Chapter 7; The Long Way Home

Elladora walked back to the waiting room, where she sat for a few minutes until Theo came out, with a smirk on his face.

"Did you pass?" he said.

"No, I failed miserably." She said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I passed too." He looked to the door, "Has Draco came out yet?"

"No, why?" Theo looked back at Elladora.

"That's strange, he went in before me."

"I wonder what happened." She looked to the door, just as Draco walked through looking confused, embarrassed, and sad. "What's wrong Draco?"

"I-I failed." He said in a slow monotone. His face was blank, as if what had happened hadn't yet set in.

"Yeah, nice joke Draco, you can't fool us." Theo said slapping him on the shoulder playfully. But Draco didn't smile. He simply shrugged Theo's hand from his shoulder and started to walk towards the exit.

"Draco! Wait!" Elladora called as she ran after her cousin. "Theo's sorry-"

"I'M sorry? You can't apologize for me! Besides I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Shut up Theodore!" Elladora snapped over her shoulder. "Now, Draco, just tell us what happened."

Draco sighed, "I-I don't know… I focused on where I was supposed to go, but… I ended up about a mile south of where I should have been. It was so embarrassing!"

Theodore started to snigger, but after one look from Elladora he stopped instantly. Then Elladora turned back to her cousin, and gave him an encouraging smile. "It's ok Draco. Everyone messes up sometimes; you can take the test again in the summer. It'll be fine, right Theo?"

"Uh-yeah. Of course. You'll do fine next time!"

"If there is a next time." Draco took a look at Elladora's confused face and added: "My father will be so pissed when he finds out I failed! And, how am I supposed to – er- do what's asked of me, when I can't even pass a simple apperation test?" He nearly let it slip, in the ministry no less… This was beginning to be too much.

"Draco, everything is going to be fine, ok? You've been under too much stress, with school and all. You just have to breathe, alright?" Elladora coaxed.

"But my father-"

"No buts Draco. It's ok, if Lucius has anything to say about this, he can talk to me."

Draco let out a small, doubtful laugh. "Right, you're just as high as me in the chain of command, what makes you think you can handle my father any better than I can?"

"I'm not scared of Lucius, nor do I care what he, or anyone else thinks. If he tries to yell at you, just because you didn't pass the stupid test, I'll scream at him until his face turns blue from exhaustion, from just listening to me. And I'll do it in front of anyone who's there. Whether it's the Minister of Magic, Dumbledore, or The Dark Lord himself! You're more like a brother than a cousin to me Draco, I know you know that. Neither of us have siblings, and we both have to deal with the same shit that our messed up family throws at us. But I will always be there for you, no matter what, just like a sister, ok?"

"Alright." Said Draco smiling faintly. He did feel the same way about Elladora, but he never thought either of them would ever voice that opinion. It felt nice to have it officially known that Elladora cared about him. No one else really did. She was right; their family was messed up in so many ways. And what family did he really have? His father never really cared about him. Both of his parents used him for their own egotistical purposes. At least they hadn't abandoned him, like Elladora's parents did to her. "You're right, Elladora. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, Theo will take you home, and just let me know if you need my help, OK?"

"Alright."

"Wait! Why am I taking him home?" Theo blurted out after realizing what Elladora had said. "Not that I don't won't Draco, but why don't you do it little miss 'I'll do anything for you Draco'."

"I would but I have things to do before I go home."

"Like what?" Theo asked condescendingly.

"Well-I-er… never you mind!" Elladora adverted her eyes. "I just don't want to go home yet."

"Why not?" asked Theo.

"Yeah, I thought you would be looking forward to meeting your parents. I mean, not that Grandma isn't there to 'protect' you."

"Yes, but- oh I don't know! I just need some time to work up the courage to face what is inevitable, that's all."

"You're so weird, you know that?" Theo chimed as he walked over to Draco and grasped his forearm.

"Yeah, I know. See you both later."

"See you." The boys said in unison, before Theodore disapperated, and they both vanished from view.

Elladora walked out of the waiting room, back through the crowded hall to the elevator, and then took the telephone booth back to muggle London. She didn't know where she was headed, but she figured if she wandered the muggle world, she had less of a chance of someone recognizing her. And the last thing she wanted was to talk to someone.

For nearly half an hour Elladora wandered the streets of London. She stood in Piccadilly Circus, starring at the bright lights from billboards and cars surrounding her as she tried to think of either where to wander next, or to gust go home. She decided she wasn't ready, so she walked some more. Turning right here, left there until she no longer knew where she was.

It was a cold winter night, and Elladora didn't have a coat on, so she finally decided to step into a coffee shop called "Starbucks". She could tell it was nearing closing time, because the only other person in the shop was a boy who looked only a few years older than herself, who was standing behind the counter looking very bored. She walked up to the counter and stared at the sign, deciding what to get.

"What can I get you?" Asked the boy. He had dirty blond hair, and soft hazel eyes, his name tag read 'Sam'.

"Umm… I'll have a tall chi-tea latté." She responded after making her decision.

"Coming right up." Sam said with a small smile, as he rang up her order into the cash register. "That will be ₤5."

Elladora dug through her bag, retrieved the money, and handed the exact change over to Sam. Then she walked over and sat down in a large and plush chair by the window. Next to the chair was an extremely thin screen, which looked to be for some sort of computer.

Sam came over to Elladora with her drink in hand. "Here you go. Careful, it's hot." He said handing over the cup that warmed her hands.

"Thanks" she said. "Um, what's this?" she asked pointing to the screen, as Sam had started to turn away.

"Oh, that's so customers can make their own mix CD's. You just browse through the music library, and then pick out what you like. It costs about ₤1 per a song, but the first nine songs are only ₤7, so really it's a good deal."

"Oh, awesome." Elladora said. And put on the head phones to listen to the music as Sam walked back behind the counter. "Luckily I took muggle studies in my 3rd year." She thought, "I may have dropped out of the class, but at least I can understand the basics of muggle technology, so I'm not a complete idiot…. And everyone thought I was insane for taking hat class. Well, it is insane when you think about a Death Eater, the Dark Lord's daughter none the less (even though I didn't know it then), taking a class to learn about muggles. But, as I told Draco 'The best way to destroy one's enemy, is to first know one's enemy'."

As she was scrolling through the music, Elladora was struck with a brilliant plan. "Can't pull a prank my ass!" she thought. She selected a bunch of songs by various artists; ones that she knew (or at least hoped) wouldn't annoy her. Then followed the rest of the steps the computer had by picking out art work for the front of the CD and the printed title of 'What Now?' When the screen told her to swipe a credit, debit, or gift card for payment, Elladora hit a dilemma. So she walked over to Sam, and asked to purchase a gift card for ₤30. He rang it up, and she gave him the cash. Then went back over and used the card to pay for the CD. As she waited for the CD to finish being made, she sipped her Chi-tea, and Sam came and sat next to her.

"So," he said "I'm Sam, what's your name?

"I could tell from your name tag. I'm Elladora."

"That's a really pretty name. Are you from London?"

"No, I live in a small town on the South Western coast."

"So how long are you going to be here?"

Elladora giggled almost flirtingly. Toying with a man's emotions was always good fun. And it was even better because he was a muggle. "I'm just going to be here for the day."

"Oh." He said looking slightly defeated.

"What?"

"Uh, I was hoping to ask you if you wanted to go out on a date with me."

Elladora gave a small chuckle, "Like I would EVER go out with a filthy muggle!"

"Well, I could postpone going home until tomorrow. I can stay with some family that I have here in the city." She said scooting closer and placing her hand gently on Sam's knee. Sam gulped, and Elladora gave him a flirty, yet dark smile.

"That sounds good. I'm busy tonight, but how about we go see a play tomorrow?"

"Sounds great, I love plays." Elladora said picking up her finished CD, and placed it into its case.

"Alright, meet me in front of Piccadilly Theater at 5 o'clock."

"It's a date." She put the CD into her bag, and walked to the door. "Oh, by the way, are there any stores that sell CD players that are still open and close by at this time of night?"

"Oh yeah, there's one just two blocks down, it's open until 10:30, it's only" he looked at his watch "9:00 right now."

"Thanks," she said "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye."

Elladora stepped out into the night, and headed strait for the electronics store. "Ha, ha stupid muggle! He's going to be heart broken when he realized I've stood him up! Serves him right. Even if he was a pureblood, I still wouldn't go out with him. He needs to stick to people who are more in his league. The sweet, innocent girl next door is more for him. Not the daughter of an evil, psychotic over lord who is trying to take over the world."

When Elladora reached the shop, she pushed open the door, and stepped from the numbing cold of the outside world, into the warm indoors. She wandered over to the music section, and found the CD players. They had all kinds; they all mostly looked the same, so she couldn't tell the difference. Not wanting to talk to anymore muggles, she simply chose one that looked fairly decent, it was black and silver, and wasn't too expensive, which was nice, since she probably wouldn't ever use the stupid thing again after this…

Elladora grabbed a package of AA batteries on her way over to the counter. Then she paid for her items, and left the shop. By this time the sun had long since set, and the wind chilled Elladora through her completely inappropriate for winter clothing. She found the nearest dark and empty alley, and disapperated home.

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you very much for reading my story! Sorry I haven't been updating very much (or at all), school has been taking up ALL of my free time! (Still no excuse, I know)! This time I really will update again soon, I have finals soon, but after that I have a day off, and then there's midwinter break! So I'll try REALLY hard to get at least 2 chapters up before spring!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! PLEASE CONTINUE TO REVIEW ME, WITHOUT THE REVIEWS I DON'T HAVE MUCH MOTIVATION TO WRITE!