(*peeks out from behind sturdy stone fortress*) Ok, please don't kill me. I'll save my excuses for after the chapter content.

A/N:It's all JKR's except for what you don't recognize.

(*ducks back behind sturdy stone fortress*)

Six months passed quickly, and suddenly it was the night of the third task. As Evey sat in the stands between Fred and George waiting for the Champions to emerge from the maze, she thought about the changes in her life since the Yule Ball. Since that first incredible kiss, George and Evey had been sneaking around the castle, stealing moments together whenever and wherever possible. Typically, they would find an abandoned row in the library or an empty classroom to fool around in, or sneak down to the Herbology greenhouses to snog. They would linger in the Common Room on weekend nights, outlasting everyone else just to be able to sink down onto the comfortable couch together for a little while. It was difficult to find these moments - but thankfully, help came in the form of an unwitting Angie, who began to keep Fred very occupied most nights with similar activities.

They hadn't gotten past heavy snogging so far, which was fine by Evey who was amused by George's frustration at their limited time together to take things further. Evey knew this was hard on him - not just the rushed snatched moments together, but keeping it a secret from his twin. Evey wished things could be different: She would watch couples walk through the corridors holding hands, see them passing mushy love notes in class when the teachers turned their backs, kissing goodnight in the common room, and wish for that kind of freedom. She found it harder and harder to not touch George or randomly snog him, reminding herself of how people would react. Sitting there between Fred and George, Evey found herself wishing she could simply reach out and take George's hand in her own. But she knew she couldn't; until certain students stopped calling her 'The Gryffindor Whore', it was necessary for them to hide what was going on between them.

'Bloody hell, what is taking them so long?' Fred asked no one in particular, throwing his arms up dramatically. 'Krum and the French bird have been out for thirty minutes!'

'Frederick, hush!' his mother admonished from a few seats down. 'Harry and Cedric will be out when they find the Cup. It'll be over when it's over.'

'But I'm BORED,' Fred whined, sliding out of his seat to the floor like a toddler, making George, Evey, and Angie laugh at his antics.

Mrs. Weasley simply rolled her eyes at her son and turned back to resume her conversation with Mrs. Diggory.

'They are taking a long time,' Evey commented as Fred returned to his seat. 'I hope everything is ok.'

'Of course it is, Evey,' George said with a large smile. 'It's just a little contest. Honestly, what's the worst that could happen?'

At that moment, there was a flash of light from below. All eyes focused on the field, and what was there made everyone scream. Young Harry Potter was lying on the ground, still as a statue, grasping the Triwizard Cup in one hand his other hand wrapped around the wrist of Cedric Diggory. Both boys remained still on the ground as teachers and students rushed from the bleachers, but as the moments passed and neither moved, Evey looked more closely and with a shock realised that although Harry's chest was rising and falling with each breath, Cedric's was not.

'Evey, don't look,' George said quietly, realising what had happened at the same instant. He wrapped his arms around her and turned her away from the sight. 'I don't want you to see this.'

The shouts from below confirmed her suspicions: Cedric Diggory was dead.

Not caring who saw her in his arms, Evey clung to George and sobbed into his shirt as Mrs. Diggory's chilling screams of grief echoed through the stadium. George tried vainly to soothe the girl in his arms, choking back his own hot tears. His eyes met Fred's, who was holding a crying Angelina close, and after a moment of silent conversation, the two nodded in agreement to each other. They rose, still holding their respective girlfriends and muttering words of comfort into their ears. George quickly explained to their shocked father that they were taking the girls back to the Tower. Arthur Weasley nodded as he tried to comfort his hysterical wife and the twins quickly left the stadium.

The twins were able to steer the still-crying girls back to Gryffindor Tower, comforting them the entire way. Without a second thought about appropriateness, Fred and George led the girls up to their dorm. Fred immediately disappeared behind the curtains of his bed with Angie. Under any other circumstance, George would take the mickey out of him for it, but today he understood.

'Come on, Evey,' George said quietly, gently guiding her into his four-poster.

Tears still streaming down her face, Evey shook her head and backed away until her back hit a wall--no one could see, no one could know.

'Now isn't the time to worry about that, love,' George said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight against his body. 'Right now, I just want to hold you. The rest of the world can fuck off, yeah?'

Evey smiled gratefully through her tears and agreed, climbing through the curtains and onto the bed. George held her as she sobbed, her body shaking. It pained him to see her so upset. As he thought about the events of the last hour, he let a few tears of his own fall--he knew Cedric, had played against him, partied with him a few times. He was a great guy; always laughing, very smart. And now he was gone, just like that. It could happen to anyone--to him, to Fred, to Evey. It was terrifying to think that he could lose someone he loved so quickly, so easily and he held Evey tighter against his body, burying his face in her hair as Mrs. Diggory's screams replayed in his head. Soon enough, Evey cried herself to sleep in the comforting circle of his arms and George finally let himself fall into an uneasy slumber.

In the middle of the night, after everyone had cried themselves to sleep, Evey awoke with a gasp. She had a dream--no, a nightmare, where she was standing on the Quidditch pitch and suddenly, the twins appeared dead at her feet. As the gruesome dream replayed in her head, she began to sob again. She curled up in a ball on the bed against George, who woke with the movement.

'Evey? Evey, what is it? What's wrong?' he whispered as he gathered the girl in his arms.

Evey merely shook her head and clung to him, until her sobs subsided.

'Better?' George asked softly, waiting for Evey to nod before continuing. 'Want to tell me what's wrong?'

Evey took a few deep breaths, 'I had…a…nightmare.'

'What about?'

Evey's eyes filled with tears as she spoke, 'You…a-and Fred…were…were…dead!'

She began to cry again and George did his best to calm her. He held her small body close to his, and rubbed her back as he whispered words of comfort and reassurance to her.

'Evey, Fred and I are fine…he's asleep in the next bed, with Angie.'

Evey snickered through her tears, 'If he's with Angie I seriously doubt he's asleep.'

The two laughed softly, but quieted when they heard Fred snore loudly from his bunk.

'George,' Evey began faintly, 'what happened tonight? Is Cedric…is he really…?'

George took a deep breath and held Evey a little tighter as he responded quietly.

'Yes. I heard Lee talking to Kenny. The details are kind of sketchy right now, but apparently people are saying it was You-Know-You.'

Evey gasped and began to tremble. She may not have been raised in the magical world, but she knew of the havoc You-Know-Who had wrecked upon England fourteen years ago, not to mention the events of just the previous summer.

'Evey, it's ok,' George said as he felt her shaking. 'I'm sure it's just a rumour. Besides, during the last war my uncles were part of a secret society that fought You-Know-You; Dumbledore ran it. I'm sure if there was any truth in this rumor, Dumbledore would do something about it.'

Evey took several deep breaths and nodded, 'Alright. I'm sure you're right. I mean, Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard on the planet.'

'Exactly! See, nothing to worry about!' George said with a big, goofy smile as he looked down at her.

Evey couldn't help but smile as well. That was something she really liked about George--he could always make her smile, no matter how angry or upset she was.

'There's that smile I like to see,' he said before leaning down and gently kissing Evey's neck in a way he knew drove her crazy.

The light touch of his mouth elicited a visceral response from Evey and within seconds, her lips were pressed against George's. Her fingers wound into his hair as they shifted on hi s bed and George was soon hovering over Evey. His left hand tangled in her deep red curls and his right gripped her hip tight. They pressed their bodies together, seeking each other's warmth and solidity for comfort as the kiss deepened but before long, the need to breath became too great and they pulled apart.

'You're evil when you want to be, you know that?' Evey huffed as she gasped for air.

'Uh huh,' George said with a self-satisfied smirk.

Evey rolled her eyes. 'Stop distracting me; there are bigger things going on right now. How's Harry--does anyone know?'

George thought for a moment as he adjusted his position, leaning his head on his left hand as he answered, 'Well, I didn't hear Kenny or Lee say anything other than he's in the hospital wing.'

'You don't think he's…dead, do you?' Evey asked as she leaned up on her elbows, her green eyes wide with worry over her House-mate.

'No,' George said calmly, seeing Evey's distress. 'We definitely would've heard about it if he was. He looked pretty banged up when we were leaving the stadium, but he didn't seem to be badly hurt.'

'He's must be so upset. Can we go visit him?'

'Sure. We'll go first thing in the morning--'

'No, I mean right now.'

'What?! Are you mad? It's nearly one in the morning--can you imagine if we get caught how much trouble we would be in?! Whoa, did I just say that? Give me a minute, I'll go wake Fred. Shall I wake Angie, too?'

'No, let her sleep; trust me, you haven't seen the girl when you interrupt her sleep--it's not pretty.'

George nodded and made to get out of bed then hesitated. Evey gave him a confused look then smiled when George gave her a brief, sweet kiss.

'Don't worry, Evey. Harry's fine, you'll see,' George said with a smile when he pulled away, and in the next second he was out of the bed.

Not five minutes later, Fred, George, and Evey were creeping through the dark halls of Hogwarts. After casting Disillusionment charms on each other (and making sure Angie was sound asleep), they slowly began making their way down to the third floor. After a few close calls with some Prefects on the fifth floor and Peeves on the fourth floor, they finally reached the hospital wing.

The door opened soundlessly and Evey only had to peek inside to see Harry lying on a cot on the other end of the Wing. He was asleep--probably due to a potion from Pomfrey--but his breathing seemed regular and he didn't look to be in pain. But she knew, without even talking to him, that when he woke up, his life would never be the same. Without a word, she closed the door then took each twin by the hand. They snuck back up to Gryffindor Tower where she was finally able to fall into a dreamless sleep.

The last week of the year was very depressing for everyone. The loss of Cedric was felt by every student and faculty member, even the visitors from the other schools. The day after it happened, Dumbledore addressed the school and asked them to please let Harry recover in peace and not to badger him while he recovered. That made the rumours that were already going around even worse. Now, people were saying Harry had not only killed Cedric himself, but it had drained him so much that he was on his death bed.

That night, Harry came back from the Hospital Wing to a mixed reception. Some of the students in the common room fled when he walked in; some people ignored him completely. Evey was one of the few that greeted him warmly and asked how he was feeling. It was obvious to her and anyone else who was paying attention how hard this all was on the fourteen year old; the poor boy looked like he was about to either cry or scream, or both.

At the End of Term Feast, Dumbledore spoke to the entire school about Cedric Diggory, You-Know-You, and what really happened that final night of the tournament. A lot of people, Evey included, were crying by the end; the brutal honesty hard, but refreshing to hear.

It wasn't until the next day, halfway through the train ride back to London, that Evey realized something very important.

'Bloody hell!'

'What?' Angie asked from her lounging position, her head resting in Fred's lap and her knees bent.

'I have no idea where I'm going this summer,' Evey said miserably.

'What do you mean?' Fred asked.

'Well, there's no way I'm going back to the States,' she said as she shared a significant look with Angie, who was the only other person in the country who knew what her creepy cousin Robbie had done to her a year previous. 'And I'm not speaking to my parents. Besides, I doubt they'll take me in with the way I left them last summer. I guess I could live at the Leaky Cauldron…I could work for Tom in the pub, maybe…'

'You bloody well will NOT,' George exclaimed loudly as he leapt to his feet, startling the three others in the compartment.

'Calm down, mate,' Fred said calmly, trying to soothe his obviously outraged brother. 'She's just thinking out loud.'

George ignored Fred and turned to Evey who was sitting in the seat beside him, 'You're staying at the Burrow with us.'

'George, I can't impose--'

'I don't want to hear it! You're NOT staying at a dingy pub for two and half months when there's plenty of room at the Burrow and my mum would be more than happy to have you. NO, not another word--you know you have an open invitation, so I won't take no for an answer.'

Evey looked hopelessly at Fred and Angie, who simply shrugged.

'Sorry, Evey,' Fred began. 'But my handsome, intelligent brother makes an excellent point; you are more than welcome at the Burrow any time and mum loves you more than she loves us.'

'Evey just say yes to them so they can stop being so annoying,' Angie begged.

Evey laughed and looked up at George who had subtly positioned himself so his back was completely towards Fred and Angie. When he caught Evey's eye, the anger on his face melted to desperation and fear as he mouthed one word: please. It nearly broke Evey's heart and she took a deep breath before answering.

'Alright, alright, if it'll get you off my back I'll go to the Burrow,' she answered, hoping she sounded casual and not on the verge of tears.

The relief on George's face was immediately visible as a big grin broke out. Seconds later, he leapt on top of Evey, shortly followed by Fred.

'Get off me you oafs! Are you trying to kill me?!' Evey shouted as Angie laughed from her seat.

The twins moved back to their seats and the four students soon occupied themselves; Fred with snogging Angie (to Evey and George's annoyance and envy) and George with playing Exploding Snap with Evey.

'Hey,' George whispered halfway through their third game, glancing as his brother and Angie to make sure they were still…busy.

'Yes?' Evey whispered back.

'Thanks for agreeing before. I just…I didn't want to see you in a place like the Cauldron all summer. Its awful and…I'd miss you,' George ended, looking down as his cheeks and ears turned as red as his hair.

Evey smiled and blushed, 'It was no problem, George. I would've missed you too.'

George looked back up at her and their eyes met. He looked over at Fred and Angie, making sure they were still quite occupied, then checked that there was no one in the hall before leaning over and quickly pecking her on the lips. They both smiled widely…then the moment was ruined when the deck of cards between them exploded and they were covered in ashes and smoke.

Ok, I know its been a long time...like, a REALLY long time, but I have a really good reason--several in fact. First, shortly after I posted the last chapter, I broke up with my boyfriend/fiance of two years so I wasn't really in the mood for writing romance. Secondly, I started back at nursing school for my final year and I'm in my psych/intensive care rotation which is insanely difficult so I've had like no time to write. Third, serious case of writers block. Then the other day I suddenly had the urge (and the time) to write and I got this out in under an hour and I really hope you liked it and you aren't mad for having to wait for so long and I'm sorry and comments are always welcome and I love you all :-) I promise you all won't have to wait so long for the next chapter!