Windows of the Soul

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: This story ignores HBP and DH; it starts the beginning of the summer before Harry’s seventh year. Thank you to my beta Sometimeselkie for all her hard work



Harry stayed in the hospital wing for two more days. After that, he was given a set of rooms near the Gryffindor tower until school started in just a couple of days.

Draco and Elli came to collect him from the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey gave Harry a last look over; just to make sure he was all right. Harry held Elli’s hand as they walked down the corridor to his rooms, with Draco following silently behind.

Harry glanced back at Draco; unbeknownst to Draco, Harry had come to a decision about them, one that would change things for good and for the better.

He smiled slightly and looked over at Elli; she looked tired and drawn, as if she hadn’t slept in a few days, and he squeezed her hand.

“Are you okay, Elli? You look like you haven’t slept,” he said with a worried look on his face.

Elli smiled very brightly towards her brother. “I’m fine, Harry - it’s not that I’ve not been sleeping. It will be a full moon tomorrow.” With that, they got to the door of his rooms. Elli kissed Harry on the cheek. “I’m going to go for a walk down by the lake and relax. Harry, you will go inside and rest and you, Draco, will keep an eye on him. I’ll be back in a little while.”

Draco looked over at Elli and placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. “Don’t worry, Elli; I’ll look after him.” He smiled at the look of indignation on Harry’s face and pushed Harry into the rooms.

Elli made her way carefully out of the castle and walked down towards the lake. She had walked down there many times in the last eleven days whilst Harry had been in the Hospital Wing. Sometimes she had just needed some air; other times were spent screaming and crying away from the others.

She counted the steps she made to the water’s edge and then counted forty-five steps away and finally reached the tree she knew was there. She sat down with her back to it.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the tree, just breathing in the cold Scottish air and listening to the water.

Elli could feel the magic coming towards her and she cocked her head to one side to hear. There was the snap of a twig being broken and then Elli heard footsteps coming towards her. She smiled as she felt familiar magic.

She felt him sit down beside her and she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. His arm wound around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him. They sat like that without a word exchange, as if they both needed just the other’s presence, until he bent down and kissed the top of her head.

“We cannot be here for much longer. They will come looking for you and I have to return to him soon.”

Elli sighed. “I know, Zaytche, but just a little bit longer. We don’t know when you will be able to come again.” With that, she put both of her arms around him and held him tightly. He put his other arm around her and they sat holding each other.

He couldn’t believe how this one small young girl - no, woman - had come into his life and changed things for him in such a short time, just a few days. Before she had entered his life, he had already been a spy for Dumbledore against the Dark Lord, doing it for his family. Now he was doing it for the hope that maybe he would be alive when all the fighting was over and the Dark Lord had been beaten. Then maybe he could have a life with this beautiful woman, if she would have him.

He reached inside his robes and pulled out a long, thin black velvet box; reaching over, he placed it in Elli’s hand.

“Orri, please except this as a gift from a friend, and maybe in the future something else.”

She opened the box and gently let her fingertips run over the object inside. She gasped as she carefully picked up a bracelet.

She felt the bracelet and realised that it was a small snake and as she put it on her wrist it coiled itself around to fit and laid its head against her pulse. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Oh, Zaytche! It’s lovely! Thank you, but you don’t have to give me anything.”

“I don’t have to, but I want to. It is platinum and its eyes are aquamarine so it is very sturdy and not easily damaged. There is another reason that I have given it to you as well. It will become warm and vibrate when we can meet here again. It is safer than an owl and you can do the same if you need to meet me. I will tell you the spell before I leave.”

Elli sighed again. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her present, but he didn’t have to buy her feelings. Even though they had only met for the first time a few weeks ago and had only met again a handful of times in the last few days she knew that she had deep feelings for this man. Yes, he was a spy, but that didn’t stop her from loving him.

“If I thought that I could return this very expensive gift to you then I would, but I know that it would be fruitless to even try. Again, thank you. I will wear it always, except on full moons, but I will keep it safe.”

She leaned over and placed her lips on his in a chaste kiss, but with the first touch of her lips on his he groaned and she leaned into him and the kiss turned from chaste into passionate in a millisecond. Elli gasped and that allowed him to push his tongue into her mouth gently where he started to battle with hers. They held each other as the kiss went on until finally, lack of air forced them both apart, gasping.

He suddenly grabbed his left arm as the Mark started to burn and hissed. “My master calls. I will contact you soon.”

He placed a bit of parchment in her hand, told her the spell for the bracelet, and finally kissed her forehead before getting up and walking towards the boundaries of the school and the Apparition point. Elli didn’t want him to go, but knew that he had to.

She called after him, “Be careful.” And then, more of a whisper, “Come back to me, my love.”

Neither one of them noticed the onyx eyes that had seen most of the scene, nor the angry glare that he had thrown towards the departing figure. He watched as Elli got up and walked back towards the castle.

Elli had just reached the main doors when she felt a familiar magic and heard, “Ellorra, come to my office. I need a word with you.”

She heard his departing footsteps before she could reply. Elli took a deep breath and followed Severus down to his office. When she got there, she found him pacing.

“Tatko, you needed to speak to me? Is everything okay?” she enquired worriedly.

Severus turned and looked at his “daughter”. He loved her very much and always wanted to protect her and so he could not understand how or why she had met that man.

“I went to find you earlier and, not to my surprise, you were down at the lake, but I fully expected you to be alone. Can you explain why you were with a man? And also, why him?” Severus had to take a breath then as he had said that without breathing.

He watched emotions play over Elli’s face until she had them under control and her face seemed to turn to stone.

“I am of age, Tatko, and if I want to spend time with a friend then I will, male or female. Why not him? He is kind to me and funny. He makes me laugh. He listens to me, like he would to any adult - he doesn’t treat me as a poor little blind girl.” She unclenched her fingers that had curled into a fist as she had talked to Severus.

“I understand that, Elli. I am sorry if we or I treat you like that, but we want to keep you safe; we love you.”

“I know that, Tatko, but I am a grown woman and I must be allowed to make my own choices. And I choose him.”

Severus could feel a headache coming along and he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “You cannot choose him, Ellorra. He is not the sort of man that would be good for you.”

Elli felt her anger start to rise and she faced her Tatko with a determined look on her face. “Why not?”

“Why not? Because – one, he is older than you and second, HE...IS...A...SPY! He could be found out and killed at any time.” Severus finished shouting and slammed his fists down on his desk.

Elli jumped at the sound, but she didn’t back down. This was too important to her... he was too important to her.

With a glare worthy of Severus himself, she stepped towards him. “I know he is a spy. That is one of the reasons we met...so he could give me this.” With that, she threw the parchment at Severus. “It would be too hard for him to try and meet you, but a lone student going down to the lake to be alone is not unusual.”

Severus looked at the message, then at his “daughter”. “That might be so, but I saw you together and that wasn’t all that you were doing.”

Elli tried to keep her anger in, but was finding it difficult. “No, that wasn’t the only thing, even though it isn’t anyone else’s business. I love him and maybe one day we could be together, but if not then I will take whatever I can get.”

Severus stepped up to Elli and grabbed her shoulders, holding her still while he screamed. “I will not allow you to waste yourself on him! He is not worthy of you. He will betray you. You don’t know him. You don’t know who and what he is.”

Elli shook with anger. “He will not betray me. I do know him. I know what he is and yes, I know who he is.”

“Elli, please listen to me. He will hurt you; I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

“Tatko, will you please listen to me? If he hurts me then I will be the one hurt and I will heal, but it is my choice. Please understand that. It would kill me to lose you. Please don’t make me choose.” There was pleading in her eyes as Severus looked into them. He put his head against hers and put his arms around her, privately admitting defeat.

“I won’t make you choose, Elli. Just know that I am here for you if you want anything or just want to talk.”

Elli smiled wearily and hugged him back. “Thank you, Tatko.”

“Well, now you have both stopped screaming at each other maybe you can tell us what’s going on?”

They both sprang apart at that and turned to find Harry, Draco, and Remus in the doorway of the office.