- Chapter Fifty-Four -
"A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."

"Pick a card, any card."

The summer holidays were a great time for many, it was a time where people of all ages and all genders could take a break from the pressures of school and examinations, instead being able to relax and relish in the roasting summer sun that showered it's rays of light down onto the stretching fields, towns, villages or cities of England. Of course, there are some who would prefer to stay at school all throughout the holidays, especially if you went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

For Sebastian Hargreaves, it was quite an easy decision as to where he would be in the summer holidays. At home of course, it's not like he had a choice but if he did then he would still choose to go back home. Not because that's where he had grown up or because that's where his parents were to greet him back with impassive expressions. But because of his little sister. 

Oh how he loved his sister.

The two were as thick as thieves, two peas in a pod and any other expression that you would use for an inseparable pair of people. Seven years apart, yet that didn't seem to matter. Sebastian had many friends back at school that he would never talk about in the presence of someone he absolutely trusted, but his little sister was easily his best friend. He wouldn't be afraid to admit it either, he got a couple of snide remarks from other students regarding that fact but did he care? No, one simple hex and their mouths would be clamped shut.

He knew that his sister was smarter than any of the other half-wits that dared to open their mouth about her and she was only 10-years-old, yet to get her Hogwarts letter. She had her worries, but he didn't, she had shown signs of magic from a very young age. Sebastian had been made to levitate when she grabbed onto his finger as a child, he stared down at her with his mouth agape as a childish babble came from her lips but then she began to cry when she caught view of his feet off of the ground.

Her cry had caused her to lose concentration so Sebastian had fallen heavily back down to the floor with a large groan as their father made their way in, grumbling under his breath. But he smiled when Sebastian had hurriedly told him what had happened. He was delighted to know that his daughter wasn't a squib.

There was indeed a time where the Hargreaves parents had loved and cared for their children, not much  but they definitely had. It only really started to get dark in the house when Sebastian's baby sister began to talk. The words that came out of her mouth were somehow making her parents exchange glances with each other nervously and they began to get more and more secretive. Sebastian didn't understand what his sister was saying when she first learned to talk, but through the years the two had gotten both intelligent and educated, even if Sebastian was the only one that went to school.

At school he had made friends. With Gryffindors.

He was shocked to say the least when the boys he had met on the train hadn't treated him differently when he was sorted into Slytherin. The day that he had watched all three of his new friends head over to the Gryffindor table was possibly one of the worst days of his whole school career. His parents had told him that Gryffindor's were no good, that they went against everything that Slytherin stood for, went against the way society should be.

But Sebastian was always one for a little bit of adventure. Perhaps showing this muggle trick to his little sister who had yet to explore the different views of the world wasn't the best way to risk it, but as long as he asked her not to tell, she wouldn't. She idolized her brother, he was everything she always wanted to be. He smiled, he laughed, he wrote letters to friends that actually wrote him back. He was pure of heart and she wanted to be too.

She wanted to be just like him, no matter what anyone said.

Elladora Hargreaves pursed her lips and reached out slowly to pick one of the cards that her brother was showing her, they all had numbers and odd little symbols on them. Some of them even had letters and what looked like drawings of people on them. There were to many to choose from, she didn't know if she wanted the woman on the diamond card or the 5 on the card that had a little symbol with what looked like leaves on it.

She went for the woman and tried to tug it out of his hands but he held onto it tight so she tried to tug harder, narrowing her eyes.

"No, not that one." He said, pulling them back playfully and she tilted her head. "I'm joking, you can take that one if you want."

He allowed her take the card this time and she brought it back to her, looking down at it as he instructed her not to show it to him. She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion as he looked at the pattern on the back of the card, she wondered if he possibly cast a charm on them that allowed him to see through it. A singular eyebrow was raised in her direction and she looked away from her brother, focusing back on her card.

"You examined it?" He asked and she nodded her head, putting it face down in his hand as he held it out for her. She nodded and watched skeptically as he slid the card back into the pile without looking at it, he looked up at her and smirked before beginning to rub the back of the pile dramatically, blowing on it a couple of times.

He used curious, yet shocked facial expressions that made Elladora sit up straighter from her position. She watched as he furrowed his eyebrows together and fanned out the cards in his hand before plucking one out of the selection. He nodded to himself and put the card face down to one side whilst collecting the rest of them back into the pile.

"Elladora," He said seriously, facing her head on as she looked at him with same emotion. "Is that your card?" He nodded over to the singular card he had placed down.

She tore her gaze away from him and over towards the card. Glancing in between the two, Sebastian nodded his head in encouragement and she grabbed the rectangular paper, turning it around. A gasp left her lips as she saw her card, the Queen of Diamonds.

"How did you do that?" She asked though it sounded like more of a demand as she looked up inquisitively at his smiling face. "You'll get a warning from the ministry if you use magic outside of school."

"I didn't use magic." He reassured her with a laugh as she clutched the card in her hand, examining it carefully once more. "It's a muggle card trick. I can do it 52 different ways."

Like it had suddenly stung or cursed her, Elladora dropped the card from her hand and scooted away from it as far as she could without falling off of Sebastian's bed. The word 'muggle' had shocked her and she had immediately let go of it, cowering away like it was going to infect her with a deadly disease. Sebastian watched as her eyes became frantic and she glanced to him whilst rubbing her hands on her skirt.

"Muggle?" She whispered over to him, nervously looking back at the door to his room as though their parents were going to storm in and send them both to an orphanage if the word was even said, let alone sympathized with.

"Yeah, I learned it from my friend Neil, he's a muggleborn." He shrugged over at her and her face became even more fearful as she stared at him, mouth falling agape.

"Muggleborn?" She didn't even say this one, just kind of mouthed it with a small raspy noise. It was like she was going to faint any minute at this news and Sebastian's amused smile slowly melted into a stern face as he looked straight at his 10-year-old sister.

"A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." He told her and took the card from where she had dropped it, sliding it back into his pile as Elladora gulped, furrowing her eyebrows at the reference he had just made.

"Did you just quote Shakespeare?" Her voice was shaking at all the new discoveries. "Romeo and Juliet, no less. You know mother rid of all his books when she learned that he let muggles read them."

"It's fine." Sebastian soothed, shaking his head as he patted hers. "They won't know. Muggles are actually really interesting." He took it easy, he knew that her prejudice wasn't her own fault and instead the fault of their parents who had never allowed her to know any better. He, however, had been exposed the kindness of the kids at school no matter what their blood status and he hopes the same for her when she starts her first year when he goes into his seventh.

"Father's going to kill you." She sighed out, relaxing under the comfort he was providing by stroking her hair.

"So be it." He shrugged and fell into his bed beside her whilst she shuffled over to make room for him. "I'd prefer it if he did it after my seventh year though so we get to go to school together for at least a year."

"Your friends sound nice." She shrugged anyway, though the thought of their parents finding out about his relation to muggleborns still rested in her brain, despite the reassurance and comfort from her brother.

"They are." He nodded, pursing his lips before looking down at her fiddling hands. A frown tugged at his lips because of the fidgeting, he didn't know why she did it so much. Even when nothing remotely worrying is happening, she seemed to be fidgeting. Either playing with her fingers or bouncing her knee, she did it a lot. Right now, she was fidgeting with her fingers so he took her hands apart and slipped his own hand into hers.

"You'll have friends like mine someday." He encouraged and she sighed, opening her mouth to speak, but deciding against it. 

Instead, she took her hand from his and leaned over him to grab the pile of cards that he had put down on the nightstand. She returned to her previous position whilst facing him, looking down at the cards and trying to position them like he had before. Sebastian watched in adoration as his little sister fiddled with the cards. She may not be a small toddler anymore that he could pick up and dance around the room with but she will always be seen as the little baby that he had swore to himself to protect.

Once she had managed to fan them all out and was clutching them in her hands, she looked up at him with a small twinkle in her eyes and held them out so the patterns of the back were facing her. Her mouth opened as though ready to speak and he was ready to listen, he would always be ready to listen.

"Pick a card, any card."

Regulus Black pursed his lips and reached out slowly to pick one of the cards that Elladora was showing him, they all had numbers and odd little symbols on them. Some of them even had letters and what looked like drawings of people on them. There were to many to choose from, he didn't know if he wanted the man on the heart card or the 7 on the card that had a little symbol with what looked like a spade.

He reached out for the man after eyeing the cards suspiciously. Elladora smiled to herself at the memory of her and Sebastian in that very room sat on that very bed more than 7 years ago. She didn't actually know how to do this trick as Sebastian had never taught her, only said 'Magicians never reveal their secrets'. He had gotten a glare for that one since she had failed in using his own trick against him and now she was hoping she could figure it out whilst doing it with Regulus.

"You examined it?" She asked carefully and he nodded, so she took the card back and slipped it into the pile of cards. Her face tried to mimic the expressions that Sebastian had made as she blew on the pile before taking a random one out and turning it to show him. "Is this your card?"

"No." Regulus shook his head, laughing slightly as he reached out for the pile as Elladora pouted.

As he went through the pile of cards, looking for the one that he pulled out, Elladora looked down at the one she had guessed. A smile involuntarily made its way up to her face as she stared down at the rectangular object with a woman on it and four red diamond shapes, one in each corner.

•*•*•*•*•
A/N; first chapter going into Elladora and Sebastian's wholesome relationship. You might've spotted some parallels between the two (hint hint: the Gryffindor friends). The sadness and shit will probably be here in a couple of chapters because I really want to build up her backstory a bit more.

Also

HOLY MOTHER OF HERCULES WE HIT 100K READS I COULDN'T BE MORE THANKFUL TO ANY OF YOU!!
this is mainly why I wanted to post this chapter early so I can thank you because I know that a lot of you don't look on my message board or follow my Instagram (partlystiles) but thank you so so much.
I never would've thought that this story would get so much attention. I have loved and do still love every second of Elladora's journey. She's my little cinnamon roll and so are all of you I love you !!!! xxx