Eclipse| Harry Potter fanfiction

14. I've got a secret

Athena
After many days of bliss at home, I had to return to Hogwarts after Christmas. Months ago, I was ecstatic to leave home and start a new chapter at Hogwarts, but I didn't feel the same anymore. I had this image of how my life at Hogwarts would've played out, but nothing has gone the way I wanted since I arrived. Instead of being the girl who had a tight-knit friendship with all the pure-blood children, I was the girl who preferred finding secluded areas to do schoolwork.

Basically, I was alone and boring.

Lessons began soon after, and I was able to return to my studies. We had a Charms practice test coming up, and studying for it kept me pretty busy. When the test came, it was as challenging as Professor Mcgonagall promised, but I knew I passed it nonetheless. I just hoped neither Granger nor Malfoy outperformed me. In all of our classes, the three of us have been having a silent competition, and I was determined to come out on top.

Later that day, I had Potions, and I took my seat next to Malfoy. From the back of the class, Pansy glared heatedly at me and I could almost feel the burns on on my neck. Professor Snape began a lesson on how to make a shrinking potion, and I was taking notes. The class was quiet, and almost everyone's attention was on the professor.

After a long lecture, he asked, "Can anyone tell me what the first step is to making a shrinking potion?"

Granger's hand immediately shot up in the air, and she waved it around to get Professor Snape's attention. She really was an insufferable know-it-all.

His eyes roamed the classroom until they landed on Eloise. "Ms. Hughes, do you mind giving us the answer?"

She looked dumbfounded. Throughout the entire lesson, I noticed that she was lost in thought, gazing out the window.

"I don't know," she mumbled in a low tone.

"Of course you don't; five points from Gryffindor?" He said it with great annoyance. He answered the question himself and continued on with the lesson.

Eloise was less bubbly. It's like all the energy that made her smile was sucked out of her, leaving an unrecognisable, gloomy girl. It probably had to do with what Pansy did to her in the bathroom the day I arrived. Seeing her on the floor, helpless and in agony, while Pansy was in fits of laughter gave me this unrecognisable feeling of anger. No matter how pathetic or annoying Eloise seemed, she didn't deserve that. No one did. I also noticed that nowadays Eloise was alone all the time.

She ate alone.

She walked alone.

She worked alone.

Just like me.

I believe she realised at some point that Harry and his friends didn't want to be around her. I examined her cheeks and was relieved to see that the last few weeks of healing had resulted in no scarring.

The lesson came to an end, and she quickly escaped the class. I never cared for Eloise one bit until I saw a photo of her when she was younger in my attic. Mother hid those photos, but why? There was clearly more than what Mother let on. She had a story but successfully covered it with lies. The lady in the photo, with the biggest smile I've ever seen, was definitely Mother, but still, I didn't recognise her.

Why is she the way she is now?

Because Eloise was the only person who could provide me with an answer, I decided to follow her out of the classroom and into the library. She sat by the blue crystal window, and I sat two tables away from her.

I removed some parchment and my quil and pretended to do my work while I threw some glances at her. Except for staring out the window and thinking, she wasn't actually doing anything. She seemed to do that a lot. I finally had a promising plan after an hour, so I got up from my table and walked over to her.