ELIXIR: A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Twelve. The First Task.

Evelyn's hair was a little damp and stringy. He supposed she had just showered. She already wore her white and blue pajama bottoms and an old Kenmare Kestrals shirt which he had lent her at least three years ago. She had never given it back.

"Hey," said Evelyn, easily, as though she did not know what was coming in less than twenty four hours. Less than twenty four hours... he had to repeat it several times, turning it over in his mind, before the weight of that fact could settle in appropriately. Evelyn bent over and began rummaging through her bag on the floor by her feet. He wondered if she was mad at him for avoiding her.

"Hungry?" she asked, offering him a pumpkin pasty she had just produced from the bag. "There wasn't much I could take easily," she said.

Sean blinked at her, almost forgetting in his surprise that he was, in fact, very hungry.

"Yeah," he said finally, reaching out to take it. "Yeah, I am."

Then he added, too late, "Thanks."

Evelyn did not speak while he ate but once the pasty was gone she put away the parchment she had been writing on and asked, eyes on her lap, "How're you feeling?"

Sean almost said he felt fine. The lie was so ready; he had used it so many times this week. But instead, in a very quiet voice he said, "Not good."

Evelyn seemed to have expected this. She took his hand and squeezed it.

"Me too," she said weakly. "I'm scared."

"Yeah," said Sean. "That's putting it mildly." For some reason it did not bother him that she said she was scared. If anyone else had said so, he would have been infuriated. He was the one competing, after all, not her. Not anyone else.

"Want any more help?" she asked. And although he had been planning to continue reading as late as he could stay up, Sean shook his head.

"Come up with me," he told her. He stood, without letting go of her hand, and together they walked up the steps to the boys dormitory. Sean left her sitting cross-legged on his bed while he changed into his own pajamas and brushed his teeth, then he climbed into his bed and pulled the hangings shut. They were washed in a sudden darkness, but Sean could still see her clearly enough. He wondered if they would talk or not, not sure that it would do him any good to. But Evelyn answered for him without being asked..

"Let's just sleep," she whispered.

This was not the first time Sean had thought that Evelyn could read minds. Or maybe just his mind.

He nodded, pulling back the covers. Usually when they did this, Evelyn just lay beside him, maybe holding his hand if she was upset about something. He could remember occasions where they had lain over a foot apart on their backs, trying to keep their laughter quiet as they whispered to each other, joking about their professors and fellow students and each other.

But tonight was different. Tonight, Evelyn lay on her side, right next to him. She put her head on his chest so that he could smell her shampoo - coconut and something flowery - and feel her still barely damp hair on his shirt. Feeling that there were so many things he could say to her now, should perhaps say to her, but not knowing where to begin, Sean put his hand on her shoulder, let it slide down to rest on her waist, and shut his eyes.

Just before he fell asleep, he felt Evelyn's fingers tracing lightly over his collarbone. It raised goosebumps on his arms and he thought that she must still be wide awake. But sleep was pressing in on him and he welcomed it, letting it shut out the day's worries, tomorrow's problem.

---

Sean woke with the strangest mixture of sensations. He felt at once a kind of tenderness for Evelyn, who was still asleep in the exact position she had been when Sean had first drifted off, and an overwhelming nausea in the pit of his stomach when he realized that, at last, the day was here. There was no more putting it off. And all day he would have to wait, knowing what was coming, unable to stop it coming, wishing more than anything that he could.