Amazement, Astonishment, and Admiration

Sirius realized he was not getting his cloak back when he saw Ev button it up.

They were in a clearing in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. For some reason Ev didn't seem concerned about this. Sirius though kept throwing nervous glances over his shoulder.

"Would you stop!" Ev finally commanded.

She stood in front of him and suddenly the claws came out from her knuckles. "I think we're safe," she said somewhat arrogantly. But there was no denying it-she could kick anyone's ass.

Sirius nodded.

"So, what do you want to see?" Ev asked, raising her eyebrow.

"You make it sound dirty," Sirius said exasperatedly.

"No I didn't. You interpreted it that way."

"Just, do something." Sirius snapped.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk," Ev reprimanded and promptly turned invisible. Sirius gasped- especially when she appeared behind him with claws against his cheek.

"Stop that!" Sirius said pushing away from her. "Do something else."

Ev nodded slyly and reached over, grasping the skin of his arm in a tight grip. Suddenly Sirius felt pain shoot up his arm and a yelp escaped his lips. Ev let go and he dropped to his knees. "What the hell was that?!" Sirius yelled.

"One of my powers," Ev replied. "I was taking your power-your magic-. So don't piss me off. Kay?

"What else can you do?"

"Well, I can control the weather. Whaddaya want? Snow, sunshine, clouds?"

"Let's try somethin' dry," Sirius said pointedly.

Ev nodded. "Right," She let out her breath in a loud gust and closed her eyes. Opening them, they glowed a misty white and Sirius gasped. Suddenly the clouds slowly started rolling away, gaining speed. Slowly, the blue sky was revealed and the sun came out. The small clearing was basked in the warm glow of the sun.

Ev lowered her hands and grinned slyly, looking at the shocked expression on Sirius' face. "Holy shit." He finally said slowly. "That'll come in useful." He nodded, affirming what he said. "What else you got?"

Ev smiled. The next thing Sirius knew Ev was doing some sort of Chinese martial arts fighting move; very complicated and very fast. Ev finished with a double back flip. "Okay, that's cool."

Next Ev shape shifted, turning green. "Whoa!" Sirius exclaimed.

Ev showed him a couple of her powers and then they started walking back to the school, taking a trail Ev had found.

"So what's the deal with these X-Men?" Sirius questioned.

"What do you mean?" Ev replied, shrugging.

"What do they do?"

"They..they live. Like you, like me. They just have these powers. Just like you have magic and muggles have none. They're no different." Ev said slowly.

"How many schools do they have for X-Men?" Sirius inquired.

"One," Ev supplied. Sirius looked at her when she said this. "There aren't many X-Men," Ev started to explain. "Some people are, but they don't reveal it to others. So they live normally. Others, who reveal their powers when they learn of them, as teens, most of their family disowns them. So they come to the school. The good X-Men go and find them and take them to the schools."

"What do you mean 'good X-Men'?" Sirius wondered.

"Right now a silent war is raging between X-Men: those who want to live in peace with muggles and those who want to destroy all of humanity, excluding X-Men of course. Right now it's all about gaining X-Men recruits and, if possible human recruits to fight for our cause. One day though, one day it'll all end in war. Hopefully, we'll prevail. Otherwise all humans, anyone who's not a 'mutant' will die." Ev nodded after she finished.

Sirius was silent for a minute. Suddenly he spoke, "That's deep stuff. Hope you win that one."

Ev glanced at him and grinned. "Yeah, me too."

They continued to walk.

"Are we friends?" Sirius asked out of the blue.

Ev looked sideways at him. "Maybe," She answered slowly, and almost questioningly.

They both stopped and looked at each other for a second.

"Don't tell anyone," they both said in unison, and laughed, continuing their trek to the school.

"So, don't, umm, . . . please don't tell anyone, you know anything I told." Ev said uncomfortably.

"Sure," Sirius said quickly, "of course, I'd never tell."

"Good," Ev replied. "Cause if you did, I'd be forced to kill you. And as you know, I don't hesitate."

Ev paled slightly and Ev grinned.

The trees began to thin as they neared the edge of the forest.

"So how'd you find that place back there?" Sirius wondered.

"I go there to think a lot. In the middle of the night you know? After I have dreams I can't sleep, so I go somewhere to think. Sometimes I need fresh air to breathe so I come out here."

"Can I ask, um, why umm. . ." Sirius trailed off. Ev stopped and looked at him, waiting for him to finish.

"What? Spit it out."

Sirius smiled vaguely. "Why are you. . . the way you are?"

"I don't understand what you mean." Ev said, raising her eyebrow- the one with a ring in it.

"You know, all tough and rude and. . . you know, with the leather jacket. . . and sarcasm or cynicism, you scorn everything, you know. . . you have the tattoos and the ring and I mean, why are you so. . . bitchy!" The final word burst out after he had rambled on painfully. Ev grinned at his antics.

"Cynicism," she said aloud as if trying the word out. She nodded and turned to continue walking, with Sirius following, "I like that." She laughed. "What exactly does it mean to have cynicism?" She directed this comment at Sirius.

He faltered for a moment, then answered, "I guess it means pessimism, distrust, skepticism. . ."

Ev nodded with finality, then grinned evilly. "That is so me." She smiled at him.

"Why?" Sirius asked persistently.

"Well, I don't know. Could you expect to come out of such a situation as I have and not have a certain amount of pessimism, I ask myself. . . Hell no, I answer myself. Plus, I guess I've always been this way. I'm still fun aren't I. I don't bring the party down so to speak do I?'

"No, but you're always being so witty and sarcastic, with those comments you always have quick as a flash."

"I don't know. Guess it's a gift," Ev said loftily, and Sirius looked at her saying 'you proved my point'. "Okay," she continued thoughtfully, "I'm not acting that way. It's me, so yeah. I'm kind of proud of it actually. As for, you know, the, umm, rings, and the uhh, yeah, the uh, leather, and the um, you know, tattoos," here Ev looked at him after artfully imitating his tongue-tied behavior from earlier. He glared at her and she continued, a light in her eyes. "Okay, the leather. I wear it cause I like it; simple as that. The ring in my eyebrow, like it too. It makes me look dangerous. As for the tattoos, like I said, my 'cry for help'. Though, I just liked them to tell the truth. Dragons have always interested me. I thought the Chinese symbol was cool. They also make me seem dangerous," Ev waggled her eyebrows dangerously at him and Sirius smirked at her.

"Besides, with the sarcasm thing, you are too you know?" Ev added.

"Not as much though. You're quicker with it than I am." Sirius reminded her.

"That's true," Ev said in a fake pompous way. "By the way, I enjoy tooting my own horn."

Sirius laughed as they finally reached the end of the Forbidden Forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sorry it took so long and that this is so short. Review. Please. Tell me if you like it or whatever.

I haven't done a disclaimer, don't know if I need to, but are we kidding ourselves? We all know I didn't create these characters or setting; except Ev and all her behavior. So there. That good enough?