Eve

            The next afternoon, I left with most of the other students on the train home for Christmas break—so I didn't have a chance to get Malfoy alone. In fact, he purposefully avoided me at the station when we got off in London. I tried to call to him when I saw him getting off only a few feet from me, but he completely ignored me and quickly disappeared into the growing crowd of parents and students.

             So then there was nothing left for me to do, except go home with my aunt and spend the rest of Christmas vacation cursing myself for what had happened that Friday night.

            But my aunt and I were still able to have a pleasant Christmas, despite how moody we both were. I was upset over what had happened with Malfoy, and she was feeling lonely again now that this was the first holiday we'd had without my uncle. I tried to keep her happy by reminding her that we didn't need him—he was the one who walked out on us, after all, and she attempted to cheer me up as well.

            "Keep your chin up, honey," she had smiled warmly that New Year's Eve, raising her glass of firewhiskey to mine. "Another year's gone by and we're still safe."

            I had grinned weakly in return and tapped my glass against hers, thinking the whole while that I was ruining my chances of ever being safe, considering the people I was associating myself with at Hogwarts.

            I spent the next week off from school trying desperately to refrain from telling my aunt about Malfoy, because the last thing I needed was for her to find out what was going on between me and the boy whose parents were well-known Death Eaters. She would probably make me transfer schools again if she knew what Draco had said to me the last time we spoke.

            The end of Christmas vacation came all too soon, and I still hadn't figured out what I was going to say to Malfoy when I finally managed to get him alone. Sure, I knew what I wanted to say, but I still didn't know what I should say.

            My aunt pulled into the parking lot at the train station in London, and I got out with my trunk and stood by her open window. She leaned out slightly and kissed my cheek, saying a bit guiltily, "I've got to run to work, Evelyn, I'm sorry. Have a great rest of the year, make sure to write me as often as you can and if you ever need anything—"

            "It's okay," I interrupted quickly, laughing a bit and patting her shoulder. "I'll be alright, don't worry about me. Make sure you write me, too."

            I could see she was starting to get emotional as she said, "I will. Love you, honey."

            "Love you too, auntie."

            I waved as she pulled out of the parking lot, then picked up my trunk and started for the station.

            Once inside Platform 9 ¾, I was able to find Neville pretty quickly. He helped me with my trunk, then boarded the train with me to find the compartment Ginny and Luna had already saved. I kept an eye out for Malfoy the entire time, but I couldn't spot him anywhere.

            I tried to tell myself that this was a good thing.

            I sat beside Ginny on the train, and as it left the station for Hogwarts, the four of us asked each other about our holidays. About halfway there everyone fell asleep, but I couldn't find it in myself to close my eyes. I spent the rest of the train ride with my gaze fixed out the window, desperately trying to figure out what I was going to say to Malfoy when I finally saw him again.

            But when we arrived at Hogwarts and I sat at the Slytherin table for the feast, Draco Malfoy ignored me and acted as though I wasn't even there.

            My stomach twisting too much to keep anything down, I poked at the chicken on my plate and stared down at the wooden tabletop. I suppose I should have expected this; with the way I had acted after Malfoy had told me everything, I wasn't surprised he was giving me the cold shoulder.

            I just wished he would at least give me a chance to try and fix it.

~*~

Draco

            In Potions class the Monday after break, everything changed.

            Snape had us answering the questions in the textbook in our groups, but Eve was doing the problems on her own while the three of us talked and joked around. I'd managed to avoid her successfully for the past week, but there was nothing I could do about having Potions and Care of Magical Creatures with her. I was just going to ignore her as best I could, even though I knew I couldn't do it forever.

            The three of us were all in good moods, and I'd even managed to forget Eve was there when Zabini decided to be funny and try to talk to her.

            "Hey Hawkings," he said across the table to her, smirking when she looked up reluctantly.

            "What," she said icily.

            Zabini leaned against his open textbook and said casually, "I saw you getting dropped off in the London parking lot last Saturday. I heard that was your aunt, right?"

            "It was," she said flatly, glaring across the table at him.

            "What, your parents were too busy?" Zabini asked, but it sounded as though he already knew the answer.

            Eve looked over at me then, and I hastily looked down at my textbook. My stomach dropped into my shoes when she said coldly, "No, my parents are dead. I live with my aunt."

            My hands were clutching the edge of the table hard as I stared down at the open pages of my book; her parents were dead? I didn't know that, I had no idea...she'd mentioned her aunt before, but never her parents...

            I expected an uncomfortable silence to fall over our table at this, but Zabini kept right on going as though he'd known what her answer was going to be all along. "How did they die?" he asked nosily, and my chest burned with anger.

            "Car crash," Eve snapped shortly, and I gave a sidelong glance her way to see that her knuckles were white around the edges of her textbook.

            "How old were you?"

            "Fuck off, Zabini," I interrupted before Eve could answer, still refusing to look at her. I was trying to control my growing anger as he smirked over at me, and my grip tightened around the quill Eve had given back to me over a week ago. "You're being a dick."

            "Says who?" Zabini retorted, turning his head back to face Eve. "I'm just asking questions."

            "Yeah, well, cut it out. You're being nosy."

            "I don't give a—"

            "I was two," Eve said, cutting Zabini off and causing the two of us to finally look over at her. I realized her eyes were glossy, and her voice was quiet as she asked tiredly, "Why does it matter?"

            "Just wondering," Zabini said easily, and my jaw tightened when I saw that he was still smirking. "Do you remember it?"

            My quill snapped, but no one seemed to notice. Eve sniffed and wiped the back of her hand across her lips, saying softly, "No. I don't remember it."

            The words were in my mouth, I was seconds away from telling Zabini to cut it out for the second time when he said it.

            "That explains why you're so quiet all the time. And, you know, why you're so easy."

            My head snapped to the side to look at him, to see if I'd actually heard him say that, and even Goyle exclaimed quietly, "What the fuck, mate—"

            The stool screeched against the floor as Eve stood up, and her long blonde hair hid her face as she left the room without a single word. My vision growing dark, I got to my feet and grabbed Zabini's shirt collar, watching as his infuriating smirk melted off his face. Everyone continued working because they couldn't see us at the back, so I kept my voice low as I said dangerously, "If you ever talk to her like that again, I'll beat the shit out of you. Got it?"

            "Mate," Zabini said, reaching up to try and pull my fists from his shirt. "Let—"

            "I will kill you," I corrected myself darkly, "if you ever do something like that again."

            Zabini didn't say anything and just looked up at me cautiously, as though he was trying to figure out if I was serious. I hoped he knew that I was.

            I ripped my hands from his collar, turning and stalking out of the Potions classroom before I could do something that would get me expelled.

            Eve had one shoulder leaned up against the wall with her head in her hands as she cried, and her back was to me when I rounded the corner into the hallway. Her shoulders were shaking as I took a step forward, placing one hand on her back slowly. She jumped and turned to me, quickly wiping under her eyes when she saw it was me.

            "S—sorry," she choked out, sniffing and hastily wiping away the tear tracks. "I d—didn't hear you—"

            "Don't apologize," I said, and then I was pulling her tight against my chest.

            Her body automatically stiffened as I wrapped my arms around her, but after half a second she melted against me. Eve cried quietly with her head buried in the soft space between my neck and shoulder, and I held her against my chest with one hand tangled in her hair.

            It was taking everything I had not to walk back into the Potions classroom and break Zabini's nose.

            Eve finally pulled away from me when she was able to pull herself together somewhat, and we both took a step back. Wiping under her eyes, she said softly, "Sorry about that. I just—I fucking hate him."

            "You and me both," I said. "Want me to beat him up?"

            She choked out a laugh when she realized I was kidding—even though I really hadn't been. If she'd asked me to, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

            "No, I'm good for now," she said, trying but failing to smile. "Thanks for asking."

            "I'm sorry about your parents," I blurted suddenly. "I didn't know."

            I watched her deflate, and she looked at the ground as she said quietly, "It's okay. I don't remember them at all so I don't really talk about it."

            Then there was an uncomfortable silence where I desperately searched for something to say, anything at all. When I finally opened my mouth, I had meant to say something along the lines of, "Well, see you around", but what came out instead was, "Look, about what I said last week—"

            "I've been wanting to talk to you," she interrupted, "but you've been avoiding me."

            "Yeah," I admitted guiltily. "Sorry, it's just—it was really embarrassing."

            "You don't have to be embarrassed," Eve said quietly, looking up at me when I finally forced myself to look back at her. Her blue eyes were watching me carefully as she said a bit uncertainly, "I—I guess I just still don't understand you. But I mean...it's weird. I always thought you were terrible, but...but it turns out you've been the nicest one to me."

            I looked at her carefully, almost like I was trying to read her mind. "Um, so..."

            "But I think I know what you mean," she continued softly as though I hadn't said anything, still with her gaze fixed on mine. "About not being able to breathe around someone. About feeling like that person's the only one in the room."

            My chest felt tight, like there wasn't enough air in this hallway. Eve reached out and touched the black fabric of my shirt, feeling the wet spot from one of her tears. Her voice was quiet, almost like she was talking to herself as she said, "Maybe I could try to understand you."

            And then I couldn't stop myself, and I was pulling her to my chest for the second time.

            Her arms wrapped around my middle, and I could smell the scent of lilacs in her hair. I held her flush against me without a word, feeling dizzy from some sort of high that I couldn't explain. Her blonde hair tickling my face, I finally allowed myself a tiny smile.

          Maybe, just maybe, she could be the one thing in my life that would finally make me happy again.