Ink and Parchment ~ blood and bone

49

They found Theo in their usual compartment, surrounded by luggage and an exasperated look on his face. Blaise let out a laugh beside her and Eliza proceeded to help Theo store what could only be Daphne and Draco’s extra luggage.

“I swear to merlin Daph’s trunk gets heavier and heavier every year” Theo complained as they all slumped into their seats.

“At least we can guess what’s in Daph’s trunk” Blaise said and the pair of them turned judging looks onto Eliza who plastered an innocent expression on her face that wasn’t fooling them one bit.

“To be fair” she began “I keep most of my books at Grimmauld now”

They couldn’t argue with that – it wasn’t like she was the only one who had a rather large selection of illegal books. Theo’s could probably rival hers.

“If you thought her own collection was bad Theo – the Black library is a treasure trove”

“Ah yes” Theo said turning to look at Blaise with a smile “How was your Black family style summer?”

“Brilliant”

The train chugged forward, Daphne and Draco joined them sometime later with the best of the train-wide gossip and Eliza spent the next hour trying to convince Draco to keep up care of magical creatures with her.

It was after she had gained a rather reluctant agreement that they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Waving it open with a careless flick of her wand they all turned their attention onto a small shy ravenclaw second year who looked like they’d rather be literally anywhere else.

“I was told” she stuttered out, holding two roles of parchment “to deliver these to Eliza Potter and Blaise Zabini?”

Eliza, closest to the girl, reached forward and grabbed the two messages with a smile and a small ‘thank you’

The girl couldn’t get away fast enough.

“I don’t know why everyone thinks we’re so intimidating” Daphne complained “Remember how scared everyone was of Flint? We saw that boy get his head stuck in a keg of butterbeer in second year”

“Oh come on” Blaise interrupted Daphne’s spiel, setting his piece of parchment on fire in a very Eliza-esque move.

“What is it?” Draco asked staring in bewilderment at the ashes of the message.

“Blaise and I have been invited to join Slughorn for a ‘light lunch’” Eliza said but looked up in confusion when she was still met with a questioning silence.

“Slughorn?” Draco repeated with narrowed eyes and Blaise and Eliza shared a mutual ‘oh shit’ look.

“Did we forget to mention?” Blaise asked innocently “Slughorn has come back out of retirement”

“Slughron? Slug club Slughorn? Potion master, head of slytherin, sluggy Slughorn?” Draco kept rattling off and Eliza nodded.

“That would be the one”

Before the rest of them could begin an interrogation, Eliza grabbed Blaise by his arm and started pulling him out of the compartment.

“We’ll be back later” Eliza called cheerfully over her shoulder and the door closed cutting off Daphne’s ‘Eliza Lily Potter’

“Why are you not a fan of ol’ Sluggy anyway Blaise?” Eliza questioned as they walked down the aisle towards the front of the train. A frown passed over Blaise’s face, dark eyes full of bitterness.

“Because the only reason he wants to meet me is to talk about my dear old mother” he scoffed and Eliza linked her arm through his.

“I won’t let him” she declared and Blaise snickered softly.