A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. Sad ]:
"What the fuck" I said to no one in particular as I lay uncomfortably on the ground. "Oww," sitting up I rubbed my elbow as I surveyed my surrounding. Large, semi-drafty room with a huge canopy bed decorated in creams and purples. Well this certainly wasn't any room at Hogwarts, the out-of-date furnishings certainly affirmed that much. Standing up I finally noticed the wretched leather bound book off to my right. "What in the bleeding hell are you?" Flipping open the book I let out a small gasp. "Seriously?" I cried in exasperation. Nothing was written on the pages, or wait— something was beginning to surface, as well as a voice from outside the door to my left.
"Dolores I want a warm bath water brought up immediately for a late night soak. And don't bother staying to help me undress, just bring up the water as quickly as possible. You can throw out the dirty water in the morning. Until tomorrow then— Oh and do allow me to sleep in later than usual, I cannot stand to be waken before half past 8. Good night."
My eyes widened in fright as the door to the room opened and the words on the page continued to document the scene at hand. The girl who walked in looked around my age, give or take a year. I regarded her face in a stunned silent. She was very striking with her pert nose and sharp cheek bones. Her dark hair was pinned up high on top of her head, holding a mass of curly locks. But what was peculiar was how she had her face pressed against the side of the door. Then I heard the faint sound of footsteps as they traveled further away.
"Thank heavens" the girl said and swiftly locked the door before hurried towards me with a very determined look.
"I am so sorry. I have no idea how I even got here, and I really didn't mean to— " but the girl paid me no mind as I began to plead my case. Instead she dropped to her knees mere inches in front of me and reached below the canopy bed. "Um, hello?" I crawled over towards her side. "Hey, I'm speaking to you here, what am I invisible or something?" my hand reached out to her instinctively, preparing to attain her attention through physical means, but my fingers slipped through her shoulder like a ghosts.
She gasped loudly at my translucent touch, her head snapping to look at me directly. I held my breath, but her wandering eyes and the way she tentatively went back to digging beneath the bed calmed me. I was invisible to her. But what was she doing? What was she looking for? Soon enough my questions were answered as she pulled out a thin box, opening it upon her lap she reached in to retrieve a worn letter. She gazed at it with longing, and my curiosity itched to be satisfied. Walking to stand behind her, which conveniently led my invisible body to walk through the bed, I read over her shoulder.
My Dearest Eleanor,
While I have been gone for several weeks, my heart feels as if I haven't looked upon your heavenly face for years. I yearn whole heartedly for the sight of your luminous eyes, and your dark bounty of curls. Do you have any idea how much I miss you? At night, I cannot sleep because my mind devotedly thinks of only you — but I would rather think only of you for the rest of my days then pass the night asleep. You must know that my feelings for you cannot be questioned, my unwavering devotion never doubted, which is why my heart breaks at the news of your recent engagement.
I have been constant in my thoughts about how to save you from this ominous duty. Thankfully, I have found a solution. Meet me on the night of the next full moon, near the south side of your properties pond at midnight.
Forever Yours,
Claude M. Avery
"An Avery? Eugh, girl you should know better. Those men are vermin." I said upon completion. Eleanor heaved a very large sigh that seemed impossible to be drawn by such a petit girl. A clock, located somewhere outside the room chimed eleven times in the distance.
"Oh dear how could it have become so late?" she whimpered and hastily put the letter back into the box and under the bed. In a moment she was on her feet and a knock on the door signaled her bath water. "Come in, come in! Hurry now, yes just pour it in the bath straight away and go off to your own beds." a line of servants scampered in and out of the room as quickly as house elves, pouring in pitchers of steaming water before departing in haste. Eleanor stood by the door, and as the last servant left she closed and locked the door behind them. She scampered about her room in a flurry then, extinguishing candelabra's placed around the room for necessary light, until the room was quite dim and only 2 remained.
Once more Eleanor dropped down onto her hands and knees at the other end of the bed, searching beneath it. "Where the devil, is it? Ah ha!" with a triumphant smile she emerged with a long piece of tied cloth. With some persistence she proceeded to pull out more and more of the cloth rope.
"You are insane," I said to myself as she dunked the rope into the tub of water and before dragging it out. She tugged on the several knotted ends to check their strength. Maybe she wasn't so insane, wet clothes seemed harder to tear than dry ones. And then she was securing one end of her make shift rope to a post on her bed and throwing the other out her window. I hustled over to the scene and looked down below.
"Oh for the love of Merlin. What kind of book is this? How am I suppose to get down there?" no sooner had the words left my mouth when I felt a sudden sensation in my chest, that spread throughout my body. A quick flash of white light and suddenly I was by a lake, or, more accurately, a pond. Eleanor was waiting by a lone dock, searching the line of assorted greens for any sight of her man.
The moon gleamed brightly in the night sky, its full round face watching from up above. I walked over to where Eleanor stood, wringing her hands nervously together. Once more the instinct to touch her as a form of comfort became me, but I stilled my hand a hair away as he emerged from the wood line.
"Claude!" Eleanor took off the moment he dismounted his horse. She ran into his awaiting arms, and where they proceeded to be disgustingly romantic as he spun her around, kissing her passionately all the while. Apparently in book world this particular act took a good 10 minutes and was also filled with mild over the clothes touching. Was this book some sort of dirty novel? Like a Playwizard? Finally, when Eleanor and Avery found the need for oxygen to consuming they separated. Well their faces moved apart, Avery still had his arms locked tightly around her while Eleanor's hands rested delicately on his chest. If I hadn't known that her secret lover was an Avery, I might have thought this whole ordeal terribly romantic. Yet, the mere knowledge of the dark wizarding family left me anxious about the possible outcome.
"Oh Eleanor," he smiled down at her, "I've done it, I know the way to free you from the awful engagement and to be mine." he tucked a loose curl behind her ear, and then moved his hand to rest upon her shoulder, carefully playing with the strap of her gown.
"That is marvelous. Tell me Claude, I can't stand it another moment." his smile seemed to grow a bit crazed.
"Turn around," Eleanor looked puzzled but did as she was told.
"What is it Claude?"
"Hush Eleanor, and be patient for heaven's sake," he scolded lightly as his fingers nimbly started unlacing the back of her dress. My gasp mirrored Eleanor's as she turned her head in attempt to see behind her.
"What are you doing?" she asked quietly.
"Be quiet and I will explain," his fingers never stopped and a knot began to grow in the pit of my stomach. "Tomorrow evening you are to pack a few of your things and as much jewelry as possible into one bag. Anything valuable that you own must go in there, do you understand?" Eleanor nodded her consent dumbly, confusion written clearly across her features. He smirked, or maybe it was a leer now on his face, behind her back before brushing his lips across her bare shoulder. "You will tell your mother that you will not be marrying the man she has arranged you to be with, instead you will be marrying me."
"But, but she'll never adhere to that. And Claude, he's coming tomorrow for our first chaperoned luncheon." spoke Eleanor turning around to face Claude. "I don't understand how this will work," her arms moved up to rest against her chest, while keeping her dress up at the same time.
"Didn't I tell you to be quiet," he spoke harshly and grasped her chin tightly within his grasp. He gave her a devious smirk as she nodded weakly against his hold before kissing her roughly. "It will work. It will work because your…virtue will have become compromised, and no decent respectable man would take you as his wife if he knew what you had done." again Claude bent down to kiss her shoulder, chuckling darkly as he pushed the sleeves of her gown down farther.
"But, I'm not — I'm not ready for something like that. The consummation of marriage…well it happens after the marriage, not before. I can't, I couldn't do that." Eleanor stuttered, managing to back away from Claude a few steps.
"Don't you want to be with me? Don't you want us to have a future? It's just sex, for the love of God!" he laughed once more cruelly at her, "And I don't want any other man to have the pleasure of experiencing all that your body could give. You will do what I've said Eleanor. You'll bring with you the jewelry, and we'll have enough money to start a life somewhat comfortably. But before that, we need to address the problem of your…virginity."
"No," Eleanor whispered. The night seemed so silent after her tentative rebellion. "I don't want to have sex before marriage. Not with you, or anybody—or anybody else." by the end of her small speech she had the courage to look into his distorted face, twisted with anger. His hand was raised and striking her face before she or I could react.
"Eleanor!" I cried out, as I rushed down to her fallen form. "You monster!" I screamed up at Avery who still looked down furiously at her. His foot swung back then, and moved swiftly forward through my unnoticed body and into her unprotected side.
"You'll do what I tell you to you whore," he growled down at her. Eleanor moaned out her pain in response, grasping onto the soft cool sand below her. "Now get up, like a good girl, and tell me what you are going to do." He reached down to grab her arm but she rolled over unexpectedly, throwing two handfuls of sand into his face. Stunned and momentarily blinded Avery fell backwards onto the small land of beach, screaming his rage as Eleanor took off like a patronus. And then the tingling began to spread from my chest again, and I was blinded briefly by a glorious light.
Eleanor's room in the morning light was brilliant; everything took on a soft and delicate feature. Even Eleanor did, but the word fragile came to mind as I looked upon her thin form. She stood beside her closed window with empty red rimmed eyes. Her dress was laid neatly by the tub, whose water looked grimy and used. Slowly, she turned around as the sound of soft footsteps echoed closer to her room. Her eyes widened then, and took on a slightly panicked look. Her hand raised towards her temple, where a nasty red bump and small gash marred her appearance. As the footsteps sounded clearer her back seemed to straighten ever so slightly. Walking over to the ornate tub, she splashed a small amount of water out of it onto the floor, leaving little puddles scattered about near her dresser. And then she grasped the dresser tightly, her knuckles turning dangerously pale with her grip.
Swiftly, she brought her injured head down upon the side of the dresser. Eleanor cried out in pain as she collapsed onto the ground hopelessly, tears already rolling down her cheeks.
"Lady Eleanor!" gasped an older servant who rushed into the room. "Oh no, no, no! What has happened, let me see." She gently turned Eleanor's face and frowned in dismay. "It will be alright Lady Eleanor, hush now. We will make sure you look your best for the Duke, hush now," but her words only seemed to make her crying increase.
The scene seemed to blur then, and the book which I had been holding the entire time, vibrated softly within my hand. Another woman entered the fading room. She was finely dressed and cradled Eleanor against her chest.
It was all gone in an instant then, my new small common room laid before me along with all of the books Black had brought around. What the hell had just happened. I flipped through the pages of the book and noticed that while most of the pages were blank, the first few had been filled up with the accounts of what had just happened. Well, that was…interesting. Had this happened to Black as well? I turned to look at the clock, two hours had passed by.
Merlin's pants! I wanted answers, and I wanted them now. Unfortunately I was going to have to wait for Black to get back for any of them to be answered.