Sixth year is a conflicting time for Hogwarts students, from the harding-working Hufflepuffs, to the wise and witty Ravenclaws, the brave Gryffindors, and the ambitious Slytherins. Some choose to party, some drown in their studies. Some will return to their cold manors and will not return for seventh year, and some will return home to Hogwarts. Those who don't return to school will step into their family's decided roles; marriage isn't uncommon and oftentimes, those marriages are unhappy. Wealthy young women in the wizarding world rarely have their own say in marriage. Eleanor Nott was to be no exception.

Eleanor was the first born to Theodore Nott Sr. and Alice Nott, previously Alice Alarie. Traditionally, in pureblood families, the heir to the family estate was the first son. Daughters were given to other families in the form of arranged marriages, and that was the life Eleanor was promised from the start. There were very few options relative to her age, but Mr. Nott did not care about her age or the age of who would become her husband. Sealing the deal with Mr. Malfoy was hard, but Mr. Nott was able to do it.

Draco Malfoy was two years younger than Eleanor, and to say that she had limited interest in the boy was an understatement. Draco and her brother, Theodore Jr., were somewhat close. The marriage was arranged shortly after Mrs. Nott's tragic passing, so Eleanor and Theo were left with no maternal figure. As young children, Theo was often found with the Malfoys, but Eleanor had been sent to France to live with her Aunt Annette. Annette Bernard, previously Annette Alarie, was a strict woman. She hardly saw her children on her own volition, preferring the use of governesses. She had nine children of her own. Six boys and three girls.

Eleanor was a few months older than the youngest girl, so Aunt Annette decided it would be best for Eleanor and Noemie to share a governess. While Eleanor had been taught French from her birth, she found it difficult to converse with her cousins at times. But Eleanor was quick to adjust and found herself falling in step with her cousins. The two oldest, Auguste and Christophe, attended to the youngers more than Aunt Annette and Uncle Jean-Luc. Cosette, the eldest of the girls and the third child, was eight years older than Eleanor, and four younger than Auguste, but she was the maternal sibling. The youngest Bernard, Felix, was often found with Cosette, however much that displeased all the governesses.

There were four wings of the Bernard Estate. Two were of residential use. The East Wing was to be used strictly by the Bernard children, while Mr. and Mrs. Bernard had their chambers in the South Wing. It was on extremely short notice that Eleanor was sent to live with her aunt and uncle, so short notice that for the first three nights of her stay, she slept in the West Wing. The West Wing was primarily used for short-term guests and was home to Bernard Estate's ancient library. It took three days for Eleanor to be moved to the East Wing, mostly due to the surprise that Aunt Annette experienced when she arrived. Cosette, only fifteen at the time of Eleanor's arrival, took up the responsibility of designing her cousin's rooms. She didn't know much about English fashions or what Eleanor even liked, but she tried her best to put together something that would be satisfactory for an eight year old little girl.

After Cosette, there was Stephane, who was regarded as the troublemaker of the family. He often goofed off in all his lessons and would rather spend his time horseback riding or practicing his archery. Stephane was a year younger than Cosette, but he acted much younger. Then, two years later was Pierre and Alexandre. There were fraternal twins, so Eleanor was relieved when she found out she would not have to work to differentiate the two. Next was Reine, the second of the Bernard daughters. Eleanor swore she only saw Reine once a week for her first year living with the Bernards. Noemie came next, and then, finally, Felix.

Eleanor was terrified when she first went to live with her aunt and cousins. She had watched her mother die in childbirth just two days before being sent to France. Alice Nott was only a month short of her 33rd birthday. She had lived through nine miscarriages and had been advised by the family healer to avoid any more pregnancies following Theo's birth, but Mr. Nott wouldn't listen. Two children wasn't enough for him. He needed more to satisfy his desires. Mr. Nott certainly didn't want to say that the only girl he and his wife conceived had made it to full-term and had been the healthiest of his children. Theo made Alice horribly ill and was born so early. The heir to the Nott estate was sickly for months preceding his birth, and many healers thought he would not live to his first birthday. So, no, that would certainly not do for Mr. Nott.

Alice Nott died screaming as she labored. She was two and a half weeks past her due date and the baby was quite large. Eleanor remembered hearing her mother ask the healer to help her, to cut the child from her womb or ease her pain, but Mr. Nott refused to allow any intervention. The baby would have to be born naturally, any intervention from a healer, no matter how good the healer, could make the baby a squib according to Mr. Nott. Theo cried for his mother as Alice sobbed, begging for someone to help her. The memories blurred together over the years, but Eleanor always knew she had covered her ears when her mother's screams got so loud that Eleanor thought her ears would burst.

There was so much blood. So, so much blood, and it seemed to be everywhere. When her mother had finally stopped screaming, Eleanor removed her hands from her ears. The room was quiet, only a hushed whisper from the two healers could be heard. Lady Alice Nott was dead, and with her, another daughter. Mr. Nott was outraged when the half-pushed out baby was pulled from his dead wife's womb, revealing the overdue monster to be another girl. He grabbed Eleanor's arm and yanked her from the room, leaving his son to watch as his mother's body was prepared to be removed.

"You are the worst possible thing to have come to fruition and I will be glad when you are gone," he told his daughter, throwing her into her bedroom and slamming the door after her. She remembered sobbing underneath her bed, hoping she could stay there, frozen in time forever. That was the last thing her father said to her for the next five years.

Eleanor spent the next three years of her life exclusively speaking, reading, and writing French, so when the Hogwarts letter came for her in English, she had not a clue how to read the words neatly inked on the parchment. Cosette was already out of the house, married happily to some French pureblood wizard from Beauxbatons, so Eleanor resorted to asking Pierre and Alexandre to help her translate. She would have preferred Cosette's help, but the twins would have to do. She was so embarrassed that she couldn't remember how to read English, practically begging the boys to keep the secret.

She thought the embarrassment would end at asking Pierre and Alexandre for help, but as it turned out, it was far more embarrassing to start at Hogwarts unable to remember the basic sentence structure of English phrasing. When the twins had helped her read her letter, they assured her that she would not struggle that much, but they failed to realize that hardly anyone at Hogwarts knew how to speak French, nonetheless perfectly, fluent French. First year was the worst, according to Eleanor's letters to the Bernard family.

She spent the summers with the cousins and the school year away from them. It was hard, but Eleanor did it. Her first time seeing her brother since her mother's death was on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, but she hadn't the slightest idea as to who he was. He wasn't with their father, so she simply didn't say anything to him when he almost ran her foot over with his trolley. She liked boarding the train somewhere between the middle and the back, so Auguste walked with her, his young daughter cradled in his arms. Sometimes, it scared her that her older cousins were leaving Bernard Estate and starting their own families, but other times, she was happy to have resided with Auguste and his family. And happier when Auguste and his wife, Nadine, had unexpectedly and successfully adopted her two weeks before she started at Hogwarts for her first year.

"This is good-bye until Christmas, I suppose," he said solemnly, pulling her into his arms. This was the good-bye prior to her fifth year at Hogwarts.

Eleanor smiled weakly, squeezing him with her returned hug. "I'll miss you." When she pulled back from their embrace, she looked past him to find her father staring at her from a distance.

He was too far for her to hear him, but she could read his lips clear as day. "Disgraceful."

Eleanor and Auguste averted their eyes from him and looked back at one another. "Ignore him," Auguste said. "He'll get over it." When the Hogwarts letter came through with 'Eleanor Nott' written on the envelope, an angry letter came through the post from Mr. Nott. He wrote that he relinquished his rights as her father and surrendered her to the Bernards. Aunt Annette was not entirely pleased to be faced with the notion of potentially adopting Eleanor or keeping her as their ward without Mr. Nott sending her monthly child support. Along with his relinquished parental rights and no intention of sending child support, Mr. Nott expressed that he still wanted her to get married to Draco Malfoy when the boy came of age.

Auguste was furious when he read that portion of the letter and floo'd home to Nadine and their infant daughter, Lina. It was then that Auguste and Nadine decided to adopt her, and they had not regretted the decision at all. It was strange to explain to others; Eleanor's oldest cousin was also her adopted father.

Every Hogwarts letter that came after the first read "Eleanor Bernard" and she was quite content with that. Every year Auguste walked with Eleanor on the platform to her entry point of choice. Every year, whether Nadine was able to make it or not, Eleanor was sent with a parcel of biscuits to hold her over for the long train ride to school.

Eleanor didn't have too many friends at Hogwarts. She was generally just out of the social bounds of most cliques. She had a few close friends, but other than that, she preferred to be alone. Auguste, Nadine, and their daughter, Lina, kept a cabin in the Scottish countryside. It was Eleanor's little sanctuary. Sometimes, like the summer before sixth year, Auguste and Nadine let Eleanor live in the cabin for a week or so by herself, sometimes with friends accompanying her, too.

The whole Bernard family kept house elves. Auguste and Nadine's were more like extended family members, whereas Aunt Annette treated her house elves like slaves. Her children were raised primarily by house elves, so all the children knew was them. Auguste valued the house elves that worked for him. He'd set them free ages ago, shortly after his marriage to Nadine, but they stuck around and Auguste paid them. There was only one house elf assigned to Eleanor, Lylle. Her primary task was to assist Eleanor in her English language.

Lylle followed Eleanor almost everywhere, including Hogwarts, helping her translate when she couldn't remember the language. So it was no surprise when a few of Eleanor's friends floo'd to the Scottish cabin and were greeted by Lylle. Selena Cane, a Hufflepuff in the same year as Eleanor, was the first of five to arrive to Eleanor's sanctuary.

"Hello, Lylle!" Selena greeted, her smile wide and genuine. "Is anyone else here?" She asked, looking around.

"No, ma'am. Just Miss Eleanor."

Selena took a step forward from the fireplace, placing her trunk somewhere near the fireplace. "Thank you, Lylle!" Selena walked around the cabin's first floor, not wanting to shout for her friend lest she frighten Eleanor. Instead, when she found the first floor empty of the witch's presence, Selena trudged up the stairs to the second floor and breezed into Eleanor's room. There, Eleanor laid on the bed, reading a book. "Eleanor!" Selena said cheerfully and hopped onto the bed.

The two embraced one another in a tight hug. "It's so good to finally see you," Eleanor said, pulling back from the hug. "How was your trip to Sweden?"

There was no hiding the deep blush that spread across Selena's cheeks. "I can't spoil any of the gossip," she said carefully. "But it was a very good trip."

Eleanor, who had a rare talent for mind-reading, knew that Selena was nearly bursting at the seams to tell her about just how good of a trip it had been. But Eleanor didn't need her mind-reading to know that. Selena was like an open book. And she was almost always happy. There were times that Eleanor envied her near-constant state of happiness.

Eleanor and Selena took their conversation downstairs and stationed themselves on the sofa facing the fireplace. Eleanor asked Lylle if she could put on a kettle for tea and quickly, the house elf was off. The two witches knew that Lylle would not just put on the kettle; Lylle was very motherly and thanks to Auguste setting her free, she had taken up a hobby for cooking. Eleanor was always eager to try the house elf's cooking when the Bernard's brought home new cook books. Eleanor had already peaked into the kitchen earlier that day and knew that Lylle had planned to make blanquette de veau.

The idle chatter between the two girls came to a stop when Henrietta Cross, Maggie Norwood, and Elowyn Graves came through the fireplace together. It was no surprise to Eleanor and Selena that Henrietta and Maggie came together. It seemed that everyone, except them, knew that they had feelings for another. They were inseparable most days at Hogwarts, and it was rare to see them apart during the summer holidays. Elowyn, however, normally arrived late, so seeing her well before supper was almost unheard of. All they had to wait on was the arrival of Liliana Parkinson, and they could finally begin their gossiping.

Maggie, as always, brought a pile of delicious snacks that she managed to convince her parents were necessary to her survival. Something about food being essential to brain power and then something about her end of term exams. Maggie was known for her ability to convince others to do or think the way she did, and being her parents' only daughter, she usually got her way.

Henrietta and Selena got to chatting about who they hoped the Hufflepuff prefects were, but ultimately they came to the conclusion that Professor Sprout probably picked the two most responsible fifth years. Maggie, a Ravenclaw, complained about her strange feelings of "intuition" (as she called it), that Cho Chang would be one of the Ravenclaw prefects. Everyone knew that Maggie and Cho were always butting heads, sometimes over childish squabbles. All the girls simply rolled their eyes and listened to her complain.

It was half past four when Liliana finally floo'd in. She appeared happy and excited, but Eleanor could hear Liliana's loud thoughts, and she was not having a good day.

Twenty minutes later and all the girls were finally settled and ready to spill all of their collected gossip. The girls pulled straws for who would go first. Elowyn shot up in a cheer when she pulled the longest straw.

Quickly, she settled back under her blanket. "Okay! So, as I'm sure all of you know, I went to the Quidditch World Cup. Basically, all that stuff said in the paper really did happen, but that is not the point of my story right now. So, I met this guy from Spain, he attends Beauxbatons and he's a seventh year. Anyway, he's super dreamy and he actually kissed me at the end of the game. He's sent me a couple letters and he just is so sweet."

"What's his name?" Eleanor asked, leaning forward.

Elowyn blushed. "Marco Perez. He's so handsome, too! He told me in his recent letter that there's going to be this big tournament between some of the big wizarding schools. His mum and dad work at Beauxbatons, and they told him not to tell anyone, but he insisted on telling me. Apparently, Hogwarts is hosting this tournament." Elowyn looked quite proud of herself for having such a big piece of information.

"Tournament?" Liliana said. "What kind of tournament?" She asked absently.

"Well, there was such a thing as the Triwizard Tournament. It was a while ago, though," Henrietta piped up.

Maggie laughed. "Yeah, they stopped doing those because someone died. There's no way they'd bring it back."

Elowyn shrugged. "I don't know, what other tournament could it be?" She paused before she spoke again. "Also, my older sister went out with some guy, she won't tell me who. And they may or may not have had sex and now she's worried she might be pregnant. But you didn't hear that from me." She said quickly.

"Nimue? There's no way, she's never been interested in boys . . . I can't believe she'd do that," Selena said. "Do you know who it was?"

They all tossed out their guesses, some extreme and some not so extreme. All except Eleanor. She kept quiet, listening contently to her friends' chatter. Maggie, the perceptive brunette, noticed Eleanor's lack of contribution to the conversation. Eleanor was quiet until Liliana said: "What about Nicholas Dreagan?"

While Eleanor was two years younger than Nicholas, it was no secret that she had fancied him for a time. He was sweet on her, too, but kept his distance because he was older than her. "Nicholas?" She said quietly.

Liliana shrugged. "Well, yeah. He's . . . conventionally attractive. I mean, he had half the girls at Hogwarts trying to throw themselves at him. Maybe Nimue was one of them."

Eleanor knew it was ridiculous to feel jealous, but she couldn't help it. At the end of fifth year, Nicholas and Eleanor had run into one another by the greenhouses, and after a long talk about how much they would miss their occasional talks, Nicholas kissed her. Eleanor knew that it couldn't mean anything because he was leaving Hogwarts, and it would be stupid for her to hold onto him. Nicholas had been chosen to go to Romania to work with some dragon keepers. Eleanor could not bring herself to be upset about his leaving because she knew he wanted to be a dragon keeper.

Regardless, she felt a pang of jealousy course through her veins.

"Okay, okay, I think that it's time we move on to someone else's gossip." Elowyn said, shooting Eleanor a look. "Maggie? Do you want to go next?"

Maggie grinned. "Yes!" She exclaimed. "So, you know how last term I got into that squabble with Professor Lupin and he told me that my theories on the first werewolves were wrong?" They all nodded. Most of them were there when Maggie all but squared up to the professor. She most certainly was a feisty witch. "Well, he's good friends with my dad and he sent us all his research on werewolves and I was right! He told me I was wrong, but I was right. He came to the house and explained that he had not known about the first werewolves and apologised for saying I was wrong." She paused and then her grin widened. "Also, I went to Portugal with my mum to visit some of her family and found out that my mum's the new Head of House Costa, and she's named me her heir."

The girls erupted in congratulations and asked an array of questions. Who was the Head of House Costa before Mrs. Norwood? Didn't Mrs. Norwood have an older brother? Is Mrs. Norwood excited or nervous to be the Head of House Costa? Is she moving to Portugal to be with the rest of her house? But Maggie didn't have any answers for them. Turned out, Mrs. Norwood didn't really talk about it with Maggie, just the basics. Maggie was to be her heir and Mrs. Norwood was head of house. That's all Maggie knew.

"Yeah, I dunno. Mum's really only spoken with my father about it, but never within earshot of me. I think she's nervous," Maggie said lazily. "You know how she is." Mrs. Norwood was an incredibly anxious person. Maggie shook her head. "Henrietta?" It was no surprise to anyone that Maggie chose Henrietta to go next.

Henrietta smiled bashfully. "I didn't go anywhere fun this year, so sorry to disappoint. However, I did attend the Summer Solstice Ball that the Malfoy family threw. My parents made me go, said it was the only way I would be allowed to go to the World Cup. I didn't end up going to the World Cup because I got sick, but that's not the point. At the ball, I overheard a couple of women gossiping. One of them was Mrs. Malfoy. They were talking about some weird cemetery and I heard them mention You-Know-Who. I guess, some of his followers are planning to somehow bring him back? Anyway, I didn't get to listen too much to them before my mum summoned me and introduced me to all these boring young wizards. Turns out it was some sort of debutante ball and I spent half the summer trying to convince my parents that I did not need to be out in wizarding society yet."

"I didn't know you were at the Summer Solstice Ball," Liliana said. "It was so boring." She complained.

Henrietta smiled. "Oh my gosh, I thought I was going to die from boredom when my mum called for me." They all laughed. "But seriously, I can't believe that there are still people that think they can bring You-Know-Who back. He's gone, why can't they just accept that?"

Maggie reached out and took her hand. "We'll never know, Hen."

Henrietta shrugged. "Yeah, it's just annoying though. Plus, my parents used to support him, so does that mean they expect me to follow them in trying to bring him back?"

Eleanor and Selena exchanged concerned glances. Selena was one of many orphaned by the war and did not like speaking about You-Know-Who. Eleanor did not wish to discuss the madman or his followers either. Her father had been an avid supporter of Him, and Eleanor's entire childhood was being taught about You-Know-Who. She didn't know that You-Know-Who wasn't a martyr until halfway through her first year. She felt so stupid.

Liliana scoffed. Eleanor's eyes fell on her. The careful touch of Eleanor's mindreading went over Liliana's head, leaving the girl totally unaware of Eleanor's presence in her mind. Eleanor read over her thoughts as quickly as she could. Liliana, who she knew had elitist family members, never spoke of her own political beliefs, and from her thoughts, Eleanor knew why. Liliana shared some of her family's beliefs, but she was embarrassed about it. Eleanor wanted to scoff, but she knew the others would notice.

Eleanor was saddened to see Liliana's thoughts, though. Liliana had been a dear friend of hers and as children of the first war, it was common to not speak of politics or outlooks on the war. No one wanted to look back at that part of wizarding history. Eleanor knew that House Parkinson were faithful servants of the Dark Lord, but Eleanor had hoped that Liliana would not fall down the same trap as many other Slytherin children did. She had been wrong.

Eleanor tuned out for Liliana's part of gossip, so much so that she didn't hear when Liliana had said her name. It was Selena who pulled her out of the heavy trance. "Eleanor, you have to tell them about the catacombs! That was so much fun!" Selena exclaimed, taking Eleanor's hand in hers. Selena was a good friend, Eleanor thought to herself.

Eleanor smiled. "Oh, yes. I'm sorry the rest of you couldn't make it this summer to the French Alps this year, but Selena and I had the best time!" Eleanor gushed. "We spent a week in the Alps before we joined my family in Paris. The catacombs were absolutely stunning and there's so much wizarding history there. We saw a bunch of boys from Beauxbatons while we were there and Selena got asked out by all of them." She teased.

Selena slapped her arm. "Eleanor! Not true!" She said defensively, even though it was definitely true.

Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Sels. Anyway, my mum's pregnant, so I might be going home for the winter holiday." Eleanor didn't see fit to tell anyone that she had been adopted by Auguste and Nadine, so she just told everyone that they were her parents. Auguste treated her like his daughter and she gave him the respect of a father.

Maggie and Elowyn perked up. "Nadine's pregnant?"

"When's the baby due for?" Henrietta asked.

Liliana leaned herself on Eleanor. "Is it too early to tell if it'll be a boy or girl?"

Eleanor smiled. "She wants to keep it a surprise until birth. It's like a family tradition of sorts. Babe's due for late February." It would be the third child of Auguste Bernard born in the month of February. Eleanor was first, Lena was second, and now the new baby. "I'm excited. Mum's wanted another baby since Lena was born, so I'm happy that they'll be another baby. Plus, I get to help decorate another nursery." Eleanor smiled, mostly to herself. "I think it might take some time to convince her, but I think the nursery should be 'countryside in the Alps' theme. But enough about me, Selena?" Eleanor prompted.

Selena smiled bashfully. "As you know, I went on many trips this summer holiday. I went with Nors to with French Alps, and I accompanied my mum to Germany to visit my aunt, and then my whole family went to Sweden for vacation. Well, during my time in Sweden, I met a boy. He's so sweet and he sends me letters every day and truthfully, I think I really like him." She gushed.

Henrietta launched herself into a hug with Selena. "Oh, 'Lena! That's wonderful!"

Elowyn rested her head on Selena's shoulder. "What's this boy's name, then?"

Selena shook her head. "No, no way I'm telling you guys. Not yet, at least."

That made the girls break out into a huge debate over whether it was just or not to keep the name of potential boyfriends from the others. Eleanor spent most of the loud debacle observing, quietly thinking about what she'd seen in Liliana's mind.

She did not read her friends' minds. That was strictly against her morals.

But she had read Liliana's mind.

And she did not like what she saw. Not at all.