His Light In The Darkness

Chapter Six

Chapter six

The next morning, Elayne walked down to the great hall, once again by herself. The previous evening had been spent doing homework with her dorm mates and listening to them gossip, mainly about the boys they liked. 

As she was about to enter the great hall, she noticed that Tom was once again sitting alone, a book propped open in front of him. After their little encounter yesterday, she couldn't help but wonder how he knew her dark secret. 

She chewed on her bottom lip as she walked towards the Hufflepuff table. She had a few theories on how he could have found out. One was that maybe he had somehow overheard Professor Dippet talking about it with another teacher. That would mean, however, that other teachers would know. She thought this theory was a bit out there. Her second theory was that he perhaps was able to preform legilimency. She had debated all night and come to the conclusion that he must be a legilimens. She knew only a little about people who were able to navigate through someone's mind, all of which she had heard from her mother. 

Elayne's aunt Queenie was a legilimens, but Elayne never really saw her much. Queenie had been a part of Grindelwald's uprising and was currently at a magical hospital in America. She had come to the Scamander's door a few years ago, claiming that she had been under the imperius curse. It had pained Elayne's mother, Tina, who was Queenie's sister, to have to turn her in. Being an auror, Tina had had no choice. Queenie had gone through a trial and it had been deemed that she had indeed been under the imperius. They had put her in the ward that specializes in spell damage. 

Snapping out of her thoughts, Elayne turned to glance back at Tom. She had yet to sit down at the Hufflepuff table, so she decided to go and ask him about it, while he was still alone. Taking a deep breath, she turned and walked towards the Slytherin table, stopping right in front of Tom.

Before he even looked up at her, she spoke, "You're a legilimens."

Tom's head snapped up, his focus honing in on her. Tom sent a smirk in her direction. "I know a thing or two about legilimency, yes."

Crossing her arms, Elayne huffed. "I would appreciate it if you stayed out of my mind. I would also appreciate it if you..." she swallowed hard before continuing. "If you keep what you know a secret."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Is the fact that you killed someone really a secret?"

"I didn't kill him! You don't know what happened, so don't just go around assuming that you do!" Elayne whisper shouted at Tom.

Chuckling, Tom shook his head. "I know what I saw in your mind. You killed that boy."

Leaning forward, Elayne slammed her hands on the table. "I didn't kill him! It was an accident!"

Leaning towards her, Tom responded with, "Keep telling yourself that."

Tears welled up in her eyes. She glanced around the hall and noticed that not many students had come down for breakfast yet. There would probably be a good thirty minutes before students started filing in.

Licking her lips, Elayne sat down in front of Tom. "I didn't kill him. He..." she shook her head, looking down at her hands. "My father had just rescued a hippogriff from a bad situation. My brother and I had a mutual friend over. His name was Caleb. Eli, my brother, had another friend over, Derek. Derek found out about the hippogriff and kept bugging Eli about it. He had never seen one up close and desperately wanted to see it. Finally Eli asked me to show them, knowing I was the only one with access to the basement, where my father kept all the creatures he was trying to save. My father was away, doing research at the time. He had forbidden us to go down into the basement." Elayne paused, squeezing her eyes shut as tears filled her eyes. "We snuck down there, while my other brother Leon and my mom were out. None of the boys knew that you couldn't just walk up to a hippogriff. You have to bow first! If they acknowledge you, then you can approach. Derek didn't. He just walked right up to it. He brushed his hand against it and that's when things went south. The hippogriff freaked out and reared back. It would've crushed Derek, but Caleb pushed him out of the way just in time. I rushed to calm it down, while the boys ran to go back upstairs. Caleb didn't want to leave me alone with it and reached to pull me along with them. The hippogriff reared back again, it would have crushed him! I pushed him out of the way, but at the last minute the hippogriff turned and knocked Caleb down. It then stomped on his chest, causing his heart to stop, although I had no idea at the time. I thought it just knocked him out." Elayne choked back a sob, shaking her head. "I screamed and tried to pull him away. Eli and Derek heard me and rushed down. They helped pull him upstairs while I calmed the hippogriff. I couldn't just leave it to destroy everything. When I got upstairs, my mom and younger brother were home and everyone was in a panicked state. My mom was using the floo system to call for a mediwitch. Eli was on the floor with Caleb, trying to revive him, but... He was already gone." Drawing in a shaky breath, Elayne looked up at Tom, tears dripping down her cheeks.