Eva was called into Snape's office for her careers advice meeting. Her future career goals weren't something she talked about or thought about much to be honest. She had a few ideas, but she wasn't entirely sure how dumb they'd sound out loud.

"Sit," Snape ordered, already sat behind his own desk.

Eva sat down in the uncomfortable wooden chair opposite him. "Does she have to be here?" She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder to where Umbridge was sitting in the corner, sporting a light pink dress with a slightly darker pink cardigan and a pink hat with pink shoes and a pink handbag.

"I will only be supervising," Umbridge replied before Snape could. "Pretend I'm not here, like a fly on the wall."

'Tell me when you need the fly-swatter,' Hecate added, almost making Eva snort out loud.

"So," Snape snarled, "Eva Infernum. The only living demon-summoning witch. It is rumoured that those who practise the magic of your family have excellent power and self-control in their magic, and are successful in any field they choose to pursue."

Eva wasn't sure what to say to that. "That's nice," she replied.

"Are you going to tell me your career choices or will I have to mind-read it off of you?" he asked impatiently.

"Oh, right," Eva said quickly. "Um . . . my career idea will sound a little random to you, maybe, but it's something I've had in mind for a long time."

"Go on," Snape prompted.

She sighed. "I want to pursue a career in the music industry."

Without anyone asking for her opinion, Umbridge burst into a fit of giggles. Eva slowly turned her head, giving her a 'what-the-fuck?' expression, and she noticed that Snape was doing exactly the same thing.

"O-ho," Umbridge chortled, "do excuse me, my dear, I thought you were joking."

"Oh no, I'm deadly serious," Eva said, subconsciously edging towards Umbridge's condescending tone. "I don't generally go around telling people about this, but my older brother has a sort of pop rock band and I've played bass guitar and provided vocals for them on occasion."

"How interesting," Snape responded in a monotone voice, but at least it didn't sound like he was mocking her. "Tell me, and please do not be an arrogant dunderhead in response to this question, but are you any good?"

With a sigh, she nodded her head. "I'm not bad. I'd play you something, but I don't have my music player or my guitar."

"I just struggle to understand how this is a feasible career path," Umbridge said as she stood up and paced around behind her. "Wouldn't a job at the Ministry be much more appropriate and acceptable, dear?"

"Miss. Infernum," Snape continued, ignoring Umbridge, "as creative as your aspirations for your future may be, my advice to you would be the same advice I have given to those who'd like to pursue a career in fields such as Quidditch—choose a backup career path, a plan b if you will."

Eva shrugged. "Nothing specific, just give me some ideas of subjects that'll give me an overall wider variety of options once I leave."

Snape rolled his eyes. "I suggest focus on core subjects, Transfigurations, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and History of Magic specifically. Your Potions grades are dreadfully embarrassing to read, and your History of Magic could do with improvement."

"So that's it?" Eva asked. "Just be less suck-y at Potions and History of Magic? Oh okay."

"But, before you leave," Umbridge interrupted, "do you not think it better to avoid setting up Miss. Infernum for failure and disappointment?"

Eva turned around, appalled. "Excuse me?" she seethed.

"I mean no offence, my dear," she assured, "but pursuing such difficult subjects takes a certain work ethic I believe you don't possess. For instance, in Defence Against the Dark Arts mock examinations, your results have been rather disappointing."

"Maybe if you did the job you're paid to do," Eva muttered.

"What was that?" Umbridge asked, pretending she hadn't heard.

Eva was about to repeat herself when Snape gave her a very subtle warning look. "Nothing," Eva sighed.


Finally OWL exams arrived, the week Eva had been absolutely dreading for a year. Although Draco's revision sessions had made a few things stick in her head, and she'd been studying like she'd never studied before (she'd never studied before), she was still feeling so ridiculously unsure of herself. All it could take was one little fuck-up before she failed everything.

That's why, during that week, most stayed out of the way of the angry, stressed, studying frenzy that was Eva. She didn't socialise much, mostly opting to sit in Draco's room at his desk and revise until her fingers couldn't hold her quill anymore, and in general she didn't have time for people.

The final exam she had left to sit was Theory of Charms, overall not her worst subject. As usual, she'd been seated in the desk behind Draco, but it only tended to stress her out more whenever she saw his head ducked down as he scribbled down answers frantically while she couldn't even answer question 1.

She was only half way through, and so far she'd only left out one question on the Rictusempra Charm, which would only lose her 4 marks if she didn't answer it in anyway.

That was when there was a strange and unexplainable rumbling sound from somewhere behind them. Eva was a bit annoyed, since she'd been on a roll with her answers, but still raised her head and turned to face the door confusedly along with everyone else in the room.

Somewhat angrily, Umbridge walked down from the top of the Hall and strutted towards the main doors. While the woman was distracted, Eva waved her hand in front of Draco to get his attention.

He turned his head and mouthed 'what?', to which she pointed to the Rictusempra question and shrugged her shoulders. He simply shook his head at her, refusing to give her the answer, and Eva noticed that he'd somehow finished his exam in anyway and his booklet was closed with his name and candidate number on the front.

Eva craned her neck to try to see past the doors when a little blue light flew into the room. Her eyes followed it as it floated through the air and popped like a firework over some of the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor desks.

"The fuck was that?" Eva laughed in a whisper.

There was a long period of awkward silence when suddenly two figures on broomsticks came flying into the room. All of their papers were thrown up off their desks, and several more fireworks exploded over their heads.

Eva stood up with everyone else as the fireworks exploded in brilliant colours throughout the room. "Is that . . . Fred and George?" she asked.

"These must be their Weasley products," Draco sniffed, pretending to be unimpressed though Eva could see the glint of childish wonder in his eyes.

Another little spark darted around the room before settling in front of Goyle's face. His eyes widening in alarm, Draco dodged backwards and yanked Eva out of its way as Goyle whacked it over to Crabbe and it collided with his arse.

Eva clapped her hands while her eyes watered with how hard she was laughing. "That's brilliant . . . Draco? Draco?"

When she turned around, she found him pressed back against the wall as a little spark flew towards his face. With a little whimper of fear, he ducked towards the ground and it hit the wall where his head had been, leaving a burn in the shape of his frightened face.

Another tiny spark came towards Eva but, instead of harassing her, it spiralled around her a few times. She jumped when it suddenly exploded above her head in a brilliant gold and pink colour, and Draco pulled her out of the way before any little embers could land in her hair.

She glanced up at him. "Draco, why do you look such a mess?"

His eyes were still slightly wide with fright and his hair was dishevelled, sticking out in almost every direction. "I look fine," he replied distractedly as his eyes darted between little explosions around them.

"They're cool, aren't they?" She gasped as another firework exploded where Umbridge had been standing, in a flurry of pink.

Just as Eva thought it was over, she saw Fred throw another final firework into the air, a much larger one, but unlike the others this formed a giant flaming dragon that surprisingly proceeded to chase Umbridge. Umbridge ran out of the room as quickly as her stout little legs could carry her, but that wasn't very far, as it chomped down on her as soon as she left the doors.

With their work done, Fred and George flew out of the Great Hall and into the courtyard, followed by pretty much the rest of the school. Still laughing at the slightly crisp and messy state of her fellow housemates, Eva slowly led Draco out towards the courtyard too, stopping in the Entrance Hall and picking up a piece of partially burnt paper.

"What is it?" Draco asked.

Eva read it quickly while Umbridge stood behind them, stunned. "Educational Decree Number 31," she replied.

Turning around to Umbridge, Eva did something she'd been waiting to do for a long time. She took the two sides of the paper that said they couldn't be within 8 inches of each other and ripped it down the middle several times before scattering it over the ground by Umbitch's feet. She then took Draco's hand and entwined their fingers together, ensuring that she was watching, and dragged him back outside.

Amongst the chaos of cheers, laughter, and happiness that Umbridge's regime had been defeated, Eva managed to spot Luna Lovegood. "Luna!" Eva waved frantically, grabbing her attention.

Luna turned around and smiled dazedly. "Hello Eva. That was exciting, don't you think?"

"Uh, yeah," Eva laughed, "did you see that dragon that wiped out Umbridge?"

"I like dragons," Luna mused as she watched the now empty sky. "Sweet and gentle creatures, really, but often rather misunderstood." She glanced over to the side and pointed towards the ground. "Is that Harry?"

Eva was about to ask what the hell she was on about, but gasped when she saw that Harry had fallen backwards onto the ground, his eyes completely unfocused and his expression blank. Ignoring Luna and Draco, she knelt down beside him, helping him to sit up straight while he remained unresponsive.

"Harry?" Eva asked, propping him up against her lap. "Harry!"

His eyes suddenly refocused, but he was still trembling slightly. "Sirius!"


"Harry, are you sure?" Hermione asked for the millionth time as she, Eva, Harry, and Ron darted up the moving staircases.

"I saw it," Harry insisted without stopping for even a moment. "It's just like with Mr. Weasley. It's the same door I've been dreaming about for months, and I couldn't remember where I'd seen it before. Sirius said Voldemort was after something, something he didn't have last time, and it's in the Department of Mysteries."

"Harry, slow down," Eva reasoned, "we can't jump to conclusions just yet."

Harry turned around and opened his mouth to argue when Hermione jumped in. "Harry, please, just listen. What if Voldemort meant for you to see this? What if he's only hurting Sirius because he's trying to get to you?"

"But what if he is?" Harry argued desperately. "I'm supposed to just let him die? Guys, he's the only family I've got left."

Eva, Ron, and Hermione briefly exchanged the same look of agreement. Even if it was just a set up, it wasn't worth the risk. Losing someone like Sirius wasn't a risk worth taking, not by any means.

"What do we do?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded in thought and, as soon as the stairs stopped shifting, he darted up to the next set of steps. "We'll have to use the floo network."

"But Umbridge has the chimneys under surveillance," Hermione reminded them.

"Surely there's at least one we can use," Eva wondered.

"Exactly," Harry agreed, "not all of them."


The afternoon before leaving to smuggle themselves through the fireplace in Umbridge's office, Eva dressed in a denim jacket with a white cropped t-shirt underneath, ripped loose-fitting jeans, and the same pair of white Nike trainers she wore all the time. She'd also borrowed one of Draco's many silver rings, since he never really stopped her, and this one was a silver serpent which wrapped around her index finger.

Fortunately, she didn't end up bumping into Draco at all since he was completing Inquisitorial Squad duties. That gave her the perfect opportunity to sneak off without needing to provide any lame excuses.

She dashed up towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and was so determined to get there that she ended up running straight into someone.

"Eva, ssh!"

Eva glanced up and found that Ginny and Luna were standing by the railing along the spiralled staircase. They leaned over the banister with their eyes squinted, as if looking for something in particular.

"What are you doing?" Eva whispered.

"Ssh!"

She jumped when the sound came from the other side of her and instinctively pulled out her wand, but breathed a sigh of relief when she realised it was just Neville.

"Neville?" Eva asked. "What are you doing here?"

Luna put her finger to her lips, signalling for her to stay quiet. "We're keeping guard for Harry, Ron, and Hermione."

"Guys," Ginny said slowly, without even looking at them, "the pink lady's coming."

Sure enough, Umbridge was walking proudly up the stairs, although her clothes were still slightly blackened and her hair covered in ash from her earlier encounter with Fred and George. At least she hadn't spotted them yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"What do we do?!" Neville whispered panickedly.

'Use a Disillusionment Charm,' Hecate suggested.

Eva pulled out her wand and tapped it against each of their heads, ending with her own. She felt a strange sensation of an egg being cracked over her head, a cold liquid feeling spreading throughout her limbs and eventually reaching her feet.

"Eva, what did you do?" Ginny whispered.

"A Disillusionment Charm," Luna replied from somewhere, "subtle but effective."

Just as Eva was about to say more on the subject, a strong whiff of horrendously tacky perfume hit her nostrils and she fought with herself to hold back a cough. Umbridge walked past them while they pressed themselves right up against the railing silently and held hands, praying they wouldn't be caught.

Once Umbridge's footsteps had completely left, Eva tapped her own head followed by each of the others' with her wand, causing them to slowly fade back into visibility.

"Someone's got to go and warn them," Eva whispered.

"I'll go," Neville volunteered, running straight ahead up the stairs with his wand at the ready.

That was when the classroom door creaked open again. Neville froze up completely, backing up his steps very slowly though he was careful not to fall backwards down the stairs.

"Not so fast," Draco taunted menacingly, signalling for the other Inquisitorial Squad members to seize him.

Eva felt someone tug on her sleeve. "Eva, let's go," Luna said calmly, pulling her along back down the stairs in an attempt to flee unscathed.

She could hear their voices behind them but tried to block them out. The more she focused on their voices and on Draco's voice, the more distracted she became, and she couldn't afford to lose concentration. Everything was going just fine until Eva felt someone grab her arm and drag her back.

"Oi, let go," Eva snapped, pulling out her wand and aiming it at whoever it was. ". . . Draco?"

Draco still didn't remove his hold of her but loosened it slightly. "Lower your wand, Eva."

Montague walked past, dragging Luna along by her arm. "Got this one, Malfoy. Slippery little thing, and I think Goyle's got the Weasley girl."

"Take them to Umbridge," Draco ordered, and both Montague and Goyle instantly did as they were told, scrambling away while the others struggled in their grip.

Now that they were relatively alone, Eva turned her attention to Draco, feeling anything but friendly in that moment. "Draco, the fuck do you think you're doing?" she hissed. "Are you seriously trying to get me into trouble?"

"Are you trying to get yourself into trouble?" he retorted.

Pansy leaned over the railing above them. "Don't be a prat, Draco, bring the mudblood up," she sneered annoyingly.

Draco quickly swore under his breath. "Eva, I'm going to take you up there, but I won't let her hurt you. Do you trust me?"

Eva exhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and nodded. Taking her hands, he held them behind her back so it appeared as though he'd grabbed her by her wrists, and poked the tip of his wand into her neck just enough to press slightly into her skin.

He led her the rest of the way up and, just to keep their appearances up, Eva pretended to struggle whenever they walked past other Inquisitorial Squad members while Draco would push his wand ever so slightly harder into her neck.

They entered the room, and Eva pretended to try and pull herself out of his grip. "Caught this one trying to help the Weasley girl," Draco sneered as he dragged her over towards the others.

Standing behind Umbridge's desk, Draco kept his wand aimed at Eva's neck but was no longer pushing it against her throat. He let go of her hands but she still kept them behind her back, instead holding his hand between hers.

Umbridge had Harry sat down in her desk chair with a furious expression on her face. "You were going to Dumbledore," she assumed, "weren't you?"

"No," Harry responded.

Then Umbridge did something Eva wasn't expecting whatsoever. She raised her hand at Harry and slapped him hard across the face. Eva jumped slightly, only managing to stay calm from Draco squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"Liar," Umbridge hissed.

Snape then appeared in the doorway, with a look of nonchalance at the scene in front of him. "You sent for me, Headmistress?"

"Snape, yes." Umbridge turned around arrogantly. "The time has come for answers, whether he wants to give them to me or not. Have you brought the Veritaserum?"

"I'm afraid you've used up all my stores interrogating students," Snape drawled, "the last of it on Miss. Chang."

Eva breathed a quiet sigh of relief, and she heard Hermione and Ron have the same reaction.

"Unless you wish to poison him," Snape suggested with a hint of sarcasm, "and I assure you, I would have the greatest sympathy if you did, I cannot help you."

Going by Umbridge's expression, that clearly hadn't been the answer she'd been expecting. Just as Snape turned around to leave the office again, he stopped when Harry spoke.

"He's got Padfoot," Harry told him, hoping he'd understand. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden."

Umbridge looked irritatedly at Harry and then at Snape. "Padfoot? What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What is he talking about Snape?"

"No idea," Snape replied, silently giving Harry a look before leaving. Eva was 90% sure he'd understood. He'd better have done in anyway.

Slightly insanely, Umbridge's head ticked to the side. "Very well. You give me no choice, Potter. As this is an issue of Ministry security, you leave me with no alternative. The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue."

"What?!" Eva yelled. "You can't do that!"

"That's illegal," Hermione said angrily.

Umbridge simply turned over her framed photo of Fudge. "What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," she assured herself.

She walked towards Harry, her wand aimed straight at him. Eva couldn't take it anymore, couldn't take any of this anymore.

"Wait!" Eva shouted, causing everyone to turn to her. "I'll tell you," she lied, "j-just don't hurt Harry."

Umbridge seemed to buy into it, since she nodded in agreement. She ordered Pansy to hold Harry back so that the chair was now vacant.

"Draco, bring Infernum here." She glanced pointedly at the chair.

Draco looked down at her in alarm. Eva silently communicated to him to just do it, which fortunately he did, reluctantly leading her towards the chair. Just before they reached Umbridge, Hermione interrupted.

"Stop!" Hermione screamed. "Eva doesn't know where it is, she's only been given the false information created by Dumbledore to deceive anyone who isn't supposed to know."

"Where what is?" Umbridge demanded while Draco slowly pulled Eva back towards the safety of behind the desk.

Hermione struggled to come up with an idea on the spot, but eventually settled on something. "Dumbledore's secret weapon."


Once Hermione and Harry had led Umbridge away, that just left the Inquisitorial Squad and the other key members of Dumbledore's Army awkwardly standing around, although being refused to leave.

Eva settled back, standing slightly more comfortably now that Umbridge was gone. Draco still had his wand angling at her throat, but she was subtly leaning against his chest and he was holding her hands in his left. Through the corner of her eye, Eva saw Pansy gaining way too much joy out of the thought of Draco choosing even Umbridge over her. If only the bitch knew.

She heard the rustling of a packet, and saw Ron pull out what looked like sweets from his pocket. "Really, Ron? Sweets? Now?"

Ron shrugged. "I'm hungry."

Although suddenly Eva realised something—these weren't your regular Honeydukes sweets. They were Puking Pastilles, she was sure of it. The same colour and everything, and in a little brown paper bag instead of the Weasley packaging since that would've given them away.

Crabbe, still holding Neville uncomfortably by his hair, walked forwards with a beefy hand outstretched. "Hand them over, Weasley," he snarled.

Rolling his eyes, Ron handed the bag over to them. With his wand still pointing at Neville, Crabbe took a handful and stuffed them in his mouth, followed by everyone else in the room including Pansy. As soon as Draco leaned in for some, Eva held him back and shook her head.

The effect was almost instantaneous. Unfortunately, there weren't any buckets or anything, so the Inquisitorial Squad began puking wherever they were stood. Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Ron quickly ducked out of the way to avoid getting splattered by their vomit, but stopped when they noticed that Draco was still fine.

Eva pulled her wand out from her pocket and disentangled herself from Draco. "Eva," he pleaded quietly.

She pressed her palm against the side of his face and smoothed her thumb across his cheekbone. "I'll be back, I promise."

Without another word, Ginny took her hand and she was led away from the room, away from Draco and his puking Inquisitorial Squad, and towards the Ministry of Magic.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: Haha, shit's about to hit the fan! We stan Draco being a protective bean though, he may be an asshole but he cares about the people he cares about.

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