Thursday
January 8, 1978
Dumbledore's Office
If this was a book I was writing, and not my most Secret Diary, I would never have left my last entry on that note. Could you imagine if someone was reading this and read everything that happened to Lily and the others and then I just left it on what could be deemed a most awful cliffhanger and then for some reason they couldn't just immediately read my next entry? Good thing the only person who is reading this is me, right! Well, there had better not be anybody else reading this. If there's one thing I care about, it's my privacy.
Speaking of said cliffhanger, I should recap what has just happened.
A Short List Compiled by Evelyn K. O. Bishop Concerning the Events that Occurred Shortly Before Being Dragged to Professor A. P. W. B. Dumbledore's office by Professor M. McGonagall:
1. I was rudely awoken by Lottie, who dragged me downstairs.
2. I was surprised to find Lily bleeding quite profusely from her forearm, causing me to do my best to heal it to avoid her dying from blood loss. You know, the usual.
3. Lottie, Lily, James, Black and I subtly panicked whilst waiting for Remus and Marlene to reveal their fate.
4. Remus revealed his fate, and, also, McGonagall.
5. McGonagall left with Lily, James and Remus, leaving Black, Lottie and I to panic and enter into a reassuring group huddle on the couch. Never to be repeated.
6. McGonagall returned, leading us to Dumbledore's office, and then left, leaving Lottie, Black and I, as well as Lily, James, Remus and thankfully Marlene anxiously waiting for someone to come and let us know if we were going to die or perhaps even be expelled. Quite a series of events for one to go through in the space of an hour or so, I might add.
This brings me up to date.
We are now all sitting here silently aside from the scratching of my quill. I may have noticed Lottie giving me a couple of looks about the quill scratching but what does she expect me to do, not write it down?
Oh thank Merlin, McGonagall's back, and Dumbledore is too. I thought perhaps the other heads of house would be here but they're not, so I can't say for certain if we'll be getting expelled.
"Alright," said McGonagall. "I am going to need you all to tell me, one at a time, the events that have led to what happened tonight, as well as every detail from tonight's encounter. Perhaps Mr Potter, you would like to begin?"
Potter stared blankly at McGonagall for a second before clearing his throat, saying, "Oh, right. Sorry Professor... Um, I guess it all started... Oh. When did it start?"
"When Eva overheard Snape and I think maybe Avery talking in the library?" said Lily.
Everyone turned expectantly to me. "Actually, I think it started on my birthday," I said. "I didn't really think about it at the time, but when I sneaked into the Slytherin Common Room (the professors raised their eyebrows at that) I overhead some of them talking about needing to brew something in time for something. Later in the library I overhead them talking about it again, a secret plan for something nefarious of some sort. After that I think we agreed to keep our eyes on them, to try and find out what they were up to. Snape and Nott and Avery and Regulus Black, that is."
"And you didn't think to perhaps inform me of this?" asked McGonagall, her voice dangerously shrill.
"We thought that if we talked to you or Dumbledore about it you'd put a stop to it and we wouldn't be able to catch them and we'd have no idea what they were planning anymore," said James. "That was why we started our own investigation. Sirius and Eva followed them a few nights ago and found out that they were brewing polyjuice potion and that they had something planned for tonight. Then we thought we'd follow them and stop whatever it was but we never thought that... That it would all happen how it did."
"Very well," said McGonagall. "That's how it all came about, but I think it's quite important that we talk about what happened tonight at the Macdonald house. Miss McKinnon, perhaps?"
Macdonald house? That was new information to me. To be frank, I'm honestly a bit nervous to hear this story.
"Well," Marley began, "It was decided that James, Lily, Remus and I would be the ones to go and follow them, so we um, we-"
James shot a sharp glance at Marlene, who paused for a few seconds before continuing her story.
"We... followed them outside to the gates, where they stood talking for a while."
"How did you know where they were going?" asked McGonagall. "I need all of the details, please. I understand you have been through an ordeal tonight, but unfortunately every detail is necessary."
"Right, sorry. We, um, we waited outside their common room," Marlene continued, giving James a subtle but pointed look. "Them being Michael Nott, Irvyn Avery and Don Mulciber."
"How can that be? I have been informed that both Nott and Avery have been serving detention with Professor Slughorn all night," said McGonagall, "and Mulciber has been in detention with myself."
She was now pacing back and forth behind Dumbledore's desk, listening to the story with what seemed to be a considerable about of consternation.
To be fair, she was probably justified in her response. I was feeling a bit nervous myself. I could feel the vibrations from Black on my right, tapping his foot on the ground, and the air felt rather heavy for a Thursday night.
"I don't know about that," said Marlene, "because they were definitely the ones we followed."
"And not Severus Snape or perhaps Regulus Black? I know you've mentioned those two as having been a part of this."
I could see the knuckles of Black's hand going white as he gripped the armrest next to me. I suppose the mention of his brother wasn't helping ease whatever he was feeling right now. I slowly rested my hand on top of his, and after a moments I could feel him relax more into his chair. I can also now feel him looking at me as Marlene speaks, but I am too busy focusing on writing in this with just one hand to give him any more attention. Besides, I'm only trying to let him know that we're all feeling on edge, not just him.
"No," continued Marlene, "It was definitely those three."
"Definitely," James agreed. "Without a doubt."
"Very well," said McGonagall, peering down at Dumbledore over the top of her glasses. They both seemed to do that quite a bit, I've noticed. Perhaps they're trying to start a trend. "Continue the story please, Marlene."
"Well, we followed them to the gate where we hid and listened to them for a bit, because we didn't actually know what they were going to do and the fact that they were outside of the gate probably meant that they were going to apparate somewhere, and if they did we realised we wouldn't be able to follow them. Luckily for us, I suppose, they spent a few minutes laughing about what they were going to do, and I can't remember exactly what they said but they talked about how they wanted to hurt the Macdonald family in order to prove themselves. They didn't say You Know Who's name exactly but we all knew that's what they meant. After that they apparated to what we assumed to be the Macdonald house and both Lily and I had been there before so Lily apparated with James and Remus, which was a bit risky but they were all fine, while I ran back to go get Mary, seeing as her family was in danger and all."
"And at any point did you think perhaps you should contact, say, Professor Dumbledore or myself?"
"Well we were rather preoccupied with wanting to stop the lads before they got up to too much mischief," James responded.
"We didn't quite realise what we were walking into," Remus added, finally contributing to the conversation.
I took the chance to look him over. I realised that with everything that had occurred I hadn't actually spoken to him or ask if he was okay. Poor Remus. I'd probably be a terrible girlfriend if he ever properly asked me.
Remus resumed the story. "When we apparated to the Macdonald's it was quiet at first, and we took refuge behind a group of trees near the edge of the property to sort of work out a plan. It was dead quiet, and it didn't look like anything had happened, so we decided to use cloaking spells and split up and try to find them. We were walking up to the front door when we heard shouting in the house, so we ran in and found Mary's father bleeding on the floor and her mother frantically shouting healing spells over him. I stayed to help them and Lily and James ran back outside to try and find Avery."
"We were still cloaked," said James, so when we got outside they didn't notice us straight away, which was a rather good thing because in the time it had taken us to run inside and back out, a few proper Death Eaters had apparated to the scene, and were casting the dark mark over the house, saying how pleased the Dark Lord would be when he arrived."
"Oh my," said McGonagall, finally sitting down. "I suppose the story gets worse from here."
"Unfortunately," James said, continuing. "Lily thought that it might be wise to get out of there before it got any worse, so we ran back inside to get Remus and Mary's parents, but a few of them noticed and followed us inside. They all had these awful masks on that looked like they made them in arts and crafts, so we don't know who they were, but Lily and I battled it out with them anyway. Luckily for us, I suppose, we're both rather good at magic, so we were holding our own okay as Remus helped Mary's parents apparate to St. Mungo's. We stunned and disarmed the two Death Eaters who had come inside with us, and then went back outside again as there was an awfully large amount of shouting."
"That's where we came in," Marlene said. "Mary and I had apparated to find that her front yard had three death eaters just milling about, who upon noticing us appearing out of nowhere, proceeded to attack us, quite rudely I thought. We were struggling a bit, having been slightly unprepared, when James and Lily ran out the front door, and joined the fray. They shouted something about Mary's parents being safe, which the Death Eaters didn't particularly like the sound of, so they started really throwing themselves into it, unforgiveables and all the like. Mary's house has this sort of wooded area in front of it, so we were all running through that, shouting spells at each other. That's when You-Know-Who apparated out of nowhere to discover that whatever he had expected to find had gone terribly wrong for him, which was not a very fun experience for us, nor the three Death Eaters we were duelling."
"Are you saying that your fought against Lord Voldemort himself?" asked McGonagall.
"Well, a little bit," said James. "When he got there I think it took him a second to get his bearings, upon which he strode into the woods, stunning the Death Eaters left and right, clearly not particularly chuffed with the way things had handled themselves. I yelled for everyone to get out of there so Mary and Marlene apparated straight away but Lily, the brave idiot," James looked at her fondly, "stayed with me."
"Someone had to make sure you didn't kill yourself," she said.
"And I didn't, because at that point Voldemort made it quite clear he wasn't super keen on everything that had occurred-"
"That's one way to put it," Lily muttered.
"-and proceeded to start monologuing about how much he was not enjoying himself. We didn't really care, we just wanted to get out of there, so we apparated and came back here, where we went straight to the Gryffindor Common Room."
"To your Common Room!" McGonagall practically shouted.
"Well, Lily had been hit with a spell during everything that went down and we didn't want to wake Pomfrey, so we went and got Eva because she's really good at healing charms, and she patched Lily's arm right up."
"Oh good Merlin," McGonagall stood up and hurried over to Lily, grabbing her arms and peering at them intently. "Are you telling me you healed her, you healed this arm, Evelyn?"
"Um, yes?" I replied. I had been intently scribbling down the whole conversation (I'm really good at writing quickly) and hadn't really anticipated being asked any questions.
"Good," said McGonagall, going to sit down again. "And I suppose that's the end of the story, then? The rest of the details being that as soon as Remus returned from St. Mungo's, having given the care of the Macdonalds into the hands of professionals he rushed, quite wisely, to wake me up."
"Where's Mary?" I asked, suddenly realising she had been a part of the story, but wasn't with us.
"Oh, she's in the Hospital Wing," said Marlene. "She got hit just before we apparated, or else we would have stayed too. Pomfrey's looking after."
"As she should," McGonagall said, "So her job entails."
Dumbledore chose this moment to finally say something, standing up and placing a reassuring hand on McGonagall's shoulder. "After hearing what was a fascinating and troubling tale recounted in full, I believe it would be best for all of you students to get a good night's sleep."
"But-" James started, but was interrupted by Dumbledore.
"But nothing," he said. "There is little else anyone can do tonight except recover, so I think it would be best if you would all go and retire. James, if you wish you may walk Lily to the Hospital Wing, but I expect you to head straight to bed afterwards."
James nodded mutely.
"As for the rest of you, we'll discuss the repercussions-"
"-Consequences-" McGonagall rebuked.
"-of the night's events tomorrow, after you have attended all of your classes for the day. Are we agreed?"
"Yessir," we muttered.
I for one was glad of Dumbledore's decision. Mostly because it meant that I got to go back to bloody bed.
Also, I didn't have the energy to dwell on everything tonight.
I let go of Black's hand, having only just realised I was still holding it, and was the first person to stand up to leave.
I think this has been enough to work through in one day.
Friday
January 9, 1978
Great Hall
We all appeared for breakfast, bleary eyed and not at all prepared for the day ahead of us. Even Peter, who hadn't even been hauled to Dumbledore's office with the rest of us (he made the smart decision to stay asleep) was looking troubled, an observation that became increasingly clear the further James got into to his 'short' recount of last night's events for him.
We were all rather troubled. We've had a lot of talk about actually doing things to fight against Voldemort and his supporters but I don't think we were really prepared for what that would actually look like.
Also, you know when you go through a really intense experience and then you go to sleep and when you wake up it kind of just feels like a dream? That's what it feels like now. Some sort of awful hazy dream memory.
I don't really know how Dumbledore expects us to just go about our classes today. I've got Muggle Studies first thing and honestly I don't really feel like going, which is weird because normally I love Muggle Studies. Besides, it means I'm going to have to talk to Remus and that's just going to add a whole other layer of confusing and complicated to my day.
I think I might just go and get all my things now and head there early so I can seem like I am just incredibly engrossed in my classwork when he arrives. Good idea, Eva.
Friday
January 9, 1978
Muggle Studies
I've been here for twenty minutes and Professor Bunt just walked in and did a sort of surprised hop thing but didn't say anything about my preemptive presence in his classroom. Bunt hasn't really communicated with me all that much since the paperweight incident. Good old Archibald probably still feels bad about inadvertently sending me to the Hospital Wing, which probably also explains why I got 104% on my last essay (although that may have just been because it was a bloody good essay).
Oh Merlin's oily glass eye, it seems that Remus likes to get to class early too. Actually, why am I surprised? He always gets here before me. Bollocks. I didn't think about that.
"Eva!" He looked surprised to see me. Probably because he was. "What are you doing here? You normally only get here just right on time."
"Oh, I just wanted to start learning early, you know, get my mind off of... things."
"Of course," he said, putting his books down and slouching down into his seat. "I understand, we're all feeling a bit down after last night."
"Right. Last night."
"Something else on your mind?"
"No," I said, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. "Although, I didn't really get a chance to talk to you about it. How are you going?"
Now that I was taking the chance to look at him, and look at him properly, I could see the way that his brow was creased, the angles under his eyes and cheek bones more shadowed than usual, the limp, knotted hair.
I'd spent so much time worrying about myself that I'd sort of forgotten the other person in this relationship. If I've learned anything through my recent experiences with Remus, is that he doesn't deserve to be neglected; not by me, and not by anyone.
"I'm okay," he said after a moment. "Mary's parents are safe, which is what's important."
"You're important too," was my well thought out response. I was being honest. I did think he was important. I do think he's important.
"You really think so?"
"Of course," I said. "A lot of people think you're important."
"Huh," was his only response, most likely because Cillian Gallagher, Horus Harris and Ewan Macmillan walked into the classroom.
It was a bit awkwardly quiet after that, so I decided not to say anything further and just focus on reading my textbook.
After everyone else slowly started arriving and the classroom got a bit louder, Remus turned to me and asked, "Hey Eva, would you want to come to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"
I couldn't think of any logical reason to say no, so I said, "Yes, of course, Remus."
And that was that.
Saturday
January 10, 1978
The Three Broomsticks
Most professors argue against visiting Hogsmeade as much as me and my compatriots have been doing during our NEWT year, but let's be honest, I spend so much time studying I think I'm allowed to have a little break now and again. Although, I can't really speak for my compatriots, one of whom I know only got 52% on their last Potions essay. This preamble leads to, nay, begs the question of why all of my friends are crowded around a table with me at the Three Broomsticks, heartily drinking butterbeer, when at least five of them should be studying.
Let's start at the beginning, shall we, and discuss the series of events that have led to this shameful afternoon.
It began with Remus and I taking a friendly, casual jaunt toward the Hogsmeade train, where upon arrival we sat down in a little compartment and just chatted as we travelled to the wizarding village.
Remus was looking forward to visiting Zonkos. I think he had a bit of repressed emotion to work through and the array of delights offered at the joke shop would be a good way to express those feelings. That, or he just wanted to go to Zonkos. I'm pretty sure Lily and Lottie were spying on us, possibly because I kept seeing Lottie places around me and then an arm pulling her back out of sight.
Honestly, I didn't really have a leg to stand on if it came to complaining about it, because let's not forget the time Black and I followed James and Lily around Hogsmeade all day too.
Besides, I wasn't really mad about it. It would cut down the time it would take explaining the explicit details of our date to them later.
Date.
Now that I was thinking about it, this was our first kind of official date as just the two of us to a location that wasn't Hogwarts. It was okay so far. Remus is lovely, and I clearly enjoy spending time with him, but I found myself getting quite distracted.
Remus knew me well enough not to suggest Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, something I was rather grateful for, so we went to Honeydukes where he tried to pick out something sweet for me.
"I feel like you're not a coconut ice person," he lead with, which was a positive start.
"You'd be correct," I replied, not saying anything as his gaze flittered over the fizzing whizbees.
"Not nougat either," he continued. "Nor pepper imps... I don't think peppermint toads either."
I was rather intrigued with what he'd end up deciding on.
"Sugar quills!" He decided on at last.
"Mm, lovely choice," I said, slightly disappointed.
I think he must have read my tone, for he replied, saying, "Are you sure?"
"Yes! I think sugar quills are lovely... Although my favourites are definitely fizzing whizzbees, and I quite like toffee caramels at the moment too."
"Oh, bollocks, um, sorry," he said. "I can't believe I forgot about the fizzing whizzbees. We can get those instead if you'd like?"
"No, no, I already have plenty at home. Sugar quills will be lovely."
"Well, if you're sure?"
"Definitely. I'll get you some chocolate wands to match."
"Good choice," he replied, brightening up a bit. "I find chocolate a good cure for when you're feeling down."
Interesting philosophy, I thought as I grabbed some from the shelf.
We bought our goods and headed back outside again, chatting as we visited Scrivenshafts (I had run out of parchment again) and Spintwitches (I always enjoyed looking at the newest Quidditch gear) before we waltzed into Tomes and Scrolls (we both wanted to look at the books). To my surprise we ran into none other than Sirius Black, shiftily perusing the bookshelves.
"Padfoot," said Remus, suddenly enough that Black jumped and dropped the book he was holding, "What in Merlin's name are you doing in a bookshop?"
"Looking for a book," he replied, tripping over his feet in his haste to pick up the book he had dropped.
"Yes, but you don't read."
"I read!" said Black, seemingly affronted.
"No, we read," Remus said, gesturing to him and myself. "You, most certainly, do not."
"That's preposterous," said Black, blinking at me as if he'd only just realised I was there. "I read all the time."
"Then what's the last book you read?"
"Hogwarts, A History."
"Name one fact from that book."
Black paused, apparently caught out. "You've read it, I don't need to tell you what's in it."
"Ha!" said Remus. "I knew you were lying!"
I figured it was my time to add to the conversation. "So, Black, if you apparently don't read, then what book are you holding?"
"Huh?" he said, putting his hands behind his back. "I'm not reading anything."
Remus reached around behind him and grabbed the book Black was doing a terrible job of hiding. "A History of Enchanted Muggle Transportation Machines, by- Merlin's beard, Sirius, are you trying to charm your motorbike?"
"Again, preposterous!" Black replied, grabbing the book back. "Even if I was, it's not technically illegal, I don't think, and that's only hypothetical, because that's not something that I'm doing, I'm just merely interested in history, a thing that I am interested in. So, you're all wrong."
"You have a motorbike?" I asked.
"You wouldn't be able to guess from all the posters on the wall around his bed," Remus said, rolling his eyes.
"I can't say that I've spent much time in your dormitory, Remus, and again, Black, you have a motorbike?"
"I bought her at the beginning of the year," he said proudly. "She just needs a bit of tweaking and she'll be ready to go."
"She?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Of course," he winked, "I've named her Evelyn, after you and your ferocious little spirit."
"No he hasn't," Remus interjected, grabbing my arm. "He named her Rosmerta, and I don't think I need to explain why. Anyway, let's go Eva, we've got things to do, places to see. We can leave Sirius to his books."
"Right," I said, being dragged out of the store by Remus.
Black just stood there, cradling his book with a queer little smile on his face.
Once we got outside, I realised we never even looked at any books. "Can we go back inside, Remus? I didn't even get to look in the Charms section!"
"Oh, no, best not to, let's go to the Three Broomsticks or something."
"But the books!"
"I mean, do you really need more books?"
"Is that a trick question?"
"Well aren't you two jolly," said Black, exiting Tomes and Scrolls.
We didn't really know what to say to that, so no one said anything for what seemed a long while.
"It's a bit chilly, isn't it," I said, wishing I hadn't forgotten my scarf in my dormitory.
"Rather," Remus replied, also scarf-less.
Black, on the other hand, casually unwrapped his scarf from around his neck and held it out to me. "Wouldn't want you to freeze to death, would we Evelyn?"
"Thanks," Remus muttered, probably wishing he'd thought a bit more ahead.
I took the scarf and immediately felt warmer, so that was nice.
"The Three Broomsticks, then?" asked Black.
Remus nodded mutely so we trudged along to the pub, smiling hello to Madam Rosmerta as we walked in the door.
To my surprise, James, Lily, Peter, Lottie, Marley, Alice and Frank were all crowded around a table near the back, in the midst of what seemed to be an intense discussion.
"I disagree-" began James, but was interrupted by Lily who at this point stood up and slammed her hands down on the table.
"No. No. There is no way that Murphy and Selwyn would be a better couple than Murphy and Mercier-Roussel. She's a divination teacher for Merlin's sake! You think Murphy would rather be with a fortune teller than a scholar of language and history? You're being ridiculous!"
"What about Rowle-" Peter started.
"No one cares, Peter, we're discussing James' absolutely ridiculous notion of professor Selwyn as Murphy's ideal life partner!"
"Hey guys!" said Black, thankfully interrupting the conversation. "This sounds fun and all but let's cool it down a notch, you know? People are looking, and I'm pretty sure one of them is professor Bunt, and nobody wants that."
We looked behind us to see Bunt staring at us over his newspaper.
Lily glared at Black for a second before sitting down and crossing her arms. "Fine. We can end the conversation, but this is not settled."
"No, I think I see your side now," James wisely responded. "Selwyn's much too ditsy."
"Exactly!" said Lily, "And-"
"Butterbeer, anyone?" asked Black, thankfully putting an end to what could have been another long rant.
I sat down with Remus amongst a chorus of 'yeses' and watched as Black went off to get a round of butterbeer.
It is upon Black's return to the table that the beginning of this part of the story began, and hence you understand why I think some of my friends would be better off doing their potions essay.
I wish I had a fizzing whizzbee right now.
~~~~~~~~~~
AN: Hello my wonderful readers!
In the time since I last posted I have started university and gone to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Melbourne and it absolutely BLEW MY MIND! If I wasn't in love with Scorpius already, I definitely am now!
Also... sorry to leave you on such a cliffhanger, but I think y'all have gotten used to it by now.
To any new readers, I'm glad you've joined us! To any old readers, thank you for sticking around! I love and appreciate all of you and thank you so much for giving this story a chance and for committing to it despite how long it takes me to update! I love reading all your comments and messages and it inspires me to keep writing for you all!
OXO