A/N: Hello my lovies!
Hope you are all doing amazing today! Theres a lot that happened in a short amount of time with this chapter, and a lot of it has been building for some time now, so don't worry, it's all a part of the time line.
I've been working on a part 2 for this book, because as of right now I'm going to finish this one a bit "Early" so I can do a "Part 2A" that will follow one line of events and carry on after, and then a "Part 2B" that will follow a universe if events turn out differently. This is still an Idea, because as of right now, I could write 4 different books with 4 different "Time lines" but I want to narrow it down to make sure what I do choose to write holds interest.
All ideas, theories, suggestions and comments are welcome! you know I love to hear your input! so enough of that, grab a snack (I have Flips Pretzels) and a drink (I'm drinking a strawberry Ramune) and enjoy!
Love and Potions,
Val!
Events have a way of spreading out like a spider wed. linking to each other, and at times, circling back to the origin. What happens when Elodie starts to notice similarities in current situation as once happened in the past?
~Elodie's POV~
"And then what happened?" I asked Harry as we sat in an isolated corner of the library underneath a silencing charm. It was a rare moment when both Hermionie and Ron had lessons, and Harry had a few moments to himself. He'd asked me to meet him before Potions class to discuss a rather strange meeting he'd had with Professor Dumbldore. One which he'd allowed him to go into the pensieve to see a memory of Voldemort.
"And then it was over. He asked if being a Parselmouth was normal, but then it just ended" Harry said, shifting in his seat slightly.
"Well we already know the answer to that one, a bit odd though... Don't you think?" I asked as I moved from one book case to another looking for a particular volume I knew I'd seen back here before.
"Nothing about it is particularly normal, but go on?" He said, shifting as he leaned on the table to follow me from shelf to shelf.
The thought ran through my head, but Just as quickly, I pushed it aside, choosing to focus on another. "Just seems like there would have been more. Something about it, just seems like... I don't know, like... Perhaps he should have known. That's all," I answered, choosing not to alarm him.
I found the book on forms of ancient magic I'd been searching for and moving it to the table to begin flipping through the pages to see if there was anything in particular that stood out. Through the corner of my eye I could see that Harry wasn't watching my actions, just watching me.
"Alright Harry?" I asked as I continued flipping.
"It is a bit curious, don't you think?" He asked as he tilted his head to the side slightly. "As a child, he was able to light fires, and he used his magic to hurt people who were unkind to him," He said, dancing around the subject I'd tried to push out of my mind.
"Lots of children show signs of magic in various ways," I explained as I resumed flipping through pages. "Sounds like he had a bit of a temper."
He placed his hand in the center of my book gently, calling my attention to him, though I'd been avoiding it. "It actually sounds rather familiar, from what you've told me," He said quietly.
"What is it you're insinuating? You're a Parselmouth, so I must have gotten the rest of his dark traits?" I challenged, giving him my full attention.
He looked down and the way my hand was clutching, tightening its grip on the edge of the desk so much my knuckles were turning white. Placing his hand over it and looking up at the books that were now floating above our heads unsteadily.
I pulled my hand away from underneath his and shut my book so I could wave the above books back to their locations. "I've got it under control Harry," I said as I reached for my bag and placed it on the table in front of us. "Besides, I like to believe I know when not to cross the line."
I grabbed another book from the shelf and stacked it in my arm as well as I turned on my heels to leave the library.
"You've had trouble in the past," Harry said, stopping me in my tracks. "Seeing the line that it. No matter, he said to let Professor Slughorn collect us just the same."
He wasn't wrong. At times it was increasingly harder to tell which thoughts were my own, and which were those of dark witches. Giving a different meaning to having an internal struggle. While I knew the magic had bonded with me, that didn't mean that they didn't lose their craving for chaos. I'd always played with fire. Both metaphorically and quite literally.
"I know, Dumbledore already told me," I said. I dug into my bag and reached for a box I'd brought to give him. "Here," I said, handing it over. "For the new Gryffindor quidditch captain. Pick someone who actually knows how to hit a bludger." I said with a wink.
"You mean someone that'll make Fred and George proud?" He said with a smile on his face, accepting the new subject. "Won't you stay for the tryouts after potions? Or are you too eager to go stick your nose in a book somewhere?"
"Someone's got to be the brains of the family," I said, giving his arm a nudge. "No, I have a few errands to run before Bill and Fleur come over to ours for dinner. But we'll all be at the first match, without question."
We walked to potions in silence. It had been fairly surprising over the last few classes to see how well Harry's skills as a brewer had improved. The last I remembered he was fairly decent, but now he was probably the best student in the class. Then again, I was at a station near Pansy, and Crabbe.
While I'd already learned how to brew standard sixth year potions, it was a nice refresher course to learn them in a way where one didn't have to ignore the constant stream of insults to students from their professor. It was easy to learn from Professor Slughorn, even on days I found myself increasingly irritable, his cheery nature brought on a soothing consistency to my general routine.
For the first few sessions we brewed in large groups, leaving me and Pansey constantly going back and forth in close quarters. It wasn't until a few weeks in that we broke off into pairs, with Draco quickly stepping in Theo's way before he could claim me as his partner, thus forcing him to partner up with Blaise.
"Won't your girlfriend mind that you're working with me and not her?" I asked as I set up the Cauldron for brewing. I looked around and noticed that she hadn't come to class today. I'd partially wondered why it had been so quiet.
"Perhaps I'd rather brew with someone who knows what they're doing," He said as he laid out ingredients and looked at me through the corner of his eye. There was an odd angle to the way his lips adjusted. Almost as if he was smiling, but not fully allowing himself to feel it. "Would you rather work with someone else? I'm sure Theo would love to be in close proximity to you."
"I'll never understand what it is about me that makes people find themselves so intrigued," I said, flipping through my text to the propper page.
"Are you serious?" He asked, giving me his full attention, stopping what he was doing. I raised my eyebrows slightly, and gave him the slightest of nods, pulling my lips over my teeth. An aloof look fell over his face, almost like an innocence I'd never seen in him before.
"Is that so surprising?" I asked as I broke away from the hold of his eyes.
He scoffed as he returned to setting up his side of the station, averting my gaze once again. "Nothing, it's just...Everytime I learn something new about you, I realize just how little I actually know."
There was a weight to his words that I hadn't felt in so long, the feeling was foreign to me. I felt a wave of guilt wash over me as I realized, I'd had similar interactions like this before. "Right well, what can I say? I'm an enigma. One which my husband constantly reminds me of," I said lightheartedly, making sure to emphasize the fact that I wasn't interested.
"How is that poor sod Weasley?" He said returning to his tormenting tone. Hopefully that meant he got the hint. Though I didn't like the way he laced disgust through when he spoke our surname.
"If you're going to be cross, then there's no need for small talk. We can just do the assignment in peace, and then I can return to my life while you return to yours," I said, waving my hand over the cauldron to fill it with water.
"Until next week," He said as he pinched the bridge of his nose as if he was forming a headache similar to mine.
I took in a breath and let it out, realizing that it would indeed be quite a while before I was rid of Draco Malfoy. Granted I wouldn't be attending classes for a bit in December, but I would return after to complete the year, It was true. "Until next week," I said, letting him know he was correct.
The terrible thing was that while Draco did have a tendency to annoy me and push my buttons, I didn't necessarily dislike him the way I felt I should. The way everyone else hald a strong distaste for his company. For me personally, there was something comforting in the way he didn't try to inflate my ego. The way he challenged me, similar to how Fred did. Though, similar to how Fred had a double meaning to his actions when I was with Cedric, there always felt as though there was a deeper meaning to the friendship Draco and I shared.
It was almost like a secret. He never wanted his friends to know, but he never took part in their snide comments behind my back. All negativity he had was said to my face. Just as I chose to never share aspects of our friendship with my circle of friends. To everyone else, he was Malfoy. Son of Lucious, meaning he wasn't that much better. But to me, he was Draco, the one that saw past the facade nearly everyone else chose to believe.
"You don't make it easy, you know that?" He said, proceeding to drop in ingredients even though he'd noticed me staring at him. His features, his childlike face, his pale and tired complexion.
"So I've been told," I answered before lifting my quill and jotting down notes.
"We can still talk, you know," He said in a whisper, so low I questioned if I'd actually heard him correctly.
I placed my quill back down on the table and reached for the jar of Boomslang Skin and removed a few pieces to throw into the cauldron. "If we did would you tell me the truth?" I asked and looked at him to see he'd turned paler than he already was. "Why did you come to see me, hmm? Why didn't you think it would be wise for me to return to school?" I asked, continuing with the assignment to make sure if anyone looked over and saw us speaking, they wouldn't be thrown off by it.
"Because it's not wise for you to be here. It was actually rather stupid of you, and from what I've noticed, you're not stupid. You're actually rather smart for someone like you," He said steadily.
I wasn't sure if he was trying to compliment me against a bad decision, or if he was just simply insulting me. "Someone like me?" I said, a bit baffled as I tried to pin all of the ways he could be using the slight turn of phrase to insult me.
"I didn't mean it like that," He said, as he looked up at the ceiling.
Part of me wondered how terrible it could be. There was something that seemed to be weighing heavily on him, that much was obvious. But if I was in any true danger, I'd hoped he would have at least told me that much. Giving me at least the slightest indication that he wasn't entirely terrible.
I was tired of playing whatever game he thought this was, and dancing around the subject. I pressed my lips into a hard line and turned the entirety of my upper body to look at him sternly. "Why did you tell me, to not come back?" I asked, allowing my words to fall rhythmically.
He turned his head to look at me, the way a toddler would look at their mother when they've been scolded. For a split second, he looked as if the weight was too much, and he wanted nothing more than to be hugged as he cried the weight away. For the second time in the span of a few short months, I found myself truly pitying Draco.
"Draco," I said, taking a step closer, bracing my hands on the workstation in front of me. "If you're in trouble, you can talk to me," I offered.
He looked down at my hand as it rested a hair away from his. One twitch and we'd be touching, which he did. Letting his pinky stroke over my small finger, he seemed as though he was ready to accept the gesture. But just as quickly, he pulled away, taking my pride along with it.
"Right, well this'll just need to brew overnight. Can I trust you'll check on it tomorrow?" I asked as I lifted my quil and began jotting down notes once again. I felt him looking at me, eyes glued to my face, and I had to breathe deeply to keep myself from blushing like a tomato.
"I suppose, if I'm not busy," He said and went to work on his own notes. We'll have to recreate this for the end of term," He said changing the subject yet again.
"I won't be here. I'm doing my end of term potion not long after halloween," I said informing him. Perhaps Professor Slughorn would make arrangements for him to be paired with another brewing partner. Maybe he'd let Draco brew with me and then take it easy before holiday.
"What, your holiday's so grand you're leaving right after your birthday?" he asked sarcastically.
I was a bit surprised by his statement, not by the amount of sass he was capable of without being insulting, but for his attention to detail. "You know when my birthday is?" I asked, feeling my mood lighten slightly.
He looked around to make sure no one was watching us and then leaned in closer to me, somehow I'd never noticed how tall he was before. Not like Fred who towered over me, but tall enough that if he really wanted to whisper, he had to lean down. "Not to burst this bubble you like to live in, but I think the entirety of the wizarding world knows your birthday," he said and then straightened himself back up. "So, what is it?"
I cleared my throat, and closed my notebook to turn it into Professor Slughorn and began closing up the jars of ingredients we'd been using. "I know it may not show all the time, but the thing about being pregnant is that at some point, she has to come out," I said sarcastically.
"Are you scared?" He asked in a breathy tone.
I stopped what I was doing to look up at him. It was a loaded question. Just as everything else we'd been discussing, it could have a few dozen other meanings. Just once I wished that he'd ask me something plain and clear.
"I'm not scared of anything," I said and grabbed my bag to turn in my work to professor slughorn. "I'm finished professor," I said to him as he stood over his own cauldron brewing what smelled like a pot of Antidote to Common Poisons.
"Ahh, well done my dear. I trust you're well prepared for your end of term exam. Will you be returning to us after?" He said a bit quieter than his normal volume. Minerva must have had words with him over the matter of keeping my pregnancy relatively secretive.
"As of right now I don't see a reason not to return, sir," I said and glanced over at Draco, hoping he would get the hint. Until he gave me the reason behind his secretiveness, I wouldn't take his words seriously. That much he could trust.
"Wonderful! Well if you should be feeling up for an outing, I used to throw together the occasional supper and invite a select student or two, would you care to partake?" He asked kindly.
"I'd be honored sir," I said, flashing him a kind smile.
"Excellent! I'll be sure to send you an owl with the details. Off you go," He said and set my work aside so he could return to his own brewing.
I left the class and made my way through the grounds towards Hogsmead to use the Floo in three broomsticks, wanting a bit of fresh air. The dungeon always had a way of making me feel claustrophobic. Walking the beautiful grounds just before winter would strat taking over wasn't a bad site either.
It was more of a home to me than I'd ever really known. Even before I was a student, I'd spend time with Minerva at the castle. Leaving at the end of term was always the weird part. I caught sight of Hagrid outside of his hut, tending to the pumpkins as I neared the archway leaving the grounds.
"Oh, hiya Elodie! What brings you out here?" He asked, noticing me.
"Hello Hagrid, just passing by," I said as I entered into his pumpkin patch. "These beauties are looking lovely this year. Have they been enchanted?" I asked
"All in the soil, but you know that," He said and wiped his dust covered hands down his apron. "Could I interest you in a cuppa tea?"
"No, no, I should be getting home. I just... wanted to take in the smell of an approaching fall is all," I said and looked over the tops of the nearby trees that reached up as if they were trying to enter the sky.
"Something on your mind Elodie?" Hagrid asked, sounding genuinely curious and concerned.
"Hmm?" I asked, turning to look at him once again. "Oh yeah, I just... after a long day I always remember how much I'd rather be at home. The morning after, it feels almost impossible to leave home. I just don't see how it's all worth it yet, that probably makes no sense," I said and began fiddling with a loose thread on my robes.
"In the face of the impossible, you can't look at things as they are," Hagrid said to me, smiling as he did so. He didn't know just how deep his words went, but it was what I needed in that moment.
"That was beautiful Hagrid. Thank you," I said, noticing the way he looked proud of himself. "Would it be alright if I stop by some time for tea?" I asked, wanting to make sure he would be okay with me popping by.
"Of course, you don't need to ask. Always welcome, you are," He said in a slight sing-song tone of voice. "Best be on your way, it'll be late soon," He said informing me.
I gave him a small wave and made my way through Hogsmead, into the three broomsticks. I gave a quick wave to Madam Rosemerta and ducked into the fireplace, disappearing in a green flame.
When I walked into the sitting room, I heard laughter and conversation erupting from the kitchen and dining area. It was still rather early for the boys to be home, though much to my surprise when I took a peek into the kitchen, there they were, joined by Angelina, Bill and Fleur.
"Look who it is!" George said spotting me first.
"Hey! We were waiting for you," Fred said as he walked over and took my bag off my shoulder, ducking down to give me a kiss. "How was class?"
"Good, I thought everyone was coming over later on today? I still have to stop by the market," I said walking further into the kitchen.
"No need sis. Your husband informed us of your aversion to cooking, so Fleur and I brought take-out from that spot in London you're always telling us about," Bill said behind the kitchen counter as he held up chinese take out containers.
"Brilliant," I said, sounding more relieved than I meant to, but in all honesty, the thought of having to cook for everyone seemed like a more daunting task then finishing the term with Draco as my brewing partner. "I'll just be a minute then," I said and left the room, listening to Fred's footsteps closely behind.
"How was it today?" He asked as we walked through our bedroom door and I made my way to the closet.
"You know Draco, same old prat as always," I said, pulling out my comfiest set of leggings and one of his jumpers. "I think he may be harboring an attraction towards me," I said, not wanting to hide what I'd noticed.
"Isn't everyone?" He asked sarcastically, helping me pull my jumper over my head. He hooked his arm around my waist, pulling me in closer. I ran a hand through his soft hair before I leaned down to press a kiss into it. At the same time, he ducked his head down to kiss one of the stretch marks that was visible on my stomach. "You're perfect," He whispered as he straightened up to look at me.
"Mr. Weasley-Potter, you'll make a girl melt," I said, appreciating every bit of him. "Best to put this on hold before our guests become suspicious," I said, reaching for the jumper to cover up.
"If you insist, but when they leave, it's straight back to this room. I need to ravish my beautiful wife tonight," he said confidently as he stood to his feet and took my face in his hands gently.
"Yes sir," I said, stretching up on my tiptoes to press a kiss into his lips.