Eloise sat at her new Hufflepuff table, her cheek in her hand. No one was even making an effort to sit by or talk to her, so she sadly ate her yams alone.
Not only had Draco ignored her through the entire sorting, but he was now sitting at the Slytherin table, not acknowledging Eloise and pointing and laughing at other innocent students. Eloise had never seen him be such a git.
Eloise absent-mindedly stared at a handsome boy who was sitting down her table, but when he caught her eye he gave her a nasty look and pointed her out to his friends, who began laughing at her. She picked up a spoon, staring at her reflection in it. Of course, she was not naturally pretty, but she had no abnormally large zit that was oozing pus for them to laugh at. Eloise frowned and pushed her plate away, realizing that no amount of eating could drown her woes.
- - -
The rest of the week got no easier for Eloise. She had barely said a word, but it felt as if the entire school was against her. Every time she would raise her hand in class, every pair of eyes would fall on her, daring her to say something stupid.
She was still confused as to why this happened to her. She was nice to everyone, but they all were cruel to her. She figured that they were just having problems of her own and she was the one to take it out on. She took it all in tow, knowing they would come to their senses soon.
On Saturday, she decided to take a walk through the grounds. She had an unfortunate run-in with the Whomping Willow when she came too close, and it began to violently beat her with its branches. She found a quiet spot by the lake where she sat and began her Potions homework.
When she finished her homework, she decided to begin a letter to her family. Her house consisted of her mother, her father, her younger brother, her cat and herself. Her mother worked at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and her father had a desk job at the Ministry of Magic. Her mother was notorious for her amazing cooking and her loud mouth; she was unable to keep a secret, and even if it was simply a notion the entire neighborhood knew it in two days. Eloise would never forget when the next door neighbors had a relative over from Germany that her mother thought was illegally brewing potions when she heard loud bangs several times every night. She discovered a week later that it was merely the neighbor's teenage daughter casting spells on the relative to make her grow extremely large warts all over her face.
Eloise's father was the calm to her mother's storm. He had a very fixed routine for each day and organized everything from his robes to the family toothbrushes.
Jonathon was Eloise's younger brother. He was three years old and he was a complete terror. If her mother ignored Jon for five minutes, he would destroy the house. Though Eloise knew that he would one day be a great wizard, Eloise still hated him. Especially when she had to manually clean his dirty diaper.
Eloise sucked on the end of her quill, wondering what to write. She didn't want her parents to worry about her, so she kept the letter short.
Hello everyone!
Things are going very well here. School is keeping me very busy, though I have little homework. So far, my favorite class is Charms. Yesterday we were working on a spell to make our books turn the pages by themselves! I hear that we're going to do levitation charms soon. I'm so excited!
Oh, I forgot to tell you! I got sorted into Hufflepuff house. I know, father, I thought I was going to be in Ravenclaw like you, but Hufflepuff is a good house nonetheless.
I hope things are keeping well at home. I do hope that Jonathon gets potty trained soon, it is not very fun to clean up after him.
Write back soon!
Love,
Eloise.
She had chosen not to mention Draco. Her parents and his parents were very close, so she could not bring herself to tell them about how he's changed so much. She knew that both sets of parents would fret about it, and she didn't want Draco to get in trouble.
She stood up and walked to the castle and up to the owlery, the halls unusually quiet because everyone was outside enjoying the bright, sunny day.
Once Eloise got to the owlery she looked around for a school owl, deciding to use a handsome barn owl. She poked him gently and she let out a cry when he nearly bit her finger off.
"Are you ok?"
Eloise sighed when she realized that it was Draco.
"It's just a bite," she muttered.
Draco walked up to his own handsome eagle owl and tied a letter to his leg.
"Writing home?" Eloise asked.
"Yes," he said. "My mother says that father is facing an inquiry at work. Something about bribery. I think the entire thing is foolish."
Eloise nodded slowly. "Why haven't you been talking to me?" she asked. "You promised that you'd find me friends."
"I've been very busy," he said. "You know how it is."
"Busy bullying other students?" Eloise snapped.
"Well... I..."
"Don't worry about it," Eloise said, smiling. "Just walk me to my common room."
"Of course," Draco said, smiling at her.
And the two headed out of the owlery, acting as if nothing had changed.
- - -
Eloise sat in the Great Hall the next day, eating her breakfast in silence. It was early; Eloise was never one for sleeping in.
She jumped when she felt something hit the back of her head. She turned back, frowning when she realized that a freckled red-headed boy at the Gryffindor table had thrown something at her. She turned back to her plate, trying to ignore him. She cringed when he hit her again. She realized that he was throwing oranges at him.
"You...stop that!" she said. "Or I'll jinx you!"
"Those pimples of yours jinx me enough," he retorted, laughing with a boy sitting beside him she recognized as...Harry Potter!
Eloise turned back to her food quickly, feeling the blood rush to her face. She had just threatened to jinx the friend of fame! The friend of the boy who destroyed Lord Voldemort!
She stood up and shuffled out of the Great Hall, avoiding looking at Harry at all costs. She cringed when she hit a table with hip and nearly sent food flying everywhere. The entire Great Hall broke out into laughter, and Eloise ran out, realizing there was now a real reason for the school to laugh at her: she was a complete klutz!
- - -
A/N: Sorry it's so short. I've had writer's block so I started to write a new non-HP story and now I'm back at this one! W00t! I promise more updates now. If anyone wants to read what I have of my story, message me...I'll show it to you when I have a little more substance to it.