Flower of Love

Over the next week, Evan started to notice an odd behavior within the group. Barty and Regulus made up excuses to leave him alone and he would often find them talking with Dorcas. As soon as they would notice him, they would quickly change the subject. When he tried to ask them about it they would deny that anything was going on. Evan tried not to be jealous but he couldn’t help from imagining what they were scheming and why he wasn’t allowed in on it. 

One night after dinner, Evan had looked for the trio all over the castle but it came to no avail. He reached for the stone in his pocket and squeezed it tight. It had been Pandora’s idea that whenever one of them activated the stones, they would meet outside the great hall. A few minutes later, Pandora appeared from around the corner. She was wearing a knitted sweater and checkered skirt. Evan wasn’t sure where she had gotten muggle clothes, but he was sure his mother would never approve. 

“Is something wrong? You look sad.” Pandora asked.

Evan didn’t think he looked anything at the moment. He prided himself in maintaining his composure, but Pandora knew him too well. 

“I’m alright. I was just thinking…well, have you noticed how little we see of our friends?”

Pandora cocked her head to one side, the half hearted bun on top tilted precariously and threatened to spill loose. “A little, but I’m sure they have their reasons.” 

“Yeah, I guess.” Evan huffed. He loved Pandora, but her optimism and unyielding forgiveness made her hard to complain to. 

She studied him and Evan could tell that she sensed his disappointment.  “If they want to be alone then we can just do something, just us.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Now, c’mon let’s go. There is something I’ve been meaning to show you.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him down a flight of stairs. At the bottom, there was a long hallway that smelled faintly of fresh baked bread, and Evan recalled the escapades from his first night in the castle. 

Halfway down the hall, Pandora stopped to admire a portrait of a bowl of fruit. Before Evan knew what she was doing, she reached out a hand and seemed to scratch at a pear. The fruit squirmed and giggled before turning itself into an oddly shaped door knob. Pandora twisted it and the portrait opened like a door. 

They stepped into an expansive kitchen. Almost immediately, a swarm of house elves were staring up at them with their bulging eyes. They all started speaking over each other asking to be of service. 

“How did you find this place, Pan?” Evan laughed.

“One of the Hufflepuff boys showed me. Do you know Ezra MacMillan?” She grabbed a tart from a nearby table. 

Evan gave her a quizzical look. “Why are you sneaking around the castle with random boys?” 

Pandora laughed it off but Evan saw her face blush. “It’s not like that. Besides, you’re always hanging around Dorcas.” 

Evan made a face of disgust. “That’s different. I mean c’mon, it's Dorcas. She’s one of my best mates. Besides, I think Barty fancies her.”

 He had never admitted that part out loud before. Of course he had no real proof of it, but he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of annoyance when Barty laughed at her jokes or smiled at her for no reason. From what he overheard from the older students, relationships sounded nothing but messy and he didn’t want that interfering with his friend group. 

“You can’t be serious, Ev.” Pandora snorted. “Barty definitely does not fancy Dorcas.” 

“But have you seen the way he looks at her?”

Pandora studied him for a moment before shaking her head. “Trust me, that would never happen in a million years.”

Evan rolled his eyes but something in Pandora’s words lifted a weight from him that he hadn’t known he had been carrying.

Pandora sent him off to look around while she asked the house elves for something. 

The kitchen was massive. Self stirring pots and boiling kettles sat on every surface. He found the source of the delicious smell in the hallway. One of the walls was almost entirely covered in ovens where an assortment of rolls and breads were being baked. He hardly had time to take it all in before Pandora was calling him back. 

She was standing with her hands behind her back and a wide smile on her face. 

He gave her a questioning look and she produced a small cake. It was messily iced in pastel blue and decorated with daisies. 

“I know it’s not until tomorrow, but I had already made it and I couldn’t waste such a perfect opportunity and from what it sounds like, you could use some cake.” She held out the dessert to him. Two flaming candles sat atop it, leaning at odd angles. “I know it’s not the prettiest, but I wanted to make it myself. The house elves helped, of course. And I promise it tastes better than it looks”

“Pan, I love it. And it looks amazing. I can’t believe you did this!”

She smiled at his praise. “Let’s dig in, shall we?” She set the cake down on a nearby table. 

Evan took a seat next to her, facing the cake. “We blow on three. One…two…three!” He counted. Evan’s candle was quickly distinguished but Pandora’s took a couple tries.

“What did you wish for?” Evan asked. 

Pandora put a finger to her lips. “You know I can’t say.”

“You’re too superstitious, Pan.” Evan laughed.

By the time Evan got back to his common room, arms loaded with sweets, he had almost forgotten why he had been upset earlier. That was until he saw Barty and Regulus huddled together on Barty’s bed. As soon as they saw him, Barty jumped and loudly greeted him.

“Hey Evan, where have you been?” His voice was rushed as if caught in a lie. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He was too tired to deal with their secrecy. 

Barty seemed taken aback. “Something wrong?”

“Oh, so I’m the only one who's not allowed to have secrets.” He wasn’t going to share the kitchens with them if they couldn’t include him in whatever they were plotting. He made his way to bed and shut the curtains. 

He couldn’t fall asleep so he tried to listen in on the conversation outside, but Barty and Regulus’ voices were too low for him to make much of anything. Eventually, he heard Regulus go to bed and Barty slipped through Evan’s curtains. 

“Hey, Ev. I know you aren’t asleep.” Barty poked at him after he didn’t respond to the intrusion.  

“Did I not make it clear enough for you? I Don’t want to talk.” Evan rolled over so his back faced Barty.

“Oh c’mon, don’t be like that! Besides, I wanted to explain.”

“Really?” Evan sat up to face his friend. 

“Yep, but I think it might be better if I show you. Tomorrow morning before breakfast, meet me in the come and go room. Oh, and bring Dora. She deserves to know too.” With that Barty was gone.

The next morning, Evan woke early and found that both Regulus and Barty were already gone. He pulled on his robes and grabbed the stone off of his night stand. He watched it glow in his hand as he made his way to the great hall. Pandora arrived shortly after. 

“Happy Birthday, Ev!” She hugged him. 

“You too, Pan.” He couldn’t match her excitement. His mind was too busy trying to figure out what their friends were hiding from them.  

“What’s wrong?” She pulled back, hearing the tension in his voice. 

“Barty wanted to show us something. He said he’d tell us what they were hiding. I-i’m just not sure he actually wanted to tell us. I think he just felt bad.”

“Oh…” Pandora paused to think about the offer. “Well, do you really want to know?”

Evan nodded. 

“Then we go and find out. We’ll figure it out from there. Ok?” 

They made their way upstairs to the hallway where the door appeared almost immediately. They both startled. They had used the room a few times but never had the door been waiting for them. Hesitantly they made their way inside.

The room was almost pitch black. 

“ Lumos Maxima.” Someone whispered from inside. 

Suddenly, the room was flooded with a bright light. 

Their friends stood in front of them erupting into an uncoordinated mess of ‘surprises’ and ‘happy birthdays.’ 

As Evan’s eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed that the room was decorated with streamers and balloons. A banner was hung slightly crooked against the far wall. 

“What?” was all Evan could think to say. “This is what you were being so secretive about?”

All three of them nodded. 

Pandora let out a loud laugh. “Of course it was. And you were so worried.” She elbowed her brother.” 

Evan couldn’t even respond, he was still trying to process everything. 

“We weren’t trying to make you worry! It was just hard to keep it a surprise if we weren’t careful.” Dorcas reassured them.

“Although, it really did work in our favour.” Barty added. “We didn’t know how to get you here without it being suspicious. Luckily, you snapped at just the right time.” 

“How did you even manage this?” Evan asked, looking around at all the decorations.

“The room did most of the work honestly.” Barty shrugged which earned him a dirty look from Dorcas. 

“Did it really? I don’t recall the room blowing up a billion balloons.” She rolled her eyes.

“Well it gave us the supplies didn’t it?” Barty retorted. “Anyway, come on in, we got loads of sweets and even snagged some butterbeer from a few fifth years!” 

The room had once again modeled itself after the Slytherin common room but it seemed warmer this time. They spent the day singing choruses of happy birthday and making up games. 

It started with Regulus throwing a pillow at Barty. It hit him square in the face and Barty picked up his own pillow to throw, but Pandora was quicker and got him first. Quickly Evan and Dorcas joined in. Soon pillows were soaring through the air. Evan ran behind a couch trying to avoid the attack but he ran into Barty who had already taken shelter there. He was about to run before Barty could get him but he stopped Evan.

“Truce? We can team up and maybe we’ll land a shot on Meadows.” He grinned.

Evan considered the arrangement. Dorcas’ throws were deadly precise and Evan didn’t think she had been so much as grazed by a pillow. 

He was about to respond but a round cushion hit him in the side of the face.

“I think that’s fifteen for me!” Dorcas laughed. 

“I didn’t know we were keeping count!” Regulus argued. 

“Doesn’t matter, I’m winning.” Dorcas grinned, aiming for another shot. 

Evan turned his attention back to Barty. “Deal. Let’s get her.” 

Together they devised a plan. Barty would sneak around behind her and told Evan to wait for his signal.

“What signal?” Evan asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it.” Barty dashed away.

Evan waited, ready to strike. Dorcas was too busy launching an attack on Pandora to notice the boy creeping behind her. 

“ Stupify! ” 

Dorcas froze mid throw. Evan immediately knew that this was the signal. He wasn’t the only one to take advantage of the opportunity, Regulus also launched his pillow. There was a small noise and he saw Pandora covering her mouth to stifle a scream. At first Evan thought she was just caught off guard by the spell, but the fear in her eyes was genuine. Evan watched as she took a deep breath and shook it from her mind. He started to make his way to check on her, but Barty hit him down with a pillow. 

“Truce over!” Barty yelled. Evan could hear Pandora laughing and his worry eased away. 

“Not fair!” Dorcas yelled as the spell wore off. 

“We never stated any rules about no magic.” Regulus shrugged. “Barty was just smart enough to think of it.”

“I don’t care that he used magic. I just can’t stand someone who strikes when their opponent's back is turned.” She huffed.

“Oh come off it Meadows, it's just a game.” Barty sighed. 

It wasn’t until it had long since grown dark outside that they checked the time. It was almost curfew and Pandora insisted they head back so as not to get detentions. The rest of the group agreed and they headed out. Barty, Dorcas, and Regulus headed back to the dungeon but Evan decided to walk Pandora back to the Ravenclaw tower. 

“Today was so fun.” Pandora was skipping next to him. He didn’t know where she found the energy.

“Yeah, it really was.” He smiled but there was something he had been wanting to ask her. “Hey, pan?” He stopped walking.

“Mhm?” She continued to skip down the hall not realizing he had stopped.

“What did you see earlier?”

“Oh.” She stopped in her tracks. “I’m not really sure, it wasn’t very clear and it happened too fast for me to process it.” 

“Was it bad?” 

“I-i don’t know. It was just so sudden that it caught me off guard. All I could hear was Barty yelling the spell, but it was different. He seemed...angry and a little scared but I don't know why.” She messed with a strand of her hair.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Evan smiled. “I swear, Barty is always angry.”

“You don’t say!” Pandora laughed as they continued on their way. “I don’t think he’s gone an entire day in his life without getting upset at someone or something.”

“Careful, if he hears you he might get mad.” Evan whispered loudly. 

Once they made it to the tower, Evan bid her goodnight and headed back down to the dungeon. He had just made his way down the staircase leading to the Ravenclaw common room when he noticed Barty waiting for him. 

“What are you doing here, Bat? It’s after curfew, you could get in trouble.”

Barty shrugged. “I wouldn’t really mind. Besides, I didn’t want to make you walk back alone and I have something for you.” He produced a thin silver chain from one of his pockets. “It's technically a muggle fashion, but I saw people wearing them over holiday and I thought of you. So, here.” He motioned for Evan to come closer and helped clasp the chain so it hung around his neck. 

Evan looked down to examine it. He liked how it brought out the thin silver threads in his house robes. 

“Wicked!” Barty grinned at him. “It looks great, what d'ya think, Ev?”

“I love it! Where did you buy it from?”

Barty laughed a little nervously. “Bought might be the wrong word, but don’t worry!” He said quickly as he saw Evan’s face change to confusion.

“Where did you-”

“Doesn’t matter, like I said, don’t worry. What does matter is that you like it.”

Evan shook his head. He couldn’t really care if it had been stolen or not. It was his now. It was a gift from his best friend and Evan didn’t think he would ever take it off.