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Chapter 8; Evelyn

Rubeus Hagrid had turned into one of the jolliest of fellows. He had a love for animals that could not be matched and had taken a liking to Arggie almost immediately. He had never even heard of a fox he had said and was completely taken with Arggie. Even his great bloodhound, Fang, seemed to like her. Hagrid explained that Arggie could venture in and out of the hut and from there she would have a run of the grounds. Despite some misgivings, Evelyn agreed to the arrangements, knowing it was indeed the best for Arggie.

There were not many students enrolled in Advance Care of Magical Creatures. Because it was an advanced class the houses were mixed. Luna was in the class, immediately Evelyn headed towards her. She was talking to a bushy haired Gryffindor. They seemed to be arguing about some Crumple Horned...something or other. Evelyn turned away from Luna and promptly ran into a very tall Slytherin. He caught her before she hit the ground, and immediately stepped away, seeming shocked at his own actions. His white blond hair was combed back and his grey eyes looked her up and down, a sneer plastered on his face.

"What are you supposed to me? Snow White or some shit?" With that, he strolled away.

"Don't take that git seriously." She turned towards a black haired green eyed boy. He grinned at her, "Draco Malfoy is the definition of git, don't be afraid to sock him once in awhile, Hermione did last year." He nudged the bushy haired girl talking to Luna. She blushed and shushed the boy, muttering something about nobodies business, "Aw well, one day she'll be proud. I'm Harry, Harry Potter. And this is my friend, Ron Weasley." She shook their hands. This was happening so fast.

"I'm Evelyn." Luna drifted over the Evelyn, a sunny smile on her face.

"I didn't know you were in this class. Can you see the threstrals?" Evelyn looked at her in confusion, following Luna's hand to a blank clearing. She shook her head, "Oh well, I suppose that is best." Luna turned away from them and bounced over to her clearing of threstrals. Hermione walked up to their group.

"Aren't you new? How are you in an advanced class?" Evelyn looked away uneasily

"Lots of homeschooling." She flashed a grin before turning to the head of the class. Hagrid lumbered into the yard and began to explain to careful life style of something called a "blast-ended shrewt".

Evelyn also had Potions with the three Gryffindors. She ended up sitting with Harry, who grumbled complaints about their greasy haired potions master. She soon saw why. For some unexplained reason, Professor Snape loathed Harry, and all the other Gryffindors for that matter. He left Evelyn alone; she was competent enough and not a Gryffindor.

As fifth period rolled around Evelyn could hardly contain her excitement. Through many whispered conversations with Harry over the soft bubble of their cauldrons, he had filled her in about the wonderful game of Quidditch. Although he said most people wouldn't be at flying lessons their first day back, and many didn't need them, he had urged her to go, mentioned something about getting a small game going. He and Ron would be there he assured her. Said it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So she went.

The Quidditch pitch appeared to be empty. A barrel of brooms were to the left of the entrance. She grabbed one and walked out onto the field. Nervously she eyed the broom. It twitched in her hand, wanting to be free.

"First time flying?" She jumped at the voice and whirled around. Fred grinned at her surprise. He was leaning on his own broom as the rest of the Weasleys and Harry took off. A few individual players who she didn't know soon followed them. Fred was still on the ground with her. She had to wrack her brain to remember what he had just asked.

"Ye-ah. Very first time. I'm afraid I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do." Her laugh was shaky, Fred's dark eyes narrowed with concern.

"Well we can't have that. Here, I'll teach you." Before she could get a word in edgewise, Fred was by her side. "First, put you broom on the ground. You have to show the broom you're confident enough to ride." He set his own broom on the ground, held his arm directly over it, and "UP!" Evelyn jumped at the sudden increase in the volume of his voice. The broom sped into his outstretch hand. He caught it with ease then turned to look at Evelyn. She took a deep breath, feeling rather foolish.

"Up!" The broom shot up, hit her waiting hand and kept going. Fred was right there before she could even register what was happening. One arm wrapped around her while the other snatched her broom out of the air. She tried to steady herself; Fred, focused on keeping her from falling and her runaway broom, had pulled her awfully close. His lips brushed her ear and she erupted in goose bumps. His whisper filled her ear and sent shivers down her spine.

"Remember, confidence. The broom wants you, you just have to take it." He moved away from her. His eyes burned into hers. Without looking at the broom, she held her hand out, determined to not be made a fool. Determined not to try and take another meaning from his words. He watched her every move.

"UP." She caught the sturdy handle with ease. Fred wiggled his eyebrows and hopped onto his own broom, and kicked off the hard ground. Energy and excitement flooded through Evelyn's veins. For the first time since she'd arrived at Hogwarts, she felt like her old self. She shut off inhibitions and kicked off the ground. The air soared around her, taking her back to the summers she had spent in the air temples, higher than the clouds, set on perilous cliffs, bending at her own will. She smiled.

"You certainly look like you've flown before." Harry flew nearer to her. The others were holding their game, looking a tad bit annoyed. Harry nodded toward them, "Come on, Gin's team needs another player." Harry's team had the Gryffindor Keeper, Oliver Wood, and two of the team's chasers, Angelina and Alicia. Harry was the seeker, obviously, and George swung his beaters bat menacingly. On her own team, Ginny Weasley, the youngest Weasley played opposite Harry as a seeker. Ron looked green in the Keeper's spot while Fred pretended to use Katie's head as a bludger. Evelyn was expected to play as chaser alongside Katie.

Oliver was yelling at Harry to get on with it, they only had the practice balls for so long. Harry blew the whistle and the game began. Ginny and Harry were gone in a heartbeat, both searching for the elusive snitch. Angelina darted forward and snatched the quaffel from Katie's fingertips. She zoomed down the pitch, Alicia keeping up in case of emergency. Ron was shaking at the incoming player and despite the dead accuracy of Fred's bludgers, Angelina was just having a lucky day. The quaffle zoomed past Ron's left foot. He sagged on his broom. Angelina and Alicia cheered. Katie growled.

Evelyn shot towards the falling quaffle. The broom was much slower than she would have liked and she made a mental note to buy a faster broom. She shot out her right hand and snatched the quaffle out of the air. She zoomed upwards and made her way back into the game. Katie swerved to meet her, she swerved from side to side, waiting for the pass. Alicia dove towards her. Evelyn was way ahead of her, at the last second she passed to Katie and barrel-rolled. Alicia's dive swooped on past. Katie didn't waste time, she darted up the field with Angelina in tow. Evelyn raced after them as George raised his bat. She assumed he had the same accuracy as Fred, she was barely in hearing distance of Katie.

"Three o-clock bludger. Drop back pass." The words were out of her mouth before she even knew what she was saying. Katie understood her though. She pulled her broom up sharply and dropped the quaffle at the same time. Evelyn grabbed it and sped off, George's bludger whizzed right in front of the halted Katie. The drop back pass had thrown of Angelina, leaving Wood as Evelyn's only opponent. She met his calculating gaze and gave away nothing. She spun and kicked the quaffle sending a nasty curveball into the bottom right hoop. She whooped and turned to her cheering team. Oliver looked shocked.

The final score was 90-30; the caught snitch was worth 50 points. Ginny had barely caught the little ball before Harry. She confessed later that she had just closed her eyes and taken a blind snatch. Katie and Evelyn has scored two goals apiece and Ron had made some spectacular saves. The hour and thirty minute game had been enough for Evelyn to fall in love with being a chaser. Harry had even come up to her after the game and insisted she try out for the Ravenclaw team, as a chaser. No exceptions.

The idea left a smile on her face as she changed into clean clothing.

"You were pretty impressive out there." Fred's voice met her when she emerged from the girls tent. She smiled, glad she finally felt like herself. She could stop acting like a giddy school girl.

"Thanks, you have a pretty mean swing, it's a shame we're not on the same team." Fred's eyes flicked down and then back to hers.

"Ya well...at least I'll get to aim half-hearted bludgers at you." He gave a weak smile and Evelyn pushed him lightly.

"Come on, half-hearted! What is this?"

"I could never hurt you." The confession surprised Evelyn. She looked at Fred, his eyes were serious and there was no hint of a smile on his face. Evelyn tried to lighten his mood,

"Psh you barely know me, trust me, soon you'll want to knock me off my broom." She grinned at the Weasley boy, threw him a wink and then bounded off to dinner, leaving a very wanting Fred on the Quidditch Pitch.