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EVELYN'S laugh rang through the halls as she sat beside hannah in the dining hall.
another school year had started, bringing dumbledore to the front of the room.
"welcome students! it's a great day to start another year of hogwarts. today, I introduce to you horace slughorn! your new potions instructor. meanwhile, professor snape will take over defense against the dark arts", dumbledore announced.
as the fairly chubby man with grey hair stood up, claps were heard from all four tables.
once dumbledore had finished giving his speech about voldemort—making evelyn slightly tense—all the students began the feast.
harry, ron, and hermione stared at evelyn, who tried her best to avoid their gaze. she knew they had many questions, but she also knew that she wouldn't be able to give them the answers.
shortly after the feast had ended, malfoy quickly got up and headed towards the hufflepuff table, beating the trio to evelyn.
"ready love?", malfoy whispered, leaning down to help the girl up to her feet.
"yep!", evelyn cheerfully replied.
malfoy's arm slithered around evelyn's waist, supporting majority of the girl's weight so that she didn't have to apply too much pressure to her feet.
"evelyn—"
"move out of the way you nitwits", malfoy scowled, making ron, hermione, and harry scoff at the boy.
"we're talking to evelyn, not you malfoy", harry said, glaring at him.
"evelyn, please talk to us. is malfoy abusing you? did he make you do it? why didn't you reply to any of our letters?!", hermione asked, having to finally been able to unload all her feelings.
"shut it you half-blood! as if I'd even think of hurting evelyn. now move out of the way or I'll make sure to hex you three!", malfoy threatened.
"as if you could", ron snorted.
evelyn placed her hand on malfoy's chest, calming him down.
"I'm fine guys. and I wasn't threatened. everything I do is on my own accord. I'm sorry for worrying you guys, but I'm seriously alright", evelyn replied with a small, forced smile.
"but evelyn, you—"
"drop it granger. evelyn's tired and she needs her rest", malfoy interrupted, shoving through harry and ron and leading evelyn towards madam pomfrey's.
malfoy believed that if anyone could help evelyn's feet, it'd be madam pomfrey, hence why he was so eager to bring the hurt girl to her.
"do you regret this?", malfoy asked, not even looking at evelyn.
evelyn gave malfoy a small smile and shook her head.
"no, but I do miss them".
—✼—
professor slughorn was interrupted by harry and ron's entrance into the classroom.
"ah, potter. how nice of you and your friend to join us!", slughorn said.
lavender brown—a fellow gryffindor—swooned at the sight of ron, making hermione briefly glare at the girl before rolling her eyes.
ron had attempted to get out of the class but was politely forced to stay as professor slughorn had informed the boys of the extra textbooks in the back cabinet.
meanwhile harry and ron fought over the newer textbook, professor slughorn introduced a new potion, opening the top of the cauldron.
"can anyone take a whiff and tell me what's bubbling in this cauldron?", slughorn challenged.
hermione raised her hand, immediately speaking.
"this potion is called amortentia. it's the most powerful love potion in the world, but does not create feelings of love, only obsession and powerful infatuation", hermione explained.
"correct! and what is it that you smell...umm...how about ms. gardener!", slughorn called on.
evelyn smiled as she stood up a bit taller, though the girl still slightly leaned against malfoy, as madam pomfrey had advised her not to put too much pressure on her feet.
"the smell varies with each person, according to what attracts them. so personally for me, I smell...", evelyn hesitated. she had to take a good waft of the aroma that was lingering in the air.
"peppermint with a tinge of pine trees. slight bit of vanilla with a mix of green apples", evelyn answered, making malfoy clear his throat.
"very well! and would anyone else like to share?", slughorn smiled.
hermione once again raised her hand.
"I smell freshly mown grass, new parchment, and...and...", hermione looked around, catching the gaze of ron. "and toothpaste!", hermione blushed.
"what about potter?", slughorn volunteered, making harry focus on the aroma.
"there's like a treacle tart smell...with...somewhat of a broomstick handle. it's reminds me of...of...of the burrow!", harry exclaimed.
ron gave harry a confused look, who just avoided his gaze and awkwardly laughed.
"these are all great things!! now how about one last person. mm...mr. malfoy! why don't you tell us what you smell?", slughorn said.
"evelyn", malfoy bluntly answered, making the entire class either giggle or gasp.
evelyn, who was still slightly leaning against the male's chest hid her embarrassed face behind her hands.
malfoy let out a small smiled as he had finally seen the girl express more emotions other than fear and fake happiness.
slughorn lowly chuckled.
"very straightforward I see. and what does ms. gardener smell like?", slughorn asked.
"she smells like strawberries with a mix of old and new books. a sprinkle of a wintry yet springtime scent", malfoy answered.
slughorn clapped as he revealed another concoction, but this time, filled in a little glass container, much like a lightbulb.
"this is a small bottle of felix felicis. it's also known as liquid luck. the taker of this potion will be successful in all their endeavors".
at the mention of that, malfoy perked up. evelyn knew her boyfriend desired the potion, as it would bid him luck on completing the task given by voldemort.
"your task today will be to create the draught of living death. and the person that successfully brews it gets this bottle of liquid luck as their prize", slughorn explained.
quickly, all the students hurried to the tables that had everything already set up for them.
evelyn took out her own personal notebook as she started on the potion. she knew exactly what to do as she had replicated the same exact concoction her third-year in the attempt to save cedric, who now graduated and was working along with his father in the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures.
though cedric did say that if evelyn ever needed something, he wouldn't even hesitate to help her.
evelyn squished the little critter with her blade whilst the others tried cutting it—as that was what their textbook had instructed them—but evelyn knew better from her first attempt three years ago.
"dray, tru killing it by squashing it with your knife", evelyn advised, lightly chuckling at malfoy's struggle.
malfoy scoffed as he did as told, indeed able to kill the bug and squish all its blood into the cauldron.
after brewing, evelyn was finally finished. slughorn has dropped a leaf inside the cauldron, seeing the leaf crumble into ashes.
"perfection ms. gardener!! you're truly talented", slughorn complimented.
the girl smiled as slughorn suddenly turned to harry, who apparently had also completed the potion with success.
"and I see that mr. potter has also done it! very well you two! but since I only have one...umm...".
professor slughorn was a bit troubled.
malfoy had hoped that his girlfriend would be the one to receive it. after all, he knew she would just give it to him anyways.
"perhaps you should give it to evelyn, sir. she did finish brewing the potion first", malfoy suggested, to which slughorn had nodded in agreement.
"well this isn't evelyn's first time making the potion, which gives her an advantage. professor, I suggest that harry receive the prize, as harry's first time was just as successful", hermione stated, making slughorn slightly shocked.
"is that true ms. gardener?", slughorn asked.
evelyn shot malfoy an apologetic look as she answered slughorn honestly.
"it is professor. harry deserves it more than I".
slughorn then handed harry the small bottle of elixir, turning to evelyn with a small smile.
"no worries ms. gardener. I condone you for your bravery to admit the truth. and for that, I shall award you an invitation to the slug club", slughorn smiled.
usually slughorn never sent out invitations to his exclusive club this early. but evelyn had truly reminded the man slightly of one of his past favorite students: lily evans, harry's mom.
"it'd be my pleasure to accept", evelyn smiled back, making some glare at the girl with envy.
class was then dismissed as evelyn was once again supported by malfoy.
before fully exiting the classroom, evelyn had walked past the table that harry, hermione, and ron were at. the book on harry's table was peculiar, different from the regular textbooks.
glancing around to make sure that harry wasn't near, evelyn flipped to the front of the first page, in which she mumbled to herself.
"signed by the half-blood prince".
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