Too Sweet

The beginning

It started with parchment and ink. Everything did.

From her parent's signatures on her birth certificate to the first book she dove into that began her investment in the history of magic and the witches and wizards of the past, it all started with ink on parchment.

But who would suspect the words swirled between these pages would start what they did?

Eloise sure didn't.

At sixteen, her shoes click against the cobblestoned walkway of Diagon Alley. She spots Amanuensis Quills, the shop she's needed, or more so wanted, to visit. Her desk has become quite overwhelmed with purchases of quills of all types that she expertly glides along paper in hands that seem to be permanently stained with ink.

As she turned the corner, head practically in the clouds thinking of which book she'll scribble annotations onto next, she became aware of her surroundings and stopped just short of a taller, older man stood with his son. The boy was clearly in a lower year than her, perhaps 2nd, but with the platinum blonde hair they both sported it was clear what lineage they belonged to. Malfoy, of course.

"Pardon me." She quickly muttered, and began to scurry away before her eyes landed on an older looking journal in the man's hands, held loosely as if it was a level of some sort he felt himself too above to even fully grasp in his hands.

She had to physically stop herself from reaching out. Something about the cover drew her towards it. There was nothing special about it, really. At least, not to the naked eye. But to an eye of a girl who spent practically all sixteen years of her life with her nose shoved in a book, hands flipping through pages and mind swirling with thoughts, it was something special. She simply felt it.

"What's this?" She asked, gesturing to the book and the man eyed her strangely.

"Oh, just an old book." The man spoke slowly, staring at her down the bridge of his nose rather than tilting his head. As if lowering his chin would lower his importance. He seemed to have little care for the book, which made Eloise even more drawn to it.

How could he not feel it?

"Is it terribly important to you?"

Once again, he gave her a strange look before quickly replacing it with a kinder one, like a salesman. At least, as kind as the seemingly permanent scowl etched on his face could manage.

"Terribly? No, I could part with it."

Her eyes lit up, and her fingers twitched at her sides as she felt herself itching to take the book and hold it in her hands. It felt like it was physically pulling her towards it, pleading for her to take it.

"May I?"
A small frown reached her features as the boy barked out a laugh at her request. She hadn't even noticed him paying attention to them since her mind narrowed in on the book.

"Aren't you embarrassed begging for school supplies on the street?" The boy spoke, a mix of amusement and disgust dripping from his voice. However, the hateful scorn he had on his face was quickly wiped away by the smack of the book held by his father on the back of his head.

"If the beggar wants it, let her have it, Draco. Don't fuss."

"I'm not a beggar-" She started to defend herself, but the man shoved the book into her hands and she decided it wasn't worth it. She knew it wasn't personal anyway. With the way the two of them glared at every single person in the entire country, you'd think they were the purest people alive and everyone else were walking scum; villains unworthy of sharing the same air, let alone the same street.

She knew she was good. She didn't need to prove it.

So she ran her fingers across the cover of the book, tracing the curves of the metal that hugged the two edges on the outside with diamond shapes engraved on them, and continued walking towards the shop for quills.