long way to heaven || marauder ff

2- of coffee and sunlight

Though Elaine had to admit, decking out the entire room in Red and Gold was a bit much for her. From everything the girls had told her the night before, Gryffindors were quite obviously very proud of their house and loved to show it in every way possible. Especially when it came to characters like James Potter, Elaine knew not to say anything against that. 

As she was still caught up in her thoughts, Luana appeared behind her and jumped on her back. "I haven't said good morning yet! Good morning lovely El!", she exclaimed, far too awake for a quarter to six in the morning. 

"Are you always this active in the morning?" Elaine asked, trying not to kneel down from the sudden weight on her back. 

"Only when I am sure there will be food. Carry me to the heaven awaiting me, simple peasant!" 

Elaine looked at the girl on her back in amusement. "Whatever you say, my lady. Just so you know, your peasant has no idea how to get you to the Great Hall" 

Spitting out a very informative curse, Luana jumped down from the other girl's back. "What a shame. Now I'll have to walk the whole way myself. A true tragedy!" 

Elaine just laughed. It felt right to joke around with Luana, liked the two had known each other for years. As the British led her through the castle, she couldn't help but wonder how life was going at her old school. Did they pick up lessons again? How many students had been hurt in the end? 

She hadn't been able to catch the article in the main French newspaper for the Wizarding world, L'assistant parle, the day prior. As soon as she thought about it, there was a cold shiver running down her back. Did the students at Hogwarts know about the attack? Surely not so far, as nobody had asked her about it. What would happen if they did? Obviously, nobody would believe her reasoning to leave Beauxbatons anymore. 

As the two girls arrived in front of the Great Hall, Elaine took a few seconds to realise that Luana was waving her hand in front of the French's face. 

"Earth to El, you there?", the girl asked. 

"So, 'El', huh?", Elaine answered, heart swelling slightly at the fact that yesterday she had been addressed  by her surname and today Luana was already giving her a nickname. 

"I think it suits you. Now come on, we don't wanna be standing in front of the hall for ages if we could be eating!" 

Laughing, Elaine let herself be pulled to the Gryffindor table. Looking around, she realised there were quite a few more people sitting in the Great Hall than she would have guessed there to be at this hour in the morning. After all, there were another two hours until the start of lessons. Especially the Ravenclaw table saw its fair share of inhabitants, as multiple students were having breakfast or reading quietly to themselves. 

As Elaine let her eyes wonder over the said table, she noticed a girl staring directly at her. It took her a few seconds, until she finally exclaimed:

"Livvy!" 

"Melli!" 

With a huge smile on her face, Elaine ventured over to her cousin. How could she have been so stupid to forget the fact that Olivia Sternsland was attending Hogwarts, in the same year as Elaine too? 

As the two girls reached each other, they shared a long overdue embrace. To an outsider, the family resemblance was definitely not obvious, as Olivia had inherited the dark, curly hair of her mother as well as a slightly darker skin complexion. This way, she seemed to be the polar opposite of Elaine, whose blonde hair and light eyes stood in a stark contrast to Olivia's chocolate brown eyes. 

"I'm actually so mad at you! Why the hell did I only get to know about you finally coming to Scotland when Dumbledore announced your name? Is that how you treat you favourite cousin?", the Brunette exclaimed, hitting Elaine slightly on the shoulder while doing so.