𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 & 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 // a Harry Potter fanfiction

Chapter 9: Nervous

In the week leading up to September 1st, Evelyn spent much of her time in the Hogwarts library, feeling vastly unprepared to enter the magical world (and even less so, interact with people who had existed and thrived in said world for their entire lives). She wished to learn just enough to appear as if she belonged, at least at first.

Despite her efforts, Evelyn's plan did not proceed as effortlessly as she would've liked it to, and she found her attempts at learning to be futile. The only subtle progress she made was due to the librarian, Madam Pince, who threw dirty looks her way when she caught the young girl casually flipping through books, and not so much reading them.

Still, the extra motivation – provided by the harsh glares – was not sufficient, and Evelyn completed only two (relatively thin) books in that timeframe. Neither of which had given her the extraordinary insight that she was hoping for, merely some casual facts about the Wizarding World. She hadn't a clue where to formally start, and she simply selected whatever looked easiest and absorbed whatever semi-useful information she crossed.

The crucial fact that Evelyn had learned, however, was that her reading ability was subpar, having technically not practiced and improved in three consecutive years. It was disheartening for her to realise this, as her parents had adamantly encouraged her to read when she was younger, and she couldn't recall having ever struggled back then.

Her handwriting too, was barely passable, when compared to the neat script she saw in the margins of some of the books she flipped through. In her defense, Evelyn had used a pen before and to then adjust to writing with a quill and ink was challenging.

She felt... embarrassed. She was 11 yet was reading at the level of a 7-year-old. She was a witch, who hadn't excelled in writing with a pen – much less the wizard way.

Evelyn realised that nothing could be done about her missing skills, and one week was definitely not enough time to develop them. And so, instead of wasting time thinking about how screwed she was, she decided to explore the castle while she still had the opportunity to. Although she'd managed to acquire her place here for now, it would only be a matter of time; before the Professor's discovered how useless she was academically or became aware of her... hidden nature.

Although she'd been allowed to leave the hospital wing at this point, she seemed to always have the Professors keeping a close eye on her, half-expecting her to bolt again. And how had she discovered that she was – to put it mildly – being watched? When she drifted close to a door on the 3rd floor, she was practically jumped, and almost beheaded by Snape, who said students were 'strictly forbidden' from entering. Evelyn almost asked for an explanation, but an intimidating glower from the aforementioned Professor told her not to push it, as she would not be receiving an answer as to why it was off-limits, and no amount of arguing would change that.

And so, with nothing else to explore in the castle, she walked down to the greenhouse on the 31st and spoke with Professor Sprout.

"Evelyn! It's so good to see you on your feet. Have you recovered well?"

The girl nodded in response, not keen on even slightly admitting she hadn't been well in the first place.

"Hello Professor... uhm- how's Larry?" Evelyn asked about the sentient potted plant to deflect the topic away from herself.

Professor Sprout grinned as she gestured to a rather larger plant rooted firmly in the soil of the greenhouse. "He's spectacular! He outgrew his pot, as you can see. I was worried he wouldn't take the switch well, but well..." Sprout didn't elaborate, as his size was evidence enough of how well Larry had adjusted.