The sun had started to rise before Evelyn finally managed to fall asleep, so when Ginny shook her awake a few hours later she felt like death. She stretched her arms out above her and slowly willed herself to sit up.

Ginny was completely unconcerned with why Evelyn was in her knickers, and left her older friend to get dressed while she went downstairs for breakfast.

Evelyn cracked her back, and stretched again before sliding out from under the sheets. Merlin, she really did feel horrible. She wanted to go home as soon as possible and either drink some coffee or go back to bed. And avoid looking at Fred over a plate of pancakes while trying to act normal.

The tight feeling in her chest that had kept her awake returned. She had no idea if Fred wanted to keep this whole thing a secret. It wasn't a rule exactly, but she was pretty sure swimming by themselves at night half dressed wasn't allowed by his parents. She might not be permitted to stay over again if they knew she and him had a relationship. Whatever that relationship was. He hadn't said anything to suggest they were together now, as far as she knew he only felt like kissing on that one particular night and wouldn't ever want to do it again.

She absently pulled on the raspberry dress she'd packed. Her nightgown, which she had wrapped in the towel and shoved deep inside her duffel bag was still damp. There was a wet spot on her dress from it. She'd hoped the towel would be enouph but that was wishful thinking. The spot was small, on her ribs, and not too noticeable on this color. But she put on her jacket to cover the spot anyways. Hopefully nobody would ask her why she was wearing a jacket mid-summer.

There was a small collection of bunny poop in the basket that her nameless pet had been kept in. Evelyn chucked it out Ginny's window. She probably should have thought of that before she brought him over. Mrs. Weasley might really not like having a loose animal pooping in the house. He did a good job though, of keeping it in one place. She picked him up, tucked him into her jacket, grabbed her bag and slowly padded down stairs.

Before she even got there, she could hear one of the boys teasing Ginny, and Ginny fighting back. Evelyn smiled, she didn't have an ounce of fire that her younger friend had. She really admired that about her.

The kitchen fell silent when Evelyn stepped in. Both twins were there as well as Percy, Ron was probably still sleeping and Mr. Weasley had already left for work. By some miracle, Mrs. Weasley was not currently in the room. Evelyn immediately met Fred's eyes before turning away. She could feel her face heat up a little.

"Hey, Gin, I need to go home." She said, trying to act and sound as normal as possible.

"Aww..." The young redhead pouted.

"I know, But I got chores, and homework, and a bunch of other boring stuff to do." The blonde witch stated. "There's still a lot of summer left. I'll be back." She took a glance in Fred's direction.

He looked as if he wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut. George, on the other hand, was smiling with his chin in his hand. So he told George, of course. But his silence confirmed what she thought. They were going keep quiet about this for now.

Percy watched the scene passively. If he noticed anything out of the ordinary he didn't voice it. Evelyn was glad, because she was sure that he was the most likely to grass them.

"Okay, come back when you're done!" Ginny said.

"You know I will. seeya later Gin!" Evelyn hugged her, then turned to get to the floo quick, before Mrs. Weasley had a chance to appear and make her eat something.

The next several days Evelyn spent in her bedroom on quiet, lonely activities. Half an hour on homework there, two hours writing or drawing here. Sometimes she would just lie on her bed, doing nothing at all, while her mind went blank. A few times this had lasted longer than she meant. She'd be dragged from her blank slate by her father coming home, several hours later.

Evelyn was getting a bit anxious about homework. She was making progress on it. But school started again in a month and a half and each potion essay took several days alone. Other teachers designed summer homework to simply refresh what they'd learned the previous year, so that you wouldn't get rusty before going back. But Snape's summer homework was harder, possibly by design to keep his students from having any fun. Evelyn liked the hands on part of potions, but she hated reading dry academic texts just to regurgitate the information in dry academic writing. It was a horrible waste of time, she thought.

Why was she in Ravenclaw again?

Evelyn wondered how she was ever going to survive O.W.L.s. Each year she saw them, the fifth years. Huddled over books and papers in the common room, clutching coffee cups and quills. Stress would mount and there'd be an inevitable breakdown. Usually there were multiple breakdowns. Those people were undoubtedly already much better students than her, and if they could just barely handle it... she was going to absolutely drown.

Taking a deep breath, she decided it was time for a snack and coffee. It might give her the energy to finish this paper tonight rather than tomorrow.

But as she passed the clock on the wall in the hallway, she realized it was about time to make dinner and her chest sank. She and her dad had developed a routine. An hour or two after dinner and she'd go back to his room and get into bed with him. Cooking now filled her with dread because it signaled what came after.

Not that there was much choice, she wasn't brazen enouph to try running away again. Even with Fred and George's promise to help, it would probably end badly.

As Evelyn started on dinner her mind drifted to Fred again. She'd never considered the possibility of having a boyfriend before. At school few people liked her, most boys didn't even look her direction. Some of the crueler ones would even screw up their face in disgust when they got partnered with her.

But if Fred liked her enouph to kiss her, on purpose, it had to mean something. She didn't think they were technically boyfriend and girlfriend yet. There had to be some kind of agreement, a promise that more kissing and dates were going to happen. She also thought part of it was that everybody else knew you were together. Her thoughts took a dark turn and anxiety trickled into her chest.

He might have just been bored. He might not even like you. You're a dull person who can't keep a conversation going with someone your own age, and when you try you embarrass yourself. You aren't smart, good at anything and you're only only sort of okay looking. Not to mention you won't be a virgin when you're married.

She sighed and finished the meal in despondency.

After dinner. Her father coaxed Evelyn into his room, gently pulling her hand and speaking in soft tones. To tell her how he appreciated the food, and wanted them to sleep together somewhere more comfortable than the furniture around the house or Evelyn's single person bed. She obediently followed, knowing that if she didn't she would just end up bent over somewhere else. But the change felt weird, as if it was an official arrangement now instead of an occasional chaotic event.

As she climbed into bed, she couldn't help but think about her mother, who had been here just a few years ago, doing the same things with the same man. She thought about Fred while her clothes were being pulled off. "Its something men need" Her father had said. She wondered at what age did they start needing it? Was it really every man? Would Ginny's dad have done this if he didn't have a wife?

Her father pushed her onto her back. Then nudged her legs open with his. She layed limp and exposed, cool air brushed her between the legs and her skin prickled with little bumps. He pulled his own robe off, and instead of closing her eyes as she usually did, she watched him bring his manhood out. She clenched her body as it went in, hating it. She couldn't imagine doing this willingly. He sighed deeply, rubbing her thighs, eyes closed and content. She watched him, and when he opened his eyes again he looked down into hers.

"You're taking this better than usual." He stated, bending forward to place his hands on the bed on either side of her head. His body was longer than hers, so she had to tilt her head up to keep eye contact.

"Is what you said true? About men needing this?" she asked.

"Of course." he said, pressing himself into her more. She let out a small gasp.

"When did you first do it?" she asked when she'd regained her breath.

He didn't answer right away. He pulled out again, slowly. She glanced down at it. He seemed to like her looking, and he smiled slightly. "I was fourteen." He said. He suddenly thrust into her, cutting off her ability to ask any more questions.

It took a long time before Evelyn gathered the courage to go back to The Burrow. Homework had proved a sufficient distraction, and coupled with the anxiety of seeing Fred again it was almost two weeks later when she finally stepped into their sitting room again, after super and fresh from a shower.

Ginny was lying on the rug, apparently playing exploding snap with Ron. When she saw her friend she leaped from her position to hug Evelyn tightly. "You were gone so long!"

"You'll understand when you have piles homework for yourself, dad didn't want to come back until most of it was done." Evelyn said, relief flooding her when she noticed that Fred, and his brother, were absent. "And it wasn't that long." Ginny giggled and asked if she wanted to join their game.

Mrs. Weasley was knitting on a love seat. Sitting across from her was Mr. Weasley in a armchair. They greeted her kindly when she came in before going back to their own conversation. This atmosphere was so warm and comfortable that Evelyn regretted taking so long to come back.

She took a spot on the floor and watched Ginny and Ron continue their game. After that she took a turn against Ginny. It was all so normal, Evelyn relaxed and enjoyed it. Her stomach hurt, but as long as she could come here and feel safe once in a while, maybe it would be okay.

The twins didn't appear again for the rest of the night.

Later, as she and Ginny were getting ready for bed, Evelyn was going to have to go home because she forgot to bring clothes to sleep in.

"Nonsense dear, you don't need to run all the way over there, I can find you something comfortable to sleep in." Mrs. Weasley insisted. It wasn't exactly inconvenient to floo home and grab some clothes, but Evelyn was glad for it. She waited patiently in Ginny's room for Mrs. Weasley to come back with a handful of clothes.

"These pajama bottoms used to be Percy's, and this shirt...well I don't remember who it belonged to first but it should do well enouph to sleep in." She said, handing the clothes over.

Evelyn took them and set then on the bed so she could unbutton her dress. She stepped out of it, still in her bra and underwear and reached for the shirt. Then she caught Mrs. Weasley frowning at her. "That's a terrible bruise dear, how did you do that?"

"Oh, um..." Evelyn quickly pulled the shirt on, wanting to be covered up as soon as possible. She'd completely forgotten about the bruises dotting her hips from her father ramming her against the table. They were old now, and as nasty as they had been, they were already turning greenish and healing. Thankfully the shirt was long and fell past her hips, covering up the suspicious marks.

She thought up a lie quickly. "I had to clean out our barn by hand, as punishment for running off, and I fell over on some of the tools I was using. It was pretty bad, I got horse manure all over me." She smiled to try and put some humor into her fake story and distract the matron.

Mrs. Weasley did not seem amused. "Well, you could have done something to heal it. Doesn't your father keep any ointments for this?" She put her hands on her hips. Evelyn avoided Mrs. Weasley's eyes as she pulled her underwear off, careful not to let the shirt ride up, before putting on the pajama pants.

The older woman made a little huff. "Well, I have some and I'll have to insist you use it. They might be almost healed already, but there's no reason not to treat an injury if you can." She left the room and came back with a small container of clear ointment and placed it into the young witch's hesitant hands.

Evelyn breathed an internal sigh of relief after Mrs. Weasley left. She'd been worried that the older woman would have stayed to watch and make sure Evelyn used it.

"Sorry, mums kinda bossy." Ginny said apologetically. She'd been quietly sitting through the entire exchange. Evelyn shrugged. She dabbed some of the ointment on halfheartedly while facing away from her younger friend. "She cares. Honestly I wish I'd had some of this when I first got hurt."

Evelyn took her bra off with the shirt still on, partly because she wasn't comfortable being naked in front of Ginny, same parts or not, and partly to keep the bruises hidden. She felt a bit disgusted, that evidence of the things she did at home had been seen by the outside world.

"Mum can probably send some home with you, she makes it herself so we have plenty." Ginny offered.

"Yeah...that'd be nice. Thanks."

Nothing happened that night, not even on her late night trip to the bathroom. Evelyn was somewhat disappointed, but she tried to shrug it off.

The next day also ended up being uneventful. The twins were held up in their room, occasional miner explosions could be heard and the whole upstairs smelled like gunpowder. Percy was probably taking advantage of the twins being distracted to have some "peace" in his own bedroom.

Evelyn wondered what it was they were up to. They were always doing something, or planning something. Never bored a day in their life as far as she could tell.

With no boys to hang out with, Ron was tagging along with Evelyn and Ginny. They sat in the grass outside. Evelyn thought she'd tell them about Hogwarts, since it was one of their few shared interest (she was not about to try flying with them.)

"Is it true you have to wrestle a troll?" Ron whispered, as if afraid his brothers would suddenly materialize and take the mickey out of him for asking.

"No, really, you should stop believing anything Fred and George say, about anything." She answered. Didn't she go through this with Ginny already?

"Is it true some professors give you detention for not getting the spell right the first time?" Ginny asked.

"And that they brake your wand if you fail a test?" Asked Ron.

"You guys know you can ask Percy these things too right?" Both siblings looked entirely unexcited about that idea.

"But Percy's smart and does every thing hes supposed to. How would he know what they do when your not a good enouph wizard?" The young boy said.

"Oh, Ron it's not like that at all, I've failed plenty of tests. The school is there to make you better at magic, not punish you...and the only professor I know mean enouph to give you detention for something mental like that is Professor Snape, and even he would probably just prefer to take points."

The boy looked slightly relieved, but not completely. She reached out and to pet his hair, in what was suppose to be a reassuring way. Unsure, Ron smiled back at her.

"I got detention once, from Professor McGonagall, shes head of Gryffindor..." Evelyn began, hoping to give them a better idea of what school was really like. The story entertained them and seem to distract Ron from whatever he was worried about. So she also told a story of someone setting a niffler loose in the Ravenclaw common rooms, a few stories about strange curses she'd seen students throw at each other in the hallways, and some less slightly less interesting things as she ran out of stories. Ron and Ginny listened to each one with with equal enthusiasm. It was a beautiful way to spend an evening. But she was told to be home before dinner, and it didn't look like she was going to see Fred at all before that happened. Evelyn tried to ignore the disappointment she felt settling in her chest.