Things were not going Evan’s way this November. Or, really, this school year.
Sure, everything started out great with the St Mungos attack, but then he had fought with Bellatrix. He and his favorite older cousin returned to speaking terms just in time for parents’ weekend, which was its own special brand of a shit show. He still, to this day, was trying to piece together just what had happened the night he found solace in the bottle after his dad’s little chat with him in public. Oh, and then he had invited his dear friend Ava to the site of her brother’s murder. Because he, Evan Rosier, was evidently an asshole. And now Regulus was seeing a halfblood, which was… well, it was. So long as they didn’t lose him, too, everything would be alright. At least his life wasn’t shit when it came to Regulus. Their chats were going well. Small victories.
Even though things were generally not great, Evan had been fine for the vast majority of the school year. Until a few days ago. But that’s how it always went with Evan. He was very fine up until he very much wasn’t.
The signs were all there. Why he had let them get this far was beyond his understanding, but he did it. He did it every single time. Sleepless nights were the first sign his proven strategy of resolutely ignoring everything he was feeling on the inside was starting to fail. If he ignored what was going in inside and kept himself busy enough he didn’t have time to think about any of it, he could pretend he was normal. If he didn’t give himself time to think, he could shove everything down, tell himself everything is fine, and keep moving. Just keep moving. But then, for no discernible reason, the dam broke and he was forced to face just how miserable he was pretending he wasn’t. Sleepless nights became the rule rather than the exception. After two nights of pitiful amounts of sleep, the exhaustion kicked in. It was written plain as day on his face, he knew (and apparently so did Amycus, who do Kindly commented on his appearance), yet still sleep evaded him. Evenings were the worst, for it was during dinner time when the deep ache in his chest, seemingly emanating from his heart, was too much to ignore. Alcohol had helped ease the pain and unhappiness in the past, so he tried it again. Unfortunately, all it did was make him tipsy. It offered no mood boost. You know what you need to do, a pernicious little voice in the back of his mind would say. Evan ignored it and went to class.
They say there is a moment you know you are fucked. For Evan, that moment was when a simple charm backfired during class. What he was going wasn’t working; it was time to face the music.
Evan snuck down to the common room after hours of tossing and turning with the intent of finding his way to the grounds. There were loads of unwanted small animals in the forest. The darkness within demanded appeasement. Before he left the common room, however, he heard voices outside the entrance. Deciding to wait ten minutes for whomever was there to leave, he sat down by the fire. Thank Merlin he did, for a few minutes later Amycus Carrow entered the common room. The last thing he needed was to have been followed by Amycus.
The Carrow heir’s flippant attitude rubbed him the wrong way. Or maybe it was the subject matter, madness. Either way, Evan’s eyes narrow for a split second. “And is that what happened with you?”
“I’m not stressed,” he snapped. Hearing the tension in his own voice, however, made him let his head fall back against the wooden back of the high wooden armchair he was sitting in. He eyes closed briefly and he sighed. Reopening them, he spoke again, calmer than before. “Do tell.”
Amycus didn’t know what to class Evan as most of the time. He’d say they had formed somewhat of an understanding – after all, they hadn’t murdered each other yet despite how much time they were forced to spend with each other. That didn’t mean that Amycus hadn’t considered it, the other Slytherin seemed to lean far too much on his surname. The hierarchy of Purebloods was always something that caused Amycus’ blood to boil, but he tried his best to ignore it with the Rosier heir. Not because he wanted to get along with him, but the hassle of sharing a room with someone who had a grudge wasn’t exactly compelling.
Still, there were times when Amycus liked the other boy, especially when his flaws were out in the open for anyone to see. Fondness wasn’t the right term, but...
The indifference shown when Evan counteracted Amycus’ original point with a dig towards Amycus’ sanity was proof that he liked the other Slytherin more than most. Most people would have got a hex, or at the very least a shove for daring to insinuate such a thing. For Rosier, however, Amycus just smiled, especially with the expression he had. Narrowed eyes, clearly not overall impressed with his arrival. Maybe he wanted to sulk by himself, but the Carrow didn’t care. “I’m perfectly sane. I’d be resting easy right now, were you not such a noisy room-mate.”
The tension, the quick bite back at the accusation just made Amycus’ grin widen, sitting up and turning to face him. It wasn’t anything truly knowing, or believing he’d won any type of battle. But he liked the frustration and anger that came with other people. It was too easy to get a rise out of someone who was already on edge – but more than that, it was beyond entertaining. Jumping to his feet, he rolled his shoulders back, smug smirk never leaving his lips before he wandered over to a more open space.
A simple request. With the idea of what would come next. Play fighting had always been a thing between Evan and Amycus, whether it was to been seen as the alpha of the dormitory or just plain boredom, Amycus never particularly thought to question it. With how horribly boring Hogwarts was, it was nice to indulge in something. But their fights were never serious – never left a long term affect on Evan to calm him down enough. And boy, in Amycus’ opinion, did he need to let that stress out.
He gestured with his hand, “For every punch I land, you have to tell me one problem. Agony uncle, or whatever you need.” Amycus couldn’t have cared less what Evan needed, but boredom was easy to pass this way.
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