Ch. 2 A Pale Boy In The Meadow
Charles Rogers often worked odd hours, usually leaving right after dinner and coming home around four in the morning. His family thought it was just because his Ministry department had odd hours, but they didn't know the truth. If Annabeth knew, she would go absolutely crazy, and Ella was much too young to worry about her father's means of living. On his way home he usually stopped at the all night muggle connivance store to pick up a couple of things, so Annabeth didn't have to worry about grocery shopping unless she wanted to. Tonight, since he was about an hour later than usually, he decided to buy his family doughnuts, and his wife a bouquet of flowers. For some reason, seeing the flowers ring up on the cashier made his stomach drop. Even though the shop clerk was nice enough, and the flowers weren't overly expensive, he got a bad feeling. And he had no idea why.
Charles arrived home at about 5:30 in the morning, doughnuts and flowers in tow, but something still felt off to him. He hurried up to the steps of the small brick house in the middle of Godric's Hollow faster than he usually did, and when he opened the door to his house the doughnuts and flowers fell from his hands with a loud crash.
In the middle of his living room lay his Annabeth, covered in drying blood and tatters of her night dress. There were scratches and deep cuts all over her body, and her legs looked like they had been broken. Ella sat in the hallway, her arms around her knees and her head rested upon them as her long hair spilled over the top, obscuring any signs of her face. When hearing the crash from the doorway she immediately sprang up, deep fears in her eyes. When she saw it was her father, she ran to him with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks, her blue nightdress flapping around her ankles.
"Daddy! Daddy a bad man came and hurt mother, and now she is dead! I woke up to her screams and I was too scared to do anything, and he killed her! I'm so sorry daddy." She said as the calm demeanor she had when talking with the wretched man disappeared due to the hours spent crying herself to sleep.
"Did you see what the bad man looked like sweetheart?" Charles asked, barely able to keep his voice calm and keep his emotions at bay. It had better not be Samuels, that man has been jealous since day one, Charles thought angrily.
"He had skeleton hands and dull brown eyes, and a black hood that hid most of his face. That was all I was able to see, I'm so sorry." Ella said through her tears, before burying her face into her father's leg.
"It's alright Ella. It will be alright." That was all Charles was able to say, as his emotions took control and tears spilled down his face. He slid to the floor, and held Ella in his arms as the both wept for the loss of the woman they both loved with all of their hearts.
The next month was the craziest month Ella had ever experienced in her short six years of life. After the funeral was held, her father had decided that they needed to move right away. The house had too much to do with Annabeth, and he could not handle being in it without breaking down all over again. Charles knew that the last thing Ella needed was a blubbering mess of a father in one of the darkest times in her life. So, as much as he hated to do it, he relocated his broken family to a different house, far away from the little village they had previously been living in.
The new house was located on a huge property, with a forest on one side and the neighbor's land on the other. It was a large brick structure with loads of extra rooms, including two drawing rooms and four extra bedrooms. Ella's bedroom was twice as big as her old room, and she felt like the house was much too large. Why did her father need to buy a bigger house when their family had shrunk? It seemed quite silly to Ella, but she did not mention anything to her father, as it had enough on his mind already.
One thing that Ella liked about the new house was the fact it had practically a library, with huge shelves stalked with brand new books Charles had bought just for Ella. His reasons were that she needed to be distracted from missing her mother, which is what he told the family friends who happened to ask. What he didn't tell his friends was it really was because he was going to be working more, and he would be surprised if he came home two days in a row. Ella didn't need to know that though, and neither did his judgmental friends.
Ella adjusted quickly, as the child normally did in the face of change, but she was not happy about it. Charles even hired extra help to maintain the house in Annabeth's absence, and hired a nanny for Ella's lessons and day to day care. She loved her new nanny, Mrs. Jennings, who was a strict woman who always did her hair in a tight bun. She taught Ella with a firm hand, but after a couple of days with the child she realized firmness was not needed. Instead, she nurtured Ella' natural intellectual curiosity with countless new spells and potions, readings and writing exercises, and even began teaching her the proper decorum and manners of the high society purebloods. Even though she taught her everything she had ever wanted to know, Ella knew Mrs. Jennings could not provide the companionship that her friends back in the village had.
The girl had come accustomed to going out onto the grounds after her lessons, often looking to distract her from the grief inside her heart. She often ventured onto the neighbor's property, as she had no concept of land boundaries and what they meant. She just went wherever her feet would take her.
It happened on one of these excursions that she ventured farther into the neighbor's property then she had ever done before. As she was walking she came upon a small clearing, surround by trees that she had never known to be there. The sun shown through the branches, and flowers sprouted out of the ground. Ella smiled at the beautiful sight, and stopped to take in the beautiful scene of nature laid out before her. She breathed deeply as she made her way to the middle of the clearing, and sat down with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. Letting the serenity of nature calm her, she decided to sit there awhile, as her feet were killing her from the long walk she had taken.
Ella didn't realize she had fallen asleep until she was being poked quite rudely in the face. She opened her eyes to peer at her disturber and saw it was a small boy, around her age. He had gray eyes that had a warm blue tint to them and white blond hair that was slicked back from his face with; it seemed to Ella, with an inappropriately large amount of hair gel. He had a pale complexion that resembled hers, and his eyes had a friendly gleam, despite the arrogant scowl gracing his features at the moment.
"Who are you?" Ella asked without thinking, mentally kicking herself as soon as the word fell out of her mouth. Great, now he is going to think me an unmannered savage that just blurts out rude questions without thinking, Ella thought bitterly.
"I should be asking you that, since you are on my family's land without permission. What are you doing here anyway? If you wanted to take a nap I wouldn't think a meadow would be your first choice." The boy stated, his tone not harsh but not exactly friendly either.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was your family's land, I thought I was still on my father's property. As for the nap, I didn't intend on sleeping here, I was just planning on resting for a while. I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until you woke me up." Ella said, surprised that she had walked so far as to venture onto her neighbor's property. The fact she had trespassed was embarrassing enough, but now the owner's son had found her sleeping she felt she could die of embarrassment.
"Well, since you didn't know, I guess I won't tell my father about you trespassing. I am Draco Malfoy by the way. What is your name?" Draco said, careful not to give anything away, not sure if this girl was a muggle or not. He didn't want to expose wizarding kind to this girl, and even if she turned out to not be a muggle, he would rather be safe than sorry.
"My name is Ella Rogers. I just moved here about a week ago, so I guess we are neighbors now." Ella said smiling at the boy she had just met. Maybe he doesn't think I am an ill-mannered baboon. He wouldn't still be talking to me if he did, Right?
"Really? Well then it's good you met me first, because some of the other children around here are no fun to be around, as they are too stupid to even hold a proper conversation. How old are you Ella?" Draco said, excited to maybe be meeting a child his own age for the first time since he was forced to play with Vincent and Gregory. Not that they were bad guys or anything, he just tired of their unintelligent company and dumb games that went along with that. Ella sounded like she had been taking lessons, and her whole manner showed that she had also studied at least a little decorum and a lot of every other academic subject.
"I am five; I will be turning six in two months. How old are you?" Ella answered; glad she had met someone she could play with. He seemed like a nice enough boy, and it didn't matter if he wanted to play with dolls or swords, she would a least have someone her own age to talk to, and forget her grief in the progress.
"I turned six about three months ago. That means we are in the same year when it comes to school. And that also means we can play together. Do you want to?" Draco asked as a smile graced his face for the first time since Ella had met him. Actually, if he though about it, Draco realized he hadn't smiled in months. Was it because his father had been increasingly more distance, barely showing him any warmth since he turned four? Or was it because he no longer enjoyed his time studying Malfoy decorum and family history, and all he wanted to do was read his own books? Or maybe it was even the fact that he had come to hate his scheduled time with Vincent and Gregory, no matter how much his father stressed making an alliance with them would help him in the future. Draco didn't know why, but it sure felt good to feel a smile grace his features once more. I don't care if she is a muggle, if she is fun to hang out with; I will most certainly hang out with her, Draco thought, dispelling any previous worries of her blood status.
"Sure." Ella said, standing up and following Draco out of the meadow. He must not be bad at all, since he wants me to play with him. I can tell he is on his guard though, I am curious as to why though. Is he harboring secrets? Or was he just reluctant to open up to new friends when they presented themselves? Ella was defiantly curious, and she resolved she was going to find out all of Draco's secrets. Smiling to herself, she hurried her pace to catch up with the blonde, with all of her previous loneliness and grief gone.
Author's Note: Sorry this chapter kind of sucked, I just needed to move on quickly from Ella's mother dying…. I don't want to write depressing things forever! Thanks for reading!