Chapter 8

✨Helena Lestrange✨

We were now nearing the holidays and Draco and I still haven't talked since Halloween.  Harry recently found out that Sirius Black, the mass murderer, is his godfather, which took a big toll on him.

Instead of going on dates and hanging out like we used to, Harry now spends his days planning his revenge on Sirius.  Everyday, Harry talks to me about how upset he is, and I didn't blame him at first, but then, things got out of hand.  Now, Harry wants to kill Sirius.  Obviously you'd want revenge for the person that killed your parents, but I know Harry, and he is no murderer.  I've tried talking to him, telling him to let the Dementors take care of him, but Harry won't listen.  I've tried taking Harry on dates too, but he just continues talking about Sirius.  It's like all he can think of is him.  I really don't think I can take much more of this.

Two days before Christmas Eve, I went to Harry's dorm to go talk to him.  I knock at the door and it opens up seconds later.

"Hey El, what are you doing here?" Harry said, almost hiding behind the door.

"Just wanted to talk to you.  Can I come in?"

"Uh," he looked behind him but then said, "Sure, come in."

He opened the door to reveal his bed, unmade, with the Marauders Map, a book, and his wand scattered around on it.

"Harry, what are you doing?" I asked, knowing where this conversation was going to go.

"Um, just working on an assignment." He lied.

"Oh really?  So why do you need the Marauders Map for an assignment?" I replied, picking up the map.

"Alright, I was looking for him."

Harry!  You told me you would stop that!-"

"I know El, I know!  I'll stop looking for him, alright?"

"Promise me." I said.

"What?"

"Promise me.  Promise me you won't go looking for him again."

"El, you know I can't do that." He replied, with a defeated look on his face.

"Harry, there's a reason people don't want you looking for him.  He wasn't put in Azkaban for nothing, okay?" I said, walking over to him, placing my hand on his cheek.

He paused, taking my hand off his cheek as he spoke, "El, it's just not that simple.  He's the reason my parents are dead.  I have to find him.  I have to kill him."

He had a familiar look in his eyes which always appeared when he was talking about Sirius.  A look of hatred.  His once blue eyes turned dark as he spoke of him.

"Harry, you're not a murderer.  I know you want to avenge your parents, but I don't think they wanted you to kill him.  Just send him back to Azkaban with the Dementors."

"I can't El.  He escaped once, who's to say he won't do it again!" At this point, his voice grew with anger.  "I am going to kill him, for my parents."

"You don't-"

"I don't what, El?!  Think of it this way, wouldn't you want to kill the people that took your mother?!"  Although he was angry, he somewhat had a point.

I have and always will loathe the people who took mother away, but I would never wish death upon anyone.  I may be Bellatrix Lestrange's daughter, but that doesn't mean I'm exactly like her.

My mother.  I miss her so much.  Just thinking about her made me want to cry.

Harry knew how sensitive I was to talking about her, so once he realized what he said, he walked over and hugged me.

"Helena, I'm sorry.  I just wanted to make you understand and I messed up.  I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, Harry.  I think I'm going to head off, though.  I'll see you later."

"El, wait."

I left Harry's dorm and found the nearest bathroom.  I locked the door and let out all my tears.

That night, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Fred, George, Percy, and I all packed our bags, for we were all leaving to the Burrow tomorrow morning.  I've heard many stories about the Burrow, but this will be my first time going.  I went to sleep early, excited for the day ahead.

I woke up from my annoying alarm.  I quickly showered, got dressed into some nice clothes, and did my makeup and hair before heading down to the Great Hall.  When I entered, I noticed 4 of the 5 gingers enjoying their breakfast.  I took a seat next to Ginny.

"Morning!" I said, grabbing some toast and jam.

"Morning." They replied.

"Where's Ron?" I asked them.

"He's probably still sleeping." Ginny said, eating her fruit.

A few minutes pass by until we see Hermione, Ron, and Harry all enter.  They take a seat and eat their breakfast.  Once it was time to go, we all said goodbye to our friends and took a seat in one of the empty compartments on the Hogwarts Express.

I was the last to board the train as I wanted to find Pansy and Blaise to say goodbye one last time.  As I stepped on the train, I bumped into the one person I hoped not to see.

"Sorry!" I said, not realizing who it was at first.

"Watch it." Draco's voice was firm and annoying.  He clearly hadn't known it was me until we locked eyes.

"And who are you spending Christmas with this year?" He asked.

"The Weasleys."  I said, knowing full well he'd be annoyed by that, since I usually spend holidays with his family and mine.

"There you are El!" Ginny appeared and I couldn't have been more thankful for her timing.  If we had more time alone, he probably would've made some complaint: whether it be my outfit, Harry, or the Weasleys, I didn't want to hear it.

"Happy Christmas Draco."  I said with slight attitude as I walked off with Ginny.

✨Draco Malfoy✨

The day after the Halloween party, I knew that if I wanted El and I to be friends again, I couldn't keep arguing with her.  So, I would do my best to be nicer to her whenever I could.  It's been hard doing that.

Today I'm going back home.  My mother and father invited El to spend Christmas with us, so they'll be in for a surprise when they find out why she didn't come.  El and I have never had a fight that lasted this long, which is weird because we're both very big grudge holders.

I was sitting on the train when I saw Pansy and Blaise walk by outside, so I thought I'd say goodbye again.  As I was about to exit, I bump into El.  I didn't know it was her, though, so I gave her a harsh retort.  I would've apologized, but my ego got the best of me and I didn't.  When I found out she was spending the holidays with those pathetic Weasleys, I almost flipped.  I hated that she was friends with them.  I hated that she wanted to spend her Christmas with her stupid boyfriend rather than me.  I hated all of it.  But mostly, I hated that we weren't friends.

✨Helena Lestrange✨

The train ride home was very amusing.  Fred and George were showing off some of their inventions (which we would soon use to prank some more people), Ron was having an eating contest against himself, Percy was laughing the whole time but was nervous the conductor would get us in trouble, Hermione was trying to read a book but gave up and joined in on the fun, and Harry and I watched everyone and talked to each other a lot.

We still had an hour to go and I really needed to use the restroom.  I excused myself and walked to the end of the compartments where the restrooms were.  I finished and walked out.  As I was looking at all the empty compartments, I see Draco sitting alone in one of them, staring at the window.  His door was open halfway and something in me wanted to sit down with him.  I headed back to my compartment when his voice spoke up.

"Happy Christmas El."

I stopped walking.  I don't know why but I turned back and replied, "Tell your family I said hi and send my love."

"Okay."

We gave each other a small smile before I continued walking back to my friends.

The train finally arrived at the platform.  We all got off to see Molly and Arthur there waiting for us.  George pulled me towards the front of our large group to introduce me to his parents.

"Mum, dad, this is El."

"Well hello deary!  Fred and George have told me all about you!  You'll be staying with us I assume?"

"Yes, I hope you don't mind.  I know it was last minute thing we set up."

"Not at all." Molly replied with a warm smile.

I turn to Arthur as I say, "Hi Mr. Weasley!  Good to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you too, El." He said.

We grabbed out stuff and apparated to The Burrow.  

The twins gave me a quick tour and showed Hermione and I where we'd be sleeping for the holidays.  Obviously, with Ginny.  We placed our stuff in her room and went back down to the kitchen; I was starving.

Molly had prepared some sandwiches and baked a cake.  Everyone sat down and enjoyed their lunch.  After we ate, everyone went to hang out with each other.

"Hey El, want to prank Ron?" Fred asked me, grabbing my arm and pulling me into a location where we couldn't be heard.

"We already got him though.  We need to get someone new." I said.

"Well, we've got someone in mind,-"

"-But we're not sure if you would like it." Fred asked, finishing George's sentence.

"You want to prank Harry, don't you?"

They both nodded.

"Let's do it." I replied, after some thought.

We smiled before heading off to the twins room to make up a plan.

After some time, Harry walked into the room unexpectedly.

"Harry!  What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I was looking for you!  We're all going to go outside and play some Quidditch, want to join us?"

I looked at the twins as the three of us exchanged a mischievous look.

"Sure.  Fred, George, and I will be down in a sec."  Harry left the room and closed the door behind him as I turned to the boys.

"Alright, what's the plan?" I asked.

"I know, let's replace the snitch with this." George said, holding out a golden ball.  Fred's eyes lit up as he saw it, but I was utterly confused.

"What is that?"

"It's a new invention of ours-"

"-Just made it yesterday-"

"-For this perfect occasion." Once again, the twins were completing each other's sentences.

George continued, "It'll fly and have wings just like a normal snitch would-"

"-But when someone is about to catch it,-"

"-It'll send out a gas that only a person within 2 feet can see-"

"-Which will give the other seeker enough time to catch the snitch."

It sounded like a good plan, but I was still a little confused. 

"But won't the snitch release the smoke to me as well?  And I know Harry isn't going to stop just because of some fog-" I was cut off by Fred.

"Relax El, the snitch will only release smoke once-"

"-And the fog is extremely powerful.  We should know, we had to test it on ourselves when first making it."

Fred continued, "Trust us, it'll keep Harry from catching the snitch."

We walked outside and found everyone on their brooms already.  Although, I noticed two unfamiliar people flying.

"Who are those two?" I asked the twins, pointing up at them.

"That one on the left is Bill, our other brother.  I assume he just arrived now." Fred replied.

"And the other?"

"That one's Charlie," George said.  "He was off in Romania but came to stay for the holidays."

Ginny noticed the three of us and called the others so we could start playing.

"Alright, we'll split off into two teams.  Ron wanted to be a team captain, so we need one more." Ginny told us, as we gathered around in a circle.

"I'll be it." Said Fred.

The two team captains picked their people.

After some arguing about who gets who, everyone was on a team.

Ron chose Harry, Hermione, Charlie, and Ginny.  Fred chose me, George, Bill, and Percy.  Harry was pretty upset that Fred chose me first, meaning I didn't get to be on his team, but it was all part of the plan.  I knew Harry would tell Ron to chose me, so Fred did a noble thing of choosing me first and then his brother.

"And who's this?" Charlie asked, looking at me.

"I'm El."

"Well get ready to lose, El." Charlie walked over to me, practically looking all the way down as he made himself look intimidating.

"We'll see about that, Weasley." I replied, looking practically straight up at him.

I gave him a smirk as I walked back to see my team in a huddle.

"I think you're going to be most useful on our team, El." Bill said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Charlie's very competitive, and I hear from these two that so are you." Bill replied, pointing at the twins.

"I like to win.  There is no losing in my book."

We turned toward the others as Fred gave us all our Quidditch positions.

"George and I will be beaters, Bill you're going to be our chaser, Percy you're keeper, and El-"

"Seeker, I got it." I said.

"Alright, let's do this numpties!" Fred said, making us laugh as we went to our positions.

The other team was already in the air, waiting for us.

"About time!" Ron said.

"Oh, shut it Ronald!" Bill replied, making me laugh a little too loud.

"Oi, El's a seeker!  Let's see how you play against Mr. Chosen One!"

My friends don't know I can play Quidditch, besides Draco, Pansy, Blaise, and the twins.  Anyway, the match begun and we were off.  Harry and I were looking everywhere for the snitch while the others were trying to score.

As Harry and I were circling the field, we both almost ran into each other.

"Woah!  Sorry El!" Harry said, not wanting to injure me as he quickly stopped on his broom.

"That's alright.  Ready to lose Potter?" I asked him with an innocent smile.

"Yeah right.  I'm going to kick your arse!" He replied.

"You wish."  He was about to respond when the "snitch" flew in front of his face, barely escaping him as he reached out to grab it.

The snitch flew away as Harry chased to grab it, with me not far behind him.  He obviously assumed I was either was far behind or wasn't following him at all, because when he turned to look for me, he was surprised to see I was practically next to him.

"I completely forgot to tell you!" I shouted.  "I can play Quidditch too!"  I raced ahead of him, and now he was the one trying to catch up.  

After a couple seconds, Harry and I were now flying at the same pace, right next to each other.  Harry then takes the lead as he reaches his hand out to grab the snitch, but as he's about to, the snitch releases the fog which causes Harry to stop for only a moment on his broom.  I knew this would happen (obviously), so when I noticed he was about to "win," I backed off a little and waited till the fog hit him.  Then, I quickly raced after the snitch once more and caught it.  

I raced back down towards the others as I cheered, "Game's over losers!  We won!" 

My team cheered as I locked eyes with the twins, exchanging a smirk.

"I hate to admit it," Charlie appeared next to me.  "But you're not as bad as I thought, kid."

We all flew back to the ground and drank some water as we congratulated each other.  I looked around for Harry and noticed the confusion on his face.

"Good game Harry!  I thought you were going to give me a tougher time, considering the fact that you said you were going to kick my arse." I said, walking up to him.

"Shut up El." He replied jokingly, as we both laughed.

"What happened?" I asked, still noticing the look on his face.

"Well, when I was about to catch the snitch, some fog or something just flew into my face.  And it just covered my entire view of the snitch."

"Way to make excuses." I said, trying my best not to laugh.

"I'm serious El!" He chuckled. "And for some reason, I just wanted to fall asleep, right then and there."

"That's weird," I replied honestly.  The twins didn't tell me that would happen.  "Well, stop being a sore loser and let's go inside."

We put our brooms back in the cupboard and joined the others inside.

The twins were sitting on the couch by the fire.  I sat down next to them and asked, "Harry said the gas made him sleepy.  What's up with that?"

Fred gave George a stern look as George chuckled and replied, "I couldn't help it!"  By now, George was laughing a lot.

"Huh?  Fred, what's he talking about?"

"George added a bewitched sleeping charm to the fake snitch, which caused Harry to get a little tired."

"Really George?" I said, laughing as well.

"I thought it would help slow Harry down." George replied.

"Fred, George, El!  I made some warm butterbeer!" Molly said from the kitchen.

We got up and found everyone sitting at the table of nearby on a couch enjoying their drink.  We grabbed our cup and sat down with everyone else.

This chapter is a bit longer, so I'm continuing what happens in the next one.

Much love, 

M🐍💕✨