Chapter Twenty Four
It's really good to here your voice,
Saying my name,
It sounds so sweet,
Coming from the lips of an Angel,
Hearing those words it makes me weak.
'No! Wait, I forgot my hat!' Evangeline shouted as she skidded to a halt on the other side of the portrait hole. She ran back down the corridor and through the common room towards the large fireplace. Her red and gold hat was sitting neatly on top of the rest of her presents. She grabbed the hat and was about to run off again, but she glanced back and grabbed the mittens that now lay on top of the pile. She shoved them in ther pocket, roughly pulled the hat down over her wavy raven locks and sprinted out of the common room. Evangeline banged open the portrait with such force that it caused the Fat Lady to shriek in surprise.
'Watch what you're doing! Never in all my time here at Hogwarts have I seen such despicable behaviour! I have a right mind not to let you back in again!' the Fat Lady screeched loudly as Evangeline ran past her not listening to a word she said. 'Are you listening to me?!' she yelled, then sighed in defeat, 'Why do I even bother? … Now, where's that brandy Violet left me?'
Evangeline just laughed carelessly and continued to run down the corridor to where she found the Maurauders, Lily and Izzy lounging on the marble staircase. She ran straight past them, eager to get out into the snow, 'C'mon guys! What's keeping you?' she shouted as she skipped down the marble staircase and into the entrance hall.
'I see you found your hat then, Evie,' Remus noted once they had caught up on her. Evangeline noticed that he was breathing heavily, 'And, can I just ask where that sudden burst of energy came from?' he asked her.
Evangeline grinned, 'I just can't wait to get out into the snow! It's been two years since it snowed properly and I just need to throw snowballs at people,' she laughed and pulled the mittens out of her pocket. She slowly wandered through the entrance hall as she put the gloves onto her hands, the others followed her.
'Eva? Are we picking teams?' James called from behind her. He was wearing his quidditch jumper, but under it had two t-shirts and a long-sleeved top; thus resulting in him looking twice as large as what he normally was. 'We should try and split the teams evenly, as there is three girls and four guys,' James informed them as they all stopped in the courtyard, 'Right, so who wants to pick?' he asked the small gathering. No one answered.
'How about the two Potters pick? That means there can only be one overly competitive person on each team,' Remus suggested, as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, 'But then again, that still means one team will be down a person.'
Izzy smiled, 'No, that's a good idea, Remy. I like it,' she said. 'Well, come on then, James you pick,' she said hurrying the process.
James grinned wickedly, 'Okay then … Padfoot,' he said motioning towards his best friend. Evangeline scowled in James' direction and would not let go of Sirius' arm. 'Quit sabotaging my team mate, Evangeline,' James said and pulled Sirius over to one side.
'That's not fair!' Evangeline snapped, 'He's my boyfriend,' she growled, folded her arms stubbornly and glared at her brother.
James shrugged, 'Sorry Sis, but life isn't fair,' he said simply.
'Don't tell me about life not being fair!' Evangeline snapped, 'Trust me, I bloody well know what it feels like,' she said bluntly, remembering her mothers preference to her brother. It still annoyed her to think that a parent would prefer one of their children over another. But she knew that at least she had family that cared for her to some extent, unlike Sirius. She admired his courage and bravery for running away from the nightmare he was living in, he truly was a Gryffindor.
James rolled his eyes, 'Hurry up and pick someone, Eva. We would like to start today, not tomorrow,' he grumbled.
Evangeline shot a glance at him, an evil grin appeared on her face, 'Fine,' she sneered slyly, 'I pick … Hmm, who should I pick? I think I'll pick … Lily,' she smiled cunningly and sent a smirk her brother's way. She knew that James would do nothing to hurt or damage Lily in any way, even though when playing sports Lily was a danger to herself. Evangeline knew that this was a slick move and would definitely benefit her team. She smiled as Lily came and stood beside her and glanced over to see her brothers reaction. He was glaring at Evangeline, 'I hate you,' he mouthed. Evangeline chuckled, she loved pissing her brother off. 'Okay Jamie, your turn to pick,' she said, holding back her laughter.
'Stop calling me that!' James snapped and shrugged off his annoyance, 'I'll just .. eh Izzy,' he said finally, and gestured for her to stand in his team. Izzy skipped over to where James and Sirius where standing, her expression clearly showing happiness.
Evangeline was slightly taken aback, she was surprised that James had picked someone other than Remus. Because of this her mind became blank and she lost track of what she was going to say, 'I – eh … What am I doing? Oh, yes, I pick Remus,' she said and glanced confusedly over at her brother, who smiled.
Remus walked over to Evangeline's team, approached her and leaned closer to her, 'Trust me, I was just as surprised as what you were,' he said quietly and stood beside her.
'Surprised? I was bloody flabbergasted! I thought it was going to be the Maurauders on the rest,' Evangeline said and began study her brother carefully, he was up to something. 'What is he doing?' she said to herself.
'What's who doing?' Lily asked her. The red head was examining her best friend carefully, her eyes got wider, 'What's James doing?' she asked quizzically.
Evangeline furrowed her eyebrows, a bewildered look appeared on her face, 'I don't know, but he's up to something. I'm sure of it,' she said.
James looked around, 'Where'd Peter go?' he asked everyone. Peter was no where to be seen, he had scurried off without being noticed. Everyone glanced around bewilderedly. James sighed, he knew that Peter hated being within a large crowd of people. He felt sorry for the guy, he didn't really fit in anywhere. The only thing he was good at was weaselling his way out of a tight situation, and by hurrying off unnoticed, he displayed just that.
'He was mumbling something about and essay that he hadn't finished and that he wanted to get it done and out of the way,' Remus said, offering evidence that Peter hadn't just chickened out. 'But still, that means we have equal teams,' he beamed, and clapped his hands together.
'Right, what are we waiting for? Let's go!' Evangeline said excitedly and began to walk down the path towards Hagrid's hut. 'C'mon team, we need to build our fort,' she said, not noticing Sirius creeping up behind her.
'Did I tell you that you look adorable in that hat?' Sirius said, tugging on the tassel of Evangeline's red and gold hat and putting an arm around her waist.
Evangeline smiled, 'No you didn't, but you'll pay for it later,' she teased and nudged him playfully in the stomach. 'You know, I have a feeling that this could get very interesting,' she grinned and glanced back at James and Lily walking down the path together.
Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, 'I believe it could,' he said softly, gently kissed her nose and pulled her in closer to his chest.
Evangeline giggled quietly and shook her head incredulously, 'I wasn't talking about us. But then again, I have no objections to that either,' she smiled and stared daringly into his steel grey eyes. 'I was actually talking about James and a certain redhead,' Evangeline said in a whisper. Sirius looked at her confusedly, 'Look behind us, but don't make it obvious,' Evangeline said.
Sirius chuckled warmly, 'He's whipped,' he concluded and shook his head, 'Totally whipped.'
'Yes, and you're not?' Evangeline asked him. She was struggling to hold back her laughter as he attempted to put together a suitable reply. 'Well?' she said, and grinned up at him.
Sirius sighed deeply, 'I guess I am,' he said and looked down at her, 'But you don't get away with everything.'
Evangeline laughed, 'We'll see about that,' she said and poked him in the ribs.'I think maybe Lily has changed her views on my darling brother,' Evangeline said and glanced back to see Lily laughing gently at something James had said. 'Imagine if she agreed to go with him to Hogsmeade? I think he might die of shock,' Evangeline said.
'Nah, I can just see him dancing around our dorms singing 'She said yes!' over and over again,' Sirius said, chuckling at the thought.
Evangeline grimaced, 'Just make sure no one sees him. If they did it would be incredibly embarrassing … for him and the person who might see him,' she said.
Sirius laughed, 'Oh you are so affectionate towards your brother, aren't you?' he said, playing with end of Evangeline's wavy hair.
Evangeline snorted, 'Affectionate? You don't know the half of it! When mother is around I practically have to bow every time James enters the room,' she stated angrily. She saw Sirius shake his head, and she cocked her eyebrow suspiciously, 'What was that supposed to mean?' she asked him inquisitively.
'You don't need to get yourself so worked up about all that crap,' Sirius said consolingly and squeezed her body tightly, 'I'm being serious, it's not good for you. You should be enjoying yourself and you've went through so much already in your life, you're only fifteen for gods sake,' he said.
Evangeline sighed and rested her head on Sirius' chest,' I guess you're right. Hopefully that's all my nightmares and adventures over and done with and I can just enjoy the rest of my life,' she said, smiling at the thought of a quiet life.
_-_-_
'Oh, Evie, you know I'm bad at every sport there is on the earth,' Lily complained once they split into their teams. Evangeline knew she was right. Lily had no hand-eye coordination, no tactics, basically she was a lost cause. 'I might as well not be on your team. So I'm going to apologise in advance if we lose,' Lily said with a feeble smile.
'You don't need to apologise for anything, Lily,' Evangeline stated firmly. 'If we do lose, it's the teams fault, not an individual persons,' she said as she helped Remus to put the finishing touches on their fort. 'There. It looks okay, doesn't it, Lily?' she asked her best friend, who was surveying the snow fort with precision. Evangeline watched her as she walked the length of the fort until she stopped at the end. 'Well?' Evangeline asked her.
Lily turned to face her, 'It seems okay to me,' she shrugged, 'But then again, I don't know much about snow forts,' she laughed. Evangeline laughed along with her, and watched as the red head became wide-eyed, like she had thought of something. 'How about a flag?' Lily asked her excitedly.
Evangeline glanced at Remus, who nodded uneasily. 'Why not? You can design it if you want, Lily,' she said.
'Thanks, Evie,' Lily beamed and got to making the flag.
Evangeline stooped down and began to roll some snow into snowballs in advance. Remus approached her with a grin on his face, he cocked his eyebrow once Evangeline had noticed him. Evangeline sighed, 'It was the least I could do. She knows she not that good at anything else, we should at least let her do something,' she said.
Remus chuckled, 'It's not that. It's just I was expecting you to be like a drill sergeant, you know, giving our order after order. Surely you want to beat James,' he said and stopped down beside her and grabbed some snow.
Evangeline glanced disbelievingly at him, 'I don't give orders out to my best friends, Remy. No matter how much I want to whip my dear brother's arse,' she smiled evilly.
'That's the spirit!' Remus laughed, 'I could do with getting one back on Padfoot anyway. He pranked me the other day, even though our rulebook clearly states 'Thou shalt never prank another Maurauder', he trip jinxed me at the top of the stairs and I went tumbling down to the third floor!' he complained, folding his arms and shaking his head as he watched Sirius run around like an idiot.
Evangeline followed his gaze and tutted, 'He's such a child, I honestly don't know how I put up with him,' she said and put the last snowball in the pile. 'Well, I do know actually, because I trust that he will never hurt me and the fact that he always makes sure that I'm happy,' she said with a smile on her face. 'His Animagus form suits him down to the ground,' Evangeline said, but then her eyes narrowed, 'Remus?'
Remus made a noise in his throat, showing that he was listening to her. 'Is the potion ready yet? You know, for me to …' Evangeline lowered her voice, ' to become an Animagus.'
Startled by remembrance, Remus spun round on the spot, 'You just reminded me about that. I'll go and check on it this afternoon, if I find a way to get away from Izzy,' he smiled and then lowered his voice so that it was barely audible, 'It should be ready, it's been stewing for over a month, nearly two in fact. All you need to do is drink it regularly for a week and you should eventually transform of your own accord,' Remus informed her. He bent down and lifted the pile of snowballs, he began to walk around the fort, Evangeline followed him.
'Are there any … implications?' she asked him curiously.
'Very few,' Remus answered her, 'It's also very rare for them to occur. And I'm pretty sure that I have concocted the potion correctly, so you have nothing to worry about,' he said and set the pile of snowballs down behind the fort.
'That's good, I feel more reassured now. I had been thinking about it to be honest. I was wondering what on earth I would do if something went wrong, and I had to go to Madame Pomfrey or St. Mungo's. I could go to prison for attempting to become an illegal Animagus,' Evangeline said with a grimace on her face at the thought of having to spend any amount of time in Azkaban.
'Don't worry, everything should go well,' Remus reassured her, then a smile crept onto his face, 'There was one time in the dorms where we spent the whole night trying to figure out what you would transform into,' he said, 'In the end, we still didn't come to a decision in which we all agreed. It turned out that I was right, I suggested that you would transform into a lioness. James didn't agree, he said you weren't 'stable enough' as he put it. Sirius was certain that you would be a unicorn or something of incredible beauty and Peter, well I don't think he even offered his opinion,' Remus said.
Evangeline laughed, 'Why on earth would you waste an entire night worth of sleep arguing over what I would transform into?' she asked him disbelievingly.
'We were just eager I guess, eager to see what animal it would be,' Remus said simply, 'I wonder if those guys are ready yet?' he said, stood up on his tip toes and peered over the top of the fort, he snorted and returned to his usual height, 'Sirius is wearing a cape,' he said and laughed at Evangeline's mortified expression.
'Why the hell is he wearing a cape? Does he want to be the embarrassment of the school?' she said and walked abruptly around the side of the fort so that she could get a full view of her boyfriend's ridiculous costume.
'Well, if I must say, it's too late for that,' Remus chuckled as he followed her around to the front of the fort.
Evangeline sighed deeply and shook her head when she saw Sirius prancing around on top of his team's fort with a red cape strapped around his neck. 'You know what, Remy?' she glanced briefly at him, 'I think you're right.'
'He probably thinks he's superman,' Remus said, as he stood to a halt beside Evangeline who was watching Sirius make a fool out of himself.
Evangeline glanced at Remus confusedly, 'Who's superman?' she asked him.
'A muggle that can fly without a broom,' Remus told her, 'He saves people from 'mortal peril' and is apparently very handsome.'
'Right,' Evangeline said uninterestedly and she continued to watch across the grounds.
'There you are, I've been looking for you two,' Lily said as she approached them with a large piece of fabric in her hands, 'What do you think?' she asked Evangeline and Remus as she held it out for them to see.
'That's surprisingly brilliant,' Evangeline whispers, as she examines the figurines of herself, Remus and Lily throwing flaming snowballs towards James, Sirius and Izzy who seemed to be cowering in fear. 'Lily, that's amazing!' she said, only this time a little louder. A turns to face the beaming Lily, 'Very creative, I like the way the other team look incredibly frightened and are trying to hide from us,' Evangeline laughs and gives Lily a congratulatory pat on the back.
'Thanks, Evie,' Lily said bashfully, 'I thought I might as well put as much effort into it as possible as I probably won't be as good as the actual throwing of the snowballs part,' she said with a weak smile.
'Oh, who cares, Lily! As long as we have fun,' Evangeline said, then a cunning expression appeared on her face, 'And you get to throw snowballs at James, you can get him back for being a complete idiot,' she smiled.
Lily grinned, 'I suppose, but he's not as big an idiot as I thought he was,' she confessed.
'WHAT?!' Remus shouted, a bit louder than necessary, 'Sorry, you don't think James is an idiot? I didn't see that one coming,' he said and he scratched his head uncertainly.
'Well, he's not that bad any more I guess,' Lily said simply, 'If he could deflate his ego even further I'm sure he would be really very nice,' she said pausing for a while as she glanced between Remus and Evangeline who were studying her carefully with interested expressions on their faces, 'It's not as if I love the guy or anything,' Lily concluded.
Evangeline sighed, 'We tried,' she said, looking only at Remus and frowning.
Lily glanced between them once more, 'What are you talking about, Evie?' she asked her inquisitively.
Evangeline smiled gloomily, 'James really, really likes you Lily. And we've tried to tell him that if he stopped being such an idiot he might find that you actually liked him. So we helped him to stop being such an insufferable git and become a nice guy … but obviously it hasn't worked,' she said and sighed deeply. 'All our hard work has been wasted.'
Lily examined her friends disconsolate complexion with a shock, 'Well, I – I… He's not completely unbearable, and – but he does have flaws, I mean everyone has flaws. But I – I could, I could maybe g-go to Hogsmeade with him,' she said, wishing that she hadn't said what she had, 'You did work so hard on helping James …' she said and trailed off.
'So what are you trying to say, Lily?' Remus asked her, as he tried to hold back a smile.
'I guess I could give it a go and go to Hogsmeade with him some weekend,' Lily said, oblivious to the fact the Evangeline and Remus had set her up.
Remus almost cracked a smile, but Evangeline noticed it playing on the corners of his mouth and elbowed him unnoticeably, 'Thank you , Lily. For giving him a chance, we did try so hard. And we're just trying to make everyone happy,' Evangeline said, smiling gratefully towards Lily. 'Well, how about Remus and I go and see if those guys are ready and you put the flag up?' she asked Lily and gestured towards the large piece of material that lay on the ground.
'That's a good idea. Where do you want it?' Lily asked, glanced around at the fort and back to where Remus and Evangeline where standing.
'Oh, anywhere you want, Lily. You made it after all,' Remus said, 'We'll be right back,' he said as he grabbed Evangeline's arm and pulled her away from the fort. 'How did you do that?' he asked her in disbelief.
Evangeline laughed, 'I know for a fact that Lily more than likes James, all she needed was a little push in the right direction,' she shrugged.
'But you practically lied to her,' Remus said as they walked towards James' fort.
Evangeline glanced at him as though he had grown an extra head, 'I didn't lie to her! I would never do that! And anyway, how many times have we told James that if he grew up and stopped acting like a complete twat that Lily might grow to like him?' she asked Remus, whose expression displayed that he knew Evangeline was right. 'Exactly, more times than we can count,' she said as they approached the snow fort.
'I guess you're right, I mean they'll probably end up getting-'
'Aha! Get back you scurvy braggart! You rogue!' Sirius yelled as he jumped out from behind the fort brandishing his wand threateningly, his red cape blustering in the wind. Evangeline came abruptly to a halt and blinked incredulously, she cocked her eyebrow as Sirius sauntered towards them. 'Hi,' Sirius said simply and smiled coyly.
'Good morning, Sir Cadogan! Off on another quest I see, with bravery in your heart and steely sinew!' Evangeline said mockingly as Sirius approached them.
Sirius laughed sarcastically, wrapped his arms around Evangeline from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder, 'Is it really a good idea to insult your opposition in the midst of battle?' he asked her and kissed her cheek softly.
'Why should I worry? You wouldn't hurt me,' Evangeline smiled and glanced at Remus who was smirking and shaking his head at how whipped Sirius was.
'But that doesn't mean I won't throw a few snowballs at you,' Sirius said, looking down at her, 'And I know for a fact that you won't waste an opportunity to throw some at me either,' he said as he cocked his eyebrow at her mischievous grin.
'Padfoot? Padfoot, where are you?' James called as he walked out from behind the fort, 'There you are. Please stop fraternising with the enemy,' he stated as he noticed Sirius had his arms wrapped firmly around Evangeline's waist. He approached the small gathering, 'Are you guys ready to battle then?' he asked Remus and his sister.
Evangeline rolled her eyes, 'We've been ready for ages. We came over here to see if you were ready,' she said, but she noticed James' wandering eyes, they were clearly searching for Lily. 'We left Lily to put up the flag that she made … just in case you're wondering,' she said to James with raised eyebrows.
James snapped out of his trance, 'Oh, okay. Well when you're back over there we'll begin,' he said . he turned around and headed towards the snow fort but stopped and spun around, 'Padfoot, you coming?' he said, clearly he wasn't asking Sirius if he was for coming, he was telling him he had to.
Sirius frowned, and quickly kissed Evangeline gently on the lips and loosened his grip on her. He was about to walk away but turned back and whispered in Evangeline's ear. She smiled and nodded discreetly. Sirius kissed her once more and unwillingly turned his back on his friends and ran towards the fort.
'Let the battle commence,' Evangeline said.
_-_-_
The two teams abandoned their forts and had resorted to throwing the snowballs without any protection whatsoever. Evangeline grabbed the derelict snow that lay on the branches, rolled it into a ball and flung it in James' direction. She laughed triumphantly as it hit it's target. She watched as James gazed viciously to find the culprit. Of course, he would never find her. She wasn't on the ground. She was up a tree. Evangeline knew that he would complain that she was hidden and could not be a target, but there was nothing in the rules that said you couldn't throw snowballs from up a tree. She sat up there for a while, randomly throwing a few snowballs from time to time. After deciding that being hidden wasn't diverting at all, she jumped down and clawed her way through the bushes that were scattered around the edges of the grounds. Evangeline peered through a gap in the vegetation, Sirius was gathering snow behind their fort, Izzy was battling Remus and James was searching around for someone to throw a snowball at. Lily was no where to be seen.
Evangeline knelt down and watched her surroundings, the battle between Remus and Izzy was particularly amusing. Every time Izzy got hit with a snowball she let out a cackle of high pitched laughter. She joined in laughing when Izzy threw a snowball at Remus and it hit him in the groin. Evangeline sat, unnoticed and quite unusually enjoying herself.
'PADFOOT! WHERE IS EVERYBODY?' James yelled across the grounds to Sirius who glanced up from his pile of snowballs. 'THERE'S ONLY MOONY.'
Sirius wandered out from the other side of ther fort and glanced around suspiciously. He was walking closer and closer to where Evangeline was hiding, but he did not see her. 'I CAN'T SEE ANYONE,' he shouted over to James who was gazing around confusedly.
Evangeline laughed at Sirius' expression, he began to scratch his head bewilderedly. She was about to let out a giggle when a hand clapped over her mouth. She gasped in surprise and began to struggle against the hand that stayed firmly over her mouth. Evangeline was being roughly pulled into the bushes, she could not see her attacker. She opened her mouth and bit at any flesh she could reach. Her attacker gasped and let go of her, 'What'd you do that for?' Evangeline rapidly turned herself around to find Lily standing above her, clutching her hand.
'Why did you attack me like that?' Evangeline exclaimed with wide eyes.
Lily smiled weakly, 'I didn't mean to attack you that badly, just surprise you,' she said, 'You nearly laughed when Sirius was right in front of you, and I couldn't think of any other way of stopping you,' Lily said, offering her reason for frightening Evangeline. 'Sorry,' she said.
'It's okay,' Evangeline said as she pulled herself to her feet, 'You could have just silenced me you know,' she laughed, she grabbed Lily's hand and lead her through the bushes. 'How about we just attack everybody? … With snowballs I mean,' Evangeline said.
'Okay, but it looks as though Remus has got Izzy covered,' Lily said as she surveyed the battle occurring in front of them through the bushes. 'How about you take Sirius and I take James?' she suggested.
Evangeline's eyes narrowed, a smirk appeared on her face, 'I like that idea very much, Lilyflower,' she said, she stooped down and began to roll as much snow into balls as she could, 'We'd better make a supply of them. C'mon Lily, help me here! Don't just stand there watching,' Evangeline ordered.
'How many do you think we'll need?' Lily asked her as she bent down to help.
Evangeline thought for a while, she hummed to herself, and eventually spoke, 'As many as possible,' she said, smiling to herself.
After a while of making snowballs, Lily's hands had grown red from the cold. 'That's why you wear gloves, you silly billy,' Evangeline laughed, she showed Lily her own gloves and began to wiggle her fingers. 'I think that should be enough now anyway,' she said, she stood up and gathered a few snowballs in her hands. Lily stood up, grabbing some snowballs for herself. 'You ready?' Evangeline asked her.
A slightly evil smirk grew on Lily's face, 'More ready than what I'll ever be,' she said darkly and glanced around to find her victim.
Evangeline began to bounce on the balls of her feet, 'Oh I can't wait to see James' face when you attack him!' she said excitedly, 'It'll be hilarious!'
Lily glanced at her best friend oddly, 'Okay Evie, no need to wet yourself with excitement,' she said, trying to remain unanimous to the laughter that was trying to overcome her. Eventually she giggled when she saw Evangeline's face, who was shocked by her statement. 'What?' she asked her best friend.
Evangeline stared at her through wide eyes, 'Normally I'm the one making blunt statements, not you,' she said incredulously.
Lily laughed, 'We can all be blunt when we want to,' she said simply. 'Can we attack them now? The suspense is killing me,' she said as she watched James like a vulture as he ran across the grounds without a care in the world.
'Okay, okay,' Evangeline agreed with the impatient red head, 'I'll go this way, and you go that way,' she said gesturing Lily to the direction in which she should head.
'Right, good luck Evie,' Lily said with a smiled, 'I'm sure you'll do much better than what I will,' she laughed and began to run along the edge of the grounds snowballs in hand, eventually she disappeared out of sight.
Evangeline began to walk through the bushes towards where she last saw Sirius. She stopped and peered through a small bush with red berries, Sirius was sitting on top of the fort casting small birds from his wand. She smiled wickedly and began to creep towards the fort. She made her way unnoticed. Attempting not to laugh she set down the pile of snowballs behind the fort, directly below where Sirius was sitting. She grabbed the one on top of the pile and threw it upwards. By luck it soared into the air, lingered in the atmosphere for a short time and eventually fell on top of Sirius head. It startled him, he flung his arms around trying to regain his balance, but he couldn't and he fell face first off the fort. Evangeline had to try and suppress her laughter so that he would not hear her. Once she had calmed herself she took her hand away from her mouth and sighed in relief.
'Hcccccck!' Evangeline slapped a hand over her mouth. She groaned as she hiccuped once more.
'Who's there?' Sirius called from the other side of the fort.
Evangeline began to shuffle herself away from Sirius' voice. She reached the edge of the fort and peered around. He was no where to be seen. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, where did he go? she asked herself. Evangeline leant against the snow fort, she traced her finger along the edge, it was cold even through the fabric of her glove. She sighed, her hiccups never ceasing.
'Brilliant hiding place,' a voice whispered softly in her ear.
Evangeline gasped and quickly glanced around to find Sirius standing before her, grinning at her surprised expression. She glared playfully at him and grabbed a handful of snow out of the fort, threw it at him and sprinted away. She found that wearing more than one layer of clothes had slowed her down considerably and that running away from someone was much more challenging. She glanced back, and laughed as Sirius was gaining on her. She knew that she would be caught at some point. But not tripped, Sirius had launched himself for her feet, grabbed them and pulled her down. She fell like a tonne of bricks, although bricks do not burst into fits of giggles once they hit the ground.
'And you thought you could run away,' Sirius said smugly as he hauled himself and stood over the giggling Evangeline. He couldn't help but smile at her lying there laughing on the ground, he held out his hand for her. She gratefully took it and he pulled her off the ground.
'I got further than I thought I would,' Evangeline said, and began to back away from him, a playful expression glazed over her face.
'Where are you going now?' Sirius asked her. Evangeline smiled mischievously, winked and disappeared behind her own snow fort. 'Angel?' he called and walked curiously around the corner of the fort. He had a funny feeling that Evangeline would be around the other side with snowballs to ambush him with. He stood up on his tip toes until he could see over the fort, and just as he had suspected Evangeline was waiting to ambush him. He smirked, grabbed a few snowballs and dropped them over the top of the fort. A squeal from Evangeline revealed that he had hit his target. Sirius ran around the corner to find Evangeline attempting to get all the snow off of herself, he took her by surprise and gently shoved her into the wall of the fort. 'Nice try,' he said with a laugh and wrapped his arms around her.
Smiling, Sirius gently kissed Evangeline on the lips then pulled away, still smiling. Evangeline watched him curiously, her eyes flickering from his gaze down to his lips. She raised her eyebrow suggestively and smiled at Sirius' reaction. He kissed her again, but this time for longer. Short, soft kisses on the lips, then the corners of her mouth, then back to her lips again. Evangeline smiled, and moaned slightly. She could feel Sirius smothering a laugh against her mouth, he broke away and chuckled. Evangeline giggled and kissed him on the nape of his neck, his jawline and moved her way up to his lips.
'Sirius?' Evangeline said quietly as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest.
'Hmm?'
'I love you,' Evangeline said, 'You make my life worth living and you always make me smile. Promise me that you'll always be there for me,' she said softly, her warm breath tickling Sirius neck.
Sirius smiled, 'Why wouldn't I always be there for you, Angel? I love you, I always have,' he said, kissing the top of Evangeline's head. 'But I'm going to promise to you, that I will never leave you, ever.'
OH MY GOSH!!!! I HAVEN'T UPDATED THIS IN WEEKS!! I'M SO SORRY! I have actually missed writing it, it's just I haven't had an awful lot of time to myself these past couple of weeks and I have other more important things to worry about; like my education, hockey etc. And the fact that my laptop crashed on me ): Anyway, REVIEWS!! As always (: Constructive criticism and any other crap you wanna add (: All newcomers have a look at my other stories, you might find something of interest! Tori xo