Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise. Any recognizable characters/locations/magic-thingies from the series belong to JK Rowling. Author's Note: A big thanks to my wonderful beta Nooka, and to all of you who still read/review/follow this story. I hope you like this chapter! Again, I apologize for my previously mentioned error about prefects.
"It was an entirely horrific experience," Evelyn muttered, gazing out the window.
"Sounds like," Lily said.
On the journey back to the castle Evelyn divulged the details of her altercation with Regulus Black that had drawn so much attention. Needless to say, she had marched out of the Three Broomsticks and yanked her sister away from that vile boy. Maureen had screamed at her and stomped away in a huff, leaving Evelyn to nearly come to blows with her sister's date. Remus being a prefect and so level headed, dispersed the crowd before the attention of any teachers could be caught. He then dragged Evelyn away from Regulus as quickly as he could, for fear of her using an unforgivable curse on the younger Slytherin.
"I need to send word to Mr. Gray as soon as possible. He will not be pleased by this news," Evelyn muttered, more to herself than to her companions in the carriage.
Alice crossed her arms and scoffed, pulling Evelyn's focus away from the passing landscape.
"You would tattle on your own sister?" Alice asked, with a disgusted look on her face.
"It's my job to inform our father of such things," Evelyn defended, simply.
"Listen to you!" Alice's voice was rising her in outrage. "You're her sister not her mum! You don't have to tell your dad anything."
Evelyn also crossed her arms over her breast and levelled Alice with a frosty glare. "Perhaps you shouldn't speak of things you know nothing about," she said, cuttingly. "I've been caring for Maureen all her life. It is my responsibility to keep our father informed."
Lily looked back and forth between the two of them, panicked.
"You owe her an apology."
"Don't pretend as if you actually care about what happens between me and my sister."
Alice looked taken aback, as if just realizing how caught up in the argument she had become. She was about ready to make her rebuttal, but Lily placed a hand on her knee and gave her a halting look.
"That's enough now!" Lily scolded.
They sat in silence for the rest of the ride. When the carriage stopped, Alice was the first to get out. She didn't wait for the other two but began to head up to the castle with the other students. Lily on the other hand waited for Evelyn to climb down from the carriage.
"I'm sorry that I quarrelled with your friend," Evelyn said, pushing her glasses further up her nose.
"She's your friend, too. If she wasn't she wouldn't bother to tell you when you're wrong," Lily said when Evelyn's face showed doubt.
Straggling behind the returning students, Evelyn became quiet. She hated to ask her next question, but now she had to.
"Do you think I was wrong?"
Lily paused a moment. "Yes," she said, wrapping her arms around herself to stave off the chill. "You owe her an apology. What you did was really embarrassing."
Evelyn was slightly hurt by Lily's words. She had hoped that Lily would understand her position, but Lily's almond shaped eyes were filled with disapproval. Evelyn refused to look at her, wanting to ignore her little speech.
"You ruined what should have been a very memorable and romantic moment," Lily said, evenly. "You need to say you're sorry."
"Romantic?" Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Kissing Regulus Black?"
"Her first kiss had to happen sometime," Lily said. "Who would you have preferred it to be?"
That was a fair point. In Evelyn's eyes, no boy could possibly ever be worthy of her sister. Or at least, the sister she had always known.
"You don't know of my relationship with Maureen. Or Maureen herself," she said after a long silence. She still couldn't look Lily in the eye, afraid to make a fool of herself by doing something silly like crying. "I'm not even sure I know Maureen anymore. My sister was always sweet, demure, and clever. She has never lied to me until today."
Evelyn felt Lily's arm link around her own. Their sides bumped and brushed against each other as they continued walking forward.
"She's changing into someone I don't recognize." Evelyn sighed heavily.
That wasn't entirely true. She could recognize the girl that Maureen was becoming. It was someone remarkably similar to Narcissa Black and a hundred other dull, ordinary girls. Why did Maureen emulate them? Why wasn't Evelyn a good enough role model for her sister? She'd only ever tried to make Maureen happy while setting a good example.
"You're changing to," Lily pointed out.
Further up the trail they were a tad surprised to see Remus, waiting for them. He was smiling pleasantly, as usual, and Evelyn didn't pull away when he casually took hold of her hand. To the rest of the world Evelyn's stony look hadn't faltered, but to the few who had come to know her better, they saw how glum she was.
"What have you ladies been chatting about?" He asked, walking with them.
"Evie was telling us all about your date!" Lily smiled, her cheer a little forced.
Remus quirked his eyebrow at Evelyn, telling her without words to play along. "Did you, sweetheart?"
"Indeed. I haven't got to the kissing part, though," Evelyn said.
"Kissing?" Lily shrieked, letting go of Evelyn's arm. She fell slightly behind the other two, paralyzed by shock.
"Shall I let you tell it? How I professed my undying love to you?" Remus said. They stopped walking too, and turned to face each other. Remus took hold of her right hand now and placed it over his heart.
"No, you tell it better, my love," Evelyn deadpanned.
By this time, Lily had caught on that they were teasing her. She made a rather crude hand gesture at them before flouncing off ahead of them, red hair bouncing around her shoulders. Remus let go of Evelyn's hands and followed, but not before sending her a small wink. Evelyn felt the corners of her mouth perk up slightly. She was still upset about this Maureen and Regulus nonsense, but Remus had managed to make her feel that little bit better. When had she gotten to be this soft?
Unsurprisingly, Maureen was not speaking to her. Evelyn herself was not too pleased with her sister either, but she knew her anger would run out before Maureen's did, as it always had in the past.
Evelyn sat alone in the Slytherin common room in the middle of the night. It was dark save for the candle burning on the table in front of her. She'd been spending so much time with Lily and Alice lately, and she didn't want that to interfere with her school work. So there she sat at the table, working on her Herbology assignment. But her focus was somewhere else entirely. All she could seem to think about was what she would do if Regulus Black were to walk downstairs into the common room to join her.
What was it about him that had her sister so enamoured? Was it his good looks? Objectively speaking, Evelyn couldn't help but think that Sirius was the more handsome of the two. Was it his kind nature? Evelyn snorted sarcastically at that thought. It took her many evenings of pondering to realize what it was.
Popularity.
All Maureen wanted was to be normal, to be anything but what she was. Naturally, she would be drawn to the Black family's snobbery. If Regulus could accept her, it would be the ultimate validation Maureen needed. The disappointment in her sister weighed heavy on her mind, but she was disappointed in herself for allowing Maureen to succumb to such ridiculous notions. Her sister was worth a dozen Black families, in Evelyn's opinion—not that that seemed to count for much in Maureen's book.
It was nearly midnight one evening when Evelyn heard a quiet squealing noise coming from the stairs leading up in the dormitories. Evelyn put down her quill and stood up. She went to investigate the dark corners of the room where the candlelight did not stretch to. She nearly screamed when something furry brushed across her leg. Her surprised settled down when she realized it must have been a cat.
"Luther, is that you?" Evelyn whispered, retrieving her wand from the surface of the table. "Lumos."
In the milky, white light, Evelyn could make out Luther about to pounce on something. Though Evelyn couldn't see it, she was sure it was a rat.
"Honestly, Luther! Stop this!" she scolded him, bending to pick him up. He hissed at her, taking her aback. Luther had never reacted that way to her before. Evelyn went to scoop him up again, with no intention of being gentle this time, but he moved too quickly for her.
He chased the unseen rat towards the other end of the common room. The wall opened and Luther escaped out into the dungeons. Blowing out the candle, Evelyn hurried to follow. Normally she would have let him be, thinking he could handle himself. However, she was sick and tired of how oddly he'd been acting. All of the late nights, the sudden fascination with vermin and his aloof demeanour. He'd always been her friend, far too intelligent and attentive to be a common pet. Now, he was behaving much too feline. Like any other cat would.
Evelyn's slipper covered feet swiftly and silently carried her through the dungeon corridors. She saw Luther disappear up to the first floor, and she followed. She saw him dart out into the east courtyard, and she followed. She saw him sprint across the bridge leading out onto the grounds, and she followed. Despite her better judgement, she followed.
She was very cold, dressed only in her nightclothes. It was late February and the snow hadn't completely melted away yet. Her teeth chattered and her skin prickled feeling the cold air. She wrapped her arms around herself and rushed onward not wanting to lose sight of Luther. By the light of the full moon, she saw him turn left and dash across the wide, flat lawn. Evelyn's slippers were now soaked through and she felt her toes beginning to numb. She broke out into a run, wanting to get a hold of Luther and get back into the castle as quickly as she possibly could. Neither of them should be out here for a number of different reasons.
"Luther!" She shouted his name, hoping to divert his attention long enough to catch up with him. "Luther, stop this at once!"
She clenched her wand which was at the ready should anything dangerous appear. She could see the edge of the forbidden forest not too far away in the distance. She dreaded to think the kind of nasty things that could come out from there.
Her eyes, constantly glancing from Luther to the forest, did not catch sight of the heavy branch before it hit the ground powerfully. The club like branch had narrowly missed her. Evelyn backed away so fast that she nearly fell over. She watched in amazement as the Whomping Willow violently swung its bare branches around. She was now out of reach but realized in terror that Luther was still in its midst.
Having forgotten about the rat in his fear, Luther crouched down low and leapt out of the way whenever the tree tried to clobber him. Evelyn coming to her senses raised her wand prepared to perform the impediment jinx when suddenly the tree stopped moving. It seemed to have frozen all on its own
Evelyn stared dumbly for a moment until she saw Luther getting ready to pounce onto something. She charged forward, prepared to pick him up by the scruff of his neck, when something jumped out from behind the tree. It was big, black, and hairy.
And it was growling at them.
Evelyn froze where she stood. The giant dog was padding towards Luther and in a quick, impulsive move she yanked Luther to her side by his tail. The cat yowled, both out of pain and shock. Evelyn took a tentative step nearer the snarling beast. She gripped her wand tighter with each step she took until she was but a few feet away from it. Evelyn took off her glasses, letting them hang on the chain around her neck. She looked the dog in the eye and knelt down, hoping to convey a lack of a threat.
The dog stopped growling and baring its teeth. Its head tilted to the side and in those big, grey eyes she could see the confusion. Evelyn was somewhat entranced by those eyes. She didn't feel threatened anymore and even reached her hand out to gently scratch the dog behind his ear. The dog exhaled heavily and shut its eyes, but didn't make a move except to nuzzle slightly into her hand. It was all so surreal to her.
After what seemed like ages, the sound of approaching footsteps broke her out of her reverie. She felt Luther tugging at the hem of her dressing gown and slowly pulled her hand away. The dog, also seeming to come out of a similar stupor, turned around and ran away.
It all happened so fast that Evelyn wasn't quite sure what to make of it. All she knew now was that she needed to get inside and out of these cold, damp clothes. As quickly and as discreetly as she could, Evelyn carried Luther back the way she came. She snuck through the halls and down into the Slytherin common room. She quickly extinguished the candle she'd left lit and unattended, cleared away her school things and crept back into her dorm room. She changed silently, not wanting any of the girls to know she had been out of bed. She climbed under the covers with Luther settling himself at her side. He didn't burrow into her back like he usually did nor did she really want him to.
Just before she drifted off to sleep, Evelyn wondered if she hadn't met that dog before. Those eyes had felt familiar somehow.
Dawn was approaching, so the boys climbed into their respective beds after a long night with a wolfy Remus. James and Peter had nodded off almost instantly, but Sirius found sleep eluding him. His mind was too restless with thoughts of Evelyn Gray.
She was a puzzle, that girl. So indifferent and cold one moment, then alarmingly expressive the next. He'd tried to avoid her after her display of emotion in the trophy room, but tonight she'd been out there under the Whomping Willow. He'd meant to scare her and that pesky cat off, but to his utter surprise she'd approached him. She had pet him! He had only ever been on the receiving end of her frustration and fury, so for her to be so gentle towards him was a bizarre experience.
She'd smelled of mint leaves he'd noticed. The breeze played with her long, black hair and her pale skin had shone in the moonlight. Her dark eyes were bewitching and her mouth had formed her words with such elegance. It was also impossible to ignore the way her nightclothes had clung to her curves.
All these observations brought about a realization that did not sit well with Sirius.
Evelyn Gray was beautiful.
Perhaps not by conventional standards, being too tall and having such a large nose, but she was undoubtedly nice-looking. Sirius had never seen it before, or if he had, he'd not admitted it to himself. But tonight when her loveliness had been so glaringly obvious, it was now impossible to pretend he didn't find her attractive. Especially since he couldn't stop picturing her nipples poking through the material of her nightgown.
Was their dynamic founded on an unspoken attraction? Is that why they fought? She was far more passionate than she would ever let on and he had enjoyed inciting those outbursts. Had she come to this conclusion? Did she find him attractive?
He rolled over onto his side and fluffed his pillow violently. From his window, he could see the sun rising over the tops of the trees of the Forbidden Forest. He really should have been asleep since classes would be starting in a few hours.
How was he to look her in the eye and act as if nothing had changed? Things had been changing between them for some time now, if he was honest. He insulted and argued with her, but he couldn't dredge up enough derision to truly hurt her feelings or to even embarrass her anymore. He had no desire to now that he'd seen her so vulnerable. Since that instance in the trophy room, he couldn't look at her as the frigid, Slytherin cow. Now she was an unhappy and complex girl, much like Remus had described her to be.
He knew even with his mind cloudy from exhaustion, that pursuing her romantically was unwise. Their personalities were too conflicting to be in a relationship with one another. Nor was Evelyn the sort of girl who would be content with quick shag behind the stacks in the library. She was a dignified sort. Their arrogance was maybe the one thing that they had in common.
Sirius rolled onto his back and stared at the canopy. He clutched one of his pillows closely to his chest. He was so tired but he couldn't sleep with so many questions plaguing him. He didn't want to be at war with her anymore, he was sure of that. Yet, could they be allies? If so, would his attraction to her go away?
He needed to speak with her and soon. He dreaded the conversation, but it was necessary if he ever wanted to sleep again.
Reviews give me a happy! Also, if you find any mistakes, please feel free to tell me.