Dum Spiro Spero

Chapter 4

The two walked together down a couple corridors in silence. Occasionally, Evalyn would glance over at her godson to see furrowed brows. It's the same face James made when he thought too hard about something. She waited for him to say what was on his mind, but when words didn't come, she spoke first. "What is it Harry?" He took two steps in front of her, opening up doors leading to a bridge outside. She gave him a quick thank you as he held it open for her.

"Do you think he is going to kill me?" Harry refused to meet her eyes as he asked the question. "They say he wants to kill me because I took out his Lord"

Evalyn faltered briefly. She came to a stop on the bridge to look out into the distance. The sun was starting to set and the sky looked absolutely breathtaking. Harry stood next to her, anxiously awaiting her answer.

"Do you want to hear what I truly believe? Or would you rather I tell you something that sounds more believable."

Her words puzzled him, how could her honest words possibly sound like a lie? "Can I hear both?"

Evalyn nodded and leaned her arms onto the railing. "I don't believe he would ever hurt you. The man has a lot of issues, jealousy, quick to assumptions, trust issues, and he could not cook whatsoever. But his heart was pure. If you had a piece of it, you could believe that he would stop at nothing to protect you. He loves like no other. If there was something you needed, he would drop everything to do it. So no, I don't believe a soul like his would try to kill you."

Harry scoffed, turning a bright shade of pink when he realized Evalyn heard him. She ignored it, knowing that he had no reason to trust her words. "If that's true, why is everyone else telling me otherwise?" The boy looked up to her while she stared off into the distance.

"It's probably because I'm the only one who still hopes. Hopes that he didn't do the things they say he did. Hopes that his beautiful heart isn't tainted. And I will continue to hope for the best as long as I live."

He said nothing, he didn't believe that someone so nice could love the monster that is Sirius Black. For a moment, they stood in silence. Evalyn held onto her locket. The young boy finally spoke again, with a little hesitation in his voice. "Did you know my parents?"

Her heart clenched at the thought of her former friends. "I did. It was around the last of our Hogwarts years that I became friends with them. Your mother was the nicest person. She gave the greatest advice, and always made sure the people around her were shown love. She was exceptionally bright and an expert at magic, one of the best of our class. Your father was always so amazed by her talent and personality. He became my closest friend. People compared us to siblings. Somehow, we always knew what the other needed or felt. We spent many nights cooking together or with him plaiting my hair while we cried over silly things." She gestured to her braids. "They often paired us together for missions during the war since we just worked in sync."

Harry took his glasses off to wipe the tears from his eyes. While he did that, Evalyn could have sworn she saw a black dog sitting in the distance by a tree. She put her hand on Harry's shoulder and guided him back to the door. "Off to bed now Harry, it's getting late." She glanced back over her shoulder one last time, only to find an empty spot next to the tree.

After making sure Harry made it back to his dorm, she went to Remus' sleeping quarters. Her hand hovered over the door, hesitating. Without even having to knock, the door creaked open where a sleepy Remus stood. "Damn werewolf senses." She muttered as she pushed past him.

He sighed as he shut the door following her to a set of chairs where she plopped down. "Yes, let yourself in Evalyn." The werewolf deadpanned at her. She looked up, seeing the slight joyful glimmer in his eyes and shrugged.

"To be fair, I was going to turn back around before you opened the door." Evalyn summoned a blanket, tucking her feet underneath her.

"Whats on your mind?" His knees cracked as he took his on seat. He stretched out his joints carefully.

"What are the chances he would come here?" Evalyn leaned her head back to look at the ceiling. Her fingers twisted her ring around anxiously.

Releasing a calm breath, he looked over her carefully. Remus trusted that if she got word from Sirius, she would let him know. "I think he might, both you and Harry are here. I wouldn't be surprised."

The witch nodded and closed her eye. "Can I stay here tonight?"

Remus conjured up a second bed and smiled warmly, "Of course Evalyn." She climbed into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and looked at Remus.

"Love you Rem."

He ran a friendly hand through the top of her hair, "Love you too Snitch."

The lesson they were going over in DADA was boggarts. Each class they covered the spell Riddikulus. Evalyn and Remus found out that morning that she would not be allowed to demonstrate in front of younger students. Her boggart was too scary to show them. It started as the younger Tom Riddle, using Crucio repeatedly on her. Then it switched to her husband, standing over the bodies of all of her loved ones. However, instead of it being him that killed all of them, she stared into the eyes of her own boggart self as she murdered Sirius. The blood of all of her loved ones splattered on her face and soaked her hands. Remus would rather give up the secret of his own fear to the students rather than have her experience that again. It took all of breakfast to try and convince her that none of it was her fault. The first class were older students, 5th year she believes.

As they sat down, she recognized a few familiar faces. Amos' son for sure was the Hufflepuff smiling in the second row. He was still friendly with her, but Evalyn had distanced herself from him out of fear. Twin redheads came through the door last, nearly 5 minutes late. Fred and George. Arthur had been a saint after the incident, but Molly was weary about the situation which was understandable. The twins laughed loudly, covering the sounds of the chattering with their mischievous jokes. The cabinet at the front of the class shook rapidly, causing the clutter of sounds to silence. After the lesson, one by one the students took on the boggart rather successfully.

Next class was third years. They all sat down. Remus started his lesson the exact same way, with Neville taking the lead. Evalyn offered comfort to the students who still had anxieties after seeing the boggart and gave a review of the information if necessary. As the line progressed, Harry made it to the front. Evalyn gaped as a dementor appeared. Remus nearly shoved him out of the way, and her heart grew sad at the sight of the full moon. However, her face was that of cool indifference as to not give away any unnecessary information to the students. Remus ended the lesson calling Harry to stay behind.

"Why didn't you let me stop the boggart?" Harry asked Remus while Evalyn walked towards them.

"I honestly thought it would be somebody else." The professor offered a sympathetic look towards the young boy. Harry shifted uncomfortably while Evalyn turned her attention to him.

She softly said "Are you that afraid of them?"

He shrugged, "I guess so, I'm not too sure honestly. I didn't think I was."

Evalyn put a hand on his shoulder, "Sometimes it's not the actual thing itself that you are afraid of, it's the meaning of the feeling that it gives you that is actually the scary part."

Harry nodded and left the room to find his friends. Evalyn sat on one of the desks while Remus reorganized the room. "Remember when you boys taught me? That day was one of my favorites."

He looked at her, confusion written all over his face, "Yes, where are you going with this?"

Evalyn smiled cheekily in return, "I think he can do it."