Quick Note: And we are officially back at Hogwarts! I'm excited to show some relationships we haven't seen a lot of yet, and I'm really looking forward to how you react to how some relationships change and grow! Let me know what you think!
Sitting in the Great Hall felt surreal to Eleanor. She was pressed up between Ron and Fred, sitting across from Hermione, Harry and Ginny. She was laughing at something the twins had said, her stomach was full of delicious food and she was among friends. It felt good, she felt safe.
That is, until a stout woman dressed in pink asked for the attention of the Hogwarts population. Her voice unsettled Eleanor and set her teeth on edge.
"She was at my hearing." Harry whispered to the group quietly.
"Have you ever met her, Eleanor?" Ron asked softly, nudging Eleanor's arm. Eleanor wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought of having previously known this woman.
"Why would I ever know her?" Eleanor responded incredulously.
"I don't know. You're the only high class Slytherin we are friendly with. I just figured you would know other high class Slytherins." Ron reasoned with a shrug.
"I'm not Slytherin." Eleanor rolled her eyes at her redheaded friend, who drove her mad more often than not.
"As close as we can get." Ron continued. "You spent your whole summer bunked up with one and all of his cronies."
"No, I don't know this woman, Ron." Eleanor sighed, furrowing her brow trying to listen to what this woman could possibly still be talking about. "This seems like a load of shit." Eleanor said quietly to the twins in front of her, both of whom nodded in agreement.
Eleanor stopped listening to the woman, she hadn't been paying much attention to begin with. Defense teachers never lasted, and Eleanor was sure that this woman would be no different. She could not possibly be worse than a Death Eater in disguise, or an egotistical liar, or Voldemort himself. Eleanor shook the woman's shrill voice from her head as they were dismissed from their tables. Eleanor's stomach was full, and she was around friends, and the change of scenery was something she greatly appreciated. In her bones, it felt good to be back at Hogwarts.
The Weasley twins did not disappoint back in the Gryffindor common room. The had been working tirelessly all summer for this night; the perfect time to showcase their best creations. Naturally, they had smuggled a few alcoholic beverages with them. Eleanor was always mystified as to how they were able to get so much into the castle walls.
Fred and George passed around different treats for their housemates to try as Hermione, Eleanor, Harry and Ron all sipped on their drinks in the corner of the common room. Fred and George didn't announce to too many people that they were handing out alcohol, they wanted to keep it lucrative.
"We shouldn't even have these." Hermione said to Ron. "It feels very hypocritical." But she took another sip despite her words. "As Prefects we would be confiscating these. If anyone were to tell…"
"Hermione, do you need another to calm down?" Eleanor asked with a laugh. "There is barely any alcohol in these drinks anyway." Eleanor reasoned, looking at the bottles of cider. Hermione huffed.
"Just the idea of it. It's so wrong now that I'm a Prefect."
"Blimey, Hermione." Ron groaned. "You don't have to drink it."
"More for me." Eleanor laughed. Hermione looked at her friend quizzically. All four of them had been open to having good times last year at the appropriate times, especially given the Tournament. Hermione had never seen Eleanor want to drink simply for the sake of doing so. It was the night before classes, and it wasn't a party, not really.
"A little bird told me that you made an appearance at several Slytherin only parties this summer." George said as he and his brother joined the group in the corner. He nudged Eleanor's shoulder and she laughed a little. She was by no means drunk, but after a few casual drinks she was beginning to feel more giggly than she normally would have been.
"Obviously I wasn't at a "Slytherin only" party if I, a Gryffindor, was there." Eleanor rolled her eyes. "But yes, Blaise Zabini had a few get togethers that I attended."
"It sounded like you more than attended them. I heard you truly were the life of the party." George continued to joke, causing Eleanor to turn red in memory of her dancing and singing unsolicitedly in Blaise Zabini's pool in front of a frighteningly small group of people.
"Where did you hear this?" Eleanor asked, wanting to know which party guest was already telling all of Hogwarts exactly how Eleanor couldn't handle her alcohol - which was a lie, or so Eleanor liked to believe.
"Marietta. She blabs and blabs constantly." George sounded annoyed.
"When were you talking to Marietta?" Eleanor blinked in surprise, having never seen the two interact before.
"We spoke briefly on the train." George explained with humor and pride in his eye.
"Yes, they spoke very briefly." Fred emphasized, nudging his twin with a laugh.
"You aren't telling me that you-" Hermione started to scold with humor.
"Oh come on, Hermione. Only a little bit." George seemed proud of his escapade on the train.
"What a floozie." Eleanor muttered to herself, thinking of how only days before she had seen Marietta and Blaise interlocked in several corners of the Zabini household.
"Well that hurts my feelings a little." George covered his heart with his hand, only a little truth hiding underneath his jokes. Eleanor cracked half of a smile.
"She has been entertaining Blaise Zabini as recently as his end of summer party last week." Eleanor explained. "Sorry to burst your bubble."
"I don't talk to her much. Nothing to burst." George shrugged, though his pride was obviously a little hurt.
"Yeah, not anymore." Ron laughed, earning himself a hearty shove from his older brother.
Hermione let out a huge yawn then and looked at the clock on the wall. "I should probably be off." She handed her barely touched bottle to Fred's open hand. "Eleanor, are you coming up soon?" Hermione desperately wanted to talk to Eleanor privately about what exactly she had been up to that summer.
Eleanor nodded falsely. "Just let me finish this." She lifted her half drank bottle. Hermione left up the stairs.
"Oi, there's Seamus. Reckon we should go say hello?" Ron suggested, tapping Harry's arm. The two boys left and with their disappearance, Eleanor stood quickly and began walking to the portrait hole before anyone would notice.
"Where do you think you're going?" Fred asked with a raised brow.
"I'm going to go make sure Marietta gets what is coming to her." Eleanor smirked as she ducked out of the common room and into the dark hallway. Muscle memory and vague lighting took her to the library where she saw Draco waiting for her in an alcove.
"Ditch Pansy?" Eleanor smiled at him as she approached.
"It wasn't our night to do rounds." Draco shook his head, trying to fight the urge to begin bouncing like a lovesick pup when he saw her. He remained calm, collected. Which he thought made him seem dapper, but it disappointed Eleanor, who had hoped he would have been at least a little more excited to see her.
"So we could both get in trouble if we're caught?" Eleanor raised a thick eyebrow high on her face. Draco chuckled a little, feeling as though he wanted to hold her hand, but fought the urge for fear of coming across as desperate and attached.
"Let's just not get caught." Draco suggested.
"That's kind of hot." Eleanor giggled, finally making the move to touch him by wrapping her arm around his neck and pressing her lips to his gently at first, then pushing against them fiercely. She hadn't been able to get over the feeling of them together like that.
"Have you been drinking?" Draco pulled away, laughing at the taste and smell of subtle alcohol on her breath. Eleanor rolled her eyes.
"Only a little. I'm not drunk." Eleanor promised, and she wasn't, but her cheeks her rosy and she was very affectionate and began giggling a little more.
"Unbelievable." Draco chuckled, shaking his head and pulling her close again. He wouldn't dare think about his affections for Eleanor, but in reality, with or without Draco's acknowledgement of them, they were growing by the minute. He had never felt so drawn to someone - well, he had, but that someone had always, in one sense or another, been Eleanor. He didn't know what to do with himself. For some reason, he felt the need to pull away from her lips as she looked up at him in confusion.
"Something wrong?" She asked, tilting her head. Merlin, she was adorable. "Do you want to talk?"
Yes, Draco thought to himself. He never really wanted to just talk with girls, but with Eleanor he did. She was his best friend, who he happened to love snogging every chance he could. What did that make her? All of those feelings, romantic feelings, sent Draco reeling. He couldn't really be feeling the way he was, he had never felt this strongly. Part of him wanted to tell her, but part of him, the real part of him, felt like it was almost fake. The likelihood of a mutual affection where everything worked out was slim to none. So instead of talking about how he was feeling, instead of letting Eleanor in like he desperately needed to do, instead of figuring out his emotions and misconceptions, he simply shook his head and kissed her again with a ferocity that he believed would make him forget that he was enamored.
"It was probably some sort of power move." Eleanor reasoned, trying to keep up with a seething Harry after he had been issued a detention in their first class period with Professor Umbridge. "She wanted to assert dominance, you know? Maybe she thought that if she gave a detention the first day, students wouldn't mess with her."
"Or maybe some people are just bad people, Eleanor." Ron jabbed with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "There isn't always an explanation; some people are mean, or a raging bitch, or a Death Eater." His undertone was angry and frustrated, causing Eleanor to slow her pace and drop her eyes.
"I didn't say she wasn't out of line." Eleanor shook her head, trying to not be discouraged by the obvious frustrations of her friends. "I don't think she has it out for you, Harry. I don't think the Ministry is conspiring against you. You're paranoid."
"Merlin, Eleanor, are you fucking joking?" Ron finally yelled as the four turned down an empty corridor on their way back to the common room. "Have you even looked at a Prophet all summer? It's filled with smears against Harry."
"They haven't investigated the right sources" Eleanor was trying to be reasonable, trying to be positive. "They are misinformed."
"By the Ministry!" Ron called out, his long arms flailing in desperation for his naive friend to understand. "You're telling me that you don't think the Ministry is even a little bit seedy? Your parents died in their building, they are doing the autopsy and have found literally no cause of death. Not one. That's worth a conspiracy itself."
"Ron," Hermione scolded her friend, shooting him a hard glare at the mention of Eleanor's deceased parents.
"They aren't efficient. My parents weren't people of interest for anybody, their deaths don't need to be covered up." Eleanor shot back defensively, not wanting the situation with her parents to even become a talking point.
"Inefficient? You have grounds to launch an entire investigation into the legitimacy of countless Departments, but you think they are just inefficient. Unbelievable, truly." Ron scoffed, rubbing his forehead in incredulity. "Let me ask you this, do you even believe You-Know-Who is back?" He finally asked point blank, staring at Eleanor with hard, unflinching eyes.
"What has that got to do with anything?" Eleanor furrowed her brows. She had honestly not given it much thought, her mind was elsewhere over the summer. She trusted Harry, she trusted the Order, but was trust the same as belief?
"Ron," Hermione warned again, hitting his shoulder, "Of course she does. You've no right to question-"
"Then let her answer, 'Mione." Ron's eyes still hadn't left Eleanor, who felt very attacked and didn't want this. She just wanted her friends to try to see the whole picture and envision other scenarios where they weren't the victims.
"Harry," Hermione looked to her friend for support as Eleanor stood, silent as the grave.
"I mean, you don't believe me about Malfoy..." Harry let out lamely, not making eye contact with Eleanor as he said it.
"That's different." Eleanor shook her head rapidly.
"Well why would you believe his entire account of the night, but not that one part?" Ron inquired. Eleanor felt like she was put on the stand.
"How would you react if Harry told you your uncle was a Death Eater?" Eleanor shot back. She didn't want to argue with Ron, it was never pretty when they did.
"I'd same 'damn, didn't see that coming, that's a right shame, guess I won't see him at Christmas anymore,' and then never speak to him again." Ron retorted quickly. Eleanor groaned and rolled her eyes, she knew Ron and she knew that he was loyal to a fault but was never sure who to be loyal to so if that situation were to arise, he would be conflicted between Harry and his family.
"I believe you Harry, I do." Eleanor finally answered, looking at her friend. Harry opened his mouth to respond but Ron beat him to it.
"So you believe that Malfoy is a Death Eater?" Ron hopped on quickly.
"I don't -" Eleanor wasn't allowed to finish.
"Merlin's fucking Beard, Eleanor. You're brainwashed!" He yelled loudly.
"Oi, Weasley!" The four heard a sharp voice snap as a blonde head rounded around the corner with Blaise. "Yelling in the halls loses you house points." He warned through gritted teeth. He wasn't sure what the context was that cause Ron to yell at Eleanor, but he knew that he wouldn't stand by while it happened.
"Piss off, Malfoy." Ron grumbled, turning to walk away.
"Tsk tsk." Draco tutted. "I'm afraid I can't just let you go. You're disrupting the learning environment, I might have to issue a detention."
"Draco, stop it." Eleanor hissed at him. Ron was out of line, but she didn't need Draco to come and give him more of a reason to think she was some sort of traitor to Harry. At her words, Draco's eyes shifted to Eleanor. He was confused and a little annoyed that she didn't seem at least a little bit thankful. Her so called friends were yelling at her in the corridor for some probably ridiculous reason. Did she not want his help?
"You can't talk to me like that, I'm a prefect you know." Draco tried to layer his voice in a veiled joke in hopes of making Eleanor crack a smile at his arrogance. She would have if it was two days earlier.
"I'm perfectly aware, thank you." Eleanor rolled her eyes and began to turn away from him.
"Okay, seriously, why were you being such a dick to her, Weasley?" Draco demanded angrily, frustrated that Eleanor wasn't playing along and still not being enlightened on why he witnessed her being yelled at so mercilessly.
"I'm the dick?" Ron asked incredulously, his fist curled tightly as he began to position himself to hit the Slytherin.
"Ron, stop it." Eleanor snapped loudly and harshly. The redheaded boy looked over to her and rolled his eyes.
"Protecting a Malfoy from what he deserves," Ron scoffed quietly, turning to walk away, Harry following closely behind him, "fucking typical." He shook his head. Hermione lingered a moment, asking Eleanor with her eyes if she should stay. Eleanor shook her head slightly, and Hermione went following the two boys. Blaise understood immediately and left.
Eleanor was seething from the past events with both Ron and Draco. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms.
"What did he mean by that?" Draco asked in a softer tone than what he had previously been using, but not an altogether pleasant one. He leaned beside her on the wall, hoping to gain answers and insight.
"Nothing." Eleanor huffed, looking away.
"Why won't you talk to me?" Draco pressed.
"Because I'm mad at you." Eleanor snapped.
"Then why are you still here?" Draco hoped to catch her off guard with this question, forcing her to come clean. But Eleanor always had something to say to him.
"Because I want you to know." She returned without missing a beat. To her surprise (she was always finding herself surprised) Draco laughed. He actually laughed. Not a mean laugh that showed frustration or an ironic laugh, but a real laugh. "What's funny?" Eleanor sniffed angrily.
"You." Draco answered with a shrug. "You think I don't know that you're angry. You just like to stick around to really make me feel your anger?"
"I don't find that particularly funny."
"No, of course you don't." Draco continued to chuckled quietly for a bit. "Why are you friends with them if they treat you like that?"
"They don't treat me 'like that', Draco." Eleanor explained. "We disagree on something, and Ron is very passionate and I remain unmoved."
"It sounded like more than that." Draco pressed further now that she wasn't trying to stay angry to prove a point.
"Well, it wasn't." Eleanor stated simply. "Just drop it." She pushed away from the wall, and Draco leaned forward slightly for a stolen kiss in the empty corridor, but Eleanor brushed right passed him without a second thought.
