All in all January was a calm month. They returned to Hogwarts in high spirits, still happy from their New Year’s celebration. They settled in easily, classes and homework, annoying Theo – teasing Daphne. Eliza ran around the grounds in her fox form, visited Jormy, won a duel against Sev and actually remembered to respond to Sirius and Remus’ letters.
It was a calm month. Or at least it had been, until Eliza had grown a bit too bored and her court had grown a bit too complacent when it came to predicting her chaos.
“Eliza” Daphne said, only mildly hysterical as they all read the headlines of the day’s issue of The insider “You need to explain this right now”
Eliza took a sip of her coffee, ignoring the loud raising volume of the entire great hall as they all read the paper at the same time “I would think the article is pretty self-explanatory itself”
“The myth of muggle-borns” Draco read out incredulously, Theo was the only one actually reading the paper and Eliza enjoyed the blatant shock on his face. It wasn’t every day you could get the best of Theo Nott.
“Want to explain Theo?” she asked, a smirk on her face as even the teachers started gossiping amongst each other.
“Research recently published by the Department of Mysteries reveals that muggleborns are not actually descendants of muggles but are in fact born from abandoned squib lines” Theo read aloud and Eliza felt her grin grow.
“All the research is in there, clear as day, in black and white – and will be reaching every major news agency in Britain as we speak”
Her court exploded into questions, how and why asked in various tones with various curses that made even Eliza blink in surprise. And she had grown up in London.
“How did you even think of this?” Draco questioned, running a hand through his hair looking particularly distressed and Eliza gave a wry grin.
“What’s one of the first things we learn about magic?” she asked her court, taking another sip of her coffee as she waited for an answer.
“Wingardium leviosa?” Theo cut in drily and Eliza barely muffled a snort, shaking her head in response.
“We’re taught that all magic comes from something, ambient magic, magical cores – it doesn’t just spontaneously appear into existence. So why the hell were random children being born with innate magic when there were no conditions met for it to appear in the first place?”
“You’re insane” Daphne said and Eliza wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or to the heavens “No-one else would think like that, no-one else would care too research that”
“Well I didn’t research it, not really”
“She bribed me” Blaise said in glum realisation “That’s why you agreed to do my defence homework isn’t it?”
Eliza didn’t even try to pretend to be ashamed.
“What did she have you do?” Draco asked curiously as Theo flipped another page of The Insider, continuing to read the article.
“I asked a few muggle-born students if they ever did the bloodline test at Gringotts, that the results would help me with some extra credit history of magic assignment”
“Blaise can get anyone to do anything” Eliza said with a proud grin whilst he helped himself to a commiseration croissant “After that I sent my preliminary findings off to Gemma in the department of mysteries, Tom funded the project too fast-track the researching process and here we are”
“Here we are” Daphne repeated, still looking quite shell-shocked “You’ve changed the world – there’ll be mass chaos after this”
“That’s not all she’s done” Theo said, eyes scanning over the paper as a smirk played at his lips “For years the wizarding community has cast squibs aside, but magic finds magic and their descendants have always inevitably found their way back home to us. I leave you with some simple food for thought; magic would not have to find magic if we had never cast aside our people to begin with”
Blaise choked on his croissant.
“There’s going to be riots” Draco exclaimed, almost gleeful at the prospect and Eliza grinned sharply.
“Viva la revolution”
Draco wasn’t wrong.
~
Eliza had not intentionally been late to the Wizengamot meeting.
The owls arrived for her and Hermione at breakfast two days later – Eliza had almost missed it due to her insane time-travel schedule but instead watched as a large pompous owl landed on their table. It was nothing like her Hedwig and Eliza found herself giving the owl a dirty look as though it had offended her personally.
And then she saw that the owl was from the Wizengamot and glared even harder.
“I know that look” Draco taunted, flipping through his own mail “Emergency Wizengamot meeting?”
Eliza nodded her head glumly.
“You brought this on yourself” Daphne pointed out and although she was right Eliza glared anyway. Daphne let out a laugh in response and patted Eliza’s shoulder in commiseration and whilst that didn’t solve her problem she appreciated it anyway.
“Try not to kill anyone” Blaise said brightly and Theo looked up from his book to briefly wish her luck in ‘terrorising the old coots on the Wizengamot’
She had not intended on being late.
But she stayed behind at Hogwarts to finish her coffee anyway.
By the time she made it to the Wizengamot chamber the atrium was almost empty and she could hear Scrimgeour trying to gain control of the chaos inside. The second she stepped in she was near overwhelmed by the shouting coming from all sides of the room.
Everyone was at each other’s throats and she hadn’t even said anything yet – in fact they were so busy arguing they didn’t even notice her slipping in and taking her seat. She listened intently, trying to gauge the reactions of the room as Scrimgeour tried and failed to wrangle control over the room.
There were a few who seemed to believe the research was all a scam, an interesting stance but so unbelievably wrong it was laughable. Everyone else seemed to be in agreement about the research but judging by the cacophony of noise no-one quite knew what to do with it. On the surface the split opinion would appear to hinder her but Eliza knew she could make it work. If no one knew who to listen too then maybe they would be happy to listen to her.
“Listen” Scrimgeour shouted as the room finally quieted “We are here to debate what our response will be to the recent research that has been publicised that muggle-borns are in fact not muggle born but squib descendants”
“Why should we have to do anything” Lord Blishwick said scathingly “Muggle, Squib – isn’t it all the same at the end of the day”
“Of course you’d think that” Lord Bulstrode shot back “You lot still live in the medieval ages”
“Oh and what do you suggest we do” someone else snarled from the crowd “Go and lick some muggle boots?”
The shouting started again, only this time it was a lot more vicious. She caught Tom’s gaze across the crowd and the pair of them shared matching conspiring smiles.
“You believe that squibs don’t belong in our world because they don’t have magic, and yet you still allow muggle-borns to languish in the muggle world for eleven years even though they do have magic” Tom cut in smoothly, not having to raise his voice to draw attention “There seems to be some flaw in your logic Lord Blishwick”
“And what would you have us do” Lady Longbottom said, turning her shrewd eyes onto Tom “Kidnap the children? Eviscerate the muggles?”
Tom’s genial smile stayed in place but Eliza caught the anger that flashed through his eyes, the brief twitch of a hand that he wasn’t able to stop. The two of them would always struggle with politics. Slytherin Machiavellian tendencies aside it was a lot easier to curse your problems that to reason with them.
“Of course not, what has happened in the past has happened – but isn’t our very purpose here to advocate for change?”
“Change” Lady Abbot scoffed “And what change do you propose” she asked snidely and Eliza couldn’t resist butting in.
“Isn’t it obvious? It should have been done years ago really. We make it illegal to stop abandoning squibs in the muggle world – that way there are no more magical children being left abandoned in the muggle world”
Silence, and then impossibly even more shouting. One voice met Eliza’s ears over the noise.
“For an idealist you seem to have taken a cruel stance Lady Potter. Keep squibs here? In our world? They can’t do magic, they would be ostracised and cast aside. They could never belong” Lord Gamp rebutted but surprisingly someone else came to Eliza’s defence.
“In case you have forgotten” Lady Parkinson cut in somewhat patronisingly “Squibs are capable of some magic. In fact I’d argue half of them are more capable than you are”
Eliza was not the only one who had to stifle a laugh at that.
“And it’s interesting that you bring up your concerns with ostracising squibs Lord Gamp” Eliza butted back in, trying to tamper down her glee “For what are we doing to muggle-borns if not abandoning them to a world they will always be separate from? Always be different and judged? You may call me an idealist but at least I have ideals – the only thing you seem to care about is prolonging our peoples suffering”
For the first time since the meeting began silence settled over the Wizengamot chamber. Lord Gamp took a seat, face pale and lips drawn. Everyone seemed to mull over her worlds and Eliza could only hope she had broken through. She hadn’t exactly intended on becoming that passionate but if it helped her cause Eliza wouldn’t complain.
Deep down you care Eliza, Remus had said to her scraggly thirteen year old self who still bared her teeth instead of giving a smile, you care so much.
“It would be impossible for us to search down the squibs out there in the muggle world at this point but Lady Potter is right” Lord Parkinson said, smiling at her across the room “It’s time for a new age, a new start”
“We would need to alter the education system” Lady Fawley chipped in and the discussion unfolded around her. No longer screaming and hollering but actual open discussion. Progress, movement forward after all this time waiting. Eliza could do it, stop any more children being abandoned in the muggle world, bring back the old traditions.
She’d change the world around her, until even the stars themselves remembered her name.
She truly had come a long way.
~
By Mid-February the bill outlawing abandoning squibs is passed. The Hogwarts curriculum was going to be reformed over the next year or so to make it ‘squib-friendly’ An increase in theory classes for squibs, extra potions or herbology where the rest of students would be in charms or transfiguration. Eliza suggested that squibs could access third year subjects earlier, things like arithmancy and care of magical creatures didn’t need magic to be studied. She also slipped in that perhaps they should get a new history of magic teacher.
Her court were incredibly happy to hear that. In fact they were so over-joyed Slytherin held its first impromptu party of the year. The secret stashed kegs were pulled out into the main commons, Daphne ran off to get Susan and Blaise and Theo disappeared to get snacks from the house-elves. Someone had found the old gramophone and the weird sisters were blasting through the room.
Eliza slipped away.
Parties and balls and social niceties – it all got a bit too much sometimes. A bit too loud. And what with the whole house being crammed into the common room she found herself desperate for her own bit of space.
Taking the long way round Eliza finally reached Myrtle’s bathroom on the second floor, opening up the entrance to the chamber and throwing herself down the slide. The wind rushed past her as she practically flew down and by the time she hit the ground she could already feel the tension leaving her.
“Hello Jormy” Eliza called out as she winded down the tunnel. She could hear the basilisk slowly stretching out, scales sliding against the floor as she approached. Walking through the opening to the chamber Eliza smiled as Jormy let out a hiss in greeting, moving his giant head as he tracked her movement across the room.
“Little Speaker” he welcomed and wrapped himself around her when she dropped to the floor next to him, their standard procedure “And what are your plans for today?”
“Well” she began explaining, tossing a stack of notebooks to her side as she rooted in her pockets for a self-inking quill “I’m trying to work on my project for ancient runes. I need to create something amazing to smash my exams”
Jormy let out a stream of hissy laughter “You speakers care much for your silly exams, my Salazar was very competitive like that too”
Eliza paused in organising her journals too scratch Jormy’s head, knowing it upset him to remember his first friend, knew that he missed him.
“He was not very good with inventing, that was always Rowena” Jormy continued, curling tighter around Eliza “She tried to learn parseltongue once”
“Did it work?” she asked, propping Severus’ old journal open next to her own rushed theories. Jormy twisted so his head was directly facing her and let out an unintelligible hiss which Eliza could only interpret as a ‘really what do you think?’
Eliza let out a snort and went to begin her research again when the heating up of her journal distracted her. Flipping it open absently Eliza caught sight of Tom’s message, delicate handwriting crossing their connected pages.
Hello Little Star, are you free to talk?
Eliza flipped the journal close and buried it beneath her other notebooks.
“So I was thinking” she began thinking out loud, absently chatting to Jormy as she organised her thoughts – ignoring the journal lying underneath her piles of research. She lay out her ideas but sadly the basilisk couldn't do much to help other than remind her of what she had already said. He was good for a lot of things, but trusting a basilisk with ancient runes wasn't one of Eliza's better ideas. Thankfully she knew someone else who could help out.
“No” Severus said staring down at Eliza who hadn’t even had a chance to knock on the man’s door.
“You don’t even know why I’m here” Eliza pointed out, rocking back and forth on her heels as Severus frowned down at her.
“I don’t want to know why you’re here”
Eliza brushed past him anyway, if he hadn’t actually wanted to deal with her he wouldn’t have opened the door in the first place. Not that a closed door would have truly stopped her but she was polite enough these days to pretend that it would.
“Come in Eliza, make yourself at home” the professor said drolly as she pushed herself up onto the table, sitting cross-legged atop of it as Severus made his way to his own desk “What can I help you with?”
Eliza was already rustling through her messenger back, victoriously yanking out Severus’ old journal from the disorganised mess and slamming it on the table next to her.
“I have a question about one of your spells, it’s only partially developed and I was hoping you could fill in the blanks”
Severus quirked an eyebrow seemingly unimpressed as he debated whether he should actually help her or not “That depends on the spell”
“It’s nothing violent” Eliza chirped happily and Severus seemed to only grow more doubtful “It’s your adaptation of the homenum revelio spell”
A sigh of relief.
“I remember that one, as I recall I never quite finished it”
“You didn’t” Eliza acknowledged and then grinned “But now I get to take the credit so it worked out rather well”
He glared at her across the way but couldn’t dampen the small ghost of a smile that flit across his face. She knew she’d get him to crack eventually.
“What did you need to know?”
Eliza flipped to the page, tossing it across the room towards him and pulled out her own notebook “I was just hoping you could explain it a bit more, I think it’ll help with my ancient runes project”
Severus let out a considering hum, reading his own spidery handwriting before delving into an explanation “The homenum revelio charm is good but I found it lacking. You would have to recast it near constantly to get an accurate picture of the area. I thought that perhaps I could develop it, turn it into a sustainable charm akin to lumos so you would be alerted if there was anyone near by at all time”
“I assume you noticed the problem?” he asked and Eliza nodded, pointing to a page in her own notebook.
“For the spell to be sustainable you sacrifice it’s long-reaching effects. It would be able to tell you if anyone was in the area but the area would be a small radius around you”
Severus nodded letting out a defeated sigh “I could never mitigate the problem and then gave up – but I have always been focused on spells not enchantments. I assume you have a runic based idea?”
Eliza nodded gleefully, leaping off the desk to come join Severus at his.
“I was thinking of combining this spell with a locator one” she began to ramble on, Severus interjected occasionally, helping her bounce around her ideas and Eliza felt a contented smile sip onto her face. Jormy was great but he wasn’t quite as helpful in this department. There was only so many times she could listen to him bargaining for rabbits before she wanted to give in all together.
Rabbits were not going to help her pass her exam.
Severus read through her research, the rough drafts that were scattered on random pages throughout the notebook and glanced at her, clearly impressed and slightly amused “You do know your thesis is somewhat illegal”
Eliza shrugged her shoulders with a wry grin “I’ll make it work”
She always did in the end.
~
“Hogsmeade weekend” Draco announced as he slipped into his seat at the table. He spoke as if he was bringing them all important news and that Hogsmeade weekends weren’t planned and announced weeks in advance. They all let him have his dramatics anyway.
“Merlin I’m dying for a milkshake” Daphne said longingly, and Eliza snickered as she and Blaise started arguing about the merits of milkshakes over butterbeer.
“And what are you doing today Eliza?” Theo questioned wearily as if he already knew he wouldn’t like her answer.
“She’s coming to the new Quidditch shop with me” Draco proclaimed instantly.
“I’m going with Draco to the new quidditch shop” she echoed smirking slightly when Draco let out a small laugh. Theo continued to stare at them mistrusting and Eliza broke, heaving a sigh.
“I’m popping over to muggle London, I need to get something for my ancient runes project”
“Why?” Blaise questioned breaking away from his argument to cast a judging look towards her.
“More affordable, less time consuming” Eliza ticked off the reasons and then glanced at Daphne “Better milkshakes”
They couldn’t argue with that one.
“You’ll still come with me though, right?” Draco asked and Eliza sighed dramatically.
“I suppose” she said in a false mournful tone “If I must”
Draco let out a cheer and rushed out of the hall, seemingly forgetting that for them to visit the shop together he actually needed to wait for Eliza herself.
She was sure they’d catch up with him eventually.
And they did. Eliza spent a few hours with her court, wandering around Hogsmeade in the slightly gloomy March weather. By the time she slipped away it was already growing dark outside, the drizzle that had been consistent all day was even covering London when she stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron. The streets were packed, people parading umbrellas or accepting their grim fate as they trod down the pavement. All busy with their own lives, unaware of what lived alongside them.
Giving her head a quick shake Eliza slipped by into the crowd aiming to get away from the main bustling high streets. Apparating would be much quicker but you never quite knew what could be lurking around the corner in London. Besides it was only a quick walk from Charring Cross to Mayfair. Ducking into a shop Eliza walked back onto the busy streets with a steaming cup of cinnamon coffee and started walking.
Mayfair, for all its ridiculous ostentatious aesthetic actually boasted a few antique shops, old antique shops and it was just what Eliza was looking for.
She needed to find a compass.
She could have found one in the wizarding world but it would have been a pain to track one. And then she would mostly likely find it from an enchanter and then it would cost an extortionate amount. And then Eliza would only have to strip off any pre-existing enchantments anyway to craft her own. No, it was easier to find one in the muggle world. If she had to use alchemy to get it to reach her specific requirements then it would only get her higher marks in the end.
She planned to create her own version of a compass, but instead of having it point north she thought it could latch onto a person. Pointing you in their direction no matter where you went. Of course the initial idea was a purely sentimental one, Eliza figured with enough tinkering she could get the compass to warn you if said person was in danger, or ever how far away they were.
But that was dangerous magic, and would probably need blood – far too illegal for her ancient runes NEWTS for now. So instead she decided her exam project would point you towards ‘home’ In the same way the marauders map was woven in with Hogwarts’ wards, the compass would tap into the wards of ‘home’
Wherever that may be.
Draining the last of her coffee Eliza smiled happily when she found the shop, the soft golden light beckoning her inside. The bell rang above her head and she was instantly hit with the smell of old books and varnished wood. There was no organisation here, the shop was crammed from the ceiling to the floor, each shelf, each nook and cranny crammed with a forgotten piece of history.
She loved it.
Slowly she picked her way through the shop, searching methodology as she moved feeling like a ghost among the shelves. She found portraits and rings, jewels and maps. There were old children’s toys and wooden carvings and half-ruined journals. Water-damped penmanship telling stories of those long dead, buried beneath centuries worth of other findings.
It was easy to get lost in a place like this, it reminded her of the room of requirement.
“It isn’t often we get your kind here Death’s Child” a wispy voice came from behind the shelves and Eliza startled, almost tripping over her own feet.
The man seemed old – not elderly though. If Eliza had to describe him she would say he was ‘well-worn’ His face was adorned with laugh lines, crinkles by his eyes and he seemed to favour his left leg slightly. But other than that he was bright, eyes lively as he smiled at her. Like the rest of the shop he was timeless and ancient at the same time. And when he smiled wider Eliza caught sight of two pearly white fangs.
“It isn’t often I meet an antique-selling vampire so I suppose that makes us even”
“Us rarities have to stick together” he said smiling kindly. He had an accent she couldn’t quite place and absently she wondered if he was older than everything put in this shop altogether.
“You must be quite powerful to carry Death’s mark so young”
“And you must be quite old to recognise it” Eliza shot back trying to deflect his attention away from her, some small part of her hating his easy kind smile and warm eyes.
“Look at us” he said jovially “Learning more about one another by the minute”
Eliza was not a trust-worthy person. But when he asked if she wanted to stay for a cup of tea she said yes anyway.
“Forgive me if I’m wrong” the vampire said, pushing a cup of tea over to Eliza. The table they had settled at was in a similar state to the rest of the shop. Covered in dust and history and Eliza took a sip of her tea from a cup that probably had decades on her.
“Shouldn’t you still be attending Hogwarts?”
“Free weekend” Eliza disclosed happily, small talk she could manage “I’m here for my ancient runes project”
“In the muggle world?” he questioned curiously taking a sip from his own cup. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what was in it. Giving a careless shrug of her shoulders Eliza answered
“I’m a bit of an inventor, muggle materials are easier to manipulate in this case”
“Necromancer and an inventor” he said half impressed and half joking.
“Vampire and a hoarder – we all have our interests”
The man titled his head back letting out ringing warm laughter, greying hair catching in the dim light “It has been a long time since I have had such refreshing company”
Eliza soon learned that the man was in fact called Francis (‘call me Frank’) and he had long since forgotten when he was turned into a vampire. He recalled his human life with clarity – small town, whirlwind romance. His wife was a noble and ran away with him. They started a farm, married, had kids.
And then his wife became ill, and back then there was no way to save her.
Frank held onto her old things, and the things of friends when they passed. And then strangers. He enjoyed it, keeping fragments of their memories alive, preserving history as it was made. And when he was turned he continued to do so. He explored, fought in wars and lived and laughed and cried and kept the memories of everyone he had ever met.
Here, in this shop.
A cat appeared from behind the shelves, slinking forward before leaping onto the table in front of Eliza. It was pure black, big green eyes curious as she peered up at Eliza. Giving in Eliza scratched the cat behind her ears, smiling slightly at the loud purring. Living with Sirius for so long had converted her into a bit of a dog person but she quite enjoyed the cats company all the same.
“It must be lonely” Eliza commented, tea long since drank.
“Not really” Frank said “I find I meet the most interesting people”
She didn’t doubt him.
“So go on” he said, gesturing madly as his eyes lit up “You’re by far one f the most interesting people to wander in here, tell me about it”
“Tell you what?” she asked hesitantly, narrowing her eyes at the vampire who had so easily wormed his way into conversation, so easily pulled her along and distracted her.
“All of it” he breathed and she knew there was no way you could fake that excitement. Stories, histories – this man lived and breathed it “And then maybe after I can help you find just exactly what you’re looking for”
Maybe trusting someone wasn’t such a bad idea this time.
Stories spilled out of her. Basilisks and dementors, supposed mass-murdering godfathers and gaining a family, one person at a time. She told tales of Death and Samhain and the hollows , just to see the look on his face. She spoke briefly of the orphanage, just to show him how far she had come now and she realised just why this man had an entire shop dedicated to his long life.
It wasn’t often you found a genuinely trust-worthy kind person, no wonder so many people had gravitated to him over the years, some people were just special like that.
He seemed to think much the same about her.
“And is there a boy?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows and smiling wide enough to flash his fangs.
“Why do you say that?”
“Oh there’s always a boy” he said grandly before pausing “Or a girl – in fact I once knew a chap who tried to marry Westminster-
“No there’s not a boy -or -or a Westminster” Eliza stutters out, settling Marigold (the cat, there was a story behind that name, he had stories for everything) into her lap just so she could avoid the ridiculous old vampire and his ridiculous questions.
“But there is someone?” Frank spoke, eyes perceptive and knowing.
She let out a defeated sigh.
“His name is Tom”
And the stories began again.
She left sometime later with a full bag. A beautiful compass from some unknown time in the twentieth century, a box of tea (also from some unknown point in time but probably not poisonous) a few necromancy scrolls and a promise to visit again.
“I’ll come back” Eliza said shortly when she paused by the door of the shop. It was dark outside, or as dark as London could get and it was still raining slightly but she found she didn’t really care “Make sure you don’t get too lonely”
She didn’t want to admit how quickly this place had grown on her.
Frank grinned, fangs flashing and for a moment he looked as young as she did “In exchange for a few stories you’ll have yourself a deal”
A deal Eliza was willing to make, she said as much when she finally left the shop stepping out into the cold world beyond the little timeless sanctuary Frank had made for himself. His tea was almost better than Remus’.
Setting off back towards the Leaky Cauldron Eliza almost didn’t notice when someone fell into step beside her. She continued to walk in silence for a while, boots splashing through puddles before she turned to look up at Tom who had somehow managed to find her in the bustling busy crowds of London.
“Are you stalking me now?” she questioned, making a turn and beginning to cut through the West End. The billboards were bright and glaring, red and gold show lights twinkling everywhere as they walked.
“You’re a hard person to find” Tom said in lieu of a reply “Barty mentioned you’d be lurking around here tonight”
Eliza gave a non-committal hum, shouldering her bag higher as they weaved in and out of the bustling crowds. Barty was a traitor.
“You know” Tom said liltingly “I have the strangest feeling that you’ve been avoiding me”
“And what if I am?” Eliza challenged, never one to leave well enough alone. Tom blinked in surprise, red eyes wide as he stared at her, mouth opening and closing silently. He had stopped walking and Eliza paused in her stride as well turning to face him.
“What if I am avoiding you? What would you do?”
People were hurriedly brushing past them and Tom let out a sharp exhale, running a hand through his hair as someone else barged past him “We can’t do this here”
He held out his hand for her to take and for one petty moment Eliza was tempted to just walk away. Instead she placed her hand in his and they apparated away with a ‘crack’
They landed in a park, Hyde Park from the looks of it. It was practically abandoned, grass wet and muddy beneath their feet. There was a bench beneath an old fashioned lamppost, golden orange light bathing the ground around them and Eliza knew this to be another one of Tom’s favourite haunts.
“I- Tom began, stuttering uncharacteristically as he stared at her from across the way “Eliza I don’t know what you want from me” he said almost desperately and she had to resist the urge to scoff.
“You do know what I want Tom. I want you to answer my question” she said and started walking towards him, closing the distance between them.
“What do you want Tom? And what do you want from me?”
The only sound was that of the falling rain around them.
“I want you to be happy” Tom said eventually, heartbreakingly tender and Eliza wanted to run, run away right now. For all that she had waited for this, wanted this confrontation, this last talk, she now wanted to be anywhere else. Anywhere that wasn’t near Tom’s open and earnest words – full of a raw tenderness she didn’t think he had been capable of.
“I want you to get everything you’ve ever wanted” he spoke into the silence, confessions spilling from his lips to be heard only by her and the rain around them.
“And I want you to know peace. And I can’t give you that Eliza-
“I don’t want that” Eliza interrupted earnestly, closing the gap between them as she continued somewhat desperately “I don’t need that. Can’t you see that? I don’t want peace Tom I want-
"I'm not good for you" he continued over her and Eliza couldn't help but panic. This wasn't how it was meant to go, not like this, not here.
"Tom just listen to me I don't need good or peace or anything. I just-
“I’m sorry” he whispered.
He left with a loud crack, leaving Eliza alone in the cold– remnants of their confessions echoing in her head as she stared at the empty space in front of her.
The lantern flickered and a moment later the park was left abandoned – Eliza apparating back to Hogwarts, back home.
I’m sorry
And the worst part was that he sounded like he really meant it.