Summary: "Don't trust the snakes." Elizabeth Leoncourt is a sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. She's best friends (and by default part of the family) with the Potters and an excellent student. But a string of murders has turned this year upside down. Families of known Death Eaters from the wizarding war are being picked off and Harry Potter, head auror, is on the case. But can Elizabeth and her friends trust that the case will be solved before the murders hit Hogwarts? And will Elizabeth's ties with the Potters and new friendship with a certain Scorpius Malfoy put her in the line of fire as well?
Chapter One
The door closed behind me, cutting off the supply of chilly air and rain. I paused and inhaled a deep breath. The air was stale, but it was much warmer than outside. Loud voices carried down from the top of the stairs.
"...And then we went to Time Square where he tried to kiss me when the clock struck. But I told the bloke that I wasn't looking for a quick hook up on my vacation and besides, it was already the new year at home so why even bother?"
As I made my way up a door slammed. I tucked my book under my arm and dug around in my pocket for the old brass key to our door. I muddled around in my jacket pockets for a while before I realized with an exasperated breath that I had left my house keys sitting on the shelf in the break room. What a stupid mistake that was! I was supposed to leave that morning and I would have no time to go back to get the key. And being a Sunday night Ms. Albrich had definitely gone home early to make dinner for her grandkids. What a mess.
"You waitin' for something there nutter?"
I looked up to see Hilde standing in the corner of the corridor with her chipped, manicured hands resting on her narrow hips. Her white track suit was stained on her shoulder where she must have spilled coffee but she was trying to hide it with her bleached hair. She looked like she had a nasty cold. I felt bad for her.
"You should go to the doctor, Hilde. You look sick."
She scoffed. "And who are you? Me mum? Why don't you take your skinny little arse and go back to whatever laboratory you came out of, eh?"
Her and her posse shared a giggle and then one by one marched by me and up the stairs to Hilde's flat. They had a go at me, Hilde knocking my book out of my hand and another yanking hard on my scarf. I gasped as the scarf pulled tight against my throat, choking me a little. They all laughed and disappeared up the stairs.
She's troubled, I thought to myself to ease the anger bubbling inside. What's she got besides a crazy mum and a few friends that only like her for the drugs they do? I'm better than that. I am.
I adjusted my scarf and pulled it over my nose to hide the red of anger and embarrassment on my face before picking up my book and testing the door to see if it was open. It was. When I closed it I closed it a little too hard.
"My goodness Elizabeth! Be a little more careful would you?" I whirled around to see my mother standing in the kitchen, pouring hot cocoa. "Was that Hilde out there again?"
"Oh. Um, yes."
Her lips pursed and she turned back towards her handy work. "Please be careful around that girl, okay?"
I nodded. If she knew what Hilde had done she would be so angry. I couldn't tell her. Not because it would be embarrassing, but because I didn't want her to get involved. She was right to be cautious of Hilde. She had it in with the wrong people. No matter how bad I felt for her I couldn't deny the fact that being associated with her wasn't the greatest idea.
"Who's the extra cup for?"
"For me."
That voice! I mean, I had been expecting it but still! To know that he had actually come...that all of this was still real. I spun on my heel, not particularly sure of where he was exactly, only the origin of his voice, and dove towards him. He was there with open arms and a bright smile to receive me. His effortless laugh swam through the air. I had forgotten how at ease he made me feel.
"James!"
He ruffled my hair and grinned at me. "And how are you on this lovely night?"
"Just dandy," I said ducking out to keep my hair in tact. "Where's Al?"
He sighed and threw a hand in the air, traipsing over to one of our mismatched stools and settling himself in. "Well, he got into a spot of trouble and was detained. So you won't be seeing him until tomorrow. Besides, last time I took both of you home he lost all of his eyelashes, though he didn't tell anyone but me. I figured the side-along apparition was enough with just the two of us . And I'm honestly not so sure how legal the former was anyways."
Madison turned to James with raised eyebrows. "You're so reckless. You could have really hurt Al couldn't you have? What with the splinching."
"I regret telling you about that."
She smiled a little bit. "I still want you to take me. Elizabeth won't."
James and I gave each other a look before we turned to the fresh cocoa mum had made. That's when I remembered all about the key.
"Mum I can't believe I did this but I left the key at the store. It's in the breakroom bookshelf—you know the one with all the old books she lets us take home?—right up at the top. I'm so sorry I forgot to grab it I was in such a hurry to close."
She turned to me with a smile. "Don't worry about it sweetheart. I'll just pick it up before I go to work."
"Well we won't be in any hurry," James shrugged, taking a sip of his cocoa. "We could go get them before we leave."
"Don't worry about it sweetie," mum said flashing him a broken smile.
My brow furrowed and I shook my head. "We'll go get the key in the morning. Ms. Albrich doesn't even open the doors until eleven o'clock."
"Are you sure?" She asked looking at James.
He swallowed a big gulp a little too quickly and pounded his fist against his chest, hacking a little. "Ehem. Excuse me. We aren't in any rush."
Mum nodded her head and turned back towards the pan she was frying eggs in. I watched as she cracked another egg. Her fingers were shaking as she did so. I frowned and turned to Madison who was watching from the couch as well. She caught my eyes and shrugged.
"Madison would you mind setting up the couch for James?"
She set her pencils and sketchbook on the coffee table and unfolded her legs. I watched her walk towards the cabinets to get out our spare set of sheets. The way she walked reminded me of a ballerina. She was so graceful in her step and precise with the swing of her arm. She was sixteen years old and the stars in her eyes told the stories of the universe. Sometimes she made me so jealous.
James helped her lay out the sheet while I put a pillow in a pillow case. "I'm really sorry these are so ratty. But they're clean I promise!"
I absolutely hated it when he came to get me. Every year it was a struggle to make sure everything looked clean. And even though everything was always clean all the time, it still looked like a mess with all the holes and wear that everything had gone through. It felt like it was all just a big comparison, because he sure as hell didn't have anything in his house that had holes or chips in it.
He gave me a look and shook his head. "Of course they're clean," he said. "This isn't a problem. I actually kind of like it. This place is very homey. Its a lot more comforting than our place. Why do you think I've volunteered to come get you these past two years?"
Before I could reply I heard a loud clattering noise from the kitchen. Both Madison and I vaulted over the couch and went straight for mum.
"It's alright, it's alright," she sniffled, pulling her apron up to her face. She turned away from us. "Elizabeth...please finish dinner. I'm going to...go take a quick shower."
Madison and I looked at each other before stepping away so she could hurry out of the room. Madison raised her eyebrows and asked, "Was she...crying?"
"Is everything alright?" James called.
"Yeah," Madison said. "She's just going to miss Elizabeth is all."
"Oh."
I sighed and took over for my mother. She had everything set out for the meal she was making for us tonight. We were having breakfast for dinner. Eggs, pancakes, and bacon. All that was really left after these eggs were done was to fry up the bacon. James insisted that he help me, seeing as he had some cooking lessons from his father.
"He wanted us to know how to cook conventionally, you know." James was clumsy in the kitchen but I figured the extra practice would be good for him. Normally he didn't show much interest in the muggle world. "He thinks it tastes better this way but personally I don't see much of a difference. Him and Aunt Hermione are a bit thick headed sometimes."
I shook my head at him and continued with the cooking. He danced around me, asking questions and grabbing the things I needed. He cleaned up any spills and wondered why I didn't just use magic to do it myself.
"I don't really use magic much around the house," I eventually told him. "Not unless I need to."
"Are you kidding me? As soon as I turned seventeen I used magic all the time. Even to do simple things like tie my shoes."
I shrugged. "Well your circumstances are different."
"That's true." He rubbed his chin. "But I would think that because our circumstances are so different you would want to use your magic even more. To be able to fix all of these things with magic would make everything so much better wouldn't it?"
"Sure. But it feels like cheating."
"Cheating," he scoffed. "Using a gift like that to make your life better is cheating? If anyone deserves to cheat at life it's you. You work too hard to not use magic at home now that you can."
I sighed and turned to him. "I know it seems silly James but that's how it is. It just doesn't feel right to me, using magic like that for things I could do normally. My mum doesn't like me using magic anyway, though she'd never admit it openly. Magic scares her."
"It does?" he asked incredulously.
"James stop bothering my sister and help me set the table," Madison called.
"On my way," he replied rushing to her aid. He relieved her of her pile of plates, forks, knives, spoons, glasses and other such accessories, carrying them for her while she set them out on the table.
We sat down to eat when mum came back out. It was a humble meal with just the four of us. There wasn't much on the table either save for the package of bacon, a few eggs, a pancake each and just enough butter, syrup and orange juice for the lot of us. But it was my last meal with mum and Madison for a while and I enjoyed every bit of it.
