Mitigation

A Pissed Potter and an Annoyed Abernathy

Elana pulled out a small briefcase from her trunk. She opened it and tapped the small push pin board twice and murmured, "Engorgio."

It blew up to full size and Elana magically stuck it on to the wall. She began to pull out pictures from the rest of the briefcase and began to stick them on the wall. It was mostly her and her father, and her in her childhood. Her eyes trailed over the piles of pictures as she put them up, remembering the most recent ones. Elana stopped, her eyes fixated on a girl with mauve hair and fierce eyes. She was smiling, though, and her teeth lit up the picture. Elana studied it.

Elana didn't know who this girl was. Neither did her father, when asked about it. She had found it in the pocket of her jacket, folded up, probably forgotten. But she had kept it. Elana put it back down in the briefcase.

Elana looked at more pictures, stopping at a five year old Elana playing in the sandbox with two boys. There was two women smiling and looking at the camera from the background, who she assumed was the two boy's mothers.

Elana hung up that picture and more of them playing with people and pictures with her father. She sighed and studied the pictures, all on the left side of the board. She hung up the ones she took in the train and of the castle on the right. Elana stared at the ones on the left, hoping one of them would help spark a memory, help her recover from her amnesia at least a little bit.

Nothing.

Elana sighed and took out the blue flowers she had made and put them as decor on the side. She shut the briefcase and put it in her trunk and laid backwards for a bit on her bed, her brain swimming. She looked up and recognized footsteps from above. Elana got up and out of the room.

It was Sunday of the first week and she still hadn't unpacked completely. She just didn't want to. Neither, she realized, did she have the time. She had already checked out a stack of books from the library and were pooling over the words. She picked up one on Magical Plants and Their Everyday Uses and made her way outside, where she assumed someone she knew was. She looked around and saw Lily with her Gryffindor friends, whom she'd kindly been introduced to (Marlene McKinnon, Alice Fortesque, and Mary MacDonald). She was talking happily until James walked by. Elana watched as he tried to talk to her but she put her nose in the air, obviously very upset at him. Elana hoped that whatever had happened would blow over quickly.

Elana met up to James after waving to Lily and walked with him silently down the path. She saw Severus talking to some boys rapidly. "Hey, Severus," Elana gave a smile, which threatened to fall after seeing the judgmental faces of the others. She cleared her throat and held herself up confidently.

"Hey," he replied, not even looking up.

James looked furious, "Now listen here, Snivelus. She just came up to you and said hello. Now you do the same."

"What are you going to do about it?" Severus asked, now looking angry. Elana needed to stop this now.

"James, it's not a big deal, he was mid conversation-"

"So? He can say hi back decently."

"It's oka-"

"Hey!" Came Lily's voice as she marched down. "What are you doing, Potter?" She demanded.

By now, Elana was feeling very threatened. She didn't understand why Severus and James wanted to fight so bad over something minuscule and why Lily was now on a last name basis with James.

"Nothing," Elana managed. She grabbed James's arm. "We were just leaving." She pulled him away.

Elana marched up the stairs, through the hallways, not knowing where she was going. She felt miffed. She didn't know why here friends were all going crazy and why there were already tears in their friendship. She sighed, ticking the pear and walking in. She took in the wonderful smell, giving her a wave of calmness, and met the house elves.

"Could you please get me a glass of cold milk?" She asked, resting on a chair. One sweet looking elf nodded and hurried away.

"Would Mistress and Master like a cookie?" Came a small voice. She looked down at a tiny house elf, who was significantly cuter than the others.

"Oh, you can call me Elana. That's James," she pointed at him, who was still looking around confused and in awe. "And yes, I would love to."

A minute later, Elana had drank her milk and had eaten her cookie. She felt calm again. She thanked the house elves and then dragged James to the library. She looked around for Remus, who she expected to be there, but to no avail. She hadn't seen him since yesterday.

"Okay, first of all, where's Remus?"

"He had a family emergency or something," James looked curious.

"Okay, second: James, the hell?"

"It wasn't my fault-"

"It was just a hello."

"He was being rude-"

"So were you."

"And he's so fake-"

"We're only three days into school, are you really going to tell me you have an enemy? And because of a three day crush?"

"Wha-"

"Ah, I was right," Elana grinned and then went back serious. (Sirius).

"James, you can't treat people like that. That was rude and didn't help in the slightest."

"He was rude too!"

"Hush!" Madaam Morell, the librarian, hissed.

"So? I can fight my own fights, first of all. Second, kill them with kindness. You gave him satisfaction of making you angry, doofus. And now, Lily's even more mad than before. So, I hope you're happy."

James looked furious in his realization.

"Also, if I said it nicely to him, he would end up being ashamed. So, yea," Elana sighed, taking out her book and skimming the first few lines. She shut it. "Any words for yourself?"

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't make the same mistake twice. Now, did you do your homework, Potter?" Elana grinned.

~O~