Voices. Voices and feelings. Everything was fragmented. Disconnected from all reality.
Worse than it's ever been….
Dratted girl bringing more attention on herself…
Looks nothing like the rat bastard or his ferrety son….
Needs to get away from my sister…
Boy may have rescued this girl more quickly than the Weasley boy…. My master must be….
What has she done to herself this time? Between her and her mother…
What this girl has been through… No wonder she's avoided coming here before now!
Merlin, I hope she wakes soon. She'll think me so stupid though…
This Malfoy girl needs to be taken in hand. Her power is…
Light. Blinding, painful. She closed her eyes. Put her hand against her head.
"Madame Pomfrey! She's awake!"
The noise. The noise barraged her from all sides. It seemed to bounce off the stone walls and reverberate inside her skull.
"Evanna-Evanna, are you alright? Do you need anything? Can I-"
"Shut up," she hissed, unsure of who she was even speaking to. Her head pounded. She felt cold.
"Leave, Draco." The voice sent shivers up Evanna's spine.
"But, Father-"
"I said leave."
The girl has become more powerful. A wild card. She must be controlled.
Evanna forced herself to open an eye to see Lucius Malfoy, impeccably dressed as always, standing over her bed. She squeezed her eyes shut again.
"Foolish girl, we all know you are awake," Lucius hissed. Evanna bit her lip, fighting not to cry under the cold waves of hatred and anger washing over her.
"Everything hurts," she said, as though she had a normal father who would care that she was in pain.
"Get up before you call more-"
"And how is my patient this afternoon? I know you are not further distressing her, Mr. Malfoy?" Madam Pomfrey said, carrying a couple vials of potions. There was an equal measure of concern and disgust. Evanna clenched her teeth-she had been controlling her powers so well, but now it was as if a dam had broken in her mind. She couldn't have a moment to herself inside her own head.
"I believe it is the right of a father to speak-"
"It is the right of a medical professional to make sure that their patients are in the optimal position to heal. For that, I believe Evanna needs rest and privacy," she said sternly.
Evanna would have known that her father was all but contemplating murder even if her powers had not been going haywire.
"I expect next time I come to Hogwarts that my children will be properly upholding the name of Malfoy," Lucius growled. Evanna heard the thought behind that.
I never want to see Harry Potter near her again.
"It is time to go, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey snapped.
Nasty, terrible man. Ought to be in Azkaban.
"I will be back to... check on her health," he replied, a snarl on his lips.
"I doubt that will be necessary, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey said coldly. Lucius glared at her and Evanna fought the urge to squeeze her eyes shut at the tension growing. She only relaxed marginally when he finally spun on his heel and left the Hospital Wing.
"There, now, that's better," Madam Pomfrey said, setting the bottles of potion next to her bed. "Are you in any pain?"
"My head," Evanna said. "My eyes. The light and noise hurts."
Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and flicked her wand. Immediately the lights in the Hospital Wing dimmed greatly and it was as though cotton was in her ears. Yet, words still floated through her mind.
Can't believe Potter was last and still placed...
This potions assignment is going to be the death of me.
Maybe it's time to move on from crushes...
I need to speak to the Dark Lord, maybe speed up our plans...
Evanna felt something stab in her gut. Someone in the castle was in league with the Dark Lord? The thought shouldn't surprise her as much as it did. Though they had never truly acknowledged it, Professor Snape was a former Death Eater and she knew there had to be more sympathizers in the castle. But, this person seemed to be working with the Dark Lord now. How that could be possible when Voldemort was supposed to be a spirit in Albania she did not quite know.
"Here," Madam Pomfrey said, popping a cork out of the vial. "It is probably best that you-"
If he has harmed her more-
"Where is she?"
Evanna found herself nearly wanting to cry at the sound of Professor Snape's voice, so full of concern, after weeks of being on the outs with her favorite professor.
"Professor Snape, it is really best-"
"Foolish girl!" he exclaimed. "Your-she told me what you must have tried. Do you not realize what you could have done to your brother? To yourself?"
Though she heard the anger clearly in his voice, the feelings coming off him were a little different. Waves of anxiety and fear and of deepest affection, what she would expect a father to feel towards his daughter. Evanna could not help the soft smile that formed on her face. Professor Snape looked fearfully at Madam Pomfrey.
"Has she damaged her brain?"
"None of my diagnostic spells brought up any signs of damage, but she does need sleep, Professor!"
"I'm fine, really, Madam Pomfrey," Evanna insisted, not wanting her mentor to be pushed out of the Hospital Wing so quickly. "Can Professor Snape stay for just a few minutes?"
The matron looked between them suspiciously.
"Five minutes."
"Ten?"
"Seven," she snapped before marching to her office testily.
"Your mother is highly worried about you," Professor Snape said after placing privacy spells around Evanna's bed. "What were you thinking? Did you even practice this-whatever it was?"
"I practiced."
"And?"
"That was the first time it was successful," she said a little uncomfortably. Professor Snape opened his mouth to berate her some more, but Evanna interupted him. "Are there any Death Eaters in the castle?"
Professor Snape looked completely bewildered at the change of subject.
Surely she already knew that I...
"It-"
"I know about one," Evanna said quickly, giving the professor a significant look. "But-I've been hearing thoughts-and I-"
"Your mother gave you that bracelet for a reason, Ms. Malfoy," the professor said. "You should be-"
"The bracelet hasn't worked in awhile. I'm usually able to control it-"
"But this little stunt you just pulled changed that," he groused. "This foolish little game of yours nearly got you killed and-"
"Can you just be happy that Mother isn't on her way back to Father's?" Evanna snapped. "I'd almost think that you don't want her living with you anymore! Is your privacy so precious to you that you'd prefer her dead?"
The professor was silent for a moment, his mind a churning sea of thoughts and emotion that Evanna couldn't hope to work out.
"Of course I am pleased your mother is safe and staying here," he said slowly. "I am not pleased, however, that it came at the cost of you putting yourself and your brother at risk and that you are now in the infirmary because of it."
I could not stand to lose either of them.
Evanna nodded, chewing on her lip. She deliberately looked away from her professor, doing her best not to cry in front of him. Why had fate seen fit to put her and her mother with Lucius Malfoy? With the man who would use and abuse them, rather than this man, so hard and rough, yet so caring? She swallowed hard.
"Are you going to answer my question?" she pushed.
"I do not want you getting involved with anything to do with this. I know your family's loyalties, but Lucius made as many friends as he did enemies at the end of the war," Professor Snape admonished.
"So there are Death Eaters in the castle?" Evanna said. He had all but answered her question. "Who?"
"Time for your potion, Ms. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey said, bustling over. "She will be out in the morning, Professor Snape, so long as she rests now."
The Professor nodded and stood, watching as the matron administered the potions-pain relief and dreamless sleep. Evanna could recognize them on smell. Before they had fully taken affect, Madam Pomfrey had pulled Professor Snape aside. Despite the privacy spell they had obviously put up, Evanna could still hear them.
"...get her out of that house, Severus!" Madam Pomfrey. "Rarely have I seen a child so scared of her own father-not since you were a student here!"
"I am aware of the situation, Poppy-"
"You are aware? Then why hasn't something been done?"
"The situation is delicate-"
"Delicate?" she scoffed. "Do you know what I found when I ran those scans? Dark Magic-Unforgiveables-broken bones-"
"I know all of this, Poppy-"
"That isn't even the worst! Severus, that man has-"
Evanna knew no more than the waves of fury rising from the matron and her professor as unconsciousness claimed her.
True to word, Madam Pomfrey released Evanna the next morning. She still had a splitting headache, but anything was better than being in the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey giving her sympathetic looks whenever the matron thought Evanna wasn't watching. Thoughts of tournaments and crushes and classes and quidditch were swirling on the edge of her mind, but luckily it seemed most of the castle was still asleep.
...doing better. Yesterday was scary…
...hope she tells the truth…
...so angry in the stands…
Evanna looked up to see her three best friends rushing towards her, arms laden with Honeyduke's sweets and cards. She braced herself for the onslaught.
"Ev!" Ginny cried.
"Evanna!" Bridget joined her. Luna dropped the goodies she had been carrying and bounced ahead of the other two, throwing her arms around Evanna.
I must make her some dirigible plum charms! She is entirely too tempting for the nargles to mess with otherwise-
"I don't think it was the nargles, Luna," Evanna said.
Ginny groaned. "Luna, we told you not to bother her about the nargles."
"But I-"
"Does Madam Pomfrey know what happened?" Bridget interrupted.
Evanna shrugged, feeling a little woozy on her feet. "I don't really think she knows, just told me not to overstress myself-"
"We heard the rumors," Ginny said, lowering her voice. "Is your family really going to have a funeral?"
Evanna blinked. She had completely forgotten that was what her brother believed had happened. Bridget glared at the redhead and poked her in the side.
"That's so much better than the nargles, Weasley," she growled.
"I can come," Luna said, sounding more solemn than she ever had before. "I know that your mum's funeral will be hard."
The other three girls were silent. It was easy to forget that Luna had lost her mother as a child; the girl was so optimistic about everything, from classes to nargles. It had only been in second year when they had ridden the carriages up to the castle that Luna had told them what had happened to her mother, and that was only because Bridget had screamed to see Luna feeding a chunk of steak to an apparently invisible horse. Evanna found herself unable to fully look at the blonde.
"Well, I'm hungry," Ginny announced out of nowhere. "Anyone fancy a bite of breakfast?"
The color drained from Evanna's face at the thought of going into the Great Hall with all those people and thoughts and emotions around her.
"I don't-"
"Breakfast has been over for an hour, Ginny," Bridget chided.
"Lucky me, my brothers are the Weasley twins, so normal rules don't apply," Ginny said in a sing-songy voice as she linked arms with Evanna and began dragging the group forward. It was just as they were rounding the corner that someone else did, too. Ginny slipped her arm out of Evanna's, patting her skirt smooth self-conciously.
Harry Potter had a small cut above his eyebrow, though not deep enough to leave anymore crisscrossed white on his forehead. He had on his outdoor cloak and in his hand was a small posey of wildflowers. Seeing the four girls in front of him, he went completely scarlet.
"Evanna-erm, Malfoy!" he exclaimed. "You're out of the Hospital Wing!"
"Madam Pomfrey just released me a few minutes ago," Evanna replied.
"Oh," he said, sounding almost disappointed. Evanna raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean-that's great! I just-erm-I was bringing these to you."
He held out the handful of flowers and Evanna felt her face heating up as Bridget bit down on a snicker behind her. Evanna stomped the Hufflepuff's foot with uncanny accuracy as she accepted the flowers. Her hand brushed against Harry's and for a brief moment, the noise at the edge of her consciousness faded away.
Her eyes are even more purple than usual.
"Thank you," Evanna said, face bright red. Harry gulped and nodded.
"Anytime. Just-you know-maybe don't get into the hospital wing. I don't need competition in that department," he said, trying to make an awkward joke. "See ya, Ginny."
Harry nodded at the other girls and all but bolted from the corridor. Evanna let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding.
"So, how long has that been happening?" Bridget said.
"Nothing has been happening, Travers," Evanna snapped, even as she carefully tucked the flowers into her pocket. She felt Ginny's eyes following her every move and knew that she would have to speak to the other girl soon.
"Right," Bridget said, "only-"
"Hospital food is terrible," Evanna said. "You said you could get us breakfast, Ginny?"
"Huh? Oh, yes, of course," Ginny said, breaking from the studying look she had been giving Evanna. Evanna almost breathed a sigh of relief as the redhead led them away to the kitchens without so much as giving Evanna a dirty look.
A/N: So here is the next chapter! I have only finals week left, and will basically be finished on Wednesday! So, be expecting more updates this week and through the Christmas season, when I'm not researching/rendering designs for Richard II. Thank you to all of my reviewers, your kind comments keep me going! Also, I've made a twitter profile for my fanfics- macadoodle1996. That way, I can let you all know when I am working on a chapter, with as crazy as my schedule is and the inability to post on a regular schedule.
Enjoy & review and Merry Kwanzaa, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, etc, etc.