Sorry it's been so long guys. Here ya are. Enjoy

Eva's eyes opened slowly, almost as if they were resisting having to face the day and the looks she knew she would receive from her friends. The light that was peeking through the curtains indicated that it was around the time she should start getting up and with that she swung her legs over the side of the bed in order to creep into the bathroom before Roxy got up. She closed the door behind her and approached the sink with the intention of doing her teeth – dental hygiene was something her mother had instilled in her at a very young age. Wiping her mouth with her flannel to get rid of any remaining toothpaste, Eva tried to paste a smile on her face which she only sort of succeeding in doing.

"You can do this Eva," She whispered to herself, "You can ask to move dorms and you can get through today and- and then-" She swallowed to stop her voice from breaking again, "and then you can get through tomorrow and the day after that." She gave herself a small smile. "And then it'll be a piece of cake. Just don't let them get to you and eventually it'll be fine." She took a steadying breath and looked herself straight in the eyes imagining her dad telling her to be brave. "Mask on Snowflake." She told herself as she tried to smile but just ended up grimacing at the grimace that appeared instead before turning to face the shower.

Eva actually sat through breakfast in the Great Hall for the first time in a while, something which felt almost unfamiliar despite the years she'd been doing it on a daily basis – admittedly she was sat at the far end away from her friends who were happily joking around in the middle. Happy happenstance meant that she finished the chapter of her book just as she ate the last bite of her pain au chocolat, the elves in the kitchen sure knew how to nail their pastry. Looking at the watch on her wrist she realised that there were only a couple of minutes left before she'd have to leave for Alchemy, so she quickly gathered up her stuff and started to head towards the staff table. As she passed her friends they all stopped their chatter and glared at her, fuelling her resolve to see this through even though it would mean sharing a room with Castilla.

"Professor Spots, sorry to bother you but could I chat to you please?" She asked by way of greeting her head of house.

"Of course," He responded as he stood up to talk to her in the corner of the room so that they could have some privacy. Leopold Spots was a tall and lithe man, radiating an aura that commanded respect and warned those that one should not mess with him. He was also one of the best Defence Against The Dark Arts teachers that Hogwarts had ever seen. He was fast, graceful and very lethal with the upmost control of the most difficult of spells which made him perfect at teaching so that his students excelled. "Now what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked, leaning against the wall.

"I was wondering if it was still possible for me to join the sixth year girls' dormitory? Professor Longbottom said that it was an option but that was a while ago." She explained.

"Any particular reason why you're asking now?" He asked gently.

Eva hesitated as she weighed the answers in her mind, not wanting to cause more grief between her and her former-ish friends. "Not really, I guess I just want to get to know the girls in my new year a bit better." She paused to add a slight element of truth to her answer, "And I don't want to add to any tension with the fifth years."

"There's tension?"

"No!" She said quickly to reassure him, "It's minimal, but knowing certain characters things would likely get tense if I stayed so I just want to create a bit of distance."

He looked at her for a long minute as she desperately hoped he wouldn't pick up on the fact there was already tension. "Alright, you can move dormitories, however I want you to let me know as soon as anything starts to go south with your old classmates."

"Yes, Sir." She smiled. "Thank you."

"See you in Defence later, you should probably start heading towards Alchemy if you don't want to be late."

Eva looked at her watch and jumped. "Crikey, is that the time? See you later!"

By the Wednesday the next week Eva was absolutely exhausted, sure the classes were more challenging and she worked hard to make sure her homework was exceptional however that was not what had wiped her out. She'd moved into the sixth year girls' dorms the same day she'd asked Professor Spots, something she was immensely thankful for as Roxy had laid a trap in her old bed which poor Kareena Hogsend had accidentally been victim to. Unfortunately that seemed to be one of the few traps Eva had managed to escape, she'd fallen prey to multiple traps every day – courtesy of Scorpius, Roxy and James in most cases. A couple of them had hit her hard but she had tried to convince herself it was just 'water off a ducks back'. The week had been totally emotionally draining and she still had two and a half terms to get through. To add to it there was Castilla, she hadn't realised just how grating it would be to share a room with the girl. The others were alright she guessed. Lilabeth Chambers had immediately welcomed Eva to their dorm and showed her what was where, she was surprisingly quiet the rest of the time despite being so warm. The other two girls were Pandora Kirke and Gloria Spilworth. Gloria was Castilla's best friend and righthand gal, and the two of them could talk more than the whole castle combined. They were going to drive Eva to insanity if she had to listen to another two hour session discussing the drool-worthiness of Fred's 'perfect eyes'.

She felt an elbow nudge her in the stomach, bringing her back to the present. "Eva, you on Earth?" She heard Cole ask her.

"Huh?"

"I'll take that as a no." He chuckled as he raised his wand to point to the open book he'd slid over to her. "I was wondering whether you reckon this would be useful in your essay for Arithmancy. It's mainly about Ancient Runes but this section talks about its link to predicting the future using certain numeric runes."

"Thanks Cole." She gave him a small smile before moving the book a little bit closer. "Sorry I've been kind of out of it recently guys."

Urquhart shrugged from across the table, "Eh, it's alright. You've gone through a lot in the last week. I'm surprised you're still standing."

Eva grimaced slightly, "It's been a challenge, that's for certain but I'm alright."

"You sure?" Cole asked, eying her.

"Definitely," She affirmed as she yawned, "Although I might have to leave now so that I don't fall asleep here." She said as she started packing up her stuff.

"Sleep well." The boys said in unison as she left them in the library.

Eva kept alert on her way up to the seventh floor in case someone decided to play another trick on her before she made it to the Gryffindor Common Room. She didn't encounter anyone she really knew until Lilabeth came out of the entrance to the North Wing just next to the Fat Lady's Portrait.

"Hiya Eva," She greeted warmly.

"Hi Lilabeth, you heading in for the evening?"

"Yeah, just finished the Transfiguration essay for Friday. Figured I deserved to head in a bit early." She gave her a small smile before giving the password to the Fat Lady.

"Fair enough, I haven't managed to finish it yet but I reckon I'll have finished it before Potions tomorrow." She gestured for Lilabeth to go in first before she followed after.

Just as she crossed into the common room the portal glowed a bright blue and the next thing she knew, she was covered in glittery purple slime. "Ah!" She cried out in surprise, dropping her bag to the floor before trying to wipe away from of the slime from her face. She saw Lilabeth turn and look at her in shock,

"Merlin's wand, are you alright?" She took a step forward to help Eva up to their dorm but as she did so Eva caught sight of James and Roxy giving each other a high five and sniggering between them.

Eva took a step backwards, like a startled animal. "I'm just… going to go." And with that she ran out of the corridor and to who knows where.

"Eva!" Lilabeth cried out, but she was already gone.

Eva didn't stop running until she was far far away from the Gryffindor Common Room. She'd finally cracked and her 'everything is fine' mask had finally come off, tears rolling down her face as she desperately wiped them away, with little success as the goo made things much worse. She whipped out her wand and tried to vanish and clean away the slime but it wouldn't budge causing her to throw her wand to the ground in anger.

"Bollocks." She muttered to herself as she saw it skid halfway down the corridor, wiping her eyes again to keep the goo from obscuring her vision she followed it. "I just wish there was somewhere I didn't have to worry about being sucked into a portrait again or that it all wouldn't hurt so much." Her anger fading back into self-pity and despair.

Two metres away from her wand she spotted a rather peculiar painting out of the corner of her eye. "Huh?" She walked forward to pick up her wand before going backwards to look at the artwork properly. Laughter bubbled from her through her quiet sobs at the sight of a wizard attempting to teach some trolls ballet. Two of the trolls appeared to be scowling at the wizard and at the third troll who was following their teachers' moves as best as they could. The scowls on the trolls' faces dissipated Eva's temporary laughter as she thought of all the glares she'd received recently and pranks she'd been subject to. Sighing she turned away from the portrait, once again wishing for a safe place and an ability to not feel anything as she continued down the corridor.

It was at this point she heard a small groaning and grinding. Whipping her head around she saw an ornate door that had definitely not been there before. "What on earth?" She stepped forward to open the door. It opened in a large empty room with faintly charred walls and an unlit fireplace on the righthand wall. Just as she was about to close the door and leave, a cauldron appeared out of nowhere and levitated itself towards the fireplace. Wiping her eyes again, she trudged her slime-covered self into the room to get a better look at this seemingly sentient cauldron. When she was close enough to see a sliver of silver running through the front of the fireplace, a workbench popped up with jars of various specimens, equipment to make potions and a sheet of paper resting on it.

Eva picked up the piece of paper and blinked, relief coating her voice as she whispered the title of the contents of the page. "Potion of Emotional Peace," She breathed. She placed the paper back on the desk and removed her outer robes before sitting atop the stool that had appeared and started to get to work. As she worked through the night, she didn't notice the pulse of the silver stream running through the stone fireplace in front of her.