1.

Harry Potter was in a hurry. Keeping an eye out for such inconviniences as Snape or Filch, he rushed his way down the corridors of Hogwarts, on his way to the One-Eyed Witch's secret tunnel. "It's funny", he thought to himself, "how Fred and George felt the need to choose me, the person who would get the most trouble out of it if caught, to leave the common room after cerfew and break into the Candy Baron." But then again, he couldn't blame them. He was the only one with an invisibility cloak, and one of few who knew the secret of the Marauders Map.

He came to a halt at the sight of the statue. Searching through his pockets for his wand, and in the same time trying to keep the cloak safely wrapped around him, he wasn't too attentive to his surroundings. If he had been, he might have noticed that he was being watched.

Just when he was about to tap the statue's hump with his wand, he heard a voice.

"You're not gonna get through there, you know." Startled, Harry spun around and saw a girl step out from her hiding place behind a curtain. "And I know you're there", she added with a mischievous tone in her voice. "I saw your shoes when you were running". Harry sighed, cursed silentley over the Weasley twins and decided that it might be safe to remove the cloak. After all, the girl had yet made no attempt to get a teacher to the scene, so chances were that she wasn't going to either. But he kept his wand out as he took off his cloak, just in case.

"What do you mean, I can't get through there?", Harry asked, trying not to show the surprise he felt over the fact that someone else knew about the secret tunnel. The girl stepped out of the dark corner in which she had been standing before answering, but kept her distance from Harry and glared at his right hand. "You don't need that, really", she said and nodded towards his wand. "I'm not going to hex you or anything". Harry put the wand away, and the girl continued: "What I mean is that a couple of third years tried to make the tunnel a bit bigger a couple of weeks back. They didn't do so well, they actually caused the walls to crumble into pieces, so now the tunnel is completley blocked." She walked past Harry, opened the hidden door and stepped aside to show him the giant pile of stones that now covered the passage. "So I guess that you'll have to take your rule-breaking business elsewhere" she finished, as she closed the tunnel, turned around and looked directly at him for the first time.

She was pretty, Harry thought. Not conventionally pretty, but she definatly had some kind of beauty to her. She was blonde, her hair was cut about two inches above her shoulders and she had a long fringe that she swept to the side when she looked at him. Her eyes had a dark grey colour, and her skin was very pale, making the eyes look even darker. Her face was symmetric and well-balanced – her forehead was wide, as was her well-defined cheekbones and her strong jaw, but this rather harsh, square look was softened by her smile, that made her eyes sparkle and made Harry notice her plump lips. Harry glanced quickly down her body – she wasn't very tall, 5.2 at the very most. He couldn't really determine her body type, as the giant grey sweat shirt and the green cargo pants she was wearing did their best to cover her figure, but her wrists and ankles were slim and looked fragile. She was barefoot. Suddenly, Harry realized that he had spent at least one minute doing nothing but staring at her, and tried desperatly to think of a clever, humoristic way to break the silence.

"Um... do you come here often?" He could have slapped himself. That was probably the lamest thing he could have said. She mercifully enough refrained from making any comment, and answered with a little smile and a raised eye brow:

"Only when the rest of the Ravenclaws are having one of their study marathons. The common room was a bit too crowded for me tonight, so I sneaked out to read" – she showed him a copy of Pride and Prejudice – "and have a snack" – she pulled out a bag of cookies from her pocket – "in peace", she finished.

"Do the Ravenclaws actually have study marathons? I thought that was a myth, like the Easter Bunny" Harry said. She laughed – oh joy! He had made her laugh! – and said:

"Nope, it's sad but true. They will chant the twelve uses of dragon's blood until four o'clock this morning."

"You're joking."

" I wish I did. But maybe a proper introduction would be in order?" She held her hand out, he took it and felt a chill down his spine. Her hand was like ice, but it seemed magnetic – he couldn't let go, neither could he look away from her grey eyes' gaze. Harry felt as if he was about to lose consciousness. The next second, however, she had let go and said with a smile that could have moved mountains:

"My name is Evelyn."

"Harry", he answered, his mouth dry all of a sudden.

"Harry... what?" she said, the twinkle in her eye made him suspect that she already knew the answer.

"Potter", he answered, trying not to sigh. But she didn't react like most others, she simply said "Nice to meet you, Harry Potter" and added hastily: "Oh, and my last name is" – she paused and made a wry face – "Gyllenstierna". She rolled her eyes – she clearly didn't like her name.

"That's... I don't think I've ever heard that name before" Harry said. Evelyn looked sullen:

"Yeah, it's pretty rare here in England, it's Swedish. Wish I could have had Stevens as my last name, like my father, but oh no, I was named 'Golden Star' instead. Good joke, mum." She made a gesture towards her clothes and shrugged. "Doesn't suit me a bit", she clarified. Harry, who thought of her hair, disagreed, but kept his mouth shut and did his best to look understanding instead. He wasn't at all prepared when Evelyn grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him behind the statue of the hideous-looking old witch.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, both confused and irritated.

"Sch!" Evelyn covered his mouth with her hand. "Filch!" she whisperd and nodded towards the end of the corridor, where a bobbing light could be seen, its source surely one of the ancient lanterns Filch usually carried around. In a second, the old janitor would turn the corner and almost surely spot them. Harry felt how the panic seized him, and a quick look at Evelyn made him realize that she was just as scared as he was. But then, in the very last moment, Harry's brain regained its function, he grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and threw it over them both.

Evelyn was even closer to him now. He could feel her breath on his neck as she leaned towards him, her hand was placed on his upper arm. Harry tried to focus on the problematic situation instead of the fact that she smelled like cornflowers, and kept absolutly still as he watched Filch pass by, muttering to himself. They waited five minutes or so after he disappeared to remove the cloak. Evelyn's pale cheeks were slightly rosier as she said:

"You really saved me there, Harry, thank you".

"You're welcome... I mean, you saved me just as much, I didn't even notice Filch coming", Harry answered, but he couldn't help feeling a bit like a knight, coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress. He smiled and adjusted his glasses, they had slid down his nose during the time they were huddled under the cloak.

"Well, I better get going, before Filch comes snooping around again" Evelyn said, and continued: "And thanks again... Ravenclaw really can't afford to lose any more points right now, especially not after you crushed us in the last quidditch game!" She gave him a gentle nudge on the shoulder, a smile and a wink, and then turned away. Harry watched her until she turned a corner, and then he turned too, returning to the Gryffindor tower, now with a smile on his face and his head full of pleasent thoughts.