FicWad

Evelyn spotted Miranda in the Great Hall sitting in their usual position as Slytherin exiles at the very top of the table.



She arrived just in time to see from a distance one of the first-year students launch a spoonful of his mashed potatoes directly at Miranda, hitting her square in the side of the head. “Tell the other freak when she gets here that I have a spoonful for her too,” The boy shouted in clear reference to Evelyn.



Miranda started to look awkwardly in the other direction, clearly trying to avoid eye contact and block out the laughter of the first-year boy and his accomplices.



Evelyn however had other ideas. Instead of continuing to walk towards Miranda, she made her way up behind the boy. His friends who were sitting opposite him immediately stopped laughing, fell deftly silent and began staring at their feet with great interest. Noticing this, the others, who had their back to Evelyn, including the potato throwing culprit turned around to see a face that would haunt their nightmares for the foreseeable future. They also quietened. It was clear her reputation had proceeded her, which in a way give her a sense of satisfaction.



“That was a good throw,” she said calmly but unnervingly in her sophisticated voice.

The ringleader who had previously been the only one of the group to meet her gaze, now joined the others in avoiding her scowl. He dared not reply.



“I can also throw things quite well also,” she continued. Evelyn took another step towards him so that she was now towering over the boy. Evelyn wasn’t particularly tall but the first year was below average height for his age. “Say I was to throw you out that window to the left and into the Black Lake, do you think anyone would find you before the Merpeople and their spears did?” she stated now in a slightly more confrontational tone.



The boy and his friends remained silent. Evelyn, content a lesson had been learned, smiled an unsettling grin, much like the one she had shown Rose in the common room a few weeks back. After a pause that must have felt like forever for the potato throwing assailants, the grin had changed to a threatening glare. “Now say sorry, or I hope you are a good swimmer.”



“Sorry” the first year let out in a quiet whimper. Evelyn, satisfied with this, saw no reason to traumatise him further and made her way towards Miranda.



Miranda who had just finished picking the potato out of her hair, gave Evelyn an appreciative but concerned look.



“He says sorry and I don’t think he will bother us again, or anyone else for that matter,” Evelyn said sitting down opposite her best friend. She shot the boy a short but sharp glare, he immediately looked away timidly.



“I appreciate what you did, I really do, but was that a bit harsh?” Miranda asked, “he is only a first-year.”



“Little problems can turn into big problems Miranda. Besides I wasn’t actually going to throw him from the window, not with all these witnesses standing around at least,” Evelyn said in a joking way as one of her rare attempts at humour. There was an undeniable element of truth in the statement however as was her signature way.



Miranda giggled, even Evelyn responded by allowed herself to give a subtle genuine smile. “A joke and a smile, you are in a good mood today Evelyn,” Miranda observed.



“I wouldn’t go that far,” Evelyn responded, back to her usual cynical self. “I just enjoyed putting the brat brigade back in their place.”



Miranda knew Evelyn well enough to know that was not all that had happened, “There’s something else, I can tell,” she inquired.



“It’s nothing,” Evelyn asserted in a short voice.



It was clear she wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. Miranda gave her a look as if to acknowledge that she knew she was lying. She knew not to press Evelyn however, that never ended well for anyone who tried it, if she was going to share, she had to on her own terms or not at all. It was clear someone or something had made an impact on her whether she wanted to admit to Miranda or herself.



“Do you know George Weasley?”, Evelyn eventually asked, almost awkwardly, after a period of deliberation.



“Who doesn’t know of him and his brother? The two of them have caused more chaos than any other students in living memory according to the teachers.” Miranda replied.

“Yes, he has the maturity of someone half his years but something strange happened today in the library,” Evelyn stated.



She went on to tell Miranda of how George had run into her in the library and how angry she had been, but also how he had apologised and been nice to her regardless of her temper and passive-aggressive onslaught.



“At the time, I didn’t think anything of it, but on the way here I struggled to make sense of it,” Evelyn admitted, clearly uncomfortable to be talking so openly about her thoughts but forcing herself anyway in an attempt to get guidance from her friend. “I still think all Gryffindors are upstarts who look down on anyone from Slytherin, especially me because of my parents. He seemed genuinely remorseful however for running into me, and like he genuinely didn’t mind talking to me. I am not used to that.”



The awkwardness in her voice was gone and Evelyn seemed to be speaking her thoughts aloud, she wasn’t even looking at Miranda anymore, just staring out the window she had just threatened to throw the potato throwing fiend out. Miranda was shocked, this wasn’t Evelyn like behavior to be so open, and for her to mention her parents at all to another soul was unheard of.



Miranda eventually got over her surprise long enough to ask, “Does that mean you are friends now?”



Evelyn immediately picked up on her tone and appeared to snap back into reality, reengaging eye contact hastily, “Of course not,” she asserted clearly. “He may have been nice to me and for that I don’t wish him as much ill will as others, but he is still an idiot, a Gryffindor and a Weasley. I can’t stand any of that family of his and their never-ending drama and foolishness. Besides it was probably just a dare or a joke, I doubt he has a genuine bone in his body,” she retorted arrogantly.



Miranda knew to let it be but she could tell Evelyn was saying it so forcefully in an attempt to convince herself it was wholly true.



Evelyn immediately changed the subject, clearly embarrassed by the whole ordeal but Miranda could tell she was grateful to have talked to someone about it. How much she appreciated and liked Miranda was the great unsaid of the friendship, but both girls knew it to be true. After all Evelyn would defend her friend from hordes of first-year upstarts and Rose Newcross’s with no thought for herself.



They spent the rest of the time in the Great Hall, eating talking about their classes, complaining about various individuals and making fun of Umbridge’s excessive use of perfume. After dinner they went to the late to skim stones together, as they did most days in their years together at Hogwarts.

It was the Monday of the last week of September and nearly two weeks had passed since the library encounter and much had continued on in Evelyn’s life as it normally did. In a sense she enjoyed the return to normality from the out of the ordinary experience which she was continuing to try to forget about. The only difference was that despite mutual scowling in the corridor, which was most people’s response to Evelyn, Rose was largely staying away from her way these days. In a sense it was a shame as Skylar had been plotting new ways to torment her over the summer but until she was provoked, she was happy to let the ceasefire stand.



Miranda was also having things easier this year so far, perhaps it was the fact that everyone was older and wiser, or perhaps news of Evelyn’s run-in with the first years had spread. Either way it made Evelyn glad to see her friend happy. Miranda had even contacted her parents to see if Evelyn and Jeffrey could come and spend Christmas with them. They agreed, and Evelyn consented as she had no real desire to return to High Peak Park where her Grandmother would certainly have treated Christmas as she always did. Much like she spent any other day for that matter, by sitting in her study and threatening to cast the unforgivable curses on anyone who disturbed her.



Evelyn was secretly unoptimistic however of her ability to get on with Miranda’s family, she knew nothing of muggles apart from Grandmother’s occasional opinionated rant about how they were primitive and backward beasts. Miranda was normal however, and she was raised by Muggles so they mustn’t be too primitive or backward was Evelyn’s rationale. She was just glad they would know nothing of her parents.



As she was walking down the corridor, moving from Runes class to the Library she saw a familiar face, she had rather hoped to avoid. It was George Weasley.



He and his brother now appeared to be trying to capitalise on their ability to create havoc by selling whizbangs and the sort.



Evelyn was anxious to avoid his attention; she had worked hard to get over the conflict she felt after their meeting a few weeks ago. She had rationalised that he would be leaving at the end of the year and if she could just avoid him to then, she could act like it never happened and retreat back into the safety and familiarity of cynicism, nihilism, and hating all those around her.



She began trying to move swiftly past the twins looking out the window into the courtyard in an effort to avoid eye contact or showing her face.



She was nearly past them when she heard: “Another customer, though I am afraid we don’t have anything that can give you a personality transplant girl-with-no-feelings,” she heard in a familiar, joking, voice.



She was caught.



Before she turned around, she quickly thought of a variety of insults to bombard George with so he would stay away from her for a good long time.



She swung around to see Fred instead of George standing behind her. She was clever enough to notice the subtle differences from the boy she had talked to in the library. Instead of deploying her quick thought insults, she was thrown. In a way she wanted to avoid George at all costs and a few moments ago was even prepared to attempt to psychologically maim him to achieve said goal. In another she was strangely disappointed it wasn’t George. Such complex feelings were something she was unaccustomed to and she didn’t like it.



Before the silence got overly awkward, she saw George appear from behind a group of students huddling around the Weasleys merchandise and making his way over.



She was stuck now; she would have to talk to him.



“If it isn’t the girl-with-no-emotions, never did I expect to see you here,” he said in a tone and voice identical to his brothers.



“What reason would I have for puking pastels when you two are still in sight,” Evelyn coldly retorted. Why hadn’t she just made her exit when she had the opportunity? She could have just told Fred to stuff it and walked on.

Both Fred and George rather than being offended however, as was the intention, found this slander quite amusing even slightly impressive.



“Top marks for effort Skylar,” Fred responded,



“Aye, nice one Evelyn,” George added.



Fred gave a quick glance at his twin, almost as if to laugh about what George was about to do but also as if to warn him to be careful before he started making his way back towards the main group of students. She was wondering what he knew that she didn’t, why was he leaving them alone? it was just George and Evelyn now.



“Here before I forget, I got you something to say sorry for running into you last week,” George said in a surprisingly serious tone.



Evelyn was completely unsure how to react to this. She had no idea what to say and her face just looked confused.



George produced “The experiments of Fidelma Briar: the tenth and revised edition”. “I saw you had finished reading the ninth edition when I was helping you pick up your books, I knew the library only had one copy of the tenth which me and Fred had for Potions. After we finished needed it, I decided to give it to you” George said.



Evelyn was stunned into silence, all the conflict she had been trying to forget came rushing back tenfold. “Well if you weren’t putting it to good use, I will,” Evelyn eventually replied almost sourly, accepted the book and began walking away.



She knew immediately she couldn’t end the conversation on that. Before she got far down the corridor, she turned and said “Oh and George, thank you” in a slightly friendlier tone.



She saw George smile.



“If this explodes or sprays me with some foul liquid when I try to open it however, I will kill you,” she added in an ominous voice before beginning to walk away again.



“Better give it back to me then,” he shouted after her jokingly, but she pretended not to hear it.



Maybe she was just lying to herself about him as she knew Miranda suspected, maybe he was genuine. She desperately tried to suppress it but she couldn’t help a faint smile creep across her face.

Evelyn decided to fill Miranda in on the events of her commute between Runes and the Library as soon as she arrived at the latter. She was involved now anyways.



Miranda was genuinely gobsmacked by everything, now George was giving Evelyn gifts and even more to her surprise, Evelyn was accepting them.



Flavius Veranon on a dare once, had tried to give Evelyn a box of chocolates for Valentine’s day last year claiming he was enamoured by her good looks. Evelyn considering herself objectified, transformed the box into a large spider as he tried to hand it to her.



Evelyn even admitted she was conflicted as to what she thought of George. That was all she would admit to Miranda however. Deep down she knew the source of this confliction was a fondness of George and an appreciation for the efforts he was making to be friendly, contrasted with her ingrained mistrust of others.



The Weasley name was also almost synonymous with bureaucrat, George’s father also worked at the Ministry as did his older brother. Even though she showed no real affinity towards her family, this was the same Ministry that dragged the Skylar name through the dirt by arresting, trying and charging three of the four surviving members as terrorists and mass murderers. That has to mean something doesn’t it? She also believed they were partly responsible for her status as an outcast.



She would never admit this to Miranda however, she was a Muggle-born and Rose was right. Evelyn’s parents would more than certainly try to kill Miranda and those like her in horrific ways did they still walk free. She didn’t even trust bringing her to High Peak in fear of what Grandmother would say or do if she learned of Miranda’s blood status. She thought no more of it however, or at least created the impression she wasn’t thinking of it any further, and the two girls continued their daily routine as per usual.

It was Friday morning of the same week whenever Evelyn was called out of potions class to visit Dumbledore’s office by a prefect.



Snape passively-aggressively warned her to be back in the next half hour or he would remove house points. Like she cared about house points. Still it was best not to unnecessarily invoke the wrath of more evangelical fellow house members and she found Dumbledore to be an arrogant old idealist so she was hardly going to linger in his presence.



On the way to his office, she was beginning to get curious as to why Dumbledore had called this meeting, in her five years at Hogwarts he hadn’t once shown interest in her or her exploits. She would get her answer soon enough.



She made her way up the circular, moving staircase and into the office. The prefect who had led her there, closed the door behind her and assumed a position standing beside it. The headmaster sat at his desk studying papers and to his right, was joined by a tall middle-aged man in a long black leather trench coat with greying brown hair and a solemn, rather serious face. It was clear he had seen things. He gave Evelyn and unfriendly look; this wasn’t anything new by any means but a small part of her found him intimidating.



Dumbledore immediately looked up from whatever papers he was looking at. “Miss Evelyn Skylar, I believe?”, Dumbledore inquired.



Evelyn gave a brief nod.



“This is Apollo Mason, an Auror with the ministry”, Dumbledore explained gesturing towards the mystery man.



Oh great an Auror, Evelyn thought. No wonder he looked so unfriendly. Her parents had probably tortured and killed some of his colleagues and friends.



“I am afraid there is no easy way to say this Miss Skylar,” Dumbledore continued in his wise, proud voice but with a sympathetic tinge, “but your grandmother has been murdered.”



Evelyn went blank, she didn’t feel sadness or even gladness for that matter, she was just numb. This numbness turned to anger.



“When, how and who by?” she eventually asked in a quiet but seemingly bitter voice.



“The body was found this morning by the property’s caretaker, there were signs of a struggle and evidence suggests the attack took place late last night,” Mason piped up in a very matter of fact style. “The ministry would not wish me to tell you this for…” Mason paused briefly, almost as to reassure himself that what he was about to do was a good idea. “Political reasons, so your discretion is expected,” Evelyn nodded, she couldn’t care less about the Ministry’s politics right now, she just wanted to know who had killed her grandmother. She wasn’t exactly sure why, however, was it so she could seek revenge? She didn’t like her grandmother one bit but who was someone else to take her family member from her? At the minute she didn’t know how she felt, all she knew was anger.



The Auror continued in a colder voice, almost as cold as Evelyn’s: “We found the Dark Mark cast at the scene; it appears to have been an attack by a former Death Eater seeking revenge for Adelaide Skylar’s testimony against you-know-who ministry sympathisers. The unfounded rumours regarding his return seem to have emboldened some of his former acolytes. Live by the sword, die by the sword I suppose.”



There was a short pause, Dumbledore gave the Auror a disapproving glance, it was clear he didn’t approve of his last comment.



Evelyn now gave Mason an angry scowl, one that could turn milk sour, even the hardened law enforcer briefly looked uneasy.



“If there is anything you need, Hogwarts will always…” Dumbledore began, “I am fine, you stupid old man,” Evelyn angrily snapped, interrupting the headmaster. Evelyn found his pity unbearable, and this Auror nearly appeared to have enjoyed delivering this message. Almost as if her Grandmother had received justice for being a former Death Eater and that Evelyn deserved tragedy due to her last name.



She decided that she had enough and stormed towards the door of the office. The prefect who was astonished by the lack of respect she had just shown to the headmaster, moved in front of the door appearing to be intent on preventing her escape. He seemed sure that Dumbledore would likely have something to say on what had just occurred. He was a burly sixth form lad who apparently was as a beater for Hufflepuff, at least according to her fangirling classmates who swooned as he had entered Potions earlier.



Evelyn was like a force of nature however with such rage and her strength was surprising for her body type. She barged him out of the way and he fell into a nearby bookcase in a mighty crash, displacing most of the books in the higher shelves above him with some ungracefully landing on his head.



Taking no heed, she made her out the door, down the stairs and back into the corridor where she took a brief moment to try to compose herself. To her surprise no one seemed to be trying to follow her. The corridors were empty with the students all in class, this in the long run was good. She was one sly look or pointed joke away from hexing someone. There was of course still those who were bunking off class, for who appeared in the distance but George and Fred Weasley.