May the Best Man Win |×| Fred Weasley | 1 |×|

×| TWENTY-EIGHT |×

STUDY. EAT. QUIDDITCH. SLEEP. REPEAT. That was about the extent of Evelyn's routine for a good while after valentine's weekend. She'd go to classes, take down her notes, go to the library and revise her notes. Breakfast, lunch and dinner would go by far too quickly, and then she'd be off to the quidditch pitch or sometimes back to the library for some extra studying before bed. Sometimes, she'd spend a little time with Ethan. Or maybe Nikki. Or maybe even Jodie price or Roger Davies. Once she'd even sat with Luna Lovegood.

And sometimes, just sometimes, she found herself spending a little time with the Weasley twins.

But right now, Evelyn was sitting alone at her favourite desk in the library. Right at the back, Infront of a window and hidden behind the rarely visited history of magic section, she found it the perfect place to revise her notes. She had magical draughts and potions sitting propped up against the windowsill, parchment rolled out and her quill in her hand - ink-dipped, poised and ready to start scribbling down the ingredients list to a swelling solution. The early spring sun was streaming through the window, pooling on the dark wood desk, illuminating her workstation. All things considered, it was a pretty perfect situation to be studying in.

Though presently, Evelyn really couldn't care less about how many puffer fish eyes should be added. She'd been distracted, though by nothing in particular. Distracted by the stifled giggles of a couple of seventh years who'd slipped behind a bookshelf for some time alone and the seemingly enchanted dust particles floating in the bar of light from the window. Distracted by the honey gold beams against the chestnut brown wood of the desk and the faint taste of pumpkin juice from breakfast that just wouldn't go away. Distracted by something Nikki had said to her in care of magical creatures the previous day...

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The porlock coiled away from Evelyn's outstretched hand as she held out a clump of grass for it to eat, trying to gain it's trust. Hagrid had told them that, whilst the porlock was generally mistrustful of humans, there were certain ways one could get close enough to|| study them properly.

"D'you think that maybe we should try something else?" Nikki whispered, crouching down beside Evelyn so as not to startle the horse-guardian, "it doesn't seem to be working."

"This is what Hagrid told us to do." Evelyn replied quietly, making an effort not to move her hand, "I'm sure that if we just hold out for a little bit - give it a bit of time, I mean - it'll all work out."

Nikki smiled, almost apologetically, and when she answered she spoke even more softly than before.

"Are you sure you're talking about feeding the porlock, Evie? Sounds an awful lot like you're talking about something else."

"What do you mean?" The Ravenclaw turned her head to face her Gryffindor friend and quirked an eyebrow. Nikki bit her lip, treading carefully.

"I mean... It's just that Max and Ashes and me, just the other day we... We were talking about, well, we were talking about you and... Ethan."

"Oh yeah? And what were you saying about us then?" Evelyn grinned. She took some more grass from the ground and placed it in her palm.

"We were just saying about how we're not so sure he's as great as everyone thinks he is... Don't you think he seems kind of... I don't know... Too good to be true?"

Evelyn's face fell. She looked away from her friend and back to the porlock which looked as though it was slowly coming forward to eat from her hand.