"If you do not put that book away, Ms. Malfoy, you will be serving detention for a week," Professor Snape snapped, not even turning from the blackboard. Evanna quickly shoved the book under her parchment.
"I said away, Ms. Malfoy."
Evanna scowled at the man's back as Ginny pointedly handed her her bookbag.
"I wouldn't test him, mate," the redhead muttered.
"I really don't give a rat's arse what Severus Snape thinks of me," Evanna snapped back. Ginny held up her hands.
"No need to bite my head off. I can get you chocolates and pain relief potion if you need it," she said, winking. Evanna rolled her eyes.
"You-"
"Detention, Ms. Malfoy," Professor Snape finally said. "And ten points from Gryffindor for your inane chatter, Ms. Weasley."
"That's not fair!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Life is not fair," he snarled. "You have the rest of class to make an acceptable brew. Begin."
Ginny kept muttering to herself while Evanna glared at the back of the professor's head, focusing as hard as she could to try and change his mind about confronting Draco.
With a few more healing potions, she should be strong enough to be moved back to the Manor. After that, she is out of your control, Snape.
Just tell Draco to shove it.
Somehow, Evanna didn't think the thought worked. She cursed under her breath, instead starting work on her potion. The mind-numbing chopping of ingredients almost lulled her into a meditative state that she was somewhat surprised to find herself handing in the potion at the end of class. She very carefully did not look at the professor's face as she did so.
"Ms. Malfoy?" he said. She still looked deliberately away from him, ignoring the pang of disappointment she felt come off him. "You may serve your detention Monday night. I have… things to attend to over the weekend."
At that she looked at him, letting him see every bit of betrayal in her eyes.
"Whatever you say, professor," she replied, putting just enough flippancy in the statement to drive him mad. His eyes flashed.
This has to end.
Before he was able to say anything out loud, however, Evanna had turned and left. If Severus Snape would not help her protect her mother, then she had no use for him whatsoever.
Every spare moment (and quite a few she should have been paying attention in class) Evanna spent translating the book her mother had given her for clues on how she might keep Draco from going to Lucius. If she wasn't reading, then she was meditating, using the exercises the book had given her to access her deeper powers. Yet, it seemed to her, all that the meditation allowed her to access was her unending worries about having to go home to Lucius and worse-her mother going home to Lucius.
The Common Room was always too noisy for her to meditate properly in and, though she adored Del, the snake was rather chatty when Evanna was down there by herself. So, she found herself in the Castle Center more often than not. Evidently Luna was a rather avid fan of meditation, and had quickly provided Evanna with her own mat and various forms of incense to "clear her inner eye". Ginny had made a huge fuss about the smoke clouding her outer eyes while Bridget had complained of the smell giving her a migraine. It was all the better for Evanna-it meant that she could have the room to herself and focus better.
The book guided her through the forefront of her mind, deeper and deeper. Flashes more than true thoughts flitted before her. Lucius yelling. Draco holding her. Narcissa crying in Snape's arms. A dark figure in a rainy night. An oncoming storm. Flames rising around her. Ancient monuments torn down to be replaced by a new religion. A cup sinking into a misty lake. Four figures in front of a castle. A group of women gathered at a spot where magic and life and death collide.
Someone coughed loudly, wheezing as they stepped closer.
"Merlin, now I understand why Ginny referenced Professor Trelawney!"
Evanna's eyelids flew open to see Harry standing in front of her. Almost immediately she snapped out of her trance, not even noticing how the incense immediately extinguished itself. She glared at him.
"It's rude to interrupt someone when they're meditating," she snapped.
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry," he said, not sounding at all sorry. "I just-I needed your help. The task is only three days away, you see, and you hadn't been to the Chamber in a while…"
Panic gripped at Evanna's heart. The task. That was when her brother was going to speak to their father, when her mother would be all but lost. And all she had managed was to see some murky rocks.
"What have I told you about being seen near you?" she growled as she hauled herself to her feet, rolling up the mat. What use was it anyway?
"Trust me, I don't think anyone can see through this. Can you even breathe?"
"You're testing me, Potter," she growled.
"Right-erm-that's what I was wanting to ask you about-breathing. Underwater, specifically, for about an hour," he said. Evanna blinked at him.
"Have you suddenly grown gills?" she asked.
"No, but I thought-maybe-you might know of a Charm or spell or something that could help me do that? Otherwise, I may just drown in the lake Wednesday."
Evanna shook her head. "You do realize that I've the lowest mark in Charms in my year, right, Potter? My essays are the only thing keeping me out of the second year section."
Harry blinked, seemingly surprised. Evanna felt her cheeks flush. "Well, maybe a Potion then. You're chummy with Snape, so maybe you would know of that?"
"Nothing that wouldn't be a little too illegal for the Boy Who Lived or that wouldn't take at least a month to brew," Evanna said. "Have you not been working on this at all without me?"
His guilty look told her all she needed to know. She shook her head.
"Look, much as I'd love to help you on this, I've got other things I have to deal with," she said snootily as she picked up her bag and went to leave.
"Wait, please, Evanna-"
Harry grabbed her hand and it was like a lightning strike, lighting her body up with every emotion she had been feeling and all sorts of different, more pleasant and more terrifying feelings. She jerked, and this time Harry did too. She felt the confusion and concern coming off of him and looked to see his eyes wide, like a man who had seen color for the very first time.
"You're terrified," he said. "I was with you when we faced the basilisk, but you've never been so terrified, have you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You. Something's happened-with your father? Your mother? And you're scared someone's going to die," he said, looking just as confused as Evanna felt. "And now you're just as confused as I am."
Evanna pulled away from him sharply, heart thundering inside her chest. He bit his lip and looked up at her, like a man coming out from underwater. She held the hand he had grabbed to her chest tightly.
"Is that what it's like?" he asked slowly.
"Harry, you're really confusing me right now, if you could just speak plainly-"
"Mind reading," he said. "I think that's what just happened. Is that possible? Is that something all Parseltongues can do? Merlin knows last thing I need is another thing to make me weird."
Evanna shook her head. "No-no-that shouldn't be possible-there is only one léitheoir aigne at a time-unless-"
She scrabbled toward her bookbag and dug out the book and began flipping through the pages to the chapter she intended.
"Merlin-you're as bad as Hermione. What language even is that?"
"Celtic runes," Evanna said distractedly before finally landing on one of the many pages she had bookmarked with a piece of parchment where she had made her translations.
As the léitheoir aigne becomes more powerful, she will begin to be able to project her thoughts into another's mind. This will usually begin with a close friend or family member, though eventually she will be able to project thoughts into the minds of whoever she wants. These projected thoughts should not be confused with instances of the léitheoir aigne manipulating the thoughts of others to follow her own will. Though similar concept, it is different in exceution and effect…
"Erm, Evanna-"
"Hush, Harry, I'm concentrating."
"Of course you are reading that Merlin damned book!" a snarling voice came just as the book in question was snatched from her hands. "And in a secluded classroom alone with Potter, what would your father say?"
Evanna turned to see Professor Snape holding her book, looking absolutely enraged. That was fine; she wasn't happy to see him either.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that my Head of House dictated what I do with my free time or with whom I spend it with," she said imperiously.
"This is not your free time, or did you forget you had detention?"
Evanna's stomach sank. She had, indeed, forgotten about the detention she had been assigned as preoccupied as she was with the book. But, she wasn't about to let Severus Snape know that she had merely forgotten about the detention.
"Perhaps I merely didn't want to spend any more time with the greasy dungeon bat," she sneered. Harry's eyes flew wide open and he seemed to swallow something that burned all the way down. She did her best to ignore him.
"Are you wishing to find yourself in detention for the rest of the year?" Professor Snape snarled.
"I would think you would be too scared of Lucius Malfoy to put his daughter in that much detention," she sneered.
"You go too far, Ms. Malfoy-"
"And you don't go far enough, do you?" she shot back. "As soon as something requires more than making bloody potions, you're done. Excuse me for trying to do more."
"It is time for your detention, Ms. Malfoy," Professor Snape said in a low voice. "I suggest you be scrubbing cauldrons in the Potions Lab within five minutes, else you may face worse punishment."
With a swirl of his robe, Professor Snape was gone. Evanna clenched her fists at her sides. Somewhere behind her, one of Luna's glass baubles exploded.
"Shit!" Harry exclaimed. "Evanna-"
He placed a hand on her shoulder. His touch, like always, felt electric, but it also seemed to soothe her. She turned toward him, expecting him to be aghast at her behavior, or maybe amused that she had been so disrespectful to Professor Snape. But he just looked confused and concerned, willing and ready to help her.
"Evanna, are you okay?" he asked, still touching her shoulder.
"Yeah, sure," she said. "Just-do you ever wish you had been born to a different family?"
Harry gave a wry smile. "I think about not being Harry Potter almost every day."
"I don't mind Evanna," she said. "My issue is with Malfoy."