ACT ONE; CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
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FOR AS LONG as Eleanor could remember, she'd described her life as 'an always changing shitstorm'. Slowly, though, she was getting better at handling it. Explosions of change like being Sorted into Slytherin, disowned by her family and forced to be face-to-face with the man she classed as her mortal enemy – well, hers and everyone else she was friends with's mortal enemy – used to quite shake up Eleanor Archord. But she was getting better at anticipating the change, so it no longer shocked her when it came.
Sometimes, as time stretched over the two months she'd been back at Hogwarts, she'd even gone as far as to provoke the change. Her favourite had to be when, as loud as their voices would allow so the conversation would carry itself over the entire Great Hall at the welcome back feast, was her and Regulus announcing they were dating to the entire school ("Snog later, Archord?" "You read my mind, Black."). As anticipated, pure pandemonium ensued in the wake of the announcement – even the shock of it took a while to register for their Professors.
Still, when she wasn't forcing the change out of hibernation, so she wasn't swept off her feet by it eventually, Eleanor was still learning to be more like a Gryffindor and trust her gut. Mostly because the first thing her gut told her, when it finally spoke after a long while of being mute, was that she'd need it a lot more than she ever anticipated. That was why when she first felt odd that particular day, Eleanor didn't ignore it.
Instead, focus shifting from the book she was taking notes out of, her body spun to face the boy studying next to her. Now in February, Regulus was a common thought, aspect and joy in Eleanor's life that she often wondered how she'd gone without for so long. Even though she could recite every aspect of his quirks, she allowed herself a moment to watch the boy in his unique studying position, a smile on her face that she no longer bothered to repress.
After that moment, her legs that she'd had crossed on the table, dividing their separate studying areas, moved swiftly to kick his book. Quidditch practice had been brief since they'd arrived back and Regulus' reflexes weren't quick enough to stop the action. Instead, with a mock annoyed sigh, the boy looked up at the girl and mimicked her smirk.
With a raised eyebrow, he asked, "Do you need some attention, Archord?"
Despite the bad feeling, her smile refused to wipe off her face. Hoping to maintain some seriousness in the blooming conversation, Eleanor moved to sit crossed legged on her head quickly and leaned closer to her boyfriend. At the action, he perked up – quite clearly hoping for a sweet kiss as the reason for distraction so close to exam season, rather than the bad news that would actually escape her lips.
"I think something bad is going to happen," Eleanor breathed and his face fell. "I have a theory and it's pretty solid. Something bad happens in my life quite a lot and they're getting closer and closer and closer together. It's been over a month since my parents kicked me out, the time for another bad thing is soon, if not now. We need to be prepared."
"No. What you need to do is stop being paranoid." Regulus retaliated, placing down the quill he was fiddling with to hold her hands instead. At his disbelief, she tried to struggle out of his grip with an exaggerated pout, but he refused her resistance. "I have a theory too – life can actually be good without ever having to go bad."
Never had there been something Eleanor wanted to believe into more. Not even that her parents could love her again, or even that Regulus would never revert to being a Death Eater, or that the War would be over soon and no more lives would be lost – though, when she thought about it, Regulus' theory simply tied all those wishes together. Which was the most unrealistic thing... Not all wishes came true, Eleanor would always learn that the hard way.
There would always be hope of happiness. Sometimes her dreams of realism would be captured in the best way. Her brain would run wild with imagination about the War being a meer memory so she and all those she loved could live a happy life. Even in the small moments, ones most people would regard as normal, like sitting around a table with a few drinks just laughing, talking and being content, they were dreams her mind conjured that she hoped would one day be reality.
Regardless, knowing that day didn't seem to be soon, Eleanor sighed and one hand slipped out of his grasp to run her hand through her hair. "Sounds unrealistic."
"You sound like you're about to self-sabotage," Regulus mused, turning back to his studying. Apparently, it seemed he was going to deal with that issue of hers when it occurred and Eleanor didn't want him waiting around for it for too long... So, she sat and pondered.
A lot could go wrong, she realised in those long minutes. Some theories were slightly unrealistic, even by her and the magical world's standards. She could hardly see Voldemort marching into Hogwarts with hundreds of Death Eater's starting a battle with students and teachers alike playing out in the next few days. Yet, every thought of bad things that could happen, start and ended with the man people bowed to and named the Dark Lord.
At first she'd assumed he plagued her thoughts because across the library somebody was listening to the radio that recalled events surrounding the War. Midway through her ponder, however, that radio was switched off yet her subconscious kept it's sight firmly set on Voldemort. Eleanor tried to wave them off, believing he'd been on her mind too much the term before because of the feelings she felt towards Regulus forming, Bilius and Robert's fresh deaths and her seeing him in the flesh for the first time.
It was that last thought in which realisation hit. Often when a rare nightmare caught her by surprise and Eleanor was subjected to the memory of meeting Voldemort, she forced herself awake in a blur of heavy breathing, sweaty forehead and small tears. Therefore, she thought, the dream never reached the point that her gut had been poking at, hoping to explode it in preparation. Unfortunately, it seemed to be too little too late and panic rose inside of her.
Eleanor hadn't thought about the medallion since early January when she'd thrown it into bag and to the back of her mind.
"Oh Merlin," Eleanor muttered at the thought. It didn't quite catch the full attention of the boy next to her, but she shook his shoulder desperately and looked in his eyes as she simply stated, "The medallion!"
Before her stare, his eyes went from adoring to panicked as quick as a spell shot. Under his watchful gaze of worry, she launched forward to grab her bag, rushing through it's hundreds of contents without a care for how much noise she was making or how much attention she was getting. A curse – not the spell kind, but the outcome of one – escaped her lips as her hand surrounded a small, circular object with familiar indents of a serpent. The signature of Voldemort's presence in her life escaped her burnt hand and dropped onto the table before them.
For a second, they stared at it as she rubbed her hurting hand, not quite believing it's existence. Then, breath shaky, Eleanor held her wand out and pointed at the metal. "Wingardium Leviosa."
"Eleanor, this isn't good..." Regulus announced, voice shaking in sync with her hand.
A quick glance to her unused hand proved to Eleanor that the burn was true and not an elaborate prank by Regulus since a hint of the snakes body had blistered into her skin. Identically, where the medallion had fell, darkened wood now decorated the side of the table in the medallion's unique fashion. Signs of Voldemort in her safe place and on her person... She had to admit, that was not what she thought her gut would be telling her that day.
"No, it isn't good." Eleanor gulped, turning to look at Regulus, who was already staring at her with a gaze of pure worry. "Voldemort wants to cash in his favour now."
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WORDS: 1420
hello hi and welcome to act two!!! small starter chapter because this is like a prologue to catch you up on the time jump from january to february and what's been going on so i could sort of throw the drama in right from the get go... hope you enjoyed it!
don't forget to like and comment because i love those!!!