"Any questions?" The Hufflepuff head boy smiled brilliantly at her.
"Just one," his smile brightened if possible, "is it a requirement for hufflepuffs to always smile? James said it was." She pulled her best naive expression.
Dirk melted into the palm of her hand. Tall golden haired and charming. He was influential even for a Hufflepuff. "Don't listen to Pot-er I mean James. Trust me the lions always make up rumors about us." He laughed easily. She had never known someone to be so genuinely happy. If she was Daphne maybe she would have liked him more than she did. But Elena was different in that regard.
One in the same. Balanced.
"Are you sure?" She twiddled with her ring. "Oh! What time does breakfast start?"
A passing fourth year patted her head and smiled. She smiled back, though only on reflex. She hated people touching her hair.
"There's still another hour at least. Feel free to hang out around here no one will bother you." He was right about that. Since the sorting the day before everyone had taken to babying her. Being the only first year seemed to have them all prone to catering and over compensating. The second years even got into it much to her annoyance.
"Thanks Gorger! I have to meet Regulus though, he said before breakfast so I think I'll head out now." She turned away before he could continue talking and quickly hurried into the tunnels.
Who knew the hufflepuffs had a whole tunnel system around hogwarts? They had given her a brief run down of the basic tunnels, she would have to figure the rest out on her own. It was supposed to be a fun experience. New tunnels were being discovered every few years. She could never let Nellie know, she hadn't known her long but she knew exactly what she would do with the information. Just knowing the type of person she could be was enough to give her pause on letting information like this slip.
Regulus was exactly where he said he would be. Leaning against the wall, he kept looking around nervously. He was playing around with the sleeve of his robe and biting his lip. He was gonna draw blood soon if he didn't stop that annoying habit.
She slipped out of the wall glancing around to make sure no one had seen her. It was still early enough that no one was out and about. A few Ravenclaws wandered down from up the hall and a yawning Slytherin was walking down the staircase.
Slowly she approached Regulus waiting for him to notice her. They hadn't talked the day before and she was almost scared to face him. Being a Hufflepuff wasn't a horrible crime, but it was still somewhat embarrassing when faced with a family of Slytherin and Gryffindor.
"Where did you want to talk?" She was speaking slowly but there was no need. Even if someone was around to hear no one would bother listening. Who cared for first years conversations? She hadn't.
He didn't speak, just grabbed her wrist and took her away from the opening of the hall. So like him, never responding just taking action. He was walking with that determined stride of someone who knew exactly where he was going.
"Where's Nellie?" She hadn't meant to ask but it came out all the same. This time he glanced back at her and the look that only an eleven year old could pull was very prominent on his face.
"Where do you think?" He said, she didn't respond to him.
Still she followed him in. An abandoned classroom just like the one she remembered Tracy always used to snog Draco in. Third year was so weird.
"So?" She finally said after a lengthy silence.
"I thought you were a Slytherin." It was all he had to say but the implication behind it was enough to make her wince.
"I was." Not wanting to elaborate she looked at her shoes. "But that was Daphne."
"Are you not Daphne?"
"Well-I am. But it's complicated alright?"
"Of course it is." She looked up but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the board next to him. "This could be good. The plan could work out well, a few adjustments and it'll all be fine."
All they ever seemed to talk about was their plan. A plan to bring down Voldemort, to stop his rise. She was sick of it. She wanted her life back. But if it meant sacrificing these few years just to enjoy the fruits of their labor? She could only hope it was worth it. "Right of course. But there's something you didn't tell me." She narrowed her eyes as his cheeks flushed. "So?"
"Erm it's about how I died." She couldn't hold in her gasp. "I was after something that could render him immortal." He remembered?
There was no question of who he was talking about but of what. "Immortal?"
"Have you ever heard of a Horcrux?"
"I can't believe your brother did that!" A few weeks at Hogwarts and she still couldn't believe how much she missed the Weasley Twins. At least they had the decency to leave the first years alone.
"I can't believe he was stupid enough to get caught," he had winked at her to as he was being dragged out of the hall. "Prat."
Regulus was glowering beside them as they walked to the greenhouse. Herbology first thing in the morning. He had tried to fix his bright green hair but to no avail. Nellie hadn't even bothered and instead went straight to Slughorn and asked nicely to fix it. (It wasn't exactly nice, she really had bullied him into it. A funny sight as well. Four foot nothing Nellie practically ordering around the rather large professor).
They had fallen into a sort of routine. She would try to warn them of any pranks that may befall them, they would fall into said pranks, and she would try to find the cure.
Remus Lupin had become a big help, he wasn't easily bullied but with her first year charm she was able to get him to help. James had left her alone in terms of pranks. He teased her mercilessly about her house but after a few talks from the upper years he mostly just smirked at her now.
She was very uneasy. Everything she did was tedious, she already had learned all of the spells and how to handle plants. She hated Herbology actually and would have loved to skip out on it.
Unfortunately her reputation wouldn't be able to take the hit. A few weeks in and she was known as the sweet potter child who would always be around. Nothing like her devil brother. The Professors adored her. (Slughorn not so much. He was still warming up to her. James must have done something truly horrible to him because he always looked at her as if he was waiting for a huge prank to explode in his face.).
Elena almost missed all the long talks about the plan. They hadn't discussed it past their meeting in the classroom. They hadn't talked for long about anything. She still wasn't sure how they were supposed to help Nellie rule hogwarts. And what was that supposed to mean anyway? She had done it in her own form but no one had explained it truly to her.
Was it each your own? From what she knew from Regulus, Nellie had been a hellion. But that didn't match the view she had of the sweet girl, though she did get her way with everything.
Maybe they should arrange a meeting sometime. The three of them hadn't had a chance to really talk, they sat together during dinner and they talked in classes. Yet they hadn't actually discussed what Nellie wanted out of them. There was a plan most probably. Her head was starting to hurt just thinking about all of the nuances and schemes.
She was eleven. Why couldn't she just be eleven? When she was Daphne she hadn't been scheming. Trying to rule hogwarts was different, that was a hobby. There was no need to be all political. She just had to be scared.
"-than he had the audacity-"
"Sprout is going to murder us for being late."
"-to scream at me!" Nellie laughed as she bounced into the greenhouse. Loitering outside as they did would get them murdered by Sprout.
Elena followed behind dutifully. She didn't have the energy to really argue with Nellie about her brother and his friends. She wasn't sure she wanted to.
Things were just so complicated.
Regulus was frustrated. Though not unusual for him it was different now. Hogwarts was supposed to be the first step of their plan to take down the Dark Lord.
Infiltrate and influence. Take control of the population and plant the seeds of distrust for a new power. Being an eleven they couldn't do much, no one listened to the first years. How could he have forgotten? The only thing that had gotten him through the first year was his family name.
This time around he had the name to lean on but he was also engaged to a Potter. His social status was sinking with every political move the Potters made. He wasn't sure what his parents were thinking with this match. He was worried about his family's future. At the rate they were going the house of Black would be a thing of the past.
From what he was told, that future was very likely to happen. Sirius was a sodding prat who needed to be taken down. Either he stepped up as heir or left. There couldn't be any in between.
Nellie elbowed his side, potions was a horrible class. Slughorn still liked him but was considerably more wary thanks to Elena. Elena was sitting in front of him, very obviously passing a note back.
Nellie laughed as she handed it to him. It simply read, "pay attention!".
He didn't need to but did Elena care? Of course not! So here he was bored out of his mind and brooding. Regulus often wondered how his life turned out this way. Plotting was considerably more exciting than actually enacting their plan of destruction.
Elena was far more focused on the research parts, she had all the big questions. Questions he himself would love to have answered. Such as why they both retained their memories after reincarnation? They didn't have time to ponder though, he was on the rise.
Regulus was frustrated he couldn't do more but be an eleven year old.