Eleanor & Fred

Fred walked me back to Ravenclaw tower where I was going to meet up with Alice. His hand didn’t leave mine the entire time and he kissed me once more when saying goodbye. I felt like I was flying. I didn’t think anything could bring me down.

I was wrong.

Once inside the common room, I asked if anyone had seen Alice. After being told she was in our dormitory, I went up to find her. She was sitting on her bed, curled up into a ball.

“Alice?” My voice startled her, but I knew that it wasn’t enough to ‘cause the scared look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

I walked quickly over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it as she sat up. Without a word she held her hand up to me, palm-down. The back of her band was smeared with blood, causing me to feel nauseous. “What happened?”

“Umbridge.” Her voice was so quiet that I could barely hear it. Before asking any other questions I pulled out my wand and helped her clean it up. Once the blood was wiped away, I could make out words etched into her skin. “I will not question authority.”

“She did this to you?” I cried.

“No…I did it to myself.” I stared at Alice in shock. “She made me write lines and…every time I wrote my skin was cut deeper. I had to write in my own blood, Ellie. This woman is mental.”

“We have to tell someone,” I stated.

“Ell… I’m not sure if we should. I don’t want to cause a big fiasco. Besides, I definitely don’t plan on getting any more detentions.” She looked sad, helpless. As much as I wanted Umbridge to pay for what she had done to my best friend, I didn’t want to go against Alice’s wishes. I agreed to keep it between us as long as it didn’t happen again. She was going to bandage it up and we would tell everyone that her she cut herself on a broken mirror she found in her trunk.

I was NOT looking forward to my next D.A.D.A class at all.

* * * * *

The next morning, Fred was waiting to walk me down to breakfast, looking shy, as he had been the last few days. “’Morning Ellie.” He placed a quick kiss on my cheek before grabbing one of my hands, entwining his fingers with mine as we began walking. “You know, tomorrow is going to be a pain, not having any class together and all.”

“Agreed.” He smiled at my response, and for a moment the stress caused by the previous night vanished. I didn’t think I would ever be able to get the image of Alice’s bloody hand out of my mind.

“So, what are your plans for the day?”

“I think I’m going to spend it with Alice and the guys.” I shot him an apologetic look.

“That’s fine. I think I need some brotherly bonding anyway. George looks so lonely without me.” I shook my head, chuckling. We walked in a comfortable silence until we reached the Great Hall. “This is where we part.”

“I’ll see you at dinner?”

Fred nodded before leaning down to kiss me. Across the hall, a few whistles and cheers erupted. George and several other Gryffindors were grinning at us. Fred apologized before we went our separate ways, shooting glances at each other until we sat down.

“I told you he loved you,” Alice grinned.

The smile I returned was only half-real as I glanced at her bandaged hand. She gave me a glance that said ‘not a word’ and I decided to focus on my food. When Jay announced that mail was arriving, I didn’t bother looking up. I had never received a piece of mail at Hogwarts.

Therefore, it was safe to say that I was startled when a letter fell onto the table in front of me. Alice, Jay, and Wes were looking at it with wide eyes. Finally, Wes said “Open it.”

I carefully picked it up and broke open the seal, unrolling the piece of parchment. I sighed before reading it aloud.

Eleanor,
Your brother has written to us about your new-found friendship with the Weasley boy. We have allowed you to have your friends, but this we cannot accept. You have proven an even bigger disgrace than we thought. While being sorted into Ravenclaw was a horrible tragedy, we thought perhaps, once you were through with school, you would try to turn your life around. Instead, you are making decisions which can only lead us to one of our own. We are afraid that we can no longer consider you a part of our family. You no longer have a home with us.

~James & Nora
I stared at the page in front of me. Though it was not altogether shocking, tears had formed in my eyes. My friends were silent as I reread the letter to myself. I had never expected my family to approve of me, but to completely disown me, I couldn’t comprehend it.

I had no family. No home.

Jay placed an arm around my shoulders and before I realized what I was doing, I buried my face into his chest and cried. I could feel stares upon me but I didn’t look up. Sure, my family had been cruel to me, but that didn’t make this hurt less. Jay placed a hand on the back of my head, murmuring that it would be okay.

I didn’t look up at anyone for the rest of breakfast. Jay just let me sit, face buried in his shirt, until almost everyone was cleared out of the hall. Even Alice and Wes were gone. When I finally pulled away from him, I imagined my eyes to be puffy and red, making me look as awful as I felt. “Thank you,” I whispered to Jay as I stood.

“It’s fine, Ell. Are you going to be alright?” I nodded as he stood as well. “Well, someone’s waiting for you. He looks pretty worried.” I followed his gesture to see the red-haired boy I adored standing just outside of the Great Hall, staring down at his shoes.

I gave Jay a massive hug before heading toward Fred.