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EVELYN started coughing like there was no tomorrow as exams were the next day. she had heard harry, ron, and hermione's adventure of when they tried to find the sorcerer's stone.
harry resided in the hospital wing for a while as he had passed out fighting voldemort, who was possessing professor quirrell.
apparently they had suspected snape the entire time, but was wrong, as snape was trying to save harry that one time at the quidditch game.
harry, ron, and hermione apologized to evelyn, as they should've listened to her when she said that snape was trying to help harry.
the trio went through fluffy (hagrid's three-headed hound), a deadly plant (devil's snare), a room filled with aggressive flying keys, a giant chess game that knocked ron out, and snape's potion riddle.
"a-are you okay evelyn??", hermione asked, patting the girl's back.
"you three did all that and didn't even think to bring me along?! what would've happened if ron passed out and hermione was...I don't know...hit by one of those flying keys?!"
"w-well you were studying so hard, and we didn't want you to lose that bet with malfoy...so...".
ron looked down, as did harry and hermione.
evelyn suddenly hugged the three.
"well I'm glad you guys are alright. at least you guys lived", she mumbled.
"don't know if I'll live through the exams though", ron muttered, making the three laugh.
—✼—
exams were posted and handed back, leaving evelyn extremely nervous.
instead of looking at her results, evelyn met malfoy at the library, where they said that they would sit and read out their test results to each other.
"transfiguration", malfoy said as evelyn sat beside the boy.
"exceeds expectations", replied evelyn.
"outstanding", malfoy grinned.
"charms", evelyn said next.
"exceeds expectations".
"same", evelyn replied.
"history of magic", malfoy called out.
"exceeds expectations", evelyn replied. the girl was somewhat proud of herself, as that class has made her want to fall asleep many times throughout the year. she had to really study and drill the facts into her brain to remember all the material that professor binns went over.
"acceptable", malfoy growled.
"astronomy", evelyn smiled.
"exceeds expectations", malfoy simply said.
"outstanding for me", evelyn said, smiling even wider.
for defense against the dark arts, since professor quirrell was their teacher, there wasn't necessarily an exam, as he was transported to azkaban.
and since herbology just had a end of the year project as the final, both first-years received an "outstanding".
"last but not least, potions", malfoy said. "I got an exceeding expectations".
"as did I", evelyn said.
summing their grades up, malfoy got a total of 2 outstandings, 3 exceeding expectations, and 1 acceptable. evelyn received 2 outstandings and 4 exceeding expectations.
obviously d.a.d.a and flying lessons weren't included, as both didn't exactly have a final exam.
"I suppose I win this year", evelyn smiled, excited about getting a pet owl.
"tch! whatever", malfoy grumbled as he got up to leave.
"don't forget my owl!!", evelyn laughed as she watched the blonde boy stumble off.
summer was coming up since final exams were over. however during the summer, no student was allowed to stay at hogwarts. everyone had to go home.
evelyn fiddled with her fingers as she watched some had already packed up and gotten ready to leave.
she stopped outside professor snape's classroom, hesitant to walk in. swaying back and forth on her feet, she slowly raised her hand into a fist to begin knocking on his door.
"ms. gardener, if you wait any longer to enter, I'll be over 50 by then", snape suddenly said, making evelyn flinch.
evelyn then quietly opened the door, entering snape's classroom.
"I-I'm sorry to bother professor, but I...I was wondering if you could perhaps take me to professor dumbledore's office? I have something personal that I would like to speak to him about...", evelyn meekly said.
snape stopped writing as he sighed. he glanced over at his nervous student and stood up, making evelyn look up.
"fine. let's go", he said, heading out the door.
evelyn quietly followed professor snape. arriving at the headmaster's tower, there was a circular moving stone staircase, concealed by a gargoyle on the third floor.
snape mumbled something, making the gargoyle statue move. he gestured for evelyn to walk in as he quickly left.
"ah! and what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you today ms. gardener?", dumbledore asked as he got up from his desk.
"professor, I'm very grateful that you had gotten me all the supplies I need for this year, but I was wondering for the summer...if I could...well...".
evelyn hesitated. she didn't want to sound like she's asking too much, but neither did she want to burden the orphanage by staying there any longer.
"could I...perhaps live on campus??", evelyn finally managed to ask. she looked up at professor dumbledore's expression. she couldn't exactly tell what he was thinking, as his long and puffy beard was shielding most of his face.
"I can clean, cook, and take care of myself!!", evelyn quickly said, as if it would persuade dumbledore.
after a moment of silence, dumbledore finally responded.
"I'm sorry ms. gardener. but I'm afraid that no students are allowed to reside at school over summer break", dumbledore said.
evelyn frowned. she had expected it, but hearing it from dumbledore himself just made her mood deflate even more.
"however...".
evelyn looked up, wondering what dumbledore was about to say.
"hagrid does live outside of the school. and I'm sure he'd be happy to have company and a helper. that's if you're willing of course—"
"YES! I-I mean thank you professor dumbledore!! I-I...I'm forever indebted to you!", evelyn happily smiled.
"count it as a gift for those warm gryffindor socks ms. gardener. now if you don't need anything else, I suggest you go pack your things and see your friends off", dumbledore smiled.
"thank you professor!"
evelyn hurriedly left dumbledore's office, running down the many flights of stairs to say goodbye to her fellow friends.
"bye hermione! I'll miss you!! owl me", evelyn said as she slightly teared up.
hermione just chuckled as she nodded. "owl me back then evelyn. I'll see you in a while!"
once everyone had cleared out of hogwarts, evelyn immediately packed her things (which wasn't much, as the girl was poor), and ran towards the edge of the forbidden forest.
"HAGRID!!", evelyn yelled as she hauled her suitcase into the said man's house.
hagrid's house was quite petite. built by stones, there were many windows and the main house was connected to another hut.
in short, it was like two cylinders connected to each other, with a cone topping both of them. the inside was quite messy, as hagrid had many things spread out throughout his house.
he had 4 pots hanging above the mantle and ropes dangling from the wood above. although it was quite cramped, it had a friendly aura and evelyn was in for it.
"hi fang! did you miss me??", evelyn cooed as she patted the black dog's head. the dog didn't bother getting up as he was comfortable laying beside the armchair.
"well do make yerself comfortable. I'm sorry it's not a lot—"
"no no!! it's wonderful hagrid! I'm so thankful for you taking me in. please let me do all the chores and prepare the food. it's the least I can offer", evelyn eagerly said.
hagrid just laughed. "sure kid! do whatever yeh wan'! I'll even teach yeh abou' all the magical creatures tha' lay behind this forest if yeh wan'".
"that sounds splendid!! thank you once again hagrid!!", evelyn excitedly said.
she then unpacked all her things and laid her stuff down beside a spare bed in the other hut.
"anytime evelyn! consider this your home now", hagrid smiled.
"m-my home??"
evelyn had never had a home before. sure the orphanage was quite nice, but never a home to where she'd be greeted by someone. never a place where she truly belonged.
"well o' course! your home!"
evelyn smiled as she got up to hug hagrid. her arms couldn't entirely wrap around his waist, but that didn't matter, as hagrid's hug basically engulfed the girl.
"thanks hagrid". the girl couldn't feel more grateful, as at that moment, she had a new home that she could go back to.
hagrid chuckled.
"welcome home kid".
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