Slytherins Golden Girl

Chapter 23

Eleanor woke early the next morning, the bedroom was still pitch black and the sound of heavy breathing protruded from the bed next to her, she couldn't tell if it was coming from Crookshanks or Hermione.

Eleanor sat up from the dingy camp bed, it's joints squeaked under the weight of her movements. It was the most uncomfortable bed she'd ever slept on, not to mention the thing smelt like the bottom of a leaky cupboard.

She rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the darkness of the room, she could barley see the outline of her hands in front of her face let alone navigate herself through the house. Eleanor slipped on her fluffy slippers and headed towards the bedroom door, quietly passing by Ginny whose arms and legs dangled off the side of the bed.

Once out of the room Eleanor pulled her wand out her pocket and cast lumos, at least she was able to see something now. She held it out in front of her and used it to locate her way downstairs toward the kitchen, somehow the dim light of her wand managed to make the house look even creepier than it did in the day. The floorboards creaked underneath her feet as Eleanor tiptoed down the staircase, it would be a miracle if no one had awoken from the noise of her early morning cravings.

She found that the kitchen door was already open ajar when Eleanor reached the downstairs hallway, a flickering orange flame from within lighting up her face as she approached. The orange flame danced across her eyes as she poked her head through the gap expecting to find someone sat at the dinner table. However, the room was empty par from three large burning black candles placed on a mantle in the centre of the table.

Eleanor pouted out her bottom lip, she was sure she heard someone down here, maybe was she going crazy or could it have been Kreature getting an early start to his daily tasks. She had the joy of meeting him last night. She pushed the thought aside deciding it was down to lack of sleep and headed to the pantry in search of something to eat or drink.

Eleanor took a seat on the old wooden chair at the end of the table, she placed the mug of black coffee down and swallowed the sip she just took. It was the best substitute for hot chocolate the pantry offered her.

She grabbed hold of the old daily prophet from across the table pulling at the corner until it was in front of her, Harry's face was splashed across the front cover staring up at her. Eleanor scrunched up her nose and flipped the page over, this side was covered with Fudge and his claims that everything's fine, which were of course lies. She yawned and shut the paper not wanting to read the tales that spilled from the old fogeys mouth. He and the rest of his ministry workers were delusional if they believed everything was okay.

Eleanor took another sip of coffee, it wasn't as nice when she made it herself compared to the one she'd regularly have at Hogwarts. Every Sunday morning at breakfast she'd sit across from Blaise with Draco beside him and have a coffee, she knew Draco always had the same thing every single morning.

Black coffee and toast. Black coffee and toast.

Merlin. It had dawned on her that Draco was probably oblivious to the whereabouts of Sirius Black his distant cousin and she wouldn't even be able to tell him. Now she'd met the both of them she could see some similarities, they both had the black glare, a certain way they'd look at you when you were speaking to them. Like they were studying you and your mannerisms. Although unlike Draco, Sirius was very kind and welcoming, he'd practically welcomed Eleanor into his house with open arms, however that could be down to spending all those years alone in a prison cell. He may just be happy he can surround himself around people he can call family.

Eleanor yawned again her clear lack of sleep catching up to her, she rest her arm against the table and tucking her head into the crease of her elbow. That's when she noticed a thick leather book across the other side of the table, placed in front of the only other untucked chair, from this angle it looked like an old family photo book although it had clearly just been whipped of any dust.