"winter, spring, summer, or fall. all you've got to do is call and i'll be there. you've got a friend."

*

On a warm evening in late May, Eva sat cross-legged in the grass as the breeze tousled her hair gently. For the first time in a few months, she felt completely relaxed and at ease. Godric's Hollow looked prettiest in spring, she decided, with the vines creeping up the Potters' brick house and the overgrown rosebush that no one bothered to control.

Remus sat on the rope swing which hung from the massive oak tree in the front lawn. In his hands he held a thick stack of papers. He'd been helping Eva prepare for her upcoming exam for at least an hour. Both couldn't help thinking how familiar this felt, being outside and studying for tests together.

Neither of them were employed at the moment. After being unsuccessful in finding new job (with anti-Muggleborn sentiments running rampant in most industries and such), Eva ultimately made the decision to take more classes at the nearby university. Her parents had left her a small sum of Muggle money, enough to cover this extra expense. Sirius became her personal cheerleader in these endeavors, and with his new raise from Moody, they could afford only having one person earning money, at least for the present.

Recently, Eva had stumbled upon a bit of good fortune of her own. One evening after being rejected for three jobs, she trudged back to Diagon Alley and retreated into Fortescue's, where she sat at the table near the bay window, her usual, and began to sketch idly in her notebook. Mr. Fortescue walked over to take her order and noticed her drawing his shop. He liked it so much that he insisted on buying and framing the sketch once she completed it. It was the first time she'd ever sold one of her creations.

With Sirius' encouragement, Eva began to sell her art in a corner of Fortescue's shop, something she never considered trying before. On nice days, she sat outside at the picnic tables and sketched customer portraits. Her little business didn't bring in much, but every Knut mattered and she enjoyed it much more than her old desk job.

After Eva was fired, Umbridge overturned the law that kept Remus in a steady job and made it all but impossible for him to find another one. He had enough money saved to pay off his little house, but not for much else. Eva worried that he looked thinner every time she saw him, but he made jokes and changed the subject to hide the fact that he was forced to skip meals occasionally. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he took odd-jobs whenever he could and ran off to the werewolf communities when he couldn't bear the idea of asking his friends for loans. He made frequent visits to his favorite, the colony in rural Blakeney. Joshua and the others always welcomed him with open arms each time he stumbled into their woods, and each time he insisted that he had to leave, they begged him to stay.

It felt nice to be wanted, but Remus knew his true place was with his friends. They'd stuck with him through everything. He couldn't abandon them now just because it was the easier thing to do.

"When did the Renaissance begin?" He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his knuckles. His friends had been teasing him for months about his squinting when he read the Prophet, but he blamed it on the bad lighting and insisted that James Potter would be the only one in their group to ever be bespectacled. However, he finally cracked and bought a pair about a month prior, although he only wore them while reading. Years of transformations had affected him negatively. Werewolves had keener eyesight than humans, and Remus found that the words on the page looked blurry around the full moon.

"The early 1400s," Eva answered. She started to draw a detailed flower on the back of her hand in black ink. 

"What is a frescoe painting? Did I even pronounce that right?"

"You did. You paint quickly with watercolors on plaster that hasn't dried yet. That way, the colors and the plaster mix together and become one on whatever wall or ceiling you painted it on. They're quite pretty."

"Can you name some artists who painted them?"

She listed them off on her fingers. "Giotto, Masaccio, and Michelangelo."

Remus grinned and handed her the papers. "By Merlin, you're good. You're going to pass, no problem."

"Thanks, Remus."

"It's my pleasure. You're not the only one who likes learning around here. I only wish I could join you." He smiled sadly, his gaze wistful. "Maybe someday. When the war is over."

When the war is over. That's all anyone says anymore.

Eva nodded, then watched the sunset with fascination. Each day, the sun lingered a bit longer. She thought that maybe the coming summer would be good for them all. It wouldn't be long before Lily would have the baby and their lives would be turned upside down. She smiled at this irony.

  As if our lives weren't upside down enough already.

The crack of apparation pierced the peaceful evening. Both Remus and Eva looked up, the former's hand already gripping his wand. However, they sighed with relief upon seeing that it was just Gideon and Marlene, bickering about something as usual.

"-You didn't need to step in, I was perfectly fine."

"Marlene, someone shot a Killing Curse!"

"He was probably drunk! Besides, I ducked! End of story."

Gideon unlatched the moss-covered gate and jokingly held it open for Marlene. She smiled and immediately took her heels off, tossing them haphazardly onto the lawn before walking over to Eva.

"Hiya. Where's everyone?"

"Lily and Peter are cooking dinner inside, and James and Sirius are still at the Ministry," Eva replied as she pages through her notes. "What were you two arguing about this time?"

"Nothing!" Marlene exclaimed, shooting Gideon a murderous glare that he completely disregarded. He actually wrapped an arm around her shoulders just to irritate her further, but she didn't squirm away.

"I found her at another one of those maniac Pureblood rallies," he grumbled.

Remus face-palmed. "Marls, not again..."

"I couldn't help it!" She insisted. "You didn't hear them! You wouldn't have put up with it, either!"

"Marlene, you wouldn't have heard it if you hadn't gone! You can't keep doing that! You know better!" Eva said sternly. "You're going to make yourself a target if you're not careful. It's hard enough staying safe anymore without you knowingly putting yourself in danger!"

"I already am a target, with everything I write, so that part doesn't bother me. I like living on the edge. Listen, it's not as bad as it sounds. I heard about it at work and it just got me so mad, so I went after I got off. Everything was going fine-"

"Until you opened your little red lips. Then it all went downhill." Gideon rolled his eyes and leaned against the tree. "Frank and I showed up because we got a tip-off about potential violence. We figured we'd just casually check it out, make sure no one's pulling wands out or anything. We can't put an end to a peaceful rally, you know, even if we disagree with what it stands for. So we show up and there's Marlene, preaching to the choir from a table while this group of Pureblood maniacs is shouting obscenities at her. We finally had to break it up because some idiot shot off a spell, which led to absolute mayhem. A few of them were trying to attack Marlene! So, long story short, that is what we were arguing about."

"Oh, is that all?" Eva asked mildly. "I just figured you two couldn't decide what you were doing for dinner or something."

Everyone burst out laughing, melting away the previous tensions.

"I'm going to go in and see if I can help cook. I probably can't, but still," Marlene joked. She turned to Gideon, a questioning look in her blue eyes. "Are you on patrol tonight?"

Nodding, Gideon placed his hands into the pockets of his jackets so that his thumbs stuck out. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Yeah, at Hogwarts. I'd better be shoving off. The Ministry's really paranoid about something happening happening at the school, especially since Regulus Black... well, you know." He trailed hastily off after seeing the stricken look on Eva's face. "Anyway, Heistia and I are there tonight, but I don't expect anything to happen. If You-Know-Who tries to attack the castle, he'll have to go through us, Flitwick, Sluggy, McGonagall, and Dumbledore, and I don't reckon anyone's stupid enough to do something like that."

"Fair enough," Remus said. He offered Gideon a hand. "All the same, you can never be too careful anymore."

Gideon shook hands with Remus, but an odd look crossed his face just for a moment. Then it was gone, replaced by his usual easygoing smile, one that he directed at Marlene.

"Dinner at Molly and Arthur's tomorrow night. You're welcome to come. I could show you the village after." It appeared that he was past pretending that he didn't like her.

Marlene smiled. "I might just take you up on that."

"You'd better. Molly's making meatballs, and you can officially meet my third godson, Ron."

"I'll be there."

Gideon laughed as he embraced Eva. "All right, kids, I'm off to work. Don't do anything idiotic, James would feel left out." He winked and turned to leave, then spun around and gave Marlene a quick peck on the lips. Eva smiled at the pair. No official titles had been thrown around yet, but the chemistry between them was clear to everyone.

Because Marlene had stopped wearing most of her makeup, it was possible to see a faint blush creeping up her cheeks. She waved him off cheerfully, and he bowed in a goofy manner before disapparating.

"I'm going to go inside. See you two in a bit." Marlene practically skipped inside. It looked like she was flying.

Remus shook his head at her. "It's about time for the two of them. He's liked her since we graduated. It was painfully obvious."

"Yeah, it is and it was," Eva replied. She thought of how miserable Marlene had been during all of those months that she ignored Gideon. About time indeed. "I'm really happy that Marlene finally found someone, well, good."

Yawning, Remus slid off of the rope swing and sat down on the ground next to Eva, who scooted over to give him room until she realized that the ground had plenty of room already. "Got any plans coming up?"

Eva shook her head. "Not me personally. Sirius has to leave in two days for another mission. I don't know how long he's going to be gone. I think Dorcas is going with him. Merlin, I wish Moody would just leave us alone for a while. Lily wants me to paint the baby's room sometime soon. I've been playing around with a few ideas, but I want that to be a surprise."

"That's fun."

"I suppose. Some of it, at least. What about you? Do you have any plans coming up?" She asked, adding a few leaves to her flower.

"I reckon I'll head up to Blakeney again soon."

"Already? The full moon's not for another week!"

Remus shrugged, though he was touched that she remembered. Unlike the Marauders, Eva's mind hadn't been programmed from a young age to track the moon's cycle. She always looked after him, even when she didn't know why. More and more each day, he realized how grateful he was to have her in his life.

"I thought I'd head up a few days early. I like being with them all. They're good to me. Besides, I'm teaching a few of the kids there to read. I don't want them to forget or anything if I stay away for too long." He cast a glance her way. "You can come, if you want. Maybe you can help me."

Her spirits lifted ever so slightly. "Really? Could I really? Do you think... I mean, do you think that's a good idea?"

He heard the doubt in her voice, but he knew there was no reason for it. "I don't see why not. I talk about my friends all of the time, and you're definitely not abrasive or offensive or anything like that. I'm sure they'd be happy to put you up for a few days, and you could leave before the full moon. Just so you won't have to be alone in the apartment for days."

"All right, I'll talk to Sirius about it, but count me in."

Eva and Remus had always shared a special bond. He was Eva's first friend at Hogwarts, the lanky boy with the oversized clothes and scarred face who showed her how to punch the Slytherins who called her a word she didn't quite understand. They met on the train when Eva tripped on the steps to the Hogwarts Express and the contents of her trunk spilled everywhere. He was the only one to stop and help her. Over the years, they learned exactly how to take care of each other and wanted the same things out of life. James was like Eva's brother, but she called Remus her best friend.

Now, though, their friendship had grown stronger, especially in the last few months. Remus wasn't the only one with mortifying scars anymore. He noticed how Eva gravitated towards wearing long sleeves, especially when she went out and even in the warm weather. Just like the memory, the scar inflicted by Bellatrix would never fade away.

Today, though, she wore a fitted Ringo Starr t-shirt, and he could clearly read the disgusting word carved into her skin. It meant a great deal to him that she could let her guard down around him. 

Remus wrapped an arm around Eva's shoulder and she leaned into him. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend it was another night by the Black Lake, and they were just relaxing after finishing a long study session.

"Someday, I want to go back to Italy," Eva said softly. Remus nodded, realizing that she just needed someone to listen. "I went once with my mum, but we only stayed two days. We didn't have the money for more. I want to walk around everything and just take it all in. I want to stare up at the Sistine Chapel ceiling until my neck aches. I want to watch the sun set over Florence while eating the world's best gelato. I want to ride a gondola in Venice and listen to someone sing in Italian, and even though I can't understand the words, I understand the meaning. You know?"

There was a faint smile on Remus' face. "Yeah, I know. When are you going?" 

"When the war is over, of course." She sighed. "Although at the rate it's going, part of me just wants to pack up my entire life in a single suitcase and run away with Sirius to Italy. Maybe we'd be better off."

"You think about this a lot, don't you?"

"It's easier to fall asleep thinking about art and traveling than it is thinking about reality."

"That, I do know." At night, Remus often thought about fantasies that would never happen, too. "What would you and Sirius do in Italy?"

Eva shrugged and started to absentmindedly braid the grass. "We'd get an apartment, probably smaller than the one we have here because it would be more expensive to live abroad. We'd take walks down the canals, maybe sometimes he could go as Snuffles. I could sketch him at night. Neither of us would get jobs that were dangerous. Maybe I could learn Italian and become an art teacher there. He could do whatever he wanted, but he wouldn't have to be so stressed out. He acts like he's fine, but every mission wears him down, I know it. We could eat delicious Italian food in cafes and grow old in a place where no one wanted us dead." She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. "But that's never going to happen."

"Why not?"

Eva smiled as she laid her head on Remus' shoulder. "We'd miss you guys too much."

I can't pretend to be an expert in art history, lol. I got the info from history.com and dictionary.com :)

This chapter makes me so happy and warm

QOTD: I'm watching Friends right now, so do you guys like Friends? And if you do, who's your favorite character?

AOTD: Chandler all the way