"It's easy for them to get to you," Hermione said as she read the copy of the Daily Prophet she held out in front of her. "You're bloody lucky you weren't killed, and you," she glanced pointedly at Eva, "taken straight back to You-Know-Who."
Eva scoffed but almost got too distracted and walked straight into a group of first years. "Like I would've been taken, have a little faith, Hermy. Half of the Order was there, anyway."
"As if I don't know about the stunt you pulled." Eva raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, Ginny told me all about that Death Eater apparition trick you did, chasing off after them. What were you thinking, attacking Bellatrix like that? She could've killed you, or even Imperiused you, there and then. You have to realise who you are, both of you."
Harry, who was walking between them, rolled his eyes. "I know who I am, Hermione, alright?"
"Exactly," Eva sighed as they turned a corner towards their Transfiguration class, "we've got it all under control—what?"
Sitting against the windowsill were both Lavender Brown and Ron, the current hottest couple in the year group. Lavender was apparently placing a necklace around Ron's neck while consistently calling him "Won-Won" and cuddling his arm almost aggressively. While Eva couldn't say she had anything against the girl, it still infuriated her when she saw them together, knowing that Hermione would've been a way better match.
Hermione began to backtrack and Eva ended up joining her. "Excuse me, I have to go and vomit."
"You don't vomit whenever Draco and I snog," Eva reminded her.
"That's different," Hermione defended. "You two work well together, but Lavender Brown, however, utterly repulses me. Who does she think she is?"
Eva laughed. "Join the club. I think the only one not in the club is, 'little Won-Won'," she mimicked Lavender's voice, cracking a short laugh from Hermione.
When Eva heard about Ron's more than little poisoning incident, she was one of the first to arrive, opting to sit on the edge of the bed beside him while he remained pretty much unconscious. Ginny, Hermione, and Harry arrived soon after, followed by a few teachers including Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Slughorn.
"Quick thinking on your part, Harry," Dumbledore acknowledged, "using a bezoar. You must be very proud of your student, Horace."
"Hm?" Slughorn asked, apparently paying little attention to the conversation. "Oh yes, very proud."
Eva internally rolled her eyes, knowing that Slughorn had actually done nothing at all to help the situation other than sitting there and watching as Ron had a seizure on the floor.
"I think we all agree Potter's actions were heroic. The question is, why were they necessary?" McGonagall asked.
"Why indeed." Dumbledore walked over to Slughorn and took a wrapped bottle out of his hand. "This appears to be a gift, Horace. You don't remember who gave you this bottle? Which, by the way, possesses remarkably subtle hints of liquorice and cherry when not polluted with poison."
"Actually, I had intended to give it as a gift myself," Slughorn explained as Dumbledore handed the bottle over to Snape.
"To whom, I might ask?" Dumbledore questioned.
Slughorn hesitated for a moment. "To you, Headmaster."
"WHERE IS HE?!"
Perfectly on cue, as always, Lavender came sprinting into the room at full speed, barging straight past the group of teachers. "Where's my Won-Won?" Lavender fretted. "Has he been asking for me?"
Eva raised an eyebrow at her. "Ron's unconscious," she told her.
Lavender paused for a moment to regain her breath. "What do you think you're doing, sitting so close to him?" she asked Eva. "I'm his girlfriend, so only I can sit that close to him."
"Whoa, okay." Eva whistled and held her hands up in mock surrender, standing up off the bed and moving over to join Harry. "Ron's just a friend. I'm like that with all of my friends. See?" She hugged Harry tightly, the latter of whom stood there slightly bewildered before patting her arm. "Nothing romantic here, keep your hair on."
"Good, because he's mine," she warned darkly.
"Good, because I'm already with Draco anyway," Eva retorted. "Pick your battles, I'm not interested in Ron and never have been nor will I ever be."
Lavender scoffed lightly. "Right, because Draco Malfoy is better?"
Eva closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hating arguing about guys in front of her professors. "Okay, I'm trying to be nice here, but if you could be less of a," she glanced over at the others and covered her mouth to whisper, "B-I-T-C-H," she whispered, although everyone could hear anyway, "that would make my life way easier. Don't you dare bring Draco into this."
"Wasn't his father put into Azkaban?" Lavender challenged. "Didn't he support Umbridge last year? And he has the audacity to bully my little Won-Won by calling him Weasel and singing that godawful song."
"Firstly, it's Weasel-Bee, and the surprisingly decent song is called 'Weasley is our King'. Fact check yourself before coming at me or Draco. Secondly, Lavender, I'm warning you, change the subject before I bring Hecate up here," Eva reasoned, struggling to keep her cool with the girl.
Lavender rolled her eyes and instead turned her attention to Hermione. "And what's she doing here?"
Hermione stood up from her chair angrily. "I might ask you the same question."
"I happen to be his girlfriend," Lavender snapped.
"I happen to be his," Hermione paused for a moment, "friend."
"Don't make me laugh. You haven't spoken in weeks!" Lavender argued. "I suppose you want to make up now that he's all interesting!"
"Interesting?" Eva repeated at a whisper, which Ginny only shrugged at, confused at where her point was going.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "He's been poisoned, you daft dimbo! And, for the record, I've always found him interesting!"
Ron stirred slightly at the increasing volume of noise. His head tipped slightly to the side on his pillow, but an uncomfortable expression was still on his face.
Lavender sighed of relief. "See?" She knelt closer to him. "He senses my presence. Don't worry Won-Won, I'm here."
"Won-Won?" Eva laughed under her breath. "I called Draco 'Baby-Drakie' once as a joke and he refused to talk to me for a week."
Harry chuckled. "Seriously?"
"Yeah," Eva confirmed, noticing that even Snape had that ever-so-slightly amused smirk in the corner of his lips while the others seemed to be trying to suppress a laugh, "I don't know how Ron does it. If I were him, I'd have had a meltdown by this point."
Ron then mumbled something incoherent, causing everyone to go silent and turn to him. "Uh . . ." he grumbled quietly, "Hermione."
Eva clasped her hand over her mouth to muffle the ungodly squeaking noise she made. Tears not even hesitating to pour out of her eyes, Lavender stood up again and ran out of the room, sobbing loudly.
Dumbledore glanced over his shoulder at her as she left. "Oh, to be young and to feel love's keen sting."
That evening, Draco was working at the cabinet once again, allowing her to take some time to herself, which involved relaxing in his warm dormitory, courtesy of Hecate, wearing only her slightly too large green and black Quidditch t-shirt from the previous year, and obviously studying for her NEWTs.
She had her own copy, Draco's copy, and Hermione's copy of Advanced Potion Making in front of her so that she could copy up any notes she'd missed due to simply not paying attention in class. It turned out that there were a fair few more key points she'd ignored than she wanted to admit. If Snape had been teaching the class, she knew that would've been the end for her.
Once she was finally finished, she closed each of the books, folding her quill into hers, and tossed them across the room towards his desk, levitating her ink pot too using her wand. It was getting late in anyway, and she knew Draco would be back at any moment.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, the familiar blond pushed open the door to the room and slammed it behind him. Although the lighting was quite dim, especially furthest away from the fireplace, she could see that he wasn't looking quite himself as he threw his robe at his chair.
Barely even taking the time to remove his shoes, he climbed straight onto the bed beside her, wrapped his arms around her, and began to sob against her shoulder.
Honestly, Eva had seen this coming. Especially as it came closer to the end of the year, Draco's stress levels had increased to the point of crying himself to sleep nightly. The worst part was that, no matter what she did, there was nothing she could truly do to help him other than wipe his tears away once he'd inevitably fallen asleep. The past few nights, though, he'd been surprisingly calm, so she'd been waiting for the moment he'd be pushed over the edge.
Shuffling backwards until her back was against the pillows, she quietly hushed him while he rested his head against her chest and tears ran down his face. It honestly hurt to see him like this, so fragile and scared. The Draco of previous years hated being so close to people, and could only just but hardly tolerate cuddling Eva, but now she seemed to be the only one that could actually reach out to him.
"What happened?" she asked him quietly a few minutes later once his sobs had lowered in volume.
"The," he hiccupped from how hard he'd wept, "the bird died."
"Oh, Draco," she sighed, still quietly hushing him.
"You're tired, aren't you?" Luna observed as they sat opposite each other at breakfast. "Is it the Nargles? They tend to have that effect on people."
Eva covered her mouth to yawn. "No, just a long night, that's all."
"Long night, huh?" Ginny carried her bowl of cereal over to sit beside her, nudging her shoulder playfully. "How long?"
"That's not what I mean." Eva shook her head tiredly. "I just . . . didn't get much sleep at all—it's not dirty, Ginevra, get your mind out of the gutter."
"Sorry, sorry," Ginny laughed hysterically.
Eva rolled her eyes light-heartedly and stood up to make her way over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "I'm going to go where I'm appreciated."
"Oh, come on," Ginny was still laughing, "if we didn't appreciate you, why would we celebrate Eva Appreciation Day annually?" she mocked.
Although she found some humour in Ginny's little jokes, she was just a little too tired to laugh around, especially considering how late both she and Draco had fallen asleep the previous night. She threw herself down unceremoniously in the seat beside Harry and stole a piece of his croissant.
"So," she leaned against the table, "what are we talking about?"
"I don't know," Ron mumbled, turning to Hermione, "tell me how I broke up with Lavender again?"
"Um, well," Hermione tried to distract herself by folding up a corner of her copy of the Daily Prophet, "she came to visit you in the hospital, and you talked. I don't believe it was a particularly long conversation."
Ron leaned in to whisper. "Don't get me wrong, I'm bloody thrilled to be shot of her. It's just . . . she seems a little put out."
In unison, apparently not caring about how suspicious they looked, they turned their heads to look behind them. Lavender was glaring daggers at Ron, her hands firmly gripping her knife and fork and her eyes red and irritated.
Eva was the first one to turn back around but, when she realised that some of the others such as Harry were still staring, she grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to face the other way.
"Stop staring," Eva hissed, "it's creepy as fuck, and look how upset she is as it is."
Hermione was almost pleased at the sight of Lavender though. "You say you don't remember anything from that night? Anything at all?"
"Anything you might've said, no matter how silly it might seem currently because chances are there's someone else who feels similarly?" Eva suggested, only to get a glare from Hermione.
Ron stared at the opposite wall in thought. "Well, there is something." He paused for a second. "But it can't be," 'damn it', "I was completely boggled, wasn't I?"
Hermione forced a laugh. "Yeah, boggled. Harry." She caught Harry's attention once more, who had begun to read his copy of Advanced Potion Making. "That's Katie." She nodded her head towards the familiar girl who Eva had played Quidditch with on numerous occasions. "Katie Bell."
Without any more information, Harry picked up his book and walked over to Katie. Meanwhile, Eva finished his breakfast, figuring he probably wouldn't want it once it had gone cold.
"Eva," Hermione whacked her with a book, startling her slightly, "do you or Ron ever stop eating? You're acting like a racoon."
Eva froze before she could have another piece of croissant. "I just wanted a croissant," she excused, her mouth still slightly full of food.
"Unbelievable," Hermione grumbled.
Ron nodded towards Harry's plate. "Can I have some?"
With a nod, Eva slid the plate over so that they could share the remaining food while Hermione muttered under her breath about her racoon friends.
"Oh, isn't that your boyfriend?" Ron pointed over her shoulder.
With a curious expression, Eva spun her whole body around on the spot. Draco was standing only a few metres away, his hair again a slight mess and his hands in tight fists by his sides.
Just as Eva stood up to say hi, he turned around on the spot without even noticing her and fled the room. She went to go and follow him when she felt someone brush past her in the same direction. Harry was for some reason following Draco with his book held in his hand and an angry demeanour.
Once they were completely gone, trying to attract as little attention to herself as possible, Eva took her time to stand up, dust off her robes, and realign her skirt. "I'm gonna just go brush my teeth."
Hermione glanced up and looked her up and down. "More than I needed to know," she remarked.
After taking the time to roll her eyes, Eva casually followed in the direction they'd gone in. She had a feeling they were heading towards the Room of Requirement so made her way along there, relieved to see that most corridors were still pretty much barren.
Eva stopped in front of the blank stone wall. As soon as she closed her eyes to begin to summon the door, Hecate's voice spoke in her head.
'Boys' bathroom,' was the only explanation she provided.
With a nod, Eva warily made her way over to the boys' bathroom opposite and pushed the door open, her wand at the ready. As soon as she stepped into the room, all she could hear was the high-pitched sounds of spells being fired in all directions. The floors were completely flooded, soaking her feet and the bottom of her robe, and all she could hear was the yelling of incantations.
She ran around the corner past a few cubicles, only to find Harry aiming his wand down another narrow corridor.
"Sectumsempra!"
"Everte Statum!"
The spell she launched threw Harry back a few feet into the wall, but she didn't dwell on it, instead running straight down the direction he'd launched the spell in. But nothing could've prepared her for what she saw.
Draco was lying on his back across the wet floor, deep gashes across his face, arms, torso—basically every inch of his body. Blood spurted out of them and into the water, turning the clear liquid surrounding him a deep red colour. He cried quietly, although it was impossible to actually see any tears falling down his cheeks.
"HARRY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Eva screamed, running straight over to Draco.
She instantly had her wand out, but couldn't think of anything she could do. She didn't actually know many healing spells, at least not any that could heal to that extent. Her hand was trembling, her wand being gripped so tightly she thought it would snap.
There were distinct footsteps from behind her, although she didn't dare to take her eyes off Draco, instead holding his hand which was beginning to soak with blood too. Snape knelt down on the other side of Draco, glancing up at Harry for only a moment before turning his attention back to Draco, ignoring Eva entirely.
Then she heard it, that same muttered incantation that had been used when she'd been trampled by Buckbeak in her third year. Unlike with her, though, Draco stayed completely still. The blood that had gathered around him slowly dissolved, while the wounds miraculously healed, leaving raw and red, slightly scarred cuts across his body.
Once Draco was almost healed, Eva turned around, still holding his hand between hers. Her wand was now sitting discarded in one of the many puddles, but Harry was gone.
"Miss. Infernum," Snape caught her attention, causing her to turn around once more, "may I ask what you are doing here?"
Eva swallowed the lump in her throat. "I-I heard a loud noise," she lied, "and I came to see what had happened, professor."
"And you just so happened to stumble upon Mr. Malfoy in this condition?" he asked sceptically.
She nodded slowly. "Yes, professor. Will he be okay?"
Snape's expression was near impossible to read as usual. "He will be quite alright, Miss. Infernum. In future, remember that I am near impossible to lie to."
With a sigh, she nodded, pushing a strand of Draco's damp white hair out of his face. "Yes, professor."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Surprised I got this chapter up today to be honest. It's quite dramatic, I know, but I mean this is definitely the beginning of the turning point in Draco's life where he really begins to re-evaluate his decisions that led him up to that point.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!
