Jondrette Girl | Regulus A. Black [2] ( ON HOLD)

Chapter One

One of the first things that changed when Éponine became emancipated from her parents, was her sense of fashion. Her days of outdated dresses were over, traded in for the more modern style of the late seventies. Had it been left to Sirius to decide, her entire wardrobe would have been littered with leather, as that had become more of his casual wear choice after ditching traditional wizarding wear.

Éponine dabbled with flared jeans, jumpsuits, and enjoyed the revival of mod clothing. And occasionally, she was tempted by a mini-skirt paired with knee-high boots. Thinking of her parents sometimes, Éponine knew her mother would suffer from a heart-attack if she could see what her daughter dared to wear. However, Éponine had never felt more comfortable in her skin and learned to pick clothing that actually flattered her figure.

With every decision that she was able to make for herself, Éponine gathered more confidence so that she wasn't second guessing herself all the time. Sirius and James were the best role models when it came to teaching Éponine to speak up for herself, rather than waiting until she was pushed to her limits.  One of her favourite things to do in the beginning was just being able to say "no" and not having to worry about the consequences that would follow had she been around her parents. If she didn't like something on her plate, she didn't have to eat it to make a good impression, she simply had to politely decline the offer and be done with it.

And the more freedom she was given, she was able to learn a lot about herself too. Such as things she was actually good at. During her childhood, Éponine had learned to ride horses because her parents bred horses for a living, she learned to play the piano because it appeared "ladylike" somehow, and she spoke two languages. She would often read too but she never felt like she was capable of anything special.

It was actually Fleamont that had encouraged her to try and discover different hobbies, and even if she failed at them, at least she could say she tried.

In the beginning, she remembered her mother's teachings, of presenting herself as the submissive type. Even if she was good at something, it was her duty to make sure her future husband came across as better. She was to keep her talking to a minimum, never having a higher word count than her husband or it would come across as disrespectful. There had been so many rules when she was younger, it was amazing that she could remember half of them.

Of course, Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, and Lily, all got involved to help her try out different hobbies and Éponine learned a lot about herself.

She could play piano, but she was also really good at playing the drums. Lily introduced her to recreational rock climbing and it became one of her favourite things to do on weekends when Lily invited her along. She didn't like cooking but she enjoyed baking, or rather, she enjoyed decorating baked goods.

It was almost borderline depressing to think about how much she had been missing out in life, how much her parents and traditions were holding her back, but every morning when Éponine awoke, she was thankful for the second chance she had given herself.