"Crucio!" Ebony writhed and twisted in pain, her vision blurred. She cried out, begging for the pain to stop but it only made her mother laugh.
"You should have thought about this before you went and got put in a house full of blood-traitors." Bellatrix's voice swirled around her head.
"I…I didn't…" Ebony tried to speak but felt a wave of nausea rush over her.
"I don't want to hear it you piece of shit. Cruc-"
"She's had enough Bella." Her father had entered the room.
Ebony awoke in a cold sweat and sat up, shaking. She buried her face in her hands. The Christmas holidays of her first year were the worst. She had never seen either of her parents that angry before, especially her father who preferred to be cold and distant and let his wife do the dirty work. However, that didn't seem to stop him getting a few blows in. The memory of that holiday was among the worst of her nightmares and plagued her often.
She sunk back against her pillow. The early morning sun was softly streaming through the windows. Ebony decided that she was better off just getting up as she was too shaken to get any more sleep. So, she got dressed and went to brush her teeth.
In the mirror, the bruise on her cheek was now less purple than it was before, thanks to some random cream that Neville's grandmother had put in his trunk to help with his frequent injuries due to his somewhat lack of balance and spatial awareness. It was still noticeable, but Ebony hoped that her hair would be enough to hide the majority of it from sight. She then finished up in the bathroom and went downstairs to read while she waited for Neville.
About an hour later students began stumbling downstairs, chatting and rubbing their eyes. Ebony caught Seamus and Dean as they came into the room. "Is Neville up yet?" she asked.
"Yes, he woke up about 15 minutes ago," Dean said. "Seems to have lost his shoes." Ebony smiled and shook her head.
"He'd lose his head if it wasn't screwed on."
The boy's dorm was a mess. It was hard to believe that they hadn't even been at Hogwarts for a day and yet there were clothes and books everywhere. Though Neville's frantic searching was probably at least partly to blame. The only orderly thing in the room was a pair of shoes parked neatly by the door. Ebony picked them up, the inside heel read 'NL'. "Looking for these?" she said.
There was a thud as Neville jumped at her voice, clearly not expecting there to be anyone else in the room. He crawled out from under the bed looking rather dishevelled and gave a sigh of relief when he saw what Ebony was holding. "Where were they?" He asked, taking his shoes from her.
"Sat neatly by the door," Neville looked confused. "It seems that you thought you might lose them so you put them somewhere you would see them." Ebony giggled, "You're too smart for your own good."
Neville smiled and then said, "Come on, I'm starving and if we don't get down quick enough Ron will have eaten everything."
They both laughed. As Neville made his way out the door he held out his hand for Trevor who hopped on and then into Neville's pocket.
Authors Note:
Far more happy with this chapter than the previous!
Again thank you so much for your support- Much more to come from this series.