The Empty Chamber (Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirteen: Ella

Ella had long since decided that there was no point in trying to get rid of the Sword. Regardless of the fact that Ella had been in Hufflepuff for two months now, it followed her as if she was Godric Gryffindor himself. It was starting to appear in her thoughts, as well - Ella's most frequent daydream was of herself, Sword in hand, engaging in some grand heroic battle, or dueling a monster. She knew she wasn't quite the type of girl who was usually slaying beasts, but she also knew there was no point in having a Sword if she wasn't ever going to use it.

Though Ella was yet to try physically training with the Sword, she had determined that, somehow, she was going to learn swordsmanship. Her plan started with the library, and followed Kadence's Quidditch practice schedule. Each time Kadence left for the pitch, Ella also left, just behind her. Louis had assumed she left to watch Kadence's practice, and though Ella did feel a little guilty about this misconception, she didn't bother to tell the truth. Ella went to the library, to a corner where the books were for the most part untouched, and read all she could about swords; books on fencing, books on knights, books on Godric Gryffindor, and she never checked out a thing. She wasn't ready to share about her Sword yet, and taking a book about swords to her dorm would raise perhaps a bit too much suspicion.

The kidnappings, however, had put quite the damper on Ella's new venture. No matter how much she would like to insist she wasn't afraid, especially after the girls were returned, she couldn't help but feel that going anywhere alone was a bad idea. As a first year, and a rather small one at that, if someone were to try snatching her in the halls, she wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. Which was all the more reason to train herself with the Sword, but, alas, that would require leaving the common room alone, and so Ella found herself trapped in this vicious cycle.

Now, when Kadence left for Quidditch practice, typically with a cocky smile and a call of "bye ground-dwellers," Ella stayed back in the common room to work on homework with Louis. While it wasn't as exciting as researching the Sword of Gryffindor, they made a good team. The two always agreed to do their essays first so that they could save the fun part, practicing spells, for when Kadence returned, and show off their improvement.

"How many of the uses of dragon blood have we covered in class so far?" Louis asked as he scribbled (well, not quite, as Louis had particularly dainty handwriting) out his Potions paper.

"Six," Ella replied, scanning over her own essay. "So we don't need to discuss its use as a stain remover yet, which is almost disappointing, because my mum uses it all the time. I understand that without trying."

"Okay well, I've got... five, six! All the uses, so that's good, I'm done, I'll just add a conclusion really fast -" thinking out loud, he brought his quill back down to his parchment.

"What spells do we need to do tonight?" Ella said, shoving her newly finished paper aside.

"Well, in Charms, we're working on levitation, so we should probably practice that."

"Oh, right!" Ella snapped her pointer finger up into the air, and then used it to begin tapping Louis's shoulder from where she sat next to him on the floor near the fire place. "I'll grab Jonathon!"

The two Hufflepuffs had developed a bad habit of practicing (harmless) spells on Ella's rat, Jonathon, partially because he was so easily available, and partially because the sight of Jonathon made Kadence squeamish, which Ella thought was rather hilarious. Kadence would walk in on them holding Jonathon and instantly turn away, mumbling under her breath. "Ella, no, not this time," Louis said, looking pointedly at the fire. "Turning him yellow isn't harmful, but we don't want to drop him in the fireplace."

Ella cocked her head. "Oh, all right, but I'm going to grab him anyways, just to sit with us. I feel bad; he gets less attention now that I'm in class all the time." Leaving Louis by himself to begin putting their quills and ink away, Ella ran to her dorm. Two of the other Hufflepuff girls, Marie and Catherine, were sitting on one of the beds, Marie doing her friend's hair.