In Her Eyes Lies Her Heart

Harry woke up the next morning feeling miserable and worried. He dressed and left the tower quickly, trying to avoid the Creevey brothers, who were gesturing to him to come to their table. Harry did not want to face his fellow Gryffindors’ cheering and congratulations. Therefore, when a toast laden Hermione bumped into him on the stairs and asked if he would like to take a walk, he accepted enthusiastically. They walked out onto the grounds and sat beneath a large birch tree beside the lake to eat and talk.
Harry told Hermione about how Ron had acted angry and put out when Harry had at last escaped the party in the common room to go up to bed.
Hermione said that Ron didn’t really believe that Harry put his name in, but that he was jealous, since Harry was always getting the spotlight. “I know you don’t ask for the attention, Harry… but- well- you know, Ron’s got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you’re his best friend, and you’re really famous- he’s always shunted to the side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many….”
“Great,” said Harry bitterly. “Really great. Tell him from me I’ll swap any time he wants, he’s welcome to it… People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go….”
“I’m not telling him anything,” Hermione said shortly. “Tell him yourself. It’s the only way to sort this out.”
“I’m not running around after him trying to make him grow up!” said Harry so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. “Maybe he’ll believe I’m not enjoying myself once I’ve got my neck broken or--”
“That’s not funny,” said Hermione quietly. “That’s not funny at all. Harry, I’ve been thinking – I think you need to write to Sirius. You’ve got to tell him what’s happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that’s going on at Hogwarts… It’s almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me --”
“Come off it,” said Harry, looking around to check that they could not be overheard. “He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He’ll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone’s entered me in the Triwizard Tournament--”
“He’d want you to tell him, said Hermione sternly. “He’s going to find out anyway, I’m sure it’s already being written up in the papers as we speak. Sirius would rather hear it from you, I know he would.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell him,” said Harry, taking the parchment from Hermione. He wrote up a quick letter telling Sirius about what happened, leaving out the anxiety he was feeling, and signed it. When he stood to begin walking to the castle, he saw Eve descending from the Beauxbatons carriage. She still had not given him any answers, and when she caught his eye, she seemed to want to talk.
“Hermione, d’you think you could take this up for me? I need to talk to Eve.” Harry said, handing Hermione the rolled up letter. She took it with a curious expression, and then left for the owlry.
Harry sat back down and waited for Eve. She approached so quietly that, had she not sat down right next to him, he would not have known she was there.
“So--” Harry began, but Eve cut him off.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” she said. “I don’t really understand this either, so I may not have all the answers. And there are some things I won’t tell you, so don’t get upset if I don’t tell you everything.”
Harry nodded his acceptance and thought for a moment about the questions he wanted to ask.
“Why am I the only one who sees that you have red eyes?” He asked, finally. Eve shook her head.
“You started with the question I don’t have the answer to. You’re only the second person to see my eyes this way, and I don’t know why,” she stretched her legs out in front of her.
“Have they always been that color?” asked Harry.
“No,” she replied, with a tone that let Harry know he wasn’t going to get any more out of her on that subject.
“Okay, so how old are you,” he asked.
Eve gave a short, humorless laugh. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you that it’s rude to ask a lady’s age, Harry?” She sighed. “I’ve been walking this earth for a very long time; I can’t even give you a date. Sometime before the beginning of King Arthur’s court I believe…”
Harry gaped at her. “King Arthur? That means you’re over a thousand years old!”
“Yes, I know,” she said, somewhat sadly.
“How are you a thousand years old? You look like you’re our age,” Harry was sputtering in his shock.
“I was cursed shortly after my sixteenth birthday. It froze my aging process, so that I must walk the earth forever in this body. As much as I enjoy getting to watch the world grow and change, I’m tired of being sixteen.” She finished in a whisper, looking out over the lake, glassy eyed.
Harry felt a sudden urge to comfort her, but quelled it. “Who cursed you?” He asked, unable to stop his curiosity.
Eve looked at him, a hard glint in her eye. “A dear old man by the name of Merlin.”

Harry had so many new questions swirling through his mind that he forgot to be upset about Ron, and was too distracted to notice the cold glares he received from the Hufflepuffs the next day. Ron was still not talking to him, however, which only got worse over the next few weeks.
Harry and Hermione were spending a lot of time together now that Ron was not talking to him. Looking things up and studying was Hermione’s favorite activity, and he was often by her side in the library, fighting boredom. The one thing that kept Harry going in the endless hours without Ron as his best friend was the company of Eve. She did not mention any of what they had discussed by the lake that Sunday, so he took after her lead and kept silent. She sat with them in the library and at meals, giving snide remarks every now and then that forced Harry to swallow laughter. During the weeks leading up to the first task, Harry found that being around Eve lessened his anxiety. She had a distinct witty sarcasm that he had not expected from her, and a free laugh that dispelled any bad thoughts from his mind.

However, as the task loomed closer, Eve could sense his mood becoming dark, and took to following him about the castle. She found herself in her ermine form far more often than her human one. In the time she had spent with him, Eve decided that Harry was not one who took being watched and followed well, so she made sure to keep to the shadows. She left him only once he went to the common room for the night, and was waiting for him when he woke in the mornings. Harry’s suffering was plain. The Slytherins were horrible, but from what she’d gathered about Harry’s relationship with them, this behavior was not unusual. However, the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws were very cold towards him, feeling he had cheated, and was stealing Cedric’s glory. He was tense, and on edge, and his temper remained very close to the surface. One afternoon, after Rita Skeeter published an article about Harry that quoted him saying that he cried about his parents regularly, Eve was perched on the bannister of the rail separating the hallway from a small courtyard. Harry came out of his class and strode off down the corridor. Just as he passed where Eve sat, a fourth year girl called out to him.
“Hey- Harry!”
“Yeah that’s right!” Harry shouted, wheeling around. Eve jumped down and scurried around the corner. “Yeah, I’ve just been crying my eyes out over my dead mum, and I’m just off to do it a bit more!”
“No- I just- you dropped your quill.” The girl looked halfway between frightened and embarrassed.
“Oh, right… Sorry, Cho, I just…” He flushed. “Thanks.”
“Er… good luck on Tuesday,” she said. “I really hope you do well.” She walked away quickly and turned the corner.
“Good one, Harry.” Said Eve, stepping around the corner, disguised as a Gryffindor student. “Very smooth. Keep going like that and she’ll marry you within the week.”
Harry glared at her.
“Oh come now, Harry. I mean it! She’s head over heels for you. Nothing like good shouting match to get a girl going.” She winked.
“Oh, shut up, Eve.” Harry said, irritated. “Have you been following me?”
“I wouldn’t say following you, Harry.” Eve said pulling her hair back into a knot. “More like observing your idiosyncrasies. You’re absolutely fascinating, you know. Cursing fellow students, refusing to speak to your best mate, shouting at girls you fancy… all very telling. So much angst, its nearly unbearable.” She smirked at him.
“Sounds like following to me,” said Harry, disgruntled. But he smiled slightly when Eve bumped him with her shoulder to show she was joking.
“There you go, Harry.” She gestured to his smile. “Try doing a bit more of that adorable grin of yours, and maybe you will get her to marry you within the week.”