DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER BUT I DO OWN MY CHARACTERS AND THEIR STORYLINES.

Evelyn shook her head as she stepped out of the castle. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned to Diana. "Where do you think she is?" She questioned her friend. "I haven't seen her in days." She bit her lip as she looked around.

"Cats are known for being independent and liking their own time." Diana reminded her as the two of them alongside Henrik and Gabriela were heading to see the final game of the season.

"She does wander off for hours, but never for days." Evelyn took a deep breath. "What if something bad happened to her?" She felt her heart start to beat fast. What if she had gotten lost in the forest? What if another animal had hurt her? Or worse, killed her? What if she had fallen from a tower?

The questions that were circling Evelyn's head made her head hurt and Diana moved to hold her hand. "You need to calm down. Sabrina is fine and after the game, you can go look for her."

Evelyn sighed. While Diana's words were assuring, it didn't make her feel calm at all. She continued to listen to her friends talk, but she didn't partake in the conversation like she always did. As they were walking towards the pitch, her eyes flickered to the Slytherin team were. She couldn't help but seek out Rabastan amongst the team.

Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed that he had been looking at her as well. She immediately turned her before their eyes could lock and entered the pitch.

"Who were you looking at?" Diana asked.

"I can give you one guess." She muttered under her breath and her friend looked behind them. Diana shuddered and patted Evelyn on the back.

When they climbed the stands, Evelyn noticed that they were a few empty seats next to Gideon and Fabian. She smiled and tilted her head towards Diana. "Eve, I-"

"Hey!" She greeted the two boys who turned to look at her. "What are you two doing?"

"Watching the game and trying not to think how we couldn't make it into the finale." Fabian deadpanned making Evelyn and Diana laugh.

"Potter is still taking it to heart," Gideon informed them.

Evelyn looked around the pitch and snorted. "Seems like he didn't even bother to show up."

"I think he might have a fragile ego." Fabian joked making Evelyn laugh. "Come on, sit with us."

She smiled and waved her hand at Gideon. "Scoot over, so I can sit next to Fabian." Gideon did so with no complaint whatsoever and Evelyn took his previous seat. Diana, on the other hand, took the one next to Fabian.

Fabian moved to whisper in her ear. "I would like to think I'm your favourite twin, but I know for a fact that it's more about you wanting my brother to sit next to Hurkle."

Evelyn chuckled. "Good inspecting skills there, Fabian." She joked and he chuckled. "But come on, they'd make a cute couple." He shook his head. "Plus, we nee another couple in our year, don't you think?"

"You haven't heard?" Evelyn frowned. "Marlene broke up with Sirius last night."

Evelyn's mouth fell open and she raised an eyebrow. "What?! How?! When?! Why?!" She knew that Marlene hadn't been happy in her relationship with Sirius, but Evelyn would have never guessed that she was planning to break up with him soon.

"It happened out of nowhere." He informed her. "We were hanging out in the common room with Marlene, Dorcas and Hestia. Pettigrew and Black entered it and they sat down next to us. Marlene was trying to talk to him, but he kept on ignoring her." Evelyn scoffed and shook her head. It wasn't much of a surprise that he did her, but it was still quite rude. "She said that she wanted to talk to him, he said that he didn't want to talk to her and she told him that she didn't want to be in relationship with him anymore."

Evelyn let out a small laugh. "Are you joking?"

"No, she said that." Evelyn chuckled and Fabian joined in her laugh. "At first, I thought she wasn't serious."

"Of course not, she's Marlene." Evelyn joked and Fabian rolled his eyes at her. "I'm sorry I had to."

"But she wasn't joking. Black thought so too, but she told him loud and clear that she didn't want to be in a relationship with him." Evelyn found the whole ordeal to be quite funny and she had to hold her laugh. She thought what Marlene did was great. Breaking up with Sirius was the best choice she could make. "He didn't expect her to do that and I don't know if he was hurt, but he didn't like breaking up."

Evelyn scoffed. "If he didn't want a breakup, he wouldn't have acted like a prat." She pointed out and Fabian shrugged. "Plus, I think that he didn't like that she broke up with him, he would have preferred if he had done it himself."

"I don't know about that," Fabian answered. "I know that it was hilarious to watch and it's going to Prewett Talk after the Easter holidays."

Evelyn nodded, but her mind went to Marlene. She wondered how her best friend was feeling. She couldn't see her anywhere her Gryffindor friends. She had fancied Sirius a lot and had been disappointed by her relationship with him. She wished that her friend would get to meet a great boy who would never hurt or disappoint her.

"Did she look okay to you?"

Fabian furrowed his eyebrows. "She looked alright this morning, she didn't seem upset about it and neither did Black. No one expects the first relationships to work out."

"Who says that?" Evelyn asked as her mind drifted to Rabastan. If she ever entered a relationship with him, he would be her first boyfriend and she hoped that he would be her last.

"I don't know why, but that's what people say." He responded to Evelyn who nodded her head. "But as my sister has been only with her husband according to my mum and they have two kids now. She says they're the exception, not the rule."

Evelyn bit her lip and let out a sigh. "I guess it depends on the person." She told Fabian.

"I guess." He was about to say something, but he was cut off from his brother and Diana laughing. The two of them glanced at Diana and Gideon. "Seems like we can be right about the next couple."

Evelyn noticed the red tint on Gideon's cheeks and Diana's sweet smile that she was sure was only reserved for Gideon. "We might be right."

"We should start a business. Bringing people together in relationships." Fabian suggested making Evelyn laugh.

She clapped her hands. "We'll get Carter too. He sometimes can pair up people." She thought of Flitwick and Sprout.

"And other times?"

Evelyn flinched when she remembered his jokes about Sirius fancying her. "He can suck sometimes too."

"I guess we can't have it all," Fabian commented and she hummed in agreement.

"Welcome everybody to the final game of this season." Edrick began to say and everyone turned their attention to him. "This game will determine the winner of the Quidditch cup for this year." She crossed her fingers and hoped that Ravenclaw would win. "The game is between Ravenclaw and Slytherin and according to many predictions, the end of the game will resemble Mexico's flag." Evelyn frowned at what her best friend said. "With an eagle eating a serpent."

Most of the pitch started to laugh and Evelyn joined them too. She could see the unamused faces of many Slytherins in the stands though. From the spot, she could see McGonagall berate Edrick.

"I'm speaking nothing but the truth, professor!"

"He's getting better every day," Gideon commented and Evelyn nodded. She knew that Edrick was going to make the game enjoyable even if Ravenclaw didn't win.

It hadn't been much of a surprise that Ravenclaw had won. Having Christina in the game was quite the advantage and even though Regulus Black was better than Cain, he was nowhere compared to her friend. While the rest of the house was celebrating the cup and the last game of many players, including Edgar Bones, Evelyn headed out of it. Her mind kept going to her missing cat and she couldn't standstill. As she descended the stairs, she saw Marlene waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"Fabian said you wanted to meet me," Marlene spoke up. "What's up?"

"He told me you broke up with Sirius." She responded. "I didn't know you were planning to."

Marlene ran a hand through her hair. "I wasn't planning to. I was trying to talk to him about us, he didn't want to and was being a massive git, so I ended our relationship." She explained to Evelyn. "I wasn't going to let that immature and childish boy upset me any longer."

Evelyn put her hand on her shoulder and smiled at Marlene. "You did well by breaking up with him. You can do so much better."

"I learned an important lesson too." She tilted her head. "Beauty isn't everything."

She laughed at Marlene and nudged her. Her friend joined in her laugh. "Yeah, we also have proof to prove that to people."

"Yes, if they ask, we'll just let them meet Sirius," Marlene added. "They'll be convinced."

Evelyn looked at her friend. She couldn't see any hint of sadness on her, but she knew she had to ask. "Are you doing okay?"

Marlene hummed. "I didn't expect to feel this great, but I am. I don't have to worry why he's not talking to me, why he's ignoring me and why I always reach out to him and he never does to him." Evelyn squeezed her shoulder. "But I'm forgetting that and focusing on the good things."

"What good things?" Evelyn questioned.

"There is plenty of fish in the sea, Eve." She said and Evelyn started to laugh. "And I'm no blind woman."

"Is there anyone who you got your eyes on?" Evelyn wondered, her eyebrows raising.

"No." She responded. "I need to remember that." She pressed her lips together. "Why aren't you celebrating your house winning the cup?"

"I can't find Sabrina and since I'm going home tomorrow, I need to find her today," Evelyn responded to her. "You want to come and look for her with me?"

"Sure," Marlene answered. "What are you doing this holiday?"

"Don is coming to stay for the whole holiday," Evelyn responded as a smile spread on her lips. "So, I'm spending most of it with him and mum. How about you?"

"Should have figured it out. Your whole aura screams radiant joy, unicorns and rainbows." Marlene mumbled and Evelyn stuck her tongue out. "Same old for me. I didn't want to go home and preferred to stay in Hogwarts, but mum wanted to see me."

"You can drop by one day at my house," Evelyn suggested. "I wouldn't mind at all."

Marlene smiled. "Yeah, we'll see about that." The two of them started to descend the stairs to the sixth floor when they saw four boys head up. Evelyn scowled at realizing who the boys were and knew this wasn't going to go well.

"Maybe we should check the Ravenclaw tower again." She suggested.

"No, we're going this way." Marlene insisted and Evelyn had a good hunch that it was going to get ugly. As soon as Sirius caught sight of them, he whistled.

"Look, who's there, boys!" He exclaimed. "Marlene McKinnon, my ex-girlfriend."

"Look, Eve. It's that old boyfriend of mine," Marlene snapped her fingers and Evelyn frowned. "Merlin, his name is lost on me, I just know it rhymes with idiot."

Evelyn wasn't the only one that ended up laughing with her joke. Remus and James started to laugh to while Peter only glanced to Sirius whose grey eyes were flashing. He opened his mouth to say something, but Evelyn didn't let him speak. She was afraid that whatever he would say would hurt Marlene.

"Have you four seen a black cat?" She asked them and Sirius' eyes snapped on her direction. "I've been looking for my cat for days and I can't find her."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Don't you think we have better things to do?"

Evelyn blinked at his tone and scoffed. She was about to respond, but Marlene didn't let her. "She was only asking you a question, you prat. No need to be rude to her." She crossed her arms and huffed. "And we all know you don't have better things to do, especially since you consider pranking Snape as a hobby."

Sirius took a step forward and looked Marlene in the eyes. Her friend held his gaze. "You know I thought you were cool, but actually, you were just as uptight as Evans."

"Being a decent person doesn't mean that you're uptight." Marlene snapped at him and lifted her chin. Evelyn shared a look with Remus who only shook his head in response.

"If you were a decent person, you should have known I didn't want to talk to you at the moment," Sirius told her and Evelyn rolled her eyes at him. "But you don't have patience."

"And you don't have a bloody heart," Marlene stated and again, Evelyn saw Sirius's eyes flash.

She moved between him and her best friends making them look away from each other. "This needs to stop." She told them and they turned their attention to each other. "Stop bickering because you're both coming across as immature."

"I'm not acting immature-" Sirius began, but Evelyn shushed him.

"I don't want to hear you talk right now." She told him and he scoffed at her.

Peter snorted. "You didn't tell him what to do."

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "I can when he was going to insult one of my best friends." She responded to him and turned to the others. "We're splitting up to look for my cat."

"What?!" Sirius exclaimed. "I didn't agree with that."

She tilted her head and shrugged. "I want to talk to you." He frowned at her. "Which leads to you coming with me." She turned to the others. "Remus, can you go with Marlene and check on the sixth floor?" He nodded. "Thanks." After him, she turned to James and Peter. "You two can do whatever you want."

James saluted her. "Yes, sir."

She rolled her eyes and descended the stairs. She noticed that Sirius wasn't following her behind. "Are you coming or not?" She turned and her blue eyes met his grey ones. It seemed like he was studying for a few second and deciding if she should come. "I don't bite." She teased him.

Sirius scoffed, but he started to follow her behind. When they stepped on the fifth floor and when she was sure the others were far away, she decided to talk.

The problem was that he didn't let her. "Why are you so annoying?"

"Some say genetics, others say it was the environment." She responded and she heard him snort. "How about you?"

"I'm not annoying." Sirius defended himself.

Evelyn nodded. "I agree. Obnoxious is the better term to describe you."

"Why do you hate me so much, Lynn?" Sirius asked her making Evelyn stop in her tracks and turn to him. "What did I do to you?"

"I don't hate you, Sirius." He looked away from her and she furrowed her eyebrows. "You irritate me, especially with how you treated my best friend."

"Didn't she tell you how she broke up with me?" Sirius responded. "She humiliated me in front of the whole common room."

"Because you ignored her, Sirius." She snapped at him. "You have been treating her horribly and she's your girlfriend. First of all, you shouldn't be treating anyone like that, especially your girlfriend."

Sirius pushed his hair out of his forehead. "It's not my fault that she didn't understand that my friends are more important than her."

"Marlene is my friend and as her friend, I know her friends are her priority as well." She informed him and he curled his lips. "Stop making excuses and admit that you were wrong."

"How did she expect me to treat her? I'm fourteen for Godric's sword!" He exclaimed to her. "Did she expect me to kneel and ask her to marry me?"

She shook her head. "No, she expected you to treat her with respect." Sirius snorted. "If you find that a lot to do, maybe Marlene was right about you not having a heart." Again, she saw his eyes flash and she knew he was going to say something.

"Who do you think you are to lecture me?" Sirius snapped at her. "You don't have any right to tell me what to do and how to act."

"I have a right to give you the advice to stop being such a prat and admit you weren't a good boyfriend." She told him. "If you take my advice to heart, that's your choice and I'm not forcing you to make it." She turned her back on him. She couldn't blame Marlene for breaking up with him. Sirius Black was handsome, funny and popular, but she was doubting that he had other good qualities. She hoped that whoever was the other girl to date him wouldn't be treated like Marlene was.

"I'm not immature though." He spoke up after a few seconds.

Evelyn laughed. "You are. Childish too." She commented. "Enough so that I think you and my seven-year-old brother would be good friends."

"You have quite the tongue there, Lynn." She ignored his comment and continued to search for her cat. "Does Lestrange like it?"

Evelyn's body went still and she took a few deep breaths. She felt her hands shake and she squeezed her eyes shut. "What are you talking about?"

Sirius took a few steps towards and two seconds later, he was in front of her. It was the first time she noticed that Sirius was the same height as her. "You and Lestrange, the star-struck lovers."

"You're mistaken, that's me and Romeo." She told him and called for her cat.

"Sure, Lynn." Sirius drawled. "A piece of advice, though. If you think I'm bad, Lestrange is ten times worse."

Evelyn bit her lip. "I never said you were bad, you just need to grow up." She responded to him. "Also, I like to make opinions about people on my own."

Sirius raised his hands in surrender. "I was only offering you a piece of advice. It's your choice to take to heart." He threw her words at her and she glared at him.

What if he's right?

A voice spoke from her head and she pushed it away. She didn't need pessimism when it came to this subject. The reality was harsh enough to deal with.

"Eve!" She heard Marlene call behind her and she turned her head. Her shoulder dropped and she let out a sigh of relief when she saw that she was holding Sabrina. Evelyn ran towards her cat and she picked her up.

"Oh, Brina!" She muttered. "Where were you?" She kissed the top of her cat's head who purred.

"She was roaming the corridors with this tied on her legs," Marlene revealed a small roll of parchment and Evelyn frowned. "I didn't read it by the way."

"Took all the fun out of it," James commented as Marlene handed her the note.

Evelyn opened it, curious to see. Her heart skipped a beat when she read it. Meet me in the Owlery tomorrow before breakfast. R.L.

She showed it to Marlene who read it as well.

"I think I can guess who wrote that with one try." Sirius quipped, but Evelyn ignored him. Her mind immediately went to Rabastan and why he wanted to meet up with her.

Evelyn had spent the whole night thinking if she should meet Rabastan or not. In the end, she had decided to do. She thought it would be rude if she said no and she could go get Caterpillar in the owlery. She woke up early in the morning while the other girls and Sabrina were sleeping. She put on her clothes, combed her hair and picked up Caterpillar's cage. After that, she headed to the owlery.

As she walked towards it, she tried to think of something else rather than Rabastan. Her mind drifted to her mother and the fact that she hadn't responded to her letter about Elena. Caterpillar had returned empty and she had been disappointed. She knew that the subject of the Sinclair family was sensitive to her mother, but she wanted to help Elena. There was something odd with her cousin. The information on muggle books had been small and she still didn't even know if Elena was suffering through an eating disorder.

Soon, Evelyn found herself climbing up the stairs of the owlery. She forgot all about her cousin and her mind was focused on Rabastan. She had no idea what he wanted with her and she was curious to know.

She caught sight of him as soon as she entered the owlery. He was looking through the window, towards the horizon. He was leaning against the wall and from his hunched shoulders, she could see that he was in deep thoughts. She gathered herself and cleared her throat.

At the sound of it, Rabastan turned to her and his eyes landed on her. She felt her breath get caught in her throat and her stomach stir. Just the sight of him made her feel all tingly inside.

"I'm here." She stated the obvious. "Why did you want to see me?"

"I guess it's about time we had a proper talk." He told her and Evelyn frowned. "About everything."

Evelyn sighed. "We don't have the time for a proper talk, Rabastan." She pointed out. "The train leaves as soon as we eat breakfast is over."

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry." He told her and she crossed her arms. It seemed like he wasn't going to listen to her words. "About everything that I did." She didn't say anything, she only looked at him. "You need to understand that I'm putting up an act for now."

"What do you mean for now?" She asked him.

Rabastan took a step towards her and Evelyn noticed that he was holding a book. She wondered what he was reading. "I'm not going to stick with my parents for long, Evelyn. I'm going to leave them, I thought I made it clear to you."

"How am I supposed to know that?" She asked him. "All you do is sit and let your friends behave as they do."

"I can't stop them." He reminded her.

She shook her head. "We all know they follow you." She told him before taking a step forward. "How about you act like a good leader?"

"I have to play that role because that's what my family wants." He explained to her and she huffed. "If I don't do this, I don't know what they'll do to me." His voice cracked and Evelyn froze. He stayed silent for a while and didn't dare to meet her eyes.

Evelyn looked at him and cursed under her breath. She didn't understand his family, his world and their ways. She didn't understand why he had to act a certain way and she needed to do that. He was some sort of a friend to her and she knew that one day that she would want more.

"I'm sorry." She muttered. Rabastan looked up to her and kept his eyes on her. "I'm being too harsh."

"Apology accepted." He told her and she nodded. "I can't defy my family right now as much as I want to, but I want you to know that I don't think as they do." His jaw twitched as he spoke. He took a step towards her. "It's important for me that you know that."

She noticed that he was only a few inches far from her and she couldn't help but blush at that. "I know that." She assured him and gave him a small smile. "I do." He returned the smile and her heart skipped. Her eyes glanced at the book he was holding. "You like Mark Twain?"

He frowned and looked back at the book he was holding. "Yes. Why wouldn't I like it?"

"I thought you would hate wizards writing books about muggles as he did." She pointed out to him. "Plus, they're not very common in here as they are across the pound."

"It used to be my sister's favourite book." He told her.

Evelyn was sure that he never mentioned a sister. "You have a sister?"

"Had one." He told her and he sniffed. She blinked a few times and breathed out. "She died when I was five. I don't remember much of her, but I know that she loved this book."

"I'm sorry," Evelyn said softly.

Rabastan shook his head. "It's okay, it happened a long time ago." He told her. "I wanted to give it to you." She looked down and saw it was the one about Huckleberry Finn.

"I never read this one." She informed him. "Only the one about Tom Sawyer."

He smiled at her. "It's my favourite and it used to be Rianna's too."

"That's a beautiful name." She whispered as he handed her the book. "How did she die?"

Rabastan shuddered. "Black Cat Flu. She was always weak, but that's why she couldn't resist it." She saw him gulp down, so she put her hand on his arm. "According to my mother, she was always fascinated by muggles. That's why I wanted to know more about it, to be closer to her."

Evelyn could feel herself close to tears and she squeezed his arm. "I'm glad that I could help you with that."

"You've been helping me a lot for years." He told her and she smiled. "You have no idea how much you matter to me." Her heart skipped a beat and she gave him a big smile.

"You mean a lot to me too, Rabastan." She assured him. Their eyes met and she was sure that he had moved closer to her. After all, their noses were almost touching. She felt her heart drum in her ears and her hands started to sweat. She wanted to kiss him, but she knew she shouldn't. Not now.

She turned her head and took a step away from him. "I'm sorry." She muttered. "I can't."

"Why not?" Rabastan asked.

Evelyn sighed. "Not right now." She responded to him. "I don't want to be with you right now. There a few things I need to figure out." She had a lot on her plate when she included her grades, the club, helping Elena, the fact that she could speak to snakes and she still had to decide if she was going to tell Don or not.

"I guess you're right." He muttered. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you when you're ready."

Evelyn smiled at him. "Thank you for understanding." She brought her book to her chest and sighed. "I guess I know what I'm reading this holiday."

"You'll like it." He assured her. "I know you'll do. I can't wait for you to come back and tell me what you think about it. I'll have something to look up to."

"Are you going back home too?"

Rabastan nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

She moved her hand to hold his and he looked down to it. "It gets better, Rabastan. It all gets better in the end."

The truth was that it wasn't going to get better. Not just for him, but for her and everyone around.

Evelyn sat in the compartment alongside Christina, Diana, Gabriela and Edrick. Henrik and Carter had chosen to stay in Hogwarts. Evelyn suspected that the reason Henrik had stayed was only to comfort Carter. She was sure that something was going on with him but he wasn't opening about it to her. She was glad that he had Henrik and Edrick there for him.

"Can you believe than in two months and a half we will be finishing out our third year?" Edrick asked as he ran a hand through his auburn hair. "Time surely flies."

"You can say that out loud. I remember when Gabby here," Christina pointed to Gabriela. "couldn't even speak two words without being all shy. Now, look at her making friends from other houses to."

Gabriela blushed at Christina's words. "Shut up, Chris!"

"I was pointing out the facts. No need to get your wand in a knot." Gabriela rolled her brown eyes at the kitsune. "What do the fourth years do?"

"Nothing interesting," Evelyn spoke as she moved to look at her friends.

"It's when the dating starts," Edrick added with a smirk making all the girls look at him.

"Didn't the dating start this year with Marlene and Sirius?" Diana asked but Edrick shook his head.

"One couple doesn't start it. More couples should start it. I think in the fourth year, I will have a chance with Jenna." The four girls snorted at his words.

"There is more chance of hell freezing over than you getting with Jenna O'Malley." Diana pointed out and all the girls hummed in agreement.

"You will all see. You will all see." Edrick muttered as he leaned back. His face was formed in brooding lines.

"You're scaring me now, Ed," Christina informed him and he turned to look at her.

"That wasn't my intention but I'm glad that someone can scare you." Christina stuck her tongue out to him but he only gave her one bitter smile.

The train started to slow down and Evelyn rose from her seat immediately. They were here. Her mother and Don were outside.

"Calm down, Eve. I promise you will get to see them." Gabriela told her but Evelyn ran away as soon as the train stopped.

When the door opened, the first thing she did was look for her trunk and two cages. After she got them with the help of nobody, she was ready to find them.

She spotted her mother first. She was standing there talking to another woman who was short and frail. "Mum," Evelyn called. Rose Sinclair turned to look at her daughter who was rushing with her trunk.

As soon as she was close enough to her mother, Evelyn let go of the trunk and jumped in her mother's embrace. "I missed you, mum."

"I missed you too, my sunshine." Her mother whispered as she kissed Evelyn's cheek. Evelyn pulled away and her mother touched Evelyn's hair which was cut off. "I have to admit that I love this hairstyle."

"All thanks to Dee," Evelyn told her mother as her mother ran her right hand through her hair.

"As much as I love mother and daughter reunions, I want to get hugged too." Don's voice was heard behind from Rose.

Evelyn passed her mother to look at the friend who hadn't changed that much. She squealed and jumped in his arms too. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him "I missed you, Eve."

"I missed you too, Don," Evelyn admitted.

Some people called home, the house where they live. Others call Hogwarts their home. Some call their significant other their home but Evelyn Sinclair King knew what was home to her. Her home was her mother and Don. As long as she had them around her, she was happy and home.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really enjoyed writing it, especially Evelyn's interaction with a certain someone ;). Please, tell me what you think of it in the reviews and thank you for following and favouriting the story.