The Hufflepuff

Thirteen

Christmas had been pleasant. The same as every year. Eleanor had arrived home and tucked away her trunk and wand, setting aside any affiliation with the wizarding world while she was home.

She hadn't seen much of her father in the lead up to Christmas, instead going with her three younger sisters, Lilian, Tori and Imogen, to the cinemas or helping her stepmom in the cafe. It wasn't that he was unkind, or that she didn't like him. But when they were together a feeling always existed between them that neither could quite explain.

Maybe it was because she looked so like her mother had, maybe she reminded him of a world he had tried to leave behind, or maybe he was jealous because his daughter inherited the magic that had abandoned him. Most likely it was a combination of everything.

Nevertheless on Christmas Day it was the first day they had spent any considerable time together as a family exchanging gifts and pleasantries. Eleanor had gotten a few gifts from her parents and sisters, her favourite being a camera and a collection of CDs to her favourite muggle musicals.

The first few days being home she kept a lookout every day for an owl bearing news from Cynthia or Reggie. Everyday she woke up with the sun and sat staring out the window, by Christmas Day though she had given up any hope of hearing from them, and wasn't surprised when still nothing had turned up.

Now she was back on the train, returning to a place she felt more at home at than surrounded by her family and yet she still felt completely isolated. She had searched the train when they boarded and couldn't find Cynthia or Reggie or any of the Weasleys anywhere. Susan was curled up in their carriage reading a book she'd gotten for Christmas so Eleanor was left to sit in silence and wait.

It wasn't until dinner that evening that she had a chance to talk to Cynthia who sat down in the seat next to her as though she hadn't just spent the entire Christmas break ignoring her.

"So. How was Christmas?" Eleanor asks, unable to keep the iciness out of her voice.

"It was good, it was-. Look, I'm sorry I didn't write to you. I- I wasn't allowed and there's just so much that I can't say at the moment but please trust me if I could, I would tell you."

The response doesn't satisfy Eleanor, if anything it just makes her angrier that other people are deciding what she can and cannot know, excluding her from something. That being said, this was Cynthia and she knew that if she could, she would tell her. So instead of snapping back she smiles and tells her not to worry about it.

"So how was it really? Did you end up spending time with George at all?"

"It was great. And I don't think it'll hurt to say that yes I spent all Christmas with him, with his whole family in fact."

"Wow, so do his parents like you?"

"I think they do. I was a very polite, nice girl - at least while they were around. There's just one thing."

"Oh?"

"We were cuddling. On the lounge and we started kissing and then there was more kissing and then-"

"And then?"

"...And then his mother walked in the room."

A shriek of laughter escapes Eleanor, Cynthia's face turns a bright beet red and across the table Susan lets out a snort of laughter.

"It is not funny."

"It is," laughs Susan.

Over the next few days things seemed to be returning to a sort of normal and the loneliness that had shrouded Eleanor on the return to Hogwarts was forgotten as she and Cynthia began to plan what they would be doing for Valentine's Day.

"Well obviously something in Hogsmeade since the two coincide. Ooh, we could go on a double date!" Cynthia says over a cup of steaming tea, curled up on one of the lounges of the common room.

"I guess that could be fun," Eleanor sighs.

"What? You don't think it would be fun?"

"No it's not that. It's just." She stops for a moment, looking around to check anyone left in the common room this late wasn't listening. "How did you do it? How did you get so much further ahead than me in so much less time?"

"Ahead of you? El I don't-"

"Kissing." Eleanor says, louder than she'd have liked before she lowers her voice, "I mean, you two were friends that liked each other and then you kissed and now you are this amazing couple who are so overly affectionate. And I have been on like half a dozen dates with Reggie and we haven't, I mean we."

"You two haven't kissed yet?" She interjects.

"No."

"I just thought you were really private about it but. Oh El. I don't have a straight answer for that. All I can say is that you have to remember how much of a dork my brother is. I know he doesn't really look it anymore but I can guarantee you that he is still the biggest dork of a loser brother who knows his way around a girl like he knows his way around a Quidditch Pitch - he doesn't."

A small smile creeps onto Eleanor's face.

"Don't wait for him to make the first move because he could probably go the rest of his life skirting around it. And trust me, once you start kissing, you'll never want to stop."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Just, please. When it does happen, save all the details for Susan cos I don't think I need to hear how my brother kisses."

"Haha okay, I'll do my best."

"Where is she by the way?"

"In bed I think."

"Mm, we should probably head to bed too."

____

The next morning Susan is up before any of them, leaving Cynthia and Eleanor to make their own way up to breakfast where the Great Hall is filling with other students. Taking a seat at their table they had just begun to eat when an owl drops the Daily Prophet down for Cynthia.

"You're not reading that trash?"

"It pays to stay informed," she says, handing over the payment for the owl.

"Shit. Cyn, look at the headline." Eleanor says as the paper is unrolled.

Mass Breakout from Azkaban Ministry Fears Black is 'Rallying Point' for old Death Eaters.

Across the front page ten photos of wizards and a witch stare out at them, many of the names familiar to both girls who had heard them whispered over the years by their parents with a kind of horror. Even Eleanor whose father had tried to shut out the wizarding world recognised the name of Bellatrix Lestrange, who had, amongst her crimes of torturing aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, been the one responsible for her own mother's death.

"Do you think this is why we haven't seen Susan?"

"What do you mean," Cynthia asks, still reading through the article.

"The wizard that killed her aunt, uncle and cousins was one of the ones who escaped. I only lost one person and I'm rattled, who knows how she's feeling?"

Without needing to say anything else the two get up from the table and make their way out, searching the castle for Susan who they eventually find in one of the girl's bathrooms, wiping away a few tears.

"I'm okay," she says as she untangles herself from the massive hug they had smothered her in. "It's just, it's real now you know? Like there is some sort of force amassing, there is another war coming whether we want it to or not."