Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Fifteen

[Chapter Fifteen]

It always seemed to rain on the first of September, no matter what and that particular morning as Éponine prepared herself for the trip aboard the Hogwarts Express, was no exception. Her window had been opened during the night as she had found herself too warm around midnight. A strong breeze carried into the room, blowing several of the girl's loose curls around as she finished packing her trunk. Glancing out the window, Éponine could see the dark clouds in the distance, distinct rain clouds that were threatening to pour over London. In a way, Éponine could relate to the dark grey and gloomy clouds as she closed her trunk with a sigh full of discontent. 

It was wishful thinking to believe that her parents would meet her at the platform to see her off to school, but Éponine found herself disappointed even before the first of September. After receiving the news that their daughter had made Prefect, Victor and Heloise wrote to her, claiming that they were so proud of her, and yet, they only wrote that they hoped that she would have a good start to the term and nothing else. For a few moments, Éponine thought it was some sort of mistake, of course, her parents would be at the platform to see her off. But then came the confirmation from Walburga that her parents were off on holiday, enjoying the countryside of Sweden for the next couple of weeks. 

Éponine was incredibly offended, even if she didn't bother to voice it. It wasn't like her complaining would change anything, she knew that all too well. However, she figured the two could postpone their trip to at least see her before she started school, she had practically gone the entire summer without really seeing them. But the more Éponine thought about it, she realised that she probably didn't want to see them. If they didn't want to see her, what was the point of chasing after her parents' affections? They didn't listen to her anyway, all they did was tell her what she needed to do, how she needed to listen to everyone around her, all the time.

Yet, during the summer, Regulus had told her along with Emmarentia, that she needed to change that train of thought. She simply couldn't live her life following everyone's direct orders like a silent mouse. She had a voice and it was about time that she started to actually put it to use. Although Éponine would be the first to admit that she was frightened by the idea, fearful of the trouble that she would find herself in. The fact of the matter was, she was so well-trained by her parents to keep her mouth shut and obey that doing anything differently felt foreign. She was so used to bottling up her emotions and feelings until they breached the surface in moments of desperation to be heard. 

However, she did take Regulus' advice that his older brother had given to him before his departure: Act Now, As For Forgiveness Later, it was her new motto that she planned to live by for her fifth year to see if it would actually get her anywhere.

There was a sound of a small crack outside of her bedroom, leaving Éponine to turn around and see Kreacher preparing to enter. A warm smile appeared on her face as she gave her full attention to the house-elf. No one had really spoken about it, but the summer had turned around in Kreacher's favour as well. From the beginning where he had found himself bleeding from the head, mourning over his mother's shrunken head that was mounted on the wall, Kreacher seemed a lot happier as the summer came to an end. She had made sure, nearly every day to spend time with the house-elf to ensure that he was fairing well.