A/N: (At the beginning, yes I'm as surprised as you are)
This chapter is going to be very important for the next one or two. It's another flashback of Theodora and Evander. Definitely keep in mind some of the small details from this one and the last flashback, it'll be very helpful in the near future.
October, 1923
On a rainy afternoon, the Slytherin and Hufflepuff seekers stood over a cauldron on their desk, stirring a potion. Evander and Theodora were laughing about a funny experience that happened in their herbology class, then the potion exploded its contents all over their robes. The two of them looked at each other, with dark blue liquid clumping up their hair and adorning their necks. They both broke into laughter, then the professor told them to excuse themselves to clean up before continuing the lesson.
The two of them left the classroom, wiping the thick potion from their eyes, still laughing.
"What did we do wrong?! I thought we followed that recipe exactly!" Theodora exclaimed. Evander gave her a smirk, saying, "I added a little something." He flashed a vial from his robe pocket with powder, then she said, "Evander! You did that?"
He broke into laughter and nodded. She laughed and playfully pushed his shoulder.
"How do we get this crap off? It's sticky!" Theodora cried, trying to wipe at her face again. Evander took her hand, leading her outside.
"The torrential downpour should help," he said.
"Evander—" she began, then he pulled her out into the rain in the courtyard. He stopped, turning and taking both of her hands as the rain washed away the potion from their faces. Theodora looked at their robes, seeing the rain washing away the blue liquid from their clothes.
"Easier than going for a change of clothing, huh?" Evander said, then she looked up to see him looking at her with a kind smile. He was closer than she realized, feeling her heart rate quicken.
"Yeah," she replied. He felt his heart pound, seeing her beautiful ice blue eyes gazing into his with her dark hair falling in beautiful wet waves around her face. Her lips were upturned into a shy smile, and a rosy blush illuminated her porcelain cheeks.
"Evander, you did that on purpose.." She said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
"I wanted to get us alone, and where no one can hear us," he said, nodding to the rain around them.
"What for?"
"Well, how else do I ask the Hufflepuff seeker to accompany me to Hogsmeade without people eavesdropping?"
She stared at his gentle smile, looking surprised, and cleared her throat awkwardly.
"But people will find out anyway when they see us there," she said looking away. She felt him squeeze her hands, and he said, "I'm shy, Theodora, as are you. I couldn't do this part of it with everyone watching you. That would be inconsiderate of me to place you in that position."
She beamed back at him, nodding her head, and saying, "Thank you, Evander. Yes, I'd love to go with you."
Later that year, the two of them sat next to each other in potions class, reorganizing ingredients for the next class after they completed their experiment. The two of them felt a nervous excitement, as today was the esteemed Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin quidditch match.
"Here," Evander said, slyly slipping a paper into her pocket. She looked down at her robe, then he said, "a little something for the game."
"Here's yours," she replied, slipping a paper into his pocket. The two of them continued to clean, then sat down, awaiting the professor's dismissal. The class was gossiping more than usual, carefully watching their interactions today. The two of them sat silently a look of boredom and indifference as they ignored each other and stared off into space.
They left the classroom, giving each other a handshake and remarks of good luck, then went their separate ways. The two of them rushed to the quidditch locker rooms, hoping to the be the first of their teams to arrive. Which they both were.
Evander hurriedly opened Theodora's note, seeing a basic flower drawing with an arrow pointing to it and the word "camellia."
He grinned, then laughed. The drawing's simplicity warmed his heart, and his heart raced thinking about how the flower meant admiration, perfection, good luck, and a gift to a man.
"You got me there, Gaunt," he sneered sarcastically, then he grabbed his robes to change.
Meanwhile, Theodora eagerly unfolded her note, with a flower floating out of it and falling to the floor. She picked it up, and read on the paper, "It's hard to shade a white carnation, so I got you the real thing. Also, meet me after the game on the outside of the field, facing the forest."
Theodora paged through her potions book, reading, "white carnations symbol sweetness, loveliness, innocence, pure love, and are a woman's good luck gift."
She beamed down at the delicate carnation in her hands, then began to braid her hair. She worked the stem of the flower to where she joined the two French braids into one at the base of her skull, making sure it was secure.
Within thirty minutes, the two of them floated in the air with their teams, facing each other in front of a roaring student body in the stadium.
The chasers bolted past them, and everyone assumed their positions in the sky as the game began. The golden snitch hovered between the two of them, then bolted past Evander. Theodora was already chasing it, leaving a gust of wind in her wake as she narrowly passed Evander. He turned and followed her, then felt his eyes widen when he saw the white carnation in her braided hair. He grinned, then caught up to her.
"I like the way you did your hair, " he shouted over the noise. She smirked, then said, "I worked hard to perfect those braids."
"Who gave you such a beautiful flower," he asked slyly.
"Good question," she yelled, cutting in front of him as the snitch turned right. Hufflepuff students roared as she pursued the snitch, leaving Evander behind. He stared after her, then bolted forward, maneuvering around her and chasing the snitch merely five feet in front of him.
"Theodora, I must know about the mysterious admirer who gave you the flower," he said, catching her off guard. She didn't expect him to confess any feelings he had for her, especially not in that moment.
"A sweet guy. Modest, shy, thoughtful," she replied.
He felt a grin appear on his face again as they both dove toward the ground after the snitch.
"Sounds nothing like me," he said, and she laughed.
"Sounds nothing like you? I suppose you're right. You are a prefect, Slytherin's gifted seeker, an honors student. Someone like you couldn't possibly be modest or shy," she shouted back to him.
"Or thoughtful, don't forget that part!" He replied, then the two of them climbed quickly toward the sky.
"Yeah, thoughtful. Honestly, someone as charming as that—" Theodora said, then she looked directly at him. He turned his head meeting her smirk, and she said, "I think I've fallen for him. Just don't tell anyone."
Theodora grinned triumphantly, and Evander felt his heart pound nervously. She had never seen him look this surprised before, and his face reddened having entirely lost his focus on the snitch. Theodora soared pass him, and he watched her go in his state of shock. Time felt like it had come to a stop, and he went from staring at the white carnation in her hair, to her turning her beautiful smile in his direction, gold quidditch robes billowing in the wind. She saw a look on his face unlike anything she's seen before from him, now looking genuinely relaxed and happy before speeding forward to catch up with her. He seemed to spot something, reaching forward and approaching her, then she turned and reached out to her right. She captured the snitch in her right hand, with his hand brushing hers as he barely missed it.
They stared at each other, and she broke into an ecstatic smile raising the snitch into the air victoriously. It gleamed in the sunlight, and the Hufflepuff students roared excitedly. Evander watched her, smiling at how proud she seemed, happy that her hard work earned a victory against their two-year rivalry.
She looked back to him, and he removed his wrist guards/gloves, holding out his hand. She took hers off, matching the firmness of his handshake.
"Congratulations. That was a good game," he said, and she let out a giddy laugh.
"Thank you. Playing Slytherin is such an honor for me. They have a pretty good seeker," she replied. He chuckled, then the two of them filed in line with their team for the closing of the game. Everyone began to exit the field, and the seekers remained in the air. The two of them circled the field, as per tradition, and Evander said, "I'll see you in a few minutes," as he passed her.
The two of them landed, entering their respective locker rooms. Slytherin was of course not as happy as normal, but they knew Evander had normally won against Theodora with a fight. She was a good player, and they commended him for almost beating her at the end.
"Want to grab lunch? I'm starving," Evander's chaser teammate Oliver said to him. Evander chuckled, saying, "Me too. I'll be a little late though. Remember, it's my week to do the field check?"
Oliver looked to the blackboard, nodding at Evander's name under the tasks section. Each week of practice or games, the players rotated who would go to the field to check for anything a player may have dropped or to make the sand pit look neater if someone landed in it.
"Oh, right. Then I'll see you at lunch. Don't know if I can wait for you though," he said, and Evander laughed saying, "don't wait up. You know I won't be there until you're finishing anyway."
"If you insist," Oliver called as the rest of the team left the locker room, saying goodbye to Evander. Everyone had changed, placing their quidditch robes neatly in the lockers, leaving Evander alone to fly back out to the field.
"Theodora, let's get something to eat!" a teammate, Michael told her. She smiled to him, then yelped in surprise as someone threw her arms around her from behind.
"Yeah, you won!" She heard, realizing it was her friend Cassandra.
"I'll be at lunch a little late. I think it's my turn to look after the field today," she said, pointing to the board. It was actually Michael's, but she had erased it before the team arrived and wrote her own name.
"Oh, really? I could've sworn it was mine," he said looking back at it.
"Maybe next time it'll be your week?" She said with a shrug.
"Alright, we'll save you a plate. Good job out there!" Cassandra said excitedly, then the rest of the team congratulated Theodora again before leaving.
Theodora hopped onto her broom, flying through the field and searching the ground. She looked around, seeing no trace of any lingering students or faculty, then flew over the stadium to the outside of it, seeing Evander leaning against its walls. She landed, saying, "Great game, Slytherin."
"Congratulations," he replied, shaking her hand again. They stared at each other for a moment, then he engulfed her in a hug and she laughed squeezing him tightly.
"Where'd you find a white carnation?" She asked him, her jaw tickling his shoulder as she spoke.
"The herbology classroom," he replied simply.
"You stole it?!" She exclaimed, breaking the hug with an annoyed smile. He laughed, and said, "Yes, I did."
"Evander!" She said laughing.
"I just stole a flower. Nobody saw me," he replied.
"Says the prefect, who punishes students for stealing," she said sarcastically, then he looked away saying, "Oh yeah. Forgot about that part. Oops."
She rolled her eyes with a snort of laughter, and he rubbed the back of his neck with an apologetic smile.
"Then can I confess another thing?" He asked with a sarcastic shyness.
"What is it now?"
"I took something else," he said.
"You what?! Evander, if it's a mandrake or something—" she began, and he shook his head with a laugh.
"I needed it for a frame of reference to draw. But I promise, I did put it back. Oh, but on second thought," he said, removing a paper from his emerald green quidditch robes.
"You can't go back now. Just show me," she said. She reached for it, then he rose it above his head out of her reach.
"Evander!" She said, jumping up to try and snatch it. He laughed, towering over her 5' 3" frame at six feet. She tried using his shoulders to push herself higher as she jumped, and he simply raised the paper farther out of her reach.
"As you said during the game, I'm shy. I don't know if I can tell you now."
"Show me!" she barked, pushing on his shoulder again for a boost as she leapt in the air.
"Ask nicely, Gaunt!"
"Don't be stingy, Lestrange!"
Evander sarcastically gasped, then leaned his face down with a teasing grin, nearly causing her own to slam into his. He didn't flinch, which only infuriated her more.
"Come and get it," he mused, purposefully lowering his voice with a sultry tone to it. She stopped, her face a mere six inches from his own, and her smile dropping as she began to look like herself: a shy girl in front of her crush.
"Show it to me, from up there then. If you insist on not handing it to me," she pleaded. He unfolded the paper with his extended right hand, revealing a mistletoe drawn on the paper. She froze, saying, "A mistletoe. It's above our heads, you know. Bold move for a shy person."
"I know," he implored, lowering the drawing to his head level.
"Tell me what mistletoe signifies," he said. She felt herself redden a little, saying, "they grow in the winter—"
"Unless you steal them from a herbology classroom," Evander added, and she snorted with laughter.
"Okay, they grow in the winter unless you steal them from a herbology classroom during the spring. They signify affection," she told him, stepping a little closer.
"And what else?" He asked, leaning down, his eyes sliding down to her lips for a split second. The sun illuminated his dark brown hair, highlighting the sharp jawline, as he held the broom upright in his hand.
"Kiss me," she said. His light brown eyes held her gaze, and he said, "are you telling me about the flower? Or are you asking me to?"
She felt her heart pounding against her chest, hearing the noise in her ears. His gaze gently moved to her lips once more, and she said, "I'm not asking, Evander. I'm telling you to."
"If you insist," he crowed with a smirk, then he tossed his broom to the ground, resting his hands on the back of her neck and gently kissing her. The wind picked up, and hem of their respective green and gold robes fluttered lazily to the side, as if to provide privacy from who might be coming.
Though not a soul was nearby. The forest stood beyond the grassland and meadows beside them, the lake water full of lazy ripples from the wind and reflecting a deep blue in the shining sunlight. The wind became slightly stronger, the perfect speed between a gentle breeze and refreshing gusts. Theodora felt herself hug his shoulders, melting into his gentle hold. The two of them felt a surge of relief mixed with something like eagerness, finally having privacy from the gossiping student body of the school's suspicions and disproval of their friendship.
Evander listened to the wind rustling the trees, hearing nothing but other ambience sounds of nature, and deepened his kiss out of the satisfaction of the two of them being alone. Her body felt so delicate in that moment, seeming to be the last thing that has slammed into his countless times on the quidditch field and that plummeted fearlessly to the ground to win his attention over the years during games. She didn't feel like the tom-boy he saw and fell for, but like the delicate sweet girl who would fall asleep next to him in the library. Or the girl who circled her Hufflepuff scarf around their necks as they walked through a cold field trip to the meadows in potions class. She seemed like the girl who affectionately pet her clumsy owl after he slammed into her with a letter from home, and like the girl who remembered pumpkin bread was his guilty pleasure, baking it as a surprise for his birthday. As much as he loved the tom-boy in her, he fell for the girly side twice as hard. The contrast was what he loved the most.
And she thought of his kindness, from the moment she slammed into him as gracefully as her klutz of an owl. She remembered seeing how handsome he was in that moment, and how his sharp features made her misjudge him as cold and intimidating. She loved his easygoing nature, and his Slytherin characteristics of being sarcastic and intelligent. She loved his smirks, and his normal smiles, his loyalty to her and their friends. His dedication to his studies, and how he worked around his busy schedule as a prefect to gaze at the stars with her. She loved that he would find her asleep on her books in the library, and she'd wake up with his Slytherin robes covering her and a cup of hot tea waiting next to her, seeing him quietly doing his homework next to her. His schemes to get them alone were commendable— from purposefully exploding a potion all over them, to "accidentally" mixing up his notebook with hers.
But for now, they would save the sentence "I love you" for another time. They were quite young, and had what felt like all the time in the world, with it being the spring of their fifth year.
The two of them parted, a happy grin on their faces, and she said, "Evander. I'm not making you say it. Nor am I saying it yet. But what is it about me, when you have all these girls after you… well, what are the things that made you notice me?"
He gave her a puzzled look, tucking a strand of her nearly black hair behind her ears, and said, "Everything, obviously."
She felt her skin grow hot to the roots of her hair, and she uttered, "Oh."
"Sorry, was that too blunt?" He asked, and she shook her head no.
"No. I mean yes, but no. Never change that part of you," she sputtered sheepishly. Her eyes met his again, and she said, "kneel. Please."
"Those two words aren't normally used together," he said, and she clenched her fists with embarrassment, saying, "just do it."
He did as she asked, his head becoming more level with her height. She leaned forward, kissing his forehead affectionately, and he felt himself turn red, knowing it was telling him how much she cherishes him.
"That was my gratitude for everything. And for what I want to do before sending you back to your dorm after dinner tonight."
"Everything I've done was a pleasure. But you're welcome," she said with a gentlemanly bow of his head. He stood up, and she handed him his broom.
"Last one to lunch loses," he said with a smirk, then the two of them mounted their brooms and took off immediately. They raced each other back into the castle, changing into their normal house robes. Theodora let out a quiet squeal as she straightened her tie, thinking about what had just transpired outside. She looked to the mirror, seeing the smile on her face that was different than normal. She seemed happier, somehow, and her body felt lighter. Then, she took off running, and she heard footsteps slamming their way toward her. He was behind her, running faster, and shouted, "No fair, Hufflepuff's locker rooms are so much closer to the great hall than Slytherin's!"
"You wanted to race!" she called, running as fast as she could before his long legs could catch up.
"This is a rematch!" He replied, closing the distance between them. She bolted through a door to a courtyard outside, leaping over the fence, the skirts of her floor-length dress clutched in one hand. The courtyard as a shortcut, but was completely off-limits for students, making Evander laugh and run faster as he had taken the normal route.
The two of them emerged by the edge of the great hall, slamming their hands on the doors at the same time.
"A tie," she said in between panting, and he shrugged saying, "well, you cheated."
"You didn't stop me, prefect," she sneered, and he grinned, leaning closer to her. His face was inches from hers, then he pushed the door, holding it open for her as she leapt back to avoid being seen. She gave him a snide grin, then said, "Thank you," before entering the great hall. He followed her, then they parted ways and sat with their teams for lunch.
The two of them shared a smirk from opposite ends of the great hall, then proceeded to redirect their attention to their teammates. It would be an interesting year indeed, for the two of them.
A/N: Thanks for reading, see you guys next chapter. Let me know what you think!
I must be a hopeless romantic. I'm like "cheesy," but then, "I can't get enough of these two." *shrugs*
