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Both George and Fred spotted Evelyn almost as soon as she had spotted them. Even from a distance they knew she was not happy to see them, not one bit.



The twins stopped. Fred immediately turned and starting to walk the other direction, George however stayed in place. She couldn’t tell what they were saying but there seemed to be a heated discussion taking place.



Eventually after a brief but reasonably intense spat, Fred resumed his walk in the other direction, appearing to throw his arms in the air in frustration.



To Evelyn’s horror George began to walk towards her. She was in a volatile enough state as it was, little did she feel she needed the complex feelings he seemed to stir in her right now. She decided the best thing to start walking away from him, if she started retreating in the other direction perhaps, he would get the message and leave her be.



Anyways, if that Auror emerged from Dumbledores office anytime soon, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t try to curse him with some hideous affliction and assaulting an agent of the Ministry was funnily enough, not something they had a high tolerance for. The fact that she was a Skylar also meant she could expect little leniency from any sentencing hearing.



She was making her way across the paved courtyard whenever she heard footsteps behind her, sounding like they belonged to a person who was running. She knew it was George and was furious, who did he think he was, a hound chasing a fox?



She turned swiftly to see him enter the courtyard. He opened his mouth to speak but Evelyn beat him to it.



“Is this one of your stupid games Weasley?” she snapped angrily and malevolently, “Can’t you get it into your thick skull that I don’t want you here?”



George looking a mixture of shocked, offended and hurt dropped his gaze and started humbly looking at the paving stones.



“I just wanted to see if you were alright,” he said quietly, almost awkwardly.



Was this because of Evelyn’s piercing green eyes that had locked on him or because, as was typical, he had planned to open or carry the conversation with his trademark humour. He now realized this would likely get him hexed.



“Okay?” Evelyn repeated three times each time louder and taking a few steps closer to George, “Do I look like I am okay?” she barked.



George said nothing, he just continued to stare at the ground, he looked like he regretted ever coming after her.



“I hear, that my only family member who isn’t in chains has just been killed and you ask me if I am okay?” she continued in an aggressive voice.



As soon as she shouted, or more accurately snarled this last line, it suddenly hit her that she was sad. She hadn’t felt sad about her family situation before, she buried all that long ago if she ever had truly cared. This wasn’t her parents however, this was her grandmother, the one relative she had considered would be constant in her life and the only other Skylar she ever knew.



The anger subsided and her face turned to one of sadness. George looked up and saw this. “I am sorry to hear that Evelyn,” he said in a compassionate voice.



Evelyn didn’t reply nor respond in any way, she was just overwhelmed by it all. George came towards her, clearly attempting a hug, she immediately recoiled and gave him a mistrustful look.



She couldn’t decide whether to walk away without saying anything or utter a brief apology for her attacks before her departure.



In the end, she did something that surprised even herself, it was more of an instinct than conscious decision, she moved forward and gave George a hug.



They stayed like this for a few minutes, Evelyn gripping him tight, almost as if her life depended on it.



“I want to cry” she said quietly to George, almost in a whisper, “but I don’t think I know how.”



The hug eventually subsided, “Do you want to sit and talk about it for a bit?” George asked.



“Talking won’t improve my situation,” Evelyn asserted but surprisingly with very little harshness in her voice.



“It can help though sometimes,” George retorted. “Just let me in for a while, just a while, I promise not to steal anything, keep my feet off the furniture and I will tidy before I go,” Weasley added before giving a smile.



“You really do need a better sense of humour. Do you know that?” Evelyn replied with a slight giggle and a smile.



Her face and tone suddenly turned, dead serious, “Wait did you somehow overhear Snape telling me he would remove house points if I didn’t get back in half an hour? Was this the plan then, keep me talking, make me late and then I get points taken off Slytherin?”.



George didn’t know how to react, he looked to be struggling for something to say but then he noticed the smile creep back across Evelyn’s face.



It was her signature sly smile with slightly less cruelty than when it was used on an enemy. They both burst out laughing together. “I may as well stay for 10 minutes or so, it’s hardly like Snape is covering anything I don’t know already,” Evelyn said starting to walk towards a bench at the top of the courtyard.



The two sat together and she filled George in on what had happened with her grandmother, how she had been killed in the house at High Peak by a former Death Eater, the comments of the esteemed Auror Apollo Mason and finally how she shoved the Hufflepuff beater into one of Dumbledore’s bookshelves. George found the final part rather amusing.



“Grandmother was a vile old hag and it was obvious we didn’t love each other or even like each other for that matter,” she bluntly stated, “but she was the only family I ever knew and now, well now that’s gone.”



The sad look crept back upon her face but it was clear she felt slightly better for talking about it.

“I am sorry you know, for what I said to you earlier? You have been nothing but kind George Weasley,” Evelyn added affectionately after what appeared to be a moment of silent reflection.



George smiled in response. “For a girl who supposedly has no feelings or emotions, you have a lot of anger,” he joked.



Evelyn gave a brief smirk in acknowledgment, “That Auror tipped me over the edge if I am honest. You could tell he was looking at the daughter of two mass murders rather than a schoolgirl. Then to look at me and talk to me with such scorn? Usually I can take that, it’s the way everyone acts around me, but when he was here to tell me about my grandmothers’ death? It got to me. Then also to suggest that it was her own fault, like she deserved it? These Auror’s are all the same, they think their position should bring them respect and prestige but they are just bitter little men and women who hide behind their corrupt Ministry,” Evelyn stated spitefully.



Her anger came rushing back and she looked away from George and to the ground, she knew she probably shouldn’t criticise the Ministry in his presence but Mason’s actions had inflamed her resentment towards them.



“You shouldn’t blame the whole Ministry; he is probably just an overzealous pen pusher they sent because he was useless at everything else.” George quickly chipped in, concerned by Evelyn’s comments. “If you want, my Dad is quite influential there, I could ask him to have a word with the Head of Magical Enforcement when I next see him about this Apollo Mason. Either that or we could find out where he lives and send him a love potion by owl. Nothing will teach him humility quite like falling in love with Hagrid,” George added.



Evelyn reengaged eye contact and smiled. Her anger and resentment had subsided for now. “Now that sounds like an idea,” she laughed. “Anyway, I should probably go back to see that bumbling idiot Dumbledore,” Evelyn said getting up from the bench, “I don’t want him to send any more prefects after me.”



“I should go also, I have a love potion to brew sure for our friend Apollo Mason,” George said giving Evelyn a wink.



“Thank you for this”, Evelyn quickly blurted out awkwardly as if before she could talk herself out of it.



“First you hug me, then you apologise to me, you confide in me and now you thank me, are you are actually Evelyn?” George joked.



“You just caught me in a vulnerable state is all,” Evelyn quickly retorted “Tomorrow will see a return to normality and I will insult and mock you as much as you deserve Weasley,” she said with a sly smile.



“Yeah, it’s definitely you,” George laughed.

Evelyn made her way back to Dumbledore’s office.



The very unhappy looking prefect was still there unfortunately but she was relieved to see that Mason was gone.



She was also slightly amused to see the dent in the bookshelf.



Evelyn grumbled and mumbled her way through an apology about disrespecting the headmaster, assaulting the prefect and denting the bookshelf, most of which was said while she stared out the window and all parties were painfully aware it was far from genuine. Given the circumstances however, exceptions were made and Dumbledore told her that Snape had been informed she wouldn’t be returning to class, as had her other teachers that day. Additionally, she and whoever she wished to take with her would be given leave of the castle for the weekend to attend the funeral which was taking place tomorrow.



Evelyn was pleasantly surprised by this news; she had fully expected to be suspended or at least in detention for the foreseeable future. She would never admit it but Dumbledore had gone up in her estimation slightly.



She went back to her dorm to pack her things and to wait for Miranda. Miranda came straight to the dorms in the evening after classes ended. She already had heard the news from Professor Flitwick about Evelyn’s grandmother so the first thing she did when she entered the room and gave her best friend a hug. She was thoroughly surprised when for once Evelyn returned her hug, just like with George, Evelyn rationalised it to herself as a result of exceptional circumstances.



She filled Miranda in on the events surrounding her grandmother’s death and the events of Dumbledore’s office but she kept the encounter with George to herself. Was it out of embarrassment or did keeping it secret make it seem special, almost like it was hers and hers alone? She didn’t really know.



She then asked Miranda if she would come to High Peak Park with her for the funeral to which she excitedly agreed. Miranda had been twisting her arm about visiting Evelyn’s ancestral home since they had met almost, even despite Evelyn’s warnings of it being worse for wear.



As soon as Miranda had packed the two began on their journey. It was a morbid task they went to undertake but Evelyn was looking forward to getting away from Hogwarts for a bit so she could gather her thoughts about George. After today, they were seemingly close and he had been there for her when she needed someone. She was still struggling to see past his family ties to the Ministry however and her ingrained mistrust of others which had served her reasonably well for this long, naturally told her to steer clear. Perhaps her opinion might change when she returned from High Peak.