The silence that followed was so oppressive that Evie could almost feel it. She suddenly felt herself pinned down by nine pairs of eyes and she shifted uncomfortably. As one the young people turned to the bushy haired girl, who merely shrugged helplessly and returned her gaze to Evie. The harassed looking woman frowned in confusion and the bowl in her arms began to slip. Evie tried to call out a warning but it was too late; the bowl crashed to the floor, spattering hot soup everywhere. The woman muttered under her breath and pulled out her wand before setting to work cleaning up the mess.
The gaunt man, who had been staring unbelievingly at Evie until then, seemed to be brought to his senses by the crash. "I knew it." He croaked, leaping to his feet. "I knew it straight away." He hurried towards her, almost stumbling over the table leg in his haste. When he came to a halt in front of her he placed his hands on her shoulders and began to search her face with his eyes.
"Sirius, perhaps that's not-" Dumbledore began.
"It's alright." Evie reassured, offering him a small smile. Dumbledore nodded and made no further protest, allowing Evie to turn her attention back to the man gripping her by the shoulders. She didn't like being handled by strangers but something in the man's eyes told her she had nothing to fear from him. Behind the caution was barely concealed hope; it was as if he needed to touch her to reassure himself that she was real. When he pulled her into a tentative hug she found her arms automatically closing around him.
"Dumbledore?" The woman had finished cleaning the spilt soup and was now staring at Evie again. "What's going on?"
Dumbledore sighed and took a seat at the table. "I shall explain but I think it's only fair that I introduce everyone first. Evie, if you'd take a seat."
The man reluctantly released Evie and steered her towards the bench by her elbow. When she sat down he sat next to her and kept his hand on her arm, as if he was afraid that she would disappear if he let go. Once they were seated Dumbledore began the round of introductions.
"This is Molly Weasley." He waved his hand at the woman, who smiled nervously. "And these are her children. Fred, George, Ginny and Ron." As he said their names he pointed at each in turn. The twins raised their hands in greeting and their sister grinned welcomingly. Ron just stared at her with his mouth hanging open. "This," Dumbledore continued. "Is Hermione Granger, a friend of the family." Hermione stared at Evie intently. "Remus you've already met and the man sitting next to you is Sirius Black."
Evie jumped slightly at this information. Dumbledore had already told her about this man: he was her godfather. When she started Sirius quickly withdrew his hand, perhaps mistaking her shock for fear (she of course knew about his imprisonment in Azkaban and the false accusations made against him). She placed her hand gently on his forearm and smiled up at him, hoping to dispel any idea he might have that she was afraid of him. He smiled back, his relief palpable.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and Evie turned her attention back to him. "Evie is Harry's sister."
The roar from the Weasley siblings was deafening.
"What are you-"
"How can that-"
"Harry hasn't got-"
Dumbledore held up his hand for silence and got it immediately. "I will, of course, explain everything." He pulled off his glasses and began to polish them on the sleeve of his robe as he launched into his tale.
"Not many people knew that the Potters had another child before Harry. Those who did know," He nodded to Sirius and Remus. "Believed her to be dead. Murdered in the same attack that killed her parents. However, as you can see, she's alive and well. Shortly before Voldemort tracked them down, James and Lily agreed to send Evie into hiding. I took her out of the country and placed her in the care of a couple who I knew would love and protect her."
"Why didn't you bring her back after Voldemort's death?" Sirius asked.
"Who would I return her to?" Dumbledore asked sadly. "Her parents were dead and her godfather was locked away. The aunt and uncle who took Harry in would never have agreed to take her as well; they already deeply resented having to look after their orphaned nephew. Beside that, the Death Eaters were still at large and furious about their master's demise. I greatly feared that they would seek Evie out to take their revenge on her. So I left her with the couple and did nothing to correct the rumours of her death."
"Excuse me, sir." Hermione spoke up. Dumbledore looked at her questioningly. "If that's the case then why have you brought her back now, when You-Know-Who has returned?"
"This isn't the time I chose for her return. I believed that she and Harry should have been reunited when he began his magical education. I felt it immensely unfair to deprive them of the only family they had, but the people who cared for her insisted she remain with them. They still feared for her safety, and by that time they had come to love her as their own daughter. As they had risked their lives by taking her in I respected their wishes. But now-"
"Now I'm of age." Evie interrupted. "It was my choice to come back here."
Everyone turned their gazes back to Evie and she found herself shifting awkwardly again. To everyone's surprise it was Ron who broke the silence. He addressed Evie directly, for which she was grateful; throughout Dumbledore's explanation they had spoken of her as if she wasn't in the room. "Does Harry know about you?" Evie shook her head. "Have you met him yet?" She shook her head again. "If you need filling in on anything we'll help you. We're his friends from school." He nudged Hermione.
Hermione nodded. "He's done a lot over the past few years that you should probably know about."
Before Evie could thank them Mrs Weasley spoke up. "Would you like something to eat, dear? The soup is a lost cause but I can rustle something up."
"I'd like that, thank you." Evie's stomach lurched pleasantly at the thought of food. Mrs Weasley beamed at her and began to busy herself at the sink.
"Sirius, could you find Evie a bedroom while Molly is preparing some lunch?" Dumbledore asked.
"Of course." He got to his feet, gently pulling Evie up beside him.
Later that evening everyone was tucking into the sumptuous meal that Mrs Weasley had prepared. Evie was still full from the "snack" (which was actually more like a three course meal) that she had been given at lunch time, but she found that she just couldn't refuse Mrs Weasley's delicious cooking. She'd been bombarded with questions for the past few hours but people were still finding things to ask her over dinner. Remus was currently showing a lot of interest in her chosen career.
"Well," Evie explained, spooning a heap of creamy pasta onto her plate. "I've been writing short stories for Witch Weekly for a couple of months now. I send them in by owl and use an assumed name; otherwise they probably wouldn't have accepted anything from me because of my age."
"I'd like to read some of your writing if you wouldn't mind." Said Sirius, who had been listening in on the conversation.
Evie grimaced. "I don't think you'd like it, it's all dreadfully romantic. Girl meets boy. Boy shows unhealthy interest in girl's sister. Girl turns boy into a frog. Girl elopes with boy who gives advice on the proper care of amphibians."
Sirius snickered into his plate. "I don't know. I've been known to be romantic from time to time."
"You haven't got a romantic bone in your body." Snorted Remus. He leant over to Evie and murmured confidentially, "At school he once cursed a girl he liked so that she'd sprout vast amounts of ear and nose hair." Evie and Remus dissolved into fits of laughter as Sirius choked on a piece of pasta. Fred, who was sitting next to Sirius, gave him a hard thump on the back. When he recovered he mumbled his thanks before gulping down a large glass of water.
"What's your pen name?" He asked Evie, desperate for a change of subject.
"Esmeralda Rose." She winced. Sirius and Remus were overcome with laughter again, but Mrs Weasley was staring at Evie open mouthed. "Are you alright, Mrs Weasley?"
"You're Esmeralda Rose?" She asked, sounding slightly breathless. When Evie nodded she let loose a torrent of praise. "I love your latest story! Having to wait a week for instalments has been driving me mad! What happens do Gwendolyn? Does she-"
A bright flash above the table cut Mrs Weasley off. Everyone fell silent as a golden feather and a piece of parchment drifted to the table. Mrs Weasley snatched the parchment from the air and quickly unfurled it. Her eyes widened as she scanned the message. "Oh my," She gasped. "Harry has been expelled!"
