"Break...break out?" It was as if the words were foreign to James. He shifted around uncomfortably, turning his gaze back and forth from the floor to Evelyn.

Evelyn smiled. "Yes. Break him out." She leaned closer, and he could feel her warm breath on his skin. That didn't stop chills from rolling through his body." If we ask your dad to free him, he'll suspect us right away. But if we just go a do it, who is going to suspect us? We'll be in, out, and back in school before they know it."

"Do you hear yourself? Dear God...break him out? Of Azkaban? In and out and back at school? This isn't like police and robbers you play when you're little. This is Azkaban. There are dementors." He shuddered. He had never seen a dementor, but his father had told him how awful they were.

"And we have inside information. You just told me your father's godfather escaped."

"First of all," James snapped. "Sirius is gone. He's not alive anymore, so I don't know who you think we're going ask. And second, even if he were alive, what would we ask him? 'Oh hello, Sirius. Nice to see you again. Please don't tell my father, but how did you break out of Azkaban? We're just very curious."

"I know you know how he broke out. Tell me." Her face, previously lit with an unsettling amusement, was now hardened and serious." James. I miss my father. My heart aches for him. If your father was there, would you not do anything to save him?"

"Of course I would. And I emphasize with you, I really do. But Evelyn...he's there for a reason. Maybe you don't know the whole story. You were only a small child and..."

Suddenly, Evelyn was standing, her wand pointing menacingly at him. "Take. That. Back. I'll hex you, Potter, I will. Don't make me."

James quickly held up his hands in surrender. "Evelyn," he said softly. "I didn't mean that. Truly I didn't. But you're asking me to completely betray my family... my father...risk my life and my future. We just met. Can you see how this is a little overwhelming?"

Evelyn sighed, lowered her wand, and collapsed on the ground. Her long black hair bounced once as she landed; a thick piece stuck to the top of her lip. "Yes. I know it's a lot to ask. But you're the only one who can help me, James. I can't go home another Christmas break to see my mother crying in her bedroom. Imagine if that were your mother...your family. Torn apart from a lie. Please." Her gaze met his, causing his heart fluttered and then sunk to the bottom of his stomach. He reached out to move the hair on her face out of the way.

He leaned forward, and suddenly they were kissing. He felt warm tears fall onto his face, and he almost couldn't tell if they were his or hers. His hands found her body and moved about passionately. Before he knew it, they were tangled up on the dusty floor of the shack. It was everything he had ever imagined, everything he had ever desired or wanted.

When it was over, he felt sweat dripping down his back as he traced her body with the tips of his fingers. Don't say I love you he thought. Even though he was pretty sure he did love her.

He thought of who he wanted to be. Was he destined to live a life of mediocrity, constantly fighting between his desire for something bigger and his longing to make his family proud of him? Or was there something more for him, like there had been for his parents. When life gave his father the opportunity for something greater, he didn't question it. He just did it. The great Harry Potter...the boy who lived. The man who continued to live, as he made his way through life with purpose.

Evelyn's steady gaze met his. She was perfect. He could be perfect too, with her. With her, it didn't matter if he felt incomplete, not good enough, his father's shadow. With her, he was just...James. There was nothing to salvage and nothing to prove.

Or maybe there was.

"If we did it," James said softly. "If we broke him out...we need time to plan."