Easy Mistake ; Harry Potter

O N E H U N D R E D A N D T W O | Sneers And Squabbles

The Christmas cheer was beginning to disappear and everyone seemed (especially Sirius) to be dreading the days when the holiday ended.

The house, now that the Christmas decorations had been taken down, seemed once more, dull and dreadful as if the walls were hiding Dementors to make sure you felt as depressed as the house looked.

Eleanor found the weight of her situation bearing down on her again since the holiday was coming to an end. She tried not to let it show though and constantly reminded herself that she and her family were safe as long as they stayed where they were.

It had turned out that Kreacher had been lurking in the attic since his mysterious disappearance. Sirius had said he had found him up there, covered in dust, no doubt looking for more relics of the Black family to hid in his cupboard. Eleanor remembered Harry's uneasy look as Sirius had told them all this but she didn't question it. She thought he was being rather paranoid.

Eleanor was dreading the end of the holiday just as much as Sirius. Harry had told her that Sirius didn't seem as down as when they all left for Hogwarts in the summer which Harry suspected was because he wouldn't be completely alone this time, he'd have Eleanor and Josh around most of the time apart from the hours when they were at school.

Eleanor was glad that her presence seemed to lift Sirius' spirits some what, and she didn't mind his company either but she didn't want to say goodbye to everyone. It would be months before she saw Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George again and she had already gotten used to having them around her constantly.

Eleanor's parents had decided to send Eleanor and Josh back to school after the holidays, with the agreement that they had an escort there and back. They thought it important that Eleanor went back to school because she had her main exams in a few months time which would help shape her career. Eleanor, although begrudgingly, had to agree with them.

Just like whenever someone was dreading something, time seemed to speed up drastically and soon the last day of the holiday was upon everyone at last.

Eleanor was sat in the dining room, reading one of Harry's textbooks. She was reading one of his old Defence against the Dark Arts books. It was one of the subjects that interested her the most but she also wanted to learn about different spells and jinxes, so when Harry was talking to her about the D.A. she had a better understanding of just what he was going on about. It was a very interesting read, especially to someone who normally didn't enjoy reading unless it was a fictional book of some kind. But Eleanor was enjoying herself immensely.

Before this, she had been up in Harry's room, where everyone was playing wizards chess together. They had been playing all morning and while Eleanor enjoyed watching the game immensely as the chess pieces actually moved and smashed one another, she had quickly formed a headache so she took refuge in the quiet dining room for a while where she was perfectly safe from hearing the banging and smashing of chess pieces with the added scream of frustration from Harry or the cry of glee from Ron when he kept winning. Harry was terrible at chess.

Just then the door bell rang. Sirius went to answer it. Eleanor soon heard hushed voices and then Mrs. Weasley was bustling past to get to the door and greet the guest also.

Sirius soon came marching into the dining room wearing a scowl. Eleanor's first thought was that Dumbledore might be at the door as Sirius and Dumbledore weren't on the best of terms at the moment with what Dumbledore had been instructing Sirius to stay indoors but then this thought stuck her as odd because Dumbledore barely came around for the Order.

Eleanors questions were soon answered when a tall slender man glided into the room. He had greasy hair, a hooked nose and a sallow face. His expression told Eleanor quite clearly that he would rather be anywhere else.