November, 1921
Evander held a few textbooks in his arms, and was walking alone outside in his Slytherin robes, seeing Hufflepuff students on broomsticks in the air practicing for a recent Quidditch match. The snitch flew in front of his face, and a split second later, the seeker of the team screamed "Look out!"
He jumped out of the way, but not enough and was knocked down. He was on the ground, surprised at how little the person was who landed on him, not feeling any pain from the impact.
"I'm so sorry! Oh, tell me I didn't kill someone!" She cried out, and he opened his eyes seeing Theodora over him. She wore her gold Hufflepuff Quidditch robes, with her dark hair pulled back into a long French braid.
"You're alive!" She cried out happily, still on top of him. He moved his left arm a bit, realizing he had instinctively hugged her to his body to break her fall.
"That seems to be the case," he said, and they both sat up.
"AH!" She screeched seeing his papers and books everywhere. She scurried over and gathered them, and he came to help her.
"Your homework, and notes! I messed up everything, oh no," she said as she frantically began looking over them to separate them by subject.
"It's alright, it was an accident," Evander said calmly. He saw her reacting like most girls around him. He was good-looking back then, and had features that made him seem serious and intimidating, and she was clearly afraid between his serious expression and Slytherin robes that he would be angry. But in reality, he was easy-going and misinterpreted, just like his son.
The both of them jumped, hearing the snitch whiz past them. They both looked at each other, then he got up chasing after it.
"Hey, wait!" She called out, running after him hugging his disordered papers to her body.
"A seeker's priority has to be the snitch, don't lose sight of it!" He called out. It was her first year of Quidditch, and she began to wonder why he seemed to care so much about it.
"Give me your broom," he said turning to her. His looks again made her heart race, and she held out her hand, commanding the broom to come to them. It passed her and he grasped it, then got on and took off with perfected technique. He returned 30 seconds later, snitch in hand, saying "I believe you're looking for this."
"Thank you!" She said excitedly. He dismounted the broom, and said, "There's something off with your broom. I said a charm in the air that should fix it. It was hexed, for some reason. Try again," he said, then released the snitch. She mounted and shot into the air, feeling much better control over her broom. She chased the snitch, then it wedged itself in between some of the detailing of the castle walls. She swung upside down over it, making Evander jump in surprise. But she had no fear, and she grasped the snitch just before it could escape.
"I did it!" She yelled out to him, still hanging upside down. He laughed, feeling feeling his heart flutter at how proud she was and how free she looked on the broom.
She pulled herself back up, flying low and dismounting into a run until she stopped next to him. Her grin was still wide, her cheeks slightly reddened from adrenaline.
"Thanks for the help! You're such a natural! I saw from the papers you had that you're an honors student. It's a shame that you can't play Quidditch. I'm surprised Slytherin has an undefeated record without someone like you on the team." He laughed, and said, "You think so?"
"Yeah! I transferred here from Ilvermorny for a few reasons, but a big one was to play Quidditch here. I think my family in the UK just wants someone on the Quidditch team so they can brag," she told him, and he snorted with laughter.
"Well, Hufflepuff's lucky to have you on the team. I'll let you get back to practice," he said, then she handed him the papers she gathered, which she had tossed into a random book before flying. He picked up the books, and she said "You sure you're not hurt? You didn't need ice or anything?"
"I'm fine, thank you. I can take it, don't worry. You didn't hurt much," he laughed, and she grinned.
"Oh, I'm Theodora, by the way," she said mounting her broom and holding out her hand. He shook it, saying, "Evander. Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping with my books."
"Oh, don't mention it! I'm sorry I crashed landed into you. Thanks for breaking the fall, and for fixing my broom. I gotta get back to practice, we have a game against Slytherin tomorrow- Oh! Will you be there?"
He nodded, and she laughed with an excited bounce that she couldn't manage to control.
"I think I'll have to come," he said with a sly grin.
"Don't worry, I'll play fairly. No offense, but we're gonna win tomorrow!"
"It's on," he said with a smirk, then she pushed off the ground and headed back to the field.
The next day at the game, the Hufflepuff players hovered in the air above her. Traditionally, the seekers come onto the field last. Her heart raced, and she peeked through the curtains of the waiting room in the stands below, swiping the faces of the students in the Slytherin stands across from her. She frowned, not seeing Evander. She reasoned that he was busy, being an honors student with those extra assignments.
"Please welcome to the field, our seekers for today's game!" The announcer shouted, then she snapped into reality clumsily mounting her broom with nerves. She flew into the air, waving to the students as they roared. She flew to middle of the circle that the players of both teams had made, waiting for Slytherin's seeker to finish greeting the students.
"You ready?" The Hufflepuff captain called behind her. Theodora turned around, and nodded with a nervous smile.
"You've got this. First game jitters are normal," he said to Theodora. She took a deep breath and nodded, and heard a familiar Irish voice in front of her say, "I couldn't have said it better."
She whirled around, seeing Evander in emerald green Slytherin Quidditch robes, facing her in the air on his broom. Her jaw dropped open and she yelped, "Evander?!"
"I'm Slytherin's seeker. A pleasure to officially meet you, Miss Gaunt," he said with a smirk. He extended his hand, and their wrist guards made a loud clap as she shook it. She gave a determined smile, saying, "I look forward to a good game."
Her competitive spirit stirred his heart, and he smiled saying, "Likewise."
The referee released all four balls from their box, throwing the Quaffle into the air. The snitch hovered between Evander and Theodora, and she immediately went after it. He followed in suit, sliding around her shoulders as she felt his robes brush her. The snitch was already out of sight, and she began to chase him.
The whole game, they were very in sync, barely dodging each other and aggressively pursuing the snitch.
Theodora and Evander flew between the hoops on the field, as the snitch was darting back and forth between them, and they gave each other a smirk. Evander smoothly maneuvered around and above her, then he dove in front of her snatching the snitch.
"Slytherin wins the game!" They heard, and Evander held the snitch in the air. Theodora sighed, but found herself unable to resist smiling as she applauded him. Not long after, the two of them made their way to the center of the field, the spectators roaring in the background.
"You did well," she said as he flew next to her.
"Thank you," he said, then they shook hands as seekers traditionally do.
"I guess I still have a lot to learn," she said, and he shrugged, telling her, "You're better than you think. I haven't had to try that hard against a seeker in a long time. I thought you'd take the snitch a few times. I'll have to watch out for you next game."
She blinked in shock, and he gave her a more innocent smile, saying, "It's the truth. Don't tell anyone I said that."
"Thank you, Evander. One of these days, I'll take that snitch myself," she said confidently. He smiled and said, "we'll see, Miss Gaunt."
March, 1922
Theodora scurried into her potions class, running late from taking care of a quidditch problem before class. This professor had a note written on the board to sit in a random seat, and to anticipate a seating chart in the next few days if they couldn't behave with selecting their own placement.
Evander walked in seconds after she sat down, handing documents to the professor.
"Ah, thank you for delivering these to me. Take a seat—" the professor said scanning the classroom. Theodora ducked her head shyly pretending to search through her folder for homework, then felt her face redden as there was no assignment; they had just finished midterm exams.
"Mr. Lestrange, take a seat next to Theodora over there. I know you two are probably not friendly with each other, but try to set aside your athletic differences for this class," the professor said with a small grin. Evander looked over to the empty seat, resisting the urge to show any sign of excitement on his face. No one knew of his growing interest of her, including Theodora.
"Don't worry, we can manage to be civil for our classes," Evander said with a smile to the professor, then he walked over to the desk, sliding into the empty space on the bench next to her.
"It seems we'll be sitting together for this class, Miss Gaunt," Evander said with a smirk as he prepared to take notes. She turned the page of her textbook, just as aimlessly as she searched her folder for an imaginary assignment, blushing furiously. As if his looks didn't catalyze her shy reaction enough, the class was already murmuring about the two rival seekers being seated next to each other in class.
"This should be fun," she finally replied. Evander stared forward, chuckling, and immediately covered his smile with his hand.
They got along surprisingly well, never running out of things to talk about whether it was waiting for class to start or during a potions experiment.
One day, Theodora was nudged and she turned her head to see Evander pass a paper to her. She looked at their strict professor who had his back turned as he scribbled on the chalkboard, then carefully took the paper and unfolded it.
"I'm bored, what should I draw?" the note read. She furrowed her eyebrows, scribbling back, "You draw?"
Evander took the paper back, smoothing it out to lay in between them. He wrote, "a little."
"Draw a flower."
"What kind?"
"Whatever kind you want," she wrote, then saw him gaze at the blackboard, deep in thought. After a little while, he perked up, taking the paper in front of him, and got to work on the drawing. He finished, placing the paper back between them, then she looked down and gave him a smirk with an eye roll.
"A cactus?"
"It's a cute cactus."
"Try harder. Even I can draw that. Do you want me to school you in Quidditch and art?"
Evander smirked, taking the paper back and began drawing again. This time, the drawing lasted ten minutes, and Theodora had forgotten about it as she was engrossed in her note-taking from the lesson.
"Fine. How's this?" she read, then saw a beautifully drawn and shaded flower. She felt her jaw drop, then looked at him and smiled. He grinned back, then she wrote, "it's beautiful."
"Wow, so forward~"
"Just take the compliment, Lestrange!" she wrote sheepishly, pushing against his leg with her knee under the table as she grinned. He laughed silently, leaning back to her as he wrote on the paper.
"Alright, you win. This time. So, what kind of flower do you think it is?" He wrote. She flipped over the paper, as they were out of room, writing, "not sure."
"A gardenia."
"Oh, pretty. Although I'm not well-versed on flower names haha," she wrote back.
"I see. I had to entertain myself somehow when staying at my dad's estate. Who knew gardening and drawing was this fun?"
She looked back at him, and he gave her a shrug. She gave him a pitied expression, gently squeezing his arm, which was more toned than she realized making her cough awkwardly. He laughed a little, turning his face down to hide from the professor as the class turned to see why she was hacking.
"Something caught in your throat, Miss Gaunt?"
"Shut up."
"I didn't say anything~"
Evander was already snickering, feeling the anticipated knee-jab again.
"I'll study flowers too. That way we have something to talk about in our letters during the summer," she wrote. Her heart pounded as she saw him read over the message, thinking she went much too far with that request. She couldn't help but watch his initial reaction, and felt a wave of relief when she saw a gleam of excitement in his eyes with a happy smile.
"You up for the challenge, Gaunt? You'll even have to know what they mean," he wrote back. She smiled, and wrote, "What is this, our first day?"
"Just making sure, I won't go easy on you."
"I'd be insulted if you did."
"I'm glad you're up for the challenge, Miss Gaunt."
"Bring it, Lestrange."
The lesson finished a few minutes later, and the class worked on an assignment with their lab partner. Amongst the quiet murmurs in the room, Theodora flipped to the index of the potions textbook. She flipped to the page describing gardenias, stealing a glance of Evander bent over his paper, writing answers with a lazy look in his eye. Theodora knew the lesson was too easy for him, and began reading quickly so he wouldn't catch her.
She rapidly read the description of the flower's appearance, and saw the picture matched the one he drew. She found a table listing which potions need gardenias, then her eyes froze on the meaning of the flower.
"Gardenia are flowers that convey the message to the recipient 'you are lovely' and/or anything pertaining to secret love," the page read. She glanced back at Evander, busy answering the first question on the second side of the paper.
Dammit, Lestrange. Was that on purpose? she thought, resting her chin against her hand. She could feel her bounding carotid pulse nearby, and was hoping her hand hid some of the heat she felt from her face. She continued staring at her textbook, reading over some random pages in an attempt to hide her growing embarrassment. Evander's eyes stole a glance of her to the right, and the left corner of his lips lifted in a smirk.
Hm, sharp girl. She got it.
A/N: Alright, that was my first two bits about Theodora and Evander from the past, as promised.
There will be more, but for now, I'll save those anecdotes for later. I hope these were a little lighter- I mean, they made me smile.
Thanks for reading!
