Hello hello hello everyone! Welcome back to Always There For You! I'm glad to see that so many of you enjoy the story so far--and I haven't even really started it yet; this is still mostly background info! I'm very detail oriented, lol.
Thanks to all of my reviewers for this chapter:
cascade88 (my dear friend)
Lyric Mania (a new reviewer!)
remuslives23 (my wonderful editor and friend :-) )
LadyFabulous (another new reviewer!)
butherecomesthefall
Mahsa FF (another new reviewer!)
and last but not least my two anonymous reviewers mcc and Matilda
Thanks to everyone who reads!
Enjoy chapter eight!
A/N: As always, everything you recognize is JKR's...the rest is mine :-)
The group kept their promise and visited Evey every time they had a spare minute -- between classes, during free periods, during meals, as well as first thing in the morning and the last thing before curfew. But no one visited her more than the twins, one or the other of them always by her bedside. They had even attempted to stay overnight -- hiding in various places around the ward but, after Madame Pomfrey caught them for the fourth time and threatened to ban them altogether, they gave up. Somehow, the twins managed to convince Madam Pomfrey to allow Evey to attend a Quidditch game one Saturday - Gryffindor (the twins as Beaters) against Hufflepuff. Their friends, Kenny and Patty had to carry her to the Pitch as her legs were still weak, though slowly improving; she was able to wiggle her toes and flex her ankles now.
The game was phenomenal, even though it was pouring rain. It was much more intense than previous matches against Hufflepuff--they were actually putting up a fight this time and Evey thought she would pass out every time she saw one of the twins nearly get hit by a bludger or fall from their broom. But towards the end of the match, the chilling wind died down and it turned ice cold. The noise from the crowd slowly died down then there were several screams as the Dementors invaded the field. Gasping in shock, a trembling Evey suddenly got dizzy, everything in her vision becoming blurry...
'I can't BELIEVE you're doing this to your mother and me! You should be ashamed of yourself!'
'Why, Charlene? Don't you love us?'
'Of course I do, mother, but please call me--'
'THAT IS NOT YOUR NAME AND YOU ARE NOT GOING BACK TO THAT...THAT FREAK SCHOOL!'
'It's not a freak school, father! Its a very prestigious school!'
'No, St. George's is a prestigious school--this, this Hogwarts is nothing but a joke! An embarrassment! If you go back, you will not be allowed back in this house!'
'Edward, we can't...what would the neighbours think? What would we tell everyone?'
'You're absolutely right, Victoria. Now you listen to me, young lady--as long as you are a child you are free to call this your home, even if you insist on going back to that place; but the moment you are an adult I want you out.'
'Father...'
'I don't want to hear it, Charlene. I will not support a freak forever...'
With a scream, the blurriness and the voices in her head disappeared, and Evey was sitting straight up in a bed in the Hospital Wing.
'Evey, Evey! It's alright!'
Evey stopped screaming and looked to her right to see George sitting beside her holding her hand. He looked so worried, his brow furrowed and his brown eyes tinged with fear. After a few shuddering breaths, Evey began sobbing, and George was quickly beside her on the bed, holding her in his arms.
'What-what ha-happened to me?' Evey eventually choked out.
'Dementors,' George explained. 'Pomfrey told us you're still in a weakened state from your attack last week and easily susceptible to their effects.'
Evey looked up at him, a slight smile on her tear-stained face, 'I didn't know you knew such big words.'
'Oh, I don't,' George admitted. 'I'm quoting her word for word.' Evey smiled and a grin spread across George's face.
'There's the smile I love!'
A strange shiver ran down Evey's spine. Her smile broadened even as she tried to ignore the sensation.
'So,' George said quietly, his cheeks strangely flushed. 'Do you wanna talk about whatever you saw?'
Evey sighed and allowed her eyes to drop to the white sheet that covered her legs, 'It was...what my parents said to me before I left for the Burrow last summer.'
George nodded and held her tighter--not many people knew about Evey's relationship with her aristocratic parents. In fact, the twins were the only people with whom she'd discussed the estranged relationship. When Evey arrived at the Burrow after her argument with her parents, she spent the first night locked in the twins' room in tears and telling them what they said to her. She trusted them implicitly, and she knew that no matter what, anything she said to them in confidence would never be repeated to anyone else.
'I said it last summer and I'll say it again--give me the word and I'll turn them into canaries.'
Evey smiled and let out a small laugh, 'That would be quite a sight but again, I must refuse.'
George smirked, 'Alright if you say so.'
Evey nodded into his chest, 'So what happened at the game?'
'Well, we lost, if that's what you're wondering.'
'What? Why?'
'The Dementors attacked Harry…poor kid fell at least fifty feet! Well, of course, as he fell, Diggory caught the snitch and Hufflepuff won. Dumbledore was able to slow Harry down and he barely hurt himself, but we had to carry him up here anyway. So, after he finally woke up, Pomfrey said we had to clear out and that's when Fred and I saw Patty and Kenny walking toward the door, too. We asked them why they were here and they told us they had to carry you back here after you passed out. Fred and I were worried and Madame Pomfrey said we could sit with you so here I am - your loyal subject, refusing to leave your side.'
'Where's Fred?'
George felt a little stab that she'd asked after his brother but answered, 'He's asleep--we decided to take shifts waiting up for you about an hour ago, and I got first shift.'
'Oh, ok,' Evey said, her eyelids getting heavy.
'Evey, I just want to say that we--Fred and I--are sorry for making you come to the game when you obviously weren't strong enough yet.'
'No worries,' Evey said through a yawn. 'I haven't missed a game of yours and I never will, no matter what.'
George smiled and looked down when he felt her go slack in his arms--she was asleep again. He positioned her comfortably in the hospital cot then sat back in the chair beside her. He felt horrible about seeing Evey unconscious twice in one week--he felt the need, the desire to protect her, and he and Fred would do so to the best of their ability.
Eventually, Evey was released from the Hospital Wing--she still had trouble walking long distances, and still got dizzy every once in a while, but she was much better than she had been. Odette, Chrissi and Marianela were expelled from Hogwarts for attempted murder of a fellow student--something Evey thought was a bit extreme but she couldn't pretend she wasn't glad to see the back of the girls…and their new and improved hair styles.
The twins couldn't allow the Slytherins to get off with just expulsion for what they did to Evey (not nearly punishment enough in their eyes) and decided to hit Odette where it would hurt the most. So, as the three girls were leaving the school for the last time, their exit was punctuated with laughter from their classmates as they caught sight of their new hairstyles - lime green crew cuts. Luckily, even though Odette swore up, down and sideways that 'that stupid Mudblood and her blood-traitor pimps' were to blame, she had no proof, and the mysterious hair-dressers got away punishment free.
Little did Odette know that she should have been grateful that she got off so easily - her hair-cut was originally paired with painful body-covering boils; but as Healers could trace the magic surrounding the boils to the wand (or wands) that cast the spell, that plan was shelved. But despite the Slytherins' lack of boils, Evey had no reason to complain as she laughed right alongside her friends at the unfortunate new hair-dos on the former Hogwarts students.
One thing Evey did complain about, however, was the fact that the twins had seemed to become her shadows; everywhere she went, the twins were three steps behind her. She understood that their intentions were good, but after she had to stop them from following her into the girls' lavatory on more than one occasion, she was getting fed up.
'Ok, stop it!' she said forcefully as she pushed the twins away from the lavatory entrance.
'What?'
'This! You've been following me for two weeks now, and I'm sick of it!'
'What? Oh, don't be ridiculous Evey, we haven't been-'
'Don't try and fool me, Fred--I've seen you guys stalking me and don't think that I don't know you've been watching me on that bloody map as well!'
The twins gasped.
'Evelyn!' George said, in shock, 'How dare you defile the key to our success!'
'Bullocks!' she yelled, causing some passing students stop to witness the scene. 'What is with you two? You're supposed to be my friends, not my--my stalkers!'
'We aren't stalkers!'
'Fred's right--we're just worried about you.'
'Yea, after that Odette thing, and then the Quidditch match--'
'Stop,' Evey said, holding her hand up to silence the two as she hung her head. She hated feeling so powerless and the twins, even with their good intentions, had only intensified the helplessness she was already feeling. Her temper rose as she took her frustration out on the well meaning boys.
'I cannot believe you two. You don't think I can take care of myself? Alright, so I forgot my wand ONE TIME, and that whole Dementor thing…well, that was just bad timing, wasn't it? But it's no reason to watch me like I'm helpless. Friends don't do this to each other. And right now…right now I think it best that we don't speak for a while.'
The boys tried to protest, but Evey held her hand up and raised her voice, 'DON'T TRY TO TALK ME OUT OF THIS! Just--just leave me alone.'
With tears in her eyes and a sob in her throat, she pushed between Fred and George, shouldered her way through the crowd that had gathered, and ran all the way back to Gryffindor tower, making it to her room before she finally let her tears fall.
A cliffy! Heehee, I love being evil :-) If enough people leave reviews, I might just post sooner than Thursday like I'm planning to...just hit the little gray button...please don't kill me lol
