First, sorry it took so long to update. I wasn't quite sure where to go, and then last month was November so NaNoWriMo (I failed, never got around to typing the ten pgs I had written) Anyway, I will try to update soon, and honestly, I couldn't resist in this chapter.

Chapter Five: A Grim Meeting

The next class Evan had that day was Divination. The teacher was, according to Sirius, was Lara Kalani. Evan silently wondered if Professor Kalani would be a true Seer or a fraud like Trelawney. They arrived late, but luckily, since Divination was still (or was that will be still?) held in the North Tower (although now the ladder was a lot easier to climb, safer, and the trap door wider) Kalani didn't mind people being up to fifteen minutes late. Twenty was the extreme limit.

Anyway, Evan was now sitting in a comfortable chair that was not an arm chair at a table with Remus. Apparently, the three Marauders who took the class usually grouped together, but seeing how uncomfortable Evan was, Remus had offered to partner with him. Of course, the other two boys were right next to them. Professor Kalani had them reading tea leaves, Evan was looking at Remus' cup and at his book with a look of complete boredom on his face.

Lara Kalani was an unusual woman in many ways. Of course, she was a Seer, but she could also read people rather well. And she could currently tell that under the look of boredom on the new boy's face, she could detect anxiety, fear, and anticipation.

Remus and Evan both looked up in surprise when Professor Kalani appeared by their table.

"The cup, Remus?" She asked.

Remus handed Evan's cup to her after a moment's hesitation to register her request. He saw Evan's questioning look, and shrugged to say that he didn't know why. Remus thought he heard Evan sigh after that.

"Oh dear," Kalani gasped, "I'm sorry…but…you have the Grim."

The entire class gasped and looked at Evan in horror. They were extremely surprised when Evan just rolled his eyes, and laughed.

"Er…Evan," one of the other students said, "the Grim is an omen of death."

Evan just half smiled, "One of my best friends is of the opinion that the Grim is rather a cause of death, instead of an omen. Our other friend had just told us that his uncle had died 24 hours after seeing one, and that 'Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards.' Hermione said something like 'Evan's still with us because he's not stupid enough to think well, I'm better kick the bucket.'"

Kalani tilted her head, "Possible." To everyone's surprise, she began laughing, "Ahh, you've been told you would die many times before, since your third year. But you are unafraid of Death, much like your father, and mother, of course." Evan stiffened. No, she couldn't…there was no way she could know that. "You do look just like your father, except for those eyes…too bad about the hair, although you could have at least made it easier to manage."

Evan's eyes opened wide with shock, "How….no one knows that…not even Ron…" he whispered.

Ten or fifteen minutes later, an extremely traumatized Evan stood up with the rest of the class to exit North Tower. As he was putting his book in his bag, he heard the professor call his name:

"Oh, and Evan? You aren't going to die any time soon."

Evan just nodded, noting the implications placed on the word 'time'. Well, it was now obvious that Professor Kalani knew his secret.

Others in the class didn't react so well, an unnamed Hufflepuff girl cried out, "What? But…the Grim…"

Kalani shrugged, "I just wanted to see Evan's reaction."

To say the class was flabbergasted would be an understatement, "You mean…you didn't see the Grim?" Someone asked.

"Well, it was either a Grim or a donkey," Evan cracked a small smile as he remembered Dean saying something like that in third year, "besides, Evan, have you seen a Grim?"

Evan smirked, "Depends." But he refused to answer any more than that. Luckily, the bell rang at that moment, and the students excited the tower; heading either to their Common Room or the Great Hall for lunch. Unfortunately, Evan was cornered outside the Great Hall by Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey. The aged wizard appeared to be conversing, fine, arguing, with the medi-witch.

"Ah, Evan, there you are!" The aged Headmaster called. "I've been trying to convince Poppy that you are quite alright, but she is giving me grief about not talking you straight to the Hospital Wing last night."

"Too right," Pomfrey interrupted, "I heard about the condition you were in last night, you should have come here immediately." By this time, she had ushered the reluctant Evan into the Hospital wing. "Now, sit here and I'll run some tests."

"Do you have to?" Evan asked.

Poppy glanced at him sharply, "Yes."

Evan though about arguing, but given his experiences with the medi-witch, decided it was in his best interest not to. "Fine. But can we do it after lunch? I'm really hungry, and I didn't exactly get lunch yesterday…"

Sure enough, Poppy let him go after that. Of course, she also made him promise to 'come straight back here after dinner, young man,' but that was beside the point. Evan grabbed his school bag, and hightailed it out of the hospital wing. Not watching where he was going, he bumped into something, or someone, for the second time that day.

"Ooff…" Professor Kalani gasped as the eighteen* year old crashed into her.

"Sorry, Professor," Evan said hastily as he backed up.

"No problem, Evan." Kalani looked over Evan's shoulder, "Ah, Albus?" She called.

Dumbledore wandered up to the two of them, "Yes, Lara?"

"Do you know when Orion will arrive back?"

"Who's Orion?" Sirius asked. Evan spun around, startled, to see that the Marauders had walked up beside them.

Dumbledore ignored the Black's question for a moment, "I'm afraid I don't, Lara. It should be in the next few days, though."

Kalani sighed, "Well, at least we have a permanent Defense professor, so we won't have that problem again."

Evan wouldn't have been surprised if a light bulb suddenly appeared over James head. "Are you talking about Bishop?"

Now Evan was confused, "Who?"

Thankfully, Sirius answered, "Orion Bishop, he filled in for Larkems a few times. Pretty good, too. Likes pranks."

James nodded thoughtfully. By now, Kalani and Dumbledore were a few feet ahead of them and all…7 of them were headed to the Great Hall, "You know, Evan, you look a bit familiar."

Uh oh, Evan thought, hopefully they don't go into his looking like James. So he was surprised when Remus' eyes lit up, "Yeah, he looks a bit like that picture Bishop had in his office of his godson."

Evan let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "My godfather is dead," he said stiffly. What he didn't notice was Professor Kalani listening in on their conversation, as well as Albus. While Albus knew who Evan's father was, he did not know his godfather was, or his mother, for that matter, although he did have one idea as to the latter.

Thankfully, the Marauders caught the hint, unfortunately an uncomfortable silence ensued, causing Evan to quicken his step and enter the Great Hall before them. He sat down at one of the first free places he saw. A girl turned to look at him as he sat down.

"Hi, I'm Alice, Alice, Prewett," she said. Evan shifted to look at her. His eyes shined briefly with recognition. He had a feeling he knew who this was…

"I'm Evan, Evan Pretter," Evan replied. This was, he realized, the second time he introduced himself as Evan. He was getting used to it.

Another boy sat down on Alice's other side. "Hi, Alice," He leaned forward to glance at Evan, "You're the new kid, right? The names Frank Longbottom."

Inwardly, Evan was fighting joy and grief. Joy because his suspicions about Alice were correct, but grief because he knew the horrible fate the future had in store for these two people. "Yes, I'm Evan Pretter." Ha! Third time, and twice in five minutes.

Someone sat down across from him. Evan looked up to see the smiling face of Lily.

"Hello, Evan. How were your classes?" She asked.

Evan shrugged, "Pretty good. DADA was pretty much what I expect from Ryan, which is much better than some of my previous teachers."

"Ryan?" Frank asked.

Evan looked confused for a moment, "Oh, Professor Nighte. His first name is Ryan."

"You call him by his first name?" Alice's voice echoed with disbelief.

Evan nodded, "Yes. He was friends with my parents. After third year, he told us to call him Ryan instead of Professor."

"Isn't that a bit…disrespectful?" Lily asked.

Evan shrugged, "He had already resigned, and Ryan was the one that asked us. So, no, not really."

A small nervous voice asked hesitatingly, "Is Professor Nighte a good teacher?"

Evan turned quickly, startled, to see a small boy with flame red hair and freckles. He had little doubt who this boy was.

"Yes," Evan replied, "Ryan is a great teacher. He is an expect about Dark Creatures, and knows a lot about dueling. Plus, he's fair, he knows what it's like to be treated differently for something you can't control, so he won't let House rivalries get in the way of teaching."

The boy gave a visible sigh of relief, "Thanks. I'm Bill Weasley, First Year."

Evan smiled, while he didn't know Bill that well in the future, he knew the eldest Weasley was a brave man. Looking over the boy, Evan couldn't help comparing the face of this young Bill to the older Bill. Unlike his older self, this Bill's face was unmarked except for the freckles, while his time's Bill had the scars from Grayback's attack.

"…an? Evan?" Evan looked up to see Bill watching him nervously.

"Yes?"

Bill looked a bit sheepish, "Sorry, but you weren't responding."

Evan shook his head quickly to get rid of those thoughts; he noticed Lily, Frank, and Alice watching him. "Sorry, I was lost in thought." Or in time.

You like? As I said, I really couldn't resist the Grim thing. I was re-reading the previous chapters and realized that Remus/Ryan never fully answered Evan's 5 W's and H question. So that may happen soon. Any sugguestions for what should happen next? Please Review! (and more than just please update)