Thank you so much if you reviewed - sorry if it took me a long time to reply, but I was unfortunately hit by an annoying bug which meant that I wasn't really up to getting out of bed, let alone writing.

Thanks for writing them, especially happy ones - they made a not-particularly-happy weekend much better. I really do treasure each one. So thanks to - Madeline Cullen, h1001babo, Likewow5556, Arlath's Daughter, notwolf, Boo81393, awaylaughingonafastcamel, Jarka, rose-by-another-name, ShadowMoonDancer, vanillabean18, iluvwriting, AbiCullen, carcar3, Someone aka Me, and PrincessSophie21.

I'll get on with the story now, since I'm only just finishing it. Please forgive any spelling typos - I haven't had chance to check it through much, but it is actually longer than normal. Maybe being ill is good for me?

Previously: Draco held out his wand to Harry and said "Take it, go get Granger and get out. All of you, go." Then Dobby arrived, and a plan was made to get everyone out. Dobby Apparated with Eva, Luna, Dean and Ollivander, then went back for the other five. But who came back?


There were five of them, three full-sized, two smaller. Then one of the smaller figures collapsed to the ground, and the full-sized one bent over him.

"Dobby!" he cried, and Eva could recognise Harry's voice. "Help! Dobby, no, don't die! Don't die!"

She sprinted towards them, her muscles aching after such a long disuse. Harry was kneeling by Dobby, the other standing around helplessly. And Dobby…Dobby's eyes were open, unseeing. The stars in which Eva had rejoiced so recently were reflected in their inky depths.

She stumbled and came to a halt. "What happened?" she asked, in a dead voice that was completely unlike her own.

Someone began explaining, although she didn't catch most of it. The plan had gone wrong, Pettigrew had come out, he had died, they'd gone in, Bellatrix had thrown her knife…

One thing stuck in her head though. 'Malfoy went in first with Griphook." It took a while to register, Eva being unaccustomed to thinking of her brother by his last name. But when it did, she glanced up, life flooding back to her face.

"Where is he?" she asked tightly.

The others exchanged horror-struck glances at each other. Eva didn't need to be psychic to know what they meant.

"You left him behind," she supplied. "You forgot him, and left him there after he helped us."

"Well, he didn't help us that much," Ron tried to say, frightened of her anger. But Eva had changed since last summer, when she'd nearly attacked Harry for cursing Draco.

Now, it was not anger that filled her, but grief, and guilt. "I should have said everything I wanted to say," she murmured. "I should have forgiven him when I had the chance."

"You're talking like he's dead," Hermione reassured her. "I'm sure he's fine. When he went in, we made it look like we had just escaped-"

"Yes, of course. Because the Dark Lord takes betrayal lightly? Even if they don't realise that he betrayed them, he still failed. You-Know-Who might kill them all, just for that." Sunk in misery, she wandered away, back to the edge of the cliff.

Ron looked worriedly after her. "She's not going to jump, is she?" he asked in a loud whisper.

Hermione sighed. "I doubt it. She's just upset, and I can't blame her."

"But Malfoy was a git!" Ron protested.

The brunette eyed him thoughtfully. "Imagine if Percy had rescued you, then you'd left him to You-Know-Who. How would you feel?"

Ron swallowed. "Oh."

"Exactly," Hermione sighed, and she turned to look at Luna. "Should we go talk to her?" she asked uncertainly. "It's been so long since I saw her, I barely know her anymore."

Luna shook her head. "She'll be crying," the blonde said sadly. "Eva doesn't like witnesses when she cries."


It was dawn, and the sun was casting red light over Eva's hunched figure. It gilded her hair, and turned her pale skin crimson.

She gazed at them dispassionately. "Red for Gryffindor" she mused, "or red because I'm as good as a murderer."

Harry had spent the night outside too, and had dug a grave for Dobby. Now, her grief for Draco taking a back seat for a moment, she dragged herself over and looked down at the House-Elf, lying lifelessly on someone's cloak.

She sighed. "So I lose all of my childhood friends, all at once."

The others had come out now, and were gathered around Dobby.

Luna bent down to close his eyes, and Eva waited for the upwelling of tears to her own. But they never came. "I guess I'm all cried out," she thought miserably.

As Harry lowered Dobby into the grave, and the others watched, Luna spoke. "I think we ought to say something. I'll go first, shall I?"

Eva eyed her friend with gratitude as she spoke words that Dobby would have loved. The rest of them followed, with a mixture of thanks, and an emotion-choked goodbye from Harry.

Then it was her turn.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice rusty from the night. "Thank you for saving me, when I was a child and now. Thank you for being there for me. You saved my life so many times, but I guess all I can say is thank you." She managed a weak smile. "And I hope there are socks where you are now."

Luna wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Eva returned it, glad of the human contact.


As the weeks passed, they sank into a kind of routine. Harry, Ron and Hermione went off on their own for long periods of time, hiding out in their room or wandering off into the distance.

Eva knew they were planning something, but couldn't find the energy in her to care. She was too filled with grief, for what she had just lost, and relief that she hadn't died.

Dean brought them up to date with anything that had happened recently, which wasn't much. Apparently Hagrid had held a party to support Harry, and had then fled into the grounds with Grawp.

They kept up as much of a correspondence as they could with the DA, telling them that they were safe, and free. They also mentioned that Dean was there, knowing Seamus and the other seventh-years would want to find out.

The rest of the time, Luna and Eva did much as they had over the previous summer. They talked less, having said all they wanted to say in the last few months, but just walked. Eva didn't know if Luna, like her, had given up hope of seeing the outside world again, but the Ravenclaw seemed as eager as she did to explore it again and reacquaint herself with every aspect, from the dew on the grass to the rough bark of trees.

They wandered down to the beach, where Luna and Dean together taught Eva to swim as she shuddered at the cold and the salty taste of it. She'd been in the Prefects bathroom, but that was the extent of her water experience.

They collected driftwood to burn on the fire, watched the strange colours of it, and planted flowers over Dobby's grave.

One day, after Ollivander had left to go to a safe house, he sent both Luna and she another wand. Delighted to have a wand again, though she had loved her old one as a symbol of having beaten Lucius, she and Luna tested them out, sometimes lending one to Dean so that he could practise his own spells.

They often talked about what might be in them, although their curiosity stopped short of actually breaking them open to find out. Luna's was slender, and pale. It was very flexible and fit her hand like it had always been there. Plus it held up her hair far better than her old one had.

Eva's was also pretty flexible, although it was stouter and the wood wasn't pale, but a dark, rich brown. Casting spells was easier with it than ever before, and she and Luna practised their Patronuses. Eva had expected her wolf to be irritated by Luna's hare once more - but she discovered that her own Patronus had changed form.

Now, a sleek, silver dragon emerged from Eva's wand. The others looked away guiltily when they saw it, and she always felt tears prick to her eyes. Yet she couldn't stop casting it, even sometimes when she wasn't practicing, but just sitting on her own, thinking.

Finally Harry, Ron and Hermione left the cottage, Griphook at their side. Eva didn't know where they had gone, and although she was starting to become curious, she had the same reluctance to find out, because doing so would mean that the war became real again. That would break the gentle tranquillity and peace of mind she had found here, and she was unwilling to do so, though the worry in the eyes of both Bill Weasley and his wife nearly provoked her to ask.


Hope you liked it! Sorry Eva didn't go with them, like some of you thought, but I don't think they'd have wanted her to go, and she's still too upset over Dobby and Draco to have any curiosity.

Review!

Thanks for reading!

And is the plural for Patronus, Patronuses? Or Patroni?

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