"What the hell was that?"
Professor Snape stormed into his quarters in a swirl of anger and black robes. Evanna's eyes widened-he did not swear lightly.
"Severus, calm down, you're scaring her," Narcissa insisted.
"Good! She should be scared! I am scared!" Severus shouted.
"Severus, be-"
"This magic-this leithor aigne-it's too powerful and people are sensing it! There are dangerous wizards in this castle, Narcissa-you know who I am talking about! She has piqued Lucius' interest in her and now her brother tells me Dumbledore wanted a meeting! Dumbledore, Narcissa!"
"Yes, I heard you the first time, dear," Narcissa said dryly. "Evanna told me everything that has been happening, and though I am not entirely pleased with her experimentation," Narcissa gave Evanna a very pointed look, "I do not believe things to be so dire as you make them out to be, Severus."
Narcissa had, in fact, been giving Evanna quite the lecture before the Professor had entered the room. 'New magics should not be attempted without supervision and should certainly not be tested on one's brother.' 'It was lucky no one ended up as a vegetable or with extra appendages.' 'If something similar were to ever happen again, Narcissa would allow Severus to choose the punishment.'
"Narcissa, you know things are far more precarious than when you first came to me," Professor Snape said. "You know what it means that-"
"Severus!" Narcissa snapped.
That my Dark Mark is blackening. That Karkaroff is ready to flee the country.
Evanna looked wide-eyed between her mother and her professor. She had known, of course, that Professor Snape was a Death Eater. Obviously, for a half-blood to have connections with not only Lucius Malfoy, but also many of the rest of their social peers. However, the Dark Mark darkening. That was… worrisome. And she remembered some of the thoughts she had heard as she placed the spell on Draco.
When milord returns, I will be above even the Malfoys.
"The Dark Lord is returning," Evanna murmured under her breath. The two adults stopped arguing long enough to stare at her.
"What did you just say?" Professor Snape said sharply. Her mother looked shaky.
How could she possibly know?
Evanna swallowed, ready to open her mouth, but stopped herself. What if Snape's was the voice she had heard at the Second Task? Everything was so noisy that she was unable to tell who was who; she was still having difficulty now when she was in a crowd. Beyond that, did she really want the Dark Lord to come back? She knew her father desired it, so that was an automatic score against it. But, presumably so did Professor Snape. She had always been taught that the return of the Dark Lord would be the day the Wizarding World could come out of hiding, could put an end to the wars and troubles that plagued the muggle world. Evanna's knowledge of muggles was limited to Harry's relatives, horrible creatures who had obviously mistreated and neglected her friend simply for being…
Harry. Harry would be killed if the Dark Lord came back.
"No-nothing," she said unconvincingly. "But I'm really quite hungry-may I go get lunch before my next class? I told Mother everything about my meeting with Dumbledore."
Professor Snape acted like he was about to refuse her, but Narcissa gently placed a hand on his arm and shook her head.
Not now. She'll just clam up and won't tell us anything.
Her mother was a wise woman.
"Fine. But you have detention Saturday," Professor Snape snapped.
"But, sir, Saturday is my mother's funeral," she said, widening her eyes deliberately. "Surely you wouldn't give detention to a girl the week of her mother's funeral?"
Narcissa snorted and Professor Snape glowered. "Impertinent little brat," he grumbled, sending her off with a wave of his hand.
While Evanna did grab a sandwich from the kitchens, she also retrieved several pounds of raw deer meat and did not head to her next class. Instead, she made her way to the first floor girls' bathroom where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was.
"Oh, it's you," Myrtle said, sounding disappointed as she floated out of her u-bend. "I had heard you were being shipped off to the loony bin."
"Who said that?" Evanna demanded, frowning.
"Oh, one hears things floating about the school," Myrtle sighed dramatically. "And don't worry-while you were off playing with Dark Magics, I was helping my Harry make sure he could make it through the Second Task."
Evanna glared at the ghost. "Be careful who you slander, Myrtle. I should hate to send the school into another panic by having Del Petrify you again."
Myrtle looked thoroughly offended as she flew back to her stall, promptly overflooding the toilets with a splash. Evanna snarled her nose in disgust before hissing at the little snake carving to open the Chamber. Narrowly escaping her robes becoming soaked with toilet water, Evanna jumped down the tunnel, hurtling to the very bottom of the castle, lower than the lake even. When she stood on all the little skeletons at the bottom, something seemed off. Not wrong, just off. Like something that had been there before was gone; then she realized. So far away from her schoolmates and all the visiting students and professors, the constant buzzing in her mind was finally gone. She smiled in relief as she made her way to the Chamber proper.
Her basilisk was curled in front of the giant bust of Salazar Slytherin, snoozing peacefully. Evanna slowly crept over and placed a hand on Del's snout.
"...chasssse the big deer…. But not the one with the poke-backssss…." the snake hissed sleepily.
"Wake up, sssilly creature," Evanna hissed back. Del gave a terrifying yawn as she lifted her head, but carefully did not open her eyes in deference to Evanna.
"Massster! Why have you ssssstopped visssiting me?"
Evanna winced. "Ssssorry, Del, thingsssss have been bussssy."
The snake pouted, as much as a fifty-foot serpent could pout.
"Aww, don't be mad, Del," Evanna hissed back. "I've brought sssssnacksss."
Del perked up. "Did you bring venissssssson?"
"What elssssse?"
Evanna nearly lost her hand as Del excitedly chomped up the meat. She smiled and settled beside the snake, eyes feeling droopy. She had not slept well since being released, what with the near constant headaches, but the pain was gone now and the desire to sleep was overwhelming. Her eyes drifted shut.
A graveyard. A flock of white peacocks. Two armies meeting. A pair of lovers fleeing. Three women under a full moon. Four friends in a castle. A large snake, not a basilisk, unhinging its jaw.
Beware of love, léitheoir aigne. Take heed of family, violet eyes. Be wary of enemies, mind reader.
Evanna woke to a sharp hiss and a presence in the back of her mind.
"Ssstay there, sssspeaker!"
"You know who I am, Del!" Harry hissed back.
"Masssster'ssss mind issss injured. Masssster needssss ressssst," the basilisk insisted.
"Massster can make dessssicionsssss for hersssself," Evanna snapped. "Why don't you go hunt ssssomething?"
Still grumbling, the basilisk turned and slithered into one of the nearby pipes. Evanna watched her go, somewhat irritated.
"Your mind is injured? Do you need to go back to the Hospital Wing?" Harry said immediately. Evanna glared at the basilisk.
"Del is… protective," she said.
"Yeah, I know. Remember the first time I came down here with you last year?"
Evanna smirked. The Basilisk had very nearly Petrified Harry and squeezed Evanna to death in an attempt to keep her safe from "the wizard hatchling with the pokey sssstick".
"Yes, well, she's a good companion anyway, even if she overreacts."
Harry frowned as he studied Evanna. "What were you doing sleeping down here anyway? Don't you have a stupid comfortable dorm you Slytherins like to brag about?"
"Yes, but if we stay in our dorms to skip classes, we're automatically transported to the Hospital Wing. And if we're not sick, then we get detention," Evanna explained, dusting off her robes as she stood.
Harry gave a low whistle. "That's harsh. And you still say Snape is your favorite teacher?"
Evanna rolled her eyes. "And you thought that the Ministry would allow four underage wizards to drown in the name of a tournament if you didn't personally save all four of them."
Harry blushed.
At least Fleur Delacour appreciated it.
Evanna saw an image in her mind's eye of a blonde girl planting a kiss on Harry's cheek and she wrinkled her nose and shoved the Gryffindor.
"Oi! What was that for?" Harry exclaimed and then narrowed his eyes. "Hey-I thought you had solved that!"
"I had, but-well that's part of why I was in the Hospital Wing," Evanna said. Harry winced.
"Yeah-erm-I heard about your mum. Are you alright?"
Evanna gave him a soft smile. "Yeah, don't worry about it. There are worse things in this castle."
Like Igor Karkaroff.
"What do you know about Igor Karkaroff?" Evanna said, blinking in surprise. She hadn't expected Harry to have any idea about it.
Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you know about Igor Karkaroff?"
The two stared at each other for several moments and Evanna suddenly had a vision of the future, if the Dark Lord truly was rising, that the two would be standing on opposite sides. No longer would they be content to relax in the Chamber of Secrets, teasing each other, making sure the other was doing alright. Instead, there would be distrust, there would be danger in being seen around the other, more than there was now. They would be expected to fight the other, to want the other one dead. The would have to hate the other. It was in that moment, she began to realize something.
She did not want the Dark Lord to come back. She wanted things to remain as they were, so long as that meant she got to keep Harry Potter as a friend.
Evanna pulled away from the staring. "Please, let's not talk about that."
"But you know something?" Harry said, pressing her further.
Evanna shook her head. "What-what happened the day of the Second Task. It-it was like opening a dam. I hear everything. I don't always know who I'm hearing though."
"What did you hear? Is Karkaroff dangerous or something?"
He really was like a crup with a bone.
"Karkaroff isn't really dangerous. A coward, yes, dangerous. We've seen worse," Evanna scoffed.
"Okay, then," Harry said. "What are you hearing then?"
Evanna studied her friend closely. He had always been quite taken with Albus Dumbledore, she knew. Her father and brother alike had bemoaned the fact quite often. If Evanna told him she had heard someone plotting to bring the Dark Lord back, he would go immediately to the Headmaster, and he would report who he had gotten that information from. And if Evanna knew anything about the Headmaster after their meeting, it was that he would not see Evanna as an innocent party.
"I don't know what I'm hearing," she said, shaking her head. "As I said, I can't really tell who's thoughts and feelings are whose. It's like a jumbled buzzing in the back of my head. Just-be careful, Harry."
He snorted. "Yeah. Everyone seems to be telling me that."
"Good! They should be!" Evanna exclaimed. "Have they also told you that you are entirely too impulsive?"
He groaned. "You sound like Hermione."
Evanna gasped dramatically. "Why I never!"
The two continued to bicker as Harry lead the way out of the Chamber of Secrets. As they entered Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the buzzing of the rest of the school came back and only got stronger when they left the bathroom.
...McGonagall just wants to torture us 'til our OWLs…
...dungbombs on the firsties in the Entrance…
...those boys never study enough…
...oaf has no idea what he's just…
"Whoa, are you okay?" Harry said, grasping Evanna's arm to steady her. She focused on that bit of contact, trying to regain her sense of self. Before she was able to respond, another thought floated through her head.
Merlin, the way he looks at her.
Evanna looked up, straight into the betrayed brown eyes of her best friend. Ginny turned and started down the hall in the opposite direction. Pulling away from Harry and wincing when the voices came back just as strong, Evanna chased after the redhead.
"Ginny! Ginny, wait!"
She had to chase the girl all the way to the Castle Centre, dodging other students and fighting the urge to close her eyes at the onslaught of emotion and thought coming towards her.
"Ginny!"
The other girl had her face in her hands and was very obviously crying. Evanna approached her carefully, unsure what to do. She had rarely seen her strong, vivacious friend crying. It just wasn't Ginny.
"Oh, just stop it, Evanna!" Ginny cried out, looking up. "Don't try and say what you all usually do. He's not going to ever notice me. He's never gonna see me as anything more than his friend's little sister, not when he's looking at you like that!"
Evanna shook her head. "Ginny, you're being unreasonable. We're too young for all of this any way!"
Ginny shook her head. "Juliet was thirteen when Romeo fell in love with her!"
"Yes, and we all saw how well that turned out for her," Evanna said dryly.
"Don't joke!" Ginny said.
"But this is a joke!" Evanna said. "Can you imagine how Lucius Malfoy would react to Harry and I dating? Oh wait-we don't have to after Skeeter's bloody article! Not to mention, Dumbledore all but thinks I'm next next Dark Lord or Lady or whatver-"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Never mind," Evanna said. "Point is, Potter would have to be out of his mind to decide to fall in love with me instead of you."
Ginny swallowed tearfully. "Still… I just… Maybe I need to move past this. Find someone else to obsess over."
Evanna shrugged. "If that's what makes you happy. I could always put in a good word for you with Harry…"
"Don't you dare, Evanna Malfoy!" Ginny said, aghast.
Evanna snickered. "I'll be sure this is part of my wedding toast when you're Mrs. Ginny Potter."
"I knew you were nosing through my bookbag that day!"
Even as the girls giggled at the thought, Evanna could barely ignore the pang in her heart. There was no way she and Harry would ever be more than friends. They were toeing the line by simply being friends as it was. She would settle for standing by Ginny's side. She could be content with that. Right?
Right?
A/N: I'd love to hear your thoughts on the last two chapters! A lot is being set up in these for Future Plot, some which is obvious, some which is not. (Don't worry fam; this is still very much SS Harvanna, not Hinny. But you know; slow burn :). )
I am so close to something that I have been desperately wanting to write and still several chapters off from it. I'm honestly planning on doing a little bit of a time jump so that I can get to that Moment before I go back to school and again have no time to write.
Anywho, hope everyone is having lovely, restful holidays with family and if not... Well, what is fanfiction for but hiding away from your family? ;)