Evelyn (Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them)

Chapter 5

I stared aimlessly at the door she had left in. Her words kept resonating in my head. "I warned you, I warned you so many times that she was trouble and that she had a darkness that not even you could expel. I warned you that her darkness would end up hurting you but you didn't listen"  I knew she was right. She had warned me incessantly about Leta. "Avians have the power to sense the goodness and purity in people's hearts. Listen to me, Newt. She has too much darkness in hers, no matter how much light she has, as long as she keeps holding on to the past, her darkness will always overcome her light" she had warned me. From the moment I first introduced Leta to her, she had known but I was too blind by my affections to see it. 

Leta was a misunderstood girl, I had thought, that is why I clung to her and tried my best to help her see the light within her and I had thought that I was helping her by going along with her antics no matter how much it got me into trouble but I wasn't helping her, I was only fueling the darkness and in the end, I ended up hurting someone precious to me. I ended up hurting Evelyn. I knew how much it hurt her to see me get into trouble. To see that what I was doing went against who I really was, it pained her so much. I was painfully aware of it but I still chose to ignore it out of my own selfishness. She had begged me to stop going along with Leta's antics, to stay away from her but I couldn't. In my mind, Leta needed me more than Evelyn did and slowly, the both of us drifted apart.

"You were my only friend, Newt. I trusted you, believed in every word you said. It wouldn't have hurt so much if you had written to me and told me that you were alright but you just fell off of the face of the earth." 

After being expelled from Hogwarts, I was ashamed of myself for breaking my promise to her but I didn't think that my absence would affect Evelyn so much. She was a beautiful girl with many admirers, a lot of people talked to her so I assumed that she had other friends and that she didn't need me but I was wrong. I never imagined that I was her only true friend. The only person she could truly trust, the only person she could share all of her feelings to, tell all of her troubles to. I had written her many letters but I never had the courage to send them. I assumed that she was upset with me and no longer wanted me to keep in touch with her so I ran away from my problems like a coward. I was too afraid to face her, to see the disappointment in her eyes or hear it in her voice. I thought that she would eventually forget about me, move on with her life and live happy but I was wrong about that as well. I feel so foolish.

"I grieved over losing you too, you know. So much so that my feathers just started to fall all on their own until I could no longer fly." I had hurt her. I was the reason why her feathers were gone. I was the reason why she could no longer fly. My cowardice made her suffer. 

"I'm done, Newt. I'm done worrying, I'm done caring about you. So please, if you want to help me then stay away from me" hearing those words made it feel like nails were being stabbed into my heart. I was so focused on Leta that I didn't see Evelyn, my best friend who I had met way before I had met Leta. I didn't see that she actually cared about me. All along, she had been worried about me and I disregarded all of that and caused her to suffer. I had caused her to suffer through so much. If only I had realized sooner how selfish I was being. If only I had listened!

"I was foolish enough to fall for you..."

"Uh...Mr. Scamander? Are you okay?" Mr. Kowalski said as he re-entered my hut. I furiously wiped the tears that had been falling away before he could see them. "Yes...I am quite alright"

"Girl problems?" he asked and my eyes widened in sudden realization. "H-how much have you heard?" I muttered. He shrugged his shoulders. "Not much, I just heard a woman's voice mixed in with all the yelling" he answered. "Oh..." was all that left my lips before I turned back to the door where she had left not too long ago. "You care about her a lot, huh, Mr. Scamander" he said and I sighed deeply. "I wish I had realised it sooner..."

"Well...why don't you go after her?"

"I don't think I am the person she needs right now. My presence is unwelcome around her"

"People say a lot of things they don't really mean when they are driven by emotion. I'm sure she just said it in the heat of the moment"

I raised a brow before turning to him. "So you did hear us?" 

"Who wouldn't hear you with all that screaming?" he chuckled. "Alright, Mr. Kowalski. Enough about that. Let's go find my creatures"

I'll find my creatures and leave New York as fast as I can, this is the only way I could hope to ease Evelyn's suffering. This time, I will listen.

Evelyn's P.O.V

"Ms. Mirabelle? Ms. Mirabelle, are you alright?" Mr. Graves asked as he sat on the other side of my desk. He had suddenly visited me in my office without prior notice, asking about Tina. "Yes...I'm just a little tired. I'm afraid I couldn't sleep well last night" More like I couldn't sleep at all. I had cried the entire night.

"I'll ask again, have you seen Ms. Goldstein today?" he repeated his question a little more slowly so I could understand clearly. "No sir, I haven't seen her since yesterday. Is there something wrong? Did something happen?" I asked him. His eyes were focused on me as if he were analyzing me, as if he were looking for something. Then I felt something strange, my occlumency was reacting. He was trying to use legilimency on me. I didn't even know that Mr. Graves was a Legilimens. It was odd. Did he not trust my words?

There was definitely something going on. I had to wait for him to point it out himself, he would figure it out eventually, that I was an Occlumens. If he did then he would expose himself as a Legilimens. 

"Is that so? No...there is nothing wrong. I was just trying to collect some additional information to try and help in Ms. Goldstein's case. You see, a no-maj was killed last night by an unknown creature so I was hoping to ask Ms. Goldstein about the whereabouts of the wizard she had brought in yesterday who supposedly had a case full of creatures in order to bring him in for questioning" he explained and I was glad that he decided to leave the matter with me be. He was no longer using his legilimency on me.

"I'm sorry to hear that, sir and I do apologize that I couldn't be of more help to your case" 

"Not at all, Ms. Mirabelle. I am sorry to have intruded into your office without prior notice-" he suddenly stopped mid-sentence as if he had realized something. "Ms. Mirabelle, you are knowledgeable on magical creatures, correct?"

"Uhm...yes, somewhat. I studied them a bit when I was in school and not to be rude sir but I wouldn't be working in this department if I wasn't even a little bit knowledgeable in that area" I said, chuckling to try and lighten the mood. 

"Would you mind coming with me in the discussion to try and help identify which creature was the culprit?"

"Not at all, Mr. Graves. I would be happy to"