Angel *currently being edited because I started writing this when I was younger*

9- Flashbacks

Eloise woke up from a rather disrupted nights sleep. She went about her morning routine, making sure to look extra 'angelic' that day for Snape. She got into the shower, turning the heat up enough to feel a slight sting on her bare skin. She rubbed the shampoo into her hair, massaging it into her scalp. Tipping her head back, she let the shower wash it out. Bubbles flowed down her body, tracing each curve of her body, right down to the tip of her toes.

She conditioned her hair with her own fragrance that she made. After she was finished, she stepped out of the sleek tiled and glass shower, wrapping herself in a towel. She walked to her bedroom, laying out a button up top that accentuates her slim yet shapely figure, and a pair of bootcut jeans, clad with leather boots. She took a once over of herself in her full length mirror, and satisfied with her appearance, she left and made way to the main hall for breakfast.

Heels clicked along the stone slabs that make up the floor of the corridor. Eloise was determined to push Snape to make moves in the future, but at that moment in time, it was time for her to make a move. She entered through a side door that Snape uses, and immediately she noticed him, and the empty space next to him.

Eloise made sure that every single one of her movements were fluid. She untucked her chair and slid down into her seat, making sure to brush 'accidentally' against Snape's arm. He glanced over to her, and took in what she was wearing. His breath hitched slightly in his throat and he quickly turned back to his breakfast.

Eloise noticed his breath hitch and smiled to herself, then turned to him. "How did you sleep last night?" It was a simple question, an easy conversation starter. Snape frowned at his porridge and then turned to Eloise who was looking intently at him. "Fine. Yourself?" He turned back to frowning at his porridge.

"It was rather disrupted, I was worrying about Ali a bit before I could sleep. She's a very bright girl. I had a look at her work when I took her back to her dorm." Snape looked over at Eloise, then scanned the hall for Ali, who was absent from the hall. "Well it seems your favourite has missed breakfast. Perhaps you should go and check on her." It sounded almost like an order, and Eloise could've sworn he was mocking her.

Snape gave up on frowning at his porridge and peered at Eloise in the corner of his eye, she was drinking tea. A droplet travelled down the side of her cup and she lightly trailed her tongue from the end of the droplet to the rim of the mug. A heat that Snape can usually conceal made its way onto his face, creeping onto his cheeks.

Snape hurriedly excused himself from the table, leaving his feud with the porridge and the erotic tongue of Eloise, and making his way to his private lab. He walked swiftly, his feet falling heavily on the cold stone floor, and his robes billowing behind him. His heart was pounding, and he finally got into his lab, shutting the door right behind him harshly. He leant against the mass of wood, running a hand through his slightly greasy mop of hair.

___

Eloise felt that she had accomplished something and lonely at the same time. She then though of Ali, and the fact that the first year wasn't here. She politely excused herself from the table before McGonagall could say anything. She exited the way she had come, and then sped-walked through the dimly lit corridors, to the moving stairs, she ran up the stairs and into Gryffindor common room where the fire had gone out. She quickly lit if with a flick of her wand, and then continued up to the girls' dorm.

She entered the dormitory to find Ali still passed out on her bed. "Oh Ali." Eloise sighed. She approached the girl and sat herself down on her bed. Like the previous night, she took her head onto her lap and put her hand against her head. "It really was too powerful for you." She murmured. Eloise concentrated all of her energy on Ali to repair her after her contact with the box.

Ali suddenly took in a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her pupils were dilated and they darted quickly up to Eloise's face. She seemed to relax a little. "What happened?" Ali asked, taking in another shaky breath. Eloise gently stroke her hair. "Can you keep a secret?" She flashed a childish smile down at Ali, which the girl returned excitedly, with a hurried "Yes!"

"That box contained something very precious to Snape, something very magical, on a greater level than mortals could believe." Ali looked even more excited and sat up, then turned to face Eloise on the bed. "You know, for someone so young and mortal, I'm surprised you survived." Eloise made a shocked face, and Ali got more intrigued by the second. "What was in the box?" She asked.

"Well, have you ever heard of a guardian angel?" Ali's eyes widened. "Yes...Eloise...It brought back a memory from when I was younger." She looked down, and Eloise lifted her chin up with her finger. "Ali, you're troubled, I know. And I can help." A tear slipped down one of the child's flushed cheeks. "But how?" She sniffled. "Everyone has a guardian angel, tell me about yours." Eloise patted the bed beside her, and took Ali under her arm in a comforting embrace.

Eloise could see the fragile little girl that suffered years of abuse from her drunken father. "My guardian angel..." She was struggling to remember, so Eloise put her fingers to Ali's temples and plunged Ali into her memories, she was beginning to remember a lot of suppressed memories and thoughts. Tears streamed down her face, and a sob raked her body.