2
Hecat was an excellent teacher, although she put the fear of Merlin into Evangeline. Just knowing that she’d lied to the professor was enough to put Evangeline on edge, but she was determined to enjoy the class. This is where she would thrive. Or, well, at least in theory. She had spent plenty of time dueling enemies outside of the school grounds, and Professor Fig had done a good enough job preparing her for it.
The class had started with some levioso casts, on both feathers and fighting dummies, both of which Evangeline successfully casted on. When Hecat was satisfied with the class’ performance, she moved the desks aside with a flick of her wand. “Now, it’s time to use your new skills on a real competitor.” She surveyed the group of students, and Evangeline felt a flicker of anxiety when the professor’s eyes paused on her.
“Let’s start with you two.” Hecat pointed to Evangeline and another student to her right. She turned her head only to see Sebastian looking back at her, that signature smirk on his face. Marvelous. “Chopp chop, we don’t have all day.” Hecat conjured a fighting ring of sorts; a long rectangular area that lifted from the ground once Sebastian and she were in the right place.
“Best of luck to you, Barlowe,” Sebastian leaned in, just an inch, before backing away toward his end of the ring. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”
Evangeline scoffed, readying herself as Sebastian got into place. “Alright, I want a clean duel,” Hecat called from the ground. “Only Levioso, protego, and basic casts. You may begin.”
Sebastian quirked an eyebrow, as if he expected her to attack immediately. He really should’ve known better, but his ego took hold, and the Slytherin began a series of attacks.
Evangeline was able to block each one, narrowly, making sure to right her stance after each one. She was taking her time, trying to find a pattern in his casts. She found one, relatively quickly, between struggling to defend against his attacks. After each levioso, he would pause, just a second of hesitation, as he prepared to use a basic cast. It was enough, though.
Evangeline took that to her advantage, dropping her protego right after his levioso had been deflected, sending a basic cast in his direction. To Sebastian’s credit, he was able to block it, countering with his own basic cast, which she just barely dodged, still getting hit in the arm. She hissed at both her mistake and the burning pain of the basic cast, but regained her balance to send a levioso. It hit Sebastian, who was trying his hardest to stay balanced in the air. Evangeline was able to hit him with a basic cast, and he rolled in the air before the levioso broke. He recovered quickly, and Evangeline had to block his attack with another protego.
Both of them had been hit once, but neither had backed down. Evangeline still cursed herself for getting cocky, but pushed the thought away. The sting of the cast was punishment enough; she had to focus on winning.
Distantly, she could hear the cheers of her fellow classmates as her and Sebastian continued their exchange of attacks. Each one was either blocked or dodged, despite the growing aggression that came behind each cast. That is, until Sebastian was a second too late on his counter to Evangeline’s levioso. It hit him, and Evangeline didn’t hesitate to send a series of casts his way. Each one sent him closer to the edge, and he landed just a few inches away from the drop off.
He refused to go down easily, though, countering with his own set of basic casts, two of which hit their mark. Evangeline stumbled, grinding her teeth against the fresh pain in her left leg and right shoulder. Sebastian seemed proud of himself, but gloated too long, not giving himself a change to block the last three basic casts Evangeline sent his way, and he tumbled over the edge of the ring.
The classroom erupted in cheers, and Evangeline couldn’t help but smile at the praise. Her accomplishment was covered up by the pain in her leg and a twinge of guilt, however. She had won, yes, and despite her future plans of gloating, she moved to the other end of the platform, looking down at Sebastian, who was still on the ground.
“How’s the view from down there?” She asked, crossing her arms. He looked up at her, smiling through a grimace of either pain or embarrassment.
“Just peachy. You’re lucky I went easy on you, otherwise our roles would be reversed right now.”
“Sure they would be,” Evangeline laughed, hopping down and offering a hand. He looked at it for a second, as if surprised by her offer to help, before grabbing it.
“An excellent duel.” Hecat declared from her spot in the room. Another pair of students were climbing onto the platform. “The bar is set high, let’s see if we can keep it there.”
“Are you going to go over and watch, or do you need to nurse your ego back to health?” Evangeline did her best to look sincere while asking him.
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “My ego is intact, thank you. Sorry to disappoint.” He nodded to the crowd, allowing her to lead the way. The duel began on the platform between a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw. Both seemed equally unsure of themselves, hesitant to cast.
“So,” Sebastian tilted his head down to talk to her. She kept her eyes trained on the duel, but her attention was on his words. “I have a proposition.”
She scoffed, not entirely sure what to expect at this point. “Oh, don’t start,” he huffed. “This is exciting. I think you will quite like it, actually. It’ll give you a taste of adventure between all of those books.”
“What have you got against my books?” She turned to him.
He ignored her, only continuing his train of thought. “After classes, we’ll have a couple hours before dinner. Get a coat after astronomy and meet me in the courtyard.”
“It'll be dark by then,” she reminded him.
“Ever heard of lumos? It’s really not such a difficult problem to solve.”
“Fine.” She shook her head, in disbelief that she was even agreeing to this. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?”
“Sebastian-”
“Alright, that’s enough for today. Get to you next classes, everyone.” Hecat’s voice carried easily throughout the room, and students began to gather their things. When Evangeline turned to look at Sebastian, he was already heading to the door, bag in hand.
“Bollocks.”
…
Evangeline pulled her coat tighter around herself. She had exchanged her school uniform for a pair of thick pants and a sweater, accompanied by her pair of stiff boots that ended right below her knees. The cold, January air was harsh enough to burn, and Sebastian still hadn’t shown up. She was just about ready to head back inside and forget this stupid idea in the first place. Where on earth were they going? It would be a wonder if they got there before freezing to death, if they even left the courtyard in the first place.
“Barlowe.” Sebastian seemed to appear out of thin air, walking toward her. His arms were crossed, hugging his body in an effort to block the cold. “You showed up.”
“I was just thinking the same thing about you. What the hell took so long?”
He frowned. “I told you to meet me after class, not run out of the room and get out here immediately.”
“I did not run out of class.”
He hummed, eyes brisking over her before gesturing for her to follow. In the cold, his nose had turned bright red, along with the tops of his ears. His freckles popped with color. They walked together down the path, blowing warm air into their hands here and there and sniffling against the cold air on their noses. The sun was setting early, but it wasn’t long until Sebastian stopped, shuffling on his feet to warm up.
“Are we almost there?” Evangeline held her hands up to her cold cheeks, looking around. There was no one else around, only the dim streetlamps keeping the pair company.
“Uh, yeah. Pretty much. Just a little further…that way.” He pointed, and Evangeline followed the direction of his finger. She laughed aloud, thinking it was some kind of joke. He had to be joking, right? Right?
“What’s so funny?”
Evangeline scoffed. “Sebastian, please tell me you know that’s the Forbidden Forest. The Forbidden Forest. Heavy on the ‘forbidden.’”
“Yeah?”
Evangeline’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re bringing me into the forest to kill me!” She raked both hands through her hair. “This is it- I’m going to die because I followed you here, and I’m never going to- oh, Merlin, what is Fig going to think? And my books, I’m never going to finish my books-”
“I’m not- are you kidding? You’re worried about getting murdered in a forest and the thing on your mind is books?” Sebastian looked at her in disbelief, perhaps paired with amusement.
“I have priorities, Sallow. Speaking of which, you should probably change yours.”
He chose to ignore that comment. “Did you seriously think I was bringing you here so I could kill you?”
“Absolutely not,” Evangeline rubbed her arms, willing the chill to leave her. “You wouldn’t stand a chance, your wand skills are well below my level.”
“Oh, nice, thank you for the words of encouragement.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Can you just-” he let out an exasperated sigh, pondering on what to say. Evangeline waited for his response, already ready to answer with another snarky, loaded comment. “You are unbelievable.”
“Likewise, Sallow. Now, what were you going to show me in the creepy death forest?”
“I- let’s just go.” He started walking toward the entrance of the forest. Evangeline followed behind, a self-satisfied smile plastered on her face.
“What’s this? The mighty Sebastian Sallow has finally been silenced!”
“Shut up, or you’re going to actually get us killed.”
“Touchy, touchy.” Evangeline teased, but she did drop her voice all the same.
The forbidden forest was eerie during the day, and nearly seeped death and danger at night. Evangeline had entered the forest on a few occasions, following Professor Fig’s wild goose chase with ancient magic and book pages, but it was never her favorite pass ime. The forest was pretty, in its own way, the fog and deep colors of the forest almost calming, when you didn’t think about the things hiding and waiting to kill you. The forest held a promise of danger, as if the trees were waiting anxiously beside them, and the moon was hesitant to light their path.
“Sebastian, where are we going?” Evangeline whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.
“We’re almost there, hold on.”
“Sebastian-”
“Shhh!” He stopped, falling into a crouch and holding out his arm, motioning for her to stop. She followed suit, dropping low to the ground and crawling to join him in front of a large patch of shrubbery. He looked at her, smiling, before parting the greenery. Evangeline furrowed her brow, looking through the opening. She had to slap a hand over her mouth to stop the sound of disbelief from escaping.