An Unlikely Savior ~ (Edit) COMPLETED

Chapter 19 ~ Evil, Thy Name is Eileen

Over the weekend, Eileen was fitted for a gown for the Christmas Ball. Of course, it was black and sleek. No frills, no bows or ribbons and sleeveless, with a scooped back.

Snape thought it was too grown up and showed too much skin in back, but Eileen asked him, “Would you rather the skin show in the front, dad?”

But Snape was so distressed, she promised to wear a gauzy black shawl to “cover her sinful flesh” which was fine with her father. He also disagreed about the shoes she wanted to wear.

”Those are “shag me” shoes,” he groused as he looked at the sexy pumps.

Eileen cracked up.

”Shag me shoes? Dad, shoes can’t make anyone shag,” she told him.

”They can give boys ideas,” her father said stubbornly.

”Dad, this is Alsop we’re talking about,” Eileen said as she looked at another pair of shoes anyway. “He’s just my friend.”

”Yes, and in case you haven’t noticed, Alsop is also a boy,” her father told her pointedly.

Snape understood Eileen saw Alsop as a harmless friend, but he remembered when he was Lily’s “friend.” He would have given anything to be more to the witch. Anything. He wanted to be with Lily intimately more than he wanted to draw his next breath. It never happened, but he knew what it felt like, and by the concern the Potter boy showed concerning Eileen, it was as clear as day he wanted to be more than a friend to his daughter as well.

Snape was rather shocked how his little girl was a woman now. Yes, she was only sixteen, but everything was rounded in the right places. How had he not noticed that? Well, he knew he didn’t have to give her the birds and bees talk. He’d taken care of human sexuality ages ago. Eileen knew where babies came from by the time she was seven and how they were created. Snape had used charts to show her the body parts necessary to create a child, the inner workings of them, told her about menstruation and basically everything she needed to know about the differences between males and females.

Her father also told her about how to protect herself from pregnancy, and the different methods of doing so. Precautions could be taken by either the man or the woman, or both. He didn’t have a problem with telling her this, because she was far too young to be interested in sex at the time. He thought it wiser to ingrain these things in her at a young age, rather than wait until she began to feel the stirrings of adulthood.

He took a very clinical but natural approach to the topic, and as a result Eileen accepted sex as something natural that happened between men and women. But, she didn’t like the idea of having to take care of a baby when she was young, and took her father’s instruction to heart. Eileen would probably never have a child out of wedlock.

When Eileen finally returned to Hogwarts, she had a customized Firebolt in tow. The broomstick was black and highly polished, with a silver serpent with a greenish aura encircling the handle, and silver stirrups. It was beautiful, and fast. It topped out at one hundred and eighty miles an hour.

Dad had come through.

She wasn’t even greeted by the other students when she returned to Slytherin house, just ogled, more because of the broom she carried than her return. But her housemates knew better than to ask her for a ride. Her answer would have been, “Are you stark, raving nutters?”

Alsop, on the other hand, was overjoyed when she walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, and waited for her anxiously outside the double doors for her to finish eating. Rose watched Eileen sullenly. Hugo watched her too, his blue eyes shining.

He was going to talk to her as soon as it was possible. His parents had said not to tell anyone, but Eileen already knew she was his sister, so she didn’t count. When she exited the Great Hall, Hugo popped up and followed her, Rose hissing at him to come back when she saw he was following the Slytherin. She jumped up too, and followed.

Alsop met Eileen outside the Great Hall, all smiles.

”You’re back!” he said to Eileen as she swished by him, her robes billowing.

”You have a gift for stating the obvious, Alsop,” she said, though she smirked a little as he walked alongside her. He took her books out of her hand and added them to his own.

”You’re still weak,” he said, “don’t want you overdoing it. All I need is for you to collapse again. You’re pretty heavy, you know.”

”Shut up, Alsop,” she hissed at him.

”You have no idea how I’ve missed that,” he said as they walked up the marble stairs.

Hugo had stopped outside the Great Hall when he saw Alsop. He couldn’t talk to Eileen when he was around, or the dragon would be out of the cave. Rose walked out and saw Eileen and Alsop walking up the stairs and stormed up to Hugo.

”Just what do you think you were doing?” she asked her brother.

”I wanted to talk to my sister,” he said petulantly.

”She’s your half-sister. Just leave her alone, Hugo.”

”I won’t. You can’t make me,” he said stubbornly.

Rose caught him by the shoulders and turned him to face her.

”Mum and dad said we weren’t to say anything about her to anyone,” she hissed at him.

”They meant to anyone who doesn’t know. She knows, Rose.”

”Hugo, damn it, you’d better listen to me. I’m the oldest,” Rose declared.

”Not anymore,” he replied smugly. “Eileen’s got two years on you. She’s the real big sister now.”

Students began to leave the Great Hall, and Rose released her brother, looking at him angrily. He was such a little troll. He never wanted to listen to her.

”If she hexes you, it’s going to be your own fault,” Rose told him.

”I’ll take my chances,” Hugo said, his jaw thrust out like his mum’s would do when she was determined to do something.

“Fine,” Rose seethed, stalking off.

Hugo looked after her, then up at the stairs again. He’d keep an eye out. Sooner or later, Eileen would be by herself, and then he could introduce himself to her.

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Hugo wasn’t the one who saw Eileen alone first. It was Rose. Well, she wasn’t exactly alone. Alsop was with her. It was like he was her shadow or something. But he was seated in the stands of the Quidditch arena, watching Eileen put her Firebolt through the paces. She was good, but wasn’t on the Quidditch team. It was sexist, the team consisting of all males, big ones. But more than likely she wouldn’t have joined if they asked her. In Eileen’s opinion, team sports were for idiots and required more brawn than brain.

Alsop didn’t have his broom. He was caught sneaking back on to the Hogwarts grounds after visiting Snape and Harry took his broom away as punishment. He also had a month’s worth of detentions applied to his previously pristine record. But he didn’t care about it. Finding out that Eileen was all right was worth it.

Rose, who had her broom with her as well, looked up at the Slytherin flying about. Hugo was still determined to talk to her, and to be honest, Rose was really concerned that Eileen would do something nasty to him. She wasn’t about to let that happen. This would be the perfect time to tell her so.

Rose mounted her broom and kicked off. She also had a Firebolt, but it was an older model than Eileen’s and standard.

Alsop’s eyes widened as he saw his cousin zooming toward Eileen. What the hell was Rose doing?

Eileen saw her approaching and hovered, frowning as the Gryffindor pulled up in front of her.

”Listen, Eileen, I want to talk to you—“ Rose said with her own frown.

Thinking Rose wanted to talk about being sisters, Eileen’s frown grew darker.

”I don’t have anything to say to you,” the witch said, pulling off and flying around the Quidditch pitch.

”Don’t you fly away from me!” Rose exclaimed at Eileen’s rudeness, flying after her.

Eileen saw Rose pursuing her, and smiled evilly. She slowed a bit, allowing Rose to catch up to her.

”You must want to talk to me pretty badly. I’ll tell you what, Rose, if you can catch me, and I mean grab the handle of my broom, I’ll give you five minutes,” she challenged her half-sister. “But if you can’t catch me, you’ll leave me alone period!”

From the stands, Alsop could hear Eileen addressing Rose, but not what she was saying. Eileen was smiling, and that was never a good sign when she was dealing with other people.

Rose was a true Gryffindor and never backed down from a challenge.

”Fine,” she hissed, trying to grab Eileen’s broom handle quickly before she took off. Eileen hovered out of range, arching an eyebrow at the witch.

”Now, that’s not Quidditch. Some Gryffindor you are. That was almost worthy of a Slytherin,” Eileen mocked, then zoomed off, dipping low and flying through the entrance to the Quidditch field, low to the ground, her robes and hair streaming.

Gritting her teeth, Rose zoomed off after her, leaving a stunned Alsop standing in the stands.

”What the hell is going on here?” he cried, slipping through the seats and running for the stairs that would take him to ground level. By the time he made it through the entrance, Eileen and Rose were nowhere in sight.

”This can’t be good,” Alsop said, taking off at a run to see if he could find the witches.

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Eileen flew low to the ground, looking back over her shoulder, followed by a determined Rose Weasley. She followed the contours of the landscape, dipping and rising as she flew toward the Forbidden Forest, Rose in hot pursuit.

Eileen could have gone much faster, but she wanted Rose to think she had a chance of catching her, stupid girl. Besides, she wanted to see what the Gryffindor witch had by way of flying skills.

“You want me, Rose, come get me!” Eileen called back to her, flying into the Forbidden Forest. At this level, flying through the trees at such speed was not only dangerous, but potentially deadly. But Eileen did this often and knew her way about. She was sure Rose would turn off. Surprisingly, the witch didn’t and entered the forest behind her. She wasn’t about to be outdone by a Slytherin.

The two witches flew through the forest, zigging and zagging, ducking and leaning as they avoided tree trunks and low hanging branches. Rose could see Eileen’s robes streaming before her, dipping and twisting. She simply followed her moves.

”Not too bad, Rose!” Eileen called back, delighted. She had never had anyone pursue her through the forest before. Alsop was too chicken. Plus he had a brain. Only a Gryffindor would be daring enough aka stupid enough to fly through uncharted forest.

The trees and foliage began to thin, and it was clearer flying now, but Eileen dipped and swayed, letting Rose get tantalizingly close as she led her deeper into the forest. They were approaching an outcrop of rocks. There was a hole in it. A cave. Eileen gave Rose a wicked over the shoulder look as she drew her wand.

”Let’s make this a bit more interesting,” the witch called back to Rose, and stopped short, letting Rose fly past her as she cried, “Reducto!” and fired a blast into the cave mouth. Rose pulled up short and was about to turn when the sound of scuttling rose.

She froze for a moment, then shrieked as the cave mouth erupted with huge spiders!

Acromantula!

Eileen smirked, turned and took off back through the forest. She was far enough away that she wasn’t in any danger. But Rose was right there and the spiders were fast. She spun on her broom and zoomed away. She couldn’t get any height because of the foliage in the upper branches and she had to navigate through the trees without Eileen’s moves to guide her. The spiders were right behind her, clicking in excitement as they scuttled after her. This was fresh meat!

Shit!

Rose Weasley was in a world of trouble.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.