"And the couple returns," Evie said, motioning to James and Lily with a magnificent gesture the next morning at breakfast.
"Do you want another Bat-Bogey Hex?" inquired Lily, giving her friend a meaningful half-smile.
Evie grinned at her. "You can't, I picked my nose this morning," she said triumphantly, "so there."
Sirius looked disgustedly at her.
"I did not need to know that," grimaced Sirius, "did you wash your hands?"
"What for? I used my wand!" Evie declared, taking her wand out and making a motion that implied she stuck the wooden rod up her nose. When she realized that the entire group was giving her ghastly expressions, she sighed.
"I was joking, honestly," she said. However, everyone continued to give her strange looks.
*
"Professor Deboale, look!" Pippi squealed loudly as she looked out the window. Startled by her tone, the professor hurried towards her.
"What is the matter, erm, Miss Longstocking?"
"Don't you see it? Look!" Pippi was hysterical; jumping up and down and pointing, "I have never seen anything like it! What is it? What is it?"
"What is what?" Professor Deboale peered out the window, but saw nothing.
"That!"
"... I don't see anything," said Professor Deboale nervously, "perhaps you were seeing things?"
"I am not seeing things!" Pippi was screaming; attracting attention from the students in the class, "why can't you see it? It's so... I can't even explain it! What is it?! Great Merlin, it's coming towards us!" she ducked her head, shrieking for her life. Every student in the class was staring at her, their essay on Disarming Spells completely forgotten.
"I don't see anything, Miss Longstocking," said Professor Deboale, not sure of how to handle this frantic student, "maybe you should go back to your seat."
"Why don't you see it? It's right there!" and with that, Pippi grabbed the back of Professor Deboale's head and rammed it into the window, smacking his cheek into the glass. His jaw was aching painfully as he tried to remove himself from the window.
"Professor Deboale, you look so cute when you drool like that," giggled Pippi, seeming to forget all she saw, "you look like a dog with rabies." She pinched his cheek, while Sirius and the others in hiding all burst out laughing.
*
"Mr. Black, would you be so kind as to collect the Potion essays for me? And make sure that everyone has handed one in," Professor Slughorn said to him on Friday. Somewhat reluctantly, Sirius nodded.
"I feel sorry for you, mate," Evie chuckled under her breath. In one brief stroke, everyone's rolls of parchment suddenly came pummeling at Sirius, one narrowly missing his head and collided into a potion flask, causing it to shatter.
"Hate collecting parchments," muttered Sirius under his breath as he slowly counted up the essays. He paused at one essay; finding it full of cursive and beautiful writing. The writing was so familiar to him, it was just like the writing of the Animigus Parchment. He stared at it, and then peered at his class.
Who could have written this?
"Sirius, stop staring at the ruddy essay, it's not as though you can copy off of it," said Evie, snapping him back to his senses. Not bothering to count the other essays, he merely handed them to Slughorn and hurried back to his seat.
"Turn to page 151 and begin your potion. You will be working independently today," came Slughorn's instructions, and the class began.
"Evie, I saw the same writing!" Sirius was saying, "it's the same writing."
"Same writing of what?"
"The," he lowered his voice, "Animigus parchment."
"So you found someone with the same writing then, did you?" asked Evie amusedly. Sirius nodded.
"I'm going to find that person," he said confidently, "I'm going to find them for sure."
"Good luck with that," Evie shook her head at him, "as thick-headed as you are, good luck." Sirius rolled his eyes at her support and continued to add ingredients to his potion. He turned to Remus, hoping that his information would prove to have a better reaction.
"Moony, I found the person with the same writing for the parchment!"
Remus looked at him.
"That old thing? You're still looking for it?"
Needless to say, his reaction was no better than Evie's. Lastly, he turned to Peter.
"I found it, Wormtail!"
"Wicked! I knew you could do it," Peter nodded his head, looking excited, "could you tell me who it is after you've found out completely?"
Sirius beamed.
"See?" Sirius turned to Evie, "at least someone's interested."
"I'm sorry?" Evie looked at him, the ghost of a grin forming on her face, "I wasn't listening."
Sirius grumbled under his breath, his mood darkening more when his potion exploded at the last moment and earned him a zero.
"How many times has Louise gotten full marks on her potion?" Evie remarked after class, "she's a bloody Potions genius, especially how Slughorn keeps raving about her. She'd even give Snape a run for his Galleons." Evie had earned a respectable seventy-five, and Slughorn was quite pleased to see that she had managed to get through a potions class unscathed. Sirius shrugged, nodding his head in acknowledgement when Louise shot him a wide smile as she walked past him.
*
"Quidditch matches are so much fun, yes? A refined sport of young students smashing brooms into each other, all for a single golden ball. Quite romantic, really, everything is for the sake of the beautiful, glorious, golden Snitch; representing victory, the feeling of conquest, of hard work and teamwork, of -"
"Miss Reinhardt, please direct your attention to the match!"
"Sure thing, Professor McGrognon," said Evie cheerfully. Professor McGrognon had been sent to substitute for Professor McGonagall, who had succumbed to a sore throat and couldn't keep an eye on Evie. However, this 'cold' of hers was subject for further speculation, as she was fine during breakfast earlier that morning, when she told Sirius and James sternly not to doodle faces on unsuspecting Slytherins with their wands. This resulted in over a quarter of all Slytherins with smudged ink marks on their faces.
"Ravenclaw takes the pitch, with team captain Martin Bailey, Gryffindor Keeper's older brother for your information - that'll be a good show when Gryffindor and Ravenclaw play together - anyway, he's Seeker - not like his younger brother, but oh well -"
"Miss Reinhardt!"
"We've got Stacy Lawrence, Gilbert Gilbert (at this name Evie snickered slightly), Joseph Hills, Simon Fuller, Paul Rogers, and Wade Young!" The crowd cheered as the blue robes all gathered around the pitch. James caught sight of a large blue Ravenclaw banner. It was flourished abundantly with all sorts of clever rhymes that would flash different sayings every time. He nudged Sirius, who caught sight of it as well and grinned when he knew what James was thinking of.
A girl sitting beside them saw their devious smirks and scowled at them.
"Whatever you two are thinking of, don't even try," Lily warned.
"Aww, but Lil-Lil," James pouted. Lily cringed when he said that.
"What? You don't like the name 'Lil-Lil'?" James grinned, "hmm, Lil-Lil?" he teased her, and then whispering into her ear so that no one else could hear, "you know you like it when I call you that."
"Oh yes, I find it absolutely sexy," replied Lily sarcastically, earning many strange looks from the people around her. She flushed crimson as she stared determinedly back at the Quidditch pitch. James smirked at Sirius as they too watched the pitch, just as Evie was done announcing the Slytherins. Or denouncing, whichever sounds more appropriate.
"Same old, same old, you know, Madam Hooch releases the Snitch and of course, the gentlemanly Slytherins pound their way to the Quaffle and ram into every person they see. Look, they knocked out the bloody Ravenclaw Keeper Lawrence! That's got to be a foul right there - I smell buttered toast, does anyone else smell buttered toast?"
At this, everyone instinctively lifted their heads and sniffed the air.
"Stop distracting everyone and get on with the match," snapped Professor McGrognon, as though he had not been sniffing the air a few seconds ago. Dumbledore chuckled to himself as he finished his bread, before wiping his hands with his handkerchief.
"Ooh, Ravenclaw's in possession of the Quaffle now, and going towards the hoops - they score! 10 - 0 in Ravenclaw's favor!" Evie cheered along with many other students, "I say, what's wrong with that banner Ravenclaw has?" she peered closely at it, " 'Gryffindor will catch the Snitch, But hey look, there's Slytherin, what a bitc-' oh look, there's more! Ravenclaw must really like Gryffindor; we're not even playing," she grinned blithely. And instead of commentating, Evie proceeded on to reading all the vulgar rhymes aloud.
" 'Ravenclaw the smart-alecks, Slytherin the birth-defects! Hufflpuff can't count to nine, but Gryffindor is just divine!' 'Gryffindor, Gryffindor, we're a hit, the other houses can go eat shi-' "
Sirius and James howled with laughter as Evie read out all of the rhyming couplets that were written on the Ravenclaw banner. The Ravenclaws were absolutely in shock; desperately trying to cover the uncouthly verses with charms and spells. It was until they finally rolled up the banner and set it on fire that Evie stopped reading. Lily looked at them reproachfully.
"You really shouldn't do that," Lily told the boys disapprovingly.
"Oh come off it, Lily," said James easily, "you have to admit, our rhymes are much better than that pathetic 'Double double, boil and trouble, Watch as Slytherins turn to rubble.' I mean honestly, what kind of poetry is that?"
Lily raised her eyebrows at him.
"Better poetry, I should say," she answered complacently.
Before James had a chance to reply, Professor McGrognon's loud voice came onto the pitch,
"Quit reading those silly rhymes and commentate on the match!"
"They burned up the banner anyway, and it's not as though I've got anything better to do!" retorted Evie, "The score hasn't changed - no wait, it has, and no one's been injured yet - oh scratch that, I forgot about Lawrence."
"Commentate before I dock off points!"
"I prefer Professor McGonagall," muttered Evie under her breath, then started commentating, "and Slytherin's got the Quaffle, they shoot, they miss, they stink. There isn't even a bloody Keeper, and they still miss. Quite sad, really, but before Professor McGrognon blows his top," she glanced at the red-faced teacher, "Ravenclaw catches the Quaffle and they miss as well."
"This is really turning out to be an interesting game, isn't it?" remarked Sirius sarcastically to his friends.
"I'd give anything to be playing right now," James sighed, "I want to grab that bloody Quaffle and just smash it into the hoop." He made a punching motion with his arm to prove his point, but only succeeded in hitting Peter in the head, who was sitting in front of him.
"Sorry Peter," said James sheepishly as Peter groaned and clutched his head, toppling onto the floor. Lily laughed at James as she helped get Peter off the ground while Remus conjured an icebag for his head.
"Is he going to be okay?" asked Malia, slightly worried. She looked at Peter, who was still moaning.
"He'll be fine," Sirius said carelessly, "Wormtail's a strong chap, he'll live."
"Wormtail?" asked Malia quizzically, questioning his strange name.
"It's his nickname," answered James, shrugging, "it's always been Wormtail."
"Not," muttered Lily under her breath, but luckily, Malia didn't hear.
"And Young's in possession of the Quaffle - GREAT MERLIN, THERE'S THE SNITCH!" At this, everyone craned their heads, but Evie was laughing hysterically.
"Ha ha, tricked you all," she said merrily, trying to catch her breath, "no wait, there really is a Snitch - ooh, tricked you again, did I? Oh this is so much fun - wait, there really is the Snitch! Look, look, Black's after it - but Bailey is catching up - but Slytherin's still far ahead, not too much of a chance there - what's the score?" Evie glanced quickly at the scoreboard. Just as she did, however, Ravenclaw's score changed dramatically from 60 to 210.
"And, Ravenclaw catches the Snitch?" said Evie confusedly, as the crowd roared with more enthusiasm than before.
"Catch of the century!" some boy near her yelled, "never seen anything like it! Bailey's got real potential, that catch was utterly brilliant!"
*
"What did he do?" asked Evie eagerly when she saw James and them walking back, "how did he catch the bloody Snitch?"
Sirius stared at her.
"You missed it?" he asked her incredulously, "you actually missed it?"
"It was incredible," James burst out, "it was perfectly executed! I wouldn't be surprised it Bailey actually named his move, it was brilliant!"
"Oh please," Lily insisted, "all he did was catch the Snitch. There wasn't anything special about it." Malia shrugged at this, but didn't argue; she was looking worriedly at Remus, who looked unusually weary and tired that day.
"But Lily, it was the way he did it," James argued, "I can't even do it on my own broom. This could make Hogwarts history!"
"Oh please," scoffed Lily, "you'd have to do more than a stupid catch than to get it into Hogwarts history."
"Stupid catch?" repeated James incredulously, "Stupid catch? That was a brilliant ca-"
"You alright, Remus? Looking a bit peaky there," Malia asked, looking troubled. Remus smiled, appreciating her concern. James stopped his mad raving and looked at his friend.
"Moony's alright," James grinned, "he's just got a furry little problem, is all. It's a bloody curse living with those big ears and that tuft of a tail."
Evie stared unblinkingly at James for a moment.
"Since when did Remus have a rabbit?" she asked, looking oblivious to what was going on. Lily rolled her eyes while Sirius shot her a strange look.
"Reinhardt, you are thick," he said, smirking at her. Malia looked confused, but said nothing.
"Oh belt it," Evie stuck out her tongue, "let's go get some lunch. I'll race you!" and she dashed away. Sirius shook his head at her as he continued walking serenely with James, Remus, and the others.
Once Evie had gotten to the Great Hall, she realized that the others weren't following her, and proceeded to walking randomly around the school. She stopped dead in her tracks when she met some people on the way. Thinking quickly, she ducked behind a wall and spied on the two of them.
It was Florence Gibbons, and -
Evie couldn't believe her eyes.
Severus Snape?
They didn't have their wands pointed at each other, they weren't staring at each other in absolute hate, and they didn't seem to notice that Evie was there.
Luckily for her.
Instead, Snape and Gibbons were almost looking at each other affectionately, holding hands as they talked quietly in the corner with one another. Evie couldn't hear what they were saying and she daren't go nearer; knowing that Florence Gibbons was excellent in doing Charms, and Snape was excellent at doing hexes.
"Gibbons and Snape," Evie muttered to herself, "they're probably just friends. Nothing major, of course."
But when she saw Snape reach in and kiss Gibbons full on the lips, Evie changed her mind. She twisted her face up slightly in disgust when she saw that Snape was pushing Gibbons against the wall, snogging her. Evie chose this time to leave, not wanting to observe the couple snogging their brains out. As she walked back to the Great Hall, she considered if she should tell anyone.
"Florence has never done anything to me," Evie decided to herself. She went back to the Great Hall and acted as though she hadn't seen anything.
*
"What are you doing?" James asked Evie. Evie stuck out her tongue at him.
"What does it look like? I'm coming for Quidditch practice," she said proudly, "not for the team, but just by myself."
"You can't," said James pointedly, "the Gryffindors are practicing right now."
"Oh, I won't bother you," said Evie cheerfully, "you know, just go on your merry way and train those second-years 'til their brains gush out."
James looked at her.
"Fine," he said after a moment, "just don't start yelling strange things and scaring my team, yeah?"
Evie gave him a thumbs-up in reply.
"It's freezing outside," Sirius complained, "I'm staying indoors with Remus and Peter. Have fun practicing in the blistering cold."
James grinned at him before exiting the common room with Evie.
Once they got there, however, they were shocked to see that the Slytherins were jeering at them; their faster, more expensive brooms are hovering in the air.
"Hey, we booked the pitch for today!" yelled James, waving his broom at them, "get off the pitch!"
"And why should we?" said Rodolphus smugly.
"Yeah, what is your team of toddlers going to do about it?" sneered Evan Rosier. The rest of the Slytherins must have thought this to be terribly clever because they all started guffawing loudly.
"Now, now, team," said Regulus smoothly after their snickering died down, "we must not be rude to our fellow classmates. If they really have booked the pitch like they said, then we will trust that they have. Come, my team, let us go to the library and study," and the Slytherin team flew away on their brooms. James eyed the suspiciously.
"I don't trust them, I don't trust them one bit," he declared.
Evie snorted.
"Since when does Regulus talk without using contractions?" she rolled her eyes, "You go on and practice; I'll watch out in case any funny business goes on," Evie told him, and James set off to organize his team. With a school broom in hand, she hopped quietly onto her broom and zoomed to where the Slytherins had flown off.
Bloody school brooms, always leans to the left, Evie thought to herself as she steered herself from crashing into the Slytherin bleachers. While she was concentrating on not crashing, her faulty broom took a sudden spurge of speed, causing her to lose control. She ended up swerving behind the Slytherin bleachers and crashed right into the Slytherin Quidditch team, knocking them off their feet. Their wands flew into the air in surprise, so no doubt they were plotting something. It was at this time that Evie's broom decided to stop.
Evie widened her eyes as the Slytherin boys began to get up, snarling and looking murderously at her.
"Go, broom, go!" she shouted at the broom, nudging her broom to move faster as the Slytherins mounted their brooms. Her wheezy broom gave a start as she speeded away, the Slytherins quickly gaining.
"Stupefy!" a red light shot past Evie's head.
"Oi, watch where you're aiming that wand!" Evie retorted behind her, aggravating them even more. She sped down the Quidditch pitch, the Slytherins now riding right beside her.
"James! Get your bloody arse over here!" shouted Evie loudly, glaring at the sneering faces of Rodolphus Lestrange and Evan Rosier.
"Evie, stop your broom!" she heard a voice call, and she immediately obeyed. Though slowly the broom stopped, the Slytherins were caught off guard as the team continued to zoom along, having to make sharp turns to catch Evie. But she was saved as the entire Gryffindor team shot various spells at the Slytherins. Evie saw Sirius grinning from ear to ear as he had his wand out, cursing his younger brother into oblivion. Once she was off her broom, all the Slytherins seemed to have passed out onto the ground.
"Thanks mates," she said cheerfully, as though she had not been riding for her life less than ten seconds ago, "but I think I'll skip out of Quidditch for today." She continued grinning as she grabbed the school broom and headed towards Sirius, who was staring at her intently.
"What did you do to them?" he asked in amazement, "Even those people aren't prone to ganging up on one person."
"I flew into them," answered Evie easily, shivering slightly, "but the better question is," she rounded on him, "What were you doing on the Quidditch pitch? I thought you didn't like the 'blistering cold'."
"You... you forgot your winter cloak," he said quickly and bluntly, handing her the heavy and stiff garment, "you'll freeze to death without it."
Evie raised her eyebrow at him, seeing that he, ironically enough, was not wearing his cloak, but clad in a simple black sweater and jeans.
"Thanks," she said, laughing as she took the cloak and slipped it on. It was then she realized that the cloak she was wearing was actually Sirius', and, judging from the warmth of it, he had just worn it not five minutes ago.
*
"Oi, Evie... Evie, wait up!" came a call. Evie was just walking back up to the Gryffindor common room by herself when she heard her name being called and turned around. She raised her eyebrow when Aden Irving ran up to her, before running his fingers quickly through his hair.
"Boys always seem to do that," said Evie. Aden looked at her quizzically.
"Boys always seem to do what?" he asked.
"Play with their hair, of course!" snorted Evie, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Bit strange, really. And all this time, I thought girls played with their hair more."
"... Sure," Aden said, raising his eyebrows slightly, "so, Evie, you going to Hogsmeade this Saturday?"
"Maybe," Evie shrugged her shoulders, "why?"
"Well," continued Aden, "do you have, erm, a date?"
"No..." Evie looked at him strangely, "why do you ask?"
This question seemed to frustrate Aden, because he gave her a look. "Because I want to ask you!" he blurted out, "is that really so hard to figure out?"
Evie seemed slightly dumbfounded, as though she had not figured that out at all. She looked up at the ceiling for a brief moment, before returning her gaze to Hufflepuff's Golden Boy.
"Well, what if I don't want to go with you?" asked Evie, grinning. She folded her arms, looking at him curiously. Aden seemed slightly crestfallen, until an idea seemed to pop into his head.
"If you don't," he said, retaining a bit of his confidence, "then I'll just have to use the favor you owe me to ask you." He grinned at her, folding his own arms. Evie looked thoughtful for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders.
"Then I suppose I have to go with you, won't I?" she said, pretending to sound miserable, "oh well, we all must go through traumatic and harrowing experiences at least once in our lives." She concluded her dramatic speech with a huge sigh, before smiling.
Aden grinned widely at her response, knowing that she was joking.
"Excellent, then I'll meet you outside the castle on Saturday at around nine then," he said, and flashed her a dashing wink before sprinting off. Evie gave a small smile as she went into the common room, quickly met up by the rest of her friends.
"How much is a Butterbeer, anyhow?" asked James, "never got around to finding out. I've just been paying Rosmerta a couple of Galleons each time and I don't count the change." They had bullied the first-years out of the comfortable chairs and were now sitting on them comfortably. Evie had rested herself on an armrest of the chair Peter had occupied himself in. The rest had either found other chairs, or were sitting on the floor.
"Prissy rich boy," laughed Evie, "can't even figure out how much a Butterbeer costs. You've been spoiled silly," she grinned.
"Well, why don't we find out then?" said Sirius, "we'll all go to Three Broomsticks during Hogsmeade and find out."
"Er, can't," said James, looking oddly happy, "you know..." he pulled Lily closer towards him. Lily's face was flushed red as everyone looked at them amusedly. She pushed him away, folding her arms in annoyance. James shrugged and looked innocent.
"Alright then, while you two go find out together, Remus, Peter, Evie and I will go," said Sirius, grinning at the couple. He looked at Remus and Peter disbelievingly when the two of them shook their heads.
"I've, er, got a bit of a date myself," said Peter hastily. Everyone looked at him, shocked.
"With who?" they simultaneously asked.
"Prudence Workins," he muttered, disliking their voices of absolutely surprise, "that fourth-year in Hufflepuff." His face reddened. They were all silent, as though waiting for Peter to suddenly jump up and shout 'Surprise!' and reassure them it was all a joke. It didn't happen.
"... Well," said Evie after a short pause, "good on you, mate. 'Bout time you got yourself a nice girl," she winked at him.
"And I promised Professor Flitwick that I'd help clean up his class that morning," added Remus.
"And of course, this has nothing to do with Malia Morris helping out Professor McGonagall with her own classroom," said Evie firmly, her eyes twinkling with mirth. Sirius grunted slightly at the lack of company coming with him to Hogsmeade.
"Guess it's just you and me, Reinhardt," said Sirius, "while everyone else is snogging each other."
"Oh, can't," answered Evie carelessly, "you see, I have a date as well. As you so quaintly put it, I will be 'snogging'," she used her fingers to form air brackets, "Aden Irving."
"What? When was this?" demanded Sirius, looking aghast.
"Less than ten minutes ago," said Evie. She noticed Sirius' eyes were flashing angrily, and gave him an amused look. "Lighten up, Sirius; I'm sure you can ask any girl to accompany you."
"I can't believe you're going with Aden Irving!" he defended himself, "he's a prat!"
"Yes well, it's either this or I pay up twenty Galleons," said Evie.
"When are you meeting him?" asked Lily placidly, because Sirius continued to look heated.
"Saturday, nine o'clock, outside Hogwarts," said Evie, bouncing around a bit.
Sirius looked careless as he snorted. "Whatever, yeah, I'll find another girl to come with me. Oi, Louise!" he called to the first girl who passed him, "Hogsmeade with me?" he asked, sounding more like a demand then a question. However, Louise didn't seem to mind at all.
"Sure thing, Sirius," chimed in Louise, before giggling slightly and running out of the portrait hole, when she had only just came in twenty seconds ago. Sirius turned and looked almost triumphantly at everyone, namely Evie.
"There, see?" he said, "nothing to it."
"Good job, Black," approved Evie, not looking very concerned, "now we've all got some snogging to do."
For some reason, Sirius' face went dark once Evie mentioned that 'we've all got some snogging to do'. He had much less to say throughout the rest of the evening.
It's almost May, can you believe it? XD
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