Games and brooms

The walk to the seventh floor seemed longer than ever before. The small group walked in silence, and while Evelyn usually preferred silence over annoying chit-chat, this silence was suffocating her. The air was full of tension. Obviously, the boys hated that the other one was tagging along, and Evelyn herself just wanted to quickly deal with this and return to her room.

Any other time she would have tried to make conversation, probably point out how unusual it was for Sirius to stay quiet for so long, however, she didn't feel like it. She was tired, frustrated and didn't have the patience to deal with people. Not to say, that there was something about professor Slughorn that made her uneasy. While he usually preferred to chat with the students rather than walk ahead frowning and acting seriously.

'What is eating him?' she wondered looking at the back of the professor before she looked at the boys, who were walking next to her stiffly.

She took a deep breath before she spoke up, bracing herself for the annoyance that was to come.

"Um… no offence, I appreciate the gesture, but I don't think that anyone would try anything now. They are probably in the Great Hall, so why don't you, boys, just head down for supper?" she said trying to break the silence.

"What? No! I'm going in with you to see the headmaster," protested Sirius.

"Absolutely not," shook her head Evelyn and Severus just rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, I know you. You will play it cool and, in the end, nothing will come of this meeting," frowned Sirius.

"As if there was ever the possibility of something coming from this," rolled her eyes Evelyn, "We all know that this is just a formality, so I don't see why- "

"That's exactly why we need to go with you! So that he understands the importance of the matter!" raised his voice Sirius.

"I'm sure he understands, otherwise he would call me tomorrow, after I had time to rest, and not right now when I'm too tired for this bullshit," said Evelyn with more emotion than intended, shocking the boys.

"Evie- "

Evelyn just took a deep breath as she raised her hand to stop Sirius.

"I'm fine. It's all right... It was just probably a bad joke. Nothing to worry about…"

"But- "

"How many similar jokes have you played in the past? Was there anything more behind them?" asked Evelyn and Severus could see that her patience was wearing thin, so he chose to remain quiet.

Not to say that he was enjoying Black's discomfort upon being confronted on his actions.

'Suits him right…' he thought enjoying the look of betrayal Sirius gave to Evelyn.

"No! Of course not! It was just-" said the horrified Sirius.

"- harmless fun. I know. See? Someone probably thought it a good laugh - the usually collected Evelyn Williams panicking mid-air – ha ha ha. That's it… Other than that, the school brooms are old and faulty, so the maximum we can get out of this meeting is that they get new ones…" she said absent-mindedly before she abruptly stopped.

The boys turned to look at her, only to see a sly smirk creep on her face. Sirius' mouth opened in surprise and Severus just looked at Evelyn baffled.

"No way…" groaned Sirius, but he was cut off by Severus.

"You think you can talk the headmaster into buying new brooms?" he asked in wonder.

Evelyn just shrugged, "I can try,"

Severus' lips curled into a small smile, while Sirius just shook his head in disbelief,

"Unbelievable! Bloody Slytherin, you should talk to him about your accident, not about brooms!"

Evelyn just gave him a cheeky smile.

Soon the small group arrived in front of the stone gargoyle that led to the headmaster's office and Evelin turned to the boys.

"Alright, here we are. As you can see nothing happened. So, feel free to leave,"

"Or I could wait for you and later we could have supper together," smirked Sirius.

"Yes, that would be an interesting meal…" mumbled Evelyn, "I wonder how your friends would take it – Sirius Black sitting at the Slytherin table with all the dark wizards – what a sight it would be," sneered Evelyn, while Sirius just frowned.

"You know, you could always join me at the Gryffindor table and try to get to know the others better. They might surprise you…"

"Of course, I believe that they would be thrilled about sharing a meal with me…" replied Evelyn sarcastically.

The purebloods continued to stare down each other, before Evelyn sighed, "Fine, do as you wish. If you want to stay there, be my guest, but you are not coming in there with me,"

Sirius just smirked, but that smirk soon vanished when Evelyn turned to Severus.

"The same thing goes for you. There is no need for any of you to wait for me," she said raising her voice to emphasize the message for Sirius, before she continued in a kinder voice, "not to say that you must be starving after the Quidditch match. This shouldn't take long, I will probably see you in the Great Hall soon,"

Severus thought for a moment before he saw the Gryffindor boy glaring at him.

With a smirk, he said, "It's fine. As your boyfriend, it's only natural for me to wait for you. Go ahead, do your thing and then we can have supper together, as a couple."

Evelyn mentally groaned. It was too obvious that he was just trying to rile up the Gryffindor.

"Fine, this won't take long," she said turning around to join the professor, who was waiting for her, studying the gargoyle as if it has become the most interesting thing in the world.

She took a step closer to the gargoyle, but then she turned around as if she remembered something.

"I will be back shortly. Please behave," she said shooting a look at Sirius, who opened his mouth in shock.

"Hey! Why are you looking at me? He is no better than I am!"

Evelyn just raised a brow at his theatrics, before she shook her head and turned to follow the professor, who in the meantime said the password and waited for her in front of the spiral staircase leading to the Headmaster's office.

"If you don't mind me saying, my girl, you are really fortunate to have such devoted friends willing to come all this way just to ensure your safety," smiled the professor.

"Yes, I think so," replied Evelyn politely with a small smile on her face.

"However, I don't think that leaving Mr Black with Mr Snape alone in the corridor was a good idea,"

"Severus can handle himself and I believe that Sirius knows that now is neither the time nor the place for mischief,"

The professor just smiled, and Evelyn hoped that this would be the end of the conversation. As it was getting late, the stress of the day had gotten to her and all she wanted to do was get in her bed, not to spend time playing mind games with the headmaster or sweet-talking the professor. However, it seemed that the professor was far from done.

"The amount of faith you have in young Sirius Black is admirable, although I fear that it's misplaced,"

"I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,"

The professor just nodded, and it seemed that he was in deep thought, but after a minute he spoke again.

"Who would have thought that all it took was a mutual friend for them to as they say: 'bury the wands'," said the professor and Evelyn gave a small dry laugh.

"I wish it were that easy, professor, but I don't think they will make peace anytime soon," she said smiling, and the professor just sighed.

"Still, I wish they would get along better… Just between us, I have to say that I have been worried about the young Mr Snape for quite some time, but I am glad to see that you decided to reach out to him," he said with a small smile.

Evelyn hoped that it was the end of the conversation, but the Slughorn said something that made her blood freeze.

"This willingness to reach out to others and to make sure that they find their place is an essential trait that each of our prefects should possess. Unfortunately, the majority of them only focuses on enforcing school policies. For this reason, I will be counting on you next year as the new Slytherin prefect, to ensure that everyone finds their place to belong in the school community," winked the professor at the shocked girl.

Evelyn opened her mouth to say that she appreciates the sentiment, but she cannot possibly be the next prefect, because of some reason. However, she didn't have the chance as the staircase stopped in front of the headmaster's door.

"Ah, here we are! Worry not, Ms Williams we shall finish our talk at a later time," smiled the professor, as he opened the door and entered the office.

"Ah, Miss Williams," greeted the headmaster, who was sitting at his desk.

"You wanted to see me, headmaster?" asked Evelyn politely.

"Madam Hooch has informed us that there was some kind of incident at the Quidditch field. We would like to know what happened,"

"There is not much to say - someone bewitched my broom," said Evelyn simply.

"I see," said the headmaster, before he started his usual speech about how she had nothing to fear and they are going to look into it.

Evelyn knew that this would happen. He will tell her no to worry, that they will do everything in their power to find the one who did it and make sure to punish them accordingly. If she didn't know better, she would have rolled her eyes.

"… which means that there is no need for you to take action," finished the headmaster.

Evelyn knew that by you he meant her parents and not her personally.

"Actually, sir, I have no intention of letting my parents know and I would prefer if you didn't notify to them either," said Evelyn surprising both Slughorn and Dumbledore.

"Is that so? How curious… May I know why?" asked the headmaster intrigued.

"To be honest, I don't believe that such a childish prank deserves to be brought to my parents' attention. I trust the professors' expertise in dealing with the issue," smiled Evelyn looking at professor Slughorn.

Speaking of the professor, upon hearing the praise, he not so subtly puffed out his chest, while the headmaster just stared at her. Evelyn knew that he could see through the façade, but she also knew that he would not call her out.

No, they played this game way too many times. He would continue to look at her, waiting for her to tell the truth, asking questions while giving her that look that clearly said that he didn't believe a word of what she said.

"Exactly! Leave it to us, professionals. Fear not, Ms Williams, we will catch the culprit in no time!" said the determined professor.

"Thank you, professor," smiled at him Evelyn.

"I have to ask; do you know anyone who might have had a motive?" asked the headmaster, not taking his eyes off of her.

Evelyn just looked at him innocently, "I can't say I do,"

"Of course, of course. Ms Williams is nothing if not kind and helpful to everyone. I cannot imagine why would someone try to play such a cruel joke on her," said the professor.

However, Dumbledore just continued to watch Evelyn intensely as if he was looking for something. She had the feeling that he was expecting some kind of confession.

Was she supposed to cry hysterically, pleading him to help her or even better - ask him to tell her why would someone do this to her?

'As if… that would be ridiculous.'

Because she knew that there were plenty of reasons why someone would do that.

"I think we all know at least one reason why someone would try something like this," said the headmaster surprising both Slughorn and Evelyn, "Of course, it is just speculation at this point, but it might be some kind of punishment or payback for Ms Blake," explained the headmaster and suddenly there was a lump in Evelyn's throat.

"Oh please, Albus, there is no way that- "protested Slughorn, but he was cut off by Evelyn.

"No, she had no friends…" she said quietly, looking at the floor.

Suddenly she felt her head spin and she felt sick in her stomach.

"If that's all, I would like to be excused, as I haven't had the chance to have supper yet," said Evelyn, who had no intention of attending supper, but just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Dumbledore just sighed as he said, "If it weren't for the faith you confessed to having in your teachers' skills, I would feel the need to ask you to not investigate the culprit yourself. However, seeing that there is no need for it, I only ask you to be careful how you treat others. It is my experience that people will treat you the way you treat them… most of the time, anyway…" smiled the headmaster.

"Of course, headmaster, "nodded Evelyn, before she turned around and took a step towards the door.

Then she remembered the goal she had when she walked into the office. She took a deep breath, pushed the memories of Olivia Blake into the back of her mind, and turned around to face the headmaster, "Excuse me, but I feel that I cannot leave until I voice my fears,"

The headmaster just raised his eyebrows asking her to continue.

"To tell the truth, at first, I wasn't aware of what was happening, as I heard that the school brooms tend to display… how should I say it… faulty behaviour. I am afraid that while I was lucky enough to have someone to catch me, somebody else might not have this luck and might suffer a terrible injury,"

The two men seemed to take a moment to process what she was saying.

"Well, there has been a number of complaints from the students lately," said professor Slughorn.

"Thank you for your concern, we will discuss the issue with Madam Hooch," said the headmaster, but Evelyn knew better.

She nodded, before she said, "I can only hope that no one will get seriously injured because of the brooms. Not to say how bad it would reflect on the institute's reputation. I would hate to see families forced to home school their children or, God forbid, send them abroad because they would feel that their children are not safe here,"

The headmaster watched her for a minute before he smirked and said, "Thank you for your concern. We will thoroughly investigate the issue. Now, I believe that you had an eventful day and I would hate to keep you from supper. Rest now, as promised, we will look into the matter and punish the culprit accordingly,"

"Good night, headmaster, professor," nodded Evelyn to them as she left the office.


The boys waited outside in silence, keeping their distance standing on the opposite sides of the gargoyle.

"I still don't know what she sees in you," started Sirius, and Severus was about to retort when he continued, "but you saved her life."

"Well done, Black. You once again astonish me with your ability to point out the obvious," sneered Severus.

"Merlin, can you just shut up! I'm trying to thank you!" shouted Sirius, before he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down.

"I don't need your thanks," spat Snape, before he added quietly, "I didn't do it for you,"

"No, of course not. You probably did it because it was the smart thing to do; save her and make her owe you," mumbled Black.

Before Severus could reply the staircase moved and soon Evelyn emerged from the staircase. The boys turned to her, but before Severus could have spoken, Sirius was already running his mouth.

"What did he say? Does he know who did it?" he asked turning to face the girl.

"He was more interested in reassuring me that they will try to find the culprit and punish them so that there was no need to get my parents involved," rolled her eyes Evelyn and Sirius just sighed.

"Classic Dumbledore," he mumbled.

"Well, it's not like we can do anything about it, so why don't we go down for supper?" suggested Evelyn and the boys nodded.

The walk to the Great Hall was mostly silent save for Sirius mumbling about Dumbledore.

"You shouldn't complain – how many times did you get away with a prank due to the teachers' inability to get things done?" said Evelyn nonchalantly, when a particularly loud comment brought her back to reality.

"That's different!"

"Is it?" raised an eyebrow Evelyn and Sirius went into a long rant of justifying their pranks.

Evelyn just rolled her eyes as she looked at Severus, "Don't mind him,"

"He is not making it easy," mumbled Severus and Evelyn just smiled, "What did they want, anyway?"

"As I expected, this was just a formality. They wanted to know how I was feeling about the issue so that they could prepare for the worst. Although I believe that I gave them quite a shock," smirked Evelyn.

"Hmm?"

"I informed both the headmaster and the professor that I have no intention of letting my parents know about this," said Evelyn simply.

"Yes, that's unusual…" said Severus.

Evelyn just gave a dry laugh, "Yes, everyone probably expected me to write to my parents as soon as possible,"

"So why didn't you?" asked Severus intrigued, "Your parents are powerful! They could put a lot of pressure on the headmaster, and he would solve this issue sooner…"

'You could have a normal life… Unlike me…' thought Snape, shooting a look at Sirius.

"Yes, of course… There is only one issue. Hmm, how should I explain this… well, you see… let's just say that my parents and Madam Black have a lot in common…"

Severus didn't know much about Madam Black. He knew that she was Regulus' and Sirius' mother, and Narcissa's aunt. According to his mother, she was an unpleasant woman, who perfectly represented the pureblood ideals.

Severus himself had the chance to see just how nasty that woman could be when a couple of years ago Regulus was unrightfully placed into a room fouled by disgusting mudbloods and blood traitors. The howlers kept coming until professor Slughorn didn't find him a room that met Madam Black's standard. Of course, it wasn't perfect, as he – Prince's bastard son - was there, however, the Black matriarch was ecstatic to learn that her boy was sharing a room with the Rosier heir.

Severus just shook his head, to get rid of that memory.

"You see, my parents are similar to the Black parents in that-"

"They are all entitled racist snobs?" suggested Sirius, who upon hearing his mother's name being mentioned stopped his ranting.

"What? No! And you shouldn't talk like that about your parents!" scolded him Evelyn, before she turned back to Severus, "What I was about to say is that they love their children, and want the best for them,"

Sirius gave a noise of disapproval at that.

"Not to say that they are always ready to sue everyone," added Evelyn with a sight, making Sirius smirk.

"That's more like it,"

"Do you remember the ruckus Madam Black caused back then just for Regulus' accommodation? Imagine what would happen if my parents learned that their only daughter, their only child, almost fell from such a height because someone sabotaged her broom,"

Severus palled.

There was no way that it would go simply. The culprit's life would be completely destroyed, not to say the teachers' career, and only Merlin knows what would happen to Dumbledore and the school.

"I see you are catching on. In a heartbeat I would be removed from the school, while my parents would make sure that everyone suffered…" said Evelyn darkly before she added in a much lighter tone, "and I have no intention of going anywhere,"

With that, she turned around, pushed past Sirius and continued walking down the stairs.

"God help the one responsible for this prank," mumbled Sirius, and Severus couldn't help but agree.


Arriving on the Ground floor, Evelyn quickly excused herself, in hopes that she would return to her room before her roommates.

"Are you sure?" asked Sirius.

"I'm tired and it's not like I can't survive a night without food," rolled her eyes Evelyn.

"You don't need me to send you something with your roommates?" asked Severus.

"No, thank you. I will be fine. Good night, boys," said Evelyn, as she turned to go downstairs to the dungeons.

Evelyn was thankful to find the common room empty, and even more thankful when her room was empty too.

While usually, she would have run to shower and prepare for the night, she just quickly changed into pyjamas and shut the curtains around her bed. Sitting cross-legged on her bed with her eyes closed she took a deep breath.

"It's alright, I need to calm down," she said to herself as she focused on her breathing while thinking over the events of the day.

She took a deep breath when she remembered the feeling of falling. Simultaneously she willed her hands to stop shaking.

While she exhaled, she thought about how Severus caught her and how relieved she felt.

"Yes, keep thinking about good things," she told herself, but soon she remembered Slughorn.

"I will be counting on you next year as the new Slytherin prefect" he said, and Evelyn groaned.

'Great, another distraction…' she thought annoyed before she realized something.

'I am an idiot… of course he would offer me the position. Who else would he nominate as a prefect?! I gave him everything he needed; I have good grade and I get along with other students… The fool thinks that I do things only from the good of my heart… I really am an idiot…' she thought as she made a mental note to try and coax one of her roommates into becoming a prefect.

'Or else I will have to move into the library this year to work more on the projects…' she thought frowning.

Contrary to what the other students liked to believe; Evelyn wasn't that fond of the library. Sure, it provided her with many interesting reading materials, and it was the place where she could be finally alone for a while, but that didn't mean that she would like to spend the majority of her school year in the library. She liked to do other things too. She liked to spend time with her friends, attend club activities, and even tutor other students.

With a sigh, she laid back on her bed.

'Better get to sleep… Tomorrow is a busy day…' she thought as she covered herself with her duvet.

Still, no matter what she told herself and how she tried to turn off her thoughts, there was a little piece of her that waited for the door to open, hear the sound of footsteps approaching her bed, for the curtains to be pulled to the side and for someone to stand by her bed with a knife in their hand.

"You are being silly…" she told herself, while she took a breath, sat up and reached for the drawer of her nightstand.

She took out a vial with a strange liquid in it.

Evelyn bit her lip in thought before she opened the bottle and downed the content. She frowned as she put back the vial in her nightstand, making sure to lock the drawer.

'God, you are pathetic…' she thought as she laid back down.

Before she knew it, she was asleep.


Evelyn woke up with a clear mind. No bad thoughts, no stress, no frustration. She gathered her clothes and went to the bathroom to take the shower she didn't feel like having yesterday. While in the shower she went over what she needed to do during the day.

When she emerged from the bathroom her roommates were just waking up.

"How are you feeling?" asked Bonnie.

"Good," said Evelyn as she made her bed.

"We were worried when you didn't come to have supper with us,"

"I wasn't hungry,"

"Are you sure you are okay? You could take a day off and no one would question it," said Lucinda and Evelyn laughed.

"No thank you, but if you girls don't mind, I will leave earlier, because I have things to do," said Evelyn as she made sure that she had everything she needed for the day.

"Hmm? What are you talking about?" asked Emma.

"You will find out later," smiled Evelyn as she took her bag, said goodbye to the girls and left the room.

She walked to the Great Hall looking for a certain Ravenclaw, who she knew was an early riser.

"Evelyn, a moment if I may!" she heard someone call out behind her and she smirked for a moment before she turned around, forcing a pleasant smile on her face.

"Ah, Matthias, certainly, what can I help you with?"


Talking to Matthias Bulstrode was a tedious task, but there was nothing she could do about it. He might have been a bore, but he got things done, and Evelyn knew that if she wanted to get the new brooms for the team, she needed him to push the issue. The fact that he fancied her also ensured her that he will be persistent in fighting for the new brooms, if not for the good of other students than at least to make sure that he gets some good points from her.

He attentively listened to every word she said, nodding in agreement when she said that she was worried about the safety of the other students. As expected, he vowed to look into it and bring the issue to the teachers' attention. Evelyn thanked him, already thinking about breakfast.

After some more talk, she excused herself and hurried to the Great Hall to have breakfast.

As she put some butter and jam on her toast she thought about the next thing on her agenda. By talking to Mathias, she considered the broom issue solved. She already put a bug in Slughorn's ear, now she only needed the prefects to push the issue with the teachers.

Speaking of prefects, she needed to decide which roommate she was most likely to make into the next prefect.

Emma was busy with the team. Slughorn would never agree to Lucy, and even if he did, she would be a monster with all that power. That only left Bonnie. She was kind, had pretty good grades and could build a rapport with their peers. Evelyn could coat Slughorn into making her into a prefect. Now she only had to convince Bonnie.

Soon her little group of friends arrived and sat down next to her asking her whether she managed to do what she wanted to do. She entertained them with small talk for a while before she started on the topic, she was interested in.

"You know, I was just talking to Bulstrode, when I realized that one of us is going to become a prefect next year. Who do you think it is going to be?" she asked and after a while, her friends agreed that Slughorn would probably choose her.

"Actually, I believe that Bonnie would make the best prefect," said Evelyn.

"Me?" asked the surprised girl.

"Sure. You are kind and smart, so I don't see why not,"

"Now that you say it, Bonnie would make a very good prefect," agreed Emma.

"Eh, I don't know. That's a lot of responsibility. I would have to attend prefect meetings, and deal with misbehaving students, you know I don't like confrontation…"

"Yeah, I'm with Bonnie on this. They would just walk all over her, no one will take her seriously," said Lucinda.

"Good thing she has friends like us, who will help her with prefect duties,"

Evelyn knew how to get Lucinda on her side. She just had to name every advantage of being best friends with a prefect, and in no time, Lucinda was also trying to get Bonnie to see what a great prefect she would make.

"It sounds nice when you guys say it like that, but I'm still not sure about that. It's a lot of responsibility…"

With a sigh, Evelyn realized that she had to play her trump card in order to win.

"You know, there is also going to be a new Gryffindor prefect and it doesn't take a genius to figure out who it is going to be…"

Bonnie's eyes went wide as she asked, "You mean?"

"I mean, it would be a good chance to spend more time with him and get to know him,"

When her friend shot a quick look at the Gryffindor table, while having a slight blush on her face, Evelyn knew that she won. Now she only needed to persuade Slughorn into choosing Bonnie over her. That was the easiest part.

Yes, Evelyn might not be a Quidditch player, but that didn't mean that she didn't know how to play other kinds of games.