Ink and Parchment ~ blood and bone

9

So with great reluctance Eliza had bundled up in a sweater and a scarf and for good measure threw on the beaten leather jacket that she hadn't been able to part with. She had found it in a charity shop one day and the woman behind the counter must have seen how taken Eliza was with it, little nine year old Eliza in scraggly second hand clothes and a busted lip from where she had been pushed down the stairs, and had given it to her.

It was not Wizarding fashion at all but it was cold and Eliza liked it which was good enough for her. Daphne gave her a dirty look when she saw the offended article of clothing but until Eliza found a functioning winter robe that didn't drape all the way down to her knees she refused to part with the thing.

She and her court made their way to the Slytherin stands battling against the wind and rain as they walked up the stairs.

"Remind me why we're here again" Theo said from beside her as they took a seat in the stands.

"Because if I have to suffer so do you" Eliza responded when it became blatantly clear Daphne and Blaise were ignoring their moping.

The game started and it immediately began to rain making Eliza feel ten times more dreadful than before. She had cast the impervious charm on all her clothes but that didn't mean she enjoyed standing out in the cold wet weather.

Also one of the bludgers kept gravitating towards her.

It was quite alarming actually.

But even with the Slytherin beaters having to protect Eliza from an obviously tampered bludger for more than half of the game they somehow still won the match, Draco Malfoy catching the snitch and winning Slytherin their first game of the season.

The game had ended but the bludger hadn't stopped. Eliza noticed it barrelling towards her just in time to push the others out of the way.

"Bombarda!" she shouted and ducked when the bludger exploded into tiny pieces. She and her court slowly stood up sharing suspicious glances with one another. It was obvious someone had tampered with the bludger.

Eliza wished she could say life threatening situations were still new to her but instead she swore she would never attend another quidditch game ever again.

That night Slytherin celebrated their victory in the common rooms. Snape had taken one look at the discarded bottles of fire whiskey and told Eliza that they were her problems to deal with now. Eliza didn't really mind, it really was true when people said Slytherin's threw the best parties and Eliza couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard than she did when she heard Marcus Flint confess how much he wanted to kiss Oliver Wood's stupid face. Most of the Slytherins didn't even make it back to their own dorm and she and her court held an impromptu sleep over when she bullied Selwyn ('call me Roman') into conjuring up blankets for them all.

Eliza fell asleep happy and content and for the first time in a long while her sleep was not plagued with nightmares.

But then Hogwarts woke up to the news that little Colin Creevey had been petrified.

And everything became just that bit worse.

Dumbledore called her up to his office the next day and this time there was no mystery over why she was called up there. Eliza sat across from him, the picture of prim and proper with a polite expression plastered on her face, a hand painted expression perfected to an art form.

"My dear girl" Dumbledore said solemnly looking unbearably disappointed "I did not think you would bring us to this"

Eliza slumped back in her chair crestfallen.

"Sir you can't think I did this, that I would do anything like this" Eliza said ardently, pleading and watched as a flicker of uncertainty passed his face until resolve took its place.