Tutor (Evangeline/Saren)

Evangeline. It was a nice name, he liked it. There hadn't been much cleaning for Saren to do the night before, he tended to keep things relatively tidy. That didn't mean there wasn't the odd bit of clothing, questionable reading material, or piece of dishware stranded across the house. He padded through the house in thick socks when he was home from work, his shoes always the first things to go, gathering bits and pieces. A low, wide tumbler with swirling amber liquid was in one hand and his wand in another as he chose this book or that from his small office to zoom to the living room.

Even from the office he heard the fire crackling in the fireplace, warming the building against the cold, dreary damp outside. It was better to stay in the living room for this tutoring session. Maybe they would use the floor instead of the wide couch. He certainly wouldn't use the small kitchen table. He absently debated between a couple of books while his mind drifted to bouncing red hair and how nice it would look against white pillows.

Evangeline practically skipped down the street, hair a riotous mass of curls around her face, around her shoulders and down her back. He'd noticed her last time, she was sure of it, and she wanted him to notice her again. She'd even tugged her lightly puffed sleeves down a little to expose her shoulders, though she knew how risque that was. It was a thousand times less than so many of the other girls, though! She was beginning to think that her mother had been a bit old-fashioned.

A pristine white book bag lay against her hip, the strap slung over her shoulder like a large purse. It was charmed to weigh less so she didn't have to walk hunched over like some of the others she'd seen. Her nails had perfectly rounded tips and she'd even put on lipstick. Her mother would die, just absolutely die. But she'd seen plenty of girls with makeup, not just wh~s. In fact, she didn't think she'd met a wh~ yet.

She told herself to stop daydreaming when she reached number five, and took those last few steps to the door quickly. One more smoothing of her skirt, one more deep breath, and she knocked, a smile already on her lips.

Saren hovered for a moment more, unwilling to jump at the knock, then left the books where they sat and turned. Out the door, past the staircase, past the kitchen, through the living room where he set his glass down with a soft clink on a glass-topped end table. He opened the door and smiled when he saw her, his eyes catching on her hair and bare shoulders. It was probably safe to assume it was a reaction she had intended to get.

"Come in," he said, stepping back and holding the door open. "I've got things in the living room, I could get you a drink if you'd like." He could play the good little host if he needed to.

"Thank you," Evangeline said, her smile broadening just at seeing him. She felt herself blushing, but it wasn't from any kind of shyness, just excitement. There were no butterflies in her stomach, but her heart was jumping!

She stepped past him in her breakneck heels and looked around the room, all snug and lined with books. A few months ago she'd have said that it was tiny, but she'd been in a dormitory since then and it seemed homey instead, with dark, masculine colors. Oh, it was perfectly him.

"I've brought my History of Magic book and notes," she said, though her mind was still almost entirely on him. "And I've brought another notebook just in case." She had more than that in her bottomless satchel, but she liked to be prepared for things.

Saren nodded and let his eyes trail down her while she was turned away. He shut the door. "When I've got a lot of things to look through I generally just spread out on the floor. Lots of room, and you're right in front of the fireplace, which is nice." He gestured into the room, but headed through it to the kitchen. "I've got all the normal stuff. You know, butterbeer, that kind of thing. I've got liquor, but you don't really strike me as a liquor girl." He glanced back at her and his lips curved into a smile.

Evangeline had parted her lips to say that she'd had wine now and then, but that smile got to her, and she ended up just smiling back. Had she ever seen him smile when he was talking to someone else? She didn't think so, and she was so lost for a moment that she blushed for real at remembering he'd more or less asked a question. "I'll have a butterbeer," she said. She'd never had it before her arrival at Valfirdu University, and was rather fond of it.

Saren nodded and pulled one out, popping the cap off. The cap was added to a little basket of caps on the counter before he came back into the living room. He handed her the bottle and reached for his own glass. After taking a sip, he pulled his wand to enlarge the rug on his floor to cover more area. The handful of books and other things he'd assembled shook slightly, annoyed at the minor displacement. "I'm a little rusty at the whole, ah, tutoring thing, so you'll have to bear with me," he said. Somehow, he doubted she cared at all.

"It's alright," Evangeline said. "Perhaps we'll learn together. Or relearn," she corrected herself. She couldn't believe that she was going to sit on a floor, but what he'd said made perfect sense. He had quite a few books on the subject, and the fire was quite inviting. She made her way over to a cleared spot and sat delicately, curling her legs around the side and arranging her shorter-than-mother-would-approve-of skirt. She didn't own any trousers, but thought they might come in handy for things like this.

Saren sat cross-legged beside Evangeline and took a moment to take a drink as his eyes hovered again. "I've got a table, but it's small and it's no fun sitting at a table when the fire's here," he said when he finally spoke. "What is it you want help with, Miss Rush?" He could tease a little, too, when the situation called for it. "I guess you could say I'm at your command." It didn't matter that he was the tutor, it was the one being tutored who decided what needed to be discussed.

"Oh," Evangeline breathed, then gave a little smile at the thought. At your command. It took her a moment to think of anything besides asking to be kissed after that. But they were supposed to be studying, weren't they?

"We're studying Europe in the 1900s," she said, trying to get herself together. "The professor is concentrating on the migration of giants, but it feels as though I'm missing something he expects us to already know. I suppose my first question might be why the giants migrated to Northern Europe."

Saren eyed her curiously. Even with his relatively limited education about it back home he had known the answer to that question. "That would be the first war with Voldemort. Ah, You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, whichever you prefer. Personally I find it a bit silly, he's dead and all." He shrugged and continued. "The giants were allied with him and when the Aurors fought back, the giants retreated."

"Voldemort," Evangeline repeated. She opened her spare notebook and pulled a soft lavender quill out of her purse, one which matched the accents in her skirt, to write that down.

I. First war.
...A. Voldemort, deceased.
......1. You-Know-Who.
......2. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
...B. Giants allied with Voldemort.
......1. Retreated from Aurors.

"That must be what I've missed," Evangeline said, looking down at her notes. "I never realized anything was missing from my education, not really, but a war is rather important, isn't it? Was it only in England? That might be why Mother didn't mention it."

Saren took another sip from his glass, holding it on his tongue for a second. "This was a big war," he said. "There were two waves of it, because he wasn't dead the first time. Him and his Death Eaters, his followers, even took over the Ministry and Hogwarts during the second war. I believe it was the whole of the Kingdom, but they were probably going to expand further once they had it under control. You really never heard anything about it?" It was nice to consider he could probably say about anything he wanted without worrying he would be turned in as a potential Death Eater or something.

"Nothing, I'm certain," Evangeline said. "Mother tended not to speak much of the past. Perhaps it's why I find history so interesting, aside from the ties between past and future. I've been enjoying all my classes, but this is the one in which I felt... lost, I suppose you could say." She gave Saren a bright smile. "I'm really very glad of your help!"

"Well, I'll help you however much you want," Saren said, smiling. "Just be careful asking questions about it to others. It happened, what, fifteen years ago? But people are still antsy about it, every now and then a group of Death Eaters will pop up. So just be careful, if you have questions, ask me." It might be nice to have female company around. It wasn't like he never talked to anyone else, there were a couple of people in his major that he talked to regularly and even hung out with every now and then, but he had the feeling this was very different.