10 December, 1976
Everything carried on as usual, Eleana studied hard and only socialised with people who were suited for her. It all made her parents worry less, which was her intention.
Sirius life carried on as usual; he and the other marauders kept on with their mischief. The only thing that seemed to have changed was that he now and then caught himself thinking about Eleana. It was not often, although it was enough.
"Sirius!"
He had barely heard James call his name and turned around before a snowball hit his head. The snow was caught in his black hair. He shook his head before it melted, the white snow was scattered around him. While lowering his eyebrows he held back a grin as he took up snow from the ground and quickly squeezed it into a ball, then he aimed it at James and threw it with evident force.
James ducked right on time, and when he looked up he laughed and teased Sirius for missing the shot. As he laughed Peter joined in on the game and threw a ball at James who was not expecting it. As soon as he got hit he looked at Peter, feeling surprised. He was caught off guard by this and now Sirius could aim a snowball at him, this time he did not miss.
James was bombarded with snowballs.
"Not fair!" he shouted. Sirius and Peter just laughed. While Peter and James were busy throwing snowballs at each other, Sirius caught sight of Remus who was occupied with reading in a book - which looked very boring , and old. Sirius saw his chance and threw a big snowball at the back of Remus's head.
He turned around to look at Sirius, and then narrowed his eyes. Then before another snowball could hit him he raised his book in defence. He joined the game.
They were all wrapped up in what they were doing, so when a female voice suddenly interrupted them they looked up feeling slightly confused.
"Ow!" Eleana had yelled as a snowball hit her shoulder. It had not been a soft snowball either, it had been well pressed together and icy. With a slightly flushed face she looked at the boys. She was dressed for winter with a wool cloak, and had a scarf neatly placed around her neck in green and silver.
"Oh, sorry!" Remus said. It probably was not even his snowball which had hit her, however, he was the first one to apologise. The others simply stared at her. Eleana gave them a most accusing look.
"That hurt." She said. "You should be careful when you throw those."
"We will." Remus said, sounding most honest.
"Aren't you a little too old for that?" Eleana then said while brushing off the snow off of her black cloak.
"One is never too old for having fun." Sirius told with a wink.
"Well it looks silly."
"you're just jealous 'cause you're too uptight to be having fun like this."
Eleana stared at him for a moment and was just about to respond when two other young men came closer. The sister had heard her brother's voice from afar and she turned to look at him. Eithan was walking towards the castle along with Avery. Then he caught sight of his sister and the boys she appeared to be having a chat with.
"What are you doing?" he asked her as soon as he was within hearing distance. Eleana glanced at the others briefly before looking down at the glistening snow covered ground.
"Relax, we just exchanged a word." Sirius said. Eithan Adela turned his dark eyes to the one who had spoken and reminded himself not to waste his breath on a traitor, he therefore took his sister by the arm and walked away from them, dragging her with him. Eleana did not disobey her brother.
"Why were you speakin' to them?" Eithan asked her when they were inside the castle, the muscles in his face were strained and she did not like the sight of it; he was angry.
"They were being silly and throwing snowballs at one another, and one accidently hit me." She said with a shrug. Her brother did not look any merrier by hearing this explanation .
"It wasn't intentional, I assure you." She said.
"You shouldn't talk to them." Avery said. Eleana didn't care to discuss this further, for that reason she simply gave them a nod.
They entered the common room and then sat down in one of the green couches opposite Rutilus who was doing some homework. He had parchments scattered around him on the couch, three books beside him, and one in his hand, at the same time he had a quill in his other hand.
"What are you up to?" Eleana asked him.
"I'm writin' an essay about human transfiguration." Acacius answered as he looked up. For a moment Eleana thought she saw his eyes gleaming, but she did not have enough time to be able to figure his feelings before he turned his gaze down towards the book.
"Avery, Adela." A rather nasal sounding voice said. The heads of the entitled were turned towards Severus Snape.
"I found something I thought you might be interested in." He said. The tone of his voice made Eleana feel uncomfortable, it was surely something which involved dark magic.
Avery and Adela stood up to follow Snape.
"Rutilus, are you comin' along?" Avery asked. Acacius looked up from his book and shook his head with a polite smile.
"No, I have to finish this I'm afraid."
"See you around later then." Avery said and left with the other two.
Eleana looked at Acacius, the light of the fireplace casted a flickering warm light on his face. She leaned back in the green leather couch and examined his features for a while. He had dark brown hair, short cut, but not so short that you could see his scalp. His jar was broad, and his eyes were light blue, they were looking right at her. She looked away.
"Why didn't you go with them?"
"As I said: I have to finish this." he smiled.
"Oh... so you didn't want to go with them then?"
"Sure I did, but I'm busy." He said then shifted position a little, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
Eleana went over to opposite couch and moved one of his books so she could sit down next to Acacius. She laid it down on her lap and looked at a rather stunned young man. His heart had started to race in his chest when seeing how close she was, he even felt her thigh touch his.
"I don't like what they're doing." Eleana began. "Dark magic is dangerous."
"I'm sure they know what they're doing." He said to calm her, then he put his quill to the parchment and wrote down another word to his essay. Although, his handwriting turned out to be quite shaky given that he was trembling slightly. He concentrated to keep his hand as steady as possible, and tried to forget the fact that she was so close that he could smell the scent of flowers from her hair; it must be her shampoo.
"You're not into that sort of stuff are you?" she leaned closer, and when he looked up from his book to answer her, his words got caught in his throat since he found himself to be only centimeters from her lips. He swallowed hard and they both leaned back a little, not too much however, since they were discussing a subject one should not shout about.
"Are you?" she asked again since he had yet to answer her question.
He looked at her and shook his head slightly. "No... not really."
"Err, speaking of nothing. Would you like to..." He lost his words again when he looked into those blue eyes, two shades darker than his own. After he had swallowed hard he had found the words, even so, he could not find the courage to say them aloud.
"yes?" Eleana said with a little smile. He smiled back and shook his head.
"Nothing." He said with a shrug.
Eleana looked to be rather confused, and she was about to nag it out of him when Caren entered the common room with a crying Camilla. She was holding a tear drained letter in her trembling hands. They were heading towards their bedroom.
"I better go." Eleana said to Acacius and stood up while placing the book on the couch.
"What happened to her?" he wondered.
"I'm not sure." Eleana said. "Good night Acacius."
"Good night" he said and gazed after her as she left. His hands reached for the book which had been in her lap; It was still warm. He sighed before continuing with his essay.
"What is the matter?" Eleana asked after she had closed the door behind her. She gave Caren a look of distraught who was patting the crying Camilla's head.
"She received a letter from Alexandre"
Eleana raised her eyebrows at Caren as in 'and?', since she could not communicate with Camilla because her head was buried in the pillows, a loud sob was audible.
Caren did not seem too pleased about telling her. "He told her before that they shouldn't put labels on their relationship yet, since they... aren't living in the same country and can't see each other as often as those in a relationship."
"He doesn't want me to be his girlfriend." Camilla cried in her pillow. "It is obvious I will never be now, after this!"
"Now that's not exactly what he wrote." Caren said carefully, trying to console the devastated Camilla. "Give Eleana the letter and she can analyse it."
Camilla did not leave her pillow but she reached out a folded and crumpled letter to Eleana who took it. It was stained with tears, and some of the ink was smudged. She sat down next to Camilla and Caren on the bed only to lay a comforting hand on Camilla's ankle while she read.
Camilla, mon chéri.
I do not have time to write right now, I have a busy schedule.
- Alexandre
Eleana pursed her lips while she thought about what she had just read.
"He hasn't written anythin' for a whole month, and then he sends me this!" Camilla cried miserably.
"What do you think?" Caren said. Camilla stopped snivelling for a moment and looked up from her pillow with sore eyes.
"I think... that it doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't care for you Camilla, he's simply... busy."
"You really think so?" Camilla said while she dried her red edged eyes with one of her sleeves.
"Perhaps he's mad about something?" Caren suggested.
"What could he possibly be mad about?" Camilla asked, sounding almost frightened by the thought that she could have done something to make him angry.
"There's only one way to find out: write him back." Eleana said with a smile. Camilla nodded and smiled faintly.
"I'm goin' to write to him at once."
"Tell him to explain himself. " Caren said, she sounded fairly annoyed. "and no bloody riddle"
Camilla was looking at the letter once again.
"I think it's because he doesn't know the language very well. English is hard for him, although he has gotten a lot better since I met 'im." Her dreamy voice was back, and a smile was on her lips. Her eyes were not tearful anymore, they were glistening with newfound joy. She grabbed a parchment and a quill from her dresser.
