cold as you ||t. riddle||

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

┏━━━━•❅•°•❈•°•❅•━━━━┓
𝖓𝖊𝖜 𝖞𝖊𝖆𝖗'𝖘 𝖊𝖛𝖊
┗━━━━•❅•°•❈•°•❅•━━━━┛

20 December 1942

Elena put on her warmest clothes, bracing herself for the day ahead. She was going to go to Hogsmeade with Charlus Potter. She needed the boy to think he had a chance with her, and the easiest way to do that was go on a non-official date with him. Elena had informed Rin of her plan before he had left the night before. He had said something about needing to go back to the orphanage for administrative procedures.

Orion and Abraxas had also gone back home for the holidays. Normally Elena would go with them too, however this year the Malfoys insisted that it only be the two of them as a distant relative was coming to visit. With all of her friends gone, Elena only had Tom and Charlus to hang out with. She had figured Charlus was a safer bet, as she couldn't confirm if Tom was actually a descendant of the Gaunt family.

When they made it to Hogsmeade, Elena bought herself a green quill as a Christmas present before going to the Three Broomsticks. Charlus got them their butterbeers.

"I heard you got back with Rin," he said, he didn't sound upset at all. "Is that something you wanted?"

"He didn't want to go back to the orphanage when we weren't talking. He apologised, I'm glad he did." Elena smiled, "Thank you for being there for me."

"I'm happy for you."

Elena felt the littlest bit of guilt when she looked at the boy's face, he really was happy for her. She decided to change the subject, "I'm sorry for the way Abraxas acted during the game. I talked to him. You'd like him if you knew him."

"I'm not going to deny he overreacted," Charlus sighed, "But I did hit him in the head- On accident though."

"I believe you." Elena wanted to see if she could stir the conversation towards his family. "Why didn't you go home for Christmas?"

"Our house was attacked," Charlus seemed really uncomfortable talking about it.

"The Muggle War?" Charlus nodded. Elena decided not to push any further, "You don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, everyone's doing okay." Charlus knit his brows all of a sudden looking out the window. "Isn't that Rin? Didn't you say he went back to the orphanage?"

"What?" Elena saw Rin through the window, walking around warily, checking if he's being followed over his shoulder. Elena tried to enter his mind, but she couldn't. She tried to enter Charlus' mind, hearing his thoughts in her head like usual. She tried again with Rin and it didn't work. It was just like Tom had said, his mind was guarded like a fortress. "He lied to me."

"Do you want to follow him?"

"Yeah, I'm so sorry, I know we were going to spend the day together but-"

"It's alright," he reached for her bag, "If you want I can come with you. I have this thing..." He took out an embellished cloak from his bag. "We won't be seen. This is an-"

"Invisibility Cloak." Elena realised she sounded too excited. So excited that she almost forgot about Rin. "Yes, thank you. We should go, he's moving."

Charlus paid for the butterbeers as Elena gathered their stuff. They put on the cloak before leaving the Three Broomsticks. Rin was cautious, almost paranoid as he walked towards the back alleyways. It was already starting to get dark and it started snowing as they continued moving. Rin entered an old building with a illegible worn-out sign.