А/N: Erm, right. I should be working on my current Sirius/OC, not starting a new one. Oops. I guess I'll just do my best to complete both now. This fic will definitely be shorter, though much darker than For What It's Worth.

I don't own Harry Potter and all that jazz. Sadly, I don't even own Evanna's last name, but Henrietta Hazelbury is mine and mine alone. Yay.

Two boys were running breathless through Kings' Cross station, yelling barely distinguishable excuses at the people they were bumping into on the way. The heavy trolleys they were pushing didn't exactly provide for more graceful and swift movements. The two owls howling indignantly in their cages on top of the trolleys didn't help either.

"Almost there" shouted James.

The wall between the platforms nine and ten was already in front of them. The clock over it indicated that it was two past eleven. The boys sped up and, throwing a sideways glance to ensure that no one was watching them, made for the barrier. They passed through it swiftly and, struggling to catch their breath, found themselves on Platform 9 ¾.

The Platform was empty.

"Bloody hell" groaned Sirius.

"Funny enough, we worried about getting here too early" remarked James and shook his head.

"Come again – we? You suggested we eat another ice cream, because, to quote, we don't want to be the first morons to show up on the Platform."

"Well yeah," said James. "We didn't want to be the morons who arrive before the first-years."

"So we became the morons who missed the Hogwarts express," said Sirius and they both laughed.

"Seriously though" said Sirius after the laughter had died out to give way to the panic slowly creeping over them. "Now what?"

"Now we fly," a voice behind them startled them.

They turned to see Evanna Rosier, a Gryffindor in their year, standing just beside them. They hadn't heard her steps, so quietly she must have passed through the barrier, and she wasn't pushing a trolley.

"Rosier" James regarded her with a cool stare.

"Potter" she replied in the same cool manner. "One would figure the Quidditch star would have thought about this at once."

"Well, smart ass" Sirius barged in, "didn't it occur to you that our luggage would be a bit of a liability? Speaking of which, where's yours?"

Evanna opened her compact handbag and said "Accio broomstick!" In a manner of seconds she had a steady grip of her broom. The boys tried to hide their astonishment unsuccessfully.

"Okay, let's say we give you some credit -" James began, but was shortly cut off.

"Well how nice of you, Potter."

"So we give you some credit," he repeated indignantly, "and you show us the trick."

'The trick' turned out to be a fairly simple spell, or at least to James and Sirius it seemed simple and they mastered it in no time. After they had taken their brooms out, both their suitcases too went in Evanna's handbag. The three of them mounted their brooms and set off.

Nobody in their year liked Evanna Rosier. She was a know-it-all and a mean one at that, her cousin was in Slytherin, and the only person she could ever be seen hanging out with was a Slytherin girl in her year, Henrietta Hazelbury. Most people avoided talking to her, and she wasn't exactly one to start a conversation either. Over the years her relationship to most of her fellow Gryffindors had reached the level of a mild hostility, often masked with cool politeness or smug sarcasm.

But seeing as the three of them would be flying together for a good half a day, it would be awkward to say the least to not talk at all.

"Say, Rosier, why were you late for the Hogwarts Express?" Sirius asked.

"Right back at you" Evanna shot.

"Ladies first," smirked James.

"There's not much to tell," said Sirius. "We were hungry, stopped to eat, got carried away and lost track of time. Your turn."

"My father wouldn't let me return."

"What?" yelled James and Sirius simultaneously.

"What the –"

"He can't-"

"Yeah, well. Fortunately my mother didn't agree. She helped me escape. I was positive I was going to miss train, but at least I don't suck much at flying."

"You're not bad" agreed James. "But why didn't your father want you to return to Hogwarts?"

"Long story."

"It's going to be a long flight," Sirius pressed on.

"Long story I'm not in the mood to tell," Evanna corrected herself.

"Oh sod off," Sirius scoffed. "We tried to be nice. Apparently we needn't have bothered."

"Nope" replied Evanna grimly. "You needn't have indeed."

The rest of the flight went smoothly, meaning that James and Sirius kept up a conversation about anything and everything, while Evanna flew silently beside them. Now and them she would ask for the time or the three of them would consult each other in which direction to head or would make a comment about a sudden gust of wind, but apart from that the boys didn't talk to her.

Strangely enough they arrived a whole hour before the Hogwarts express. They landed in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest so as not to be seen from the castle windows, and once on ground, started making their way towards the castle, following a narrow and muddy path. A quarter of an hour later they stepped outside the Forest, already on the castle grounds.

"Now what?" asked James. "The other students haven't even arrived yet."

"How about we wait," Evanna suggested. "We could hide somewhere until we hear the others arriving, and then we'll just join in. I doubt someone's going to notice."

"It works" James agreed. "But I'd rather not hide in the forest. How about we go to Hagrid's? He'd never rat us out."

"Brilliant" said Sirius.

Evanna didn't say anything, but still followed them towards Hagrid's hut. James was just about to knock on the front door, when Evanna suddenly grabbed his hand and shook her head. Then they all heard the voices inside the hut. And the steps someone was making towards the door. He would open the door any minute now –

Before Evanna had realised what was happening, Sirius had pulled her next to him and James was covering the three of them with some sort of cloak. Next thing they knew, Dumbledore had opened the door of the hut and he, McGonagall and Slughorn made their way outside, passing a mere few centimetres from the place were Evanna, Sirius and James were standing still, holding on to one another, under James's invisibility cloak.

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore was just saying. "Rosier is on the run."

Evanna exchanged looks with the boys under the cloak.

"And the daughter is dead?" asked McGonagall. Hagrid sniffed loudly. "Are you sure Dumbledore?"

Evanna would have gasped, had Sirius not been quick enough to draw her towards him and silence her by putting his palm in front of her mouth.

"Hold still," he barely whispered in her ear and she half-nodded.

"As reported by the aurors who were there, Evanna Rosier has been murdered by her father before he went on the run," Dumbledore replied. "Rosier's wife, Moira, is missing, some think she went with him to join the Death Eaters, some think she ran to save her life."

"Such a shame," Slughorn muttered. "She was a natural in Potions, that girl. Got an Outstanding on her Potions OWL. I was really looking forward to teaching her in my NEWT classes. "

"And we hoped to start this school year on a bright note," grimly remarked Professor McGonagall. In the background the sound of dozens of voices marked the approaching of the students.

It was then that Evanna freed herself of Sirius's hold and removed the cloak covering the three of them.

.

.

.

It was past 2 AM. Someone was banging on the portrait of the Fat Lady, the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. She had been doing so for whole two minutes now, much to indignation of the Fat Lady, who was contemplating staying at a neighbouring portrait for the night.

"You should be in your common room, young lady." She tried to reason with the girl trying to get in.

"Just give me the freaking password already," protested the girl.

"Now Hazelbury, where are your manners?"

Henrietta Hazelbury almost jumped at that. The voice belonged to Sirius Black. He and his best friend, James Potter, were standing behind her. She had no idea how they had managed it; she had been looking at that direction mere seconds ago.

"Last time I checked, your common room was in the dungeons," James sneered.

"Watch it, Potter" Henrietta hissed. "I need to talk to Evanna. Can you get her for me?"

"Can you get her for me please" James corrected her. Henrietta rolled her eyes.

"Plus," James continued, clearly enjoying himself, "I haven't seen you two actually talking since the term began."

Sirius however pushed him, stood in front of the Fat Lady and told her: "Frog Crackers."

The portrait hole opened to admit him.

"Hey, no need to spoil the fun –" James said reproachfully, but Sirius cut him off, turning to Henrietta.

"You know, we can't actually get to the girls' dormitories. The stairs would just –"

"Disappear if you tried, I know" Henrietta finished for him. "But I could."

"Ten minutes Hazelbury," Sirius said. "We'll be waiting."

Henrietta didn't say a word, least of all "thanks", she simply rushed inside.

"What's with you?" James snapped accusingly when Henrietta was gone. "We could have had some fun, didn't it occur to you? And anyway, this can't be good."

"Do you want to hear their conversation or not?" Sirius countered.

"But we can't get to the girls' dormitories." James stressed.

"Not from inside, we can't." said Sirius.

"What are you getting at?"

"Honestly James, and you call yourself a Quidditch player…"

.

.

.

To say Evanna wasn't having the best days of her life would be too mild to even be called an understatement. Classes, the piles of work the sixth-years were getting and chocolate did a semi-decent job of keeping her sane. She was never behind on work and her grades were better than ever. Apart from that, she was a total wreck. She was always underslept, she scarcely went out, she barely made it to the meals at the Great Hall and her social interaction had been narrowed down to people asking whether they could borrow her notes. Sure, Henrietta had been pretty persistent in chasing her down the corridors and demanding to talk to her, but Evanna had pretty efficient ways of shrugging her off and avoiding her. Which didn't mean she didn't appreciate Hettie's efforts to get to her – it sure was nice having someone who'd go out of their way to be by your side when they knew something was wrong. Too bad Evanna couldn't currently afford having somebody by her side.

Just as she was proofreading for the second time her Ancient Runes translation, the door to her dormitory slammed open and in its frame was standing no other than her Slytherin friend, looking slightly flustered and quite angry. Evanna raised an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed.
"I guess it was just a matter of time until you coaxed someone into giving you the password," she said under her breath and signaled to her friend to be quiet so as not to wake up the other girls, all long since fast asleep

"Ann, what the hell?" said Henrietta, attempting to keep her voice down. "Just what the hell? That's no way of coping with your life."

"What is?"

"This! The way you're acting. It makes no sense. I'm sorry about your mother and I'm sorry your father is a sodding Death Eater, but you can't just shut out everyone."

"Who's everyone, Hettie? You're everyone. You are everyone because I was never encouraged to make friends and you were just stubborn and stuck around."

"Maybe," said Henrietta and moved to sit next to her on Evanna's four poster bed. "And that's exactly what I'm doing yet again. Sticking around."

"Not this time, I'm afraid. Not – "Evanna interrupted herself abruptly and listened more carefully. She was definitely hearing a muffled noise right outside the open window. Which, she distinctly remembered, hadn't been opened mere minutes ago.

Abruptly she pushed the curtain out of the window and there were James Potter and Sirius Blacks on their brooms, looking only slightly disappointed that they've been found out.

"Couldn't really hear you anyway," shrugged Potter.

"You insufferable sodding –"started Henrietta, enforcing all her willpower in order not to start yelling at them, when her stream of insults was distracted by a sight somewhere to the left of Sirius's head.

And sure enough, there was an owl approaching. There could be no mistake – it was definitely meant to deliver something to a person in this dormitory. There could be no mistaking the look in Evanna's eyes either. She had been expecting this letter.

"Accio letter," called out Sirius just as the owl flew through the window. The poor creature stared apologetically at Evanna, not quite understanding what had happened but feeling guilty for not delivering the letter anyway.

"Not your fault, Lexi," muttered the girl, then fixed Black with a piercing stare. To her horror he was already reading it, broom steadily gripped with one hand and the letter in the other. When he lifted his gaze from the letter, there was some sort of grim determination in his eyes. He tossed her the letter and then gestured to James. "Come on, we're getting in," he said, pushed his broom a bit forward and stepped lightly in the room, lit only by the lamp on Evanna's nightstand. James followed him, a bit perplexed.

"Excuse me, what the –" Henrietta was saying. She moved closer to her friend to see what the letter said.

I look forward to having you on the right side, Eve. You are going to make a good Death Eater, as would have your mother. After all, she had no hesitation in sacrificing that muggle girl to help you escape. I admit it being polyjuice potion didn't even cross my mind, I was beside myself with anger. I must confess I felt terrible when I thought I had killed my own child, my flesh and blood. I'm grateful I have been given a second chance and I am going to make good use of it. I am going to make you see sense and understand that what we are trying to achieve is a greater future for us. Wizards have been way too limited in the last centuries. Don't you want to be great, Eve? You know you have it in you.

The Dark Lord can't wait forever. He could do with an insider in Gryffindor.

The old train station in Hogsmeade, Saturday, 3AM. Be there or the aspiring Death Eaters in Slytherin won't be too friendly with the Hazelbury girl. I hear they don't like her too much anyway. But if you decide to bring her with you on Saturday, that's fine too. Her parents have not joined us yet, but they are quite a respectable pure blood family.

I'll see you in Hogsmeade then, if you're sensible enough. I know you'll be.

Evanna threw the letter on the floor as if it were a bomb about to go off any moment now. She collapsed on her bed and buried her head in the pillow.