𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗻. ✭

𝟎𝟏𝟗. you can never kill a protector

hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. in an instant he had pulled mr. weasley and mr. malfoy apart. mr. weasley had a cut lip and mr. malfoy had been hit in the eye by an encyclopedia of toadstools. he was still holding ginny's old transfiguration book. he thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice. 

"here, girl—take your book—it's the best your father can give you—" pulling himself out of hagrid's grip, he beckoned to draco and swept from the shop.

the memory had washed over evelyn's brain in a flash; she had now realized that she hadn't taken notice of the small blonde girl standing by lucius malfoy's side, nor the book that he had secretly slipped into ginny weasley's cauldron.

"i'm sorry," carina whispered, nervously looking into evelyn's face. "i'm sorry he did that, you know how he is—"

"doesn't matter," evelyn interrupted. "it's over now, she's okay."

"ev—"

"it's fine," she reassured carina again. it absolutely was not fine, yet evelyn figured that they did not need anything else getting in the way of everything going back to normal again. "let's go back in, shall we?" 

***

now, evelyn thought the christmas feast was extraordinary, but this one had to be ten times better. the students of hogwarts were all in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted all night. the great hall was filled with children and teachers, even hagrid decided to show up. yet nothing compared to how they felt around fifteen minutes after midnight.

"hi potter," owen tapped on evelyn's shoulder shyly, smiling. not far behind him were thea, max, and max's revolting cologne smell. they were eyeing the group and speaking to each other quietly.

"hi!" evelyn turned from carina, who was drawing on her hand while rory and ginny were watching a very heated chess match between ron and cindy. evelyn awkwardly looked past owen's shoulder to look at his two friends. thea noticed her staring and hit max, who was in the middle of what looked like quite a disrespectful statement. she waved at evelyn, and evelyn waved back.

"y'know they can come over here right?"

owen shrugged, sighing at the two. just then, lani rushed towards them with a bowl.

"hey," she smirked, jumping onto the gryffindor table and taking a seat on it, rubbing a grape in between her fingers. "hey, ev. catch?"

before evelyn could answer, max came over and walked straight to lani.

"what did i tell you?" he folded his arms. "i told you—there was no way slytherin's heir was a slytherin. what do you have to say now?"

lani gave him a disgusted look. "get lost, rowle."

"you're quite bold, black," thea had now stepped forward, slightly moving max back with her hand on his shoulder. "we haven't done anything to you, and last time i checked, we weren't talking to you either."

lani opened her mouth furiously to respond, but owen interrupted.

"c'mon, have a heart," he frowned. "they're cool."

she closed her mouth slowly, looking at max and thea one last time. thea pressed her lips together and max narrowed his eyes.

"sure," she said dully before turning back to evelyn. "you ready?"

evelyn rose an eyebrow playfully and opened her mouth widely. she mumbled out a, "try me."

her mouth continued to hang open, waiting for her friend to make her attempt of throwing the grape; but the grape never came. it had to be about fifteen seconds when evelyn clamped her mouth shut and opened her eyes puzzled.