Don't Think I Can Fight This Anymore

Trip,

We’ll talk more about it later, but Ian looked into the tip from the network. Someone at the Ministry has pulled all of our files and has been asking questions about our activities during the war. We need to be very careful. Someone is looking to exile us, if not worse. Don’t give them any reason to.

I also talked to Vikram. The network tip off is not about the ministry. Something else is in motion, but I don’t know what. Do not tell Quinn, Tess or Colin about any of this. Tess just wrote me saying she’s pregnant and Quinn doesn’t need the paranoia.

My best,
-Evelyn

~*~

Evelyn walked through the hedge maze with Trip and Sherlock. Behind them, Malfoy manor was dark aside from wand light occasionally illuminating windows.

“Stop.” Trip hissed, and the trio all stood still.

The hedges rustled with the evening breeze. Stars twinkled above. Sherlock sniffed the grass and whimpered.

“Sorry. Thought I heard something.”

“It’s fine.” Evelyn said, holding her wand aloft and peering forward. “You’re still jumpy from the school. I am too.”

Evelyn certainly did not look jumpy. They kept walking until they reached a fork. Trip looked at Evelyn.

“You okay if we split up?”

She snorted. “I’ve gotta worry about you. Want to take Sherlock?”

“Funny.”

Evelyn and Sherlock took the left hand passage, and Trip went right. Evelyn walked slowly, taking in her surroundings. So far, there hadn’t been any barriers in the maze. But that could change very easily.

A twig snapped.

Evelyn froze, dropping down and grabbing Sherlock by the collar. When Trip didn’t want to be seen or heard, he was impossible to find. There was no way he would have stepped on a twig. So, either it was a decent sized animal, or…

...or there was someone else in the maze with them.

A glimmer of light flashed by, crossing Evelyn’s path up ahead.

“Come on, Sherlock!” Evelyn said, jumping up and running towards the light.

Sherlock bounded before her, charging after whoever was ahead. Evelyn rounded the corner and pounded along. Whoever it was, she could tell from here he was big, and moving slow.

“Crucio!” he roared over his shoulder.

Evelyn dodged and kept running. Why wasn’t this guy going faster? Somewhere, Trip heard the commotion and was calling her name.

“Crucio!”

The curse missed Sherlock by inches. The labrador made one last bounding leap and sank his teeth into the man’s thigh. He roared and bellowed, trying to shake Sherlock off, but the loyal hound held on.

“Stupefy!” Evelyn cried, but the curse missed his ear by an inch.

The light, however, threw his face into sharp relief. Rodolphus Lestrange. He finally succeeded in shaking Sherlock off, who flew into a hedge. Evelyn shrieked curses and chased him again, trusting Sherlock to be okay but seeing red at the treatment of her dog.

Evelyn burst into the center of the maze, and dodged a curse.

Lestrange chuckled. “Oh, you are as good as they say, Finch.”

“It’s over, Lestrange.” Evelyn said clearly. “Your lord is gone.”

He grinned a terrible smile at her. “He is. But the idea is not.”

“Incarcer - “

But he turned on the spot, and disappeared. Evelyn took deep breaths as Sherlock trotted out of the maze behind her, leaves stuck in his fur but otherwise alright. He had baited her. Led her into the center of the maze. But why?

“Finch!” Trip called again.

Evelyn saw a seal in the very center of the court yard. Sherlock sniffed the edge of it and whimpered. She pointed her wand at it. “Alohomora.”

The seal slid to the side and Evelyn crouched next to Sherlock, scratching his ears. “Good boy. Stay.”

Evelyn swung her feet over the edge and Sherlock whimpered again. Evelyn smiled at him and slid off the edge, falling a few feet and landing neatly. “Lumos.”

The wand light spilled over the floor, and it was supposed to reveal a very dirty and bloody Sylvia bound to a chair. Evelyn was supposed to find her barely breathing, blood caked on her cheek. Her shirt was supposed to be ripped to show the black stain on her chest.

Instead, Charlie was bound to the chair. He stirred and tried to open his eyes. “Evelyn.” he whispered.

“Nooooo!”

Evelyn screamed and shot upright in her bed, clutching at the sheets around her. Realizing she was safe in her bed, she covered her eyes with her hand and breathed deeply. Dreams had been more frequent for her lately, even when she drank.

There was the jingling sound of dog tags and Sherlock got up from the rug he usually slept on and jumped onto the bed. He stood over her legs and licked the back of Evelyn’s hand. Evelyn sighed and reached to scratch behind his ears.

“I’m alright.” she muttered. “It’s alright, Sherlock.”

Sherlock moved forward and lay down, resting his nose just below her pillows. He didn’t believe her for a second. Evelyn lay back down and scratched his head until she finally fell back asleep, holding his collar like it would steady her.

~*~

Evelyn had pulled on jeans and a loose grey shirt to go to the Ministry to train aurors that day. She could never be bothered with robes. In fact, she sort of hated them.

She looked at the fountain in the lobby, ignoring the robed witches and wizards staring openly at her. The fountain had been rebuilt shortly after the war. It featured Albus Dumbledore, peering down at her with a kind expression. Carved on every brick the fountain was built with were the names of every single witch or wizard who had died fighting Voldemort.

Evelyn looked sadly at the names. There were so many.

“You look like hell.”

Evelyn turned around and grimaced at Ian. “Sorry, Sarge. Didn’t sleep well.”

“That bad?”

Evelyn crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. “Bad dream. It was about Lestrange, again.”

Ian sighed. No wonder she was staring at the fountain. “War’s over, Evelyn. You’ve got to let it go.”

“It’s not over until we catch him.” she said fiercely. “Three years and no sight of him. I don’t want to know what he’s been doing. He and his crazy wife...at least she’s dead. But he was basically the second in command and he’s still out there!”

“Something else is bothering you.” Ian said, unnerved by her agitation. She had been getting so much better lately. “What’s wrong?”

She sighed. “In the dream, I’m supposed to find Sylvia, right? Center of the maze, down the hole. You read my report. But I go down there and...it’s Charlie. He’s down there.”

“I didn’t realize you liked him so much.”

Her grimace became more pronounced. “So not the point right now.”

Ian shook his head. “Come on, you’ll feel better after you beat up a few of my trainees.”

~*~

Evelyn sighed as she let Sherlock back into the apartment. Tea service had been a long and arduous affair today. A table of sixteen witches each with their own allergies, which Evelyn was convinced were preferences and not allergies, and demanded her full attention despite the fact every other table was full. Then she had slipped on a fallen water glass and cut her hand open, a shard of glass burrowing so deep it almost went straight to the bone. Jackie was fairly proficient at healing those sorts of things, but even now Evelyn knew it would probably scar.

She sat outside and watched the fish while Sherlock did his business. God, what she’d give to have the simple life of a fish.

Evelyn changed into an oversized Montreal Canadiens t-shirt and a pair of shorts then turned on the record player. There was a stack of CDs she had recently bought, waiting to be transfigured into vinyls to be played. She ignored the new music and slipped the Smashing Pumpkins into the player.

As soon as she lay on the couch there was a knock on the door. Instinctively, she looked to Sherlock. She hadn’t been expecting anyone.

But Sherlock sniffed the crack under the door, and started to wag his tail and turn in a circle. A friend, then. Evelyn sighed dramatically and considered not answering. Whoever it was knocked again and Sherlock spun even faster.

She got up and crossed the room, and swung open the door. “What - “

Charlie swooped in and picked her up, planting kisses between words. “I. Missed. You.”

“What are you doing here?” Evelyn demanded as he planted kisses all over her face. Sherlock was having a fit as he jumped on Charlie to say hello. “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow!”

“I managed to leave earlier than I thought.” He grinned, finally setting her back down. “And Mum already knows I’m staying with George, so…”

Evelyn rolled her eyes and watched him bend down to greet Sherlock. “Your mother had seven children. I think she knows exactly where you are.”

He looked up at her. “Do you not want me here?”

She looked down at the red head, and thought about Ian’s words when she told him about her nightmare. That had been the fifth that Charlie appeared in. Did she really like him that much?

“I want you here.” she said. “Sorry. It’s just been a long day.”

He straightened back up and kissed her again. “Good.”

Evelyn looped her arms around his neck and pointed her wand at his bag, still sitting in the hallway. It shuffled into the apartment and the front door shut. He tightened his grip on her waist and started to gently push her back towards the bedroom.

“Charlie.” she whined. “I just told you I had a long day.”

“I can help you relax.” he muttered into her neck, then grinned as she shivered..

“Somehow, I sincerely doubt that.”

He pushed her against the wall of the hallway and moved his hands up her loose t-shirt. “That’s because you never let me.”

He moved his hand down to her crotch and rubbed it through the fabric.She moaned, but grabbed his wrist to push his hand elsewhere.

“Evelyn.” he sighed. “If you don’t let me work, I will tie you up.”

“I’d like to see you try.” she smirked.

“Oh, I will. And I have a feeling that you would like it.”

Charlie kissed her again, before she could get in a snarky reply. He moved his hands back to her hips, but only to move her to the bedroom. She yanked his shirt over his head and he pushed her down onto her bed.

And Evelyn, the girl who never surrendered, gave in.

~*~

“I did miss you, you know.”

She was curled into him, head resting on his chest. He curled strands of brown hair around his fingers. They had really only spent three days together, but Charlie had her whole body memorized. He thought of her so much when they were apart, reading her letters in her voice, that when they were together he took in every detail. The creamy ivory skin blemished by ink. The tiny mole inside her thigh. The way her chest moved as she breathed. The way she walked, each step a part of a dance. The occasional glimpse of the monster hiding in the skin of a beautiful woman. The way the visits always left him with more questions than answers, trying to discover her.

“Me, or this?” she asked wryly.

“Both.”

She looked up at him. “I missed you too.”

He lifted her hand and softly kissed the inside of her wrist, his eyes locked on hers. Evelyn involuntarily shuddered. He knew exactly what he was doing.

And even though she was lying with him. Even though her coarse pubic hair was pushed against his leg. Even though she could feel his penis getting hard again and pushing into her stomach, his eyes freely roaming her body. None of that was even close to as intimate as that gesture had been.

“Oh. Shit.”

Evelyn leapt out of bed and started hap-hazardly pulling clothes on.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve got to let Sherlock out.”

Her face was tinged with pink as she pulled her shorts over her bare ass and covered her naked chest with her t-shirt. She dashed out of the room and Charlie fell back onto the bed, smiling to himself.

She liked him. He could see it.

It was enough to drive her to sit at the edge of the koi pond and light a cigarette.