*** Hello and thank you for reading! This chapter came up to be longer than
I expected, but I really hope you will enjoy it. Thanks for the reviews,
and don't forget to visit the official web site of Hogwarts Chronicles,
where you'll find some character designs, drawings and more. The URL is
http://hogwartschronicles.tripod.com. I will be uploading chapter four
soon!! ***
CHAPTER THREE: THE DEMON
The Hogwarts Express would arrive at Hogsmeade in half an hour. In a compartment near the end of the train, the Marauders were narrating their summer adventures with full detail and dramatization, while Lily and Eve were laughing like mad.
"...It was a good thing that the old man didn't turn around and see his dog levitating like a baloon! I was so desperated trying to wave my wand while talking to him about care of pumpkins!!" – Sirius looked around. The compartent exploded in laughter. "It's true! I swear!" – now Sirius was laughing as well.
The compartment door suddenly opened, and Lucius Malfoy showed up.
"I see... who else would be making all this noise? You bunch of vulgar muggles and low class so-called wizards..."
"Get lost, Malfoy"– said James, wipping out some tears of laughing while standing up with Remus.
"Or else? What, are you going to start a fight right before arriving at Hogsmeade, Potter? Lupin?"
Severus appeared right behind Malfoy.
"A fight? No, thanks."- replied Remus. "We were just about to curse you and turn you into a shrieking girl but... I believe that the curse wouldn't have worked anyway..."
Remus winked to James and the compartment once again exploded into laughter. Eve was laughing like mad when she caught Severus' look. A weird look, indeed.
"What's wrong with her...? Something just doesn't quite match here...." thought Severus; instead of finding the little Gryffindor girl, with messy curly hair, naive and foolish eyes and a bit overweighted body, he found a pretty looking girl, with nice curly hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a womanly and well-modeled body. But, of course, he wasn't aware of any of this changes in his boyish mind, and he looked away, before Eve's eyes woke up unkown feelings in him.
"Severus?"
Everybody in the compartment looked to the open door. Behind Severus appeared Melanie Wilkes, a Slytherin girl who was in seventh year with Severus and Lucius. She was blonde, her green eyes sparkling with evil, and her pretty face had a horrible grimace of despise when she noticed the Marauders and Co.
"Oh, Snape! You and your greasy hair have a girlfriend!!"- Sirius laughed, his eyes shinning in joy and mischiveousness. "This is something really, really unexpected!!"
Severus gave Sirius a very fake smile. Then, he turned to Malfoy.
"Lucius... why are you here wasting your time with this... pathetic group? Let's go..."
"Yes... I guess you're right. They're not worth my time."
"How dare you...?!"- shouted Peter, but he was lucky Lucius and Severus already left the compartment and didn't hear his words. Sirius ran to the door and listened carefully.
"What are you doing...?"- asked Lily.
"Shhhh!"- said Sirius, placing a finger on his lips.
"Severus! Lucius! Why do you bother talking to those... mudbloods and vulgar wizards? Severus, I really can't understand why you..."
"Why should you understand, Melanie?"- that was Severus' voice.
"Be... because... you come from a well known family of pure-blood wizards, and I'm sure your mother wouldn't like the idea of you being friends with a muggle..."
"I have no muggle friend..."
"No? And what about that stupid, noisy Gryffindor girl looking at you in the compartment?"
"She's not my friend. And she wasn't looking at me."
Sirius heard some steps walking away the door, heading to another compartment; then, a door slaming. Severus had left the compartment where Malfoy and Wilkes were.
"When will you learn to shut up, Melanie? You're annoying."
And then Malfoy left the compartment as well.
Sirius walked back to the Marauders, giggling.
"That Wilkes girl... I bet my undergarments that she's in love with Snape..."
"WHAT???"- everybody was surprised to hear that. Lily gave Sirius a severe look.
"What? What happens?"- Sirius asked her. Lily rolled her eyes; then Sirius noticed that Eve was looking at him.
"I've heard that Melanie Wilkes is very annoying..."- said Eve - "Not even the Slytherins like her. She's a gossipmonger, she likes to find out everything about her classmates' families, and then she uses any information she gathers against them..."- Eve continued staring at Sirius while talking.
"Good... good, Eve! You've done your homework!" – Sirius smiled, and got closer to Eve –"and let me tell you, Snape was kind of upset that you didn't pay him too much attention recently..." Sirius winked at Eve; she was blushing. "But... I'm afraid he doesn't consider you a friend, Eve..." Now Eve wasn't blushing at all.
"Oh, shut up!"- she said, breaking the eye contact with Sirius.
"Mmmmh... but, why would anyone fall in love with Snape? He's so bloody ugly, and slimy, and oily..."- Peter added, not aware of the look Eve was giving him.
"And why would anyone be interested in your undergarments in a bet, Sirius?"- asked James, trying to bring some fun to the compartment after the visit of the Slytherins.
"Oh... you might not be interested, Prongs. But I'm sure these gracious ladies will be more than interested in taking a look at my firm and modeled body before I leave Hogwarts this year..." Sirius looked at Lily and Eve, and winked at them. They just giggled. James and Remus looked at each other, and grinned.
"Hey... what are you two up to?"- asked Sirius, as soon as he noticed his friends' grins.
"Nothing, Padfoot... nothing at all..."- replied Remus.
"We were just picturing you paying off your bet..."- added James.
But for some reason, Sirius didn't feel safe at all with that answer.
The Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade in time, and while Hagrid led the first years to the lake, the rest of the school headed to the carriages which would take them to Hogwarts. The four Marauders took one carriage, and Eve and Lily took the one after them; they could hear the laughs and screams coming from the boys' carriage, and they laughed as well. Then, Lily finally asked Eve something she had in mind since last year.
"Eve... tell me... do you... do you like Snape? I mean, Severus?"
Eve looked at Lily and blushed.
"Well..."
"Oh, please, don't be shy... listen... I will reveal you a secret, so maybe you will reveal yours. When I was in second year, I really, really, had a crush on that funny, noisy, and meany Sirius Black, you know?"
Eve opened her mouth in surprise.
"But then... when I entered third year, I noticed that it wasn't really love, but admiration; I admired the way he could come up with those jokes, and the way he was always annoying the Slytherins. And I was relieved, because I could look at him with friendly eyes again... later I discovered that my heart was with someone else..." Lily blushed a little bit.
"James?"
"Yes." Lily smiled to Eve, blushing more. "Now that I have confessed this to you, let me tell you that only a little few of my best friends know about this. I really consider you my friend, and that's why I told you. I'm sad this is my last year in Hogwarts, but I'm sure we will see each other again in the future, won't we?"
"Yes! We will still be friends, Lily!"
"Now, tell me..." Lily's green eyes looked directly into Eve's blue eyes. "Do you like him?"
Eve didn't answer. She looked away through the carriage window for a while. Then, she finally spoke, in a whisper.
"Yes... I believe so..."
"And when you saw him today, did you feel the same for him?"
"Yes... I think so..."
Lily smiled.
"Listen, you just don't worry about what the Marauders or anybody else say. It is your heart, and your fellings, and if you really like him, you just don't have to give anybody explanations. But still, you must be aware that Severus Snape isn't a common boy... you know that..."
Eve looked at Lily. "Because he's a Slytherin...?" she asked.
"More than that... he's proud... mysterious... he comes from a wealthy family of Slytherins; his parents are well known as strict and implacable wizards, and they raised him the way he is. It will be hard to be loved back by him...
"I know..."- Eve looked away through the window once more. "I know", he thought to herself.
The carriages finally arrived at Hogwarts, and all students headed to the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony and the banquet.
"Look at them!"- Sirius whispered to the Marauders in the Gryffindor table during the banquet. "Look at Wilkes and Snape!".
They all looked to the Slytherin table and saw a funny scene. Severus was eating dinner while talking to Lucius Malfoy, and they both looked very secretive and entertained with the conversation. But Melanie Wilkes was trying to listen to them, and laughing at every single comment Severus made. There was a point when it was so annoying that both Severus and Lucius looked at her with a look in their eyes that clearly asked her to shut up. The Marauders couldn't see Melanie's expression, because she was sitting in the side of the table where they could just look at her back, but they were sure that she was upset an blushing. Severus and Lucius continued talking, and then Melanie did something stupid; she stared at Severus with a look she thought would be sexy and charming, and stayed that way, staring at him, until he did notice her look.
"What's wrong with you, Wilkes? Why are you looking at me with those foolish eyes?"
"Yes, indeed"- added Malfoy. "You look stupid..."
Melanie blushed furiously and looked away.
"This is annoying... let's go, Lucius..."
Severus and Lucius were standing up while an explosion of laughter came from the Gryffindor table; the Marauders, who watched the whole scene, were laughing at Severus, Sirius specially. But Severus' eyes did not fall upon them, but upon Eve. There she was, surrounded by Marauders, looking at him; but she was not laughing. Their eyes met, and time was stopped for both of them. There was something about her that Severus couldn't describe, but he just couldn't take his eyes off her; it felt nice being staring at her, and there was a warm feeling in his heart.
"Severus... come on... let's go"- Lucius looked at him, and then at the Gryffindor table, and wasn't sure if he was looking at the Marauders or at Eve. "Severus..."
"Oh..? Yes... yes, let's go..."
While they were leaving the Slytherin table, Severus could feel Eve's blue eyes still looking at him, making him feel confused. As soon as they left the Great Hall and headed to the Slytherin common room, Severus felt a lot better.
"What's going on with you, Severus?"
"Nothing... why?"
"You've been acting oddly since that meeting in the Hogwarts Express..."- Lucius gave a cold stare at Severus.
"Just your imagination, Lucius."
"I see... well, now back to our conversation... what do you think?"
Severus was silent for a while. Then, he talked.
"I agree with you, Lucius; it is annoying not to be able to use all my knowledge due to the spells restrictions of the Ministry of Magic. They call these skills Dark Arts... I say they have been always too frightened by the power of these Dark Arts to use them, and that's why they forbid their use..."
Lucius looked around to make sure nobody was listening, and whispered to Severus.
"But we know of someone who's not afraid of using them... and I believe that we would be very useful to him..."
Severus looked at Lucius with a slight spark of ambition on his eyes.
"Do you think it is safe to join him? I happen to appreciate my life, Lucius..."
"Of course it is! I know what I'm telling you, Severus: he is already very, very powerful, more powerful than we can imagine... and he will be extremely grateful to those who help him to achieve his goal..."- Lucius faced Severus. "And I know how to get close to him..."
Severus tried to avoid Lucius' eyes; for some reason, he was hesistating, even if his best friend seemed very excited with the idea, and he thought it was exciting too, but there was again this small voice in his head telling him that it was actually a very bad idea. Lucius seemed to notice this, because he started to pressure him.
"Severus... come on, look at me! Listen; you're a very talented wizard, and you know it. Everybody knew you were special since our first class... come on, my friend, you knew more curses than most of the students in Hogwarts! So, listen to me; why waste such great talent working for muggle-lovers like the people at the Ministry of Magic?"- Lucius' voice now became lower and silkier, as like he was speaking to a little child –"Muggles think they can just appear with magical powers and rule the world. Look at that Lilian Evans, or that annoying Evelyn Hollow... mudbloods from top to bottom, but they have been gifted with more magical powers than many pure-blooded wizards. Do you think that's fair?"
Severus didn't answer. Now Lucius was upset.
"Well, I don't think that's fair! Someone must put a stop to this. I'm not talking about termination, of course... but regulation. We must control those mudbloods in order to keep our hierarchy, Severus. We both come from old families of pure-blooded wizards... look at your family! Your parents belong to the highest elite of wizards in the magical world. Would you like a mudblood who was lucky enough to born with magical powers to enter the same group that your father, a fine wizard with such a tradition behind him? I don't think so... So, what do you say?"
"I... I need to think about it, Lucius. I can't answer you right now..."
"It's Ok. But we wouldn't be alone, you know? Lestrange is going to join him as well, and so are Rosier and Avery. I understand you, I know you need to think about it; Narcissa is also thinking, but she will have to answer me soon so I can make the contacts, and you will have to asnwer soon as well..."
"When?"
"Before the end of the term. I need to contact one of his closest supporters to receive instructions. We should be able to meet him in person once we've left Hogwarts."
"I shall give you my answer then."
"Hey, what's going on?"
"The Quidditch auditions have begun!"
There was an atmosphere of excitement in all Hogwarts, as the Quidditch auditions were announced. The captains of every Quidditch team, with the supervision of Madame Hooch, the Flying teacher, would select new members before the beginning ot the matchs for the Quidditch Cup. First year students weren't allowed to enter the teams, so they were the only ones not quite excited (but very disappointed); the rest of the students were picturing themselves hiting the Bludgers, carrying a Quaffle, protecting the team rings, or going after the fast and slippery Snitch.
"James! Who are you going to pick up as a Beater, my friend?"
James looked at Peter, who was smiling broadly; he always wanted to be a Beater in the Gryffindor team, but he just didn't have the skills. James was the Seeker and the Captain of the team, and he knew that his friend didn't have a chance; he just smiled.
"I really don't make any decisions, Wormtail... it is Madame Hooch who has the final word."
"Oh... well... I'll try my best anyway."
"Of course! You must, Peter! I will be waiting for you in the auditions, Ok?"
The Gryffindor team only needed a new Beater this year to complete the team of seven players. But it wouldn't be an easy task to find him, because he needed great skills in flying to avoid the Bludgers or to hit them. James knew that if he didn't find the Beater, he wouldn't be able to play for the Quidditch Cup this year, his last year in Hogwarts, and those thoughts had him very nervous. "Maybe I'll finish up asking Peter to join us, after all..."
Eve was late for her Transfiguration class, and she was running through the corridors, because Prof. McGonagall, her Transfiguration teacher, was very strict with the time. But she was being unlucky that day, and bumped right into Peeves the Poltergeist.
"HEY, WATCH OUT, YOU STUPID SILLY SNOTTY BRAT!!"
"Pe... Peeves!!"
"Oh..... Hollow, Hello, Yellow, yellow toothed girl!"
Peeves grabbed Eve's bag and began flying around her.
"Peeves! Please! I will be late for my Transfiguration class! Please!!"
"No, no, no. Bad girl bumped into good Peeves and didn't apologize. Peeves is not giving back her bag."- and he showed his tongue to her.
"Oh... I...I'm very, very sorry, Peeves, really. Could you please give back my bag?"
"THERE IT GOES!!!"
And while he was laughing hysterically, he disappeared throwing away Eve's bag, spreading all her books, parchments, and her ink bottle, which broke and ruined many sheets of her Transfiguration notes.
"COME BACK, YOU...!!!!"
Eve frowned. Now there was no way she could go to her Transfiguration class; it was too late, and Prof. McGonagall wouldn't let her in. She knelt down and began gathering her stuff. Then, while she was looking to the floor, two feet walked to her. Then, the owner knelt down as well and helped her gathering her things.
"Severus..."
"I assume you had a close encounter with Peeves... right?"
Eve sighed. After she put back her things in her bag, she stood up, followed by Severus.
"Thank you, Severus.... well... see you..."
"How have you been?"- Severus asked; it was a stupid question, but it was the first thing that came to his mind before Eve turned around and headed to the Gryffindor common room.
"Excuse me?"- Eve didn't quite believe his question; he never asked her that before.
"We... we haven't actually talked since last year... I was wondering... well.. how was your summer?"
"Oh! Well... there isn't too much to tell... been with my uncle..."
"I see..."
There was a very uncomfortable silence for about twenty seconds.
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going back to the common room... Mc.Gonagall won't let me enter the classroom by now..."
"No, she definitively won't..."
Not Severus, nor Eve, had anything to say. Eve was always nervous when being around Severus, but right then she wasn't feeling nervous at all; she could even look directly into his eyes without trembling. "Maybe I did calm down a little bit after three years", she thought.. And Severus was so confused with the new feelings inside him that he just didn't find the right words. He couldn't explain to himself what was new in her that disturbed him so much; if he looked at her with a cold mind, he would find a thirteen years old Eve, with the same characteristics than the Evelyn Hollow he knew. But if he looked more closely, he would find a whole new Eve, and it confused him so much the fact that he liked this new girl. And another uncomfortable silence followed.
"Why... why don't you come with me to the schoolyard? You're free now, aren't you?"
"Oh... you don't have classes right now?"
"No... I have very few classes this year... since it's the last one..."
For some reason, Severus didn't like those last words. "Since it is my last year in Hogwarts...", he thought.
"Well... allright then... let's go..."
There were a few students in the schoolyard, most of them seventh year students walking or sitting on the grass, talking or reading. Eve and Severus were walking towards the lake, and for the first time since they have met, it was not only Eve talking, but they were actually having a conversation.
"My summer vacations aren't too exciting, Severus..."- Eve smiled. "Just picture me in an old muggle building in London, looking down from a balcony to the people walking and rushing... and my uncle inside, sitting on a couch and drinking tea..."
"... Sounds like fun..."- said Severus, sarcastically.
Eve looked at him.
"What about your summer vacations, Severus? I guess a wizard's got a lot of funny things to do with his wizard family..."
Severus gave her an annoyed look.
"You got angry so soon, Hollow?"
"No... really... I want to know how's life in an old family of wizards..."
Severus sigued and rolled his eyes.
"Life in an old family of wizards... quite different from yours, I guess, specially if your father is a member of the High Council of the Ministry of Magic and you hardly ever see him around, and your mother is always occupied with social meetings..."
"... Sounds like fun..."
Severus smiled a little bit to Eve's sarcasm.
"Yes... it is a lot of fun indeed..."
They walked in silence just enjoying each other's company for a while. Then, Eve looked at the Quidditch field.
"The auditions for the Quidditch teams is tomorrow... I've heard the Slytherin team needs a Beater and a Chaser..."
"Yes... the captain is a sixth year girl, and she has been very busy these days with all this... auditions thing..."
"Would you like to be in your house Quidditch team, Severus?"
"No."
"No?? But everybody wants to play in their house teams!"- Eve gave him a concerned look. "You like Quidditch, don't you?"
Severus sighed and rolled his eyes once more.
"I do like Quidditch, but I don't like to be a part of a silly spectacle. I don't enjoy myself being the center of attention..."- he smiled sarcastically. "That's why I've taken my time to make myself quite... unpopular..."
"I see... well, I don't mind being part of a silly spectacle, so I will try my best to be the new Gryffindor beater!"
"Will you?"- Severus sounded surprised.
1.1 "Of course! I've been playing Beater all my life!"
"All your life? All your muggle life?"
Severus grinned. Eve went pink.
"Well.. since I knew I was a witch... Allright! Since I'm in first year and played with my classmates! But I'm pretty good..."
"You better be... all your life... ha!"- whispered Severus, smiling but looking away.
"Hey... hey!! Don't laugh!"
"I'm not laughing!"- he said, while laughing.
"Oh, how dare you!"- Eve was laughing too, giving him soft punches, while he was trying to block them.
"Severus!!"
A cold and shrieking voice interrupted their laughter. Severus' expression was all of a sudden sour and annoyed again. He turned around just to find Melanie Wilkes running to them.
When she finally reached them, she gave Eve the most pejorative grimace, looking her up and down. Then she looked at Severus, who was clearly angry for the interruption, and grabbed his right arm.
"Severus, come with me; Lucius sent me to find you. He needs to talk to you now."
Severus released himself from Melanie's hands and gave her a menacing look.
"I believe that I can find Lucius by myself, Melanie. And I don't think he needs to talk to me so badly to send you to find me..."
"So... you rather stay here with this muggle than go and see what your best friend wants?"
"I'm free to do as I wish..."
"Oh, look... James is over there. I think I will ask him about the Quidditch auditions. Want to come with me, Severus?"
Severus looked at her, and she gave him a sad smile. She knew already what was his answer.
"No? Well. See you later, Severus! Have fun!"
And she ran to James Potter who was returning from the Quidditch field with Sirius, Remus and Peter, leaving Severus with Melanie.
When she reached the Marauders, Sirius immediately saw something was wrong with her.
"Allright... where is he?"
"Wha... what?"- Eve was panting after running to them.
"He's over there..."- said Remus, pointing at Severus and Melanie, who were heading to the castle.
"What did he do now?"- asked James.
"Nothing! I just came here because I needed to ask you something about the Quidditch auditions!"
"The Quidditch auditions? You want to be a Beater too?"- asked a very concerned Peter.
"Well... yes... why?"
"Peter is auditioning too..."- answered Remus.
"Oh, I see... maybe I shouldn't try, then..."
"DON'T SAY THAT!!"- shouted James. He had seen Eve play Quidditch before, and he knew she was a good Beater; but still he needed to see her in the auditions, because one thing was the first years team, and another was the House Team. Peter looked at him a little bit upset. "I mean... come on! No matter which one of you two gets to be the new Beater; the important thing is that the Gryffindor team is completed and wins the Quidditch Cup..."
"James is right"- added Remus. "The auditions are tomorrow; Sirius and I will be cheering you two up."
"Yes. We will dress with a couple of uniforms of some fifth year girls we took from the laundry, put a wig on our heads, and dance and jump and cheer."
They all laughed.
"Auditions are tomorrow morning, at 9 AM. You just need to show up at the Quidditch field. We will provide broomsticks and everything you need"- said James, and then they all headed to the castle for lunch.
The next morning a big group of students was at the Quidditch field; they were all separated in four groups, one for each of the houses of Hogwarts (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin). The captains and the players of each Quidditch team were waiting for Madame Hooch to begin the auditions. When Eve arrived with Sirius and Remus, who were carrying their schoolbags for no aparent reason, she headed to the Gryffindor group, and when she walked past the Slytherin group, she was surprised to find Severus.
"Severus..."- she whispered.
"Snape? Where?"- the two boys asked. When they saw him in the Slytherin group, auditioning for the Quidditch team, they just couldn't believe it.
"But... does he even know how to play? I mean... we've never see him playing before..."- asked Remus.
"We only saw him playing back in first year, during Flying lesson... he wasn't that bad... but is he that good to enter the house team? I don't think so..."
"And why is he here? I thought he said that to play in the Quidditch house team was something stupid..."
Eve didn't tell them about their conversation the day before, but it seemed to her that what Severus said about not liking to play in the team was true. "Why is he here, then?", she thought to herself.
The auditions went as usual; many of the students were left behind, for lack of flying skills, Peter among them. The Gryffindor team had a couple of unusual cheering girls; nobody knew who they were; nobody remembered such shrieking, silly girls in the house. But for some reason James Potter couldn't stop laughing for a long while.
At 1 PM, the new players of the house teams were announced. Madame Hooch, the Flying teacher, read the names.
"Gryffindor: Evelyn Hollow, Beater."
The two shrieking girls cheering up Gryffindor exploded into boy-like screams and laughters. Then, everybody noticed who they were.
"Congratulations, Eve"- said James, shaking her hand. Eve was smiling broadly.
"Well... try to hit those Slytherins very hard with the Bludger, Eve"- said Peter.
"You bet I will!"
"Hufflepuff: Anna Summers, Chaser; John Pendelton, Chaser; Hugh Jackman, Seeker."- many girls screamed when Hugh was named; he was a very good looking fourth year Hufflepuff.
"Ravenclaw: Camille Stones, Seeker."
Everybody in the Ravenclaw group clapped.
"Slytherin: George Brandon, Chaser; Severus Snape, Beater."
While the Slytherin group exploded in claps and cheers, the Gryffindor team exchanged looks.
"Snape? Beater?"- said James, still unable to believe it.
"Mhhh... I don't like this"- commented Remus to Sirius. "Just picture Eve facing Snape..."
"Let's hope nothing bad happens..."
Madame Hooch then spoke to all teams.
"The games for the Quidditch Cup will begin in November, the fourth; the first two teams matching are to be sorted next week. Train yourselves very hard!"
While returning to the castle, James introduced Eve to the Gryffindor team.
"Well... first off, our Chasers: Susan Johnson, Hellen Sullivan and Robert McBride.... our Keeper (God bless you!), Thomas Wood... you already know me, the Seeker and Captain... and the other Beater, the one you must look at as your twin, your other half: Frank Longbottom."
"Hi, welcome!" Frank was a tall and a little bit overweighted boy. He was in fifth year, and was a very good student.
"Hi! Nice to meet you!"- Eve shook his hand.
"And I really mean that you two become very, very close friends; it is the only way two Beaters can work out together against those Bludgers. You must be like one when playing, to coordinate your moves."- said James, patting both Eve's and Frank's shoulders; they just smiled.
"What do you think about Snape?"- asked Susan Johnson. "It will be a problem to have him and Malfoy as Beaters..."
"It's true; those two might even put a curse on us..."-added Thomas Wood.
"Well... they can't curse us, or the Slytherin team will be disqualified; still, I'm concerned about those two..."- said James.
"Malfoy is a Beater too?"- asked a very surprised Eve.
"Yes"- answered James. "But he isn't too good... he's more like... how to say it?..."
"A cheater"- said Frank Longbottom.
"That's the word! Thanks, Frank. It is well known that he bought his place in the Quidditch team... you know his parents are very wealthy. I dare to say Snape is a better Beater than him."
"But still, Malfoy manages to cause a lot of trouble in the Quidditch matchs"- said Frank. "It is very dangerous to play against him. Last year, one of our Beaters got hit with a Bludger sent by Malfoy... the problem was that James had asked time-up to Madame Hooch, and while Kurt Bridges (that was his name) was flying to join the team and deliberate, Malfoy sent a Bludger to him. Poor Kurt was sent to the Hospital Wing, unconscious..."
"And we lost that match thanks to him"- added James. "Malfoy said he didn't listen Madame Hooch's whistle, so he didn't know there was time-up; fifty points were discounted from Slytherin, but still they won, since we had only one Beater..."
"Frank almost gets killed while fighting alone against those Bludgers"- said Robert McBride.
"And everybody in the Slytherin team were laughing at him..."- added Hellen Sullivan.
"But at least"- said James "We won the Quidditch Cup".
As this was Eve's third year in Hogwarts, she and her classmates got to select a few extra subjects; due to this, their schedule was quite busy. On the other hand, the seventh year students had a very nice schedule, with only a few subjects that would finish up their education as wizards. Thanks to the extra time they had, Lucius Malfoy and his Slytherin friends were planning the best way to join the Dark Lord Voldemort once they finished their school year. Severus still wasn't sure about his decision, but Malfoy kept pushing him to join the group.
"Don't-waste-your-knowledge"- hissed Lucius. "You're more than those low- class wizards and witches who whish to work for the Ministry of Magic. You must come with us".
"You said I had until the end of the term to decide, Lucius. Don't pressure me until then..."
"I know, I know"- said Lucius, shaking his head. "But I'm afraid you're losing the right path, my friend..."
"What do you mean?"
"You know... you've started to become... friends... with a muggle. That is certainly something unexpected from you..."
"Are you listening to Melanie Wilkes' advices, Lucius Malfoy? Now that is something unexpected from you..."
"Not her advices... but the information she's got... she has seen you and that muggle Gryffindor walking together, actually having fun together..."
Severus looked at his friend; once again, Melanie Wilkes was being a problem. He did enjoy his time with Eve, but he didn't want his friend to notice. What would Lucius say if he told him that he actually liked to be around Eve? Besides, he still wasn't sure of what was happening with him, and didn't want to make any mistakes. He then came up with the quickest answer he could think up, one that would convince Lucius.
"Having fun? What if I tell you that soon enough it will be us making fun out of her?"
"What are you saying?"
"The Quidditch Cup, Lucius; let me tell you that, with one single nice word from me, that girl will easily forget about her role as a Beater and give us all the chances to win."
"So, you were coaxing her?"
"I didn't want to enter the house team until I found out that she was joining too; then I knew it would be the chance of our lives to win the Quidditch Cup and humilliate the Gryffindors..."
Lucius couldn't believe his friend's words.
"Are you sure is that all you have with that muggle, Severus?"
Severus thought for a second; he was lying to his best friend.
"Absolutely".
And November 4th arrived, with the first match of the Quidditch Cup: Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. It was a very rainy day and the Hufflepuff team wasn't a true opponent for the Slytherin team. The Gryffindor team was watching the match and noticed that Severus wasn't that bad of a Beater at all; actually, he was pretty good, and caused a lot of trouble to the Hufflepuff team. Lucius Malfoy did what he always did, cheating from time to time. At the end, Slytherin defeated Hufflepuff 310 to 40. The next match would be Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and both teams prepared to give their best.
James Potter happened to be an obsessed Team Captain. He made the whole team train very late in the night and very early in the morning. Every free time the team had was just for training, and since Eve's schedule was very busy, she had to make double efforts to approve the subjects and have a good performance while playing. Luckily, she had good friends among her classmates, and when she wasn't able to assist any class, they would help her with her homework. However, all that training meant a separation between Eve and the boy she loved so much, Severus, and she got quite depressed in time. She would look around the Quidditch field while training under the rain, and would find the Marauders and Lily Evans under an umbrella, cheering up the team, specially James, and would feel miserable for not having anyone cheering her up. She noticed that the Slytherin team didn't train too much, and many times she saw Severus with his Slytherin friends enjoying some free time while she was running through the corridors late for classes or training. Several times Severus tried to get close to her and talk, but then she had to say she was sorry, but didn't have time to talk because she had to train.
In time, Eve and Frank Longbottom became good friends, and managed to synchronize their moves to make more effective their performance. At the end of the day before the match against Ravenclaw, the two Gryffindor Beaters had the perfect strategy to use the Bludgers against the oponents.
The Ravenclaw team also had an obsessed Captain, and they too had trained very hard under the rain, late in the night, early in the morning, so they were the perfect match for the Gryffindor team. But the two Ravenclaw Beaters didn't get along too well; they had been very good friends when entering the team in second year, but they were now in sixth year, and one of the Beaters had dated the other's girlfriend a few weeks ago, ruinning the whole vital relationship between the two Beaters. The day of the match they did a great performance, but something just wasn't right with their strategy. James called Eve and Frank apart and made them notice this.
"They had a terrible row a few weeks ago; they're trying their best to play, but they are not focussed. This is your chance to show them how two Beaters must work together!"
The result of James' words was a victory of Gryffindor over Ravenclaw, 230 to 50, after James catched the golden Snitch. Now Gryffindor had to prepare to face Hufflepuff in January.
Christmas arrived at Hogwarts at last, and the Great Hall was decorated with the most beautiful Christmas trees ever seen in Hogwarts, plus some fairies flying around, and the candles illuminating the Great Hall with green, red and yellow lights. In the Gryffindor common room, Sirius Black was trying to decorate the walls with the aid of some first years and his magic wand.
"Hey, you, a little bit to the left! Not that much... to the right now!", were the orders he was giving the poor little children.
Most students were preparing for Christmas vacations, when they would leave Hogwarts and go back home. But the Marauders were staying, because there would be a full moon soon, and they wanted to be with Remus then; he couldn't go back home this year, because his parents were re-building the special house they had for his transformations (last summer, before going to Hogwarts, Remus finally distroyed the house while in his wolf form), and it was dangerous for his parents to have him around.
"You really don't have to do this, guys... You really should go back home; I won't mind, really!"- said Remus, trying to convince his friends to go home.
"Tatatatata! We're staying, we need to finish up the Marauder's Map, and next time you try to send us away, I will put a Mute spell on you!"- was Sirius' response.
Remus smiled; he was concerned about Sirius, James and Peter not going home in these special days, but he was very grateful for having such good friends.
At 9 PM, all students headed to the Great Hall for dinner, and it was the perfect chance for Severus to talk to Eve; when she was walking to the Great Hall, he stepped into her.
"Evelyn..."
Eve turned around.
"Oh... Hi, Severus!"
He looked around and got closer to her, whispering.
"Meet me tonight... at 12:00... do you think you can make it? It is really important for me... I need to talk to you..."
Eve noticed that Severus was very nervous, looking to everybody who was around them, like if he was afraid of something.
"12:00? But..."
"Meet me in the third floor, next to the gargoyle... you know where it is, right?"
"Ye-yes... But...!"
"I will see you then!"
And he quickly left her side and walked into the Great Hall, following some second year Slytherins.
"But... I don't know if I will be able to make it!" – she said, but Severus was too far away to hear her.
While Eve was heading to the Gryffindor table, she saw James and Remus whispering to each other, looking around from time to time, and giggling. When Peter appeared in the Great Hall, they called him and hurried him to sit down next to them. Then, they began whispering again, until Sirius entered the Great Hall and headed to the table.
"What's going on?"- Sirius asked, with a smile.
"Nothing"- said Remus.
"Nothing? And what were you talking about before I came?"
"Oh... that... well... just some silly stuff, Sirius" – said James, very serious.
"Peter, what's going on?"- asked Sirius, a little bit upset because his friends were hiding something to him.
"Oh..."- Peter looked at Remus and James, who were giving him a menacing look. He laughed a little bit. "Well.. I... I really can't tell you, Sirius..."
"Fine"- said Sirius, and sat down at the end of the table, apart from the Marauders. Remus and James looked at each other, worried.
"Sirius! Come here! Come on!" Remus called him, but Sirius looked away, like if he didn't hear anything.
"Don't worry, Remus... he will be back with us... and then..." James grinned. Remus tried to smile, but he was still worried for his friend.
The Marauders were so occupied with their plans that they didn't notice when Eve sat down next to her first year friends, trembling a little bit, nervous as she was. She tried not to sound or look worried, and she specially avoided to look at the Slytherin table, because she could feel Severus' eyes staring at her from his seat. Dinner seemed endless for Eve, and she felt releaved when Severus and Lucius raised up and left the Great Hall.
"Allright... what were you three talking about?"
"Oh.. now you talk to us again, Sirius?"- said James, while they were heading to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"You really are not going to tell me? Why?"- asked Sirius.
"It's a surprise.... Cheering up!"- said Remus, and after giving the Fat Lady the password, they all entered the Gryffindor room.
"A surprise?"
"Yes! It is our last Christmas together, and we have to celebrate it. It is our last year in Hogwarts, and we thought it would be nice to do something special tonight..."- said James.
"We're the Marauders, aren't we? We just can't leave Hogwarts without giving the students and the teachers something to remember us..."- added Remus.
"So, we decided to make a toast with some pumpkin juice, hide under James' Invisibility Cloak, and go to the Slytherin common room and curse Snape... what do you say?"- asked Peter.
Sirius stayed in silence for a few seconds, staring at his friends.
"Why all the mystery? We've done that before..."- he finally asked.
"Because you've always wanted to go visit the Slytherins and cause terror..."- said James. "We've cursed Snape before, I know, but this time we will use some nice spells in the common room, to terrify those Slytherins..."
"They won't be able to see us, so they really can't blame us for whatever happens to the Slytherins..."- said Peter.
"Even if everybody will know that we did it, they just won't be able to prove it"- said Remus, winking to Sirius. Remus then went to a near table and showed his friends four glasses filled with pumpkin juice.
"A toast, for our last year in Hogwarts!"- he said, raising his glass.
"A toast, for terror in the Slytherin common room!"- said James, while raising his glass as well.
"A toast, for the best of our pranks to the Slytherins!"- said Peter.
They looked at Sirius as he raised his glass.
"A toast... for the Marauders!!"- said Sirius, and he drank the pumkin juice, not noticing a slight smile on Remus, James and Peter's face.
When the rest of the Gryffindors entered the common room, they found the oddest and funniest scene they have ever seen in all their years in Hogwarts. Sirius was standing on a table, giving everybody a broad smile, as Remus cleared his throat and announced the beginning of the show.
"Gracious ladies and gentlemen, and specially the ladies! The Marauders, on their last year in Hogwarts, have decided to please you with the most exciting, thrilling and enjoyable show you've ever seen!"
The Gryffindor students sat down surrounding Sirius and Remus, preparing for what they had planned.
"After a long time deciding who was the best among us for this marvelous spectacle, Sirius Black has finally been selected to give you, beautiful Gryffindor girls, a memorable Christmas present!"
Some of the sixth year girls clapped with enthusiasm, while laughing.
"And now, I leave you with the sexiest of the Marauders, Gifted Sirius!!!"
It was a memorable Christmas present indeed.
Right after Remus' last words, James waved his wand and a very sexy music began to play, while Sirius smiled mischiveously to the female audience. Then, to everybody's amaze, Sirius began dancing on the table, removing his clothes. The girls screamed, laughed and clapped, as the Marauder joked around with them and throwed them his black robes, Gryffindor tie and shirt. James, Remus and Peter thought they would die laughing when they saw that the Frenzy Potion they had dropped in Sirius' pumkin juice was working even better than they had imagined. At the time when Prof. McGonagall reached the common room, when hearing all the noise, he was dancing and singing along with the audience, wearing only his boxers.
"SIRIUS BLACK!!!!!"
The music suddenly stopped and everybody in the common room looked at the door, where Prof. McGonagall was standing and giving Sirius the most severe of her looks.
"Professor McGonagall!!!"- Sirius smiled broadly, jumped down the table and ran to her. "You've arrived just on time!"
"MR. BLACK, WOULD YOU BE SO KIND TO DRESS UP?!!!"
Sirius looked at her in shock.
"But... why are you so mad? Look, we're just having some fun here, and I'm really enjoying myself here dancing for all these beautiful, gracious and funny ladies..."
Prof. McGonagall maybe suspected that something was wrong with Sirius, because she immediately looked around until she saw Remus, James and Peter. They tried not to look guilty, but they knew they wouldn't be able to fool McGonagall.
"I see... Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew and Mr. Black will come with me now... DRESS UP BEFORE, PLEASE, MR. BLACK!!"
The Marauders couldn't stop laughing when Sirius walked out the common room following McGonagall, still wearing only his boxers. When they left the room, peace and silence returned to the Gryffindors. Most of the students left to their bedrooms, and only a few stayed next to the chimney, commenting Sirius' dance between jokes.
Eve looked at the wallclock and noticed that it was already 11:57. After giving a quick look around, she opened the room door in silence and walked out.
The castle was very cold at midnight, and the silence and darkness gave it a frightening look. When Eve reached the gargoyle, Severus was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, no... maybe he just forgot..."- she thought.
"Thanks for coming..."
Eve turned around frightened; Severus walked out of the shadows and smiled. His robes were billowing out behind him as he walked, giving him the apparience of a gigantic bat.
"Well... here I am... what did you want to tell me?"- asked Eve, feeling very nervous all of a sudden.
"I'm not quite sure..."- said Severus, almost whispering. And it was true; even if he asked Eve to meet him there, he wasn't very sure why. He just knew that he somehow needed to see her... talk to her... be with her. "Let's just say that... I missed you..."
"You what?"- Eve couldn't believe her ears.
"Well, we haven't talked in a long while... and I thought it would be the perfect chance to meet you here and now, so we can talk without... interrumptions..."- he said that last word with a twisted smile; the image of Melanie Wilkes came to both their minds.
"So, you just wanted to talk with me... is that all?"- said Eve almost in a whisper.
Severus looked at her, a bit confused.
"But it is so dangerous, Severus! What if Filch shows up? What are we going to say? We just wanted to talk, Mr. Filch..."
Severus didn't say a word; he was feeling sick all of a sudden. For some reason he didn't know, he was trembling, and feeling dizzy, and words just didn't come to his mind. He didn't even notice when he walked a few steps and got closer to her.
"Severus... what?"- Eve looked at him, a bit worried. He was looking paler than ever. She gasped when Severus's hands gently touched her arms.
"I wanted to see you, Evelyn"- he whispered –"and find out what's wrong with me... but now that I have you right in front of me, I don't know what's happening..."
"Severus..."
"You're a Gryffindor, a specially noisy one, you were... but now... I can't explain myself..."
"I can't explain myself how come that I feel this way for a muggle"- he thought to himself. He remembered Lucius' words, and his own goals. He wanted to be a poweful wizard, and he was tired of all those wizards coming from muggle families and entering Hogwarts. He told his best friend Lucius that he just wanted to use this Gryffindor girl to win the Quidditch Cup, but he knew, deep inside his heart, that it wasn't true. And he missed her; in time, he came to miss her company. And he was scared, scared of what would happen in the future to him, to her... He looked into Eve's eyes, and hesistated... how would he ever... ever... surrender to these feelings.
Eve looked into Severus' eyes, and saw his conflict, but didn't understand it. And as he lowered his head a little, she was beginning to feel extremelly nervous.
"No... no... don't...."- a small voice in her head told her, but she couldn't move, nor think, as she could feel Severus' breath closer to her lips.
"Don't... it's dangerous..."- the small voice continued.
"He's not dangerous..."- she tried to convince herself, as she felt her whole body trembling and the warmth of Severus' feelings.
"Not him..."- the voice finally said, as Severus gently and softly placed his lips on hers- "...YOU ARE THE DANGER!!!!"
The brief kiss broke immediately as both of them heard a low growl coming from a near corridor. They just moved apart each other when the most horrible vision they had ever seen appeared in front of them.
This creature spreaded the most horrible, cold and deadly darkness all around the corridor, its eyes and skin were made of fire, its tail was like a whip of flames, and it was so tall that its head almost touched the third floor ceiling. They both recognized the creature; it appeared in one of the History of Magic books they studied in second year.
It was a Demon.
Severus and Eve stayed in shock looking at the Demon for a few seconds, as it walked closer and closer to them. Finally, Eve screamed in terror, and Severus grabbed her hand firmly and they both tried to run away from the creature, as the cold darkness slowly surrounded them.
"Evelyn, run!!"
"What??"
She turned around when she felt that Severus released her hand and walked back to the Demon, his wand ready on his right hand.
"Severus!!"
"RUN AND GET SOME HELP!!"
She could only see Severus walking back into the deep darkness, and the Demon getting closer to him.
"SEVERUS!!!"
Severus didn't see anything around him, and was feeling really cold; he could feel the presence of the Demon close to him, and pointed his wand to it. He knew it wouldn't work at all, but he just had to try that spell.
1.2 "Stupefy!"
He heard a horrible scream coming from the Demon, but then the scream turned into a deep and frightening laughter.
Severus walked back a few steps when he felt that the creature was getting too close to him.
"Impedimenta!... Frigeo!... .... CRUCIO!!!"
The Demon convulsed for a brief moment after receving the Cruciatus Spell; Severus was holding his wand very firmly, trying to concentrate all his strenght on this spell. He was scared, but smiling at the vision of a Demon being controlled by his spell, an Unforgivable Curse, a Dark Arts curse; it felt so nice for him to cause pain in this creature, to control it, to command it at his will... he would give up everything in the world just to let this sensation of power continue.
But he completely forgot that he wasn't dealing with a second year student, but a Demon of the ancient times, and its countercurse was so terrible that Severus' scream was heard all around the third floor. Severus fell to the floor in pain, feeling his bones, his blood, his skin, his whole body burning, while being surrounded by a cold darkness.
"NOOOOO!!!"
Eve just fell to her knees, muttering incomprehensible words, while looking terrified at the Demon, who was now next to Severus, who was still in pain. Severus was feeling as if his whole body were in flames, and just wanted it to end, he just wanted to rest, to die...
But death didn't come for him, and suddenly the burning senation disappeared, as the Demon screamed out loud in pain. The darkness around him wasn't that cold anymore, and Severus could see the walls of the castle, as he heard many soft voices coming from ages already forgotten say the oddest words he ever heard:
"Ankhya-jahr, Ijshnakh al-kaher minnah shtaleh!"
Severus raised up with much effort, and he saw how the Demon was slowly vanishing into its own darkness.
"Leave Demon, you in this world do not belong!"
Professor Dumbledore had just appeared in the corridor, followed by Filch, Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Crane, and he was pointing his wand to the Demon, until it finally disappeared into nothing. The castle was once again in silence. Nobody moved until Eve sighed and fainted.
"Hollow!"
Severus walked to her, and what he saw was absolutely unexpected.
All around her there were words of an unknown language written with soft, magical light on the floor, and as Severus was trying to read them, he once again heard the soft voices coming from nowhere, as the words slowly vanished.
"Ankhya-jahr, Ijshnakh al-kaher minnah shtaleh!"
Severus touched Eve's cheek and walked back scared, as Eve's face was really pale and cold; then, Prof. Dumbledore walked to Eve followed by Prof. Craine, raised her from the floor, and looked at Severus.
"You're wounded, Severus"- he said, with a cold and concerned voice Severus didn't knew he had. He looked to his left arm, which had a deep wound and was still burning.
"I'm fine... Professor Dumbledore... what... how... how did this Demon...?"- said Severus, but he couldn't finish up the question, because he suddenly felt really sick, and had to rest on Prof. Crane's right arm.
"The reasons why this Demon appeared in the castle will be elucidated later. You better go to the Hospital Wing... don't worry about Miss Hollow; she's just unconscious"- said Prof. Dumbledore, and Severus nodded, leaving with Prof. Crane, giving the unconscious Eve a concerned look. Then, Prof. Dumbledore turned to Prof. McGonagall.
"Minerva, write to Armenius Snape... tell him that his son is wounded; this Demon's magical skills are very powerful, and Severus will feel sick for a long while, so he will need assistance when arriving in London... I suggest Rebecca should wait for him in Platform 9¾... then write to Alastor Moody..."- Dumbledore reflected for a little while- "Tell him that his presence here is needed immediately."
Prof. McGonagall, who was clearly scared and nervous, nodded and left the corridor without any question, as Filch walked to Prof. Dumbledore with a broad smile.
"What are we going to do with them? They were alone in an empty corridor at midnight... completely against the rules, I'm afraid, Professor!"
Professor Dumbledore just smiled back to Filch.
"Well... I will discuss this with Severus and Evelyn as soon as they recover..."
Filch's smile disappeared with these words, and he left the corridor as well.
Prof. Dumbledore stared at Filch with a smile for a while as he was leaving, muttering some words that sounded like "irresponsible children", "rules are rules", and "midnight dating". Then he headed to the Hospital Wing with Eve in his arms, as he heard a few students voices, probably some Prefects, asking Filch what had happened.
CHAPTER THREE: THE DEMON
The Hogwarts Express would arrive at Hogsmeade in half an hour. In a compartment near the end of the train, the Marauders were narrating their summer adventures with full detail and dramatization, while Lily and Eve were laughing like mad.
"...It was a good thing that the old man didn't turn around and see his dog levitating like a baloon! I was so desperated trying to wave my wand while talking to him about care of pumpkins!!" – Sirius looked around. The compartent exploded in laughter. "It's true! I swear!" – now Sirius was laughing as well.
The compartment door suddenly opened, and Lucius Malfoy showed up.
"I see... who else would be making all this noise? You bunch of vulgar muggles and low class so-called wizards..."
"Get lost, Malfoy"– said James, wipping out some tears of laughing while standing up with Remus.
"Or else? What, are you going to start a fight right before arriving at Hogsmeade, Potter? Lupin?"
Severus appeared right behind Malfoy.
"A fight? No, thanks."- replied Remus. "We were just about to curse you and turn you into a shrieking girl but... I believe that the curse wouldn't have worked anyway..."
Remus winked to James and the compartment once again exploded into laughter. Eve was laughing like mad when she caught Severus' look. A weird look, indeed.
"What's wrong with her...? Something just doesn't quite match here...." thought Severus; instead of finding the little Gryffindor girl, with messy curly hair, naive and foolish eyes and a bit overweighted body, he found a pretty looking girl, with nice curly hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a womanly and well-modeled body. But, of course, he wasn't aware of any of this changes in his boyish mind, and he looked away, before Eve's eyes woke up unkown feelings in him.
"Severus?"
Everybody in the compartment looked to the open door. Behind Severus appeared Melanie Wilkes, a Slytherin girl who was in seventh year with Severus and Lucius. She was blonde, her green eyes sparkling with evil, and her pretty face had a horrible grimace of despise when she noticed the Marauders and Co.
"Oh, Snape! You and your greasy hair have a girlfriend!!"- Sirius laughed, his eyes shinning in joy and mischiveousness. "This is something really, really unexpected!!"
Severus gave Sirius a very fake smile. Then, he turned to Malfoy.
"Lucius... why are you here wasting your time with this... pathetic group? Let's go..."
"Yes... I guess you're right. They're not worth my time."
"How dare you...?!"- shouted Peter, but he was lucky Lucius and Severus already left the compartment and didn't hear his words. Sirius ran to the door and listened carefully.
"What are you doing...?"- asked Lily.
"Shhhh!"- said Sirius, placing a finger on his lips.
"Severus! Lucius! Why do you bother talking to those... mudbloods and vulgar wizards? Severus, I really can't understand why you..."
"Why should you understand, Melanie?"- that was Severus' voice.
"Be... because... you come from a well known family of pure-blood wizards, and I'm sure your mother wouldn't like the idea of you being friends with a muggle..."
"I have no muggle friend..."
"No? And what about that stupid, noisy Gryffindor girl looking at you in the compartment?"
"She's not my friend. And she wasn't looking at me."
Sirius heard some steps walking away the door, heading to another compartment; then, a door slaming. Severus had left the compartment where Malfoy and Wilkes were.
"When will you learn to shut up, Melanie? You're annoying."
And then Malfoy left the compartment as well.
Sirius walked back to the Marauders, giggling.
"That Wilkes girl... I bet my undergarments that she's in love with Snape..."
"WHAT???"- everybody was surprised to hear that. Lily gave Sirius a severe look.
"What? What happens?"- Sirius asked her. Lily rolled her eyes; then Sirius noticed that Eve was looking at him.
"I've heard that Melanie Wilkes is very annoying..."- said Eve - "Not even the Slytherins like her. She's a gossipmonger, she likes to find out everything about her classmates' families, and then she uses any information she gathers against them..."- Eve continued staring at Sirius while talking.
"Good... good, Eve! You've done your homework!" – Sirius smiled, and got closer to Eve –"and let me tell you, Snape was kind of upset that you didn't pay him too much attention recently..." Sirius winked at Eve; she was blushing. "But... I'm afraid he doesn't consider you a friend, Eve..." Now Eve wasn't blushing at all.
"Oh, shut up!"- she said, breaking the eye contact with Sirius.
"Mmmmh... but, why would anyone fall in love with Snape? He's so bloody ugly, and slimy, and oily..."- Peter added, not aware of the look Eve was giving him.
"And why would anyone be interested in your undergarments in a bet, Sirius?"- asked James, trying to bring some fun to the compartment after the visit of the Slytherins.
"Oh... you might not be interested, Prongs. But I'm sure these gracious ladies will be more than interested in taking a look at my firm and modeled body before I leave Hogwarts this year..." Sirius looked at Lily and Eve, and winked at them. They just giggled. James and Remus looked at each other, and grinned.
"Hey... what are you two up to?"- asked Sirius, as soon as he noticed his friends' grins.
"Nothing, Padfoot... nothing at all..."- replied Remus.
"We were just picturing you paying off your bet..."- added James.
But for some reason, Sirius didn't feel safe at all with that answer.
The Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade in time, and while Hagrid led the first years to the lake, the rest of the school headed to the carriages which would take them to Hogwarts. The four Marauders took one carriage, and Eve and Lily took the one after them; they could hear the laughs and screams coming from the boys' carriage, and they laughed as well. Then, Lily finally asked Eve something she had in mind since last year.
"Eve... tell me... do you... do you like Snape? I mean, Severus?"
Eve looked at Lily and blushed.
"Well..."
"Oh, please, don't be shy... listen... I will reveal you a secret, so maybe you will reveal yours. When I was in second year, I really, really, had a crush on that funny, noisy, and meany Sirius Black, you know?"
Eve opened her mouth in surprise.
"But then... when I entered third year, I noticed that it wasn't really love, but admiration; I admired the way he could come up with those jokes, and the way he was always annoying the Slytherins. And I was relieved, because I could look at him with friendly eyes again... later I discovered that my heart was with someone else..." Lily blushed a little bit.
"James?"
"Yes." Lily smiled to Eve, blushing more. "Now that I have confessed this to you, let me tell you that only a little few of my best friends know about this. I really consider you my friend, and that's why I told you. I'm sad this is my last year in Hogwarts, but I'm sure we will see each other again in the future, won't we?"
"Yes! We will still be friends, Lily!"
"Now, tell me..." Lily's green eyes looked directly into Eve's blue eyes. "Do you like him?"
Eve didn't answer. She looked away through the carriage window for a while. Then, she finally spoke, in a whisper.
"Yes... I believe so..."
"And when you saw him today, did you feel the same for him?"
"Yes... I think so..."
Lily smiled.
"Listen, you just don't worry about what the Marauders or anybody else say. It is your heart, and your fellings, and if you really like him, you just don't have to give anybody explanations. But still, you must be aware that Severus Snape isn't a common boy... you know that..."
Eve looked at Lily. "Because he's a Slytherin...?" she asked.
"More than that... he's proud... mysterious... he comes from a wealthy family of Slytherins; his parents are well known as strict and implacable wizards, and they raised him the way he is. It will be hard to be loved back by him...
"I know..."- Eve looked away through the window once more. "I know", he thought to herself.
The carriages finally arrived at Hogwarts, and all students headed to the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony and the banquet.
"Look at them!"- Sirius whispered to the Marauders in the Gryffindor table during the banquet. "Look at Wilkes and Snape!".
They all looked to the Slytherin table and saw a funny scene. Severus was eating dinner while talking to Lucius Malfoy, and they both looked very secretive and entertained with the conversation. But Melanie Wilkes was trying to listen to them, and laughing at every single comment Severus made. There was a point when it was so annoying that both Severus and Lucius looked at her with a look in their eyes that clearly asked her to shut up. The Marauders couldn't see Melanie's expression, because she was sitting in the side of the table where they could just look at her back, but they were sure that she was upset an blushing. Severus and Lucius continued talking, and then Melanie did something stupid; she stared at Severus with a look she thought would be sexy and charming, and stayed that way, staring at him, until he did notice her look.
"What's wrong with you, Wilkes? Why are you looking at me with those foolish eyes?"
"Yes, indeed"- added Malfoy. "You look stupid..."
Melanie blushed furiously and looked away.
"This is annoying... let's go, Lucius..."
Severus and Lucius were standing up while an explosion of laughter came from the Gryffindor table; the Marauders, who watched the whole scene, were laughing at Severus, Sirius specially. But Severus' eyes did not fall upon them, but upon Eve. There she was, surrounded by Marauders, looking at him; but she was not laughing. Their eyes met, and time was stopped for both of them. There was something about her that Severus couldn't describe, but he just couldn't take his eyes off her; it felt nice being staring at her, and there was a warm feeling in his heart.
"Severus... come on... let's go"- Lucius looked at him, and then at the Gryffindor table, and wasn't sure if he was looking at the Marauders or at Eve. "Severus..."
"Oh..? Yes... yes, let's go..."
While they were leaving the Slytherin table, Severus could feel Eve's blue eyes still looking at him, making him feel confused. As soon as they left the Great Hall and headed to the Slytherin common room, Severus felt a lot better.
"What's going on with you, Severus?"
"Nothing... why?"
"You've been acting oddly since that meeting in the Hogwarts Express..."- Lucius gave a cold stare at Severus.
"Just your imagination, Lucius."
"I see... well, now back to our conversation... what do you think?"
Severus was silent for a while. Then, he talked.
"I agree with you, Lucius; it is annoying not to be able to use all my knowledge due to the spells restrictions of the Ministry of Magic. They call these skills Dark Arts... I say they have been always too frightened by the power of these Dark Arts to use them, and that's why they forbid their use..."
Lucius looked around to make sure nobody was listening, and whispered to Severus.
"But we know of someone who's not afraid of using them... and I believe that we would be very useful to him..."
Severus looked at Lucius with a slight spark of ambition on his eyes.
"Do you think it is safe to join him? I happen to appreciate my life, Lucius..."
"Of course it is! I know what I'm telling you, Severus: he is already very, very powerful, more powerful than we can imagine... and he will be extremely grateful to those who help him to achieve his goal..."- Lucius faced Severus. "And I know how to get close to him..."
Severus tried to avoid Lucius' eyes; for some reason, he was hesistating, even if his best friend seemed very excited with the idea, and he thought it was exciting too, but there was again this small voice in his head telling him that it was actually a very bad idea. Lucius seemed to notice this, because he started to pressure him.
"Severus... come on, look at me! Listen; you're a very talented wizard, and you know it. Everybody knew you were special since our first class... come on, my friend, you knew more curses than most of the students in Hogwarts! So, listen to me; why waste such great talent working for muggle-lovers like the people at the Ministry of Magic?"- Lucius' voice now became lower and silkier, as like he was speaking to a little child –"Muggles think they can just appear with magical powers and rule the world. Look at that Lilian Evans, or that annoying Evelyn Hollow... mudbloods from top to bottom, but they have been gifted with more magical powers than many pure-blooded wizards. Do you think that's fair?"
Severus didn't answer. Now Lucius was upset.
"Well, I don't think that's fair! Someone must put a stop to this. I'm not talking about termination, of course... but regulation. We must control those mudbloods in order to keep our hierarchy, Severus. We both come from old families of pure-blooded wizards... look at your family! Your parents belong to the highest elite of wizards in the magical world. Would you like a mudblood who was lucky enough to born with magical powers to enter the same group that your father, a fine wizard with such a tradition behind him? I don't think so... So, what do you say?"
"I... I need to think about it, Lucius. I can't answer you right now..."
"It's Ok. But we wouldn't be alone, you know? Lestrange is going to join him as well, and so are Rosier and Avery. I understand you, I know you need to think about it; Narcissa is also thinking, but she will have to answer me soon so I can make the contacts, and you will have to asnwer soon as well..."
"When?"
"Before the end of the term. I need to contact one of his closest supporters to receive instructions. We should be able to meet him in person once we've left Hogwarts."
"I shall give you my answer then."
"Hey, what's going on?"
"The Quidditch auditions have begun!"
There was an atmosphere of excitement in all Hogwarts, as the Quidditch auditions were announced. The captains of every Quidditch team, with the supervision of Madame Hooch, the Flying teacher, would select new members before the beginning ot the matchs for the Quidditch Cup. First year students weren't allowed to enter the teams, so they were the only ones not quite excited (but very disappointed); the rest of the students were picturing themselves hiting the Bludgers, carrying a Quaffle, protecting the team rings, or going after the fast and slippery Snitch.
"James! Who are you going to pick up as a Beater, my friend?"
James looked at Peter, who was smiling broadly; he always wanted to be a Beater in the Gryffindor team, but he just didn't have the skills. James was the Seeker and the Captain of the team, and he knew that his friend didn't have a chance; he just smiled.
"I really don't make any decisions, Wormtail... it is Madame Hooch who has the final word."
"Oh... well... I'll try my best anyway."
"Of course! You must, Peter! I will be waiting for you in the auditions, Ok?"
The Gryffindor team only needed a new Beater this year to complete the team of seven players. But it wouldn't be an easy task to find him, because he needed great skills in flying to avoid the Bludgers or to hit them. James knew that if he didn't find the Beater, he wouldn't be able to play for the Quidditch Cup this year, his last year in Hogwarts, and those thoughts had him very nervous. "Maybe I'll finish up asking Peter to join us, after all..."
Eve was late for her Transfiguration class, and she was running through the corridors, because Prof. McGonagall, her Transfiguration teacher, was very strict with the time. But she was being unlucky that day, and bumped right into Peeves the Poltergeist.
"HEY, WATCH OUT, YOU STUPID SILLY SNOTTY BRAT!!"
"Pe... Peeves!!"
"Oh..... Hollow, Hello, Yellow, yellow toothed girl!"
Peeves grabbed Eve's bag and began flying around her.
"Peeves! Please! I will be late for my Transfiguration class! Please!!"
"No, no, no. Bad girl bumped into good Peeves and didn't apologize. Peeves is not giving back her bag."- and he showed his tongue to her.
"Oh... I...I'm very, very sorry, Peeves, really. Could you please give back my bag?"
"THERE IT GOES!!!"
And while he was laughing hysterically, he disappeared throwing away Eve's bag, spreading all her books, parchments, and her ink bottle, which broke and ruined many sheets of her Transfiguration notes.
"COME BACK, YOU...!!!!"
Eve frowned. Now there was no way she could go to her Transfiguration class; it was too late, and Prof. McGonagall wouldn't let her in. She knelt down and began gathering her stuff. Then, while she was looking to the floor, two feet walked to her. Then, the owner knelt down as well and helped her gathering her things.
"Severus..."
"I assume you had a close encounter with Peeves... right?"
Eve sighed. After she put back her things in her bag, she stood up, followed by Severus.
"Thank you, Severus.... well... see you..."
"How have you been?"- Severus asked; it was a stupid question, but it was the first thing that came to his mind before Eve turned around and headed to the Gryffindor common room.
"Excuse me?"- Eve didn't quite believe his question; he never asked her that before.
"We... we haven't actually talked since last year... I was wondering... well.. how was your summer?"
"Oh! Well... there isn't too much to tell... been with my uncle..."
"I see..."
There was a very uncomfortable silence for about twenty seconds.
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going back to the common room... Mc.Gonagall won't let me enter the classroom by now..."
"No, she definitively won't..."
Not Severus, nor Eve, had anything to say. Eve was always nervous when being around Severus, but right then she wasn't feeling nervous at all; she could even look directly into his eyes without trembling. "Maybe I did calm down a little bit after three years", she thought.. And Severus was so confused with the new feelings inside him that he just didn't find the right words. He couldn't explain to himself what was new in her that disturbed him so much; if he looked at her with a cold mind, he would find a thirteen years old Eve, with the same characteristics than the Evelyn Hollow he knew. But if he looked more closely, he would find a whole new Eve, and it confused him so much the fact that he liked this new girl. And another uncomfortable silence followed.
"Why... why don't you come with me to the schoolyard? You're free now, aren't you?"
"Oh... you don't have classes right now?"
"No... I have very few classes this year... since it's the last one..."
For some reason, Severus didn't like those last words. "Since it is my last year in Hogwarts...", he thought.
"Well... allright then... let's go..."
There were a few students in the schoolyard, most of them seventh year students walking or sitting on the grass, talking or reading. Eve and Severus were walking towards the lake, and for the first time since they have met, it was not only Eve talking, but they were actually having a conversation.
"My summer vacations aren't too exciting, Severus..."- Eve smiled. "Just picture me in an old muggle building in London, looking down from a balcony to the people walking and rushing... and my uncle inside, sitting on a couch and drinking tea..."
"... Sounds like fun..."- said Severus, sarcastically.
Eve looked at him.
"What about your summer vacations, Severus? I guess a wizard's got a lot of funny things to do with his wizard family..."
Severus gave her an annoyed look.
"You got angry so soon, Hollow?"
"No... really... I want to know how's life in an old family of wizards..."
Severus sigued and rolled his eyes.
"Life in an old family of wizards... quite different from yours, I guess, specially if your father is a member of the High Council of the Ministry of Magic and you hardly ever see him around, and your mother is always occupied with social meetings..."
"... Sounds like fun..."
Severus smiled a little bit to Eve's sarcasm.
"Yes... it is a lot of fun indeed..."
They walked in silence just enjoying each other's company for a while. Then, Eve looked at the Quidditch field.
"The auditions for the Quidditch teams is tomorrow... I've heard the Slytherin team needs a Beater and a Chaser..."
"Yes... the captain is a sixth year girl, and she has been very busy these days with all this... auditions thing..."
"Would you like to be in your house Quidditch team, Severus?"
"No."
"No?? But everybody wants to play in their house teams!"- Eve gave him a concerned look. "You like Quidditch, don't you?"
Severus sighed and rolled his eyes once more.
"I do like Quidditch, but I don't like to be a part of a silly spectacle. I don't enjoy myself being the center of attention..."- he smiled sarcastically. "That's why I've taken my time to make myself quite... unpopular..."
"I see... well, I don't mind being part of a silly spectacle, so I will try my best to be the new Gryffindor beater!"
"Will you?"- Severus sounded surprised.
1.1 "Of course! I've been playing Beater all my life!"
"All your life? All your muggle life?"
Severus grinned. Eve went pink.
"Well.. since I knew I was a witch... Allright! Since I'm in first year and played with my classmates! But I'm pretty good..."
"You better be... all your life... ha!"- whispered Severus, smiling but looking away.
"Hey... hey!! Don't laugh!"
"I'm not laughing!"- he said, while laughing.
"Oh, how dare you!"- Eve was laughing too, giving him soft punches, while he was trying to block them.
"Severus!!"
A cold and shrieking voice interrupted their laughter. Severus' expression was all of a sudden sour and annoyed again. He turned around just to find Melanie Wilkes running to them.
When she finally reached them, she gave Eve the most pejorative grimace, looking her up and down. Then she looked at Severus, who was clearly angry for the interruption, and grabbed his right arm.
"Severus, come with me; Lucius sent me to find you. He needs to talk to you now."
Severus released himself from Melanie's hands and gave her a menacing look.
"I believe that I can find Lucius by myself, Melanie. And I don't think he needs to talk to me so badly to send you to find me..."
"So... you rather stay here with this muggle than go and see what your best friend wants?"
"I'm free to do as I wish..."
"Oh, look... James is over there. I think I will ask him about the Quidditch auditions. Want to come with me, Severus?"
Severus looked at her, and she gave him a sad smile. She knew already what was his answer.
"No? Well. See you later, Severus! Have fun!"
And she ran to James Potter who was returning from the Quidditch field with Sirius, Remus and Peter, leaving Severus with Melanie.
When she reached the Marauders, Sirius immediately saw something was wrong with her.
"Allright... where is he?"
"Wha... what?"- Eve was panting after running to them.
"He's over there..."- said Remus, pointing at Severus and Melanie, who were heading to the castle.
"What did he do now?"- asked James.
"Nothing! I just came here because I needed to ask you something about the Quidditch auditions!"
"The Quidditch auditions? You want to be a Beater too?"- asked a very concerned Peter.
"Well... yes... why?"
"Peter is auditioning too..."- answered Remus.
"Oh, I see... maybe I shouldn't try, then..."
"DON'T SAY THAT!!"- shouted James. He had seen Eve play Quidditch before, and he knew she was a good Beater; but still he needed to see her in the auditions, because one thing was the first years team, and another was the House Team. Peter looked at him a little bit upset. "I mean... come on! No matter which one of you two gets to be the new Beater; the important thing is that the Gryffindor team is completed and wins the Quidditch Cup..."
"James is right"- added Remus. "The auditions are tomorrow; Sirius and I will be cheering you two up."
"Yes. We will dress with a couple of uniforms of some fifth year girls we took from the laundry, put a wig on our heads, and dance and jump and cheer."
They all laughed.
"Auditions are tomorrow morning, at 9 AM. You just need to show up at the Quidditch field. We will provide broomsticks and everything you need"- said James, and then they all headed to the castle for lunch.
The next morning a big group of students was at the Quidditch field; they were all separated in four groups, one for each of the houses of Hogwarts (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin). The captains and the players of each Quidditch team were waiting for Madame Hooch to begin the auditions. When Eve arrived with Sirius and Remus, who were carrying their schoolbags for no aparent reason, she headed to the Gryffindor group, and when she walked past the Slytherin group, she was surprised to find Severus.
"Severus..."- she whispered.
"Snape? Where?"- the two boys asked. When they saw him in the Slytherin group, auditioning for the Quidditch team, they just couldn't believe it.
"But... does he even know how to play? I mean... we've never see him playing before..."- asked Remus.
"We only saw him playing back in first year, during Flying lesson... he wasn't that bad... but is he that good to enter the house team? I don't think so..."
"And why is he here? I thought he said that to play in the Quidditch house team was something stupid..."
Eve didn't tell them about their conversation the day before, but it seemed to her that what Severus said about not liking to play in the team was true. "Why is he here, then?", she thought to herself.
The auditions went as usual; many of the students were left behind, for lack of flying skills, Peter among them. The Gryffindor team had a couple of unusual cheering girls; nobody knew who they were; nobody remembered such shrieking, silly girls in the house. But for some reason James Potter couldn't stop laughing for a long while.
At 1 PM, the new players of the house teams were announced. Madame Hooch, the Flying teacher, read the names.
"Gryffindor: Evelyn Hollow, Beater."
The two shrieking girls cheering up Gryffindor exploded into boy-like screams and laughters. Then, everybody noticed who they were.
"Congratulations, Eve"- said James, shaking her hand. Eve was smiling broadly.
"Well... try to hit those Slytherins very hard with the Bludger, Eve"- said Peter.
"You bet I will!"
"Hufflepuff: Anna Summers, Chaser; John Pendelton, Chaser; Hugh Jackman, Seeker."- many girls screamed when Hugh was named; he was a very good looking fourth year Hufflepuff.
"Ravenclaw: Camille Stones, Seeker."
Everybody in the Ravenclaw group clapped.
"Slytherin: George Brandon, Chaser; Severus Snape, Beater."
While the Slytherin group exploded in claps and cheers, the Gryffindor team exchanged looks.
"Snape? Beater?"- said James, still unable to believe it.
"Mhhh... I don't like this"- commented Remus to Sirius. "Just picture Eve facing Snape..."
"Let's hope nothing bad happens..."
Madame Hooch then spoke to all teams.
"The games for the Quidditch Cup will begin in November, the fourth; the first two teams matching are to be sorted next week. Train yourselves very hard!"
While returning to the castle, James introduced Eve to the Gryffindor team.
"Well... first off, our Chasers: Susan Johnson, Hellen Sullivan and Robert McBride.... our Keeper (God bless you!), Thomas Wood... you already know me, the Seeker and Captain... and the other Beater, the one you must look at as your twin, your other half: Frank Longbottom."
"Hi, welcome!" Frank was a tall and a little bit overweighted boy. He was in fifth year, and was a very good student.
"Hi! Nice to meet you!"- Eve shook his hand.
"And I really mean that you two become very, very close friends; it is the only way two Beaters can work out together against those Bludgers. You must be like one when playing, to coordinate your moves."- said James, patting both Eve's and Frank's shoulders; they just smiled.
"What do you think about Snape?"- asked Susan Johnson. "It will be a problem to have him and Malfoy as Beaters..."
"It's true; those two might even put a curse on us..."-added Thomas Wood.
"Well... they can't curse us, or the Slytherin team will be disqualified; still, I'm concerned about those two..."- said James.
"Malfoy is a Beater too?"- asked a very surprised Eve.
"Yes"- answered James. "But he isn't too good... he's more like... how to say it?..."
"A cheater"- said Frank Longbottom.
"That's the word! Thanks, Frank. It is well known that he bought his place in the Quidditch team... you know his parents are very wealthy. I dare to say Snape is a better Beater than him."
"But still, Malfoy manages to cause a lot of trouble in the Quidditch matchs"- said Frank. "It is very dangerous to play against him. Last year, one of our Beaters got hit with a Bludger sent by Malfoy... the problem was that James had asked time-up to Madame Hooch, and while Kurt Bridges (that was his name) was flying to join the team and deliberate, Malfoy sent a Bludger to him. Poor Kurt was sent to the Hospital Wing, unconscious..."
"And we lost that match thanks to him"- added James. "Malfoy said he didn't listen Madame Hooch's whistle, so he didn't know there was time-up; fifty points were discounted from Slytherin, but still they won, since we had only one Beater..."
"Frank almost gets killed while fighting alone against those Bludgers"- said Robert McBride.
"And everybody in the Slytherin team were laughing at him..."- added Hellen Sullivan.
"But at least"- said James "We won the Quidditch Cup".
As this was Eve's third year in Hogwarts, she and her classmates got to select a few extra subjects; due to this, their schedule was quite busy. On the other hand, the seventh year students had a very nice schedule, with only a few subjects that would finish up their education as wizards. Thanks to the extra time they had, Lucius Malfoy and his Slytherin friends were planning the best way to join the Dark Lord Voldemort once they finished their school year. Severus still wasn't sure about his decision, but Malfoy kept pushing him to join the group.
"Don't-waste-your-knowledge"- hissed Lucius. "You're more than those low- class wizards and witches who whish to work for the Ministry of Magic. You must come with us".
"You said I had until the end of the term to decide, Lucius. Don't pressure me until then..."
"I know, I know"- said Lucius, shaking his head. "But I'm afraid you're losing the right path, my friend..."
"What do you mean?"
"You know... you've started to become... friends... with a muggle. That is certainly something unexpected from you..."
"Are you listening to Melanie Wilkes' advices, Lucius Malfoy? Now that is something unexpected from you..."
"Not her advices... but the information she's got... she has seen you and that muggle Gryffindor walking together, actually having fun together..."
Severus looked at his friend; once again, Melanie Wilkes was being a problem. He did enjoy his time with Eve, but he didn't want his friend to notice. What would Lucius say if he told him that he actually liked to be around Eve? Besides, he still wasn't sure of what was happening with him, and didn't want to make any mistakes. He then came up with the quickest answer he could think up, one that would convince Lucius.
"Having fun? What if I tell you that soon enough it will be us making fun out of her?"
"What are you saying?"
"The Quidditch Cup, Lucius; let me tell you that, with one single nice word from me, that girl will easily forget about her role as a Beater and give us all the chances to win."
"So, you were coaxing her?"
"I didn't want to enter the house team until I found out that she was joining too; then I knew it would be the chance of our lives to win the Quidditch Cup and humilliate the Gryffindors..."
Lucius couldn't believe his friend's words.
"Are you sure is that all you have with that muggle, Severus?"
Severus thought for a second; he was lying to his best friend.
"Absolutely".
And November 4th arrived, with the first match of the Quidditch Cup: Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. It was a very rainy day and the Hufflepuff team wasn't a true opponent for the Slytherin team. The Gryffindor team was watching the match and noticed that Severus wasn't that bad of a Beater at all; actually, he was pretty good, and caused a lot of trouble to the Hufflepuff team. Lucius Malfoy did what he always did, cheating from time to time. At the end, Slytherin defeated Hufflepuff 310 to 40. The next match would be Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and both teams prepared to give their best.
James Potter happened to be an obsessed Team Captain. He made the whole team train very late in the night and very early in the morning. Every free time the team had was just for training, and since Eve's schedule was very busy, she had to make double efforts to approve the subjects and have a good performance while playing. Luckily, she had good friends among her classmates, and when she wasn't able to assist any class, they would help her with her homework. However, all that training meant a separation between Eve and the boy she loved so much, Severus, and she got quite depressed in time. She would look around the Quidditch field while training under the rain, and would find the Marauders and Lily Evans under an umbrella, cheering up the team, specially James, and would feel miserable for not having anyone cheering her up. She noticed that the Slytherin team didn't train too much, and many times she saw Severus with his Slytherin friends enjoying some free time while she was running through the corridors late for classes or training. Several times Severus tried to get close to her and talk, but then she had to say she was sorry, but didn't have time to talk because she had to train.
In time, Eve and Frank Longbottom became good friends, and managed to synchronize their moves to make more effective their performance. At the end of the day before the match against Ravenclaw, the two Gryffindor Beaters had the perfect strategy to use the Bludgers against the oponents.
The Ravenclaw team also had an obsessed Captain, and they too had trained very hard under the rain, late in the night, early in the morning, so they were the perfect match for the Gryffindor team. But the two Ravenclaw Beaters didn't get along too well; they had been very good friends when entering the team in second year, but they were now in sixth year, and one of the Beaters had dated the other's girlfriend a few weeks ago, ruinning the whole vital relationship between the two Beaters. The day of the match they did a great performance, but something just wasn't right with their strategy. James called Eve and Frank apart and made them notice this.
"They had a terrible row a few weeks ago; they're trying their best to play, but they are not focussed. This is your chance to show them how two Beaters must work together!"
The result of James' words was a victory of Gryffindor over Ravenclaw, 230 to 50, after James catched the golden Snitch. Now Gryffindor had to prepare to face Hufflepuff in January.
Christmas arrived at Hogwarts at last, and the Great Hall was decorated with the most beautiful Christmas trees ever seen in Hogwarts, plus some fairies flying around, and the candles illuminating the Great Hall with green, red and yellow lights. In the Gryffindor common room, Sirius Black was trying to decorate the walls with the aid of some first years and his magic wand.
"Hey, you, a little bit to the left! Not that much... to the right now!", were the orders he was giving the poor little children.
Most students were preparing for Christmas vacations, when they would leave Hogwarts and go back home. But the Marauders were staying, because there would be a full moon soon, and they wanted to be with Remus then; he couldn't go back home this year, because his parents were re-building the special house they had for his transformations (last summer, before going to Hogwarts, Remus finally distroyed the house while in his wolf form), and it was dangerous for his parents to have him around.
"You really don't have to do this, guys... You really should go back home; I won't mind, really!"- said Remus, trying to convince his friends to go home.
"Tatatatata! We're staying, we need to finish up the Marauder's Map, and next time you try to send us away, I will put a Mute spell on you!"- was Sirius' response.
Remus smiled; he was concerned about Sirius, James and Peter not going home in these special days, but he was very grateful for having such good friends.
At 9 PM, all students headed to the Great Hall for dinner, and it was the perfect chance for Severus to talk to Eve; when she was walking to the Great Hall, he stepped into her.
"Evelyn..."
Eve turned around.
"Oh... Hi, Severus!"
He looked around and got closer to her, whispering.
"Meet me tonight... at 12:00... do you think you can make it? It is really important for me... I need to talk to you..."
Eve noticed that Severus was very nervous, looking to everybody who was around them, like if he was afraid of something.
"12:00? But..."
"Meet me in the third floor, next to the gargoyle... you know where it is, right?"
"Ye-yes... But...!"
"I will see you then!"
And he quickly left her side and walked into the Great Hall, following some second year Slytherins.
"But... I don't know if I will be able to make it!" – she said, but Severus was too far away to hear her.
While Eve was heading to the Gryffindor table, she saw James and Remus whispering to each other, looking around from time to time, and giggling. When Peter appeared in the Great Hall, they called him and hurried him to sit down next to them. Then, they began whispering again, until Sirius entered the Great Hall and headed to the table.
"What's going on?"- Sirius asked, with a smile.
"Nothing"- said Remus.
"Nothing? And what were you talking about before I came?"
"Oh... that... well... just some silly stuff, Sirius" – said James, very serious.
"Peter, what's going on?"- asked Sirius, a little bit upset because his friends were hiding something to him.
"Oh..."- Peter looked at Remus and James, who were giving him a menacing look. He laughed a little bit. "Well.. I... I really can't tell you, Sirius..."
"Fine"- said Sirius, and sat down at the end of the table, apart from the Marauders. Remus and James looked at each other, worried.
"Sirius! Come here! Come on!" Remus called him, but Sirius looked away, like if he didn't hear anything.
"Don't worry, Remus... he will be back with us... and then..." James grinned. Remus tried to smile, but he was still worried for his friend.
The Marauders were so occupied with their plans that they didn't notice when Eve sat down next to her first year friends, trembling a little bit, nervous as she was. She tried not to sound or look worried, and she specially avoided to look at the Slytherin table, because she could feel Severus' eyes staring at her from his seat. Dinner seemed endless for Eve, and she felt releaved when Severus and Lucius raised up and left the Great Hall.
"Allright... what were you three talking about?"
"Oh.. now you talk to us again, Sirius?"- said James, while they were heading to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"You really are not going to tell me? Why?"- asked Sirius.
"It's a surprise.... Cheering up!"- said Remus, and after giving the Fat Lady the password, they all entered the Gryffindor room.
"A surprise?"
"Yes! It is our last Christmas together, and we have to celebrate it. It is our last year in Hogwarts, and we thought it would be nice to do something special tonight..."- said James.
"We're the Marauders, aren't we? We just can't leave Hogwarts without giving the students and the teachers something to remember us..."- added Remus.
"So, we decided to make a toast with some pumpkin juice, hide under James' Invisibility Cloak, and go to the Slytherin common room and curse Snape... what do you say?"- asked Peter.
Sirius stayed in silence for a few seconds, staring at his friends.
"Why all the mystery? We've done that before..."- he finally asked.
"Because you've always wanted to go visit the Slytherins and cause terror..."- said James. "We've cursed Snape before, I know, but this time we will use some nice spells in the common room, to terrify those Slytherins..."
"They won't be able to see us, so they really can't blame us for whatever happens to the Slytherins..."- said Peter.
"Even if everybody will know that we did it, they just won't be able to prove it"- said Remus, winking to Sirius. Remus then went to a near table and showed his friends four glasses filled with pumpkin juice.
"A toast, for our last year in Hogwarts!"- he said, raising his glass.
"A toast, for terror in the Slytherin common room!"- said James, while raising his glass as well.
"A toast, for the best of our pranks to the Slytherins!"- said Peter.
They looked at Sirius as he raised his glass.
"A toast... for the Marauders!!"- said Sirius, and he drank the pumkin juice, not noticing a slight smile on Remus, James and Peter's face.
When the rest of the Gryffindors entered the common room, they found the oddest and funniest scene they have ever seen in all their years in Hogwarts. Sirius was standing on a table, giving everybody a broad smile, as Remus cleared his throat and announced the beginning of the show.
"Gracious ladies and gentlemen, and specially the ladies! The Marauders, on their last year in Hogwarts, have decided to please you with the most exciting, thrilling and enjoyable show you've ever seen!"
The Gryffindor students sat down surrounding Sirius and Remus, preparing for what they had planned.
"After a long time deciding who was the best among us for this marvelous spectacle, Sirius Black has finally been selected to give you, beautiful Gryffindor girls, a memorable Christmas present!"
Some of the sixth year girls clapped with enthusiasm, while laughing.
"And now, I leave you with the sexiest of the Marauders, Gifted Sirius!!!"
It was a memorable Christmas present indeed.
Right after Remus' last words, James waved his wand and a very sexy music began to play, while Sirius smiled mischiveously to the female audience. Then, to everybody's amaze, Sirius began dancing on the table, removing his clothes. The girls screamed, laughed and clapped, as the Marauder joked around with them and throwed them his black robes, Gryffindor tie and shirt. James, Remus and Peter thought they would die laughing when they saw that the Frenzy Potion they had dropped in Sirius' pumkin juice was working even better than they had imagined. At the time when Prof. McGonagall reached the common room, when hearing all the noise, he was dancing and singing along with the audience, wearing only his boxers.
"SIRIUS BLACK!!!!!"
The music suddenly stopped and everybody in the common room looked at the door, where Prof. McGonagall was standing and giving Sirius the most severe of her looks.
"Professor McGonagall!!!"- Sirius smiled broadly, jumped down the table and ran to her. "You've arrived just on time!"
"MR. BLACK, WOULD YOU BE SO KIND TO DRESS UP?!!!"
Sirius looked at her in shock.
"But... why are you so mad? Look, we're just having some fun here, and I'm really enjoying myself here dancing for all these beautiful, gracious and funny ladies..."
Prof. McGonagall maybe suspected that something was wrong with Sirius, because she immediately looked around until she saw Remus, James and Peter. They tried not to look guilty, but they knew they wouldn't be able to fool McGonagall.
"I see... Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew and Mr. Black will come with me now... DRESS UP BEFORE, PLEASE, MR. BLACK!!"
The Marauders couldn't stop laughing when Sirius walked out the common room following McGonagall, still wearing only his boxers. When they left the room, peace and silence returned to the Gryffindors. Most of the students left to their bedrooms, and only a few stayed next to the chimney, commenting Sirius' dance between jokes.
Eve looked at the wallclock and noticed that it was already 11:57. After giving a quick look around, she opened the room door in silence and walked out.
The castle was very cold at midnight, and the silence and darkness gave it a frightening look. When Eve reached the gargoyle, Severus was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, no... maybe he just forgot..."- she thought.
"Thanks for coming..."
Eve turned around frightened; Severus walked out of the shadows and smiled. His robes were billowing out behind him as he walked, giving him the apparience of a gigantic bat.
"Well... here I am... what did you want to tell me?"- asked Eve, feeling very nervous all of a sudden.
"I'm not quite sure..."- said Severus, almost whispering. And it was true; even if he asked Eve to meet him there, he wasn't very sure why. He just knew that he somehow needed to see her... talk to her... be with her. "Let's just say that... I missed you..."
"You what?"- Eve couldn't believe her ears.
"Well, we haven't talked in a long while... and I thought it would be the perfect chance to meet you here and now, so we can talk without... interrumptions..."- he said that last word with a twisted smile; the image of Melanie Wilkes came to both their minds.
"So, you just wanted to talk with me... is that all?"- said Eve almost in a whisper.
Severus looked at her, a bit confused.
"But it is so dangerous, Severus! What if Filch shows up? What are we going to say? We just wanted to talk, Mr. Filch..."
Severus didn't say a word; he was feeling sick all of a sudden. For some reason he didn't know, he was trembling, and feeling dizzy, and words just didn't come to his mind. He didn't even notice when he walked a few steps and got closer to her.
"Severus... what?"- Eve looked at him, a bit worried. He was looking paler than ever. She gasped when Severus's hands gently touched her arms.
"I wanted to see you, Evelyn"- he whispered –"and find out what's wrong with me... but now that I have you right in front of me, I don't know what's happening..."
"Severus..."
"You're a Gryffindor, a specially noisy one, you were... but now... I can't explain myself..."
"I can't explain myself how come that I feel this way for a muggle"- he thought to himself. He remembered Lucius' words, and his own goals. He wanted to be a poweful wizard, and he was tired of all those wizards coming from muggle families and entering Hogwarts. He told his best friend Lucius that he just wanted to use this Gryffindor girl to win the Quidditch Cup, but he knew, deep inside his heart, that it wasn't true. And he missed her; in time, he came to miss her company. And he was scared, scared of what would happen in the future to him, to her... He looked into Eve's eyes, and hesistated... how would he ever... ever... surrender to these feelings.
Eve looked into Severus' eyes, and saw his conflict, but didn't understand it. And as he lowered his head a little, she was beginning to feel extremelly nervous.
"No... no... don't...."- a small voice in her head told her, but she couldn't move, nor think, as she could feel Severus' breath closer to her lips.
"Don't... it's dangerous..."- the small voice continued.
"He's not dangerous..."- she tried to convince herself, as she felt her whole body trembling and the warmth of Severus' feelings.
"Not him..."- the voice finally said, as Severus gently and softly placed his lips on hers- "...YOU ARE THE DANGER!!!!"
The brief kiss broke immediately as both of them heard a low growl coming from a near corridor. They just moved apart each other when the most horrible vision they had ever seen appeared in front of them.
This creature spreaded the most horrible, cold and deadly darkness all around the corridor, its eyes and skin were made of fire, its tail was like a whip of flames, and it was so tall that its head almost touched the third floor ceiling. They both recognized the creature; it appeared in one of the History of Magic books they studied in second year.
It was a Demon.
Severus and Eve stayed in shock looking at the Demon for a few seconds, as it walked closer and closer to them. Finally, Eve screamed in terror, and Severus grabbed her hand firmly and they both tried to run away from the creature, as the cold darkness slowly surrounded them.
"Evelyn, run!!"
"What??"
She turned around when she felt that Severus released her hand and walked back to the Demon, his wand ready on his right hand.
"Severus!!"
"RUN AND GET SOME HELP!!"
She could only see Severus walking back into the deep darkness, and the Demon getting closer to him.
"SEVERUS!!!"
Severus didn't see anything around him, and was feeling really cold; he could feel the presence of the Demon close to him, and pointed his wand to it. He knew it wouldn't work at all, but he just had to try that spell.
1.2 "Stupefy!"
He heard a horrible scream coming from the Demon, but then the scream turned into a deep and frightening laughter.
Severus walked back a few steps when he felt that the creature was getting too close to him.
"Impedimenta!... Frigeo!... .... CRUCIO!!!"
The Demon convulsed for a brief moment after receving the Cruciatus Spell; Severus was holding his wand very firmly, trying to concentrate all his strenght on this spell. He was scared, but smiling at the vision of a Demon being controlled by his spell, an Unforgivable Curse, a Dark Arts curse; it felt so nice for him to cause pain in this creature, to control it, to command it at his will... he would give up everything in the world just to let this sensation of power continue.
But he completely forgot that he wasn't dealing with a second year student, but a Demon of the ancient times, and its countercurse was so terrible that Severus' scream was heard all around the third floor. Severus fell to the floor in pain, feeling his bones, his blood, his skin, his whole body burning, while being surrounded by a cold darkness.
"NOOOOO!!!"
Eve just fell to her knees, muttering incomprehensible words, while looking terrified at the Demon, who was now next to Severus, who was still in pain. Severus was feeling as if his whole body were in flames, and just wanted it to end, he just wanted to rest, to die...
But death didn't come for him, and suddenly the burning senation disappeared, as the Demon screamed out loud in pain. The darkness around him wasn't that cold anymore, and Severus could see the walls of the castle, as he heard many soft voices coming from ages already forgotten say the oddest words he ever heard:
"Ankhya-jahr, Ijshnakh al-kaher minnah shtaleh!"
Severus raised up with much effort, and he saw how the Demon was slowly vanishing into its own darkness.
"Leave Demon, you in this world do not belong!"
Professor Dumbledore had just appeared in the corridor, followed by Filch, Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Crane, and he was pointing his wand to the Demon, until it finally disappeared into nothing. The castle was once again in silence. Nobody moved until Eve sighed and fainted.
"Hollow!"
Severus walked to her, and what he saw was absolutely unexpected.
All around her there were words of an unknown language written with soft, magical light on the floor, and as Severus was trying to read them, he once again heard the soft voices coming from nowhere, as the words slowly vanished.
"Ankhya-jahr, Ijshnakh al-kaher minnah shtaleh!"
Severus touched Eve's cheek and walked back scared, as Eve's face was really pale and cold; then, Prof. Dumbledore walked to Eve followed by Prof. Craine, raised her from the floor, and looked at Severus.
"You're wounded, Severus"- he said, with a cold and concerned voice Severus didn't knew he had. He looked to his left arm, which had a deep wound and was still burning.
"I'm fine... Professor Dumbledore... what... how... how did this Demon...?"- said Severus, but he couldn't finish up the question, because he suddenly felt really sick, and had to rest on Prof. Crane's right arm.
"The reasons why this Demon appeared in the castle will be elucidated later. You better go to the Hospital Wing... don't worry about Miss Hollow; she's just unconscious"- said Prof. Dumbledore, and Severus nodded, leaving with Prof. Crane, giving the unconscious Eve a concerned look. Then, Prof. Dumbledore turned to Prof. McGonagall.
"Minerva, write to Armenius Snape... tell him that his son is wounded; this Demon's magical skills are very powerful, and Severus will feel sick for a long while, so he will need assistance when arriving in London... I suggest Rebecca should wait for him in Platform 9¾... then write to Alastor Moody..."- Dumbledore reflected for a little while- "Tell him that his presence here is needed immediately."
Prof. McGonagall, who was clearly scared and nervous, nodded and left the corridor without any question, as Filch walked to Prof. Dumbledore with a broad smile.
"What are we going to do with them? They were alone in an empty corridor at midnight... completely against the rules, I'm afraid, Professor!"
Professor Dumbledore just smiled back to Filch.
"Well... I will discuss this with Severus and Evelyn as soon as they recover..."
Filch's smile disappeared with these words, and he left the corridor as well.
Prof. Dumbledore stared at Filch with a smile for a while as he was leaving, muttering some words that sounded like "irresponsible children", "rules are rules", and "midnight dating". Then he headed to the Hospital Wing with Eve in his arms, as he heard a few students voices, probably some Prefects, asking Filch what had happened.