𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ─── regulus black

ii. copious amounts of orange marmalade

( chapter ii )
─── 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞

𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓, feeling the frigid morning air seize the warmth from her skin. She glanced up, and through her squinting eyes spotted the thief who stole her blue blanket: Elodia.

"What was that for? Merlin, give me my blanket back!" Laurelle exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at her friend.

"No can do, Ella. Miss Head Girl told me I had to wake you up now. Breakfast starts in half an hour." Elodia gave Laurelle a kind smile as opposed to her usual smirk. Laurelle then realized that Clara had already filled Elodia in on their conversation from the previous night.

Breakfast did not prove to be enough motivation for Laurelle to get ready any faster. Her slow and sluggish movements caused the two girls to run to the Great Hall after seeing that they were already five minutes late. They slid into the seats Clara had saved for them.

Laurelle watched Elodia immediately reach for the eggs and pile it onto her plate. Then Elodia grabbed the toast and dropped two slices onto her own plate, and quickly dropped two onto Laurelle's.

Laurelle gave Elodia and Clara an annoyed look, to which they responded with cheeky grins. Laurelle huffed and grabbed the marmalade before Elodia could and liberally smeared it across her toast. She scarfed down her breakfast and chugged down a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Looks like someone is hungry after eating nothing for dinner last night, huh?" Elodia asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question. Laurelle chose to ignore this statement and waited (rather impatiently) for the two girls to finish eating.

As soon as Elodia and Clara finished their breakfast, Laurelle dragged the two girls out to a tree by the Black Lake. The three sat down and immediately started talking about Elodia and a certain Bertram Aubrey.

"Where did you go with Bertram last night, Elodia? I was asleep before you came back," Laurelle asked, genuinely curious about what had taken Elodia so long to return.

"Well, you know how freaked out my parents get about owls and magic in general. There was just a lot to talk about and catch up on, since we weren't able to talk too much over the summer," Elodia replied with a small smile.

Laurelle, having visited Elodia's house over the summer of fourth year, completely understood what the girl was saying. Elodia's parents were always supportive of her magical abilities and never once said anything negative about her being a witch, but they could never get over the utter fright of witnessing Elodia's displays of magic before she was accepted into Hogwarts.

In many ways, Laurelle thought her own parents were like this. She and Sam were so hesitant to explain the war, knowing exactly how their parents would feel, but they had no choice but to reveal the horror to their parents after Sam was bitten.

"I'm so worried about this year," Clara proclaimed. "There's NEWTs, and I'll have head girl duties, not to mention this bloody war preventing me from concentrating on my studies!"

Laurelle responded in a serious voice, saying, "I don't think anyone's happy about the war, Clara. What are we going to do when school's over? Merlin, there's no chance of me or Elodia getting a proper job, anyway."

"But don't let that stop you, Clara," Elodia piped up. "Do you still want to start that business you had mentioned, about painting magical portraits?" Elodia's comment caused Laurelle to remember a conversation from their previous year, when Clara had shared her passion for art and fascination with wizarding portraits (after discovering that muggle portraits did not move or speak).