The day before going back to school for yet another year. Eva couldn't be more miserable.
Over the summer, she hadn't done much if she was honest. Hermione had gone on holiday to France, and the Weasleys to Egypt, but the Infernums had what her father insisted on calling a "staycation". It mostly involved sitting around in the rainy British summertime and failing to host barbeques since the weather often ruined plans.
During the holidays, Eva had gotten her hair cut since it was always getting caught in things due to its length. Now, her curly crimson hair was cropped to her shoulders and trimmed to frame her small, pixie-like face. She hadn't grown any taller though, and she began to wonder if she'd remain 4'10" for the rest of her life.
When Eva arrived at the Leaky Cauldron with Hermione on the day they were to leave for Hogwarts, they also met up with the Weasleys for the first time all summer. Eva had accompanied Hermione to Magical Menagerie to buy Crookshanks, her ginger cat, a few days before, but Ron couldn't have despised the feline more.
"I'm warning you Hermione," Ron yelled, holding his rat, Scabbers, close to him. "Keep that bloody beast of yours away from Scabbers, or I'll turn it into a tea cosy!"
"It's a cat, Ronald, what do you expect?" Hermione argued. "It's in his nature!"
While the pair argued, Eva sat back out of the action with Fred and George, the pair she considered her triplets at this point. They continued their game of Exploding Snap at the end of the table while drinking down pumpkin juice.
"Whose pet do you think is going to meet its end first?" Eva asked them as she sipped her pumpkin juice through a straw.
George glanced over and placed another card down on the table. "4 galleons on Scabbers."
Fred nodded with a smirk. "Deal."
Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were still arguing. "Cat? Is that what they told you? Looks more like a pig with hair if you ask me!"
"That's rich, coming from the owner of that smelly old shoe brush!" Hermione shouted. Crookshanks meowed. "That's right, Crookshanks, just ignore the mean little boy," she cooed at the fur ball.
Ron then glanced up at the stairs and his face seemed to light up. "Harry!"
Hermione then also spun around, holding Crookshanks gently. "Oh, Harry!" she gasped.
"Yoo-hoo, glasses!" Eva waved ridiculously from the other end of the room, catching Harry's attention as well as pretty much everyone else's. "Nice to have you back, dude."
Harry didn't seem to even recognise her for a moment. "Eva, your hair, it's . . ."
"Shorter?" Eva fluffed it up and down by her shoulders with a smug smile and slurped some pumpkin juice through her straw. "Hadn't noticed."
Eva sat beside Hermione, both girls cuddling her pig-faced ginger cat, while Ron went on and on about his holiday to Egypt. Harry had a copy of the Daily Prophet with an article titled "Prize Winner Visits Egypt!" in front of him.
"Egypt," Harry breathed in wonder, "what's it like?"
Eva rolled her eyes. "Here we go . . ."
"Brilliant," Ron replied eagerly, "loads of old stuff like mummies, tombs . . . even Scabbers enjoyed himself."
"You know the Egyptians used to worship cats?" Hermione taunted with an eyebrow raised.
Ron scoffed. "Yeah, along with the dung beetle."
Fred and George both returned from upstairs with their school supplies. "Not flashing that clipping about again are you, Ron?" Fred teased.
"I haven't shown anyone," Ron grumbled as Fred snatched the newspaper from the table.
"No, not a soul," George said sarcastically, "not unless you count Tom."
"The day maid," Fred added.
"The night maid."
"The cook."
"That bloke who came to fix the toilet."
"And that wizard from Belgium," Fred concluded as they both sat either side of Eva. "How many times has he shown you then, redhead?"
Eva paused for a moment. "7, I think. Seriously though, Ron, as cool as it is that you went to Egypt, holidays are one of those things where you mention it once, everyone says how fun it must've been, and life moves on," she laughed.
"Ah, but look at this photo though." George pointed to the photograph printed in the paper. "Can't remember a time I ever looked more handsome."
"I'm still more handsome than you though," Fred countered.
"Guys," Eva held her hands up in front of them before they went into a long argument about who was the more handsome twin, "didn't we agree last time that you're both hot as fu-"
"Eva," Molly snapped, "what was that you were about to say?"
"F . . ." the 'f' dragged out for a while, ". . . flip?"
Molly smiled. "That's the spirit."
"Exactly," Eva turned back to the twins, "but either way, these little . . . what is that on your heads by the way? I don't even know what you'd call that."
"Oh, I thought you were going to complement us on our matching tunics," George joked. "The clothing was all mum's idea, to get us into the whole 'experience'."
"Next time, smuggle me to Egypt with you. What I would've done to see you lot in those outfits," Eva laughed.
On the Hogwarts Express, Eva, Fred, and George had managed to find a compartment completely to themselves. Unlike every other year they'd made this journey, this year the weather was horrendous, miserable droplets of rain trickling down the steam-covered glass.
Eva sat in the corner beside Fred with George sat opposite. Since it was so chilly, she pulled her grey hoodie tighter around herself and slipped her white Converse shoes off to tuck her legs underneath herself. All the twins needed to do was pull the sleeves of their knitted jumpers further down.
"What electives did you choose for this year?" George asked Eva.
"Uh," Eva stared out of the window, "Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. No idea what went through my head to think those were good options, my Care of Magical Creatures book has already tried to kill me once."
"Ah, we took Care of Magical Creatures once," George reminisced, "didn't we, Fred?"
"Sure did, George," Fred grinned, "what a ball that was. Though Divination, you must be pretty crazy to choose that."
"Why?" Eva asked.
"Your professor is Professor Trelawney," Fred told her.
Eva glanced upwards in thought. "Isn't that that crazy teacher who wears glasses so big that her eyes look massive? She's always walking around being scary but not in a creepy kind of way, that's just how she is?"
George nodded once as he pulled out a pack of Exploding Snap cards from the pocket of his jeans along with his wand. "Sure is. And now you have her for years to come."
The trio spent the next few hours playing game after game of Exploding Snap. So far, it had exploded several times, but surprisingly not too badly or loudly. The rain was now hammering down outside, streaming sideways across the window, and every once in a while the sky would rumble with thunder or flash bright with lightning.
"This weather, eh?" Eva mused as she stared out of the window.
The train suddenly squeaked to a stop, causing the wheels to grind loudly against the iron tracks. The carriage was wobbling slightly, but the sky outside was still as dark and gloomy as always.
"Where are we?" George asked as he stared out of the window with her.
Fred peered his head over Eva's like a meerkat. "Hogwarts?" he suggested hopefully.
"Not Hogwarts, you idiot." Eva playfully slapped him. "No, I really have no idea. Maybe we broke down or something got blown onto the tracks?"
George shrugged and pulled open the sliding glass door to the corridor. He stuck his head out and peered from side to side. "I don't see anyth-"
Suddenly, the entire train shook violently, sending George flying backwards so that he landed on top of Fred and Eva. The sliding door closed itself once more as George climbed his way back up again.
Eva shoved him lightly. "Get off me, you big oaf," she laughed.
That was when the lights turned out. George sat back down where he had been previously, examining the sights out of the window. The stormy countryside hadn't changed a bit. They'd completely stopped now.
"I think I see something," Eva wondered with her face pressed up against the foggy glass, "I definitely see something."
The lights flickered back on again for only a moment before permanently shutting off without so much as a glimpse of light. After a few moments in confused silence and complete darkness, the unmoving train shook forwards and backwards, as if someone, or maybe something, had joined them
Fred gazed around them slowly. "What on earth . . .?"
The door to their compartment was suddenly pulled open without warning. In the doorway was a figure, panting heavily and whimpering with a completely terrified expression on his face. He dived into the compartment beside George and slammed the door closed behind him.
Eva tried to examine his face closely and gasped when she realised. ". . . Malfoy?"
Malfoy barely reacted to her. "T-t-t-there are d-d-d-d-dementors, d-d-dementors!"
George, who had been trying to shove off Malfoy, froze up completely. "Dementors? Did you just say Dementors?"
The glass then began to freeze up, a thick layer of ice blue frost coating the windows. It began in the corners and swept from one side to the other like a blanket. Eva opened her mouth to ask but she was just about able to see Fred beside her with one finger over his lips, signalling for her to stay quiet.
Eva was now seriously regretting wearing a cropped top, since her stomach was freezing. She pulled her hoodie even tighter over herself and stowed her hands into her pockets. Their breaths, Malfoy's considerably more erratic, became visible steam in the air.
Suddenly, the train shook once again violently. Eva and Fred edged further into the corner, all four of them as far away from the door as possible. She didn't know what Dementors were, but at this rate, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to ever know.
A black-cloaked figure began to sweep past the door. No face was visible, almost as if they were a ghost covered by a dark veil. Blackened, torn-up fabric billowed from it as it glided through the corridor. Eva gripped Fred's hand with her right and George's with her left, her eyes wide with terror.
Without touching the door handle, their door slid open, and facing them was the completely faceless creature. The only sound that came from the group were Malfoy's whimpers of fear and Fred, George, and Eva's breathing.
The Dementor leaned its head in and glanced from side to side through the carriage, as if looking for something specific.
That was when, to Eva's shock, Hecate stepped out from beside her, as if she'd been hiding there the entire time, and walked confidently up to the creature. Once face to face, similarly to how Harry had communicated in parseltongue with snakes, Hecate made some type of inhuman sound. It didn't sound like hissing, but instead a faint yet strained growling.
Hecate tilted her head to the side pointedly once, and that seemed to be all the confirmation it needed. As if nothing had happened, it retreated backwards and continued to glide along the corridor in the same direction.
Once it was well and truly gone, she closed the sliding door, turned to the horror-stricken humans, and smiled. "Well, that was quite the adventure for today."
Eva's mouth moved but no sound came out. "H-h-how?"
"A Dementor is a soul-sucking creature, both inhuman and amortal, like me," Hecate explained smugly. "I'm able to communicate with every being in existence—you already know this, sugarplum, why are you surprised?"
"What did you tell it to do?" George asked slowly.
"I told it to keep moving, and that Sirius Black was definitely not in this carriage," Hecate responded. "Then, it got arrogant and drawn to that boy's fear," she pointed one perfectly manicured finger at Malfoy, "so I had to threaten it. I think it got the message in the end. Anyway, any further problems and just give me a shout."
With that, Hecate opened the door, stepped out, and closed it again, disappearing past the empty corridor back out of physical existence once more. Only a few seconds later, the lights flickered back on with a faint buzz, and the layer of frost on the window began to thaw.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, Eva removed her grip of the twins' hands and sat back up again. Still in shock, Malfoy was sat beside George, but Eva realised that he did in fact look remarkably different than he had before.
Over the summer, he'd apparently grown visibly much taller and leaner. His rounded facial features were now sharp and pointed with a strong jaw line, but most noticeably, his white hair, which was usually slick back with gel, was left completely down naturally, looking much healthier, fluffier, and less greasy than before.
"Malfoy?" Eva asked. Nothing. "Hello? Earth to Malfoy?"
Eva waved her hand in front of his face and he finally snapped out of whatever trance he was in. His eyes darted up to her and he paused for a moment with his eyebrows furrowed.
"You look different," Malfoy noted. "You cut your hair."
"No shit, spaghetti hair. Oh for fucks sake, I can't even call you spaghetti hair anymore!" Eva gestured to his tidy and un-spaghetti-like hairdo, and frowned. "Why were you panicking and whimpering like a scared puppy by the way?"
"I did no such thing, Infernum," Malfoy snapped. "And even if I did-"
"You did," George corrected as he pulled the pack of Exploding Snap cards back out from his pocket.
Malfoy scowled at him. "If I did, Weasley," he spat, "it would've been justified. Those Dementors, they're the guards of Azkaban. They suck people's souls out of their bodies, they quite literally feed on positivity and happiness."
"Oh yeah, because you're the most positive guy around here, aren't you?" Eva teased.
George shuffled the cards, ready to distribute them between us. "Going to stay here for a round of Exploding Snap, Malfoy? Or are you too fragile for the scary explosions?"
Fred, George, and Eva all burst out laughing and high-fived each other. In anger, he narrowed his eyes and held out his hand. "You're on."
When they arrived at Hogsmeade Station, Eva split off from the twins and went to hop onto one of the horseless carriages with Hermione, Ron, and Harry. It was there that she found out that Harry had actually been attacked by one of the Dementors, which definitely moved them somewhere near the top of Eva's list of fears.
They arrived at school and Eva was given a chance to change into her usual Slytherin robes. In the Great Hall for the start-of-term feast, Eva sat down in exactly the same unofficially assigned seat as always, between Tracey and Daphne with Malfoy opposite her. Pansy had grown even closer to Malfoy over the summer, and now she clung onto his arm like some kind of lost child with her head on his shoulder. He looked like he hated the physical contact, but didn't comment.
Once the Frog Choir had finished their performance, Dumbledore stepped up to the front to say a few words. "Welcome, welcome," Dumbledore greeted, "to another year at Hogwarts. Now, I'd like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast.
"First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor R. J. Lupin, who's kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." He motioned to the friendly-looking man sitting beside Snape. "Good luck Professor."
The room all applauded as usual, but Eva noticed that Malfoy had now spun around in his seat in an effort to get Harry's attention. "Potter," Malfoy whispered. "Potter!" he hissed.
Both Harry and Ron reluctantly turned around with an unmistakeable eye roll.
"Is it true you fainted?" Malfoy sniggered as Pike, who was sitting beside him, did an awful impression of someone fainting. "I mean, you actually fainted?"
"Oh shove off, Malfoy," Ron snarled, turning Harry back around and then himself.
"Malfoy, that was mean," Eva scolded. "Weren't you the one who was-"
She went quiet when he gave her a warning look which basically said, 'shut up or I'll do your head in', and instead decided to spare the blonde the embarrassment. She could always tease him about it later.
Dumbledore was still talking, despite their conversations. ". . . our Care of Magical Creatures teacher for many years has decided to retire, in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs." Eva glanced around confusedly but continued listening anyway. "Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid."
Eva gasped in surprise and began to clap the loudest out of everyone on the Slytherin table. "I didn't know his name was Rubeus," she laughed over the sound of Gryffindor's cheers.
"Aren't you friends with the big oaf?" Malfoy sneered.
Eva shook her head and rolled her eyes at him.
"Finally, on a more disquieting note," Dumbledore continued, "at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban until such a time as Sirius Black is captured."
Though Eva was both confused and a little concerned, nothing at all beat Malfoy's face, expressionless but his eyes wide with fear as he stared at the middle of the table. She tried not to laugh at him and ended up resorting to squealing very quietly before covering her mouth with her hand.
"The Dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore informed the school. "Now, whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities, a word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you."
"So basically, don't start up a friendly conversation if you prefer your soul in one piece," Eva joked, causing Tracey to snort a laugh and Daphne to roll her eyes.
"It is not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving," Dumbledore warned. "But, you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if only one remembers to turn on the light."
That evening back in the girls' dormitory, Eva was already dressed in her pyjamas, i.e. a random old t-shirt and very short pyjama shorts. She perched herself on the windowsill while the other girls braided each other's hair, painted their nails, and gossiped. Honestly, every single night was like one big slumber party.
While Pansy waited for her nails to dry their shimmery pink colour, she leaned back against the stone wall beside Eva. "What's with you, Infernum?"
"It's just weird," Eva squinted her eyes to gaze into the distance at the hovering shadows around the school, "you can even see the Dementors from here, and we're underwater."
Daphne climbed off her bed and grabbed Eva's hand. "I know what you need—manicure!"
The rest of the girls squealed at varying volumes and pitches while Eva winced, tempted to cover her pained ears.
As she thought before, long year.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: I really didn't hesitate to leap straight into the Prisoner of Azkaban arc, but things get just a little bit eventful very soon, so yay!
Anyways, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!