Loyalties | Barty Crouch Jr

The Introduction

March 12, 1978 - Sunday

Much to Leonora's dismay, she was shaken awake extra early by an incredibly exuberant Illyria, who was excitedly bouncing up and down on her feet. Letting out a groan, Leonora rolled over in bed to face the girl, looking up at her with blurry eyes. The two stared at each other in silence as Leonora took a second to figure out why the girl was up so early on a Sunday morning, and why she felt the need to wake her friend up as well. Then it struck her, it was Illyria's birthday.

Sighing, Leonora slowly sat up in her bed, throwing her covers off in the process. "Happy Birthday," she told the girl, her voice groggy. "Care to tell my why we're up so early?"

"Thank you!" she beamed. "I was hoping that you, me, and Thalia could all sneak out of the castle and go to Hogsmeade for my birthday. We could do some shopping, drink some butterbeer. I think it'll be fun. Thalia agreed, she's already up and in the bath."

"Okay," Leonora agreed, glancing towards the clock that hung on their wall, "but do we really need to be at five in the morning to do that? Nothing's going to be open for hours still."

"Well, I was hoping," she paused for a moment, "that we could all dress up. It is a special occasion after all, and I don't know how long it'll take for us to get ready."

Leonora frowned. "It's freezing out Illyria," she pointed out, not wanting to freeze her arse off in a fancy dress. "Can't I just throw on some trousers and call it a day?"

"You can throw on some tights under your dress Nora, but no trousers."

Leonora rolled her eyes at her friend. "Fine," she agreed hesitantly, "but if I freeze to death out there, that's on you."

Illyria's face lit up with a bright smile. "Hurry up and start getting ready!" The girl then swiftly ran over to the foot of her own bed to dig through her trunk for who knows what.

Leonora roughly rubbed her eyes, before slowly stepping out of bed and stretching. With a yawn, she sluggishly made her way over to her own trunk and began to dig out the only fancy dress she ever brought to Hogwarts. It was a flowy, knee length black dress that she rarely ever wore. Throwing it onto her bed, she pulled out the pair of tights she wore with her uniform every day, as well as her jacket and a plain, black scarf.

Glancing back over towards Illyria, the girl appeared to have changed into her dress while she had been digging through her trunk and was now perched on her bed, staring at herself through a small, handheld mirror, pursing her lips before rubbing them together to evenly spread around the lip gloss she was applying.

With a yawn, Leonora quickly removed her pyjama top, then slid the black dress over her head and pulled it down to hang around her body. She then removed her bottoms, putting on a new pair of knickers and her sheer, black tights. Finally, she paired the look with her simple, black Mary Janes.

As soon as Thalia was done in the bath, Leonora rushed into the room, casting alohomora to lock the door behind her. The room was left muggy, and the mirror she stood in front of was left steamed up as a result. Grabbing the nearest hand towel, she wiped away a small area of the steam, before staring at her appearance.

Dark circles appeared under her eyes from being up so early, her eyes themselves were red from being rubbed too roughly, and her dark hair was a frizzy mess from tossing and turning all night.

She grabbed her brush and began to pull the bristles through the knots, careful not to yank too hard. As soon as it was straight enough and under control, she used a small spell Illyria had taught her in their second year to curl her hair, though she always opted for a slight and simple wave, rather than full on curls.