~Ashley Carter
When I opened the door to my house, I found something very strange standing in the doorway: A dog. No... two dogs. In my house!
"What the-?" I shut the door behind me as the two canines skipped around me, yapping away. I could hear water running in the bathroom. "Oh dear..."
Sarah Beth was not a dog person. Never was. Somehow, two of them found their way into our house. Okay. Sarah Beth might see them. Not okay. I had to think of something.
It was then that I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A long, light-coloured object on the end table next to the couch. It was a wand, but not like the one Sarah Beth had. I picked it up, careful not to drop it. I examined it before putting it back down and turning my head back to the little dogs.
"Whose dogs are you?"
Just then, the bathroom door opened. I didn't even hear the water stop. I was too late... Sarah Beth would freak as soon as she saw the intruders.
Only... it wasn't Sarah Beth.
It was a tall, thin woman in her mid-to-late-twenties. She had long, shiny black hair and fair complexion. Her nose was somewhat hooked. Her brown eyes went wild when she saw me. She was only wearing a towel over her.
"AUGH! GET AWAY FROM ME!!! SARAH BETH! HELP ME!!!" The girl cried desperately. The two dogs began to bark madly along with her screaming. Suddenly, she ran to the table and picked up the wand. I caught a glimpse of something black on her back as she did this. She raised the wand toward me.
"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down!" I tried to reason. I had never been more terrified. I had only seen wizards and witches do normal things with their wands (Well, as normal as magic wands can get), but I had no clue as to what damage they could do with them.
"Don't you tell me to calm down, you filthy git! I'll smash your head open if I have to, so don't you try anything funny. I swear on Merlin, I will! YOU YEAR ME?!"
"Elle?" Sarah Beth burst through the entryway to the kitchen covered in flour when she saw the black-haired girl holding the wand toward my head. "Ashley! What are you doing? You were supposed to call me when you finished practice today!"
"My phone died. I'm sorry! I didn't know we had company!" Company. A strange girl I had never seen before wearing nothing but a towel as she holds a magical weapon to me while threatening to smash my head was apparently the sort of company I'd have to get used to, I assumes. "I really didn't... Elle."
The girl, crying a bit, slowly lowered the wand and backed into the restroom. She slammed the door behind her before Sarah Beth came over to me, sidestepping around the dogs frantically.
"That's Eleanor Malfoy! Draco's wife? Yeah! The one who..." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is recovering from a really traumatic experience."
"Oh..." I placed my hand on my face. "I am such an idiot..."
"Just wait here." She walked to the bathroom door and talked calmly to her friend on the other side. "Ellie? It's okay. That's just Ashley. He's my boyfriend. He didn't know you were here. I am so sorry he scared you... Are you going to be okay?"
I heard a few sniffs. "I guess so..."
"Alright. I'm going to bring your clothes."
"Thanks..."
Sarah Beth knocked on the door and reached a change of clothes to Eleanor Malfoy before heading back to the kitchen. She emerged, albeit slowly, afterward wearing a grey sweater and black trousers.
"Hi." I said softly. She nodded nervously to me. "I... I'm really..."
"I know." She sighed and walked by me quickly. I stood still in order to not scare her. She sat down on the couch and picked up the telly remote."
"It's the, er, red one."
She pressed the red "power" button and nodded in thanks. Doctor Who came onto the screen. BBC was showing a marathon that day. Eleanor smiled at the telly. "I love that," she said. "Working something from a distance without a wand! How do you do it?"
"Science."
"I like science."
"Then you'll love this programme. It's called Doctor Who, and it's a 'science fiction,' which means that there is a lot of cool science stuff on it. This episode's a good one, too."
"Yeah?"
"Absolutely! It's called 'Tooth and Claw'."
"What is it about?"
"Werewolves."
"Oh, I know about those! I had a werewolf teach me in school once. Of course, none of us really knew until my uncle told everyone about it. He quit before the Ministry fired him."
"Oh! You mean Professor Lupin?!" I heard Sarah Beth call from the other room. "Yeah, I loved Lupin, even though he had the tendency to transform into a giant dog... thing! I mean, I never really saw it personally, but- oh, bloody 'ell!!!"
There was a thundering of many metal objects crashing to the ground. After it subsided, you could hear Sarah Beth picking them up as quietly as possible. Eleanor's dogs looked in the direction of the kitchen, whining in curiosity.
"What was that, dear?" I called, grinning.
"But I can imagine! Spaghetti's going to be about an hour late, okay?"
"Okay." Elle and I answered, chuckling.
---
"So, these are a special type of werewolf?"
"Yes, called Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform. It's trying to infect Queen Victoria so that the werewolves will take over the Earth!" I answered, patting one the dogs, Virgo, as it sniffed and occasionally licked my hand.
"That's bad. That's really bad." Eleanor said. "Do they get her?!"
"You'll have to wait for the commercials to end, I'm afraid."
---
"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!!!" Eleanor was beginning to stand up in excitement. "What are they going to do?! How are they going to kill it?!"
"Moonlight, but it needs moonlight! It's made of moonlight!" Rose said to the Doctor.
The good Doctor was quick to explain, as usual: "Yeah, well, you're seventy percent water but you can still drown!"
"OH!" Elle said in pure amazement. "So that's how they'll- okay! I love this programme! The Doctor answers me!"
"That's why he's been here this long." I said.
"Wait, it's going off?! Aw..."
"It's a marathon, Eleanor. There's another one up next. 'School Reunion', I think."
"Oh, I can't wait to-"
"Dinner's ready!!!" Sarah Beth yelled.
"NOOOO!!!!!" Eleanor fell onto her knees and screamed to the ceiling.
"Oh my, er, it's okay, Elle! The, er, neighbours will hear." I stammered.
"But I was getting into it..."
"You can always catch it again. They repeat, you see."
"Oh. Okay. Sorry about that... there."
"No worse than Sarah Beth. Now come on, let's eat."
---
I watched as Eleanor Malfoy cut up two small plates' worth of spaghetti into small bits and gave them to her two dogs.
"Now, there, that's done! And now for my meal." Eleanor dug in, eating quickly, yet with a proper demeanor. In fact, she finished her entire plate in about four minutes. All the while, she got not one drop of it on anything. I admit, it was remarkable.
"That was good! Oh, and there's time to watch that programme! I'll be in there, Ashley!"
After she walked into the sitting room, I looked over to see Sarah Beth with a look of awe on her face.
"I've never seen her so happy." Sarah Beth mused.
"Neither have I." I replied.
"You've never seen her before."
"She's happier than before."
"She's... had a lot of bad things happen. I'll get into it some other time. Just don't talk about it to her so much. Or at all, really. She has enough to worry about today alone..."
"Hm."
---
It turned out to be a really fun day, re-watching some good television, eating spaghetti, explaining the character of Sarah Jane Smith to Eleanor, explaining K-9 to Eleanor, explaining Cybermen to Eleanor, explaining Daleks to Eleanor, and explaining parallel universes to Eleanor. Needless to say, by the time we made ourselves ready for bed, Eleanor was hooked to the show.
As I left the bathroom in my night clothes, I saw Sarah Beth and Eleanor huddled at my fireplace.
"Er..." I began.
"Shush, Ashley." Sarah Beth whispered. She then tossed in Floo Powder, which caused the fire to change into a bright green. I remembered it from the last time she showed it to me.
"Malfoy Manor." Eleanor said to the fire. Suddenly, the face of Draco Malfoy flashed into the fire.
"Hello? Who is this?" He asked.
"Draco." Eleanor growled.
"Elle! Thank goodness you're okay. Please, just listen to me, and-"
"No. I have made myself clear... Let me see my children."
There was a pause. "Okay."
Draco brought their children over to see their mother.
"Mummy!" The older one called out. "Mummy, I've missed you so much, Mummy..."
"I know, sweetie. I've missed you, too. It's just that your Duddy did something really bad, and I just had to-"
"Elle." Draco said tiredly.
"Anyway," Eleanor continued. "I just needed some time away from the Manor. I will come and get you soon, okay?"
"Okay, Mummy."
"Is that your brother there?"
"Yeah! Colin, look! It's Mummy!" The boy pulled his brother closer.
"Mu..." The baby started to murmur, looking happy to see her.
"Hello there, baby. Mummy's missed you so much. So, so much..."
"Colin's trying to talk, Mummy! He's been trying to say your name all day."
Eleanor put her hand to her mouth, sniffling as she began to cry.
"Mummy? Are you sad?"
"N- no, Scorpius. I'm just so happy to talk to you again. Make sure your baby brother doesn't say anything until I come home."
"Okay, Mummy! You hear that, Colin?" Scorpius stopped smiling for a moment. "Mummy... when are you coming home?"
"I don't know, Scorpius. I don't know, but I love you so much."
"I love you, too, Mummy." Scorpius started to look around Elle. "Mummy? Who's that there?"
Eleanor gave Sarah Beth some room to show herself.
"Hey, Scorpy!"
"Frecky! It's you!"
"It's me! How are you doing?"
"Good, yeah! When can I see you again, Frecky?!"
"I dunno. Soon, okay, buddy?"
"Okay!"
"And guess who else you'll see!"
"Who?!"
"Ashley! Come here!" I reluctantly walked to the fireplace and bent over in order for him to see me."
"Er, hey there... Scorpius!"
"Who are you?" Scorpius looked baffled.
"His name's Ashley Carter." Sarah Beth giggled. "He's a Muggle, and my boyfriend."
"Your... boyfriend?" The kid looked even more surprised.
"Yep." She answered back.
"... Ashley?" Scorpius asked.
"Yeah?"
"Bye."
"Er, okay. Goodbye." I stood back up as the girls laughed at the two of us. Sarah Beth told me she would be staying in the sitting room with Eleanor for the night.
I started to leave after picking up some things in the room when I heard a new voice altogether. Evidently, Eleanor needed to talk to someone else. I looked to see a man that looked notably similar to Draco and Scorpius, but with longer hair. He spoke with a more dignified air than Elle's husband. I recalled his face form the picture in the Golden Snitch.
"Yes, Lucius?" Eleanor mumbled.
"I have your potions in your suitcase."
"What?" She looked positively astonished at this news.
"I slipped them in before you left."
"I... I can't believe you did that! How dare you!"
"You know I did it because you need to take them! You know you need to take them, it's important. The healers-"
"Those healers don't know sh..." Elle slowed to a halt and sighed. "Are the boys still there?"
"Yes."
"Never mind. I don't want to cause even more trouble for them."
"Okay, just... promise me."
"Lucius..."
"Promise, please."
"Fine! I- I promise, okay?!"
"Okay." Lucius Malfoy cleared his throat. "Goodbye, Elle. I'll see you soon. Be kind to yourself."
She brushed her shining, black hair back and wiped her eyes. "Goodbye, Lucius. And good night."
And with that, I crept into my bedroom and slept with thoughts of the turmoil the poor girl was going through. Perhaps tomorrow could give her much better circumstances. I kept that hope on my mind as well.