- Chapter One -
"Worthless."
"Resist Elladora!" Cassiopeia Hargreaves shouted at her daughter, the two of them in the small dark room that was like a sick, damaged home to the young Slytherin.
Elladora was hit again with the cruciatus curse, writhing around in pain on the floor whilst she cried out, feeling like her limbs were being torn from her body one by one. Last summer it was practicing for resisting the imperius curse which was a trying process but eventually worked. The current summer was the torture curse, this was much much harder.
Tomorrow, she would be starting her sixth-year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Her past five years had been spent alone, apart from her weekly tea sessions with Hagrid. People had tried to talk to her, wanting to be her friend purely for the fact that she's rich. However her social awkwardness had thrown them off and they leave as soon as they come.
"Resist!" Another cruciatus curse was thrown her way, making her cower into the corner as she tried to grip anything to hold her wait, but there was nothing in the room except from her and her mother.
"I can't." Elladora choked, coughing violently when she was released from the spell, harshly landing to the floor where black and blue bruises would surely form. The moment of peace was quickly turned into panic once again as Cassiopeia came and held her wand up to her daughters neck, digging it into her skin as she spoke.
"When I was your age, I could snap somebody's neck with the click of my fingers, so unless you want that to happen to you, I suggest you resist. The dark lord doesn't take weak links." She spat, moving away and examining the round red mark she had left on the young girls neck.
All the training was for one and one thing only, the dark lord. Cassiopeia and Rodolphus Hargreaves were very loyal death eaters, along with the Malfoy, Rosier and Carrow parents. They had made it their life's mission to eventually make her one of Voldemort's loyal followers. The other children were completely up for it, excited even. But Elladora was dreading it, she hated the torture, she hated the killing and she hated the dark lord. There was no running away, they would find her and kill her if she ran. That's why when she went back to Hogwarts, the first week of the term would be where it all ended, people would regret the way they treated her the following day.
"Resist!" Cassiopeia yelled, pointing her wand at her daughter once again as the girl hit her head roughly against the wall, making a cut appear on her forehead as she cried out for it to stop.
"That's enough." Rodolphus Hargreaves appeared in the doorway of the dark room, a small bit of light flooding in from the outside. "She's no use to the dark lord if she's driven to insanity." He darkly chuckled.
Elladora was trembling in the corner, shaking with fear as he came closer to her, shaking his head whilst tutting. "How-" he started, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her up. "do you expect him to want you when you're weak enough to let the cruciatus curse tie you down." His voice became louder and louder by the second as he tossed her back down to the floor.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clutched tightly onto the big black sweater she found in the Hogwarts lost and found. A foot lodged into her stomach as she whined.
"Worthless." Her father spat, kicking her again and adding to the never-ending pain. She couldn't see her parents leave the room and close the hatch for light as she had her head buried into the ground, sobbing loudly.
"Wait." She croaked, crawling over the door and trying to bang on it even though it just came out as pathetic little taps. "Wait." She cried, leaning her back against the wall and burying her head in her arms.
•*•*•*•*•
"Afternoon, Elladora." Lily Evans greeted as she passed the compartment that the Slytherin was sat in. The redhead would always make an effort as she felt bad for the girl, having no friends must be hard, however that's all she ever says, deciding to become best friends with her dorm mates instead. That didn't necessarily work for Elladora as all the girls absolutely hated her to no extent, just because she didn't talk to them. It's not her fault the only words she said growing up were 'stop' and 'please'.
She glanced at the Gryffindor who zoomed past, her prefect badge glittering from the light that entered through the window to the left of her. It was no surprise that Evans was a prefect, she was the smartest in the year, especially in potions.
Left in silence once again, the girl stared at the wall in front of her, debating on the pros and cons of the action she would perform in the future. Her posture was just as straight as ever as she fiddled with her hands on her lap.
"Anything from the trolley dear?" The elderly woman who pushed a trolley that was full of endless amounts of sugar appeared where the fiery-haired Gryffindor was once stood. She wore a bright smile as she looked at the young girl, having noticed how she was alone every train ride, having heard the whispers about her from the other children.
Elladora simply shook her head and the lady moved on, never in her life had the girl ever touched any kind of sweet. Her parents wouldn't let her have any when she was younger and they wouldn't sign her permission slip to Hogsmeade. The staff at Hogwarts were also told not to allow her to have any, so very reluctantly, McGonagall had put a charm on the desserts, that gave her a shock every time she put a hand on a piece of cake.
Every time she would visit the headmasters office, he would offer her a lemon drop, or even a fizzing whizbee, or maybe a treacle fudge but she would always refuse, her parents would find out. Somehow, they always did.
Lily Evans ran past the compartment again, giving her another smile, but this time she had a boy in tow. His name was Remus Lupin, one of the four Marauders.
Now, the Marauders were a group of boys who basically owned the school. You have James Potter, who has raven-coloured shaggy hair and round spectacles, he is also hopelessly in love with the redhead Gryffindor, who didn't like him back at all. Next there's Sirius Black, the teenage heartthrob of Hogwarts, he always has the same cocky and arrogant grin plastered to his face as he struts about the hallways, filled with girls who swoon every single time he turns a corner. Then there's Remus Lupin, he's much more reserved than the rest of his friendship group, always has his nose in a book or is chatting away with his friends, he also has plenty of girls swooning over him but takes no action except for the charming friendly smile he gives them all. Last is Peter Pettigrew, a small blonde boy who doesn't really get the girls but is as much as a marauder as James, Sirius and Remus.
They are known all over the school for their mischievous pranks to the other houses or the childish rivalry they have with Severus Snape, a Slytherin boy who used to be best friends with Lily, but is now hanging out with the wrong crowd in Elladora's opinion. He often reminds the girl of a wet mop.
The only person who has not yet fallen victim to the endless tricks, is the very girl sat staring at the wall ahead. She doesn't know whether it's that they don't even know she exists or that they don't think she's a worthy target. Whatever the reason, she's grateful. Pranks are usually messy or embarrassing meaning everybody's attention is pulled to you. Attention is one thing that Elladora did not want, if you paid attention to her then you would see the forehead scars and the neck bruises, things she can't fully cover with makeup.
Realising that she hadn't actually tried to cover up the bruises since she had been in a rush this morning, she takes her concealer and brush that she always keeps in the inside pocket of our robes for emergencies just like this and walks down the aisle of the train towards the bathroom.
"Excuse me." She mumbled as she came across Snape, Mulciber and Avery, everyone knows that the latters were trouble. Their parents were close acquaintances with her parents so she hoped that Snape would save himself whilst he still can.
"Ah, Miss Hargreaves." Mulciber exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby students who were eager to see if the young girl would ever speak.
"Excuse me." She tried to push past them to the bathroom but was pushed back by Avery, who smirked at her and leaned against the doorway. Snape also smirked and crossed his arms.
"Come to finally take on our friendship?" Mulciber asked, raising his eyebrows aggressively as his eyes raked her up and down, the stupid smirk still on his face.
"No, just bathroom." She told them, glancing up to meet their eyes that were staring so intensely back at her.
"What's on your neck?" Snape taunted, having been told about what her parents do to her as he reached out to touch the bruises, stopped by her wand coming up to his neck. She stared at him with no emotion which freaked him out quite a bit but we would never admit that.
"Let's go." Avery scoffed, also quite terrified as he led his two friends away from the way to the bathroom where Elladora gladly marched into, locking the door and looking into the mirror as the bruises seemed to be more prominent.
She smeared some of the liquid onto the marks and blended it in with her brush, tucking the two supply's into her inside pocket before opening the door back up, walking into a body because she wasn't looking where she was going.
Remus Lupin stood before her, his face burned with embarrassment as Elladora Hargreaves stood before him, her dark brown eyes staring up at him as he stumbled over his words, not liking being up this close with the quiet girl who just looked at him.
Before he could form a proper sentence, she had brushed past him and marched back to her empty compartment, her posture still perfect as ever, her neck looking unharmed and seeming as though she was the same Elladora that had come to the school in first year.
•*•*•*•*•
"Welcome!" Dumbledores voice echoed around the great hall. The first years had just been sorted, adding 8 more students to the Slytherin table. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, now before we become befuddled by our wonderful feast, I have been asked to remind you that the forbidden forest is off limits to all students at all times, hence the name forbidden, as well as our gamekeeper, Hagrid's, hut on Friday afternoons." He cast a knowing look towards Elladora who stared at him with gratitude in her eyes. Friday afternoons were the times where the half-giant and the Slytherin would have their hot tea and rock cakes, whatever was said in that small house, never left. It was kind of like a therapy session, so they didn't need nosy students wavering around the outside.
"On a more deeper note, I'm sure we are all aware of a certain war that is happening in our world right now, I advise you all to keep safe and do not go looking for trouble. If you know of any students who could be considering joining the dark lord, please bring it to my attention immediately." He informed sternly, causing Elladora to stiffen and look over at Mulciber and Avery who sat nonchalantly, staring up at the old man.
"Let the feast, begin!" He announced, the plates in front of the students filled with different kinds of meat, sides and toppings. Everybody pounced towards the food and once, piling things onto their plates as the young girl waited patiently for the chaos to die down.
"We're home." Elladora heard a Gryffindor say to her friend from behind her.
If only she could say the same.
•*•*•*•*•