Ink and Parchment ~ blood and bone

20

After the second Sirius Black attack Eliza noticed she was being watched by the teachers. They monitored her in between classes and they each found many excuses to talk to her as they walked to Eliza's next class. Lupin had once tried to join in the 'we must protect Eliza Potter' garbage but one quick glare had seen him soon give up. The man knew she could cast a patronus, she didn't have much to worry about. Though it was very inconvenient really, for one she didn't need protection against Sirius Black and for another it made slipping away to use her time turner an absolutely herculean task.

Narcissa and Lucius had sent her a letter to check upon her and Eliza was delighted to find that Narcissa had packed her some sweets as well. Draco had rolled his eyes fondly when Eliza had crowed delightedly over the parcel of sweets and Eliza shared them out with her court. Narcissa was the best.

Thankfully by early March things seemed to have calmed down a bit, at least in regards to Sirius Black. Now the only thing Eliza had to concern herself with was stopping the OWL and NEWT students from having a nervous breakdown as exam season began to rear its ugly head.

Daphne and Blaise usually handled any near breakdowns, Eliza wasn't exactly the comforting presence needed for most of her Slytherins. Pep talks? Sure. Bullying professors? Absolutely. Violently attacking anyone who dared to make fun of a member of her house? It was her pleasure.

But comforting people? She absolutely sucked at it.

Which was why Daphne had kicked her out of the common room ordering Draco to babysit her so Blaise could do some damage control in peace and comfort some distraught students. It was about that time of year when mock exams were handed out by the dozens, Eliza couldn't blame them for being distressed.

Eliza didn't complain that much about being kicked out, she knew where her strengths lay and it was not there. That's what her court was for.

Draco had dragged her down to the quidditch pitch, it was cold out but not freezing and Eliza was more than happy to play a few rounds of seeker vs seeker with Draco who lent her his old nimbus 2000. There was nothing quite like flying, the cold biting at her as she dashed through the air, chasing the wind. Plus Draco almost had a heart attack when she attempted any risky dives and that was always fun to witness.

It was two games in when Eliza noticed something distinctly odd.

There was a dog in the stands, a great big shaggy one that looked faintly like the grim. She could have sworn she'd seen it before, something about it pulling at her memory. It was watching them with an uncanny precision, tail wagging ferociously whenever Eliza made a risky dive. She and Draco called it there for the day when it began raining and they made the trek back to the castle. Eliza couldn't stop thinking about the do. One thing was for definite, that was no normal dog.

It didn't end there. She began seeing the dog more and more, on the way to care of magical creatures, on her way back from herbology. She didn't mention her suspicions to her court, not just yet. For all Eliza knew it could just be a normal dog but Eliza had never had much experience in normal.

It was the next weekend that it came to a head.

"Eliza I swear to Merlin if you don't stop I'm going to kill you" Daphne said quietly with murderous intent. Eliza stopped her pacing and turned to look at the blonde who was organsing her flashcards (muggles weren't good for much but they were good for that. It beat making revision notes on parchment)

"But I'm bored" Eliza said – not whined, she didn't whine, and collapsed on the sofa behind her.

"We have no homework, I have no extra credit assignments, Jormy's asleep more often than not these days and I've not had a fight in ages" Eliza complained and Blaise chucked her legs off his lap in response.