Delicate | James Potter

2.07

~

Professor McGonagall left the girls to it once she was sure everything was in place. The spare bed was made, trunk and belongings of their guest set out neatly in front. Her smile was tight as she departed their dormitory, and she didn't miss the chance to remind them all of their transfiguration essay due tomorrow morning.

"Hi," Mary was the first to introduce herself, "I'm Mary. Mary MacDonald."

She smiled widely and held out her hand. The new girl - who's expression turned sharp as soon as McGonagall left the room - stared at it for a moment, then turned to Marlene instead with a bored look.

"Uh," Marlene raised an eyebrow and her eyes flickered to Mary, who had dropped her hand and was fiddling nervously with her bracelets instead, "Marlene."

"Nice, and you?" The girl pointed at Lily, barely acknowledging Marlene at all.

Lily got up from her bed and walked over to the middle of the room so she could stand by Mary's side, smiling politely. "I'm Lily, it's nice to meet you."

"Lily like the flower?" The girl said, eyebrow raising in a fashion rather similar to Marlene's. Her tone was cold and judgemental, not quite as cordial as Alice had expected. She tutted, "Strange."

Alice shuffled forward to the edge of her bed, taking the silence as her turn to say hello. "Hi, my name's Alice."

The girl gave her an extra peculiar look, eyes drifting up to look at her hair which no doubt looked a mess after the day she'd just had. "You look tired. Sick, even."

Alice laughed nervously. "Well, I am a bit. It's been a busy day, we were looking at Doxy's earlier and they - "

"Cool." She cut her off. "My name's Evangeline, but you can call me Eve. I like concerts and Quidditch and, uh... and my favourite colours green. Hope that covers it. I'm going to bed."

And that was the last they heard from their Ilvermorny visitor all night, or at least for the others. Alice woke up again at some ungodly hour with fear knotted deep in her chest and weaved through her entire body. She almost went to sit downstairs again, as last time it had helped, but just as she were about to, she heard a bed creak and the door open. Twenty minutes later the door opened and the bed creaked once more. It must have been Evangeline, for Alice had grown so accustomed to sleeping with the others she basically knew their breathing patterns and right now, none of them were awake. Not to mention the direction of the sound.

Alice didn't fall asleep for a while after that, instead lay awake wondering where on earth Eve had gone - as far as she knew it was her first time in Hogwarts, did she even know where anything was? But, when she finally did, she dreamt of strange girls with unsettling, beady eyes playing Quidditch at a concert.

The next morning, Alice awoke to the noise of friendly chatter. She rubbed harshly at her eyes before sticking her head out of her little curtain. To her surprise, Mary was bouncing around the dormitory with Eve and Lily, all of them grinning. It was like their visitor was a completely different person to who she'd been yesterday, as now she was happily engaged in some odd discussion, no judgemental stares in sight. Alice could have sworn she even heard her offer to fetch them all coffee and biscuits.