The Hufflepuff

Fourteen

The next few days had stumbled by Susan and a few others who had lost family members to the escaped death eaters finding out what it was like to have people gossiping about you behind your back.

Eleanor threw herself more and more into the DA lessons perfecting her spells and technique while also fitting in all her homework and time to work on the Hufflepost. On Friday afternoon she found herself sitting with Reggie in one of the classrooms avoiding the freezing cold of the school grounds.

"She wants to do what?" He asks, scooting a little closer to Eleanor and the fireplace they were sitting by.

"She wants to go on a double date. For lunch, on Valentine's Day."

"Where I'll get to watch my little sister make out with that stupid Weasley boy."

"Hey," says Eleanor, hitting him lightly on the arm. "Be nice, George has a lot of fun yes but he is far from stupid and even if he was Cynthia likes him. A lot. So you have to accept that and be nice."

"Mmm. But I don't have to like it." He says, frowning a little.

"Aw come one. You just don't like it because she's your little sister."

"And because he doesn't take anything seriously and will probably just break her heart. Either that or she'll break his when she comes to her senses. She's probably only-"

Reggie is cut off when Eleanor leans forward and kisses him hard on the mouth, just long enough to stop him from saying anything else, before pulling back, red faced and barely breathing, for his reaction.

"What was?"

"I don't want to talk about them right now," Eleanor says barely above a whisper kissing him again but softer this time, taking her time to experience the softness of his lips against her own. Slowly, almost unsure of himself, he relaxes and begins to kiss her back.

The cold is forgotten now, it's just the two of them huddled together in an empty classroom kissing long and sweetly, as though he's afraid he'll scare her off if he moves too quickly. At first Reggie didn't know what to do with his hands but now they were resting on Eleanor's waist, her own buried in his tangle of black curls.

When they finally stop for breath he pulls her into his arms, her back to his chest and they sit there together in a peaceful silence for a little while longer.

"I have to go soon," Eleanor says, twisting around to look at Reggie.

"Right. Your lessons. I don't know why you're still bothering with him."

"Because I need to get into this class, Reggie. It means so much to me that I do and I know that he is an ass but he is my only way into it and I won't let him be the reason why I don't get that chance."

"It's only alchemy."

"No, it's so much more than just alchemy. It's, oh it's hard to explain okay but just trust me, I need to get into this class."

He doesn't reply to this and Eleanor kisses him once more quickly before standing up, "I'm sorry but I really have to get going. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

She leaves the classroom, shivering against the sudden chill of the evening air and wraps her scarf around her, hoping that there is a free seat by one of the fireplaces in the library.

Entering the library she finds Malfoy sitting, his head bent over a book, at a table in a reasonable range to the warmth.

"I wasn't sure you'd still turn up."

"I told you before the holidays, I'm not letting the fact that you are an absolute ass and bully stop me from getting the grades I need for that class."

"And what about the grades I need?"

"Is that your way of saying could we please start with Transfiguration today Eleanor?"

He just stares at her icily for a minute before opening his transfiguration book and handing it to her to look over.

"Oh yes Eleanor that would be very helpful," she says in her best attempt at replicating his voice.

"I do not sound like that."

"You just can't hear how similar it is because the politeness the words convey is so foreign and unfamiliar it's distracting."

She can feel, without looking up, that he is staring her down with a new kind of ferocity. "What's got you so chatty this evening?"

"I'm not, this is just what people call small talk. It fills uncomfortable silences and situations, like talking to you."

"I make you uncomfortable?"

"You make me angry and hateful, and that makes it uncomfortable."

"I don't understand what I've done to you that was so despicable that I make you hateful."

"You haven't done anything to me. But you're a bully and you insulted my best friend's boyfriend and got him banned from playing Quidditch. And generally you're rude to anyone that isn't pureblooded and Slytherin."

"I was never terribly rude to you though was I? In fact I thought I was quite pleasant at times."

"But it's about more than just how you treat one person. What type of person am I if I accept who you are because you're nice to me but ignore how deplorably you behave towards other people?"

"A loyal person? Isn't that the point of having friends? Of having someone who will stand by you because of the relationship and bond you have despite everything else that is happening around you? I thought that was the point of Hufflepuff, that you were all so loyal to the friends you made."

Eleanor bristles a bit at this, annoyed that he had sounded so right and thinking about her own friendship with Cynthia. When she had first started at Hogwarts she had no filter, telling people everything how it was and that was one of the qualities that had drawn them together. Though to others she was rude, offensive and a bully, Eleanor had stuck by her, had defended her because she saw there was more to this girl who didn't care what others thought, and when they became friends she knew she would fight anyone who dared to cross her. How was that any different?

It's different because Cynthia and her family aren't working with Voldemort, even if he'd never admit to that openly. It's one thing to be loyal to a friend who's a bit of a bully, another thing entirely to defend someone who will probably one day become a death eater.

Shaking her head she looks at Malfoy again, "You're right. We are loyal to our friends. But you and I aren't friends and we never will be."

Her reply silences Malfoy and for the remainder of the evening they only talk about the work in front of them, despite their differences finding common ground in Potions and Transfiguration and how much they were both willing to set aside to show their teachers they could do this.