Sorry for not updating in a while, I have had exams for the last two weeks and haven't had time to do anything but revise! But now the exams are over I can concentrate on the story again. Hopefully this shall meet your standards of a good read (:

Chapter Five

The question asked in order,

To save her life or take it,

The answer 'No' to avoid death,

The answer 'Yes' would make it, make it.

Darkness engulfed the corridors, it was impossible to see exactly what you where treading on. But with Sirius' arm wrapped protectively around her shoulder, she felt safe. The first detention on the year, and possibly the best one so far. Evangeline got to spend time with her adopted brother, without him being distracted by James. It had never come to her attention that Sirius could be so, well, emotional. She had only ever saw the tough, womanising, prankster exterior of Sirius Black, never the kind, gentle, if not a little troubled interior. Over the four years that she had known him, she had been seen as one of the lads. Always willing to prank the Slytherins at every available opportunity, one to sneak into Honeydukes at midnight to nick a few bags of sweets, or one to be up for a game of truth or dare after drinking more than enough firewhiskey.

But now after getting to talk to him properly, Evangeline now thought that Sirius actually considered her as … a girl, a foster sister.

They walked down the corridor in silence, it was a comfortable silence. One were you were just allowed to let your thoughts flow, rather than being stressed out about how quiet it was. The Gryffindor Tower was beckoning, Evangeline could see the Fat Lady in the distance. As they approached her portrait, before she could speak, Sirius mumbled. 'Devils Snare.'

The portrait swung open, and they both clambered through, Sirius' arm still stayed settled on Evangeline's shoulders. The Common Room was empty, everyone had retreated to their dormitories. They began to ascend up the spiral stairs, towards the fourth, fifth and sixth year dormitories, Evangeline could feel Sirius' hands gripping her shoulders, not wanting to let her go.

'For a detention, I really enjoyed it.' chuckled Evangeline, who lifted her head off of Sirius' shoulder and released herself from his grasp.

'So did I.' he said, giving her a crooked smile and ruffling his hair.

He pressed his lips together and stared at Evangeline through those deep grey eyes. He reached his hands up and cupped Evangeline's face, lowered his face down slightly and gently kissed her forehead.

Evangeline looked at Sirius, she locked gazes with him, wondering what thoughts were running through his head.

'Goodnight Angel.' Sirius said quietly, 'I'll see you in the morning.'

Before Evangeline could reply, he began to climb the stairs, but he stopped and looked back at her, his mouth opened as if he intended to say something. But he didn't, he ran his fingers through his hair, turned around and began to walk up the stairs again.

Evangeline stood at the door of her dormitories, confused. What did he want to say? Maybe Sirius didn't think of her as one of the lads any more, maybe not even a sister, maybe just .. a girl.

_-_-_

A week later ...

'Oi! Eva!' yelled James as he sprinted down the spiral stairs after her. Evangeline stopped at the bottom and waited on him, her bag slung over her shoulder, weighing her down slightly. Carrying twelve Ordinary Wizarding Level books, was not good for her back.

'Hey Jamie,' she smiled as her brother reached the bottom of the Divination stairs.

'Pleas stop calling me Jamie,' glared her brother, 'It's a sissy's name … anyway. Yeah, quidditch try outs today, just thought I would remind you.'

'James, you left five reminders up on the noticeboard in the common room. I don't need reminded!' laughed Evangeline as they started to walk to the Great Hall for lunch.

'Well, we need the whole team there. And if you're not, I'll find someone else.' James threatened, even though he knew he could never find another seeker as good as his sister. Evangeline was fond of adrenaline rushes, nothing stopped her diving down on her broom from one hundred feet in the air. She had her own speciality if moves, that even if someone tried to copy them, they had no chance of mastering, they required incredible acrobatics and stability. James was often jealous of the attention she got, just after a match when she had performed a new trick, but just seeing her blush as someone mentioned that she was amazing, made him smile.

'Okay James, don't get your balls in a knot! You booked the pitch for straight after lunch, it's not as if I'm gonna disappear anywhere!' said Evangeline, 'Oh, there's Lily and Izzy, see you in the Great Hall Jamie!'

Oh, how I love taking the piss out of my dear brother, Evangeline said to herself as she ran over to join her two best friends who were walking through the courtyard.

In the distance she heard her brother yell, 'STOP BLOODY CALLING ME THAT OR I'LL HEX YOU!' Evangeline swirled round to see her brother glaring in her direction, she laughed.

'You know I'm only teasing you James. There is no need to over react.' she shouted across the courtyard, smugly. Evangeline retreated down the path, and began to follow the red head and the blonde that accompanied her. As she caught up on her best friends, she called after them.

'Hey! Lily, Izzy! Wait up!' Evangeline ran down towards the two friends who had halted at the summit of the hill. As Evangeline pulled up beside her friends, their smiles spread across their faces as they realised who it was.

'Hey Eva.' began Lily, who was carrying what looked like a small basket.

Evangeline smiled in response, but wondered why the two girls were not heading towards the Great Hall for lunch.

'So where are you guys headed?' she questioned, as she pulled out a liquorice wand from her pocket and started to chew on the end of it.

'We were going to visit Hagrid, he was going to show us some unicorns in the Forbidden Forest this afternoon after lunch.' answered Isabella.

Evangeline glanced at the Forbidden Forest, she loved Care of Magical Creatures, and going with Hagrid this afternoon would have benefited her studies. But her best friends didn't bother to tell her about this opportunity.

Disheartened, she responded slowly, 'Oh … Well have fun then, I'll be at quidditch practice.' She waved a short goodbye and began to trudge back up to the castle for some much needed lunch.

'Wait! Evangeline -listen, please- we were going to tell you, it just slipped our minds, and you have quidditch today anyway.' started Lily, who knew that Evangeline could get into a strop easily. Evangeline stopped, turned round and observed her friends, who had sorry looks on their faces.

'We're really sorry Eva, its just we thought you would be too occupied practising,' retorted Izzy, who started fumbling in her pocket. She pulled out a small brown kirby grip and pinned it in her hair.

Evangeline tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and said, 'It's fine, really. You go ahead, tell Hagrid I said hi and give Fang a cuddle for me.' She gave them a friendly wave and retreated back up the path, but she stopped and called after the two fifth years.

'See you guys at dinner!' and she gave them a glistening smile. Seeing their faces when she turned round reminded her what good friends she really had and they truly did care about her.

Tracing her steps she made ten minutes beforehand, she crossed the courtyard once again. She walked past groups of Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and a small huddle of sixth year Gryffindors. But Evangeline did not notice the five notorious Slytherins of fifth year following her.

'Look who it is. It's Potter.' That voice was too well known to be mistaken for anyone else's. The snobby, sneer obviously belonged to Bellatrix Black.

'What do you want, Black?' Evangeline snarled, without turning to face her nemesis. She kept on walking, not wanting to know what the sly Slytherin was planning behind her back.

'I just wanted to congratulate you for successfully putting yourself in death row number one.' leered Black, who paused to glare at Evangeline, who had turned and was eyeing the Slytherins for any sudden movement of attack, Bellatrix then continued her lecture.

'Don't ever think that you can put some petty curse on me and get away with it.' growled Bellatrix, her deep black eyes glaring fixedly into Evangeline's shockingly green ones. 'I am a pure blood, Potter. If you, a filthy blood traitor, dare ambush me in any way, you think wrong. That is unless -'

'- Pure blood, smure blood. Everyone has equal rights in this castle, Black. Don't you go thinking that you're anything special.' said Evangeline, cutting off Bellatrix's last few words. Evangeline was beginning to loose her temper.

Bellatrix cackled,'I wouldn't call you anything special either to be perfectly honest. I mean, you hang around with a halfbreed, two blood traitors, an insult to the Black family and ….a mudblood.'

Blood boiled inside of Evangeline, she whipped out her wand and stood at a threatening stance. 'DON'T YOU EVER INSULT MY FRIENDS!' she roared, her pulse racing.

'Oooooho, feeling a little, tinsy winsy bit emotional are we today Potter?' laughed the Slytherin, who in turn, also grabbed her wand from her pocket.

That insult hit Evangeline hard, it had unleashed the monster that raged inside her, waiting for its kill. With a quick flick of her wand and the almighty effort put into the spell, there was a loud noise, like a rumble of thunder but ten times magnified. There were a few screams, they echoed up into the sky. A bright light flashed across the courtyard and a grey smoke ascended from where Bellatrix had been standing, it engulfed her, concealing her from everyone's view. After that, everything was silent. All that was heard was the rustle of the wind in the trees and the birds singing overhead. A crowd was gathering, Evangeline could hear their shuffling feet determined to get closer to the scene. She stood there, wand in her hand, watching the space where Bellatrix had fallen, a blank look upon her face.

The stunned silence remained, Evangeline sensed that more and more people had evacuated themselves from the Great Hall. It would only be a moment of time, until the teachers arrived. Evangeline's eyes glanced round the courtyard, every archway was filled with students, watching, just watching to see if there was a final encore. But there wouldn't be.

It felt like years, the time Evangeline stood there, waiting to see if there was any anxious response from anyone. But no one said a word. No one said anything until…

'Evangeline, is that ….'

It was James, the big brother that was always there. Not this time. No. He didn't stop her from doing what she did, he couldn't have, nothing would have stopped her. Bellatrix had pushed her too far. He made a promise to her, that he would help her cope with all the anger that wallowed in her depths. That he would remind her, what she had to live for, and stay strong for. For what she shouldn't give up or throw away because of the many people that made her life so hard to live.

He didn't say anything after that, he just stood there, glancing between Evangeline and Bellatrix's tangled body on the ground. Evangeline could see the disappointment in his expression, the guilt that he was not there for Evangeline when she needed it most and most surprisingly, anger. She could see Sirius and Remus and Peter, all standing behind her brother. Shock. It was practically written across their faces. Evangeline watched them for a while, Sirius tried to get past her brother. But he stopped him. Threw his arm out in front of him and glared at him.

Evangeline's breathing got heavier, her mouth became dry, her palms sweating. Why hadn't anyone done something? The intensity became unbearable for her. Tears began to form in her eyes, what had she done? Why had she been so stupid? She let her wand slip from her grasp, it clattered on the stone pavement. She was finding it incredibly hard to breathe, the tears now streaming down her cheeks. She began to feel faint, her knees gave way from under her and she collapsed, sobbing into her hands.

'Angel …' came a call from the crowds. A pair of strong arms gathered her up, but she refused this comfort. With all her might, she pulled herself up off the ground and gently pushed away her rescuer. Her red-rimmed eyes, caught the sad and frightened expression that lay upon the holder's face. The tears kept coming, she turned and ran, ran as fast as her withering legs could carry her. She pushed her way through the crowds of staring students, not daring to look up.

Evangeline ran, to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Sobbing, she stopped to catch her breath, she could think of no other place to hide, the forest was magnificent, and grand. Thousand of kilometres wide, thousands of trees to hide behind. No on could find her here. She pulled herself together, took a deep breath, and began to dance her way between trees, over branches, keeping her eyes and ears alert for any sudden movements that might occur around her.

She ran for hours, stopping every so often to catch her breath and take a note of her surroundings. Her mind was going crazy, she kept stopping herself, thinking that what she was doing was wrong and turning back to run towards the castle. But every time, she kept turning around again and running further and further into the forest.

Darkness surrounded her, she could no longer see where she was running, so she reduced her pace to a walking speed. Night, the most dangerous time in the whole twenty four hour of a day and Evangeline was wandering the Forbidden Forest, alone and wandless. If something were to find her, she could not protect herself, her only way of survival was to run. And even then, it was hopeless. She had ran for at least seven hours, and did not recognise anything, her energy levels were low. Even when Hagrid was by her side, they did not breach the inner most parts of the forest.

She reached a breaking in the trees, the moon shone directly onto a bed of moss surrounded by bushes that were covered in deep red berries. A twig snapped. Evangeline's breath caught. She didn't know where to look, her eyes scanned the trees, but saw nothing. The snapping noises where getting closer, she backed into the berry bushes, her breathing quick and uneasy.

'Who's there?' she cried out, panicking. Her eyes still searching the dark undergrowth of the trees that engulfed her. She kept stumbling backwards.

'Ow!' she gasped, she lifted her hand up to her face. She had pricked her finger on one of the bushes. She had noticed the berries but the deadly thorns had remained camouflaged.

Before she could realise it, the snapping noise had stopped, she was too preoccupied with her injury. Her eyes wide, she scanned the trees surrounding her once again. She turned around, and a strong hand grabbed her. She screamed, like she was being murdered. Her voice echoed across the forest, her breath caught one last time, and before she fell onto the mossy grass that protected her from her fall, she caught a glimpse of deep grey blue eyes staring back at her.

I hope you liked it! It's not as long as some of the others, but I was just getting into my flow of writing again after such a big break. Reviews please!! Constructive criticism and what you think of the chapter, would be a great help. Maybe what you would like to happen in the later chapters? I'll let you decide (: Hope you are all having a good year so far! Tori xo