The wedding was just as lively as Eva could've imagined. The tent set up in the Weasley back garden was filled with guests, country music, and refreshments that automatically refilled themselves.

Eva wasn't really in the mood for a celebration though. She felt bad for being so glum, of course—this was Bill and Fleur's wedding after all, two of her favourite people—but seeing so many happy and bright couples dancing around just made her miss her blonde ferret even more. Oh, how he'd be mocking this party right now.

Just as she began to take another sip of her champagne, her emerald serpent ring refracting the bright lights that hit it, she heard someone sit down beside her. Placing her glass down on the table again, she was met with two blondes; Luna, and some other man with a striking resemblance to her.

"Hello Eva," Luna greeted with a dazed smile. "You're not enjoying the party very much. I can see the guilt from those feelings in your eyes."

"Merlin's beard," the man sitting behind her whispered, "you're Eva Infernum." He extended his hand out which Eva took hesitantly. "Such a pleasure to meet you, I am Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father. We at the Quibbler have full support over your family and their beliefs."

Eva shrugged. "Then you're g-gonna have to update me. I didn't even know my mother was part of the Order until recently."

"You have a stutter?" Luna asked. "Faint but noticeable. Is it the Nargles again?"

"N-no, it's not the Nargles, unless the Nargles are Death Eaters on b-broomsticks," Eva laughed lightly.

"Your mother has provided anti-Ministry information to the Quibbler on several occasions within the last few years," Xenophilius told her.

"Daddy, she is slowly becoming disinterested," Luna said before he could continue, causing Eva to blush bright red in embarrassment. "You miss him, don't you?" she asked her.

Eva sighed, instantly knowing exactly who she was talking about. "How did you guess?"

"You seem to be deep in thought during most conversations," Luna noticed. "I understand why you miss him. As much as Draco and I may have had very differing views, and he and his father work for You-Know-Who, you are truly happy with him, as he is with you, from what I've observed."

Eva smiled faintly. "Thanks. You s-seem to be the only one around here who thinks so. Obviously no one's gonna say it, but I think they all think I should just g-get over Draco. Do you know how many times the others have pointed out guys to m-me and offered to introduce me?"

"While they have no evidence to say you're soulmates, they have no evidence to say you're not," Luna said. "That is the difference being open-minded can make. Come, daddy," Luna took her father's hand and led him away, "we'd best give Eva a break from our company. She's too kind to say so, but she often finds us rather boring."

Before Eva could argue, the pair were already walking across the room to talk with some other guests that had been invited. Feeling inspired to spend less time wallowing in self-pity, Eva stood up and walked over to the table Harry was sitting at, a hand extended forward towards him.

"Wanna dance, glasses?" she offered.

Harry awkwardly traced the edge of his champagne glass with his finger. "Maybe that isn't a good idea."

Ignoring his response, Eva pulled him to his feet in anyway and led him towards the dance floor, where waltz music similar to that of the Yule Ball played. "Shut up, this is a great idea. D-do you remember how to waltz?" He shook his head. "Look, just put your left hand on my waist and hold my left hand in your r-right."

With obvious hesitancy, he took Eva's hand and placed one of his very lightly over her waist. Dancing with him Eva found was very awkward, with him messing up his footing constantly and almost dropping her when he was supposed to be lifting her up.

"Hey Ginny," Eva called over the music as they waltzed past her. "I'm teaching your man to dance. Do you mind? You can have him b-back when I'm finished."

Ginny laughed under her breath. "Go ahead."

Maybe it was good that Eva hadn't ended up going to the Yule Ball with Harry. He was, in the nicest way possible, a terrible dancer. If anything, she was relieved when the music changed to something spritelier and she was finally free to mingle with the guests once more.

After briefly chatting to Gabrielle, Fleur's younger sister, in French, which consisted of her ranting on about how crazy the country is and how strange English people are, Eva began to make her way back across the room when George suddenly grabbed her elbow.

"Fred's got Fleur's Veela cousins, you've got to rescue me," George whispered rapidly in her ear.

Then Eva realised what was happening. Behind him was a group of middle-aged witches, all admiring him with the same kind of appraising look that made her want to throw up again.

"Oh," one of them said, "his girlfriend, is it? I'd keep an eye on my man if I were you. Well, good evening, Georgie."

George forced a very awkward smile, possibly the most forced Eva had ever seen, while she dragged him away from them towards the middle of the dance floor. "Why are you flirting with a b-bunch of middle-aged women?" she asked as they reluctantly began to slow dance around the room.

"I wasn't trying to," George complained, "they're all over me." He winced at the memory. "One of them insisted on pinching my cheeks, and they keep calling me Georgie. Georgie, Eva!"

Eva rolled her eyes. "Where's Freddie then?"

George pointed over her shoulder, causing her to rotate her head slightly. At the table which held the chocolate fondue fountain, Fred was leaning back against the side, smugly telling some engaging story with a glass of wine in his hand, while a group of Veela admirers stood around him closely and giggled.

Just as Eva turned around to make a sarcastic comment to George, she was yanked sideways so quickly that she would've fallen over if someone hadn't caught her. She was slightly confused for a moment, and it took her a moment to recollect herself and realise that everyone had moved out from the centre of the room. She pulled her wand out from the invisible pocket Hermione had added to her dress.

In the middle of the dance floor, a small glowing blue ball resembling a Patronus filled the now dark room with an eerie glow. Shacklebolt's voice rang from it with an unsettling echo.

"The Ministry has fallen. The Minister of Magic is dead." Then it whispered. "They are coming. They are coming. They are coming."

With the message over, the glowing orb disappeared and the light level grew once more. The guests soon began to panic, running in all directions and disapparating away from the Burrow as quickly as they could.

Eva began to push through the crowd, searching for Hermione, or Ron, or Harry. She knew that, if it was true and the Ministry had truly fallen, she'd be the second on their hit list to Harry, meaning that they might just have to begin their mission earlier than planned.

"Eva!" Hermione bumped straight into her, already gripping onto Ron's arm. "Where's Harry?!"

Death Eaters began to apparate into the tent from all directions. Guests were hexed across the room, dark spells being hurled at anyone within reach. The tent itself was already on fire, and she saw several people including the twins frantically duelling off the gatecrashers.

Just in time, Harry ran to them and they collided together as a group. Hermione began to apparate them away, but Eva was given just enough time to lock eyes with a certain silver eyed Death Eater who had been assisting in conducting the raid.

And then it disappeared, the wedding disappeared, Draco disappeared. Eva hated apparating, and for a very good reason. She felt her entire body shape and morph uncomfortably, her every organ being twisted in all directions and her eyes being shoved further into their sockets.

The horrible sensation stopped almost as soon as it began. Hermione quickly tugged her to the side when a bus flew towards them down the street. Once it moved out of the way and was no longer blocking their view, Eva realised where they were.

"Shaftesbury Avenue?" Eva questioned as they stepped back onto the bustling footpath of the high street. "You took us to Shaftesbury Avenue?! Hey, I can talk normally again. We're not here to do a spot of late night shopping, Hermione!"

"I had to take us somewhere!" Hermione retorted as she led them down the street.

"Sightseeing tour?" Eva stopped in interest. "Leaves in 15 minutes."

Hermione took her hand and pulled her away from the tour guide before the crimson haired girl could get too distracted. "Really, Eva? Sightseeing tour?"

"Oh," Eva frowned like a disappointed child, "but they're so much fun, and you get to sit on one of their red open-top buses and see all of Central London. I hear they sometimes do some where you can have a traditional tea party too."

Ron gasped. "Wicked."

"Not wicked," Hermione snapped while Harry also seemed guiltily but ever-so-slightly tempted by it. "I'm not entirely sure why we're here. I used to come to the theatre here with my mum and dad. I don't know why I thought of it. It just popped into my head."

"Where do we go from here?" Eva asked as she helped lead a very confused Ron who'd never been in a muggle city before.

"This way," Hermione called over her shoulder.


Once they'd changed using Hermione's bag, Eva into one of Ron's jumpers since Hermione had forgot to pack any for her and her usual jeans with a pair of trainers, the four of them found a table in a little café and sat down.

"What about all the people at the wedding?" Harry asked. "Do you think we should go back?"

"I saw Draco there," Eva shared.

"Seriously?" Eva nodded sadly, annoyed with herself that she hadn't had a better chance to see him. "Anyway, they were after you and Eva," Ron reminded him. "We'd put everyone in danger by going back."

Hermione nodded, holding her small bag between her hands. "Ron's right."

"Ahem." The group glanced up. A waitress was standing in front of them, clearly approaching the end of her shift if her expression told them anything. "Coffee?"

"A cappuccino, please," Hermione requested.

"You?"

Ron paused for a moment. "What she said."

"Same," Harry added.

Eva smiled. "Do you have juice?"

The waitress gave her an unimpressed glance. "On our children's menu."

"Then I'll have an orange Fruit Shoot," Eva decided.

"We don't have Fruit Shoots left," she drawled. "We have juice cartons?"

"Sold," Eva replied.

The woman nodded and left towards the back of the café. Honestly, as lovely as a coffee sounded in that moment, she'd already had a long day and had drank quite a bit of alcohol, so adding caffeine onto that was probably not such a good idea. Kids' juice, however, sounded surprisingly quite refreshing.

"Of all the drinks in the world," Hermione muttered under her breath.

Ron leaned in to murmur out of earshot. "So where do we go from here? The Leaky Cauldron?"

"It's too dangerous," Hermione warned them. "If Voldemort has taken over the Ministry, then none of the old places are safe. Speaking of which," she reached into her bag and pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet, "I wanted to show you this."

Eva reluctantly took it from her and opened the newspaper up. As of recently, good news never came from that source, and it looked like that issue was no exception to that rule.

INFERNUM FAMILY DISAPPEARANCE.
When Ministry Officials conducted a raid on the household of the demon-summoning family of
Undesirable No. 2 Eva Infernum, known to hold unacceptable pro-muggle leanings, they were shocked to find the residence empty without a trace of the criminals' whereabouts. Eva Infernum, proud supporter and accomplice of Undesirable No. 1 Harry Potter, is a dangerous and highly wanted criminal and extremist. Any of those with information on their whereabouts must step forward or face prosecution.

Eva pulled a face at the article and slid it back over to Hermione who placed it back in her bag. "Lovely," she remarked. "Dangerous, highly wanted criminal, and extremist is exactly how I'd describe myself."

"This is war, Eva, and that you read is just the start of the war propaganda," Hermione answered back. "Hecate's already said that your family's gone into hiding in France, so now the Ministry's after you two." She glanced pointedly at Harry and Eva. "Everyone from the wedding will have gone underground too, also into hiding-"

"My rucksack with all my things," Harry remembered, his eyes widening. "I've left it at the Burrow."

Eva gasped. "My bag, I still have my Pygmy Puff, and Draco's jumper too."

"Eva, your Pygmy Puff is with Ginny's, and your jumper is in my bag," Hermione assured. "I've had that item packed for a while in case we needed to make an emergency exit."

"And my things?" Hermione shook her head in response to Harry's question. "You're joking."

"I've had all the essentials packed for days, just in case," Hermione repeated herself.

Ron scoffed. "And Malfoy's jumper is essential? By the way, these jeans, not my favourite-"

"DOWN!" Harry shouted.

The two customers who'd walked in, both of which Eva hadn't paid any attention to, weren't quite as muggle as she'd automatically assumed. Eva threw herself off her chair and hid underneath one of the tables as spells began to shoot in all directions.

Annoyingly enough, it was as soon as Eva reached for her wand that the duel was over. Cautiously, she crawled out from under the table. The same waitress from earlier opened the door from the kitchens and froze at the scene.

"Go!" Hermione ordered. "Leave!"

She seemed almost reluctant for a moment. "We're not kidding," Eva added.

With a wary nod, the waitress turned around and disappeared out of the building in a rush. Now that they were alone, Hecate stepped out from behind Eva and swiftly hopped over the counter.

"Lock the door, get the lights," Harry instructed them.

Meanwhile, Hecate was crouched behind the counter, although Eva couldn't tell exactly what it was she was looking at due to her height. "So these are the troublemakers, huh?" Hecate asked as the lights flickered out.

The group stepped around to look at the two unconscious bodies for themselves. There were two men, Death Eaters presumably, in a very muggle set of blue work overalls.

"This one's name is Rowle." Harry pointed to one of them with his foot, a man with balding grey hair. "He was on the Astronomy Tower the night Snape killed Dumbledore."

"This one's Dolohov." Hecate nodded to the one that she was crouched in front of, taking his wand away. "The Order's been on this guy for a while now."

"I recognise him from the wanted posters. So, what we gonna do with you, hey?" Ron taunted a completely frozen Dolohov. "You'd kill us if it was turned around, wouldn't you?"

"I suggest we destroy the evidence." Hecate sent up a brief flame in her palms. "I'll do just enough to make these boys unidentifiable but leave this building intact."

Eva held up her hand. "I second that motion."

"If we kill them, they'll know we're here," Harry interjected.

"Guys," Hermione warned.

Ron spun around. "Suppose he did Mad-Eye. How would you feel then?"

Hecate seemed almost too enthusiastic about the thought of burning them alive. "Quick but painful, I promise."

"It's better we wipe their memories," Harry advised.

Ron sighed defeatedly after a moment. "You're the boss."

Eva stepped over Rowle and approached Dolohov, without hesitating to stamp on his face and cause a sickening crunch as his nose broke. "I'll take this one?" she asked Hermione.

Hermione nodded, and they both pointed their wands at the Death Eaters in unison.

"Obliviate."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: Eheh, a little Draco cameo, you're welcome. Unlike Hermione, Eva left her family as they were, so I knew I had to close that loophole in one way or another, so them running away from the Ministry just made sense to me.

Also, new cover in case you haven't noticed! I feel like this one just looks way better to be honest, but I don't really plan on changing it any more after this.

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