Chapter Text
Evelyn heard her name—actually Harry Potter, instead of Evelyn Potter, since she was disguising herself as a guy—being called out and maneuvered her way through the throng of people. As the Hat slid over her ears, the first thing she heard was an exclamation of shock and then uproarious laughter. "My, aren't you a sly one?!"
She scowled. "I've had to be, obviously. Put me in Gryffindor."
"Why should I, little snake?"
"How much do I tell thee, Let me count the ways," she misquoted snarkily in her head. The Hat snorted. "First, the world is expecting a typical brash boy raised with Muggles. Second, Gryffindors can do no wrong so if I upheave society it's all for the best and I am so very sorry. Third, Gryffindors are also the most obtuse people in the school so if I act like a girl I'll just get teased a little and then they'll drop it instead of people actually trying to figure out if I really am a girl. Fourth, if I do get found out before my plans are in motion, that's the least likely House next to Hufflepuff to get raped in. Must I go on?"
"You would be the jewel of Slytherin," the Hat coaxed.
"I would be murdered before the night's out," Evelyn said sourly.
"You would be great," the Hat said. "Make connections."
"I can do that just fine from Gryffindor," Evelyn snapped. "And great simply means 'big' or 'a lot'. Would I be a lot good or a lot evil? I'm not willing to find out, are you?"
"If I put you in Gryffindor, you have to do one thing," the Hat finally said.
Evelyn turned wary. "What?"
"Reveal your gender before your fifth year."
Evelyn's mind raced. "You honestly think that I could condense everything into a couple of years?"
"You are unaware. Seek out those who have or will have a role to play in politics. You already have much sway; make the public love you. You walk a tightrope already—practice, and you will dance."
"I'll do it by the beginning of fourth year if you help me," she counteroffered.
With a whispered, "Deal," the Hat yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Evelyn walked down with a calculating and excited glint in her eyes.
By the beginning of October, Evelyn had spread her connections far enough (much to the consternation of a couple Gryffindors) that she got them all together and pitched her idea for a newspaper for the students.
She'd now had three people demand why she wasn't in Slytherin. She had just laughed at them and said, "Not for the lack of trying on the Hat's part."
But she did have a motive for the newspaper. It was quite simple, actually. It let 'Harry' Potter be public, be seen by people who didn't normally associate with or see 'him'. And it would put to rest some of those bloody rumors. Those things alternately amused her or pissed her off, depending on how stressed out she was.
Little by little, she learned more of her heritage and sway, both politically and publicly. Basically, she was half a step down from Albus Dumbledore.
The Students' Selection dropped jaws with its debut. Fortunately, wizards did not have the racial prejudices that the Muggle world had. It was only against things that were not fully human, Muggles in general, and gender.
Not that big of a deal at all. None whatsoever.
No, actually, she felt like crying.
But she toughed it out, gathered some of her braver reporters (which were, ironically enough, mostly Slytherin and Hufflepuff), and sicced them on the Hogwarts population, asking all kinds of personal and potentially offensive questions. But half the school felt gratified with the resulting series of articles, while parts of the other half felt alarm, and the last parts of the other half felt outraged.
And when inquired as to who set up the questioning and the idea, they all pointed to 'Harry'. Protests died abruptly in the face of Evelyn's challenging and cool green gaze.
"Mate, how did you know? I never knew that girls had it so bad," Ron asked later.
"And you grew up in a male-dominated home," Evelyn pointed out dryly. "How would you know if you aren't exposed to it?"
He was left to stew on that question.
Looking back on it, Evelyn could point to every majorly bad point in her life and have it land on Halloween. The only exception was when Dudley pushed her down the stairs and she broke her arm and got a concussion and had to be rushed to the hospital. That had been in April.
This Halloween was no different than the last ten Halloweens.
"Harry?"
Evelyn turned. Susan Bones was striding towards her, and then forced Ron to either scooch to the side or get sat on. "After last month's attacking articles, what did you want to do this month?"
The sable-haired girl thought for a moment. "Address the Muggleborn issue, perhaps? Get the public wanting the incoming Muggleborns to be taught their traditions. If these traditions are so important, why aren't people introducing the newcomers to them? I can understand culture, I can't understand stupidity or purposeful ignorance."
Susan whipped out a notebook. "Can I quote you on that?"
Evelyn looked amused. "Yes, Susan."
"Quotes, Potter? Next you'll be handing out signed photos," Malfoy drawled.
Evelyn looked innocent and made to reach for her bag. "Did you want one, Draco? I didn't know that you liked me so much," she simpered.
Ron spewed his pumpkin juice as he roared with laughter, the majority of those in Evelyn's vicinity following Ron's example. Susan just shook her head as Malfoy turned beet red and scrambled away. She poked Evelyn in the arm, and simply said, "Slytherin. Definitely Slytherin."
"Lavender, did you get a picture?" Evelyn called over the whoops of laughter. When the blonde girl nodded, Evelyn grinned. "I want that picture framed. I'll buy it off you. My greatest achievement: making Draco Malfoy blush to the roots of his hair." She sighed dreamily, propping her head on her hands, looking off into space, looking like the stereotypical lovesick teen.
The Gryffindor table exploded into laughter again, just as Quirrell burst through incredibly heavy doors. For a moment, Evelyn wondered if the professor had had a bit of an accidental magic burst to fling the doors open that quickly. At least, that was what she was thinking until he opened his mouth: "TROOOOLLLLLLLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"
The Great Hall went dead silent.
Then, in a display that struck Evelyn's admittedly morbid sense of humor, Quirrell said, almost sarcastically: "I thought you ought to know," and passed out, landing face-first into the floor.
Before anyone even had time to scream, Dumbledore stood and immediately began calling out orders to the students and staff alike.
Susan got swept along with the Gryffindors, since she'd been with them during Quirrell's…announcement. That was just fine by Evelyn, as long as everyone was safe. They could return Susan to Hufflepuff in the morning.
Or, at least, it was just fine until the moving staircases moved and almost tossed Evelyn over the edge. Susan grabbed the back of her robes and Ron's forearm and managed to keep Evelyn steady and safely on the staircase.
Percy said a bad word as he gripped the rail. The Gryffindors ahead of them paused when they saw that they were split from the rest of the group, but Percy waved them on. Evelyn heard Ron muttering either a prayer or a sacrilegious curse.
The staircase settled again, now with options of going through the forbidden third floor corridor or going back down and finding another way through the maze that was the castle. The Gryffindors reversed just in time for the troll to fall through a wall face-first, startlingly reminiscent of Quirrell.
Lavender screamed.
"Run!" Percy yelled, leaping onto the railing to get out of the rest of the Gryffindors' way in a display of agility and balance that Evelyn didn't expect from the bookish Weasley. The redhead whipped out his wand from his sleeve.
Evelyn turned and ran into the third floor cooridor.
"Percy!" Ron said.
"Your brother's a hidden terror, he and a couple of the other fifth years are going to kick the troll's arse," Evelyn said, shoving him along.
"But—"
"We just learned our first charm today, Ron," Evelyn panted, slamming her shoulder against a door hard enough to fly open and bang against the wall. "What exactly do you suggest we do with the Levitation Charm?"
"Go this way!" one of the Twins said, yanking on a lamp sconce. The stones to the left of it melted away, revealing a tight, twisting, dark staircase.
Hermione conjured blue flames, lighting her face eerily. She cupped them in the palm of her left hand like it was nothing.
Evelyn had no idea where the Twins were taking them. But however much she would never trust them with her food, she would definitely trust them to get a bunch of defenseless kids to safety.
All of a sudden, they were back on the moving staircases, two stories above where they had been previously. They collectively looked down. The fight was going badly.
"If we can stop it from going anywhere…" Ron muttered. "From doing anything to the fifth years…"
Evelyn looked blankly at her friend. "Ron?"
"Evelyn," Ron said, suddenly grinning, "here's what we can do with the Levitation Charm." He leaned over the railing, fumbling for his wand, and braced himself: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The troll stopped a moment when it's club came down and it bounced itself up from the force.
Evelyn got it immediately, grabbing at her pockets, leaning over the railing and yelling, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Susan cried, followed almost immediately by Hermione.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Lavender and Parvati said at the same time.
Over and over again, until Gryffindors and the lone Hufflepuff were lined up at the railings, using a first-year charm to levitate a half-ton troll a full story above where it had started and four stories from the ground.
The troll was wobbling around and waving its club through the air with no resistance. Eventually, though, it went limp after a few dozen red spells slammed into it.
With difficulty, the collective mass of at least half of Gryffindor lowered the troll down to the first floor.
"Well," Susan said, lightly panting. "I'm glad that I got to participate in a classic 'Gryffindors charge forward'…thing."
It was probably half adrenaline crash and half exhaustion, but that was the funniest thing that Evelyn had heard all day.