The story of Evangeline Cole ©

-Chapter Eleven- The Not-So-Lonely Orphan

Angel walked straight up to her room when they got off of the Knight bus. She landed on her bed and curled up into a ball. All at once the waves of emotion came over her; she could not bear it any longer and cried herself to sleep.

She wasn't sure what time it was when she had awoken but it was sunny outside. She looked down to see that Snuggle had joined her on her bed; he was laying next to her chest. Slowly, Angel went to stand and saw that she was still in the red party dress from yesterday. All good feelings of that time were a mere echo to her now. She looked at her appearance in the mirror; the crying from yesterday had left her with puffy and bloodshot eyes. Her mouth felt dry and was in a frown. She did not feel like changing how she looked so went back to lying in a ball but this time on the floor as to not wake up Snuggle.
Bella knocked on the door lightly and came in when she saw Angel on the floor. She pulled her up with a surprising strength and helped Angel change into some clean pyjamas. Once that difficult task was done she tucked Angel back into her bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Within seconds Angel was asleep again.

Angel did not come out from her room for the rest of the day; she stayed in there alone for the next day too. It was the eleventh when she finally ventured downstairs to check if her aunt was okay. She knew that her aunt was affected too; Richard and Angel were the only family that Arabella Figg had left, besides her numerous cats and now Arabella was the only family that Angel had left; she was choosing to ignore the unknown uncle that her father had mentioned for now.

"Evangeline dear; you must be hungry. I'll make you hot chocolate and some breakfast. I have some things that I need to tell you as well. I was hoping that you would venture out of your room today." Bella said as she bustled around her kitchen; her niece was not looking well and a pang of hurt was added to her already aching heart. She decided not to call her Angel for the moment just in case as it had been a name originally between just her father and Evangeline; she didn't want to cause the sweet girl anymore hurt than she was already feeling.

"What is it you need to tell me Aunt Bella?" Angel said with false cheeriness, she didn't want her aunt worrying about her. Bella brought her a large bowl of porridge and honey and motioned for Angel to eat. Once she saw her tucking into her food, Bella answered;

"I have to go to London tonight and I won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. I didn't want to leave you alone-even though I know you are totally capable so I've asked Mr and Mrs Dursley to have you over while I'm away. I can't take you with me. I've got to go to the Ministry of Magic; Harry Potter is on trial for doing underage magic because of that attack at the start of August, he may be expelled if the Ministry doesn't believe his story! I'm sorry for not running this past you but I knew you had other things on your mind."

"It's fine. I understand auntie. How come Harry is on trial? He saved his cousin and himself. They can't expel him for defending himself from those horrible creatures. They just can't!" Angel could feel herself getting angry as she thought about how unfair life was. She was having a hard time controlling her emotions. She took a deep breath and noticed that she had stood up, her fists were clenched. "Sorry." She whispered.

"It's quite alright dear. Now I think you should go have a bath and get ready; I said I would be dropping you there at one. It is now eleven."

Angel stayed in the bath longer than she had intended. The steam and warmth of the water was helping empty her mind of her raging thoughts. She heard her aunt walk past the bathroom and hoped that she wasn't going to make her aunt late. She didn't want to wallow in self-pity; Bella had lost her relative too and she now had to go and support Harry. The least Angel could do was make sure that Bella didn't have any fuss with her. She quickly changed into black skinny jeans and an old t-shirt that her had had given her from his days when he was in a band. She put her necklace on as a finishing touch; she vowed she would never leave the necklace off unless she was sleeping or bathing and started packing an overnight bag for her stay at the Dursley's. As she started going down the stairs she saw that Bella was leaving food out for the cats and stroking Snuggle softly. Angel was going to miss him whilst she stayed at number four Privet Drive; the little kitten had been a great comfort to her.