In Defence of Slytherin House

1990- Elena

"merlins beard" Elena looked at herself in the mirror, same black dress, jacket, tights and shoes she had worn to the last one. she'd tied her hair up so to hide the fact she hadn't washed it since the news broke, she looked at her tired eyes, dry skin and cracked lips, observing not only how unkempt she was but also her age, twenty nine was by no means old, but Elena had felt she'd lived enough life times.it was times like these she wondered who'd actually still be alive to attend her funeral when the time came. it made her head hurt to think too much about it. the reoccurring dream that she's screaming underwater and her friends waving from the shore, immortalised at the age eighteen. 

when she had arrived they were burying the body, there was a small crowd that gathered, it surprised her, Dora was always the type to make friends with anyone and everyone, she was chatty, and uncommonly kind, but the realisation soon dawned that it was probable most of the people dora had met where dead. Elena stood at the back, not wanting to draw attention to anyone that knew her, not like that was likely, or to the fact she was late, due to regretting coming several times on the way, turning around only to convince herself it was the right thing to do, after all she was the reason Dora was dead. 

it was cold, January. the mid winter snow had stopped falling the night before but it still lay on the ground, thick but beautiful. it hung on the leafless trees. it caught the sun perfectly, lighting up the graveyard, a cloudless sky , it was peaceful, it was beautiful, it was Pandora. she was the sun, her silvery blonde hair, and pale skin warmed by her smile, the light in her eyes, her laugh. Pandora was the best of them all.

 the picture they used was old, a school picture, it was a picture Elena didn't recognise, but none the less that was the Pandora she walked the halls with and lay on the grass with in the summer term sun. she was surprised they didn't use a recent picture, it was only now Elena realised she had no idea What Dora looked like now at thirty, but she didn't need to know, because she was gone. 

"i didn't see you at Dorcas's"  Elena nearly jumped out of her skin, at the sudden voice, she'd been too deep in thought. she looked to her right. it took her a second to recognise her, Mary MacDonald. 

 Elena felt that empty feeling she often did when she thought of the people she knew between 1971 and 1979. Dorcas Meadows made her feel the emptiness, there was no way Mary knew, about her involvement in the death of their friend. "i wasn't allowed, if i was seen there you know what he'd of done to me." the air seemed heavy. only for a moment she glanced at Mary to see her face.  a girl she hadn't seen for the best part of eleven years, now a women, a painful reminder of time passed. Mary had changed but not much, she still had that lively curly hair that today she put back in a pony tail, the only signs of ageing being the lines around her mouth, and the light in her eyes was no longer what it used to be. 

it was time to approach the coffin, it was closed casket, it was probably for the best given what had happened, it was a beautiful rich brown with golden accents. Elena placed a single hand on the coffin. "when i die, i think id want everyone to wear white." Pandora said she dangled from the tree looping her knees off the branch, her long silvery hair nearly touching the grass below. "that's a bit dark Dora." Evan said sat at the base of the tree book in hand. "quite the opposite." she replied. "everyone in white, with flowers in their hair, music and dancing..." Elena took her hand from the coffin. wiped the tears with the back of her hand. "Elena- Im sorry it will come to me- Elena Harris?" the man in from of Elena was someone she recognised only from his description is letters, Pandoras husband, Xenophilius Lovegood, a Ravenclaw apparently, several years older than herself, "Harrington." Elena lied smiling at the man, Xenophilius has shoulder length white blonde hair and tired eyes. "Harrington, thats the one, my Dora, she wanted you to have this, said you'd be here, said you'd have... flowers in your hair." he admired the singular while lily Elena had tucked in her bun. the blond man held out his fist grabbing Elena's arm with his other hand and passing the cool metal into her hand, closing it over before she could see it, she didn't need to see it she knew what is was. "she always said, if anything happens this is to come to you Elena Harrington.... she was always good with he sight. Knew our Luna was going to be a girl."

it's then she saw her, the little girl with waist length silvery hair, odd knee length socks on and bright red shoes sticking out in the snow. and a white knee length dress.... she only seen her from the behind but she knew it was her, Dora's Daughter. "thank you Mr Lovegood, please excuse me." She took several steps away from the coffin and Dora's husband. wracked with guilt she said, "i need a drink." Mary caught her words, stood just behind her, "i could drink." 

the leaky cauldron never changed, it was the same little run down pub it had always been, but it was like home to those that knew it well. "so you've lost everyone too huh?" the pained memories long gone, times she'd never get back because those people were gone. "not all of them.... Remus is still alive i think, i - well, no one knows where he is... and Sirius is still alive, Alice... Frank." there was more silence. the guilt she felt looking at Mary, knowing people she shared classrooms with would be the ones killing each other. "Barty's in Azkaban.... Pandora was my last friend left." she took a long drink from her glass. the war had ended, but it didn't feel that way. "for good reason." Mary commented... that was fair. Elena looking at Mary saw herself, spent her youth watching her friends die, spent her adulthood with the guilt, wondering what made you so special to be here, the last one left.

"i know." Mary suddenly seemed pulled out of her own head and present in the moment, "i suppose Sirius thought it would be Regulus in a cell, shows their similarities does it not?."  Elena watched Mary's face turn from surprise to confusion. "i guess so, no one seen it comin' i mean Sirius betraying James, James!" it really depended on which brother you stood with to see the black brothers were different sides of the same coin, "it's easy to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Elena  said while she hailed Thomas over for another drink. "what do you mean?" Mary asked, pulling her gaze from the bottom of her glass, "all's im saying is one thing leads to another and before you know it your head is under water." right now Elena decided Mary didn't need to know. "would you defend Barty Crouch with that same sentence?" Mary asked, "i don't think people wake up and decide to be evil Mary. sometimes you place your trust in someone you think loves you, something James could relate too, no?" 

Mary finished her drink holding the glass between two hands passing it back and forth, "it's hard to admit that when your friends killed mine. tortured them, my friends trusting someone got them killed, it didn't make them the killers... i read about your trial y'know... the imperious curse. smart."  Elena pulled her jacket sleeves over her hands. "Two sides of the same coin. by the time i realised id fucked up it was too late, i was a kid, and a solider. Barty went crazy, he lost his mind. its not an excuse and i'm sorry they were put through that. he's not my friend." 

she was true to her words Barty Crouch Junior was not her friend, because she knew that he'd no longer have her, her betrayal of claiming it was the imperious curse that made her a death eater when she knew it wasn't, she hated him for what he did. but the truth was she wouldn't have him either, there's nothing quite like watching one of your friends slowly loose their mind to insanity out of no fault of their own, something Mary could relate too, but he was a friend once.

"so why did you come for a drink with me, when you still hold these things against me?" Elena watched Mary's expression soften, "im tired of being alone, i might not be able to forgive your friends, your brother, but we were friends once, if for no one else, Pandora and Dorcas. now that the dark lord is gone, i was hoping i could change your mind, be on  the right side." Elena was tired of being alone too, coming home to the same derelict flat above the run down row of muggle shops. lying about her name to everyone she meets, she didn't need her mind changing, she was waiting to escape for twelve years.