November 28, 2015 (Evangeline)
If Eva thought the political discourse at Hogwarts was bad before, it was nothing compared to the aftermath of Harry Potter's campaign announcement.
Posters bearing the beaming likeness of the Headmaster covered the walls of the castle, with POTTER FOR MINISTER! screaming at Eva in bold lettering everywhere she went. Students handed out pins pledging support for the man in the upcoming election, and seventh-years pestered their classmates to fill out voter registration forms as early as possible. It was impossible to walk from one class to another without hearing a heated debate or two about the upcoming vote in the halls.
Hermione Granger was not without her supporters either. She was more popular amongst the younger students, which unfortunately meant they were easier to be shouted down by the upperclassmen and labeled as naive. A few posters supporting the incumbent Minister hung in the walls, but they were often vandalized or quickly ripped down by the opposition. One bold seventh-year girl made an impassioned speech in the common room one evening in support of Granger, only to wind up in the Hospital Wing the following morning after mysteriously falling down three flights of stairs.
Eva wanted nothing more than to keep her head down and pretend none of this election business was happening, but her classmates gave her no rest. Everyone insisted on knowing precisely where everyone else stood on the issue, including her. "So who's got your support, Eva?" asked Victoire one morning as the student body perused the latest edition of the Prophet endorsing Potter's run. "You're on Team Potter with us, right?"
"I don't want to take part in all this nastiness," Eva muttered nonchalantly, not looking up from her breakfast. "I'll keep my opinions to myself."
"Aw, you're no fun," Victoire teased. "C'mon, you're not a secret Granger supporter or something, are you? I never pegged you as a boot-licker, Prewitt."
Eva nearly fired back at this remark, but Roxanne came to a rescue by throwing an exaggerated arm over her shoulder. "Of course she's not," Roxanne boasted loudly. "Eva's the Headmaster's favorite, don't you know? He's giving her private lessons and everything. No way he'd do that for a Granger-head."
"You're getting private lessons from Potter?" Chris Wood asked in awe. "Blimey, where do I sign up for those?"
"It's not like that," Eva groaned, rolling her eyes. "He just helped me with a side-project I'm working on for Professor Babbling."
It wasn't an outright lie – she had decided to explore time as part of her Ancient Runes self-study project, ever since the strange meeting she'd had with Harry. What he hoped to achieve by inviting her to help with his research, she didn't know. He was a far more brilliant man than she was, and she doubted any discoveries she made in the Room of Requirement would have escaped his knowledge. But it intrigued her all the same, and she was excited to see what she could find out for herself.
"All the same," Roxanne went on loudly, "do you really think I'd be caught dead snogging a Granger supporter? It'll be a cold day in hell when I associate with a fan of that witch."
Eva said nothing in response to this, and was grateful when conversation finally turned elsewhere. Ever since Calvin Hopkins had called Roxanne a 'Nosebleed', she had noticed a worrying trend of zealotry when it came to her support of Harry Potter. She seemed eager to prove to the entire school where her loyalties lay, as though preemptively defending from accusations of being a blood traitor.
On one hand, Eva couldn't blame her. Roxanne's father was one of the originators of C.A.W., and while most of the students didn't know this, she clearly wanted nothing to do with the man who was currently instilling fear on much of the student body. Being the daughter of General Beckett clearly weighed heavily on her conscience, and she had to prove to herself as much as anyone else that she was not a monster like her father was.
Nor was Roxanne the only one. Eva couldn't help but notice that several other Muggle-born students were among the most vocal Potter supporters as well. They were most critical of their fellow Muggle-borns who didn't outwardly support Potter, or worse, opted to support Granger. It was disconcerting to see Amy Burton yelling at a poor second-year girl wearing a Granger sticker in the common room, or the band of Hufflepuff Muggle-born boys Eva had met over the summer, who openly tore down Granger posters in the halls.
The teachers, for the most part, remained neutral on the subject of the election, with a few notable exceptions. Ginny Weasley proudly hung Potter posters of her own in her classroom, and according to the students who continued on with History of Magic for the N.E.W.T. level, she used her lesson time to talk about what a great man Harry was. Hagrid also voiced support for Harry, telling anyone he passed on the grounds that he "knew the lad since 'e was but a babe, an' he's been a good egg ever since". None of the professors outright supported Granger, but according to Victoire, Professors Lovegood and Abbott were suspected supporters of the current Minister and refused to entertain discussion about the election in their lessons.
Eva's only reprieve from the discourse was during Quidditch practice, where thankfully the conversation remained focused on training while in the air. Unfortunately, the Gryffindor team was struggling to reach the heights of last year's play ability – the Chaser squad was clearly inexperienced and didn't work that well together. Bruce Davis had improved quite a bit over the summer, but Victoire Weasley was a clear weakness, unable to keep up with the rapid pace of play. She was a fair flyer, but couldn't handle the Quaffle that well, especially with Bludgers raining down on her from the relentless Beaters.
Roxanne was a taskmaster of a captain, and she spent much of her time during practices yelling at the Chaser squad to get their act together. "Alright, here's what we'll do," she finally said after exhausting every option trying to work Victoire into the offense. "Weasley, you'll serve as a decoy. Macmillan and Davis will primarily handle the Quaffle between the two of them while Weasley runs interference on the opposing Chasers."
That won't work for very long, Eva thought as she watched this flawed game plan come together. Once the enemy team realized what a handicap Victoire was, they would start targeting the other two Chasers and force the Quaffle into her hands and goad her into mistakes. Eva was not optimistic about the team's chances against Ravenclaw, their first opponents of the season. They'd finished second in the Cup standings last year and hadn't lost any players to graduation, making them a formidable foe right out of the gate.
And right from tip-off, it was clear just how outmatched the Gryffindor squad was. The Ravenclaw Beaters, Danbury and Leake, hit just as hard as Eva remembered, and Eric Scanlen was as crafty as Seekers came, goading Eva into multiple fakes and dictating the pace of their shared search for the Snitch.
The Chaser battle happening below was hard to watch. The Ravenclaws were quite simply having their way with the Gryffindors, capitalizing on their inexperience and lack of teamwork. The score was quickly 60-0 in favor of the blue and bronze. The opponents quickly deduced that Victoire was their weak point and let her do whatever she wanted with the Quaffle, only swooping in to defend when she attempted an errant pass or shot on goal. Eva felt like she was witnessing a slaughter unfolding below her.
And it took her a moment to recognize exactly why it felt so lopsided. Only Mark Bolger came to the defense of his Chasers, while Roxanne seemed to be on a mission to knock Eric Scanlen out of the sky. She pursued the Ravenclaw Seeker like a bird of prey, launching every Bludger she came across at the boy. He was capable enough to evade serious trouble, but was forced to focus all of his attention on remaining on his broom.
"What are you doing?!" Eva shouted as she flew past Roxanne. "Help the Chasers!" At that very moment, Victoire was ducking to avoid two Bludger strikes from opposite directions, dropping the Quaffle in the process. But Roxanne ignored her, continuing in her furious assault on the enemy Seeker. Her attack was so relentless that one of the Ravenclaw Beaters was forced to peel off to aid in Scanlen's defense.
Eva had a sinking feeling why this was happening. Eric Scanlen was one of the more vocal Granger supporters in the school; he'd taken shelter in one of her enclaves as a child and was unafraid to show his appreciation for what she did for him and his Muggle family. Eva had seen the look of outrage on Roxanne's face whenever they passed by Eric in the halls, discussing his childhood during political discussions. She'd obviously been looking forward to this day as an opportunity to show Eric just what she thought of his political leanings.
All Eva could do was try to end the match quickly, before either the Ravenclaws ran up the score too high or Roxanne committed a murder in front of the entire school. She thankfully spotted the Snitch across the pitch soon after and raced after it. Scanlen was too busy spinning away from yet another Bludger attack from Roxanne, and within seconds Eva emerged triumphant with the tiny golden ball in her palm. It was a messy victory for Gryffindor, 160 to 130, but a victory nonetheless.
Eva was too angry to celebrate with her team, flying directly to the locker room to get changed. She needed to get out of here before someone approached, because she was liable to tear their head off with her pent-up frustrations. Unfortunately, she was not able to make a clean escape, as the very woman she was upset with followed her.
"Why the long face?" Roxanne grinned as she dismounted her broom and followed her inside. "Nice catch back there—"
Eva rounded on Roxanne at once, pushing her back against the lockers in anger. "What's gotten into you, Morrison?" she demanded. "Why are you sabotaging this team?"
"I'm not sabotaging anything!" Roxanne denied. "We won, didn't we?"
"Don't bullshit me," Eva growled. "You're a fool if you think that I can't see exactly what you're doing. That the whole school can't see it."
"What of it?" Roxanne smirked, clearly not repentant in the least. "That'll show Scanlen not to run his mouth when I'm around—"
"Why are you so obsessed with this election?" asked Eva. "Why do you have to prove yourself to other people?
"Because, Miss Prewitt," Roxanne spat, pushing Eva back against the opposite wall now, "unlike you, I don't have a pure-blood alias to hide behind. I don't have the Headmaster's favor to rely on. I'm graduating in less than a year, and I'll have to scratch and claw my way into wizarding society. What kind of chances d'you reckon I'll have if I'm seen as a blood traitor?"
"That doesn't mean you have to abuse your power to hurt people!" Eva protested. "It doesn't mean you have to push other Muggle-borns down to elevate yourself—"
"You don't know the half of it!" Roxanne shouted, and Eva could see tears welling up in the girl's eyes now. "You don't know what my first five years were like before you showed up here! How everyone looked down at me because of my name. How impossible it was to get any of the teachers to respect me. You think I like being the class clown who doesn't try in class? Why would I try when none of them gave me the time of day? Only Potter bothered to reach out, to give me a chance to prove myself in Spell Theory, and now I want to care again!"
"Why do you think he let you into the class now, and not last year?" Eva retorted. "Because he knew we were dating and wanted to get in my good graces! He's manipulating you, Rox!"
"Oh right, I forgot, it's always about you," Roxanne mocked her. "Perfect Evangeline Thomas, the apple of Harry Potter's eye. I'm just a means to an end for him to get closer to you, is that it? You reckon he's got the hots for you? Don't flatter yourself, kid."
Roxanne was a full head taller than her and much stockier, but Eva wanted nothing more than to sock her in the face for this crude remark. "You've really become insufferable to be around, you know that?" she said instead, keeping her voice level and cool. "I used to admire how you never worried about what people thought of you. Now you're too preoccupied with how others see you to actually be someone worth spending time with."
"Some of us have to work for our reputations, Eva," Roxanne said coldly. "We don't all have ours handed to us on a silver platter."
"True enough," Eva agreed. "Keep on making enemies of your own people, and we'll see how your reputation fares. Me? I'm done." Eva gathered her things and stormed towards the exit.
"Done?" Roxanne laughed. "With Quidditch, or with me?"
"Both."
Eva trudged back up to the castle, ignoring the shouts of her housemates attempting to catch up to her. It pained her to cut ties with the person she'd grown closest to during her time at Hogwarts. But this was not the Roxanne Morrison she'd fallen for a year prior. This Roxanne was vindictive, paranoid, and obsessed with building a status for herself by putting others down. Eva could not abide that behavior, no matter who she supported politically.
Eva knew she'd done the right thing. But that did not stop her from sneaking off to the Room of Requirement later that evening to weep for the end of what had once been a wonderful relationship.
Eva opted not to stay at the castle for the Christmas holidays, not wishing to spend the entire break avoiding Roxanne around the castle. She instead asked Victoire Weasley if her family would be amenable to having her again, which Victoire happily announced they would. Eva was quick to regret this plan, however, as she spent the entire ride on the Hogwarts Express awkwardly sharing a train car with her and Chris Wood, who could not seem to keep their hands off each other now that they were officially dating.
Worse yet were the awkward conversations that ensued whenever the two got tired of locking lips. "You aren't really quitting the Quidditch team, are you?" Chris asked Eva at one point. "You're the only reason we've been winning for the past year."
"I'm just...too busy with other things," Eva shrugged. It wasn't an outright lie; quitting the team had freed up enough time for her to work on her many side projects she'd neglected earlier in the term.
"Rumor has it you and Morrison had a row," Victoire piped in. "I haven't seen you two eating together in weeks. Trouble in paradise?"
"I'd rather not talk about it, to be honest," Eva muttered. "We just needed a break from each other."
In truth, she had no idea where she and Roxanne stood at the moment. They hadn't spoken once since their locker room spat, and in fact had been pointedly avoiding one another. Were they officially broken up, or just on hiatus? Did either of them regret the things they'd said? Would they make up when they saw each other again in January? Eva didn't want to dwell on such thoughts, and luckily Victoire and Chris didn't press the issue, opting to turn their attentions back to one another and leave Eva to read in peace.
Fleur Weasley met the trio at Platform 9 ¾ when they arrived in London. "Ah, and 'ere comes Dominique now," she said, as the silver-haired first-year came bounding off the train and engulfed her mother in a hug. "Are we ready to go?"
Eva expected Fleur to lead them through the barrier and into the main King's Cross terminal, but instead she withdrew a small Portkey from within her robes: a nondescript yellow hairbrush. "We don't have to go to the Portkey hangar anymore?" Eva frowned as the others reached forward to grab hold of the brush.
"New protocol," Fleur explained. "Ever since ze incident last fall. They do not want us mingling with ze Muggles any more."
That made sense to Eva – she had not been looking forward to fighting back another irate crowd outside the platform. If things had been tense back in September, she could only imagine how much worse they'd gotten after nearly four months of toxic rhetoric from Beckett and other prominent Muggle insurgent leaders in the papers.
Eva grabbed hold of the brush, and moments later they were transported to Shell Cottage. Eva immediately felt a wave of foreign magic wash over her when they landed; using her Sight, she could see that fresh protection wards had been set over the cottage that hadn't been there before. More Muggle deterrents? Eva resolved to ask about it later.
The chaos of arrival quickly dissipated as Victoire and Chris disappeared upstairs while Dominique reunited with her tearful little brother and ran off towards the beach. "Stay on zis side of the rocks!" Fleur called after them, then sighed dejectedly. "Louis 'as been so lonely without his sisters. He 'as not been allowed to see his friends for months."
"Why not?" Eva asked.
"Ze Muggles who live nearby do not take so kindly to us anymore," Fleur sighed. "We fear that Louis will be 'urt by the things ze non-magical children say about 'im."
That made sense to Eva. She too had been ostracized by her neighborhood friends once word got out that she was a witch. She could only imagine how poor Louis felt; him being a wizard wasn't exactly a surprise to anyone, but sentiments towards his kind had shifted south very quickly in the past year or so.
"You will stay in Victoire's room as always," said Fleur, beckoning Eva inside. "Christopher will be staying in Louis' room, and you must not allow my daughter to change ze sleeping arrangements!"
"I won't," Eva chuckled. She'd anticipated this; Victoire had subtly tried to hint at wanting Eva to stay with Dominique, presumably so she and Chris could have more privacy. Eva didn't want to come between her two lovesick friends, but she also didn't want to incur the wrath of a Veela, so she would have to grit her teeth and face the wrath of the rambunctious redhead instead.
Bill Weasley arrived home late that evening, as dinner was already winding down, looking exhausted. "Sorry I'm late," he sighed, slumping into his chair. "Getting in and out of the Ministry is a bloody nightmare these days."
"Why is that?" asked Eva.
"Muggle protesters have been hounding the entrance for months now," said Bill as he loaded a plate with lukewarm food. "Lot more security to get through than before. I had to wait in line for over an hour just to get to the Apparition point to leave the Atrium."
"It eez for ze best," Fleur said, kissing her husband affectionately on the cheek. "You would not want zose Muggles firing one of their 'orrible guns at you."
"It's not even the Muggles I'm worried about," Bill chuckled. "It's the rabble working at the Ministry who worry me most. Bickering like schoolchildren all day long...I witnessed three separate arguments that nearly broke out into duels."
"Zis damned election," Fleur huffed. "Eet will be nice when it eez all over."
"Yeah, when Potter creams Granger!" Victoire piped up. "She's got no chance—"
"No politics at the table, please," Bill muttered. Thankfully Victoire heeded this request, though only in favor of departing the table with Chris. Eva had grown tired of hearing the political discourse dominating the halls back at school; apparently it was not exclusive to just Hogwarts, as the adults at the Ministry were equally as at-odds over the debate.
Thankfully, the Christmas break was a quiet one for Eva. Bill was busy with work, Fleur was busy foiling Chris and Victoire's frequent attempts to disappear into empty rooms, and Louis was busy pestering Dominique about her experiences at Hogwarts. That suited Eva just fine; it gave her more time to get ahead on schoolwork and hone in on what she would do for her Ancient Runes self-study project.
She'd finally settled on the topic she wanted to research, which came about entirely by accident. While experimenting in the Room of Requirement one evening a week prior, she'd watched in fascination as a rogue fly buzzed into her workspace, landed atop a runestone engraved with the Time symbol, and promptly keeled over, dead. Eva remembered what had happened when Harry channeled time as a spell at Archimedes, watching the bird grow and molt in a matter of seconds. Was this a similar effect at play? Eva would have to find a safer way to test the effects of channeling time upon living things, of course. She had an idea of where to start, but it would have to wait until she returned to the castle. For now, she busied herself with drawing up potential runic schemes to achieve the result she desired.
Christmas Day was a raucous affair just as the year before; by the time Eva came down for breakfast at eight o' clock, half of the presents in the living room had already been torn open and the cottage was buzzing with excited chatter. Victoire gifted Eva with a pair of enchanted boots that repelled water, which would come in handy in the upcoming rainy season, while Bill gifted her with a gold bracelet that he said he'd had to remove a nasty blood-boiling curse from in an Egyptian pyramid. "I thought you'd appreciate it more than my wife," Bill later told her in a hushed tone; judging by the horrified expression on Fleur's face when Eva tried it on, he'd been correct.
That night was the customary family dinner, as Percy and Penelope, Fred and Angelina, and an already-tipsy Ginny arrived for the festivities. Despite Bill's best efforts to keep the tone light, conversation between the adults quickly turned to the election. "So tell us Perce, what are you hearing within the Ministry?" Fred asked his brother pointedly. "Is Granger trying to circle the wagons in her home base?"
"Honestly, no," Percy admitted. "Discussion has been pretty back-and-forth. I'd say Potter has more support than she does, at least vocally. We'll see if there is a silent majority when the ballots are cast."
"Bloody well hope not," Ginny scoffed, already halfway through the bottle of Firewhiskey in front of her. "People have to be ready for some change. Granger's had her run; it's time for the real leader to step up."
Eva expected somebody to speak up on Hermione's behalf, but surprisingly none did so. Fred merely nodded along in nonverbal agreement, and even Bill did not react negatively to the sentiment.
"I just can't wait for the security to lighten up at work," Percy lamented. "It's a pain trying to go anywhere nowadays."
"Hang on," Bill frowned. "Don't you employees have your own way in and out of the building? I thought the security was just for the visitors' entrance."
"No, it's everywhere," Percy sighed. "Even traveling from department to department is more difficult than ever. And good luck getting to the lower levels unaccompanied; I had to visit the courtroom last week and had to be escorted by two Aurors the entire time."
Eva frowned at this news. She supposed she was glad she'd retrieved the Essence of Thought when she did, as she didn't see herself waltzing into the Department of Mysteries again like she had last year. She had always wondered just why it was so easy the first time; perhaps the tensions of the election made it necessary to restrict inter-departmental interaction whenever possible.
"What about you lot?" Ginny demanded, turning her attention to the three teenagers seated to her left. "You'll be of-age come May, won't you? Who's got your vote?"
"They don't have to answer that!" Fleur protested, but Victoire spoke up anyway.
"My vote's for Potter," she said proudly. "He's the man for the job, no question."
"Same here," said Chris with a proud smile. "It's been a pleasure learning from him all these years. He'll make a fine Minister."
Eva felt the heat of everyone's stares in her direction. "Erm...I don't turn seventeen until August," she said meekly. "So I won't have a say."
"But you must have an opinion!" Ginny insisted, eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. "Don't tell me you're a Granger supporter?"
"I...I don't know enough about British politics yet to decide," Eva said. "I've only been here for a year."
"Hmph," Ginny grunted, clearly not impressed with her answer.
"She eez still young," Fleur said adamantly. "She does not need to 'ave strong opinions yet."
"That's exactly the attitude we need to stamp out of young people today!" Ginny growled, slamming her fist on the table and making the younger children jump with fright. "Your future depends on this vote, Prewitt! Take the middle road all you like; it's you that's going to suffer the consequences either way."
"Dominique, why don't you take Louis and Artie upstairs to get ready for bed?" Bill said nervously. He shot his younger sister a look of warning, but Ginny merely rolled her eyes, clearly undeterred.
"What we really need is to get the damned Statute of Secrecy back," Ginny grumbled once the younger children had departed the table. "That would fix this mess."
"How would we even do that?" Victoire asked her aunt.
"We can't; that's the problem," sighed Percy. "When Voldemort made our presence known to the Muggles, he made it impossible for us to hide. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle. We continue to suffer the consequences of his actions all these years later."
"And Granger's only making it worse with her ridiculous outreach programs!" Ginny spat. "She's just rubbing our magic in the Muggles' faces at this point! They don't want to interact with our kind any more than we want to interact with them."
"What will happen once those programs stop, though?" Eva asked innocently. "Won't' that just make the Muggles more resentful?"
"Temporarily, perhaps," Bill mused. "But Potter believes the best course of action is to slowly separate the two worlds again. If the Statute can't be recreated, we at least need to keep wizards and Muggles away from each other, to let tensions settle. The King's Cross incident proved that we can't exist in the same public spaces any longer."
Eva saw the logic behind the idea, but still had concerns about the approach. Would that stop the more fanatical Muggles from seeking out violent retribution against those with more power than themselves? Would that stop Muggle governments from treating wizardkind like a security threat? Eva had been reading up on American politics in the New York Advocate recently; George Rodriguez's final presidential term was ending this year, and the current front-runner to replace him was a former Pentagon chief cut from the same cloth as Lee Beckett. He believed that witches and wizards were a "plague upon society" and vowed to "fight back against the witchcraft indoctrination of our children". That did not bode well for the safety of the magical community, separated or otherwise. If anything, isolating themselves could make it easier for Muggles to brand them as dangerous outsiders.
But she dared not speak her concerns aloud, knowing how close the Weasley family was to Harry Potter and how poorly any perceived support of Granger would be received. So she listened to the back and forth for the next hour, by which time it became clear no common ground would be reached. It wasn't until Ginny had tired herself out with her ranting and dozed off into a booze-fueled stupor that the party disbanded and Eva retired to sleep, ignoring the quiet giggling from the two voices in the bed next to hers, mulling over what she had heard.
She was still trying to read between the lines and deduce what it was, exactly, that Potter and Granger each wanted. Harry wanted something to do with time, to "save this failing planet we live upon". What did those two concepts have to do with one another? And what was Hermione's aim with these attempts to introduce magic to the Muggle community? Was it as baldly altruistic as it appeared, or did she have some other motive driving her? The Language of Magic was such a pioneering introduction to magic theory that Eva could not believe the Minister's academic ambitions had halted in favor of appeasing the Muggles for political gain.
Returning to Hogwarts Castle was always a memorable experience, though Eva was less eager about the coming term than usual. She no longer felt like she had a proper group to spend time with; she was nothing more than a third wheel with Victoire and Chris, and the Quidditch team had turned their back on her since she'd quit the squad. Meanwhile, Roxanne had taken to spending time with the gang of Hufflepuff boys roaming the castle and vandalizing Granger posters. She seemed just as determined to ignore Eva's existence as Eva did to avoid her.
Worse yet was the curiosity of the rest of the student body, whispering behind Eva's back whenever she passed by. Her breakup with Roxanne had become public knowledge by now, as had her departure from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Luckily, no one had the courage to approach and ask her directly, so she was treated as a leper, given a wide berth in the halls and left to her own devices. That suited Eva just fine. She was used to being alone, ever since the Willoughby Academy days; she could just tune everything else out and focus on the tasks at hand.
By the end of her first week back, she had caught up on most of her accumulated classwork and even managed to read ahead to the seventh-year material. She had begun to collect flat stones from around the lake for her Runes project, knowing she'd need plenty of excess material to create her runestones. She finally knew where to begin with her research, and resolved to begin straight away that weekend in the Room of Requirement. But first, she would need to pay a visit to the Herbology greenhouses, so she set out on Friday after lunch during her free period.
Eva made her way across the frost-bitten grounds, grateful for the water-repelling boots Victoire had gifted her, which kept the slush and snow from soaking her feet. She'd never entered the greenhouses before; Herbology was not a subject taught at Willoughby Academy, and Eva had no plans to make a career of plants nor potions. She also tended to steer clear of Professor Hannah Abbott, the weepy Herbology instructor, whom Victoire said was riddled with trauma from the war. But she would need her expertise today.
"Professor Abbott?" she said, politely knocking as she entered the greenhouse. "Do you have a moment?"
Hannah looked up from pruning a plant, eyebrows raising as she saw Eva approaching. "You must be Miss Prewitt," she said. "We've never met, but I hear great things about you from your classmates."
"Right," said Eva awkwardly, choosing not to remind Hannah about their interaction the previous year, when she'd walked in on the professor crying alone. "I wondered if I could borrow some supplies for a Runes project."
"I beg your pardon?" said Hannah, frowning at her. "I don't carry any supplies that would help with Ancient Runes…"
"I'm studying the effects of runestones on plants," Eva explained. "I wondered if I could borrow some spare pots and soil, then return them at the end of term."
"I see, I see," said Hannah, clearly distracted as she contemplated this request. "I think I can manage that. How much do you require?"
"A dozen pots and two bags of soil should suffice," Eva said confidently. She was unsure exactly how much she needed, but opted on the conservative side; she could always come back and ask for more later.
"Very well," said Hannah. "Help yourself; you can find everything in Greenhouse Two."
"Thank you, Professor," Eva said politely, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Hannah said abruptly; Eva froze and turned back to the professor. She was looking at Eva with a curious expression, as though surveying her from afar. It was disconcerting to say the least.
"Sorry?" said Eva expectantly.
"Do you have time for a private conversation?" Hannah asked her quickly.
"Erm...what about?" Eva frowned, perplexed. "I have Spell Theory in about an hour—"
"No no, not here, not now," Hannah said quickly, eyes darting towards the door; a gaggle of second-years was headed their way for their afternoon lesson. "Tonight, at nine o' clock."
"I suppose so," Eva said slowly. "Shall I return then? It will be a bit difficult to see the grounds that late—"
"No, we'll use this," said Hannah, hastily thrusting an object towards Eva. Eva accepted the object, looking down at a small handheld mirror. "Just find someplace private and speak the password aloud, and we can communicate."
Eva was bewildered by this odd request. "What's the password?" she asked, just as the group of students reached the door and began piling into the greenhouse, chattering loudly.
"It is the Minister's last name," Hannah hissed urgently. Then, before Eva could question things further, the Professor had turned her attention to the younger students, directing them to their assigned posts for the day's lesson.
Eva made her exit and headed back towards the castle, totally unsure what to make of this odd interaction. Why would Professor Abbott of all people need a private word with her? Eva wasn't in any of her classes and had never shown any interest in Herbology before today. Did this have something to do with Minister Granger? Eva had been careful not to make her own political affiliations public, but perhaps word had spread about the nature of her disagreement with Roxanne. She was so preoccupied with this development that she forgot to collect her supplies from Greenhouse Two. Oh well; she could return the following day for them.
But for the rest of the afternoon, her thoughts were with the strange interaction with Professor Abbott. She spent much of Spell Theory class thinking back on the conversation, wondering what exactly had provoked such a strange reaction from the woman she barely knew. The subject of today's lesson was interesting enough; Harry was instructing the class on how to layer multiple spells together to make them harder to deflect. But she could not bring herself to focus, her mind on the strange mirror concealed within her bag. What would Abbott have to say that was so urgent, that required such secrecy?
Eva ate a hurried dinner and returned to the common room to complete some homework. She hoped it would take her mind off of the ticking clock, the burning curiosity for what nine o' clock held in store. But she barely took in the words she was reading in the textbook, and only managed to write a couple paragraphs of her Charms essay that was due on Monday. Was she in trouble? Had Professor Abbott seen her doing something against the rules, intending to reprimand her in private? She could not fathom any other reason the woman would seek her out.
At quarter to nine, she sneaked out of the common room and made her way to the seventh floor, the mirror concealed within her robes. She had to take a brief detour to avoid the notice of Peeves, who was bursting out of coats of armor to scare younger students, but managed to slip into the Room of Requirement with a few minutes to spare. She'd asked for a quiet space where she could talk in private, and it provided her with a simple room with a couple of cozy armchairs. She sank into one of them, pulling out the mirror and examining it curiously.
"Tempus," Eva muttered, displaying the time above her head: 8:59 P.M. She counted down the last minute in her head, having no idea what to expect. Finally, when the clock struck nine, she cleared her throat and looked down into the mirror.
"Granger," she said aloud. She waited for a moment, expecting Professor Abbott's face to replace her own reflection in the glass visage.
What she did not expect, however, was the familiar sensation of being hooked behind the navel and pulled backwards, very hard, to destinations unknown.
A Portkey? Eva thought with horror. Had she been lured into some kind of a trap? No one would ever know where she'd gone; her disappearance forever a mystery. Did Professor Abbott wish her harm? Eva had no earthly idea why she would trick her into using a Portkey to whisk her away from the castle. All she could do was wait to arrive at her destination, ready to reach for her wand if necessary, to fight for her life…
Eva was deposited roughly in a room she did not recognize, falling backwards into a wooden chair that nearly toppled over with the force of her arrival. She gasped for breath, eyes searching the room wildly.
There was something oddly familiar about this place. The warm wooden textures, the soothing scents, the traditional architecture. This was a place of importance. It took her a moment to realize why. But she figured it out rather quickly once she took in the woman seated across from her, dressed in regal blue robes, surveying her with a grim expression.
"Good evening, Miss Thomas," said Hermione Granger. "It's time that you and I had a long-overdue chat."
