Chapter 7: Hidden Things
September 30th
I need the room where things are hidden
Elara repeated the thought in her head three times as she passed by the blank wall on the seventh floor. A rickety old door appeared, and she sighed, pulling the heavy door open and sneaking in, quickly closing the door and watching it shrink back into the wall. She walked the aisles of books strewn about, chairs stacked haphazardly atop one another, old cabinets and statues with missing limbs. Finally, she reached Draco, who was pouring over a few books, flipping through pages and jotting down notes. The cabinet was open and there was a panel removed from the inner door that revealed a clock-like mechanism of pulleys and cogs.
"So, we need to get this working…" He pointed to the open panel. "In order to get the cabinet to work."
Elara leaned forward and inspected the cogs, twisting them about with her fingers and giving the thin pulleys a small tug. "Of course, it would be time related."
Draco looked up, his silver eyes bright with inquisition. "Elaborate." He said.
She sat next to him. "Well, it would make sense that in order for a vanishing cabinet to work, it had to remove you from this time and put you in another time where you would be in the opposite cabinet. Muggles have a theory on this called parallel universe… Where there's multiple universes and infinite yous, all doing something slightly different. It would make sense that this cabinet would have a main component of time travel since it's literally making you reappear elsewhere at the same time you would be here."
He stared at her thoughtfully for a moment, running is hand through his hair. "I don't follow." He admitted.
"I think it means we need to figure out a formula to determine how to reset the cogs. Like a clock…" She trailed off, tracing the pattern of the cogs with her fingers.
"Or a time turner?" Draco asked, pulling out one of the books he had opened. "This could be useful."
Time and Magic: A Wizard's Guide to Stabilizing Time Travel
Written by: Johnathon Rookworth
She opened the book and leafed through the pages, skimming a few of the articles. "This could be the right track… Or at least point us in the right direction."
The book was mainly about reversing hours, travelling back in time and the consequences of staying too long in the past. She made mental note that the book stated that five hours was the maximum amount of time one could safely travel back. It was an interesting enough read, and it may have been a good place to start. However, the more she read the more doubtful she became. Hour reversal spells were highly volatile and not to mention, illegal. It was also nearly impossible to propel forward in time, which is what they needed to do, if only by a second or two.
It occurred to her that the task that they were working on was a suicide mission, months before arriving to Hogwarts. She knew that they were not supposed to succeed here. However, she would give it her all, she would go out fighting. They had to figure this out.
After hours of leafing through the book on time travel, Elara had several lengthy notes written down and Draco was deep in a book about arithmancy and apparition and the connection between the two. She set the book down and rubbed her eyes, the words beginning to run together.
"We should take a break." She said. "I can barely see from staring at these old books."
Draco gave her a snort. "With as much as you keep your head buried in them, I'm surprised you want to get away from the books."
She rolled her eyes and stood, stretching her arms high in the air and twisting to crack her back, giving a small groan as her spine popped in several places. "I need to go for a walk, get some air."
He waved her out. "Go on. I'm getting somewhere here."
"Coco…" She said, a tone of desperation hiding under concern. "You need to go see some sunlight."
"I need to figure out how to get this damn cabinet working." He mumbled, still working on his formula. "Go on. Just bring me back a sandwich or something."
"Alright." She agreed, seeing that it was pointless to argue with him. "I'll be back soon."
"Where are you going to go?"
"Maybe the owlery. I'd like to see Ignatius for a bit… And then to the green houses. I need to be around some plant life."
"You and that silly owl." He chuckled. "I haven't met anyone who gets so attached to things like pets and plants."
She shrugged. "They're quiet and I like them."
"Enjoy your time with your weeds." He said, scribbling down a few notes.
She sighed and leaned down, placing a light kiss on the top of his head and making toward the exit. As she entered the corridor of the seventh floor, she folded her arms across her chest, wishing she would have grabbed her robes and not just the cream-colored jumper she was wearing. Draco had picked out this jumper for her, and while she loved how it fit, it was thinner than the lumpy knit sweaters she usually preferred.
She rolled her eyes as she moved, thinking about her brother's shallowness at times. She wondered if it was just her family who put so much effort into how people saw them, just to turn around and make those very same people hate them so vehemently. Now that she was away from the Manor, away from her mother's etiquette and glamor lessons… She found it all very ironic.
The walk to the Owlery was a nice escape. Most of the other students were either in classes or enjoying the sunshine and she was able to walk peacefully, without being assaulted by hateful thoughts or unwelcome inquisition.
She began thinking about the cabinet and the properties of time travel. She hoped they were on the right track, but the more she thought of it, the more of a dead end it seemed. Maybe trying to figure out the right incantation to move something through space was a better starting point? Maybe start studying portkeys to see how they operated?
She was deep in her thoughts, descending the stairs when one of the steps disappeared and she took a tumble down the marble steps. She stopped at the landing of the fourth floor, landing on her back and laying there for a moment, eyes shut, and teeth clenched in pain and embarrassment.
"Are you alright?" She heard an urgent voice.
Elara opened her eyes to see sparkling emeralds staring back at her through round lenses. She groaned inwardly, knowing that she was certainly not in the mood to entertain Harry Potter and his incessant need to insult her family.
"I'm fine." She grumbled. "The step disappeared on me. I wasn't paying attention…"
"We need to stop meeting like this." He said.
She gave a snort and sat up. As she did, she felt the searing pain in her ankle and groaned, lifting her pant leg up a few inches.
"That looks broken." Harry observed.
"I'm sure it's just twisted a bit." She denied, trying to move her toes and failing.
"You should go to the hospital wing." He said. "Come on, I'll help you."
She narrowed her eyes at him, skeptical. "Why?"
"Why am I helping you?" He asked, pulling her arm over his shoulder and hoisting her to her feet. She winced as she tried to put weight on her left foot, failing miserably.
"Yes." She said. "You made it very clear that you're too good to be around a Malfoy."
"You made it very clear that I shouldn't judge you because of your name." He said, wrapping his arm tight around her waist to support her weight.
They began walking in silence. Elara wondered if he felt as awkward as she did in this moment. She was sure, however that the awkwardness did not show. Maybe some pain, but not awkwardness. Her years of being trained to remain composed was certainly useful right now. She felt her jumper rise a few inches above the waist of her jeans and Harry's fingers grazed her skin. She focused, trying to use her abilities to figure out his motives. A wave of self-doubt and confusion washed over her, she realized he didn't know why he felt compelled to help her. There was another emotion under the confusion that she couldn't really place, it felt as if he was almost annoyed with himself.
Harry didn't mind the silence. He had a bad habit of not thinking before he spoke and for some reason that seemed amplified when the petite blonde he was carrying, was around. He could tell she was in pain. Her ankle had been twisted at a very unnatural angle. He briefly wondered if he should get Hermione to help her, they at least seemed to be friendly with one another. He looked at the profile of her face from the side of his eyes. She looked like she was deep in thought. Harry wondered what she was thinking, if she felt as uncomfortable as he did.
"I don't know where the hospital wing is." She admitted. "I haven't really gone searching for it just yet."
"I've spent a decent amount of time there." Harry joked. "I know exactly where it's at."
She nodded. "Could we sit a moment? My foot really does hurt quite a lot."
Harry moved them toward a windowsill that was deep enough for them to sit for a moment. "Is this okay?"
"This is fine." She said. "Thank you."
He nodded, helping her sit on the edge of the stone. "Do you need me to get your brother for you?" He asked, silently praying to whatever deity he could think of that she said no.
She shook her head. "He'll just get angry and blame you."
"It wasn't my fault." He said, feeling defensive.
"I know." She said, looking up at him. "I'm not always good on my feet, and he knows that. But like you, he looks for reasons to be hateful toward people he doesn't know."
"I'm not hateful." Harry grumbled, becoming irritated with her honesty.
"You're proving my point with that tone." She pointed out.
Silence consumed them once more. Elara stared out the window, looking over the grounds as the wind moved the afternoon air through the trees. She was beginning to love the grounds here. She missed her gardens at the Manor, but the expansiveness of the Hogwarts grounds and the ever-growing curiosity to explore them kept her at peace with not being home. She hated to admit she was homesick. She had fought her brother so fervently trying to convince him she would be fine being away from the Manor. But after four weeks of eyes following her everywhere, of whispers and blatant rudeness… She was missing the solitude of her own room.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as Harry shifted next to her. Her eyes trailed over his face. He looked nervous and slightly put off. She assumed it was because he hadn't planned on spending his evening helping a Slytherin, particularly when that Slytherin was a Malfoy.
"Thank you." She said, just above a whisper.
He looked at her, his eyes wide with surprise. "What for?"
"For helping me."
He bit back a slight smile. "I wasn't going to leave you there. And you clearly can't walk on your own."
"Still." She said, locking stormy eyes with him. "You could have. And you didn't."
Harry contemplated her for a moment. Thinking back on the night they arrived at the school, she had helped him. He still had no idea how, but she had taken away his pain and within minutes of her leaving, Luna had discovered him. The connection between the two—her promises to help and Luna's arrival—were not lost on him.
"You helped me on the train." He replied, with a slight shrug that looked more careless than he felt. "You didn't have to."
Silence hung over them again. Harry studied her as she stared out the window, her breath leaving a bit of fog on the glass. He didn't think he'd ever admit it out loud, but she was striking. Her hair was hanging to her waist, perfect blonde strands that looked as if they had never seen a tangle. Her cream sweater nearly blended in with her perfect ivory skin, so perfect in fact, he thought it looked like porcelain. Smooth and unblemished. Her thick black lashes drew his eyes directly to hers; her cheek bones were carved into her pointed, heart shaped face. Her nose slightly turned up, reminding him of a fairy or some other dainty creature he had read about long ago. Her lips were naturally pouty and the bottom lip had small dents in it from where she chewed. He watched as she did just that, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and chewing it for a moment… Finally, she turned to him, surprise flashing her features before the blank canvas took over once more.
"You're staring at me." She stated. It wasn't a question.
His breath hitched in his throat and he coughed. "I er- sorry."
"Can we continue now? My ankle is throbbing."
"Yeah. Of course." Harry said, wrapping an arm around her waist again and hoisting her into a standing position.
The pair slowly made their way to the hospital wing, carefully staggering down the stairs and through the corridors. Harry noticed how light her weight was against him, how warm and soft she felt. He wasn't sure what he was expecting. Maybe a frigid coldness or a robotic stiffness, but not warmth.
They entered the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey rushed over to them, pulling a stool up for Elara to sit.
"What happened?" The Healer asked, removing Elara's shoe and lifting her pant leg to assess the damage.
"I missed one of the disappearing steps." She said, wincing as the witch squeezed her ankle.
"Oh dear…" She clicked her tongue. "It's certainly broken. Easy enough to fix, but you'll need to stay overnight."
Elara nodded. "Okay."
Harry shifted his weight from one foot to another, wondering if he should go. He felt as if he shouldn't be there, he really had no business being there. They weren't friends, he hardly knew her—a point she liked to make glaringly obvious to him every chance she had. Something in his stomach lurched as he realized he didn't want to leave her by herself. He waited as she got comfortable on a cot and sat next to her on the rickety chair.
"I can stay with you for a while if… If you want." He mumbled.
"I'm sure you have better things to do." She replied.
He shrugged. "I know how boring it can be to sit here on your own."
She thought about his statement for a minute. She was perfectly content with solitude; she was so used to it from being at the manor, craved it, actually. However, if she was going to get close to Potter and his friends… If she was going to keep their eyes from Draco and his task, she knew she wouldn't be able to spend much time alone.
"Only boring people get bored." She replied.
"Well, feel better then." He grumbled, turning to go toward the exit.
"Potter." She said.
He turned back around to face her. Her face was void of any emotion, but he saw a glint of hesitance in her eyes. "I… Erm… I wouldn't mind the company though, if you'd like to stay." She said, just above a whisper, her hands playing with the bed sheet beneath her.
Madam Pomfrey interrupted them to give Elara a healthy dose of Skele-gro, urging her to rest and sleep it off. After choking down the disgusting grey liquid, she sat quietly, wondering what to talk about with Harry. She really wasn't great at small talk, she could navigate it for a few moments, but it was exhausting to be that dull for an entire evening.
"Tell me something about yourself." She said, the words slipping past her lips. "Something I can't read about in the Prophet."
Harry pulled his eyebrows together and narrowed his eyes at her. "What?" He said, confused by the suddenness of the question.
She smirked and adjusted the pillow behind her, laying back comfortably. "Tell me something about yourself. You've made it clear that you think you know me. So, if you're going to stay here, let's actually get to know one another."
"You're very direct." Harry said, feeling as if she was staring a hole into him.
"So, I've heard. What's your favorite candy?"
He gave a small chuckle at the randomness of the question. "My favorite candy?" He repeated the question. "Chocolate frogs. You?"
"Typical." She said. "Fizzing Whizbees."
"I love those too." He said. "What's your favorite drink?"
"Cranberry juice." She replied. "I know, it's boring. But I drink it every day."
"Butterbeer!" He said. "How can that not be your favorite?!"
"It's too rich." She said. "I like sweets, but not in my drinks. I like that cranberry juice is a little tart."
He rolled his eyes. "All of the amazing things to drink, and you choose to drink cranberry juice?"
She laughed. "I take it you don't like it?"
"I'm not actually a fan of juice at all." He admitted. "I don't mind a pumpkin juice every now and again, but it's not my go to."
The lull in their conversation hung awkwardly over them. For long minutes, Harry stared around at anything in the room, trying not to get sucked into staring at her again. After ten minutes had passed, Elara groaned in pain, shifting her weight and trying to get comfortable.
"It really hurts." Harry said, knowingly. "Do you want me to get you something for pain?"
She shook her head. "No." She breathed hard. "It'll subside. It comes and goes. It's more odd than painful, feeling your bones move and crack back into place."
"I lost all of my bones in my arm a few years back." Harry said, smirking as he recalled the memory. "I had to regrow them all and it was horrible."
"I remember Co-Draco telling me about it." She nodded. "He hated Lockhart from the start. Said he was a right git."
Harry nodded. "I guess he wasn't wrong about that." He thought for moment, wondering what exactly she had been told about Hogwarts to this point. "What classes are you taking now? I know you have potions and charms…"
"I have a pretty heavy class load." She admitted. "I'm taking Potions, Defense, Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Divination, and Muggle Studies."
"Muggle studies?" He asked, completely caught off guard. "Why would you-
"It's interesting to me." She said, feeling defensive. "I've never known any muggles. I didn't live with them growing up… I think they're fascinating. They certainly have found a way to make things easier for themselves without magic. I think we could learn from them in some respect."
Harry sat, staring at her again, but this time with disbelief. A Malfoy had just admitted to finding interest in muggles. Admitted that wizards could learn from them. No. He had to have misheard her. "I'm sorry, what?" He said.
"I said I think muggles are interesting. I think we could learn a lot from them. For instance, did you know they have these devices called Telephones? They are able to talk through them to one another, instead of mailing! I have no idea how it works, but it's brilliant! There'd be so much less owl mess to clean up and we could save so much parchment if we had some sort of system like that!"
"You're actually interested in muggles?" Harry asked, extremely baffled.
"Yes!" She said. "Why does no one believe me?!"
Harry decided to leave that one alone. Responding with 'because your family is a bunch of Death Eaters' would probably be counterproductive to this little exercise of getting to know one another. "I lived with muggles until I started here. They're not all that great." He realized the last part of that statement sounded bitter.
She knitted her eyebrows together in thought. "Not all wizards are great, either." She whispered. "We're all human though. We all make mistakes and do things we aren't proud of."
They continued to chat for about an hour; mostly Elara asking Harry questions about muggle contraptions she had read about in her textbooks and Harry asking her what it was like growing up with magic. They didn't dive deep into their family history, just traded bits of silly information that led to more silly questions. Elara was laughing at a story Harry had told her about accidentally setting a large snake on his cousin at the zoo when Blaise burst into the hospital room, dark eyes searching.
"Ellie!" He said, relief washing over him. "Merlin! You had me worried. Draco said you hadn't- wait. What the fuck is he doing here?"
Blaise stood next to her bed, staring between the pair, ghosts of a laugh etched into each of their faces. "What the fuck happened to you? Are you alright?"
"First, stop-
"The language. Bloody hell woman!" He said, running his palm over his face. "I know. I know. Are you okay?" He again eyed Harry.
"I'm fine." She said. "Really."
He bent over the bed, lightly holding her chin and turning her head side to side to look her over. She rolled her eyes when he let her go. "See? I'm fine."
"What happened?"
"I missed one of the disappearing steps. I wasn't paying attention and I tumbled down a few flights and nearly landed on Potter. I broke my ankle, I guess it's a good thing he was there though, I wouldn't have made it here without him." She spoke innocently enough, but every word was calculated. She knew stroking his Gryffindor ego would put him in good spirits.
"Yeah, alright." Blaise said. "Draco has been looking everywhere for you for the last forty minutes. He's currently going to the green houses. He said you were going to go talk to the plants or something."
"That was my intention." She said. "I just never made it that far."
"And I assume you have to stay here?" He asked.
She nodded. "Just until the morning."
"I'll stay with you." He said. "Potter, you can go."
Harry narrowed his eyes, wanting to say something to the intruder of his conversations with Elara, but what could he say? They weren't exactly friends, and just because they had been holding a decent conversation for the past hour or so didn't mean anything. It was simply a way to pass the time, wasn't it?
"I'll see you around." Harry said, deciding that it would be best to avoid an argument with another Slytherin today. Besides, he wanted to talk to Hermione. She seemed to enjoy Elara's company as of late and he wanted to compare notes.
She nodded. "Thank you, Harry."
He gave a small smile and walked out of the hospital wing, leaving Blaise to take his spot beside her. Blaise quickly grabbed her hand and spoke. "You had me worried. Draco was scared you'd gone flying and fell of your broom and hurt yourself."
"I've never fallen off my broom!" She protested. "It's my own two feet that are useless."
He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb, and she looked at him, confused by the affection. "Blaise, are you alright?"
He nodded. "I'm okay. I don't like Potter getting close with you. I feel like he's up to something."
Elara pursed her lips, trying to think of how to answer him. Potter certainly was an innocent bystander here. She was the one that was up to something, she was the one who was trying to infiltrate his friend group to keep them distracted from what she and Draco were trying to do. She was the one trying to manipulate his feelings by being friendly with him.
"I think he was just trying to be helpful." She shrugged. "He is a Gryffindor, after all."
"I s'pose you're right." Blaise replied. "I better go find Draco and tell him you're alright. Will you be okay here by yourself for a bit?"
She nodded. "I'm feeling tired from the potion anyway. I'll just nap until you get back."
Harry found Hermione with her nose in a book in the library. She was sitting next to Ron, trying to explain to him the passage she was reading, and he looked completely uninterested.
"'Mione, can't you just help me write it?" Ron begged. "You know I'm no good at this stuff!"
She sighed in defeat. "Fine. But I'm not writing the entire thing for you. I'll help you with the intro, but then the rest is up to you."
"You're a goddess!" Ron said, giving her a side hug.
"Hey." Harry said, interrupting them.
Hermione looked up and smiled. "Harry! Where have you been? We agreed to study together at four and-
"I was in the hospital wing-
"You alright, mate?" Ron interrupted.
"I'm fine." He said. "I was there with Elara Malfoy."
Hermione cocked an eyebrow at him, and Ron narrowed his eyes. Harry gave a short laugh and took the seat on the other side of Ron. "She missed one of the disappearing steps and took a nasty fall. I saw it happen and helped her to the Hospital wing. She broke her ankle."
"With as poised as she seems, she sure does fall down a lot." Hermione chuckled.
Harry nodded. "I stayed with her for a while, until Zabini showed up. Did you know she's taking Muggle Studies?"
"Probably to get information on their weaknesses." Ron muttered.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes. We've talked quite a bit about it. She likes to ask me questions about muggle things when we study. I recently gave her a book of muggle fairy tales I used to read as a kid to look over."
"You're helping her?" Ron asked, eyes wide.
"She seems genuinely interested." Harry agreed. "We talked about a lot of muggle things too. I was explaining to her what a movie was…" He trailed off; his thoughts lost in the confusing conversation he had with Elara. "I just don't understand what she's playing at."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"Well, she's a Malfoy, isn't she?" Harry said. "And obviously her shit stain of a brother isn't interested in muggles unless it includes eradicating them-
"You don't know that." Hermione said.
"I know what I heard." Harry said. "And on the train, he made it very clear that he was marked. He may not have shown it, but I know he's marked."
"That doesn't mean Elara is." Hermione said. "And quite frankly, Harry, she doesn't seem the least bit interested in what her family does. She's told me she's never been interested in Dark Magic."
"Of course, she would tell you that!" Harry said. "Why would she admit to following those views to a muggleborn?!"
"What I'm saying is I don't believe she's following her family. I think she came to Hogwarts this year to get away from all of that."
Harry thought on that for a moment. Surely, the Malfoy Manor is ripe with dark magic. If she were trying to distance herself from it, it would only make sense that she come to Hogwarts and try to get away from it all. But then, why did her name keep disappearing off the map? For the last week and a half Elara and Draco's names consistently disappeared from the map at the same time and reappeared together. They were certainly up to something, right? They had to be. Regardless of how pleasant his conversation had been with her earlier, it didn't mean she wasn't still in the loop with Death Eaters. It didn't make her any less of one. Hermione clearly didn't believe him, and she was obviously on Elara's side. But he would prove it. He knew the Malfoys were hiding something, he could feel it in his bones
"No, no! That's all wrong!" Elara said, pointing to the formula Draco was working on. "You can't just drop the conversion because you feel like it! All the numbers will equal something between one and nine! This is First Year stuff!"
Draco scowled at her and crumpled up his parchment. "We're getting nowhere with Arithmancy."
"That's because you insist on doing the math wrong. If you're going to translate the runes, you have to also translate the numerical value!"
He sighed and pulled out a fresh piece of Parchment, starting the equation all over again.
Three days ago, they had gotten a break. They finally found a light in the tunnel. There was a very small inscription on the cogs of the Cabinet, all in Runes. Draco, thankfully, was quite skilled with Ancient Runes when he took the classes, so he began deciphering them. They were about halfway through it when Elara began working on the Arithmatic sequence. Deciding that they were able to work out the sequence, they could then find or create a charm to get the cabinet working again. It was moving slow, but it was the farthest they had gotten in weeks.
"I'm going to have Hermione double check our Runes. Make sure they're translated properly." Elara said.
Draco looked at her and laughed. "You're joking?"
"I'm not." She said. "She doesn't have to know what it's for. She's given me half the books I've looked through anyway, she knows I have an interest in them. I just think we should double check."
"They aren't wrong." Draco grumbled. "I translated them right. Your math is off."
"My math is never off." She said. "It wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. And Hermione has the highest marks in Runes."
"Only because I dropped it this year."
She rolled her eyes. "It's not a competition. I just want to make sure we aren't missing something."
Draco huffed angrily and scribbled out what he was working on. "I can't focus on this." He said. "I'm exhausted."
"Have you been sleeping?" Elara asked, putting her notes down and looking at him.
He shook his head. "No. I close my eyes for a while, but I always wake up throughout the night."
"Have you been taking any dreamless sleep?" She asked.
"I'm going to overdose on the stuff if my tolerance gets any higher for it."
"I could try…" She said, reaching her hand out to brush against his arm. "If you wanted… I could put you to sleep."
"No." He said. "I'll figure it out. We should call it a night though. It's getting late."
She nodded and began to pack her things up. She stuffed her many texts on numerology, arithmancy, and runes in her bag. Thankful for extension charms, she shrugged into the straps and followed Draco from the Seventh floor to the Dungeons.
Elara hummed quietly to herself as they snuck through the corridors. She was moving a bit slower than Draco, due to the soreness still in her ankle. She carefully descended the stairs, being sure to pay attention to the disappearing steps this time. She wondered how many time students had broken bones before her, from taking a tumble down the ever changing staircases.
The magic here was so different than the magic in the Manor. Hogwarts was probably the only building besides Malfoy Manor that she had been in that was as ripe with history. She could feel the ghosts of past conflicts and emotions resonating from the stone walls here. She absently dragged her fingers across the cool rock of the walls as she walked, feeling the memories. Happiness, sadness, anger, hurt, misery, elation, fear, peace… So many complex feelings over centuries of people being here. She wondered if she was the only person who could feel it.
When they reached the dungeons, she hesitated. "You go ahead." She said. "I'm going to walk a bit more."
"It's nearly curfew." Draco stated. "You'll get a detention."
She shrugged. "I want to explore a bit. I'll be back soon."
He nodded and gave the password, passing through the portrait and disappearing.
Elara wandered through the dark halls of the dungeons, concentrating on her breathing and trying to calm her mind. Although the stone was pulsing with emotion, she felt calm. For the first time in weeks, she had some solitude to think. Some alone time to process everything that had happened since the term began.
Her classes were going well, which she was pleased about. It was difficult jumping into loads of new material at NEWT level, but she had been tutored well at the Manor, and she enjoyed academics. She realized she quite liked studying with Hermione Granger. Over the last few weeks, there had been more than a few times she found herself in the library with her, talking about different magical theories and discussing their classes. She was very intelligent and valued knowledge.
Elara pondered that for a moment.
If Hermione Granger, a muggleborn who had no idea the wizarding world existed prior to her eleventh birthday, was able to be the brightest student in the school… What made that such a bad thing? Why was she supposed to hate Hermione? Because she wasn't a pureblood? Because she was raised by muggles? It was hardly her fault that she was born into a non-magical household.
She startled out of her thoughts when she heard someone clear their throat across from her. She looked up to see Professor Snape, staring down at her, disapprovingly.
"Miss Malfoy." He said. "It's past curfew. You should be in your dormitory."
"I'm sorry sir." She said, standing up and pulling her bag back over her shoulders. "I got lost in thought."
He inclined his head. "You look troubled."
She was taken back by the note of concern on his face. "I am… unsure." She admitted.
"Follow me." He said, walking swiftly ahead of her and heading toward his study.
He didn't know what compelled him to invite her into his study after curfew. He should have sent her on her way and taken a few house points as punishment. But the revelation she had weeks ago, the ability she had to so easily slip into his mind and extract information had plagued him.
"Make yourself comfortable." He said, motioning to the moth bitten sofa. "Have you needed to use any of the potions I gave you?"
She shook her head. "No, not yet."
He nodded. "Good."
Silence devoured the room as he thought carefully about what to say next. She didn't seem surprised that he had asked her to follow him, she didn't seem nervous as most students did in his presence.
"Sir?" She began. "Why have you brought me here?"
He sighed, taking his own seat in the stiff armchair by the fire and crossed his legs at the knees. "You know." He said. "I need to have your word that you will not, and have not, confided that information to anyone else."
"That you're working with the Order?" She asked, innocently enough.
He grimaced, biting back a wince. "Yes."
She gave a small smile. "Sir, the thing about being an empath is you feel everyone's emotions all the time. Everyone's secrets. I'd be a rubbish person if I went spouting about everything I've heard, felt, or seen from other minds."
"What did you see?"
"I didn't see anything from you." She said, "Your mind is far too guarded for actual images. I felt it though. Your uncertainty, your desperation. Your heartbreak…" She trailed off, taking a slow breath before continuing. "You don't believe in any of it?"
He shook his head. "I did. At one time. Out of spite and anger more than anything."
"Sir," Her eyes looked up to meet his. "What do I do?"
His black eyes bore into her grey ones, trying to find a hint of a lie. Trying to see if he was being duped by a child. She was clever enough, he thought, if they were tracking him and trying to see where his loyalties lie… She would be of good use. But then there was the problem of Lucius Malfoy's little lie. Telling the Dark Lord his daughter was incapacitated, and unable to be used for anything worth while. He knew the Dark Lord had to have seen right through that. She was clearly the smartest of the bunch! But as he looked at her now, he saw fear. Fear in the storm cloud eyes of a sixteen-year-old child, who was heavily conflicted against her own beliefs.
No. Not her beliefs. Lucius' beliefs. Voldemort's beliefs.
"Keep yourself out of trouble and leave, the moment you can get out, go far away from here."
She nodded and stood up, feeling as if she were overstaying her abrupt welcome. "I should go to the dormitories." She said.
Snape nodded. "I expect you to be on time for class tomorrow morning."
She gave a sheepish smile and walked toward the door. "What made you do it?" She asked. "Why did you defect?"
"Loss has a way of twisting you inside out." He responded.
She gave a small nod of understanding and left his study, walking the short distance to the common room and finally to her dorm.
That was the desperation she felt from him, the hurt and the misery. He lost someone he cared about, even loved. That was a far more noble reason to defect from the Dark Lord than simply disagreement.
But then again… She had experienced loss too. Her entire adolescence had been spent in hiding, for fear that she would be taken from her family because of her abilities. She had lost her Father in a power-drunk failure, she had lost her mother to crippling anxiety and worry. She had lost her brother to a very suicidal and impossible task… And it was very possible that she would lose her life, standing in line for something she didn't believe in.
She sank into her bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin and took a deep breath. Sort your head out, Elara. Make a decision, before someone gets killed. She thought to herself as her eyes fluttered shut and sleep finally took her under its wing.
a/n: I mean, three updates this week! Can I get some love for that? No? Maybe?
Unfortunately, duty calls and I will be working the next four days or so. I'm hoping to have chapter 8 up by monday, so we'll see how well that works out.
I'm hoping you all enjoy the snippets of classes that I've added in. I've gone back and forth on whether to really include a lot of class topics, I feel like a lot of the time it ends up being filler... But, hopefully it's enjoyable to read filler; at the very least.
Anyway, Read, review, message! Tell me what you think, what you hope! Ask me random questions- whatever! To the people who have favorited THANK YOU! You really are too kind.
Until next time!
-Mimi
