Evanna's worry over Draco and what he may or may not be remembering had been shunted to the back burner of her mind, what with upcoming finals and Harry asking for her help in training for the Third Task.
"Hermione's great and all, but she only knows what she knows from books," Harry had explained. "You've actually practiced this stuff."
"You do realize that much of what I've practiced isn't exactly 'Light Magic'," Evanna had replied coolly. In reality some deep part of her was waiting for him to reject her utterly.
Harry had shrugged somewhat uncomfortably. "Someone warned me that whoever put me in this Tournament wants to kill me. He said to be on my guard and do whatever I have to to stay alive."
Evanna had been rather suspicious at that statement, but had ultimately let it go. She did not exactly tell Harry everything about her life; she could not expect him to tell her everything. Instead, she had met with Harry nearly every night in the Chamber of Secrets (much to Del's annoyance, as she did not have the time to pay much attention to the basilisk when she was down there with Harry), teaching him any and every spell that she thought might be useful. Harry didn't balk at any of them and she couldn't help but think that was only because he did not have quite the context of the Wizarding World's view on Dark Magic that she did. After each session, she would go back to her Common Room, ready to crash but still needing to do her own homework.
"Here," a voice behind her said one night. She turned to see Theodore Nott with a sandwich and several chocolate biscuits. The boy had been becoming more and more forward with his intentions toward her, though Evanna had not yet decided her feelings on the matter. "You didn't come to dinner tonight."
Evanna flushed. "Thank you. You really didn't have to, though," she said.
Nott flashed a boy-ish grin. "Oh, I know. Eat the sandwich anyway."
Evanna shook her head in confusion as the older boy walked up to his own dorm before taking a bite of the sandwich-egg-and-cress, her favorite-before turning to Professor Flitwick's essay. The cheering charm was not exactly her favorite and she had far from mastered it. In fact, she had reduced Luna to tears when she attempted the charm on her friend during class before Flitwick suggested Evanna do some more research and practice outside of class before attempting the charm on another human again. Evanna was hoping that by going above and beyond on her essay that maybe she would be able to pass the class. But, with food in her stomach and the lapping waves of the lake on the window, her eyes were drifting closed no matter how hard she tried to stop them…
The three women stood at the top of a hill in the middle of a circle of standing stones. One was old and bent over a gnarled staff, holding tightly to the hand of the second, a girl who looked to be several years younger than Evanna herself. The third's stomach was round and protruding. Mother. Maiden. Crone.
The little girl walked up to Evanna and took her hand gently. Evanna allowed herself to be lead up the hill to the other two.
"It is almost time," the little girl whispered.
"Time for what?" Evanna asked.
The mother placed a hand on Evanna's cheek, her wild black hair whipping around in the wind.
"He is almost here," the pregnant woman said.
"Who are you talking about?"
The crone leaned even more heavily on the maiden, and looked up at Evanna, piercing purple eyes shining out from deep wrinkles.
"You are almost ready," the old witch croaked.
"Ready for what?"
"Watch," the crone said.
"Wait," the maiden said.
"And learn from those who went before you," the mother said. "And you may just lead us out of hiding."
As one, the three waved their hands and fog filled Evanna's vision. She heard an angry voice speaking in what sounded like German. Saw a mushroom cloud. Shivered in a lonely orphanage. There were flashes of green and swirls of gowns at a ball and funerals for people far too young and laughter around a Yule tree. Joy and pain, light and dark intermingled freely in the images before Evanna. Finally, she stood before the standing stones again. This time, the three were not there. It was just her, but she felt as though she had a thousand eyes upon her, like the stares of disapproving ancestors glaring down on her.
Tentatively, Evanna took a step toward the stones and lifted a hand, reaching out to touch the stone-
A hand shook her awake roughly. Evanna blinked the sleep from her eyes slowly as she lifted her head to see who had disturbed her. The Common Room was dark now, and the only one in it was her brother, standing over her with a look of distaste on his face.
"It's past lights out," he said gruffly, not really looking at her. "You were supposed to be in your dorm an hour ago."
"Who made you Prefect?" she said grumpily, fighting back a yawn.
"I'm sure Snape will next term," her brother said haughtily, before seeming to remember that he was still upset with her. "Get to bed."
Evanna would have argued more but Draco had turned and gone up to his dorm. She sighed and packed her things back into her bookbag, knowing she wasn't getting any more work done that night. For some reason, it felt as though it was the calm before the storm.
On the evening of June 24th, the entire school and all of the visiting students gathered at the Quidditch Pitch to watch the Third and Final Task of the Triwizard Tournament. Theodore Nott had asked Evanna if she might accompany him, but as she and Bridget had joined the toad choir, Evanna had had to turn him down. She could not help but feeling relieved that she had that excuse handy. She knew very well what was expected of Pureblood children like them and was desperate to hold onto her childhood a little longer. At least, what small piece of childhood her father had not stolen from her.
She had only seen Harry for a brief moment that morning before he was enveloped into a crowd of Weasleys. He had seemed pale, nervous, but also hopeful. He had certainly done better in this Tournament than anyone had expected him to. Because of this, he and the other Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory, had been allowed into the maze first, followed by Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour. Harry gave her a little wave and a wink before disappearing into the maze. Evanna blushed.
"Merlin, have you got it bad," Bridget muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing. Your toad is chewing on your tie."
It was as Professor Flitwick lead the choir through another rendition of Something Wicked This Way Comes that it happened. Professor Moody was shoving his way through the crowds in a rather agitated state and nearly knocked Evanna over.
Potter should be to the Portkey by now… Why is this taking so bloody long?
Evanna cut herself off mid-note. Bridget kept singing, but gave Evanna an odd look.
"Double, double toil and trouble-"
"I've got to go," Evanna muttered.
"But we're in the middle of a concert!" Bridget hissed under the sopranos.
"Fire burn and cauldron bubble-"
"I'll be back," she muttered, before squeezing her way through the choir to follow Professor Moody. The man was looking over his shoulder as Evanna focused all her might on him.
"Something wicked this way comes!"
Blasted creature! Potter can't possibly-
Evanna watched in confusion as Professor Moody's prosthetic eye swirled and whirled, focusing on something beyond the wall of the maze before he rose his wand. She glanced up at the screen to see Harry battling with a Blast-Ended Skrewt suddenly come out on top. The scarlet and gold clad portion of the crowd cheered.
"Eye of newt, and toe of frog-"
Evanna fought her way through the pressing crowds trying to get closer to the professor, but they were unrelenting. Everyone was in high spirits and Evanna had been fighting those old headaches all night, but no amount of Pain-Relief Potion could keep them truly at bay. But, she was nothing if not a Slytherin, and as a Slytherin her determination would not waver. She would get to the bottom of what was going on.
"Evanna!"
She turned to see her brother, his grey eyes wide.
"Evanna, what the hell do you think you're doing? Acting like a fool again!" he shouted at her, looming over her in much the same manner that their father often did. Evanna flinched back. One look at her brother and she knew.
His memory had returned. And he had immediately sought out their Father.
"You need to come with me," he said, a snarl to his voice. "Father wishes to speak with both of us."
Tears filled her eyes. "What-what have you done, Draco?"
"I don't think you have any right to be asking what I did, Evanna Belinda," he growled. "I knew Father was training you, but turning that against your own brother? Making me believe my mother was dead?"
Evanna opened her mouth to respond, but something stopped her. The crowd cheered and she looked at the magical screens above. Harry had helped Cedric Diggory out of some scrape or another and now both the lion and the badger on the enlarged map stood very close to the TriWizard Cup, though they had yet to realize it. Professor Moody was standing in front of the hedges, a strange look of triumph on his mangled face.
The last obstacle is out of the way. Potter will die and the Dark Lord will rise again!
Hearing the thought was like being gut-punched. Evanna turned away from her brother, who grabbed her wrist.
"Where do you think you're going?" he snarled. "I said, Father is waiting to speak with you and I deserve an expla-"
"Locomotor mortis!" Evanna hissed, pointed her wand at her brother. His legs snapped together with enough force to cause him to fall over. Evanna took off at a run, glancing at the map on the screen above her to gauge where she would be the closest to the Cup. That had to be the Portkey Moody had been talking about.
She stopped at the appropriate spot and took out her wand. If she blasted away each layer of hedge from this point, it would only take five, maybe six curses to get to the middle. Focusing her power, Evanna narrowed her eyes and pointed her wand at the greenery.
"Bombarda maxima!" she hissed. The shubbery burst open, spraying leaves and twigs everywhere.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
Professor Moody was limping toward Evanna with all his might. Eyes wide in fear, Evanna ran forward and cast the next few spells in quick succession and with such force that she only had to cast them twice more.
"Bombarda maxima! Bombarda maxima!"
She raced into the clearing, where she saw the two Hogwarts Champions reaching for the TriWizard Cup in unison, very much unaware of her presence or of Professor Moody, who was trailing just behind her.
"Harry, don't!" she shouted.
Harry turned his green eyes on Evanna in confusion just as his hand closed over one of the handles of the Cup. She flailed wildly, catching the edge of his red robes with the tips of her fingers just as a tugging sensation caught just behind her navel, sending all three students spinning through the air.
They landed with a thud on the hard ground in front of a headstone.
"Evanna-what the hell-"
"Is this some other part of the Tournament that they didn't tell us about-"
Evanna clutched her stomach, trying not to throw up as tried to push herself up into a sitting position. She had hit her head on the ground, hard.
"We-we've got to get back," she groaned. "We got to-"
A hiss came from behind them.
"Kill the spare!"
There was a flash of green light as Evanna dove to the ground, pulling Harry with her. Then, all was black.
A/N: *Grins evilly*. Got ourselves a bit of a cliffhanger, don't we? Sorry if this seems a little rushed-we will be going back to see Draco & Lucius' conversation next chapter. We are so close to what I have been dying to write and I am determined to close out Evanna's third year before I have to go back to class.
Any who, thank you to all my reviewers. And please keep reviewing-I do love them so!
Krazy19: I wasn't able to respond to you the way I usually do my reviewers, but I know your pain! (And am probably guilty of doing the same to my Bailey Black readers-oops.) I plan to keep updating Evanna as often as possible and actually finish her tale, though once the semester gets back into swing, I won't be updating so often. And yes, I think Draco and Ginny could have some potential as well, though I usually favor Dramione, it did not suit this story. But, if I do Drinny, it will be a while yet!