It takes two whole weeks for her parents to write back to her.
In those two weeks, she has tagged along with Yeoreum and whoever else Yeoreum wants to speak to that day, rarely engaging in both conversation and her lessons. She writes her notes, half-heartedly listens to lectures, and uses her homework as an excuse to not spend time with people in the common room after class. If her housemates think she's boring, so be it.
They haven't ditched her yet, however, though that could merely be because they like Yeoreum, and Yeoreum usually sticks by her. She forces herself to not care about that. Caring isn't what she's here to do.
The mail arrives not long after she arrives at breakfast, letters and newspapers dropping everywhere, and she has to catch her letter before it lands in her cereal. She doesn't waste any time, already annoyed at having to wait two whole weeks. Her parents may be muggles, but they've had plenty of years to learn how to use the owl post.
Inside the envelope are two slips of paper, and she assumes the letter is just that long until she opens them. They're two separate letters, one from her father, one from her mother. Somehow, she isn't surprised.
She reads her father's first.
Dear Ella,
Congratulations on getting into Gryffindor. It makes me relieved that you're in the same house as Dennis. Not that you can't survive on your own, of course. You would flourish no matter your house. I'm just glad you two are together.
I'd love to hear more about your classes and the friends you've made. Also, make sure you're eating enough for each meal and going to bed at a reasonable time. I may be a 'muggle', but if I hear that you aren't looking after yourself, I'm finding a way to Hogwarts myself.
One last thing, and you're going to hate me for saying this, but: your brother would be so proud of you.
Ella sucks in a breath. She should have expected that. Her father was the first to broach the subject of her brother a month after his death. It hadn't been well received at the time, but she's long since realized that it's his way of coping, and she doesn't want to get in the way of that.
We love you, forever and always.
Love, Dad.
The corner of her mouth upturns ever so slightly, but it falls back into place the moment she opens her mother's letter. It's even shorter than her father's.
Dearest Ella,
I'm glad you're doing well. Remember that I love you and that if you need me, I'm here. If you want to come home at any time, let someone know, let me know, and I'll get you back here ASAP.
Send my love to Jinxie.
Love, Mum.
The contents of the letter doesn't surprise her. Her mother had been very vocal about the prospect of her attending Hogwarts, especially when it became clear that she was hesitant about it herself. It had been her father and Dennis who pointed out that whether she liked it or not, she was a witch, and it's in her best interest to get an education accordingly. Her mother had relented, at least to them. She is still trying to convince her to come home.
With a quiet sigh, she stuffs the letters back into their envelope and tries to focus on what the other Gryffindors are talking about.
"We finally, finally get to fly!" Marius says, and Ella thinks this is the happiest she's seen him in the past two weeks. "I know it's just beginner's lessons, but still, we get to fly."
Yeoreum sighs, leaning against the table. "It's only been two weeks and I miss flying. My sister and I play seekers matches all the time back home. I miss it already…"
"We'll probably have limitations since we're at school," Torian says, ever the voice of reason. "I doubt you'll be able to play any Quidditch during the one flying lesson we get."
Yeoreum and Marius groan in unison.
Ella wishes she has time to drop her letters off in her dorm room, but the bell signalling their first class, which just so happens to be the long-awaited flying class. Yeoreum and Marius are running ahead, chattering away in loud voices. A few older students glare at them on the way.
Madam Hooch waits for them, standing between two lines of brooms. They don't look particularly fancy, some with different coloured handles, all with frayed bristles that indicate they're old and worn. They lie dormant and Ella can't see what's so magical about them.
"Good morning, class!" Hooch says. Her voice is louder than Ella thought it would be. "Let's get right to it, shall we? Pick a broom, any broom, and stand to the left of it."
Several students run ahead in order to get the best brooms, including Yeoreum and Damien, along with Vesper and a small Slytherin girl Ella doesn't remember the name of as well as a rowdy Hufflepuff boy. They all look the same, so what's the point?
She manages to squeeze into the spot between Yeoreum and Theresa just in time for Madam Hooch to say, "Alright, now raise your right hand over the broom and say, 'Up!'"
Thus starts the chorus of children, all screaming 'up' at a long piece of wood. A few students get it on their first couple of tries, Yeoreum and Marius included, though for some, it takes a while. Ella is in the latter category.
She's about ready to give up when the broom flies into her hand, and she stumbles backwards slightly from the unexpected force. Somehow she doubts that flying will become a regular pastime for her.
"Has everyone got their brooms in their hand? Good, good." Madam Hooch paces between the two lines of students, studying all of them. "Now, I want you all to mount your brooms. When I blow the whistle, lean forward, will yourself to rise up into the air ever so slightly, and hover for a little bit before settling back down on the grass."
Hooch blows the whistle and the students begin to hover. It takes Ella a good thirty seconds before she's able to lift herself off the ground, and she certainly isn't as stable as Yeoreum or Marius, who by their own admission have been on brooms since they could walk. She isn't in the air very long, but she's relieved to be back on the ground regardless.
"I can go way higher than this," Vesper says to the small Slytherin girl. Both of them are still hovering.
"Then why aren't you?" the girl asks.
Vesper's eyes narrow. "Is that a challenge?"
Next to Ella, Theresa sighs and mutters, "Here we go."
"And if it is?" says the girl.
Vesper grins like the cat who caught the canary. "Race to Gryffindor tower, circle it, then come back here. Whoever has their feet touch the ground here first wins."
The girl mirrors the grin. "You're on."
"Ready, set…" Vesper kicks off. "Go!"
"Cheater!" The girl follows.
They soar into the air, making a beeline for Gryffindor tower, the furthest turret from the grassy field. Madam Hooch is quick to spot them, but is too short to stop them, and by the time she's brandished her wand, they're too far away. If her aim is off it could be a disaster.
"Vesper Selwyn and Hikari Hirano, get back here right now!" she yells, but they wouldn't be able to hear her, not with the wind pressing against them.
"Morons," Theresa grumbles.
The other students begin cheering, standing on their tip-toes in an attempt to see better. It doesn't do much, Vesper and Hikari nothing more than two specks in the distance by now, but that does nothing to quell the energy. Even Ella feels the hum of excitement in the air.
Vesper is the first to circle Gryffindor Tower, but that doesn't bother Hikari, who speeds up towards the end of their race. She passes him so quickly and so closely that he almost falls off his broom leaning away from her. Ella thinks Madam Hooch might be close to a heart attack, her hand over her heart as she watches them.
The gap created by Hikari becomes too big, and she's ultimately the one to touch the ground first, a bright grin on her face as Vesper lowers himself beside her a few seconds later. He's frowning and Ella assumes the worst.
"I win!" Hikari says.
Vesper pouts, but sighs and says, "Yeah, yeah, you win, but I'll win next time!"
Hikari laughs. "Looking forward to it!"
"Vesper Selwyn and Hikari Hirano!"
The crowd of students parts to avoid Madam Hooch, who walks briskly towards the two competitors. The smile slides off Hikari's face and Vesper's pout disappears, but his eyes widen. They must have forgotten about her.
"Fifty points from Slytherin, both of you!" Hooch says. "This is a flying lesson, not an international Quidditch pitch."
As Hooch walks away, Vesper and Hikari smile slyly at each other and whisper, "Worth it."
The moment is ruined, however, by a Ravenclaw student by the name of Sebastian Veront. "Seriously, Selwyn? I can't believe you lost to a mudblood."
Vesper's smile drops, first from shock, then to make way for the frown and clenched teeth that replaces it. He starts towards him, but Hikari once again beats him to it. Broom raised, she smacks Sebastian in the face with it hard enough to make him stagger backwards, his cheek red from the coarse bristles.
If Madam Hooch notices, she doesn't say anything.
Ella thinks she's settled into a comfortable existence at Hogwarts by October. She blends into the background rather nicely, she thinks, rarely speaking, but doing her best to not be rude. Hanging around Yeoreum means she doesn't have to speak much, though she isn't ready to say they're friends. It's the same with the rest of the Gryffindors. They're nice people, but she doesn't want to get attached.
As for everyone else, she's content with ignoring them, whether they be students from other houses, professors she passes in the corridors, or the previous students popping in to complete their N.E.W.T.s. She doesn't keep her head down, but her gaze remains forward. She focuses on what's ahead of her and nothing else.
Dennis never received the memo.
She's heading to the library, taking a stack of books back in order to avoid a group game of exploding snap, when she spots Dennis. He's talking to Harry and two others. She learned within her first week that these two are Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, the other two thirds of the 'Golden Trio' that helped defeat Voldemort. As nice as she's sure they are, she doesn't particularly want to speak to them.
"Ella! Hey, come here!"
It seems fate (Dennis) has other plans.
Holding the books close so she doesn't drop them, she changes her destination to Dennis' side. He takes several books from her without asking, and while she protests, her arms do not, so she ultimately allows it. She still scowls at him, though.
"This is my little sister, Ella," Dennis says excitedly. "Though I'm sure you already know that, Harry."
Harry nods, a small smile on his face. "I do."
"Hi, Professor Potter," Ella says, resisting the urge to smirk when Harry sighs.
"I'm not a professor."
"You kind of are, mate," Ron says. "I'm pretty sure McGonagall is counting on that."
"And don't lie to us and say you aren't enjoying it, Harry," says Hermione.
Harry presses his lips together and doesn't answer, but there is a sparkle in his eyes. Ella takes it to mean that his best friends are right.
"It's nice to meet you, Ella," Hermione says. "I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Ron Weasley."
"I know," Ella says, and when they look at her in confusion, she has to hold back a laugh. "You're kind of celebrities. The first years talk about you all the time, especially the Gryffindor ones. Though I guess I'm not exactly privy to what the other first years talk about in their common rooms."
Dennis grins. "They're all very proud to be in the same house as you."
Ella doesn't know if that's entirely true. She doesn't hate being in the same house as them, not at all, but she doesn't think it matters either way. Her house does not define her. None of their houses define them.
"What do you want, Lucien?!"
The shout echoes throughout the corridor, and all five of them turn to its source, though Ella already knows what she'll see. Damien stands in the middle of the hall with his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Lucien is standing a metre or so away from him, folded in on himself ever so slightly, arms folded as if to protect himself. He says something low enough that only Damien can hear, but it isn't well received.
"You made it clear how you feel when you became… one of them." Damien gestures to the Slytherin tie around Lucien's neck.
Ella frowns. She'd had an inkling of how Damien felt, especially as he wasn't all that good at hiding it, but she never thought he'd yell at his twin brother in public like this. And over something as inconsequential as a school house, too.
"What's all that about?" asks Ron.
Rather than answering, Ella swipes her books back from Dennis and marches over to Damien. Lucien sees her first, but doesn't say anything, looking apprehensive at her sudden appearance. Perhaps he thinks she's here to back Damien up.
That isn't happening.
"What are you doing?" she asks Damien.
He finally sees her, confusion on his features as he faces her. "What do you mean? I don't want to deal with Slytherins any more than I already have to."
"It's just a house," Ella says. "I don't see what the big deal is."
Damien looks at her like she's crazy. "Just a house? Don't you know what they say? There hasn't been a bad wizard who wasn't in Slytherin."
"But he's your brother, and he doesn't look like a dark wizard to me."
"He isn't now, but the sorting hat saw something in him, didn't it? If he didn't have the potential to be a Slytherin, then it wouldn't have put him there, and who knows what they do down in the dungeons."
The more they argue, the smaller Lucien becomes, but he doesn't defend himself. This isn't a surprise. From what Ella's seen, he's the more reserved twin. They're identical in appearance, but their personalities are opposite, just as their houses are. That still isn't a reason for one brother to turn the other away.
"It's fine, um… sorry…" Lucien takes a step back, then another, then a few until he's ready to turn around and power-walk down the hall. Ella can't say she blames him for leaving so fast.
"Your school house doesn't determine your entire life, you know," Ella says, turning in the opposite direction Lucien left in. She has a library to get to.
As she's walking away, she hears Damien mutter, "The first time she's spoken more than two words to me and she's yelling at me."
She ignores him and picks up the pace towards the library, slowing down only when she reaches the doors. She doubts Madam Pince will approve of her running with her precious books in her arms. Dropping them off is easy enough, though she has to dodge several groups of fifth years who have already set up camp in the library. The perks of being a tiny first year.
Her journey back to Gryffindor Tower is uninterrupted, and when she steps through the portrait hole, she's greeted by the sight of her classmates still playing exploding snap. Damien has joined them now, laughing as Marius narrowly dodges a few sparks. She doesn't join them.
As she climbs the stairs to the dormitory, she hears Damien say, "And there goes the Ice Queen, acting as though she's above us all."
So that's how it's going to be? So be it. She'll just ignore him. She has Potions homework to finish, anyway.
Her room is silent save for the soft wind blowing through her open window and the scratch of her quill against the parchment. It's easy to concentrate when the noises of the common room are low murmurs occasionally filtering through the floorboards. She may not be social, but at least she's productive.
She's concluding her essay when the door opens, but she doesn't look up until she's written the last sentence. Yeoreum stands awkwardly by the door, hands pressed against it, and her shirt has a hole from where an exploding snap card must have nicked her. Ella doesn't say anything. Yeoreum will gather the courage to say what she wants to say. She's a Gryffindor, after all.
"Are you okay?" she eventually asks, and really, Ella should have expected the question, but it still takes her by surprise.
"Yeah, why?" she says.
Yeoreum shrugs, moving towards her bed. "Because of what Damien said."
"It's fine. If he wants to be mad just because I called him out, that's his problem."
"What happened exactly, anyway?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"Nope. He just said you were mad at him."
Ella scrunches her nose. "I wouldn't say I was mad. I just saw him being a prat and told him he was being one."
Yeoreum chuckles. "What was he doing?"
"He was being mean to his brother just because he talked to him. Apparently he doesn't want to talk to Slytherins, related to him or not."
Yeoreum makes a face. "That's stupid."
"I know, I told him that. The whole hating Slytherins thing is dumb," Ella says, closing her Potions textbook.
"My dad joked about being wary of Slytherins, but I don't think he means it," says Yeoreum. "Some of his best coworkers were Slytherins. Besides, I think my sister will probably be in Slytherin. Maybe my brother, but definitely my sister, even though she's only seven."
"That's old enough for a kid to show their personality," Ella says. "And I know if I'd been in Slytherin, Dennis still would've loved me the same."
Yeoreum falls back on her bed, arms spread out and facing the ceiling. "Seriously, I don't know what Damien's problem is."
"I do. He's a prat."
Yeoreum laughs and Ella follows suit, glad she's made her friend laugh, until she realises what she's doing and schools her features. She reminds herself that they're not friends. She can't get attached.
Don't get attached, don't get attached, don't get attached.
Not getting attached is easier said than done.
Damien's 'Ice Queen' comment isn't taken seriously by the other Gryffindors, Torian and Marius greeting Ella as they would every other day when she and Yeoreum arrive for breakfast the following morning. If anything, they're nicer to her than usual, asking for her opinions on things and including her in the conversation without Yeoreum's assistance.
"I think they realised that you're kind of closed off sometimes," Yeoreum says when she asks on their way to History of Magic. "They want to get to know you better."
The next couple of weeks are spent in a vicious cycle. She finds herself getting comfortable, letting her guard down and being herself, contributing more when with her peers. Then she'll spare a single glance at the memorial wall and the bricks her own walls are made up of lay themselves again. She can have fun, perhaps, but she can't get too comfortable.
By the time Halloween rolls around, she's exhausted. A constant routine of throwing herself into her homework to distract herself, only to be pulled into some group activity, then escaping said group activity when she starts to relax has taken its toll on her. She only wants to sleep.
"But Ella," Yeoreum whines, dragging out the last syllable of her name. "It's Halloween! And our first Halloween feast! It won't be the same without you."
Something warm blossoms in Ella's chest, but she ignores it. "Our first Halloween feast, which means there'll be more. I'm really, really tired, Yeoreum."
It's not a lie, and Yeoreum must see that when she gives Ella a once-over. "Alright… I'll bring up some food for you, though! And if you wake up, come join us."
"I will."
Yeoreum leaves her after that, and she falls atop her bed, eyes closing. A boarding school bed isn't supposed to be as comfortable as hers is. It's probably magic, she thinks as she drifts off to sleep.
She doesn't dream. Or at least, she doesn't remember dreaming when she's woken up by a soft meow by her right ear. There is only darkness until she opens her eyes, though that isn't much better. The sun has set and the moon is half full in the night sky.
Meow.
Groaning, she rubs her eyes and looks at Jinxie. "What is it?"
With another meow, Jinxie climbs atop her pillow and taps the wall holding Ella's personal shelf, the one she uses in lieu of a bedside table. It's also the shelf that holds Jinxie's special treats.
Clicking her tongue, Ella reaches for the small pouch Jinxie's aiming for and tips it slightly, shaking it so a few small cubes land in her hand. She feeds them to Jinxie one by one. Her palm is sticky once they're all gone and she gets to her feet, heading to the bathroom to wash her hands.
Jinxie follows her with another meow and she rolls her eyes. "I suppose you want some real food, too? I have to go down to the kitchen and get some more, come on."
The dormitory hallways are deserted, so the Halloween feast must still be in full swing. A quick glance at a nearby grandfather clock indicates it won't be over for another hour at least. That's plenty of time for her to sneak down to the kitchens, grab some food, then come back.
Her footsteps are silent on the stairs as she moves to the common room, Jinxie's even quieter. She's about to turn around and say something to her furry companion when she hears a voice that most certainly doesn't belong to either of them.
"So you just dropped it there?"
"I didn't really need it anymore, and I figured it would just, I don't know, get lost there forever or something."
The second voice is definitely Harry Potter. Ella has heard it in her Defence Against the Dark Arts classes enough by now to know it. The first is one she's sure she's heard before, but she can't quite place where, at least not until the third person speaks up.
"It'll be fine, Hermione. It's probably the best place for it, isn't it? No sane person goes in there."
"We went in there, Ron."
Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, then.
"Well… yeah, but that wasn't really a choice, was it?"
"It sort of was."
"You think I'd choose to follow the spiders, Harry?"
"It doesn't matter! My point is that some kids could go in there for whatever reason, same as us, and find it. The Resurrection Stone isn't something to leave lying around, not when so many people here could be vulnerable to it."
Resurrection Stone? Does that mean what Ella thinks it means?
"They'd need to know what it is and how to use it first." There is a pause before Harry speaks again. "Can we talk about this another day? As in, any day but today?"
Ella frowns, confused, but it must make sense to the other two thirds of the Golden Trio as Ron says in a softer voice than before, "Yeah, of course."
"We can talk about it tomorrow," says Hermione. "Let's go for a walk while everyone's busy, shall we?"
Ella flattens herself against the staircase as feet move in the direction of the portrait hole. They're likely facing away from her, but she isn't about to take any risks, especially not after the conversation she just heard. She holds her breath until their footsteps fade away completely.
"Well," she says to Jinxie, removing straightening herself, "I guess we should go get you that food quickly."
Jinxie makes a sound of affirmation, but Ella barely hears it, the words 'Resurrection Stone' echoing in her head.
it is currently 4am. sleep schedule who? that said, i really appreciate everyone who's followed, favourited and reviewed so far. you're all so wonderful!
