Restoration

Chapter Two

【Ｒｅｓｔｏｒａｔｉｏｎ】

*****      

"Let's try this again, why are you here?" Snape gritted through his teeth. They were questioning the girl, who claimed to be Elara, a witch of some sort, for almost an hour. Unhappy with her bleak responses, they started to repeat the questions.

"I told you already. I needed a place to stay," she sighed, staring outside. Still wearing her wet clothes, she started to shiver. Professor Trewlaney brought her a cup of tea and tried handing her a jumper she found nearby, which she rejected.

"I would never wear that hideous color," she remarked sarcastically, pushing away the Gryffindor jumper. 

"She can't be a muggle," Vincent Crabbe argued in Slytherin common room, where the rest of the so-called committee sat.

"She was wearing muggle clothes, idiot" Pansy rolled her eyes.

Even though they were all ordered to go to their beds, they remained awake, discussing what they thought they had seen.

"But who would set Filch on fire then?" Blaise pointed out and some of them nodded in agreement.

"I mean...who wouldn't," a first-year laughed, accompanied by some others.

***

The girl was rubbing her arms, trying to warm up her cold body. She started to regret denying the awful sweater, even if it went against her principles to wear it.

"Your parents didn't alert us of your...return," McGonagall tried to reason with her. She had already sent a few owls out, contacting her home address they still had in their records, and Hagrid, who would be sent there in person.

"I'm trying so hard to remember who she is but...I simply cannot," whispered Trelawney to one of her teacups, hoping they would provide more clarity to this situation.

"You were in Slytherin," stated Slughorn, who had been observing the girl the whole time. Everyone had noticed her firm posture and confident tone of voice, let alone the obvious distaste she had for Gryffindor. The girl nodded, finally smiling.

Going through the school yearbooks, Filch discovered a photo that had her name written underneath it. He blinked a few times, looking back and forth between the auburn-haired child in the picture and the girl with crow black hair sat in front of him. The child was pictured smiling, standing next to other Slytherins. It seemed almost impossible that it was the same person, were it not for the same regal green eyes staring at him.

"She's lying," he concluded as he ripped out the picture and shoved it in front of everyone's eyes.

"It's normal to change with time," Dumbledore stated as he walked into the office. He observed the girl from afar, before taking a chair and sitting in front of her.

"Your parents told us you were to be homeschooled," he started, "and I have to admit, Miss Elara, that the timing of your arrival puzzles me."

***

It wasn't uncommon for students, especially the seniors, to sneak out at night. Their midnight adventures were often interrupted by the castle ghosts snitching on them, with Filch reporting them to professors. Every forbidden outing cost the house a few points, so if the students wanted to be liked by their respectful house, they obeyed the rules and stayed inside.