Evelyn Stones

June 06, 2020 5:29 PM

We can call this a study /date/ now, right? [Heinrich] by Evelyn Stones

To Evelyn's great pleasure, and mild surprise, this term was going swimmingly well. Other than the occasional letter she would get from Ms. Heidi with updates about one thing or another, the only things Evelyn had to think about were at school with her, and they were nice to think about. Also CJ, but she was much less worried about him than usual. That wasn't to say he hadn't been influencing her decision-making. She'd begun reading child development books in the library and had even gone so far as to ask Mr. Row for information about muggle schools nearby various schools and things she was interested in for after graduation. That was only going to work if CJ could get his magic under control, so she didn't have very high hopes, but it made her feel productive. This was when she wasn't studying for her own exams of course. Hard to be friends with and/or dating an Aladren without exams on the mind, but even if that hadn't been the case, Evelyn thought she still would've been thinking that way. If she wanted to get into a good school, she was going to have to work hard. She couldn't help worrying that not being in Aladren herself boded ill for her chances, but she hoped that wasn't the case. Either way, she was going to have to work hard enough to make sure it wasn't her House placement that caused her any problems.

All of this brought her to the library often, and she really really really didn't mind at all. It was nice to be able to be Ness' friend, not just sibling and not just classmate, and it was nice that being friends with Heinrich was easy and comfortable and even though Evelyn was generally not sure what to do with herself or what "girlfriends" were supposed to do, she knew what she was like as a friend and he seemed to like that bit about her, so she could just keep that up. Probably, right? Usually, she was confident that things were going well. Other times, she'd be struck with absolutely crippling panic, sure that nothing was going to work out for her because so far, nothing ever did. Then she'd feel bad for thinking that because the McLeods had made a lot of sacrifices for her, and then she would panic because it wasn't her track record that would work against her, it was her obvious lack of gratitude and general inability to recognise her own good fortune, and why would Heinrich want to stick it out with that? She tried really really hard not to let her dad's words come back to her, but come they did, drifting through an open window on a breeze that made the hair on her neck stand up, or else as the last thought before she fell asleep, sealing her in for a night of bad dreams. There were good days and there were bad moments; the peaks and valleys were both extreme, but there were many more peaks than valleys and that was good.

Today, with a potions essay on circumnavigating allergies in potions and different approaches to doing so ("What are the pros and cons to various methods, including but not limited to adding an antihistamine to your potion, replacing the allergen with an alternative ingredient, choosing a comparable potion, or other ideas? Do some research and have the paper on my desk in three week.s" - Evelyn was starting early), Evelyn would really have preferred to be thinking about those peaks instead. Still, as she and Heinrich were in the library together for this particular study session, it still felt like a peak of sorts. Feeling a bit like her eyes were crossing - why did so many of the diagrams in potions books have to move? - Evelyn pushed her books away from her and looked up at Heinrich.

"You know, I used to think I liked potions a lot more than I do now," she told him, wishing she was brave enough to try to sneak snacks into the library. While she probably would have done on her own, the wrath of an Aladren was not worth the risk when one was with her. The librarian would have been easier to hide things from in small measures but someone sharing the table with her was more likely to notice. "It's gotten much harder since first year. How's your stuff going?"
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