11.2
Bonding Time-
After I told my girls about my feelings, they told me that the first thing I needed to do was tell Adelaide. So, once I am out of my dorm, I text said girl to meet me at our spot one last time. I don't have to wait long after arriving at the empty classroom.
The door slams open, and in comes a hardly put-together girl. Her hair is wild, her tie is hanging loosely around her neck, and her buttons are all wrong. She rushes towards me with wide eyes. "What is it? What's wrong?" I don't meet her gaze as I start to tame her hair. Once done, I step back and finally make eye contact with the brunette.
"I think we should break up." Her reaction is immediate. Her eyes widen even more, and she starts to sputter.
"Wha-What are you talking about?" I place my hands on her shoulders and tilt my chin down, trying to calm her down the best I can.
"There is nothing wrong with you," I take a deep breath and then continue to explain myself. "I have feelings for Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." My tone is soft as I finally put thoughts into words. Adelaide's mouth closes, and she leans her head back with raised brows
"Both of them?" I nod. "And here I was thinking you didn't have a heart." She smiles as she says this. We laugh together as I drop my hands from her shoulders.
I watch her leave the room after I help her put herself together. We mutually decided to end this affair privately, letting the rest of the school play catch-up once they finally take notice of our separation.
—
Sirius replies to my text by telling me to go to a corridor on the second floor to find who I am looking for. My walk is brisk as I make my way. I won't stop until I see a familiar head of brown hair sitting alone on the floor, leaning against the wall, and looking straight through the windows across from him out towards The Black Lake.
I approach Eldon quietly and sit next to him, frightening the boy. It takes a few moments before his breathing flattens out again.
"Hi there," I smile slightly at the younger boy. He greets me back with slight hesitance. "It's been a while since I saw you." He avoids eye contact with me. We sit in silence until he finally breaks.
"They don't like you." His tone is shaky; he looks to me. "They don't want me talking with you." "Who?" The question comes out fast.
"Carlise and his friends." His eyes go back to the windows. "They don't want me to talk to you, Elle, Jo, or the kids I introduced you to." His tone is timid and weak.
"And why do you listen to them?" His shoulders slouch, and he lets out a sigh, then meets my gaze once again.
"Because if I don't, they'll punish me like before." Anger flashes in my mind before I let it boil down, waves stilling.
"Come with me." I stand and lend him a hand to get to his feet. He follows me silently as we make our way through the castle. I lead him to the third floor, to The Room. He watches me reach out towards the painting and open the secret room.
I open it and let Eldon look inside with surprise clear on his face. I motion for him to enter, and he hesitantly does so. He chooses to sit on the nearest armchair while I take my spot on the couch. I watch as he looks around the room.
"Go ahead," Leaning back on the couch, I watch as he gets up and starts to explore the room more, going from the snack bar to the stained glass and then finally to the wall of shelves full of vinyls and CDs. I watch his childlike curiosity about the new space.
It's only a short time until my girls join us. Elle comes first and freezes upon seeing the boy in our space before she rushes forward and embraces him. Then, she pulls back and says she hasn't seen him in forever. Jo reacts much the same way, leaving out the hugging part. Both girls accept his presence and move on to doing their own things. It's only when I speak about what Eldon had told me earlier that voices fill the room.
"That is so not okay." Elle is the first to react. She sits up in the armchair and looks between Eldon and me. She then points at the younger boy and tells him he needs to learn how to deal with bullies.
"That's what I was getting at, Elle. I want to teach Eldon some ways to defend himself." I turn to the quiet Ravenclaw on the other side of the couch. "I wanted to ask for your help as you're the best teacher out of the three of us, and you know all of the basic jinxes and curses." Jo blinks at me until Eldon's small voice is heard.
"You don't have to if you don't want to, Jo." These words made her close her eyes and sigh before she heaved herself up off the couch and over to where the boy was.
This leads the three of us to teach the first year all of the different ways he can fight back against the bunch of boys who are controlling his social life. We spend the entire night perfecting his castings in an attempt to strengthen his resolve.
-940 Words-