That Christmas Eva spent at Grimmauld Place with the Weasleys, since technically she wasn't supposed to leave supervision due to the issue of her safety. Her parents, of course, were pretty disappointed about that, but she knew they'd get over it. They still had three kids left to spoil rotten anyway.

"Here we go." Molly helped Arthur into the chair at the end of the kitchen table after he'd been injured by goodness knows what in the Ministry. "Daddy's back."

Eva joined the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione in applauding him, even going so far as to make an 'O' with her index finger and thumb to whistle enthusiastically.

"Sit down everybody, sit down." Eva sat herself down between Fred and Hermione. "That's it, presents!"

"Presents?!" Eva squealed childishly.

Molly laughed. "And one for you too."

She was handed a gift wrapped in dark red wrapping paper with a gold ribbon bow tied around it securely. Tugging on the ribbon, she made quick work of the wrapping paper and inside was a scarf. Eva noticed that it was similar to Hermione's, except Hermione's scarf was a deep purple colour and hers was emerald green. The way it was knitted made it feel so warm and soft underneath her hands, and she found herself unnecessarily smoothing out the wool fabric.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Eva said happily.

"Ah look," Fred remarked, "you can match your snake boyfriend now."

She whacked him with the scarf as hard as she could but it didn't hurt him whatsoever, only making him laugh more. "Shut up, Freddie," she laughed. "Besides, not all Slytherins are green-obsessed."

"Yeah, but you both are," Fred countered.

George sighed dreamily. "Soul-mates."

"Come on everybody, let's clear this away," Molly interrupted, saving Eva from the awkward situation. "Oh, Harry! There you are!"

Eva glanced up at the entrance to the kitchen and saw her scar-faced, green-eyed friend sheepishly shifting his weight between his feet, feeling somewhat out of place.

The bottle of wine as well as a jug of orange juice was passed around the table as they filled up their glasses. Just as Eva reached for the wine, Molly's hand suddenly slapped hers away.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Molly asked strictly.

Eva paused for a moment. "Pouring myself some wine," she replied slowly.

Molly sighed. "You're only 15, so I think not," she decided, placing the glass on the opposite end of the table.

"Oh, but please?" Eva begged. "I'm so responsible, and I barely ever drink too much, I know my limits, and my parents let me drink every Christmas, and—you know what?" She pulled out her little mobile phone from her pocket and flipped it open. "I'll prove it."

Arthur gasped. "Is that a fellytone?"

"Um . . . a telephone? Yeah, sort of, but this one's portable," Eva explained as she found her mother in her contacts, "but there's no fucki-"

"Eva!" Molly screeched.

"Sorry," Eva said quickly, "sorry everybody, didn't mean to upset your good Christian household, I meant flipping service, there's no flipping service."

Eva then untucked her chair with a loud squeak as the chair legs grinded against the floor. Holding the phone above her head, she wandered around the kitchen, waiting for some bars of phone service to show up at some point.

"Eva, you won't find service here," Hermione teased while the others all watched her with amusement, including Harry and Sirius.

"A-HA!" she shouted suddenly, stood right in the corner of the kitchen. "There's a whole bar here. Now, I've just got to . . ."

Struggling slightly, she climbed onto the kitchen counter, crouched in the corner so that she didn't bang her head on the cupboards above her, and finally dialled the phone.

"Fascinating," Arthur whispered in awe.

Sirius tilted his head sideways in order to actually see her since she was so hidden with her entire body curled up on the counter. "Do you really need to be tucked away in that corner?"

Eva shrugged as the dial tone continued. "Two bars here, it's the best I've got."

Her mother finally picked up. "Hello?" she asked tiredly. "Eva, what do you want?"

"Love you too," Eva retorted. "I need permission to drink, so please, um, permission away, or whatever."

"I don't know," she began, "maybe staying away from alcohol this Christmas would be nice for a change."

Eva groaned irritatedly. "You're no use, merry Christmas mother, tell Daisy not to touch my chocolate from grandma."

With that, she hung up the phone and slid off the counter, walking back over towards the table with her shoulders slumped. With a mocking grin, Fred poured some orange juice into her glass while he poured wine into his own.

"A Christmas toast," Arthur announced, "to Mr. Harry Potter, without whom I would not be here." He raised his glass. "Harry."

"Harry," they said in unison as Eva took a glum sip of her juice, feeling like a toddler.


Since they'd arrived at the station quite late, Eva didn't even have time to properly look for Draco and instead simply assumed he was already somewhere onboard. Taking her light grey coat off to wrap it around her waist, she began to trudge through the carriages.

Her prefect badge sat proudly on her jumper, not that it meant much. Unlike Draco, she'd barely used her position of power, only docking points once when she found a third year Ravenclaw wandering the corridors during one of her evening patrols with Draco.

Eva had a feeling she remembered where his usual compartment was, making her way towards the back of the train. She could feel the train moving beneath her as it pulled out of the station, but it was after a few minutes that she found the familiar blonde alone in his compartment with a copy of the Daily Prophet open and his feet propped up on the opposite seat.

She knocked on the already open door. "This seat taken?"

Draco glanced up at her and removed his feet from the chair opposite. "Not last time I checked, no," he replied with a slight smirk.

"Christmas uneventful as always?" Eva asked conversationally as she removed her scarf and coat to sit down beside him.

"The true spirit of a Malfoy Christmas is to scarcely celebrate the holiday," he answered. "So, the Weasley's mother knitted you a scarf, did she?" he sniggered, nodding to her new scarf.

"She did, actually," she snapped, throwing it with unnecessary force onto the opposite seat. "It might shock you to hear that the Weasleys are actually nice people. Except Percy. No one likes Percy."

"Actually, I beg to differ," he disagreed. "Percy Weasley, as tatty and disgraceful as his parents may be, is an example of how a true pure-blood wizard should behave within society."

"Like, being a prejudice asshole?" she snarked.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, what did you say?" he urged, though he gained no reply. "Eva?"

Eva finally sighed and rolled her eyes. "I said you act like a prejudice asshole, Draco."

"Remind me, who wanted assistance in studying for their OWL exams?" he reminded her annoyedly. "Besides, when have I ever shown prejudice towards you?"

"Ha, you called me 'mudblood' for the first 2 or 3 years I knew you," she said. "Did that teensy fact just slip your mind?"

"And that is something I have not done for the previous 2 or 3 years," he countered. "Did that fact slip your mind?"

She turned around to face him, one leg tucked underneath her. "Actually, why did you ever stop calling me that in the first place?"

He sighed, replying without looking at her and instead staring thoughtfully out of the window. "I . . . realised I never thanked you for . . . lessening the severity of the injury I received from Hagrid's bloody chicken in that third year class. It only made sense considering how offensive you seemed to find the term."

"Come to think of it, you never apologise," she realised. "Like, ever."

Draco scoffed. "What? I apologise all of the time. What about . . . that time where a piece of your hair got caught in my ring?"

"You told me to watch my hair next time," she said unimpressedly with her arms crossed.

"When I elbowed you too hard in third year?"

"Nothing."

He paused for a moment. "The night after the third task?"

Eva didn't like to think about that night too much, or focus on any negative memories she had remaining of Cedric. She wanted to keep his memory as fresh and positive in her mind as possible, so memories from that night rarely crossed her mind.

She glanced up and shook her head. "No."

"Well," he sighed, "I meant it."

"You're still not going to say the words 'I'm sorry'?" Eva had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"No," he said plainly.

She rolled her eyes playfully. In truth, it didn't bother her much that he wasn't the type to verbally apologise for shit he did wrong or show any verbal affection. Maybe that was what had drawn them to each other in the first place—the fact that they were both hopeless romantic, stubborn little assholes.


After the mass breakout was reported in Azkaban, with prisoners including Bellatrix Lestrange released—although it was during the Christmas holidays that she found out the woman was in fact Draco's aunt—Dumbledore's Army began practising much more regularly than previously.

Eva had mostly taken to training Neville 1 to 1, since the poor boy had so much determination yet was absolutely hopeless. Not only that, but she was one of few people who were told about his parents' connection to Bellatrix, which only added that extra motivation he needed to nail his Disarming, Stunning, and Levitation Charms.

The evening they were learning Patronus Charms, Eva had left Draco to continue with his Inquisitorial Squad duties and made up the excuse that she was busy studying with Hermione. In a way, she was . . . ish.

"Make it a powerful memory," Harry instructed, "the happiest you can remember. Allow it to fill you up."

Closing her eyes, Eva began to frantically think of a memory, any memory that could remotely be enough to fuel her Patronus. It was the one charm she'd absolutely always wanted to learn, especially after Harry mastered it. He just never got around to teaching her.

'Try when you woke up after being petrified in second year,' Hecate recommended. 'That could do it.'

Nodding her head, Eva submerged herself in the memory. She couldn't seem to wipe off her grin all day on that day, skipping around the hall and high-fiving strangers. She found herself focusing most of her attention on hugging Cedric, and his happy little smile when she'd finally returned after a month.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Her eyes fluttered open just in time to see a thick wisp of bright blue light spiral out from the tip of her wand and evaporate into the air. A few people around her were also watching in amazement, since she'd been the first to gain any results.

"Do you have to be so bloody good at everything?" Ron grumbled as he walked past her.

With a roll of her eyes and a flick of her wand at him, she used the Trip Jinx which caused him to land sprawled on the ground like an overturned starfish. Hermione seemed to think it was the funniest thing she'd seen all day.

"That was excellent, Eva." Harry smiled broadly at her from across the room. "A full-bodied Patronus is the most difficult to produce, but shield forms can be equally useful against a variety of opponents."

'Oh, try the Hogwarts Express before second year, with Cedric when you were eating those vile jelly beans,' Hecate advised. It did help to have a demon who'd seen every memory first hand.

Eva repeated the same process, and this time the light was slightly brighter, but still underwhelming. She was so sure that Cedric could fuel something. He'd literally been an absolute fun-loving sunshine, pretty much all the time.

Then she had an idea. With her eyes closed once more, she focused on something she'd completely overlooked. The Yule Ball, over a year previously, where she'd accompanied Draco as a 'friend'. If only they'd both known how much they were crushing on one another. Either way, just 'friends' didn't slow dance late into the night in each other's arms, or waltz like a couple, or stand that close together all the time, virtually joined by the hip.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Her eyes opened and she saw the familiar wisp of light emit from her wand, but this time she remained focused on that specific evening. She tried to visualise every little detail—their clothing, the Great Hall, even the rock music they'd danced to together.

She watched in wonder as, while everyone else began to form little wisps of their charms, Eva's charm morphed together. She knew Patronuses took on the form of animals, but didn't let her eagerness for the result distract her from the memory.

As it spiralled out further in front of her, she realised what it was and couldn't help but laugh at herself.

Her Patronus was a ferret.

It skipped through the air, spiralling around her body before continuing off across the room and harassing some of the other group members. Eventually, it dissipated into the air, and she realised that the room was considerably quieter since quite a few people had been watching around her.

Harry laughed proudly. "Brilliant, Eva!"

"Your Patronus is a ferret?" Ron taunted.

"Devotion at its finest," George excused sarcastically as he walked close by her.

"Oh, I love you, Malfoy," Fred mocked in a painfully high-pitched voice which she assumed was supposed to sound like her own, "Malfoy the incredible bouncing ferret, marry me Malfoy!"

"Oh, shut up," Eva laughed, shoving both twins to the side and performing yet another Trip Jinx on Ron.

As the lesson progressed and Eva helped a few others achieve their Patronuses, she watched in wonder as she figured out whose was whose. Hermione's was an otter, Ron's a dog, Ginny's a dog, and Luna's a rabbit.

It was all fun and games until the lights began to flicker and the glass chandelier on the ceiling shook from side to side. The few remaining Patronuses disappeared once more as the group stopped in anticipation.

There was a loud bang which shook the ground beneath their feet. With her wand by her side, Eva joined Harry's side along with Nigel, attempting to figure out the source of the commotion.

'Sugarplum, you're screwed!' Hecate said with a sarcastically joyous voice.

'What?!' No response, obviously.

"The fuck is happening?" Eva asked slowly as she approached the wall with her wand in front of her defensively.

The mirror at the front wall began to splinter, a long crack dividing up along the previously seamless pane of glass. Without warning, it clattered to the ground, revealing the stone wall located just behind it.

There was a small hole in the cracks in the stone left over, which she saw Nigel approach curiously. She followed him closer while Harry took a few steps back cautiously. Then she heard a voice that made her skin crawl.

"I'll make short work of this," Umbridge assured whoever was on the other side of that wall. "Bombarda Maxima!"

"NIGEL, WATCH OUT!"

As quickly as possible, Eva grabbed the small boy and leapt away from the wall as far as her legs would let her move. There was an almost deafening explosion sound, and she could feel little bits of rubble from the wall falling onto her as she shielded him with her body.

Dusting herself off, she grabbed her wand, which was thankfully still intact, and shuffled backwards across the floor. "You okay?" she asked Nigel quietly.

She could see that his hand was bleeding slightly, but he simply nodded and rubbed his head.

Then she glanced up slowly. She took in the faces above her one by one, since she was the closest to the big gaping hole. There was Umbridge, Filch, Crabbe, Goyle, Montague, none of those surprised her at all, but then her gaze settled on someone she wasn't quite expecting to see.

Draco and Eva made eye contact and his expression completely dropped along with hers. So that's what Hecate meant.

"Get them!" Umbridge ordered.


"What were you thinking?!" Draco shouted angrily as he paced from side to side in his dorm, yanking his tie off and throwing it at his wardrobe rather than into it.

Eva was just as annoyed as he was, although she remained standing on the other side of the room to avoid the worst of his rage. "What was I thinking?! Oh yes, that's right, that Umbridge is a crap teacher who we learn absolutely nothing from! At this rate, we're all going to die at the hands of that megalomaniac asshole who wants nothing more than to rule the world!" she screamed. "We called it Dumbledore's Army-"

"Dumbledore's Army," he laughed humourlessly, his fist clenched so tightly that his knuckles were completely white.

"Yes, Dumbledore's Army, because Fudge is an absolute fruitcake who's scared of Dumbledore! We need to be trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and if Umbridge won't do the job she's literally being paid to do, at least Harry and I will!"

"You were helping?!" he yelled, even angrier than before.

"What did you think I was doing?!" she screeched. "I helped teach everyone Disarming Spells, Levitation Spells, Stunning Spells, Trip Jinxes, and I even mastered my Patronus! And guess what we've achieved in Umbridge's classes?! Nothing!"

"Of all the stupid things!" he shouted, tossing his outer robe across the room towards his desk chair. "And not even for one little second did you think about telling me about this?! This little commitment you've had for months?! You're been lying to me since December, and it's April! That's five months of lies, Eva!"

She groaned and stamped her foot irritatedly. "I couldn't tell you, for fuck sake, Draco!"

"Why?!"

"Because of this!" She motioned to him. "Don't be an idiot, you work for the enemy!"

"I'm the idiot?!" he asked exasperatedly. "You're the idiot! I told you time and time again to stay on Umbridge's good side, but you're too proud with your stupid demon to admit you're ever wrong! And now look where it's gotten us! You've got detention next week, followed by potentially getting expelled from the school, and I've been removed from the Inquisitorial Squad just for dating you!"

"Oh, boo-hoo!" she mocked. "Poor Draco can't go to Umbridge's Youth sessions anymore, what a pity!"

"And here she goes, worrying only about her own issues and no one else's!" he accused.

"That's bullshit, and you know it!" she shouted. "I'd care if it was something more serious than no longer being trusted by Umbitch! And at least, when Voldemort does make his grand return, I'll be able to defend myself from his dumb followers and your absolutely psychotic mass-murderer aunt rather than hide away and die! Meanwhile, you're out there helping out that crazy fascist who's running this hellhole!"

"Why do you have to be so cynical all of the fucking time?!" he yelled.

"Why are you such a bigoted prick?!"

"Why are you such a filthy little mudb-"

Draco went silent suddenly, realising what he was about to say. Meanwhile, Eva was furious and upset, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes which were threatening to fall down her face.

She swallowed down the lump in her throat. "Say it," she hissed. When he didn't, still staring at the ground, she repeated herself at a shout. "Say it!"

"You . . . you filthy little mudblood," he said quietly at the floor.

The first tear finally dropped down her face. "I hate you," she whispered.

Before he could reply, she turned straight to the door and left, slamming it closed behind her as loudly as possible. She continued down the stairs and straight out of the dungeons. She needed to get away, and anywhere but there would do.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: A bit of an angsty ending, I know, but haha I loved writing this scene. That probably says a lot about me though, whoops. I think a lot of other fanfics like these often get ahead of themselves and forget that, in the end, Draco is effectively a mini version of Lucius, with the same views and everything, so something as asshole-y as this was inevitable.

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