The next week passed in much the same way as Evie's first day of training. During the day she dutifully continued with Sirius's lessons, which still consisted mostly of being repeatedly knocked to the ground. The evenings were spent tending to whatever injuries she'd gained in the day, preparing the nightly meal and swapping stories. Evie did most of the talking, with Sirius listening eagerly to whatever she had to tell him. He seemed hungry for information about her: childhood stories, her double life going to school with muggles in the day but being taught magic at home by night, friends, boyfriends, her newly forged relationships with the people at Grimmauld Place. Sirius was more than happy to share stories about his time at Hogwarts, but was understandably reluctant to talk about his childhood and his incarceration in Azkaban. Evie didn't push him, and if they accidentally stumbled onto an upsetting subject she quickly switched to a happier topic.
As soon as she was confident that Sirius was fast asleep, Evie would sneak out of her room and make her way up to the attic. Cleaning it out was the first stage of creating Sirius's present, and she hoped to have most of it done by the time Remus returned. Keeping Kreacher out, and preventing him from telling Sirius about her night time activities when he found his way in, proved to be difficult, but she made steady progress anyway. One night she came very close to being found out: a particularly large spider had landed on her arm and she couldn't stop herself from screaming. Fortunately she'd managed to get down from the attic and close the hatch before Sirius arrived to find out what was wrong.
Mid week, entertainment arrived in the form of Fred's eight page reply to Evie's letter. Sirius didn't quite know what to make of it: he switched between amusement at the boy's crush and something close to the jealousy he felt of Remus during the time when Evie refused to speak to him. At first Evie was elated by Fred's response. He'd casually mentioned the Hogsmeade trip on the first weekend of October, and Evie had been overjoyed at the idea of getting to see Harry again so soon before realising that she'd never be allowed to make the trip.
Disturbed at seeing Evie so upset, and against his better judgement, Sirius had disappeared into the living room for over an hour. Upon emerging, he'd announced that Dumbledore had agreed that Evie could go to Hogsmeade on one condition – someone must escort her there and back.
Evie's face fell. "But there's no one to take me! You're the only one here and you can't leave the house."
"Dumbledore said that Remus will be returning soon. He can escort you."
"So I can see Harry again soon?"
"Looks that way, yes."
The next thing Sirius knew he was being pulled into a rib cracking hug, and Evie was raining kisses onto his cheeks. "Thank. You. So. Much!" She said in between kisses. Sirius laughed and hugged her back, his jealousy of Fred and worry about Evie evaporating for the moment.
Eight days after Remus's departure, Evie and Sirius were eating at the kitchen table when they heard the front door bang shut. They tensed, waiting for Mrs Black's wailing to begin. When it didn't come they lay down their forks and looked to the door, curious as to who their visitor could be. A few seconds later Remus stumbled in, looking as if he'd seen neither bed nor food since he'd left a week earlier.
Both Sirius and Evie were on their feet and at Remus's side in an instant, each of them wrapping an arm around his waist. As soon as they did so he sagged forwards, allowing them to support his weight.
"Moony, old mate," Sirius said as they dragged him towards the table and lowered him gently into a chair. "You're not looking too good."
"Long week." Remus muttered, smiling grimly.
Evie hurried over to the stove to where a pot of rich stew stood. She prodded underneath the pot with her wand and flames sprang up, warming the meal through. While she waited for it to heat up, she retrieved a loaf of bread from the cupboard and began to cut it into thick slices. As she was doing this, Sirius and Remus spoke in quick, low voices behind her. Although she couldn't hear them she knew they were discussing Remus's work for the Order, and she wanted desperately to join in the conversation, but decided that getting Remus what looked like his first meal for days was more important.
Eventually she slid the bowl of food in front of him and he smiled his thanks to her before tucking in, scooping up the chunks of meat and vegetables with the bread rather than a spoon. Sirius sat back in his chair, his brow creased and his eyes troubled. Evie touched his shoulder lightly. "Is everything alright?" She asked.
With what was clearly a great effort, he smiled and patted her hand. "Everything's fine," He rose from his chair. "I just need to speak to Dumbledore - Nothing bad!" He hurriedly reassured Evie as he saw the worry on her face. "Just need to let him know Remus is back. Which reminds me, Moony, are you up to a trip to Hogsmeade in a few weeks? Evie needs a guide."
"As long as I can go to Honeydukes." Remus replied, still shovelling food into his mouth.
"I'll let Dumbledore know you agreed, then." Sirius hurried out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him. Evie took his seat opposite Remus and sat regarding him in silence.
"What have you-" Evie began
"Have you made a start on the attic?" Remus asked through a mouthful of food, clearly hoping to head off whatever question Evie was about to ask about his work.
Evie frowned, noticing the diversion but deciding to answer anyway. There'd be time to question Remus later. "I've finished cleaning most of it, and believe me when I say it wasn't fun. There were cobwebs up there that could have given Methuselah a run for his money."
Remus chuckled. "Would you like to start the present tonight?"
Evie shook her head. "If you think you're doing anything but getting that fixed," She pointed to an oozing cut on his cheek. "And going to bed, you're sorely mistaken."
"Can I at least have a look at what you've done so far?"
"Eat another bowl of stew and I'll think about it."
"Deal," He grinned, pushing his now empty bowl towards her for a refill. "Listen," He said, beckoning for Evie to move closer. "I had a really good idea for something we could do. If we could just-"
The door opened and Sirius strode back in. Remus abruptly stopped talking and Evie jumped back into her own seat. Sirius stopped and narrowed his eyes. "What are you two up to?"
"Nothing," Evie said innocently, snatching up Remus's bowl and heading back to the stove. "More stew?"
Evie hopped off the last step that led down from the attic and then reached up, offering Remus her hand. He took it gratefully and jumped down to the floor, wincing slightly at the shock to his tired limbs. Evie tapped the ladder with her wand and it retracted into the attic. The hatch shut silently behind it, leaving no sign that anyone had been up there.
"I have to say I'm impressed," Remus said. "How did you do all that on your own?"
Evie shrugged before taking hold of his arm and beginning to lead him down the hallway. "I'm not entirely sure. It was mostly just being determined to get it all clean before you came back. That and I had to work fast so the spiders wouldn't land on me."
Remus laughed and then quickly muffled the noise, remembering that Sirius was asleep. "Do you think he'll like it?" Evie asked nervously.
"He'll love it. He'd love vomit in a sock as long as it came from you."
It was Evie's turn to muffle a giggle. "Well I wish I'd known he was that easy to please, it would have saved me a lot of effort."
It wasn't long before they reached the stairs. After saying goodnight they parted, Remus taking the flight that led to the floor above and Evie taking the set that led to the one below. Thinking longingly of her bed, she stifled a yawn. She was almost in her room, had her hand on the handle, when she heard it. It wasn't a scream, more of a howl, so piteous and terrified that it made her shudder to hear it.
She took a couple of steps backwards, moving into the middle of the hallway. Tilting her head, she listened to hear if it would come again. Already she was half convinced that her tired mind had invented it, or that it had come from the resident ghoul of the house. Just as she'd decided that she had indeed imagined it, it came again, and this time there was no mistaking that it was real. Not only that, but it had come from Sirius's room.
Taking off at a run, Evie crossed the distance to Sirius's room in a matter of seconds. Without stopping to knock, she pushed open the door and flew inside. It was completely dark; not even moonlight managed to penetrate the thick curtains that were drawn across the windows. "Lumos!" Evie whispered frantically, causing a small pool of light to illuminate the room.
Sirius lay on the bed and, although he was clearly asleep, his rest was far from peaceful. His eyes were screwed shut tightly and his head thrashed from side to side. As she watched, one of his hands came up and lashed at the air as he let out another howl. Realising that she had frozen, Evie forced herself to move to his side.
"Sirius," She murmured, crouching over him. "Wake up! You're having a nightmare." She moved the hand holding the wand closer to him, but his arm came out of nowhere and knocked it out of her grasp, sending it flying across the room. It hit the floor and rolled underneath a chest of drawers, losing Evie her only source of light. "Sirius!" She said again, louder this time. "Wake up!" She leant over him and placed her hand on his shoulder. This time when his hand flew at her it caught her square in the mouth, causing her to stagger back several paces.
Vaguely aware that she could taste blood, she caught her balance and forced herself to move back to Sirius. Now more determined, she planted herself firmly on the bed and felt for his arms before he had a chance to lash out again. Finding them, she wrapped her slender fingers around his wrists and clung on tight, knowing that she wouldn't be strong enough to stop him hurting her if he chose to. "Sirius!" She tried to speak as loudly and as firmly as she could, but it came out as a plea. "Sirius, please wake up!"
Sirius jerked his arms violently, trying to free them from her grip. The movement made her fall forwards onto the bed, pushing her face down into the mattress, but somehow she managed to hold on. She lifted her head and began to call his name again, not once but over and over. Eventually Sirius's thrashing calmed and he was still.
Just as she thought it was safe to let go and find Remus, a voice called out in the dark. "Wh-Who's there?" Sirius demanded, although his voice shook.
Sagging in relief, Evie said, "It's me." She released his wrists and sat up again.
"Evie," Sirius murmured. Then the trembling started. It shocked Evie when she first felt it; she had to lay a hand on Sirius to confirm that it was him. Deciding that Remus was definitely needed, she rose from the bed. Before she could take a step Sirius grabbed her wrist. "Please," He pleaded in a whisper. "Don't."
It was the absolute terror and desperation still in his voice that made her decide to stay. She still believed that Remus would know more about this than she did, but she couldn't leave him. Not alone. Not in the dark. Sirius felt her body relax and gently pulled her down next to him. Once he was sure that she wouldn't leave, he let go of her wrist.
"What happened?" Evie asked quietly.
After a moment of hesitation Sirius replied, "Just a dream."
"It seemed a little more than that," When he didn't say anything she asked, "What was it about?"
"Azkaban. At first. Then Harry. Then… then you." The trembling, which had just begun to die down, started all over again.
Noticing, Evie frowned and took a stab at humour. "I didn't realise I was that scary."
Sirius said nothing. Just lay in silence and shook. "Lift up." Evie ordered, slipping a hand beneath his head. He obeyed unquestioningly and raised his head off the mattress. Quickly, Evie scooted into the vacated space and then lowered his head so that it rested on her lap. She didn't know whether Sirius would protest, but she was unwilling to sit by and let him suffer without so much as touching him. As it was he said nothing, letting her position him where she wished.
She pushed strands of hair off his sweat soaked forehead and began to speak. She didn't talk about anything important; she just wanted to reassure Sirius that he wasn't alone. Mostly she recounted fairy stories that her aunt Mae had told her when she was a child. Eventually the trembling stopped and he relaxed into her lap. After a few hours his deep, even breathing told her that he had once again fallen asleep.