SIX

"You should have seen the look on Trelawney's face when Umbridge was asking her all those questions."

Lucie said this across from her bed. The blonde was in the middle of painting her nails, the polish bottle containing the sparkly blue hue balanced dangerously on her raised knee.

"Really? What could she even possibly want to test her on? Certainly, she can't check her sources," Eve replied from her spot in front of the room's window, where she was currently checking on her propagated Aconite. The stems had done nicely in a couple old Potions tubes and had settled in the privacy of the sixth year Hufflepuff girl's dormitory.

Thankfully, these new additions were of little notice. Hufflepuff was filled with Herbology enthusiasts, their common room even being home to about a dozen plant species the students took turns watering. When Eve brought her own plants into the room, the girls hadn't even batted an eye, Lucie herself only glancing at the flowers with a "These won't bite, will they?"

It had been close to a week, and their stems had already started sprouting tiny spirals of roots. Eve guessed it would only be a couple more days until they could be planted. But where, of course, they could be grown was the question now. She had considered keeping them in her dormitory, but to grow three full Aconite plants would be a bit much. And if Eve and the twins were planning on growing even more, Eve was sure the alarm bells would go off with one of her dormmates.

What would a teenage girl need a bunch of Aconite for anyways? Wolfsbane?

Finding herself in the middle of a werewolf rumor was not the kind of amusement Eve was looking for this year.

"Oh, Umbridge flat out asked her to predict something, right then and there in front of the entire class. It was horrifying. Trelawney started to say something about her being in grave danger, but I think it was just rubbish, though," Lucie continued, her face grimacing for a moment as she recalled the awkward scene.

"Really?" Eve's ears piped up quick at this comment, "What did Umbridge say? She just told her she was in danger in front of all the students?"

"She just giggled and walked out of class," Lucie shrugged.

"God, she's proper psychotic," Eve muttered, shaking her head and going back to her stems.

Lucie chuckled, "Who? Umbridge or Trelawney?"

"This time, mainly Umbridge," Eve remarked with her own grin.

Eve had taken Divination in her third year. And although she found the material fun in a magazine-astrology-section kind of way, she didn't appreciate Trelawney reading her palm mid-year and telling her she was going to face unprecedented suffering if her firstborn is a boy. She didn't think that was at all appropriate to say to a 13-year-old, even for Hogwarts standards. That was the year a loose giant snake was out for muggle-born blood, for Christ's sake.

Her parents thought it was hilarious when she told them, though, in a very heated, muggle-friendly worded letter. "Our poor cursed child!" Her mother wrote. "Make sure you bring those funny jellybeans for Christmas break!"

Just then, the sound of a turned doorknob was heard, and Fiona Hangrove, one of their sixth year dormmates, stuck her head inside the room.

"Dinner, anyone?" She asked.

The girls nodded in unison, Lucie giving her nails one last blow and Eve giving her plant children one last glance goodbye.

The trio made their way into the common room. Only a few kids occupied it now, either in conversation with one another or with their homework.

"Jeez, I didn't even realize how late it got. Where did the day go?" Eve asked the girls walking beside her. Taking turns, they each hovered into the crawlspace that leads to the Hufflepuff dormitory entrance, a wooden brown barrel.

"I know all my day went to my Potions essay. And I'm still only halfway done. He's asking for five feet, and the school barely started. How is it possible that Professor Snape becomes even more miserable by each year?" Fiona asked, glancing from each girl with her own look of misery.

"I don't know, I haven't even started it. Between quidditch and helping Professor Sprout, I have barely any energy to give these merciless teachers," Eve replied. Of course, helping the Weasley twins could also be added to this list, but she couldn't share that out loud.

Making their way down the corridor that leads into the direction of the Great Hall, Eve glanced in the direction of a stoned bench just outside the doors, where a familiar emerald green-clad girl sat alone. Eve stopped walking for a moment, her friends turning towards her in confusion.

"I'll meet you guys inside," Eve said with a nod before turning on her heels and walking into the direction where Cho Chang sat.

"Hey, Cho," Eve greeted softly, causing the girl to glance up quickly from her gaze on the floor. It was as if Eve had sneaked up on her the way she jumped. Cho shot her a nervous smile, perhaps realizing how unsteady she probably seemed.

"Hey, Eve," she breathed, watching Eve take a seat next to her, "How-how was your summer?"

Eve shrugged, giving the girl a small smile.

"Yeah, it was alright. Just hung out with the parents. What about you?"

"It was alright too," Cho replied, her glaze now steadily on the stone wall in front of them. They watched a few lingering students file their way into the Great Hall. When they were alone in the corridor again, Eve turned to her.

"How are you doing?" She asked, even though she knew the answer was obvious. Eve had heard Cho's name mentioned a few times since the beginning of the year, all of which were unpleasantries about the Ravenclaw's emotional appearance. Eve had meant to talk to her since she had heard these rumors, but with everything going on, the thought got lost with the rest.

The two of them had never been too close, but with Cedric having dated her last year, Cho had come up in Eve's house circle quite a bit. They had even sat with each other during the first tournament task. The girls had screamed and hugged when Cedric narrowly escaped the dragon with his Transfiguration spell. Everyone in Hufflepuff had laughed for weeks, thinking about him turning that rock into a dog to distract the beast. Uniquely brilliant, just like Cedric.

Cho had still not answered Eve even when she had finished with her thoughts about last year. Eve took her hand, placing it on Cho's shoulder and squeezing it lightly. The contact made Cho turn to her, and Eve could see the wallowing of tears in her eyes.

"It's been hard," Cho muttered, shaking her head, "I just miss him so much."

Eve nodded, feeling her own tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. It's been strange to be here without him," Eve sighed. She let her hand that was on Cho fall, turning her gaze to the wall in front of them too.

"I keep thinking I'm going to walk into the common room and see him on a couch studying. Or look up from the quidditch pitch and see him on his broom in the air."

Eve quickly realized this might not have been the smartest thing to say to the clearly emotional girl. At her words, Cho covered her face in her hands and began to sob. For a moment, she just stared at Cho in quiet shock.

This was the first time Eve had seen anyone cry this year. Sure, she saw her peers shed a tear or two. Or get misty-eyed for a moment during particularly emotional words. But it had never been this kind of cry. Cho was crying with all the fresh type of helpless mourning one would think to only save for funerals. Her body shook, and she took long heaps of air between sobs.

Eve's reaction caused a realization of just how used she had gotten to the people around her suppressing their emotions. Seeming, of course, for the sake of saving the embarrassment or comfort from their peers. Maybe they felt it was easier to move on that way. But that didn't seem the case for Cho. Breaking her stare finally, Eve quickly put her hand on the crying girl's back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Cho. I didn't mean to make you upset," Eve apologized, but Cho only shook her head.

"No, no, it's okay. All I do is cry now. I'm sorry, he was your friend too."

Eve nodded but made no attempt to reply. The girls sat in silence for a few minutes, only interrupted by Cho loudly sniffling ever so often. After what felt like hours, Eve finally spoke up again.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, causing Cho to break from her daze and look at Eve with sad hesitation.

"I just… don't want to go in," Cho mumbled, watching Eve get up from her spot next to her. Eve knew it was too much to ask of the girl to show herself to the Great Hall. Hogwarts had already seen plenty of Cho Chang's crying face. Eve nodded to her, motioning her to get up herself.

"We don't have to go to the Great Hall," She said, watching Cho glance at her in confusion but begin to follow her all the same.

With Eve in the lead, the girls made their way into the direction of the Hufflepuff common room. Reaching the corridor, Eve stopped a distance still a ways from the stack of barrels, instead finding herself in front of a still-life portrait of fruit.

"Eve, what are you-" Cho began, stopping herself when she saw Eve reach a finger to the pear in the fruit bowl, the Hufflepuff scratching the painted fruit casually. The portrait swung open, revealing an open door that lead into none other than the kitchen, where house elves were busily cleaning up pots and pans. Some were in the midst of placing desserts on serving trays.

"I-I had no idea," Cho said, gaping at the display in front of her.

"Yeah, I think it's mainly Hufflepuffs that know about this. Our common room is close by," Eve explained, holding the portrait door open so Cho could go first. With Cho ahead, Eve closed the door behind them.

"Oh, Miss Eve! So good to see you!" A house elf named Blossom greeted the Hufflepuff enthusiastically. Blossom was one house elf Eve had befriended during her visits to the kitchen over the years. The elf was her favorite for several reasons, but mainly because she was the only elf Eve could get to not address her as "Mistress," a term for a muggle-born like herself, she could never get used to.

"Hi, Blossom, it's good to see you. Is there any dinner left for my friend and me? We missed the dinner hour, you see. Hopefully, it's not too much trouble," Eve politely asked, even though she knew there would be food for them. The kitchen always had food.

"Oh yes, of course. I'll bring you two plates at once," Blossom nodded wildly, running to a spot in the kitchen far beyond them and getting to work. Eve turned to sit on a bench that had been placed on the back wall of the room. Cho followed suit, still looking a bit bewildered.

"Cedric would sometimes bring me snacks when we would meet together. Even at odd times when it wasn't even close to being a school meal. I always wondered…" Cho trailed off in her sentence, causing Eve to turn to her in concern, ready for another outpouring of tears. But Cho's face revealed a small smile as if lost for a moment in her old memories. It was the first smile Eve had seen from the girl all evening, and the moment caused Eve to smile as well.

Blossom scurried back towards them, two other house elves along with her. Blossom handed a plate to Eve, filled with probably every single thing that was offered during dinner. One of the other aiding house elves gave an identical plate to Cho, while the last one placed a final dish in the space between the two girls on the bench. The last one filled with every pudding and pastry Hogwarts had to offer for dessert.

Thanking the elves profusely, they watched them go off to their regular duties, leaving the girls to eat by themselves. The girls ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, watching the elves run around them in their usual zealous manners. To Eve's surprise, Cho was the one that spoke up first.

"Did you hear Umbridge banned spell check quills?"

Eve turned to the girl for a moment, trying her hardest not to show the surprise she felt from such a nonchalant discussion topic. But she thought maybe this meant Cho was feeling better, now with food in her stomach and someone that had let her cry on her side.

And Eve's assumption was correct. The girls finished their dinners between a comfortable conversation. They chatted about classes and quidditch, and Eve even told her about the mermaid sculpture her dad had been working on over the summer. They smiled, and Cho even laughed a few times, and for a moment, they were just two school friends that shared only teenage matters in common and not the pain of grief.

Pretty soon, the sound of conversation and footsteps could be heard from the other side of the portrait, indicating students' return to their dormitories. The girls waited a few moments longer until the corridor could be assumed empty. Saying their last goodbyes to the house elves around them, Eve and Cho stepped back into the corridor, thankfully, unseen.

"Cho," Eve began, turning the Ravenclaw with a look of gentle care, "I know it probably seemed like we only had Ced in common, but you were always my friend. You still are. I want you to know that."

Cho looked at her and smiled softly. Eve could see tears well again in the girl's eyes.

"I'll see you, Eve," was all Cho could muster up. The girls embraced for a moment before parting ways with a goodnight. Eve watched Cho walk back down the corridor and disappear with a turn.


Author's Note: Ah, sorry no twins in this chapter! But I felt I had to dedicate a chapter to my girl Cho. Also, I would just like to say, that I will never get over the fact that my Hufflepuff research lead me to learn that Hufflepuff students had to crawl out of a barrel every day to get out of their dormitory. I'm sorry, but that ain't right lol.