CHAPTER 8: HORRORS AT HOGSMEADE
The next morning, Eva got up bright and early for practice. Now that she had the worst over, she was doing very well and had even practiced with Oliver as the keeper. After long hours of practice, she was even able to score a few shots past the talented player.
"You've greatly improved Eva! Excellent work! I think you're finally ready!"
Practice was over and Eva and Oliver were putting the quidditch balls back into the trunk.
"You think I'll have a chance Wood?" Eva was still nervous that she'll screw up on her tryout There was a huge amount of pressure on her. Not only did she have to prove Draco wrong, but since Harry did all this for her, she couldn't let him down.
Oliver smiled and put his arm around her shoulder. "Of course Eva! I wouldn't be surprised if you made it on a professional team later on!"
"I'm not that good...."Eva blushed but the she grinned. It might not be so bad after all. She couldn't wait for the tryouts. "Hey Wood, you gonna come to Hogsmeade with us today?"
Wood frowned. "I would love to but I can't....promised the team to come back for awhile and practice with them. Maybe next time."
Eva smiled. "I don't know how to thank you....you've taught me so much and you're such a brilliant player. It has been such an honour to be able to be trained by you."
Wood grinned. "You seem to be the only one who thinks so! Usually the team frowns at the idea that we have practice....I'm not that hard on you guys am I?" Eva laughed and so he gave Eva a shove on the arm. "But not for Eva right?" He winked. "I'll be back to referree the tryouts though, so you better be well prepared! I'm not gonna except anything but the best from you! See you later!" With that, Oliver gave Eva a big hug then headed back to the school.
Eva looked up at the sky. The sun was shining bright and golden leaves were floating on the autumn breeze. It was the perfect day to go to Hogsmeade. She smiled then headed back to the school. Nothing can ruin this day.
"Wow! This place is so cool!"
The streets of Hogsmeade were packed with students everywhere. Shops were filled with all sorts of magical items to sell, with people bustling around inside.
Harry grabbed Eva's arm. "You've gotta head over to Honeydukes first!" With that, the four of them dashed off to the famous sweets and treats shop.
Eva stood in wonder as she gazed around the shop. It was brightly lit with jars and barrels full of candy, which were placed along the walls. It was packed iwth students all grabbing handfuls of pepper imps, peppermint toads, acid pops, ice mice and many other assortments.
Ron was flying all over the place, grabbing this and that, while Hermione sighed and shook her head.
Eva laughed. "Ron has a very big sweet tooth doesn't he?"
"Who doesn't?!" Ron came up to Eva with handfuls of candy. He shoved some into Eva's hand. "Try these! They're so good!"
Eva laughed as she glanced down at the pile of candy that was slipping out of her hands. "All of this?! I don't know.....I don't have much of a sweet tooth."
Ron gave Eva a weird look. "Are you sure you're normal?"
After all of them had grabbed as much candy as they could, (Ron grabbing twice as much), they headed for the front counter.
Eva stepped up. "All of this and what they have please." Then reached for her bag of coins.
Hermione grabbed Eva's arm. "What are you doing?!"
Eva gave the shopkeeper a handful of coins. "Treating you guys of course!" She smiled. "I mean it's only right since you guys are so kind as to giving me a tour and all!"
They finally managed to dash out of the packed store and back onto the chilly streets of Hogsmeade.
Ron blushed. "Thanks Eva....." He was so embarrassed for letting Eva pay. Half of the cost of candy probably belonged to him.
Eva smiled. "It's no problem at all! But anyways, what's our next destination?"
Harry and Ron glanced at each other then started to grin. "Zonko's Joke Shop!"
"Well here we are!"
Eva glanced inside the joke shop. It had brightly coloured walls and was crowded with students, who were grinning as they looked at joke props, scheming plots inside their heads.
Eva quickly dashed inside to see what was there. "Hey! What the...." Someone had placed Filibuster Fireworks under the front welcome mat and Eva had accidently stepped on them, causing them to set off. Eva jumped around as she tried to avoid the bright sparks as they shot up from the ground.
After the fireworks had settled, Eva looked around for suspects. "Ok! Who did this?!"
A bunch of third year Slytherins looked at her nervously. Some of the younger students were afraid of Eva, after what she had done to Draco. Now they were huddled together, shuddering with their eyes tightly shut, as if waiting for Eva to give them the death sentence.
Suddenly, one of them mustered up some courage and decided to speak up. "We...We're so...so sorry! We didn't know it...it was going to be you!"
Eva glared at them and then stepped up as if she was ready to strike when suddenly......she started to laugh.
The third years slowly opened their eyes, puzzled at the sight of Eva laughing.
"Brilliant joke! I should've thought of that!" With that, she dashed off to the shelves and started to look at the nose-biting teacups.
The third years looked at each other with confused looks then dashed out of the shop. Eva watched the students leave and smiled. "I'm not that scary am I?"
Ron stepped up. "Of course not!" He then grinned. "You're bloody terrifying!"
Eva shot a deadly glance at Ron then grinned. She then reached for a teacup and picked it up. "What does this do?" She shoved it in his face and it leapt for her hand, grabbing a hold of Ron's nose.
"OW! OW! OW!" Ron jumped around, trying to fling the teacup off but it had took a big bite and had a good, firm hold on his nose.
Hermione and Harry laughed as they yanked the teacup off. "You know you deserved that!"
Ron rubbed his nose and frowned.
Eva laughed. "I'm sorry Ron, but it was so tempting! Come on! You gotta show me all this stuff! Who knows this better than you do?" She grinned. "Besides, you'll never know when an oppurtunity strikes and you need to use one of these things."
Ron started to grin then nodded. "Fine! Well come and check out these dungbombs then!"
After a long day in Hogsmeade, the four of them decided to go rest at the Three Broomsticks Pub. Eva had went crazy buying everything in sight. If Hermione hadn't stopped her she would still be going at it. Everything looked so cool that Eva couldn't resist.
At the pub, the whole place was filled with loud chatter and clinking of glasses. There, they were greeted by the lovely Madam Rosmerta, the barmaid. She was very pretty. Eva could see why Harry and Ron looked a little flushed. "Mr. Potter! Ms. Granger! Mr. Weasley! How nice of you to come! I'll be right with you!" After she had set down the heavy trays on the counter, she wiped her hands on a bartowel, then turned to them and smiled." Well, haven't seen you all in such a long time! How's school coming along?"
Ron blushed. "It's been alright. Great to be back this year!" Hermione noticed Ron's red face and frowned. Eva looked over and giggled at the sight.
Madam Rosmerta glanced over at Eva, who was standing behind Harry, and smiled. "And who is this lovely lady?"
Harry turned around and nudged her forward. "This is Eva! She's a new student so it's her first time here. Eva, meet Madam Rosmerta."
Eva smiled. "Nice to meet you!"
"Pleasure's all mine! And welcome to the Three Broomsticks Pub! So what can I get you all?"
"We'll have three butterbeers please." Hermione looked over at Eva. "What would you like?"
"Hmm...." Eva looked behind Madam Rosmerta,where there was a list of house specialites. Other than butterbeer, there were a variety of drinks such as gillywater, mulled mead, and redcurrant rum. Pondering on what gillywater was, she decided to just stick with what she knew. "I'll also have a butterbeer please."
"Great! Well you four can grab a seat anywhere and your drinks will be sent as soon as possible!"
"Thank you!" With that, the four of them sat down at a table by the window.
Inside the pub, a roaring fire was burning across from them. Eva felt nice and warm as she looked at the fire then to the chilly streets of Hogsmeade. Suddenly, something caught her eye. It was a creepy, boarded-up cottage with an over-grown garden. The Shrieking Shack. She squinted her eyes, straining to see, then noticed something.....or someone.....moving inside.
"Yoohoo! Earth to Eva!" Ron was waving his hands around in front of her.
Eva turned around as their drinks arrived. "Thank you." She quickly looked out the window again, but couldn't see the moving figure anymore.
"You alright Eva?" Harry had a concerned look on his face.
Eva smiled. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." She took a sip of her butterbeer. "Wow, this is really good!"
"Of course! This pub is renowned for their butterbeer here!" Ron started to gulp his drink down.
Hermione frowned. "Be careful! You might choke!"
Ron looked up. "And why would you care?"
Hermione was getting mad so Eva decided to change to subject. "So anyways, who was the previous Dark Arts teacher? Before Sirius?"
Harry looked up. "Hmm....that would be Professor Moody...sort of..." He glanced over at Ron and Hermione.
Eva remembered how Crouch Jr. captured Professor Moody, then used Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself, so he wasn't exactly their professor, but that wasn't the answer she was looking for. "What about the one before him?"
Ron smiled. "That would be Profesor Lupin! He was a brilliant teacher! Too bad he couldn't stay."
"What happened to him?" Eva asked. She was eager to find out if he had returned and is in the Shrieking Shack right now, or if the moving figure in there was someone else.
"I don't know...haven't heard of him since then. Maybe Sirius knows, he's been friends with Lupin way back before we were born."
"Oh...." Eva was puzzled. If it wasn't Lupin in the shack...then who could it be? Suddenly, Eva's thoughts were interrupted.
"Hey! Look who just walked in!"
Eva turned to where Ron was looking. It was Draco.
Eva watched as Draco sat down across the room, with Crabbe and Goyle. Draco looked up and noticed Eva staring at him.
Eva smiled weakly. She felt kind of sorry for him and she wasn't the type to hold a grudge on someone, even if it was Malfoy. But Draco just sat there and stared back at her, before he went back to chatting with Crabbe and Goyle.
Eva sighed. "Well at least he's ok."
Ron frowned. "You don't need to be so nice to him! It wasn't your fault! He's lucky his memory charm sucks or he would have been in the hospital longer! And that would have done us all a favour!"
Hermione shook her head then looked at her watch. "We better get back to school."
"Yeah we should." Eva smiled. "Come on Ron! I've just brought a brand new chess set over at Dervish and Banges! You've gotta teach me how to play!"
With that, the four of them left the pub, but before they returned to school, Eva took one last look at the Shrieking Shack, then went to catch up with the others.
Eva woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. She kept tossing and turning, thinking about the Shrieking Shack. She knew there was something in there, her eyes weren't playing games. Then suddenly, she remembered the dark figures she saw, on her first day at school. But it couldn't be the same people....they were near the Whomping Willow.....
"Of course!" Eva smacked her forehead. She almost forgot about the secret tunnel from the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. Whoever it was outside, must have managed to go through it. But who could it be? Who else could possibly know about that secret tunnel?
She quickly got up from her bed, put her glasses back on, then dashed for the window. She looked around to see if everyone was still asleep then looked out into the darkness. Only the light of the moon guided her eyes as she squinted them, straining to see.
Nothing.
She relaxed back down and decided to wait.
About a half hour later, there was still nothing in sight. Eva's eyes started to droop and she yawned. Maybe it was just nothing. She hadn't seen them the night before so maybe it was just the professors feeding the Whomping Willow all this time. She decided to call it a night when suddenly, she saw something moving outside. It was the dark figures again, but this time.....there were four.
Eva quickly sat up and rubbed her eyes, just to make sure she wasn't just tired ands she was seeing things. But it was real, and the four figures were heading for the Whomping Willow.
She stood up and looked around the room. Whatr will I do? Should I tell a professor? Go see Dumbledore? All these thoughts ran through her head when she suddenly looked over at Hermione's bed. "Of course! Ask Hermione! She'll know what to do!"
She quickly dashed over to her bed and tried to shake her awake. "Hermione! Wake up!" Eva whispered. But something didn't feel right. She tore the blanket away from the bed. "What the..." Where Hermione should be laying, was a pillow. "Where is Hermione?!"
She looked around the room. No one was awake and it was no use. Hermione was gone. She quickly dashed for the window. The four figures had disappeared. "What's going on here?! Where is Hermione?!"
Finally she decided to get dressed and go investigate herself. The people outside must have taken Hermione and if that was the case, she was running out of time. But how was she supposed to get out of there? The whole school must be heavily gaurded so it'll be impossible to get out. She suddenly had an idea.
She dashed back to the window and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. She tried again but it was no use. The windows were probably enchanted to keep closed, in case something tried to get out....or get in.
She sighed then sat back down. She had to get that window opened but how? Suddenly, she let out a small laugh. She was the head witch! If she couldn't open a measley little window, then that was pretty pathetic. She took a deep breath then gave her hand a wave.
The window clicked opened. Eva smiled then opened the window a bit wider and took out her wand. "Accio Fiera!" It was just as she planned. The beautiful Phoenix flew down from the top tower and greeted Eva. Eva petted Fiera then whispered to her. "Hey! I need you to do me a huge favour kay? Can you carry me down to the Whomping Willow please?"
Fiera nodded slightly, showing that she understood. She flew out the window. Eva stepped up to the window and took another deep breath. "Here goes nothing." She closed her eyes then leapt out the window.
Fiera caught one of her arms then slowly carried her down. While in the air, Eva slowly opened her eyes. The chilly night air beated against her face. She looked up and the bright glow of Fiera comforted her and made her smile. She knew she could trust her whole life with this Phoenix.
Fiera slowly lowered Eva down till her feet could touch the ground. "Thank you!" With that, Fiera nipped Eva's hand affectionately as if saying "You're welcome" then flew off into the night.
Eva smiled. "Wow, Dumbledore was right, Phoenixes are amazing creatures." She then turned around and watched the Whomping Willow.
It wasn't stirring and so she thought that it was probably asleep. She quickly took a couple steps forward but then suddenly, the willow's branches stirred and reached down towards Eva. Quickly, she dodged the attack and ran away, while the willow thrashed around. After she was at a safe distance she looked back at the willow, who was still angry. This was going to be a problem.
"Come on, come on, come on! Think, think, think!" She franctically looked around to see if there was anything that could help. Suddenly, she remembered. "Of course! The knot in the tree!" She remembered how Harry and them first got in. They had pressed on an enchanted knot on the tree that would stop the willow completely from moving. She crept closer to the tree then began circling around it, trying to find the knot.
"That must be it!" She noticed a long branch beside it. "Well that doesn't help if it's all the way over there!" She frowned. There weren't anymore long branches in sight. "Why does this always happen to me?!"
Suddenly, an idea struck her and she started to grin. "Well, it's now or never!" She pulled up her sleeves then gave her hand a wave. The long branch started to move and levitate. Eva now had control of it, thanks to Dumbledore for teaching her levitation one day afterschool. She grinned then guided the branch. "Almost there....." The branch was a little wobbly. "Got it!" The willow suddenly froze and not even a branch or a leaf twitched. "Perfect! I should practice that spell more often...."
She quickly dashed towards the tree and found a large gap at the foot of the trunk. "Why does it have to be so dark?" Eva was terrified but the thought of Hermione told her that there was no time to question her moves. The tree had started to stir again. She closed her eyes then quickly jumped into the hole, sliding down a long earthy slope.
"Lumos!" Eva's wand suddenly lit up. She quickly stood back up and brushed herself off. Trembling, she took a couple of steps forward, checking if the coast was clear then started to run. "I'm coming Hermione."
Eva shivered as she kept on running down the long tunnel. She could see a small glint of light coming closer and closer at the end of the tunnel. She was almost there. She quickly slowed to a stop as she gasped for air. "Come on Eva...you're running out of time..." She looked up then started to run again.
Suddenly, she stopped and put her back against the wall. She heard something coming. She put out the light in her wand and put her hand over her mouth as she breathed deeply, trying to hear any sounds. She could hear the footsteps coming closer and closer....but it was too dark to see anything. She closed her eyes. Please go away...please go away...She slowly opened her eyes again. She couldn't hear them anymore.
She slowly stood back up and looked around. She thought it was better if she didn't light up her wand again, just in case they were still there. Slowly, she groped the walls, trying to find her way.
"OOF!" Eva was suddenly knocked back with a huge force and landed on the ground. Something was on her. "Lumos!" Her wand quickly lit and her eyes widen at the sight.
It had pinned her to the ground and started to growl at her while she squirmed around, trying to get free. "Get...Get away from me! Somebody! Help!"
Slowly, it stopped growling and backed away. Eva quickly stood up and ran down the tunnel towards the Shrieking Shack. It started to chase after her.
"What does it want?!" She reached the end of the tunnel and pushed opened the trap door, slamming it behind her. She slowly backed away from the door and gasped for air.After she had caught her breath, she looked around.
The room was full of broken furniture, clawed away from some beast. She could hear the faint howl of the wind from outside as the moon peered in. She didn't like this place at all. "Her...Hermione? Are you here?" Suddenly, in the corner of the room she saw something move. "Hermione? Is that you?" She squinted her eyes, straining to see in the dark. It started to move closer to her.
Suddenly, the trap door burst open and the huge animal she saw earlier, came running in and jumped. Eva quickly put her arms up to defend but it didn't pounce on her. It was aiming for the person behind.
Eva quickly turned around. It had pounced on a werewolf that was about to attack her. Eva, who was too scared to notice earlier, saw that the huge animal was actually a black dog. It was Sirius. Then the werewolf must be....
Sirius leapt onto the werewolf as it started to lunge at Eva. The werewolf was too strong for Sirius and threw him into a chair. Sirius laid on the floor, unconsicious. "Sirius!" Eva wanted to run over to him but the werewolf stopped her. She slowly backed away while holding her wand up. "P..Professor Lupin! Please...can...can you hear me?" It just growled at her with it's paws up, ready to strike. She could see his sharp teeth and claws glowing in the moonlight. She could almost feel them in her flesh.
Suddenly, Eva had backed into a piece of wood and tripped, falling to the ground. Her wand flew out of her hand. The werewolf, taking advantage of this, quickly pounced on her. Eva stretched her hand out and a flash sent the werewolf flying across the room. It crashed into a shelf and laid unconsicious in a pile.
Eva breathed deeply, while watching the werewolf. Then she slowly got up and crawled towards the black dog. "Sirius....." Tears started to flow out of her eyes. He had wanted to stop her from coming in, to protect her, but she had refused to listen. How could she have been so blind? She ran her fingers through his fur and noticed her hands were wet. It was blood. Sirius was bleeding.
"Oh no!" She held her hand over the wound. "Come on! Come on!" A faint glow appeared but nothing happened. "Why won't it work?! Why am I so useless?! What kind of head witch am I?!" She started to sob. Her powers had not developed yet and she was still at a weak stage. She was not powerful enough to heal such a big wound. There was nothing she could do.
Suddenly, she saw a bright glow from the corner of her eye. She slowly turned around and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Fiera?"
The phoenix swooped down and walked towards Sirius. She knelt down and started to cry. The phoenix's tears flowed onto the wound and it slowly healed back up. The phoenix then nipped Eva's hand to comfort her.
Eva smiled. "Thank you....." Eva looked at Sirius. He was going to be ok.
Slowly, the huge black dog transformed back into a young man. "Fiera, I'm going to bring him back to school." Eva then looked over at the werewolf. "Can you do me a favour and watch over Professor Lupin for me? Contact me at once if something happens kay?"
Fiera nodded.
Eva picked up her wand and stuffed it back into her pocket. "Don't worry, I'll try to get back as soon as possible. I'm sure he won't hurt you when he wakes up. Just keep an eye on him for me." With that, Eva petted Fiera and with a wave of her hand, she levitated Sirius and carried him back down the tunnel.
Eva was glad Sirius was ok but now she was so weary from everything that had happened. Suddenly, Sirius stirred and groaned as he lifted his head.
"Oh no!" Eva quickly put her hand back into her pocket and took out her wand and held it in front of her. Sirius then landed on the ground with a thud.
He rubbed the back of his head. "What...What happened?" He opened his eyes. "Eva!"
She had a lot of explaining to do.
Eva looked nervously at Sirius as he stared at her. "H..Hey Professor Black...you all right?"
Sirius gave her a weird look. "What happened? What did you see?"
"I...I..." Eva didn't know what to say. She couldn't think of any explanation that would fix this. She looked down at the ground and didn't say anything.
"You saw everything didn't you? You knew.....you knew it was me?"
Eva didn't look up but slowly nodded. Sirius looked at Eva hard, thinking of what to do. Eva looked up. "Do you not trust me?"
Sirius looked at her in shock, then smiled. "Why wouldn't I?" Then he looked at his side where the wound had been.
Eva quickly jumped in. "Oh my phoenix helped you heal. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Tell her I said thank you." Then his smile disappeared. "But what happened to Remus?" He quickly headed back towards the Shrieking Shack, while Eva followed closely behind.
Sirius slowly opened the door to see Fiera on top of a shelf, looking down at the werewolf, who was still sprawled on the floor. Fiera seeing Eva was back, flew down and perched on her shoulder. "Good girl Fiera." She petted the phoenix as Sirius walked towards the werewolf and kneeled down beside it.
Eva went to kneel down beside him. "Sirius....is that...Professor Lupin?"
Sirius slowly inspected the werewolf. "Yes...." He turned towards Eva. "Did you do this?"
Eva looked down. "I'm sorry...it just attacked me and I had nothing to do but to defend myself."
"It's alright...I'm just curious since you've managed to come out of here without a scratch."
Eva laughed weakly. "I'm just lucky?"
Sirius had a serious look on his face. "How did you get here? Why did you come? You do realize this will get you into a lot of trouble, sneaking off at night."
"I...I woke up and didn't find Hermione in her bed and then I saw people down in the field so I followed them....thinking they took her......"
"Hermione is ok....she was down here with Harry and Ron earlier to check up on Lupin with me."
"Really?" So they must have been the footsteps she had heard earlier. They were probably using the invisibility cloak so she couldn't see them. "So they know he's here?"
"Yes..."
"But...what's wrong? Since he's a werewolf...doesn't this happen every month?"
"Yes....but it's happening to him everyday now....I don't know why....he was originally assigned to be the Dark Arts teacher but his symptoms became worse so Dumbledore asked me to substitute while I take care of Remus."
"Everyday?" That explains why she keeps seeing people down by the Whomping Willow. It was Remus and Sirius all along. "Is there anything that can help? What about the Wolfsbane potion? Doesn't that help?"
Sirius shook his head. "Not anymore....I don't know what to do anymore...all we can do now is to wait until Dumbledore finds a solution to this problem."
Eva looked down and pondered. She was head witch.....she could do anything...maybe if she could learn how....she could help?
"I....I think I should get back to school before someone notices I left."
"I think it's the best idea."
"Sirius....you won't punish me for coming will you?"
Sirius smiled. "Of course not. But I must warn you not to come again. It is dangerous to come here all by yourself. I trust you not to tell anyone about this?"
"I promise....." With that, Eva headed for the door.
"Wait."
Eva turned around. "Yes?"
"Are you sure there is nothing you need to tell me?"
Eva paused. "No...nothing....."
Sirius looked at her suspiciously. "Alright then. Be careful now. I need to stay here to look after Remus so I can't escort you back."
Eva smiled. "I'll be okay." She turned to the door. "Wait....Sirius?"
"Yes?"
"Please don't tell Harry and them that I was here. I don't want them to worry about me."
Siius smiled. "Don't worry....I won't."
Eva smiled then headed back to school.
"Thanks Fiera."
Eva quietly crept to her drawer and pulled out a treat for the phoenix, who then thanked Eva and flew back to it's perch.
Eva looked over to her clock and yawned. It was 3 in the morning already. It had been a very long night and she was exhausted.
As she took off her robes her thoughts came back to the Shrieking Shack. There has to be something that she could do to help but what? If she could just ask Dumbledore...maybe he could teach her....but then suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted as a hand grabbed her shoulder.
Eva quickly turned around and gasped. "Hermione!"
Hermione's expression was a mix of worry and anger. "Where were you?! How come you were out of bed?!"
Eva was shocked to see Hermione this way. "Why was I out of bed?! You ask yourself that! I was worried sick when I didn't find you so I went to look for you!"
Hermione grew red. "You know it's against school rules to leave the dormitories at night! Besides! I...I was just going to the washroom! That's all!"
Lavender stirred in her sleep. "Quiet down you two...."
Eva frowned and looked back at Hermione. "Well now that I know you're safe...I can go back to sleep..."
Hermione looked down at the floor. "I...I'm sorry Eva...it's just that...I...I..."
Eva smiled and grabbed her pajamas. "It's ok....I understand....Well I'm going to go change now....go to sleep!"
Hermione grinned. "You too!" Then slipped into bed.
Eva wasn't mad that Hermione had lied to her...Hermione had a secret to keep.....and so did she...
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