Chapter 24:

Huddled around the Hufflepuff fireplace, Eve, Althea and Piper sat warming their bitterly cold fingers , having spent the better half of their Saturday afternoon down at the Quidditch Pitch, watching Hufflepuff lose to Slytherin.

Despite the lack of a win, the common room was abuzz with a lively atmosphere, and as Althea had explained;

'if we all got depressed every time Hufflepuff lost at Quidditch, we'd never leave our dorm rooms– no offence Pip'

Piper, as jolly as ever, had taken the loss in her stride, and instead had broached a subject which had caused the other two girls to exchange glances of glee.

'Did you see who Elias was sitting with at the game today?' she asked, her voice a little too controlled.

'Can't say I did – what about you Eve?' Althea replied innocently, a twinkle in her eye.

'I'm not too sure' Eve replied softly 'I'd assume Davey and Patrick –'

'- it was Andrea Whiter' Piper quickly interceded.

'Oh, really? I didn't notice' Althea smiled and began flicking through her herbology book, dog-earing the pages on areas that caught her interest, as they fell back into a comfortable silence.

After a few minutes Piper spoke again.

'He's been spending quite a lot of time with her recently'

Althea raised her eyebrows.

'Has he?'

'Yeah' Piper fidgeted in her seat 'd'you think he likes her?'

Althea and Eve exchanged another glance, this time slight concern etching across their features.

'I'm sure he doesn't, Piper' Eve replied.

'Not half as much as he likes you!' Althea added, and Piper's cheeks flushed indignantly.

'What are you talking about? I-I don't care if he likes her or not…I just thought it was – it was – curious!' she spluttered.

Neither girl bothered to argue and instead threw knowing smirks at her.

'Oh yes' Althea agreed 'very curious indeed.'

Whatever retort Piper opened her mouth to make would never be known, as the rush of excited chatters and cries drew their attention to the far side of the common room where a growing commotion was taking place.

'Hello, most humble Hufflepuffs!' a bright voice sounded above the others.

'We mean no harm!' another chimed in.

'We even bring sweets – please help yourselves!'

Another scuffle sounded with loud chattering following, before a variety of bright coloured puffs ignited and cries of surprise emitted.

'CANARY CREAMS!' the voice cried brightly 'ON SALE NOW!'

'CURTESY OF WEASLEY WIZARD WHEEZES!'

'What are they doing here!' Anastasia came and joined them by their seats, her eyes trained on two approaching red heads.

'I have one idea –' Piper began, glancing at her friend.

'Evie!' Fred pushed his way past the crowd of students, and was soon followed by George.

'Just the girl we were looking for!'

'Ten points to me' Piper muttered to herself, smirking.

'How did you get in here?' Eve asked, bemused.

'Oh Eve, really?' Fred shook his head, his tone disappointed.

'Please take a second to consider who you are talking to' George added.

'Fair enough' she chuckled 'so to what do I owe this pleasure?'

'Ah!' Fred beamed.

'I'm glad you asked!'

'We have a small favour to ask of you –'

'a miniscule favour really –'

'minute even –'

'-diminutive –'

'All right, all right!' she laughed, cutting them off 'what do you want?'

'Well have you gotten detention for next weekend, yet?' Fred asked her.

'No I haven't got detention' she replied, before growing indignant 'and what do you mean, yet?'

'Oh come on Evie' George grinned 'you're almost in detention as often as Harry.'

Eve opened her mouth to protest but Althea cut in.

'He has a point Eve' she shrugged 'that scar on your hand is going to reach the bone at the rate you're going'

Althea's bitter tone was not new to Eve, but surprise hit her like a breaking wave when she saw a strangely sharp expression form on George's face as his eyes flickered down to her hand.

She shifted her arm uncomfortably, concealing the scarred hand from sight, but not before George had caught a glimpse, the familiar humour in his eyes darkening to something else.

'So what do you want me to do next weekend?' she broke the slight silence that had fallen.

'Well I've only gone and landed myself a romantic Friday night and Saturday morning in Chateux de Umbridge' Fred wiggled his eyebrows suggestively 'and we have some business that we need to take care of in Hogsmeade –'

'Business?' Eve inquired.

'Oh you know, Weasley Wizard Wheezes stuff' George replied vaguely.

'And said business requires two people –'

'So you want my help' she concluded.

'Evie, I would be delighted if you would join me in Hogsmeade next weekend' George grinned at her, his eyes setting firmly on her own, and she felt her lips widening into a natural smile.

'Fine, I'll meet you in the entrance hall' she laughed.

'Brilliant!'

'I knew there was a reason we kept you!'

'I've told you before, George! I am not a pet!'

They didn't seem to acknowledge her words and instead just waved enthusiastically at her as they exited the common room.

'So first Draco Malfoy, and now the Weasley twins –' Althea turned to Eve.

'You're friends with Potter, Granger and Weasley –'

'She knows Ginny too!' Ana added.

'Are you going to explain to us how it is you seem to know the most well- known people at Hogwarts?' Piper demanded.

'I- er – my mum knows the Weasley's t-that's all!'

She could feel their looks of doubt burning into her, but she kept her gaze on the fire, feigning a sudden interest in it.

In fact, she was soon drawn into the familiar flickering of the flames and found herself easily falling back into her old habit. The fire danced invitingly towards her, and she saw the formation of that same face, blonde hair, beautiful, reaching out to her…an archway of light…and then her father, his eyes wide –'

'Eve?'

Eve jumped, breaking her eyes from the flames, and finding herself back in reality.

'I said are you coming to dinner?' Althea shook her head with exasperation.

'Oh, yes, of course!' Eve spluttered, jumping up from her seat and following her friends.

She could not help throwing a glance over her shoulders at the fireplace as she went.

Eve met George in the Entrance Hall the following weekend, and they made their way into Hogsmeade, battling against the obnoxiously strong wind that seemed to be working against the Hogwarts Pupils.

'S-So where are we going?' Eve shivered, hugging her thick coat tighter to herself.

George didn't respond, eyeing her for a moment before shaking his head and removing his scarf, handing it to her wordlessly.

'George – I'm fine –' the raised eyebrow she received cut her off and blushing she thanked him, taking the wool scarf and wrapping it around her own neck.

They continued walking and Eve caught George glancing at her.

'What?' she demanded, feeling self conscious.

'Nothing' George shrugged 'the colour looks good on you'

Eve cursed herself for blushing again, realising that the scarf was decorated with Gryffindor colours.

'Well I suppose I have to at least have a bit of Gryffindor stupidity for coming with you today' she smirked.

'We prefer the term Gryffindor courage' he corrected, his eyes twinkling.

'Same difference' Eve shrugged.

'I'm starting to see a difference in you, Evie' George's eyes scanned her 'you've seemed to have acquired quite the attitude.'

Eve opened her mouth to reply, but her mind went blank and instead she resorted to sticking out her tongue at him.

They continued along the path in a companionable silence, until Eve realised that they were veering away from the beaten track that the other students were following.

'Erm – George?'

'So, how much do you actually know about Hogsmeade?' George asked brightly, and Eve frowned with confusion.

'For instance, did you know that it is the only all-wizard village in England?'

'Erm…no?'

'Well, there's some trivia for you!' he grinned.

'George, what are you talking about!?'

George glanced over his shoulders, and unconsciously Eve found herself mimicking him; they were entirely alone.

Once satisfied with their privacy George stopped walking and leaned in conspiratorially.

'You know this is all for Weasley's Wizard Wheeze's business' he began, and Eve nodded quickly, hurrying him to the point.

'Well in order for us to create our products, a certain amount of experimentation is needed – no, don't worry I'm not going to be experimenting on you!' George quickly clarified when he noted her hesitant expression 'but we do need a certain plant in order to complete our brand of fireworks.'

'Okay…' Eve nodded slowly.

'The plant we need is called a Lux Splendida' he began walking again and Eve stumbled over her feet to follow him 'it's a plant with very high magical properties and as such it only grows in areas exuding high amounts of magic –'

'- like Hogsmeade' Eve finished, finally catching on.

'Exactly!' George beamed 'we've spent the last couple of months trying to locate it and we've finally found some growing – but then Fred went and got detention, and we really need it this weekend to complete the final batch…'

'So we're going to get it now?' Eve questioned.

'Precisely!'

Eve let out a deep breath.

'That sounds simple enough' she smiled 'I thought it was going to be a lot worse –' something in George's expression cut her off and her eyes rested upon him questioningly.

'Well you see, Evie, the Lux Splendido has really strong defensive properties – it's not susceptible to a simple knife or lawn mower…so we may have to get inventive'

'Okay' Eve nodded 'that's still not as bad as I was imagining' she chuckled.

'And – erm – Eve?' George added.

'Yes?'

'You're not too opposed to breaking and entering, right?'

Eve closed her eyes.

That was more along the lines her imagination had taken.

They continued along the empty pathway, which led them into a wooded area, and under the shadows of the leaveless trees Eve felt a shiver of discomfort.

'You all right?' George asked with concern.

'Fine' she shrugged, hugging her clothes tighter, she couldn't muster the effort to elaborate.

'It's just around this corner – and here we are!' George whispered.

Eve eyed the wooden fence and glanced at George with a grimace.

The wood was discoloured, and many of the planks making up the fence appeared to be breaking away from the foundations.

Clearly, George had inspected the fence as he marched directly to the left and pulled back two panels, revealing a gap big enough for them to fit through.

He turned to grin at her.

'No wards on the edge of the property, only on the house – convenient huh?'

'Yeah…convenient' she whispered, letting out a breath and following him through the fence.

They found themselves in what appeared to be a large garden, but it was far too overgrown with tangles of weeds to qualify as such.

Eve hissed lowly as the brambles they were walking through scratched sharply at her ankles.

'Sorry' George muttered 'it's just over – here!'

George's excited grin seemed out of place as his arm extended, directing her attention to a small cluster of light green shrubs. Eve wasn't sure what she had expected, but with a name like splendido it was definitely more than the extremely in-extraordinary plant she was looking at.

George raised an eyebrow at her, and pulled out his wand.

'Revealo' he muttered, pointing his wand at the shrubs, and Eve's eyebrows shot up as from within the dull shrubs, a stem, topped with a bud began to extend.

It continued to grow until it reached just above George's ankles, where the bud then slowly opened, and Eve could not mask her gasp.

The flower which revealed itself was a startling shade of fushia, but it was not the petals which amazed Eve, it was the stigma extending from the middle; a shimmering gold, then a bright green, an illuminous yellow – it continued to change colour every few seconds.

'That's –'

'- exactly what we need' George completed, his blue eyes sparkling with delight 'so can you keep watch for me?'

Eve blinked, forgetting for a moment that there was a reason George had asked her to come.

'Oh, yeah' she replied, feeling foolish 'of course'

She pulled out her own wand and moved away from George, scanning the area, and eyeing the distant house, set about one hundred metres away from her position, noting that it was almost as uncared for as the garden that surrounded it.

She could hear George muttering various charms, and the growing frustration in his tone suggested that his attempts weren't working.

Eve leaned against the tree, twirling her wand between her fingers as the minutes ticked by and her boredom growingly increased.

Just as she was about to turn back and see if George had made any progress, a jolt of ice shot through her veins, and suddenly Eve found her senses on red alert.

She was unsure what had made her react in such a way, but immediately she tightened her grip on her wand and with far more care she scanned the area around her.

It was silent, there was no change in the area, but Eve couldn't shake the strange sensation flooding through her.

And she always followed her instincts.

Just as she was about to edge forward, a sudden rustle from the overgrowth near the edge of the house caused her to spring back as two birds flew from their cover and up into the sky.

Eve's heart began to pound against her ribcage; something had spooked those birds.

She turned from the house and ran back to George, her breath catching as a loud cry sounded from behind her.

'WHO'S THERE?'

She flung herself around the final tree, and found George, still in the position she had left him in, kneeling down by the plant and staring up at her in shock.

'Someone's here, we have to go!' Eve hissed, shooting a glance over her shoulder.

George paled.

'W-Wait, I haven't got the plant yet!' he began shooting spells recklessly at the plant, his fingers shaking slightly.

'George, come on!' Eve hissed, bouncing from toe to toe.

'No, wait, i can't leave the plant –'

At that moment a sharp bolt of red light shot through the trees, hitting the ground a few feet short of them, but serving as a strong warning.

'George we have to go!'

'The plant!'

'Oh for Goodness sake! Move!'

Eve barged George out of her way, throwing a glance over her shoulders before moving to take his place.

'Nheideas' she hissed urgently and immediately the plant shredded from the roots with a shrill cry.

'Accio' George quickly added, summoning the pieces into a small pot in his hand, before grabbing her roughly by the arm and pulling her to her feet.

Eve did not need any encouragement and immediately she turned and ran for the fence, her heart pounding as hard as her feet as she ran.

Once they were through the fence they did not stop running, they didn't pause for breath or to converse, they continued to run until they reached the very edges of the village, the familiar sign for the Three Broomsticks pub in clear sight.

'That – was – BRILLIANT!'

George managed to catch his breath enough to express his exhilleration, and Eve simply clutched her chest, wheezing in deep breaths.

They remained that way for a few more minutes, until Eve felt that words were once again a possibility.

'How did you do that? I couldn't get that plant to budge an inch!' George grinned.

'I'm good at spells like that' Eve shrugged lightly.

'What, shredding things to pieces?' George chuckled, but his humour faltered when Eve once again shrugged nonchalantly.

'Thanks for coming today, Eve' he added more seriously, and without being able to place the reason, Eve blushed once again.

'It's fine' she replied quietly, their eyes meeting for a second.

George cleared his throat.

'Fred should be out of his detention by now' he continued 'he's going to meet us at the Hogs Head.'

'The Hogs Head?' Eve frowned.

'You know, the meeting? With Harry?' George clarified.

'Oh' Eve nodded with understanding 'I'm not going to that.'

'What?' George frowned, genuine confusion consuming his expression 'why not?'

Eve's expression grew tight, her lips pursed together and she clasped her hands together, ringing them in her discomfort.

'I can defend myself perfectly well' she told him 'I am not about to start flaunting around, joining some mini Order of the Phoenix'

'But –'

'But nothing!'

Suddenly Eve's calm demeanor faded, and her grey eyes blazed, power, almost tangible in its might, seemed to ooze from her aura, and George stared at her with fresh eyes.

'I know what the other side are capable of. I know what He is capable of and I am not about to run into battle with him! I'm finally here and I am not going to risk going back there!'

It was the first time George had ever heard her mention anything about her previous life; before the summer. And George felt like he was finally seeing her for the first time.

She was not just a new fourth year pupil. She was no ordinary Witch.

She finally stood before him, no longer blushing or trembling, but instead exuding power and strength.

Wherever she had been, whoever had kept her, they had, in fact, kept her. And there had to be a reason to keep a prisoner alive.

'I'm definitely going to have to get you a muzzle' he smiled lightly, trying to ignore the warmth of pleasure he experienced at finally seeing the placid girl spark.

Eve remained still for a moment, a flicker of annoyance clouding her eyes, before humour twitched at her lips.

'And maybe a cage to carry you around in –'

He artfully dodged the slap she aimed at his arm.

' – definitely a cage!' he repeated, calling over his shoulder and waving farewell.

'See you around, Evie.'

Eve considered hovering around, perhaps exploring more of Hogsmeade, but the bitter chill attacking her cheeks made the warmth of the Hufflepuff Common Room seem far too appealing to resist.

She tucked her chin down into George's scarf, and marched back in the direction of the castle.

As the castle gates came into sight, so did a group of boys, one of whom possessed a head of white blonde hair.

'DRACO!'

The group all froze and turned back at her cry, and Eve sped up her approach, waving as she moved.

'DRACO!' she called again.

Draco's eyes rested upon her as she neared and subsequently widened in surprise. She watched as he froze for a moment, straightening his back and turning to mutter something to his companions, all of whom sniggered in response to his words and turned to her, their eyes glinting maliciously.

Draco moved smoothly towards her, his expression guarded.

'Hi –' Eve began, but with his back now to his friends, his expression had become thunderous.

'What are you doing?' he hissed 'you can't go around calling my name as if we're best friends, Eve!'

'But we are?' Eve's voice was small, and Draco sighed at her words, his expression softening.

'Eve – you know it's not as simple as that' he held her gaze, and his shoulders sagged slightly.

'I know' Eve's eyes fell to the floor, and she shifted her feet awkwardly 'but I miss you.'

'All it takes is one person to open their mouths, to make one comment' his voice held a rare tone of gentleness, and he paused to glance over his shoulder.

'You watched me fly' Eve stated.

'Yes – you're awful.'

'No I am not!' she snapped indignantly, and Draco's eyes sparkled slightly with amusement.

'Okay, not awful' he relented.

'Why?'

'Why what?'

Eve rolled her eyes.

'Why did you come and watch me fly?'

Draco faltered, the teasing smile fading from his lips.

'To talk to you' he seemed torn in his response.

'So why –'

'Eve I've really got to go –' Draco turned back to his friends.

'So when can we talk?' Eve demanded quietly.

Draco froze, his forehead creasing as he fought what appeared to be an internal battle with himself.

'Next Friday, the Quidditch Pitch at midnight.'

He didn't bid her farewell, or glance back at her even once.

One minute he was there, and the next he was gone, leaving her alone and once again very aware of how cold it was.

That night, once she was finally warm under her thick duvet, Eve's dreams caused her to toss and turn restlessly.

She heard a woman's cry, shouting a name desperately.

She saw her father's widened eyes, surprise etched on his features.

George grabbed her arm, telling her to run, but she kept tripping, falling over the large scarf that was wrapped a countless amount of times around her neck and shoulders.

And then Draco, hovering on a broom and extending his hand out to her, and just as she went to take it he would fly away.

It was the worst night sleep she had had at Hogwarts.

A/N: I am so glad to know that at least a few of you are still out there! I know i'm rubbish with updating now, a law degree and now teacher training are completely to blame - and the fact that my muse has packed up her belongings and decided to go off travelling with very little communication with me!

Thank you for those of you who reviewed, you're amazing! Please keep them coming - just so i know you're there and how i'm doing :)