There was an annoying glow just on the other side of her eye lids. If only someone would turn off that light then she would have no problem going back to sleep. But was it sleep though? She didn't remember falling asleep in her own bed, let alone her own dormitory. What did she remember? She tried to move but a dull pain in her back stopped her at once, issuing a groan of pain.

"I think she's stirring." Remus?

"I definitely heard a sound." Was Matilda there too?

"Are you sure it wasn't a snore? She does that." That was definitely James.

She felt pressure on her right hand. Fingers were rubbing circles on the back of it. "Evie?" Sirius was the owner of the fingers. "Evie? Can you hear me? Please open your eyes if you can hear me."He sounded so desperate and pleading that she couldn't object. Heavier than they normally felt, her eyelids required more strength than normal to lift. When her sight came into focus she realized that she was in the boys' dormitory, in Sirius's bed, with eight people around her. Peter was sitting across the room on his bed, Marlene and Matilda were surveying her from Remus's bed- their eyes red and a little swollen-, her cousin Alaric was standing behind Sirius who was sitting next to her, hand-in-hand. James and Remus were both standing on her left side, faces relieved and tired, and Lily sat in front of them, tears running down her face as she looked at Evie.

"What's going on? What happened?" she asked looking at James.

"Well, you'll remember what happened in the place with the things. After the thing did the thing at you, you were hurt and you blacked out," he said cryptically. It was more than their lives' worth if someone found out what they'd been up to.

"But how'd I get here?"

Remus cleared his throat, "Sirius carried you back."She looked from Remus to the boy that was holding her hand. He shrugged it off, but Lily noticed the quick flushing of his face.

"It was nothing. You'd have done the same for me," he said in an unnaturally nonchalant voice. She nodded but thanked him nonetheless, wishing he hadn't let go of her hand.

She managed to sit up, "My back doesn't hurt as much anymore."

"That's probably because of Mar and Lily," said Matilda, "Lily made you swallow a couple of potions and Mar use her wand to set your ribs back."

"What the bloody hell did you do, Evie?" said Alaric.

She gave a small grin, "You know I can't tell you that, Ric."

"You gave us a good scare," sniffled Marlene, "If you hadn't already been so hurt I might have killed you."

Evie's grin widened, "I appreciate that," she looked to Pete, "And thanks, Pete. If you hadn't shouted at me it might have been too late."

His already watery eyes looked larger and more moist than normal, "I felt useless."

"You weren't useless!" exclaimed James, "You were brilliant, mate! We would have lost Evie to those you-know-what's if it weren't for you! And you fought them off just as well as me and Remus. Isn't that right, Remus?"

Remus nodded and gave Peter a warm smile.

"You're not going to tell us what they were, are you?" Alaric asked annoyed at the secrecy behind his cousin's injuries.

"I doubt you'd believe us," said Remus. Evie looked uncertainly to her left. Lily had not said anything yet. Her big green eyes had been swimming in tears as she had sat silently by Evie's side. Evie felt her throat constrict, as if lodged with something heavy.

"Sirius said you asked for me," said Lily softly, "I-well I'm glad I could help." She got up and made to walk to the door.

"That's it, is it?" snapped Evie. Lily turned and looked at her in confusion.

"I just…well I thought-"

"You thought I'd just chuck you? I don't want to be dramatic, Lily, but I did just almost die. Least you could do is stick around and act like my friend," she said sarcastically. Lily gave a great sob and threw herself at Evie, hugging her tightly and crying into her shoulder.

"Oh, Evie! I'm so s-sorry! I knew what Severus did was awful! I'm sorry! And then you wanted nothing to do with me and I was angry at you but then last night you were so pale and you wouldn't wake up and Sirius was so scared! I was scared! We all were. I'm sorry, Evie!"

Evie herself started tearing up and hugging Lily back. "S'alright, Lily. It doesn't matter now. I'm not going to let Snape ruin our friendship. It's alright."

"Umm, Evie?" said James tentatively. She and Lily broke apart, wiping their eyes as they went.

"Yeah?"

A hearty grin broke across his face, "Would you like your present now?"

"My present?" she asked.

Sirius and Peter began to laugh, Remus tried to stifle his in a cough, James however maintained the same wicked grin. "Look out the window."

What she saw made her chest hurt from laughter. Marlene and Matilda tried to hide their giggles for Lily's sake. Alaric joined in, laughing almost as loud as Sirius. Lily, however, looked murderous. Snape, Avery, and Mulciber were all dressed in frilly knickers, and all hanging from the clock tower in the chilly morning.

"Potter, you let them down now!"

"I would, Evans, if only I had proper motivation."

"Proper motivation? I'll show you proper motivation!"

Evie smiled to herself as her eyes connected with Sirius. Things were back to normal, as they should be.

It was the last night of term, the night before the Hogwarts Express would take them back to King's Cross, and also the night of the Yule Ball. Sirius and James sat alone in the dormitory packing the last of their belongings. Remus had accompanied Peter to the kitchens and McLaggen was likely to be with his Hufflepuff friends, not that they cared either way. It was quiet moments like these, moments where the two boys weren't concerned about who was around or watching, that they really saw through one another. Sirius could tell that the fear of losing Evie that night still resided with James. He noticed over the last couple of weeks that James would steel nervous glances at her, as if reminding himself that she was still there and really was alright. Sirius had also noticed that Evie began spending a lot more time with Gideon Prewett- something that irked him to no end. This had not gotten passed James.

"Evie looked rather nice in her dress, wouldn't you say?" asked James conversationally as he folded another jumper into his trunk. Sirius only grunted in response. "Looks like she and Gideon are really hitting it off, aren't they?"Again, this was met with only a grunt. "Caught them shagging the other day."

"What?"

James sniggered, "Only joking."

Sirius glared at him. "Not funny."

"Why not? Evie looks happy," said James provocatively.

Sirius scoffed, "I doubt Prewett will really make her happy."

"Oh so he's Prewett now, is he?" James laughed, "I thought you and Gideon got on."

"We're on the same team. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. I've just got to make sure he doesn't take a bludger to the head."

"When really you'd rather it be the other way around." Sirius surveyed James for a while before shaking his head.

"I'd just rather he find someone his own age to mess about with."

James fought back a laugh, "What you really mean is that you'd rather he mess about with anyone other than Evie." Sirius said nothing, but refused to meet his eye. "And for the record I don't think he's messing about. I think he really fancies her."

"Well who's to say she even fancies him."

"I haven't heard her say she doesn't," said James offhandedly. Sirius kicked his trunk and cursed, flopping himself back onto his bed. James shook his head at his friend, "Don't you think you should have said something by now, rather than act like a tosspot whenever somebody else pays her attention?"

"Don't know what you…" but he was too tired to argue this time. Remus had had this same talk with him and Evans had more than once hinted at his idiocy on the subject. He could lie and feign stupid all he wanted with them, but he couldn't lie to James. "Do you remember when I couldn't so much as look at her without stuttering or blushing madly?"

James chuckled and went to sit at the end of Sirius's bed. "I do recall you resembling Peter on a bad day."Sirius kicked him. "What changed?"

"I kissed her."

James gawked at Sirius for a few seconds, his wide hazel eyes full of disbelief. "You kissed her?" Sirius nodded sheepishly. "And…she blew you off?"

"She doesn't know I kissed her," he answered in a low voice.

"Blimey! Are you that unforgettable? You'd think she'd remember her first snog!"

"I didn't snog her!" muttered Sirius irritably, "It was my first kiss as well. She was…well she was asleep in the common room one night. It was the beginning of our second year. I came down and found her on the couch and tried to wake her up. She was still half asleep, her eyes were half closed and she smiled at me. I couldn't help myself. So I kissed her. And then she just went back to sleep like it was all just a dream."

James snorted, "Did you ever think that maybe she thought it was a dream?"

"That did occur to me, yes," said Sirius with a glare, "Well she didn't seem to remember and I wasn't going to bring it up. But the whole thing made me want her even more and I couldn't take it. I really couldn't take it. And I'd seem like a bloody moronic hypocrite if I pined for her like you do with Evans-"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, but it's true. So, I thought the best thing I could do to get the whole thing off my mind was just to go from bird to bird getting all the snogging I wanted to do with Evie out of my system."

James let out a low whistle. "So Meghan McCormack-?"

"Started snogging her a week later."

"And Gladys Gudgeon-?"

"I'd just seen Evie on the train after being away from her all summer, hadn't I?" snapped Sirius.

"What about Rhonda Jezpeaks? You were dating her for a while."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I don't date any of them. Not really. I can't say any of them have been my girlfriends, I've just happened to snog some of them longer. I only took Rhonda to Hogsmeade because I knew Evie was going with Fawcett."

James shook his head, wondering aloud if he was as pathetic with Evans as Sirius was with Evie.

"We're both pathetic. You just put your pathetic on display for everyone to see," laughed Sirius.

James narrowed his eyes, "That's not nice."

Sirius gave him a meek smile, "Neither is the fact that Evie is going to this stupid ball with Gideon Prewett. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"What do you do? Are you kidding? You've got no problem orchestrating brilliant prank after splendid endeavor, but when it comes to getting Evie you come up short?" James looked indignant, "It doesn't take a genius or a massive scheme, though I probably could offer you both. Just tell her how you feel. You know she'd respond well if you were just genuine."

Sirius nodded his head vigorously, "You're right! James, you're right! I'll wait for her to get back under the cloak in the common room and when she gets a moment I'll sweep her under it with me and tell her how I feel!"

James grinned, "Atta' boy!"

Evie was having a really great time at the ball with Gideon, and in fact found herself liking him more and more. Gideon was a happy person. He was thoughtful, he was funny, he knew her well enough never to take her to Madam Puddifoot's, and she always had a good time with him. He appreciated Quidditch as much as she did, was always up for a practical joke, and made her feel giddy and nervous and appreciated. It pained her to think that maybe, just maybe, she was giving up something worthwhile. She had been hoping for Sirius, been forced to eye him greedily while he spent his time in the company of other girls. But she didn't want to be that person. Snape was that person. Snape would watch Lily with fervent jealousy as she talked to Bertram Aubrey in the hallways. Snape would make callous remarks about who Lily spent her time with. And Snape would irritably pick fights with her when she'd unintentionally upset him. Holding out for Sirius was turning her into Snape and that was the last person she wanted to be.

"Have I mentioned how nice you look tonight?" said Gideon as they walked back through the dark corridors to the Fat Lady. Evie was wearing a billowy knee length white dress with short sleeves and a sequined bodice. Her golden hair was done up with a couple of strands falling into her face. She had opted for more make up than she normally wore and had worn a pair of goblin made silver and pearl earrings that her grandmother Althea had given her.

She smiled at Gideon, feeling lightheaded at how happy he made her feel with the simplest of comments, "Thanks, Gid. I do believe this is the sixth time you've mentioned it tonight."

"That it is," he grinned as he put his arm around her shoulders, "I wonder where Sturgis and Marlene wandered off to."

"They're snogging in that large broom cupboard on the fourth floor," she said casually as she leaned into him.

"Spend your time observing the inside of broom cupboards often?" he questioned laughingly, though with a slight nerve.

She laughed at him, "No. I just happen to know it's spacious because James, Sirius, Remus, and I had to hide in there from Filch one time. Mind you we had Peter with us and he's not the smallest bowtruckle in the tree."

They approached the Fat Lady a few minutes later. From the looks of it she and her friend Violet had also joined in to the Yuletide festivities and were both hiccoughing and giggling like mad.

"Password, handsome?" she giggled eyeing Gideon.

"Hag," snapped Evie.

"Why you-!"

"No, Vi, that's the password!"

They walked briskly into the common room, Gideon moving his arm from her shoulders and holding her hand instead. He walked her over to the foot of the stairs and took her other hand into his as he smiled down at her.

"I had a really good time tonight, Evie."

She smiled serenely up at him, "I had a nice time too, Gid."

His eyes seemed to light up a little, "I'm glad to hear that, because," he moved closer to her, "because there's something I want to ask you."

She unconsciously moved closer to him as well, her eyes closing slightly, "Yes?"

He gulped slightly as his head tilted to the right the nearer she got, "Evie, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Her eyes widened for a moment. For some reason, as she looked at Gideon, as the firelight gave a warm glow to his blue eyes and his ginger hair, when a rustling sound came from the corner where an armchair stood, she thought of Sirius in that moment. She thought of Sirius looking down at her with wide hopeful gray eyes, inching to kiss her and wanting to claim her. She thought of him. But the moment passed and she remembered where she was and who it was that was looking into her eyes.

She smiled softly, "Yes."

His lips were on hers in a second. It wasn't a rushed kiss, nor was it frantic or passionate, as she had imagined kissing to be. But it was sweet and it was nice, as she figured a first kiss should be. They broke apart all too soon.

"Sit with me on the ride home tomorrow?" he asked unable to dim the smile on his face.

"Sure," she nodded, "Goodnight, Gideon."

"Night, Evie." He said before kissing her on the cheek and walking up the stairs. Evie watched him go, bringing a hand up to her lips where just moments before he had kissed her. She looked at the armchair in the corner, feeling horrible at the sense of dread that had taken residence in the pit of her stomach.

"Why couldn't it have been you?" she asked quietly, thinking he wouldn't hear her. She shook her head, turned, and climbed up the girls' staircase.

Sirius Black sat in the armchair, feeling miserable and cast aside. His throat felt raw and his eyes stung staring fixedly at the place where she had been standing. She had looked right at him, right through him, as if begging for an answer.

"It was me, Evie," he said too late.

Now now, I know it isn't ideal for Evie to be kissing Gideon, but would this story really be all that interesting if Evie and Sirius ended up together at 13 and 14 and never had a problem after that? Feel like getting a bit more out of my system tonight. Maybe I'm suffering from withdrawal now that the series is officially "over". Anyways, I have a reason for the whole Evie/Gideon thing. First of all, Evie needs a bit more experience. She needs to know what else is out there and she needs to know that Sirius isn't the end all be all of her options. And Sirius needs to grow a pair, get over himself, and put his heart before his pride...Ooh that's a good line. Perhaps I'll use that! Anyways, enjoy! And please review! As you fellow writers know, it's a big motivation!

Previews of what's to come:

"Nobody in their right mind would snog my brother."

"Precisely my point! Evie is not in her right mind!"

"You did what? Remus, what were you thinking?"

"I thought I could trust her. I thought...I thought maybe I could have what you and Gideon have..."

"What? An undoubtedly bad pairing?"

"Shove it, Sirius! Where is she? I'm going to kill her!"

"Maybe you're not as bad as I thought, Potter."

"Well there's no point in being in a relationship with someone who can't say they love me!"