Break Free | Harry Potter

Chapter Six

-September 1st, 1991, Girls Dorm, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts, Scotland-

"This is it, then?" Elenora brushed past Lavender Brown as the two entered the Girls Dorm. Her face was a mixture of perplexity and disgust, something Elenora thought she felt quite often. Elenora's hand patted the end of a bed. "Quaint..."

Trailing off as she judged the tacky gold and red theme, Elenora grabbed and laid her trunk out onto her newly appointed bed. This would be quite a handful to organize, she thought, eyes hovering over the color of her scarf, which now hung loosely around her neck and shoulders.

"D'you not like it?" Lavender wondered aloud, laying out on the entirely of the bed beside Elenora. She turned to look at the noirette with an inquisitive look. "Was Gryffindor not the house you wanted? Does that explain the scarf, then?" The brunette motioned to Elenora's scarf, bringing her attention to it once more.

She nodded, sighing in the process before unlocking her trunk and staring down at her belongings. Elenora was unsure of whether to continue the conversation or not. Maybe it'd help her with the tension currently running amuck in her mind?

"You seemed to have read my mind," Elenora murmured, picking up her bottle of ink and placing it carefully on the stand beside her. "Yeah, I didn't want Gryffindor. Don't be offended—Please, I don't mean it like that. My heart was set on Ravenclaw, though. With the scarf," She released a bitter snort, "that was how set I was on it."

Lavender glanced up at Elenora, making the girl tense as she transferred her textbooks from her trunk to the night stand.

"I wouldn't take it to heart! I'm no such person. I get it though," Lavender peered up at her again, Elenora finally relaxing a little as the girl continued speaking, "Ravenclaw was something you wanted. But you don't have a hatred for Gryffindor, do you?"

"Of course not," Elenora blurted quickly, wanting to be as understanding as Lavender was right now. She grimaced at the way her words came out, "I'm just very unhappy with the outcome. Nothing I can't get over, though..." by the end of her statement, Elenora didn't know if she was reassuring herself or Lavender.

Instead, wanting to avert any situation for the moment, Elenora placed the current pack of quills down onto her bed and stretched her hand out towards Lavender. "Elenora. Elenora Rosetti."

This seemed to have given a great affect on Lavender, who smiled in return and shook Elenora's hand gently. "Lavender Brown."

Releasing her hand and getting back to her quill placing, Elenora had trouble thinking up ways to make sure the conversation continued flowing. "What are you excited for, tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Lavender looked at her as if she'd grown a third head before realization dawned on her face and she became incredulous. In expression and in tone, "Ah—We've got classes tomorrow—First day of being reprimanded, isn't it?"

This amused Elenora, as a smirk crawled onto her face before she could halt it. "I would say so," She closed her trunk before something else caught her eye and she opened it immediately again. Grasping it, she pulled it out and shoved it into her robe pocket, continuing the conversation as if nothing happened, "The teachers here certainly seem to be quite set out on destroying the self-esteem of some children. Classes haven't even started!"

"Shockingly true," Lavdender scoffed, sitting up to face Elenora fully. She smiled at the freckled girl, who gave an awkward look back. "Some of the Professors couldn't keep their eyes off of Harry Potter. Snape, I think it might've been. He'd been looking at the boy as if he were planning to murder him. I wonder what Harry was wondering..."

Elenora couldn't find a right way to respond without seeming cold. She hadn't ever wanted to talk such things about Harry Potter. The young boy had been nice as far as she'd known. Besides, gossip certainly wasn't a thing she would ever be into.

"Interesting," Elenora mumbled, placing her locked trunk against the board of her bed, "I've been told Snape is quite something..."

"Definitely is," Lavender replied instantly, now gazing around the room, eyes in wonder as she gasped audibly quite a couple of times.

Elenora wondered how such a person could be so bewildered by a simple thing like gold and red. There was nothing to it, as far as she saw. All she could think and feel as she gazed upon the colors was disappointment and disdain.

"You look pretty sad," Lavender approached her with a careful tone. "Has Gryffindor really got you that down?" A chuckle emitted from the girl, but it wasn't one that Elenora knew took pleasure in her pain. It was more of an awkward one.

"Most Gryffindors are pretty happy when they get in, yet you're down in the dumps..." All Elenora could do was just shrug in response. What else was there to do? Tell Lavender her whole life story?

"It's alright, though. You don't have to be sad for long. Because tomorrow we'll be introduced to the rest of our lives! And it'll be amazing, just you see." Lavender reached over to pat Elenora on the shoulder rather awkwardly before getting off the bed and unlocking her own trunk.

At this moment in time, Elenora didn't know whether or not to feel touched. Lavender had comforted her, yes. Not in the way she had ever thought possible, though.

The girl had managed to distract Elenora from her true problems, giving the noirette at least a few seconds of peace within her life.

Yet, with all she's said right now, Elenora didn't want to believe it. Would this really be the life she'd be sentenced to? Unhappiness, just like her Aunt? Does this run in the family?

First, it'd been her mum, brought to death by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Second, her Aunt, who could almost count as dead minus the few seconds in which she would give a stoic response or expression. Now...Elenora.

Elenora threw a blank look at Lavender for a split second as the girl had her back turned to her.