- Chapter Eight -
"I just had the greatest idea."
TW: Mentions of suicide
For the next week, Elladora hadn't been to any lessons, she hadn't been to breakfast, lunch or dinner at all. She had not seen Remus Lupin or anyone else except for her dorm mates who leave her to it, not questioning where she was all week. At night, the girl would find what homework they had and do it in her own time, owling the essays to her teachers in the middle of the day. For meals, she would go to the kitchens and sit with Flick, who seemed very delighted to see her after Friday night, but still didn't utter a word.
Today was different though, whilst her fellow sixth-year Slytherins were at their Herbology lesson, Elladora was putting her finishing touches on her essay on Animagi for her transfiguration lesson. As she turned to get another pot of ink, since hers had run out, her headmaster was stood in the corner of the room, his lavender robes flowing down his sides as gracefully as always.
"Professor." She acknowledged, finding the pot she was looking for. The cap was quite easy to unscrew as she placed it where her old one was and lifted the empty one into the air, letting it disintegrate with a wordless flick of her wand.
"Miss Hargreaves." Dumbledore nodded, staring at the air where the fire had dispersed. "I have come to talk to you." He told her and she glanced up through her eyelashes, telling him that it was obvious why he had come. "I heard what happened on the astronomy tower."
"Then you know I need to be alone." She muttered, dotting her paper and then leaving it to dry so she could owl it off to Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Lupin has given me an account on what happened from his point of view. He also told me that he told you his secret." His face turned stony as he stared at her, watching as she realized what this little talk was about. As if she would tell anyone, she's known for years and she has yet to let the secret slip.
"I've known for years."
""I know. But I trust that since he has confirmed this, you won't go around telling anybody." He requested, smiling when she nodded. "I also came to check that you were still breathing, considering that no body has seen you move for a week."
"Still here." She replied disinterestedly. "You know that, you would know-"
"Forgive me for interrupting but Mr. Lupin has been distressed all week about your health, especially because of Friday night. He requested I check on you, even if the other Slytherin's hadn't raised any concerns." He told her. Her eyebrows raised the slightest bit in surprise, no one had ever cared where she was or what she was doing.
"That's right, Elladora." Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "The boy has certainly seemed more stressed than normal recently."
"That's because it's the full moon in 5 days." Elladora moved over to her bare bedside table and reached into the drawer, pulling out an envelope to stuff her essay inside. "He tends to get angry and ill-mannered during these times as well as sick."
The headmaster hummed in agreement and bid her farewell, walking back out of the room. She didn't hear him come in so he probably apparated, but apparently you can't apparate inside or outside of the school. He is Dumbledore, so he could do anything. Elladora's gaze lingered where the man was once stood for just a second, thinking over what he said and pulled out another piece of parchment.
•*•*•*•*•
Lupin,
I am fine.
Elladora.
Remus' eyes scanned the letter one more time and he shook his head running a hand over his face. He got this letter at lunch from the parliament of owls that flew in from the window and now it was dinner and he was still reading it over and over. The words were so vague, but then again, what was he expecting form Elladora Hargreaves? It was true that he had been worried about her health all week, there were more ways to end your life than throwing yourself off of the astronomy tower. He had a right to be worried.
He glanced over at the staff table and saw Dumbledore enjoying his steak and kidney pie. The elderly wizard looked up as he felt the pair of eyes on him and nodded at the werewolf. Remus sighed and faced his friends again, who now had hold of the letter somehow. His eyes grew ten times the size as he snatched it back from them hastily, stuffing it intro his inside pocket.
"How long have you been swapping letters with Elladora?" Peter whispered, sounding slightly deflated, no surprise since he had a crush on the girl, despite not ever talking to her. At all. Remus didn't understand how you could like someone with out knowing them, let alone seeing them.
"This is the first one." He whispered back hurriedly, fixing his tie and looking down at his plate, before glancing back up at the two other parts of their group, who looked both shocked and amused at the same time.
"'I am fine'" Sirius quoted through a short laugh. "What did you ask her? 'Are you fine?'" He guessed, making James laugh as he drank from his goblet.
"Hang on," The boy with round glasses said once his laughter died down. "Were you with Hargreaves last Friday night? Did you actually make her cry?" His mouth dropped open, along with Peter's and Sirius' as they waited for an answer.
"No! I didn't make her cry." He said and then realized his mistakes of putting emphasis on the 'I'.
"What did then?" Peter asked.
"I don't know." He replied shortly and dug into his food, looking anywhere but at their inquiring faces.
"Yes, you do."
"No, I don't."
"Yes. You do."
"No. I don't."
"Yes you-"
"She tried to kill herself, okay?" He whisper-shouted at them and they shut up almost immediately, their mouths parting in shock. "God, it wasn't my thing to go spreading around, but you guys had to be annoying gits and force it out of me." The three boys looked genuinely disappointed in themselves as Remus seethed at them. "For gods sake, you can't tell anyone, okay?"
They all nodded but one look at their friend's still angered face, made them say it aloud. "Yes, Remus." They spoke, nothing could describe the disappointment they had in themselves, this wasn't their business and they had forced it out of their friend. The werewolf nodded once and picked up his plate, moving to sit with Frank Longbottom instead.
Peter turned to James and Sirius, filling up with regret. "Is he mad at us?"
"Oh, yeah." James nodded, frowning. "I can't believe we just did that, I definitely did not expect that." He sighed, rubbing his forehead and looking down at his plate.
"I just had the greatest idea." Sirius claimed and the two boys looked a him incredulously, thinking it was some sort of an idea for a prank. "You know how I was upset when I first ran away from home? You guys cheered me up and made my life so much better. Why don't we do that for Elladora?" He exclaimed.
James looked as though he had just been told he'd won the lottery as he sat up straight and looked at his best friend. "Amazing, Padfoot! Amazing." They did their small handshake.
"But Sirius was already friends with us, Elladora hasn't said anything to any of us except for Remus I'm guessing." Peter told them.
"She told me to leave her alone." Sirius shrugged and James nodded in agreement. "Listen, wormtail, I know how it feels to be in her position, it's horrible. It breaks you, who knows when she'll next try it, no one would be there. We need to make her better before she ends it all." Peter fell silent at this before nodding his head encouragingly.
"Let's do it. But we have to run it by Remus first." He said and the other two nodded, a small, grateful smile coming onto Sirius' face. He has never told anyone this, but he got scared just by looking at Cassiopeia and Rodolphus Hargreaves. They would often come over to meet with his parents, their cold hard eyes, similar to Elladora's, would send chills down his spine. Regulus too.
The long-haired boy looked over at the Slytherin table to his brother, seeing him looking quite thoughtful as he looked to an empty seat at the end of the table, Elladora's seat. Mulciber and Avery were whispering things to him and Snape, then laughing about it whilst looking to the empty seat. Regulus caught Sirius' gaze and gestured to Elladora's empty space with his eyes, growing worried.
Sirius shook his head and turned away, there was no way she was becoming a death eater. Not after a stunt like the one on Friday. There was no way. If she was, then the Gryffindor would do everything in his power to stop it. He has seen what the dark lord can do to you and he wasn't about to let Elladora succumb to the dark magic, even after speaking to her once.
•*•*•*•*•
The boys had told Remus their plan on the way back to the common room, and he seemed to actually agree, a smile made it's way onto his face as they climbed the stairs to their dorm. Since it was the full moon in 5 days, he had gone to sleep early, wanting the extra rest if they wanted to be in good moods for whenever Elladora came out of their dorm. He had explained everything to them about the night on the Astronomy tower before he slept, leaving out the part where she knew about their animal forms.
They all went to sleep one by one except for James Potter, who stayed up, staring at the map that they had created just last year. He often did this, just seeing where others were in the castle amused him. He had a small grin on his face until he spotted Elladora's name walking the route to the astronomy tower. His panic set in and he slipped on his slippers immediately, grabbing his cloak, only to see her walk right past the staircase and towards the kitchens.
He breathed a sigh of relief and plopped back on his bed watching her name cross the line into the kitchens. His relief was short-lived when he saw her leaving the kitchens almost immediately, at the same time Snape, along with two other Slytherins were walking past, what they were all doing out at that time, James did not know. But he knew he had to do something when the three footsteps stopped in the middle of the hallway, next to each other.
Just as he was about to exit, with the map in hand, they started moving again. He let out another sigh, this one was aggravated as he fell down back onto is bed again with a huff. Deciding that this was enough of staring at the map for one night, he muttered the closing words and set it on his night stand, taking his glasses off and placing them next to it.
If she stayed up just a minute longer, he would've seen Filch coming round the corner and catching Elladora out at night. He would've seen Snape hanging back just a moment longer as the other Slytherins marched away from the girl maliciously. James Potter was unknowingly setting up Sirius Black and Elladora Hargreaves for detention together.
•*•*•*•*•