downfall // marauders era

f i v e

Eve happily skipped through Hogwarts with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. They all had their heads held high as though they were royalty, although they pretty much were given the amazed stares they got as they walked by.

Eve could hear everyone talking excitedly about the most recent prank the Marauders had pulled. Just that morning they had used the anteoculatia hex on every single slytherin and a lot of them were still being treated in the hospital wing to rid themselves of their antlers.

The boys all had Transfiguration while Eve somehow had a free period and decided she would spend it outside. They reached the end of the hallway and said their goodbyes as the boys went left and Eve went right.

All of the halls were empty and the portraits were glaring at her for walking so loudly during their "quiet time" so she walked a bit faster through the creepy hallway. She finally made it outside, but when she opened the door it was dark outside and she was once again wearing the pretty white lace dress and flats. Eve, confused as to why it was suddenly dark and how she had changed clothes, was about to go back in when she heard a noise come from the Forbidden Forest.

She looked down and became pleasantly surprised to see herself now wearing a Gryffindor tie over the dress. But this didn't make sense to her either as she didn't remember being sorted into any house. As she kept hearing the same strange noises from the forest she reminded herself that she was a Gryffindor and she was brave. She could handle whatever was making the noise.

She started down to the forest, the strange ticking noise getting louder as she got closer. She paused for a moment, realizing that it wasn't getting louder because she was getting closer but rather it was just generally growing louder all around her.

All of a sudden the ticking stopped, making Eve sigh in relief at the fact that she didn't have to go into the creepy forest. But just as she though she was safe, the ticking noise came back in full volume, making her throw her hands over her ears to quiet it. But even with her hands over her ears, she could still hear something whisper to her. That was because whoever it was didn't whisper in her ear, but rather inside of her head, and said, "You have returned to be with me, get ready." And then she felt two bony hands grasp her shoulders, dragging her backwards as she started screaming.

The hands began shaking her, and this caused her to jump up and hit her head into James, who had only been trying to shake her awake.

"Oh! I'm sorry! You alright, James?" Evelyn quickly got out of bed to help her disoriented brother to his feet. She helped him sit on her bed before he answered.

"Yeah, never been better, Eve. Do you always have nightmares?" James didn't mean for it to come out that straightforward, but it did.

"Only the basic little kid nightmares, I suppose."

"That seemed to be a bit more than 'little kid nightmares.' Do you want to talk about it?" By now they were both sitting side by side on Eve's bed, staring at the plain white wall in front of them.

Eve shook her head before she realized James wasn't looking at her. She wasn't sure what to tell him. He obviously knew that it wasn't the little nightmare she had hoped he'd believe it was. But she definitely couldn't tell him that she thought the Dark Lord was communicating to through her dreams. If she did that then she would have to explain everything else, and she wasn't going to do that for as long as she possible.

"I-I'd rather not talk about it. But, um, what's Hogwarts like?" So instead of answering his question, she decided to change the subject all together.

James turned to her with a smirk on his face at the thought of his second home, "Oh, you'll love it, it's absolutely brilliant. You met Dumbledore, the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever known. Oh, just wait until you meet McGonagall. She only ever likes me when we discuss Quidditch, I am the captain after all. Oh, I'm going to teach you how to fly! You'll love it!" It almost seemed as if James wouldn't run out of things to say about Hogwarts.

"Once you're ready and we go back to Hogwarts, I get to introduce you to my 3 best friends," Eve only nodded and smiled back so James wouldn't see that she already had developed a love for Remus and Sirius (she cried when they died, of course) and hatred for Peter.

"Their names are Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Hogwarts would be a right disaster for me without them. Honestly, I doubt Hogwarts has or ever will see any friends closer than us. I can't wait for you to meet them, they'll love you. Well, hopefully not too much. That reminds me, I'll probably need to have a talk with Sirius," James grumbled. Evelyn blushed knowing that James was already beginning to be protective.

"This might be a weird question, but... Have you used your magic against people?"

James looked away, slightly ashamed, "Er, yeah, there's this guy in our year that Sirius and I don't really get along with. We get into fights with him occasionally," Eve knew immediately that he was talking about Snape but she couldn't show that she knew. "Why? Did you do something?"

"At my old school, the muggle one, there were these girls who always bullied me for living in an orphanage and having no parents or, um, friends," Eve felt embarrassed telling James that she'd never really had friends before, but it was too late for her to take it back now. But to her relief, James didn't say anything.

"Anyways, since I was 8 years old and realized I can do things that others can't, I practiced controlling my powers and by the time I turned 13 I was able to control them with no problem at all. So today, when I walked into the bathroom at school, they started saying things to me, things they hadn't said before, and it made me so angry. I coated them in water from the bathroom all at once." James laughed loudly at this, cutting Eve off.

"Eve, if that's all you did you have nothing to worry about! Oh you'll definitely be a Hufflepuff!" James suddenly stopped laughing when he saw Eve's expression. "That isn't all you did, is it?" He asked her quietly.

Eve shook her head, "I made the hand dryer blow-"

"I'm sorry, the what?"

"The hand dryer? The thing that dries people's hands after they've washed them?"

"Do you perhaps mean paper towels? Regular towels? Maybe even air?"

Evelyn began laughing, probably harder than she should have, "You're saying you've never heard of a hand dryer?"

"Just tell me what it is!" James laughed with her.

"It's this machine where, if you stick your hand under it, it blows hot air out to dry them."

"They need those things at Hogwarts! They seem magical enough," Eve laughed harder at James' fascination towards the boring muggle technology.

"But what did you make the hand dryer do?" James was getting curious now, he just couldn't resist the question.

"Well, after I coated them in water they called me a freak and said some other things to me. They all went to walk out, but I was so angry. I saw one of the girls begin to flip her hair, which was super long. Probably isn't anymore. But I made the hand dryer suck in air instead of blow it out and it sucked her hair in. I heard it rip from her scalp and she started screaming, it sounded so painful. I just ran out of the bathroom while her friends were helping her. I nearly slipped on her blood, that's how much of it there was. She might even be dead for all I know," and this was all it took for Eve to start crying again.

James had never been good with comforting people, but they always seemed to come to him when they need comfort. Like Peter when he felt like no one likes him or truly wants him around, Remus when he's feeling insecure about his 'furry problem,' or Sirius when he was upset about his so-called family. But for some reason, comforting Eve was natural. Maybe it was the sibling bond, or the even deeper twin bond.

Whatever it was, though, was enough for James to wrap his arms around his sister and let her hug him as she cried. He knew she was just overwhelmed and scared. Eventually Eve stopped crying, and it wasn't until he tried to pull away that he realized she had fallen asleep.

He laid her back down and got up, quietly returning to his room.

James got back into his bed, but instead of sleeping he stayed up thinking of his new sister and how much cooler it is to actually have a sibling.