Author's Note: I do not own anything you recognize. JKR does, and it's her privilege. =)
So this fic popped up into my head while I was babysitting today, and I thought I'd write it. So, three hours and a little over four thousand words later, here it is! Please enjoy!
Cos you remind me of a time
When we were so alive.
Franklin, Paramore
Chapter One
The Ministry of Magic was utterly and horribly despicable in Evie's opinion. They had effectively stifled Dumbledore's warnings about the return of Lord Voldemort, the stupidest possible thing to do. Not long after Fudge had publicly denounced the rumors of the return of the Dark Lord, there had been reports of missing people, Wizards and Muggles were found inexplicably dead. She had only been six during the height of his power, but she remembered the constant fear mother showed every day of her life, and the absolute, utter joy and relief she had shown on November First, Nineteen Eighty One. And all throughout her Hogwarts career, there were allusions made to him, and to Harry Potter. She could gather what it would mean for Voldemort to return, and frankly, even if the Ministry didn't believe it, it would be stupid to not investigate it; there was too much at stake. It had taken so long to rebuild their world again, and everyone was just now starting to relax. Measures, Evie thought, should be taken to make sure it didn't happen again.
She supposed she could even forgive them for their stupidity, but it was when they started denouncing Albus Dumbledore that she knew they were headed for disaster. She had immense respect for her former headmaster. She had only caught one glimpse of his knowledge and understanding personally, when she had gotten too cheeky with her Potions teacher, but it was enough to show her that he had acquired much more wisdom than anyone in the Ministry. Fudge was a stupid old duffer, too afraid to lose his power, too afraid to make it his fault that Voldemort returned.
Unfortunately, she thought to herself scornfully as she filled out paperwork on her desk, these are the arses that pay the rent.
She looked up at the gold-plated nametag on the front of her desk. "Evelyn Rebecca Hyte: Auror" She had not gotten used to its presence quite yet, even if it had been there for almost a year. She smiled to herself, still remembering when they told her that she had passed. She had barely passed her written exam ("Who cares about dueling formation anyway?" She had told Tonks afterwards. "We always break it midway through the duel anyhow."), but she had gotten exceptionally high scores on her practical, which she had supposed raised the Department's faith in her.
She crossed her last 't' on the paper and looked up, taking a deep breath, feeling relieved. She loved doing field work, but loathed the paperwork that came with it. She rose from her chair gracefully and placed the parchment in the bin of her superior's desk on the other side of the room. A slight spring in her step, she walked back to her desk cheerfully, happy that she could finally go home.
She bent over the side of her desk, and opened the drawer. "You know, Tonks? It's Friday. I think I'm going out for a drink. Wanna come with?" She offered, as she pulled her keys out of the wooden drawer. She stood up and straightened out her back, to find she was talking to an empty desk. She rolled her eyes, and looked around over the small room of cubicles for her best friend. A moment later, she spotted her bright orange hair from across the room. She and Kingsley Shacklebolt were discussing something very urgently, and very quietly. They seemed to agree on something, and parted ways.
Evie was perched up on Tonks' desk when she came back. "You wanna go for a drink?" She asked as Tonks neatly stacked her paperwork at the corner of her desk, not particularly hopeful. It had been nearly a month since they had last went out, since Tonks was so busy all the time.
"Y'know, Evie, I was just gonna ask you the same thing. I need to talk to you about something," Tonks said eagerly.
Evie feigned shock. "Wait, hold up, rewind! You're not busy tonight?"
"Oh, shut up, you idiot, it hasn't been that long," Tonks smiled cheekily at her friend.
"Oh, I think it has," replied Evie as they clocked out of the office. "Nearly a month!"
"No," Tonks said in a breath of surprise. "It can't have been that long?"
"I've gotten laid four weekends in a row. Yeah, it's been that long," Evie replied in an exasperated tone.
A muscle in Tonks' neck twitched in surprise as she laughed. "Who?! And why would you not bother to tell me this?"
The two young women talked excitedly all the way to The Leaky Cauldron, where they sat at a booth, clearly relaxed.
"…and he just met up with me here the week after and we've done it every weekend since!" Evie elaborated as Tonks roared with laughter.
"Only you," she said amusedly as she sipped the wine the waiter had delivered five minutes ago.
Evie sipped her wine as well. "I don't like that color on you. Too much yellow in your skin for that," she said thoughtfully, referring to Tonks' hair. "I'm telling you, pink is your best bet!"
"I got bored with pink. Besides, you didn't listen to me about that damn nose piercing of yours, so it's time I returned the favor," Tonks pointed out, clearly not upset with her friend at all.
"Yeah, but that damn nose ring happens to look good on me! Orange doesn't." Evie replied, defiantly.
Tonks regarded her friend for a moment, and said, "I suppose you're right. But I'm not changing it here!"
"Deal," Evie said with finality as she raised her wine glass. Tonks met it with hers and they both laughed.
After they both took a deep swig of their drinks and had replaced them on the table, Evie suddenly remembered why Tonks had said yes in the first place. "Hey, what did you need to talk to me about?"
The smile was wiped from Tonks' face, and was replaced with a look of determination. Evie questioned her friend's uncharacteristic look with her eyes.
Tonks dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned in. "Do you trust the Ministry?"
Evie guffawed. "No, they bloody piss me the hell off, you know that."
Tonks seemed to nod to herself. She moved in a little closer. "Do you trust Dumbledore?"
Evie was startled by the obvious question. "Of course I do. Tonks, what's this all about?"
Tonks seemed to ignore her question. "Do you think that You-Know-Who's back?"
"Well, if Dumbledore says he's back, then yeah," Evie said tentatively, leaning in closer to her friend. "I mean, Dumbledore's never been wrong in the past, why should he start now?"
"Say that You-Know-Who is back. Would you fight against him?"
"You know he killed my father, right?" Evie said, her eyes widening, as if Tonks should know the answer to that question.
"Yeah, but this is all for the record." Tonks explained.
"What record?" Evie said, still confused. Tonks prompted her to answer the question. "I'd jump at any chance to bring him down," Evie said slowly. "Tonks, you're starting to freak me out here. What's going on?"
Tonks ran her tongue over her lips in satisfaction and leaned back, still ignoring the question, looking quite pleased with herself. "C'mon. I'll explain on the way."
Tonks pushed herself up out of the booth and gestured for Evie to follow. "On the way to what? Dora, you're not making any sense at all. Have you been Imperiused or something?"
But Tonks continued to walk regardless of Evie's questions. She held open the door for her friend and waited until the door had sealed shut before speaking. "Sorry about that, we could have been easily overheard in there," she said as she looked back at the door absentmindedly, then motioned for Evie to follow her as she took off the wrong direction down the sidewalk.
"Uh, Tonks, our flat is that way?" Evie pointed in the direction opposite the way Tonks was walking.
Tonks shook her head. "We're going somewhere else."
Evie half-jogged to catch up with her and walked at a normal pace when she reached the Metamorphmagus. "Have you heard about the Order of the Phoenix?" Tonks asked.
"No," replied Evie, finally glad to have some answers.
"Good. It's a secret organization, founded by Dumbledore. They fought against You-Know-Who underground during the first war. And now that You-Know-Who's back, Dumbledore has reestablished it. There are quite a few people in it, like Mad-Eye, Kingsley, and Emmeline. Kingsley recruited me. And now I'm recruiting you."
Evie registered what Tonks had said and looked at her. "Let me get this straight. You want me to join?"
"Well, yeah," Tonks said, hopefully.
"I say, I'm in," Evie replied with force.
"Good, because I would have had to Obliviate you if you hadn't accepted," smiled Tonks, pleased that her reception was good. "I told Kingsley that you would be perfect, and he watched you work for a couple weeks, and he checked with Dumbledore, who gave me the go-ahead owl tonight. We're going to headquarters now," she said, rather hurriedly.
Evie smiled to herself, then roared with laughter when Tonks tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and landed flat on her face. "It's no wonder you nearly failed Stealth!" she laughed as Tonks, who was slightly less amused than her friend, rose from the ground with a bloody nose.
"Oh, shut up!" Tonks said, irritated as she staunched the blood. "Ugh, I think my nose is broken. Eh, I'll have Molly fix it." The two women started walking once again.
"Who's Molly?"
"Oh, er, Molly Weasley. Remember Charlie Weasley? His mother," said Tonks in a muffled voice.
"Oh, wow. They're a part of it too?"
"Yes! I told you you'd know a lot of them. It's her, her husband, Charlie, and her oldest son that are actually in the Order. The rest of her kids are too young," Tonks explained. "Ah! Here it is!" She stopped short between the houses of Eleven and Thirteen, Grimmauld Place.
She let go of her nose and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. Blood spattered on the ground. "Oh. Well, shit!" She swore loudly as she handed Evie the paper.
"Memorize that. It's part of the Fidelus Charm," she ordered lightly as Evie read the slip of paper, still greatly amused by her friend's predicament. "Destroy it when you're done."
A rather large house seemed to appear out of nowhere, squeezing between Eleven and Thirteen. Evie was not particularly surprised; as an Auror she had seen the effect of hidden buildings before. Tonks stepped up onto the porch and twisted the doorknob as Evie waved her wand and watched the paper shrivel and burn.
They entered the house together. It was only nine o'clock, so everything was brightly lit. They walked through a narrow hall, and Tonks tripped over something in the hall, which crashed loudly against the wall, definitely announcing their presence.
Evie laughed loudly as Tonks swore, loudly, once again.
She bent over to help her friend, who was still bleeding profusely and she heard footsteps coming down the hall. She looked up to find a plump, kind-looking woman leaning over Tonks and helping her up. "Sorry, Molly," Tonks started. "I just always forget that its there!"
Molly Weasley whipped out her wand and immediately fixed Tonks' broken nose. "Good gracious, dear, how many more times are you going to do that?"
Tonks shook her head and looked at her robes. "Damn, they're covered. I'm gonna go see if Hermione has anything. We discovered last week that we wear the same size pants," Tonks said to Molly, a foot on a staircase Evie hadn't noticed before. "Molly, this is Evelyn, Evelyn, this is Molly. Do you mind introducing her?" Tonks said quickly.
Evie glared at Tonks as a smirk was returned in even favor. She hated 'Evelyn' as much as Tonks hated 'Nymphadora.'
"Of course not! Follow me, Evelyn."
Evie watched as Tonks took the stairs, two at a time, and trip as she got to the first flight. She snorted to herself and followed Molly into the kitchen, where many people were seated around a table. They all looked up as the two women walked in.
Evie's eyes grazed over the facial expressions of everyone in the kitchen. Some looked surprised, and some looked pleased. She recognized a few faces, but there were more unfamiliar than there were familiar.
"Everyone, this is Evelyn. She's a friend of Tonks, and she's joining," Molly said in a warm voice.
"Actually," she interjected before anyone committed 'Evelyn' to memory. "People call me Evie."
All the people at the table synchronized a "Hi, Evie." at the same time. A few straggler's waves came from the gaggle of people at the table.
"Wow, guys, you don't have to say it like that. It makes it sound like we're welcoming her into an addiction support group!"
Evie laughed and turned around, and immediately heard their resumed conversations from behind her. There was Sirius Black, standing two feet in front of her. Sirius Black, the escaped convict. The smile was wiped from her face in an instant.
"But-but…you're not serious?" Evie stammered, looking from Molly to Sirius frantically.
"No, she's Molly. I'm Sirius," he said cheekily, flashing a sardonic smile.
Evie looked at Molly incredulously. "Oh, Sirius, now is not the time!" Molly turned to Evie. "He's innocent, Evie. It's a long story, but I promise you, he's innocent, and not a vicious murderer."
"I'll tell you the story, sometime," he interjected. "I promise, I don't bite."
Evie was still suspicious, but she felt it fading extremely quickly. All these people seemed to trust him; why shouldn't she? "Alright," she said confidently.
Sirius gave her a nod of the head as the corners of his mouth twitched and took a seat at the table. "Alright, dear, so let me introduce you to everyone. This is my son Bill, and you know Charlie, my husband Arthur, you've met Sirius, Dedalus Diggle, Mundungus Fletcher, Hestia Jones, and Remus Lupin. You know Severus and Minerva, from school? And of course, Kingsley."
"I'm sorry; I'm not particularly good with names. Don't be offended," Evie said with a smile. She recognized a few names, especially Remus Lupin, as he was a registered werewolf in Britain. He didn't look anything like the prejudices might say he would; he did not look vicious, or bloodthirsty, or conniving, just worn out.
Just then, Tonks walked in, wearing a pair of shorts, which Evie presumed to belong to that Hermione girl she had mentioned earlier, and an overlarge man's t-shirt.
Tonks turned to Sirius. "I hope you don't mind, I took it from your room," she said, referring to the shirt she was wearing.
"I don't care," Sirius said, as Tonks took a seat beside Remus Lupin. Evie saw Tonks cast a furtive glance at him. The two of them had been best friends since they were eleven, and she knew when Nymphadora Tonks fancied someone, and this Lupin was it. She made a note to talk to her about it later.
"Oh, bugger, looks like you're stuck with Sirius, mate," said Tonks loudly, pressing her friend.
"I'll have you know, Nymphadora, that I am a very charming, hospitable person," Sirius said pointedly, jokingly leering at his cousin.
"Not too charming, I hope. The last thing I need is a bunch of Black swimmers—"
"Excuse me, children! We are in the middle of a meeting!"
Tonks, Evie, and Sirius turned to look at an irritated Molly Weasley, and saw everyone else giving Evie an amused look. "Sorry," they all muttered, and Evie took her seat.
Evie paid close attention to Kingsley's words over the next hour. She was just starting to drift off to her own little world when Sirius leaned in and whispered, "I wouldn't do that if I was you. Molly will whip you, new member or not."
"What? How did you know?" Evie whispered back, somewhat forcefully.
"Classic signs. Open mouth, glazed eyes," he sniggered back. Evie laughed quietly at him and turned to watch Kingsley once again.
"Evie," he said. "You and Nymphadora—"
"Don't call me that!"
"—will have to plant Magical Bugs at the Malfoy's, the Lestrange's old place, they might be using that place, and the Rosier's. They can't be found, you two."
He watched the two of them as they nodded their understanding.
The meeting concluded and everyone stood up. Evie smiled to herself as Tonks and Remus walked off together, talking animatedly. "If I didn't know any better—" said a voice in her ear. Evie jumped and turned around to see Sirius standing a foot away from her. "—I'd say he fancies her."
"You know, I was thinking the same thing! In reverse, though, obviously."
"I've known him since I was eleven, and I've never seen him act like this. Although I suppose my stint in Azkaban may have hindered that statement," Sirius said darkly. "Unfortunately, it's my baby cousin he's after," he added on a brighter note, trying to lighten the mood again after his previous statement. His face softened a bit and he smiled at her.
"Wait, she's your cousin?" Evie asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah, her mum is my favorite cousin to date. I suppose she doesn't advertise the fact that she's related to me, Bellatrix, and Narcissa, but who would? To be honest, I don't think she knew her mum's surname was Black, Andromeda put as much distance between herself and them once she ran off with Ted," Sirius explained.
Evie had never known of Tonks' family history. Well, she knew of Ted, because his parents were Muggles, and there wasn't much to it. It had never crossed her mind to ask Tonks about her mother's family. And Sirius was right. Who would advertise being related to an escaped convict?
"So, want a tour of the house?" He offered.
"Sure, as long as you aren't too hospitable," Evie laughed.
He barked a laugh. "You know, I like you. Tonks has good taste in friends."
He started to walk away from her, paused, and said, "Are you coming or are you just going to stand there, looking at my parents' disgusting house?"
She caught up with him down the narrow hallway. He led her to the third floor. "We'll start at the top and work our way down," he said.
The old house was filthy, especially the top floor. The wallpaper was peeling and smoke-stained, and the carpet had runs in it. The wood was on the doors was damp and rotting. "This was my brother's room. He died awhile ago," he explained before Evie had opened her mouth to ask. He seemed to read her mind, although she supposed that he was asked many times these same questions she was asking him.
He walked a few more steps before stopping at the threshold of another door. "This belonged to my parents. I keep my pet hippogriff in there now."
"Hold on, rewind and freeze! You have a hippogriff as a pet?"
He grinned wildly at her. "It's a long story, Evie. He's not vicious at all, unless you insult him. Broke Draco Malfoy's arm a few years ago, to hear Harry talk about him."
Her chest shook with laughter, but no sound came from her mouth. "I'm not going to even ask about that." She nodded her head in a room across the hall. "What's that?"
"This one's mine. I haven't had a chance to redecorate. I hadn't set foot in this house since long before Azkaban."
She saw his face harden at the mention of the place. "Sirius?"
He looked at her, although his face didn't soften this time, but he relaxed his eyebrows a bit and released the lock he had on his jaw. "Yeah?"
"What happened?"
He knew what she meant immediately. "Lily and James Potter chose me as their Secret Keeper, at first," he began quietly as he closed his bedroom door. "But I convinced them to change it to Peter Pettigrew, thinking that Voldemort would never suspect him. But little Peter was the traitor, although I thought it was Remus, and he revealed their location little less than a month after they officially went into hiding."
Evie looked at her heels. That was utterly horrible. She had no idea that the Potter story was so involved. "After they were murdered, and Harry, my godson, was whisked off to his Muggle relatives, I sought out Peter to kill him, to punish him for what the little bastard had done. He exploded the street and disappeared after cutting off his finger, and it looked like I had done all of those things. The Ministry came and shipped me off to Azkaban without a second thought and without a trial."
"What? No trial?!" Evie exclaimed.
"Crouch's doing. I escaped in my Animagus form, and went looking for Peter, who, incidentally, was also an Animagus. A rat. Fitting, huh?"
Evie nodded, still in shock. "I finally tracked him down at Hogwarts. He was playing the pet rat to Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend. I stole him away, and Harry and his two friends followed me, along with Remus, and I told them the truth. And I was going to be free, but Peter got away when Remus changed…" Sirius trailed off, letting her guess the rest.
"That's bullshit! No trial?! No chance to explain yourself? And Pettigrew got away? What kind of fucks were running the Ministry?" Evie exploded. She was never good at keeping her thoughts to herself.
"That's what my godson said. Although, he didn't have your colorful array of vocabulary," Sirius laughed.
"Oh well. We're both adults. It's not as if you've never used them before," Evie said pointedly with a small laugh.
"I swear like a sailor to this day!" He argued playfully. "Fuck! Wank! Bugger! Shit! Ass!"
"You forgot 'bitch'. And you have to finish it with 'fuck' to get the full effect," she laughed loudly.
"Fine, then, Miss Perfection! Fuck! Wank! Bugger! Shit! Fucking bitch head and hole!"
Evie and Sirius laughed loudly together until their stomachs hurt, first at their audacity, then at the fact that they were laughing at their audacity. After they had stopped, they looked at each other and breathed heavily. Evie shook her head. "Dear God, what did you learn in Azkaban?"
She didn't know it, but this was the first Azkaban joke he had laughed at since his escape. The Weasley twins had tried to get him to laugh about it multiple times, and usually he stalked away, reminded of his despair and misery. "Oh yes, because I was never a normal teenage boy who went to Hogwarts to make friends with other boys who swore just as much as I did," he barked amusedly.
She flicked her head ever-so-slightly, admitting he was right. He looked into her eyes for a minute, then smiled even broader. "Not much else to see up here. Mostly guest rooms and all." He walked to the head of the staircase and she followed suit as he descended down the staircase to the second floor. "Here, we have the library, another junk room, a bathroom, another bathroom, and more guest rooms. Hermione and Ginny share this one," he gestured to a room on his left. At the look of confusion on her face, he elaborated, "Hermione is one of Harry's best friends, has been since they were eleven, so I take it. And Ginny is the youngest Weasley." He pointed to a room beside that one. "That one is Ron's and Harry's. Ron is the second youngest Weasley kid. They also have seventeen year old twins running around here someplace. They have a room upstairs."
"Hell, they're like rabbits!"
Sirius threw his head back and laughed hard and she joined in a moment later. "If you want to put it that way," he guffawed. "Nicest people you'll ever meet, though."
Evie nodded her head in agreement. Just as they were going back downstairs, a door opened. A short girl with bushy brown hair popped her head out. "Who was laughing so loud? I haven't heard a noise that loud in this house since Fred and George set off those fireworks two weeks ago!"
"That was me, Hermione," Sirius grinned. "Evie has a wonderful sense of humor, to say the least."
"Oh, you're Evie?" Hermione asked, curiosity dripping from her voice.
"Yeah, I'm the newest Order recruit," Evie replied, sticking out her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Evie! Ron! Come here!" Hermione called, shaking it.
A redhead boy, tall and lanky came out into the hall to stand beside Hermione. "I'm Evie," she said. "Tonks recruited me."
Ron looked at her for a quick moment, and said, jokingly, "Nice to see a new face around here! Sirius got boring after a bit."
"Hey!"
Just before Sirius was going to elaborate on a retort, a voice carried up the stairs. "Dinner!"
Sirius turned back around and roared, "Coming, Molly!" as loud as he possibly could.
Evie turned her head slowly and bobbed her head slightly, as if to say, "Shut up!" "Sirius, was that absolutely necessary?!"
"Why yes, Evelyn, it was!" Sirius chuckled.
Evie rolled her eyes. She followed Sirius down the stairs. Hermione and Ron hung back for a moment and shared a curious look.
Never had either of them once seen Sirius Black smile in the time they had known him. Never.
A/N: So? What did you think? Please give a review, even if it is to flame. I love them anyways. =)