Flower of Love

The curtains around Evan’s bed were ripped open and something hard landed on his legs. Evan grunted in pain at the sudden weight. 

“‘Cmon, get up!” Barty’s voice broke through the silence. 

Evan sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and was greeted face to face with Barty’s crooked smile. 

“We’re going to explore the castle.”

“Who’s we?” Evan said groggily.

“Me, you and Reggie. I had asked Aziz last night but he said he’d rather sleep and Edward is a git so I wasn’t about to invite him.” 

“Regulus agreed to this?” Evan asked, slightly surprised.

“Not yet, I thought you could help me with that part.” Barty jumped off of Evan’s legs where he had been sitting and motioned for Evan to follow him to Regulus’ bed. 

“There’s no way he’ll say yes.” Evan followed only half reluctantly. The thought of walking around the castle at night excited him. 

“I think he’ll come around, and if he doesn’t, we’ll go just us.” 

He said it very casually, but something about sneaking out alone with Barty made the prospects more enticing. 

Barty threw open Regulus’ curtains just as he had done to Evan’s, but he didn’t jump on him. Instead, he started to shake him violently. 

“What in Merlin’s name are you doing?” Regulus grunted after he managed to shove Barty away. 

He looked around the room, noticing it was still dark. “What bloody time is it? The sun isn’t even up.”

“Exactly!” Barty said excitedly. “We can sneak around without anyone seeing us.”

“Sneak around? Are you mental?” 

Evan is game, right Ev?”

“Yeah, c’mon Regulus, it’ll be fun!”

“It hasn’t even been twenty four hours and he’s already corrupted you.” Regulus shook his head but still got out of bed nonetheless. “I’ll come, but only to make sure you two don’t get caught.” 

Barty slung an arm around Evan’s shoulders. “Us, get caught? Never.”

They made their way out of the dormitory and into the dungeons. The castle was dark and eerie. Their footsteps echoed against the stone floors. Evan soon regretted that in his haste, he had forgotten both socks or slippers and each step felt as though he was walking on ice. 

“You’d think they could use a heating charm around here?” Evan shivered.

“You'll be fine once we make it upstairs. It won’t be so cold when we’re not under the lake.” Regulus said.

“We’re under the lake?” Both Evan and Barty asked in unison.

“How do you both come from such pure families and not know the simplest things?” Regulus sighed.

“To be fair, my father never thought learning about Hogwarts was worth our time. I’m surprised he even let us attend. Always said Dumbledore’s teachings would befuddle our minds.” Evan suggested. 

They ventured up a winding staircase. An alcove had been built into the wall where one could sit and watch out the window. Regulus paused looking up at the sky. 

“I wish we could see them from the dormitory instead of all that murky water.”

“Fan of astronomy?” Evan asked, leaning to peer up where his friend was looking. 

“Something like that.” Regulus gave the sky one last longing glance and continued on.

They made their way upstairs and found the looming doors of the great hall. They were about to push their way through when they heard the hiss of a cat behind them. The cat was arched in defense and hissed again, louder this time. 

“Who lost their cat on the first day?” Barty asked. He pointed his wand at the poor creature and was about to utter some hex when they heard a cruel voice down the hall. 

“What have you found, my sweets?” The voice crooned roughly. “Students out of bed perhaps?”

Before they could find out who was behind the voice, they made a run for it. They couldn’t return  directly to the dormitory because the voice had come from the same hallway they had just exited. Evan wondered how long the man had been behind them and they hadn’t known. 

They came to a spiral staircase that they followed downwards in hopes it would lead them back to their dormitory. The passage they came to at the end of the staircase was warm and smelled of freshly baked bread. Evan thought he could have fallen asleep right there and his pace slowed as he thought of the warm loaves they had eaten a mere few hours ago at the feast. 

“What are you stopping for?” Barty grabbed Evan’s wrist and jerked him out of his daze. Evan could now hear the footsteps of the man drawing nearer although his pace was much slower than that of the boys.

The boys continued to sprint through the castle. They passed several portraits that made rude comments about being woken and one even threatened to call the caretaker until Regulus put a silencing spell on it. 

At long last, they rounded a corner and felt the familiar chill of the dungeon. A little further down, they saw the suits of armour that had stood guard outside the ornate door they had entered earlier that night, but the door itself was nowhere to be found. 

“It couldn’t have just got up and left could it?” Barty asked, running a hand over the smooth stone where the door should’ve been. 

“No, we need the password to reveal it.” Regulus sighed. “Honestly, did you retain anything the prefects said?”

Barty made a face behind Regulus’s back which caused Evan to snort.

Regulus turned away from the missing door to face the other boys. “I’m guessing neither of you geniuses remember the password?” 

Evan shook his head. He had been too preoccupied with comforting Pandora that he had missed the lecture the prefects had given the other first years. 

“It was something easy like Hogwarts or Salazer.” Barty suggested.

Almost as soon as he had said it, a great stone snake coiled up from the floor and formed an archway in which the door appeared.

“I told you I was brilliant!” Barty exclaimed.

“That was sheer luck.” Regulus pushed the door open and they all entered the common room. Luckily, the room was deserted and they made their way upstairs to their dormitory. 

As soon as he was within reach, Evan crashed onto his bed. The adrenaline from the chase had worn off and he could hardly keep his eyes open. 

“We will not be doing that again.” Regulus whispered, sinking into his mattress.

“Come off it Reggie, you had fun. I could’ve sworn you even smiled” Barty was still traipsing around the room. He swung around on Regulus’ bed posts. “Who do you reckon was chasing us?”

“I’d bet you that it was Filch.” Regulus answered. 

“Who?” Evan asked. 

“Filch, he’s the caretaker here. My brother told me all about him.”

“What’s his problem anyway?” Barty scoffed.

“Flich?” Regulus questioned. 

“No, not him, your brother. He seemed like a right git causing that scene at the sorting.”

“Oh, yeah him. He’s just been a bit different lately. Well he’s always been a bit… loud. But I don’t know what's gotten into him.” Regulus said quietly.

“Probably those friends of his.” Evan recalled what he had heard about the Black heir. 

Regulus nodded but didn’t respond. His face was downcast and his brow was furrowed. 

At his somber expression, Evan turned to Barty wondering if he had misspoke. Barty returned his questioning glance with a shrug.

“I think I’m going to head to bed.” Regulus quickly turned away from them and pulled his curtains closed. 

Barty sat down in front of Evan. “What do you think that was about?”

“Dunno,” he looked over at Regulus’ curtains that were still swaying slightly. “Somethings up with him and his brother. I saw them having a row on the train.”

“We’ll get it out of him, tonight was a lot, for all of us.”

Evan studied Barty’s face. It was the first time all night that he had lost his smile. The lack of the crooked grin was devastating. Whatever had happened Evan wanted to help, to fix whatever had broken. 

Without another word Barty’s face snapped back to its usual demeanor, but the smile wasn’t the same. It was half hearted and faltered at the corners. “There’s only a few hours ‘till sunrise, I’ll let you get some sleep.” 

Not sure what just happened, Evan just nodded. 

After Barty had said goodnight and retreated to his own bed, Evan sat looking at the ceiling of his canopy bed. His memories of the day played in his head as he drifted off to sleep. 

Evan had never heard such a terrible sound as that of his alarm clock ringing that morning. He started to roll over, contemplating how far he could throw the bloody thing, when he heard voices outside his bed. He pulled open one of the curtains and an emerald light spilled across his bed. Near the center of the room he found Barty retelling the tales of last night to the other boys. Aziz seemed intrigued whereas Edward frowned at the story.
“Your reckless behavior could’ve cost us house points. You lot are lucky you didn’t get caught. What would your old man have to say about it? He might lock you up in Azkaban like the rest of us.” Edward certainly knew how to strike a nerve and Evan saw Barty’s fist clench. 

His tiredness forgotten, Evan raced to where the boys were standing. 

“Lay of Greengrass. You’re just sore you didn't get an invite.”

“Come on Aziz.” He huffed and left the room. 

“I’ll see you at breakfast.” Aziz grabbed his school bag and followed after Edward. 

“A right prat he is.” Barty spat. “Glad I didn’t invite him, the arse might’ve alerted Flich himself.”

He stormed out of the dormitory. Evan was scared that he was after Edward. Sure, the git deserved whatever was coming to him, but Evan worried what consequences would lay in store for Barty after maiming another student. 

Forgetting he was still in his night clothes, Evan dashed out of the door after him. He couldn’t see Barty in the common room, but when he made to open the door to look outside, an older student stopped him.

“Forgetting something?” The boy wore a prefect badge. 

Evan looked down and noticed he had forgotten to change into his robes. 

“You go out there looking like that and you’ll make us all look like bums. You are a representative of the Slytherin house, act like it.” The boy pointed back to Evan’s dorm and he felt his face burn. 

The lecture was so familiar. How many times had he been reprimanded and told to act like a Rosier? The skin on the back of his neck prickled but he ignored it and shoved his way into his dormitory. 

Regulus stood in front of the mirror adjusting his tie but he looked over when Evan roughly tossed open the door. 

“Oh sorry,” Evan murmured, grabbing his robes from his trunk. 

“Everything alright?” Regulus asked.

Evan shrugged. “Barty’s off to murder Greengrass I reckon.” 

“What did he say this time?” Regulus abandoned his tie. 

They had both seen how Barty had reacted the previous night when Edward mentioned his family. 

“Something about Azkaban, but Barty seemed ready to fight him for it.”

Regulus nodded, “might as well head to breakfast, we’ll find him there.” 

But as the pair studied the long Slytherin table, Barty was nowhere to be found. In fact, Barty didn’t make an appearance for the entirety of the meal. When they walked into the charms classroom he wasn’t waiting for them. They kept glancing nervously at the door. Barty was still absent when a small man climbed behind the large pedestal in the center of the classroom. 

“Good morning class, I am Professor Flitwick. This year we will be learning the theory and casting methods of basic charms. Please pull out your textbooks and we will turn to chapter 5: levitation spells.” The professor spoke.

As Evan reached into his bag to grab his book the classroom door flew open and in sauntered Barty. He seemed much more pleasant than when he had stormed off that morning. 

“Sorry professor, got a bit turned around with the staircases.” Barty gave Professor Flitwick a charming smile.

Evan thought it was an obvious lie but the professor didn’t seem to mind.

“Not at all dear boy, the castle is very confusing especially this first week.”

Barty took the seat next to Evan and nodded to his friends. “Morning lads.” He smiled as though that morning’s events had never transpired. 

Regulus nodded back to him and returned his attention to the lecture. Evan wasn’t quite as ready to drop it just yet.

“Where did you go? We were looking for you but you never showed up for breakfast.” Evan whispered to Barty.

Barty put a finger to his lips. “That’s a story for later.”

Evan sighed, exasperated, but he dropped the subject and tried to focus on what the professor was saying.

The sunlight streaming in through the classroom’s windows warmed Evan’s desk and he found himself thinking of the warm hallway they had ventured down the previous night. His mind wandered between the hallway and the warm covers of his bed that he so dearly missed. The night’s adventure had taken its toll and Evan found himself rudely awakened by Barty jabbing him with the tip of his wand. 

“What was that for?” Evan hissed, jumping in his seat. 

“Watch what Reggie and I came up with.”

“I told you not to call me that.” Regulus said under his breath but not bothering to look up from the notes he was writing.

“Too late, it suits you.”

Regulus made a face of disgust which Barty pointedly ignored.

“Back to what I was saying, Reggie and I found something fun with this Wingardium Levi-whatever.” He pointed his wand at the thin Hufflepuff girl that sat across the room from them. Evan heard him mutter the spell under his breath and a few locks of the girl's dark hair were lifted in the air. Clumsily, they started to weave themselves together, forming a rather egregious knot. With an accidental flick of Barty’s wand, the girl’s hair gave a sharp tug and she looked up. As quickly as he could, Barty shoved his wand into his pocket. 

“Professor, someone’s tied a knot in my hair!” The girl cried, running her fingers through the clump of hair. 

“Oh dear!” The professor went to the girl's aide. “That does seem to be quite the mess Miss Burbage, but are you sure someone tied it?”

The girl nodded fervently. “It was floating just a moment ago.” She pointed towards where Barty, Evan and Regulus sat together. “It has to have been one of them. They were whispering and laughing and that one had his wand out.” She gestured more clearly towards Barty.

“Is this true boys?” Flitwick turned to them.

“Not at all, Professor. I was only practicing the charm on the feathers you had given to us.” Barty quickly demonstrated the spell on the large purple feather in front of him. 

“Alright then,” Flitwick said, appeased. “If he claims he didn’t, we must give him the benefit of the doubt.” 

The girl seemed rather upset with the teacher’s decision but she didn’t dare counter him. 

“That was no fun, she cut straight to ratting us out. Also, you gotta be more careful with your wand work, it was too obvious” Evan complained. 

“Do you wanna give it a go?” Barty offered. 

Evan shrugged, “Why not? Maybe I could teach you a thing or two.” He grinned at his friend. 

He didn’t bother drawing his wand. Evan had learned rather young that if he concentrated hard enough, he could perform light loads of magic without the aid of a wand. He whispered the spell and felt the familiar prickling feeling move through his body. The girl’s hair shifted, and then slowly drifted back up above her head. Evan didn’t bother trying to grow the knot. He wanted her to know to keep her mouth closed next time. He watched her intently as the knot of hair swung around, pulling her head side to side. The girl quickly met his determined stare before yelling, “knock it off!”

Once again Flitwick came running. This time he could see the hair flying above her head. He turned at once to the previous suspects, but none of them had their wands drawn. His face held a dim air of surprise which he quickly shook off. 

“It is probably Peeves, the nasty creature. I’ll be having a word with the baron after class.”

“But professor, it's them! I know it has to be!” The girl’s voice was now strained and whiny. 

“Nonsense dear girl, not one of them has their wands drawn. It is simply improbable!” 

She opened her mouth again to retort, but professor Flitwick cut her off.

“Class is dismissed, please continue to practice your wand work and pronunciation.”

Evan, Barty, and Regulus all quickly grabbed their bags and left before the girl could catch them. 

“That was brilliant! How did you manage that without your wand?” Barty was grinning maniacally at Evan.

“Wandless magic isn’t easy to perform.” Regulus added.

“Oh,” Evan shrugged. “I just focus, I guess.”

Regulus shook his head in disbelief. “How long have you been able to do that?”

“Not sure, it used to just happen when I was really upset though.”

“That’s what happens to most kids, but how can you control it?” Regulus was intrigued.

“Dunno, like I said, I just focus.”

“Unbelievable,” Barty was staring greedily at Evan. “Reggie and I had been working on that trick for the better half of class, and you got it on your first try; without a wand no less!”

Evan flushed under the complement. It had never seemed all that special. He had been trained with his father’s wand a few times and it was admittedly easier and left him feeling less drained, but it didn’t compare to the rush of wandless magic.

They made their way down to the dungeon for their next class, Bart still raving over Evan’s feat. The potions classroom was cold and intimidating.

“Evan! I was hoping we would have some of the same classes.” 

His smile immediately grew as he saw his sister waving him over from where she stood with two other Ravenclaw students. He recognized the first as Sybil Treylawney, but the other girl was new to him. He left Barty and Regulus to go talk to his sister. 

“You and Sybil met on the boat yesterday, and this is Emmaline Vance.” Pandora introduced them. “This is my brother, Evan. I was telling you about him earlier.”

“You talk about me, Pan?” Evan messed with.

“Only about how terrible you are.” She joked back.

“Settle down class, and put yourself into pairs.” A portly man strolled into the classroom. 

Evan and Pandora grinned at each other and found a cauldron. In the corner of the room, he saw Barty and Regulus pair off. He wished they would have chosen a spot a bit closer to him, but since he was with Pandora he didn’t really mind. 

The lesson began and Professor Slughorn, as the man had introduced himself, wrote instructions on how to brew the wiggenweld potion.They got to work slicing and stirring. All the tension from their last conversation had vanished and they were back to their usual ebb and flow. Pandora told him about the library in the Ravenclaw common room and Evan retold the story of his late night escapade. 

“You, Evan Rosier, actually snuck out?” She eyed him skeptically. 

“Oh c'mon Pan, I'm not that uptight.”

“Really? At home you won't step a toe out of line.”

“Well, things are different here. I don’t want it to feel like home.” He looked over to where Barty and Regulus were arguing about which way a clock ticked and smiled. “And I don’t think I’m the only one.”

Pandora nodded knowingly. “I think we all could use a break.”

Their potion turned a violent shade of green and Pandora selected a thin glass vial to store it in.

“Here, bring this to professor Slughorn, I’ll take care of the rest.”

He did as she said and received a high amount of praise from their professor for their healing potion. On his way back to Pandora, he stopped to check on Barty and Regulus. Their potion was a pale shade of blue, almost clear.

“I will not be paired with you again.” Regulus complained. “I left him with one simple task and the moron stirs the pot the wrong way when it clearly says clockwise. And his excuse? He didn’t know which way a clock turned.”

“In my defense,” Barty countered. “I truly don’t know.”

He received a quick smack from Regulus’ textbook.

Evan couldn’t help but laugh at his friends’ antics. “You would much prefer working with Pan, she’s brilliant. Maybe you could ask her next time.” 

“Anyone would be better than him.” Regulus shot a glare at Barty.

He left the squabbling pair and returned to his sister. She had mostly cleaned their desk but Evan noticed that cauldron contained significantly less potion than it had before. He thought it was best not to question it and instead helped her finish clearing the rest of their ingredients.