𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐝 {𝐇. 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫}

78

"M-mum, is that you?"

"It is, sweetheart," Evelyn said, moving slightly so the light from the hall illuminated her face. Her cheekbones had sunken back and so had her eyes. There were dark rings around her eyelids, and her once blonde hair had turned brown due to the dirt. A strangled sob left Johnny's throat as he brought his knees closer to his chest, burying his head in them.

"I-I'm going mental," Johnny cried. "Y-you're supposed to be dead! I saw the coffin!"

"I-I'm alive, Johnny," said Evelyn, stroking Johnny's knee softly. Johnny looked into his mother's eyes, and slowly he reached for her hand. When Evelyn interlaced her fingers with his, Johnny threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around his mother's waist, crying into her chest. "Shh, it's okay. I won't let anything happen to you."

Evelyn wrapped her arms around Johnny's shoulders and softly ran her hand through his hair comfortingly.

"Mind keeping it down a bit," Johnny heard a voice call out. He moved his head from his mother's chest, and looked around to see a woman poking her head through a sizeable hole in the wall. Johnny instantly recognised her as Bellatrix Lestrange, the famous Death Eater responsible for torturing Neville's parents. Bellatrix observed Johnny for a minute, before a look of realisation came across her face and she clapped excitedly. "Ooo, Evie! It's your son! What're you in for, kid?"

"Shut it, Lestrange!" Evelyn snapped at her, moving so she could poke Bella in the eye. The Death Eater wailed and threw herself back out of sight. Evelyn turned back to Johnny, a wary smile on her face as Johnny placed himself in another corner, his knees back up to his chest. Johnny was shivering like a leaf, so Evelyn sat next to him and pulled Jinny towards her, so his head was resting on her shoulder and her arms were wrapped around him, trying to keep her boy warm.

"I thought he killed you," Johnny croaked, his voice hoarse from crying.

"He killed someone else, and transfigured that body to look like me," Evelyn explained, resting her head on top of Johnny's. Evelyn took another deep breath and continued on. "That Umbridge woman? The one who sent you here? Yeah, she's a Death Eater too. Jakob, that rat bastard, Peter, and Barty Crouch contacted her when they were through with me, and I've been here ever since."

"I-I always thought there was something dodgy about her," said Johnny, his shivering having calmed down slightly. "S-so they really did-?"

"Rape me? Yeah," Evelyn said, as though it pained her to admit it.

Flashback, November 1994
Evelyn hummed to herself as she got out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her damp body and another towel around her hair. She exited the en-suite bathroom in her room at Potter Manor and sat down in front of her vanity mirror, still humming 'Space Oddity' by David Bowie softly as she looked at the few pictures she had on her desk.

They were all from when she was at Hogwarts and just a bit after. The first picture she smiled fondly at. It was just before she had given Johnny up for adoption. There he was in a little onesie with broomsticks, Quaffles, Snitches, Bludgers and goalposts on, in the arms of James Potter. James was smiling widely in the moving picture, looking into the camera as baby Johnny grabbed his finger with his tiny hand.

"Look at him! Definitely more of a Potter!"

Evelyn remembered her brothers words vividly, as though he had only uttered them the day before. The next picture was of her and Lily at Hogwarts, just after they had pranked James by saying they were officially together, and Lily had kissed her for extra effect.

"James, there's something Lily and I need to tell you," sixteen year old Evelyn said, walking through the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, hand-in-hand with Lily. James was sat around the fire with Sirius, Remus, Peter, Frank Longbottom, Alice Fortscue and Marlene McKinnon.