Dum Spiro Spero

Chapter 16

An owl interrupted Evalyn's date with Sirius. She had taken the floo to where he was staying, and he had set up a movie night for her. He was in the middle of giving her a shoulder massage when the small bird flew in. Immediately he pouted before grasping the letter. "Bloody bird." He muttered as he passed the letter to Evalyn.

She opened it up, and the couple read the contents together.

'Dearest Evalyn,

Guess who has come back to Hogwarts? Your favorite Weasley! I am writing because I was going to invite you to meet some friends of mine. When you have some free time, per Dumbledore's request (as well as mine), meet with me in the woods near Hagrid's. Preferably tomorrow at noon.

Charlie

P.S. Wear something comfortable.'

Sirius pouted even more at the note. Evalyn turned to him with an amused look. "What's wrong Padfoot?" He crumpled the note and tossed it in the fire.

His arms snaked around her waist and pulled her in closely. "He better not try anything, I will come out of hiding." The blonde chuckled as his lips pressed against her forehead.

"It's just Charlie, he doesn't mean anything by it." She cupped his cheeks and kissed his nose. "You're cute when you're jealous."

"You're mine Lynnie." The way he looked at her filled her heart with joy. It was like she was the brightest star in the sky, like she was the most beautiful being in the universe. To him, she was everything. The sun, the moon, the air he breathed.

Her eyes sparkled with many emotions and she pulled him close. "Always. I'll come back right after I'm done okay?" The man kissed her in response before nipping at her jaw.

"Let me worship every inch of you tonight love." Her face turned bright red and she squealed as he threw her over his shoulder and ran to the bedroom.

The next day she sat upon a rock, twirling her wand between her fingers as she waited for Charlie. She cast a warming charm around herself to protect her from the nippy air. A twig snapping made her turn her head to the side. A burly red head with a burn scar on his neck stood frozen with his hands up. A mischievous smirk on his face told her his plan was to scare her. "Charlie?!" She stood up and gave him a big smile. "You were shorter than me last time I saw you!"

He stepped forward, "The one and only! Now tell me, am I old enough yet?"

Evalyn shook her head fondly, "Sorry, still too young and I'm still married." She held up her hand to show off her ring. He rolled his eyes playfully and shrugged.

"Eh worth a shot, how's the second love of my life doing?" Charlie wrapped an arm around her shoulder to guide her to the surprise.

Evalyn gaped at him and placed a hand to her chest, "You've demoted me? Who's first?"

The sudden sound of a roar and chains clanking startled her. She looked to Charlie in confusion. The Weasley laughed at her expression. "Dragons of course." He pulled her to a stop in front of 4 massive dragons. A groups of witches and wizards working with each one. "They're here for the first task."

Evalyn's heart dropped, "These children are fighting dragons? How can Dumbledore possibly agree to that?" Charlie's humor faltered for a minute.

"I'll make sure they are safe Evalyn, you can trust me."

As soon as she returned home, she paced back and forth through the kitchen. Grey eyes watched her with slight amusement. "Love, you are going to wear a hole in the floor. They will be fine, Charlie and his team won't let them get too injured." Evalyn's hair flickered at his comment.

"I wouldn't even know how to fight a dragon, and they expect a 14 year old to do it? Which daft cow came up with this?" Sirius chuckled while wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. His chin rested on top of her head as he swayed back and forth. The sound of his humming steadied her racing heart. "How are you so calm about this?"

"It's because you need me to be. Believe it or not, I've grown." He gave her a smug look. "I'm not all action first, think later anymore." Evalyn scoffed at him. "Okay, maybe I do want to go up there and hex every single person who is forcing Harry to do this. BUT, your stress comes first. I want to be able to help you relax before we do anything."

"Awe that was actually very mature of you Pads, I'm so proud of you." Evalyn wiped away a fake tear.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Now, can we please play a prank on Minnie since you are going back to the castle?"

The day of the first task came and Evalyn was getting weary glances from all of the ministry workers present. She was on her way to wish the students good luck, when Mr. Crouch and Ludo Bagman stopped in front of her. The former eyed her distastefully, while the latter fidgeted anxiously in her presence. "Good day Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman." Evalyn did her best to remain polite, even though she could tell she was not wanted here.

"Hello Mrs. Black. Any news on your missing husband?" Mr. Crouch glanced down to the ring on her finger. In a smooth motion, she shifted on her feet and crossed that hand over the other, making her ring stand out even more.

"I'm afraid I haven't heard from him, I do apologize for that inconvenience."

"Are you sure you haven't seen him around? I thought you would be the first person he looked for when he made it out. Mad that one is, murdering his best friend." Evalyn felt the rage start to boil beneath her skin.  It was unfair that Peter Pettigrew got away. Unfair that her husband has to be treated so poorly.

Evalyn's smile was forced, and it took everything in her to not loose her mind. "Trust me Mr. Crouch, if I see him, you'll be the first to know."

Just as he was about to reply, Charlie stepped in between the three. He offered his arm out to Evalyn like a true gentleman. "Mrs. Black, pleasure to see you once again." He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You have to control it, your eyes were about to do the thing."

A bright flash stunned her and an annoying voice pierced her ears. "My, what a lovely group of people!"

A devilish grin overtook Evalyn's face. "Rita Skeeter is it?" The witch nodded excitedly. "Pleasure, I was just talking to these fine men about how they forced an underage wizard to compete in this without consulting their legal godmother."

"Well, Mrs. Black, we would have contacted you if we knew where you were located. I'm afraid our owls couldn't find you."

A chuckle left her lips as she looked at the men. "Funny, I received owls from everyone else, it's not like I was in hiding." Rita eyed the confrontation greedily. In her head the storylines ran numerous.

"It's time Evalyn, your help was requested with the dragons." Charlie started to pull Evalyn away, but was stopped by Rita.

"And who might you be? I'm dying to know who stole Evalyn's heart after Sirius Black." Charlie could practically feel the fire radiating in Evalyn, so he pretending like he didn't hear her words and kept walking. When they reached the privacy of the dragon enclosures, Evalyn pushed herself away from Charlie with a groan.

"Let it out Evalyn, nobody's around to get hurt." He stepped a couple meters away, just to be safe. The witch pulled at her hair in frustration before sending three fireballs at a giant rock. The smoke rose from her hands and faded into the air. Once she stood still, he spoke again. "Feel better yet?" Evalyn gave a small nod. "Good, because when I tell you this, you might panic."

Evalyn paled, she didn't like the sound of that. "What is it?"

"Harry got the Hungarian Horntail. But as I said before, I'm here to make sure he will not get hurt."

Her hand went to her mouth, and her eyes widened. "Helga help us."