Chapter Eighteen

Like the rising tide,

Beating hearts grow but never die,

Simplify,

I'll stand by your side,

Close my eyes,

Hope will never die.

'Come on Evie,' Remus whined as they walked to Transfiguration, 'You're going to have to tell me sooner or later.'

Evangeline laughed, 'What makes you think I'll give in?' she asked him, but stopped walking and began to stare at him blankly, she raised her eyebrow, 'Why are you so eager to know anyway?'

Remus smiled innocently at her, 'I guess I just want to know,' he said, but then answered the questioning expression on her face, 'I want to see if there is any connection between everyone's memories,' he said, but he knew fine rightly that wasn't the reason. He had known how Sirius felt about Evangeline for quite a while now, and he knew that it was killing his friend; how he couldn't find the right moment to tell her. Remus wanted to know whether Evangeline's memory involved Sirius or not, at least then he would have a rough idea of how she felt as well.

'Is that all?' Evangeline asked him confusedly as they started to walk again. James, Sirius and Peter had been kept behind in Charms for levitating Professor Flitwick and not letting him down for most of the lesson, so that left her and Remus to walk to Transfiguration together. Remus had found that this would be the perfect opportunity to try and weasel Evangeline's memory out of her, but much to his dismay, she still resisted his attempts.

'So you're going to tell me now?' Remus asked with excitement, he had spent ages trying to figure out what her memory was; he knew James', his memory was when he won his first quidditch match as Gryffindor captain. Sirius', Remus smirked when he recalled Sirius telling him, his was the night that he and Evangeline spent in the kitchens a couple of months ago and Peter's was when he, James, Evangeline, Sirius and Remus himself first met each other on the train to Hogwarts.

'No I am not!' Evangeline said, Remus frowned, she definitely wasn't going to give in.

They entered McGonagall's classroom, where she was sitting on her desk in her Animagus form. Evangeline smirked towards Remus as he went and sat down, it would only be around two weeks until she herself became an Animagus. The cat form of McGonagall jumped off of the desk, transforming into her usual self.

'Good afternoon, Miss Potter,' McGonagall said,and then motioned towards Remus, 'Mr Lupin. It's not like you to be the first ones in class; or with out Mr's Potter, Black and Pettigrew, for that matter,' she said, glancing between them suspiciously.

'They had to stay behind for Professor Flitwick,' Evangeline explained as she took her seat in front of Remus, 'Detentions, I'm assuming.'

'Well I suppose that is likely, but then it is most unlike you not to be with them,' McGonagall said, as more students began to file into the room, 'Okay class, today we shall be revising over switching spells,' she informed the class as they took their seats, 'I have set questions on the board, please work in silence, as I have a lot of work to complete myself,' she said as she pointed her wand towards the board, questions began to appear.

Evangeline sighed, she was hoping to be practising some spells, and was slightly disappointed when McGonagall announce that they would be making notes. She pulled some parchment out of her bag, found her eagle owl quill that Remus had got her for her birthday last year and began to scribble down the questions that her professor had set.

She was just about to answer the question a) Give the incantation and b) the specific wand movements for the switching spell when the sound of roaring laughter caught her attention, the room was silent, making this laughter even more noticeable. She glanced towards the door of the classroom, to see James, Sirius and Peter sauntering casually into the room with huge grins on their faces.

'Sorry we're late Professor,' James began, ruffling his hair when he saw Lily, who was sitting at the front, 'We got -'

'Yes, yes Potter, your sister has already taken the liberty of informing me of your lateness,' McGonagall said briskly, 'Please sit down and commence answering these questions,' she said motioning towards the blackboard, she then sat back down at her desk, picked up her quill and began to scratch away.

The three boys ambled over to their desks, Sirius taking his seat beside Evangeline, 'Alright Angel?' he greeted her, before taking one of her sheets of parchment and pulling a quill out of a pocket in his robes.

'I guess,' Evangeline smiled, 'Do you ever have any of your own parchment? It's because of you I'm running out!' she said, poking him in the ribs with her wand. She put her wand back into her pocket, leaned down and began to scrawl the answers to the questions.

'Sorry, I'll buy you some for Christmas,' Sirius said chuckling, 'And would you please stop poking me!' he said rubbing the spot that Evangeline had jabbed with her wand.

Evangeline looked up, 'I'll poke you as much as I want, thank you very much,' she said , poking him once more, and laughing triumphantly.

'I'm sorry, but that really is unacceptable,' Sirius said smirking impishly, his wand drawn, 'Now, I know how sensitive to tickles you are, I could easily jinx you,' he said, prodding her with his out held wand.

Evangeline's eyes widened, 'You wouldn't, oh please don't Sirius,' she gasped, 'Not in the middle of class!' she whispered skeptically.

Sirius chuckled at her expression, 'Okay, I won't,' he promised her. But they didn't know that James and Remus had been listening in on their whole conversation, and were cunningly planning to jinx Evangeline and Sirius themselves, just for the fun of disrupting the class.

It was halfway through class, and it was moderately silent. A few people where mumbling to their partner, others just working in silence, Sirius and Evangeline where quietly debating about whether or not they would go home for Christmas. They sat smiling and laughing reposefully, Sirius staring at her longingly every time Evangeline giggled at something he said. But they both sat unaware that James and Remus where about to jinx both of them into fits of giggles.

'Okay, when McGonagall isn't looking,' James whispered to Remus who glanced over to their Professor, who was currently staring untrustingly around the room, she looked down and returned to her work.

James and Remus grinned at each other, they drew both of their wands, pointed them at Sirius and Evangeline and quietly mumbled the tickling charm. Immediately, Evangeline began to twitch, a whimper escaping from her, then she hissed, 'Sirius, you promised not to!'

'I didn't do anything!' Sirius replied, he too was jerking in an attempt to stop the tickles, 'I have them too!'

'No this is too much!' Evangeline said stifling her laughter, Sirius had already began to laugh, and she was now finding it hard to resist, she let out a loud giggle as the tickling charm got worse.

She and Sirius were now twitching and laughing uncontrollably, and they were receiving many stares from the rest of their classmates. James and Remus were smirking behind them, admiring their handiwork. Professor McGonagall glanced up to see where all the commotion was coming from, she glared in Sirius' and Evangeline's direction, 'Miss Potter, Mr Black, you are supposed to be working in silence,' she said sternly, emphasising the last word greatly.

But still, Evangeline and Sirius continued to laugh as thought they had not heard their Professor, McGonagall was beginning to loose her patience, got out of her chair and shouted, 'POTTER, BLACK! What did I just tell you?!' she said irritatedly.

'Professor, it won't stop!' Evangeline cried between giggles, 'It's a tickling charm,' she explained before going into peals of laughter again.

Professor McGonagall sighed dramatically, swished her wand muttering the counter-charm, 'Please return to your work, quietly,' she said sitting down, 'And I will find out who had the nerve to disrupt this class sooner or later,' she warned the rest of the pupils.

Evangeline and Sirius instantly spun round in their seats to glare at Remus and James, who they knew were the culprits of their uncontrollable laughter, 'What did you do that for?!' Evangeline whispered an annoyed tone in her voice.

'C'mon sis, it was funny!' James said amusedly, 'You looked like you were enjoying yourself,' he teased her, Evangeline glared mirthlessly at him.

'And anyway the unnecessary flirting was becoming unbearable,' Remus said, not looking up from his work. Evangeline glanced towards him, shocked and annoyed that Remus would outburst about something like that, 'I wish the pair of you would just get it over and done with,' he finished bluntly.

Evangeline felt the blood rush to her face, consciously aware that she was blushing furiously, she quickly turned round, wanting to avoid any questions about why she had gone bright red. She quietly and diligently returned to finishing the questions on the board, she could feel Sirius watch her questionably as she rapidly scratched away on the parchment, not looking up once. Once she had completed the work set, she got out of her seat and walked over to McGonagall's desk, 'Professor, I've finished the questions,' she informed her Head of House.

'Very well Miss Potter, could you please practise the spell in your free time,' her Professor suggested, 'You can get on with whatever essays you have been set in other classes,' McGonagall said.

Evangeline was returning to her seat when McGonagall interrupted the silence, 'That is the end of the class, pleas finish those questions and I want everyone to practise the spell in their free time,' she said to the class, and then she turned to face Evangeline's side of the room, 'Mr Potter, Mr Black, may I please speak to you once everyone has left,' she said, Sirius and James glanced at each other bewilderedly.

Evangeline quickly packed away her belongings, noticing that Remus had already left the classroom, she ran out of the room, hearing beginning of what McGonagall was saying to Sirius and her brother, 'There has been rumours circulating that the pair of you have been setting off dungbombs in the Slytherin Dungeons …' she ran down the corridor after Remus. She came to a stop beside him, grabbed his arm and pulled him round so that he was facing her, 'What was that for?' she asked him stiffly.

'What was what for?' Remus asked her, attempting to act baffled, but Evangeline got the better of him.

'You know exactly what Remus John Lupin,' Evangeline snapped, 'Why did you do that?' she asked him eagerly.

Remus looked at her apologetically, 'Look I'm sorry for doing that okay, but you don't know how annoying it's getting!' he said, 'It's obvious you really like him Evie, why don't you just-'

'I don't want to ruin our friendship Remy,' Evangeline reasoned with him, 'I don't even know if he feels the same way … does he?' she asked him, 'Please Remus, it would really help,' she said pleadingly.

'I'm sorry Evie, but it's not my place to say,' Remus said honestly as they began to walk to the Great Hall for dinner.

'What if I told you my memory?' Evangeline asked him, blackmail, the best way of get something in return, but Remus laughed at this request.

'So you're offering to tell me now?' he said, grinning, 'Well I'm very sorry but I am not accepting that offer, I can find out some other way, it's bound to be evident,' he said as they entered the Great Hall.

'How about I tell you anyway?' Evangeline suggested, 'You're bound to find out, and I'd prefer it if you heard from me, not someone else,' she said, 'But promise not to tell anyone.'

Remus smirked, he would never have thought that Evangeline would offer to tell him, but here she was doing exactly that, 'Okay then, I promise.'

Evangeline sighed, 'Well it was over the summer, you know, that time at the beach -'

'Ooh,' Remus said grinning at her, he remembered it perfectly.

Flashback to July 1974

It was sweltering hot, and we had all resorted to just lying in the sun; well apart from Sirius and Evie who were splashing about in the sea like small children. I propped myself up to watch them, Sirius was just after picking Evangeline up and throwing her further out to sea, her reaction was hilarious, I have never heard anyone yell so loud in my life!

'What was that?' James asked; who had just awoken from his nap.

'Just Evie yelling at Sirius for throwing her in the sea and soaking her clothes completely,' I explained to him, he rolled his eyes in return.

Evie was now running towards where we were lying, she really was dripping wet, she sighed, 'I'm going to change into my bikini, that idiot threw me in the water,' she complained and fumbled through the beach bag, pulling out a floral bikini, 'If anyone wonders where I am, tell them I'm in the beach hut,' she said and ran off towards the small wooden whitewash hut behind us.

I looked up, and began to watch the sea washing back and forth over the sand, Sirius was casually slumbering back up the beach, his 'physique' catching the eyes or our female neighbours, who began giggling and whispering amongst each other.

'What happened you?' I asked him as I noticed that his hair was trickling water down his face.

'Angel pushed me under,' Sirius replied smirking, 'Where'd she go anyway?'

'To change into her bikini,' I replied.

'Oh,' Sirius replied, avoiding eye contact with me, it was obvious as he began to look in the complete opposite direction.

We didn't speak for a while, just gazed out to sea. The girls beside us tried to get our attention, ironically by taking off their clothes to reveal skimpy bikinis and swimsuits. I was extremely surprised at Sirius' reaction, normally he would jump into anything involving girls, but when one of them asked us to join them, his reply was hilarious;

'No thanks, if I ever want ten prostitutes in bikinis, I'll call you,' he said without a caring whatsoever what the girl thought of him.

I actually couldn't help but laugh. By this time Evie had returned, wearing her bikini, 'What's so funny Remy?' she asked me and sat down beside me, I was consciously aware that Sirius was staring at her.

'Sirius just called those girls that were sitting beside us prostitutes,' I said chuckling.

'Good, you should see them glaring at me every time I walk past them,' Evie said, watching the girls splash about in the water, 'I don't even know them.'

Personally I knew exactly why they glared at her, because she was really good friends with the hot guy with shoulder length black hair, dense grey eyes and the perfect body. Ha! They were just jealous.

'I think they're just jealous Evie,' I said to her.

'Obviously, not one of them would look remotely good, even if they tried,' Sirius said.

'That wasn't what I meant Sirius,' I said smirking across a him, 'I mean they're jealous because she's friends with you. They keep staring at you.'

Evie giggled, 'I bet that's what it is!' she said, but shivered at soon as the wind picked up, 'Oh it's cold, do you know where I left my hoody?' she asked us, looking around our temporary camp site.

'Well, you had it down at the cove,' Sirius said.

'Aw crap, I remember now, I left it beside the waterfall,' Evie said, sighing, 'I'd better go and get it before I forget,' she said, getting up from her seat on the rug beside me.

'I'll come with you,' Sirius said, jumping up from the sand.

'Thanks Sirius,' Evie smiled, 'We'll see you in a minute Remy,' she said and they began to walk off down the beach.

They didn't come back for a while, a long while actually, even the girls beside us asked me where they had gone, but I myself didn't know where they were. The cove wasn't that far away, about half a mile down the beach, so I decided to go and see if I could find them. I told James that I might not be back for a while, but he didn't seem to care, I think all he wanted was to go back to sleep in the sun.

I walked down the beach, receiving stares from people that vacated the edge of it. My scars often attracted attention from people because they where so large and often very painful looking, but I had gotten used to this happening so it didn't bother me as much as what it used to.

I kept walking for what seemed like hours, and the cove wasn't getting any closer. Finally I reached the cliff side, I began to turn the corner, expecting to hear them talking, but I heard nothing. I seen them sitting on the edge of the rock pool beside the waterfall, they were sitting pretty close, talking by the looks of things. I edged closer, I knew they hadn't seen me and they continued talking.

I watched them silently, they looked so content together, but they had stopped talking. I continued to walk nearer to where they were sitting, watching where I was treading, I looked up again and they were sitting closer … kissing. I knew that it was going to happen sooner or later. I seen Evie's eyes flutter open, and gradually widen as she saw me standing watching them. She detached herself from Sirius rapidly and rather embarrassedly, who gazed at her confusedly.

'Hi Remy,' Evie said, quietly, causing Sirius to follow her gaze, he smiled innocently at me.

'Hi,' I said, 'Sorry, I eh, interrupted, I got worried, when you hadn't come back,' I said mumbling slightly.

'It's okay Remy,' Evie said standing up, 'I – I better go, you guys can stay if you like .. um you know what James is like .. he-he'll be worried about where I am,' she said stuttering, I don't actually think that was the reason she wanted to leave, being found kissing one of her best friends I'm sure would be very awkward and that was exactly how she portrayed it.

'Angel you don't have to-' Sirius began, but she had already begun to walk away.

Evie glanced at me smiling, her cheeks a slight pink shade, she looked happy but confused at the same time...

End of Flashback

'You know, you really did look happy that day,' Remus said, as he sat down beside Evangeline at the Gryffindor table.

'It was the perfect day,' Evangeline agreed, 'But that's exactly how I feel now, I'm scared for our friendship,' she said filling her goblet with pumpkin juice, 'But the last time I did the wrong thing by avoiding him for most of the summer,' she said before taking a sip of the bright orange liquid, 'And the fact that I don't know how he feels about me, maybe he just enjoys being my close friend.'

'I suppose you'll find out in due course,' Remus said, 'But maybe you should just forget about how you feel and just be his friend,' he suggested.

'I guess you're right,' Evangeline said, 'But please don't tell anyone Remy.'

'I won't I promise,' Remus said, smiling to himself. He finally knew that Evangeline felt the same way about Sirius that he felt for her, but he knew he couldn't betray her and tell his best friend. They would just have to wait until they found the right moment to confide in each other. Remus knew this would be soon, the Masquerade Ball was in a couple of weeks, and as Sirius was accompanying Evangeline, maybe then they would realise that they were meant for each other.

'Thanks Remy, I don't know what I'd do without you,' Evangeline said, 'Just as long as he-' she stopped as soon as Sirius sat down beside her, 'Hi,' she said quietly, 'What did McGonagall want?' she asked him casually.

'She found out that we had let off over a hundred dungbombs in the Slytherin Common Room,' Sirius replied, 'Got detention for a week, but she still hasn't figured out how we got in there,' he laughed.

'I'm assuming you used the invisibility cloak,' Evangeline guessed, Sirius nodded, 'Well then how did she know it was you two?' she asked, her brow creased in confusion.

This time James answered, 'That idiot sitting beside you thought it would be funny to trip a couple of them up as they walked past, of course the cloak almost fell off revealing the tops of our heads and they saw us temporarily but we managed to put it back on before they realised it was us,' he explained, glancing irritatedly towards Sirius, who was grinning.

'Nice one Padfoot,' Evangeline said, 'Imagine if they had recognized you! I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be alive,' she said exasperatedly.

'Stop worrying Angel,' Sirius said, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer.

'I'm being serious! You don't know what they're capable of,' Evangeline said, staring Sirius in the eye.

'Technically … I'm Sirius,' he said smirking, but not breaking eye contact with her.

'Grow up Sirius, that joke is so old,' Evangeline snapped, who shrugged Sirius' arm off of her shoulder and folded her arms.

Sirius smiled lovingly at her stubbornness, but he leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, Evangeline listened attentively to what he was saying, and a small smile broke out on her face, she chuckled.

'See,' Sirius said, 'You can never stay angry at me,' he said, nudging her with his elbow.

Evangeline shook her head implausibly and rolled her eyes. She glanced at Remus, who wiggled his eyes, 'Not you too!' she said.

'You're blushing,' Remus whispered, so that only Evangeline could hear him.

That seems to be the most frequent thing I do around Sirius, Evangeline thought to herself.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!! REVIEWS!! Constructive criticism is also very welcome (: Add my story if you like it ...yadda yadda. Tori xoxo