Ink and Parchment ~ blood and bone

15

September 1st arrived quickly and before she knew it Eliza was already making her way onto the Hogwarts express. Nodding at the Slytherins she saw on her way down Eliza finally made it to the compartment she had used last year, her and Tom's. The thought made her smile and she pulled her shrunken down trunk out of her messenger bag placing it onto the overhead racks. She had let Hedwig fly ahead to Hogwarts, Eliza felt cruel keeping the owl locked in a cage for too long.

Eliza didn't even bother pulling a book out of her bag this time, knowing that the second she got to an interesting passage she would be interrupted. She was proven right mere seconds later when the door slid open, Blaise, Theo and Draco all toppling into the compartment in one big uncoordinated mess. Eliza levelled them all with an unimpressed glare but couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips.

"You!" Blaise said in an accusatory tone and from out of nowhere pulled a clipping of the daily prophet and shoved it in her face.

"Why do you never tell us anything?" he said and Eliza saw it was the article she had Skeeter write up for her. Merlin they're going to be insufferable when they find out what she's been up to over the summer weren't they?

Instead of answering Blaise Eliza instead peered out of their compartment into the hallway beyond.

"Where's Daphne?" she asked and Blaise pouted in the corner, crossing his arms in a huff dramatically.

"Her younger sister starts this year so she's probably helping her settle in" Theo said and Eliza nodded in acknowledgment.

"How was your break Draco?" Eliza asked and soon everyone delved into conversation, catching up with each other. Draco went on to complain about how he was rarely allowed to leave the manor this break thanks to Sirius Black running around. They all pause to look at her then for some reason but carry on after receiving no objections from her. Eliza didn't worry about it, she already knew Black was her godfather since her talk with the goblins in first year. She wouldn't be the only person in Slytherin with a relation in Azkaban. She would be the first to have one who had broken out though. It wasn't long after that that Daphne finally joined them.

"I need to tell you all something later" Eliza said as the conversation lulls "It's important and best told away from prying eyes"

The others exchanged nervous glances but nod in agreement. Eliza doesn't really want to tell her court, doesn't want to burden them more than she already has, but she can't hide the truth away from them much longer. The conversation between them just started to pick up again ('Draco when will you stop using that hair gel-') when the train slowly ground to a halt. She and her court traded nervous glances and they all go reaching for their wands.

"Can you see anything out of the window?" Eliza asked Draco who had suddenly gone terribly pale. It's already dark outside and the rain was hammering against the window furiously and Eliza couldn't make anything out from where she's sitting. It's obvious that Draco could.

"Dementors" he whispered fear coating his tone "dementors boarding the Hogwarts express"

They sat in tense silence as the train became colder, frost started coating the windows and their breaths came out in thick puffs in front of them. Eliza felt melancholy bite at her veins, felt a deep aching in her soul when she thought she could see something moving from beyond the door. They all watched in horror as the handle slowly started to turn and Eliza was instantly lost to her memories. The sickly bright green of the killing curse, bodies hitting the floor, a man bleeding out beneath her hand in the London Streets. The darkness of her old cupboard, the biting cold of the cellar. The certainty that she would never be happy again.

Suddenly the lights of the train flickered back on and the dementor beyond the door let out an inhuman screech before flying away. Eliza let out a shaky breath quickly scanning everyone else.