Half a Life Without You
Chapter 15: "Bewitch the Mind"
Everly's POV
Tiny but mighty, Sirius had said. Glaring down at my wand I laugh humorlessly, "tomorrow you behave." The moonstones imbedded in my wand wink impishly in the candlelight, which I interrupt to mean, "don't hold your breath." I place my temperamental wand on the nightstand and flop tiredly back onto the bed. What a nightmare, I groan with embarrassment and bury my face into my pillow letting it capture my screams of frustration and embarrassment. Drained, I give the pillow a few good punches before finally drifting to sleep.
The sound of Zillah popping into my room the next morning jolts me awake. I watch her balance the overly large tray as it teeters precariously in her small arms before she slides it smoothly onto my table. "Good morning" I murmur with a smile. "Miss Everly Quinn, Good Morning!" she replies staring at me with her large wide eyes. Instead of popping away immediately per usual, she just continues to stand next to the table nervously twisting the hem of her dress in her hands. "Is something wrong Zillah?"
She starts to shake her head no, then her shoulders droop and reluctantly nods yes. "It's ok Zillah, what is it?" I finally coax the bad news out of her, apparently Dumbledore sent an owl late last night with an update on his return…2 more weeks, 14 whole days longer than originally planned. My patience is starting to feel paper thin. I can't help thinking back to the last time Dumbledore told me to practice patience. He said something about patience being bitter, but the fruit was sweet or some such nonsense. I huff in annoyance, but with what little choice I have over the matter I turn my thoughts to my upcoming tutoring lesson with Severus. A little pit of anxiety threatens to boil up at what new havoc I might cause.
I narrow my eyes and cautiously approach my wand; its appearance gives the impression of benign innocence. "But we both know you're a tiny terror." I scoff. A warm tingling spreads over me as I pick it, followed by a sense of dread. I shake it off, no, the prospect of another disaster was low. I reason with myself. I mean the odds of something else happening had to be exponentially small considering the plethora of events I've had to endure over the last couple weeks, not even counting the incident from my charms lesson. I'm due a 'normal' day, I think as I put on my flowy wizard robes, pocket my wand, and grab my potions book.
I watch Severus' tall dark frame pace briskly back and forth in front of the dining hall. He absently pushes his long hair out of his face as it continuously falls into his eyes each time he pivots. He pauses mid-step when he sees me approaching and once again tries to move the hair out of his face with the back of his hand but drops one of the many books he's been juggling. I quickly bend down to pick it up and notice the name "Vampires: A Wizard's Handbook"
"Are you doing research to write a vampire romance novel or something?" I joke.
"What?" his brow furrows in confusion.
I lightly tap my finger to the book cover I'm now holding. A flush creeps across his cheeks, "no, it's just research for a potion."
"Sounds like a dangerous potion if it involves vampires."
He only shrugs, "I suppose. There's only been a few wizards brave enough to try it".
"Were any of them successful?" I question.
He clears his throat and looks away uncomfortable, "well, I only really know of one."
"And?" I ask, encouraging him to continue.
"And… he is now a vampire," mumbling quickly. "He wrote the book actually," adding nonchalantly.
I gasp in shock, "Excuse me, did you just say he's a vampire!?" I push the book back into his hands a little harder than necessary, "I can only assume he failed in his attempt considering how things turned out for him, so what can you possibly hope to learn from him?" I demand.
"To learn from his mistakes and not repeat them" he smirks easily as he navigates us through the twisty stairs down to the dungeons.
"That's absurd." I grumble trying to keep up with him.
A deep chuckle echoes off the dungeon walls in response.
The potions classroom was large with several rows of long tables, room enough for at least 20 students. Severus's long swift strides stir the cold air hanging in the air causing me to shiver, "It is freezing in here." I stutter through my chattering teeth.
Suddenly, the small fireplace in the corner blazed to life as well as several of the torches along the dungeon wall. "Oh, thank God!" I dash over to stand in front of the fire holding my hands out.
"Don't I get a thank you?" he asks clearly entertained by my antics.
The heat from the fireplace has nothing to do with heat I feel in my face, "thank you Severus."
His mouth quirks with amusement, "you're welcome Everly."
He turns away moving gracefully around the room preparing two workspaces for our lesson. "Slughorn gave me access to the supply closet while he's gone, so we should have everything we need over the summer".
"That was nice, he must really trust you".
Scoffing at my interpretation, "It's more likely he didn't want to miss out on his summer holiday than it was about his trust for me".
"I'm sure…" I start to say something about that can't be entirely true, but he cuts me off.
"Before we begin, you'll want to tie back your hair and make sure your robes are rolled up. You will work here." He motions towards the cauldron and ingredients neatly laid out.
He wipes around in a flurry of black robes and heads up to the front, "open your book to page… "
I cut him off this time "394?" I ask flippantly
"No, page 1, we'll start at the beginning." He replies dryly.
"Alright, page 1 it is. I'm now ready for you to teach me how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the sense, to tell me how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death." I say teasingly.
His serious professor persona crumbles with a small, amused chuckle, "I've never had anyone describe potions quite like that, I'll have to use that one day."
"I'm sure you will" I smile knowingly.
We work diligently all morning and I finish a cauldron of something disgusting that was supposed to cure boils, "I don't think I did mine correctly."
"You did…. adequately." he replies, and for some reason it feels like one of the best compliments I've ever received.
Things went well over the next few days. Sirius finally let me try floating a feather and to my delight it worked. He was turning out to be a good teacher, even with his constant flirtation and innuendos. However, today he was strangely distant not at all his usual happy self, "Are you ok Sirus?"
"Of course, love, I'm with you." He replies smiling over at me, but I notice the warmth doesn't reach his eyes..
"Uh huh, I'm not buying it for a minute Mr. Black. Now what is really going on?"
Holding up his hands in surrender, "okay you win." He looks down shifting his feet, "I miss my friends. I miss playing quidditch, I miss the crowded hallways, I miss the noisy Gryffindor common room…I.. I… know it's lame." He shifts away from me in embarrassment.
"No, not lame" I say as I grab his arm pulling him back around to face me, "It's normal to miss the people closest to you."
He gives me a hard stare, "are you missing your family Everly?"
I shrug uncommittedly, I don't have anyone to miss I think sadly. I decide to just deflect the question, "want to teach me how to play quidditch?"
A real smile spreads across his face as he leaps up to his feet in excitement, "hell yeah, I do! Why are we still sitting here floating feathers?" I can't help but laugh, finding his joyful exuberance contagious. He grabs my hand pulling me up to my feet then immediately begins rattling off the rules of quidditch, suddenly he stops and looks down at me, "can you fly a broom?"
Shit. "Uh, no." I reply waiting for his disappointment. Surprisingly, he gives me a devilish grin, "looks like you're about to get your first broom riding lesson."
Trepidation slowly creeps in now that I had my legs planted on either side of the broom, what did I get myself into?
Sirus swings his leg over his broom and lifts quickly off the ground until he's hovering over my head, "It's easy, just kick hard against the ground."
I breathe out and push hard, nothing, I push again and again until I'm jumping up and down with the broom. Sirus's laughter interrupts my concentration, "It's not funny, Sirus!" I snap then sigh, "who am I kidding, I must look ridiculous."
Sirus lands next to me, "You look kind of cute when you're mad Quinn," I frown and look away, "well as long as your amused Black." He chuckles reaching over to grab my chin gently turning my head to look at him. "You got the Gryffindor temper. Let's see if you have our stubbornness." I open my mouth to retort, but he presses a single finger to my mouth, "close your eyes Everly and just relax, picture yourself floating lightly off the ground." I fight the urge to bite his finger but settle for just knocking his hand away earning me another laugh. I narrow my eyes and glare at him, "I will try to relax, but you must stop laughing or I can't be held responsible for my actions." He kicks off the ground again soaring high above me, "only if you can catch me, Quinn!" laughing again.
After a whole afternoon of trying to fly, I only manage to get a few feet off the ground, but I was flying high, pun intended, after my first flying lesson. Sirus assured me I was a natural and would be zipping around the quidditch arena before I knew it. It was a blast, I couldn't wait until our next lesson.
The glow of happiness remained into the next day. Based on Severus's frown when I bounced into my chair, he found it annoying, which made me smile wider.
We start right away on the next potion in the book, I hum happily as I stir between each ingredient ignoring the quiet sounds of Severus' disapproval.
"Having a good morning, are we?" he finally grumbles.
I look up from my potions book, "why yes I am, thank you for asking."
He scowls at my reply, "marvelous, will you be insufferable all morning?"
I gasp in pretend outrage, "Insufferable!? Me?...Never!"
The corner of his lips turns up slightly as if he was fighting a smile. "Okay, but if you break out into song I'm leaving."
I can't help laughing, "Okay, I'll dim it down a little bit. I was just thinking about my last lesson with Sirus. He taught me to fly a broom!" I say excitedly.
He sucks in his breath loudly, "He did what?" practically hissing the question at me.
His face might as well be made of stone all humor from before having vanished. "I told you he was reckless, so naturally you put yourself in a dangerous position!" He roars at me.
I begin stirring my potion more and more aggressively as he drones on about the dangers of flying and "damn Gryffindor impulsiveness", "they never stop to think," "always getting into trouble…"
I cut him off slamming the spoon down "I'm done!" I shout.
"I seriously doubt you've finished before me…" he says in disbelief.
"I didn't say I finished my potion, I said I..AM..DONE!" I begin gathering up my things to leave.
"Everly I'm sorry."
"Nope. Not good enough." I call over my shoulder heading straight for the door.
He steps in front of me. I push his chest, but he doesn't even budge an inch.
"Move, I don't want to hear another word about what you think of Gryffindors and how impulsive, hot tempered…" he unexpectedly pulls me close.
"What you are, Everly Quinn… is exasperating" he murmurs before crashing his lips to mine, his hand gently grips my hair pulling my head back to deepen our kiss, a soft moan escapes me as it becomes more demanding. His grasp tightens around my waist pressing his body more firmly into mine. My heart is hammering so hard in my chest I'm sure he can feel it. We finally break apart breathing heavily, pressing our foreheads against each other as we both catch our breath. I reach up to push a dark lock of hair behind his ear, he surprises me when he turns his head slightly to press his lips against the inside of my wrist. He stares at me with hooded eyes, and I know he's going to kiss me again, when we hear a loud popping sound. He looks over my shoulder before shouting, "FUCK!" He quickly scrambles away to remove the cauldron from the burner before any more of his potion explodes.
"Well, that was exciting." I nervously quip.
He doesn't say anything, we just stare silently at each other from across the room. His eyes darken and he begins walking towards me with purpose. My stomach drops in anticipation, when suddenly the door to the classroom swings open. "Fuck" I hear Severus utter quietly as I turn to see a smiling Dumbledore glide into the room.