Awful goodnight
Eleanor sat on the stairs waiting for her mom to come back home. Leaving early did not really work out for the two. Her mom only meant to go and pick some apples from an old wizarding family nearby. But it’s been around 2 hours and Eleanor was bored, laying beside the pool, hands tapping the water lightly.
She was thinking about last night. About his aunt. Reliving her conversation with her parents, lying, saying she was nearby, not telling them about Bellatrix. She knew her evening strolls to the lake would end if she did tell them. And she knew she was stupid for not.
Eleanor looked at the sky, trying to ignore the big grey clouds coming from the west. No-maj families were disappearing, wizards too. She read the newspapers after talking with her parents last night.
What did his dad do? She kept wondering.
“Nell, ready?” her mom made her jump just a little bit.
They reached London late afternoon. Planned to be there at ten.
“The Rise and Fall of Athens?” Eleanor opened her mouth in surprise, turning back to her mom. “I’ve been looking for this.”
Her mother smiled at her and continued browsing the fiction section.
The bookstore was filled with no-maj’s. The sky above London was almost black and the winds were blowing, but it did not stop everyone from doing their end-of-summer shopping.
“I’ll need to come back here soon,” Eleanor walked back to her mom while holding 5 books in one hand. “Or actually no, please don’t let me come here. I’ll have to be dragged out.”
“You are not the only one,” her mom laughed and walked to the front with 3 books of her own. “Got one for Ed too.”
“Do we have any pounds left at home?” after paying Eleanor checked how much she had left. She didn’t plan on spending almost all of it on books.
“Dad will go to the bank tomorrow, exchange some. Diagon Alley now?” her mom asked while putting her wallet away.
The second-hand bookstore that they both occupied for the past half hour was close to Leaky Cauldron.
“Looks creepy.” Eleanor frowned when they stood in front of the pub. It looked empty and it was getting dark outside, it was going to rain any moment now. “Oh look, another one.”
Eleanor walked away from the pub to look inside another no-maj bookstore. This one had fewer people inside, but it still looked busy. Nothing compared to the Leaky Cauldron.
“It is quite empty.” her mom opened the door to the pub and held the door for Eleanor.
An old wizard turned to meet them inside. The leaky Cauldron was completely empty. You could hear faint music playing and someone talking in the kitchen.
“Hello!” the old man exclaimed. He seemed a little bit too happy.
“Hello,” Eleanor’s mom gave him a thin smile and continued walking to where the entrance to the Alley was. “We might stop by later, but we need to do some shopping first.”
“Very well!” the old wizard took slow steps to the kitchen, eyes hopeful.
Eleanor continued following her mom through a door, reaching a tall red brick wall. “Oh, I remember this.”
With a quick tap, the bricks started moving and soon Eleanor and her mom were inside, walking through the cobbled street.
“Shit, is anything even open?” Elanor frowned. She remembered this place more full of life, brighter and louder. Now Diagon Alley was gloomy, people seemed to be in a hurry, looking over their shoulders, scared. Paranoid.
“Hey, watch that mouth, Nell.” her mom continued walking. But Eleanor could tell she was surprised as well. “Let’s get you robes first, we will get books later, as we aren’t even sure which ones you will need.” Eleanor nodded at her mom’s words. “And dad said her found some old cauldrons of his in the basement.”
Eleanor followed her mom and continued staring at every store, closed or open.
“Is this where dad got his wand from?” she stopped in front of a boarded-up store.
“Hm.” her mom looked up for a sign. “Ollivanders. Yes.” she sighed and walked up to the gaps in the windows with a sad look on her face. “What a shame.”
“Did he leave?”
“I don't think so.” her mom pressed her lips together after peeking inside.
“Is it because of him?” Eleanor looked at her mom curiously through her dark fringe, which was already too long for her liking.
“It is.” she looked around carefully. Always ready. Just like everybody else around them it seemed.
They walked past many other stores before the sign of Madam Malkin’s came into view. Some were open and very keen on attracting customers. Others tried to sell protection charms and necklaces, gaining a few customers thanks to fear. It must be hard to stay open now.
“Oh!” Eleanor turned to her mom, who was looking at a couple not far from them. “Nell, you go to Madam’s, I’ll be right there.”
Eleanor kept turning around to see if she knows the people her mom said hello to as she entered Madam Malkin’s.
For a second she believed the store was left unlocked by accident but soon enough she heard someone speak.
“Is the color right?” a sweet voice asked someone near the changing rooms.
“I think it’s perfect, don’t you think Draco?”
Draco walked closer to the mirror, coming into Eleanor’s view.
He towered over both of the women as he stood in front of the mirror, carefully examining the robes. Turning slightly to the left, to see the back, he looked serious. And annoyed.
“This is the newest shade of green we have,” the sweet lady, who must be Madam Malkin herself tugged lightly at the bottom of Draco’s robes, showing his mother the shade of green.
“Are you here for your school robes, dear?” all three turned to Eleanor, who still stood by the door.
“Yes.” she nodded and walked closer to the staring three. “Hello.”
Draco’s mom held her head high as she analyzed Eleanor’s face. Narcissa was her name. Eleanor remembered thinking it was a pretty one.
“You will have to wait until I’m finished dear, but until then,” Malkin smiled as she put a few pins into Draco’s green robes. “You can look around, maybe find a color you like for new dress robes.”
Eleanor smiled back at Madam and turned her head to Draco. The boy held his head high, just like his mother did, as he nodded at her and her eyes for the mirror.
“Draco,” Narcissa spoke as she looked at Eleanor. “A friend of yours?”
“Watch it!” he jerked his hand away from Malkin’s pins and after a moment cleared his throat. “Yes, Mother. Eleanor.”
Eleanor almost frowned at Draco, but he didn’t even look at her. Just a face full of disdain.
“Eleanor?” Narcissa slowly walked towards Eleanor. She had a warmer smile than her sister’s, less sinister but still hiding something. “I remember you little.”
Eleanor gave Narcissa a thin smile and quickly glanced at Draco over her shoulder. He quickly turned away and jerked his arm again. Malkin seemed to be holding her breath around him.
Even if Narcissa smiled, Eleanor felt as if she was under scrutiny standing next to her. Rarely did she ever feel at ease next to his mother. They didn’t spend much time at the Malfoy Manor and there were evenings when Narcissa would argue with her parents. But she barely remembered those fights by the front door. She played with Draco upstairs during.
“Is this alright?” Malkin turned to Narcissa leaving Eleanor to stroll around and look at the various fabrics.
Burgundy, dark green, which was different than the one Draco had on now, and navy. These colors caught Eleanor’s eye immediately.
“It is pretty, isn’t it?” Narcissa’s eyes fell on Eleanor once again.
She left the pretty fabrics and walked over to the clothing racks. Malkin stood tall, even if she was the shortest, proud of her work.
“It looks nice.” Eleanor pressed her lips together and nodded as she looked at Draco’s robes. They were pretty but she felt uneasy standing next to the three. Something was off. “I’m going to see some for myself.”
“While you sort this out,” he looked at his mother quickly. “I need to see another store.”
“Wait! The pins!” Malkin almost shrieked and looked at Draco with worry when he tried to take off the robes quickly.
Eleanor didn’t even notice herself quietly watching them instead of looking at the fabrics.
“Draco, you are not going alone.” Narcissa crossed her arms.
When suddenly the door of the store opened and three kids her age walked in, Eleanor thought of her mom. As always, she was taking longer than promised. She must have been the only one who noticed the kids immediately, as the other three were almost talking all at once.
“I’m not a child, in case you haven’t noticed, Mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone.” Draco grew louder and Eleanor frowned. Was he always like this? “And she is shopping alone.”
It seemed like all six turned to Eleanor, who opened her mouth to say her mother was just outside, but Malkin was quicker.
“Now, dear, your mother’s quite right, none of us is supposed to go wandering around on our own any more, it’s nothing to do with being a child –”
“Watch where you’re sticking that pin, will you!” Draco jerked his right leg and walked over to the mirror where he immediately noticed the other three by the door. His eyes narrowed and he scoffed. “If you’re wondering what the smell is, Mother, a Mudblood just walked in.”
“Draco!” everyone turned to Eleanor. She didn't mean to say it out loud but now stood with eyes wide and mouth open clutching her bag so hard her nails left marks on her palm. She was glaring at Draco before turning to look at the two boys and a girl standing by the entrance. Even she knew what the word meant.
Draco’s eyes narrowed as he stared back at her, full of contempt, before looking up the three by the door.
“I don’t think there’s any need for language like that!” Malkin raised her voice while looking at the boys from both sides. She was still holding the tape measure and a wand. “And I don’t want wands drawn in my shop, either!”
Two boys were pointing their wands at Malfoy. Eleanor covered her mouth with a hand and kept glancing back at each side of the store. Draco scoffed when he saw the girl whisper something in the back.
“Yeah, like you’d dare do magic out of school,” he sneered. “Who blacked your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers.”
Eleanor’s mouth shut tight. She couldn’t stop staring at Draco. She could not believe it was the same boy she played with or even spent time with the days before. Was she a fool?
“That’s quite enough!” Malkin was loud and sharp, looking over her shoulder at Narcissa. “Madam – please –”
Narcissa walked in front of Draco. “Put those away,” she said coldly to the boys. “If you attack my son again, I shall ensure that it is the last thing you ever do.”
Again? It was getting difficult for Eleanor to keep up.
“Really?” the boy with the glasses took a step forwards and stared into Narcissa’s face, which at the moment, appeared to be extremely similar to her sister’s. “Going to get a few Death Eater pals to do us in, are you?”
Malkin squealed and clutched at her heart. “Really, you shouldn’t accuse – dangerous thing to say – wands away, please!”
But the boy did not lower his wand and the words Death Eater did not leave Eleanor’s mind. She read about them too.
“I see that being Dumbledore’s favorite has given you a false sense of security, Harry Potter. But Dumbledore won’t always be there to protect you.” Narcissa smiled unpleasantly at the boy as he looked mockingly all around the shop.
Harry Potter. Some kids were talking about Harry Potter at Ilvermony too. Mostly the ones that had Aurors or MACUSA officers as parents.
“Wow … look at that … he’s not here now! So why not have a go? They might be able to find you a double cell in Azkaban with your loser of a husband!”
Eleanor quickly turned her head away from the boy and Narcissa as she noticed Draco move. He must have tried to reach Harry but stumbled over his robe on the floor.
The other boy laughed loudly and the girl smiled.
“Don’t you dare talk to my mother like that, Potter!” Draco was loud, trying to pull the robes off of the ground and off his feet.
“It’s all right, Draco,” Narcissa placed her hand on Draco’s shoulders. “I expect Potter will be reunited with dear Sirius before I am reunited with Lucius.”
Harry raised his wand higher.
“Hey!” Eleanor instinctively took a few steps to the front and reached for her own wand. “Stop!”
Everybody started talking over each other. Narcissa whispered something to Draco’s ear while still pressing on his shoulders. The other boy glared at Eleanor while she watched Harry and the girl.
Malkin was talking to herself quietly.
“Harry, no!” the girl grabbed Harry’s arm and started pushing it down while whispering something to his ear. The other boy stood by their side the whole time.
Malkin acted as if nothing happened and bent towards Draco, who was still glaring at Harry. “I think this left sleeve could come up a little bit more, dear, let me just –”
“Ouch!” Draco slapped her hand away. “Watch where you’re putting your pins, woman! Mother – I don’t think I want these any more –” he pulled the robes over his head and threw them on to the floor at Malkin’s feet.
Eleanor looked down at the robes and then Malkin who stood pale.
“You’re right, Draco,” Narcissa glared at the girl standing next to Harry. Her face was just like her sister’s now. “Now I know the kind of scum that shops here … we’ll do better at Twilfitt and Tatting’s.”
Eleanor had heard enough as she walked towards the robes on the floor. Malkin had her mouth open as she stood still, watching two of her customers leave.
As Eleanor bent down to pick the robes up, she met Narcissa’s eyes who was just opening her mouth to say something to her.
“Here.” Eleanor glared back at Narcissa and Draco, who just banged into one of the boys on the way out, as she handed Malkin the robes.
Narcissa pressed her lips together, looking Eleanor up and down before following her son out of the store.
“Thank you, dear.” Malkin somehow conjured a smile as she was still pale and barely moving. As she held the robes Eleanor just handed her, she moved the tip of her wand over to remove the dust from the pretty green.
Eleanor put her wand away and sighed. She didn’t know what to do now. She didn’t feel like measuring for robes but her mom was nowhere to be found.
“Dear, come I’ll measure you now– You three wait in line.” Malkin was distracted, losing her wand, dropping her pins.
Eleanor waited patiently and tried not to jerk if a pin hurt her for a second. She just wanted to be done quickly.
“What house, dear?”
“What?” Eleanor was watching the three kids stroll around the store when Malkin asked.
“For the uniform, dear?”
“Oh, I don’t know yet.” Eleanor pressed her lips together as Malkin frowned and the kids turned their heads. “I mean– I haven’t been sorted yet.”
Malkin looked at Eleanor as if to find out if she was joking.
“I’m from Ilvermorny, so I’ll be sorted before the first years.” Eleanor tried to explain quickly as it seemed everybody in the store was waiting for an explanation.
“Ilvermorny!” Malkin clapped her hands together, seemingly leaving the foggy state she was in. “My dear friend sells Ilvermony uniforms… pretty colors– not so popular here. We will get you plain black robes, gloves too?”
“I don’t know–” she forgot what was on the list. Her mom had it.
“We need a pair of protective gloves.” a girl smiled at Eleanor.
Eleanor smiled back and continued listening to Malkin talk about her friend in America. Even if Malkin’s friend wasn’t the one, that sold her Ilvermorny school robes, she pretended to listen. Her mind was occupied by what just happened. The insults, the looks, the disgusted faces of the two Malfoy’s. She couldn’t believe it.
“All done, dear. I will have yours ready in a moment– Ronald, dear, come next!” she called out as Eleanor took off the robes and handed them to Malkin again.
Ronald. Harry and Ronald were the boys.
“-Hermione, relax. Nothing happened.” Ronald assured the girl, Hermione, before walking over to Malkin.
Eleanor walked over to the front desk, leaning against the wall and glancing over at the other two across from her. When she noticed them whispering and slowly walking towards her, the glanced away, staring at the wall decor.
“Hi,” Harry put his hands out of his pockets. “At first we thought you were with the Malfoy’s,” Harry laughed as Eleanor inhaled and pressed her lips together. “Harry.” he shook her hand.
“And we overheard where you’re from,” Hermione chimed in. “I don’t think Hogwarts had a student from Ilvermorny during our years. Hermione.”
“Eleanor.” she smiled back at them and glanced over to Ronald.
“That’s Ron.” Hermione turned her head.
“I’m sorry about what Draco said. We don’t use that word back home.” Eleanor shook her head and sighed. She didn’t even know who he was referring to.
“It’s just Malfoy.” Hermione sighed and looked at Harry as if to say once more. It’s just Draco.
“Are they always like this?”
Harry chuckled to himself. “His father is in Azkaban. That should tell you enough.”
Eleanor didn’t want to believe him. But she saw enough. Stupid.
“So,” Hermione tried to change the subject. “You will be sorted before the first years? How will that work?”
“Mhm, but I’m not really sure about the details, the Headmaster has been fairly vague. I don’t even know about what classes I’ll be taking.”
“If you had exams last year, the conversion should be similar. We got out results recently.”
“I hope so, wouldn’t want to repeat classes when I'm back next year.” Eleanor was enjoying talking to kids her age. She missed it. Draco was the only one she had talked to. So this was a nice change.
“Harry, you’re next.” Ronald came from out of nowhere. Harry nodded his head at Eleanor as if to say goodbye. “Hello.” the ginger boy shook Eleanor’s hand.
“Eleanor.” she smiled back.
“America, huh? Is it safer there? Seems like everybody is paranoid here.” he crossed his arms and looked around. “My parent’s especially.”
But before Eleanor could answer, she heard her mom outside.
“Molly, I’ll have them ready! Yes– Oh!” she laughed before waving and entering Madam Malkin’s.
“My parents are here?” Ronald frowned.
“Nell– oh, here you are.” her mom smiled at her and walked towards her.
“Where have you been?” Eleanor shook her head slightly. “I’m waiting for the robes.”
“I met the Weasleys.” she put her hands on her sides and explained further when she noticed the look on Eleanor’s face. “From work. Hi– Marcia, Nellie’s mom.”
Her mom asked Ronald about his brother’s store and asked Hermione something when Eleanor left to get the robes from Malkin, They were placed in a pretty black box along with a pair of gloves. The box had Malkin’s signature engraved and flowers surrounding it.
“Your father told me it’s the sixth year for you all too.” Eleanor’s mom looked at the black box before looking up again. “Maybe you’ll see Nellie around.” she smiled at her daughter.
“I think we’ll see each other around.” Eleanor nodded in agreement and looked at the two kids in front of her.
“Brilliant. Seems like she’s been waiting on me for quite some time, are you ready to go, Nell? We still have some shops left to visit.”
Eleanor said her goodbyes and promised to say hello to the trio on the train to Hogwarts. Or anywhere, if she sees them around sooner, though unlikely. Before she left she waved at Harry, who must have been watching them all this whole time, and Malkin, but she was somewhere in her head.
“Let’s go to the apothecary next. Did you see any dress robes you would want?” her mom looked around as they walked out of Madam Malkin’s.
“Not really–”
Bellatrix. Bellatrix was smiling from a poster stuck to one of the closed-down stores next to Malkin’s. Eleanor stopped breathing for a moment, looking back at the wide-eyed, almost fanatic-looking woman on the wall. WANTED. Wanted. Bellatrix was wanted and she stood inches away from her just last night.
“Bellatrix Lestrange.” her mom walked over to get a better look at the poster.
Eleanor was still silent. Hypnotized almost. Reliving the encounter on the hill in her head over and over. His aunt.
“Scary, right?” her mom nudged her. “Come on.”
“Wait.” she had to ask. “What did Draco’s dad do?”