Can't you just give me a chance?

He thought he was losing his mind. He really did and there didn’t seem to be anything he could do about it. Even his brother was starting to give up on trying to help him. It was funny though, not too long ago he was completely fine. But something changed, and that something was important to him. Though it didn't seem like anyone knew what the problem was.

It was typical, though. That no one knew, he meant. Any and everything important to him was always overlooked unless it was important to Cronis too. Merlin, he actually hoped that this was only important to him. That was selfish, though..

But it was okay to be selfish sometimes, right? This was something he thought was worth being selfish over. Cronis wouldn't care, he was too busy with whatever was going on with Hit. Hit, yeah. That meant that his brother didn't care about this. A wave of relief flushed over him, but it was quickly replaces by a new feeling, one he didn't like. He couldn't place what it was, though, but it was uncomfortable for him.

Evander really was losing his mind.

Maybe he just needed new friends. Or, more friends was more like it.

What was the thing that had Evander Yaxley so nervous, so desperate? Well, it was Katherine Avery.

The boy was close to Kit, so when she stopped going to school he became worried. At first, he'd just thought that she might've just not wanted to attend classes (that wasn't like her but maybe something bad happened), so he decided to leave her be for a while, in case he was looked at as a bother if she didn't want anyone around. But then he found out she wasn't even at Hogwarts anymore. What made it worse was that every time he sent her a letter, it was never responded to. Did that mean she was ignoring him?

But why would she be doing that? Did she hate him? What did he do wrong?

Those questions were what was making him so crazy.

One last try, he decided. He was going to send her one more letter, if she didn't reply to that one, then that meant she wanted nothing to do with him and he was going to give up. Give up.

Why did those words hurt so much? He felt like they hurt more than they were supposed to. She was his friend and it would hurt to lose her, yeah, but the pain he felt didn't seem like the pain of losing a friend. Whatever, he had to focus.

Kit…

What's going on? Why haven't you gone to school? Why aren't you answering me? Please.. I just want to know that you're okay. No, I don't just want to know, I want to know.

I know I'm probably being annoying, when aren't I? And I know I'm probably repeating myself, I must have already said these things to you in previous letters. But then again, I don't even know if you've been reading my letters. C'mon, please.

If you don't want to see me, that's fine. At least just talk to me. Write back. That's all I want.

That's it. I don't want to lose you, but this is the last letter I'm sending you… If you don't reply to this one, then I'm giving up.




Tears stained the bottom of the letter, where "giving up" and his name were. Writing that was hard for Evander, he felt like his heart was being ripped apart, but he didn't know why. He was so worried, but it wasn't just worry. He couldn't place what he feeling was running through him at the time of writing the letter.

He really didn’t want to have to end the year by losing a friend.

Evander,

I did read them. And, for the record, I don't hate you. But I've been busy, trying to get used to living on my own and trying to find a job. It's been... difficult.

I don't know if you're staying in the area, but I have a flat, now, in Westminster. If you'd like to, we could meet for a coffee or something. There's a little shop that I like, and it's run by a wizard from somewhere in the Netherlands. We can talk openly about school and things, there. I go there most Saturday afternoons to have lunch in the cafe.

She write down the address and signed off, as 'Katherine' rather than 'Kit,' and sent it off.

That Saturday, she sank into her usual seat by the fireplace, a hot mug of tea between her hands. The server set a ham-and-cheese filled croissant, even though she had decided to sit in the back, where Muggles couldn't go. She had found that she rather liked them anyway.

So Katherine sat, trying to let herself deal with the fact that she had lied, blatantly, to the person she had called her best friend for literal years. Besides Lily, Evan had been the only one there consistently that wasn't required to be because they were family.  He was different. But she had been completely false in her letter, and didn't think she felt sorry about it. It was for the best.

She could decide, when he showed up, whether or not she needed to tell him about the curse, or about how mixed up her emotions were, or how she wasn't sick anymore but still had to take potions regularly. Which, of course, just figured. Avoid one problem only to find another one? Very Katherine Avery.

And so she sipped her tea, waiting to see if he chose to show up. If not, she had brought a book along. That curious part of her had never left, even though almost everything else had. So at least if he found her there, reading, he wouldn't be put off immediately.

At first it had seemed like a dream that he was getting a response back, after all the other letters he'd sent hadn't gotten one word back from her. For the most part, her words had settled his mind a bit but that didn't mean that he was back to normal completely. He just thought it was unfair, they were supposed to be best friends.. right?

At least that's what he'd thought, but clearly not if she couldn't even talk to him. He'd always found a way to make time whenever she needed him, but she couldn't seem to do the same for him, that was just great.

Some friend.

Stop it, Evander. Those are angry thoughts, that's not you. Not what you really think. He tried to calm himself down, but if he was being honest, it was what he really thought. He was angry and an angry Evander was a bad Evander. He needed to stop that, if he was going to meet up with Kit, he needed to be calm not angry. Evander was bad with emotions, though, especially when it came to her.

He'd wanted to write back to her one more time before they met, but he figured it was better if he didn't. He didn't want to come off in a way he hadn't meant to sound in a letter and probably ruin things even further.

That Saturday, Evander had decided to go without telling anyone where he was headed. Cronis had noticed him leaving but hadn't been able to get any information out of him, only that he was going out and he'd be back later. Cronis would probably be worried for a bit then go about his day as he normally would. His parents would be too concerned with Cronis to notice anything he did anyways, so it didn't surprise him that they hadn't made an attempt to find out what he was doing.

On his way there, after feeling like the day was going pretty well, the Ravenclaw found himself getting lost. It wouldn't be a normal day if something didn't go wrong for him and he ended up having to get help from the people around him. So much for trying to do things himself. Once he'd made it to Westminster, he found his way to the shop Kit had mentioned. He still ended up having to ask people where the address she'd written down was.

His stomach started to hurt when he went into the shop and he felt like he was going to throw up. But that was probably because he was so nervous. How was he even supposed to ask everything he wanted to ask? There was so much and he just felt like he was going to annoy her.

After going inside the shop he blinked, looking around to see if he'd be able to find her easily. When he couldn't, he frowned, of course it wouldn't be that easy. Why would anything ever be that easy for him? So again, he had to ask around to find his way to her. "Kit.. Hi." he said, rather awkwardly, after finally spotting her and walking over.

Katherine knew Evander better than she knew anybody. So the fact that he approached looking so out of sorts was certainly a bad sign. She knew, however, that he would never be a true threat to her. Not Evan. Still, she decided not to correct him on the nickname. It was hardly important, anyway.

Closing her book, Katherine put it in her bag and gestured to the chair across from her. "Evan," she replied by way of greeting. In this case, perhaps nicknames would get her out of trouble. She needed to seem at least vaguely similar to the Kit he had known before. "I'm glad you found this place. It's a little obscure, I think, but perhaps that's better for important conversations."

She waited for him to look at least a little bit settled, and then leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table in a show of casual confidence in their meeting. There was no reason to be nervous, she tried to convey. "I'm sorry I haven't been answering your letters. Like I said - I did read them. And I should have replied, I know that." Did she? Sometimes Katherine forgot, now, to really bother with such niceties. She would have to look into that, or maybe make herself a note next to where she kept the mail. "But things have been very different for me as of late. I think you deserve the chance to ask me whatever questions you have."

She wasn't sure that she did, actually. That was becoming a common feature for her - the pretending. But it was only for the people she knew cared for her in some way. For Mesut, for Evander. But she put on her most patient and open face, waiting for him to explode.

Merlin, where was he supposed to start? He had no clue, there was so much going on in his head at that moment that he could barely make any coherent thoughts. He wanted to know.. well, everything. But it was probably best if he started with one thing and they moved on from there.

"I just.. I don't know." Guess he still needed more time to think because clearly his mind wasn't processing things correctly. He took a deep breath, trying to get his mind to stop racing as it wasn't doing any good.

"What happened to you?" That sounded wrong. Would she take it the wrong way? He had to add something to make it sound less weird, not that he was capable of saying anything that didn't sound weird. "I mean, why did you leave Hogwarts? What happened? I was so confused, I still am, you not answering me for so long didn't help. I thought.." he stopped himself.

He thought so many things when she wasn't answering his letters. Most of the things he thought were worst case scenarios though, so clearly he wasn't thinking logically. But what else was someone who was worried about his best friend supposed to do? Evander already had a habit of overthinking and panicking; Kit basically dropping from the face of the earth for him didn't help that at all.

"I wanted to help, but I had no idea what was going on. I still want to help but.." But I don't know if you need me.. He thought sadly, his expression going from worried to sad in a split second.