Evolution

"Just had a thought," commented Theo, once the circular Room of Doors had stopped revolving.

It appeared that instead of resorting to locking their doors (which would have prevented most unwanted visitors from going where they weren't supposed to), the Unspeakables had installed some sort of mechanism to the Room of Doors, which would make its outer wall and its twelve doors rotate rapidly around the cylindrical room's central axis, each time a door was closed.

Presumably, to confuse thieves, door-to-door salesmen and lost Jehovah's Witnesses.

"Just the one?" quipped Astoria. "Must be feeling lonely, all alone inside that head of yours."

Oleandra could just barely make out Theo's scowl in the semi-darkness; wall-mounted candles had been hung up in between each of the doors, but the dancing blue light they each emitted was quite weak and ineffectual.

"As I was saying," said Theo irritably, "the Time Room might be behind one of the crossed off doors."

"We're here to save Harry and the others," Oleandra reminded him firmly. "If we come across one of your Time-Turners, feel free to nick one, but we're not wasting time trying doors we know they aren't behind."

Unbeknownst to Oleandra, the Time Room led directly to the Hall of Prophecies, which the Gryffindors and Luna were currently exploring. The Hall of Prophecies also had its own door, but to find it, she would have to keep trying doors…

"Most of the rooms here are interconnected," insisted Theo. "If the disciplines of magic studied within them are related, then the rooms will also be connected. It might be our only chance to catch up to them."

Oleandra hesitated— Theo had a point, but they didn't even know where Harry was heading. But in the end, she wouldn't have to make a choice, because a choice had just been made for her.

"This door's locked," Astoria announced, having just given one of the marked doors a push. "Alohomora won't work, either."

"Use the sword," said Oleandra distractedly. "It can cut through any and all enchantments."

This was a waste of time, but Oleandra still watched as Astoria inserted the Sword of the Lake into the gap between the door and the wall, before giving it a little push; effectively using the blade as a lever to prop the door open.

"Ouch!" Astoria hissed; letting go of the sword, as if she'd been burnt.

The door began emitting an ear-piercing shriek, forcing Oleandra and the others to cover up their ears. At the same time, the sword started letting off a high-pitched metallic whine, its blade growing red-hot—

"I think we should move out of the way," Tracey suggested, though nobody could hear her over the clamour and their plugged ears.

Barely had those words escaped her mouth than the sword was ejected from the doorpost at such an incredible speed that the flash of steel barely registered in their minds. Oleandra, Astoria, Tracey and Theodore all turned around, half a second too late, to see what had flown so dangerously close to their heads… and found the Sword of the Lake embedded up to the crossguard in the opposite wall.

"I don't think that's ever coming out of there," observed Astoria. "Theo…?"

It looked like the temporary loss of the Sword of the Lake hadn't been for nothing— the door that led to the locked room was more than just unlocked— it was now gone.

"I just remembered," said an ashen-faced Theodore. "Rookwood said there's one room in the Department of Mysteries where Unspeakables study love— supposedly, it's the most dangerous room, which is why it's kept under constant lock and key..."

Oleandra curiously tilted her head to peek inside the forbidden room— it didn't seem particularly dangerous. Behind the floating 'X' made out of flames, there was just a fountain of pink fluid. Actually, now that she was looking at it, the pink sauce seemed particularly tasty. Subconsciously, Oleandra's Mystic Eyes activated on their own, and she began walking slowly towards the fountain, as if in a trance…

"Oleandra! Oleandra!" came Astoria's voice, but her sister's voice sounded muffled, as if her ears were underwater….

"Leggo," Oleandra muttered distractedly, feeling someone tugging on her arm. "I have to… Just one sip…"

"Oleandra, your eyes!"

Upon hearing Tracey's voice, Oleandra was instantly snapped out of her muddleheaded state.

"Well, they're obviously not in there," said Oleandra, shaking her head to get rid of the remnants of the brain fog that had pervaded her mind. "Shall we get a move on?"

The others, however, did not seem ready to move on in the slightest— they wouldn't stop ogling her face, for some reason. Remembering what had happened to Marietta Edgecombe's face, Oleandra felt a surge of panic rising in her chest— she quickly retrieved from her pouch the small pocket mirror that she used to help retouch her make-up— and that's when she saw what had happened to her.

"Your pupils turned into hearts!" said Astoria, sounding rather amused. "You look just like me now, 'Leanne!"

"This had better not be permanent!" said Oleandra in disbelief. "I can't go around looking like this, I look ridiculous!"

"Oi," said Astoria, pretending to pout; her own pupils had turned into horizontal slits after her bloodline purification. "I resent that comment…"

At any rate, an additional layer of glowing colour seemed to have added itself to Oleandra's Mystic Eyes of Truth Seeking— Tracey was outlined by a fuzzy pink corona, Astoria's aura was a warm yellow, while Theo's aura was a dark orange.

Their attention was turned towards her, so was this how they felt about her…?

It appeared that Oleandra's Faerie Eyes had undergone an evolution of sorts— not only were they still able to help her tell truths from falsehoods, they could now also help her gauge interpersonal relationships. The warmer the colours surrounding the person she was observing, the stronger the love they felt— or at least, that's what Oleandra was guessing, just by looking at her friends.

"Oh," said Astoria in disappointment. "Your eyes are back to normal… wait, how are you doing that?"

As an experiment, Oleandra had turned off her Mystic Eyes, which had made her pupils revert to their normal round shapes. Unfortunately, upon reactivating them, her pupils had turned back into hearts— which meant that as a downside of having them evolve, her Mystic Eyes were no longer stealthy…

"No such thing as a free lunch," Oleandra grumbled to herself.

 "Hey, Tracey," said Astoria, giggling. "Your girlfriend's making eyes at Theo— Doesn't that bother you?"

Oleandra rolled her eyes.

"Look, why don't we start opening more doors?" Tracey proposed, eager to change the subject. "We can keep making stupid jokes all we want, as long as we're moving forward."

"It's my first adventure," said Astoria, slightly vexed. "I just wanted to lighten the mood…"

The Love Room's sweet perfume was beginning to waft into the Room of Doors, so Oleandra hurried to one of the unmarked doors at random and pushed it open, before stepping inside…