The dead of winter, with its snow drifts and gusty gales, was no less deserving of respect than the more temperate seasons, Evelyn thought. She had every reason to hold a grudge. Her tights, with the two mouth-like gapes at the knees, didn't seem to be doing enough to keep her legs warm as she meandered around the snowy grounds, distracted by the simple, mindless task of stepping only where someone had stepped before her, careful to walk only on top of pre-existing footprints. Her boots, though scuffed, were holding up just fine as she carefully placed each one in one perfect snowy shoe print after another, but her knees were feeling chapped and shivery where the frigid air was getting in. Worse yet, she'd woken up with a bit of a nagging cough, which had started as a tickle at the back of her throat the night before. She'd live, she was sure. As she was unwilling to imbibe anything that featured animal products of unknown origin, the only remedy had been a very, very hot cup of tea with a little dried angelica root and elder flower mixed in. Winter may have brought cold and illness, but when else could you wander about accompanied by a soundtrack of near-perfect silence?  It gave her chills on top of her chills.

All of the snow on the ground muffled the sound as she turned and coughed into her elbow. When she looked up again a great, freezing gust caught in her the face, making her eyes water and her face sting. Any sane person would have been inside of the castle, where the only evidence of such a baltic breeze would have been the sound of the air moaning as it shimmied through the cracks in the stone. She'd felt pent up in there, though. Her body wanted fresh air! The musty stuff could not possibly be good for her. Her legs had carried her out to the grounds whether she wanted to be there or not. She'd stopped following her trail of footprints, having been distracted by a set of tiny animal prints that veered off toward the trees. She'd only changed courses on a lark – she didn't actually expect to find an animal at the end of the tracks. In fact, she hadn't expected to find the end of the tracks at all. As she walked along, however, she couldn't help but notice a streak of red in the snow alongside the tracks, which stood out starkly against the clean white ground. Evie's passive interest turned to concern as she followed those tracks to a place not too far from the trees, where a very small, very soft corpse lay bleeding.

The wild rabbit had its winter coat on when it died – mostly white, with a few scant traces of brown that could be seen up close. Evelyn stared at it for a moment, laying prone and cold, and the sight of it broke her heart. She wasn't sure why her anxious legs and wandering mind had brought her here at first, but it seemed clear to her, in that moment, that she was meant to find this good and pure thing and see that it was taken care of before it was defiled any further. She knelt down, unabashedly exposing her bare knees to the cold of the snow as she ran one gloved hand over the rabbit's fur. It was too late to comfort it, she knew. It had spent its last terrifying moments alone, which seemed impossibly cruel. She knew, when it came to the universe, that everything happened right on time, but she couldn't help but feel like she was just a little too late to do any real good. Feeling somewhat dejected, she removed her knapsack from her back and began to dig through it, in search of something that might befit a funeral.

The castle was beginning to take it's toll on him. Normally the walls and endless hallways and staircases would be a comfort to him, but his mind was operating at full-steam and he found nothing would turn it off.  So Shade did the last thing he could think of.  He bundled himself up and headed outside.  No sane person would even think of going outside in this weather, but then, he would be surprised to find a few stragglers.  Hogwarts was home to many slightly insane students, himself and his sister included.

He stepped out of the castle just as a biting wind flew at the doors like it was trying to knock the door down and terrorize anyone within.  Shade quickly covered his eyes, slipped a bit, and promptly fell down the small set of stairs.  The door, as if mocking him, closed quickly and the wind went away.  Shade stood up and brushed himself off, making sure no one saw that little display of clumsiness that never showed in himself before.

Shade walked out onto the grounds, the collar of his coat turned up in a feeble attempt to keep the cold from reaching the inside.  His face, he was sure, was already a bright red, but he wasn't going back inside now, he was hoping he could find something to focus on.... other than his sister. Something was going on with her.  It was weird, most of the time he wouldn't catch his sister studying on her own, with purpose, but lately she wasn't talking to him and instead was doing her homework of her own volition.  While Shade was very pleased at this, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on inside her head, there had to be something seriously wrong for her to act so out of character.

He looked down, realizing that he'd been following someone's footsteps in the snow and then he saw it, a streak of blood to his left and his heart started bleeding rapidly.  Was it from a student, or a professor?  He knew he shouldn't walk on by himself to see what had happened, but curiousity got the better of him and he continued on, only to come upon a girl kneeling in the snow beside the body of a small rabbit.  His heart slowed a bit, knowing no one was in any immediate danger, but he found himself slowly walking forward and stopping just shy of where the girl was at.  He was searching his mind for something to say, but all that he could think of was, "Dead rabbit?"

Mentally smacking himself for saying something so stupid and so obvioius, he was ready to turn around and head back into the castle and bury himself under his covers and attempt to drown that comment out, but he stayed, for he couldn't just leave her out here by herself.  It just wasn't in him to.

What did Evelyn have at the bottom of her knapsack? A better question would have been 'what didn't she have?', for the satchel was a marvel, covered with deep, hidden pockets that were jammed with all manner of miniaturized things a girl might need if she were out on her own.  The longer she sat kneeling in the snow, the more damp her tights and skirt became, but her back was to the wind, keeping her face safe from the stinging chill. She was fishing a skirt out from a pocket in the knapsack, which had been shrunken until it looked like nothing more than a floral handkerchief. At its full size it would make a decent shroud for an adult rabbit, even if the repeating floral print and lacy accents were in poor taste. Well, a flowery funerary shroud was in poor taste for a human, anyway. It seemed well suited to a rabbit, who she thought may have appreciated being laid to rest while wrapped in heather. She was deeply invested in the process as she lay the tiny skirt out and set to work enlarging it again, and hadn't heard anyone approaching.

When the boy's voice broke through the silence she seemed to jump ten feet in the air, every vertebrae stacking up on top of the one just below it as her whole body grew stiff and her head shot upward. She'd been thoroughly spooked. It only took a quick glance to assure herself that it was only a student, whose footfalls had likely been muted by the snow. “You frightened me,” she informed him bluntly, but not accusingly, as she allowed her shoulders to relax. Her heart was still beating a little too quickly, but it would slow. She liked that feeling of adrenaline as it coursed through her body. It may even have been doing something to bring more warm blood to the tips of her nose and fingers.

It was obviously a dead rabbit, so she didn't feel the need to waste words agreeing with his assessment. “I'd like to bury it, or perhaps burn it. I'm not quite sure which I'd prefer,” she explained, her voice soft. The snow absorbed even more of the volume, making her words sound even fainter. It didn't really occur to her to speak louder. She'd heard herself fine. “He was such a pretty boy, wasn't he?” she added, glancing down again at the white, prone body on the white ground. It was almost like bas relief – innocence cut from alabaster. She went back to the skirt, finally enlarging it with the soft mutter of a spell. She lay it down flat on the ground by the creature, like a tiny picnic blanket. Shutting her knapsack, Evelyn glanced at the boy again, her eyes questioning.

Shade turned red for a moment, "I'm sorry I startled you." he told her.  In truth, he hadn't even thought of what her reaction would be to him coming up behind her.  "I didn't mean to." As a cold wind rushed towards them, Shade pulled his coat closer to try and ward out the breeze as well as he could.  He thought about her question for a moment and then replied honestly, "Wel, I suppose you could bury the rabbit, but as there are probably other animals that would like to eat it, they could dig it up."

He walked around so that he could face her and knelt down in the snow with her, but not after placing a couple warming charms on his clothes.  They helped, but he could tell it wasstill cold.  "It's probably best, if you want, to burn it... give him a proper burial and all."  Then his manners caught up with him, "Are you cold?  I am pretty proficient with warming charms."

Evie's cloak was good and warm, but her legs were already like ice, and the deep chill was beginning to infect the rest of her. She could feel her body gearing up to shiver, shaking in an attempt to generate any heat at all while she had her shins buried in the snow. Her muscles were tightening in anticipation. It wasn't comfortable, but she'd been colder in the past. She turned and coughed into her elbow as another wind blew past, putting ripples in the surface of her skirt. “I'll make a funeral pyre, then,” she decided, once the boy offered his suggestion. Normally she wouldn't have gone through all of the trouble required to lay a wild animal to rest. She understood the cycle of life. It had all seemed too perfect, though – the way the body had been sprawled out, waiting, and the way the footprints had lead her right to it. Sometimes it was okay to accept that nature was cruel and that life was cyclical, but other times it was nice to pause and recognize the contributions of the smallest creatures. It was a sort of caring, she thought.

“I'd like to anoint it, but all I have is some rosewater,” she admitted, pondering whether or not it was good enough. It certainly wasn't oil, but it smelled nice and clean, and it seemed a bit more luxurious than nothing. Rosewater anointing oil and a floral print winding sheet – it seemed more like a tea party or a game of dress up than a funeral. Why shouldn't the rabbit be able to go home cloaked in springtime, though? With the slightest of nods she reached her hand into another knapsack pocket and removed the tiniest of corked glass bottles. Unlike most of her things, this one hadn't been shrunken. It was just small, with a pale pink label, like something you might find at the very bottom of an elderly woman's purse.

”Are you cold?  I am pretty proficient with warming charms.” 

“Yes, I'm cold,” she replied. “It's winter. It's supposed to be cold. It's nice, sometimes, to feel it in your bones. Warming up is so much nicer that way.” A warming charm did sound nice, but she was fully capable of casting one herself, if she wanted to. Evelyn prided herself on her ability to take care of herself. She wasn't used to strange boys making sure she was warm enough – except Elijah, sometimes. He was a boy, and strange. He was different, though. Brothers didn't count. “What's your name?” she asked the boy. She may have known it once, but if she had, she'd forgotten.

Shade thought the girl was interesting.  Of course, he didn't know anyone else who would be outside in the snow trying to bury a dead rabbit annointed with rosewater. It almost sounded like something his sister would of done when she was younger.

"I'm Shade." he said to the girl as he watched her holding the tiny corked bottle as if contemplating whether or not to use it.  "You're Evelyn, right?" Where Shade didn't know most of the students at Hogwarts, he admittedly did know most of the girls' names.  Not because he was a playboy but just because it was something he did. [1]

1.	Sorry it's short, my mind is blank

Wrapping herself in a warm cloak and a black winter coat, Francesca stormed out of the castle. She hated winter and the freezing temperatures, but then again she was the girl who hated most things, or at least felt incredibly indifferent about them. After getting into a fight with a girl from her house, Francesca was furious and maybe even on the verge of tears (of course, she did her best not to show that). She needed to cool down a bit and taking a short walk in the freezing cold would certainly do the trick. The wind was unpleasant and harsh and it blew her blond hair in all directions so she could barely see where she was walking. But she went straight ahead, walking on the snow path someone created before her.

Hearing voices ahead, Francesca slowed down a bit. She wasn't sure if she wanted company...Stuffing her hands into her pockets angrily, she walked straight nonetheless only to find herself face-to-face with Grimlish and O'Connor. Rolling her eyes, she wanted to turn back to the castle immediately, but then noticed something on the ground, next to the Ravenclaw girl's feet. Francesca's eyes flew from her peers down to the rabbit corpse, then back up. Suddenly there was a nasty grimace on her freckled face.

"Ew..." she said loudly, as if the dead animal was literally the ugliest thing on the planet. "Ew!" she repeated, as if it was necessary to. Francesca didn't even think it was that disgusting, she just found the entire situation a bit bizarre and this was the only way for her to express her puzzlement and well, slight uneasiness.

"You better eat it while it's still warm, Grimlish," Francesca said haughtily to the girl, while still eyeing the poor creature. 

Evie had done some strange things in her life, both intentionally and out of necessity, but she'd yet to anoint a dead rabbit. Although she knew in her heart that anything done reverently and with great care could never truly be judged as wrong, knowing that she was being watched by one of her peers made her feel just the slightest bit more self conscious about the process. Should she take off her gloves? She glanced down at the soft, dead thing – at its bleeding wound and it's vacant eyes, and found herself feeling unsure whether or not rubbing the rosewater into its fur would be a good idea. She didn't want to soil the white fur any further, or disturb the wound. She'd sprinkle it on, she decided - symbolically.

”I'm Shade. You're Evelyn, right?”

“Yes,” she responded faintly as she uncorked the tiny bottle with her gloved fingers, which were clumsy from the cold. Having her exposed knees pressed into the snow covered ground was finally starting to show its effect. She didn't mention it, though. She simply bent over the rabbit and sprinkled a few drops of the mildly scented liquid on the body which, once done, felt appropriate. She was slow to re-cork the bottle and put it back in its pocket but, once she had, another guest had arrived for the impromptu funeral.

”Ew... Ew!”

Evelyn glanced up at the interloper, a girl she knew (if only vaguely) from the majority of her classes. Francesca never did have anything particularly positive to say to anyone, or about anything – which made it a lot harder to take anything she said personally... or seriously. Evie looked back down at the specimen that her classmate was “ew'ing” over and studied it it with a critical eye. It was a recent death – there was no rotting, no maggots, no stench. There was some blood, but not a lot. The blood wasn't even coming from the face! Unless the Slytherin girl was disgusted by lagomorphs in general, Evelyn just didn't see anything remarkably gross about what she was looking at. It couldn't have passed for sleeping, given the gaping, lifeless eyes, but it just looked...well,  like a rabbit. “It's only a rabbit,” Evelyn answered her, feeling the need to defend the creature who, dead or alive, couldn't have defended itself. Very careful not to disturb the wound, the Ravenclaw girl cradled the creature in her hands and placed it on the skirt that she'd laid out on the ground next to it. It left behind no imprint – just a bright red shock of blood, which had been absorbed and dispersed by the snow.

”You better eat it while it's still warm, Grimlish.”

“I don't eat flesh,” Evelyn retorted quickly, dismissing what she could only assume was an insult almost as soon as it had been doled out. “It was hurt and I'm laying it to rest. I'd appreciate it if you could try to be respectful. It hasn't done anything to you.” There was no malice in her voice – just a cool matter-of-factness. 

"It was a rabbit," Francesca said with a certain smugness, as if her remark was incredibly witty. But then, without a warning, the Ravenclaw girl actually touched the small corpse and (for whatever insane reason) rearranged it on the ground, wrapping it into some cloth. Francesca was speechless - she eyed the entire situation with an even uglier grimace on her face.

She was even too distracted to fire a quick insult when Grimlish mentioned she, in face does not eat flesh. What sort of a freak was this girl anyway? "Laying it to rest?" Francesca repeated loudly, with a very healthy dose of disbelief. What possessed her to act in this way - to touch this disgusting rabbit corpse and get the idea of creating an impromptu grave for it in the middle of the path. In the snow, no less. Irrational as always, Francesca drew her wand from her robes, her eyes fixated on the poor deceased creature on the ground. As per usual, the Slytherin girl desperately wanted to spoil her classmate's fun. She already had a reputation for being difficult and for disregarding the school rules. Did she think about getting in trouble with her Head of House? No, Francesca never thought so far ahead, even though Morgan scared her even more than Storm sometimes.

"Accio," said the blond girl, pointing her menacing-looking, sharp wand at the rabbit on the ground. A tiny smirk appeared on the corner of her mouth.

“It's still a rabbit,” Evelyn responded quietly, fighting to keep her tone even and reverent despite the anger that was growing in her chest. In any other situation she may have stayed quiet and let the negative witch have her say, keeping her own opinion to herself – but this wasn't about being right or wrong, it was about respect. This was, after all, a sort of funeral. “We don't cease to be after we pass. If I'd found your body out here, I would treat it just the same.” Well, she wouldn't have sprinkled it with rosewater and wrapped it in a skirt, but she would have been respectful toward Francesca and her memory. It was only right. Friend, enemy, or perfect stranger – all deserved to be cared for upon passing. If the Slytherin girl was going to be obtuse and refuse to believe her, she could go take her opinions to any of the ghosts back in the castle. She was certain they'd be pleased to tell her just how faulty her insulting logic was.

Evie wasn't aware that the Slytherin girl was under the impression that this was fun for her, as though she'd come out here searching for dead animals to play with. A lot could be said about her manner and her preferences, but she wasn't quite that sick in the head. Although Francesca could not, in fact, ruin the “fun” that she wasn't having, she could ruin something far more precious. Before Evie could properly wrap the creature in the fabric and ignite it, the other girl had her own wand out, and she eyed her critically, unwilling to believe that her intentions were positive ones. Her gut instinct was correct, it seemed. A summoning charm? That seemed out of place, coming from a girl who, a few seconds earlier, hadn't been able to stop 'ew'ing' over the creatures body. Now she wanted to take it in hand and... do what, exactly?

Evelyn did not wait to find out. She set her two gloved hands firmly atop the rabbit's prone body, challenging the other girl's magic with her own will. She left them there, restraining the tiny form, even as the stagnant, tepid blood drizzled from the wound and onto the skirt below it. She gazed up at Francesca, and her gaze was hard – the closest the soft eyed girl could come to a glare. Why didn't she understand that what she was doing here was in every way benign? Why did nobody ever understand? Her knees were chapped and frozen, her chest was full of phlegm, she was visibly shivering, and yet she'd stayed there, trying to accomplish one miniscule good deed on behalf of the universe. Good deeds never went unpunished. She'd learned that long ago, but it was a lesson that had been hard to swallow. She kept trying to swallow it over and over, like a hot coal that singed her throat with each attempt, but to no avail. It would never make sense.

She made quick work of wrapping the creature up in the skirt, now far less than pristine than it had been, and cradled the whole stiff bundle in her arms. As a little girl she'd held dolls close like that, frightened that they'd be taken away if she loosened her grip for even a moment. She finally stood, rising to her full height for the first time since she'd found the poor creature. Her tights were visibly damp, and the holes at the knee revealed that her skin was bright red. “You don't always have to be difficult. Sometimes you can just let things be,” she addressed her stoically as she bent to sling her backpack over one shoulder, not loosening her grip on the bunny for a second. “What were you going to do with the rabbit?” she asked softly, that intent look in her eyes. It was a question she genuinely wanted to know the answer to, as sad as it might make her in the end.

Shade had taken a back seat as he watched the interaction between the two girls and then when the newcomer pulled out her wand it put him on alert as he stepped closer to the girls.  He waited until they stopped talking and then stepped in between them and stood there.  "Come on, let's not argue over a deceased rabbit girls."[1]

1.	Sorry it's short