Chapter Twenty
Here we are,
We've just begun,
And after all this time,
Our time has come,
Here we are,
Still going strong,
Right here in the place where we belong.
Evangeline watched painfully as her best friend slowly trudged towards the Gryffindor table, her face sullen and sorrowful. She smiled towards Izzy sympathetically as she sat down opposite her. Evangeline opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't bring herself to utter a word when she saw that Izzy was lamentably holding her head in her hands and staring down at her empty golden plate. The Masquerade ball was to be held later that evening, and much to Remus' … and Izzy's misfortune, it also happened to be a full moon.
'H-How are you feeling Izzy?' Lily finally said, breaking the silence that dawned between the seven friends. Evangeline glanced up to see if Izzy would respond, but she didn't. She began to pour herself a goblet of pumpkin juice, blatantly oblivious to the fact that Lily had spoken to her, she shakily raised the goblet to her mouth and was about to take a sip, but slammed the goblet down causing the contents to splash outwards.
'It's not fair,' Izzy blurted out, 'W-Why Remus? How could such a horrible thing happen to such a wonderful person?!' she said, bunching her fists in frustration, her breathing heavy and coarse.
'We know how you're feeling Izzy,' Evangeline said consolingly, 'And you're right, it's not fair. But we've just got to live with it, like Remus has for the last nine years,' she said, 'The best thing we can do is just be there for him,' she said, grabbing Izzy's hands and holding them comfortingly, 'I can stay with you tonight if you want, instead of going to the ball,' Evangeline suggested, thus resulting in catching Sirius' attention, who gaped worryingly at her.
Izzy smiled weakly when she caught eye contact with the wide-eyed Sirius. Remus had told her about Sirius being completely in love with Evangeline and she didn't want to ruin the perfect time for him to confess to her how he felt. She looked back to Evangeline, 'Don't be silly Evie,' she said before glancing back to witness Sirius' reaction, she saw him sigh heavily in relief, 'I'll be fine, you go and enjoy yourself,' Izzy said, 'I'll probably just go to bed anyway.'
'Where you up in the Hospital wing with Moony, Izzy?' James asked her, he looked concerned.
'Yes, 'Izzy replied quietly, 'He's feeling very weak … and he told me about his transformations,' she said, lowering her voice at she uttered the words, 'That's why I was upset,' she said, avoiding eye contact with anyone.
'Are you absolutely positively sure you'll be okay on your own tonight?' Lily asked her .
'Jesus, I'll be fine!' Izzy exclaimed, laughing at how much her friends cared about her, 'Unless you want to spend all night watching me sleep, then you're very welcome, but I could say that it might be a bit boring,' she said.
'Well how about we stay with you until you go to sleep?' Evangeline asked her.
'No,' Izzy said sternly, 'You are going to the ball on time, you will look stunningly beautiful, you'll have a great time and you won't worry about me once the whole night,' she said.
'But Izzy, it was meant to be your night too, you were really looking forward to it,' Lily said, reasoning with her best friend.
'I know that, but I'm much happier now that I know about Remus' problem and I don't mind that I'm not going to the ball,' Izzy said, 'I'm glad it happened this way rather than Remus never telling me and just not showing up.'
'I suppose you're right though,' Evangeline said as she mopped up the chocolate sauce that remained on Sirius' plate with her finger, he looked at her oddly as she licked the chocolate off of her finger, 'What? There was no point letting it go to waste, was there?' Evangeline said.
'I was actually going to finish it off myself,' Sirius said smirking to himself, as he ran his finger around the edge of the plate, he raised his hand up slightly, 'Angel,' he said, causing Evangeline to turn around and face him again.
'What?' Evangeline asked him, cautiously studying his cheeky grin and the mischievous glint in his eyes. Sirius quickly reached up his hand and gently touched her nose, causing the chocolate sauce to stick to her skin. Evangeline looked at him in confusion and wrinkled her nose, 'What did you – Haha very funny Sirius,' she said as soon as she realised her nose was covered in chocolate.
Sirius laughed, causing Evangeline to retort,' Oh you think you're funny do you?' she asked him, grabbing a spoonful of ice cream, aiming it at Sirius and flinging it towards his face where it met it's target. She began to giggle as Sirius blinked repeatedly when the ice cream hit him just above the eye.
Sirius spluttered in astonishment and began to wipe the now melting ice cream off of his face, 'I'll get you back for that!' he said, sticking his hand in a bowl of strawberry cheesecake and scooping some out ready to stick in Evangeline's face.
'Oh really?' Evangeline said, as soon as he turned around to face her, she smothered his face in chocolate fudge cake. She reached up both hands and began to lather the cake the all over his face until you could no longer see his skin, she laughed at his still expression, picked up a strawberry and placed it in his mouth which was open in surprise. He immediately began to chew on the strawberry, but managed to utter, 'You. Are. Going. To. Die,' before he began attempting to get the cake off his face.
As soon as he could see properly again, Sirius grabbed his wand from his pocket and glared at Evangeline playfully, who squealed, 'Oh shit!' jumped off the bench and began running towards the front of the hall. Sirius followed her, his wand held threateningly. Evangeline laughed wickedly as she reached over some unsuspecting Hufflepuffs and grabbed a few fresh cream filled pastries. Sirius shot a tickling charm at her, but missed by inches and it hit a small blonde haired Hufflepuff instead. Evangeline smirked in Sirius' direction, and with all her might, she launched one of the pastries towards him, it flew through the air and splattered all over the front of his robes.
Evangeline giggled at his reaction and stretched her arm back to throw another one at him, but she was interrupted by a dreamy, lackadaisical voice, 'I think that you have beaten Mr Black fair and square Miss Potter, maybe you should let him live a little longer,' Professor Dumbledore chuckled from his chair at the front of the hall, he raised from his seat and said, 'Now once Miss Potter and Mr Black have kindly returned to their seats, I have a few announcements to make.'
Evangeline smiled gratefully to her headmaster and quickly returned to Gryffindor table where she found her seat besides Sirius who charitably moved up to make room for her, 'Dumbledore was just saving your arse, I could have wiped the floor with you,' he whispered in her ear, before poking her teasingly. Evangeline laughed and turned round to face Sirius, 'I would have loved to see you try,' she said, gazing daringly into his hypnotic grey eyes.
'Now, as you all know, the Masquerade ball is being held tonight,' Professor Dumbledore began, 'I'm sure everyone knows that only fourth years and above can attend, although anyone from younger years may go if they have been invited by an older student,' he said, his piercing blue eyes glancing around the hall, 'I can also announce that I have delightfully managed to grab hold of the Weird Sister to play tonight, hopefully that should lighten the mood,' he paused for a moment, 'Ah yes, the ball begins at eight o'clock and should finish at around one, that is unless we have party goers that just don't want to leave,' Dumbledore chuckled.
'I think that is everything, I wish you all a very good time and enjoyment,' Professor Dumbledore said, he was about to sit down when Professor McGonagall nudged him, he nodded and turned back around to face his pupils, 'Ah, Professor McGonagall has just reminded me of a very serious matter …. tonight the school grounds are out of bounds and everyone must remain inside the castle. If you disobey these rules, I must warn you things may come out in disastrous and possibly fateful results,' Dumbledore said sternly.
Evangeline and Sirius glanced at each other, the reason the grounds were out of bounds, was because of Remus.
_-_-_
'Please Izzy, I have enough make up on, I don't need any more!' Evangeline said, as she dodged out of the way of her best friend, who was holding up a succulent red lipstick.
'It would look amazing on you Evie,' Izzy said, in an attempt to persuade her, 'It matches your dress too … please Evie, for me,' she said, smiling at Evangeline sweetly.
Evangeline rolled her eyes, and just for the sake of keeping Izzy happy, she agreed, 'Fine!' she said, throwing her hands up in the air in defeat, 'You win,' she sighed and slowly walked over to Izzy, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly.
'You're already a vision of beauty, but this will be the finishing touch,' Izzy said as Evangeline approached her, 'Pucker up,' she ordered the raven haired girl, who did as she commanded, 'There, done! You look amazing Evie, Sirius'll be mesmerised!' Izzy giggled.
'Oh please, stop giggling like a two year old and help me with my dress,' Evangeline snapped, as she held up her red satin gown, 'Lily! Are you nearly done in there?!' she yelled towards the bathroom that Lily was currently occupying.
'Yes, yes I'm coming out now,' came a muffled voice from the bathroom, suddenly the door opened and Lily stepped out in a full length, figure hugging, emerald gown. Her auburn hair trailed down her back in ringlets, a small butterfly clip held back the loose strands that normally fell onto her face and she wore a simple bangle around her wrist; plain but classy.
All Evangeline and Izzy could do was gawk at her, for someone who came across as a temperamental bookworm, she was stunningly beautiful. Evangeline opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Willow; their room mate, 'That's a really pretty dress Lily, you look lovely,' she said smiling, she herself was dressed in a small lilac number that reached her knees.
'Thank you Willow, you look splendid yourself,' Lily beamed, confused by the fact that she had been complimented by the normally shy but spiteful girl. She spun around to face Evangeline and Izzy, who were still standing speechless, 'Well? What do you think?' she asked them.
'Bloody beautiful, Lily,' Evangeline said, grinning at her best friend.
'B-B-B ….Wow, you look amazing Lily!' Izzy said, recovering from her silence, suddenly she became all jumpy and excited, 'Oh my word! I have to get photos!' she said, and rushed over to her bed and began to fumble in the bedside drawer.
'Aren't you for putting your dress on?' Lily asked Evangeline who was sitting quietly on her bed, gazing thoughtfully into space.
'Hmm?' Evangeline said, as she snapped out of her daydream and glanced over at Lily questioningly, 'Yes … I was just thinking. You wouldn't be able to tie the bow behind my neck, would you?' she asked, getting up from the bed. She picked up the dark red dress, and pulled it down over her head. The silk was soft and cool against her skin, and it floated gracefully around her feet. Evangeline turned around, holding her hair out of the way so that Lily could tie the ends of the halter-neck into a nice, neat bow.
'There,' Lily said once she had tied the bow, she turned Evangeline around to get a good look at her, she smiled warmly, 'You look sensational,' she said, pulling her into a hug.
'Thanks Lily,' Evangeline said, smiling back at her.
'Okay, okay, I found my camera,' Izzy said with excitement, 'Pictures! Right, stand closest to the light,' she said, ushering Evangeline and Lily towards the window, where the sun was setting over the mountains. And after a couple of flashes, Izzy was very happy with the photos that she had taken, and began rushing around again, trying to find the postal order for them to be sent off and developed in Diagon Alley. 'So what time are you meeting your dates at?' she asked as she began to fill out a small form, the sound of her quill scratching away on the coarse parchment.
'Amos is meeting me outside Hufflepuff Tower on the fourth floor, it's on the way down to the Great Hall anyway,' Lily said, blushing when she said Diggory's name.
'Sirius and I agreed to meet me outside the Great Hall at about eight,' Evangeline said, shrugging slightly. She sat down on her bed and pulled on her black heeled shoes, after fastening them she absent-mindedly began to play with a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of place, 'What time is it now anyway?' she asked.
Izzy glanced at her watch, 'Five to eight, but you can always be fashionably late,' she laughed and got up off the bed, 'C'mon, I'll go with you to the very last set of stairs,' she said, pulling Lily to her feet.
Evangeline slowly arose from her bed, she flattened out the creases in her dress and nervously clasped and unclasped her hands. She grabbed her red and black sequinned mask from her bedside table, carefully placed it over her eyes and tied the black ribbon behind her head. She took Izzy's out-held hand, followed her and Lily out the dormitory door and down the spiral stairs. As they reached the Common Room, they were met by a rather large gathering of students, all dressed for the Masquerade Ball. Evangeline could feel their stares boring into them as the three best friends made their way across the room, some of the girls present turned around to their friends and began to whisper rapidly, glancing back at them occasionally.
They quickly and quietly made their way down corridor after corridor, until they made it to the main stairwell. Everywhere they looked, people where coming out of corridors, obviously a lot more people where going to the ball than they had expected. The three girls made their way down the stairs, arm in arm.
They stopped when they reached the fourth floor, Amos Diggory was there, leaning casually against the stone wall blatantly waiting for Lily, 'Lily! You look simply stunning,' he said, walking towards her with open arms.
Lily almost went the same colour as her hair, she slowly walked over to Amos, who took her hand and lightly kissed it. Evangeline and Izzy glanced at each other. 'Ah, Evangeline, nice to see you,' Amos began again, who walked over and held out his hand.
Evangeline smiled at him politely and shook his hand, she felt he held on a little longer than necessary, 'Charmed,' she said, mocking his voice and mannerism. Izzy gave a slight cough, indicating that she might have been hiding a snigger, in response Evangeline unnoticeably jabbed her in the ribs with her elbow.
'And you must be Isabella,' Diggory said as he turned to face the blonde haired girl, yet again he reached out his hand to which Izzy reluctantly shook, 'Pleasure to meet you,' she uttered, before promptly letting go of his hand, 'C'mon Evie, we still have to find your date, we'd better be on our way now. Have fun Lily,' Izzy said quickly, pushing Evangeline along with her, 'How could anyone be so freakishly polite and correct?' she asked Evangeline as they walked down the stairs, she was just as confused as what Izzy was.
'Maybe he takes etiquette lessons?' Evangeline suggested.
'That could be it,' Izzy said, glancing at Evangeline, then she looked back, 'Evie, are you okay? You look really pale,' she said, taking Evangeline's hand, 'Your palms are sweating too,' she noted.
'I guess I'm just … nervous,' Evangeline admitted, pulling her hand out of Izzy's grasp.
'You don't need to be nervous!' Izzy said, 'I mean it's only Sirius,' she said, but suddenly it dawned on her, did Evangeline have feelings for him? Her face broke out into a smile much too hard to conceal.
'That's the problem, it's S- What are you smiling about?' Evangeline asked when she noticed the massive grin on Izzy's face.
'Oh nothing … nothing at all,' Izzy said simply, 'Hurry up, I want to see everyone's faces when you walk down that stairs,' she said, pulling Evangeline along.
'My feet are hurting already,' Evangeline whined, 'Stupid shoes.'
'Stop moaning,' Izzy said, who kept on walking, but didn't notice that Evangeline had stopped. She was glancing around awkwardly, fumbling with her hands. Izzy turned around to find her several paces away, 'What's wrong?' she asked Evangeline solicitously.
'I-I don't know if I can do this,' Evangeline stuttered, her face looked worried and harassed.
Izzy walked back towards her best friend, 'And why not?' she asked and stopped in front of Evangeline who avoided eye contact with her.
'I think …' Evangeline sighed heavily, 'I think … that I'm-'
'In love with Sirius,' Izzy finished for her, Evangeline's eyes widened in astonishment, 'Oh come on Evie, it was so blatantly obvious, everyone knew! But the two people that were bloody in love with each other, where completely oblivious!'
'That wasn't what-'
'Don't start making excuses, Evie,' Izzy warned her, 'Every time you're together you can't take your eyes off each other, he's always teasing you and when he makes you angry .. you forgive him straight away! I know he only has eyes for you, but the thing is you won't believe it til he tells you, so get your sorry butt down that stairs and make something happen!' she snapped and pointed towards the stairs.
'But …' Evangeline started, 'Go see if he's there,' she said, smiling pleadingly at Izzy.
'Okay,' Izzy said, she walked towards the stairs and peered around the corner of the wall, 'Come on over,' she said ushering Evangeline over with her hand, 'Yep, he's there. He looks pretty worried too, James is there … so's Peter -wait- Peter has a date! Now that is a surprise,' she said.
'Right, I'm going to go now,' Evangeline said, taking deep breaths, 'Izzy?' she said as her best friend continued to babble on about who was where and what they were wearing, 'IZZY!' Evangeline shouted.
'Yes?' Izzy said bewilderedly as she turned around to face Evangeline.
'I'm going,' Evangeline said quietly, smiling feebly towards Izzy.
'You'll be fine!' Izzy reassured her and pulled her into a hug, 'Go get 'em,' she whispered in Evangeline's ear, she broke the hug and gently pushed Evangeline towards the stairs.
Evangeline glanced nervously back at Izzy, who in return gave her the thumbs up. She slowly walked towards the top of the stairs, her heart thumping against her chest. She slackened up her walking speed, scared by the thought of walking too fast and tripping over her gown to send her crashing down the stairs. Oh holy crap, I'm going to fall … breath Evangeline, breath! In and out, in and out. Nobody has noticed me yet .. that's a good sign -or not- There's Sirius, he looks ... handsome, is that the right word? Okay, maybe I do have feelings for him, Izzy's right, Remus is right. But I guess tonight will determine whether he has feelings for me or not …Oh Jesus, here I go, descending into the fiery pits of doom … Maybe not actually, Mr Black is looking pretty hot tonight .. shut up brain! SHUT UP! Stop thinking erotic thoughts … Oh my God, Peter has just seen me...
_-_-_
'Where is she?' Sirius said, pacing back and forth, 'She's five minutes late!' he exclaimed. Please don't bail out on me now Angel, I need you to be here tonight! …. Maybe something's happened to her? Shit .. 'What if something has happened to her? We should go and check if she's okay, you know what she's like Prongs,' he said uneasily.
'Chill out Pads, I bet she's fine,' James said, reassuring him, 'She's a girl, they're always late,' he said monotonously.
'Your dates showed up on time!' Sirius snapped, motioning towards Mary-Jane Lewis who was Peter's date and Suzanna Perry who was James'.
'I bet Izzy is still fussing over her, you know what that girl is like, make-up this, make-up that,' James said, trying to think up any possible reason why Evangeline might be late.
Sirius sighed, 'I guess you're right, there could be so many possible reasons why, I mean she could have lost her mask, misplaced a shoe …'
'Who is that?' Peter said, pointing towards the stairs.
'… She could have lost track of time, forgot where we were supposed to meet,' Sirius continued, as he still paced back and forth, staring at the floor as if he wanted to burn holes in it.
'Is that Evangeline?'
Sirius turned to stare at Peter, he followed the short mousy boy's gaze towards the stairs and sure enough, walking down the stairs was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life; Evangeline. He stood there, speechless, unable to utter a word. Her beauty was breathtaking and it radiated outwards like beams from the sun. She looked flawless in the red satin dress, that clung to her curves perfectly, her glossy raven hair was curled and tied back untidily, loose strands hung around her face, framing it impeccably. The only jewellery she wore were the small diamond earrings that sparkled in the bright light. But even then, she still looked stunningly beautiful. Holy shit .. that is why I'm in love with the girl! No, don't be so shallow, you prick … you love her because of who she is; her personality .. but she is stunning. Sorry .. Stunning. Is that all you can think of!? Words cannot describe her. Okay, what am I going to say … don't stutter for a start, why Angel you look great! No, too cheesy. Angel, you look simply ravishing. Jesus, who am I? Amos Diggory? Don't think so! I think I'll stick with; Angel, you look … beautiful. Hopefully that will suffice...
'Uh, Sirius, you can stop drooling now,' James said, nudging his best friend, an attempt to try and snap him out of his trance.
'W-What? I'm not drooling …' Sirius said, taking his gaze away from Evangeline.
'Evening Evangeline,' James said as his sister approached them, 'You look great, have you seen Lily anywhere?' he asked curiously.
'Evening James,' Evangeline replied, 'No I haven't actually, the last time I saw her was when I left her off outside the Hufflepuff Common Room,' she said, smiling smugly, 'Hi Peter.'
'H-Hello Evangeline,' Peter stuttered, staring longingly at Evangeline. She smiled at him uneasily and walked past him, glancing back to survey his actions. God, what is with that child … strange human being. Stop staring at me you mousy arsehole! Oh, there's Sirius. 'Good evening Mr Black, don't we look handsome tonight,' she said smiling warmly towards him and locking her arm around his.
'No one can compare to how beautiful you look tonight, Angel,' Sirius replied, leading her towards the Great Hall, he noticed her roll her eyes, 'I'm being serious, you look … breathtaking,' he said honestly, gazing down at her.
Evangeline smiled up at him, and standing up on her tiptoes she reached up and kissed him on the cheek, 'Thank you, you really didn't need to say that,' she said bashfully, looking away from him.
'Well, I just did, so deal with it,' Sirius whispered in her ear. Evangeline shook her head incredulously, and smirked at his statement, 'See even when I try to annoy you, you start smiling! You really are a unusual little girl,' he teased her.
Evangeline glared a him playfully, 'Shut up you idiot! And I'm not a little girl,' she said, pretending to be angry, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing.
They eventually made their way into the Great Hall, the walls had been covered in sparkling frost, with garlands and wreaths of mistletoe, ivy and holly lining them. From the starry ceiling, small snowflakes fell, giving the impression that everyone had incredibly bad dandruff when it landed on top of their heads. The house tables had disappeared, leaving most of the floor empty apart from a few small lantern lit tables scattered around the edges. A raised platform had been conjured at the front of the hall, although it was quite hard to see past all the people.
'C'mon, let's get to the front,' Sirius said, grabbing Evangeline's hand and pulling her through the crowds of peopled towards the stage where five instruments sat; untouched.
'I didn't think cool guys like you danced,' Evangeline said mockingly as they reached the front.
'Of course I do,' Sirius replied, grinning at her.
Neither of them noticed Professor Dumbledore standing on the stage, his wand pointed at his neck, 'Good evening,' he said, a bit too loudly for Sirius' and Evangeline's liking as they were standing right beneath him, 'Now I am very sure that most of you anticipating the presence of the Weird Sisters, but before that … surely you all must know by now, that we commence more formal dancing before the main event,' he said, smiling at the disgusted looks on most of the pupils faces, 'Now, take your partners onto the dance floor, and let the Masquerade Ball begin,' he said, motioning towards the school orchestra that was situated in the corner of the Great Hall.
They began to play a slow sorrowful tune, Evangeline glanced at Sirius and smiled at his reaction to the song that was being played, 'Come on Mr Black, I thought you said you knew how to dance,' she teased him.
'Oh, you have no idea,' Sirius said smiling broadly, he placed his hand gently on Evangeline's waist, grabbed her hand and spun her round in a circle.
'Show off,' Evangeline muttered, who placed her hand on his shoulder.
'You start getting lessons when you're about seven when you live in a house of high status,' Sirius whispered in her ear.
'So that's why you're so good!' Evangeline said smiling, 'Dad taught me to dance when I was ten, he said I would need to now for when I was older, boy was he right.'
'You're very good yourself,' Sirius said, shifting the position of his hand that rested on her waist, 'You haven't stepped on my toe once,' he smirked, but all of a sudden he winced in pain.
'Whoops, clumsy me,' Evangeline smiled contentedly.
Sirius pulled her closer to his body, and hissed in her ear playfully, 'You did that on purpose,' he said.
Evangeline deliberately leaned backwards and slackened Sirius' grip on her, she moved her position so that she was inches from his face, she bit her lip and gazed into his eyes, 'Obviously,' she whispered, so quietly that he barely heard her, but he was so intoxicated by her warm breath on his face that he never noticed. They were millimetres apart, Evangeline's heart was thumping so hard she thought it might jump out of her chest, their lips were nearly touching, so close ...
Suddenly, the hall became dark; pitch black, Evangeline and Sirius jerked away from each other in surprise. The crowd whistled and screamed, awaiting the band to come on stage. Like a flash of lightening, the bright lights surrounding the backdrop blared onto the crowd, it was so bright that Evangeline had to close her eyes. Upon opening them again, she found that the Weird Sisters had announced themselves present and began to play their first song. Immediately everyone around her began to jump up and down, waving their hands in the air enthusiastically; Evangeline thought she had no other option but to join them and began doing the same. After a while of exuberant dancing, she was quite glad when the band decided to play a rather slow song, but she noticed that everyone else around her was clinging onto their partner, and slowly rocking from side to side. She glanced warily at Sirius who smiled back at her.
'How about I go and get some drinks?' he said softly in her ear, 'You look rather hot …' Evangeline raised her eyebrows and giggled, Sirius smiled lovingly at her, 'I mean flustered, but that's not to say you don't look hot,' he smirked, 'How about you find us a table?'
'Okay,' Evangeline agreed quietly.
'Good,' Sirius beamed, 'I'll be back in a minute,' he said, kissed her gently on the cheek, smiled at the blush that found it's way to her cheeks and walked away, pushing his way past the dancing couples.
Evangeline sighed, and smiled to herself, she gently shoved past a few couples, finally making her way to the outside perimeter of the dance floor. She glanced around in an attempt to find an empty table, she noticed a small table in the corner, lit simply by a small glittering lantern. Her legs were tired, so she dragged her feet across the floor rather than lifting them, she grabbed the hem of her dress and held it up, hoping that it would stop her from tripping over it. Evangeline slowly walked over to the table and slumped herself down on the seat.
She sat there for a while, watching her surroundings but reminiscently thinking about where Sirius had got to, surely it wouldn't take that long to get drinks. She got to her feet again, and slowly wandered out of the Great Hall. Drinks were being sold down the corridor, yet to her surprise their were a lot of people waiting to be served. Evangeline scanned the untidy queue of people to see if she could find Sirius, he was standing at the bar awaiting the barman to attend him.
'EVIE!' a voice called from behind her, she turned round to see Lily attempting to run across the entrance hall towards her, 'It's hard work running in these shoes,' she said huffing and puffing as she reached Evangeline's side, 'Having a good time?' Lily asked.
'Yes, it's amazing, Sirius is just over there getting drinks,' Evangeline said smiling and nodded over to the crowded bar.
'Amos is doing the same, it's awfully warm in there!' Lily exclaimed, 'Oh there he is, I'll see you later Evie! Have fun!' she said and winked cheekily.
Evangeline laughed, 'Have fun with Amos, Lily!' she teased.
Evangeline smiled to herself, and glanced over to the bar again, but this time she couldn't see Sirius anywhere. She attentively skimmed over the crowd, searching every possible corner that he could be hiding behind, or every possible person that he might be …
Not again … No, please, not again. That bitch, why can't she just stay out of my life! Oh, and Mr I-Would-Never-Hurt-You, well guess what .. YOU JUST FUCKING DID! Thoughts were screaming out inside Evangeline's head, and uncontrollably tears began to stream down her cheeks. Her breathing got heavier, she began to sob and unable to watch any longer, she turned and started to run across the entrance hall, as she ran across the hall, she pulled off her mask and carelessly threw it down. In the frenzy that she was in she began to realise that there was no way out of the castle, she ran down the Transfiguration corridor, searching for the tiniest possible way to escape to her calming haven.
Finally, she came to what looked like the weakest door out of the castle, she pulled out her wand from the inside of her dress and with all her anger put into it yelled, 'REDUCTO!' The door blasted apart, shards of wood splintering everywhere, a couple catching Evangeline's skin, causing her to flinch in pain.
She was free, free to run, scream and yell about her sorrows. She ran down the hill towards the lake, which was particularly hard especially in heels, and the fact that she was blinded by her own tears that fogged up her vision. 'Why is my life so .. miserable?' she muttered angrily to herself as she reached the summit of the hill, 'And why does everyone I seem to care about, do something to hurt or anger me?!' she cried.
'WHY DOES EVERYTHING GO SO FUCKING WRONG IN MY LIFE?!' Evangeline yelled at the top of her voice, before breaking down into tears again. Her feet where aching, and in her stubbornness, she bent her knee and reached her foot up, ripped the shoe from her foot and hurled it into the Forbidden Forest, she did exactly the same with the other one.
'The one person, that I actually really cared for, loved, leads me on and then goes and kisses the biggest slut in Hogwarts, please someone tell me that I'm not overreacting,' Evangeline said glumly, and letting her knees collapse beneath her she fell to the ground in a bout of tears. She was sobbing loud and painfully, not caring who would hear her. Her heart had been broken too many times, and no one had seen fit to actually see that she was troubled.
She sat, like many times before, on the small ledge before the great lake, and once again it had soothed her, her breathing steady, tears no longer falling. Her mind, blank and numb from the pain of being overpowered by her emotions that were running wild. Barefooted she slowly stood up, and wandered towards the lake, where the moons reflection was shining on the surface; but she took no notice of it. Under her feet, the shingle that lay on the small beach, crackled as it broke into tiny pieces. She bent down and picked up a pebble, she turned to face the lake, 'This one's for Jacob, a heartless bastard who cared nothing for my feelings,' she said scornfully and threw the small stone into the water.
She bent down again, lifting this time a larger rock, 'This one's for mother, who wishes I had never been born,' Evangeline spat viciously, and launched the rock into the lake, resulting an a much bigger splash than the last time. Hesitantly, she picked up another rock, a smaller one, but much more pleasant looking than the others, she sniffed disdainfully and turned to face the lake, 'And this one … is for Sirius, for breaking my heart,' she said, her voice quivering. Evangeline threw the rock as far as she could, it landed out in the middle of the lake, making the slightest splash.
As she muttered away to herself, cursing the people who had brought pain and despair to her life, she did not hear the crunching of leaves and the snapping of twigs, slowly getting louder and more vivacious.
_-_-_
'James, have you seen Angel anywhere?' Sirius asked him with a worried expression, he was holding two drinks, one in each hand.
'No, I was assuming that she was for spending the whole night with you,' James said, as she searched around the entrance hall, not for Evangeline, Lily, 'She's probably gone to the bathroom or something,' he said.
'I s'ppose, I would have made it back more quickly if it wasn't for that whore Cerys Neill,' Sirius growled, 'She cornered me at the bar and threw herself on me!' he exclaimed, nearly spilling the butterbeer over Peter.
James snorted, 'Typical,' he said, and then changed the subject, 'I wonder how Moony's doing, I can't believe he still won't let us go out with him,' he said, 'We're in no harm when we're in animal form.'
'He'll give in sooner or later,' Sirius said, as he continued to scan around the room, 'Urgh, where is she?! Right, I'm going to look for her,' he said, and set the drinks down on a random table and began to stalk off.
'Padfoot! Wait, you might not have to look far mate,' James said, pointing towards the abandoned mask, lying strewn on the floor. The three friends walked over to the black and red mask that was sparkling in the bright light.
Sirius bent down, picked it up and examined it, 'That's definitely hers, but why would she just throw it down like that, she was perfectly fine when I left her, I mean she was …' he paused, suddenly his face dropped and his eyes widened,' Shit,' he muttered to himself, 'I-I bet she seen Cerys kissing me, for fuck sake that whore ruins everything!' Sirius snarled.
James glanced at him confusedly, 'Sorry, I'm a bit lost here Padfoot, what did she ruin exactly?' he asked his best friend, who was glaring across the room at Neill.
Sirius looked at him timidly, a small smile began to spread across his face, 'Listen, mate, you're probably going to kill me when I tell you, but I really couldn't care less right now, all I'm concerned about is finding Angel,' he said. James cocked his eyebrow suspiciously, 'Fine, I'll tell you,' Sirius gave in, 'I … I'm in love with her,' he said, glancing hopefully at James.
'Oh,' was all James could say, but Sirius' expression urged him to say something more, 'I-I .. Well I guess I'm glad it's you rather than some bastard that would hurt her,' James said, but then continued in an austere tone, 'But I swear if you do hurt her, you'll wish you'd never been born.'
'You know I would never hurt her Prongs!' Sirius exclaimed, 'Not intentionally anyway,' he said grimacing.
'I know that Pads, I was just making sure,' James said, grinning, 'Big brother duties, you know.'
Peter shivered, 'Gosh, it's awfully cold isn't it,' he said, wrapping his arms around himself, 'Does anyone else feel that breeze?'
'Yeah, somebody's probably opened a window or ….' James paused, and began to stare into space, 'You don't think …' he said, glancing at Sirius, who gaped at him, 'No, she wouldn't … would she?'
'Well, you know what she's like … she'd probably be upset if she seen Cerys and me,' Sirius just about managed to utter, 'She always goes to -' Sirius went pale, his eyes widened, he spun around and sprinted across the hall.
'SIRIUS! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?' James yelled as he watched his best friend skid around the corner, he rolled his eyes impatiently and began to run after him, Peter slowly followed. They ran around the corner and down the Transfiguration corridor, where the found Sirius staring blankly out a doorway, the door had been snapped into pieces, 'You don't think she did this, do you?' James asked him, he watched Sirius slowly bend down and pick up a tiny piece of red fabric and turned to face him, he looked pale and nauseated.
'You know what this means, don't you?' Sirius asked him slowly, but did not wait for James' reply, 'She's wandering around out there with a bloody werewolf,' he said, his voice shaking, 'I'm going out there, she could get mauled to pieces.'
'Moony is locked up in the Whomping Willow, he wouldn't be able to get out,' James said, trying to calm Sirius down, 'And even if he did escape, how are you gonna defend yourself from a fully grown werewolf?'
'I'm an Animagus, James. And I'm pretty sure a fully grown werewolf could easily -' Sirius' voice was overpowered by a chillingly ferocious howl.
_-_-_
Evangeline froze, her expression went blank. She scanned between the trees of the Forbidden Forest for any signs of sudden movement, nothing. She ran her hands through her hair in terror, glancing over the lake, finally her horrified gaze resting on the beaming silver sphere that hung so restfully in the sky. She let out a small whimper. The howl that had just been uttered, sounded incredibly close, deafening almost. She fumbled around on her dress, trying to find her wand, it wasn't there. Her breathing got heavier as she panicked, she glanced around on the beach, where was her wand? In despair she fell to her hands and knees and raked around in the shingle in such a desperate search for the only object that could possibly defend her.
She couldn't find it, franticly she tried to remember when she last had it. She recalled running down the hill, her wand in her hand, then screaming as she reached the bottom, running over to the ledge at the side of the lake, pulling her shoes off her feet and collapsing in tears. That was it! She had left it lying on the ledge. She hurriedly clambered to her feet and ran over to the ledge, she scanned the ground, eventually finding it strewn on the grass, she bent down. A snarl emittedfrom behind her, she gasped, rapidly grabbed her wand and spun around to find the werewolf; Remus, trapping her on the seven metre ledge.
She stood rooted to the spot, unable to move. The werewolf reared, it towered over her and slowly moved one paw towards her. Evangeline held out her wand threateningly, but she knew it would be no use, and she didn't want to harm Remus. Her breathing began to get frenetic, 'Remus,' she whimpered, 'Remus, it's me, Evie,' she began to carefully tread backwards, the werewolf snapped it's jaw menacingly, Evangeline gasped, 'Please Remus, please, it's me,' she began to sob.
Suddenly, a dog-like howl caught both the werewolf's and Evangeline's attention, she was so intent in seeing whether someone had come to her rescue or not, she forgot about the approaching werewolf. It was so close now that she could see the saliva dripping from its mouth, and the sinister, blaring whites of it's eyes as the reflection of the moon shone in them. As tears of fear streamed down of her face, her breath catching in her throat, she stepped backwards, unaware that she was extremely close to the edge of the ledge. The werewolf howled clamorously again, startling Evangeline, she quickly edged backwards, she lost her footing and stumbled into the lake. She screamed and fell into the lake with a splash.
She coughed and spluttered as the water went up her nose and into her mouth, as she managed to regain her footing, she scanned around cautiously for the werewolf. It wasn't there, but the sound of snarling and snapping caught her attention. She glanced over, and below the large oak tree, a large black dog was wrestling the werewolf. The dog had seized it by the neck and was beginning to pull it towards the Forest. Evangeline stood in the freezing cold water, fixated on the battle between the canines. She waded towards the ledge and pulled herself up onto land again. The canines where still battling, they were locked at the jaw, claws ripping at each other. The growling and snarling was loud and spirited, suddenly a painful whimper came from the werewolf, it let go of it's grip on the big black dog and quickly limped away from the dog. Evangeline watched, eventually it dawned on her that the dog was Sirius.
Evangeline gasped as the dog, tripped over it's own feet and stumbled slightly, it recovered and slowly hobbled behind the big oak tree. She began to walk towards the tree, but something nudged her, making her jump in surprise. She turned around to find a very large stag looking down at her compassionately, she stared up into his big bold eyes, recognising them immediately, 'James,' she whispered, 'I-I need to see Sirius,' she whimpered, tears forming in her eyes. Prongs consolingly nudged her face and gently pushed her forward with his antlers.
She slowly and quietly walked towards the tree and peered around it where she found Sirius standing silently, gazing into the forest, 'Sirius,' she said timidly, watching for his reaction.
He turned around, he had a fairly large gash on his face, his eyes blood shot and painful, 'What were you thinking?' Sirius asked her, 'You could have got yourself killed!' he said, his voice raising.
'Don't shout at me, Sirius!' Evangeline cried, 'The pair of us wouldn't be in this mess, if you hadn't....' her voice trailed off, and she sniffed loudly, 'If you hadn't kissed Cerys,' she said, tears slowly making their way down her cheeks.
'I didn't kiss her, she kissed me,' Sirius spat, throwing his hands in the air.
'How was I supposed to know?!' Evangeline shouted, 'I only saw what happened, I didn't know the whole story!'
'Well, I bet the feeling wasn't as bad as what it was when I saw you being cornered by the werewolf,' Sirius shouted, 'I thought he was going to maul you into tiny pieces! And … I couldn't bare to look at your face, I've never .. ever seen you look so frightened in your life,' he said, and slowly began to approach Evangeline, 'You being the caring person that you are, didn't even think for a second about your own life,' he said, his voice softening, 'You had a wand Angel, and you didn't even bother to use it because you didn't want to hurt Remus,' he said pointing at Evangeline's wand. 'I'm sorry for overreacting, but … I thought I was going to lose you,' he said, reaching his hand up and caressing Evangeline's face softly, then he continued, 'And if you had … died, I would have never had the chance to tell you how I feel,' Evangeline stared up into his sincere, sparkling grey eyes, 'You see, Angel, I am uncontrollably, irrevocably in love with you, and I always have been.'
Evangeline felt a small smile playing on the edges of her mouth, she watched Sirius stare at her, eager for some reaction. She couldn't speak, utter anything. The same words where playing over and over again in her head, I love you too. But she just couldn't make the words come out of her mouth.
'Angel, please say something,' Sirius said pleadingly.
Evangeline smiled warmly at him, she slowly reached up, closed her eyes and gently pressed her lips against his. Flutters of butterflies erupted in Evangeline's stomach, for once kissing someone, felt so right. She slowly reached her arms up and rested them on his shoulders, lightly pulling on his long, wavy hair, she deepened the kiss, Sirius moaned quietly. His arms softly slithered around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. Suddenly, Evangeline cheekily broke away and stared playfully into his eyes.
'I was enjoying that,' Sirius smirked, 'And what was that supposed to mean anyway?' he teased her.
Evangeline rolled her eyes, but smiled, 'That I love you too, you idiot,' she said, and kissed him lightly on the lips.
Hope you liked the chapter!! It's my longest (: REVIEWS!!!! Constructive criticism and whatnot (: Just in case you're maybe thinking that this was the last chapter … it's not XD Thanks to all my reviewers, who take the time to review most chapters! Tori xox