𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 - 𝙝.𝙥. ⚯͛

𝐢𝐱 - 𝗆𝗒 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝗍𝗈𝗈

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

╰┈➤ ElSIE'S POV

Over the next several evenings, Elsie met Malfoy in the library to help him study for Potions. The first few days of tutoring him had been difficult; Malfoy kept joking around, rolling his eyes, and making snide comments about how Gryffindor was going to lose the Quidditch Cup this year.

Elsie tried not to let Malfoy get to her, but every now and then she'd threaten to tell Professor Snape that she was no longer willing to tutor him, even if it meant she'd fail Potions. This, for some reason, always shut Malfoy up.

On the morning of December 5th, dozens of owls flew into the Great Hall during breakfast, dropping packages into student's laps. Elsie wasn't expecting anything since she hadn't received a letter from her friend Zara since her first week at Hogwarts, which is why she was greatly surprised when Artie dropped a letter onto her lap.

"You've got a letter!" Hermione said excitedly.

Elsie's heart leaped inside her chest. Could Zara have written her back? She was missing her old friend dearly.

"Who's it from?" Ron asked with a mouthful of toast.

Elsie turned the letter over and looked at the small red print on the envelope. Her face fell. The words at the top left read: Eguisheim Orphanage for Magical Children. It was addressed to Ms. Elisabeth Jane Goldleaf. Elsie shoved the letter into the pocket of her robe; she hadn't yet told Harry, Hermione, or Ron that she lived in an orphanage.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron looked at Elsie with confused expressions on their faces.

"It's from, er, my family," Elsie lied, avoiding their gaze. "I'm sure they just want to know how I'm settling into Hogwarts."

"You aren't going to open it?" Harry asked.

"I'll open it later," Elsie said, reaching for her glass of iced pumpkin juice.

She took long sips of her pumpkin juice to avoid speaking further about the letter and was grateful when Errol, Ron's old family owl, dropped an envelope in his lap moments later.

"It's from Mum and Dad," said Ron, tearing open the envelope. He read the letter. "They said that Fred, George, Ginny, and I can decide whether we want to come home or stay here for the holidays."

Ron glanced at Harry, then at Hermione and Elsie. "I think I'll stay. I can't stand being around Percy the Head Boy for a whole two weeks."

Elsie had difficulty focusing in her classes that day because her mind kept returning to the letter she had received during breakfast. In Hagrid's Care for Magical Creatures class, Elsie accidentally overfed one of her flobberworms, and she had failed to transform her teacup into a mouse during Transfiguration. Elsie was dying to open the letter, hoping it wasn't bad news, but she rarely had a moment to herself during the day. The letter would have to wait.

Hermione, who was very attentive to everything, kept asking Elsie if she was alright.

During Divination, Elsie slouched at her desk and stared blankly into the crystal orb that Professor Trelawney had placed on her and Hermione's shared table.

"You sure you're okay?" Hermione asked Elsie for about the fifth time that morning.

"Yeah, I'm just totally confused by what we're supposed to be doing," Elsie lied. She drank the tea from her cup and set it down with a clunk on the table.

Elsie glanced over at Harry and Ron who were squinting into their own teacups, most likely coming up with some absurd theory about what their tea leaves meant.