Chapter Eleven

I took your words,

And I believed,

In everything you said to me.

After apologising to her brother yesterday for unexpectedly pouncing on him and blaming him for her troubles with their mother, Evangeline felt that she was finally on good terms with everybody. Sirius still had those days when he would avoid her as much as possible, but she had got round this problem by trying not to spend as much time with him. Even this did not suffice as she missed his company terribly. Climbing the stairs to the owlery to give Herculia a letter to send home, Evangeline shivered and rubbed her gloved hands together. The winds had changed, and Winter was just around the corner even though the November had only just begun. There was an icy chill to the wind, causing Evangeline to acquire a rather red nose and wear more layers of clothing as to not catch a cold.

After reaching the top of the stairs and entering the owlery, she scanned the room for their owl. Mistakable as Herculia was, as she had brown feathers much like many of the other owls, Evangeline found her rather effortlessly. She walked through the room, attempting not to tread on the piles of droppings that blanketed the floor, but after a while she found that this attempt was quite purposeless. She reached Herculia, who was perched on a loose brick which protruded from the wall, reaching out a hand she stroked the owl, who hooted as if to greet her.

'Good afternoon, Herculia,' Evangeline smiled as she continued to caress the bird's feathers.

The bird emitted a loud hoot and began to nibble on Evangeline's finger.

Evangeline giggled and pulled her hand away from the owl, 'Sorry girl, not treats today,' she said as she fumbled in her pocket for the letter she wished to send, 'Here you go. Take this to mum and dad for me, and nip dad until he writes something worthwhile.'

Evangeline put the letter into Herculia's beak and ushered the bird into the air.

She watched the majestic bird fly through the air and out a broken window in the corner of the room, as Herculia disappeared Evangeline turned and traced back her steps to the door of the owlery. It was lunchtime, everyone had departed from the Great Hall after eating lunch and went their own separate ways. Remus and Izzy went to the library, they spent more and more time with each other after finally getting together at the party in the common room when Gryffindor won their first game of the season. Lily had to patrol the corridors, being a prefect she had many tasks and two of these were making sure peace was kept between pupils and docking points if anyone broke the rules. Evangeline was pretty sure James, Sirius and Peter were making a few Slytherin lives hell, but she decided not to join them as she had had her fair share that morning after she innocently gave Bellatrix Black a tomato for a nose. Yes, even after Evangeline had knocked Black out for four days it did not mean she payed her any more respect that what she normally would have.

She walked out the door of the owlery, not watching where she was going, 'Oh!' She looked up,'Hi Jacob, sorry for bumping into you,' she smiled apologetically.

Jacob Cairnryan was in Evangeline's year, a Ravenclaw. She got on with him very well, especially after she had been partnered with him in Defence against the Dark Arts in third year, they had been friends ever since. He didn't have the sense of humour or cheekiness about him that Sirius did, but he knew how to make people feel good about themselves and was genuinely pleasant to everyone.

Jacob returned the smile, 'It's okay Evangeline, it was as much my fault as it was yours, I wasn't watching were I was going.'

'I guess that makes two of us then,' Evangeline laughed, Jacob smiled. She looked at the ground, it was silent, an awkward silence, 'So … aren't you in Herbology next? That's were I am' she said to him.

'Yeah, I am,' he smiled, 'Want someone to go to class with?'

Evangeline grinned, 'That would be nice. Lily had corridors to patrol, James, Sirius and Peter are most likely pranking someone and Izzy and Remus were probably too busy with each other so I decided to write to my parents.'

'To be honest I would have expected you to have been pranking with Black and your brother, but obviously I was wrong,' Jacob admitted with a shrug.

'Well sometimes I like to get away from all the commotion. I do like a bit of peace and quiet,' Evangeline said.

'I know what you mean … Hang on a sec while I send this letter,' Jacob said as he pulled a letter out of his pocket and showed it to Evangeline and then he walked through the doorway of the owlery. Evangeline followed him, stopping in the doorway and leaning on the frame of it. She watched him intently as he put his letter into the beak of a black owl.

'I don't mean to be rude,'she began, 'But being a Ravenclaw do you not spend a lot of time in the library or studying? You know how Ravenclaws are supposed to be incredibly intelligent.'

Jacob laughed, and approached her as the black owl flew off, 'Not all Ravenclaws are bookworms. But even if we did spend more time studying, I doubt we would be as smart as you or that Lily Evans.'

'You're right, Lily is a very scintillating girl, isn't she. Who was the letter to then? I hope you weren't ordering dungbombs!' Evangeline teased him as they walked down the stairs.

'Oh no, just a letter to my brother. He's getting married in June, asked me to be the best man,' Jacob said proudly.

'Big brother?' she said to herself, not remembering who exactly his brother was, 'No way! Not Robbie! He's getting married! Who to?' Evangeline asked enthusiastically.

'Rachel McArthur, he was best friends with her the whole way through school.' Jacob said.

'I remember when Robbie was head boy, he caught James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and me out at midnight down in the kitchens, he didn't say a word to a teacher or even dock points! We've called him a legend ever since,' Evangeline smiled, 'Probably the best non-Gryffindor head boy ever!'

'I'll have to tell him that the pranksters of Gryffindor call him a legend! He was always going on about how ingenious your pranks were,' Jacob said as they began to cross the grounds towards the greenhouses, 'You aren't planning any at the minute are you?' he asked inquisitively.

'Not that I know of, no. James normally decides when we do a really big one. You know, ones that involve the whole school,' she thought for a moment, 'The last one we did was last year on April Fools Day.'

Jacob grinned, 'I remember that one! The teachers disappeared when they sat down on their chairs, now that I think back, so did the Slytherins. That was some pretty intense magic, NEWT level at least.'

'Most of it was Remus, but I helped out a bit. We just turned the furniture into a portkey,' She received a funny look from Jacob.

'Were did they get transported to?' he asked, his eyes narrowed in interest.

'Just the Forbidden Forest, although we were tempted to send the Slytherins further away, but we decided not to. Well, Remus did.' Evangeline confessed.

'You do spend an awful lot of time with those guys don't you,' Jacob acknowledged.

'Yes I do, 'Evangeline smiled, 'They're like my brothers but they can get annoying, that's why I also have female friends.'

'Oh, everyone's under the impression that you're dating Black or something,' Jacob said.

Evangeline blushed and glanced at the ground, 'Were did they get that idea from?'

'I think it's because you spend so much time together, but I haven't noticed the two of you together recently so …' Jacob said before trailing off.

'Well, we're not, we're just friends. That's it. Just friends.' Evangeline said quietly as she watched a couple of first years levitating their books.

'Right, well I think that maybe your friends are trying to get your attention,' Jacob said nodding over towards the stone wall that ran round the outside of the greenhouses.

Evangeline looked over and saw Lily and Izzy sitting on the wall, grinning like idiots as she and Jacob approached greenhouse number three. Evangeline rolled her eyes and turned to face Jacob again, 'I s'ppose I'll see you in class then.'

'Yeah, oh the joys of repotting Poisoned Spineroot!' Jacob said sarcasticly, 'See you.'

Evangeline smiled and walked over to Lily and Izzy, who were still seated on the wall with their bags abandoned below them, 'Hi guys,' She greeted them.

'So, Jacob Cairnryan. Nice catch Evangeline,' grinned Lily.

'What are you talking about? He's just my friend,' Evangeline said, rolling her eyes.

Yeah,well said friend is now approaching us,' noted Izzy who was watching something behind Evangeline.

'What?' Evangeline said, her face screwed in confusion. She turned and followed Izzy's gaze, she was right, Jacob was walking towards them.

'Evangeline!' he called as he got nearer, 'Evangeline, em, I was going to ask you .. are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?' Jacob said with a hopeful look on his face.

Evangeline looked at him, she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Izzy nudged her in the back, startling her, 'Oh I-I … Yes I am,' she said and smiled weakly.

Jacob grinned cockily, 'Do you wanna go with me? I understand if you don't …'

'I-eh-em … Sure,' Evangeline smiled, and chuckled nervously. Jacob was a really nice guy, her friend and she would have hated to see him disappointed, so she felt that she had no other option but to accept his invitation even though she wasn't quite looking forward to going with him … on a date.

'Great!' Jacob said rather loud and cheerfully, 'I'll see you in Herbology.' He smiled at her, nodded at Lily and Izzy and made his way up the path towards greenhouse four.

'Yeah … See you,' Evangeline said quietly, frowning in his direction as he continued to walk up the hill. She proceeded in watching him disappear out of sight, until her thoughts were over powered by loud-mouthed, girly giggling from behind her. She turned round to see Lily and Izzy smiling at her gleefully.

'Evie's got a boyfriend, Evie's got a boyfriend!' rhymed Izzy, who made up a dance to go with her ridiculous song.

'Please grow up Isabella. He is not my boyfriend,' Evangeline said, making sure her friends distinctly understood her.

'Okay, well I suppose after the first date he will be, ooh this is exciting! That means the only person we have to get set up with someone is Lily,' Izzy smirked, glancing suggestively towards Lily.

'Oh no you don't. I'm perfectly happy being single thank you very much,' Lily warned.

'So am I, but apparently Izzy doesn't seem to think so,' Evangeline said glaring at Izzy.

'Oh come on Evie! The last boyfriend you had was Fabien and that was last year! You don't know what you're missing out on,' Izzy informed them dramatically.

'Well thanks for pointing that out Izzy,' Evangeline growled, 'You know, I'm beginning to think that you being Remus' girlfriend is going to your head.' Lily chuckled at this statement.

'No, it's not actually. I just want to help you guys, I know that I am perfectly fine, well, I have the perfect boyfriend, so that must contribute to something. And you've been so different lately Evie, depressed in a way and having more fun would help you. I mean Remus definitely brightens up my day when he -'

'Too much information!' Lily said covering her ears.

Evangeline laughed at Lily's actions and then turned to Izzy, ' I haven't been depressed, things have just been difficult the last couple of weeks, people have been turning against me and I've fallen out with people, that's what's wrong. I'm not depressed,'

'Do you know what your problem is?' Izzy asked her, even though she would be answering her own question.

'I don't know Izzy. What is my problem?' Evangeline said, getting fed up with Izzy who was prying into every little bit of her life.

'Sirius Black.'

'W-What? How is Sirius my problem?!' Evangeline asked, surprised at Izzy's accusation.

'Izzy does have a point, Evie,' Lily said, looking at Evangeline apologetically.

Evangeline couldn't say anything, she just stood there gaping at her friends. She sighed and grabbed her bag, 'I'm sorry, but I don't have time for this crap.' she said stubbornly.

'Evie, just wait!' Izzy said, holding her Evangeline back, 'Let us explain what we mean,' she said, letting go of Evangeline and looking at her pleadingly.

'What we're trying to say is, every time Sirius acts horribly towards you you end up beating yourself up over it even though it's not your fault. You're making things your problem, when they're really his,' Lily explained.

'Exactly, haven't you noticed that when Sirius acts strangely towards you, that's when you end up being really angry and bad things happen,' Izzy said, adding to Lily's explanation.

'Well when I cursed Bellatrix it wasn't Sirius' fault, I wasn't angry at him then, it was her fault, she made me angry,' Evangeline said defending Sirius.

'We mean after that, like yesterday. When he ignored you at breakfast, and wouldn't give you your mail. Then you left, I'm presuming because of him and got really angry at what it said in the letter,' Lily said.

'Yeah well after that, he came out to see me in the rain and we sorted things out. What happened yesterday was just a one-off,' Evangeline said, still defending Sirius.

Izzy sighed, 'You're not for giving in are you?'

'Of course I'm not! Because it's not his fault,' Evangeline said, refusing to see that her friends were actually making sense.

'Evie, look at it this way, how does Sirius make you feel?' Lily asked, trying to help her friend grasp an understanding.

Evangeline's heart began to race, 'What do you mean?' she asked quickly.

'Does he make you feel angry or sad or happy?' Lily explicated.

Thoughts ran through Evangeline's head. He made her happy, when he told jokes, when they played pranks together, when he talked to just her making her feel like he cared about her and was interested in what she had to say and when he would give her compliments that no on else would. He made her sad when he never thought about anyone else's feelings; like all those girls he dated. He made her angry when he annoyed her just to make himself laugh, when he would make fun of her clumsiness, when he would play horrible pranks on people that never did anything to him (with the exception to Slytherins) and when he would date more than ten girls in a week and not think there was anything wrong with it. He made her angry with herself when he would ignore her for no apparent reason, but she would think that she did something wrong. He made her feel hopeless when he acted all brotherly and loving towards her, and she couldn't help but melt inside. He made her laugh, smile, cry, he made her feel like punching him. He made her feel … confused.

'Well?' Izzy asked.

'He-He makes me feel … confused,' Evangeline admitted.

'Confused?' Lily repeated, baffled by Evangeline's answer, 'How?'

'Well, when he's around he makes me laugh and smile, but then, sometimes he's just so annoying that I want to punch him and then there's other times when he makes me want to cry,' Evangeline declared, feeling a little awkward about the conversation.

'That's what we've been-'

'And then there's times when he does something, and it angers me. And then things build on top of that … making me even more angry and then every boils over … and something goes wrong,' Evangeline continued, her eyes darting from side to side, her breathing heavy.

'Evie? Are you-'

'Maybe it is his fault … but he makes me feel … like – like me. Apart from when I'm angry, then I feel like I need to throttle someone – OH MY LIFE IS SO CONFUSING!' Evangeline yelled frustratedly, throwing her hands in the air and then bringing them down and clutching her head.

'Evie, Evie calm down. It's okay we'll help you,' said Lily, who grabbed hold of Evangeline's arms to stop her from doing something rash.

'We'll always be here to help Evie,' said Izzy who began rubbing Evangeline's back to comfort her.

'That's what Sirius said,' Evangeline mentioned, her mind still being bombarded with stray thoughts.

'Sirius is right, but … maybe you should stay away from him for a while, until you feel better again,' Lily suggested.

'Are you saying that I'm not stable?' Evangeline scrutinized, narrowing her eyes in disgust.

'Oh don't be silly Evangeline, of course you are. But just to see if it makes any difference,' Izzy said.

'How exactly can I ignore him? He's like my … best guy friend. And James will wonder what is wrong,' Evangeline said.

'We didn't say you should ignore him, just not spend as much time with him,' said Lily.

'But then I'll miss him,' Evangeline said, Lily sighed, 'See, my life is confusing!' Evangeline said, aiming it at Lily.

'There are other people in the world Evie, you don't have to spend all of your time with the same four people,' Izzy said reasonably.

'Maybe you're right, maybe I should quit being a Maurauder for a while,' Evangeline suggested, following her suggestion with a feeble smile.

Izzy and Lily smiled at her, they knew that it was hard for her. After the fight with her mother, everything for Evangeline just went from bad to worse.

'Right, Herbology anyone?' grinned Izzy, who stooped down and grabbed her bag.

'Okay then, I guess we have to,' Evangeline grimaced, 'What is it today? Poisoned Spineroot?'

'Yes, it should be really interesting,' smiled Lily, who raced ahead of them, her arms filled with her books.

Izzy and Evangeline glanced at each other, and burst out laughing.

'So, do you think I should go with Jacob to Hogsmeade?' Evangeline asked Izzy as they dandered up the hill to the greenhouse where there class was held.

'Yes I do,' Izzy smiled, 'You could do with some fun,' and she wiggled her eyebrows.

'Eww, I do not want to know what you and Remus get up to,' Evangeline said pretending to look squeamish.

'I love the way he walks up behind me, wraps his arms around me and then kisses my cheek, and he's so gentlemanly and - '

'LA LALA LALALA,' Evangeline shouted, with her fingers in her ears, she took them out when she realised that Izzy wasn't babbling on about how amazing Remus was.

'I'm not going to stop you know,' Izzy said, and she stuck her tongue out, 'I love the way we always study together, and sometimes he would just randomly stop and kiss me or grab my hand -'

'I'm being serious,' Evangeline warned her.

'Technically, you're not. That's Sirius over there,' Izzy said and she pointed across the path towards where Sirius was following James into the greenhouse.

'That joke is so old,' Evangeline chuckled.

'It's not old enough to stop using, we'll just have to wait until Sirius … dies,' Izzy said, watching Evangeline to make sure that she did not offend her.

'You are so random. It'll be a while before Sirius dies put it that way,' Evangeline said as they approached the greenhouse.

'What do you mean?' Izzy asked, as she followed her best friend down the path.

'He's a fighter and he never gives up,' Evangeline explained.

'I guess he is isn't he, I mean all that stuff with his family, that must have been really hard,' Izzy said sadly.

'Yeah, it was. H-He used to come and talk to me about it, sometimes he got upset, because he loves his brother and he doesn't want him to become a Death Eater,like the rest of his relatives,' Evangeline said quietly.

'I guess it was horrible then,' Izzy said frowning.

'Have you finished going on about Remus yet? I was hoping that if I changed the subject you might forget what you were talking about, so what's the verdict?' Evangeline asked.

'Oh no I haven't finished yet!' joked Izzy.

'Right, I'm off!' Evangeline laughed, ran down the path and into the greenhouse.

'WAIT! Did I mention that he has really soft hands?' Izzy shouted, as she ran after her best friend.

'And did I tell you that I very much prefer stubble than a clean shave?' she said as she entered the greenhouse.

Izzy stood in the doorway of the greenhouse, a class of around twenty people stood quietly behind their desks, staring at the girl who had just burst in. Evangeline had taken her seat and found it very hard not to burst out laughing.

'Um, hi everyone,' Izzy said and she smiled feebly at Madame Sprout.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!! REVIEWS!! I love them! Absolutely adore them (: And will love everyone who does review, 'cos they make me happy (: Izn't Izzy a dipstick! x] A BIG THANK YOU TO MY REVIEWERS!! Tori xox