I Do Not Own Harry Potter.

The two weeks preceding the Hogsmeade weekend went by relatively quickly. Eva went to the two Dueling Club meetings and was always paired with Draco. She had the feeling that Professor Snape was steering her away from Harry at the meetings. She and Neville had received their grade for their presentation. Neville nearly fainted when he saw the red 'O' at the top of the paper.

"I told you that he would give us a good grade. It wouldn't be fair if he didn't," she reasoned.

"Snape isn't known for his fairness, Eva," replied Neville.

Eva had been looking forward to the trip to Hogsmeade and spending the whole day with Harry. She had also planned to buy her mother's Christmas gift while she was there.

Eva and Harry met twice again and figured out a better and more regular schedule. He had come a long way in his meditation; he was more relaxed and that helped him clear his mind. He was also making headway in wandless magic. Eva had not wanted to begin with that until he was more grounded in Occlumency, but Harry was impatient to get started and she just couldn't tell him no.

The night before the Hogsmeade trip was their third meeting and Eva could tell that Harry had been practicing his meditation and relaxation during the week. She was sure he would quickly master Occlumency.

When Eva sat down to meditate, she found that she was too excited to think about anything but tomorrow's trip to Hogsmeade. She realized it would be the first time she would leave Hogwarts since she had arrived in August. She opened her eyes and saw that Harry's brow was wrinkled in concentration.

"I don't think we're going to be getting very far tonight," said Eva. She unfolded her legs and hugged them to her body. "Maybe we should just call it a night," she suggested.

Harry knew that she was right about not getting anywhere. They were both too excited about tomorrow's trip, but he didn't want to leave just yet. "We could just talk, if you want. I've got a surprisingly small pile of homework and I don't want to hear Ron and Hermione go at it again."

Eva smiled. He had voiced what she wanted to do, too. She did have homework, but it was nothing she couldn't handle and she was tired of being in that tower all by herself. She needed human contact.

"What's your family like?" she asked.

Harry snorted. "They're Muggles, that's all you need to know."

Eva thought that an odd thing to say. She had met many Muggles that were a lot nicer than some of the wizards that she knew. Remembering one the memories she had seen their first night together, she asked, "Do they not treat you kind?"

"That's an understatement. The Dursleys liked to make my life as miserable as possible. It was their lifelong goal to inflict as much pain as they could."

"You said they liked to make your life miserable. They stopped?"

"Yeah, last year when I went back for the summer holiday, Mad Eye Moody told them that if he thought they were treating me badly, he would come to the house and make sure I was happy. Needless to say, they really just left me alone after that. It was nice enough. I got to do pretty much what I wanted."

"And they let you have a girlfriend?" asked Eva, referring to the girl that she had seen in his memories.

Harry cleared his throat. He had hoped she'd forgotten about that. "Well, that was more like a really good friend."

"A really good friend that you just happened to kiss," said Eva. She smiled and then laughed when she saw Harry get uncomfortable. "It's all right, Harry. I didn't think there were no other girls in your life before you met me. In fact, I would have been really shocked if there hadn't been. You are rather handsome." It was a bit strange for Eva to tell him that, but she liked being honest and straightforward about how she felt and thought.

"Uhm, thanks. You're very pretty, too."

"I wasn't fishing for compliments, Harry, but thank you. Tell me about your life. What do you do when you go to your Aunt and Uncle's house?"

"Not much. When I was a kid they didn't let me do anything that was fun or that they thought I might enjoy. Dudley, that's my cousin, is the neighborhood bully and for a long time I was his favorite punching bag."

"That's horrible!"

"I got used to it and it didn't last long. He's wider than he is tall, so it was easy to outrun him. Uncle Vernon has a sister that breeds bulldogs and she has one that she brings with her every time she visits."

"Is that the one that chased you up a tree?"

"Yeah."

"Did they even let you defend yourself?"

"Not really." Harry smiled at the memory of Aunt Marge blowing up like a balloon. "There was this one time where I blew her up." He told Eva the story of how she had been insulting him and his parents and how he had just lost it and blew her up. She was holding on to her sides and rolling on the floor laughing by the time he finished.

"And the Minister of Magic met you at the Leaky Cauldron? And he didn't do anything?" Harry nodded. "Oh, imagine if they had known about that. You didn't even get punished for blowing her up, when they tried to punish you for breathing. That's just wonderful!"

Harry waited until she had composed herself a bit before asking his own questions. "Tell me about your life. Like your Mum; what's her name? Savege? Sage?"

"It's Sah-vay-ajh. It's an old family name. She said that only my father ever called her -" Eva stopped talking and had a confused look on her face. She remembered the conversation she'd had with Professor Snape he'd called her mother Sage. It was one of the few things she knew of her father; he had always used the pet name Sage for her Mum. She shook her head; it couldn't possibly be; her mother would have told her before leaving her here if Professor Snape was her father. It was just her imagination.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry.

"Yes, fine. Anyway, what did you want to know?"

"What's your life been like? Your training must have been very different before coming here."

"Yes, it was. Grandfather, Grandmama and Mum were really diligent in keeping up with my lessons. They didn't want me to fall behind my year just because I was studying at home. It was rather difficult to fall behind, though. I was being taught year-round; even when we would go on family vacations. Grandfather started my Occlumency training when I was eleven and I didn't even know that it wasn't something that you weren't normally taught until I asked."

"What about your everyday life? What did you do for fun?"

"Well, flying is my favorite way to fritter away some time. I never learned to play Quidditch since there were never enough people around to have a decent team. I did learn how to play Muggle football, though. Mum even let me go to some games."

"Do you know many Muggles?"

"Not many, but I do know some. Mum said that it was important for me to see how non-magic people lived in order to appreciate the gifts that I have. She let me spend week with a friend I have in London and when we went to America for a vacation, to visit some family there, I spent the whole time without magic. It was nice."

"What about the time you spent at home? Did you get to do whatever you wanted?"

"Yes and no. There were some things that were forbidden, but for the most part I could do what I pleased. Mind you, I didn't go off and do something stupid just because I could. They always wanted to know what I did and where I went, and with Grandfather being such an accomplished Legilimens it was rather hard to get away with a lie."

"It must have been nice to have all that freedom," said Harry. He remembered how free he felt when he first came to Hogwarts, but then, as the years past, more and more rules and confinements had been placed on him.

"It's a bit of a double-edged sword, really," replied Eva.

"That's a bit hard to believe. You get to do whatever you want, for the most part, and you don't have to worry about people breathing down your neck."

"You do have a point, but think about it from my point-of-view. I never had the feeling that anyone really cared what I was doing. No one really asked if I was all right or if I was lonely. The only friend I ever had, from the time I was a baby, was Draco Malfoy. The people that visited my home were not exactly warm and friendly. They saw me as a bit impish and that was not the best of traits for a witch 'of my status,' as Uncle Lucius says."

"Uncle Lucius?! Are you related to the Malfoys?"

"I guess somewhere down the line there might be a connection. Most pureblood families are related in some way. But Draco and I are too far distant in blood to be cousins. I just call his parents Auntie and Uncle because they are the closest I had to the real thing. Our families were very close, even though I got the feeling that Grandfather did not like Uncle Lucius much, I know that Auntie Narcissa is really nice." The look of horror mixed with incredulity on Harry's face made Eva rush to her Auntie's defense. "She really is! If she's around Uncle Lucius, she'll act as if everything and everyone is beneath her, but that's just because of Uncle Lucius' attitude. She's one of the nicest people I know, and she's a really good influence on Draco. I shudder to think of what Draco would be if Uncle Lucius had total control over him."

"As much as I want to believe you, Eva, it's just a bit hard after knowing and hating Draco for the last six years. He's not proven himself to be the person you seem to think he is."

"I know," said Eva. "I noticed that first meeting at the Dueling Club that everyone seemed to be happy when he had fallen. I've seen he's built up quite a reputation as a bully. It's so sad, because I know he's so much better than that."

Harry placed a hand on her shoulder. "Did you ever stop to think that, just maybe, he's not?"

Eva's head whipped up from staring at the fire. There was a blaze in her eyes that dwarfed the one in the grate. "No, I don't believe that. You may be able to give up on people, but I refuse to do so. There is always the hope of change. I will not give up on Draco." She looked back to the fire. " One day I may be the only person he has."

Harry looked into the fire as well. He hoped that he hadn't made Eva completely upset with him. He just didn't see a chance of Draco making any kind of change in attitude; it would take some sort of miracle.

Eva broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen. "If I tell you something about Draco, do you promise not to tell another living soul?" She looked back into his eyes. "I'm dead serious, Harry. You can tell no one. Draco doesn't even know that I know this."

Harry wasn't sure that he wanted to hear what she was going to tell him. He had the feeling that whatever it was might make him feel something other than loathing towards Malfoy. Against his instincts he found himself agreeing.

"When we were ten, just after we got our letters from Hogwarts, Draco and I were playing at his house. He had been in trouble with his father the week before for some infraction and he was restricted to the second floor where his rooms were. We were in his lounge talking about what we thought it would be like at Hogwarts. I had noticed when I got there in the morning that he was limping slightly. I had figured that it was just something he got from running around the Manor and didn't give it a second thought.

"I spent the whole day there and whenever he heard his father or I mentioned him, he seemed to wince. When I got home that night I asked Mum what she thought and all she said was that I should just be there for him and mumbled something about bad parenting. I couldn't sleep that night, so I went downstairs for some water and I saw that the light was on in my Grandparent's study.

"I know I should not have eavesdropped, but I'm glad that I did. I heard Grandmama say that those kinds of punishments were not allowed on full-grown wizards, let alone a child. Grandfather told her that it was not their business how Lucius raised his son." Eva sniffed and wiped at her cheeks. "Mum asked him if he would say the same thing if she was the one doing that to me. Of course, he went off the handle and said that it was different because I was his granddaughter and he would not allow such a thing. I didn't really know what they were talking about until Mum asked him how using the Cruciatus Curse on Draco was different than using it on me." She sobbed and leaned into Harry, who by this time, had put his arm around her shoulders.

Harry couldn't believe it. He thought his own family life was bad; this just blew him away. He had never thought Draco was anything more than a spoiled prat. He never really thought about what his life at home would be like. Just as he had thought, he began to feel some pity for Draco.

Eva sniffed loudly and pulled out a kerchief from her robes. She blew her nose and looked up at Harry. "I hope you can look at him a bit differently now. His life is not too far from your own. He's never really had a father either; Uncle Lucius is more like an overlord than anything else."

"But he's been there," said Harry, still holding onto some of the old resentment.

"Yes, he's been there in body, and completely demanding, but scarcely there in mind or spirit. Draco has always tried so hard to make his father proud of him, but he never seems to be good enough for Uncle Lucius. I've tried to tell him that his best is all he has to do, but he refuses to listen. I'm afraid that his urge to please his father will lead him down the wrong path."

"Well, if he follows his father's footsteps, it sure will be the wrong path," said Harry.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, forget I said it. What about his mother? Doesn't she do anything about how Lucius treats Draco?"

"Not really. She tries her best is my guess, but Uncle Lucius is not one to give in very often. I'm sure that her life at his side has not been exactly what she imagined. She's had a bit of a respite lately from what Mum has told me. Uncle Lucius has been away on business for quite a while."

"On business? Is that what you're Mum told you?"

"Yeah, she said that he had to go away on business and that Auntie Narcissa was going to have some peace and quiet for a while."

Harry wondered why Saveage had not told Eva the truth about Lucius Malfoy. Maybe it was because of Draco. It would probably make Eva worry more about Draco than was necessary.

They left the room soon after and agreed to meet in the Entrance Hall the next morning for the trip to Hogsmeade. They both had a lot to think about. Harry had to digest the information that he had been given about Malfoy and Eva had to shake off the nagging whisper in the back of her head that Professor Snape had used a pet name for her mother that she knew only one other man had ever used.

Harry woke to a silent bedroom. He pulled back the curtains on his bed and noticed that Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ron were still asleep. He quickly dressed and donned his robes. Ron woke as he was putting on his trainers.

"Morning," Harry said brightly.

"Morning," mumbled Ron, still half asleep.

The other three boys began to stir, but Harry did not wait for them. He muttered a quick 'see you later' to Ron and was out the door and headed towards the Great Hall before they were out of bed.

Harry had hoped that if he woke early enough, he might be able to meet Eva at the East Tower stairs and have breakfast with her. He was in luck. He spotted Eva walking towards the Great Hall. Or at least he thought it was she.

"Eva?" he called.

The girl turned and smiled. He smiled back. It was Eva, but she had made some changes: good changes. She hadn't put on her robes yet and she was wearing tight jeans and a form-fitting turtleneck.

"You look different," he said.

Eva tugged a bit at her blouse and shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I wanted to be comfortable."

"Your hair. It's so long," he said. That was the reason he had not recognized her. She had pulled her hair into a ponytail, but her braided bun was absent.

Eva touched a strand that had come onto her shoulder. "I was going to pull it up after breakfast. I just washed it and it's still a bit damp."

"No, don't!" Harry blushed at his outburst. "I mean, you should leave it down. It looks really nice."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Eva smiled at Harry. She liked to leave her hair down, but she had not seen anyone with hair the length of hers around school, so she had decided to pull it up every day. When she had been at the Manor, her grandfather had insisted that she pull it up every day and wash it morning and evening, since it tended to get greasy if she didn't.

"Uhm, would you like to have breakfast with me?" Harry finally asked.

"Sure."

Harry took Eva's robes from her arm and led her to the Gryffindor table. Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus soon joined them. The latter two were still a bit wary of Eva.

"Is there anything in particular that you do here for All Hallow's Eve?" asked Eva.

Dean and Seamus chuckled at her name for the holiday. "What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Seamus. He and Dean returned to their breakfast while Neville explained about the feast.

"It's real nice. By the time we come back the Hall will be twice as nice as it is already."

Eva looked around and thought it quite impossible for the Hall to be any better decorated than it already was. There were pumpkins in almost every corner. She could see Professor McGonagall conjuring cobwebs for the corners. Professor Flitwick was enchanting some leaves to continually fall from the ceiling.

"Will there be a dance?" asked Eva.

Neville had forked some eggs and bacon into his mouth, so he just shook his head. Ron answered for him. "Not for Halloween. We have a Yule Ball, but it's just the feast for Halloween. It's nice enough though, all you can eat dinner and then when that's done, you get loads and loads of sweets. Everything you can imagine."

Hermione reached the table and saw Eva sitting there. She was about to join Ginny when Eva greeted her. "Good morning, Hermione. Did you sleep well?"

Hermione was taken aback by Eva's civility towards her. She mumbled a quick 'Good morning' and sat down next to Neville.

"We were just telling Eva about the Halloween feast," supplied Ron.

"That's nice," said Hermione. She concentrated on her breakfast, and tried to ignore the Slytherin that was across the table from her.

The mail arrived just as they were finishing their breakfast. Harry and Eva were going to excuse themselves from the table when his snowy owl came soaring above them. Hedwig swooped down onto the table and landed smoothly in front of Harry's plate. She had a package attached to her leg, which Harry promptly untied. Eva held out her hand to the owl, who looked at her warily before nipping her finger gently. Eva took the gesture as approval and stroked the owl's plumage.

Harry was unwrapping the package with his back turned to Eva. She tried to look over his shoulder, but he seemed intent on keeping the parcel a secret. She turned to the owl and said, "You wouldn't be able to tell me what he's hiding would you?" Hedwig hooted in response. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

"Would you excuse me for a minute, Eva? I just need to talk to Neville for a minute." Harry motioned for Neville to follow him and was out of sight in a moment.

Eva just continued to talk to Hedwig while she helped herself to some of the cereal that was on the table. "You are a very pretty owl. You would get along nicely with Horatio, I think. Have you seen him?" She pushed her goblet of pumpkin juice closer to Hedwig, who took a sip.

Harry returned to the table and smiled at Eva talking to Hedwig. "I think she likes you," he said. Hedwig unfolded her wings and floated to Harry's shoulder. She nipped his ear affectionately before taking flight again.

"She's beautiful. I love snowy owls; I miss my own a lot. He's not got much mail to deliver for me," she said sadly.

"You've got a snowy owl?"

"Yes, his name is Horatio. He was a present from grandfather when I turned thirteen. Said a teenager would have need of a nice owl." She looked down at her hands. She had not thought about her grandfather in a while; her schoolwork kept her quite busy and she was grateful for the distraction. She did not like breaking out into tears every day.

Harry held out his hand before she could think further about her family. "Ready to go?"

Eva looked up and pushed the bad thoughts out of her head. She was going to have fun today; it was just her and Harry. "Yes."

They turned and waved to the other Gryffindors that had shared breakfast with them. They would be seeing them soon enough in town. Hand in hand they exited the hall and joined the queue of students in the Entrance Hall waiting to be signed out by Mr. Filch.

Eva had woken late that morning. She had been twisting and turning in her sleep with thoughts of Professor Snape and her mother, or at least younger versions of them, sweeping across her mind. It had been rather nerve wracking since they looked close to her own age.

The night before sleep had refused to come. She couldn't get that bloody thought of Professor Snape referring to her mother as Sage out of her mind! She had finally tossed aside her eiderdown and paced the room. Realizing her thoughts were too jumbled to make sense of them, she sat down and began a rather lengthy letter to her mother. Even though she knew she would never be able to send it until Christmas, she needed to get out all of the questions from her mind. She had been writing for some time before her eyes began to droop. She finished her last thought and then went back to bed.

She had awakened the next morning to bright light and got up to dress. Just as she was about to leave her room, she saw her letter sitting on the table. She walked towards it and stared at her writing for a while. Would she ever know who her father was? Tears sprang to her eyes as she answered herself. "No," she said aloud. Wiping her tears, she took the paper and tore it into pieces which she fed to the fire. She watched as the fire enveloped the parchment. "I won't ever even know your name."

Saveage jumped for joy at the message she had received from Dumbledore. She would be able to see Eva! He had owled a message to her on Monday that he would be sending Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks as her escort to Hogwarts. They apparently had to go to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place to retrieve some things left there by some Order members. They were going to be headed to Hogwarts and Dumbledore thought it would be nice for Saveage to see her daughter.

Ever since she knew that she would be leaving, she had been acting like a tiger that had been caged too long, which she really had. She was just as unfamiliar with being kept in one small house as Eva was to being in school. By the time Lupin and Tonks arrived, she was ready to climb the walls.

She had greeted them at the door with a huge smile and a hug for each of them. She had helped them gather the things that Dumbledore had requested and made them lunch and dinner.

They knew how eager she was to get out of the house, so they did not say anything to her when she ran around the house madly looking for the things they requested. Lupin winced at the look on her face when he told her that Dumbledore wanted them to wait until Saturday morning to leave Number Twelve.

"But why?" she had asked.

"He wants to be sure that it's safe for you to fly into Hogwarts. He's been setting lookouts to be sure that, at the time we're flying, no one will be watching." Lupin took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. "I understand that you want to see your daughter; from what I've been told she's quite a remarkable young lady, but Dumbledore has a responsibility to protect you as well."

Saveage nodded. "I know and I appreciate what he's done. I guess I'm just not used to being cooped up in one place for so long. I don't know how Eva's been coping with being trapped in that school. She's been used to studying in the outdoors most of the time."

"Tell me about her," requested Tonks.

Saveage smiled at the kind young woman. She pulled out a picture she carried of Eva and handed it to her. "That was taken at the end of June of this year. My parents were still alive then." She continued on for quite a while. Even knowing that the two people in front of her were probably not listening to much of what she said, it was still nice to have some human interaction again.

She finished her tale of Eva's life and smiled. "I'm so sorry to talk your ears off. I've been quite burdened by the solitude."

"It's no problem," said Lupin.

Tonks nodded her head and tried to conceal a yawn; at which Saveage laughed. "You should really get to bed. I know you must be tired from your journey here and then listening to an old recluse's reminiscences."

"I am a bit tired," said Tonks. She stood and turned to Lupin. "You going up, Lupin?" she asked.

"No, I think I'll stay up a bit," he answered without taking his eyes off Saveage.

Tonks withdrew from the kitchen and Saveage brought her attention back to the man sitting in front of her. "So, Mr. Lupin-"

"Please, Saveage, I hope we're still friendly enough for you to call me Remus."

"Remus. Tell me how you have been."

"There isn't much to tell, really." He looked down at the teacup in his hands. "How much has Dumbledore told you?"

"Well, he's told me about the year you spent teaching at Hogwarts. If I had known how hard life had been on you, Remus, I would have hired you in an instant to help with Eva's studies. He told me about the Order and I must say that as soon as I'm able to, I will be helping you all as much as I can. He has already accepted my petition to join the Order of the Phoenix and he's going to put it before the members at the next meeting. I just feel bad that I cannot help you in any significant manner at present."

Lupin once again took her hands in his own. They still had the feel of rose petals; she did not deserve the pain and frustration that Voldemort had cast upon her. "Your safety is what's important right now. If we let you go out and get yourself hurt that would do nothing for the Order, not to mention the harm it would do to your daughter."

Saveage smiled and nodded. "I know. I'm just so frustrated with all that's happening. The most difficult thing I've ever had to do as a mother was leaving her there, knowing that it would be a long time before I saw her again." She sniffed and reached into her robes for her handkerchief. "I've never been away from her for more than a week since the day she was born. She's all I have left in the world."

"And her father?" asked Lupin.

"She knows nothing of her father. My own father forbade me to speak of him after she was born. There were only a few things that I knew it would be all right if she knew, but as far as she knows, he's dead."

"Is he?"

Saveage shook her head. "He's very much alive and far closer to her than she knows." Saveage stopped herself; she would say too much.

Lupin looked at the woman sitting across from him. "What did you say her name was again?"

"Eva. Well, not really; that's what my father called her. Her full name is Severa Raven Nocturino."

"Severa? Would that be a family name?" asked Lupin.

Saveage pulled her hand from in between his. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I've only heard that name, or at least some form of it, one other time in my life. If Eva's father is who I think he is, she might already know."

Saveage's eyes widened to frightening proportions. "That can't be. He wouldn't!"

"He may not have said anything to her, but rest assured; Severus Snape is an intelligent man and he will find out. I don't know what he would do if faced with the opportunity to tell her."

Saveage shook her head. "I know Severus well. He wouldn't do anything that would overstep my authority. He's probably mad as hell at me, but he would do nothing that was out-of-bounds."