Sirius's mood was black. He sat by the side of Evie's bed, smoothing loose hair off her forehead as she slept. Although she seemed peaceful now, she had been tossing and turning violently until only a few minutes ago. He would have liked to ask Dumbledore whether this was a normal side effect of the potion, but the headmaster had already left. Albus had a school to run, students to care for; it didn't matter to him what happened to Evie at Grimmauld Place.

As a quiet moan escaped Evie's lips, Sirius found that he had to quickly withdraw his hand to clench it into a trembling fist. He was furious with Dumbledore. If it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to stay and watch over Evie until she woke, he would apparate to Hogwarts and confront the headmaster, consequences be damned. That would have to wait until later, until he was certain that the potion hadn't caused any lasting damage.

A gentle tapping roused Sirius from his extremely satisfying thoughts of screaming at Dumbledore. Glancing over his shoulder, Sirius found Remus leaning against the doorframe. When he motioned for Sirius to come to him, Sirius began to ask why but Remus quickly shook his head, pressing a finger against his lips and then pointing to Evie, indicating that he didn't want to wake her. Reluctantly Sirius got to his feet. "What is it?" he asked the moment they were in the corridor and the door was shut.

"I need to talk to you," Remus replied in a whisper. "Come to the kitchen where we can speak freely."

"I don't want to leave her. She could wake any minute."

"It won't take long and it's important. Please," pleaded Remus. Sirius glanced at the shut door, then back at his friend's worried face and found himself nodding. They descended the stairs as quickly as they could whilst avoiding so many creaky steps and hurried into the kitchen. The instant that the door was shut Remus said, "I'm worried about Evie."

Sirius sighed. "We're all worried about Evie. Well, with the exception of Dumbledore," he added bitterly. "You'd think he didn't care about her at all, the way he - "

"And that is precisely what I need to talk to you about," interrupted Remus. "You're not helping Evie when you do that."

"Do what?" asked Sirius, frowning.

"Getting angry all of the time. Every time you lose your temper Evie is the one who ends up getting hurt." Sirius snorted in disbelief, but Remus ploughed on. "Think about it, Sirius," he said gravely. "Think about how disappointed and upset she was after you lost your temper and cursed Fred. And it was the fight that you got into with Severus that led to her losing control. Not to mention the fact that you let your anger with Dumbledore cloud your judgement to such an extent that you turned Evie's decision about her power into some sort of competition."

Sirius opened his mouth to argue but found that he had nothing to defend himself with. When he really thought about it, as Remus had requested, his inability to control his temper had caused Evie pain. He would never forget the disappointment in her eyes after he had cursed Fred, and if he hadn't gotten into that fight with Snape she might never have felt the need to get rid of her power. "Alright," he grumbled finally. "I'll try and stay calm in the future. But that doesn't mean that I have to like some of Dumbledore's methods, or that I'm suddenly bosom friends with Snape."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I know not to ask for miracles. Now," he pushed Sirius gently towards the table, where a sandwich waited. "You will eat before returning to Evie. You don't want to be confined to your sickbed when she's well enough to leave hers."

Severus had entered Grimmauld Place numerous times unannounced, but never before had it made him feel guilty. There were two reasons why he felt like he was doing something illicit on this occasion. Firstly, the last time he had visited this house he had become entangled in a fight which had left both himself and Evie unconscious. Secondly, his feelings for Evie weren't entirely as a teacher's should be for a student. They weren't, as Black had accused him of, romantic. It was only that he saw so much of Lily in her, and that comforted him even as it opened old wounds.

He made his way quickly and quietly up the stairs, silently thanking his luck that the kitchen door was closed and Black and Lupin's voices were behind it. That should give him at least a couple of minutes in which to talk to Evie without Black's interference. Thankfully, he already knew which room belonged to Evie and so he wasn't forced to waste precious time searching for it. When he arrived there he found her sitting up in bed and blinking blearily, as if she had just woken. "Professor!" she croaked in surprise as he walked through the door.

He winced at the volume of her voice, grateful that it wouldn't carry to where Black and Lupin sat several floors below. "Good evening, Evie," he said quietly. "I hope my visit hasn't come at an inconvenient time."

"Not at all," she said, although the paleness of her complexion and general state of dishevelment betrayed this as a lie. She paused for a moment before gushing, "I'm so sorry, Professor. What I did to you the other day was unforgivable. I didn't mean to do it, but that's no excuse, I should have had better control. I should have-"

Severus held up his hand for silence and Evie obeyed immediately, watching him with worried eyes. "There is no need to apologise," he said slowly. "In fact, I should be the one asking forgiveness. My behaviour," he said, raising his tone to be heard over Evie's protests, "was inexcusable. Losing my temper with Bl – Sirius, that is understandable. The man would test the patient of saint. But I should not have taken my anger out on you."

She shook her head rapidly. "No, professor, please don't blame yourself. I-"

"I am afraid that on this matter we must agree to disagree," he interrupted. "My time here is limited and I would prefer to leave before anyone becomes aware of my presence." He took a deep, calming breath before asking the question that he needed to ask, the question that had been eating at him since Dumbledore had informed him of Evie's decision. "Dumbledore tells me that you have elected to strip yourself of your power. I have to know: did you choose to do so because of the consequences of our confrontation?"

"No." When Severus raised his eyebrows, she admitted, "Well, not completely. That did have something to do with it, but that was only part of the reason for my decision." Here she smiled sadly. "I'm running out of family, Professor. Even the happiest of families drive each other crazy at times, and God knows Sirius drives me round the bend sometimes. I can't afford to lose my temper and hurt someone I love if I get into a fight with Sirius or Harry or Remus over something small and stupid."

"Your power could have been great," Severus pointed out gently.

"Could have been," said Evie. "There's no point in speculating about what might have happened now. I made my decision."

Severus wanted to tell her that he would have continued to teach her had she chosen differently, that he was sorry, that to make that difficult decision had taken a lot of courage, but he heard footsteps approaching and voices floating up the stairs. "I must leave," he muttered hurriedly, and Evie nodded her agreement. "I am going to disillusion myself to avoid another confrontation."

Tapping his wand against the top of his head, Severus felt the familiar coolness trickle down the back of his neck. As soon as he was disillusioned completely he hurried towards the door, only to find his way blocked by Black and Lupin. A quick glance at Evie's relaxed posture told him that she thought he had left the room. At least her nervousness wouldn't give his presence away; he would just have to wait as silently as possible until the way was clear. However, while Black hurried to Evie with an expression of almost sickening happiness on his face, Lupin remained firmly in place.

"Evie!" cried Sirius. "You're awake!" He grabbed a chair and pulled it to her bedside, where he took one of her hands and squeezed it gently with his own. Severus disliked the gesture; it was too intimate. But he knew little about intimacy between friends, and he assumed that Lupin would comment if it was in any way inappropriate.

"How are you feeling?" asked Remus from the doorway.

Evie pulled a face. "Not wonderful. But I suppose it could be worse."

"Dumbledore said that the weakness would only be temporary. You'll be on your feet again in a couple of days," he said encouragingly. "I'll leave you two on your own for a bit while I make you something to eat." Waving away her thanks, he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Severus cursed silently; now he would have to wait until the next time someone opened the door before he could leave.

"We were so worried about you," murmured Sirius. "I was so worried about you."

She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It wasn't fun, but the worst is over. Just don't expect me to burst into spontaneous bouts of tap dancing any time soon."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter and shook his head. "I'm supposed to be the one trying to make you feel better," he protested. He began to lean in towards her, stopped suddenly and pulled back. "Are you well enough?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"I don't think it would hinder my recovery, do you?"

"I don't know." The corners of his lips twitched as he spoke. "An increased heart rate might be dangerous in your condition."

Evie gaped. "Don't flatter yourself!" Although she sounded outraged her shoulders shook with suppressed laughter, which died away quickly as Sirius took her face gently between his hands. He lowered his face until it was mere millimetres away from hers.

"Are you really telling me that I don't make your heart beat faster?" he purred seductively, his eyes smouldering.

"Well," she breathed against his lips. "Perhaps just a little bit."

Sirius's flashed a wolfish grin. "Good," he said, and eased his lips over hers carefully at first, as if really afraid of hurting her despite his teasing, and growing in intensity as the seconds passed.

Before he realised what he was doing, Severus's hand was reaching for his wand.