TWENTYNINE
"Dead asleep, isn't she?"
"I feel bad waking her up. She looks so cozy."
"Can one of you shake her before I get wax on my fingers?"
The voices were loud enough to wake Eve from slumber, but her eyes remained closed for a few moments longer, preparing herself for the outburst that would arise the second she exposed herself. She listened as there was a shuffling sound amongst the room, and then came a soft grip on her left foot. The contact caused a short snort from Eve, and the clutch tightened at the sound. Eve resolved by kicking her grasped foot from under the covers, causing the hand to release its grip.
"Well, well, look who's up," came Lucie's voice.
Eve grinned and revealed herself from the covers, her morning blurry vision meeting three grinning stares, and then immediately an eruption of offkey cheers.
"Happy Birthday, Evie!"
Lucie and Fiona stood around Eve's bed, along with Emily Forrest, the latter girl having decidedly snuck her way into the sixth-year girls' dorm to surprise her quidditch teammate. Correction, former quidditch teammate.
Eve beamed at the commotion. Her friends had long known by now of her love for her birthday, particularly when celebrated with cheesy muggle style decorations. Eve's eyes left the girls to focus on the yellow streamers decorated around her bed frame and the sparkly strings that hung from the dozen balloons floating around the room.
"Eve. Wax... On my hand…." Fiona said, motioning to her outreached hand that held a blueberry muffin with a singular white candle on it, the flame dangerously close to reaching its end.
"Oh, right," Eve grinned, pulling herself entirely from her covers now to rescue Fiona's hand from the melting pastry. Taking the muffin in her hand, Eve read the neatly frosted '17' on the top.
"Make a wish," Lucie urged, just as Eve opened her mouth to blow, the birthday girl stopping for a minute to consider the demand.
Money?
Peace on earth?
George Weasley's hand down my pants?
It was much to consider on a short time notice.
But Eve felt the warm burn of wax drip on her palm, and so she blew without a decision made. What makes a day of turning 17 special when you've got to go to class, anyway?
"Ahem, I'm hoping you wished for something mildly destructive and illegal on school grounds," Emily said, reaching for the ground beside Eve's bed frame for a moment before coming back up with a red iridescent gift bag in her hand.
"Consider it from the team," Emily added, watching as Eve took the bag tentatively into her grasp and peaked her eyes inside.
Eve recognized the bottle's label immediately and reached her hand inside the bag, pulling out the firewhisky.
"To drink my sorrows away," Eve said with a grin, taking the enormous-sized bottle as a sign that she did, in fact, have many sorrows to drink to, and her teammates must have known that too. Correction, former teammates.
"Not to be the prefect friend-" Lucie began.
"You are the prefect friend," Fiona said, although Lucie didn't seem at all fazed by the interjection.
"We do have breakfast and classes to attend to," Lucie finished.
"Perhaps I'll skip today," Eve sighed, throwing herself back onto her pillows, her hand clutched still on the firewhisky like it was the bottle of a life-saving elixir. But in a way, it was for a birthday on a school day.
"You can't. We have a Charms exam this afternoon," Lucie replied flatly.
Eve sighed deeply, sitting back up now on her bed to study her friends' awaiting expressions. Lucie began to tap a foot from under the bed frame like an impatient mother. Eve grinned.
"Morning pick me up, then?" Eve asked, lifting the bottle and beginning to unscrew the cap. Her friends watched as Eve raised the bottle to lips and took a swig, the liquor burning her dry throat instantly and causing her to let out a short hoarse cough.
"Oh, I love you dearly, I really do," Fiona grinned, taking the bottle from Eve's hands and following in her motions. When Fiona swallowed, she wordlessly handed the bottle to Lucie, who only raised her eyebrows.
"Come on, Luce. We're celebrating. Think of it as a gift," Fiona urged, although as much as she waved the bottle in her hand, Lucie did not reach.
"Consider my gift pretending I didn't see any of this," Lucie said. She folded her arms in front of her now as if restraint was needed for her words. Eve and Fiona shared a shrug before the latter girl handed the firewhisky to Emily, who took it gingerly in her hands.
"Well, to 17 years of living, I suppose," Emily shrugged before taking a small sip of the bottle.
"Very cheerful," Eve said, taking the bottle back in her hands and carefully storing it under her pillow.
Breakfast commenced with Fernando leading their Hufflepuff peers in a Happy Birthday song, only to quickly remember that most of them didn't know the words to the muggle song and could only mumble the tune. Thankfully, Douglas saved the disaster of a choir production with a brief Eve-inspired speech, toasting with his orange juice and allocating advice for Eve's new age of 17, having himself already experienced three months of it.
"17 years old, that's a big step in a young witch's life."
"Tell us, Douglas. In what way?"
"Well, now you can apparate."
"I don't know how to apparate."
"And you can drink alcohol now."
"We already drink, Douglas."
Eve would have enjoyed it immensely if she hadn't noticed the lack of mail from her parents. She always received a card from them on her birthday, usually along with a package of muggle sweets and a hand-painted vase or various tea plates. Eve couldn't help but wearily imagine the vision of Umbridge inspecting the package in her office and throwing it out for 'suspicious or inappropriate muggle paraphilia.' But she kept this negative thought to herself as she ate her '17' muffin.
The school day commenced in its usual nature, much to Eve's poor dismay. Her exam for Charms class was easier than she thought it would be, considering she had opted to play card games with Fiona instead of study extra for it the night before. At the very least, Eve knew Herbology with Lucie would be peaceful enough. The class was fairly small, as Herbology wasn't the most popular division course chosen after O.W.L. exams. Even Lucie only chose it under the condition that Eve would assist her with everything. But Eve didn't mind helping and enjoyed the open classroom anyways, as Professor Sprout gave the students handier instruction and free time in the greenhouse for individual assignments. Although, Eve was really the only one that requested it.
"Is there a reason why my dittany looks like this?" Lucie asked.
Lucie held the small pot up to Eve's face, the latter girl glancing at the delicate wilted leaves of the plant with moderate interest before sticking her index finger into the soil.
"Water and take it out of direct sunlight for the next week," Eve replied, turning back down to her notebook and quill.
"I wish all magical plants could talk. Imagine how easy this class would be?" Lucie remarked, leading her dittany into a shaded part of the greenhouse.
"I'm fairly certain all of your plants would just be screaming in agony, Lucie," Eve said.
"Not all of them… Definitely this one, though," Lucie said, giving her dittany pot a little shake before placing it on a middle counter away from the fretful sun rays.
Just as Lucie made it back to her seat next to Eve, a soft, tentative knock came at the greenhouse door. There was a slight pause at the other end, perhaps anticipating a response. But, when no reaction came from anyone in the classroom, the door slowly opened, revealing a familiar but entirely unpredicted face for Eve.
There tiny Colin Creevy stood in his crimson Gryffindor robes, looking utterly frazzled at the scene but not exactly lost in reason. He glanced amongst the room before his eyes landed on Professor Sprout, who by now had stopped her instruction to take notice of the boy.
"Is this sixth-year Herbology?" Colin asked.
"Yes, dear. How can I help you?" Professor Sprout asked.
"Professor Umbridge would like to speak to Eve de Santos in her office," Colin said.
Eve raised a brow as the rest of the class turned to meet her direction. Professor Sprout shot her a pointed look before turning back to Colin.
"She needs her right now? During class time?" the professor asked.
"Erm, yes. She seemed… quite upset," Colin remarked, his words causing the older woman to let out an unfiltered sigh of repulse.
"Well, then," Professor Spout replied, giving the boy a nod before turning to Eve, "Suppose you shouldn't keep her waiting, Eve."
With Professor Sprout's direct address of her, Colin finally spotted Eve amongst the classroom and sent her a slight wave, Eve replying only with a furrowed brow. She was well aware of the eyes watching her as she began to pack up her things, Eve's mind working in hyper speed as she considered all of the possibilities of the request. Was this about the kiss with Fernando? Had she found out about the DA? Was this a questioning about the pottery her parents had meant to send her?
"What would she possibly want from you, Eve?"
Lucie's voice came as a whisper to her ear, breaking Eve's concentration of her own soundless questions. Eve shook her and threw her bookbag over her shoulder.
"No idea," Eve replied, her truthfulness aided with a short shrug as she hopped off her stool.
Professor Sprout sent her a raised expression as Eve passed her, and Eve did her best to plead her innocence in the shared glance. After the kissing incident, Eve was sure Sprout assumed the girl had gotten into more trouble somehow. Although the professor did not serve out any punishment for the deed like Umbridge had requested, Sprout did take the time to have Eve promise her to stay out of trouble for the sake of herself and the rest of her Hufflepuff peers. It seemed Eve didn't keep that promise, though, even if she wasn't entirely sure what the trouble was presently.
Colin began immediately to head back up the castle grounds the moment Eve got to the door, not even taking the time to watch her close the greenhouse behind her. Eve huffed and followed his pace quickly.
"Um, Colin, what does Umbridge want with me?" Eve called after him.
He turned finally to Eve, only to send her a careless shrug and face the castle again, just as they reached the open corridor.
"I don't know. Why would she tell me?" Colin asked incredulously as if he wasn't involved in the situation at all and only stumbled upon Umbridge's request in casual passing.
Eve let out a deep frustrated sigh, a knot beginning to form in her stomach as she turned through the corridor.
"Colin, this isn't the way back-" Eve started, watching as Colin began walking the opposite ways in the corridor and away from the direction of Umbridge's classroom. But the boy didn't even turn at her words, and in a moment, he disappeared past a corner.
"Yeah, alright," Eve mouthed, giving a slight shrug before turning back towards the corridor and beginning her walk to the Umbridge's classroom again.
It had only been, what? Two weeks since the last time she had been inside the faithless pink office? Her scar hadn't even fully healed yet, despite the salve Hermione had made her. She glanced at her hand and groaned.
And then there was the distinct sound of a lighted match, and then a bright flash overcame the corridor. Eve watched a rocket of sparks fly past her head. And then there was another and another, and in seconds the hall around her was filled with tiny rockets of light, zooming around her in intricate patterns. It was like a miniature firework show all for her to see. And as she watched it unfold, Eve realized it was a personalized one as well. The sparks began to form together, first misshaped, but as they gathered more and more, the image of a cake formed in the stagnant sparks, clad with a crown of candles and fiery golden frosting on top.
The cake appeared for a second or two longer before the sparks began to fizzle and fall, like a shower of fire and light. But as they fell, some of the sparks did not extinguish, and Eve observed in mild concern as the sparkles began to sprinkle the carpet below her. The sparks soon began to grow with smoke and light, and Eve watched her birthday cake of fireworks turn into a small wildfire on the carpet.
"Oh, it's on fire, George," Eve called, and as if on prepared cue, the form of George Weasley appeared from the corner of the corridor ahead of her.
"Should always prepare for fire on first go's," George remarked with a shrug, taking his wand out and extinguishing the flames with a puff of smoke, a move Eve could only assume he had done a million times before.
The pair watched as the smoke dissipated and a black splotch of burned fabric was left on the carpet. George looked up with a grin.
"Well, happy birthday, Eve."
"You desecrated an ancient carpet for me. How lovely," Eve replied with an equal grin.
"You didn't tell me it was your birthday," George remarked, taking a step over the burned spot to close the distance between them, "You're lucky I work well under pressure."
"How did you find out?" Eve asked, raising a playful brow although she was genuinely curious, as she always was, of where the boy received his information.
"Well, there was the off-tuned ruckus from your table this morning," George said, his eyes opening in size as if the blasted sounds of her Hufflepuff friends singing came to his ears again, "Fernando told me last night, though. Came to me to ask about getting some sort of light-up sparklers. Obviously, as a business professional, I had to ask what they were for."
"And so, you took it upon yourself to make the magic happen," Eve finished, earning a nod from him. "And I'm also going to assume you employed little Colin in this? Or is Umbridge and her cats still waiting for me in the pink palace?"
"No Umbridge, I apologize for the stress," George said. His words caused a deep annoyed sigh to release from Eve, the girl raising her hand to press it onto his chest with a shove, but George was quick to grab it and pull her closer.
"Classes should be ending soon," Eve breathed lowly, the contact of their bodies pressed together causing the butterflies in her stomach to disperse and the classic feeling of lightheadedness to take over. She felt George's hands snake around her waist.
"You should probably kiss me, then," George replied.
And with perfect answer, Eve flung her hands around George's neck and brought her lips up to his.
It was becoming customary for them, wasn't it? As if all it took was finding each other alone to abandon all the snide quick remarks and habitual eye rolls and resolve the two in some sort of teenage incantation of sheepishness and desire. How could a boy make her feel so overcome with relentless emotions and then make her feel utterly reckless for having them all the same?
"Why do you only kiss me in corridors, George?" Eve asked, pulling their faces apart but not having the strength to pull her hands from his hair. She immediately regretted her decision to speak with the absence of lips on hers.
"I can take you somewhere else if you'd like," George replied with a grin, although Eve could tell his mind was elsewhere from the conversation as his eyes didn't leave the tracing of her lips. Eve considered his words for a moment as she watched his face.
"Actually, I'm not sure if that's what I meant," Eve said, rather weakly, as if she herself was puzzled at her own words.
George met her eyes now to give a curious stare as if waiting for an explanation for her budding thoughts he assumed would come. But nothing came, and after a moment, all Eve could think to do was kiss him again. And George reciprocated earnestly, and the pair made up for the time lost in Eve trying to make sense of her mind out loud.
Eve could tell there was a warm distinction in their kissing, as if their lips had grown to know each other over their past embracements. Logically, Eve knew snogging was always like this, with practice and budding feelings, but it felt different this time. Like her lips had long forgotten what it felt like to be with others besides George. And those past lips would never be missed in the way George's would be when they finally parted.
And so it was George that broke the kiss next, just as the hour bell chimed and the rush of feet on cobblestone was heard in the far distance. He parted their lips slowly before giving in again and leaving a quick kiss on her cheek. Eve laughed lightly and separated her hands from his hair.
"I should go," Eve said.
"You really shouldn't," George replied.
The murmur of footsteps become louder on both sides of the corridor, and in a second, Eve knew their privacy would soon be invaded with students dragging themselves back to their common rooms. She took a step back and watched George's smile fall a bit.
"My friends are waiting for me," Eve said, her eyes parting from his to graze over the students that began to pass where they stood. She grinned sheepishly and took another step back.
"Oh, and I suppose I didn't get an invite to the birthday festivities?" George asked, his brows raising in playful discontent. Eve wanted so bad to kiss him again.
"To be fair, you only accidentally knew it was my birthday," Eve shrugged.
"And here I was, almost accidentally burning down the castle to celebrate," George said with a shocked tone of voice, although the grin on his face grew wider.
"Such a thoughtful friend you are," Eve said, casting mirroring her grin at the boy and taking a few steps around him to pass.
"Oh, don't go using that bloody word," George called after her.
"What? Thoughtful?" Eve asked, sending George an innocent look of question as he rolled his eyes.
He didn't say anything further, though, as he stood by the charred carpet and watched her disappear into the blurry of students.
