So this is the second chapter I promised you guys. In this one you guys finally get to see part of Evelyn's past and a part of what she went through, which everyone's always alluding to. ***THIS CHAPTER COULD HAVE POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING CONTENT IF SOMEONE HAS PTSD.***

Erza's POV

The common room we arrived in was nice. A fire was blazing in the fireplace and I saw Evelyn and Natsu eye it hungrily. Hopefully they wouldn't eat it and raise suspicion. "This is cozy," Lucy yawned before relaxing on one of the couches.

"Where will we be sleeping?" I inquired.

"Those staircases lead up to the two dormitories. Boys on the right, girls on the left. Girls can enter the boys' dormitories, but boys can't enter the girls'." I nodded, relieved that Natsu wouldn't be able to sneak in to sleep with Lucy but at least Evelyn would could go into the boys' if she had a nightmare.

"That doesn't make sense," Natsu expressed disappointed that he wouldn't be able to be with Lucy or Evelyn.

"It's to keep perverts like you out," Lucy teased her best friend.

"You're calling me a pervert?" Natsu chuckled jerking a thumb at Gray who had habitually stripped off his shirt.

"Gray put your shirt on," I sighed. He yelled in surprise as he looked down to discover that his shirt had gone missing.

"Stupid habit," he grumbled as he tugged his shirt back on over his messy, black hair.

"Habit?" someone questioned. "How do you make a habit out of that?"

"It's a long story," Lucy replied before releasing another yawn. "I'm going up to bed. Goodnight everyone!" She trudged up the stairs as Natsu watched her go sullenly.

"Cheer up," Evelyn elbowed him in the ribs. "You'll see your girlfriend tomorrow."

"She's not my girlfriend," Natsu defended.

"You liiiiike each other," Happy stretched out the word. Upon hearing that, Lucy came back into the common room and threatened, quietly so only we could hear, to call Cancer and cut off all his fur before marching back up the stairs. Evelyn leaned in and whispered something into her brother's ear making the male fire dragonslayer turn red although whether it was out of anger or embarrassment was anyone's guess.

"That's not true!" he yelled grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. Evelyn chortled and kissed her brother's cheek.

"Whatever you say big brother. I'm going to sleep." After a questioning glance she assured him that she would be okay. After he reluctantly agreed she followed Lucy up the stairs.

"What did Evie say to you?" Gray asked. Natsu shook his head.

"Nothing, it was dragonslayer stuff." After that he didn't pursue the topic any more. In fact he seemed deep in thought considering what his little sister had told him.

"Um Erza?" Ron ventured. I raised an eyebrow showing I was paying attention. "Is it okay if we put Gray and Natsu in the same room?"

"That just increases the risk of Natsu blowing up the castle because he's an idiot," Happy said, hiding his mouth behind a paw.

"Get off my case furball," Natsu growled.

"Who else will they be sharing a room with?" I responded with a question, ignoring the blue exceed and his owner.

"Me, Harry, Neville, Dean, and Seamus." I considered the list of names before nodding.

"If you think you can keep them in line, sure. But be aware that Evelyn may sneak up, and Lucy may be with her, if she has a nightmare."

"What happened to her?" Harry asked as Hermione approached us.

"That's for her to tell. I won't tell anyone unless she gives me permission to. All I'm saying is that she went through a hard time. We respect her immensely for what she put up with." At that I turned and climbed up the stairs after saying goodnight and warning Natsu and Gray to behave themselves. When I got upstairs I saw Lucy and Evie had made friends with the girls sharing a room with us.

"I'm Erza," I extended a hand.

"I'm Lavender Brown."

"And I'm Parvati Patil," the two girls introduced themselves.

"We've had a long day," Lucy announced. "I think we're going to sleep." We all nodded in agreement before collapsing on our beds and falling asleep.

My sleep was calm and undisturbed until I heard someone crying. Shooting up I looked around and tried to identify the noise and it's source. Turning towards Evelyn's bed I noticed that was where the sound was loudest. Tears were sliding down her cheeks and she was shaking. Shaking her gently, I whispered comforting words into her ears. I wasn't the only one awake though. Hermione had woken up as well and was staring at Evelyn's bed perplexedly.

"Is she ok?" Hermione's low voice cut through the sobs being emitted by the slayer.

"She's fine, go back to sleep," I replied.

"Erza?" Lucy's voice cut through the sounds of Evelyn's distress. "Is Evie having a nightmare again?" Seeing her friend shake made her jump out of bed. "I'm getting Natsu, bring her downstairs so he can see her." The command in her voice made me look at her with new respect.

"Very well. Try not to wake everyone else up," I reminded as she sprinted down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Lavender asked through a yawn. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, go back to sleep," I reassured her and she complied all too happily. After Evelyn was finally shaken awake she stumbled down the stairs after me into the common room.

"The fire makes me want to comfort eat," Evelyn complained. "But I can't because that'd raise suspicion."

"Evelyn!" Natsu exclaimed as he barreled down the stairs at breakneck speed. Gray was shuffling along behind him still drowsy from sleep. "I wish we could sleep together that way we wouldn't have to do this whenever you have a nightmare."

"I could always come up since it's allowed." Natsu considered it for a moment before shaking his head.

"We'll worry about that later. Do you want to talk about it?" This was a side of Natsu no one ever really saw. He was always so focused on fighting and getting stronger that it was easy to forget he could be gentle and kind. He was an older brother after all and I imagined he had to comfort his sister after Igneel went missing too.

"It was one of the experiments they did that was designed to test intellect or something. They had this weird animal chasing me through a maze and I managed to escape it after a couple of fights with it. This dream was the worst-case scenario. That animal had attacked me until I was dead." The other mages and I were shaking in anger at Evelyn's narration in a soft voice. "The scars I have on my right arm came from that fight," she commented quietly. Sure enough there were three, long scars that ran down her arm from the shoulder to the wrist. Everyone fell silent after her monologue. I remembered that she had become incredibly adept at hiding the fact that she had been tortured, it was only after nightmares or memories that it was evident.

"I really want to eat that fire."

"Do it Evie, we can just say the fire burned out," Lucy urged. She eagerly went over to the fireplace and started eating the flames as casually as eating regular food.

"Do you want to come up with Natsu and I for the rest of the night?" Gray offered. She nodded and followed them up the stairs.

"She'll be ok right?" Lucy asked, still concerned for her friend's wellbeing.

"Natsu and Gray will take care of her," I comforted. Nodding both of us went back upstairs and fell asleep.

So as I promised here's another chapter today since the other one was really super short.