the girl who lost it all [d.m]

eight: fragili

fragili: fragile, brittle, frail

———

ELARA hated being treated like she was fragile.

She tried not to blame her friends—she had been captured for two years and had lost most of her memory from the two years prior to that—but it still didn't help when their voices immediately quietened as she walked into the sitting room.

The Golden Trio as well as Jasper and Mariko sat around the coffee table, conversing in low voices.

But as soon as Elara made her presence known, the group immediately faded into silence, glancing in her direction.

"Hey, El." Jasper's half-hearted attempt at nonchalance. "I made breakfast. Eggs are still on the stove."

"Thanks," Elara said, slowly, eyes flicking over them. "You guys are up early."

"We're trying to compete," Mariko joked, the tattoos stretching across one arm contorting as she threw it over the back of the armchair. Catching Ron's confused glance, she went on. "This girl wakes up at like four every morning."

"You're only three hours late," Elara told her as she approached them and collapsed onto the sofa next to Harry. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Ron said, much too fast. "Just..." He glanced at Hermione next to him.

"Just catching up," said Hermione, amicably, getting to her feet. "I'm going to patrol the boundaries—make sure there's no break in the wards. Anyone want to come?"

Mariko was on her feet in an instant, grabbing her coat from where it was slung over the back of the armchair. "I'll help. I can show you the ones we put up in Sussex."

Sussex.

Malfoy had brought Harry and some of the people who had wanted to follow here where they would be safe—but there were still members of the Order back in Sussex, where the Death Eaters would attack next.

An attack planned by Malfoy himself.

And Harry didn't know—didn't know that he hadn't been brought here to keep him safe while his friends would die back in the place he'd left them, thinking the Death Eaters knew nothing about their location.

And Hermione had gone along with it. She hadn't told Harry, had said he would tear himself apart if he knew this was a strategic maneuver.

That they had to let the others die to keep Malfoy's cover—to get to the last three Horcruxes and end this war.

And something told Elara that she wouldn't have agreed to this. That she would've fought and tried to find another way to win—one that didn't include sacrificing members from their side. Like Harry would have, if he'd known.