Between the Blacks

Prologue

I was born in 1961.

My name is Eleanor Peters.

I grew up with a witch and a wizard, making it no surprise that a letter from Hogwarts showed up on my doorstep on my eleventh birthday awaiting my arrival. My Dad was a Ravenclaw, my Mum was a Gryffindor, and they both believed that I was the greatest light to their life.

From a young age, my mother sought to hold me to a high standard. She thought that I was "an angel brought to life". She emphasized to me on how to sit, how to eat, how to speak to others, and most importantly how to be a lady. It wasn't a surprise that I very soon did the opposite of what was asked of me. Call it teenage angst or call it growing to hate authority in the mid 70s, but the non-conformity in me grew along with the desire to be anything aside from the norm set out for me.

She was so sure that I would be sorted into Gryffindor like my older brother, Henry. He was going into his seventh year and being made Head Boy this coming year. The only person that congratulated me on my sorting into Ravenclaw at the time was my father, whom I shared a close relationship with. He was the only one that ever really understood me. He appreciated deep talks and conspiracy theories about life and the wizarding world whereas my mother's conversation consisted mostly of my appearance.

"Sit like a lady"

"Your hair is out of line"

"At least put on some mascara before you go out, love"

My Dad said she was just looking out for me. She had always wanted a daughter. I began to feel that she always wanted a doll of a daughter just to shape her into what she wanted her to be, and when I came out as my own person, she was awfully disappointed.

I was never the type to be in the mix at Hogwarts. I had a few friends and spoke up in class but mostly stayed to myself. It's not that I couldn't make friends or that I was hard to get along with, I just didn't want to be in the spotlight. I noticed that my first year, when every boy from the houses were passing around a paper and adding the names of girls they had a 'crush' on. I was on the paper fourty-three times and everyone was assured that I was the prettiest and most popular girl there.

I hadn't even spoken a word yet.

From that day on I stuck to my studies and went out of my way to not be in the way. I studied and practiced witchcraft and always rolled my eyes when a boy said that I was "the most beautiful girl they'd ever seen". I didn't care about looks, I cared about personality, depth, auras, and energies. It
sickened me that some people were so absorbed in the physical. I had endured enough of those expectations from my Mother.

I found it easier to observe people and overhear the secrets being told to others rather than ask to keep them myself. It was easy to hide in the shadows as a Ravenclaw. Most of them were introverted anyway.

It was only hard to keep a quiet complex when James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were roaming the halls and dorms. They would shout and prank people and were full of charades and jokes almost all of the time. Even though they were a year above me, it wasn't hard to know who they were. Although they didn't know who I was and probably never would, I made a mental note to never get on their bad side. I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to make an enemy of them.

Although I suppose that was sort of a lie, because I had witnessed a Slytherin boy named Severus Snape get tortured by them. They would go out of their way to knock down his books in the hall, embarrass him, and even go as far as to hex him. I always felt bad for Snape, but Lily Evans always seemed to keep him company, so I figured he'd be okay.

Lily Evans was in the same year as the rest of them. She was a beautiful red headed girl who was just as pretty on the inside as the out. She always stuck up for Snape and was the type to smile at people in the hallways instead of look away.

My closest friend was Regulus Black. Our houses neighbored one another, and I remembered first taking a liking to him as a child when we first met.

"Your hair is weird", he said when our parents forced us to introduce ourselves.

My blonde hair was usually complimented for its naturally golden colour and thick long length, so it was surprising to everyone around me to hear that, especially to my mother.

"Regulus!", his mother yelled.

"It's fine", my nine year old self reasoned.

"I hate it too", I whispered to him later that evening over dinner, "If you let me come over later I'll let you cut it."

"Deal", he smiled.

My mother threw the biggest fit when I came home that night with my hair unevenly chopped to my ears. She screamed and said that I was to never see that boy again.

Her wishes were not obeyed.

I snuck out every night to visit him. At first I did it to get a rise out of my Mum but shortly the friendship grew. He hated most things and I liked that about him. I was always forced to try and be perfect at home. My mother cherished that I had the perfect face, the perfect wits, and the perfect attitude. She never realized that it was all fake, and at the young age I just didn't want to disappoint her so I continued with the façade. The only place I felt I could be one hundred percent myself was with Regulus, and I think he felt the same.

Everything ran smoothly for us until we got to Hogwarts. He was sorted into Slytherin and I was sorted into Ravenclaw, and to my surprise as an eleven year old, that meant that he couldn't speak to me.

It wasn't until later that I realized that it was his choice, but I eventually grew to be okay with it. I understood the presence that he wanted to uphold, and seeing him on breaks and summers was enough for me.

During third year, Regulus grew an entire foot in height, my hair was finally as long as it used to be, and he sat by me in his room during Christmas break awaiting an answer to his question.

"So why don't you have any friends?", he had asked.

"I don't know. I kind of just like to do my own thing", I had answered.

"If only you knew the pedestal that the boys put you on", he laughed and shook his head.

"I'd rather not", I replied with a sigh.

"It's not just because you're pretty", he whispered, "People would like to get to know you if you let them."

"Maybe I like a little bit of self sabotage", I shrugged.

He laughed and never questioned my social status and seclusiveness at school again. I was a completely different person there than he had been used to, but I think that he sort of liked that.

The end of third year approached and that meant summer was coming. I was excited for those three months of a break, and wondered what would be in store for the next year to come.

I looked in the mirror and let out a sigh. My light brown eyes stared back at me. My narrow nose and full lips were a sought out quality by most, but I grew to hate them. I didn't like the plainness of perfect features, I enjoyed the beauty in unorthodox ones.

I got up and opened up my window. I crawled over the balcony ledge and reached over to the tree branch next to me. I hopped off the lowest one and made my way across my big yard.

I picked up the same rock I picked up for years and threw it against the glass panel of his big window.

Right on cue he opened it up, and I made my way inside.