"I'm surprised you're even coming," Eva remarked. She began to braid her hair back, unfortunately without the use of a mirror since Draco's dorm lacked in such. Slughorn's eighth years' dinner party was due to start in half an hour and, while Draco was already completely ready, Eva was far from it.

Draco stood behind her and swatted her hands away from her hair, beginning to braid it himself since it was painful just watching her fruitless attempts at styling her own hair. "With McLaggen around? You should be more surprised if I wasn't. At least now, if he steps as much as a toe out of line, I can-"

"As much as I'd love nothing more than to listen to your list of ways you plan to torture and kill McLaggen," she snarked, "we're already gonna be late at this rate."

He raised an eyebrow at her and yanked at her hair. "And whose fault is that?"

"Ow, I'll have you know that I was finishing my homework assignments on time for once, thank you," she retorted. "If anything, you should be happy that I'm not copying your essay moments before entering the class."

Finishing her braid, he gave it a tug to notify her that he was finished. She reached back and felt it, surprised to find that it was much more secure than she'd been expecting.

"Not bad, ferret boy, not bad." In a dash, she grabbed a pair of heeled ankle boots and hopped around the room as she tried to put them on.

"Thank my mother. She insisted it was a valuable skill to learn since someday I'll either have to do my own or someone else's." He sighed. "Who knew she was right this whole time?"

"Have a sentimental moment about mummy later, will you?" Now ready to leave, she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the room again. "And please don't start a fight with McLaggen."

"I won't if he doesn't," he grumbled in response.

"Now that we've finished our splendid meals," Slughorn wiped his hands on his napkin, "I'd like to first take a moment to thank our chef. Those grilled steaks were simply delicious. Now, I must say it's rather wonderful to have you all back again. Some familiar but a few new faces too."

He glanced across the table. As well as the same group as before, there was also the addition of Luna, who'd been brought along by Hermione, Neville, who was accompanying Ginny, and Draco. Draco held Eva's hand under the table, his tenseness indicating that he was ready to drag her out of the room with him at any moment.

However, the person Eva noticed the most was McLaggen, who was sitting at the seat directly opposite her. Though he was sitting beside Hermione, admittedly too close for her friend's comfort, he was doing the same lame flirty thing with Eva that he'd done before, which included slowing every movement down in a bid to make it seem more seductive and licking his fingers clean. Draco had also noticed it and was clearly far from happy about it.

"So, Miss. Granger," Hermione perked up at the mention of her name, "I was surprised to see that you didn't join Mr. Potter and Mr. Wallenby," Draco snorted, "at the Ministry as a junior Auror."

Hermione laughed awkwardly. "It's, um . . . it's Weasley, actually, but no. Instead I plan to complete my NEWTs here before progressing to a different field of magical law. For instance, I started up a group called S.P.E.W-"

"Is that your little elf society?" Draco asked, trying not to laugh.

Hermione scowled at him. "I suppose you could see it as that, but the actual term is the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

Slughorn nodded in curious interest. "I see. And what, may I ask, is the purpose of this society exactly?"

Draco grumbled. "No, he asked the question."

Eva's eyes widened with her eyebrows furrowed. "He's killed us all," she whispered.

"Well, you see, house-elves are grossly mistreated in today's wizarding society, as they always have been," Hermione rambled on quickly. "They've been enslaved by our kind for hundreds if not thousands of years, blindly following every instruction given. Horrifyingly, they physically torture themselves when they feel they have 'disappointed' their masters. The entire system is absolutely outrageous, and something needs to be done about it. The poor creatures receive little to no legal representation, and while Eva's mother actually does what she can to assist those in similar positions, house-elves are possibly regarded the lowest within democracy-"

Finally finding a break where Hermione stopped for breath, Slughorn took the opportunity to cut her off before she could continue. "Fascinating, Miss. Granger, fascinating. And Miss. Infernum," Eva paused stuffing her face with ice-cream and swallowed it down while lowering her spoon back into her bowl, "how have things been going for you recently?"

"Good, good, yeah," she responded but when she saw that he was looking for more of an answer than that, she continued. "Um, just an hour ago I received an owl from Witch Weekly who would like me to do a short interview for their December issue."

"What? You never told me," Draco exclaimed quietly as if it was the most outrageous thing he'd heard all day.

"Relax," she whispered, patting his hand. "I was about to tell you but I didn't get a chance."

"That's wonderful," Slughorn replied to her. "And do you know what your interview will be about?"

Eva nodded. "It's mostly just trivial facts, I think, like my favourite food and stuff like that. There's been a lot of that kind of attention since I rose from the dead, I guess."

Slughorn hummed in thought. "And I assume you plan to continue with this career as a celebrity personality then?"

She opened her mouth to answer but was momentarily distracted by the guy sitting opposite. He seemed to kick his slightly embarrassing attempt at flirting up a notch by adjusting the way he was sat so it showed as much muscle as possible. Honestly, she still wasn't impressed though—Draco was kinda better anyway.

Shaking her head back into reality, she answered Slughorn's question, still in a bit of a daze. "Oh no," she replied. "You need to have personality for that. No, I still plan to continue my original goal of pursuing a career in music."

"Interesting, yes," he mused. Eva knew that the chances were he was thinking of ways he could possibly benefit from his connection with her. He did that a lot. "And Mr. Malfoy, how have things been recently for you then?"

Draco froze. "Okay." There was an awkward pause for a moment as everyone stared at him. "Other than continuing with my NEWTs, I have very few other life plans remaining."

Hermione placed her spoon in her bowl and wiped her hands clean with a napkin. "What career path did you want to follow, Draco?" she asked him, her tone both curious and amused.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't see how that concerns you, Granger," he sneered rudely.

Eva nudged his shoulder. When he turned his head, she gave him a warning glare, one that said 'shut up and be nice or you won't live to see another dinner party'.

Clearly fed up with the continuous awkward glances and empty pauses in the conversation they were reluctantly enduring, Slughorn clapped his hands together. "Well, hasn't this just been splendid, eh?"

Eva stayed back after the dinner party to discuss the Quidditch team with Slughorn. Draco had reluctantly left the room, but she knew he'd be fine. He was just outside the door in anyway.

"So, Eva, how are things going as Captain?" Slughorn asked, pacing up and down the room. "What progress has been made thus far?"

"Um . . . well, tryouts have already been held, and a new line-up has been established for the team," she announced. "I made the decision to have everyone try out so that no spots were secure, but regardless we still have many players from the previous team, such as Zabini who's sort of become my second-in-command."

"I see, I see," he said. "And what of Mr. Malfoy?"

She paused for a moment. "He's decided to pull out this year. Instead I have Harper as our Seeker. He's not quite as good as Draco, but he's a work in progress nonetheless."

"Good, so you have everything under control, yes? Good to hear," he responded. "Well," he glanced at his wristwatch briefly, "that's all I have time for I'm afraid, Have a good evening, Miss. Infernum."

"You too, professor," Eva called behind her.

She reached for the door handle and briskly opened the door, closing it again behind her. It had been a long evening, and honestly all she needed now was just to relax and-

"THE FUCK?!"

Just outside the room, there was a crowd made up of the dinner party guests gathered in the corridor. In the middle were Draco and McLaggen, both already badly beaten up by each other. Eva could already tell that Draco was looking worse for wear, in much worse shape than McLaggen was anyway. If anything, she was surprised that someone like Hermione hadn't bothered to break it up yet, but instead the bushy-haired girl was just watching with her jaw dropped along with Ginny and Luna.

Just before McLaggen could take another swing at Draco, Eva leapt in with her fist angled right at his face. Everyone gasped, as the force of the punch caused him to stagger to the side, giving Draco a chance to stand back up to his feet properly.

"Fuck you, McLaggen," she hissed, ignoring the searing pain in her hand.

Without another word, Eva yanked Draco to his feet rather harshly and forcefully dragged him back towards the Slytherin dungeons. She didn't say a word during the short distance up to Draco's dorm, but it didn't take a genius to realise that she was fuming. He probably would've asked if his entire face wasn't bruised and injured.

Once inside his dorm, she slammed the door closed and the fireplace instantly lit up, courtesy of Hecate. "Sit," she ordered, pulling her wand out of her pocket.

Draco warily sat down on the end of the bed. Meanwhile, Eva grabbed a glass of water and used the Glacius charm to freeze it before taking the frozen ice out, crushing it, and wrapping it in a piece of fabric. She picked up the makeshift ice pack and grabbed his chin, tilting his head to the side.

He hissed as she placed it against the gnarly bruise on his right cheek. "What are you doing-?"

"Healing you, idiot," she snapped coldly. "Hold that to your face."

She spun around on her heel and picked up her old bottle of Burning Bitterroot Potion. She'd found that it tended to come in handy more often than expected, especially in instances such as these.

While she rummaged through her belongings for any remaining Essence of Dittany, since Narcissa had given her quite a few first aid supplies before leaving for school, Draco's eyebrows painfully furrowed. "What's with you?"

Eva laughed humourlessly at his question. "What's with me?" She finally found a small bottle of Dittany and slammed it on her desk, making him jump. "I asked you to do one thing, Draco, and that was to behave yourself." She aggressively slammed a few more bottles on his desk, one by one. "I told you not to get into a fight with McLaggen, and what do you do? Exactly that. Not to mention you were rude to Hermione—again, may I add."

Before he had the chance to explain himself, she approached him with her wand in hand and sat down on his lap with her legs either side. If she hadn't been so angry at the time, the action might've been just a little hotter, but Draco was too terrified to think anything of it. For a small girl, she had a way of making grown men somehow cry.

Gripping his chin harshly, she pointed her wand at his broken nose.

"Episkey."

Draco grimaced in pain and began to move his hand towards his face before she slapped it away, causing him to again hiss in pain. "Is it that hard just to be bloody sensible, Draco?" she seethed, quickly grabbing the bottle of Dittany and beginning to leave droplets on each small cut. "For once, can you just act your own age and stop being such a bratty and immature toddler? Merlin, even my little brother's more mature than you, and he's always getting into trouble at school for fights and shit."

"Jesus, woman, you're causing more injuries than healing," he retorted, his face constantly wincing with each treatment added. "McLaggen started it."

"Uh-huh," she shoved his head to the side so that she could access the bruise on his jaw better, causing him to again groan, "I'm sure he did," she said sceptically.

"He did!" he argued indignantly. He began to lower his right hand which had been holding his icepack to his face before Eva grabbed his hand and forced it back up again. "I was waiting for you but he stayed behind. He was the one trying to start a fight, making comments about my family, and my Quidditch abilities, and my father. And you," he grimaced, "the comments he made about you-"

"Was it that hard just to ignore him?" she scolded, beginning to rub Burning Bitterroot Potion under his eyes so that he was less likely to develop a black eye.

"Not when the bastard's talking about how much better he'd be at shagging you, no. God, I hate him, more than Saint Potter," he spat with pure disgust.

"And what if Slughorn had left the room with me at that exact moment, huh? What then?" she questioned irritatedly before sighing. "Merlin's beard, why are you so reckless all of the fucking time?"

He smirked and tightened his arms around her waist. "Maybe I should show you just how reckless-"

"Not the time, Draco," she snapped, yanking herself free again and placing the various potions back on his desk. "For goodness sake, what am I to do with you?"

At least the next day was a day to look forward to—the day of the first Quidditch match of the season. As before, it was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, which meant a team led by Eva against a team led by Ginny. This'll go just great.

"Welcome to the first match of the season," Luna's voice rang through the Quidditch pitch. It was nice having her as the commentator again. "This time it's a game of Gryffindor against Slytherin. I personally hope Gryffindor wins, no offence Eva. I like lions."

The crowd were both cheering and laughing as both teams flew out onto the pitch. Eva led the way, swerving between posts and around the stands, and even going as far as to high-five a Slytherin she flew past.

She'd missed being on a broomstick properly. Everything about the sensation of the wind in her hair and the exhilarating feeling of zipping around at phenomenal speeds on her old Nimbus 2001 was something that just couldn't be achieved through apparating like a Death Eater.

The team gathered midair in their usual starting positions. Eva and Ginny were directly opposite each other while Blaise and Montague hovered either side of her. Hooch said a few words below them, but Eva couldn't even hear due to the torrential rain that was coming down like a bucket of water being poured over their heads. All she did hear was the blow of a whistle before the Quaffle was thrown into the air.

Unfortunately, Ginny managed to swipe the Quaffle midair just before Eva could reach for it. Since she had such a similar playing style to her, it was a close competition as the pair chased each other through the pitch, the other Chasers attempting to assist their Captains.

"This is quite an interesting start, isn't it?" Luna commented. "Look at them both fly around with that ball. I wonder if Eva will retrieve it from Ginny? I doubt it. Again, no offence, Eva. Ginny's just a little bit faster." Eva saw Ginny smirk at that. "The rain isn't really helping very much. Such poor visibility. But I hear that the rain does help to repel Nargles, so I suppose it isn't all bad. Pesky Nargles."

Trying not to let Luna's commentary get to her, Eva directed Blaise to the other side of Ginny so that they were both able to corner her. With the Quaffle tucked under her arm, Ginny swerved harshly upwards towards the goals. While Blaise attempted to catch her out from underneath, Eva flew out in front of her but, just as she did so, she was too distracted to notice the Bludger flying straight in her direction.

Eva began to duck her head back down but the heavy ball still painfully snagged her shoulder. She could feel her balance slipping but wasn't able to catch herself in time. She tumbled sideways off her broom, slamming painfully and lifelessly into the goalpost, until she eventually spiralled through the air towards the ground and everything immediately cut to black. Sadly, the last words she heard while conscious were Luna's comments about cloud shapes.

The first thing she registered was a throbbing headache, a constant thudding against her skull. Her eyelids felt heavy, but she still attempted to force them open regardless. She felt the need to prove to herself that she wouldn't have to repeat her respawning process all over again.

She could instantly detect the familiar chemical smell of the hospital wing. The only light provided within the room was the faint yellow glow from the lamp on her bedside table. How the hell was it night time already?

Her eyes blinked off to the side slowly. Draco had a chair pulled up beside her bed. He held her left arm out, which happened to be the arm her scar was on, and applied some kind of cold, dark green potion to it with a small cotton swab.

He glanced up at her, his eyes widening when he realised she was awake again. "You're awake. You're alive."

Struggling to do so, she shrugged. "Apparently," she croaked. "I look a mess, don't I?"

"Can't be worse than me," he replied. In fairness, he wasn't entirely wrong. He looked tired more than anything, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, and his lips were clearly chapped.

She yawned and began to stretch and crack her spine out. "How long was I out for then? When did it get this dark all of a sudden?" She peered out of the window beside her bed into the dark yet clear sky.

He shook his head. "You've been out since yesterday." He continued to apply the potion to her arm, which she was only now noticing was bruised, as well as much of the rest of her body. "A Bludger knocked you off, don't know if you remember, and you actually fell through one of the goalposts too. You almost took Zabini out with you, truth be told. Your leg's broken by the way," he told her, "and your right shoulder's gonna be rough for a little while until the ligaments heal properly."

She groaned and threw her head back. "Why me? How did the team do?"

"They won," he responded, "marginally."

"And you've been here the entire time?" she asked him.

He placed the cotton swab down. "Not the entire time, goodness." He scoffed with an eye roll and climbed into the bed beside her, his arm over her shoulders. "I slept back in the room."

She laughed and ruffled his hair. "You're like a little loyal puppy dog, waiting for me to wake up, aren't you?"

He glared at her. "Eva," he warned darkly.

"Fine, fine, be like that," she snarked, resting comfortably against his side while also trying to ignore the searing pain in most of her body. "Love you."

He rolled his eyes and squeezed her slightly. "Love you too."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: Finally we've pretty much permanently gotten rid of Cormac. He just reminds me of so many guys I know, so obnoxious that he believes everyone wants to f*** him. He's the guy who sends every girl unwanted d1ck pics, definitely.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!