His usual carelessness and cheeky smiled where nowhere in picture. Evelina could sense his sincerity and maturity from his tone and determined look which refused to back down.
Evelina was stunned for few moments before she regained her composure and sighed. She then looked back up, directly into James eyes indifferently.
"James, we just met yesterday, how are you so sure we are similar to each other. How come you concluded that I am being burdened with the responsibilities I never wanted" Evelina asked in a calm tone devoid of any emotions.
Her look was calm yet cold, her previous warmth dissipated in thin air. Inside, her heart was beating rapidly due to nervousness. She was unsure if he knew something or was blindly guessing things.
James chuckled lightly, his eyes warm and amused. He suddenly felt that he was seeing a small kid throw a tantrum because her secret was found out by him.
"Rose, looks like you weighed down my capabilities a lot lower than necessary. I'm not naive and easygoing as I portrayed to others, I'm willing to show my real self in front of you but the question is are you" James asked in a sincere and honest tone.
Evelina looked at him carefully for a complete minute, she then sighed and looked at James sternly and coldly.
"James you know nothing about me and I am not going to explain it either, so this thing called sharing each other's problem won't work out between us. Yes, if you want to share your problems with me you are welcome but don't expect anything back from me" Evelina said curtly.
She then stood up without wasting another moment went back inside the house and slipped into the living room with a book in her hand.
Everyone noticed her arrival but decided to not question her about it, as they long noticed her and James slipping out of the house sneakily.
James entered back as well, back to his usual self. James looked at Evelin and mothed, 'I am not backing out so easily' and then beamed her a confident smirk.
Evelina said nothing and concentrated back inside her book, few of the adults noticed this small exchange between them but chose to not voice out their doubts.
"Kids go back to sleep now, it is getting quite late" Grandma Molly reminded everyone to go back to bed early.
"Like usual, Sam, Teddy and Lauren will be sharing a room. Victoire and Molly will be in one room, whereas Dominique, Roxanne, Evelina and Alice will share a room. James, Lorcan, Lysander and Fred will be in another room" Grandma Molly said as she looked at the older kids.
They all nodded and started heading upstairs towards their respective rooms allotted as per Grandma Molly.
"Albus, Scorpius, Louis and Hugo will share one room and in another one Rose, Lily, Augusta and Lucy will sleep" Grandma Molly said with a warm smile.
The younger ones nodded and headed upstairs as well. After that the adults all started taking their leave and went back to their respective houses to retire for the night.
Everyone settled in their respective rooms and slept peacefully except for James and Evelina. One was thinking of ways to convince the latter to open up with him, whereas other one was thinking of the ways to reject him again.
Evelina and James spent a sleepless night but came up with no ideas. Evelina was restless just by thinking that if someone finds out about her identity it would completely change and disrupt her as well as many others lives and she cannot afford it at any cost.