EIGHTEEN
The next day, Eve found Douglas seated alone in the dining hall, rotating between taking bites of his baguette and turning the pages of his Potions textbook. Eve was determined to take this as a sign to talk to him about the outcome of events from the past week. Although, perhaps, the lunch hour wasn't entirely appropriate for what could very well be a serious conversation. Still, she hadn't had a moment alone with him since she became knowing entailed in whatever was formulating between him and Fernando. So in her walk across the Great Hall, she decided she would play it casually.
"Potions, huh?" Eve started, swinging her legs haphazardly over the bench directly across from Douglas. In her quick and entirely uncoordinated motions, Eve's knee bumped under the table, causing Douglas's pumpkin juice to slightly wobble in its mug. He raised his brows at her but was otherwise unfazed by his friend's entrance.
"Graceful as ever," Douglas replied, taking a hand to steady his glass while the other carried his book still. Eve sighed and grabbed a halved apple from a plate between them. Douglas observed her carefully as she took a bite, her eyes moving from random directions in the room in nervous anticipation.
"I feel like I haven't seen you all week," Eve said, her glance finally landing on Douglas, whose eyes were already waiting to meet hers.
"That's not true. I see you all the time," Douglas stated with all the forced casualness Eve hadn't been able to muster at the moment. Eve sighed again.
"You know what I mean," Eve replied.
"We've both been busy, I suppose," Douglas shrugged.
"Have you? Because I haven't been in particular," Eve answered, in a tone that she hadn't intended to be so challenging, but she was growing tired now of these conversations. When had all her friends collectively decided to hide and pretend from her?
"You've seemed busy," Douglas muttered, turning another page of his textbook, but Eve knew he wasn't reading now.
"And what does that mean exactly?" Eve asked. Although she already had an inclination of where his mind was, she just needed to hear it herself.
"I meant exactly that. I don't know what you and Fernando get up to specifically," Douglas replied, looking up from his performed reading with an idle eye. Eve figured now was a time to cease the vague interrogation.
"Well, since we've brought up our friend, Fernando, how about we talk about what happened on Sunday?" Eve asked, watching Douglas's stare falter at her words.
"Hasn't Fernando already spoken to you about it?" Douglas asked, his tone growing agitated now, but Eve could see a glimmer of hurt in his eyes.
"No, he hasn't, actually. Neither of you will talk to me about anything even remotely having to do with this past week," Eve replied, her voice lowering as she leaned closer to Douglas from across the table. Her eyes were growing pleading now, but her friend wouldn't seem to falter.
"I said from the beginning, nothing had happened, and nothing did," Douglas answered.
"That's not good enough," Eve replied, shaking her head in disbelief at his words.
"It's not your business either way," Douglas shot back, causing a scoff to escape Eve's lips.
"I'm your friend, Douglas," Eve started, her voice rising higher than she had meant it to. She leaned closer to his face once again, "And am I the only one that remembers you specifically telling me you fancied him just a few months ago?"
"It doesn't really seem like that's mattered to you, though, has it?" Douglas asked, his voice growing from annoyance to contempt at every word. Eve let her mouth fall ajar for a moment.
"Douglas, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. If you would just explain-" Eve's words were cut off by approaching footsteps.
"Eve, Douglas," Marcus Fitzgerald called as the two turned to his attention from their staredown. Douglas let out an audible groan while Eve offered a weak smile, surely coming off more as a grimace than she would have liked. The approaching Hufflepuff wouldn't notice either way, though.
"Thought I'd say 'hello' to the lovebirds," Marcus grinned, taking an unwelcomed seat next to Douglas, who shut his Potions book immediately at his words.
"How many times have I said, Marcus, we aren't together," Douglas muttered, standing from his seat and subsequently announcing his leave. Eve thought how funny Marcus's comment would have been if it had come up any other time than this moment. She watched Douglas leave without a second glance while Marcus looked in confusion between the two.
"Don't mind him," Eve sighed, taking another bite of her apple with a now miserable countenance.
"Teenage love is a delicate thing to behold," Marcus mused with his own senseless sigh.
"Yeah, no kidding," Eve muttered with a raised brow.
"You know, Eve, I was in Divination earlier, and I was watching the snow through the window, and I had this memory," Marcus begin, and for some reason, Eve already knew what he was going to say from his words. And for some other reason, quite selfishly, Eve wished Marcus wouldn't bring up Cedric at this very moment, with her already quite dismayed mood.
"It would have been three years ago now around this time of year. It had snowed all night, and we had all shut ourselves in the common room, but Cedric had decided he wanted to go outside and somehow got all of us out in the snow with him," Marcus said, and Eve watched the glimmer of the memory wash over his face, his grin growing with each word he recited.
"Yeah, I remember," Eve said quietly, her own recollection of the event playing in her mind in visceral detail.
She thought of the sheer excitement on Cedric's face as he came down from his dormitory that morning, how he didn't even have to ask twice if anyone would go out with him because everyone always naturally followed his lead anyways. He could get anyone to do anything with just the smile on his face, and somehow, he only ever used this power to cause the smiles of others. She thought of how cold it was and how high the snow had gotten, but no one paid any mind to the discomfort. She smiled for a moment, thinking about how she and Douglas had orchestrated a snowball fight between the first years and had made themselves referees between the children's attacks on one another. But, her smile faltered the longer she thought about Douglas.
"I didn't mean to make you sad, Eve. I'm sorry."
Eve realized now that she must have dazed for a moment in her memories and sentiments, and her eyes landed on Marcus again, who was staring at her in thoughtful concern. Eve shook her head.
"No, it's okay. I'm not sad. I'm just remembering," Eve said, finding her smile again, although she figured it must have looked a bit sad. Although maybe she was sad, she couldn't quite place where the melancholy and nostalgia met.
"Yes, I know what you mean," Marcus replied, nodding mindfully. And the two sat in silence for the rest of the lunch period, Marcus playing with his plate of peas and Eve watching the falling snow from the window above.
Eve's mind stayed on these thoughts for the rest of her classes and into the pillowed white courtyard where she caught the silhouette of one particular Weasley twin amidst the groups of students playing in the freshly laid snow. George's usual grin spread across his face as he finally spotted Eve.
"Surprised Umbridge hasn't banned snowball fights yet," George commented, with a causal gesture towards the scenes of students now behind where they stood.
Multiple snowball fights were commencing between trees and snowed benches, while other corners of the courtyard hosted gentler activities. Various outlines of snow angels peppered the snow around them, and she passed several snowmen through her walk, all in varying stages of construction and all adorned with different house-colored scarfs. Faces were covered in homemade hats and winter gloves, and with the amount of snow left covering their robes, one could hardly begin to distinguish who was who or even what house they belonged to. Any other year, the display in front of Eve would seem all the bit ordinary, but after the last few months at Hogwarts, the sheer pleasantness and childish carelessness unfolding seemed all a bit strange and outlandish to her.
"She's probably too busy banning every Weasley product that's ever even remotely existed," Eve replied with a shrug.
"You sound displeased by that. I'm pretty sure a 'congratulations' and a high five are in order," George said, lifting his hand for Eve, but the girl didn't reciprocate.
"Eight inches, George," Eve replied, reciting another one of Umbridge's bans, this time between male and female student contact and moving past him and into the direction of the Forbidden Forest. George found step with her quickly, and the two started their usual route down the castle grounds, though the untouched snow caused their pace to slow a bit more than past times.
"Are you excited for holiday break soon?" George asked.
"Gosh, I haven't even thought about it," Eve replied, her eyes widening a bit in the realization of the truth in her words. Even with the weather change, Eve hadn't even considered having to leave school in a couple of weeks.
"Distracted a bit?" George asked, but when Eve turned to glance at him, he didn't have his usual playful grin on his face like she had expected. Instead, his stare looked different, perhaps more curious in intention, maybe even a bit concerned. Eve turned back to the forest ahead of them.
"Yeah, I suppose," Eve replied, before switching her tone to something lighter, "I'm sure you are excited. Your family must be all wildly entertaining during the holidays."
Eve's words caused a grin to break onto George's face again.
"Yeah, you could say that," George started, giving a slight shrug as his eyes seemed to give way for his thoughts, "Mum just likes when we're all at home, you know? Fred and I have some things to work on during break, anyways."
"All work and no play," Eve said with a dramatic 'tisk' sound at her words. George grinned and gave a slight nudge between their shoulders.
"And how do you play back in Brighton, aye?" George asked. Eve shrugged but couldn't help with a small smile forming on her face at his words and physical contact.
"I don't know, usual muggle stuff. Maybe go to a pub or the cinema," Eve started, watching George nod at her words with curious interest, "Wait, you've never been to the cinema, have you?"
George shook his head.
"No, never. My dad's gone once. Said it was quite dark and claustrophobic," George said, his words causing a laugh to escape Eve's lips.
"I suppose that's a fair judgment," Eve replied, her laugh dwindling into a light giggle as she shot George a short glance, "It can be fun though, depending on the company."
"Well, good company would be vital considering muggle movies make absolutely no sense," George replied with an eye roll, but Eve could sense the playfulness in his tone.
"I walk by the sea a lot, too. There's a massive Ferris wheel on our beach pier. My mum would take me all the time when I was little," Eve said, a slight grin spreading on her face at the thought of her past memories.
She realized now, as they reached the border between the castle grounds and forest, that she did indeed miss her parents, far more than she had let herself recognize before. She decided, at this very moment, that she was happy to go home, excited even. She had been so wrapped in Hogwarts dramatics this year that she had made home seem like a world away. And maybe it really was like that, at least in a symbolic sort of way. Perhaps there was a gift in leaving this world behind for a bit.
"I don't suppose you could explain to me what a Ferris wheel is?" George asked, pulling Eve out of her daydream and back inside the gray and white expanse of the Forbidden Forest.
"You know, I've spent all of these years feeling inferior as a muggle-born, but maybe I should start feeling sorry for you purebloods," Eve said with a laugh. George sent her a sharp look.
"You should never let anyone make you feel inferior, Eve," George replied, his serious tone causing Eve to eye roll.
She didn't look for an answer to George's words, though, as their secret garden came into view. Even from a distance, Eve could see that things weren't looking good for them. But when they finally approached it, it was even worse than she thought.
They had grown multiple more plants since their first go at the garden, but the winter weather had caused severe damage to the once plentiful bunch. The twins' protection spell didn't seem strong enough for the snow, and about half the Aconite had shriveled up into icy bare stems. Eve sighed at the scene in front of them and knelt to the ground.
"I mean, I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised," Eve said, taking out her gardening shears from her bookbag and going to work cutting what could be saved from the plants still standing.
"Those leaves should be enough for a month or two. Then, we can start again in the spring. Fred and I have other things to work on anyways," George replied with a shrug, watching Eve as she cut the rest of the leaves and lay them on her lap.
"You've got eight you can manage with. The rest are icicles," Eve sighed, throwing her shears back inside her bookbag and pulling out the piece of parchment she had already put aside for the occasion. She folded up the last of the cut leaves and turned to George.
"Your valued goods, kind sir," Eve said in her best posh accent, outreaching her arm to hand him the packaged leaves. George grinned, taking the folded parchment and slipping it inside the pocket of his robes.
"So, are you going to tell me what mysterious thing you and your brother are working on during break?" Eve asked, getting to her feet now and pushing the snow off her knees. She glanced up at George, who was already looking at her with a smug smile.
"Unfortunately, that is private information. I can, however, let you accompany me on an errand," George said, his vague reply causing Eve to raise a brow. She had no intention of denying his request, though.
George must have known this, too, because, without another word, he began walking in the direction back outside the forest. Eve huffed in response but quickly followed in tow. They walked their usual route soon out of the woods, but instead of walking straight back up the castle grounds, George turned in the left direction.
"You can at least say where we are going unless you plan on pushing me into another trap door," Eve said from the few steps she had behind him. She could hear George let out an exasperated laugh from ahead.
"Firstly, I've never done such a thing," George replied, sending a stern glace back at her, "Also, the Black Lake."
"That's reassuring," Eve muttered, but she continued to follow, trudging through the curve of the outline of the forest and further down the castle grounds. They finally reached the clearing of the lake, Eve still behind him, as she carefully watched his moves. George walked to the lake's edge and knelt down, staring at the water with concentrated eyes. Eve stood a few feet away with folded arms, it was cold, and she could only assume the lake would be freezing.
"Suppose a merperson weighs the same as a first year, you think you'd be able to carry one on your own, supposing it's not flapping around too much?" George asked, glancing back at Eve with all the innocent speculation he could muster despite the ridiculousness of his question.
"You're hilarious," Eve sighed, turning away from George and glancing down at the snow around her, spotting what looked to be a makeshift bench out of a couple large crowded rocks. She headed towards it, giving a quick brush of the snow with her hand, and took a seat, turning back to George, who had already started fumbling with his pockets.
Eve watched George take a small vial and dip it into the lake, filling it with water. Then, he took another vial out of his pocket and repeated this.
Lake water, is he being serious?
Eve studied George in silence a bit longer, waiting for him to perhaps reveal his joke, but he remained seated and busy with his seemingly serious task. He switched from his water samples to collecting small bunches of moss from the water's edge, filling a small jar that Eve hadn't seen him pull out. She sighed and turned away from him, watching instead the far horizon of the lake, where the dim winter sun was beginning to descend. The clouds that filled the sky were noticeable darker now than when they had first set out for their secret rendezvous. Eve was sure it would snow again tonight. And the thought of snowfall made her think of Marcus and his memory of Cedric, and for a moment, she wished it wouldn't snow again.
"Are you alright?"
Eve's eyes traveled from the horizon back to George, who was now staring at her with a perturbed look in his eyes.
"Yeah, it's not that cold," Eve said, shrugging beneath her robes. George's face did not change, though.
"I didn't mean your body temperature, Eve," George stated tonelessly, glancing down to screw the lid back on the jar that remained in his hand. He let out a sigh and turned to her again.
"You know, I saw you earlier today, walking in the corridor during classes. You had this look on your face," George began, but he seemed stuck on his words, and now he just looked at her with his same disturbed stare. It was both confusion and concern as if he couldn't quite place how he felt as well.
Eve tried to place when she could have seen George earlier, but no memory came to mind of seeing him. Even still, she knew what he must have meant, the face he must have seen, and she was sure he had seen it again moments ago. But she wasn't entirely sure why George was asking her and what she could possibly say to answer, so for a moment, she just stared back at him with his same concern and apprehension.
"You don't have to talk if you don't want to, Eve. I don't mean to pry. I just supposed, with us being friends now and all," George said, and Eve could tell he was still choosing his words carefully, and there seemed to be a nervous tinker in his tone. She thought she would never see George Weasley nervous in her life.
"Douglas and I go into it earlier because I thought he had been avoiding me, but surely now he will be avoiding me," Eve said, sighing and shaking her head a bit, before turning her glance back to the sunset, "And then Marcus Fitzgerald and his huge blathering mouth came and started talking about something Cedric did a few years back. I don't know, suppose it all just ruined the day a bit."
Eve said this all very frankly and relatively quickly, and she realized she felt a bit nervous too. She glanced back at George, who was still looking at her but with a softer gaze now. He nodded his head and turned to the lake.
"Your day still ruined?" He asked casually, but Eve knew him well enough to know he was teasing.
"No, George, it's quite alright now," Eve said, her expression softening to a slight grin as she tried to suppress an eye roll.
"Yeah, a bit of fresh air, a bit of sun, a bit of Weasley, you'll be feeling fine straight away," George said, turning back to Eve with his usual wide grin. Eve let herself eye roll this time.
"Ah, yes, the faithful cure to all life's ailments," Eve replied plainly, but her face didn't do well to hide her own smile. They both shared a stare for a moment, George's grin faltering slightly as he opened his mouth to speak again.
"I'm sorry about Cedric. I've never asked about him, but I'm sure you must have been good friends," George said, and Eve could see the sincerity behind his usual playful eyes.
"Thank you," Eve nodded, her eyes breaking from his first and turning back to the water. The sun had just hit the edge of the lake, casting a sharp ray of light down the center of the water.
There was a rustling from the edge of the lake, and in a few moments, George sat next to her, the stone bench small enough to where their thighs met slightly in the middle. Eve thought how warm he felt as her eyes remained ahead.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Eve asked.
"Yeah, despite the flesh-eating monsters inside," George said with a laugh.
"Well, that's not particularly romantic," Eve said with a sigh.
"Oh, I didn't know you were looking for romance. Suppose I could recite a poem or two," George said, turning to Eve now, although the latter refused to meet his eyes.
"It was a joke," Eve said with a simple shrug, turning her glance now to finally look at him.
"I think you joke too much," George replied, eyeing her with his usual mischievous grin, but Eve had never dealt with it so close before. She let out a light laugh from his words, and perhaps also from the slight nerves she felt now from his gaze.
"Oh, that's quite ironic coming from you," Eve challenged.
"How about we both stop joking?" George replied, but his tone was lower than before, and his expression fell a bit to something far more intense.
Butterflies rose in Eve's stomach beyond past compare, and her eyes flicked between every tiny detail on George's face. She leaned in, and it was like she was looking at him for the first time, up close and captured still. It was not a stolen glance or a stare that ended in an eye roll; it was just a look at him. A look that lasted longer than Eve stood to bear.
"Eight inches, George."
Eve's words caused a loud, audible sigh from George, who now ended their staring with his own eye roll.
"You're unbearable to be around, you know that?" George said, but his words ended with a laugh. He shook his head and glanced at the setting sun.
"Do you mean that, or are we back to joking?" Eve asked.
"Oh, I mean that all right," George said, his gaze turning back to Eve, "Come on before we get expelled for about the twelve other rules we are breaking right now."
George stood up first, and before Eve could even react, his hand was outreached to her. She took it, and he lifted her off the rock, although she could have easily gotten up on her own accord. The pair stood for a second, Eve's eyes on George, his on their hands that were still held together. George glanced back up at her, and Eve broke out into a grin, her brow-raising, and her gaze switching between him and their hands. George rolled his eyes and released his grip, taking a step away from her in the process. He opened his mouth slightly as he thought of his following words.
"That didn't count."
Author's Note: Okay, who do you guys hate more, me or Eve? Lol, just kidding. But also, thank you for all the new followers/favorites! I got quite a bit since my last upload, which was so lovely despite me taking longer to update this time. Thanks for reading/reviewing, I appreciate it immensely!
