Glancing back
Eleanor was deep into Ovid’s Metamorphoses when her mom handed her a red envelope. “Thees brought mail today.” she placed the rest of the mail on the coffee table.
The old brown owl took rare trips here nowadays.
Eleanor looked at the envelope and then at her mom. “Is there any correlation between Thees and Theseus?” closing the book she asked.
“The founder of Athens?” her mom looked at the cover of the book Eleanor was reading and sat down next to her. “He was already named when we got him.”
But Eleanor was barely listening to her. Her eyes were wide open and a big smile appeared on her face. “It’s from Holly.”
This was the first letter she received back from one of her friends. The first week of school was wrapping up at Ilvermorny and suddenly Eleanor felt a wave of sadness rush over her as she read the letter.
She missed her friends. And school. And most of her professors.
And being able to use her magic at home.
Eleanor felt her mother’s gentle hand on her shoulder as she started folding the letter she had just read. “Any plans this evening?” she asked softly after giving Eleanor a moment.
Eleanor nodded and placed the envelope down. “I’m going to meet Draco again.” she wiped a tear escaping with her finger. “By the lake. I think.”
Her mom pressed her lips together and sighed, looking at the photo album on the table. Eleanor was looking through it not that long ago. "I love that one.”
“It’s one of my favorites too.”
Little Eleanor was smiling wide in the photo that barely moved with a big gap in her mouth. A tooth was missing.
“Don’t catch a cold before school. And remember, tomorrow we’re going to London.” her mom reminded her and reached for the album. “Ed spent days making up the perfect potion. For the pain. When he finally did,” she laughed and shook her head. “You were perfectly fine! The tooth was gone.”
“Was I that difficult?” Eleanor laughed in disbelief.
“For days you cried and you screamed. We tried everything! And we never even found the tooth.” she sighed and handed Eleanor the album.
Eleanor smiled as she flipped another page of the photo album that her mom was now holding.
Four kids huddled around a black cat lying near the rose bushes. Eleanor looked carefully at each child. Draco was the only one not petting the cat the moment the photo was taken.
“Has he changed a lot?” her mom asked after seeing the photo.
Eleanor talked about Draco the moment she sat down at the dinner table last night. Her parents shared a quick glance when she mentioned meeting him outside. She guessed it must be whatever his dad did, that sparked the slight worry in them.
What did his dad do?
She had her own ideas but she wasn’t going to ask him yet. Did not want to pry. And she expected her parents to tell her soon enough. If it was important.
And it did seem important. Keeping the door of her room open for the breeze to travel quicker, she noticed the living room light shining onto the second-floor hallway longer than usual last night. They were talking.
“Haven’t we all?” she finally said. “And did you get a reply from the Headmaster?”
Eleanor’s mom shook her head and laughed as she opened the first page of The Quibbler that just came in this morning with the rest of the mail. “I’m starting to think you’ll figure that out when you’re at Hogwarts. Professors should have some spare books.”
Eleanor slightly shook her head and walked outside to write back to Holly.
“You’re not going to swim?” Eleanor asked as she walked towards Draco wearing a navy sweater and regular shorts. He was sitting on the edge of the pier, feet submerged.
His sweater looked too warm for the weather.
“Thought maybe we could take a walk?” he turned to look at her.
“You suck.” Eleanor placed her backpack down and stood beside him, towering at least for a moment. “Give me a few minutes, I want to jump in.”
Draco nodded, moving to the left, to give her more space for the jump.
Eleanor took off her clothes and walked to the start of the pier. She took a few seconds to collect herself. It was going to be cold.
“Want me to count?” she heard him ask with his head turned away still.
They used to count when they were little. All of them were scared of the freezing water.
But before he could start, Eleanor ran up to the edge and dived. The water was freezing, locking her body up for a moment as she emerged.
“Shit.” she yelped and started swimming back to the pier. “So cold.”
Draco chuckled to himself lightly and crossed his arms. “Don’t you have a pool?”
“Nothing beats the lake, Draco.” Eleanor pushed herself up on the pier.
Draco looked away, somewhere in the distance as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. She tried not to get any water on him. It was cold.
“So,” she sighed and sat beside him, face wet with water running down from her fringe. “Where do you want to go?”
“I’d invite you to our gardens, but my,” Eleanor noticed him visibly stiffen while rubbing his eyebrow. She frowned for a second without him noticing. “My aunt’s home.”
“We can come back to mine, if you want.” she placed the towel on her thighs and grabbed her shirt. “But my parents are home too.”
He took a moment before answering again. Draco was more serious today.
“I was thinking about that hill,” he signaled with his head to where the sun was setting.
“Okay, let’s go, Malfoy.” she elbowed him softly and stood up to put on her clothes.
“Are you going to be sorted with the first years?” he asked as they walked through the woods, taking a barely visible, winding path.
“Oh my God,” she groaned and proceeded to laugh. “I asked dad the same exact thing. Can you imagine?”
Draco chuckled and moved a lower branch out of the way before Eleanor could walk into it.
“They told my parents I’m being sorted before the first years.” she continued after thanking him with her eyes.
He scoffed. “Wouldn’t want to miss it.”
“Scared of me being sorted into your house?” she teased him as they both emerged from the woods.
The hill was plain and empty. No flowers or shrubs. Almost boring.
“Better than you in Gryffindor.” he put his hands in his pockets as they walked up.
“Oh! Prejudice against other houses?” Eleanor put on a shocked face. Her dad mentioned the rivalry can get pretty bad sometimes, especially between certain houses. It wasn’t that serious back in Ilvermorny.
The hill revealed a lit-up town. All houses radiated warmth as many of the lights were already on.
“Not without reason.” he sat down carefully.
“And what are the reasons?” she sighed and sat beside him. The light summer breeze was relaxing.
Draco looked down at the town. His eyes trying to catch any people walking around the lit-up streets. They were tiny but visible.
“What’s up?” she asked before he could even answer. For a second Eleanor thought she saw surprise in his face.
“Nothing of your concern.”
Eleanor frowned.
“I mean-” he noticed that. “Just a bad morning.”
They both sat in silence for a moment.
“Do you want to talk about it? Or just do something fun?”
Even if they haven’t seen each other in a very long time, Eleanor could tell Draco was off.
“Something fun?” he looked at her with a frown.
“Yeah. We can go to town-”
“Town?” he scoffed and looked into the distance.
“Yes?” she looked at the orange-lit town. “Maybe there are some bars or just things to do.”
“I’m not going there.” he sounded almost insulted.
“Okay? Then maybe a good night's sleep could help you-”
Eleanor was interrupted by someone apparating behind the two of them. A pop.
Draco jumped, drawing his wand out. At that moment, Eleanor felt naked. Wandless.
“Nephew!” a woman squealed.
Nephew? Was the woman his aunt? Eleanor was confused and she hadn’t noticed taking a few steps back as Draco stood slightly more in front of her.
It seemed like Draco grew a couple of inches when the woman appeared. His body stiffened again.
“Bellatrix.” he said.
Bellatrix. Bella was the name of his aunt. She remembered.
“Your mother and I have been looking for you.” her voice was too sweet, hissing even.
Draco was silent as his aunt slowly made her way towards them. Her long cloak was moving with the wind.
“I was wondering where you kept disappearing around the time we were-” she paused.
Eleanor was standing still. The woman’s mere presence was off-putting. Unnerving.
“And who is this pretty face?” she hissed and walked up the hill enough for her face to be slightly more lit up from the setting sun. Eyes wide open, curly hair all over her face.
“I’m-”
“She’s just leaving.” Draco cut her off and without looking at Eleanor, stepped towards his aunt.
“I’m Eleanor.” she frowned and looked at them both. Bellatrix did not leave her eyes, not for a second.
“Eleanor…” Draco’s aunt stepped around him and slowly walked toward Eleanor.
Eleanor was feeling uneasy. Looking at Draco for some sort of encouragement. Or a warning. But his face was unreadable.
“Pretty girl.” her voice condescending. Eleanor made out a grin through Bella’s thick hair covering the majority of her face.
“As I said, she was leaving.” Draco turned around but did not look at Eleanor, who stood confused and nervous in front of his aunt.
“Yes, I’m-”
“Draco,” Bella said slowly, still studying Eleanor’s face. “You’re not walking Eleanor home?”
“I’ll-”
“You missed our plans for this,” Bella cut her off again and turned around, smiling at Draco, who seemed just as nervous as Eleanor was. “Why not finish?”
“Eleanor-” he opened his mouth.
“I’m meeting my parents on the way back.” Eleanor lied. She wasn’t going to walk home with her by their side. “They are waiting by the lake, so I was just saying goodbye to-”
“Parents you say?” she was still grinning but her eyes gave her away. “Good.” she finally said and walked towards Draco grabbing onto his arm.
She could make out Draco jerking his arm away from her and rubbing it as if sore. They soon disappeared into the woods.
Draco did not turn around. But Bellatrix did right before entering the woods.
Eleanor stood on top of the hill clueless. And alone with the sun setting soon. Everything hit her at once and getting home was the only thing on her mind for the next half an hour.
She ran almost the entire way back, not stopping to catch her breath.
Eleanor couldn’t understand what scared her so much. Everything seemed so weird.
She just thanked it was still not completely dark outside. Maybe the bracelet would have been used finally.