The Wrong Evans

VII: The Favorite Evans

The thrill of the first Hogsmeade outing had died down as the week started. Now the students were preparing for the first wave of exams, which would've explained the boom of people in the library but didn't explain why James Potter was ignoring Charlotte's existence all of the sudden—she hadn't seen nor hear from the infamous Marauders the whole week; and by the time another week went by, she felt -for the first time since school had started- as invisible as she always had been. Charlie tried not to dwell on the heaviness of her heart whenever she passed James and he acted as if she wasn't there. That's how things were meant to be; he would soon start declaring his love for Lily to the whole world and she would curse him and the whole school would sit and patiently wait to see them end up together.

She knew all of this, but for some reason, she hadn't been able to fight the sadness that had made its way into the pit of her stomach, leaving her very annoyed not only with herself but with the rest of the world as well.

"Why do you always steal my food?" Adam could only smile at the irritated Charlotte who had been too preoccupied with her potion book to notice sooner that he had stolen her eclair; the blond tried to give her an innocent smile but his mouth was still full of the stolen dessert.

"You never eat anything you put in it," the redhead managed to make out the words he mumbled while still chewing, thankfully he swallowed before carrying on- "I'm not going to let food go to waste," he said before pinching her cheek only to have his hand swatted away.

The banter between the two close friends was normal and expected, so when Charlotte just rolled her eyes again and went back to her book, both Adam and Monet exchanged a concerned look; they had noticed both her foul mood and the way a certain bespectacled Gryffindor was avoiding her, what they couldn't understand was what had gone down exactly. 

"What's got you all frowny Charles?" Adam asked as he put a hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly in hopes of turning around the scowl on her face; Monet quietly watched the pair, her eyes no longer invested in the news in front of her but on the worn-out look her friend had. Charlie was never one to put too much effort into her appearance but even this level of neglection was unusual for her. 

"Nothing," it wasn't that Charlotte was purposely trying to purposefully worry her friends or be difficult, but speaking about what was bothering her so much would only end up making her feel more pathetic; James and she had barely spent any time together, his exit from her life shouldn't affect her this much.

"You know, I can beat the cockiness out of that idiot if you let me" Adam quietly offered, happy to see Charlie's lips turned into a small smirk, the closer to a smile they had gotten in weeks. They all knew that there was no way the tall Ravenclaw could inflict pain on the Gryffindor, he might've been taller than most students but James had years and years of quidditch muscle on his body and wicked fast reflects for dueling. 

"Potter is a prat, but it has nothing to do with him," Charlie said after a beat of silence, she could tell her two friends didn't believe her so she added- "I promise, I'm just tired" and she truly was, it turns out avoiding your own feelings with studying wasn't such a good method of distraction, sure she was too busy reciting the steps to a perfect Felix Felicis to think about a certain Head Boy, but her brain was working in overload now; most nights she would lay in bed completely awake because her thoughts refused to turn off.  

"Did you stay all night reading again?" Monet asked as she eyed the potion book as if it was personally offending her, even she didn't particularly care for the subject. 

"Not all night, just a few hours after you went to bed—potions is such a horrible subject," Charlie's words were rushed hoping Monet wouldn't ask for the exact amount of time she had spent with her face stuck on that book- "I have no idea how I made it this far," she muttered mostly to herself before taking a sip of her dark bitter drink. Now that her brain was no longer focusing on the repetitive stages of potion brewing the world around her was becoming increasingly loud and she had the feeling she was going to need all the caffeine she could get for her next double period of Transfiguration.