Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Fifty-Five

[Chapter Fifty-Five]

The sleeping draught that Madam Pomfrey provided Éponine was enough to keep her asleep and in a dreamless state for the rest of the night. The fever had subsided earlier in the evening and the rash that had reddened her face was gone. She looked to be finally at peace as she continued to rest in the small bed. However, while Madam Pomfrey had succeeded in getting Éponine's health in order, it troubled the Healer as to why she couldn't figure out what caused such a sudden onset of a fever. There were really no other ailments, and everyone seemed to express that it had come out of nowhere.

She kept a close eye on Éponine throughout the night, slightly fearful that the fever had potential to return.

But the next morning, Éponine awoke with no physical side effects from the night before. Instead, for the first few moments when she opened her eyes, she felt at peace with the world. It was quiet, not even the sounds of Madam Pomfrey shuffling about in the background to disturb the silence. And after a hellish experience with her nightmares, Éponine just needed a moment to breathe.

The nightmares themselves had felt all too real, whether it was Bellatrix grabbing at her, or feeling the anger radiating off of everyone that had encircled her with judgemental glares. Looking at her arm, she was thankful to see there were no handmarks, reassuring her that it really had all been in her mind. However, she couldn't ignore the truth that had all been laid out before her. She remembered how Regulus called to her, how Bellatrix told her to remember where her loyalties should lie.

She remembered that chose Gian.

That moment when Regulus smiled at her, along with Walburga and Orion standing beside him with open arms. Éponine knew that part represented what she had wanted for so long. The feeling of acceptance, knowing that her parents had preached about it for so long. She had to keep up with all of her appearances in order to make a good impression, and she finally did.

Éponine was finally good enough for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, but she didn't want that anymore. Not if it meant harming others like Gian, Lily, Remus, or even Sirius.

Truth be told, she hadn't known Gian, Lily, or Remus for very long, and she didn't even know them that well to consider them anything more than distant aquintances. But she knew she had hurt all of them in the way of her former beliefs. Telling them they had no right to be in the same castle as her or recieve the same education. Telling them that "their kind" didn't belong there or telling Gian that he was sorted into the wrong house.

Gian's sorting should have been seen as a sign that times were changing, that they had already changed.

She was just too ignorant to see it.

"Oh, you're awake."

Lost in her thoughts, Éponine hadn't noticed anyone approach her bedside and while she thought it would be one of her friends or Madam Pomfrey attempting to check in on her, she was surprised to see Gian standing at the bottom of her bed.

"Gian," she uttered his name softly, "what are you doing here?"

"Is that your way of telling me that you don't want me here?" he asked her cautiously, taking a step back.

Immediately, Éponine sat up on the bed and crawled to the edge. "No, that's not what I meant at all! I just...after what I said to you, I wasn't expecting you to be here-"

"Yeah well," Gian rubbed his foot against the flooring, "I didn't expect it myself. But I heard you ended up in here last night and your friends were all worried about you. I just wanted to see if it was true. You look okay, so I'm just going to go-"