Eloise was sprinting down the halls. Sirius at her side, Lily and James directly behind her and Marlene just in front, leading them to the Hospital Wing. 3 minutes earlier, Marlene had burst into the Common Room because she, Peter, Remus and Robyn had just witnessed Mary McDonald being brutally attacked with Dark Magic by a Slytherin called Mulciber. Eloise's stomach turned when she heard what had happened and had inkling that it had to do with the 'clan' that Regulus and Evan had recently joined. Marlene hardly had time to finish her sentence before Lily, James, Sirius and Eloise had leapt up, rushing to be at Mary's side.
The group finally reached the Hospital Wing and they spotted Mary's bed as being the only occupied one. Eloise slowed down and gripped Sirius' hand as she approached her friend. Mary's porcelain skin had deep cuts in that blood was seeping out of. Eloise's eyes filled with tears and her hand raised to her mouth. She heard Lily let out a sob beside her and she was glad that James was there to wrap his arms around her shaking frame. Eloise reached the bed and gasped slightly as she saw the wounds up close. Madame Pomfrey had tried to cease the bleeding but the cuts didn't seem to want to heal so she had settled with continuing to give Mary potions to see if the bleeding would stop on its own.
"What happened exactly?" Sirius asked the question on everyone's minds and Eloise noticed that Remus, Robyn and Marlene all looked towards Peter.
"Well..." Remus began in a shaky voice, "We were all walking back from Charms when we heard a scream and we saw Mulciber stood over Mary with a wicked smile on his face as she was bleeding on the floor." Remus shook his head lightly and closed his eyes, "He raised his wand to cast another hex when Peter rushed in and stunned him." he said and they all looked wide-eyed towards the blushing Peter,
"Really?" James asked and Robyn nodded,
"It was brilliant." she said with a faint smile towards the small boy, "He stupefied Mulciber and then picked up Mary and we ran here straight away." the blonde girl finished, "I heard Mulciber's thoughts though...before he was stunned." she whispered and everyone gestured for her to continue, "He was thinking about how Mary was a muggleborn and h-how they should be ridded of...said something about a Dark Lord or something." she finished and Eloise felt Sirius tense beside her,
"The Dark Lord?" he repeated and Robyn nodded,
"Sirius-"
"Regulus is in on this."
"You don't know that." Eloise reasoned,
"It's pretty obvious, Eloise. He and Evan joined the 'Death Eaters' what, a few weeks ago?"
"He might not have had anything to do with this." James added
"I'm not willing to take that chance." Sirius muttered, "I have to go and ask him."
"Sirius, no. How's that going to help?" Eloise called as Sirius turned to leave
"I can try to get through to him!"
"We've already tried." Eloise said quietly,
"I'm not going to give up on him just yet, Eloise." Sirius said, his back still turned away from her, "He's still my brother." with that he stormed out,
"Sirius!" Eloise called out after him but he had already gone. She ran a hand through her hair,
"You should go after him." Lily said and Eloise shook her head,
"I can't leave Mary."
"We'll be here and we'll come and get you when she wakes up." Remus said and Eloise sighed,
"He's in one of his tempers, Belle." James told her and she nodded, "He's going to end up doing something he regrets unless you go and calm him down."
"Yeah, okay...get me as soon as she wakes." Eloise said, pointing at each one of them before running out after Sirius.
"We can never just have a normal day, can we?" Lily asked, resting her head on James' shoulder and the boy chuckled,
"It isn't likely."
~~~
Eloise had run as fast as she could to the Slytherin Common Rooms, where she expected Sirius to have gone looking for Regulus. Sure enough, when she rounded the corner of the dungeons, Sirius was stood outside the entrance to the Common Room, the only thing was he wasn't accompanied by Regulus, rather a horde of his friends. Eloise quickened her pace when she heard the angry shouting. Her eyes widened when she saw one Slytherin she recognised as Avery raise his wand,
"SIRIUS WATCH OUT!" she shouted but it was too late,
"Crucio." he was struck in the chest with a spell. He fell to the floor, writhing and howling in pain. Eloise screamed and sprinted over,
"Stop it! STOP IT!" she shrieked but Avery merely laughed. She felt like she couldn't breathe as she watched Sirius squirm around on the floor, yelling out. She could feel her anger pulsing through her veins and she discreetly gripped her wand under her robes. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she raised her wand and pointed it directly at Avery, firing a non-verbal spell his way. He let out a yell as he was stunned and fell to the ground unconscious, causing Sirius' screaming to stop as he lay there breathing heavily. The four other Slytherins immediately pointed their wands towards Eloise and she simply narrowed her eyes. Fueled by anger, she fired spell after spell at the boys and in a matter of seconds; two lay stunned next to Avery; one had fallen against the stone wall, stiff as a board; and one had been turned into a duck and was flapping his wings frantically as he waddled around. Eloise dropped to her knees and placed her hand on Sirius cheek,
"Sirius, love? Can you hear me?" she said, tears filling her eyes and Sirius' eyes opened,
"Lou? Are you okay?" he asked in a weak voice and Eloise sighed in relief before laughing slightly,
"You really just asked me that?" she shook her head slightly and Sirius flashed her a small smirk before he groaned in pain, "It's okay, love. Let me get you to the Hospital Wing."
"No! No. I need to see Regulus."
"Yeah, good one." Eloise scoffed,
"Lou, I'm serious."
"Me too." she said sternly, "You just got hit with the torture curse and I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing because I love you and I'm not seeing you in any more pain." her voice cracked and Sirius' eyes softened. He sat up slightly, ignoring the aches in his muscles and wrapped his arms around the crying Eloise,
"I'm okay...I'm okay."