CHAPTER 11: RETURN OF THE DARK LORD


"Amazing..." Eva flipped through the pages of a huge book she had found in the library.

"Hey Eva! What are you looking at?"

Eva quickly slammed the book. "Oh nothing much..." She then tried to change the subject. " So where were you guys? I've been waiting for the longest time."

Harry sat down beside her. "Sorry, Ron and I had quidditch practice, and Hermione waited for us."

Ron, being the nosy one grabbed the book underneath Eva's arms. "Hmm....Magics' Mysteries: Tales of Myths and Legends? You interested in this stuff?"

Eva quickly grabbed the book. "Of course...it's quite amazing how there are still mysteries even to the magic folk."

Hermione frowned. "You can't possibly believe in all that nonsense! Like they say, they are only myths and legends. There is no proof that any of these things exist."

Ron glared at Hermione. "How do you know? Mysteries are being unravelled everyday!"

Hermione grabbed the book from Eva and flipped through the pages. "Like look at this one! Muggles being able to obtain magical powers from a crystal in the depths of the ocean! Or this one! A witch or wizard posessing godly powers that they don't even need wands to create magic? A ruler of the magic world? Come on! Be serious! These things don't exist!"

Eva's eyes widen as Hermione read the tale out to them. She had missed it when reading the book. "You mean that ruler of the magic world is a myth?"

Hermione slowly closed the book. "Of course silly! Everyone knows there can't possibly be a witch or wizard that is capable of that power!"

Harry looked puzzled. "A ruler of the magic world?"

Ron nodded. "My dad used to tell us this, as a bedtime story when we were children. He says the ruler walks the earth like any ordinary witch or wizard but contains immense powers which are hidden deep within. It is said that this ruler controls the destiny of all who live in the magic realm."

Harry's eyes widen. "Wow, can you imagine if this person is actually real? I mean, it could be a student at our school right at this moment!"

"Hello?! Earth to Eva!"

"Huh? What?" Eva's thoughts were interrupted as Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at her oddly.

"You ok? You've been acting strangely lately..."

Eva forced a smile. "What are you talking about? I'm always this strange." She quickly packed up her books and stood up from the table they were sitting at. "Well, thanks for the chat but I'm gonna take a break so I'll catch you guys later." With that, she left the study hall.

Ron frowned. "Odd girl that Eva..."



It was time for the class that Eva had feared all day. Defence Against the Dark Arts...with Sirius. She quickly dashed towards the back of the room, trying to hide her face behind her textbooks. Harry, Ron and Hermione watched her as Eva sat in the far corner, far away from the teacher's desk as possible.

Hermoine was confused. "What are you doing?" But she was interrupted as Sirius walked into class.

Throughtout the whole class, Eva tried to get as least attention as possible, making sure she didn't make a peep. Everytime Sirius would glance her way, she would quickly look down at her textbook, pretending to read up on counter-curses.

What seemed like a century, the class was finally over. Without saying anything, she dashed off into the hall and let out a huge breath. "Whew...."

Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly caught up with her. "Is something wrong Eva? How come you sat in the corner today?"

Ron grinned. "I know Harry is scary looking but you don't have to be afraid to sit near him."

Harry glared at Ron and punched him in the arm.

Eva forced out a weak smile. "No..no...I've just got a little cold, don't want anyone to catch it that's all."

Hermione frowned. "Oh you poor thing, do you want me to come to the hospital wing with you?"

"No that's not neccessary...I'm fine. Say don't you two have Quidditch practice soon?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah in like 5 minutes...but...are you sure you're ok?"

"Yep Yep! I'm gonna go back to the common room now to do some homework so I'll talk to you guys later kay?" With that, she dashed off again, leaving the three of them even more suspicious then before. They knew something was wrong...it was pretty obvious....but they just couldn't put their finger on it....



"Why? Why can't I just tell them?!"

Eva was fustrated, her head filling up with confusion. That wasn't the only problem. She still needed to resolve the problem with Sirius and the mystery of Remus too.... head witch was definitely not what it's cracked up to be. She didn't know how she could possibly handle all that responsibility.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted as she heard footsteps behind her. She quickly turned around but no one was there. The hall was empty and dark. It gave off a eerie feeling that made Eva shiver. Slowly, she began to continue walking, listening closely for any sounds. It was probably just some footsteps from another hallway, but it was getting way too creepy for her so she started to jog her way down the hall.

Suddenly she heard the footsteps again and she came to a stop. She didn't dare to turn around this time and stopped to listen but the footsteps had also stopped. Someone was following her.

Before she could start running, her scream was muffled as a hand wrapped around her mouth and snatched her down the hallway.



Eva kept on struggling, trying to break free, but the grip just grew tighter and tighter. It seemed strange though since the grip was more gentle then it should be. This person wasn't trying to hurt her. She looked up and stared into a pair of familiar dark eyes. It was Sirius.

"Sirius?"

He looked at her and took his hand off her mouth, beforing setting her down on the floor.

"You totally scared me back there! What are you...."

"Shh!" Sirius quickly grabbed Eva's arm before she could finish speaking and dragged her down toward the hospital wing.

Eva relaxed a bit knowing she was in good hands, but why did he just grab her in the hallway, being so mysterious like that, when he could have just talked to her? Did he not trust her anymore? Because...because he thought she was a freak? Where was he taking her?

Sirius paused and looked around the hallway before entering the hospital wing and letting go of Eva's arm. Eva slowly backed away as Sirius eyed her suspiciously. What did he want from her?

Eva tried to escape from his glance as she sat beside Remus.

Sirius slowly followed and placed his hand on hers. "I'm sorry Eva....I didn't mean to scare you like that...I just needed to bring you to a quiet place where we can talk....and you've been avoiding me all day so I just had to catch you by surprise or you would have never agreed to speak with me."

Eva didn't want to look at Sirius. "I know what you think....you must think I'm a monster now...." Tears started to swell up in her eyes as she looked at Sirius. "But you've got to believe me! I don't want to hurt anyone! I was just trying to help!"

Sirius smiled as he wiped the tears off Eva's cheeks. "Silly girl, why would I possibly think that? Believe me, I know a monster when I see one and I've never met a monster as sweet and pretty as you."

Eva smiled and couldn't help the urge to hug him. It seemed like all her troubles were going away.

He sat down beside her. "So.... is there something you want to tell me? I know I've asked you many times before, but I'm sure you can't possibly say nothing now. I don't want to force you to speak or anything but well...it's been on my mind for quite some time...."



Eva started to laugh. Sirius looked at her oddly. He didn't expect that. Eva didn't mean to laugh, she just couldn't help herself. I mean, if you saw what she had did that night of course there was something up, yet Sirius always tried to be calm and gentle, waiting patiently for an answer. "You know Sirius...you can just ask me what you want to know...don't have to beat around the bush all the time."

Sirius had a fake shocked look on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Eva smiled. Well she was this far ahead and there was no turning back. She might as well say it. "Let me take a wild guess. Question 1, who am I? Question 2, what am I? Am I right?"

Sirius laughed. "Hey, you said it yourself."

Eva shrugged. "Guess I was wrong, you don't want to know. Oh well, doesn't matter to me." She turned around and headed for the doors.

Of course, Sirius raced in front of her and blocked the doors. "Well you did ask the questions. Might as well answer them."

Eva shook her head. "You never give a straight answer do you? I mean if you want to know, you might as well say it."

Sirius grinned. "Now where's the fun in that?"

Eva started to laugh. The Marauder inside of him was still there, he'll never be able to grow up. Eva sighed. Once a Marauder, always a Marauder.

She was totally at ease now with Sirius. She completely forgot why she was afraid to tell him in the first place. "Ok, let's get serious here." With that, she grabbed Sirius' arm and sat him down. "I've got a lot of explaining to do."

Sirius' grin disappeared. This was what he's been wanting to know ever since he met Eva. He knew there was something special about her. He just didn't know how special she really was.



Eva started to pace around the room. She was debating on how to explain this sitiuation, without him ending on the hospital bed again. "So....have you ever heard of the head witch?"

Sirius looked at her oddly. "You mean head of the Ministry of Magic?" His eyes suddenly popped out. "You're head of the Ministry of Magic?! I thought Cornelius Fud..."

Eva started to laugh. "Of course not! What are you thinking! I meant head witch in more mythical terms, you know...ruler of the magic world? The legend? What do you know about that?"

Sirius started to ponder. "I've heard about this once a long time ago....something about...a person posessing magic more powerful than any ordinary witch or wizard....someone who roams the earth, disguised as an ordinary person, ruling over the magic world...." It suddenly came to him. "A person who has powers right in the tips of their fingers...one who does magic without a wand...." He stared at Eva in disbelief. "It can't be...."

Eva smiled. "Crazy huh? That's why I didn't want to tell anyone....well I'm not supposed to anyways...guess I messed up on this one."

Sirius was in awe. "So the legends are true....Bloody hell! Standing right in front of me is the living proof too! The most powerful magic being of all time!"

Eva laughed. "I'm not that great! And I'm not exactly a head witch...yet. I was sent to Hogwarts to do some training....you know...familiarize myself with this world."

Sirius was filled with admiration. He suddenly stood up and grabbed Eva's hands. "No wonder you're such a brilliant student! You know practically everything! Oh I wish you could have come in my days at Hogwarts! You could have joined the Marauders! That would have been so much fun! It would have been so much easier to...." Sirius stopped and started to blush. She didn't know grown-ups could blush, but then, this was Sirius she was talking about. "Oh sorry...just got carried away...."

Eva laughed. She thought about how it would be like to be a Marauder. That would have been so much fun. "You must tell me more about your adventures when you were little, and about James, Lily and everyone!" She was so thrilled that she started to forget to be more discreet about this. "Oh! And the Marauder's Map! That's amazing how you guys made that. I wouldn't have thought of that in a million years! How about becoming animagus? Was that hard? Oh and can't forget the pranks on Snape! How did you guys...." Eva suddenly stopped. She had spilled too much information.

Sirius stopped smiling. "How....How do you know all about that?"

Eva was about to beat herself up. (Note to self: think before speaking.) "Uh...well that's another matter to discuss....it's quite complicated....but I can give you a brief summary...."

Sirius was again in a shock of amazement. "You mean there's more?"

Eva nodded. "Well...sort of...You see....before I was sent here I was living in the muggle world with books about this place."

Sirius stopped. "Books? Of our world? So the muggles know?!"

"Oh no! The books are non-existant now....but each book had followed a boy throughout his days in Hogwarts...all his adventures...people he meets.... I'm pretty sure you know who I'm talking about."

Sirius pondered a bit but then it hit him. "Harry...."

Eva nodded. "So that's why I know a little about you and your past."

Eva looked at Sirius's expression and knew this was all too much for him and decided to stop here. "I trust you not to tell anyone. I know I can trust you with this."

Sirius smiled. "You know me well then."

Eva felt so relieved to tell him all of this. Now there is one extra person she could talk to, without hiding anything from them. Later on, she figured out she could have used the spell obliviate to erase his memory, that way no rules would be broken, and everything would be back to the way it was, but.....she didn't.



For the next couple of hours, the two of them just sat in the hospital wing, talking about everything that had happened.

"So what is in store for the amazing Eva Chu now?"

Eva laughed. "Please don't tease me. I don't want everyone to make a big deal out of this." Eva hated too much attention. "So remember...Harry and them don't know about this....and I shouldn't tell any more people or the head witch will kill me."

Sirius grinned. "I may be always up to no good , but I'm not one to spill secrets."

Eva laughed. "It's quite amazing to think someone that arrogant can be so trustworthy."

Sirius glared at Eva. "Arrogant?!"

Eva laughed. "I don't like that look in your eyes....keep away...."

Suddenly, Sirius stopped. He was staring at Remus's bed. Eva turned her head and noticed he was moving around, and then a small groan was heard. Quickly, the two of them dashed beside him.

"Remus!"

Eva looked at Remus. He looked very pale and a cold sweat had broken out."You...You think he's better now?"

"I...I hope so...."

Suddenly, Remus's eyes shot wide open and sat up, looking as though he had just saw his worst nightmare. Eva gasped as she leapt backwards, almost falling to the ground.

Sirius was getting worried. "Remus! Remus, can you hear me?! Speak to me!"

Remus grabbed Sirius's shoulders and held it tight. First it was a couple of mumbles, then stuttering but the words were as clear as a bell in Eva's ears. That was because the next few words coming out of Remus's mouth was going to change Eva's life forever.

"The...The Dark Lord is b..b..back! V...V...Voldermort has..has...has...returned!"



Eva stepped back, lost for words as Sirius tried to settle Remus down. "Eva! Help me hold him down!"

Eva snapped back into reality. "R..right..." Remus was flailing around, as if he was having a seizure. Eva and Sirius found it difficult to hold him down as the same words kept on repeating and repeating from Remus's mouth. Eva couldn't stand to see him like this. With a quick wave of her hand, Remus froze then quickly closed his eyes, dozing off into another deep sleep.

Sirius wiped his forehead and gasped for air. "Thanks..."

Eva stared at Remus. Bewildered. What did this all mean? She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see a worried look on Sirius's face. "What's wrong?"

"D..d..didn't you hear what he said just now? Aren't you worried?"

"Remus is still ill, probably just had a nightmare or something. There is nothing to worry about. It's impossible for him to return now. He was destroyed last summer. He's gone Eva, you don't have to worry about a thing."

Eva wished she could believe Sirius but she just couldn't get the horrible thought out of her head. Something was eating away at her and she could sense something was wrong. She gazed down at Remus, who looked quite calm as he slept on. "Poor Remus...."

Sirius hugged Eva. "It's gonna be alright...."

Eva looked up. She had to know. "What did happen during the summer?"

Sirius paused, as if he was debating if he should tell her or not. "I don't think I should be the one telling you....we should report back to Dumbledore about Remus first...then we'll deal with other things later."

With that, they both headed down towards Dumbledore's office. Eva was reluctant to leave. How come no one will tell her? What is everyone hiding? She looked up to see Sirius looking back towards the hospital wing. Eva could tell by his expression.....he felt something was wrong too.



Eva and Sirius swiftly walked down the corridor, not saying a word to each other. Eva looked up once in awhile to see Sirius's worried look as they approached the statue, hiding the hidden staircase that lead up to Dumbledore's office.

Quickly, Eva gave a wave of her hand and the statue gave way to the spiralling staircase. Sirius went up first, with Eva following behind him. As they slowly entered his office, Eva noticed it was very quiet.

"I guess Professor Dumbledore is not here at the moment...." She then glanced over to the perch where Fawkes and Fiera were sleeping. She slowly moved towards them while making sure she didn't wake them up. It did not succeed as Fiera stirred and slowly opened her eyes, greeted by Eva's warm smile. "Hey there...." She gently brushed Fiera's feathers.

At that moment, Professor Dumbledore had appeared in the doorway. "Good evening Miss. Chu, Mr. Black."

Sirius bowed his head. "Professor Dumbledore. Hope we are not disturbing you."

Dumbledore smiled as he walked towards his desk. "Not at all. Come, sit down."

"Sorry to come so late Professor Dumbledore..... but we really need to talk to you. It's about..." Eva glanced over at Sirius. "Professor Lupin."

Sirius jumped alittle. "Eva, weren't you going to talk about something else?"

Dumbledore paused Sirius and turned back to Eva, looking quite interested. "Do go on."

"Well uh....me and Professor Black were visiting him when he awoken."

Dumbledore didn't move nor did he smile. "I see...."

"And well.... he said.... something. Professor Black didn't think it was of great importance.... but well...it probably isn't but well....I'm starting to have my doubts."

Sirius jumped in. "It's nothing really, he was probably having some sort of nightmare and didn't know what he was saying.... he's ok now... Eva put him back to sleep."

Dumbledore put a hand up to stop Sirius. "What did he say Eva?"

"Well...uh...he said... the dark lord is back....that..." Eva started to shudder. "That Voldermort has returned...."

Eva looked up to see Dumbledore's grave expression as he sat back down, grasping the chair arm. He looked like he was about to collapse. "So it is true....he has finally returned."



Sirius quickly sat up. "What are you talking about Professor?!"

Dumbledore returned to his peaceful composture while calming down Sirius. "Settle down Sirius. There is much to tell....."

Eva had her head down, wondering what was happening....the fifth book....what was it called? She suddenly looked up. "Does it have to do with the Order of the Phoenix?"

Dumbledore looked a bit surprised. Seems that Eva shouldn't have known about it. "I can see you know more than what was intended...."

"Please Professor Dumbledore, I want to know everything that had happened that summer....there's something you're hiding isn't there?"

Sirius looked at Eva, then at Dumbledore, eager to hear the answer.

Dumbledore paused, as if thinking of how to answer then began to speak. "It seems I have no choice. I had meant to tell you sooner or later...come..."

Dumbledore got up and headed for the room where Eva usually had her lessons. Eva and Sirius followed but Dumbledore stopped Sirius as he opened the door. "I'm sorry Professor Black but I was instructed that only Miss. Chu can come in."

Sirius looked disappointed, a bit angry as well, but thought better of it and stepped back. He then glanced over at Eva, who knew by his expression that he was going to want to know everything and she had better tell him. Eva winked at him and he smiled. She had already told him so much. She might as well tell him what she was about to find out.



Dumbledore slowly closed the door behind him when Eva walked in. She looked around the room, expecting to find something different. "What do you want to show me Professor?"

Dumbledore walked to the middle of the room where a carved, shallow stone basin was sitting, hidden in the shadows. Eva approached slowly, noticing there was a bright, swirling, silver-white substance in it. It seemed so familiar to her.

Dumbledore looked in then motioned Eva to come closer. "Pensieve.... absolutely brilliant isn't it?"

Eva finally remembered. Harry had used Pensieve before to witness a trial after Voldermort's fall. She was going to see Dumbledore's thoughts. "Am I going to see what happened that summer?"

Dumbledore didn't smile but a twinkle in his eye showed that she was right. He backed away and stood beside the basin, waiting for Eva.

She approached the basin and looked in. All she could see was the swirling substance, urging her to touch it. She lifted back the sleeve of her robe and gently dipped her fingers in it. She shuddered. The liquid was like ice.

Suddenly, she noticed a faint image of a person. The person was running away from something...or someone. She tried to look closer and noticed it was a young boy, around her age. The black hair and green eyes had gave it away. "Harry?" He was stumbling around, running as fast as he could. He looked hurt. She leaned forward more, trying to find out who he was running from.....

"Whoops!" Her hand suddenly slipped from the rim of the basin and she fell in.



She opened her eyes, just in time to see herself falling into a black whirlpool, before the surroundings stopped spinning, and Eva was lying flat on the ground.

Her hands were searching the wet grass, when she found her glasses and put them back on.

"Whoa...." She made a reminder to herself not to fall in head first next time.

Slowly, she got up and brushed herself off when she noticed someone running towards her. It was Harry. She could see that his glasses were cracked and his robes were all dirty, as if he had fell many times. His head seemed to be bleeding as he strained to run faster.

"Harry?" She started to walk towards him when he just ran right past her. She could almost feel the hard breath, as Harry gasped for air. "Hey! Come back! Where are you going?!" She started to run towards him, reminding herself that this was all just a memory. It was not real....well, not anymore.

But it seemed all too real that she was getting afraid for Harry. He was really hurt. Suddenly, a bright green flash had zipped across her left side, barely missing Harry. He fell to the ground and his glasses flew off. Trying to get up as quickly as possible, he felt around the ground, searching for his glasses. Eva quickly tried to help him up but her hands just went right through him. She was like a ghost. All she could do was watch, as a tall figure in a dark robe walked up and stood right above them. Eva looked up and saw two cold, hard eyes staring back at her. A sudden shiver went up her spine and she felt paralyzed with fear. Even though she had never saw him before, nor even imagine how terrifying he could be, she didn't need to find out who it was.

It was the dark lord himself. Lord Voldermort.



She now knew why everyone was so afraid of him. Just being in his presence could already paralyze anyone in fear.

His spider-like fingers grasped his wand tightly and pointed it straight at Harry. A cold voice started to slither out from his mouth. "We meet once again, Mr. Potter....you have no where to hide now...no where to run. No one is going to protect you anymore....I will not make the same mistake by letting your life slip through my fingers again...."

Eva wanted to run towards him and knock his wand from his hand. She was getting mad at him for treating Harry like this, but she reminded herself she was only in a memory. Harry was going to be all right. She tried to calm herself down but deep down inside, something just didn't feel right.

An evil laugh interrupted her thoughts as Voldermort raised his wand once again. "Look at the famous Harry Potter now! Cowering in my presence! You will pay for what you have put me through! I will have my revenge!"

Harry wiped the blood from his mouth and stood up. Eva gasped as she noticed his wand laying beside his feet in a wreck. He was unarmed. "You are wrong Voldermort! You have no right to take the life of another! That is not the decision you have to make! I'm not afraid of you and soon...no one else will have to be...."

"What?" Voldermort stopped grinning as he heard a bird call through the sky. He looked up and noticed a phoeinx flying up above. It was Fawkes. He was getting angry and wanted to yell at Harry but Harry was looking at something else. He was looking behind him. Voldermort quickly turned around. Eva turned around to see what it was. It was Dumbledore leading a group of witches and wizards.



Their wands were raised to the sky when suddenly, Dumbledore shouted something out and a huge bright light was cast from their wands. Eva had to shield her eyes from the blinding light but still looked on in awe. The light had suddenly transformed into a huge phoenix, it's wings outstretched, filling the dark night sky with hope. Suddenly, it started to charge towards Voldermort.

He stumbled as he tried to run away from it but he raised his wand and yelled something out, when a bright light was cast from his wand. A huge explosion of light caused Eva to be knocked from her feet.

Lying on the ground, her eyes were starting to close as her surroundings started to spin. Suddenly, she noticed in the corner of her eye, a wisp of black smoke was heading towards her. The blood-red eyes of Voldermort was staring straight at her. "I will find you.....you will be mine...."

Eva screamed as she tried to block her view of the cold eyes staring back at her and a cold harsh voice laughing in the dark.



"Eva! Wake up! Eva!"

Eva's eyes suddenly burst open and she quickly sat up trying to run away but Sirius caught her and held her down. "Eva! Are you okay?!" She had been lying in a chair, in Dumbledore's office, the bowl carrying the pensieve was now shattered on the floor while the liquid was smoking and evaporating into thin air.

Eva gasped for air as tears started to spill out of her eyes. "He really is back....he's trying to find me...."

Sirius was getting worried. "Who's back?! Who's trying to find you?! What did you see in there?!"

Dumbledore came over and put his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Eva had just been through a lot. Let her calm down and take a rest. We can talk about this later."

Sirius was reluctant but nodded and carried Eva to the hospital wing. Eva held onto Sirius tightly, she was still shaking with fear. "Don't worry Eva, everything's going to be okay..." The smile from Sirius's face reassured her and she slowly dozed off to sleep.






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