Author's Note: I know I know, no one wants to read a story with original characters, I'm sorry. I swear you will like them, or at least enjoy reading about them. This first chapter is a prequel, the rest of the story continues throughout our favourite character's time at Hogwarts during Voldemort's second rise to power. And by favourite characters I mean Draco Malfoy, obviously!

Disclaimer: J.k. Rowling owns the Harry Potter books; I own my original characters and situations.

Chapter one – Sirius and Evangeline

Evangeline wore a dress the colour of rose petals but on her face there was etched a deep scowl.

"I don't understand why I must constantly be left here, alone!" She cried with a scowl.

Her grandparents were once again going away for an undisclosed period of time. It irritated her beyond belief that she wasn't allowed some measure of freedom whilst they were absent.

"You are young and irresponsible, and you should keep your nose out of other people's business!" said Gail, the greying old woman that Evangeline unwillingly called Grandmother.

Gail was not usually so angry, she normally managed to keep a cool head when Evangeline threw one of her tantrums but tonight she had been pushed to the limits. She was already filled with a deep sense of unease when her mind turned to the week ahead and she didn't need her silly granddaughter acting like a spoiled brat! Though Evangeline was far from spoiled, Gail thought ruefully. They lived meagrely in a tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere, not the kind of life she would have envisaged for a teenage girl but there was nothing they could do. It was a dangerous world they lived in and Evangeline was in more danger than most, if only she knew.

Storming up the stairs to her tiny attic bedroom, Evangeline threw herself on the bed with a shriek of frustration. She couldn't stay in this house any more, not when she was alone, friendless with no body to talk to. Not even her jailers, her grandparents were here all the time. Away on important business was the excuse they gave but if they were so important than why did they live out here with nothing?

Evangeline ignored her grandparents when they shouted their goodbyes up the stairs and lay still for a long time basking in her despair. She had no knowledge of her parents other than the fact that she was dumped upon her grandparents when her mother had died in childbirth. Overall, Evangeline didn't have much to complain about, she was well looked after, fed, clothed and educated by her grandmother as best as she could but for Evangeline's spirited and often wild nature, it was nowhere near enough.

Therefore, it was unfortunate that Evangeline never knew how hard her grandparents tried to protect her. How fiercely they fought to keep her existence a secret, and how they were to pay for this fight with their lives.

Two weeks passed and Evangeline grew exceedingly restless, her grandparents had not returned from wherever they had been and she could smell freedom lingering in the air. Finally, on a sunny summer morning, Evangeline made the decision to pack a bag, write a note for her grandparents should they ever return, and left.

she made her way down the road to where she knew there was the village of Godric's Hollow, although she had never been allowed to venture anywhere near it. It was a long walk of several hours and Evangeline stopped to rest on the outskirts. To her surprise, out of nowhere a large, shaggy black dog appeared and continued walking down the road, he had no owner that Evangeline could see and intrigued, she followed it.

In the town, the dog trotted confidently between the houses until it suddenly vanished. Evangeline blinked thinking she had missed it turn into a doorway but there wasn't much in this area and the cottages were quite far apart. At a loss for what to do next in her grand plan of escape, she sat on a bench and basked in the afternoon sun, she was startled from her almost-nap by a man sitting down beside her.

Before she could fully rouse herself, he turned to her.

"Are you following me?" He asked in a stern voice.

Evangeline didn't even get a chance to exclaim that she had never seen him before because she had looked at the man properly and was completely blown away by his features. He had strong, chiselled cheekbones and wavy dark hair framing his grey eyes that pierced her to the very core. Pulling herself together, she put her nose in the air.

"I have never seen you before in my life!" She exclaimed.

"But you knew I was the dog? You were following me closely; I must ask what you know of this place? Who do you work for?"

The man was questioning her persistently and Evangeline became quite flustered.

"If you must know I followed a dog because it was the first living being I had seen in a long time, when it disappeared I sat down because... well I don't quite know what else to do now!" She admitted shame faced, trust her escape to be felled at the first hurdle.

"Where on earth should I go?" She muttered to herself distractedly.

The handsome man seemed satisfied with the answer but asked if she wouldn't mention seeing him in his animagus form, as he wasn't, strictly speaking, supposed to be using it. She then had to admit she didn't know what he was talking about and it all became a bit too much for her, newly released from her jail as she liked to think of it and now she couldn't even make conversation! The man laughed at her distress and told her his name was Sirius and she shouldn't get so upset over nothing.

"So you're a muggle then?" He asked. "I may have to wipe your memory, you probably shouldn't know about all these things."

Evangeline didn't know what he was talking about but one bit appealed to her.

"Wipe my memory?" she cried, "Oh please do! Give me a fresh start; I don't want to remember living all the way up there" she gestured to the distant hills where the cottage was situated, "never knowing what was happening in the outside world with Grandmother and Grandfather always away never telling me anything!" She finished in a rush of breath before noticing that Sirius was looking at her oddly.

"Up there live only Gail and John Merryweather, acquaintances of mine. Do you know them?"

"Why yes!" she replied. "That's who I'm talking about, my grandparents!" Sirius's face darkened and taking Evangeline's hand in his he looked into her eyes and told her of her grandparent's death. Evangeline hardly registered it at first, she was so busy gazing into those endless grey pools but suddenly she realised what he was saying. It frightened her slightly that she didn't seem to feel much emotion at the news; Sirius seemed to think she was in shock. He was talking about their work for something called The Order and how she should be proud but Evangeline didn't understand any of it. Eventually she reluctantly drew her hand away and asked Sirius if he knew how they had died.

"But don't you understand?" He exclaimed. "They were killed in their work by the followers of You Know Who, It was a tragedy but they were aware of the risks and had wholly dedicated their lives to the cause. None of us had any idea about you but I suppose they did that to keep you safe."

Something flickered in Evangeline's mind, keep her safe, was that what her grandparents had been doing? However, that didn't explain everything else that this man was talking about, she couldn't piece it all together. She told him so and with dawning recognition and shock, Sirius realised that Evangeline knew nothing of the world in which she was certainly part of.

Sirius felt a great burden of responsibility suddenly descend upon his shoulders. He could have this girl delivered to someone in The Order who know how to deal with this, but they were all so busy and he didn't want to cause the girl anymore confusion, of course it helped somewhat that she was utterly, breathtakingly beautiful. Making a split second decision, he stood and extended his hand to her.

"Come with me, we will go somewhere and talk about this and I will explain to you who you are and what your grandparents have been hiding from you for your whole life."

Slowly Evangeline rose, taking his hand and knowing she would follow him without question wherever he would go.

Sirius made the decision to apparate himself and Evangeline, he knew it would probably shock her but he was going to explain everything anyway and it really was the quickest way of travelling. He was right in thinking it would shock her, she screamed into his ear the whole way, but it was with a start that, when he landed, he saw her eyes had lit up with a wild abandon and delirious look of joy, and it was then that he knew she would accept whatever he told her without question.

Sirius was right in thinking this, Evangeline took to the knowledge that her grandparents had been both a witch and a wizard and therefore that would make her a witch, with a certain amount of grace. She asked intelligent questions wherever she felt confused and otherwise listened intently, occasionally exclaiming such things as, "oh that was why she..." And, "I knew there was something going on!"

When they had first arrived at Grimmauld Place Sirius was worried he had got it wrong and she wouldn't be able to see the house, but she gasped in awe at the imposing building and could barely keep her head on her shoulders, her neck was snapping from side to side so much, taking everything in within the house. The day turned into evening and evening turned into night and still the two continued their discussion. When Sirius felt he had told her everything there was still more she wanted to know. They both decided that it was strange that she had shown no magical ability at all throughout her childhood.

"Even muggleborn children admit that strange things have happened to them," Sirius said, "and you should have received your letter from Hogwarts, even if no one knew you existed your grandparents couldn't hide you from your letter!"

What he said was true and it was with great trepidation that Evangeline took Sirius's wand in her hands and attempted to make something happen. It was no use, there appeared to be no magic inside her, no matter how hard she thought and how much she waved the piece of wood around her head.

Unwilling to see her saddened Sirius came up with as many ideas as he could as to why this might happen.

"We should go to Ollivanders and try different wands, maybe your mind is just too closed to the idea of magic and my wand finds that too rigid, I don't know how it works but someone in Diagon Alley definitely will," he said firmly, and on that note Sirius showed her to an upstairs room where he said she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted, he disliked the house anyway and would not be there for much of the time.

Evangeline retired to bed, excitement coursing through her veins. She had kept a level head as much as possible with Sirius and had tried to stay as calm as she could but inside she was screaming, "I knew there was more to life, I just knew it!" The only thing that dampened her spirits was her lack of magic and the fact that Sirius had said he wouldn't be around that much. At that moment she wanted to be near him constantly and, even after such a short acquaintance, she felt like she never wanted to be parted from him.

The next day Sirius took her to Diagon Alley. Although the trip was a success and Evangeline loved looking in the shops and meeting all sorts of interesting people their mission did fail. Ollivander barely had to look at Evangeline holding a wand before he declared her definitely a squib possessing little or no magical ability. It was a blow but Sirius cheered her up by taking her to the Magical Menagerie where he bought her a cat. The beautiful creature was as black as midnight and very regal in stature; Evangeline loved him and named him Hex. Sirius had owled Dumbledore who had been keeping some of the Merryweather's personal effects and it was due to this that Evangeline now had her Grandparent Gringotts vault key. With the money that she accessed she bought a very basic potions book and a small cauldron with a few ingredients, there were some potions that did not require a wand and it was there that she would start trying to harness what little magic she might posses. She also bought some witches robes so as to fit in.

Sirius had told her all about You Know Who, how his power had no limits and the way that he was slowly taking over the whole of the wizarding world but it was difficult for Evangeline to comprehend it. True, the shops seemed quite empty and drab and the people on the streets hurried about their business looking furtively over their shoulders but she felt safe with Sirius and did not find it too unnerving. They were lucky enough to run into one of Sirius's good friends, Remus Lupin, and Sirius invited him back to Grimmauld place for dinner. Once there Evangeline busied herself making some food, she knew she had to be useful and if she couldn't do magic she may as well be house keeper, anything was better than the existence she had led before. It did occur to her, as she stood alone stirring the stew pot, that she should by now have felt some sadness over her grandparent's demise. However, the feelings of hopelessness and grief did not overwhelm her, it made her a bit worried but she tried to brush it off. It was, of course, unfortunate they had died but she took to heart what Sirius had said about them dying for a cause and hoped that the lack of emotion she was feeling was due to the strength of character they must have passed on to her.

Upstairs Remus and Sirius were deep in conversation.

"You can't just leave her alone in this house with no magic while you go running off to goodness knows where!" exclaimed Remus.

Sirius had just informed him of his intention to let Evangeline stay if she wanted too. However it seemed as though he had not exactly though it through.

"The place isn't that dangerous" he replied, "and anyway I would come back as often as possible but I have to go and do my duty, and I need to keep visiting Lilly and James. Its Harry's birthday next week and they're still shut up in Godric's Hollow probably bored out of their minds!"

Remus sighed and agreed they would both need to visit the Potters more often but the house was still not in any fit state for habitation.

"There's an entire doxy colony living in those curtains for starters Sirius!" He exclaimed, hoping that Sirius would see sense. He did, to a degree and they decided that Evangeline would be warned of the rooms that were off limits and that Sirius would stay with her as much as possible and help her to find a place in their world. Then they went down to the kitchen and had a lovely evening, Sirius even found that Evangeline was a great cook and any trepidation he had felt at playing babysitter melted away as he watched her talk and laugh with Remus, she really was exceptionally beautiful. The time spent with her, he reasoned, might not be so bad after all.

Over the next few days Sirius and Evangeline had a brilliant time together, he told himself that he was helping her get past the sadness she must feel over her change in circumstances and she was ecstatic just being around him. Sirius showed her several spells and made her laugh when he transfigured the tea set into various dancing mice. He told her all about Hogwarts, the Wizarding School, and how he had met his close friends there, James, Remus and Peter. Evangeline listened transfixed; she wished she could have gone to Hogwarts, it sounded fascinating. She tried not to be disappointed but it did sometimes well up within her and then Sirius would tell her more stories to cheer her up. She sometimes found herself squeezing out a few tears so that Sirius would hug her and she relished these moments, everything was all too perfect.

It didn't take long for the two of them to realise their mutual attraction, although Sirius did not seem to suspect how utterly smitten Evangeline was with him. He did not go to visit the Potters for Harry's Birthday and instead sent a present by owl because Evangeline had begged him not to leave her, so soon after everything had happened to her. He found her charming, intelligent and with a fierce determination that impressed him, it also helped that she had long brown hair that rippled around him whenever they grew close and her green eyes blinked up at him through long, thick lashes.

Evangeline knew she could not let Sirius know that she had fallen madly in love with him, he was a few years older than her at twenty-one and she didn't think he would feel the same way about a silly teenager. Instead, she did her best to make him attracted to everything about her, and she hopped that he would fall under her spell. One evening when they sat in front of the fire Sirius looked over at her, she was practicing with his wand, over and over, but still no sparks nor anything vaguely magical had appeared. He smiled to himself, so much determination when faced with certain defeat; he reached over and gently took the wand from her hand.

"You don't need it Evangeline," he murmured. "You're perfect just the way you are."

In that moment she really believed him and she let herself melt into his arms as though it was the most natural place to be in the world.

Many weeks past. Evangeline busied herself with keeping Sirius fed and keeping what rooms they used clean and tidy whilst Sirius slowly began his work for the Order again. The only thing that changed was at night when Sirius would take her hand and guide her up to his room and they would sleep entwined together in the darkness. It was the night of Halloween when her small world was turned upside-down forever. Sirius was in the kitchen when a spectral being suddenly appeared in the room startling Evangeline out of her wits. It didn't end there, the patronus; for that was what it was, spoke to the room.

"Potters dead. You Know Who defeated!" And with that it disappeared.

Evangeline looked at Sirius; his face was a mask of agony. Rising in one fluid movement, his chair crashed to the ground in his haste.

"That was Mooney's patronus, I must go," he said in a voice that was hard and cold with no emotion.

Within seconds he was gone in a whirl of his cloak. Evangeline stood still for a long time, she was unsure what this meant, if the dark lord was vanquished who was there for Sirius to seek revenge on, what was there to do but mourn and move on? Surely he would return once he had seen the other members of The Order and confirmed the tragedy? Evangeline decided that he would be home shortly and would want consoling and with that she gathered Hex onto her lap and sat down to wait. She thought she had the perfect news that would distract him, she had been about to tell him that evening but she knew it would keep. For nine months it would keep, she thought, smiling down at her stomach which would not be flat for much longer.

But Sirius did not return. She fell asleep in an awkward position on a kitchen chair and, having been up most of the night, did not awaken till early afternoon when there was a loud crack in the hallway.

"Sirius?"

She shouted as she awoke with a start and dashed up the stairs. It wasn't Sirius it was Remus, and she had never seen him look so defeated.

"Evangeline I- I have some bad news," he began, "perhaps we should sit down...?"

"No" she said, "no tell me now, tell me!" She exclaimed as he took a deep breath.

Lupin's words washed over her, they could not be true, it had to be some awful dream, some terrifying nightmare that she would wake up from if she just pinched herself enough. She heard a scream that sounded very far away and as Lupin's face loomed over her she descended into darkness. The next few days were torture, she couldn't eat she couldn't sleep she roamed the house tearing at her hair and filling herself with every ounce of anger and hatred she could muster, she knew that she must seek revenge. She knew that Sirius had not done what he had been accused of; no way could it have been he who murdered his best friend Peter and all those innocent muggles. This was a conspiracy, a sham and they would pay. All those who said they witnessed him blasting half the street apart, all those who sentenced him to life in Azkaban without trial, and all those who were once his friends and had now turned their backs on him. There would be no mercy, for they had shown him none.

Evangeline used her thirst for revenge to hide from her overwhelming grief. She roamed the streets of Diagon alley asking anyone she met if they could stand with her to clear Sirius's name. She wrote to the Minister for Magic and sent it by owl post, and then she wrote ten letters a day just to the Ministry demanding help, demanding that they release him, all to no avail. She realised that the people didn't want to know, the Dark Lord was defeated, so what if an innocent man had been sent to jail, it was all over now. She was consumed by a bitter, unending rage, these people with their magic and their superiority would do nothing for her and she hated them for it, for leaving her so helpless. She retreated to Grimmauld place, made it her lair and denied anyone access to the house for the next eleven years.