In Charms, Evie paid much more attention than she had in History. They were continuing their lesson on Summoning Charms that day; Professor Flitwick had been impressed with how quickly Evie had picked it up in the last class. Some of the students were still trying to summon their cushions while Flitwick had the students who'd gotten it last class summon cushions from farther and farther away. More than anything, he wanted the class to summon them and be able to catch them. Some people were summoning cushions and accidentally sending them flying towards the walls or at each other. Just last class Neville had hit Parvati in the back of the head with his.
Evie and Hermione were a part of the group of students trying to summon with more accuracy and control. Once they got it down from a certain distance, they would back up and try again. Once Evie had managed the summoning Charm the first time, she had found that accuracy and control came easily. Hermione followed behind her fairly quickly. As such, during their current class, they ended up spending most of their time trying to help Harry and Ron get the accuracy and control part down.
"Let's try one more time, Harry." Evie tried to keep her cool as yet again Harry hit her in the face with his cushion, instead of summoning it to his hand. She knew she was being ridiculous, but it had started to feel like he was doing it on purpose. Evie had to remind herself that Charms did not come as easily to everyone else as it did to her.
"Sorry, are you sure you want to keep standing there?" Harry asked, taking his cushion from her again. Evie could tell he was trying very hard not to laugh at her as her hair slowly started to free itself from her ponytail and her face began to turn pink in frustration.
"Are you doing this on purpose, Harry?" Evie glared.
"No! I swear I'm not…but you do look really funny like that." Harry started to fail in his attempt not to laugh.
Glaring at him still, Evie sent her own cushion flying at Harry's face. It hit him square in the head with a dull thud, and at the shocked look on his face she broke into a fit of giggles. "You're right, that is a rather funny face."
After getting over the shock of being hit, Harry started to laugh as well. It was his first smile all day. Then, still laughing, he bonked Evie on the head with the cushion still in his hands. Evie grabbed her cushion off the floor, her laughter growing. She hit Harry again.
Hermione and Ron, who were standing nearby, stopped what they were doing and watched the suede pillow fight begin. Evie and Harry's laughter was infectious and soon all four friends were laughing. Harry had just lifted his cushion to hit Evie again when a voice cut through their laughter.
"What is going on here?" Professor Flitwick walked over with his hands on his hips.
"Sorry Professor." Evie and Harry both mumbled, trying to stop smiling. Hermione and Ron had quickly stopped laughing and gone back to work, as though they had never stopped.
"Get back to the lesson." Professor Flitwick sighed, before moving back to help Neville. He had never been very good at punishing his students; he always just sort of brushed it off as long as they seemed remorseful when he fussed.
Evie and her friends shared one more laugh before they got back to their lesson. By the end of the class Harry had stopped hitting Evie in the face with his cushion, and she was very grateful for it.
After Charms the friends walked down to lunch, which passed rather uneventfully. Evie and Hermione left the boys early again to head to the library. Ron rolled his eyes knowing that they were going to work on Hermione's plans for S.P.E.W. Harry offered a half-hearted good luck and they were gone.
In the library it was fairly empty, as usual. Hermione and Evie sat at their table in the back after gathering their books. Evie was still working on knitting, while Hermione had begun dreaming bigger. She was deep in a book on the Wizarding legal system, trying to learn how to turn S.P.E.W into an actual movement.
Evie found that, while she was quite bad at it, she enjoyed the knitting. It was surprisingly calming and peaceful. It was why she also loved the library. She was still struggling to keep her scarves from ending up crooked though. Despite that spending time with her best friend, away from any danger or drama, was how Evie imagined Lavender and Parvati spent their years.
As her mind wandered to all the abnormal things that she and her friends seemed to deal with every year, Evie's hand moved towards her mark unconsciously.
"What's wrong? Did it hurt again?" Hermione set her book down, looking worriedly at Evie.
"What?" Evie asked dazed, then realizing where her hand was she sighed. "Oh, no. I was just thinking about all the things we have to deal with every year. I was wondering if maybe this year might actually be-"
"Normal? Like, maybe we'll actually spend one year the way everyone else does?" Hermione smiled.
"Yeah."
"It does seem like we might, doesn't it?" Hermione chuckled. "Why is that weird?"
"Because we haven't had a year where we aren't trying to save the world, save the school, or save ourselves yet." Evie chuckled as well.
"How did our lives end up like this?"
"We became best friends with Harry and Ron. If I recall, first year was surprisingly calm before that."
"Maybe a bit boring?"
"Yes, that troll did spice up the whole year, didn't it?" The two girls let the quiet giggles trickle into nothing but soft smiles.
"Do you ever think that we could've just thanked them and left it at that?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"What, like not been their friends, just thanked them for saving us and walked away?" Hermione nodded. Evie paused, realizing she had never even thought of it. "No, I never have."
"Yeah, me either. I don't think I could imagine our lives without those two."
"It feels wrong to even think about it, really." Evie scrunched her nose at the thought.
"Yeah it does." Hermione looked off for a moment before the clock caught her eye. "Oh, Merlin, we've got to get going."
Evie followed her eyes and, seeing the time for herself, rushed to pack her things back in her bag. "Bugger all, if we're late Snape will have our heads."
The two girls rushed as much as they could without running and getting yelled at by Madam Pince. Once outside of the library, they ran for the dungeons.
They made it, luckily, before Professor Snape. Panting slightly, Evie and Hermione found their seats in front of Harry and Ron. Looking around the room, Evie caught sight of Zabini, who was sitting next to Malfoy, as usual. He seemed to be his normal self, that is, what she actually knew of his normal self. Zabini and Malfoy seemed to be in the middle of a deep conversation, but as it ended and the two boys started to look up, Evie quickly turned back to the front of the class where Professor Snape had just appeared.
"Today you will be attempting to make a Sleeping Draught. It is a simple potion to brew for any skilled potion maker, but as I see very few in this room I expect it to be a struggle for you all. Does anybody know what makes the Sleeping Draught different from the Draught of the Living Dead?"
Hermione's hand shot up.
"Oh, surprise, surprise, Miss. Granger is as eager as ever to prove her intelligence." Snape drawled in his usual monotone. Hermione blushed, but kept her hand up. She was determined to be called on. Snape very rarely ever gave her the satisfaction. "Miss. Diggory?"
Evie sighed, knowing Snape was hoping she wouldn't have the slightest idea. She however, knew something he didn't, and that was that she and Hermione had made that very potion two years previous in order to knock out a few Slytherins and enter the Slytherin common room, so she could prove to Harry and Ron that Malfoy wasn't the one opening the Chamber of Secrets. It had cost her a few very uncomfortable minutes as Pansy Parkinson, but she had had the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so' afterwards. However, she was still not sure if that had been an even trade off.
"Not unlike Draught of the Living Dead, the standard Sleeping Draught causes the taker to fall into an almost instantaneous deep, but temporary, sleep. However, Draught of the Living Dead last longer, is more powerful, and is more difficult to make." Evie answered, very contented with the slightly annoyed look on Snape's face as he realized he'd not be able to make a fool of her.
"Congratulations, you can quote a book." Somehow Snape always managed to take the wind out of her sails. Evie's ears turned slightly pink as she heard the hardly muffled snickers from the Slytherin side of the room. "Let's see how you do when you actually have to brew the potion." Snape waved his wand and their instructions appeared on the chalk board. "Begin, and try not to blow anything up Mr. Finnigan." Snape eyed Seamus warily.
Hermione started jotting down the instructions as Evie went to gather the ingredients. On her way, she heard Seamus mumble something about not having blown anything up since second year. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder she smiled. "It's alright Seamus; you know he just likes to make us feel bad. Your only fault is being in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, and that's not a bad fault in my book."
"Thanks, Evie." Seamus smiled, grabbing his ingredients and heading back over to his table.
Hermione and Evie worked together quickly and efficiently for the rest of class, sometimes pausing to save Neville from a mistake. They had learned after he and Seamus exploded a cauldron in first year that it was better to keep an eye on him. Neville's main problem wasn't that he was inept at Potions; it was that he was positively terrified of Professor Snape and that fear and shakiness often caused him to dump more ingredients than necessary into his cauldrons.
Throughout the entire lesson, Evie did her best not to ponder about the boy sitting several seats behind her. He and Malfoy worked in their usual relative silence, something that, until that very moment, Evie had not known she'd bothered to notice.
Harry and Ron always talked in hushed nervous voices as they tried to get their potion right, often times tapping on the shoulders of Evie and Hermione for assistance. Neville could always be heard taking shaky breaths and gulping loudly as he tried to calm his nerves, and Lavender and Parvati were their absolute quietest in Potions. It was the only class they dared not gossip in; they held news in until the bell signaled the end of class, then they would burst with interesting tidbits for each other, often speaking over one another, as they gathered their bags and walked towards dinner. Evie had never understood how the two actually understood what the other was saying when they spoke like that, but, that's what friends were like. These were all things she noticed, and it was okay. But noticing how Malfoy and Zabini behaved during Potions was not.
The class dragged on mercilessly. Evie always hated having Double Potions, especially on a Friday when the weekend was so near and all that was standing in her way was her least favorite professor and his painfully monotonous drawl, and his sneering face, and his hooked nose which allowed him to always look down it at you as he belittled you.
As the time finally wound to a close, the heat from all the fires in the usually cold dungeons was causing the students to sweat. Evie was happy she had pre-emptively removed her robes and was only in her blouse and sweater vest. Rerolling her sleeves for the third time, Evie looked to Hermione for the next instruction, though she was pretty sure they were done.
"That's it. We should have done it perfectly." Hermione smiled.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Miss. Granger." Snape had walked by just as she said that. He then leaned over their cauldron, checking the color, smell, and thickness of their Sleeping Draught. "Well, it seems you do have the most elementary of potion brewing skills, congratulations." Snape said sarcastically, before receiving their vial and waving his wand to clear the cauldron. He then continued down the rows, critiquing every potion in turn.
Once class was finally over, the group rushed out of the dungeons and towards the Great Hall. Dinner was normal, except that for once Evie and Hermione didn't rush through their meals to head to the library. The four friends all ate together at their normal paces and then went up to the common room.
On Saturday morning Evie woke up the way she liked, without an alarm clock or Hermione forcing her to get ready for class. She sat up in bed and stretched and wasn't the least bit surprised to see Hermione's bed already empty.
Evie dressed leisurely, pulling jeans and a purple jumper on slowly, as stray yawns escaped her mouth. Then, placing her wand in her pocket, she grabbed a pair of thick socks and left the room, where Parvati and Lavender were still sleeping peacefully.
In the common room, Hermione was sitting by the fire place with a book in her lap and her legs pulled under her. Evie walked over and plopped herself onto the couch next to Hermione's occupied maroon armchair. "Good morning."
"Hey." Hermione looked up from her book.
"Have you been down to breakfast yet?"
"No, I thought I'd wait for you lot to wake up."
"Hmm, well it'll be over in an hour. We might need to send someone up to wake Harry and Ron." Hermione checked her watch and nodded.
"We could just go without them and bring them something back."
"That would probably be easier. What're you reading?"
Hermione closed her book, leaving her finger on the page so she didn't lose it, and tilted it up so that Evie could read the cover. It was another book by a Muggle author Evie hadn't heard of. "I sort of expected it to be something for class." Evie smiled at Hermione. Hermione chuckled lightly back.
"Should we head to breakfast then?" She glanced at her watch again before saving her place in the book and closing it.
"I suppose so." Evie stood from her now warm spot, sad when she felt the heat leave her legs and bottom. She stretched and then looked down at her feet. "Think we should probably grab some shoes?" She smiled as Hermione looked down at her, also shoeless, feet. With a nod the two girls rushed up the stairs to get their shoes. After they were finished they walked back down into the common room to find Harry and Ron had entered it in the short space of time that they had been gone.
"Did you two actually sleep longer than we did?" Ron asked in shock.
"Actually, we were just about to give up on you two and go down to breakfast. We were just grabbing our shoes." Hermione explained.
The two boys nodded and then the small group walked down to breakfast together.
The Great Hall was nearly empty by the time they got there so breakfast was a quiet affair. They talked causally about what they might do that day and Ron praised the end of their first week.
"It's only been a week, Ron. How do you expect to survive the rest of the year if the first week is so hard for you?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"With you, of course." Ron smiled, wrapping an arm around Hermione's shoulder and causing a light blush to spread across her cheeks. Evie grinned at this, but decided to remain quite for the moment.
"What do you mean by 'with you'?" Hermione eyed Ron, preparing to chastise whatever he was about to say, and at the same time removing his arm from her shoulders.
"Well…I just meant…" Ron paused and looked past Hermione to see both Harry and Evie shaking their heads at him in warning. Whatever he was about to say was surely going to get him into trouble and they were trying their hardest to help him avoid it. "…maybe you could help me study…?"
Evie and Harry sighed. Hermione looked at Ron skeptically before turning to see what Evie and Harry were doing behind her. They turned quickly back to their food as though they hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention.
"I'm really glad to see you actually making the decision to study instead of just trying to copy me, Ron. I'd be glad to set up a study schedule for you." Hermione smiled at Ron, though Evie was almost positive by the tone in her voice that she knew that had not been what he had intended to say. She was also pretty sure Hermione knew that she and Harry had stopped him from saying it. But Hermione would take these little victories where she could get them, and use them to her advantage as well. She would probably later use Ron's own words against him if he tried to take the easy way out.
After breakfast the four made their way back up to the common room. It was practically empty as it was such a nice autumn day and many of the students knew they probably wouldn't get another as nice before the bitter chill of winter set in.
From the window, even high in the tower, the distant sounds of laughter and conversation could be heard. Evie and Hermione settled themselves in the same spots they had occupied before they'd gone to breakfast. Hermione began reading her book again, and Evie began writing a letter to her father, who had sent her an owl that morning.
Beside Evie sat Harry, and on the other armchair next to the other end of the couch sat Ron. The two of them were in the middle of a game of Exploding Snap, using the small table that usually housed the chess board. Every so often, the sounds of small victories and defeats could be heard from either boy's mouth, and it was always following a small popping sound.
After Evie finished her letter, she grabbed her history book to do the reading she'd told Hermione she would. There was still a little bubble of guilt in her stomach after pretending to still be upset when Hermione had started to scold her the other day. But reading up on the Goblin Rebellions was both more interesting than listening to Professor Binns and helping to rid her of the guilt bubble.
By the time Evie had come back from grabbing her book, Harry and Ron had ended their game. Harry was leaning back on the couch with his feet on the small table, engrossed in the Daily Prophet. Ron had retrieved his miniature Krum and was playing with it on the part of the table not occupied by Harry's feet. Evie took her previous position on the couch, but instead of leaning over the other small table in the common room, she too leaned back into the couch, sitting with her legs crossed and her book in her lap. As she went to lean over the book her hair fell into her face, blocking the view, and Evie was forced to pull it up into a messy bun.
There the quartet stayed; content to just be in each other's company. Hermione remained fixated on her book, snuggled into the chair with her legs tucked under her and Crookshanks taking up one of the arm rests. Evie sat hunched over her book, absentmindedly twirling her wand in her right hand. Harry sat leaned so close to Evie she could feel his shoulder move every time he went to change the page of the Prophet. Slowly though, he began to doze; his head dropping to lean against her arm. Ron continued to play with the Krum miniature until Harry dozed, and then he took the Prophet from Harry's lax hands and began to read through it. Every so often someone who came into the common room would say hello to the group, but for the most part they were the only ones to occupy the room. It was a very relaxing day.
Sunday morning saw Evie up around ten. As she was waking so was Hermione, for whom ten was sleeping in. They showered and dressed and were out of the room before Parvati and Lavender, as usual.
In the common room they separated. Hermione stayed behind to wait for Harry and Ron to wake up and Evie went down to get breakfast so she could head to the Hufflepuff common room as early as possible.
On her way to the Great Hall Evie bumped into Ginny. "Hey Gin, you're up early."
"Oh yeah, I'm going to meet my friend Luna in the library after breakfast."
"Oh? Got some studying to do?" Evie raised an eyebrow. "Luna…she isn't a Gryffindor is she? I don't know a Luna."
"Oh no, she's a Ravenclaw. Some people find her a bit weird, they call her Loony."
"Oh! She's the one who wears the radish earring and the necklace made of bottle caps!" Evie said excitedly as her memory allowed her to picture the dreamy eyed blonde she'd seen wandering the halls and doing an exceptional job of ignoring all the insults being thrown at her.
"Yep, that's Luna." Ginny giggled. "You've probably seen her around at home as well."
"Oh, Lovegood! I didn't realize she was the same girl. Her dad owns the, um…The Quibbler." Ginny nodded.
"Yeah, he sends her a copy every morning."
"Have you read it?"
"A bit…"
"And? What do you think of it?"
"It's…interesting. They talk about a lot of things that most people don't actually believe in."
"Yes, I've noticed that too. Though, who are we to say those things don't exist, hmm? I mean as far as Muggles know magic is just pretend." Evie laughed.
"Yeah, I never thought of it like that." Ginny smiled, a look of realization transforming her features.
"So, how are classes going?"
"Good, I mean Professor Moody is intense and he makes me a bit uncomfortable sometimes. But I think I'd still take him over Snape. You should hear Fred and George talk about him though. I think they sort of idolize him."
"Yeah, I think they might too. He does leave quite the impression on you. I'm just hoping he softens up a bit as the year goes on."
As the two girls entered the Great Hall, they bumped into Fred and George, who were leaving.
"Ladies." Fred bowed jokingly.
"Why are you two always up so early, even on weekends?" Evie raised a knowing eyebrow at the twins.
"We have a whole day ahead of us. Why would we waste it sleeping in?" George looked at her in shock.
"A whole day full of what sort of mischief?" Ginny smiled.
"We take offense to that!" Fred feigned indignation. "We don't get into mischief."
"Oh really, because I seem to recall having green hair this summer because of you two. Not to mention the first day we ever met, you used me to keep you from getting in trouble for turning Mrs. Norris blue. So, you can play indignant all you want, but I think your sister and I know you a little better than that."
"Fair enough." George smirked with a sort of proud twinkle in his eye. "Turning Mrs. Norris blue might still be some of our best work." He turned to Fred, who nodded.
"It's been years since we did that. We might be losing our touch Georgie!" Both boys looked at each other horrified.
"Thanks for the pep talk Evie. We've got work to do. Come on Fred." Each twin pecked one of the two girls on the head and then they both dashed off.
"I hadn't intended that to be a pep talk." Evie looked at Ginny as they sat down to eat.
"Yeah, but you've got to admit, you're a bit excited to see what they end up doing."
"Always, but don't ever tell them or Hermione that." Evie paused spooning food on to her plate to look pointedly at Ginny, who smiled.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Ginny answered, as they both dug in to their food.
After breakfast, Evie and Ginny parted ways. Ginny started towards the stairs and Evie started towards the kitchens. Just before she reached the kitchens Evie nearly crashed into someone. "Oh Merlin, I'm sorry." She apologized, looking up to see the person she'd bumped.
"No, it's my fault." A familiar voice answered back lightly.
"Good morning, Cho." Evie smiled, shocked to see her near the kitchens so early.
"Oh, hello Evie!" Cho smiled brightly. "How are you?"
"Good, just going to see Cedric." Evie looked Cho over, noticing a small sliver swan necklace around her neck for the first time.
"Yeah, I know." Cho said lightly before realizing the implications of that statement and blushing a deep pink. "Oh, I wasn't – I mean, we didn't…um…" Her cheeks continued to grow deeper shades of pink, heading towards a fuchsia as she tried to explain herself.
"That's a lovely necklace." Evie tried to keep herself from laughing as she saved Cho from trying to explain any further.
"Oh, thank you." Cho looked down as though just remembering it was there. Then she held it up between her thumb and forefinger and the delicate chain which held it caught the light coming in from the windows. "Cedric gave it to me yesterday." She smiled brightly. "We're…a couple now, him and I."
Evie could tell by the look on Cho's face it wasn't a statement so much as it was her asking for approval. Something about the fact that Cho felt the need to ask for her approval made Evie feel special. "Finally." Evie sighed. "It took him long enough to ask you." She laughed airily, indicating her acceptance of the relationship.
Cho seemed to relax as she heard this response, as she laughed lightly as well. "Anyway, I just came to see him this morning, perhaps a bit too excitedly," She blushed again, but it was a much softer shade of pink that stained her cheeks. "I'd completely forgotten he told me he was spending time with you today. He's awake, and should be waiting for you. I'll see you later." Cho waved as she walked back towards the rest of the castle.
"Bye." Evie called after her, waving as well, even though Cho couldn't see it. Then she turned back towards her destination and found Cedric waiting for her by the Hufflepuff entrance. "What are you doing out here?" She said.
"Good morning to you too." Cedric smiled teasingly. "I just told Cho we were spending the day together and heard your voice as you were heading this way, so I thought I'd just wait for you to get here. It took you long enough." He eyed her suspiciously, but didn't actually ask why she had taken so long.
"I could've just let myself in." Evie pointed out. She had learned by second year which barrel to tap to enter the Hufflepuff common room.
"Yeah, except it's sort of frowned upon for you to be doing that."
"Like I don't do frowned upon things every year." Evie joked. When she didn't receive a laugh from Cedric she shrugged in defeat. "Alright, I'll stop letting myself into your common room."
"Thank you." Cedric smiled before turning her back the way she came. "Come on, let's take a walk. It looks great outside."
"Are you going to ask?" Evie said after they had been walking for a bit in silence.
"Ask what?"
"Oh, come off it! You know the only person I could've run into was Cho. You're not curious what we talked about?"
"Nope." Cedric bit his bottom lip as he answered.
"You're lying." Evie grinned. "Well, if you won't tell me the truth, I won't tell you what we talked about."
After a few more minutes of silence, Cedric said,"Well, I guess you could tell me. But only since you seem so eager to."
"I knew it." Evie smirked in satisfaction before jumping into her explanation. "Okay, so apparently congratulations are in order?" Evie nudged Cedric as they walked towards the lake. "Somebody's got himself a girlfriend." She sang.
"Yeah, alright. Don't be a child, Evie." Cedric said, but he blushed slightly at her teasing.
"That's so great! I'm really happy for you." Evie responded, getting serious. "Cho's really nice, and I like her."
"I'm glad to hear that." Cedric sighed in relief.
"That was a really nice necklace as well. A swan is a very elegant bird." Evie complimented.
"Yeah, I saw it and it just reminded me of her, you know? I mean the way she rides her broom is really graceful, and –"
"Oh Merlin, Cedric. Please don't turn into a gushing fool, I might vomit." Evie cut him off causing her brother to blush and flick her lightly on her scrunched nose. "Ow." She complained, rubbing her nose, even though it didn't hurt very much at all.
"Don't be so cynical, Evie. Who knows, one day you might be talking in the same loving manner about some bloke."
"First, I highly doubt that. And second, why does the guy I get all mushy with have to be a bloke and Cho a 'graceful swan'?" Evie mimicked Cedric terribly, which earned her another flick on the nose. "Again, ow!" It still didn't hurt. "You know, I'm apparently becoming a young lady, so you'll have to stop flicking me in the nose and start acting like a gentleman." Evie pretended to put on airs of regality.
Cedric just snorted at her. "Sure you are." He rolled his eyes. "Not that that would matter to me anyway."
"Why wouldn't it?"
"Because you'll always be the same annoying little sister to me." He smiled as though he'd just said something absolutely endearing.
"Annoying? Please! What would you even do without me? You love me! I'm the most adorable thing in your life, sir." Evie put a hand on her hip and pretended to be cross.
"Yep, adorably annoying. Don't feel insulted though, you'd be a terrible little sister if you weren't annoying."
Evie just stuck her tongue out at him before changing the subject. "So…" she began to get more serious as they walked around the Black Lake.
"So…?" Cedric repeated as they searched for a spot to sit.
"Will you tell me about Mum?" Evie asked, causing Cedric to freeze before he sighed and sat where he was. Evie followed suit and watched as Cedric struggled with how to approach the unexpected question.
He ran a hand through his hair and smiled apologetically at Evie. "I don't really remember her." He finally answered.
"But you remember more than I do. Cedric, please! Dad still can't talk about her, or at least he won't talk to me about her." Evie looked down. She had always suspected that her father feared telling her much about her mother because he worried she would blame herself for her death. Sometimes she feared that he blamed her a bit. But more than anything, she saw how, when he told her the little ways that she was like her mother, he looked pained, like every time he thought of his wife his heart broke a little. "I just want to know what you remember, so I can picture her better."
Cedric smiled sadly at his little sister. She had never known their mother; she didn't even have the hazy memories he had to hold on to. He knew it killed their father to talk about her and had learned long ago not to ask. Looking out over the calm lake he tried to find memories to share with her.
Evie waited so long she began to lose hope that he would tell her anything, when he finally began. "I remember she was an excellent cook." Cedric smiled. His eyes were closed as he tried to grasp the memories before they slipped away. "She would make breakfast every morning before Dad and I woke up. Then she'd come into my room and ask me to help her pour the juice so I felt like I'd helped make breakfast for Dad too."
Evie smiled as she listened to the kind of stories she had always longed to hear.
"I remember she used to chase me around the house playing tickle monster, and she would laugh the whole time. Her laugh was infectious. Evie, when Mum laughed it was impossible not to laugh with her." Cedric chuckled just at the memory of her laugh.
"She was very kind, and when she would hug me…I remember I would bury my face in her hair. It smelled like honeysuckle." Cedric opened his eyes and smiled at Evie, who had tears forming in her eyes. "You look a lot like her, you know?"
"I miss her." Evie whispered to her brother. A few tears fell from her eyes, and Cedric put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug.
"I miss her too."
"How do you miss someone you've never met?" Evie searched Cedric's face for an answer.
"It's easy…when they are a piece of you. Part of who you are." Cedric sighed.
"I wonder if this is what Harry feels like?" Evie questioned.
"You've never talked to him about it before?" Cedric leaned back to look at her in surprise.
"Well…no. We never really talk about that stuff." Evie suddenly felt a bit guilty, like maybe she had missed something important and obvious.
"You might want to try sometime, when you really think about it, you'll probably understand each other a lot better than anyone else when it comes to this."
Evie looked Cedric in shock for a moment. "You know, sometimes you can be really smart." She joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm always really smart; it's just rare for you to acknowledge it."
"Hmm…no, that doesn't sound right." Evie smiled, then, turning serious for a second, she said, "Thanks, Cedric."
"Anytime." He smiled back. "So, how are classing going so far?"
As the conversation turned on to lighter subjects, the siblings stayed by the lake until they realized they missed lunch, at which point they went to the kitchens and were treated to leftovers by the house elves. After they ate they went their separate ways. Cedric went off to find Cho and Evie went to the library where she met Hermione and they finished up the homework they had left.