☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
Christmas party
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
Eva had not left her room in the last week, could be that she was mentally exhausted, or could be because she was scared. She had woken up every night, covered in sweat with the same bad dream, it was eating her alive. Bunny had normally been bringing food up to her room so she most definitely didn't need to leave. Her mother would sometimes knock on her door trying to convince her daughter to come out of her room but Eva ignored her every time. The one problem about her hibernation in her room was how bored she'd been. Sitting alone in silence with her thoughts had actually been painful.
She tried sneaking out to go to the art room but when she saw the canvas from the other night and realized that she didn't recognize if the painting was covered in red paint or dried blood, she had a panic attack and went straight back to her room. She wanted to get past this but her body and mind wouldn't allow her. She had also avoided all the letters James had sent in the last week, as they were too hard to read. She still didn't know what she was gonna do. She knew deep down what she was going to have to do but she tried to block that out of her mind.
It was Christmas day and her parents were throwing their annual Christmas ball, which meant she would inevitably have to face her parents. So on the morning of Christmas, she went downstairs to the family table. She sat down at her designated seat which was the furthest away from her parents. When her mom realized she had joined the table, they stopped whatever they were talking about, and her mother gave her a sad, small smile acknowledging her presence while her father didn't even look up from the daily prophet newspaper that he reads every morning.
From her seat, she had the opportunity to look at her parents. Really look at them not just glance at them. She rather observed them. Her father was always that type of cold man. He always wore a sort of serious expression and thinking back she hardly ever seen him smile. Her mother, on the other hand, was naturally beautiful, she didn't have to go to long lengths to make herself pretty, she just always was. She always seemed put together very nicely with her hair perfectly styled and the perfect outfit. However, the beauty seemed to pause today. Her hair was a mess and tangled, she was still in her night clothes and her normally calm face was replaced with a frown that made her whole face fall. She bit the side of her lip as Eva noticed something glistening on her cheek. A tear. Her mother was crying. Lenora Rosewood was crying. Lenora closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking up at meeting the heartbroken eyes of her daughter. She looked down at her food once more almost as if she was pretending that nothing happened.
"Evelyn," she heard her father call finally acknowledging her.
"Yes," she replied, looking up from the plate. Her nerves were spinning out of control.
"The will be a lot of eligible bachelors here tonight, I want you to look your absolute best,"
"Bachelors?" her eyes raised, her confidence slowly regaining.
"You heard me."
"You want me to find someone at your party?"
"For Merlin's sake Evelyn you're not that daft,"
She rolled her eyes at her father's words, Not having anything to say she got up and left the dining table, returning to her room. Eva walked into her room noticing how clean it was, except for the pile of gifts at the edge of her bed that had been accumulating since yesterday. She decided that she would open all the gifts later tonight, in order to have something to look forward to, after all, Eva wasn't really in the Christmas spirit mood.
She spent the remainder of the day up in her room, either reading one of the books from the family library or writing in her journal. She had picked up on the writing habit when she was really little and it kind of stuck. Eva always thought her emotions were either extremely high or extremely low. She never really had anybody to express her feelings to so whenever she could, she wrote in her journal so she wouldn't actually explode or go crazy with her emotions. Lately, her emotions had been all over the place, so the pages were filling up pretty quickly, She had a lot to say but she couldn't.
Bunny had delivered Eva a bunch of dress options for her to pick which one she was going to wear to the party. The first was a big, puffy, white dress that honestly looked like a cupcake. She dismissed that one automatically, she wasn't trying to have to wear a wedding dress just yet. The second was a gorgeous blue dress, it was short but absolutely decked out in shimmering gems. The last dress was a stunning red piece. It had a long, triangle neckline that cut down to her boobs. The bottom was very loose so that when she walked her legs showed. She decided that she would wear the red one despite her absolute loving the shimmering blue one, she knew she would have to keep that for a different occasion.
She loved red. It reminded her of James. To be honest that's probably why she picked it. She knew she had to go out there and uphold her family's honor but even having the slightest bit of James on her would make the occasion seem almost ironic.
♡♡♡
The Christmas ball was always the same. It was decorated so glamorous that it made some people like the family more and while others grew jealous. Eva always stayed up in her room for the beginning portion of the event, then she would gradually make her way downstairs to the ballroom. She wouldn't have a grand entrance or anything like that because she hated the attention and all the eyes on her.
She walked through the side door hoping that no one would catch her walking in late but to her dismay, her mom did. Lenora's eyes spotted hers from across the room beckoning her to come join them. Eva sighed to herself as she realized how drunk she was gonna have to get to survive this night.
An hour into the party it had gone exactly like how Eva had imagined it would. Every once in a while her parents would bring someone over for her to meet and they would engage in mind-numbing small talk for a couple of minutes before she would make some excuse to leave. She would sneak a few drinks when nobody was looking, it's not like it was hard, her parents didn't care and everyone else was either too drunk or too into themselves to notice.
She was probably on her fifth glass when she bumped into someone. She knew who he was, of course, she knew who he was. He had the same black hair and blueish-gray eyes that she had become so familiar with in the past year. He was shorter than his brother but still taller than Eva. Eva had seen him around Hogwarts, after all, he was in the same house as Eva. They had talked every now and then when Lucius was still her boyfriend or when they got put together in class projects or even when their family invited them and they were forced to speak to each other. Eva had no problem with Regulus, he was actually one of the very few Slytherins that actually liked her, which she was very grateful for.
"Oh! Eva it's you, finally someone I actually like," Regulus muttered.
"I can say the same thing," Eva smiled at him.
"What? You're not enjoying your own party?" He tilted his head, already knowing the answer.
"Oh you know, not the type of party I wanna be at," she rolled her eyes at her parents who stared at them from afar. Regulus seemed to catch on to them staring.
"Hey you wanna get out of here?" he asked completely done with everyone in this room.
"Of fucking course. Being in this room is actually suffocating," she joked. She chugged her drink putting the glass on a nearby table before walking up to another table and grabbing two more drinks before she walked out of the large, decorated room waiting for Regulus to follow her.
She made her way to the Rosewood garden. The garden was Eva's addition to the mansion. She loved being outside so she decided she wanted a big garden because when she was little she had read this book in the family library, it was about a big garden and the secret passageway that led to somewhere magical and she completely fell in love with the idea. She had her own little area in the garden that was secret, or rather that her parents didn't know about. She handed Regulus his drink and sat down on one of the swings, sipping her drink. She enjoyed the burning feeling when it slid down her throat.
"So you have a secret passage in your garden," Regulus teased, taking a sip of his drink and sitting on the bench in front of the swing. "Looks like something out of a book,"
Eva smiled at him because little did he know. "Yeah. It's secret though so I'm gonna have to kill you after we're done here,"
Regulus raised his eyebrows as a smile crept onto his face. "Damn and I thought we had a good thing going on here," he tilted his head to the side.
Eva laughed, shaking her head and taking another sip. The alcohol was finally hitting her like a ton of bricks. "Ah, my parents would love that,"
"Wait don't tell me they're trying to set you up?" Regulus halted.
Eva stared at him through her dizziness before completely losing it and laughing uncontrollably. "Yeah. They're actually crazy," he smiled at her amused with her doozy state. She waited until she calmed down to explain the rest. "Apparently my parents made a deal with the Malfoys for me to marry Lucius when we first started dating and then when we broke up and he started dating Narcissa, the plans were ruined and it was somehow my fault," she swallowed.
"God. That's horrible." Regulus shook his head.
"Yeah," she finished her drink.
"I mean I know how it feels. My parents are on my arse about finding someone and shit... especially now that Sirius is gone," he added the last part hesitantly. Regulus wasn't the type of person to let anyone in and tell people about his life but sitting here with a couple of drinks in his system and staring at Eva with the kind look on her face he couldn't help it.
"I don't mean to pry but are you okay after the whole Sirius thing?" she asked carefully not trying to stir anything up.
"Well. Yeah, it's been hard but I can't really do anything about that. It was his decision to leave. I just kinda wish he took me with him," Eva noticed the sadness in his eyes and she felt horrible that regulus had to go through that by himself. Everyone had felt sorry for Sirius after everything but nobody cared to ask Regulus how he felt.
"I'm sorry Reg, you didn't deserve that," She got up from the swing and sat down next to him to put her hand on his shoulder. "Look I know we aren't exactly close but if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you," she gave him a kind smile.
Regulus looked at Eva with admiration. She was a part of one of the most famous families in the Wizarding world and she was still kinder and more humble than most of the Slytherins he had surrounded himself with.
"Thanks," he smiled weakly. "Okay jeez, this took a dark turn," he tried to shake off the tension.
"Yeah I seem to do that a lot," she laughed dryly remembering all the times she's turned conversations sad.
"And it looks like we're out of booze," she sighed.
"I mean I have something we can do," Regulus said pulling something out of his pocket.
"The fuck is that?" she asked staring at the clear bag filled with white powder.
"Don't worry about it," Eva watched as he scooped a little bit out of the bag and placed it on the bench, and used the end of the bag to make two lines. He picked a leaf from one of the bushes near him and rolled it into a cylinder-looking shape before inhaling the powder. He looked at her with raised eyebrows as he handed her the rolled-up leaf. She took it hesitantly, she normally wouldn't have taken it but after the couple of drinks she had, the feeling of suffocation and numbness she felt this past week justified her taking it. She was desperate to feel anything other than what she's been feeling.
She followed Regulus' movements and inhaled the white powder. And she waited for the pang of ecstasy to hit her and the nine minutes she had, were the best nine minutes of her life. And when they did the rest of the lines she didn't think about how wrong it was, she didn't think about her parents or even James. She only thought about chasing the high. Cause when she was in that high, the very few minutes felt like everything was okay. She craved the euphoria the drug gave her and even though she was pulling herself towards a long and painful path that she was inevitably bound to pass, in that moment she couldn't care less.
♡ ♡ ♡
After the drug had worn off Eva and Regulus had made their way back to the ballroom where the forgotten party was being held. Her parents spotted Eva as soon as she walked into the room and when Eva found her parents looking at her walking up to them, she whispered in Regulus' ear to run and save himself, he looked at her gratefully and sped off before her parents can bombard him with embarrassing questions.
"Eva, where were you?" Her mother asked her.
"It doesn't matter, what matters is who she was with. Regulus Black!" Her father commented.
"We're just friends, I've seen him around and we bumped into each other and decided to talk somewhere quieter," Eva explained, putting her hands on her hips, not enjoying the fact that she had to recap her evening.
"Just talk..." Her mother asked, confusion written on her face.
"Yes! We. Just. Talked." Eva replied slowly before a big yawn spread throughout her face.
"Okay well that's good," her mother smiled. "The ball is almost over so you can go to bed if you want, all the guests are leaving now anyway," her mom commented probably because she noticed when Eva yawned.
"Thank you, I will," Eva nodded to her mom.
Her dad turned to her and before she could leave he grabbed her hand. This time it was gentle. She looked into his eyes and saw them filled with happiness. "You've made me incredibly proud today Eva, Talking to a Black was a great job,"
Eva felt sick after hearing the last words. She had finally made her dad proud but at what cost? She felt nauseous and the room suddenly felt a lot hotter than it was before. Her tears welled in her eyes desperate to fall but she didn't. She closed her eyes blinking away the tears and swallowed the lump in her throat. And then she smiled. A horrible, sickening, fake, smile that could fool anyone. And when she opened her mouth, she didn't say all the curses she'd been wanting to say or all the other vile things that had been bubbling up inside her for years. Cause when she did say all those things, she was sure it would ruin him. So instead she pushed down the bubbling hate and muttered.
"Merry Christmas,"
♡ ♡ ♡
When she entered her room she ran straight for her bed, she was exhausted. She took off her dress throwing it on the dressing table, not caring about being delicate. She put on her mismatched pajamas and sat on her bed. She had gotten up to put on some music on the record player she had in her room when she heard a tap on one of her many glass windows in her room. She walked to the window confused and opened it to reveal a black owl with a note and a small box attached to it. She let the owl in, grabbed the package, and petted its head and before she let the owl fly away, she grabbed some of the owl snacks she kept in her room near the windows and fed the beautiful black owl. The owl accepted it gracefully before flying off into the night.
She opened the note and read silently what it said. "I had a great time tonight you know despite all the marriage proposals and whatnot, thank you for actually being a decent person and not some stuck-up prick. Oh, and I realized I forgot to tell you Happy Christmas. So Merry Christmas, enjoy your gift. I figured you needed it more than I did." - R.A.B.
She smiled a little, remembering their talk in the garden. She opened the box to find the same clear bag Reg and her had shared in the garden, this time it seemed like the powder had multiplied. She bit her lip in guilt also remembering what they did in the garden. She knew that having this bag with her was dangerous but at the same time, she felt a sense of relief. She put the clear bag back into the box and put it on her table. She reminded herself that she didn't need it and it would only be a once-in-a-while thing.
She sighed knowing that she was going to have to open the rest of the presents sometime so she decided to do it now. She was excited about opening her gifts. Who doesn't like gifts? The list went on and on but she decided to open gifts from the people she thought were the important. She started with Lily. Lily had given her a new water bottle, the sleeve was entirely covered in pink and it was labeled "Show yourself more love" in a wobbly purple font. Marlene had gotten her some makeup, of course, a bright red lipstick and a warm-colored eye shadow palette. Lyra had gotten her a skincare package that was holiday-themed and smelled amazing. Andromeda had mixed some of her favorite songs into a mixtape and gave her a book that was about "Music Throughout the Years". Sofia got her a beautiful necklace while Grace got her matching earrings to go with it.
Peter had given her a package of all her favorite sweets from Honeydukes and it came with a little note that read "I figured that you would miss this when you were away so I thought I could make it a little easier. enjoy. -Pete" She smiled at the note in adoration and grabbed one of the cauldron cakes and bit into it. Sirius had gotten her some hair products and she had recognized that this was the same hair stuff he used. She shook her head that man is way too proud of his hair. She then pulled out a cloth headband that said "blondie" on it. She rolled her eyes but chuckled at the thought of the nickname.
Remus had gotten her a book. It wasn't just any book though. It was a muggle book that Remus couldn't stop shutting up about so she told him that she would try to find it and read it for his sake but she never did find it and had to listen to Remus talk about it for weeks. She smiled at the book and opened it up to see Remus' handwritten annotations. Her smile brightened as she realized that he had given her his own copy of the book.
Lastly, there was James. Eva had gotten him a necklace that had the letter E on it, so if he decided to wear it she would always be with him, she also got him a brown sweater with small antlers on the side, to honor their patronus'. She inhaled deeply when she touched the box that it came in. She was nervous and she didn't know why. She unraveled the ribbon and pulled out a book. She opened and she was met with candid pictures of her and the group. She smiled at the pictures as she almost relived the moments. She laughed when she saw one of her and Sirius passed out on the ground which she most definitely does not remember. Every once in a while there would be photos of her when she wasn't paying attention to anyone. It would probably be in the library when she was reading or in the great hall. She was completely sure that the group had been passing around the camera to each other and Eva had no idea. God, how oblivious am I? she thought. The book wasn't completed and that's when she realized the box had something else, it was a muggle Polaroid camera with film and a small note.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and opened the note. It read "I promised I wouldn't let those portraits be the only pictures of you." She smiled at the note recognizing James' handwriting. Then the memory came flooding back to her.
Do you know I've never been photographed outside of these family portraits," Eva laughed. "Imagine if I die and these are the only pictures of me," her eyes widened.
"We're not gonna let that happen. Trust me," James smiled at her.
"Promise?" she held out her pinky.
"I promise," he locked his pinky against hers.
She definitely couldn't stop the tears from falling now. She sobbed so hard that she couldn't breathe. James had cared and loved her so much and she was gonna have to break his heart. She hugged the photo album tighter. The tears streamed down her face like water streamed down rivers. She hated it. She cried and cried and cried that night. She couldn't stop herself from thinking about how she would have to go back to Hogwarts and ruin everything, she suddenly didn't want to go back. She didn't want to go back to that place she sought so much comfort from, a place she called home.
A/N: hello lovelies. how are we feeling about this chapter?? So the whole plot line with Eva and Reg is kinda out of the blue but i was thinking about this for a long time and i wanted to expand on it a lot more. Also with this chapter i really wanted to show that Eva isn't perfect and she goes through real life problems that some people go through and it's not as uncommon as people think. Eva's character from this point might change drastically and it may not be to everyone's liking but i'm not gonna completely change who she is as a person so don't worry, she'll be okay. That's all for now love ya.
love always emily <3