Pick Your Poison | Tom Riddle |

Chapter One: Hogwarts Awaits

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"Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional."
-Roger Crawford

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September 1, 1943

Rain battered down on the black 1939 Vauxhall as it drove down the road poorly placed down in the middle of the hills.

Eleanor Parkinson sat in the back seat accompanied by an acquaintance who was far from a friend. She had yet to dress in her Hogwarts robes and settled with a navy blue, knee length dress with tan raincoat for now. Her brown hair was pulled over the shoulder, shielding her face from the white haired boy beside her where he'd only be able to see her pointed nose as she stared out the window.

It sounded like an entire bucket of water was just being dumped over the car. It was so loud that even the loud static the radio emitted could hardly be heard.

"The Russians have been pleading for Churchill to open up an Eastern front with the pressure of Germany on St. Petersburg and -- " Static. "--currently, the Allies have been crossing the Straits of Messina onto Sicily where they plan to regain control of--"

"Will you please turn that God awful Muggle war off?" Abraxas Malfoy abhorrently commanded our driver.

He relaxed back into his seat after a brief pause, having had just been inflamed with such anger that it clearly made him stiffen up. The noise that was composed of static and words here and there turned off completely and all that could be heard was the rain.

"Muggle or not, the Germans don't see it that way when they're dropping bombs all over London." said Eleanor, throwing him a glance. She didn't particularly hate the muggles. She just wasn't ignorant to their existence like just about everyone these days. But Eleanor had a fondness for their culture and their arts which is something she's suffered for.

"Right. You're a muggle sympathizer." Abraxas murmured, rolling his eyes. But she had already turned her head out the window and ignored him. Well, she tried to. With a sharp tongue, Eleanor always found it hard to not have the last word.

"I'm not a sympathizer I'm just aware that we have to share this world and we're not the only kind that exists." Eleanor snapped. She knew that if she was going to have a last word, she would make sure it stayed the last word.

Abraxas and Eleanor were more opposite than the North and South pole. But what had brought them in the tiny little car was their close family ties and being students at Hogwarts, and they had the pleasure of driving to Kings Cross station together. The two came from Slytherin affiliated families, both living in Wiltshire together with only two miles separating them. However, it seemed that neither had moved on from the days they nearly beat each other with their toys in cribs as infants and there was still a tension between them.

She looked down at the small cat curled in her lap, stroking its soft gray fur and holding her so that she stayed in her place whenever they hit a lift in the road.

Sometimes, her ears would perk up shortly followed by her raising her entire head just to see if they had arrived at the station yet. But they had an hour left. As rain droplets hit the window like those bombs she had just previously mentioned, her cat Percy had placed her little white paws along the door and occasionally lifted one to chase after the little droplets racing down the glass.

"Why do you still bring a pet?" Abraxas asked rhetorically with a scowl on his face as he glanced at the cat.

She glared at him, his complexion and hair as white as Percy's paws. But his eyes were as blue as the cats as well and at the realization of that, a little grin pulled at Eleanor's lips.