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Evelyn woke Miranda the next morning, earlier this time.



They had breakfast, gathered their things, made their way down the stairs and towards the main door. Evelyn gave Jeffrey another tin of sardines and a heartfelt goodbye but not before writing a note to the Caretaker and Groundskeeper, reaffirming her threats of eviction and retribution if anything was to happen to him in her absence. It was hardly like he demanded much maintenance, he even fed himself on the semi derelict mansions abundance of mice and rats and drank from the nearby stream. Was it really so much to ask that they merely refrain from trying to kill him?



She then pinned the note to the door which she had just magically resealed and began to make their way down the avenue.

It was only eleven in the morning and they didn’t have to be back in Hogwarts until that night but it was clear Evelyn wasn’t in the mood for lingering in her depressive homeplace.



They began to make their way back towards the Portkey. Evelyn noted that Miranda was much less resistant to the idea of using it this time around. She was understandably eager to get away from High Peak.



Instead of making their way through the gap at the greenhouse this time however, they exited through the badly rusted main gate.



There was no way the gate could swing open anymore without completely falling apart in the process but there was a human size hole in the twisted metal near the gate’s hinges, this was how the squibs came and went from their cottage just outside the walled garden. If the six foot five, grossly overweight Groundskeeper could move through it then so could the two girls.



After they were outside the walls, Evelyn pointed out to Miranda said squib’s house directly to the right just before the forest began. It was a pleasant looking bricked bungalow with a small but badly kept garden. It was much less grand than the mansion, but even in its messy state it still looked better and still had all its windows intact.



There was a large dog, an Alsatian chained up and fast asleep near the front door. Evelyn informed Miranda of the beast and Jeffrey’s ongoing rivalry.



Despite the reasonably late hour in the morning, the place was sleepy to the point it was almost lifeless.

Do they take Sundays off or something?” Miranda enquired.



“One would be forgiven for thinking so, they must be resting from all the work they don’t do,” Evelyn condescendingly remarked, “You rarely see those two out of bed before the early afternoon on any given day.”



From the front gate, both girls made their way to where they had landed two days before at the western wall. The ceramic disk was still where they had left it.



Evelyn was glad to be leaving and hoped it would be a long time before she had to return to her recently inherited estate.



The girls took hold of the Portkey together and equally as ungracefully as they had crash landed at High Peak, they landed in a garden full of pumpkins.



It took a while for them both to readjust this time, eventually they both realised where they were, they had just landed in the garden straight in front of Hagrid’s hut.

Miranda excitedly got up, shook off any dirt that was on her clothes and ran towards the door of the hovel.



“I wonder is he here? I wonder if he will show us any magical creatures he has with him? You don’t think he will angry with us just appearing in his garden, will he? I wonder does he remember us from when he taught is in third year?” she excitedly exclaimed in near childlike glee.



“I hope not,” Evelyn muttered under her breath.



Evelyn was not a fan of Hagrid. She had two prior encounters with him, one was when he had nearly caught her searching the forbidden woods for the Portkey they had just used in second year, and two was as his ill-fated brief career as a teacher. She must admit that she enjoyed watching Draco Malfoy being attacked by that Hippogriff and most importantly Rose Newcross’s face as her unrequited love lay crying like a toddler. The educational value of this class left much to be desired in her opinion however and his interruption of Evelyn’s search for the flowerpot had also delayed her by a number of weeks. She generally viewed him as an idiot but perhaps not one with bad intentions.



Evelyn may have made a recent resolution to be more accepting and less condescending but at the minute at least, Hagrid like the High Peak staff, was a bridge too far.



Despite Miranda’s persistent knocking there was no answer however. Where was he? Did he finally get devoured by one of his beloved beasts of the wood? If she was honest to herself, she was mainly annoyed that she had been so cautious to avoid him on the way to the Portkey on Friday when he was likely not here. Maybe she should have listened more attentively to Dumbledore’s start of year speech.



Evelyn decided they had waited long enough for the half-giant to appear; she had told herself she would go find George as soon as she was back and the longer, she waited the more time she had to talk herself out of it.



“I am not sure he is here, if you want, we can come back another time?” Evelyn asked.



“Really, you would come back here to visit him? Last time you mentioned him, you called him an oaf and compared him to that bitter old groundskeeper of yours,” Miranda replied surprised but with a degree of suspicion.



“I suppose I owe you one as a way of saying thank you for coming to the funeral with me,” Evelyn replied unconfidently, as if she knew she was about to regret ever offering.



Mirandas face lit up with a beaming grin, regret hit Evelyn’s face immediately. The two girls began their walk towards the castle.

After they returned to their dorm and unpacked, Miranda asked if Evelyn wanted to go back down to the lake as they often did in their free time when Evelyn wasn’t inhaling books in the library. Evelyn explained that she had someone she had to quickly see then she would meet her down there.



“It’s George Weasley, isn’t it?” Miranda replied with a slight giggle after quickly seeing through Evelyn’s purposely vague explanation as to who she was seeing.



The awkward look on Evelyn’s face said it all but she wasn’t about to concede that she had been so easily read. “It doesn’t matter I won’t be long. I shall see you at the lake,” she said quickly and awkwardly before rushing off.



She found Fred and George unsurprisingly together packing away their merchandise.



Fred immediately walked away as soon as he saw her, his face was not a friendly one. The joker has a bit of a dark side after all it seems but Evelyn wasn’t hindered by it.



George smiled as soon as he saw her, Evelyn actually gave a small smile back. “I highly doubt you are here to buy any extendable ears or darkness powder,” he joked.



“Not at the minute anyway, but I would pay you handsomely to put Umbridge out of commission for a few weeks. I will trade you my new estate if you can make her quit,” Evelyn joked back, in her typical ominous way, not entirely revealing if she was joking or not.



George laughed, “Are you okay Evelyn?” he asked slightly more seriously.



“As well as expected,” Evelyn replied, she was still struggling with it all but she wasn’t quite ready to share that with him.



The two then sat on the bench behind the twins closed stall, Evelyn filled him in on the events of the weekend.



“I think I might have something to cheer you up,” he said deviously with a wink. He then produced a bottle of love potion from his pocket. “As promised our gift to Mr Mason. I even managed to get his address. He won’t be falling head over heels for Hagrid unfortunately as he is away on holiday or something, but I choose the next best thing. Snape,” George added.



A sly smile came across Evelyn’s face, “I kind of had my heart set on making his teeth fall out and his arms wither away but this is a fair compromise…for now,” she stated in another ominous joke.



George replied, “I will freely admit that I did not see this coming today. Firstly, you purposely seek me out rather attempting to run away, secondly that you are in a good mood and haven’t shouted at me or threatened me once yet.”



“I can be nice sometimes,” she quickly retorted, “just don’t tell anyone else okay, I have a reputation to maintain outside of my friends,” she continued.



George looked surprised, “You know I think this is the first time you have called us friends.”



“Well that can still change. If we get caught delivering the love potion to Mason, I am blaming the whole thing on you,” Evelyn replied with a sly smile.



George initially looked unsure whether she was serious or not but he just decided to laugh it off.



The two got up from the bench and made their way to the Owlery. They spiked a bottle of wine that George had somehow acquired from Sprout’s apparently extensive collection, wrapped it in brown paper that Sprout had also unwilling donated and scrawled a vague note about the bottle being a gift from the Hogwarts staff for his contribution to the security of the Wizarding World. After adding his address, they found a random Owl as to avoid it being traced back to them and then send their package on its way.



“Thank you for this,” Evelyn said struggling to hold in a bout of laughter as to what they had just done, “I just hope this doesn’t end in Azkaban.”



“We may even get a cell next to your…” George began his joke, he immediately seemed to realize that he had made a big mistake. No one ever had mentioned Evelyn’s parents to her and didn’t get her horns. George looked like he wasn’t sure if she should run for it or drop to his knees and profusely apologise.



Instead of losing it however she just stayed silent and gave him a serious look as if to tell him to leave that topic well alone.



There was an uncomfortable silence.



Surprisingly after a while Evelyn broke it however, “I hope we get to see Snape’s face when Mason arrives at Hogwarts declaring undying love.”



“You and me both Skylar, you and me both,” George added, appearing glad the subject was changed.



“There was something I wanted to ask you,” he then piped up again, “We can visit Hogsmeade next weekend and I was wondering if you wanted to go to three broomsticks with me?” He asked, almost nervously. It was a rare thing for George Weasley to be nervous.



“Sure,” Evelyn replied bluntly, “Come and remind me at the library otherwise I will likely forget,”. The smile forming across her face had betrayed her attempts to act largely disinterested however.



“Sounds good to me,” George smiled back.



After what seemed like a brief period of deliberation he spoke again, “There’s also a meeting in the Hogshead that day, I can’t say what it’s about but I think it will interest you if you want to join me in going to it after we have been to the Three broomsticks.”



Evelyn gave a brief nod in acknowledgment, she was more intrigued than anything, as to what was he being so secretive about?



The two then parted ways, promising that if they spotted Mason they would immediately inform the other. Evelyn then began her walk towards the lake, she hadn’t realised she was an hour later than her usual time when she met with Miranda. She wasn’t thinking about that yet though, all she knew was this was the happiest she had felt in a long time.

This happiness, did not last. As Evelyn approached the lake, she noticed Miranda was not alone. Her heart dropped, she immediately noticed one of those present was a relatively tall girl with bright red hair, it was Rose Newcross.



Rose was joined on the rocky lake shore by Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson, two half-blood Slytherin girls who naturally shared the typical house animosity towards Miranda and her blood status. In contrast to Rose however, they both didn’t actively seek open confrontations with Evelyn, they were more coward than callous.



Miranda was facing towards the lane coming from the castle which she was coming down, the trio had their backs to Evelyn however. Miranda had noticed her but she hadn’t said anything, she just looked hurt, the other three remained oblivious to her presence for now.



Evelyn stepped up her pace but she moved quietly as to not make them aware she was there until she was closer.



“When we heard you had left the castle for the weekend, we nearly through a party we were so glad to get rid of you Mudblood. Did you really think you were welcome back?” Evelyn heard Rose hiss.



“We could smell you before you even entered the grounds,” Millicent bellowed in a brutish voice.



“Why don’t you just do us all a favour and leave,” Pansy added cruelly.



Evelyn eventually intervened in her icy cold voice as she was mere steps from them, “Well that was quite impressive, it was like a symphony of incompetence and arrogance.”



The three girls were shocked anyone had been able to sneak to close behind them without them hearing anything turned around to see Evelyn glaring at them.



A brief flicker of fear came across Millicent and Pansy’s face, they seemed to have only picked on Miranda because they believed Evelyn hadn’t returned to Hogwarts yet. In a way it wasn’t an unwise assumption, when at Hogwarts the two were usually inseparable.



Rose however just locked her cruel brown eyes with Evelyn’s.



“What are you doing here Skylar?” Millicent uncomfortably and nervously plucked up the courage to ask.



“Yes, I am a Skylar, aren’t I?” Evelyn replied sarcastically, “believe me I am flattered you three believe so passionately in the importance of blood status, I am after all a pure-blood, a member of an unbroken line of wizards. That is the embodiment of perfection to you three is it not?”



No one replied, even Rose looked slightly thrown.



“See last I looked, Millicent and Pansy, you are both half-bloods, am I wrong?”



No one reacted, Miranda was now looking as if she was wondering where this was going.



“And Rose, I know you Newcross’s claim to be pure but, did your great grandfather not have other ideas?” She added tauntingly.



It was true, though the Newcross’s had retained their pure-blood status, there was convincing evidence Roses great grandfather Marcius had an affair with a muggle who subsequently was the actual mother of Roses grandfather. It was less of a speculation and more of a great unsaid due to the family’s influence. Evelyn had brought it up to Rose a few times when the latter had been preaching pureblood supremacy, knowing it made her uncomfortable as the latter knew it to be true. Some even reckoned that it was why the Newcross’s so whole heartedly backed Voldemort during the war, they were trying to scrub their name clean with muggle and muggle-born blood.



“As you claim to hold me in such high regard, I now ask you to stop bothering me and my friend, or would prefer a command?” Evelyn asked mockingly.



“Adelaide Skylar got what was coming to her,” Rose suddenly snapped after ending her angry silence, “I hope the Dark Lord lavishes whoever ended that traitor’s life with glory.”



Everyone was taken aback by this, even Pansy and Millicent were concerned as to how Rose had just referred to you-know-who as the Dark Lord. It was known she was a blood supremacist but this was a new and dangerous step further towards darkness and it stirred questions in all of them as to if he had actually returned.



Evelyn remained calm but the maliciousness in her voiced escalated, “Move on you three, before I really lose my temper.”



Pansy and Millicent immediately scarpered, clearly terrified by the whole affair.



Rose however walked arrogantly and calmly up to Evelyn’s face, “This isn’t over,” she snarled.



Evelyn just rolled her eyes in response.



Rose then joined the other two girls in returning to the castle and Evelyn made her way over to Miranda.



“Are you alright…” Evelyn began.



She was interrupted by a surprisingly enraged Miranda. “Where were you?” she shouted angrily while also bursting into tears, “I have been here for over an hour and half of that was spent being slandered by those inhuman wenches.”



“I am sorry I just…” Evelyn began again.



Miranda however interrupted even angrier, “You just what Evelyn? You left me to face them alone for George.”



Evelyn felt considerable remorse, she had got so caught up in how much she was enjoying herself in being with George, she had let time get ahead of her. Miranda hadn’t got this upset in years about comments made by her peers but then again, Evelyn had always been there with her and she had been an hour later than she was supposed to be. She felt this was on her.



She initiated a hug with Miranda, which Miranda gratefully received. Miranda was crying now, quite a lot. Evelyn gripped her tighter.

Evelyn’s anger switched from herself and to Mirandas tormentors. This was ridiculous, she had thought times were changing for the better for them both but of course Rose and her ilk had to ruin it, Millicent and Pansy were many things but Rose was clearly the instigator. She could only hope that someday she would have to answer for her actions.



They continued hugging for a while and Miranda stopped crying.



“I am so sorry I shouted at you,” Miranda said quietly.



“It’s okay, I was late and I shouldn’t have been,” Evelyn replied.



“No, you were away seeing George, yes you were quite late but something else was also annoying me. It was stupid but a part of me felt jealous that you were with him and not me, it’s always been us, just us and now it’s not. When you weren’t here to back me up against those three, I was worried that this was the new normal,” Miranda quickly retorted.



“There’s no need to be jealous or worried. I suppose I care about him but you are and always will be my best friend and I will always be there for you, even if I am a bit late,” Evelyn replied affectionately.



Miranda gave a slight giggle.



The two girls broke off their long hug, Miranda was a lot calmer and happier now. They sat and skimmed stones for the rest of the afternoon and evening.