Evelyn (Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them)

Chapter 1

"Tina...why on earth are you standing around here listening to this drivel" I whispered to her while she shushed me and took a bite out of her hotdog. I was taking my lunch break when I ran into her and decided to accompany her for the remainder of my break. The personal space and the company of another woman was welcome because the second I return to the office, my coworkers would swarm around me and try to converse with me or ask me out on dates. I entertained them when I was new to my work but now that a few months has already passed, it was becoming tiresome. I wasn't very good at keeping conversations with anyone and I wasn't very outgoing. I couldn't keep up with them but then I met Tina and we became friends.

"I thought you weren't even supposed to be here. You could get into serious trouble" I whispered to her and she shushed me again. I huffed and took a small bite out of my chewy pretzel. "Witches live among us!" the woman screamed and preached her ridiculous belief. Not all witches are bad. My ancestor was so kind and gentle that she even caught the eye of a pure creature such as an angel so we couldn't be that bad like the nonsense she was spouting. Angels or what us wizards called them, Avians, were humanoid creatures that could sense the goodness of people's hearts. They were powerful and that is why they remain hidden even to us wizards. Not many people know of their existence, my family are the only ones that know of them because our ancestor had married an Avian or Angel, whatever they prefer to call them. 

"You! You there! What has brought you to our meeting today?" the woman suddenly asked, pointing in my direction. I swallowed a thick lump in my throat but before I could reply, a voice spoke from behind me. "I was just...passing by" 

"Are you a seeker? A seeker after truth?" she asked again, keeping her eyes fixated on whoever it was that was behind me. For me, the voice sounded like it belonged to someone my mind kept telling me I didn't want to see and so my body refused to look back no matter how much I wanted to. "I'm more of a chaser, really" he replied before excusing himself and making his way into the bank. When his form entered my field of vision, I likened his resemblance to someone from my past and the over all nostalgia I felt as just my imagination. I refused to believe that he was actually here. It would be ridiculous to assume that he was. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me because it was the anniversary of my mother's death. It also reminded me of the last time I ever laid eyes on my best friend of seven years before he disappeared.

"Evy...Evy...Hello, Ev? Are you listening?" I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Tina snap her fingers right infront of me. "I do apologize, what was it you were saying?" I asked and she groaned and sighed, pointing to the stairs where the woman had previously been standing. "You're lucky it's so hard to be mad at you. I said I'm going to follow them, do you want to join me?" she offered but I politely declined. If I had heard her spouting senseless drivel again, my brain would explode inside my head and all of my feathers would fall off. "I'm afraid I must decline. My lunch break is nearly over and I must return to the office" I told her.

"I can't understand how you are able to enjoy a job so boring. I wouldn't be able to sit still and look at papers all day like you could" she said. I knew she didn't mean anything bad by it. She was someone who lived for the thrill of action while I preferred to stay in the sidelines. I didn't live for excitement as much as I did when I was young. Tina and I were two different people but I always thought that that was what made us such great friends. Queenie too. The only thing me and her had in common was our similar experiences with annoying men.

"I actually prefer it. When I was working as a model, my schedule was always hectic. There was not a time that I wasn't posing before a camera or walking in fashion shows. It was tiring..." I muttered.

"Must be nice to be popular with both no-maj's and wizards" she teased and I shook my head at her childishness. "Not at all...I preferred my life as a quiet child in Hogwarts than as a model in London. Everything was so much more peaceful back then"

"Yeah...it always is for a child. Anyway, are you still coming over for dinner later?" 

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll bring my special sticky toffee pudding" I giggled when her eyes sparkled at the mention of the pudding. I had brought it on my first visit to their home for dinner and Tina could not stop taking bite after bite. She loved it so much that I decided to bring some everytime I went to their home for dinner.

"Great! See you then!" she said before waving goodbye and going after them. I took one last look at the bank before making my way back to the office. It felt like my heartstrings were being pulled to enter the bank by an unknown force. It couldn't be, right? It just couldn't. 

"Keep it together, Evelyn. It's been years since you last saw him. You don't even know where the man is. He couldn't be here. That was probably just your imagination" I muttered while I lightly slapped my cheeks to compose myself. "I need to hurry back or Artemis will begin to worry" I muttered before making my way back to the office.

As I entered the MACUSA headquarters, I couldn't help  but notice the indicator, there had been some scary incidents lately and the office has been busier than ever because of Gellert Grindelwald. Everyone is on edge and the Aurors are especially busy. It would have been a very busy time for Tina as well if she had stayed an Auror. As her friend, it was normal to worry about her sometimes whenever she went out on missions. An Auror's job was filled with danger and I empathized with Queenie's worrying over Tina's well being but atleast now we didn't have to worry as much. 

That didn't mean I wished for Tina to lose her job, especially not in the way it had happened. She had protected an innocent child from being hit by that horrid woman. Even if they weren't related by blood, I couldn't understand why a mother would hit her own child like that. She had taken up the responsibility of being that child's mother but she wasn't fulfilling her duties as a mother. I couldn't imagine doing that to my own future children. It would hurt me too much to hurt them.

"Hello, Evy? Ev? Evelyn?" I snapped out of my wandering thoughts once again when I heard the sound of Mr. Abarnathy's voice calling to me. "I do apologize, what were you saying?" I asked and he sighed. "I was only asking if you had enjoyed your lunch break but nevermind about that, are you alright? You have been spacing out a lot. You know, it's okay to take a break from work if you're not feeling well" he said worriedly. 

I shook my head and flashed him a smile to reassure him that I was fine. "I will be going back to work now. Goodbye, Mr. Abarnathy"

I really needed to stop letting my thoughts wander, otherwise I might not get any work done. When I had made it to my office, my raven, Artemis, immediately flew to me and landed on my shoulder, nuzzling her beak against my cheek. "I'm sorry I took so long. I hope you didn't bother the others while I was gone" she shook her head but I could feel the tense atmosphere in the room. I gave her a look and muttered, "Cheeky Artemis, stop terrorizing my colleagues".

I sat on my desk and she returned to her perch to the side of my desk. I absentmindedly began to stroke her feathers as an image of the man in the blue coat suddenly appeared in my mind. I shook the thought away and sighed. "Artemis...Today, I saw someone who bore a strange resemblance to your father while I was walking past the bank. Where do you suppose he is right now?" I asked the raven who only squawked at me. I giggled and stroked her feathers again. "You must miss him very much but...I'm sorry, Artemis. In truth, I'm hoping that I will never meet him again. I feel like my life would fall apart again if I met him and I can't promise that I will be able to recover from it if that were to happen again"

She nuzzled my cheek in comfort and I smiled softly. "I'm sorry, Artemis and thank you, for being my wings and for staying with me all this time"

Thank you.