Remus Lupin was pacing around the entrance hall when Dumbledore and McGonagall returned with Evangeline to the castle. No matter how hard he'd tried, he hadn't been able to think about anything else since Snape and Evangeline had left for the Ministry. His unfortunate group of Hufflepuff first years had received a very disorganized and probably confusing lecture in their afternoon Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Once they'd thankfully escaped, he'd returned to the entrance hall to await word. There was really no point in even pretending to do anything else.
The worried wizard stopped his pacing and stood by the staircase and watched the downcast party come slowly through the front door. Lupin was disheartened, but not really surprised to see that he'd been right, and only three of them had returned. Reluctantly he came forward to greet them, but he didn't really know what to say. It was obvious what must have happened. Their sad faces and grim demeanor told the story quite eloquently.
Dumbledore acknowledged him soberly. "You were correct, Remus. Trusting Fudge was not the right thing to do. Apparently honoring his word is no longer important to Cornelius. Keeping his position and furthering his career in the eyes of the public takes precedence."
Lupin sighed resignedly. "Fudge arrested Severus."
McGonagall nodded. Her face tight lipped with anger. "Yes. It was like some sort of circus entertainment! Obviously Fudge had everything well planned out in advance. The entire lobby of the Ministry building was filled with approving witnesses. He was very careful to have a full contingent of press there as well, to cover his arresting the "mastermind of the attack on Gringotts". Cornelius was playing his role of defender of the wizarding community to the hilt. He doesn't seem to care at all that he has no proof to back up his claims. The fact that Severus could be innocent is obviously not even being considered."
This sounded worse and worse to Lupin. He turned and looked at Evangeline, who was just standing there like she was in some sort of trance. His heart clenched in fear as he gazed worriedly at her. She looked so lost and fragile. Carefully he reached out to take her gently by the arm; almost afraid she'd shatter at his touch. "Evangeline? Angel, are you all right?" He held his breath as he waited for her to acknowledge him.
Slowly his voice seemed to penetrate her consciousness, and she turned her face up to look at him. She stared at him unblinkingly as if she didn't quite know who he was. Without acknowledging that he'd spoken to her, she turned away from him and began walking slowly toward the dungeon stairs.
Lupin followed her, worried at her lack of response. He once more put a hand on her arm and stopped her from leaving the entrance hall. "Evangeline, where are you going? It'll be dinnertime soon. You should come and eat something. You shouldn't be alone right now."
She looked down at his hand on her arm. Then she turned an impassive face up to his. "I'm not hungry, Remus, and I couldn't possibly face a hall full of people at the moment. I just want to be left alone. I need to get used to that. Please, let go of my arm."
Although he was a bit frightened at the blankness in her eyes and the emotionlessness of her voice, he didn't want to force her to do anything she didn't want to do. So he reluctantly removed his hand from her arm. Without another word or glance at anyone, she turned and headed down the stairs to the dungeon.
He watched her go and then turned helplessly to McGonagall and Dumbledore, who were looking on sadly. "Should she be alone right now? Isn't there anything we can do to help her?"
McGonagall sighed and came forward to stand next to Lupin and gaze down the stairs after Evangeline. "She'll be all right, Remus. Evangeline needs to recover from the shock. I really don't think there's anything any of us can do to help her at the moment."
McGonagall and Dumbledore removed their cloaks, put them into the closet, and climbed slowly up the main staircase. Lupin knew that McGonagall was probably right, but he felt so helpless. Evangeline was obviously in a lot of pain, and he yearned so much to help her. A little voice in the back of his heart, told him that this was a golden opportunity, and he should take advantage of it. He squashed it firmly, looked after her sadly, and turned away to go into the Great Hall alone.
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Evangeline headed slowly down the dungeon stairs, feeling like she was descending into a pit of darkness from which she'd never escape. She navigated the maze of cold corridors on autopilot, and far too quickly, found herself outside of Snape's quarters. It took some effort to make herself take out her wand and remove the wards on the door. Severus had been very careful that she should know how to get in without trouble. Too careful she realized now, obviously he'd expected this outcome to their trip. He simply hadn't wanted to burden her with his fears. Reluctantly she extended her hand and opened the door so she could enter his quarters without him.
Once inside, she leaned back against the hard wooden panel and looked slowly around. Her eyes caressed the familiar space, yet it looked so foreign, so different. The rooms already felt so lonely without his presence, almost as if they'd been abandoned. How was she going to manage without him? She'd been good at managing alone once, she knew. Had prided herself on her self-reliance. But everything had changed so much since she'd fallen in love with Severus. Suddenly someone else had come to mean so much more than herself. And now he was gone. Just like that.
She removed her cloak and draped it over one of the wingchairs in front of the fire. Then she crossed the room and looked at Snape's desk. The top was covered by a pile of student essays. Yesterday's assignments for his 5th and 6th year students.
Who'll grade them now? Who'll take over his classes? Albus, perhaps. The students will probably be happy to hear that he's gone. That thought saddened her greatly, and she turned away abruptly from the desk.
Walking slowly across the room, she reluctantly entered the bedroom. His ghost was everywhere she looked. How could she possibly stay here without him? Sleep in that bed without him? Sit by the fire alone? No! No! She shook her head sharply. She didn't want to think anymore. Not today! She couldn't cope with it now. Thinking was too hard…it hurt too much. Tomorrow would be soon enough to find the courage within herself to face the future without him. Tonight, she just couldn't do it.
Evangeline walked over to his wardrobe and opened the door. With trembling fingers, she reached in, removed one of his flowing professorial robes, and enveloped herself in it. Then she slid off her shoes and quietly climbed onto the bed. The devastated woman curled into a tight ball around his pillow, with the scroll of parchment still clutched tightly in her hand, and let the tears flow silently down her face.
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Evangeline did not appear for dinner that night or for breakfast the next morning. So Lupin and McGonagall decided they needed to check on her. When they got to the dungeon, they found the door unwarded and unlocked, something Snape would never have allowed. Concerned, they knocked, but they received no answer, so they opened the door and went in.
Upon entering the bedroom, they found Evangeline curled up on the bed wearing one of Snape's robes. It broke Lupin's heart to look at her and know how much pain she was in. She seemed to be asleep.
A worried McGonagall went over, sat on the side of the bed, and smoothed the hair back from the sleeping witch's forehead. "Evangeline? Please wake up." She shook her gently, then more firmly when she didn't get a response. "Evangeline!"
Without warning, Evangeline's eyes snapped open easing the suddenly raised fears of both Lupin and McGonagall. She looked up at the worried witch sitting beside her, but there wasn't any hint of recognition in her eyes. With a gentle touch, Minerva stroked her hair and spoke softly to her, "Evangeline, are you all right? Please speak to me."
Slowly realization seemed to come to Evangeline, and she released the pillow she was clutching so tightly and sat up. "Minerva? Is it morning?"
McGonagall nodded, relieved to be getting a response a last. "Yes. It's time to get up and have some breakfast. It's important that you eat. Severus would want you to take care of yourself."
Evangeline nodded mechanically. "Yes. He told me I needed to take care of myself."
McGonagall tried to smile reassuringly. "Yes, dear. Let me help you up."
She got Evangeline to slide off the bed. Under the overly large black robe, she could see that Evangeline was still wearing the robe that she'd worn to the Ministry yesterday.
"Perhaps you'd like to change your clothes and wash up before going upstairs to eat."
Evangeline nodded again. "Okay, Minerva."
Lupin spoke up softly. "Evangeline, what's that you're holding?"
Momentarily confused, she looked down at her hand still tightly clutching the marriage license. Slowly she raised empty eyes to Lupin. "Nothing I can use now, Remus. I'll have to save it, though, in case of a miracle."
Stiffly she walked around the bed, opened the drawer to the bedside table, and dropped the scroll inside. Then she stared into the drawer and gave a small cry. With a shaking hand she reached into the drawer and pulled out Snape's wand. Proof of her suspicions in solid form.
"He knew," she whispered and turned haunted eyes to Lupin and McGonagall. "Oh, he knew. He'd never have left this here otherwise. Never."
McGonagall exchanged a glance with Lupin, then she went over to the heart broken witch and got her to put the wand back into the drawer and go to get dressed. Evangeline moved like a robot. Doing whatever they asked of her without comment. They took her upstairs to the empty dining hall and gave her breakfast. She ate mechanically then just sat there staring out into the room.
Lupin was beginning to get seriously alarmed. "Minerva, perhaps we should take her up to the hospital wing, and see if Poppy can help her."
Worried too, McGonagall nodded, but Lupin's comment seemed to snap Evangeline back to reality, and she turned and frowned at them. "I don't need to go and get poked and prodded by Poppy!" she said sharply. "I'm all right. I just…I just don't know what to do…I need to do something! Isn't there anything we can do to get Severus out of Azkaban? I can't bear to think about how he must be suffering in that horrible place." Suddenly time yawned empty and dark in front of her, if she couldn't find something to fill the bleak moments ahead, she was afraid she'd go insane. Somehow she had to rescue Severus from that horrible prison. There had to be a way. Going on without him was just impossible for her to contemplate.
McGonagall stared at her helplessly. "Albus has been up all night discussing the situation with various contacts, Evangeline. We're trying. There's nothing you can do at the moment."
Evangeline looked down at her hands, her darkest thoughts were creeping up on her again. "He'll never survive in there, you know. Sirius, at least, had the surety of his innocence to hang on to. Severus may be innocent of this crime, but he blames himself for so much of the horrors of his past. They'll overwhelm him. He takes blame onto himself for things he had no control over. The longer he's in there, the more of him that'll be totally destroyed. If he's in there for long, I'll never get him back, even if he is eventually released."
Alarmed at the direction this conversation was taking, McGonagall fell back on her many years as a teacher once again. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do for someone is to force them to look outside themselves. Even when someone may have a right to be upset, it's always best to stop them from becoming mired in their sorrow and pain. Evangeline needed to get her feet back under her again, and McGonagall was determined to help her do it.
She spoke firmly. "Evangeline, you have to stop this. Severus would not want you to wallow in fear and self-pity. Now, there is something you can do. You were hired to do a job. To my knowledge, you haven't finished it."
Evangeline just looked at her. "The paintings," she murmured softly.
"Yes, the paintings. I suggest you keep yourself busy with that for now. If anything else comes up, we'll tell you immediately."
Yes. She'd forgotten about them. Working on them would do as a temporary occupation to keep her hands busy while her mind worked on the important problem of how to free Severus. Her shock was finally beginning to ease, and she felt as if she was beginning to awaken from a dream world. Though the reality that she found herself in was worse than any nightmare she'd ever had. Evangeline nodded her head. "Okay, Minerva. I'll go get what I need from Severus' classroom and storeroom. I can take everything up to my old quarters. Albus said I could use them to work in. I'll begin again." She got up from the table, determined to get through the day somehow. Now she had a goal, a task to focus on…to keep herself busy even while her heart continued to ache.
Still anxious to keep an eye on her, Lupin offered, "Can I help you collect the things you need, Evangeline?"
She stared silently at him for a moment, then she nodded. "Yes, I guess so. Thank you, Remus."