Evangeline left the castle and crossed over the grounds to Hagrid's cottage. Lupin had told her that he thought Black was hanging out with Hagrid and Fang at the moment. So she thought she'd try there first. She was still a little reluctant to enlist Sirius' help in this matter, but she was afraid that she and Remus might not be able to pull it off alone. And as far as Evangeline was concerned, failure was not an option. Getting Snape out of Azkaban was the only thing that mattered; she simply couldn't afford not to make use of anything or anyone that could help. She'd worry about any ruffled feathers later.
Upon arriving at the cottage, she found Hagrid whittling on the stoop. Fang and Snuffles were both sleeping nearby.
"Hello, Hagrid. How are you today?" She smiled fondly at him.
The groundskeeper jumped to his feet. "I should be asking you that, Miss Evangeline. I was really sorry to hear about Professor Snape. Azkaban's an awful place. I don't like to think of him bein' in there."
Her throat tightened. "I don't like to think about him being in there either. Hagrid, I need to talk to Sirius about something important. Has he been sleeping long?"
Hagrid eyed the animagus. "Not for too long. Want me to wake him for ya? He can wake up mean if he's startled."
She smiled at the warning. "Well, I'd certainly rather not lose a hand or anything."
He grinned at her companionably. "No, that'd be a shame. I'll wake him for ya."
Putting down his whittling, he got up and crossed over to the sleeping dogs. Then he poked Snuffles gently with his shoe. Snuffles jumped up and growled, then he shook himself all over and sat down and wagged his tail.
Evangeline went over and knelt down by Snuffles. "I need to talk to you, Sirius. Where can we go?"
Hagrid gestured toward his cottage. "You can use my place if ya want. I got no reason to be in there at the moment."
"Thank you, Hagrid." She looked at Snuffles. "Okay, Snuffles?"
The dog got up, wagged his tail, and headed for the cottage. Evangeline opened the door and went in. Snuffles followed her. Once she closed the door behind them, Black reverted to human form.
He regarded her sympathetically. "How are you, Evangeline? What can I do to help?"
Hoping she was making the right decision by involving him, she looked at him seriously. "Remus and I have come up with a way to try to free Severus from Azkaban. We were wondering if you'd be willing to help." She held her breath.
"You really aren't sure, are you?" He watched her carefully.
Evangeline looked down. "I'd like to think you'd help me, Sirius, but I know how you feel about Severus. Part of me thinks, you probably believe he deserves to be in Azkaban."
Black sighed heavily and sat down in the chair by Hagrid's fireplace. "You know, a few months ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to cheer at the idea of Snape being in Azkaban, but I find I don't really feel that way anymore. He was railroaded into prison, Angel. I know what that feels like. I also know how much his being in there hurts you, and I don't like seeing you in pain. I'll help you anyway I can, honest. You have my word."
She smiled, knelt down next to him, and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Sir Gryffindor. Now, I have to tell you that what we're planning is illegal and underhanded. Does that make a difference?" She looked worried.
He sat up straighter and grinned. "Yeah, it sounds like a lot more fun! Tell me what's up."
Evangeline explained what Minister Eggleson had told them about Fudge, and that their plan was to record him blackmailing a secretary at the Ministry.
"So let me get this straight. We're going to blackmail Fudge for blackmailing this woman?"
Evangeline nodded. "Yes. Think it'll work?"
He rubbed the stubble of new growth on his chin. "Yeah. Fudge is so image-conscious, and there's never been a hint of scandal clinging to him. It just might work. However, if it doesn't, would this woman want her secrets made public? She's taking a chance."
"It's either that or sleep with Fudge. I think she doesn't want to make the same mistake twice. She wants it to end. If we fail, she loses, but at least she doesn't have to let Fudge touch her. If we win, she wins big. I'd probably take the same chance."
"Yeah, who'd want to sleep with Fudge? Yuk!"
Evangeline laughed. The sound made Black feel good. "So, tell me, where's Remus? Why didn't he come with you to ask me to help? He doesn't have a class this afternoon."
She sighed. "I asked him to go to my shop in Diagon Alley, to get the book with the recipe for the record animating potion in it."
Black looked puzzled. "Why didn't you go to get it yourself? You could be there and back in moments. I'm sure he'd have gone along if you didn't want to go alone."
She sat back on the hearthrug and contemplated the floor for a moment with a resigned sigh. There just didn't seem to be anyway around telling this secret. Then she looked up at him seriously. "I can't go through the paintings at the moment. It could be damaging to me right now."
He was mystified. "Why?"
"I'm pregnant, and the bodily changes that occur during pregnancy make it not work right. It could harm the baby."
Black gaped at her. "Pregnant? You and Snape?"
She nodded.
He started to laugh. "Oh, now I know we have to get him out of Azkaban! I'm not missing out on watching Snape play daddy for anything! Can you imagine him changing nappies and burping the kid!"
She smiled fondly. "Yes, I can."
Black threw back his head and laughed uproariously, then when he noticed that she wasn't joining him, he tried to stop himself. "Oh, sorry…I guess you don't find that image as hysterical as I do."
Evangeline smiled at him. "No, I don't, but I can certainly understand why you do."
He grinned happily. "Well, now that I've found my motivation, what's the next step?"
"We still need the exact place and time of the meeting. Then we need to prepare a parchment and make the potion. One or more of us will have to hide within earshot of Fudge and the secretary and activate the quill and parchment. Once we use the potion on the result, we should have a nice recording of Fudge's nasty conversation. If we can take a picture or two as well, so much the better."
He nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds like a good plan to me. Let's go see if Remus is back yet."
She got up off the rug. "Okay." With a lighter heart, she opened the door and went out, pausing to say goodbye to Hagrid. Then Evangeline and Snuffles made their way back up to the castle.
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They went back upstairs to her old quarters and found Remus sitting in an easy chair by the fireplace flipping through the book he'd retrieved from Evangeline's shop. He looked up at their entrance.
"Hi, Remus. Did you have any trouble finding the book?" inquired Evangeline.
The werewolf shook his head. "No problem at all, it was right where you told me it would be. There didn't seem to be anyone around. So it all went very smoothly." He pulled a key out of his pocket. "Here's your key back, and here's the book."
Anxious to get started, she reached out and took both items. Then she walked over to the table by the window, sat down, and began to flip through the book herself. "Here it is…record animating potion."
She started to read and nodded her head. "Good…good…it's not too different than a regular animating potion." She continued to read for a bit. Then she closed the book and looked up with a satisfied expression on her face. "This potion will take between 12 and 15 hours to brew. Since spoken words move faster than painted images, velociola dartle is actually a key ingredient in this potion. That speeds up its creation immensely."
Lupin smiled. "Whatever you say, Evangeline. You obviously know a lot more about potion making than I do. Do you have all the ingredients that you'll need to brew the potion?"
Happily, she nodded. "Yes. I actually have most of them here. The rest of them I can get from Severus' storeroom. I'll sleep here tonight and begin to make the potion. We'll also need two large pieces of parchment and two Quick-Quotes Quills…oh, and a camera. Are either of you good at taking pictures?" She looked from one to the other.
They both shrugged.
Black answered first, "No better, no worse than anyone else, I guess. I'll ask Harry if he can borrow a camera from Colin Creevey. He always seems to have one glued to his face."
"Good."
Lupin jumped in. "I'll go get the parchments and quills, but why two?"
Evangeline smiled slyly, and for a fleeting second Lupin thought of Snape. "Insurance. I can't duplicate the recording, so I think it would be prudent to make two of them. I'll have to play one for Fudge to get his cooperation. If he attempts to destroy it, I'll have the other one in reserve."
Black nodded admiringly. "Clever. You know I could never picture you as a Slytherin, Evangeline. Now I realize that I just hadn't seen you under the right circumstances."
She raised an eyebrow and smiled at him. "I'm going to assume that was a compliment, Sirius."
He nodded noncommittally. "Of course."
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McGonagall and Dumbledore were immensely encouraged, to see Evangeline appear at dinner looking so much like her old self. McGonagall gave her a hug. "Are you feeling better, Evangeline? You look better."
She smiled at the older woman. "I'm trying, Minerva. As long as I keep busy, I can manage. I'm working on potions at the moment. I hope to be able to begin on the paintings again in a few days."
McGonagall nodded. "Good."
Evangeline looked over at Dumbledore. "Have you had any luck trying to free Severus, Albus?"
He looked at her somberly and shook his head. "No, Evangeline. I'm sorry. No one I've talked to can seem to be of any help. Short of a jailbreak, I can't think of any way to free him at the moment. However, I intend to keep trying. Please, don't give up hope. There are other avenues I haven't explored yet."
She nodded sadly, not really surprised by this disheartening news. Fudge wasn't going to make it easy.
Dumbledore added kindly, "Perhaps I might be able to arrange for you to go and visit Severus."
A shiver ran through her as she remembered Severus predicting this offer; regretfully she shook her head. More than anything she longed to take him up on it, but she couldn't break her word to Severus, no matter how much it hurt.
"No, Albus. Severus made me promise that I wouldn't try to visit him in Azkaban. As long as he remains there, I can't see him. It's what he wanted, and I can't deny him."
Sadly she turned away from them and retreated to her place down the table next to Remus Lupin. As she sat down, he asked, "Any news? Has Albus made any progress on freeing Severus?"
"No, Remus. Fudge will block him at every turn. It's up to us to free Severus, and I don't intend to fail."
Her face wore a hard, determined expression, and her eyes glittered coldly. Lupin found himself agreeing with Black. Suddenly it didn't seem like much of a stretch to picture her as a Slytherin.
Changing the subject, Evangeline turned to Lupin. "Did you get the quills and parchments?"
He nodded. "Yes, they're on the table in your room upstairs. I got two of the expensive blue ones, guaranteed not to embellish like the green kind. They should give us an accurate representation of what's said."
She smiled in cold satisfaction. "Excellent. Once I've concocted the potion, and we have the information on the meeting time and place, we'll be ready."
Pleased with their preparations so far, she nodded to herself and looked at Lupin with grim determination. "This will work, Remus. By the time we're through with him, Cornelius Fudge will regret the day he ever thought he could falsely blame his problems on Severus Snape."