- Chapter Seventy-One -
"I fell...in the toilet."

"When's the next full moon?"

"May 9th." Elladora spoke in reply to Peter, who was hunched over the desk in the dorm room, scribbling down an essay that he had to do over the holidays but just procrastinated it until the night before it was due. He had his top row of teeth sinking into his bottom lip in concentration as he dipped his quill in some ink and scribbled down another sentence on his parchment as Elladora played confusedly with a rainbow cube Remus had been fiddling with before.

After their initial greetings, they did a quick catch-up which was mainly the boys telling her about their holidays and her just listening. Sirius had moved out of the Potter's and bought his own flat, he also boasted about his new 'motorbike' whatever that was. James spoke about his troubles regarding the letter he sent to Lily having been unanswered even after everything that had happened last term and Peter told them about his day trips with his mum.

Penny had attempted to take him to the zoo but he had refused out of fear that some of them could eat rats and smell it on him, Penny had then tried to take him into town for a day but he didn't do that either. He explained how she became slightly worried and sat down with him one day, asking him what was wrong. He told them it was nothing, he just didn't feel like going out but the way he subtly bit his lip made Elladora think differently.

She hadn't gone into detail about her holidays, just telling them that she was okay. There was a moment where she was tempted to tell them about what she had done but decided against it, this could be one of her outlets of peace in the weeks to come and she couldn't afford to lose it. The boys seemed happy that she was okay, although Remus gave her a slightly wary glance when he looked up from his rainbow cube.

He noticed her staring fixatedly at it at some point and scooted up next to where she was sat on his bed, telling her what it was and how to turn it. The shock on her face when she realised that it turned made him laugh and watch with a smile as she tried to match the squares as he had told her.

"Why, Wormtail?" James looked over at him from where he had actually been reading the material for their Defence lessons in case Yaxley tried to spring anything upon him and he could impress Lily by answering the questions.

"I needed it for this essay." He replied, not looking back and fixating his eyes on his parchment as he bit his nails slightly anxiously.

"You should know the moon cycle." Sirius said, the small click of Elladora turning a side of the cube coming after his words in the beat of silence. "It's literally on the wall."

"Sorry." Peter muttered, frowning. "I wasn't looking over there. I was looking at my paper."

"Oh, you see there's a thing called a neck that turns." Sirius chuckled good-naturedly, turning his head for dramatic effect. James laughed, Remus let out a breathy chuckle and Elladora glanced over at Peter, remembering her and Remus' conversation from over the holidays.

He forced a small smile but immediately went back to his assignment with a straight face. The five of them lapsed into silence again, the clicking of the cube returned again when Elladora continued with it, furrowing her eyebrows at the patterns. How was she supposed to get all of the sides the same colour? She could feel Remus' stare and smirk on her and she glanced at him through a glare which only made him smirk wider.

"Dora." Peter's voice broke through the silence sharply as he turned his head with a forced smile and a clenched jaw as he glanced down at the cube. She apologised softly and set it beside her. "I'll be done in a second and then you can carry on when I'm not distracted if you want."

It was a less of a second and more of a couple of minutes before Peter victoriously announced that he was done and with a bright smile in his direction, Elladora grabbed the cube again and fell back onto Remus' bed as she turned the sides, her eyes in a focused scowl. She managed to get a full blue side before turning to check if the rest of them were matched, only to see the other sides a big mess of colours.

"Really working that Rubik's cube, huh?" Peter asked as he walked towards his bed.

"It's impossible." She huffed, turning one of the sides a couple of times and trying to find some sort of match. A small gasp came from her when she saw a full line of whites and she turned the cube to see that all the bottom rows were matched. Her hand slapped Remus slightly as she sat up and she showed him with a proud smile.

"Brilliant." He grinned at her and content with the praise, she flopped back down and continued with it. Remus could solve it in 6 minutes but he didn't tell her that, she would become frustrated since she had been attempting it for at least 20 minutes.

James sighed in exhaustion and shut his book with a clap, throwing it to the floor beside his bed before adjusting his position so his head now laid on the inside crook of his elbow and he looked out onto the dorm. He smiled at Elladora muttering swears under her breath and insulting the Rubik's cube quietly like it had feelings.

"How are we feeling about, Yaxley?" He decided to make conversation between them all, wriggling slightly to get more comfortable.

"Ow." Elladora let out as the Rubik's cube fell out of her grip and hit her face, she had become shocked at the mention of Yaxley and let it fall. Remus handed it back to her and she gave a soft thanks before trying to continue with the cube whilst listening to the conversation.

"He looks mean." Peter admitted, nodding his head to himself. "Reminds me of that Malfoy guy who left school a few years ago.

"Lucius." Elladora said absentmindedly, the last time she had seen the man was at the party where she and Regulus had been making fun of Evan and she snorted in the poor boy's face. She glanced away from the Rubik's cube slightly before adding. "I think."

"Yeah, I think that was it." James nodded, sitting up from his lying position and running his hand over his chin slightly. "I don't think he's the replacement mum had in mind." He said.

"What?" Elladora furrowed her eyebrows, looking over at him.

"Oh, I didn't tell you!" He exclaimed, pointing at her and she shook her head, sitting up on the bed instead of lying on it. "Penhurst got sacked because mum sent in a Howler after finding out what happened back in January."

Avery. Elladora had to stop herself from sighing and instead forced a smile onto her face, once again she was to blame for the possible infiltration of Hogwarts. If she had stopped herself from getting too close to Euphemia and the other mothers, Euphemia wouldn't have sent a Howler and Penhurst would still have a job. Yaxley would be back in whatever hole he crawled out of, Elladora could try and control the other Slytherins but a teacher was nearly impossible to control if he decided to do anything.

"That's...wow." She settled on, smiling slightly as James laughed and nodded. Her eyes travelled slowly around the room, Remus having claimed his turn for the Rubik's cube and twisting it skilfully. A small panic filled her chest as her eyes landed on the alarm clock beside Remus' bed.

She had been gone for an hour and a half.

"Shit." She swore softly and stood from the bed, cringing at her poor time management. The boy's watched her curiously as she awkwardly looked around before approaching the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You're leaving?" Sirius asked with furrowed eyebrows, blowing a strand of hair that had come out of his ponytail away from his face. "It's still only like an hour until lights go out. Come on, cutie, stay."

"What did we say about the pet names?" She asked sharply, eyes narrowing dangerously towards him. His eyes widened and he held up his hands in surrender, smirking because he knew exactly what had done. "Never again." She pointed at him and he nodded, smiling.

"Bye, Dora." They all called in their own way as she pulled open the door and left the room with haste. She couldn't believe that time had run away from her once again, it would probably be May 9th before she even knew it. It was only the 17th April now and then the next day it would be the 18th and then the 19th and then the 20th...

But that was just how days went, Elladora didn't actually really know what was waiting for her or what they could do as Death Eaters at Hogwarts but she was anxious about the truth. At least she and Regulus were protected as best as they could be at the moment, Macnair made sure of that but she still willed herself to be as careful as possible. If it was her or Regulus, she would want it to be her, he still had a life to live. Sure he was only a year younger than her but he had been raised differently to her, raised to be posh not raised to be defensive, raised with manners not raised with torture. Raised with love not raised with purpose for later use.

Her life had been practically over the day Sebastian died, her only chance of being protected or saved was gone and she no longer had someone to go to. She wanted to give Regulus that, since Sirius had left the house for his own safety and he had no one anymore either. If they didn't share the same name, people would think they were strangers. Elladora couldn't imagine the feeling of her brother being alive yet being a stranger and she didn't really want to.

The dungeons of the school were as freezing cold as ever, even in the months approaching the peak of Spring. Elladora shivered as she quickly ran down the stairs and quickened her pace to the stone wall she had not been in front of since before the holidays when everything was better. She mumbled the password, it having never changed, and stepped inside the Common Room nervously and trying to prepare herself for the queries of her house mates. The Common Room was warmer than the corridors because the fire was lit and roaring, casting orange hues over the sofa's and chairs near the fires where the group Elladora wanted to avoid was sat.

Though one person was missing.

"Where have you been?" A hiss from beside her made her jump around with shock, but she calmed herself down and placed a hand to her heart when she saw Regulus beside her. "Macnair said you were just going to the lavatory...two hours ago."

She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side slightly. "An hour and a half, actually."

"You know, just by that sass, I can tell that you were with the others." He was careful not to say their actual names in case someone overheard and ratted her out, probably leading to her murder. "But you can't tell them that, what excuse have you got?"

She only stared at him before shaking her head slowly and he gave her a look.

"You haven't got a single excuse?"

"I have one about sleepwalking but that's not going to work in this situation."

"Elladora." There was no denying that it was Macnair, having spotted her talking hurriedly to Regulus and making his way over. "Where have you been?" He asked, squinting at her slightly.

She glanced between both him and Regulus quickly, gulping. The hatred that filled her, knowing that she could no longer build up any budding confidence with what she'd been through, churned her insides and her jaw clenched slightly at her lack of toughness which she had obtained for several years of her life. Eventually, she stopped looking in between them and let them just settle on Macnair.

"I fell." She claimed, nodding her head. He frowned slightly and she added on quickly to her statement, it wouldn't take her an hour and a half to get up off of the floor and walk back with no injuries. "...into the toilet."

His eyes widened slightly as she nodded, sticking with that excuse and Regulus closed his eyes in exasperation for a moment.

"Yeah so then I had to take my clothes off and..." She looked at him nervously with those words, anxious about his reaction but he just seemed normally passive instead of having that glint in his eyes. "and leave them to dry for an hour and a half, I didn't want to walk about the school in my underwear so..."

"Alright," He took that as a good enough answer and Elladora was tempted to turn and rub it in Regulus' face but she didn't get to before he had beckoned them over to where the rest of them sat. With a humph, he sat himself on the sofa and patted the empty space next to him, giving her an almost commanding look.

Regulus pushed her forward slightly. He still didn't know what went on or why she was uncomfortable around him so she knew she had to tell him soon since it concerned his safety as well as hers. She only hoped that it was a one time thing. Elladora didn't want to cause a small scene so she made her way over to the empty space but didn't sit all the way back, instead perched herself on the edge whilst Macnair put his arm on the back of the sofa.

"So, Elladora..." He started and she glanced back at him slightly, putting her hands in her lap and starting to fiddle, wishing she had a Rubik's cube of her own. She might have to steal Remus'. "We thought of something that could benefit us."

Regulus looked up, he hadn't forgotten Avery's little comments from the holidays and was recently feeling more protective over Elladora since she was like his sister and he hated how they talked about her.

"You know how you were friends with those blood-traitors?" He asked and she froze but nodded slowly, she didn't like the word blood-traitor but it wasn't like she could argue against it from where she was sat next to them. "Well, Potter and we're suspecting Pettigrew's parents are in something called The Order. A group formed against what we do basically. We want you to continue pretending being close to them, just pretend like you didn't turn on them or betray them and we might be able to get information if you go round for the summer or something."

Oh, so they already thought she betrayed them, that was one less thing she had to act like. She didn't even need to pretend to be their friend anyway, she was their friend so it would be easy to deceive the people she were sat around now. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders and she had to stop her smile from coming through, she luckily had enough self-control to keep it in though.

"Can you do that?"

"Yeah...yeah, I should be able to."

•*•*•*•*•
A/N: I will not lie to you, I rewrote this chapter 3 times. I just was not happy with it and it's not very much plot at the moment but it will get into it.

I don't want it to get too boring but I also don't want to rush into the plot because there's a lot I need to cover!!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, have a lovely day, night or evening where you are.