- Chapter Three -
"It's debatable."
Elladora woke up in the morning with a feeling that she knew something was going to happen today. That's right, the breakfast prank, she didn't know whether the boys were actually going to do it or not but it's better to be safe than sorry.
Instead of waiting for the other girls to leave first, she left with them this time, wanting to see if the boys really did initiate their prank. She strolled behind Alicia Hyde, a mean girl who inhabited the bed next to her, and walked into the hall.
She glanced at the Gryffindor table, seeing Sirius nudging James and gesturing to the flurry of Slytherins that had just entered. Instead of sitting at her own house table, Elladora walked to the end of the Gryffindor one and sat down next to Lily Evans, much to her surprise.
She buttered herself some toast and took a bite whilst watching her house mates dig into their bacon or their porridge, immediately spitting it out and having strangled cries coming from their lips as their tongues grew twice the size, puffing up in their mouths. They all expected Potter or Black to start laughing, but they were too busy staring in shock at the Slytherin at the Gryffindor table.
"How did she know?" Peter asked them in a hurried whisper, also staring at Elladora who made no move to try and talk to the redhead next to her.
"I don't know." Sirius and James said at the same time, tilting their heads to the right.
"Maybe she's psychic." Remus shrugged, half-joking whilst he continued to read his book, too engrossed in the chapter to even witness the stupid prank that his friends had pulled.
"Think she's a banshee?" Sirius asked them group as they turned into a huddle across the table.
"Don't be stupid, Banshees sense real danger, not pranks." The werewolf scoffed, putting down his book and joining the group huddle.
"Well, how else would she know?"
"Maybe she heard you guys in the kitchens?" Peter guessed.
"No, there was no one else there, we had the map, we saw it." James argued, breathing heavily and running his palms over his face. "Oh my god." He groaned, banging his head on the table dramatically.
"Prongs, don't get yourself all wound up, she knew what was going to happen and she didn't tell anybody." Sirius soothed.
"Here's an idea." Remus exclaimed as if they were babies. Not picking up on the time of his voice, the three other boys leant forward and listened to him. "Maybe, she didn't know what was going to happen and is just friends with Lily."
The boys all nodded and snapped their heads to look at the Slytherin once again who was not involved in the Gryffindors conversation, she was simply just eating.
Before anybody got a chance to say something else, a parliament of owls flooded into the hall with parcels and letter clasped in their beaks or between their talons. Letters were given to all four boys and to all four girls next to Elladora.
Just as expected, no black owl belonging to her parents came swooping down to her, she glanced towards the redhead next to her, watching her tear open a letter, a warm smile on her face as her eyes flick over the words scribbled onto the parchment.
Mulciber and Avery sat on the Slytherin table, had smirked at their letters and made eye contact with Elladora, holding them up and wafting them in the air tauntingly. She furrowed her eyebrows at them, not understanding what they were trying to say.
Then the impossible happened. A large black owl that looked more like an eagle flew in from the top window, other students looked up at the bird in amazement and awe whereas Elladora's eyes were wide with fear.
The owl dropped a letter down onto her lap and flew away again, it's wing slapping the girl in the face as it did.
With trembling hands, she slowly picked up the letter, seeing her name neatly scrawled on the front, now she knows it wasn't a mistake. Her eyes travelled to the staff table where her headmaster gave her a nod of reassurance, sitting up straight as if he was interested in the contents.
Elladora,
Writing to tell you not to come home at Christmas. We have some private business to attend to and your presence will not be needed or wanted here at the manor. You must come home for Easter however as that is when he is coming to imprint you. No excuses. Show this to anyone and you'll be dead before you can say "Voldemort'.
Cassiopeia
Her breathing became heavy as she stared down at the parchment, her hands still shaking. She looked up to see the two boys from before looking smug, although it was hard to take them seriously with their large tongues.
She focused on the letter once again, not believing what she had read. At Easter she would become one of Voldemort's loyal followers and she didn't have a choice. At Easter she will be bound to do whatever he tells her to, otherwise she'll be killed. Her new life starts at Easter, but that's ok. It'll all be over soon.
Now realizing that her vision had blurred, she set the letter face down onto the wooden table, beginning to wipe her eyes free of the hot stinging. Without another glance at anyone, she snatched the letter and strode out of the hall, knocking shoulders with a Ravenclaw as she did.
"I don't think I've ever seen her display any emotion." Peter told his friends, stuffing a piece of toast covered with jam and butter into his mouth.
"Yeah well, something in that letter made her cry." Sirius shrugged, dusting off his hands whilst he took a sip of orange juice from his goblet.
"It doesn't matter." James waved it off before leaning closer to his friends and continuing. "We need to find out how she dodged our prank, because if Moony's right and she really is friends with Lily, why wasn't she talking to her?"
"Oh come off it, Prongs. Have you ever actually seen her talk to anybody except the teachers?" Remus asked him incredulously, believing that just sitting next to someone was a lot for her.
"Hagrid." Peter pointed out as James and Sirius nodded.
"Plus Mulciber, Avery and Snape." The boy with round spectacles added, holding up a finger as he glanced at said three Slytherins who had inflated tongues, making him chuckle at his own prank.
"Yeah but she just looks angry when she talks to them." Sirius reasoned. "You can see it in her eyes."
"That's the only way she communicates." James snickered as the boys packed up their things to head to Herbology. Peter and Sirius joined in on the laughing as Remus rolled his eyes, following after them nevertheless.
•*•*•*•*•
"Gather round, gather round." Professor Sprout encouraged her students as pots of mandrakes sat on the table. Having heard of the small creatures before, nobody made a move except from Elladora who stepped forward, stationing herself in front of one of the pots.
"As eager as ever, Miss Hargreaves. Everybody quickly find a seat, quickly!" She hurried, the rest of the Slytherins and the Gryffindors found seats. James managed to wiggle his way next to Elladora, hoping to find out how she had known about their previous prank.
Professor Sprout gave the instructions on how to repot the creature and set the students to it. Cries of mandrakes echoed around the greenhouse, accompanied by cries of pain from students who had gotten their fingers bitten. Elladora pulled the gloves on securely and fastened them, taking the precautions very seriously.
"So, Dora...can I call you Dora?" James started, picking up his gloves and trying to fasten them expertly just like the girl next to him. She glanced at the boy and returned to her mandrake, not interested in having a conversation with him. "I was thinking-"
Not allowing him to continue speaking, she grasped the mandrake and pulled it out of its pot. The loud shrill scream cutting of his sentence, the boy looked offended as he abruptly stopped talking whilst she took her time to repot the creature.
"As I was saying, at breakfast-"
Elladora walked away to grab another mandrake before he could say another word. He stood there, staring at where she had once been stood as clicked his tongue and drummed his fingers against the table awkwardly.
"So, at breakfast you-" The cry of the mandrake echoed again as she stared blankly at the clay pots, filling them with soil. The other three marauders watched in amusement as James continued to try and talk to her, getting shut down every time.
"Mate, just leave it. She doesn't want to talk." Remus told him when she went to get yet another mandrake.
"It's not that I want her to talk, well, I do, because I need to know how she knew about the prank. But it's just she keeps interrupting me. I'll get to her eventually, she can't resist this." He gestured to himself, unaware of the girl standing behind him, staring up at the back of his head.
Peter chuckled and discretely pointed towards her, making him spin to see her staring up at him.
"Hey, Dora. So-" This time it was his mandrake that had yet to be repotted that screamed as she pulled it out of the pot, doing the work for him as she knew he would never do it by himself.
"Y'know I'm starting to think you don't like me." He scoffed, shaking his head as she wrote down notes on the mandrakes.
"It's debatable." She said shortly and quietly, scribbling down on the parchment as the boy stared at her wide-eyed, a smirk on his face as he leaned across the table.
"Well, now that you've said something to me. I'm James Pott-"
"Alright class! Swap seats, come on now quickly!" Professor Sprout called out, Elladora immediately walking over to sit next to a fellow Slytherin, leaving Sirius to come and clap a hand on James' shoulder, glancing back at their other two friends.
"Nice try mate, but she just can't be cracked by you. Let me try." He took the place opposite her, watching her eyes roll as she caught sight of the second Gryffindor that was ready to pester her and ask her questions until he was thrown back into the wall behind him by just her glare.
"Leave me alone." She said slowly, the words were foreign on her tongue whilst looking over her fellow Slytherins notes as he looked over hers, both of them correcting each other's work, more like Elladora correcting his and him just nodding in approval.
"So she speaks!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up whilst ignoring the girl next to him who was trying to get his attention. "Would you mind telling me about how you knew to avoid our little prank."
She ignored him and looked at the clock, squinting her eyes. Then the bell rang and everybody began to pack up, not caring that it was 30 minutes early.
"Well I guess time does fly by." Sprout laughed, collecting all the papers as Sirius stared at Elladora with his mouth agape and his eyes wide, sputtering out whatever syllables came to mind, having just witnessed her change the clock by staring at it.
Without anything left to say, the Slytherin picked up her stuff and matched out of the greenhouse, happy to get away from him. Of course she wasn't actually happy, she hadn't been happy a day in her life.
"What?!" Sirius shouted, startling his friends who were waiting for him to snap out of his trance. He started to smack James on the arm and point out of one of the greenhouse windows to where the Slytherin was walking back to her common room.
"What is it, mate?" Peter asked him, eating a piece of chocolate that Remus was offering him.
"Elladora! She changed the clock...with her mind." He told them, waving his hands around like a madman as he waited for them to marvel at her power. The three of only stared at him with bored expressions, not believing a word he was saying.
"Yeah...and Evans is so utterly in love with Prongs." Remus replied, sending Peter and James into a fit of laughter until the latter realised what he had said and faced the werewolf with a pout.
"Hey."
"I'm telling you! She's looked straight at the clock...the hands turned and the bell just rang!" Sirius told them, pointing to the clock.
"I think you need to rest, Padfoot." James clapped a hand on the boys shoulder, leading him out of the greenhouse with the two others following.
"Do you think she actually did it?" Peter asked the boy next to him, fixing his bag that was falling off of his shoulder.
"Not a chance, if she could do that then she'd already be the most famous wizard of our age." He dismissed the idea, not knowing why this girl had become the subject of most of their conversations. If only he knew that in a couple of days he would find himself panicking on top of the astronomy tower, telling that very girl all of his secrets just to comfort her.
In a couple of days, it would all be over, or so Elladora thought.
•*•*•*•*•
A/N: woohoo our bby is powerful af