Merlin's beard, you didn't even know that Diana has her birthday soon." Christina declared and all of her friends' eyes widened. Diana gulped down, but she said nothing. "Bloody hell, Eve!"
Evelyn pursed her lips. "It just slipped my mind." She jumped in to say. "I have been quite busy these days."
"Yes, busy with Lestrange," Carter commented and Christina hummed.
Their behaviour made Evelyn curl up her lips. She was certain that her friends didn't like Rabastan as she thought they did. Most of them if not all of them, had quite the disdain towards him.
"What's wrong with me spending time with him?" She snapped at them and they both blinked at her. "He's my boyfriend, isn't it?"
"You have been spending time with him more than with us," Christina stated. Evelyn wanted to correct her. She couldn't as Christina was telling the truth. She had been so preoccupied trying to be the perfect girlfriend that she had forgotten to be the perfect friend. "And the truth is that the six of us have hung out together quite a few times since the term started. We just haven't spent time with you."
"I've been busy-"
"Not busy enough to spend time with him, though?" Christina cut her off.
With every word of Christina and the silent agreement met by her friends, Evelyn was starting to think that Rabastan was right. Her friends didn't like him and they probably didn't like their relationship as well.
She didn't waste any time after realizing what was happening. She got up from her seat and grabbed her bag. As soon as she did, all of her friends turned to her with a frown.
"Where are you going?" Henrik questioned her.
She huffed. "Leaving." She answered him. "I can't stand when my friends insult my boyfriend and our relationship."
Christina scoffed at her. "We weren't saying any..."
Evelyn refused to hear more of it. She didn't want her friends to continue insulting Rabastan. She didn't want to hear it. So, she walked away from her friends before rushing out of the Great Hall.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she ascended the stairs of the Entrance Hall. She couldn't believe that Rabastan was right. She couldn't believe that her friends disliked Rabastan as much as he said they did.
"I told you so."
Evelyn didn't react to his words. As planned, she met Rabastan on Sunday in their secret classroom. The first thing she did when she arrived was to tell him about what happened to her friends. Her boyfriend wasn't surprised by her friends at all. He definitely was expecting this behaviour from them.
She sighed. "But I do think they have a point." When she said those words, Rabastan snapped his head towards her direction. "I've been barely spending time with them. I've been caught up on so many things that I have forgotten about my friends."
How had she been so stupid? How had she let herself be wrapped up to forget about them? She needed to be a perfect friend, especially since her friends were good to her too.
"Oh, and you think you should bail me to spend time with them?" Rabastan's voice turned cold and he scoffed at her.
She moved away from the wall that she was leaning against and looked up at him. "I can't put behind my prefect duties and my studies." She pointed out to him and he shook his head. "Besides, you and I have been spending more time with each other compared to other years. We see each other almost every day."
"Normal couples see each other every day."
Evelyn scoffed at him. "Since when have we been normal?" She questioned him. "I thought we both knew that we don't exactly fit the norm of teenage couples." He kept his mouth shut. "And there's nothing wrong with me wanting to spend time with my friends."
"These friends hate me."
"They don't hate you." He scoffed at her. "They just don't like you and it mostly had to do with the fact that they don't know you. They don't know you at all." It wasn't as if she could even tell them about him. Rabastan had told them to keep their relationship a secret. "I just need to talk to them and everything will sort out."
While she was angry at her friends, she believed that a mature discussion would settle them down. Maybe they could have their heart to heart earlier this year.
"Not likely." Rabastan retorted. "They hate me too much to see reason."
"Don't you think you're being a bit unfair to them?" She questioned him. "After all, you don't know them either."
"I don't need to know them to know they don't like me." He pointed ot to her. "I said it before, but I'll say it again. It's written all over their faces."
Evelyn pressed her lips together. As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't deny that. She had seen in her conversation with her friends two days ago that none of them was Rabastan's biggest fans. Just like Rabastan said, it was written all over their faces.
She sighed. "I don't want to lose them." She moved closer to him. "They are my friends."
"You don't need your friends to live." He stated and she frowned. "And am I not enough for you? I can guarantee you that when we tell the whole world about us, you'll never need anyone except me."
Evelyn smiled at him as she lifted her chin. "That's a lovely sentiment and all, but people need people. We function as people due to the help of other people."
"Personally, I believe we can exist without other people. I believe I can." Rabastan declared and she raised an eyebrow. "Of course, some people aren't unable to. That's just because they are weak and need the help of others to live."
"For someone who believes that he doesn't need people, you are quite insistent that we need each other." She countered his argument.
Rabastan chuckled. "It's because the two of us are individuals, we come as a set." She snorted at him. "We're destined to be together by the universe or something like that." She blushed at his words. While Evelyn didn't give much thought to the concept of soulmates and one true love, it was glad to hear that Rabastan thought like that. It was good to hear that he believed that she was the only one for him. After all, she believed that he was the one for her as well. "However, you don't need your friends, especially since they would try twisting your mind and ruining our relationship."
Evelyn took a step back and scrunched her nose. She believed that her boyfriend was taking it a step further. While her friends didn't like Rabastan, she didn't believe anyone would try ruining their relationship. Her friends weren't perfect, but they were far away from being scheming people.
"You're blowing this out of proportion."
He shook his head. "Hear me out." He breathed out. "First, it's them complaining that you aren't spending time with them enough and it's my fault. Second, that's followed by them calling out some small mistakes of mine. Maybe they even can make up some sort of accusations of their own. Third, they will try telling you that you can do better than. I hope you know that you can't." She hummed in agreement. "There are many other steps, but the last one is that it's inevitably going to you having to make a choice."
"A choice between what?"
Rabastan walked towards her. He stopped only an inch away from her and raised her chin. Her eyes met his. It didn't take long for her to get lost in them. It looked like the midnight sky and for a moment, she wondered if she could find stars in them.
"Us and me."
Despite his words, Evelyn still found herself to be too amused by his eyes to even register his words.
"Who will you choose when it comes up to that?"
She breathed out and pressed her lips together at his question.
Since she was a little girl, her mum had always told her to put her happiness first. Evelyn took that advice to heart. She knew that even if it caused a lot of problems, she would choose her happiness first. While she cared a lot about her friends and loved them a lot, they weren't the ones who made her the happiest. It was Rabastan. He made her the happiest.
"You." She announced. "I will choose you."
Evelyn thanked Flitwick for his time. She talked to him about letting Nailah visit her family those two days. Flitwick had agreed, but he also told Evelyn that Nailah shouldn't get behind classes. If she got behind with her homework and classes, she wouldn't be able to do this anymore. Evelyn assured the man that the girl would keep up. After all, she had noticed Nailah study in the Study Hall quite a few times.
She exited his office and took a deep breath. It had been a tiring day. She had two block hours of Potions followed by Herbology, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Ancient Ruines. All the lessons of the day had been difficult. Although Transfiguration took the cake. It seemed to Evelyn that she needed to put more effort into Transfiguration than others. She could easily get an E, but she needed an O to satisfy herself and her dad.
"Oi, Lynn!"
Evelyn stopped in her tracks at the familiar voice. Since Rabastan had told her to avoid the Marauders, she was avoiding them, except Remus who she saw in prefect rounds or meetings.
The blonde girl looked around to see if she could avoid talking, but there was no way she could escape. She needed to face the person, have a small talk and make an excuse about leaving early. At least, she was glad that Rabastan was nowhere to see her. He wouldn't be happy if he saw her talking to this person.
When she turned around to face him, James grinned at her. She was a bit relieved that he was alone and not accompanied by Sirius or Peter. Although, James being alone was no better. Rabastan had made it clear that he found it most uncomfortable when she hung out with James and Sirius.
"Where have you disappeared to? I barely see you outside of classes anymore." James told her as he approached her. "These days, you've been like a ghost."
At James' lingering look, Evelyn realized that he believed she looked like a ghost. After all, these days, Evelyn felt like all she could feel was stress and exhaustion. "I've been busy." She muttered as her eyes moved around. She kept fearing that Rabastan was going to appear any second. "I am busy." She hoped that he would get the hint.
"Busy enough not to visit our house tower?" James didn't get the hint. "You used to be an honorary member of Gryffindor common room and now, we never see you."
"Maybe the Gryffindor tower doesn't hold much appeal to me anymore?"
James scoffed. "That's impossible. Our tower appeals to everyone." She tapped her foot as she realized that this was taking too long. "What are you doing right now?" Before she could answer, he spoke again. "Why don't you come with me so we can hang out?"
She shook her head. "I would love to, but I don't have the time."
"How about tomorrow?" She shook her head one more time. "Or any other days of the week?"
Evelyn would love to hang out with them. Despite some of their flaws, the Marauders were fun to be around with. They were natural entertainers. If someone wanted a good laugh, they should just reach the Marauders.
The problem was that Evelyn couldn't hang out with them. She had promised her boyfriend to stay clear of them. Being a perfect girlfriend to Rabastan was more important than being a perfect friend to the Marauders.
"I'm sorry, I can't. My whole schedule is full these days."
When she looked at James' hazel eyes, she gulped down. From the narrowness and coldness of theirs, Evelyn knew that James had understood what she was trying to do.
"Alright." He took a step back. "I'll see you around then." He was about to turn around, but he stopped himself. He tilted his head and raised his finger. "Although, a word of advice when dealing with me." She furrowed her eyebrows at his words. "I'd rather you tell him that you won't hang out with me rather than lie to me."
Evelyn's eyes widened. "James, I-"
He didn't let her speak. He turned his back on her and started to walk away.
Evelyn cursed under her breath. She could have handled that so much better. She had forgotten all about subtlety and had acted quite obvious with James. Even a child would have noticed her behaviour.
"Why were you actin so cold wit Potter?" She didn't have to guess who spoke to her. The thick Irish accent gave it all away.
When she turned around, she came face to face with Carter, Edrick and Henrik. She knew that all of them had just finished Care of Magical Creatures. She looked behind them and was glad that the girls weren't with them.
"I wasn't-wasn't being cold with him." She answered them. "I just told him that I was too busy."
"So, you were avoiding him?" Edrick muttered under his breath. "Just like you are avoiding us."
Evelyn gaped at them. "I'm not avoiding you." She snapped at them. "I just don't have the time to spend time with you."
"But you admit that you were avoiding Potter though." Carter quipped.
Her cheeks flushed, her breath started to turn shallow and her heart started to beat fast. She ahd been caught redhanded by her friends and none of them seemed impressed with her. If anything, they looked quite disappointed with her. She couldn't even bear to look at their faces.
"I'm not avoiding anyone," Evelyn said sternly before she moved passed her friends. As she rushed out of their sight, she could feel their eyes on her back whilst hearing them whisper to each other about her. It seemed like the situation was getting worse by the minute.
To Evelyn's surprise, she found a few minutes of her day to relax and she decided to use them. So, she sat on her bed with the book filled with Rumi's poems in her hands and Sabrina laying on her lap. For a few minutes of her day, she found herself enjoying her day. No, she found herself enjoying her week. She could already feel the bliss she had been missing.
Of course, by now, Evelyn should know that nothing lasted forever. Her time of relaxation wasn't going to last forever either. Because at that moment, Christina stormed in. Her eyes were aflame and her lips were curled up.
"Do you know what just happened right now?!" Her friend demanded.
Evelyn blinked a few times at her friend's harsh voice. "You stormed in our dorm angrily."
"No!" Christina yelled. "No, your boyfriend's friend started to harass Diana who was just trying to go to the Gryffindor common room. They wouldn't leave her alone even when Gabriela and I showed up." Evelyn's lips parted. She knew the tension between muggleborns and some purebloods was tense, but she didn't believe that some people would gang up on Diana. "And to top the cake, your boyfriend joined up and he called her m..." Christina trailed off. "You know well what he called her."
Evelyn stared at her friend in disbelief. Rabastan would never do that. He never joined his friends in this. He stood in the background and said fighting. Sometimes, he even broke the fights before it happened. Yet he never joined them and he definitely would never call Diana that.
"No, no." She shook her head. "Rabastan would never do that."
"Are you kidding me?!" Christina snarled at her and Evelyn winced. "We saw him, Evelyn! We heard him! You can't say that it never happened because you weren't there!"
Evelyn was about to respond to her, but she was stopped by Gabriela and Diana entering. She couldn't miss Diana drying the tears on her cheeks and sniffing.
"She doesn't believe that he said it," Christina informed them. While Gabriela turned to her with a shocked expression, Diana remained still.
"I don't believe that he didn't say it. I just believe that there is more to the story." Evelyn spoke up making all of them frown. "I know that Rabastan despises that word and that he will never do this to Diana. He was probably just pretending in front of his friends."
"Pretending?" Christina scowled at her. "He must be one hell of an actor because he seemed to truly enjoy those moments."
Evelyn pressed her lips together. "You don't understand. He has to do that-"
"Did he tell you that?" Diana's voice was calm. When Evelyn looked at her, she noticed that the only obvious sign that Diana had been crying was her runny nose.
"Of course." Evelyn shifted under her friend's gaze. "He told me that many times. If he doesn't play their game, they would immediately be suspicious of him."
"How do you know that he's not lying to you, huh?" Diana questioned. The question made Evelyn's blood run cold and her insides churn. It had been a question that had loomed in her head, but she had pressed it down.
"Rabastan will never lie to me." She retorted. "He has always been honest with me. I think you aren't telling me everything about what happened."
"You think we're lying to you?" Evelyn didn't answer Christina's question. "Rich coming from you."
Evelyn's shoulders tensed and she flinched. "What do you mean?"
Gabriela pressed her lips together. "Eve, we know you have been lying to us for months." Her face fell, her hands began to shake and her lips trembled. As she looked between her three friends, Evelyn felt as if the room was closing in on them. It felt like the room was suffocating all four of them. "You have been lying about your relationship with Rabastan, what Hart said to you that day," Her body shivered and she pressed her lips. "and you've been acting odd since the semester started. We've asked you many times what's wrong and you have lied to us that you are okay."
"Basically, all you do is lie and think about your doomed relationship." Christina snapped.
Evelyn glared at her. "Doomed relationship? Rabastan and I aren't in a doomed relationship."
"The best thing that could happen to you is ending this relationship." She told Evelyn who clenched her jaw. Every step that Rabastan had mentioned her friends were following it. He had been right. She didn't need these friends at all. "And don't be surprised that we think of this relationship this way. You haven't told us about your relationship since March."
"Because it's our private business. I don't need to tell anyone about it."
Christina shrugged. "Then don't. Let yourself fall into a pit and ignored something good that was in front of you all summer."
Evelyn's heart skipped abeat. At the mention of summer, she thought of one person and the thought of him didn't make her feel better. "What are you talking about?" Her friend didn't answer her, irritating her. "Come on, Chris, what are you talking about?"
"For the smartest person in our year, you can be quite stupid," Christina stated. her comment made Evelyn clench her jaw more and narrow her eyes. "And quite weird. You have been acting quite weird since January. Why is that?"
At that moment, Evelyn felt herself lose her sense. "Have you ever thought that my life is a mess?" She snapped and her friends blinked. "Have you ever thought that it's such a mess that I can't figure out anything?" Her voice cracked as she spoke and she hated every second of it.
"And that excuses your weird, selfish and lying behaviour?" Christina questioned. Evelyn didn't answer her. She believed that it did. "I have news for you, Eve. So are ours. Gabriela lost her mum this summer, I haven't talked to mine in year and Diana was literally harassed for being a muggleborn by future Death Eaters. So, you aren't the only one who is suffering around here." She looked down as she could feel her friends' eyes all bore into hers. She didn't know what to say. She ahd no perfect words to calm down this situation and makeup with her friends. "However, Eve, you're the only one who is making this situation worse."
With that, Christina exited the dorm. Gabriela and Diana lingered a bit more, but they followed Christina as well.
Tears fell down Evelyn'c cheeks and she realized that they ahd been welling up in her eyes for quite some time. She sniffed and whipped her tears as she remembered the words that had been haunting her for months.
"You're a bomb, Miss Sinclair King. A ticking bomb. One day, you're going to explode and you're going to hurt everyone around you. However, you are going to be the real victim. You're going to lose everything. You're going to be friendless, your reputation will get ruined and even your marks are going to drop. You're going to go in a downward spiral that will leave you at the bottom of the world. A lost girl with no friends and a dark future ahead of her. Now, I don't know why are you going to explode. It could be because you're tired of being perfect or because you will make a mistake, big or little, that will ruin everything. After all, being the perfect girl leaves no space for mistakes and you know that very well."
Her tears turned to sob as Evelyn realized that the time of the explosion was coming and she had no way to stop it.
Thank you for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing my story. It's very much appreciated. If you can, please tell me what you thought of the chapter in the reviews.
Guest your fan: Yes, Evelyn now believes that they are from the future which makes this whole situation more interesting. Again, we ask ourself who these kids are. Evelyn really needs to rest. Yes, she can definitely die from this exhaustion (worst case scenario), but she's definitely not going anywhere any time soon. Right now, she just has to deal with it as she doesn't have much of a choice.
Next up, The Real Explosion
