Chapter 1
The Ice Queen of Hogwarts

It was a sunny Friday afternoon, which meant that Evelyn was in the library as usual. Her table was covered with open books and parchments full of ancient runes. The fourteen-year-old pureblood Slytherin was sitting there, frowning and glaring at her notes.

'This does not add up. I probably missed something... But what?'

With a sigh she leaned back in her chair and closing her eyes she thought about the research she was doing. It was her life - her mind came up with a theory and she couldn't rest until she found out if it could or couldn't work.

'Did I make a mistake in the translation?'

'No. I already went over it a hundred times, if there was a mistake, I would have seen it.'

As she sat there wondering what she was missing, someone pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

"Tough day, doll?" came the deep voice of Hogwarts bad boy, the one and only Sirius Black

"What do you want, Sirius? I am not in the mood for your games," said Evelyn lazily opening her eyes and looking at the young Gryffindor

One look at the Black heir was enough to know that he was no ordinary wizard. Just like Evelyn, he had the air of casual elegance around him, even though usually his tie was crooked, not tucked in or even missing, and his black hair was messily hanging on his shoulders. Even when - just like today - he was wearing muggle attire, in this case, shredded jeans and a grey shirt with a symbol Evelyn assumed belonged to a punk rock band, making him look nothing like the refined pureblood he was.

Evelyn raised a brow over his muggle attire, but before she could have said anything Sirius spoke.

"Straight to the point, I see. However, it's not about what I want, but what YOU want," he said as he winked at the girl, who was looking at him expectantly

Now, she was interested in what game he wanted to play today.

"And pray tell, what do you think I want?" she asked deciding to play along, rather than comment on his inappropriate choice of clothes

"Hah, easy. You want to ditch these books and spend the rest of the day with me," he said as he flashed her a charming smile

"Now, why would I want that?" asked Evelyn with a smile on her face

"Why wouldn't you want that? Admit it, you are curious. You want to know what kind of fun stuff I can show you." he said as he leaned closer

"Keep telling that to yourself..." whispered leaning closer, just before she sat back in her chair sighing, "By the way, don't you have anything else to do than annoy me? I don't know, cause mischief, bully people or flirt with some unfortunate girl?"

"Funny that you bring up other girls. Are you by any chance jealous?" smirked the boy

"Don't flatter yourself." came the cold reply

"Of course, of course. Just so you know my offer still stands; you should leave the books and at least take a stroll with me."

"I will have to refuse."

"Come on, you can't spend your life holed up with books."

"I can, and I will."

The boy just sighed. "What are you working on anyway? School started a couple of weeks ago, and you are already working on something?" he asked as he leaned closer to take a look at her notes, however, Evelyn quickly stood up closing the books with a swish of her wand

"None of your business. Now, if you will excuse me, I have somewhere to be," she said as she gathered the books

"Actually, no, I will not excuse you, until you agree to a date with me."

Evelyn was about to retort with a witty comment when she heard another boy's voice cut in.

"Jeez Black, can't you take a hint? She wants nothing to do with you, so just sod off, will you?" came the confident voice of Matthias Bulstrode, the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect and Evelyn could feel a headache forming

As soon as he entered the library, everyone went quiet. Some girls sighted dreamily, while others held hands in excitement, barely containing themselves. It was nothing new as Matthias Bulstrode was the perfect prince every girl dreamed about. Not only was he the heir of a wealthy pureblood family, but he was also tall, handsome and charming. He walked up to Evelyn and Sirius confidently.

"Good afternoon, Evelyn. Are you well? Is he bothering you?" he asked as he took her hand to kiss her knuckles

Evelyn just smiled as she answered. "Nice to see you, Matthias. He is just being his annoying self, don't mind him."

"Hey!" came the protesting voice of the Gryffindor "Get lost mate, we were just talking."

"Well, it looked more like you were bothering her."

"Just go back to whatever boring thing you were doing and leave us alone, would you?"

"Open your eyes, Black. She wants nothing to do with you. Why would she even spare a minute of her time for a delinquent like you?"

"I could ask you the same. Why would she waste her time with someone boring like you? I could show her some fun." smirked the Black heir

"Yes, I can imagine what kind of fun. One that would probably only cause her problems..."

Now, she had to agree with the Ravenclaw. Being a member of the pureblood society came with a large number of appearances one had to make, therefore the young heirs were usually acquaintances long before their schooling began. Such was the case of Sirius Black and Evelyn Williams. She knew him long before school and if there was something unchanging about him, it was his ability to always cause trouble. And that was something Evelyn couldn't afford to associate herself with.

Evelyn just sighed as she felt the beginning of a headache. This was an almost every day occurrence. She gathered her books and went to return them to their places, the boys following her like puppies, still arguing. While the girls kept whispering between themselves about how lucky she is to have the "Bad Boy of Hogwarts" and the "Prince of Hogwarts" fighting over her, Evelyn was not enjoying it one bit. If anything, she found it annoying having to put up with their banter day by day.

As the boys got into another heated argument, she used the time and slipped away heading to the Quidditch pitch. It was the first practice with the new recruits, and she promised her friends to watch it together.

Nearing the training grounds, she could hear her friend's commanding voice:

"Come on Black, you can do better than that!"

Soon enough she saw the team high in the air, while her friend and roommate, Emma Vanity tried to encourage the team to do better.

Looking through the field, it was evident that it was a private practice, as there was no one in the audience. Well, almost no one. She could see her other two friends sitting in the tower chatting excitedly. 'Probably fangirling...' thought Evelin with a smile

However, after she made her way to the tower, she was surprised to see there someone she never expected.

"Severus? I didn't take you for a Quidditch fan," she said as she walked up the stairs

The black haired Slytherin didn't even look up from the book he was reading as he responded. "I am not."

"Oh, then what brings you here?" she asked in surprise

The boy sighed as he put a bookmark in his book and closed it. "Regulus asked me to come and observe him, so I can help him become a better player."

"I see. How is he faring?" she asked as she looked to see the new seeker flying laps, while Emma timed him

Snape just snorted as he answered. "Terribly. He is too nervous and keeps messing up."

"Poor thing. I hope that he will get better with time, otherwise, Emma would have to kick him out."

"If she doesn't kill him with the harsh practice."

Evelyn couldn't help herself and laughed, "Well, we all know how seriously she takes it. He should have expected it."

Snape just nodded. It was common knowledge that Emma Vanity was the youngest captain the team has ever seen. Her skills and passion were the reason why she became the Slytherin Quidditch captain in her 3rd year and Slytherin never lost a game since then, only to Gryffindor, but as Emma put it, this just shows that we have to practise more. After the brutal tryouts, it was the first practice, and it seemed that the players were already sweating and tired.

Suddenly she heard her friends calling her name. "Well, I have to go. See you later," she said, and Snape just nodded

"What took you so long?" asked her brunette friend with bangs, known as Bonnie Travers

"Sorry, I got held up in the library," said Evelyn as she sat down next to her friends

"Let me guess, Black again?" asked the other girl, Lucinda Talkalot

"and Bulstrode too," sighed Evelyn

"You know, you are probably the only girl in Hogwarts who is annoyed by the attention," said Bonnie

"Yeah, I mean, if they were after me, I would totally enjoy every minute of it. Bulstrode during the day and Black during the night." laughed Lucinda

"Lucy, your inner slut is showing." deadpanned Evelyn, but the girls just laughed

"How is the training going, by the way?"

Even though Emma became the captain a year ago, she was still quite nervous about doing it right and while she pretended to be the confident coach the team needed, in real life she was anxious about every choice she made as the captain.

"She is doing great," said Bonnie

"Yeah, a bit too harsh, but that just means that the team will be prepared for the worst," said Lucinda

"You make it sound like she is preparing them for a war," laughed Evelyn

"Well, you know how seriously they take the sport. Also, make sure that Emma never hears you say that. We would just receive another lecture," smiled Bonnie

"Good job everyone, we are finished! Pack your things, hit the showers and see you all at dinner." shouted the team captain as the training ended

The girls made their way down the stairs of the tower and waited for their friend to catch up with them. After ten minutes she came with a smile on her face. Her medium length strawberry blonde hair still a bit wet from the shower, however, she didn't seem to care.

"So how was it? I hope I didn't go too soft on them. We need to be on top if we want to win the cup!"

"SOFT?" questioned the girls

"If you went harder, they would have died," said Lucinda

"Especially Black," commented Bonnie

"Yes, Black. I have no idea what happened to him. He was the star of the try-outs, but now that he got in, he is pretty much useless. Evelyn, you two know each other talk to him, please."

"I talked to Snape earlier, he said that he is just nervous. Give him some time to get used to it," said Evelyn and Emma nodded

"Okay, I will try. By the way, what took you so long? You arrived in the middle of practice!"

"She got held up, by her suitors," smirked Lucinda and Evelyn just sighed

"Again? Haha, they are persistent," laughed Emma

"Yes, I wish they weren't," moaned Evelyn

"Well, you can always tell them off," pointed out Emma

"Or have me do it," suggested Lucinda

"Absolutely not. You are too harsh," said Evelyn

"Hey! At least I am honest!"

"No, you are rude." teased Evelyn

"Yeah, yeah, we all know that you and Bonnie are the nice ones in our group," said Lucinda as she put her arm on Evelyn's and Bonnie's shoulders

It didn't take long to get to the Great Hall, where the dinner just started. The girls took their place at the end of the table, where there were not so many people around.

"So, what are you going to do about your situation?" asked Emma

"I don't know. Should I do something? I think they will just get bored and leave me alone..." trailed of Evelyn as her friends looked at her like she was crazy

"You think?" asked Bonnie

"Well, I hope so."

The girls just sighted. "You are too nice for your own good. If you don't do something, you might get stuck in this situation until the end of our school years," said Emma

Now this made Evelyn think. She came to a block in her research. Was it because the boys always bugged her? She distinctly remembered her grandmother telling her about people called energy vampires, sucking away other people's energy and motivation. Was she just tired from the interactions? What if Emma is right and it will only get worse? Then all that time spent with research will be just wasted time. Maybe she was right - it was time to do something.

"So, what do you suggest I do?" she asked

"Tell them off." came the answer from Lucinda

"You know," started Bonnie "when my cousin was in a similar situation, she made them think that she was already promised to someone."

"Yes, but she is not. If she were, it would be all over the press," said Emma

"Well, she can say that it's only a boyfriend. You know, nothing serious, just harmless fun," suggested Lucinda

"To create a fake boyfriend? Isn't that what losers do?" asked Evelyn and the girls went quiet

"You could ask someone to pretend to be your boyfriend," suggested Bonnie

"Yes. That's perfect!" said Emma excitedly

"Eh, I don't know," said Evelyn

'A fake boyfriend? That would be weird, wouldn't it?' she thought, however, she couldn't get rid of the thought. As she fell asleep that night, she kept wondering if it would be a good idea.