( mini chapter 2/2 )
It was raining heavily when they arrived at Rosier Manor. They were greeted by one of his father’s house elves who took their bags under strong disapproval of Pandora.
Evan kicked the door of his room open. The moment he’d entered the manor his mood had been altered for the worse. He was constantly on edge, fidgeting with his wand and listening for his father’s footsteps.
Laid out on his bed was a stuck of books he’d need for the coming year, along with a pile of letters addressed to him which had arrived over the summer.
One from Regulus, two from Barty Crouch Jr. another one of his friends. He didn’t open them. It was too late to respond anyway and he didn’t particularly feel like it. He would be seeing his friends tomorrow anyway.
He pushed the books into his suitcase, together with new robes and a few other of his belongings. After that, he sat down on the cold stone floor and let his guard down for a moment. He missed the warm wooden tiles and the cackling of the fire place in the room that he occupied at Dorothy’s place.
There was a knock on his door. Evan felt dread spreading through his veins. He didn’t respond. Again, there was a knock.
Memories came flooding back, from the summers before. Curses and hexes spiralling in his direction. His knees hitting the floor. A moment of quietness, then, excruciating pain in every last pore of his body. His skull seeming to tear open at any second. Hoarse cries. Then suddenly, silence. Numbness. And then everything all over again.
“Come in, father.” He tried, but failed to speak without a shake in his voice.
The door opened. Felix Rosier stepped in.
“If I am to knock at your door, you are to answer immediately.”
“Yes, father. My apologies. It won’t happen again.” He’d been so lost in the memory that the present came flooding back to him overwhelmingly rapid. Evan shook his head in an effort to clear his mind.
His father nodded pleasantly. “Dinner is prepared. We’re expecting guests. Don’t you dare taint the reputation our family has so hardly worked to achieve.” Those were the words he used, but Evan knew if he let any kind of mistake slide, tonight would be his last. And he really wouldn’t mind making it past fifteen.
“I won’t, father.”