The Inevitable Conflict

At ten o'clock on Christmas Day, the students who had stayed at school and were preparing to go to Hogsmeade lined up. Evita joined them, leaving Hogwarts at this time of year for the first time.

After arriving in Hogsmeade, she pushed open the door and saw Harry running toward her.

"Harry?" Evita was surprised and delighted. "What are you doing here?"

Harry threw himself into her arms. She picked him up and spun him around, and he said dizzily, "Because Eva is too lazy and never comes home."

"It's Evita," she said, drawing out the syllables. "But Eva isn't wrong either. It's a pretty cute nickname."

Sirius came along and picked her and Harry up together, spinning them around. "It's really not easy to see you at this time of year," he said with a sigh.

"It really isn't," Tina said, walking over with some bread. "Want to try some? Jacob just baked it, and Queenie sent it over by owl."

"Sure!" Evita agreed happily.

This was the happiest Christmas Evita had ever spent. The eight of them played video games together.

Tina and Newt were old but young at heart, and their minds were still perfectly sharp.

So Evita, Lily, and Nagini teamed up with Tina, while Harry, Sirius, and James teamed up with Newt.

How was that not a family civil war?

Lily tied her hair in a ponytail and deftly worked the controller, chasing down her son and husband and beating them up.

As their characters retreated again and again and their health bars dwindled, James and Harry, who was sitting in his arms, wore matching pitiful expressions. Sirius tried to help, but Evita intercepted him, her fingers flying through a string of moves.

Sirius immediately got a game over.

"Heh-heh," Evita said smugly. "I know my way around games."

She lowered her head and continued working the controller. Sirius sat beside her with nothing to do but watch her play, until he shook her shoulder in displeasure. "How come your aim is only that good when you're hitting me?"

Evita rolled her eyes. "Who knows? Right, right?"

Nagini pressed her lips together and smiled faintly. She handled the controller rather awkwardly and accidentally got her character killed.

James bounced back from rock bottom and fought with growing vigor, sacrificing his son to take out Tina and Lily together.

Harry stared at the grayed-out screen and turned into a gloomy little mushroom.

With one player left on each side, Evita sat cross-legged on the couch and quickly claimed victory.

The Kneazles crowded close around her. She half-closed her eyes and smiled happily.

After their Christmas feast, they played Quidditch together. Evita, who had once been fixated on Seeker training, had set aside a very spacious field in the suitcase.

The Golden Snidget was released to serve as the Golden Snitch. It perched on Evita's head, its wings trembling, and puffed out its tiny chest as it looked proudly around.

Nagini played Keeper. Her senses were especially sharp, and she could catch almost every ball that came flying from any direction.

Newt and Tina were the commentators. The three Chasers were Lily, James, and Sirius, while the Beaters were Evita and Echidna. The Seeker was young Harry, who sat on a broom cheering happily.

"Oh my..." James murmured. "We're going to play Quidditch with a Basilisk?"

"I think we should be paying attention to the audience," Sirius said, looking at the dragons poking their enormous heads in from outside the field. He couldn't help exclaiming in surprise, "Won't they fight?"

"No, they won't," Evita replied. "Some habitats have several kinds of animals, but more animals live alone in their own areas. They're all good-natured and generally just go about their own lives."

Newt didn't look surprised. He even began greeting the dragons, who responded with friendly snorts. Flames spread out, then quickly vanished.

"They're a little excited right now." Evita first pointed at her throat and quietly said, "Sonorus." Then she shouted in the dragons' language, "Spread out a little, girls! Let us see!"

"Tasia, you be the Keeper, and call Ariela over too... and Heloise!"

James and Lily hugged each other, their cheeks pressed together, and said in unison, "This is going to be the most thrilling game of Quidditch."

Harry was squashed between them and was nearly suffocating.

Sirius joined them as a super-shiny third wheel and said cheerfully on his own, "Oh, Prongs, have you ever thought about scoring a goal against a dragon's defense?"

"Oh, my dear Padfoot," James replied, "if I could do that, I'd probably become the best Chaser in the world."

Lily said, "That's really worrying," but there was a hint of excitement on her face. She had just tried it and found that even if she fell, the protective magic beneath the Quidditch pitch would bounce her back up, as if she were on a trampoline.

Evita enjoyed herself thoroughly in Hogsmeade for many days, returning to Hogwarts at the very end of the holiday.

She returned before the Hogwarts Express arrived, so she simply took a book, covered her face with it, and slept in a tree near the Black Lake.

Snowflakes gradually drifted down. Half asleep, she slowly began to make out some loud shouting.

"You're falling over yourselves to fawn on a Half-blood? You're not even in the same house, are you?"

"Silver hair... Veela..."

"Shut up!" came a loud retort. "We don't like her just because she's pretty!"

"She brings us lots of gifts every time she goes to Hogsmeade! And she'd never bully people like you do!"

"Filthy Mudbloods," a malicious voice snarled. "You don't think wagging your tails at her will get you a good life, do you?"

"Pure-blood traitor." The voice spat again.

Evita was the only silver-haired student at school with Veela blood. She slowly removed the book covering her face, feeling perfectly calm.

Though Veela, as part-human Magical Creatures, were classified as "human," they were still subject to discrimination by extremists.

According to the identity the system had set up, Evita's mother, Adele, was a Pure-blood Veela. Although she was well known in alchemy, she had now disappeared from public view and kept a very low profile.

Evita didn't know who her biological father was. Most Pure-blood Veela sought out Muggles to bear equally Pure-blood daughters and did not integrate into wizarding society, while a mixed-blood Veela's father had to be a wizard or a Magical Creature.

Since she couldn't turn into an animal, she was undoubtedly mixed-blood, but the system had denied that her father was a wizard.

To the outside world, Evita was a Half-blood without an ancient surname, yet she stood out. To some people, that was intolerable.

She jumped down, even feeling a little anticipation as she thought, What will detention be like? My own head of house should be the one to give me detention, right? I hope she doesn't take too many points from the house, and I hope I don't miss this year's Quidditch either. Otherwise, Hufflepuff won't have a chance at the House Cup.