Chapter Six: It's Just a Cup...
Evie's nerves were eating her alive. She couldn't focus on a damn thing Professor Slughorn was saying and barely noticed the rain tapping against the windows of the potions classroom. Evie stared aimlessly at the bezoar slowly disintegrating in the cauldron before her, rainbows of black and gold and silver swirling in opposite directions. The glass rod swirled on its own volition without her touching it, but the currents of the potion were as scattered as her mind.
Finally, the potion fell flat. Black as tar, still as oil.
Damn, but she'd failed the assignment. Too distracted by what Evie would do after tonight's lesson—go straight to the Great Hall to enter her name into the Goblet of Fire.
The sun was already low in the sky. The class itself was coming to an end. Frustrated, Evie slammed the potions book shut on the elaborate text, all the glasses on the table clinking as Evie moved them aside and pulled a piece of parchment toward her. Taking one of the quills set up on the table, Evie wrote up the result in an awfully rushed manner that made her handwriting barely legible, then extracted a sample onto one of the tinctures provided. Leaving the quill on the table, Evie went across the room where Slughorn was explaining something to another student.
"Ah, Ms. Nott—finished already?" He glanced at her potion, his face twisting in the manner it always did when he spotted something curious. "Is that your submission?"
Evie was in the Slug Club last year, so her membership this year was almost given. In light of that, Evie could imagine how disappointing this was to him—but she had her reasons. "Sorry, Professor. Suppose this wasn't quite up my alley tonight."
"Not a problem—you see, the others haven't quite got it as well. We may revisit this in the next lesson."
Evie smiled and turned to head across the room, leaving her potion and parchment on the designated table. Her entire body was a cocktail of anxiety as Evie made her way back across the castle. It was getting darker sooner these days, with the coming of autumn, but it wasn't quite late enough for the moon to be out. Only the crisp bite of the storm cooling the castle walls.
When Evie arrived, the entire Great Hall was tinted blue with the light of the goblet—and the age line drawn around it. There were far more people than Evie anticipated when she first stepped through the doors. The parchment with her name on it had been sitting in her pocket all day long, and it now felt heavier than a little lead ball. Benches had been set up on either side of the goblet, which was mounted on a stone fixture in the center of the room.
The murmuring didn't stop as Evie made her way toward the center of the hall. Would people genuinely care that a descendant of Death Eaters was entering the competition? What would it mean if they did? Evie's family had been left in ruins after the last battle of Hogwarts. Years later, her family still felt its consequences—Evie's parents, especially, as they divorced, with related circumstances driving them apart. At this point, they barely spoke to one another, let alone her. But as sad as all that was—to her, anyway—Evie doubted anyone else at Hogwarts cared.
The Lestranges and Malfoy families were another story. The Lestranges had their own wealth of money to fall back on. In contrast, the Malfoys had evaded imprisonment entirely—and therefore total ruin. Their fortune stemmed from a stroke of wisdom from Draco Malfoy's mother, followed by Lucius's aid in bringing fellow Death Eaters to justice after the war. Draco himself suffered little of the consequences and went on to marry a woman outside the Sacred Twenty-Eight—Atrius's mother, Astoria Greengrass. Their marriage, according to rumor, continued to be a point of contention in Atrius's family, as Astoria refused to conform with the idea that muggles were the scum of the earth.
Not that it mattered—not that any of it mattered.
The trickling rain had grown to a pounding sound against the towering windows of the Great Hall, the roof churning with storm clouds that reflected the storm outside.
"Evie!"
Looking around for the source of her name, Evie saw Freya and the others crowded in the darkest corner of one of the benches. Evie made her way toward them, slowing on her way to observe the goblet's blue flames. Evie should've just turned and chucked her name into the fire, but she didn't. Instead, she approached the others with a knot in her stomach that wouldn't abate.
Centered among them, Atrius lounged back against the bench, slowly turning his attention on her. Beside him was Lucretia, looking as cold as she always did, and the others sat in a circle around them.
"Hallo, Evie," Oliver chirped, his demeanor far too chipper. "Here to cast your vote?"
"Vote on what?"
"On who should be selected," he said. "Come now, between yourself and Atrius, who do you really think deserves to be in the tournament?"
Evie looked at Atrius, his silver eyes piercing. Both his hands were intertwined, his pointer finger tapping as he waited.
She propped her hands on her waist. "I'm starting to feel like the lot of you are just conspiring to start a fight." Evie looked between Freya and Oliver specifically. "The two of you are working together, aren't you?"
Freya rolled her eyes. "Go do what you've come here to do, Evie."Her words were cutting, but Evie knew Freya was upset with her—worried. She was probably the only one among them, aside from Theseus.
Evie pulled the parchment from her pocket and stared at it a moment. It was ironic that Atrius watched Evie while her own best friend refused to look at her. Nevertheless, Evie took it as a sign that there was no more arguing to be done—she just needed to get this over with. And so, reminding herself of all the reasons she'd decided to do this, Evie turned and made her way to the goblet. Alone.
One other student from Ilvermorny cast her name into the fire just before Evie stepped up to the age line, a round of applause breaking out from the hall. Evie thought nothing of it as she crossed the circle and observed the cup. There were runes encircling the lip, the cracked, wooden bowl surface leading down to the stem and engravings at the bottom. The fire itself licked and spat as though there was actual wood burning inside the bowl. All the hall fell silent as Evie turned her attention back up to the top—and finally, the heat scorched her fingertips as Evie threw the parchment into the flame. It turned red for a couple of moments, then faded back to blue.
No one clapped. Not that she'd been paying attention, but the moment her name was cast into the fire, Evie suddenly had the strangest feeling that she'd done something wrong.
"Chilling, isn't it?" A deep voice appeared behind her, startling her a bit. "Having eyes on you that you didn't ask for, looking upon with you with fear?"
Evie turned in place and found herself staring up at Atrius. In the ambient glow of the fire, his features looked even more pronounced—as did the iciness in his expression. His skin was creamy, silver eyes gleaming with thought and warning.
On instinct, Evie backed away a step. "No one's looking at me with fear."
He arched a perfect brow. "Aren't they?"
"Why would they be?"
"Why not?" He moved around her to reach for the cup. "Who knows what darkness lurks inside a person, waiting to be brought out?" Atrius slowly lifted a hand, depositing a slip into the fire. Once more, it burned red. "And what better to bring it out than a murderous competition?"
Her mouth fell open. Was Atrius taunting her? He had to be. "You'd know all about the darkness within, wouldn't you?" Evie murmured. "And all the ways it can come to fruition."
"Yes, I would know all about it—and all about embracing it, "Atrius's voice fell low.
"Why would someone want to embrace that?" Evie said. "To hurt other people without remorse?"
Atrius had circled her a little "Embracing it might just keep you alive," he murmured, then held out his hand. "I'll simply wish you luck. May the best of us win."
Evie looked down at his hand. Once she was resolved to answer the gesture, she took it without hesitation. "Good luck."
Atrius stared down at her. "And to you."
With that, he blew past her out of the Great Hall, leaving them all in silence for several moments.
Evie followed shortly after.
Sorry today's chapter is a little short, I really want to get to the good parts and get going with the tournament!
See you all next time! :)
