𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. ʀ. ʟᴜᴘɪɴ

fourteen

Two days after Christmas, Evangeline was in her home alone getting ready to wind down for bedtime when her telephone rang. She walked across her living room and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Evening, darling. I'm not calling too late, am I?"

Her lips curled upwards as she twirled the cord around her finger, "No..."

"I wish I was calling asking you to just come over and keep me company, but I'm afraid there's other matters we must discuss. Can you be here soon?"

"Sure. Is everything alright?"

"We'll tell you once you're here."

"Who's'we'?"

"See you soon, darling."

With that, the line went dead. She quickly got dressed in jeans and a jumper, throwing on boots and apparating to his cottage. When she was let inside, she was met with Sirius, Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and...

"Alastor! Lovely to see you!" Evangeline exclaimed. They shook hands, "Where's your trainee? I'd love to finally meet whoever they are."

"Not needed, at least not yet. How are you, Evie?" Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody asked. 

"Quite well, thank you."

She said her hellos to everyone else, sending Remus a questioning look as to what the hell was going on. She also noticed that he was keeping his distance from her, something she mentally noted to bring up later.

"Remus brought up Harry's concerns about his name being in the Goblet to me. And after Igor's little show during the Yule Ball, I think he and you might be onto something," Dumbledore spoke up, "Though I wish you would have come to me."

"I didn't want to speak too soon, I apologize, Headmaster."

He waved his hand, "Not to worry. Let's all sit."

They gathered in Remus' living room, "As you know, Kingsley works for the Ministry and Alastor is an Auror. Alastor served as an original member as a group I created called The Order of the Pheonix during the Wizarding War. Kingsley helped us out here and there as he knew things in the Ministry that we did not," Dumbledore started to Evangeline, "I called them here because of the concerns for Mister Potter's safety."

"How did Igor know that you were part lycanthrope?" Sirius questioned. 

"Lucius Malfoy was conveniently at the Ministry when she arrived with Pettigrew back in 1992. He probably mouthed off to Igor," Mad-Eye bitterly said. 

"You do realize that I could nip Igor in a bud quite quickly, right?"

Dumbledore chuckled lightly, "I am fully aware, Professor. But we have to know for certain that he has something to do with Harry's name being in the Goblet and that it really isn't just a coincidence. We wanted to tell you first hand that Kingsley and Alastor will be keeping an ear out in the Ministry."

"You don't think that he, and others, have plans to... finish what the Dark Lord started?" Evangeline carefully asked.

"There's always a possibility, or he just has a grudge that they lost," Kingsley said, "The worst are either locked up or dead, mostly thanks to you."

"It wasn't all me," Evangeline quietly said, "Look, I know for certain Igor is trying to start something because I'm there and I've locked up half of his old friends. As for Harry, he shouldn't be competing at all. He's just a boy."

"Rules are rules," Dumbledore reminded her. 

"Hogwarts made you soft, Evie," Mad-Eye huffed. 

She ignored his comment, "So what should we do? Wait?"

"I'm afraid that's all we can do," Dumbledore apologetically said. 

She heard Sirius audibly sigh before standing up, "Alright, well, if we're done here I'm going home."

Everyone left one by one, leaving Evangeline and Remus alone. 

"Care to stay another night?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

After changing into more comfortable clothes, stealing yet another jumper from him, they sat outside at a small table in his snow-covered garden with coco. 

"I should have said something to Dumbledore sooner, so thank you for telling him yourself."

"I was beginning to think more and more about it and, I'm afraid you might be right that something could be wrong. Lucky for us, I think whatever it is will be handled quickly considering you and Dumbledore are at Hogwarts."

"And you."

He shrugged and Evangeline shivered lightly from the cold. He noticed, "Are you cold?"

"I'm not as warm-bodied as you are."

"Do you want to go inside?"

She shook her head and pulled the blanket around her tighter, "No. It's nice sitting out here. Are you cold?"

He chuckled, "No. Come here."

She got up from her chair and walked around the table, climbing in his lap and curling up into him like a cat. He snaked his hands under her blanket and under her jumper, his warm hands meeting her skin. She sighed in contentment, "I should get cold more often."

"You should, if it means getting to cuddle you like this."

"Please, I think I would've ended up here even if I wasn't cold."

"Are you warming up?"

"I am... you were a bit distant with me earlier. Are you okay?"

He flatted his palm around her back, rubbing up and down, "Yes. I wasn't certain if you wanted them to know just yet."

"Oh."

"I wasn't being distant because I wanted to."

She nestled her head into the crook of his neck, "It's okay. I sort of like the idea of just us knowing, like our own little secret oath. But... I don't exactly want to hide us, either."

"So how about we just wait for everyone to find out, yeah? Not tell them directly, but not hide anything."

"I have a feeling the whole bloody country will know by the end of the week if we do that."

He chuckled lightly, "I think you're right about that, darling."