𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚 | 𝐡𝐣𝐩 |

𝐥 . 3

ᴇᴀᴠᴇsᴅʀᴏᴘᴘɪɴɢ
♧︎♧︎♧

walking back into the leaky cauldron felt like days to come. many many days, it was a far walk, before heading back.

there they found mr. weasley, sitting at the bar reading the daily prophet.

"harry!" he greeted, smiling. "how are you?"

"fine, thanks." harry offered a smile.

elara sighed at the cover of the daily prophet. arthur caught the sadness in her face making him put the prophet down, and ordered a butterbeer.

"they still haven't caught him?" harry asked sitting besides elara, and surprising her that he knows who she is.

"who, black?" she asked, when he nodded she spoke once more. and her happiness slowly drowning. "no, harry. he's still out there. the bastards to sneaky to find. i'm thirsty, and hungry."

mr. weasley turned to find elara's eyes turning red. he cursed before saying: "elara."

"could we get a reward if we caught him?" asked ron. "it'd be good to get some more money—"

"oh, don't be ridiculous, ron," said mr. weasley, who on closer inspection looked very strained. "black's not going to be caught by a thirteen-year-old wizard. it's the azkaban guards who'll get him back, you mark my words."

"well, knowing harry ..." elara said.

mrs. weasley walked in, interrupting their conversation, and making elara slightly relieved. the rest of the weasleys followed her, fred, george, percy, and elara's favorite weasley ginny.

elara hugs each and everyone of them, as a nice gesture for hello. ginny, who had taken a liking in harry, seemed heavily embarrassed when she saw him. elara always reminds her to be more of happy then embarrassed that the harry potter saved her life.

percy, who was head boy for gyffindor this year, had stuck a hand out for harry to shake saying: "harry, how nice to see you."

"hello, percy." harry said, trying not to laugh.

"i hope you're well." percy said shaking his hand, trying to look very ... professional.

"very well, thanks-"

"harry!" fred exclaimed, elbowing percy out of the way, and bowed deeply. "simply slendid to see you, boy-"

"marvelous!" george mocked, pushing fred aside. "absolutely spiffing."

"oh please, you guys. i'm sure prince harold pottery needs his space." elara laughed, bowing before taking harry's hand. "his absolutely spiffing persona doesn't need fans."

"that's enough, now, you three." mrs. weasley said.

"mum!" said fred, as if he'd only seen her at this moment, and seized her hand too. "how really corking to see you—"

"fredrick, i said, that's enough." she said, sternly. "hello, harry dear, i suppose you've heard our exciting news?" she pointed at the silver badge on percy's chest. "second headboy in the family!"

"and last ..." fred muttered.

"i don't doubt that." mrs. weasley said frowning. "i notice they haven't made you two prefects."

"why would we want to be prefects for?" george asked looking disgusted at the idea. "it'd take all the fun out of life."

"george! be a better example to your sister!" mrs. weasley scolded.

"yeah, georgie. we don't want our little ginny to turn into a pyschopath, do we now?" elara smirked, holding ginny by the shoulders, making her laugh.

"ginny's got better older brothers to set her an example, mother." percy said. "i'm going to change for dinner ..."

"we tried to shut him in a pyramid." george sighed. "but mum spotted us."

***

later that night, she couldn't sleep. knowing her dad was outside - alone - as a werewolf made her feel ... guilty. not only that, but the fact her other father had broken out of azkaban was outrageous.

elara didn't know what he wanted, but she had a hunch. she knew she needed to at least tell her best friends the truth. both the molly and arthur, knew, because they were in the order. but she knew she had to at least let hermione, katherine, harry, and ron know.

as she tossed and turned, she couldn't take it anymore. so quietly, she got up trying not to wake ginny and hermione. walking out of the room, feeling overwhelmed, she bumped into harry - who shushed her.

"well, excuse me for wanting to get a glass of water." elara whispered.

"no, lar, listen." harry said, pulling her to the side.

"they have the right to know." said mr. weasley. "elara, should know. it's best to trust her with this information, it's her dad. and harry, you know him. i've tried to tell fudge but he insisted on treating  harry like a child - like thirteen."

elara froze at the fact he said "it's her dad." ... worried, she turned to harry who's eyes were widened.

"arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said mrs. weasley. "do you really want to send them back to school with that hanging over them? for heaven's sake, i just know Harry is happy not knowing! look at elara! she's already having a hard time keeping her humanity on! let's not mention the fact that her secret-"

"lara knows better then to turn it off, molly." mr. weasley said. "and as for Harry, i want to put him on his guard! you know what harry, lara, and ron are like, wandering off by themselves. i'm not surprised if they do something this year! they've ended up in the forbidden forest twice! but harry and elara mustn't do that this year! when i think what could have happened to harry that night he ran away from home! if the knight bus hadn't picked him up, i'm prepared to bet he would have been dead before the ministry found him."

"but he's not dead, he's fine, so what's the point- "

"molly, they say black is mad. elara hates him, she'll want to rip apart anyone who threatens her about him." elara heard Harry sigh with relief, as they both heard this. "black is clever enough to escape from azkaban, and that's someing no one's ever done. it's been three weeks, and no one's seen a single piece of him. i don't care what fudge keeps telling the daily prophet, we're no nearer to catching black then inventing self-spelling wands ..."

elara couldn't take it anymore, but harry still stayed as she rushed back into her room.

neither of them said a word the next morning, the morning of september first. the first day before hogwarts.