AN: Hey guys, I would just like to start off this chapter with a quick reminded that this is an AU fic, obviously. Cedric never had a little sister in canon and his mother was alive in the books. Anyway, like I said, this is an AU and in it Mrs. Diggory unfortunately did not survive the last Wizarding War. Now, to the story. Enjoy!

Evie didn't stay as long in the library as she had originally expected to. She had tried to take her mind off of things with Hermione, but it just wasn't helping. After she left though, she also realized that she didn't want to go back to the Gryffindor common rooms. Instead she decided to take a walk.

As she walked aimlessly around the school, Evie bumped into someone. Looking up, she realized that it was none other than Blaise Zabini. He eyed her with a look that was not really disdainful, but was definitely disapproving.

"Diggory." His neatly groomed ebony eyebrow rose elegantly up his forehead. His chestnut skin was, as usual, flawless. Evie wondered for the slightest of seconds whether that was because of genetics or expensive acne creams since his family could certainly afford them. Like most purebloods, Zabini was very well off.

"Look, Zabini, I will take responsibility for bumping into you this one time. I'm sorry, alright? Just save whatever hateful quip you have prepared for another day because I'm really not in the mood for it." Evie rushed out, holding up her hands in surrender and preventing him from saying whatever he had intended to say next.

Zabini's eyes narrowed slightly, though to Evie's surprise, he did not look angry or even annoyed. "You don't seem to be your usual feisty self this evening…"

Evie's eyes widened in shock. A Slytherin was taking notice of her in a not altogether insulting way? And he wasn't just any Slytherin, but Blaise Zabini, best friend of Draco Malfoy, and son of known blood supremacists. To make the situation even more surprising, it seemed as though Zabini had wanted to say something else, possibly ask if she were alright, but stopped himself.

As if coming to his senses, Zabini cleared his throat and straightened himself out. "Glad to see you admitting your fault for once, Diggory. Don't bump into me again." With that, Zabini brushed past her.

Evie stood alone in the corridor for a few minutes, trying to make sense of the confusing encounter. Finally, after deciding that the day as a whole had been too much for her and resolving to spend some time with her brother in the coming weekend, Evie walked back to Gryffindor common rooms with a hurting head and a heavy heart.

Unfortunately, no solace was to be found that day. As soon as she entered the common rooms, Evie saw Ron and Hermione talking quietly together with worried looks on their faces. "What's happened? Where's Harry?" Evie questioned, noticing that the raven haired boy was missing.

"He's finally got a letter from Sirius." Hermione started.

Sighing, Evie walked over to their usual big plush chairs by the fire and settled in to hear everything she had missed while she'd been out walking.

"He's coming back because he says something about signs and Harry's scar hurting might mean something." Ron tried to explain.

"I didn't understand any of that." Evie said, looking at Ron.

"Neither do we." Evie turned to Hermione for help.

"Let me try, Ron." She patted him on the shoulder. "He told Harry that there have been signs, and that Dumbledore pulled Professor Moody out of retirement because he had also been noticing the signs. Then he told Harry that his scar hurting was just the latest of these signs and that he was coming back because of it."

"And now Harry is upset because if Sirius comes back he might get caught." Evie guessed. After receiving nods from both of her friends, Evie sat back in her chair and sighed. Closing her eyes in exhaustion, she wondered when the day would be over. "This has been too much, emotionally, for me today." She mumbled in a barely audible voice, but Hermione and Ron had both heard her. Hermione placed a gentle hand on her knee and Ron just sighed. Both of them knew how much of a toll their Defense lesson had taken on her, no matter how well she hid it.

"Let's get to bed, we've still got classes tomorrow and it's getting late." Hermione said.

Evie opened her eyes and looked out the window; the sky was an inky black. After saying goodnight to Ron, the two girls climbed the stairs to their dorm and got ready for bed. Once they were settled under their blankets and the calm breathing of their other roommates could be heard, Evie dared to tell Hermione about her strange encounter with Zabini.

"That is unusual. Did he say anything else?" Hermione asked after Evie finished telling her the story.

"No…but it seemed almost like he wanted to."

"Well, he is the least talkative of Malfoy's friends. Isn't he like his best friend?"

"I have heard they are quite close, yes." Evie was biting her lip, pondering the weird situation.

"Maybe he's just very observant." Hermione yawned.

"Maybe…I wonder what he wanted to say though."

"Well, whatever it was, just be glad he was kind enough not to. He's still a Slytherin after all; he probably had something horrid prepared."

"If so, that still makes it weird that he would honor my request, doesn't it?"

"Mmmm." Hermione was beginning to fall asleep so Evie let the subject fall.

"Goodnight, Hermione." Evie yawned, finally realizing how tired she was.

"Night…Eve…" Hermione was out before she even finished Evie's name. Evie smiled at her friend. Just before she dozed off she reminded herself to ask if Hermione had told Harry and Ron about S.P.E.W in the morning, having forgotten to do so after the news of Harry's long awaited letter.

The next morning Evie woke up still feeling tired. Her eyelids were heavy as she dressed for the day. It was because of her hazy brain that she barely remembered, as she pulled up her grey knee highs, to ask Hermione about what progress she'd made with the elfish welfare group. "Hermione?" Evie yawned as she called her friend's attention to her.

"Hmm?" Hermione looked up from putting on her shoes.

"Did you get around telling Harry and Ron about S.P.E.W yesterday?"

"Oh!" Hermione instantly perked up at the mention of it. "Yes, I did! They agreed to be a part of it too, isn't that great?"

"Yeah." Evie smiled, though she was having a hard time believing they were as excited to be members of S.P.E.W as Hermione was making it seem.

"Now all I've got to do is get them to stop calling it spew and we're really in business." Evie couldn't help the laugh that came out at that, but with a glare from Hermione her laugh died quickly.

"Sorry." She grinned, then quickly put on her shoes so they could get down to breakfast.

At breakfast Harry told the group that he had written to Sirius that morning and told him he'd probably just imagined his scar hurting and that there was no need for him to come back. When he turned to Evie to fill her in she assured him that Ron and Hermione had already done so.

"That was a lie Harry." Hermione fussed, making it clear that she did not agree with him telling Sirius that his scar hadn't really hurt.

"Hermione's right. Aren't you the least bit curious about why your scar hurt? Maybe Sirius has some answers." Evie reasoned.

"Well, I don't want them if it means he risks going back to Azkaban." Harry stated with finality.

Hermione started to say something else but Ron stopped her, and for once, she listened to him.

They spent the rest of breakfast in relative silence. Evie finished her food early and went to catch her brother before he started off to his first class.

"Hey." He greeted her, looking as though he were trying to gauge her emotional state.

"Hey…why are you looking at me like that?" Evie raised an eyebrow at Cedric.

"You weren't at dinner last night and Ron told me you guys had your first Defense class yesterday."

"So you've already had your class then?"

"Yeah, it was very intense. I didn't know your class was yesterday. I was planning on warning you this morning…" Cedric trailed off.

"That's alright. Are you busy this weekend?"

"Just hanging out with the mates as usual, but I can always make time for my favorite little sister." Cedric smiled jokingly.

"You mean your only little sister? Unless there's another one running around here I should be worried about?"

Cedric laughed. "No, you're my one and only. But that doesn't mean you can't also be my favorite."

"Keep talking, you're doing a really good job of making me feel better."

"That was the aim. So, are you coming to see me tomorrow or Sunday?"

"Sunday, I think."

"Alright, good. I have plans on Saturday."

"Well, now I sort of want to change my answer to Saturday just to make you cancel them." Evie grinned.

"Please don't." The hint of seriousness in Cedric's voice gave Evie pause.

"Wait…does this have anything to do with a certain Ravenclaw?" Evie asked eagerly. Cedric didn't respond, but a healthy blush formed on his cheeks. "Oh Merlin, I'm right, aren't I?" Evie's own worries and confusion disappeared at the new information she received.

"Shut it!" Cedric shushed quickly, the blush never leaving his cheeks. "You're going to get the whole Hufflepuff table looking this way."

"So, are you snogging her? Wait, never mind, please don't answer that." Evie scrunched her nose and tried to wipe the mental image away. "Are you together? Or are you still waiting to ask her? Did you give her the gift?" Evie spewed out all of her questions quickly.

"Not snogging her and you shouldn't be asking anyone that question." Cedric chastised. "We aren't together, yet. That's what Saturday is for. I'm taking her on a picnic by the lake; I'm going to give her the necklace then and ask her."

"Aw, Cedric, you are just a hopeless romantic." Evie cooed teasingly, but after a glare from Cedric she turned serious. "I'm sure she'll love it."

Before Cedric could say anything else, the bell rang to signal it was time to get to class.

"See you Sunday." Cedric smiled and rushed off towards class.

Evie looked back towards the Gryffindor table to see her friends waiting for her. They had History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs that morning. She rushed over to them, taking her bag from Harry who had picked it up for her. Then they all rushed off towards their classroom.

Evie walked into class feeling quite a bit better than she had the day before. If she were being honest with herself, she was really happy to be in a class where she was confident she would do well. While History wasn't her favorite subject, and unfortunately Professor Binns was dreadfully boring to listen to, as long as she read up on everything she did just fine in the class.

However, she also had Charms that day, and Charms had been one of her two best subjects since her first year. The other being Tranfigurations, and while Evie wasn't particularly bad in many other subjects, except perhaps Divinations and her current struggle in Arithmancy, she was not the top preforming student in every subject. She usually ended up behind Hermione, or even Malfoy, depending on the subject, and in Herbology she was behind Neville and quite a few Hufflepuffs, who had a tendency to be fond of the class. Evie assumed it was because of all the fascinating plants Professor Sprout decorated the Hufflepuff common rooms with.

Sitting in her usual seat, Evie tried to pay attention as Professor Binns continued their lesson on the Goblin Rebellion. As the time ticked by, seemingly slower and slower by the minute, Evie tried her hardest to stay as focused on the lesson as Hermione was. But beside her Harry and Ron seemed to be dosing off and while she could never bring herself to sleep in class, the idea of a nice daydream seemed much more appealing than listening to Binns.

Letting her mind wander, Evie found herself once again pondering on her curious encounter with Zabini. She would see him in Potions later, as Gryffindor was always stuck with Slytherin in Potions, though Evie never understood why. She wondered if he would be his normal self again, if perhaps their encounter was just because nobody else was around. She also wondered why she cared to figure it out so much, though that answer came to her quickly in all its obviousness; she liked having answers to questions, and Zabini had just become a huge question she very much wanted an answer to.

"Evie." Hermione's voice snapped her back to attention. When she looked at her best friend she realized she was about to be scolded. "Honestly, you're just as bad as the boys. How could you drift off with such a fascinating lesson going on?"

"Because Professor Binns has possibly the most boring voice ever created. He is the most boring ghost in this entire castle." Evie looked at Hermione matter-of-factly. When she didn't get a laugh, Evie tried a different approach. "I'll read over everything I missed after classes, alright? I just got distracted thinking about everything that happened yesterday."

At that Hermione stopped scolding her. Evie felt a little bad for using her bad day to get a free pass from Hermione, especially since she knew that all of the scolding she received from her best friend was really for her own good; however, she also hated be scolded, so she didn't feel nearly as bad as she probably should have.