- Chapter Sixty-Eight -
"We're a family now so you have to act like one."

Elladora had been left alone once more.

After breakfast, the rest of the day went by quickly. It was that same thing that happened at Christmas where Elladora couldn't remember the phrase, but now she did, time flies by when you're having fun. She really wished it didn't, she wanted him to stay longer so that her day of peace could stretch out as much as it could but after a brilliant morning full of dancing, slipping on the floor and eating food, Remus had to get back to his own house to take care of his dad who by the sound of it was in an even deeper state of grief than Remus had been.

Elladora liked to think that she had cheered him up slightly and that made her happy because he and the others had done it for her in the first place and now she finally feels like she's returning the favour. She still felt like she owed Remus something for saving his life but whenever she even tried to let it slip, he'd stop her with that look where you just have to shut up immediately because it's that intimidating. As if he was challenging her.

Her arm had been calm the whole time, no sudden sparks of pain or indescribable burning but she liked it that way. Unfortunately it didn't last long because she woke up the next morning with a stinging feeling in her left arm that made her not want to get out of bed but from the list she had looked at yesterday that her mother had told her about, the younger population of Death Eaters were coming over.

Meaning she had to face Avery, Mulciber and Snape. Some others that she didn't go out of her way to talk to, but at least Evan and Regulus were going to be there. Although Evan did want to be a Death Eater like his parents and like Avery, Snape and Mulciber, he wasn't mean like they were and instead talked to Elladora like she was a human and not like she was a piece  of dirt on the bottom of his shoe. She supposed that he hadn't known her for as long as the other had since he was a couple of years above her in school.

Getting dressed had  proved difficult, she tried to do it on her own but ended up falling over her skirt multiple times. Dobby came up to help after the first large thud, though his eyes were round and watery.  Elladora suspected that he knew about the plans for him to be moving to a new family seeing as though he choked out all of his words and eventually broke down when she pulled him into an awkward hug once she was dressed.

He  left soon after, muttering about being put to his duties. It was at least an hour before the others should be arriving and when he did, the loud knock echoed around the large house like it would in a deep cave of rounded rock and water. Unnerved beyond belief about the meeting that was about to take place, Elladora had made sure to take deep breaths when walking down the stairs towards the door, hoping that either Evan or Regulus would be the one knocking.

"Hey, Elladora." Evan greeted when she swung open one of the large doors with a forced smile, her shoulders slumped slightly in relief at the sight of him but she could immediately sense the others behind him.

Evan stepped in first, the others piling in and it was hard to stop herself from rolling her eyes when she realises she was the only girl there. Luckily, to avoid the similar stares of the ones at the ball, she had put a bodice on that covered everything worth staring at and it seemed as though it had worked considering the unknown boys' eyes travelled around the entrance hall first before landing on her.

"Okay, so reintroductions?" Evan offered into the small awkward silence but no one spoke again so he took charge to try and make it more bearable. "Well, uh, Elladora this is Avery, Mulciber, Snape, Snyde, Macnair and Black. Guys, this is Elladora Hargreaves."

"The Occlumens?" Snyde asked her and she slowly nodded, edging slightly closer to Regulus as he had stopped beside her and he was the one that she felt most comfortable with. "Woah, so you can read minds?"

"No, that's a Legilimens, dipshit." Macnair hit him over the back of the head and then turned to her with a small smile, extending his hand. "Walden Macnair."

Elladora was about to tell him that it was nice to meet him as a formality but he interjected and spoke before she could.

"Elladora, that's the name of a star. And I understand that your mother also has an Astrology related name. Related to Regulus and the rest of the Blacks by any chance?" He asked.

"Uh..." She stammered, looking to Regulus for help but he only shrugged his shoulders at her, frowning in confusion. "Probably very distantly after all pure-bloods are somehow related. But I do know that my great-grandmother did like the way the Black's name their family members after stars and stuff so she did it with my grandmother and my grandmother did it with my mother and...here we are."

Her words trailed off into an awkward silence and she bit her lips slightly as the others nodded slowly, Macnair looking a bit confused but overall not that interested. She truly didn't know what to do now, all her time with Remus had been spent dancing around and laughing so with these people, she didn't know what could make up the time they were meant to spend together.

"But my great-grandma and my grandma are both dead now..." She filled the silence again with a small awkward laugh but a couple of them smiled, meaning Evan, Regulus, Snyde and Macnair. Avery, Mulciber and Snape had yet to let an emotion crack through.

"Most people are dead now-a-days." Avery spoke up and they all turned to face him as he glanced around at each one of them individually, his gaze lasting a little longer on Elladora as he said his next words. "The mudbloods are finally getting what they deserve."

A small twitch in Elladora's jaw made him smirk at the reaction he got and look away, he knew full well that she was kind acquaintances with Lily Evans and was definitely not for all of the blood-purist opinions the rest of them had. He could never bring himself to talk about it though because like her, he was scared and a coward, so he only needed her to burst and then she'd be gone.

"That's a way to get dark, Avery." Regulus spoke up, his eyes showing fire but his expression showing coldness. "We were all strictly instructed to get along as the younger parts of the Death Eaters, not instructed to have a second meeting on our accomplishments."

"Isn't that the best way to get along though, talking about mudblood scum? What do you think, Hargreaves?" He turned on her once again. "Does the news of wizards with filthy blood being killed make you proud of everything we've accomplished because I seem to remember you killing one of them. Right over there." His hand gestured to the room she hated with her entire being at the moment and she quickly glanced over at it with a sharp breath.

She looked back straight away, composing herself. Avery was waiting for her to crack, he was waiting for the rest of them to see how she was not for all of this and was quite the opposite, he was waiting for an opportunity to get her killed because he was too much of a coward to do it himself. But if there was one thing Elladora had learned over her the past couple of weeks, it was to never give anyone the satisfaction ever again.

"At least I actually had the nerve to do something instead of cowering in the back of a crowd like a baby." She retorted tightly, tilting her head to the side as his smirk dropped and his jaw clenched in anger. It made her sick to think back to that day and images of the lifeless muggle-born plagued her mind for a moment before she willed them away.

"Guys." Evan interjected, standing in the middle of them as they could all sense there was tension and they didn't need infighting at the moment. "We all have to stick together, okay? All of our parents expect so much of us and they expect for us to prove that we're not cowards, we won't back out after the first sign of confrontation."

"I know you all don't get along at the moment or have this weird tension or whatever, but to be honest, I don't fucking care." He said and they all broke their respective glares at each other to face him, shocked. "I don't care if you want to tear your hair out every time another person speaks, I don't care if you have a petty rivalry with one another, I don't care if something has happened in the past and you're both still holding a grudge. That grudge can't be held forever, we're a family now so you have to act like one. Siblings don't like each other all the time but they're still there for each other which is what we need to be."

"We have so much riding on us; our pureblood family legacies; our abilities to help the Dark Lord any way we can; our need to prove ourselves to our parents. You're all gonna do things you don't want to do in life but that can wait for later, right now we have to obey everything that we're told to do. I doubt Elladora and Regulus want to get married but they're going to have to."

"What?!" The only girl among them exclaimed in shock, her mouth falling agape and her eyes grew wide. Regulus winced slightly next to her like he was just remembering something and the other boys looked at her in alarm of her outburst.

Evan looked to Regulus with furrowed eyebrows, silently asking why she was acting out like this.

"I forgot to tell her." Regulus gulped and the group, apart from Elladora, groaned at him. "I didn't see her until the next morning and then I was rushing home. I knew I was coming today so I was going to tell her now but I guess the cat's out of the bag."

"Married?" Elladora spluttered, still in a state of confusion and shock as she turned to Regulus who looked at her guiltily. "What do they mean?"

"When you finish Hogwarts, Regulus will be 17 so in the summer between his sixth and seventh year, you two are getting married to join the families." Snyde explained bluntly, Macnair hit him across the head with a small glare as Elladora glanced away to Regulus and to the floor.

"Excuse me." She sighed quietly, shaking her head  and beginning to walk away towards the nearest door which happened to be the one that lead into the dining room. She walked into the room and shut the door behind her, leaning against it with a soft gasp as she felt tears begin to form in her eyes.

They were blinked back quickly and she heard the faint voice of Avery back in the hall.

"When you said we need to be family, I didn't know you meant literally." He said and Macnair laughed from next to him, biting his  lip to stop a smile as he looked to the door she had disappeared through with something in his eyes that Regulus didn't like.

"Shut up, Avery." Evan scoffed, running a hand through his hair as the boy held up his hands in defence. "This was a shock to her and I meant what I said about the family thing so I don't expect to see you ogling her the same way you were a couple of nights ago."

"What can I say?" He asked rhetorically through an obvious note of sarcasm and Evan's fist clenched at his side. As he had expressed to Elladora and Regulus the night of the gathering, he thought Avery was a complete dick.

"She is very very pretty." Macnair said, looking away from the door and towards the rest of them.

"She's not pretty, she's hot." Avery scoffed.

"Watch your mouth." Regulus spat threateningly, stepping forward so the two boys were nearly touching chests. They were both the same height as each other so neither was towering over the other but both of their eyes were narrowed into dangerous slits.

"I'm only being honest." Avery said through another clenched jaw and pushed Regulus away from him, the boy about to lunge forward again but Evan stepped in front of him and stopped him from reaching him.

"Family!" He said desperately, gripping onto Regulus to keep him away from Avery until he was more or less calm.

Elladora squeezed her eyes shut as a warm tear slipped down her cheek and she slowly lowered herself down to sit on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest as she rested her chin on them and cried quietly. Everything was changing and she hated it.

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A/N: next chapter will make you mad but then Elladora's going back to Hogwarts!