A/N I've made a few changes to some of the chapters, so I'm sorry if you are confused about what's going on in this one, you may have to read a few of the earlier chapters again! After agreeing with several of my reviewers, who told me that Animagus' could not choose the animal in which they want to transform, the animal is solely chosen by what fits their character traits, I have therefore picked at a few of the chapters in which Evangeline mentions transforming into an Animagus, and based them on the facts that J.K gives us, not my own. Sorry for the inconvenience and my own mistake!
Chapter Seventeen
Your arms are my castle,
Your heart is my sky,
They wipe away tears that I cry,
The good and the bad times,
We've been through them all,
You make me rise when I fall.
'Angel, you dropped this,' Sirius said, pulling a small silver locket out of his pocket and held it out in front of him, his other hand still holding onto Evangeline's.
'I don't want it,' Evangeline mumbled sniffing occasionally, she kept her gaze firmly on the scenery surrounding her, trying not to think about how she had been cheated and lied to, 'Throw it in the lake for all I care,' she said viciously.
'Do you want to talk about it?' Sirius asked her softly, 'Maybe you should …get it off your chest.'
'I know I should,' Evangeline said impatiently, turning to face him and pulling her hand away from his, 'But … I don't know – I just don't know … why he did that to me,' she said breathlessly, tears beginning to fall plentiful and predominant down her cheeks, 'I don't know what I did to deserve it,' she said sobbing and she brought her hands up to conceal her face.
'Sssh,' Sirius ushered her, he slowly and gently wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to his chest. He cradled her body tight against his own, not wanting to let go. Evangeline felt safe, with Sirius' arms around her she felt that no one could scathe her. She laid her head under the crook of his neck, the tears rolling down her cheeks saturating his robes.
'It's okay Angel,' Sirius whispered against her hair, his hands rubbing her back in a comforting motion, 'You don't have to tell me anything until you're ready to, I won't force it out of you,' he said calmingly, 'I promise.'
It appeared quite unaccustomed to Evangeline how Sirius' voice seemed to have a pacifying effect on her, her breathlessness was no longer, her tears had stopped tumbling down her cheeks and all of the low-spirited thoughts running through her head ceased. For a while she felt snug and comforted, listening to Sirius' heart beat as her head rested on his chest, his scent evoking her. She had never noticed how authentically pleasant he smelled, a calm musky cinnamon, presumably his aftershave, and the smell of his quidditch robes in which he wore, though they were slightly perspiring it made no difference to how exalting this aroma was. She distinctly remembered this smell from before, though could not understand where. Her mind was blank, she found it hard to grasp any sense of perceptive. She fought against the emptiness, in an attempt to regain her conscious and apprehensive mind.
Her body tensed as she flickered through her memories, finally coming to the precise one which revealed to her the actuality. Startled by the veracious vision she jerked her head up, overlooking the fact that Sirius' chin was resting on her head, angered at her inapt action she uttered a groan and mumbled, 'Sorry Sirius,' whilst rubbing rubbing her head.
Sirius smiled softly down at her as she stared at the ground, mouthing swear words about her clumsiness, 'It's okay,' he said reaching out his hand towards her chin and gently lifting it up so he could look her in the eye, 'But are you okay?' he asked, watching her solicitously.
Evangeline watched Sirius' mouth as he asked her if she was okay, but she was too preoccupied with her thoughts to answer. She glanced up and gazed into his dense grey eyes that were twinkling in the sun, memorising as they were they seemed to take her deeper and deeper away from realisation. They were almost hypnotic. She couldn't stop staring into them. Even though the memory was in the past, she knew it was right. Maybe she was in love with him, but kept refusing to believe it.
She watched as his expression grew confused and he began to speak again, Evangeline snapped out of her trance, 'Angel? Are you okay?' Sirius asked smiling awkwardly at her.
Evangeline smiled feebly up at him, 'I – I think I am,' she concluded and then paused before speaking again, 'A – And I think I'm ready to talk about what happened, 'she said quietly, 'I don't want to bottle it up … If I get angry I might murder him,' Evangeline confessed.
'Personally I don't think you'll have to, someone might have got there before you,' Sirius said causally, attempting not to give away that he intended to pound all the lies and cheating out of Jacob. He quickly changed the subject, 'You talk, I'll listen,' he said smiling as they began to walk through the long grass.
Evangeline walked by his side, silently thinking before she began to tell Sirius what happened before the game, 'Well … after I left the Great Hall I went up to Ravenclaw Tower to find him – I don't want to say his name -' she said, Sirius nodded in agreement, 'I asked for some sixth year to fetch him for me, I stood outside for ages, he definitely took his time, 'Evangeline paused, thinking with a disgusted expression on her face, 'I don't even want to know what he was doing. Eventually he appeared, just as I was about to walk off. He seemed fine, normal and didn't treat me any differently than what he normally would, in fact he was more … eager if you know what I mean,' Evangeline said, glancing at Sirius to see whether or not he understood her.
'Yes,' he said, 'I do, you're saying he was more full on, more … stimulated.' Sirius said intelligibly, before glaring into open space, 'I don't even want to suggest to you what he might have been doing,' he snarled. Evangeline's expression went blank, Sirius glanced apologetically at her, 'Sorry, 'he said, 'Carry on.'
'I still had to get my broom from our dorms, so I said goodbye to him and ran off up the stairs,' Evangeline continued, 'I grabbed my broom, by this time it was only about ten to ten. But I met Lily, Izzy and Emilie in the corridor and we talked for a while about the match,' she said as they approached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, 'After that I just made my way out of the castle towards the pitch, I was walking along the path that runs around the Great Hall and – and I heard giggling …' Evangeline said, but she couldn't finish.
'It's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to,' Sirius reassured her and comfortingly put his arm over her shoulder, pulling her towards him.
'No … No, I want to,' Evangeline said, automatically putting her arm around Sirius' waist. She knew it would be hard to tell him what had happened with Jacob, she didn't ever want to remember it, but she knew that if she could get it off her chest then maybe it would never bother her again, 'I looked round the corner a-and seen t-two people,' she stuttered, her breath beginning to catch in her throat again.
'Listen Angel, you really don't have to tell-'
'No, I need to, it's just I – I don't want the memory hassling me … I just feel like I need to get rid of it,' Evangeline explained, trying to calm herself down. She breathed slowly and steadily in order to stabilise herself again, then she continued, 'I didn't know who they were, I just though they were two random horny pupils, that was until they b-broke a-apart and I-I seen J-Jacob,' Evangeline sniffed, her eyes beginning to swim in pools of tears.
'Oh Angel,' Sirius said pitifully and pulling her into a hug, 'Don't worry, it's over now, he can never do that to you again,' he said soothingly, 'All you need to do is forget about him.'
'It's harder than you think,' Evangeline sobbed, 'He humiliated me, he cheated and lied to me and I can't forget about that.'
'But Angel, it's going to hurt you if you keep hanging onto it,' Sirius reasoned with her, 'Everyone gets cheated on, and you just happened to find out in the worst possible way, but you've got to let go.'
Evangeline didn't reply, she just rested her head on his shoulder, sniffing occasionally. Sirius was getting frustrated with her, why couldn't she just see that there was other people in the world who cared about her; him being one of them. As they were alone he was extremely tempted to tell her how her felt, but after thoroughly thinking it through he decided that it probably wasn't the best time. After finding out that Jacob was cheating on her, Evangeline would obviously be fragile and discovering that one of her best friends was in love with her would result in making her emotions even more delicate. He knew he couldn't make her love him like the way he loved her, but he still had the option of telling her when it was the right moment; for now all he could be was her saviour.
She was confused; a frequent occurrence. She couldn't evaluate whether or not she had just used Jacob as a cover up. To hide her alleged feelings for Sirius. When he had hexed Jacob, she felt hatred towards him for acting so childishly, but she forgave him with no doubt in her mind once he had apologised. Amortentia was never wrong, Evangeline had loved Sirius even before she had recognized this feeling herself.
'Sirius?' Evangeline said, lifting her head off of his shoulder to glance at him.
'Yes?' Sirius asked as they walked up the path towards the castle, the exact spot where Evangeline had found Jacob with Cerys.
'Promise me you won't hurt Jacob,' Evangeline said unwillingly, she did want Jacob to pay for what he had done to her, but she decided that violence probably wasn't the best resort.
Sirius smiled, 'I'm sorry Angel, but I don't make promises I won't keep.'
Evangeline managed to chuckle, out of pure spite that she knew that he, James, Remus and Peter obviously wouldn't let Jacob get away without some form of torture, 'Just don't decapitate him,' she said, smiling properly for the first time in hours.
'Actually, I like that idea,' Sirius said, gazing around thoughtfully.
'Sirius!' Evangeline snapped.
'Okay, I'm sorry, but you suggested it,' Sirius said grinning. Evangeline rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but laugh. 'Angel?'
'Hmm?'
'Erm, you know this ball thing coming up at Christmas?'
'Yeah, the Masquerade Ball.'
'Do you want to come with me? I mean you don't have to … it was just an idea.'
_-_-_
It was Thursday evening. The Maurauders were occupying the sitting area in front of the fire, and where busily chatting away quietly to each other, leaning over the coffee table. Occasionally, one of them would look up and glance around the room suspiciously. It was half past eleven, the common room was empty. But they were expecting someone. A door creaked open, James glanced up to the balcony, the person's shadow elongated over the wall as they padded down the spiral stairs. Finally the person disappeared from view.
'We'd better put the map away, it might not be her,' James whispered, as he spoke these words Sirius pulled out his wand and pointed it as the map, 'Mischief managed,' he muttered.
'Right Moony, your the prefect, go and see who it is,' James commanded as he leaned back in the armchair.
'Yes sir, right away sir,' Remus mocked him, 'You're not my boss James.' The werewolf quietly walked over to the summit of the stairs, his wand held high, 'Show yourself, I am a prefect and you are out past curfew,' he barked.
Someone chuckled from up the stairs, 'You told me to come down past curfew, you buffoon!'
Remus shone his wand up the stairs to reveal a tall, slim, raven haired girl approaching him with a grin on her face, he turned round and called into the common room, 'It's Evie.'
'Evening Remy,' Evangeline said as she reached his side, 'I see the Maurauders are using you to their advantage,' she said, 'You know if I were you I would show them who's boss and stick them all in detention,' she chuckled as they walked into the common room.
'Now that is a good idea,' Remus said cunningly, 'It wouldn't last though and it would get boring without them.'
'Well you'll have me,' Evangeline exclaimed, smiling broadly at him.
'Yeah, but you're a girl,' Remus stated.
Evangeline's smiled vanished, 'How nice of you to notice Remus. No one would ever have guessed, what with my protruding feminine features,' she said sarcasticly as they reached the sitting area where the other Maurauders where seated around the table.
'Did I just hear something about protruding feminine feature?' James asked in a bemused tone.
'TITS!' Sirius shouted, and he doubled over in fits of laughter. The others just gaped at him as he rolled around on the floor laughing at his own outburst.
'Okay, who was the idiot that fed him sugar?' Evangeline asked as she sat down beside Sirius, who had just about calmed down from his hysterics, 'And can I ask why?!'
'Honestly, we try not to,' Remus said as he put away his wand and sat down on the armchair closest to the blazing fire.
'C'mon guys, it was funny!' Sirius said chuckling as he threw his arm around Evangeline.
'Sirius, stop groping me,' Evangeline said, the corners of her mouth twitching as she held back a smirk.
'What! I'm not touching you, look!' Sirius said as he jerked his arm away from her, and jumped onto his feet, looking flabbergasted at her accusation.
Evangeline laughed, 'I know you weren't Sirius,' she said smiling at him, 'I just wanted to see your reaction.'
'Oh you're a funny one aren't you?' Sirius said as he sat back down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders again, she in turn rested her head on his collarbone, 'I would never grope you, not unless you wanted me to, but then again that is entirely out of the question,' Sirius said quietly, but not quietly enough.
Evangeline chuckled as she glanced over and saw her brother watching at her and Sirius, 'James is glaring at you,' she said to Sirius, who looked over to find James staring at him with raised eyebrows.
'Nothing's going on, we're just friends,' Sirius assured James.
'Okay, can we just get to the reason that we're down here please,' Evangeline said, glancing at the four Maurauders.
'Right well, we're going to be heading to the room of requirements,' Remus stated, 'We can hardly start firing spells across the Common room. Even though we're only for using the Patronus charm, we'll still make a lot of noise.'
'What are we using a Patronus charm for? Aren't you supposed to be helping me become an Animagus?' Evangeline questioned him interrogatively.
'It'll determine what animal you'll transform into, 'Remus told her, 'And anyway, the potion takes about a month to brew, I started it last week so it should be ready just before Christmas.'
'That'll be a great Christmas present,' Evangeline smiled and began to walk towards the exit of Gryffindor tower, she turned back and looked at the Maurauders, 'Well come on, what are you waiting for?'
'You need the invisibility cloak,' James said, 'Unless you want to get caught.'
'Oh dear brother, you clearly do not know the extent to your very own sister's magical abilities,' Evangeline smiled proudly, 'I can cast Disillusionment charms.'
'You what?' Remus said, gaping at her bewilderedly, 'That's NEWT level!'
'That doesn't mean to say I can't attempt them Moony,' Evangeline retorted, she pulled out her wand, tapped it three times on her head and she immediately vanished, the portrait swung open and within a flash it slammed shut again.
'I hate to say it James, but your sister's got style,' Peter said, gazing inspiringly towards the portrait hole in which Evangeline had just disappeared out of.
'Shut it Wormtail,' James snapped and strutted towards the portrait hole.
About half an hour later...
'I can't see it anywhere! And we've been looking everywhere!' James whispered, annoyed that they had still not found the Room of Requirements.
'Watch where you're going Wormtail! That was my foot,' Sirius complained from under the invisibility cloak, which he was sharing with three other boys.
'Sorry Padfoot, but I can't actually see where I'm going!' Peter snapped.
'Open your eyes then!' Sirius responded angrily.
'It's dark!' Peter hissed.
'Just shut up!' Remus growled, 'Evie has probably found the stupid room by now, because we've been going round in circles ...James!'
'This isn't my fault!' James said exasperatedly.
'You have the map! And obviously you can't read it,' Remus said irritatedly.
'Are you saying I'm unintelligent?!' James shouted.
A chortled giggle came out of nowhere, 'Clearly that's what he's trying to tell you James,' said a voice.
The four boys threw off the invisibility cloak, glancing around, they expected to see Evangeline standing in the corridor, but she wasn't. They looked at each other and shrugged, maybe they were imagining things.
'Ahem,' came a voice from behind them, they spun around dreading the thought that McGonagall had found them up after curfew, but it was Evangeline who stood in an open door watching them curiously with her eyebrow cocked in suspicion, 'Did it ever occur to you that there might be a good reason to look behind you?' she asked, 'Apparently, by the blank expressions on all of your faces, the answer is no.'
'How long where you standing there for?' James asked her, as the Maurauders filed into the Room of Requirements.
'Around ten minutes, but after a while my legs got tired of waiting on you so I sat down,' Evangeline confessed shrewdly.
'Well why didn't you tell us you were there?!' James snapped at her.
Evangeline smiled and shrugged, 'It was fun to watch,' she said plainly and closed the door behind her, 'Okay, let's begin. What do I do first?' she asked excitedly.
'Right, well the Patronus charm has a pretty easy incantation and effortless wand movements, but that might not be the problem,' Remus explained to her, 'To perform a Patronus, you need to focus on a happy memory, the happier it is, the stronger the Patronus will be.'
'Okay, so I just think of a happy memory,' Evangeline concluded, a little baffled by how elementary the charm sounded.
'Yes, I'll leave you to think of one,' Remus smiled and sat down on a stool that the room had provided, the other Maurauders had made themselves comfortable on a large three seater sofa.
Evangeline thought for a while, before finally deciding on the perfect memory, 'Okay, Remy, I'm ready,' she said.
'The incantation is Expecto Patronum, there is no wand movements really, it's like when your jinxing someone actually, you just want to hit the preferred target,' Remus said, and he demonstrated, by hitting Sirius with a tickling charm, causing him to roll around in fits of giggles.
Evangeline chuckled at the sight, 'Let's see if it'll work then,' she said smiling nervously. She hated practising spells in front of her brother, he always made snide remarks when something went wrong, causing her to get angry and either storm out of the room or hex him.
'Oh and don't worry, it took James about five times before he finally got it,' Remus added quietly so that the other Maurauders could not hear him.
Evangeline smiled, 'Thanks Remy.' She turned around, focusing on her happy memory, rewinding it every time it finished. She pointed her wand out in front to her and yelled, 'EXPECTO PATRONUM!' A silvery mist came spilling out of the end of her wand, but no animal, Evangeline frowned.
'Aw, unlucky Angel,' Sirius called over from the massive sofa, 'Keep trying!' he said, clapping his hands.
Evangeline smiled over at him. Remus got up and walked over to her, 'You're doing everything right, just focus on your memory harder, that might help,' he said.
'No, wait, I think I'll change my memory, does that effect anything?' Evangeline asked him.
'Nope, not in the slightest,' Remus said as he sat down on the wooden stool again.
'Okay, here goes,' Evangeline said, raising her wand again and concentrating on the different memory, she took a deep breath, 'EXPECTO PATRONUM!' she shouted, her wand jerked slightly and out of it came a lioness, running at breakneck speed, her jaws parted slightly. She slowed down and lumbered around Evangeline, her feet padding in mid air. 'Wow,' was all Evangeline could utter.
Clapping and wolf whistling erupted from the sofa, and Evangeline was toppled over by three very overexcited teenagers, 'Well done sis!' James exclaimed, thumping her on the back.
'That was amazing! Gosh, you're an auror in the making I can tell you that!' Sirius said excitedly, while pulling her into a one armed hug.
'Well done Evangeline,' Peter squeaked, patting her on the arm in congratulations.
'Thanks guys,' Evangeline said appreciatively, 'That was amazing, and Remus, thank you ever so much for teaching me!' she said hugging him.
James yawned loudly, 'I think I should go to bed, I wonder what time it is?'
'Time to get a watch!' Sirius and Evangeline said simultaneously, before bursting into peals of laughter.
'Very funny you two,' James said, rolling his eyes at their childish behaviour, 'Here Moony what time is it?'
'Five past twelve,' Remus said, glancing at his watch.
What?!' Sirius said, 'We weren't in here that long were we? Well any who I need my beauty sleep, so I'm off to bed,' he said exiting the Room of Requirements.
'But Sirius you need the cloak!' James called after him.
'No I don't! I'm an Animagus you dolt!' Sirius said, which was followed by a loud bark.
'Fine, Peter just … - he's gone as well,' James complained, 'I hope he gets eaten by Mrs Norris,' he said and swung the invisibility cloak over his head, vanishing instantly.
'It's just you and me now Remy,' Evangeline said picking up her jacket which was hung over the back of an armchair.
'I guess it is Evie,' Remus smiled as they walked out of the Room of Requirements, the door immediately disappearing behind them, 'Evie?'
'Yes Remy,' Evangeline answered as they began to walk down the corridor.
'What was your memory? I know all of the guys, I can be your secret keeper,' Remus said smiling hopefully.
Evangeline grinned, 'I'm sorry Remy, but I can't tell you.'
Hope you liked the chapter!! And sorry for the blooper with the Animagus stuff (: REVIEWS!! Love them incredibly x] That you to all of my friendly reviewers, who just keep on reviewing; I appreciate it so much! Tori xox