57 ~ I Gathered As Much

8.9K 316 285
                                    

It was the first day of lessons. Eloise had to be dragged out of bed by both Mary and Lily and she was sat at Gryffindor Table, her head on Sirius' shoulder and her eyes closing as she clutched a mug of coffee in her hands. Her eyes were closing when she heard the flutter of wings and she saw her family's owl, Osiris, land in between her and James. James took the letter off of his leg and the package he was holding and gave him a pat on the head,

"Thanks, Ozzy." he muttered and the brown owl flew off. James opened the letter and read it aloud for the benefit of his sleep-deprived siser,

"Children,

We're missing you already! Dad hasn't stopped sulking since you've left and he's taken to drawing family portraits...at least, that's what I think they are - it's five stick figures, two with skirts and three with long hair and that's about as detailed as it gets".

"Maybe that's where James gets his talent from!" Sirius burst out, trying and failing to contain a laugh. James glared at him, replying with;

"That shading was beautiful." Before carrying on:

"James,

Don't get into too much trouble and leave your sister and Sirius alone. And maybe leave off that Lily girl, I get a feeling she doesn't appreciate the constant bothering."

At that Lily nodded exaggeratedly and James' cheeks went pink. He cleared his throat and carried on reading,

"Sirius,

Fleamont says to stay at least 2 metres away from Belle at all times, though I would ignore him if I were you, Darling, I think you two are just adorable - although if you do hurt her I will have to kill you, regardless how of how much I love you. The same goes for Belle though, if it's you that gets hurt she gets killed etc etc but I'm sure it won't come to that. Anyway, stop getting so many detentions and keep up the good work in your lessons.

Belle,

Have a wonderful Sixth year, my love. Make sure your brother and Sirius don't get carried away with their pranking (this also applies to you, don't think I don't know about how you join them on their little escapades). Keep practising with your metamorphosing, you're already getting so good at it!

We love you all dearly!

Say hello to Remus, Peter and the girls for us.

Love,

Mum and Dad.

P.S. I've given Ozzy some home-made brownies for you that I made last night."

Eloise smiled tiredly as James finished reading the letter and began to hand out the chocolate squares from Euphemia. Eloise sighed contently, thinking of her father drawing silly little pictures and complaining about being bored. She thought of her mum, baking in the kitchen, singing along to the record playing (she seemed to know every word to any one that was put on) and flour dusting her nose and apron.

Another owl flew down to the table in front of Eloise and she sat up abruptly, recognising the bird. It was pale grey and perfectly groomed, the last time she saw it was in Fifth Year when it brought her the letter inviting her back to Malfoy Manor for Christmas, it was her father's owl. Sirius seemed to have noticed who's it was too and tensed next to her. He reached out and untied the letter from its leg and it flew off instantly. Sirius passed the letter to Eloise and she took it grudgingly, putting down her coffee and opening the parchment.

Potter,

Father is dead. You are not invited to the funeral but there's to be a reading of his will and you shall get what is owed to you.

Lucius.

Eloise's jaw dropped and she read the letter through once more , passing it to Sirius once it had sunk in...'Abraxas is dead'. The man who had raised her, albeit poorly, was dead. The man with the cold, grey eyes and the unloving heart. The man who had made her believe she was nothing, who had kept her from her real family. In short, the man who had made the first fifteen years of her life: Pure. And. Utter. Hell.

Her shocked expression turned into on of glee and she turned to Sirius. His eyes were wide and the corners of his mouth were lifting up.

"He's dead!" he shouted

"FINALLY!" the pair were getting some weird looks from the other students for two reasons. One: they were celebrating that someone had died and, two: they had stood up and were dancing around together in a very odd fashion.

"Hold on, who's died?" James asked and Eloise stopped doing the macarena,

"Mr Abraxas Big Fat Ballsack Malfoy." she grinned and James laughed loudly,

"YES!" he joined in with their victory dance.

"Ahem." the trio stopped their dancing and looked (up in Eloise's case) to Professor McGonagall's unimpressed face, "If you want stop your...dancing, I have your schedules." she handed them each a piece of parchment but didn't leave, "Might I ask, who you seem so happy about dying?"

"Oh, Abraxas Malfoy, Professor." Eloise beamed, "That old codger is dead as a doornail."

"Yes, Miss Potter, I gathered as much."

~~~

Their first lesson that day was Herbology. The Snargaluff pods provided for an interesting lesson and Eloise's mind was taken off the death of Abraxas. She was still pinching herself to check if it was real - although she didn't do much of the pinching, the thorn-covered vines of the plant would catch her and Lily whenever they tried to extract the pod from the bottom of the plant. The girls had managed to get a few pulsating pods gathered by the end of the lesson but had also attained a multitude of scratches and grazes. They didn't have time to go to Madame Pomfrey so Eloise just performed a simple healing charm on her, Lily, Mary and Remus as they rushed to Ancient Runes, the others going to Divination.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Puff?" Remus asked, feigning concern as they walked into the classroom and sat down at a table,

"What do you mean?" Eloise asked and Remus put a hand on her shoulder,

"Well, you know, you're going to be away from Sirius for a whole 45 minutes, how will you ever survive?" Remus' face cracked into a grin an Eloise rolled her eyes, shoving his shoulder,

"Is this outburst because you're single, Moony or are you just that invested in my fabulous life?" Eloise flipped her hair over her shoulder and sent a smirk Remus' way, earning herself a scoff and a chuckle from the werewolf as he started writing the rune for 'salamander'

Chasing The Stars | Marauders | Sirius BlackWhere stories live. Discover now