ELIXIR: A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Two. The First Day Back.

"Hey Ev," said Sean, running to catch up with Evelyn on her way out of Ravenclaw tower. She stopped and turned around, red hair swishing behind her. "Going to breakfast?" he asked, jogging into a walk when he'd about reached her.

She nodded. Her hands, he noticed, were tucked into the sleeves of her robes, the extra fabric at the end balled up inside her fists. Evelyn was always cold and her hands were always freezing to the touch. "Come with," she said.

"Planning on it," he agreed. They headed out of the room and into the drafty hallway where Evelyn sidled closer to Sean.

"Feels weird to be back, doesn't it? As seventh years?" she said.

"Yeah, a bit. It's weird that thinking about the future actually means the future now and not just... next year."

"I feel old. And humongous," said Evelyn.

"Hardly," laughed Sean. Evelyn was definitely much taller than his sister, Caiti, but she was not humongous in any way. Except perhaps her hair. She a slight little frame, wispy arms and long, thin fingers. Her hair, though, dark orangey red, was thick and full, waves reaching past her mid back.

They had to pause in the next corridor while a pack of chattering ghosts streamed through one wall, across the hallway, and into the wall opposite. Sean waved to the Grey Lady, passing near them. She gave a wry smile and continued in silence.

Moving ahead again, Evelyn sneezed, three times in quick succession. "Shoot, I'm probably getting sick again," she said. She got a cold within the first three days of school every year without fail. 

"Don't say it and it's not true," said Sean. "Evelyn, you're going to be as healthy as can be."

She laughed. "Okay, we'll go with that." She sneezed again.

They entered the great hall and found Marlowe already there, looking over his new class schedule. Caiti rarely made it to breakfast until the last minute. She was the opposite of a morning person.

"What've you got today?" Sean asked him, pulling his own schedule out of his bag to compare.

"Care of Magical Creatures this morning," he said. Sean nodded, tapping the same class on his own paper. "Then Transfiguration and after lunch is Potions. God, Caiti's going to have to help me with that." Much unlike Sean, who had dropped potions at the first chance, Caiti loved potion-making. It was by far her best subject. She had a knack for it that no one else he knew possessed. Sean's favorite class had always been Transfiguration, with Ancient Runes a close second.

Sean looked down at the plate he had neglected to find it was already full of food. Evelyn had been scooping eggs and bacon and slices of tomato onto it for him. "Oh, thanks," he said.

She shrugged. "You boys keep forgetting to eat. It makes me nervous."

Sean gave her a dry smile, but stabbed a bit of tomato onto his fork anyway.

"No Defense Against the Dark Arts till Wednesday," Marlowe said glumly, still peering over his schedule.

Evelyn began to pull out her own schedule, neatly preserved inside her folder and color coded.

"Divination this morning," she began. "Then Transfiguration," she looked up at them, signalling that they'd all be together. "And then Potions," she said, with a second nod to Marlowe. She set the schedule down next to her and began spreading jam on her toast.

Just then, a swarm of owls came flying into the room. Marlowe peered up and said, "Well, let's see what I forgot this year." Sure enough, a large brown owl swooped down, dropping a lumpy, brown-papered package into his lap. The bird landed on the table, knocking over the salt and pepper shakers, and began sipping pumpkin juice from Marlowe's cup.