1
Ronan was an eccentric teacher, dressed in bright colors and always using dramatic gestures while he was talking. Evangeline had never had a class with him, but upon her arrival, Fig had introduced him to her. “Welcome to another year in charms class; I hope you have all been catching up on your reading since the last time we saw each other!” The professor strolled through the middle of the room, catching the attention of students who were still mingling around the room. “As it is the first day back, we will start off with some simple notes and demonstrations. If you could all take your seats, please.”
Evangeline looked for Samantha, her fellow Ravenclaw, and was sorely disappointed to see their schedules did not line up. She recognized some familiar faces, but none that she knew well, or that were not already paired up. Her eye caught the green of Slytherin robes, noticing Sebastian and Ominis sitting beside each other. Well, better this than nothing, I suppose.
She took a seat at the desk beside theirs, alone, until a Gryffindor girl walked up to her. She had tightly coiled black hair, accentuating her chocolate eyes and skin. She harbored a bright smile and outstretched her hand. “Hello, I am Natty,” her voice was heavily accented. “Is this seat taken?”
“Oh,” Evangeline shook her head. “No, no you are free to sit.” She sent her a returning smile, moving her books to make more room for the Gryffindor girl.
“Now,” Ronan clapped his hands together, looking around the room. “Does anyone remember some charms we learned last year?”
The students stayed silent, looking at each other, hoping someone would come to their rescue. Evangeline was confident she had mastered whatever was taught the year before, but as she had not attended Hogwarts, had no idea what the answer was. Upon glancing around the room, her and Sebastian caught each other’s gaze, and he sent her a small smirk. Friendly? Maybe. Mischievous? More likely.
She looked away, refocusing on Ronan, who was beginning a lecture to reteach some charms. Of course, she recognized the incantations for most of them, taking notes on the ones she was unfamiliar with, all while ignoring Sebastian's glances, which she noticed from the corner of her eye. Pretending not to notice him was harder than she would have liked to admit, and he didn’t give up after class had ended.
“Barlowe,” Sebastian greeted, leaning against Evangeline’s desk. Natty had already left, leaving Evangeline to gather all of her things without a buffer between herself and the Slytherin. Were they friendly now? Sure, maybe. But that didn’t make them friends, per say, and she was definitely still wary of his intentions.
“Sallow,” she responded, only allowing him a small glance as she piled her notebooks. “What do you want?”
“So cold, Barlowe. I would’ve thought you’d be happy to see me.”
“Did I say I wasn’t?” Shit. Evangeline did not, in fact, mean to say that. She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She was too caught up in the banter, too eager to disagree with everything that he said, that she’d dug her own hole. She knew what expression would be plastered across his face before she even looked up. She just prayed he hadn’t heard her. That could be possible, right?
Unfortunately, this was one of those rare occasions that Evangeline was wrong. Sebastian looked rather pleased with himself, that self-assured smile on his face, eyes lit up and full of self-love. Evangeline glowered. “I did not mean that. It was a brain malfunction on my end; it won’t happen again.”
“Sure it was.” Sebastian pushed off the desk, waiting patiently for her to finish cleaning up.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be? Where’s your friend?”
“Ominis is off doing…Ominis things,” He waved a hand in the air, as if shooing the topic of his friend away from the discussion. “Besides, what’s the point of splitting up when we’re going to the same place?”
Evangeline gathered everything in her arms, walking toward the door. Sebastian followed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Sebastian frowned, a look of -what Evangeline thought seemed like genuine- disappointment on his face. “Didn’t you look at the master schedule? We have the same classes this semester.”
Evangeline had never looked at the so-called ‘master schedule’ before. She didn’t have a reason to care who she had in what classes. Besides, the schedule was outside of Headmaster Black’s office, and she preferred to avoid the man every chance she had. “No, I did not look.” She sighed, navigating her way to Professor Hecat’s classroom. “So I won’t have any peace in my classes? Ever? Just you and your constant nagging all day?”
“Again, you offend me, terribly.” Sebastian rolled his eyes, still keeping pace with her. “I was thinking-”
“That’s new.” Evangeline spit the insult out quickly, not willing to miss the chance. She was quite pleased with herself, actually.
Sebastian sent her a glare, shoving his hands into his pockets before continuing. “Maybe you could help me with Astronomy? We had a required introductory class third year, and I barely scraped by.”
“I haven’t had the class at all, so I doubt I would be much help.”
“You’re good at every class, I’m sure astronomy will be no different. Besides, you’re always happy to see me, right?” He got a glare for that comment. “Please?”
“You are consistently annoying, you know that?” Evangeline stopped outside Hecat’s room, finally looking at Sebastian. “Fine.”
His smile grew. “Really?”
“No.” She turned and entered the classroom, not looking back to the Slytherin, who was left quite speechless at the door.