𝑨𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑷𝑯𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑨

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"I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know it would be this bad."

"And how the hell would you know something was wrong?"

"I'm not ignorant Prongs. It doesn't take a genius to see she wasn't her-"

"Sure, Moony."

"Shut up Prongs, it isn't polite to interrupt."

"Well, what did you want me to do about it? Accio a broom and fly to save her?!"

"I'm as daft as I may seem, Moony. Plus, you can hardly ride one without falling on your arse."

"Low blow, James."

"Hardly, Wormy."

"You could've at least told me! Maybe we could have stopped her before she even played the game."

"Well of course there was something wrong before, but it got worse during the game."

"Still could have told me."

"She looked distressed distracted, and it's not like I could have yelled at her or flown out there to go..."

Eva aggressively squeezed her eyes, trying to regain movement before slowly opening them.

"Eva!" five voices shouted, earning a heavy wince from the girl.

"Oh shut it, will you?" Kaelyn shushed, glancing sympathetically at her friend. 

Eva finally managed to pry open her eyes, first recognizing Kaelyn and Adan perched at the foot of the bed. Eva smiled weakly at the sight of their hands lightly entwined together. On her right were James and Sirius, who had most likely been bickering back and forth with one another before she woke. On the left were Peter, who was playing with the edges of her blanket, and Remus, who was messing with her hair. 

"That's the second year in a row."

"What happened?"

"You're so dumb."

"Are you okay?"

"How are you feeling?"

"You have a broken arm!"

Eva groaned. "I know nothing more than you all do! I ran into a wall and here I am. How long has it been anyway?"

"You were asleep for a week, Eva," James scolded. "A week! The same thing happened last year!"

"A week?! Sorry, if I would've known, I would have tried to wake up earlier," she said weakly with a roll of her eyes. 

"I don't want to be the one to say it..." Adan began hesitantly.

"Yes, yes, I know. I told you so. I told you not to play. Of course," she mumbled.

"How did you-"

"I don't know Sirius! My mind was just in another place and I guess I got distracted," she snapped tiredly. 

"You scared us, Ev's," Peter told her gently. Remus, who was still stroking the girl's hair, nodded in agreement. 

Eva rubbed her bottom lip between her teeth and resided in playing with the hem of the hospital bed blanket. 

"I did most of your homework," Kaelyn told her softly, handing the girl a thick stack of parchment. 

"Thank you," Eva told her friend, smiling sweetly.

"Of course."

"We'll let you rest," Remus informed her calmly. 

Everyone but James followed the boy, shaking his head.

Sirius chuckled at his friend. "Let the girl rest, Prongs. You've been here all week!"

Eva was surprised at that information, to say the least, but her heart swelled. She lightly grabbed James' hand who turned to her. 

"What were you distracted about?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," she replied softly.

"It clearly wasn't nothing," James snapped before taking a deep breath. 

"It's nothing, don't stress on it. I'm tired, can I rest?"

James glared at her. She knew he wouldn't say no.

...

"Not my niece. Anyone but my niece! She's still a child!"

"No, don't do it!"

There was a bright flash of green light. 

Eva woke up with a start, her body flying forward in forced breaths. She could hear her own heavy breathing and the sweat from her forehead was enough to fill an entire bottle. 

"Lumos"

Eva jumped, only to figure out it was James, who seemed to have fallen asleep on the chair to the right of her hospital bed. 

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Should I get Madam Pomfrey?" he asked frantically.

"I'm okay," she assured him through heavy breaths. "Just a nightmare."

James looked caught between letting out a sigh of relief or pushing forward with more questions.

"About what?"

"It was nothing.'

"Eva, that's all you've been saying. You have to tell me what has been bothering you."

Eva was hesitant, but the genuine emotion and concern in James' tone made her reencounter her consistent nightmares to her brother.

"Have you been having this multiple times?" James asked her, his eyes cast downward.

Eva nodded stiffly, her eyes threatening to pour-over. 

James, noticing, bent forward to hug his sister. "It's okay baby sis. I'm here you. I'm never going to leave you."

Eva couldn't stop as the tears poured over her eyes, sending her into a sobbing fit in her older brother's chest. 

And that was the first time Evaleigne Potter cried in over 10 years.

...

The day Eva was discharged from the hospital wing, she found all of her potions work finished on the desk side. Each paper was written in neat cursive hand lettering, without a single splotch of ink out of place. The professors will most definitely be able to tell the papers aren't hers, but will most likely ignore the fact. Even though nobody had left a note, Eva recognized the handwriting as her friend, Regulus Black.  

She mentally reminded herself to thank him for the next time she saw him. 

As Eva sat at her usual spot at the Gryffindor table, even though it wasn't her house, and her mood seemed to not have improved. 

Eva usually enjoyed the meal, other than the fact that it was so early in the morning. Hogwarts breakfast was something imposing altogether; every attendee of Hogwarts would agree. Though Eva couldn't seem to get herself to eat.

Kaelyn had plucked up a slice of toast and slathered it with sweet orange marmalade and placed it on her best friend's plate. She was sitting in Adan's usual spot as she slid a few pieces of bacon and eggs onto Eva's plate before pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"You have to eat, Ev's," she told her.

"You haven't had any normal food since you woke up," Adan said, equally as concerned.

"I know, I know. Look, I appreciate it, but I'm just not feeling too great," she admitted.

"Should we take you to the hospital wing again?"

"No, I'm alright."

As she finally lifted the toast to her mouth, four people sat promptly around the friend group of three. She flinched, dropping the bread onto her plate. Swerving her head around to both her sides, she saw the four people were in fact probably the last people she wanted to see that early in the morning; the marauders. 

"You didn't tell me you were let out," James said with a furrowed eyebrow.

"Sorry," she mumbled, practically shoving the toast down her throat.

"Were you not listening when Minnie told us?" Remus asked.

"He never listens when Minnie talks to us," Sirius whispered, earning a smack on the back of the head by the older Potter sibling.

Eva had placed her toast back down, slightly pushing her plate away.

"Hey, you've got to eat," Kaelyn told her softly.

"Has she been eating?" James asked. Adan shook his head silently.

"Eva, you have to eat." James' voice was more demanding than soft.

"James..." Kaelyn said cautiously.

"What's the matter?" Lily popped up by the group of 7.

James immediately flushed a red color and couldn't find the will to talk. 

"Nothing," Eva told her when James didn't utter a single word or sound. 

"It is absolutely not nothing. She won't tell me what's wrong," James finally said angrily.

"James, you have to calm down. She's not feeling well and I don't think you're helping," Adan told him, resting a hand on his arm.

James swiftly slapped it off. "Lamond I don't need you to intervene."

"She's my best friend," he snapped. "Of course I'm going to be worried about her."

"You all don't even know half of what happened," James snapped back. Eva's eyes grew wide. "You don't know, because she didn't tell you, did she?"

Adan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"But she told me. I'm her older brother. I'm supposed to help her," he grumbled. Eva was frustrated with her brother, but not quite sure where the banter between the two was going.

"What is he talking about, Eva?" Adan asked quietly.

"Oh, I can tell you what I'm talking about," James said angrily.

"It's her nightmares," he began. 

"James," Eva whimpered, but it went unnoticed by her brother.

"She's been having them every. Damn. Night," he seethed.

"James."

"You didn't know that, did you? You probably don't even care."

"James."

"She's been having them about our dead Aunt Adelaide. You probably don't even know who she is."

"James"

"She sees her every night and that's why she's like this. She sees her death, her grave, all of it."

"James, please stop."

"You don't know anything about her. Nada. Nothing. Don't act as you do. I'm her older brother. She doesn't need you to take care of her."

"JAMES!" Eva shrieked, and the whole great hall went silent. The group of 7, all but James, took a step back from the two. 

Eva's cheeks were lined with tears, her face bright red from anger. Her white teeth were gritting against each other roughly as she pointed a wand to her brother's chest.

Regulus tried to get up but Evan pulled him back down. Sit down, you idiot.

"You know nothing, James," she seethed. "Nothing. You can not talk to my friends like that. You had my trust. My fucking trust you dim-witted idiot. And you know what? You ruined it. And you know what else? I expected it."

James' angered face faltered for a moment before a scowl was back on his face.

"I've done so much for you Eva! You can't throw it away just like that. I've been with you through everything. I was always there for you. When she died, when you had nightmares, when your heart got broken, when you were in the damn hospital. Don't talk to me as if I hadn't been. I'm your older brother Eva."

"You are not my older brother James!" she yelled. The Great Hall was dead silent as everyone watched the two fight. "You once were, but now your not. All you do is boss me around and control my life. Everything I do has to go through you or be for you. You're supposed to be a loving and caring brother. Not somebody who controls my life like I'm a puppet. But you know what? I have my friends. They are my family." She dug her wand farther in his chest. "You showed me who your family was. You give Sirius more love, attention, and care than you've ever given me."

"That's what this is about?" James seethed. "You're my baby sister, Eva! He's my best friend and if he is my brother, he's yours. He had nowhere to go, Eva. Don't be selfish and take that away."

"I am not your baby sister, James. Stop treating me like I am. You know what? You don't even need to worry about stopping because you never even treated me like your sister."

James pulled his wand from his pocket and the Great Hall gasped. Eva fell into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Oh my god. You've got to be joking. Mr. Perfect Potter would never cast a spell on his baby sister. Would he now?" There were sticky veins of tears streaking down the sides of her face. 

"Eva, you're not okay. Everyone knows it."

"Jamsie, took you long enough to realize, huh?"

"Put down your wand."

"Yours is out too."

"Because I know you might use yours."

"But you wouldn't use yours, would you?"

"Let me help you."

"Like all of the other times? Oh wait, there weren't any other times."

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"No you aren't," she told him with a short laugh. "You aren't sorry for what you said, and I'm not sorry for what I said."

"Eva, I'm your older brother. There's nothing you can do to change that."

"Well, Sirius got a new brother, didn't he? Left his behind. You got yourself another one too. What did you do? Leave me behind."

"Stop acting like you know what happened to them."

"Stop acting like I'm an oblivious ignorant fool. Oh wait, that's you."

"Eva..."

Fires of fury and hatred were smoldering in the small narrowed eyes as she weighed the pros and cons of the various hexes she could cast upon her older brother. 

"Look, I just want to help. I know I may not have been there for you all of the time, but I'm here now."

"Way to put on a show," Eva said, slowly clapping her hands. "Now every student at Hogwarts thinks your a loving brother and I'm an insane little girl."

"Eva, you need to calm down."

Anger boiled deep in her system, as hot as lava. It churned within, hungry for destruction, and she knew it was too much for her to handle. The pressure of this raging sea of anger would force her to say things she does not mean - though everything she said was truthful - or to express thoughts she has suppressed for weeks.

She knew she had to get out of everyone's way before she erupted in her furious state. She knows that the feeling will probably pass, but while it hasn't, she's well aware she could really hurt people. 

"James, know that the only reason I am leaving right now is so I don't hurt anybody. I mean every word I said, and I hope you know that. You were never there, and I know you aren't here for me right now. Don't even try to gain back my trust and love because that was gone a very long time ago."