- Chapter Sixty-Three -
"Protect me from what?"
"I'm going to rip his head off."
The severity of Regulus' glare made even Elladora feel taken aback. They had bot been stood near the drinks table for most of the night, just having small conversations and occasionally greeting people who came past them. Their parents hadn't disturbed them yet and they hoped that when it got to midnight and they could finally disappear upstairs to their bedrooms, they wouldn't have been approached by them the whole night.
Yet time was ticking slowly and it had only just reached 11pm when Elladora was already beginning to feel tired but Regulus was standing straight and alert, occasionally glaring across the room. Avery, Mulciber and some more boys that had joined them were all eyeballing the only girl their age in the room and Regulus was pissed beyond belief. They didn't seem to notice his glares and even if they did, they wouldn't care and would probably just keep staring.
"Who's head are you ripping off?" Elladora asked, raising an eyebrow interestedly at him. She had a goblet of water in her hand, having finished her second glass of Firewhiskey a while ago and Regulus had been preventing her from getting a new one every time she even looked that way. Although it was tempting, she didn't want to get drunk that night.
"Avery, the son of a bitch." Regulus clenched his jaw angrily and she tilted her head before looking for the boy in the room, seeing him staring straight at them. "He's been staring at you all night." He told her apologetically, frowning and running a hand over her face.
"Why? He hates me." She furrowed her eyebrows with a small incredulous laugh and glanced his way again, he was far away but she could still see the direction he was looking in.
Regulus cleared his throat and just looked at her with a small smile and she shook her head in confusion at him. He figured that what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her so he just dropped it, shrugging his shoulder and shaking it off with another clear of his throat.
People had been talking, laughing and milling around all evening. More people coming in as the hours increased and both Elladora and Regulus were one boring conversation away from collapsing into their sleep. Along with her exhaustion, Elladora was dealing with her restricted breathing from the corset and trying not to suddenly faint. Walburga and Evan continued their rounds after the snorting incident and they successfully managed to avoid another embaassing run-in.
Just another hour and then they were done for the night and Elladora could finally sleep.
"Hey, guys." A voice from beside them caught their attention and they both turned to see Evan Rosier pouring himself a drink, smiling tiredly. His hair that had been perfectly styled before was a bit messed up now and his eyes seemed just as tired as theirs as he stared down at the butterbeer he had just poured in his cup. "How are you guys holding up with...all this?"
"Uh, good, I think." Elladora answered, rubbing her eyes slightly and glancing to Regulus who didn't leave her this time and instead smiled at Evan. "I'm...sorry, about before I-"
"Don't be." Evan smiled at her, his lips parting to show his shining teeth before he took a sip of his drink and looked back at the girl. "It was amusing. But...who makes such an odd sound when laughing?"
"That's what I said." Regulus mumbled, nodding along to Evan's words as Elladora looked back at him with a small narrow in her eyes.
"I don't know, it just sort of slipped out." She answered Evan, taking her attention away from Regulus and putting it back on the blond boy next to her. "And I wasn't laughing at you, well I was, but only at what you said because Regulus said that...he said that you would say something and then you came up to me and said the thing that he said you'd say so I laughed because of what you said and not because of you in general."
"You're tired too, huh?" Is all he said with another amused grin and let a smile of her own come through as she looked away temporarily, catching Regulus' narrowed eyes directed at Evan. "Yeah, all this talking and meeting people and just standing around. It drains you."
"Mhm." She nodded, pursing her lips and sighed heavily. "One more hour and then I can head up to bed for the night. Hopefully dream of being back at Hogwarts and just...everything going back to the way it was but I don't think anything will ever be the same." Her voice trailed off slightly and Evan parted his lips with furrowed eyebrows but she continued before he could say anything. "Oh, I'm sorry, that was deep."
"It was true." Evan shook his head and Elladora looked up at him in shock. "I mean, this is my first year out of Hogwarts and I also became a Death Eater in my sixth year and nothing was the same."
"Scary." She muttered quietly, frowning. "So you're 18?"
"Yeah, 19 at the end of May." He nodded in confirmation then looked down at her and became quite shifty as he looked at her. "You're 16?"
"17." She corrected and he breathed out in what seemed like a bit of relief but he just smiled at her and took a sip of his drink as Regulus smirked amusedly before looking over at Avery again by accident and glaring again. "Regulus, stop glaring at Avery, it's not gonna do anything."
"No, continue to glare." Evan encouraged and they both looked at him with a little bit of surprise on their faces. "He's a dick." He grimaced and looked in the boy's direction. "A dick who needs a little bit of sense knocked into him for staring at you like that."
Evan made a move to walk away but Elladora quickly put a hand out to grasp around his arm, pulling him back towards her and Regulus. He stumbled back and almost bumped into her but she quickly moved out of the way as he steadied himself and looked at her with raised eyebrows, almost asking her why she was dragging him back instead of letting him walk up to Avery.
"Just let him stare." She rolled her eyes. "He hates me and I hate him, we both know that and glaring at each other isn't going to be anything but petty."
"He's not staring at you like he hates you." Evan retorted, joining Regulus in glaring over at the boy.
Elladora turned to look at him too, like really look at him and saw from far away that his lips had tilted up into a small smirk as he looked up at her through his eyelashes as he was bending his head down to drink his Firewhiskey. She furrowed her eyebrows at his smirk and when his gaze flitted down, she finally understood and gasped quietly in disturbance, turning around so her chest was facing the drink table instead of the other way around.
"Oh." She said quietly, frowning and glancing down at her own chest. Another reason why she hated corsets, it was just because they were uncomfortable but now it was because she was being stared at and her body was being viewed for amusement. It was a horrible feeling and it made her feel dirty, not as much as the mark on her arm did but it definitely made her feel weird.
"It's alright, Elladora." Evan reassured, placing his now empty cup on the table she was facing. "I'll go beat his arse for you."
"Evan, no-"
A bustling commotion from the end of the room made everyone's head turn, Evan's goal to beat up Avery momentarily forgotten as he looked to see what was happening. Elladora's hand loosened on his arm and Regulus became alert too, looking up from his cup and over to the commotion. Every pair of eyes was set on Antonin Dolohov, who came stumbling in holding someone by their collar. The man he was holding had the same hair colour as Evan and was quite tall, struggling in the hold of the man.
Whispering bubbled over the room as they all stared at Dolohov and the man he had in his grip, the Death Eater had an evil smirk as he stared down at the man who was wearing dark cloaks. He looked defeated, disappointed in himself but he still managed to crack a small smile up at Dolohov who sneered through his smirk.
"What a surprise." Bellatrix Black began to cackle, stepping forward towards the pair. "A spy." She pouted and the man just chuckled, shaking his head.
"Hey, Bella, how've ya been?" He asked in a friendly manner and Bellatrix snarled at him whilst Dolohov tugged at the mans collar again. "Okay, okay, I guess stunning you in a duel doesn't make us friends. Yikes."
"Evan." A new, hushed voice was near the group and they turned to see Cassiopeia right next to them, Elladora faltering slightly in fear of the sudden appearance. Evan hastily looked to the woman beside him and widened her eyes but she didn't appear to be in any mood to talk with the sudden interruption. "Get her upstairs. It's someone from the Order."
"Uh, yes miss." He nodded with a nervous and turned to Elladora, grabbing her hand softly and starting to lead her away from the drinks table and towards the main doors that people had entered and exited from.
"Wait, what's going on?" Elladora hurriedly whispered to him as they got closer and closer to the doors and further and further away from the drinks table where Regulus stood with his father approaching him. She kept looking back over her shoulder but Evan kept leading her to the doors.
The voices of the other Death Eaters were becoming quieter, especially when Evan slowly and quietly opened one of the doors.
"We heard you had a skilled Occlumens so we-" The voice of the mysterious man faded away as the doors shut behind the pair. Elladora tried to go back there but Evan kept a grip on her arm.
"Evan, let go!" She ripped her arm from his grip when they were nearing the large stairs and he sent her an apologetic smile as she took a step back from him, making no move to go back to the room but looking at the boy with a disbelieving look in her eye. "What the hell is happening?"
Evan inhaled slightly, nervously glancing back to the door before taking a step closer to Elladora. She backed away slightly and he made no move to follow her, just lowered his voice down to a whisper whilst he looked at her with a soft and pleading look in his eyes.
"Look, I can't explain, not right outside the doors anyway." He said and she straightened up slightly, looking back at the room that was now shut away from her. "If we go upstairs like we've been told to do, I won't get in trouble and then I can tell you why we've had to leave."
She looked straight into his eyes, hesitated for a moment, before she then gave in with a groan and stomped past him, hurrying up the stairs. He followed shortly after her, staying behind her as she walked to her bedroom. The skirt of her dress floated elegantly behind her with her fast steps and her small heels clicked against the floor of the landing. Her hand wrapped quickly around the door handle and she pushed it open before turning and grabbing Evan's sleeve, pulling him in too.
He stumbled in with wide-eyes and went to turn to face her but with her glare, he just quickly walked back and sat on the edge of her bed and looked up at her like he was actually scared. Which he probably was, seeing as he folded his hands obediantly on his lap and just looked up at her.
"Okay, first question." She started, standing in front of him with a small narrow in her eyes. "What's 'The Order'?"
"Uh, It's basically the opposite side of the war, the people that fight against us." He explained and she pursed her lips, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. "They're against our beliefs and I don't know how many of them there are...but, yeah that's basically what they-"
"Okay and why did you drag me up here?" She interrupted, stepping closer to him, narrowing her eyes. If this guy was from the Order, who was fighting against the Death Eaters in the war then maybe she could find him again or something, maybe he could help her out of this. Regulus too.
"I was doing it to protect you."
"Protect me from what?" She scoffed through a small laugh, shaking her head with narrowed eyes and a small furrow in her eyebrows. Evan only sighed, pressing his lips together and standing up so he was towering over her again and she straightened up, looking up into his eyes.
"They know you're an occlumens. Somehow." He said and she just continued to look up at him. "We don't know how they know but they do and we can't risk losing you to their side. It was said in a meeting earlier today that you and Regulus weren't here for."
"Oh." She stated blankly, she wasn't that bothered that 'The Order' was looking for her, if they managed to kidnap her then she would be more than happy to transfer over to that side as long as Regulus could come too and they were protected from their families. "So...who was that guy?"
"I believe," Evan moved past her and towards her bedroom door, putting his hand on the doorknob. "That his name was Sturgis Podmore. Now that we've found him, he'll probably be staying in your basement or something."
Interesting.
"I should...probably go." He pointed to the door and she nodded, smiling lopsidedly at him. "I'll tell you parents that you've gone to bed."
"Yeah, thanks." She said quietly and with one last smile, he left her bedroom. Elladora heaved out a great sigh and quickly shed her skirt, letting it drop to the floor below her before she reached back and pulled one of the strings on her corset, finally releasing herself from her breathing constrictions as it loosened around her.
Just one more week and she'd be going back, yet nothing will ever be the same.
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A/N: This story hit 200k reads the other day and I couldn't be more grateful, thank you guys so much. Your comments make my day and I get so giddy when I see you all so early for the new chapters!
Yes, Evan was a nice Evan because I don't like mean Evan.
Once again, thank you all so much for all of the support!