chapter four
「the yellow acacia」
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There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
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FROM THE DAY she realised, Delilah wanted to help but she didn't know-how. Thanks to Celine, Eleanor's best friend from France, the four girls began to recognise the symptoms because the girl was so open about her lycanthropy. Unlike Eleanor and Delilah, the other two weren't so accepting at first and it was all to do with fear. After knowing Celine for so many years, they came to terms with the condition and constantly felt guilty because of the way they reacted. When she was young, Eleanor and Adelaide were exposed to all kinds of people because of their mother, meaning they didn't share the same prejudiced views as their father. Whereas Delilah was never one to judge as she knew how badly judgement could hurt. To be honest, Delilah wasn't sure if the other girls had caught on about Remus, Eleanor definitely had because she acted the same around Celine as she did with the boy - with extra care, something only Delilah noticed- and she never said a word to the others in case they didn't know. It wasn't her secret to tell. Remus had no idea that she knew and Lilah wasn't fond of confrontation, especially since the matter was so private. Furthermore, she hardly spoke to the boy. Yes, she may have had a crush on him since second year but it was only that; a crush, or so she thought. So there was definitely no chance in him telling her. Therefore, the Hufflepuff used one of her many passions as a way of sympathy and support, Madame Pomfrey was a massive help and never said a word when Remus asked who they came from. In true Marauder style, they devised a plan to catch the culprit. The suspect obviously knew about Remus' condition and that put the boy on edge for the last three years. So, when the moon approached, tensions were high along with the pain and suffering he already faced.
"Think about it this way, Moony, after today you'll have one less thing to worry about." James said, shovelling some bacon into his mouth as he talked to the groaning boy. Remus' face was planted firmly on the table due to the raging headache that made him struggle to focus.
"Not if it's Rayne Roldrick." Sirius joked slyly, making fun of the larger Slytherin girl with the wild hair and the quiet demeanour. He and James giggled like little school girls while Peter smiled widely, picking at his food as he held back a laugh.
"Why would that be a problem?" Remus grumbled, he was barely audible but still came to the girl's defence. He'd spoken to her, once or twice and she was a nice girl. Most people liked to make fun of her because she defied all of societies 'norms'. If it was Rayne, he wouldn't be bothered. Anyone who had been so dedicated would be special to him.
"Padfoot's just being a prat." James said, giving his best friend a nudge as Sirius smirked and James tried to calm himself. "It doesn't matter who it is." He added indefinitely, not so confident in his words.
"What if-" Sirius tried to talk but was thankfully interrupted by Peter.
"Look who it is." The boy said, grabbing the attention of all the Marauders. James leaned back to have a look causing Sirius to lean even further back - making them look like meerkats. Peter was gawking and Remus' head shot up, making his head rush.
Almost everyone in the hall watched as the girl with tight, sandy blonde, curly hair skipped down the rows of seating. Everyone wanted her or to be her, not like she knew that, not even noticing a single eye on her. She was laughing at something Marlene had said, both arm in arm as they approached the Hufflepuff table to wait for their other friends. Marls wore dark blue flares with a green and red, striped, corduroy crop top that had long sleeves and a square neckline, paired with black heeled boots and a matching green scarf tied over her hair. Delilah wore a light brown suede skirt with a thin black turtleneck. Her black tights were thick because the weather was nippy and her shiny black oxfords were platforms, ones she had stolen from Eleanor. The girl wore a plain black silk scarf, tied over the hair, in the same way, leaving some curls to frame her face. Following behind was Lily Evans in red, white and black striped bell-bottoms that were paired with a white Fleetwood Mac band t-shirt. She wore plain black Dr Martens that she had gotten for only ten pounds. Then there was El who was wearing red corduroy trousers with a dark brown shirt, that was covered in a yellow and red floral print, and had flared sleeves. She had undone the top and bottom few buttons so she could tie the shirt whilst having a v-neck. Something that suited her well. She wore the same Dr Martens as Lily because they had bought matching pairs together.
Three out of four marauders had their eye on a particular person and if the whole hall wasn't staring at the group of girls, it would have been very obvious. Since El had to deal with this everywhere she went, she taught the other three how to edge out stares because they had to deal with the paparazzi when they were with Eleanor. The only way to snap them out of their bubble would be to purposely attract their attention. Staring was nothing to the four now, especially after Milan.
Soon everyone returned to their own lives as the group sat down to eat, joined by two other Hufflepuffs. They were the most known girls around Hogwarts, apart from Violet and her group but they were popular for completely different reasons.
"No one can be that oblivious." Peter said, turning back to face his breakfast. Remus' eyes hadn't left the girl, who seemed to radiate happiness like a beacon.
"Think our Moony has his eye on someone." Sirius commented, his eyes flickering between the two before returning to his breakfast as well, the boys all turning to see who the boy was talking about. When they saw him staring at Delilah, pinning like a lonely puppy, they weren't exactly surprised and weren't exactly sure why they looked.
"Please, he's been like this since our fourth year. I don't know why he doesn't pluck up the courage to talk to her." James spoke, finishing the last bite of his food before he ruffled up his hair, again.
"Didn't she run away last time?" Peter chimed in, also finishing his breakfast.
"Some of us don't want to end up like James Potter." Remus mumbled after putting his face into his arms. Peter almost choked on his pumpkin juice as he laughed at his statement.
"Come on, lover boy, time to go." James teased the boy, trying to brush off his comment. The boys all got up to leave, not without one last glance. Remus caught the eye of Eleanor instead of Delilah. She was watching him intently, raising a single brow: as if she knew. A shudder raced down his back as she winked and turned back to the other girls as the boys exited the hall.
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"Precisely my point." Delilah agreed with Eleanor as they clambered down to the muggle garden, located near the greenhouses. "That small circle of Slytherin's want to get rid of it though, even if it is essential for subjects like Herbology and Potions. They just despised anything without a hint of magic." The girl continued as they reached the gate. It was a slightly tattered wooden fence and the gates lock had almost rusted shut because no one had time to fix it and Delilah didn't want to set the fence on fire trying to melt the metal.
A couple of trees later and it was like they were in paradise. Eleanor gasped at the beauty of the garden and didn't expect it to look like this. Instead of being in planters, flowers of every description grew wildly. Across the floor, up the hill, along the small waterfall and even up the trees. There were tall stems of lavender that swayed above the other plants, emitting a lovely fragrance across the grounds. This whole place was Delilah's dream garden but if someone had hayfever, they would have probably stumbled into hell just by being too close. Ruby roses, sunshine sedums, pretty poppies, opal orchids and a wide patch of calla lilies were just a few flowers that grew amongst the wildlife.
In the corner of the quiet space sat a girl and an eroded easel. She was minding her own business, studying a patch of flowers that she was painting. With hazel eyes and rosy cheeks, Isadora spent most of her time on the Quidditch pitch. Much to the despise of Ms Emmell -her head of house- she had dyed her hair neon green and had gotten multiple piercings over the summer. Most of the time, Izzy kept her head down and focused on her academic career, unless Marlene dragged her out. She kept within her friendship group and was much more interested in painting than partying. That didn't mean she wasn't mischievous...
"Izzy!" Delilah called over to the girl, catching her attention away from her study. She smiled widely, her lip ring swaying as she did so. "Where have you been? I've been trying to find you all week!" She continued, pulling the girl into a light hug. Isadora wasn't exactly comfortable being touched unless she knew the person well. That's why Delilah kept her contact light and brief.
"I've been here all week and the library, OWLs are coming up and I need all the revision time I can get. I'm surprised you haven't been here, you're usually here for two hours. Everyday." Isadora replied, her Irish accent was very thick. The girl noticed Eleanor and blinked as if she was seeing things. She had classes with her sister Adelaide but it was still a shock to see the two at Hogwarts. In the magazines, they seemed so far from reality, living a perfect life with no care for others. Izzy had discovered in a short few days, that wasn't the truth. At least in Ada's aspect and she was in the media far more than El was.
"I've been wanting to introduce you to Eleanor." Delilah told her before turning to the blonde. "El this is Isadora Myers and Izzy this is Eleanor Westbrook." She introduced the two and they both smiled at each other, El giving the girl a small wave.
"Pleasure to meet you." Ellie said, holding her hand out for the girl to shake. Formal, like her father, told her to do. Reluctantly, Isadora shook her hand.
The three spent their time chatting about various subjects as Izzy painted and the other two harvested some flowers. El had agreed to help Delilah and even stumbled across a secret. The yellow acacias.
"You know, Remus is trying to find out who is sending him these flowers." Eleanor spoke as she collected the yellow acacias at Delilah's request. The taller girl froze, her cheeks going a fiery red.
"W-What?" Delilah stuttered, facing away from the girl as she finished collecting some moss.
"Yeah, the other day, he asked me to look out for anyone carrying yellow acacias. Said people might be open around me or something." She explained examining the flowers. "Say, who has access to this garden?"
"Well, Izzy and-" She paused, not trying to give herself away.
"And you." Eleanor finished for her. "He told me that he was planning to catch the person in the act. Apparently, he receives them once a month. He didn't say when, where or why but I'm sure I could guess." She continued, turning to watch Delilah - who was trying to tame her burning cheeks. "Tell me, Delilah, how are you going to avoid getting caught?" El spoke making the other girl turn towards her, shooting her a shocked look.
"Do you know about-" The brunette trailed off, stopping herself from spilling any information. Luckily for them, Isadora had left a few minutes ago to collect more paint.
"Remus, it's highly obvious. I suspect he'll be in the hospital wing by morning." She continued for her. "And you, you just gave yourself away. I mean, you told us you had a crush on him years ago. I'm sure he'd be grateful, he seemed very happy that someone cares so much to gift him these." Eleanor explained causing Delilah to facepalm out of embarrassment. It was fairly obvious, the girl wore her heart on her sleeve. The girl hadn't felt much pain in her life, she didn't have to be so closed off like Eleanor did. Sure, she felt like an outsider sometimes but overall she had had a pleasant life.
"He can't know though. That's just embarrassing. Especially if the other boys are there- oh god." She sat on the leaf-covered floor. "Could you imagine that twat, James Potter, he'd be having a field day if he knew. I think Lily would have my guts too, I know she likes Remus but remembered how she acted when I told you all that I liked him. It was like I fell in love with the Devil."
"Lily just cares about us. She doesn't want you to get hurt. She is the mother of our group after all." Eleanor said, Delilah let out a soft laugh, thinking of all the times she had gotten the four of them out of trouble and then proceeded to tell them off herself. "I don't think it's Remus, I just think it's boys in general. You are the baby of the group and Lily would brew a storm before she let you get hurt."
"Your right, you still can't tell her about this though. What am I supposed to do then? I can't possibly go to the hospital wing if he's expecting someone. What if he's expecting Violet?" She expressed but only confused Eleanor.
"Who? If I don't know them, they're not competition." Eleanor told her confidently, Delilah simply shook her head with a smile knowing that Ellie completely meant that. If only she knew, Delilah thought. "I have a great idea anyway, let's make our own trap." She added with a smirk.
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Curfew was much earlier at Hogwarts than it was back at Beauxbatons. They ate around nine or ten o'clock there but here they ate at five or six on the weekends. So having to be in their dorms by ten was something that Eleanor was still getting used to. Even after curfew at Beauxbatons, the students could wander the corridors but had been banned from going outside. Here they had to be in their common rooms and Eleanor didn't exactly understand why.
Currently, Eleanor sat on the sofa with Lily by her side as the moon came over the horizon. They weren't the only ones in there, it was mostly full of students studying or doing homework before classes on Monday or others during the week. El knew that she wouldn't get much sleep that night, she never did on a full moon. So, she used this time to her advantage and began to do her Transfiguration work. She had the most of that, Professor McGonagall had the highest workload and Professor Slughorn set the least, he tended to forget. Apparently, he hadn't set the class a single assignment the whole academic year. That was fine with Eleanor, she much preferred her own revision to writing essay after essay as McGonagall wanted. In her first week, she had two scrolls to write, one for transfiguration and one for Alchemy. Ms Emmell already had a strong disliking for the girl but Eleanor was used to having hate at this point.
A small pellet of light zipped past her eyes and continued to circle her head. She plucked the bead of light out the air and a note was revealed in her hand. This was something El and her friends had made to get messages to each other fast. It travelled at the speed of light and only the sender and the receiver could read the message. The whole communication had taken them two years to master but it was worth it. She unravelled the note and it read:
'Eleanor, Céline est bien pire. Nous avons plus que jamais besoin de vous. Elle est devenue impitoyable depuis votre départ, nous avons besoin de votre chanson. Vous nous manquez tous et nous avons hâte de vous voir cet été. Tout mon amour, Emma. [Eleanor,
Celine is much worse. We need you more than ever. She's become ruthless since you left, we need your singing. We all miss you and look forward to seeing you this summer. All my Love, Emma.]' Her eyes pricked with tears, she missed her friends dearly and hated that she couldn't help anymore. Unfortunately, Eleanor had missed the past three moons meaning Celine would be struggling to stay calm. The girl tore off a piece of parchment and wrote back some tips for the girl. They probably wouldn't see it, the moon was already up back in France but it would help next month. She walked over to the window and with a flick of her wand, the orb went shooting through the night air.
However, what Eleanor didn't expect was to see three boys running across the grounds carrying a limp figure in their arms. They were heading straight towards the large tree that Eleanor was told to avoid. One boy completely shrunk and the large tree stopped swaying. The three disappeared into the trunk, leaving Eleanor speechless.
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The night was a rough one for all the boys. It was supposed to be a night of exploring Hogsmeade to find out where the last tunnel went. Unfortunately, Remus had to be returned to the shack when he almost attacked a young couple that got lost after a night at the three broomsticks.
That had landed three out of four boys in the hospital wing, temporarily. Peter had a broken wrist and James had received a rather nasty gash across his chest. Leaving Sirius the only one without any serious damage, he had a few cuts and bruises but he had to obliviate the couple as he was the only one good enough to do memory charms. A little white bird had saved the boys from obtaining too much damage and sent Remus to sleep with its whistle.
He had returned to the dorms to change after his clothes had been torn. What was unusual was the figure asleep on the scarlet sofa. Yes, students came out here on occasion but the fire would still be roaring and the sofa would be drowning in pillows and blankets. But this person had curled themselves up into a ball in the pitch black, the only reason he noticed was because of the little light circling their body. He saw the layers of blonde hair and knew exactly who it was, he had seen her sitting there earlier with Lily when they had snuck out under James' invisibility cloak. To be honest, the boy was utterly confused as to why she was sleeping down here at all and was curious about the orb circling her. Maybe it's a protection charm, he thought.
The boy tested his chances and decided to wake her up, luckily for him, nothing backfired. Her eyes fluttered open so swiftly, it was like she hadn't been sleeping at all. Flinging her legs off the sofa, she sat up, taking in her surroundings. She squinted slightly when she saw the boy, trying to figure out who it was.
"Sirius?" She said quizzically, rubbing her eyes to check she was actually awake. Her voice was quiet, even in the common room's silence. Through the darkness, she saw his lips pull into a small smile, one that she reciprocated with realising. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He said, raising his brow at her causing the blonde to shake her head at him. "I had to take Remus to the Hospital Wing, he wasn't feeling well." He explained, she nodded at him dismissively and he thought he was in the clear. The boy started to head towards his dorm when he froze on the spot.
"Is that why your clothes look like they've been ravaged by a pack of wolves?" She asked him, facing the wall as she stood up - needing to reply to her friends back home.
"I don't know what you mean." He acted dumb but he knew it was no use, the girl had such an attention to detail, he was surprised she didn't mention it when she first saw him. Unless, that was her plan all along, to get some sort of truth out of him. Remus had mentioned the look that Eleanor gave him but the boys had played it off as nothing.
"Seems implausible you would face such a thing just going to the hospital wing." Eleanor continued, completely blanking his attempt to escape. She grabbed the orb and unfolded the note, sitting by the window and reading it. The girl got her quill and parchment, replying instantly and sending it off. "Where are the other two? Are they getting treated too?" She asked, putting her stuff away. Sirius clenched his jaw, not wanting to spill anything to her. It could be a mind game after all. She could know nothing. For someone bad at lying, she had a very good poker face.
"No, they're sitting with Remus. Making sure he doesn't get worse." He told her and she hummed in acknowledgement. Finally turning to face him, she walked closer to him, stopping right outside the girl's steps. With one last glance, she disappeared. He let out a breath of air, he needed to get back and tell them.
"Oh, I was watching this tree earlier." Her voice interrupted his thoughts once more. "It was swaying in the wind and suddenly froze when three figures were close by. Strange, don't you think?"
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A few hours and a nap later, the three boys were lounging around their best friend's bed discussing the problem that is Eleanor Westbrook. Each of them had varying opinions on the situation and they were all wondering if she knew. If she did, how did she figure it out so quickly and did she tell anyone?
"She hardly knows me, what's keeping her from telling everyone. Do you know who her father is?" Remus expressed out of pure fear, the uncertainty was not good for his already slow recovery.
"Yes, I have and yet she's still friends with Evans. She is clearly not like him." James was the one that came to the girl's defence.
"But Muggleborns and werewolves are very different things." Peter inputted making Remus slide under his covers. James glared at him whilst Sirius stayed mute.
"You know her best, what do you think?" The bespectacled boy asked, catching Sirius' attention. He raised a questioning brow at his best friend, not really knowing himself. That's when the sound of the doors opening made them all jump out of their seats. Potter grabbed his cloak and the three boys huddled together so the cloak covered them. The fourth boy pretended to sleep in the bed, two voices chatted friendly amongst themselves, a beautiful laugh lighting up the drizzly Sunday morning. James nodded his head towards the doors, slipping through the curtain to see who it was. The three froze at the sight. Eleanor stood there, chatting to Madame Pomfrey, with a bunch of yellow acacias clasped in her left hand and a box of chocolates in the other. She turned around, looking straight at the three like she knew they were there. Staring Sirius in the eyes before disappearing to deliver the presents to the sandy-haired boy.
"I'm sorry, Remus." She whispered, placing the items down on his bedside table as she evaluated his condition. "I know. It's not my secret to know but I could tell the day I met you." She told the sleeping boy as his eyes flickered softly as if he was dreaming. "The chocolate's from me, it'll make you feel better. But the flowers, I'm sworn to secrecy about that one." Eleanor laughed lightly to herself. "I know you're awake by the way. Everything's easy to figure out when you know what to look for." She added as his eyes opened to look at the kind girl.
"How would chocolate help?" He asked, his voice rather hoarse and groggy. The statement made her laugh but he still looked rather confused.
"Out of everything you could have asked, that was your go-to." She pointed out, a weak smile formed on his face. "Get some rest." El told him, placing the flowers into the empty vase before walking away. "Oh and Remus." The boy hummed, turning to look at her. "I would never tell anybody." Eleanor told him and his whole demeanour seemed to settle but deep down the boy was still unsure.
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A/N: Here's a bit more of the other characters, I can't wait to delve into Adelaide's Pov next chapter. So stay tuned! Don't forget to vote and comment, I love all of your feedback!!
-isla <3
Edited: 15th February 2021