***A/N*** hey hey! Back again with an Emma chapter! If I don't pass out, I should have a Lee chapter out sometime in the next couple hours too. If not, it'll definitely be out sometime tomorrow! See you when I see you, xx
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Yeah, France isn't for me.
It hasn't gotten any better since Elliott snogged that girl. In fact, it has gotten so much worse.
Take the other day for example. I wake up, put on this super cute pink jumper I got, and went into the living room.
Course I had to step over three half-naked women sleeping in the hall, and a few other topless humans in the living room.
But to top it all off, Elliott was sitting at the dining table with some girl's mouth on his dick. And because Elliott is Elliott he laughed when he saw me and asked if I wanted to switch positions with his slag.
I've been trying to stay out of the house as much as possible since then. It's been a lot of walks to nowhere and shopping trips that I don't need and can't fully afford. I've drained all the money that I had saved from my muggle job and now I'm living off of whatever was in mother and father's vault at Gringotts. It's not like they're ever going to use it again. Last I heard they're going to be rotting in Azkaban till they're nothing but bones.
It's October now, cold as sin, but the trees are pretty so I'm sitting outside at a café instead of inside.
"Excusez-moi madame, est-ce que quelqu'un utilise cette chaise?" A guy about my age asks. He puts his hands on the top of the chair and leans over a little. (Translation- Excuse me, ma'am, is anyone using this chair?)
I look up from my latte and smile at him, "C'est tout à toi," (Translation- It's all yours).
The guy picks up the chair, looks back at his friends who are sitting at a different table, then looks back at me, "Do you want to join us?" he asks in English. When I don't respond right away he asks, "Parlez vous anglais?" (Translation- Do you speak English?)
I nod, "Yeah, sorry, I – I don't want to intrude."
"I can't let you sit in the cold looking like your world just ended in good conscious," he nods towards his friends, "Come on, they don't bite."
I smile, genuinely this time, and get up, bringing my latte with me. The guy grabs my chair as well and brings them both over to the table where his friends are sitting.
"Oh, darling," the girl who I am now sitting beside whispers into my ear, "Your wand is sticking out of your boot."
I look down at my left boot where I stashed my wand and sure enough it's about halfway out. I tuck it back in and look at the girl, "I keep mine in my shirt sleeve," she whispers before pulling it out just a bit.
"Are you all..."
She laughs and nods her head, "We met at Ilvermorny in the states, moved here after graduation for a bit of culture. It was only supposed to be for six months but here we are, five years later... oh, I'm Michelle by the way."
"Emma," I say with a smile before I take a drink from my cup.
"That's Andrew, my partner, Carina is over there, that's Jared, and you've already met Quinn."
"Yeah, hello," I say and everyone around the table says hello back.
"You're not French are you?" Carina asks.
"What gave it away?" Quinn asks, "The fact that she's talking in a British accent?"
"If you're British, does that mean you went to Hogwarts?" Andrew asks me.
I look at everyone, "I am British, yeah, and I did go to Hogwarts. I graduated in 1996 so that's what..."
"Six years? Give or take..." Carina says, "Does that mean you were at Hogwarts for the war? The whole Harry Potter thing?"
I nod my head, "Yeah, actually I was. I uh – yeah. It wasn't great."
Quinn nods solemnly, "Sorry. We heard about that in America. Sure there were some wack ass purebloods around who actually believed in the crap that was happening here but it wasn't as intense as I imagine it was for you."
"So like, what side were you on?" Michelle asks me.
I wrap both my hands around my cup and stare at the table for a second before I respond, "It's complicated."
"Shit..." Andrew says, "You know, my cousin was at Hogwarts during the war too. He said it was a total nightmare. Death eaters actually in their classes. It was big in that... Isolt's tit what is the house I'm thinking of?"
They all look at me.
"Slytherin," I say.
Andrew claps his hands together, "That's the one! He said it was really big in the Slytherin house. Hey, you might know him actually, he graduated the same year that you did. Travis? Travis Williams?"
It takes me a second to try and figure out who he's talking about, "Shorter bloke, can never seem to get his hair to look good, Hufflepuff?"
"That's the guy. What house were you in?" Andrew asks.
"I was in Wampus with Quinn," Carina says.
"I was in Thunderbird," Michelle laughs, "You know you don't realize how odd your houses sound till you say them out loud don't you."
"I was in Pukwudgie," Andrew shrugs his shoulders.
"I was..." Now I can lie, say that I was in Ravenclaw or something like that. They already have a bad idea of Slytherin's thanks to this Travis bloke so if I say that I was in Slytherin they might ask me to leave, and this is the most fun I've had in a very long time.
Fuck it.
"I was in Slytherin actually."
Quinn whistles, "Well shit eh?"
"Did you know that LeStrange girl? My grandmother is from England and she was telling me about this totally insane witch named Bellatrix who was a couple years younger than her in school. She had a daughter our age and my grandma would not stop worrying about me even though there was a whole ocean between us," Carina asks me.
I can't help but laugh, "Uh yeah, Violet LeStrange is one of my best friends."
"So why are you in France?" Quinn asks me, changing the subject completely.
I shrug my shoulders, "Thought I had a friend here. Turns out he's a total arse. I'm heading back to England soon actually. Can't take it anymore."
"That's a shame," Michelle says, "You just met us!"
"Or we're the reason that she's leaving. Just trying to enjoy her coffee and some idiots from America call her over and start asking her about a fucking war she lived through," Quinn says, he winks at me before taking a drink of his coffee."
"Can I just say though. If the whole Voldemort thing happened in America, he'd have been shot," Andrew says.
"Wasn't Grindelwald American?" I ask the group.
Carina swats at Andrew's arm, "Exactly! He wasn't shot."
"What's with wizards and their lack of wanting to shoot things. I get magic is cool and everything but an AK-47 would have solved all of our problems." Michelle says.
I laugh, "I don't even know what that is."
"You're pureblood?" Andrews asks.
I nod, "Only started learning about muggle things after the war in '98 so I have a bit of catching up to do."
"What the fuck is a muggle?" Carina asks furrowing her brows together.
"A... someone without magic?" I say, though it sounds more like a question than anything.
"That's what you call them?" Michelle asks, "We call them nomaj. Cause you know, they don't have any magic."
"Where did the word muggle come from, do you know?" Quinn asks.
I shrug my shoulders, "Haven't the foggiest. My parents just always called them dirty, slimy, scum of the world and would scream at me if I even brought up the idea of being interested in them so I didn't have much of a history lesson on the proper term."
"Interesting," Michelle laughs, "Not the abusive parent thing, cause that must have sucked. But the muggle thing."
The group start talking about things that I'm not really interested in. I'm more focused on the fact that she called my parents abusive. They... weren't were they?
I wasn't hexed like Violet was when she was growing up, my parents didn't have weird forms of torture for me like reading a book from cover to cover out loud if I didn't read it in a week. But they did scream at me, threaten violence, put me down every chance that they got, said I was nothing more than a way to continue the pureblood lineage.
Godric, how have I never realized that before? Why is it that it took a few strange American wizards in a coffee shop in France for me to realize that my parents abused me emotionally my entire life?
"Emma?"
I blink a few times and look back up at my newfound friends, "We're going to go pretend like we're dumb tourists and take pictures in front of random things, you want to come with us?" Quinn asks.
"I should probably get home actually," I say to them, "I think it might be time to head back to England."
"Well here," Michelle takes a black marker out of her purse and yanks my arm over to her. She writes down a number and blows the ink dry, "Call if you're ever back round here and we can hang out."
"Or..." Andrew reaches across the table and takes the marker from Michelle and gives it to me, "Write down your number and we'll call you if we're ever in England."
Michelle gives me her arm and I write down the number at Walter and Lee's flat, figuring that I'll end up there when I get back home.
"Cheers," I say, handing her the marker back, "It's been fun."
"Keep in touch eh?" Quinn says as everyone gets up and gets their things ready, "Bye Emma."
"Bye!" I say. They all walk away laughing and pushing each other around and I can't help but feel jealous. That should be my friend group. We should have been able to randomly decide to travel the world and live together without a care in the world like they have. None of this mourning, and stressing out over the idea that one of us could very well get alcohol poising and end up dead.
I finish my latte, leave some change on the table as a tip, and start to walk home, in the opposite direction of the Americans. The walk is long but it gives me more time to think.
It's been horrible here, I'm not going to lie. Elliott was not the person he was when we were growing up, nor did he become the person I thought he might. He's rude, arrogant, and just not great to be around. I came here to destress, get away from the life that nearly destroyed me, but I think I might just have found a new one that would destroy me in a hundred different ways.
I stand outside of the house for a second, staring up at it before I dig my keys out of my pocket and head inside. Elliott is sitting at the table reading a newspaper when I get in. He doesn't even bother to look up at me. Hanging my coat, and putting away my shoes, I know what I have to do. I've got to get out of here, and if I don't do it now then I never will.
I sit down at the table across from Elliott. He looks up from the newspaper for a second before rolling his eyes and going back to reading.
"I think it's time for me to go home," I say to him.
"Already?" He responds. His voice soaked with sarcasm.
I roll my eyes and scrape my hair back away from my face, "That's it?"
"That's it," he says.
"Okay," I get up from the table and go into the kitchen to pour myself another cup of coffee. Nervous habit I guess.
Elliott sighs from the dining room, "Do not forget all of your shit."
"Cheers," I grumble under my breath, "Bloody fucking wanker."
"And zee pain and suffering fee."
I pick my coffee mug up and walk into the dining room. Elliott smirks to himself before he puts his newspaper down on the table, crosses his arms over his chest, and looks at me.
"Pain and suffering fee," I repeat.
He nods like it's the most obvious thing in the world, "You did not pay rent..."
"Because you offered to bring me here and you never said anything about rent."
"But pain and suffering."
"You're not in pain!"
"Emotional pain."
Elliott and I stare at each other, "You are not in emotional pain," I say to him.
"And 'ow would you know?" He says, "You 'ave not lived wiz yourself before. You are a lot to deal with."
"I'll give you five galleons."
"I was zinking two 'undred."
"Two hundred galleons!?"
Elliott laughs, "One hundred a year."
"You can go fuck yourself."
"Do it for me and I'll only make you give me a 'undred."
"Pig."
"So?"
I take a drink of my coffee, "So what?"
"Do you want to?"
"To... to fuck you?"
He smiles.
"No!"
Elliott just rolls his eyes and picks up his paper again, "Two 'undred galleons and you're out by tonight."
I reach into the front pocket of my trousers and pull out whatever change I have inside. Two galleons and eight knuts, "Here," I throw it at him as hard as I can, "And I'm out in the hour."
"Do not get my 'opes up," Elliott says. He picks a knut up off the table and flips it between his fingers. He looks up at me, "Well?" he asks, "Get packing."
I put my coffee down on the table, half-finished and I march up into my room. I wave my wand around in the air and my belongings start to fly around, packing themselves back into the boxes that I didn't throw away when I got here. I fold the blankets on my bed and sigh deeply.
"Fuck," I say to myself.
I look over at the phone sitting on my bedside table and pick up the receiver.
"Hello?" Walter's voice says on the other line.
"Hey, Wally bear," I say with a laugh, "My room still available?"
"Em?" Walter laughs, "Lee! Lee babe, Emma's on the phone!"
I laugh as I listen to crashing about on the other end of the line and Lee scream, "Emma!"
"So boys?" I ask, "You didn't turn my room into some gay sex dungeon yet did you?"
Lee laughs, "Actually we rented it out to that Australian tart that works the corner. Why?"
"I'm coming home. Bit earlier than expected."
"How much earlier?" Walter asks.
I look at the clock hanging on the wall, "In about half an hour?"
"In... I thought that you were..." Lee starts.
"It's not as great here as I've been making it out to be," I say quickly, "I've got to get home."
"Okay well I guess we can tell the Australian to head out," Walter says, "Though I am going to miss the daily show of whatever john she's entertaining do the walk of shame every morning."
"You promised you didn't look!" Lee says.
We all laugh together then Walter clears his throat, "Are you good to get here by yourself? Or do you want one of us to come apparate with you?"
I move the phone receiver away from my ear for a minute and press it against my chest so they can't hear the sob that escapes my mouth. I shake it off and put the receiver back to my ear, "I'm good darling. I'll see you soon yeah?"
"Yeah," Lee says, "Maybe we can get Violet round too."
"No," I shake my head even though they can't see me, "No it's good. I'd rather just have some pizza with my favourite boys."
"Okay well..." Lee's voice falters and I don't have to see them to know that they're having a silent conversation right now.
"I'm coming home boys. Be there soon."