They arrived back at Number Four, Privet Drive at quarter to five. Aunt Petunia went into the kitchen to warm up leftovers from lunch for dinner if anyone was hungry, while Evanna trooped slowly up the stairs to her bedroom. Only after she had shut the door behind her did she pull open the second drawer of her bedside table and take out a stack of Muggle snapshots, held together by a rubber band.
She flipped through the photos slowly, in order of age. First there was a plump redheaded baby, frowning inquisitively at the camera, with Petunia looking down at her curiously. Handwritten on the back was a caption: Baby Lily Francesca Evans, born 30/1/60, one week old, with Petunia (aged two and a half).
There were many, many more pictures: of her mother's first birthday party, trips to the zoo and school days; and Evanna even caught sight of a young Severus Snape watching the sisters wistfully in clothes that seemed far too big.
After Lily started going to Hogwarts, the pictures changed. There were less of them, and the subject matter was different. There were just about no shots with Petunia and Lily together, for instance – something very telling.
But there was one picture Evanna looked at for a long time.
It was the very last picture in the pile, and the only magical one. A smiling Lily was holding a giggling Evanna, who was wearing a mini Father Christmas's hat and had her hair tied in two wispy little pigtails. And there, with his arm around his wife, was her Dad – a thin man with black hair, roguish hazel eyes, round glasses and a crazy grin. He was waving enthusiastically at the camera. Then somebody else jumped in: a man with shaggy black hair and a mischievous expression. Evanna sat there, grinning like an idiot for a couple of seconds before flipping the picture over to read the caption:
That's me, James and our darling baby in there – or at least it was supposed to be. Sirius insisted on acting like a five-year-old and jumped in front at the last moment – sorry about that. Hope you and your family are having a lovely Christmas. How are Vernon and Dudley? I wish you'd write.
Love, Lily
25 December 1980
The twenty-fifth of December, 1980.
Christmas Day.
Her first Christmas.
Her only Christmas before Privet Drive.
Images flashed in her head again, her only memories of her parents: that of a man who bravely and without second thought sacrificed his life for his wife and child … of a woman who begged and pleaded for her daughter's life, even as she selflessly, desperately offered up her own …
Before she knew it, she was curled up on the rumpled bed, sobbing like a baby. She was almost eleven and a half years old, and hadn't cried since the drugging had forced her to relive the memories of her parents dying (and that didn't really count), but she did now.
'Cat,' called Dudley from the other side of her bedroom door, 'are you OK? Mum says dinner's ready if you want to eat, but you don't have to.'
'I … I'll be there. Give me a minute.'
She dried her eyes, put the photos away, washed her face and hands in the bathroom and joined her family and Ron for dinner.
The rest of the holidays after Christmas passed in no time at all, and soon Evanna, Dudley and Ron were back at Hogwarts.
Somehow Hogwarts seemed a lot bigger and overwhelming, at least to Evanna. It made it seem more exciting, but also somewhat scarier.
To cap that, Evanna had started having nightmares again. She thought they'd been triggered by seeing her family in the Mirror of Erised as well as visiting their graves in Godric's Hollow, but not all of her nightmares consisted of a high-pitched voice, screaming and pleading and a flash of deadly green light. Some were instead more similar to the one she'd had in when she'd stayed in the hospital wing after the fiasco which had been Hallowe'en. Secretly she began to think Daphne was in fact right – Quirrell was out to get her. But another part of the dreams that frightened her was that there was a high, cruel voice in them that she just might recognise …
Now she was back at Hogwarts with Tracey, Daphne and Hermione, and Evanna was still determined to enjoy it, regardless of trolls and druggings and nightmares.
It was only then that she realised rather belatedly that she knew basically nothing about Daphne's home life. She knew, for instance, that Hermione, an only child, lived with her Muggle parents in Surrey, not far from Little Whinging. Tracey was similar to Evanna in that she didn't live with her parents, but her aunt's family. There were many other differences though: Tracey was a pure-blood; she lived in Bedfordshire, not Surrey; her Aunt Jillian, Uncle Alastair and older cousins Jack and Vanessa were all magical (Vanessa was a Slytherin prefect at Hogwarts), and her parents were not dead, but in Australia, working for that country's Ministry of Magic.
But when Evanna tried to go over what she knew about Daphne, she struck a dead end. She knew Daphne lived with her mother and little sister Astoria in London. By inferring and observations she knew that Daphne's family was not very well off (she had used schoolbooks and wore secondhand robes). Evanna had no idea why Daphne didn't have a father, and had never asked. She knew Daphne's mother and Draco Malfoy's mother were first cousins by marriage from the train, but neither Daphne or Draco had ever brought up the subject since.
It was on a snowy Saturday afternoon in January, however, that Evanna, Tracey and Hermione stumbled upon Daphne's secrets.
Taking advantage of the snow, Evanna and Tracey convinced the studious Hermione to take a break from a morning of homework and notes to spend the afternoon outside on the grounds. Daphne, however, disappeared straight after breakfast, saying rather vaguely that she had to write a letter to her mother. This she did every Saturday morning without fail, though never where Evanna or anyone else could see. They all put this down to Daphne's introverted and reclusive nature, though – until they found out the real reason.
The three of them set out about ten o'clock, wearing their winter cloaks and wrapped in green and silver (Evanna and Tracey) and gold and scarlet (Hermione) scarves. They walked around the grounds, chatting and discussing homework, when Evanna saw Daphne sitting in seclusion near the lake, leaning against a tree. There was something shiny in her hand, and she seemed to be talking to it.
'Daphne!' Hermione began, quickening her pace, but Evanna, grasping hold of the notion that something was not quite right, thrust out her arm, stopping Hermione.
'Wait …'
They began walking towards Daphne, their shoes crunching the melting snow, the sun warm on their heads, but Daphne did not look up. She was engaged in a conversation, and once they were close enough, Evanna could distinguish the words.
'Mum, listen,' she could hear Daphne's voice saying. 'Tori's eight – you can't let her stay at home alone. If you tell her to go to Aunt Andromeda's instead of our place after school then that should work out.' Daphne, Evanna realised, was holding up a small hand mirror in front of her face and speaking into it, rather like a telephone conversation. They couldn't see what was in the mirror, but Evanna felt sure it wasn't the obvious answer: Daphne herself.
'Daph, what's up?' Tracey asked innocently. 'I thought you were writing a letter to your mum.'
Daphne jumped and almost dropped the mirror on the hard grass. Then she spoke into it quickly, saying 'Sorry, Mum, I've gotta go, love you' before turning to Tracey and the others.
'Do you know what a Squib is?'
When Tracey looked amazed, Daphne said quickly, 'I was talking to Cat and Hermione.' They were the two in their group who had been raised by Muggles, after all.
Hermione nodded. Daphne turned her attention to Evanna. 'Cat?'
'Sort of,' Evanna said truthfully. She'd only seen the term in her schoolbooks, and they had never really explained it, assuming their target audience had at least basic knowledge of the wizarding world.
Daphne sighed impatiently. 'A Squib is a person born into a magical family, but who can't use magic. Like the opposite of Hermione, for instance.'
They waited expectantly, and Daphne did not disappoint them.
'My mum's a Squib.'
Hermione's response was very Hermioneish: 'Really? Aren't they supposed to be quite rare?'
Daphne shrugged, and Evanna could tell this was a sensitive subject. Then Daphne pulled a piece of scrap parchment out of her pocket. Evanna lent her a ballpoint pen, and Daphne drew a family tree. [Below is what it is in written form.]
Cygnus and Druella Black
parents of Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa Malfoy (married to Lucius Malfoy, only son Draco) and Andromeda Tonks (married to Ted Tonks, only daughter Nymphadora)
Orion and Walburga Black (sister to Cygnus Black)
parents of Noctua Greengrass (married to Marcus Greengrass, deceased, two children: Daphne and Astoria), Sirius Black and Regulus Black (deceased)
'This is my family tree,' Daphne said, speaking very fast as she scribbled. That's where Draco comes into the picture' – she stabbed his name with the pen savagely, almost going right through the parchment – 'and that's my Mum. The Blacks are a really fussy lot, believing in all this blood purity rubbish – Aunt Andromeda was disowned for marring a Muggle-born. As soon as they found out she's a Squib, my mum's parents disowned her. That's why we live on the other side of London to the Black family home. After my mum moved out, they pretended she didn't exist.'
Both Tracey and Hermione looked horrified – Hermione more so, Evanna thought.
'You have to understand,' Daphne said, breathing heavily, 'that the Black family story is a tragic tale. The family is cursed. Aunt Bella and Uncle Sirius are both in Azkaban, Aunt Andromeda was disowned, as I said; Uncle Regulus went missing before we were born and my Great-Uncle Alphard was disinherited for giving money to Uncle Sirius when he – Uncle Sirius – ran away when he was sixteen. My dad died of dragon pox when I was really young, so for ages it's just been my mum and my little sister Astoria and me.'
'I think your mum's very brave,' Tracey said comfortingly – and it was just about the best thing she could have said. 'I wouldn't have dared to just go out into the world like that and make a living like nothing happened when my own parents rejected me. I'd – I'd curl up and die or something.'
Daphne looked pleased, and a bit more cheerful.
'Mum sent both me and Tori to a Muggle primary school since we turned five. Tori still goes there of course – she's only nine – but Mum loves the idea of school before Hogwarts' (Hermione looked pleased).'She says it's ridiculous the way Hogwarts doesn't teach subjects like maths or reading or science or drama, so she made us both go.'
That made three of the four of them who had previously attended a Muggle school. Tracey looked slightly put out, but Evanna was thinking. Something Daphne had said on the Hogwarts Express back in September didn't make sense to her now.
'How come, then,' she said hesitantly, not wanting to offend Daphne (she could be very touchy at times), 'on the train to Hogwarts, when I said I live with my Muggle aunt and uncle, you said you wouldn't be caught dead living with Muggles. But didn't you go to school with them? Why would you …'
Daphne smirked, and all of a sudden Evanna felt stupid for not having realised earlier.
'Oh,' she said, suddenly comprehending. 'You were testing me, weren't you?'
Daphne's nut-brown eyes met Evanna's brilliant green ones, and suddenly there was no real need to answer at all.