Hermione apparated them into Hogsmeade. Slightly disoriented, Eva's feet landed solidly in the thin sheet of white snow beneath them. Other than being almost abandoned, the entire high street looked the same as it had in previous years, the most obvious addition being the Undesirable 1 and 2 posters across the walls. Well, she had always dreamt of being a celebrity.

"Huh," Eva glanced around them as she held her wand in her hand, "well at least it's quiet-"

Her sentence was interrupted by a deafening screeching sound, like an alarm but so much worse. It felt like someone was poking holes in her eardrums, and she had the strong feeling that it was something they'd done that had caused it.

"They're here!"

"Search everywhere!"

"Fuck!" Eva hissed as the group sprinted out of plain sight.

While attempting to keep their breaths and footsteps as quiet as they possibly could, Eva led the way as they ran down alleyway after alleyway, taking constant turns left and right in an effort to confuse the Death Eaters. Occasionally she'd hear them distantly yell hers or Harry's surname in an aggressive tone but tried to shake off the fact that they were more than willing to kill them.

They reached the end of an alleyway, where the snow-covered path was met by a tall metal gate. Realising it was locked, Eva pulled out her wand and both she and Hermione attempted to unlock it using magic, but none of their efforts worked.

"In here, Potter."

Eva quickly turned her head around. There was a dark figure standing in the doorway, clearly not wanting to be seen judging by the fact that he was hiding from the faint street lights. Rather hesitantly, Harry darted through the doorway, followed by Hermione, Ron, and Eva.

"You'd better not be a serial killer, because I really don't have the patience for that kind of bullshit right now," Eva murmured to him as she followed the others through.

They reached the bottom of a narrow stone staircase, leading into what seemed to be a living room. The air had a bitter chill but the faint flickering fire Hecate had started up did absolutely nothing to warm the temperature. Eva slightly tugged down the sleeves of her white top, regretting not wearing a coat too.

"Did you get a look at him?" Ron whispered to them. "For a second I thought it was . . ."

"I know, Dumbledore," Hermione replied shortly.

Eva shrugged in response. "I told him I don't have the patience for any serial killer bullshit, but nah, I didn't even see that. It's freezing in here though."

"That's because this," Hermione picked up the corner of her thin button-down dark green short-sleeved shirt, "with a thin long-sleeve underneath will do nothing to keep you warm. This isn't a fashion show."

"Doesn't mean I can't look nice," Eva retorted as she caught her reflection in the foggy window. "I do look nice though, don't I?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You always do." She went quiet for a moment. "Harry? I can see you in this."

Sure enough, Harry's reflection was visible in the mirror they were facing. With a curious expression, Harry began to walk across the room with the small missing piece of the mirror in hand.

"You bloody fools."

A man was standing in the doorway, with a startling resemblance to Dumbledore. His greying beard was just as long as his had been, and he had the same blue eyes that could be seen from a mile away, only these eyes weren't filled with kindness, but rather impatience.

"What were you thinking, coming here?" he inquired. "Have you any idea how dangerous it is?"

"You think we'd believe those Death Eaters were only hunting us down to use friendly tickling jinxes on us?" Eva snarked. "Also, I never got a reply on the whole serial killer thing, so is that-"

"He's not a serial killer," Harry answered as he studied the man. "You're Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother. It's you I've been seeing in here," he realised slowly. "You're the one who sent Dobby."

Aberforth crossed the room towards the window furthest from the stairs. "Where have you left him?"

The room was plunged into silence. "He's dead," Harry responded.

"Sorry to hear that," he replied after a moment. "I liked that elf."

Eva sighed. "We all did to be fair. Not only is he a sassy little thing, but he also wears shoes. Cool guy, you've got to admire Dobby."

"Who gave that to you?" Harry pointed behind him. "The mirror?"

"Mundungus Fletcher, about a year ago," Aberforth answered.

"Dung had no right," Harry snapped.

Eva touched his arm lightly. "Glasses, I'm sure he didn't know."

He abruptly pulled himself away. "No, it belonged to-"

"Sirius," Aberforth finished. "Albus told me. He also told me you'd likely be hacked off if you ever found out I had it, but ask yourself, where would you be if I didn't?"


Aberforth emerged from his kitchen with a tray which he placed down on the table. Instantly spotting the mead and what looked like some kind of loaf and remembering that she'd hardly eaten that day, Eva quickly reached for a glass and began to glug down the drink.

"Do you hear from the others much?" Hermione asked him.

Eva paused swallowing down her drink for a moment. "Like, the Order and all that jazz?"

"The Order's finished," Aberforth responded. "You-Know-Who's won. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves."

Harry was taking none of it, not the food nor the words he was hearing. "We need to get into Hogwarts, tonight. Dumbledore gave us a job to do."

Aberforth placed down his half-empty glass on the table. "Did he now? Nice job? Easy?"

"Yeah," Eva nodded sarcastically, "middle of a war against the Dark Lord and he gave us an easy job of doing his laundry."

"Is the sarcasm really necessary?" he asked her with an unimpressed tone. She just shrugged.

"We've been hunting Horcruxes," Harry explained. "We think the last one's inside the castle, but we'll need your help getting in."

"That's not a job my brother's given you," Aberforth interjected, "it's a suicide mission."

"If it's suicide to destroy the megalomaniac asshole who runs this hellhole, then us three will gladly go on it," Eva said.

He shook his head. "Do yourself a favour, boy, go home. Live a little longer."

"Dumbledore trusted me to see this through," Harry argued.

"What makes you think you can trust him?" Aberforth questioned. "What makes you think you can believe anything my brother told you? In all the time you knew him, did he ever mention my name?"

"We know we can trust him, because the work we've done so far," Eva quickly rolled up her sleeve to reveal her mark on her left forearm, which was very subtly less defined than before, "has already made a difference."

Aberforth pointed with his glass towards the painting behind Harry. "Did he ever mention her name?"

"Why should he-"

"Keep secrets?" he interrupted Harry. "You tell me."

Harry shook his head. "I'm not interested in whatever happened between you and your brother. I don't care that you've given up. I trusted the man I knew, and we need to get into the castle tonight."


The painting slowly swung open on its hinges. Eva peered her head to the side before jumping up and down on the spot in an attempt to see who was approaching through the dark stone tunnel through the wall.

"Who is it?" Eva jumped again. "Someone tell me who it is."

Harry smiled. "Neville. Oh, you look-"

Neville reached the entryway to the tunnel, his face covered in small cuts and the remnants of a bruise around his eye. "Like hell, I reckon. This is nothing, Seamus is worse."

"Yeah, you look horrific," Eva laughed.

Neville paused for a moment, his now confused and startled gaze lingering on her arm. Of course, she'd forgotten to roll down her sleeve after showing her very slowly fading mark to Aberforth.

"Is that . . ." he trailed off.

"Neville, it's not nearly what you'd expect," Eva promised him. "I didn't ask for this."

Rather than question her further, he simply nodded his head. "Hey, Ab," he called to Aberforth who had entered the room once more, "we've got a couple more coming through.


"Don't remember this on the Marauder's Map," Ron mused.

Neville led them through the stone tunnel, using his wand as a torch for them to navigate their way through. "That's because it never existed 'til now. The seven secret passages were sealed off before the start of the year. This is the only way in or out now. The grounds are crawling with Death Eaters and Dementors." He briefly glanced down at Eva's arm. "You might wanna roll down your sleeve. I'm not sure how the others will react to that."

Just to prove a point, Eva rolled up her right sleeve too so that they matched and both of her forearms were showing. "If Voldemort wants me to feel any kind of guilt or shame about this mark, he can keep on dreaming."

"How bad is Snape as headmaster?" Hermione asked Neville.

"Hardly ever see him," Neville replied. "It's the Carrows you need to watch out for."

"Carrows?" Harry repeated.

"Isn't that a type of bird?" Eva asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's a crow, Eva."

"The Carrows," Neville put emphasis on the word. "Brother and sister, in charge of discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."

"Did they do that to you?" Hermione asked. "Why?"

"Well, firstly Neville's just annoying-"

Neville playfully shoved Eva's shoulder. "Today's Dark Arts lessons had us practising the Cruciatus Curse."

"Oh," was all that Eva said.

"On first years," Neville added.

"Oh," Eva said again, but with a tone of disgust.

"I refused," Neville told them. "Hogwarts has changed." They approached the end of the corridor. "Let's have a bit of fun, shall we?"

With a slight push, the wall at the end swung to the side, which Eva realised had been a painting after all. Through the slight gap between Neville and the stone wall beside him, she could see that they were a few feet away from the ground.

"Hey, listen up, you lot!" Neville announced, gaining the room's attention. "Brought you a surprise."

"Not more of Aberforth's cooking, I hope," Seamus remarked. "Be a surprise if we can digest it."

Neville stepped to the side, revealing Harry. The room instantly stood to their feet and began to applaud them enthusiastically. Once Harry had climbed down, the applause started up again when the group identified Eva too. She bowed dramatically and laughed as she gracefully hopped down into the room, closely followed by Hermione and Ron.

"Okay," Neville held some of the group, which included most of Dumbledore's Army, back a few steps, "let's not kill Harry before You-Know-Who gets the chance."

"Wait." Seamus stepped forward and pointed to Eva's arm. "What's that? Why do you have the Dark Mark on your arm?!"

Eva took a deep breath. "I can explain-"

"Explain what?! That you haven't been on our side the entire time?!" he snapped. "Should've guessed from a Slytherin."

The entire room were now arguing with her—correction, at her. Honestly, Eva had seen it coming, but it didn't make their reaction any less irritating.

With a sigh, she pulled out her music player and began to blast out Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! by ABBA. "Right!" she shouted. "I'll turn this off when everyone learns to have a sensible conversation like adults!"

Once everyone's mouths had stopped moving, she paused the music and began to explain herself fully. "I haven't been allowed to tell you anything, it's top Order business." She closed her eyes for a moment and took another deep breath. "At the end of our fifth year, near my muggle home, I was abducted by Voldemort. He wanted my demon really, but he gave me the Dark Mark and planned to use the Imperius Curse on me. That's why I'm currently listed as an Undesirable—because he's not finished with me yet. If my loyalties weren't true, I wouldn't be here with you."

Neville placed a hand on her shoulder. "And we believe you completely. So," he turned his head to Harry, "what's the plan, Harry?"

Harry seemed taken aback for a moment. "Okay . . . there's something we need to find, something hidden here in the castle, and it may help us to defeat You-Know-Who."

"Right, what is it?" Neville asked eagerly.

Harry subtly winced. "We don't know."

"When we say we don't know, we mean we don't know," Eva clarified. "It could be literally anything, any shape, any colour, any object, anything really. Likely old."

"Where is it?" Neville queried.

Harry's face turned slightly pink with embarrassment. "We don't know that either. I realise that's not much to go on."

"That's nothing to go on," Seamus said irritatedly.

"Hey," Eva pointed to him, "I told you it was old."

"Likely old," Seamus corrected.

"I think it has something to do with Ravenclaw," Harry shared. "Um . . . it'll be small, easily concealed-"

"Old," Eva added.

Harry clicked his fingers and pointed to her. "Old. Anyone, any ideas?"

"Well," Luna responded softly, "there's Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem."

"Oh, bloody hell," Ron muttered, "here we go."

"It's always the magical something of something-rather," Eva grumbled, "like the magical locket of Salazar Slytherin, or the-," she fumbled on her words, "-the forbidden trombone of who-gives-a-fuck."

"Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw?" Luna repeated. "Hasn't anyone heard of it? It's quite famous."

"Yes," Cho answered, "but Luna, it's lost, for centuries now. There isn't a person alive today who's seen it."

"Excuse me," Ron interrupted, "can someone tell me what a bloody diadem is? Or a trombone?"

Eva mimed playing the trombone. "That's a trombone, and a diadem is like a fancy word for a tiara," she placed an invisible crown on her head.

"Summons demons and plays charades, what can't you do?" Ron muttered.

There was a faint rumbling sound, causing Eva to pull out her wand on instinct and point it at the source. She began to lower it by her side again when Ginny stepped into view.

"Harry," Ginny said.

Harry went quiet. "Hi there."

"And I thought Draco and I were depressing," Eva snarked, wishing she had Fred and George to high-five.

"Six months she hasn't seen me," Ron remarked, "and it's like I'm Frankie First-Year. I'm her brother."

"Got lots of those," Seamus grinned, "but there's only one Harry."

"What is it, Ginny?" Neville asked her.

"Snape knows," Ginny responded. "He knows that Harry and Eva were spotted in Hogsmeade."

Everyone's gazes turned to them slowly.

"Shit."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: Okay, so this chapter may seem like it's quite short, but of course all of the action is really about to pick up soon. I did skip the entire Gringotts chunk, okay, but honestly there's nothing particularly important that happens there so, again, if you wanna know what actually happened, watch the movie or read the book, or both to be honest. Andddd very soon you'll get to finally see Eva and Draco's reunion, for real this time yayyyy

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