Eileen's first week at Hogwarts lefter her unable to sleep well. She had thought that the nice plush bed with the pulled curtains upon its posts would lull her to sleep much gentler than the lumpy mattress in the attic. However she must've grown accustomed to the lumps, because she found it hard to sleep. She missed the creaking sounds that the beams made late at night, and Hemlock curled up at her head purring her a lullaby. She even missed the muffled sounds of her mother, henpecking her poor father below.
The last few nights she had spent up with Dolores, doing homework, or just listening to the girl chatter on. Eileen had also been giving Dolores regular lessons in Gobstones. Dolores did not have her own set, so she had convinced (bullied, rather) a first year boy into 'loaning' her his set for the lessons. By the third night of practicing, Dolores had overcome her habitual shrieking each time one of her Gobstones had been knocked out of the circle by Eileen's shooter, and thus the expelled wizard marble would squirt Dolores with goo.
"You're cheating!" Dolores had protested, once again. Eileen had really lost count the number of times the girl had accused her of it.
"I'm not cheating. You have terrible aim. You couldn't hit Professor Dumbledore's big old crooked nose with a Beaters bat!" Eileen crowed, leaning down to take her next shot. She aimed carefully and sent her shooter flying, knocking Dolores' last Gobstone out of the drawn circles. The Gobstone squirted its putrid liquid. Eileen smirked, hearing Dolores' unsung shriek in her head. Dolores just glared down at the fuzzy pink sweater she wore over her uniform shirt.
"Eileen, my favorite sweater! It's just ruined now."
"Oh, stop fussing. You sound like my mother always on about messy clothes." Eileen grabbed her wand, and tapped it to the stain on Dolores shirt and spoke the charm her mother had taught her at quite a young age. The stain vanished. "After you get a bit better at regular, then we can play Jack Stone." Eileen went on, gathering her Gobstones together. "It's a bit more challenging."
"I can't wait, dear." Dolores said sweetly, but the sarcasm was evident, and Eileen smiled. "And stop smiling like that, before I wipe that smirk from your face."
"Yes Mam!" Eileen poked her tongue out at the younger girl, who looked mock-offended.
Dolores stood to her feet, crossing her arms over her chest, jutting her hip out, thick at even eleven.
"Don't you dare make me come over there, cheeky little brat!"
Eileen wanted to grin at her, but she kept her face serious, as she stood too, thin and towering well above her short friend.
"Go on! I'm right here." Eileen's dark eyes glittered.
Dolores flung herself at Eileen, tackling her to the floor and the two girls rolled around giggling, wrestling, pulling hair, biting. Eileen's hands wrapped into the thick curls of Dolores' hair, pulling at her ribbons as the smaller girl shrieked and dug her nails in to any of Eileen's pale skin that she could find. The two of them carried on in a tangle on the floor, ripping their stockings and getting chalk dust from the Gobstone circles smeared over their clothing. Eileen's mother would've been furious with her.
"Surrender!" Eileen cried, feeling ridiculous and childish as she tickled Dolores' sides, making the other girl snort and hiccup laughter as she tried to complain. Dolores finally overcame, and rolled Eileen onto her back, and sat down hard on her chest before the thin girl could regroup and wiggle her way out.
"Omph!" Eileen looked up at Dolores, who was smiling smugly down at her with hair and ribbons a wild tangle. Her round cheeks were flushed pink, shirt pushed up revealing the roll of her belly above her skirt.
"Surrender, Ms. Prince." Dolores said wickedly. "I win now. Maybe I'll spit on you like your nasty little marbles spit on me."
"That's vile!" Eileen cried, flailing her arms and trying to breathe with the weight of the other girl pressing down upon her ribcage.
"It's only fair." Dolores reasoned, opening her mouth and letting a thick strand of saliva dangle from her tongue.
"No!" Eileen wiggled, tips of her fingers brushing and then curling around her wand which lay on the floor.
"Girls!" A new voice interjected. Eileen looked at Polly Pettigrew with her shiny Prefects badge. Eileen saw the girl upside down from her position. She used the distraction to her advantage, and knocked Dolores off of her. The girl gave a squawk as she fell back, her skirt flying up to reveal pudgy legs and a round backside covered in pink cotton knickers.
"Eileen!" Dolores righted herself, and smoothed out the pleats of her skirt, looking prim and offended.
"I'm glad the two of you are making friends." Polly smiled, looking like a large-toothed rabbit. "But it's time for bed." The Prefect turned on her heel and left, no doubt to check the other girls dorms before starting her rounds for the night.
"Bleeding little chancer!" Dolores bit out, after Polly had left.
"Bint." Eileen bit back just as acidly. She climbed onto her bed and running her fingers through her black hair to comb it out.
"Wanker!"
"Grotty slag with pink knickers!"
The girls held a silent staring contest at that insult, until one of them broke.
"You blinked." Dolores announced, smiling sweetly.
"On purpose, 'cause I was tired of looking at your awful face." Eileen said, mimicking Dolores' honied voice.
"Not as tired I was, looking at yours."
Dolores and Eileen had readied for bed without further words to each other, curled up, and drawn their curtains around their four posters. Moments later, a voice hissed in the darkness.
"Eileen?"
Eileen poked her head out around her curtain, and saw Dolores across from her, smiling in the semi-darkness.
"Goodnight, Eileen."
A corner of Eileen's lips curled up.
"Goodnight, Dolores."
And now Eileen had laid awake for hours, thinking over the day, and particularly over that scenario again and again. She had never been one to rough house with the other children. She thought they were ridiculous. Why she had done so with Dolores she wasn't quite sure—but it had been rather fun. In an added bonus, she had thoroughly torn her stockings, and could not possibly continue to wear them. She wished her mother could see the sheer ribbons they had become. A mischievous grin broke out on Eileen's face, as she considered getting an envelope and sending the tattered things back to her mother via Munnin. She would probably have a howler exploding at breakfast the next morning.
After a bit more restless tossing and turning, Eileen could stand it no longer. She threw her covers off, and ducked out of bed, leaving her curtain rippling after her. She knew she would be in trouble for being out after hours, but a walk seemed the only thing that might help. She certainly couldn't take any more sleepless thrashing in her bed. Besides, she was a girl who was rarely noticed, so she was confident she could sneak out briefly and then back without being caught, as she had done the nights before. Sometimes on these secret walks, she thought of herself as a spy. Once she even had spied something interesting; Prefects Malfoy and Potter slacking off of their duties, and snogging each other senseless in a shadowy corner.
Eileen moved stealthily through some of the less traveled hallways, enjoying the feel of the cool stone beneath her bare feet. She knew she was risking much if she were caught—the young Hogwarts caretaker Apollyon Pringle was no slouch. In her first few days at Hogwarts, Eileen had already heard horror stories of his punishments past down from the older Slytherins. Eileen thought some of them might just be trying to scare the firsties, but when Abraxas Malfoy confirmed some of the stories, with a serious nod of his head and nothing more, she believed them to be true. Abraxas did not seem like the type of boy who would lie, or support tall-tales and rumor.
Despite knowing this, Eileen went for her night time walk. She was a very quiet girl, and it wasn't often others were drawn to notice her. If she were trying to avoid detection, she could be even more successful. Eileen stuck to the shadows, up and down a few hallways, thinking and taking in how different things looked when they were sleeping. She was just considering that once she learned transfiguration, she would transfigure one of Dolores' pink ribbons into a snake—when Eileen stopped suddenly, hearing a small sound from around the corner.
Eileen went still and pressed herself up against the cool stone wall. Her heart beat harder against her breastbone, her eyes wider, her body and mind now on higher alert. There were no footsteps, but what had sounded like a sniff or snuffle, perhaps someone up and about with a cold, or someone was crying. Soon enough the sound came again, accompanied by small sob. Eileen peeked around the corner, and in the shadows she saw a small girl huddled against the wall, head resting on her knees.
Eileen inched closer, keeping as quiet as she could. The small girl clutched her knees, sniffed, and sang lowly. Her voice warbled with her tears, and hovered between an off key whisper, and broken sobs.
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile...
Eileen stayed motionless, against the wall, just a few feet away. The girl wiped her eyes and cheeks gleaming in the low light. She gave a big watery sniffle, and went on singing, squeezing her eyes closed.
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worth while, so
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile...
The girl tried to start over, but dissolved into her tears. This seemed a bit much for a firstie who was simply missing home, Eileen thought. What a ridiculous child—but suddenly, the crying girl jerked her head up from her knees with a gasp, and peered around into the darkness.
"Who-wh-whose the-there?" She squeaked, stumbling to her feet, frightened.
"It's just me." Eileen said quietly, stepping out from the shadows. "Nothing to be frightened of...unless you irritate me too much."
The girl was still pouring tears, her dark hair stuck to the sides of her flushed face.
"What in Merlin's name are you on about anyway? Just missing your parents?"
"Of course I miss them." The girl sniffed, eyes burning in the darkness. "They're dead. They were killed by the damn Krauts. They've been dropping bombs on us—they're trying to destroy the dockyards. They've been dropping them since last year...I remember the exact day...they've never stopped. When there's going to be raids, everyone goes out to the countryside or to the raid shelters. There's nothing but rubble...people dead...the smell—the air-" The girl choked on her words, curling back down onto the floor, rocking herself. Eileen was stunned and confused. She had no idea what this girl was going on about. Eileen took a couple tentative steps away from her.
Eileen startled and spun around when she bumped into a human form. Abraxas Malfoy was looking down his long nose at her, his eyes and his prefects badge glinting in the darkness. He said not a word to her, but moved past her and knelt next to the girl huddled and sobbing.
"The sirens! Don't you hear them—the sirens, the sirens, they're coming! The planes are coming, the—the bombs—dead—burning-"
Abraxas bowed his head and closed his eyes briefly, a flicker of what might have been pain, passing over his features. He opened his eyes once more, affixing his ever serious expression, and spoke softly to girl, urging her to tell him what house she was from, urging her to let him return her to it, and other things Eileen could not hear as she hung back in the darkness, confused and frozen by the scene.
At last, Abraxas convinced the girl, who he helped to stand up and gave her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes.
"Ms. Prince." Abraxas said in an eerie, cold voice. "You will come with us, then I will escort you back to the Slytherin dorms...where you should be asleep."
Eileen followed quietly as Abraxas took the girl to the hospital wing, assuring her that matron Posy Pomphrey would give her a calming draught.
Eileen and Abraxas headed back towards Slytherin. For a while, Abraxas was silent, and Eileen dare not risk looking at him. She knew she was lucky he hadn't already punished her with detention, though perhaps he was just drawing out the agony of impending doom. Eileen listened to their footfalls as they walked, the girls strange, terrified cries running round her head.
At last Eileen could stand the silence no more, and in a small voice she spoke.
"She's a bit off, isn't she? I mean, what was she going on about anyway?"
Abraxas stopped abruptly, and stiffened. His lips turned down into a more severe frown.
"She is a Muggleborn witch, Ms. Prince. I am not surprised you are ignorant to it, but right now there is a terrible war taking place outside our door. In their world, Ms. Prince, there is no safety. What she is speaking of is something that was called 'the blitz'. It seems to have ended early late this spring—or at least there has been a lull. Night after night, Nazi aeroplanes would fill the sky, the noise of them drowning the wailing sirens below. They dropped enormous bombs onto Muggle cities, turning everything to rubble. Her parents were killed in one of these such raids." Again, something that seemed like a wince of pain flickered minutely in Abraxas' silvery eyes, behind his half-moon glasses. It was obvious that whatever that was, he had built himself up to conceal it.
Abraxas began to move again, and for a moment Eileen stood behind, her mind working over it all. She jogged to catch up to him, her thin nightgown rustling. She didn't know what "Nazi's" or "aeroplanes" were. She did know of bombs, but only small joke ones the children sometimes planted in her mother's flower garden. Bombs that would turn entire cities to rubble would be massive.
Muggles destroying Muggles. She remembered her mother mentioning it vaguely, when her father was reading The Prophet one morning. Eileen had not thought anything of the general remark, but perhaps it had been linked with this war Abraxas said was raging on in the non-magical world. She thought of mentioning that her mother had crowed with a dark smirk, that the worthless Muggles ought to be destroyed by one another.
Eileen did not repeat it now, however, despite that she was sure most other Slytherins would not pose an argument against this. Abraxas however, was very different. Abraxas did not sneer at the crying Mudblood, he did not find himself too good to help her to the hospital ward, Abraxas was openly friends with a Gryffindor, and in the shadows they were even more—snogging despite house differences. Eileen had the feeling that Abraxas would not appreciate her comment that it didn't matter, that they were only Muggles, that they all ought to be done away with. She did not understand why he should care, but it was very obvious to her that he did.
Silence reigned once again, footsteps the only sound, until Abraxas had taken her back to her dorm. Before allowing Eileen to disappear into her room, Abraxas issued a detention for the following evening. Eileen accepted it with a small nod, and went inside.
Eileen curled up beneath her covers again, but tonight, her walk had done no good in aiding her sleep. She now had more questions than ever, and her thoughts roiled even more fiercely.
At breakfast the next morning, Eileen spent more time yawning than eating. Dolores balanced things out, as she ate enough breakfast for the both of them. Eileen only half listened to Dolores rambling on, her sweet voice a background noise, and Tom sitting on the other side of her with a library book propped open against the pumpkin juice pitcher.
The owls had swooped in earlier, dropping letters and a few rolled copies of The Prophet. Munnin had flown in too, his ebony wings stretched wide as he glided. He had nothing for her, but his albino brother came gracefully after, stopping long enough to let Eileen untie the note on his leg, and treat him with a strip of bacon before sending him off. The letter was short and to-the-point, just a note from her father, inquiring how her first week was turning out. Munnin perched on her shoulder, cawing until she gave him a corner of her toast. He jerked his head, seeming offended that Huginn had gotten the better morsel.
Throughout the Great Hall, small clusters of students at various tables huddled round copies of what Eileen assumed was The Prophet. Charlus Potter took one of the copies, and moved towards the Slytherin table and handed it to Abraxas, who looked down his long nose as he read.
Abraxas folded the paper, and rose. Students were beginning to exit the Great Hall and make their way to first classes. Abraxas stopped at Eileen's chair, and handed the folded paper to her.
"Come on you lot." Abraxas urged the Slytherins who lingered at the table.
Dolores followed after Eileen, as Eileen made her way out the doors of the Great Hall. She stopped just long enough to open the news paper, and read the headlines. Dolores peered over her elbow, and Tom had stopped to linger nearby, a strange sort of smirk ghosting over his lips.
-French Resistance fighter Pierre Roche is executed by the Nazi occupation force.-
-Some 200 RAF planes mount the biggest air raid to date on Berlin. British bombed the city overnight.-
-Nazi German army sieges Leningrad. A desperate Joseph Stalin asks Winston Churchill for immediate military aid.-
-Concerned that Russia may be harboring a homegrown population of Nazi sympathizers, Joseph Stalin exiles 600,000 Volga-area ethnic Germans to Siberia.-
An older red-haired Ravenclaw girl nudged Eileen, pointing to the headline about the bombing of Berlin.
"Damn Krauts are getting theres now." She said, and took the hand of a dark haired boy who stood next to her. He touched a star-like symbol that hung from a fine chain around his neck.
"It isn't enough." He said darkly, his fingers touching the points of the star pendant. "They're monsters, and it will never be enough." His dark eyes were full of tears, his face set in an expression of hard rage.
The red-haired girl looked at him sympathetically, and laced her arm around his waist, and the couple moved on. Next to her, Dolores snorted.
"Did you see him? He was about to cry. They're weak, you know—Mudbloods."
Eileen folded the paper, and raised a thick eyebrow at Dolores.
"They shouldn't be here." Dolores went on, staring after the retreating couple.
"Last years Muggle papers were much more interesting." Tom said in a very quiet voice, startling the girls a bit, as he had shown up quietly. The three of them began to walk.
"There were always headlines about the Germans bombing English cities. Every morning at breakfast, little knots of Mudbloods, and Halfies, would stand gathered round Muggle papers crying and carrying on-weeping over letters from home." Tom laughed, and the fact that his laughter did not sound dark when at least it should have—made it all the more eerie.
"They're weak. They're animals." He added, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "And they shouldn't be here. Dolores knows. You, Eileen, should have no sympathy upon them for destroying themselves. In fact, they are doing our kind a favor."
Tom moved ahead of the girls, leaving them with that thought. Eileen saw him stop to chat with Professor Slughorn, Tom smiling a bit and seeming nothing more than a model student.
"He's so brilliant." Dolores said, the edge of a sigh to her words. "Don't you think so?"
Eileen did not know what to think.
AN: Was a little worried about how this turned out. idk. please R&R! Very much appreciated.