A/N: ...Okay. So the last chapter didn't really have too much substance...or, should I say plot? Eh, it was still important.
Disclaimer: Any recognizable inventions are JKR's, not mine.
"Apparently," Ginny said, getting a little impatient. That was by far the most idiotic question she had yet heard that day. Of course she flew, otherwise they wouldn't be over here. "Well, too. By the looks of it."
And when did your eyes begin to look fake?
-Dashboard Confessional, "Screaming Infedelities"
Carrie landed her broom on a secluded area between the Forbidden Forest and the lake. She watched the giant squid skim the surface, then go back under and slip into the dark depths. She began trudging towards the castle. Why did I come back? she thought darkly to herself. More than anything she wanted to punch something. By far one of my stupider ideas. And I've had plenty of those. Oh look, first years. I wonder what they would do if they heard something coming from the Forbidden Forest...something that looked remarkably like a vampire. No. No. I can't do that. Damn me and my 'promises'. Although, I never really paid them much mind before- why now? Oooh, here's a reason: if I don't I'll end up locked up somewhere. That wouldn't be fun. Not even tormenting first years is worth that... Then again, they should know better than to be out of their dorms this late, much less out of the school... Oh well... Would've been a riot, too...
She finally made it to the castle, and slipped in through a side entrance that wasn't used all that often. It was known mostly by Slytherins who were smuggling items into the castle that had been banned by Filch, or who were aware of its existence for more serious measures. Though she wasn't a Slytherin, and wasn't using it for either, it was convenient all the same. It opened quietly, as it had been charmed to do so that way the user wouldn't be given away. The second she was inside an arm went out to grab her. She hid the sudden shock she felt the second she caught sight of the face.
"Evlyn," she breathed, the intentional anger draining from her voice as she looked at the familiar girl. "What the hell were you trying to do? Kill me? You could have given me a bloody heart attack...," she said, looking at her with mock disdain.
"Carrie!" she exclaimed, but still minding to keep her voice at a whisper so they wouldn't give away the entrance. "I thought you were dead. My god. If I wasn't so opposed to physical contact I'd hug you." However humorous that sounded, Carrie knew it wasn't to be taken lightly. Evlyn being on the verge of hugging her as she saw Carrie alive had meant she was really very worried. "I see that other lifestyle just wasn't for you, huh?" she said sadly. "Apparently you're in some deep shit if you're ready to come back here. But, please. Gryffindor?! Have you NO taste?" she asked, her voice becoming dangerous.
"Didn't really choose. Dumbledore didn't think it wise for me to associate with my old friends. "Temptation" or something to that effect. Thought it might make me less trustworthy," Carrie replied, averting Evlyn's gaze.
Her eyes became bright with amusement. "You mean Dumbly doesn't trust me?! Whatever gave him the idea that I would be untrustworthy?" she said good-naturedly, but her eyes darkened considerably. "Maybe he should watch out for the Gryffindors. We all know they can be just as deceptive. Please, just promise me you won't play for their Quidditch team. Our team sucks, and we can't afford to go up against you. That Potter boy is bad enough." Her voice had that dangerous edge again, but Carrie just laughed, knowing her friend better than that.
"I don't play Quidditch anymore," she stated blandly.
"Right," Evlyn began, her gray eyes playful again, "Exactly why your hair is all tangled and your clothing damp and completely trashed. If I didn't know you better, I suppose I could assume that was for- ahem- another reason, but the last clue is that your Firebolt is in your right hand. And I highly doubt that whatever torture you are trying to put yourself through, you would never use it for sweeping. Much less in the mud."
Carrie looked down at her clothing and cringed. She pulled out her wand. "Scourigify," she muttered, pointing it at herself. After they were clean, she dried them off. She looked back up at Evlyn. "And what, may I ask, makes you think I'm torturing myself?" she asked, her fine eyebrows arched over her dark and distant eyes.
Evlyn smirked. "You don't play Quidditch anymore...," she said, then her voice became softer, "And I know you better than that. You're not going to let go of what happened. It wasn't your fault," she said, her words passive, but at the same time forceful.
"It wasn't out of my control, either," she remarked. "I'm over it. He's dead. Dead. As in gone and never coming back. Look, I can even say it now," she said, but despite her words her voice cracked. Tears threatened her eyes like hot needles, but she'd never let them spill. Never in her life.
Evlyn nodded, though she was almost positive that this wouldn't be the only reason that Carrie would want to torment herself. "Come on," she began, "we better get out of here before someone catches us and discovers the entrance. Forget about detention. The rest of the Slytherins will kill us, then find some dark spell to bring us back to life, just so they can have the satisfaction of killing us again."
Carrie nodded, finding it easier to force a smile when she was around someone that she could stand and could actually make her laugh. "We really need to catch up on things, don't we?"
Evlyn smirked as she said, "What about Dumbly?"
"I don't really give a shit about him. And I don't think it was you he was concerned about," she responded, though she supposed she should be showing some more respect. Considering he was the reason why she wasn't dead. Why her body wasn't lying in the dirt. In a grave, with a nameless stone atop it because no one cared enough. They smirked as they left the dark and abandoned (with the exception of the few that knew of it) corridor that led to Salazar Slytherin's secret entrance on the side of the castle.
Ginny and Hermione led Harry and Ron in the direction they had seen Carrie flying. With some luck, they could catch her in the hallway. They weren't planning on telling her to join the team. Not yet. They agreed not even to insinuate or imply it. If what Hermione had said was correct, and that she said she didn't fly anymore, then it would take some time and a lot of persuasion. Now was just to get Harry and Ron to meet her, as they hadn't yet.
Ginny spotted her first. "Er- is she talking to a Slytherin?! Why?" she looked over at them disdainfully. "Well, we might as well go over. Make sure she's not being corrupted to kill all of us or anything."
Harry heard this and raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that Evlyn Fauve? She's a chaser on the Slytherin team, right?" he asked, looking at Ginny, and then Ron. Ron shrugged, not really caring. He never paid much mind to the opposing teams players. Much less their names. Then something seemed to fall into place for him. He did know of her. And she was a right pain in the ass, also. He had the misfortune of being her partner during potions and it had been nearly as torturous as when he had to do all of Malfoy's work in that class after the blond boy had allegedly 'hurt' his arm.
Ginny nodded. "She's dating Zacharias Smith. Sort of ironic, seeing as she hates all Quidditch players out of her house."
"A Slytherin with a Hufflepuff? I thought they disliked them almost as much as Gryffindors," Harry remarked, back to watching the two, "And how do you know that she hates all Quidditch players?"
Ginny laughed dryly. "We had a bit of a run-in, you see. Turned into a duel that not even the ministry would be fond of, much less the school."
Ron's eyes darkened. "What'd you do to each other?" he asked incredulously. "Never mind that. What'd she do to you?!"
"She hit me with a slashing hex," she said, lifting up the hem of her shirt to show a long white scar that wrapped around her hip and onto her front. "But I hit her first, so you can't hold it against her. Much less tell anyone. I got pissed and stopped thinking."
Ron turned away, shaking his head and muttering something along the lines of, "Bloody Slytherins".
Hermione looked at her with distaste. "She always seemed like a prettier version of Pansy Parkinson to me," she caught Evlyn's gaze turns towards them. "Well, we might as well go over, now. No reason for them to think we were standing here staring at them, though we were."
They made their way over, which wasn't very far. They had only just been out of earshot before. Evlyn caught sight of them, and looked as though she was going to burst into hysterical laughter. First, Carrie was a Gryffindor, now this? Oh, it just couldn't get any better. "Ah. Weasel, Weasel, Pothead and Mudblood," she sneered, then smirked as she caught Carrie's glare. Probably the result of the 'mudblood' remark. "Just having a chat with your fellow Gryffie. I'll be going now," and with that she burst into some more laughter and began to walk away. This was priceless.
Ron looked murderous, and Harry was glaring at her back. Evlyn glanced over her shoulder in a mock seductive look at the two that almost sent Carrie into a fit of laughter.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "What was that about?" she asked, and though she was attempting to sound good-natured, her green eyes were menacing.
"Just talk," Carrie responded, answering vaguely. She had already caught the drift that Ginny and Evlyn didn't like each other much. Evlyn had already shown her her scar that started at her collar bone and went across her shoulder. Apparently she had been telling professors she had gotten it in a 'Quidditch' accident. What was the staff thinking? That she was playing Quidditch with swords and daggers?
"...Just talk. With a Slytherin...?" she asked, her eyebrow raised, but her eyes had calmed considerably.
"An old friend," she said, smirking. "So, what brings you by here?"
Ginny decided to just let the subject drop, but let Hermione respond. "Gin and I saw you, and you hadn't met Harry and Ron yet, so we decided to introduce you."
Carrie had known who they were from a distance. The Slytherins did need to know who they were to torment them, so she had been informed of this. Though she had never really taken a part of it.
She glanced at the boy with the black hair and green eyes. Her eyes flicked over his forehead and to his scar, which solidified her suspicions of who he was, but she didn't allow her eyes to linger, but she knew he already noticed. Get used to it, she thought, people are going to look. Then she looked at Ron and nearly grinned. He had the same red hair and lanky build as the rest of his siblings.
She left her hands in her back pockets as they had been. "Carrie Everine. And I know who you are," she turned to Hermione. "Don't mind Evlyn. She doesn't hate muggle-borns. She really didn't mean anything by the 'mudblood' remark. In fact, I've never heard that come out of her mouth before."
"It's fine," Hermione snapped, though she tried not to. Her eyes flashed to Evlyn's back as she began to slowly fade away and into the swamp of students that were heading to their dorms from various directions. "I guess I should be used to it by now."
To say that Ron looked angry would be the understatement of the century. Actually, to say that he was royally pissed would probably fall under that as well. His face was turning a deep red color, and it was clashing horribly with his hair, to say the least. "I hate that bloody girl," he muttered darkly to himself. Carrie caught it and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I'll assume none of you really get along with her, now do you?" she observed, not really caring much for the conversation anymore, and hadn't the second it turned towards the promise of a verbal bash of Evlyn.
Ginny laughed dryly. "There's one way to put it," she answered, her green eyes seeming to ice over. Carrie suddenly thought it ironic on how similar Ginny seemed to Evlyn. Almost like her Gryffindor counterpart. She nearly laughed aloud at the thought. Evlyn would hang herself if she ever found out that she was anything like a Gryffindor. Much less a Weasely.
Hermione looked 'surprised' to see Carrie had a broom in her hand. "I thought you said you didn't fly anymore."
Carrie smirked over her shoulder as she brushed past her. "I was using it to sweep the mud off the walkway," she stated blandly, her eyes looking completely honest, but brightening with twisted amusement when she caught sight of Ron's face. She turned to him. "Relax. It was a joke," she then turned back to Hermione, "I said I didn't play Quidditch anymore. There's a bit of a difference."
A/N: ah. I know. I meant to update like last week, but I kept jumping between my other fanfiction, this one, and my story when I was writing. I have major concentration issues. So, any thoughts? I'm trying to make Harry and Ron to seem a little less insensitive, as was pointed out to me by: Altrn8vIvyLeagueGrrl but I have to gradually work into it. Can't make them seem like they've been slipped a bottle of estrogen or anything. XD
(I was joking, for those who take life a bit too seriously)