Blackeyed Girl

Well hello everyone! Yes, it is me and this is indeed an update! New chapter is up, thanks to Maryssa's fast betaing. Sorry this story was abandoned for so long. I had a shot at real life this summer and got all too caught up in it to spend time on continuing this story. This chapter is only short but I hope to update regularly again from now on as it is as good as winter and all real life has sort of disappeared on me. Oh well....
Oh Pensieve, thanks for not giving up on this story! I hate not to finish things so this will be updated more often again from now on. I just have to find my way back into this... to your review:
I think you are being a bit harsh with your assessment of Snape. I know it is totally obvious for us that Lucius would abuse her (that is almost a rule for my fan fics lol) but that is not a given for Snape here. And sometimes you can not see the woods because of all the trees if you know what I mean. I think he knows something is wrong but he is too involved in it all emotionally. He is so worried about her and about his responsibility for her that he just can't see through things as clearly as he usually can. But he is not totally blind. He did notice that Eleanor had a crush on Lucius when they first met. He just does not automatically think that Lucius will use that to abuse her. And I might use ideas from reviewers but mostly I know how the story is meant to pan out before hand. Hope you enjoy the continuation of the story!


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Chapter 23
Just another Prediction
 
The next day Snape was sitting together with Professor Flitwick. The Head of Ravenclaw was going through Eleanor's file reading out every ever so tiny remark any teacher had ever made about her and any test results he could find, just like Snape had demanded he would regularly. But this time, Snape was not listening. He was staring darkly into space. He was still completely puzzled by Draco's statement that he truly cared for his ward. Could it be? Or was the young Malfoy up to something? Dumbledore seemed to be fairly relaxed about it, but then Dumbledore did not know the twistety of a Slytherin mind as well as he did. Draco was his father's son and Snape had known his father at that age when he was a prefect at Hogwarts. Lucius had been very busy back at school using his looks and charisma to make any girl fall in love with him that crossed his way, no matter if younger or older. He had focused on the popular pure blood girls of course and actually held relationships with the one or other before he got together with Narcissa, but even then he did not leave out a chance to deflower some love sick half blood on the way. He had even found entertainment in making some less pretty muggleborns fall in love with him only to humiliate the poor girl in front of his friends.  Snape had witnessed it over and over. He had been among the sneering audience of Lucius’ games. He had enjoyed watching. It had been so sweet to be on the other side and see others go through what he went through every day with Lily. 

Now Draco was that age and it did not help that the older the boy got, the more he started to look just like his father. Snape had recognized that Draco had not displayed his father's behavior. So far, he really did not seem all that interested in humiliating girls in particular. As far as teenage love went, of course he had been with Parkinson but apart from that he seemed to focus on other things or at least, he did not display his affairs in the way Lucius had done. Could this mean that Draco's feelings were true? Snape understood that he could not keep the two apart. Dumbledore was right about that, but he had to watch them, he had to make sure Draco knew he was always watching him. Then he could only hope that if their feelings were real, this was nothing more than a teenage infatuation. The thought of her marrying into the Malfoy family made him shiver.  

“... but I really don't know what is going on with her and Trewlany”, finished Flitwick and Snape came out of his thoughts. 

“What? What do you mean?” Snape asked trying to conceal the fact that he had not been listening at all.
 
Flitwick only gazed over Eleanor's divination results: “I know some of us find it hard to take the subject seriously but considering Eleanor has her OWL's coming up... she is so good at everything else it would be a shame for her to ruin her average grade with something like divination. But to be honest, that is not my main concern. I am rather wondering what the problem is between Eleanor and Sybille. I tried to speak to Sybille about it but she insisted there was no problem. Have you spoken to Eleanor about divination at all?” 

Snape hesitated, he remembered he had wanted to a while ago before Christmas, but he had forgotten all about it as he discovered she had been lying to him about seeing Potter. He felt anger at himself overcome him, how could he have lost this out of sight? 

“No, I have not”, he admitted darkly. 

Flitwick hesitated and closed the file: “Perhaps it would be best if you tried to speak to Sybille as well before speaking to Eleanor anyway. In any case I suggest we find out what the problem is. It seems so unnecessary.”  

Snape left Flitwick, mulling over what little information he had managed to actually listen to. He felt ill at ease with the situation. He was nearly relieved when he ran into Trewlany in the corridor later that same afternoon.
 
“Sybille!” he called as he caught up with her. Professor Trewlany shook visibly and froze as though caught doing something she was not supposed to. Quickly she shoved a small bottle of cooking sherry into her coat pocket. Snape saw, but ignored it. It was no secret that the so called “prophet” had fallen off the wagon after the Umbridge debacle. 

“Sybille, I need to talk to you about my ward, Eleanor Prince.” 

“Oh, you”, Trewlany muttered squinting up at him through her thick glasses and stepped a small step back from him, “...you.” 

Snape watched her, hesitating. He could not recall ever having spoken to Sybille Trewlany without other teachers being present and he realised/realized that she seemed to have a problem with him. He could only guess it had to do with his past. 

“It is clear that she is struggling with Divination. I would like to know from you, what you think the problem is”, he said as neutral as he could. 

Trewlany seemed to try to focus on his chest, clearly too disturbed to look him in the eyes: “Well..., Miss Prince.... yes. I'm afraid the girl does not posses the inner eye...” Trewlany attempted to walk on but Snape stepped in her way. 
“And what exactly does that mean?” 

“The inner eye... is a vital tool to unlock the future.” 

“There must be more to your subject than an internal eye!” Snape argued annoyance in his voice. Trewlany nervously straightened her scarf and answered defensively 

“Inner eye...” 

“What besides the… inner eye does Eleanor lack and need to work on in order to scrape an OWL in your subject?” 
“Do not shout at me young man”, Trewlany mumbled addressing his coat again. 

Snape stared: “I will speak to the Headmaster about this...” he was just about to step away from her when he felt Trewlany’s feeble grip on his arm.
 
“It is not the inner eye with Miss Prince.” 

Snape turned back to her and waited. 

Trewlany looked fearful: “It's her aura.” she explained hauntingly.  

“Her aura?” Snape repeated. Trewlany pressed her lips together and looked around nervously as though worried to be overheard. 

“It is not her fault. But what is inside her cannot be changed. Her past can not be changed and it will affect her future.” 

“What nonsense are you babbling about woman?” 

Trewlany’s grip tightened on his arm and now she stared right into his black eyes: “The aura of a cheat!” she shouted, “laid upon her! Darkness! Terrible darkness! Locked inside a girl a secret of a twisted crime! Impossible to erase! Murderous, even, should it be revealed!” Her grip loosened and she stepped back from Snape, coughing lamely. “One mustn’t enter places that are not to be entered. I admit I fear to do so unintended as my inner eye likes to wander... I am sorry, young man. I hoped my distance would not effect/affect your wards grades. I will try to develop a less negative tactic.” 

Trewlany shuffled away. Snape stayed behind, puzzled. What had he just heard? It reminded him of something. Could it be? Could it be that Trewlany had just made another prediction, a prediction concerning his ward? Was he paranoid?  
He turned around and swept down the corridor. This was unsettling, the kind of unsettling that he kept to himself.  
In the meantime Eleanor and her friends sat in the library. Ginny, Luna and she, were spending more and more time there as their OWL-examinations were approaching. They worked diligently, only taking short breaks to chat or gossip, however when ever Draco and his friends passed by their table Eleanor and Draco exchanged a look or a smile that did not go unnoticed by Ginny and Luna. Luna’s mode seemed to brighten at the portrayal of beginning young love but Ginny frowned every time and turned with a questioning look on her face to Eleanor. Eventually she asked: “You and the ferret… what is going on there?” 

“Hm?” asked Eleanor, not looking up from her transfiguration book.  

“You and the ferret….” 

“Her and the ferret what?” 

They all looked up. Ron had approached them with Harry and Hermione on his tail.  

“Ferret… you mean Malfoy? What has he done to you?”  he addressed Ginny who rolled her eyes. 

“Nothing…. Ron, and if he did anything to me I would be able to hex him to oblivion myself. I don’t need you for that, thanks.” 

“What’s with Malfoy?” asked Harry who had just arrived. 

“Nothing…” said Eleanor quietly.  

Ginny looked at her questioning again but remained silent. In that moment an owl swept like out of nowhere through the shelves towards Eleanor and landed on her open book. It was a beautiful tall barn owl. Eleanor took the note from it and read.  

“Party at Slytherin common room, 7pm. Come if you dare. DM” 

Eleanor quickly folded up the note before one of the others could read it. Being preoccupied with the invitation she didn’t realize that everyone had packed up their things and left her behind as they made their way to the great hall, everyone except Luna who was also lagging behind deliberately, humming to herself.

“Luna, can I ask you something?” 

“Shoot.” 

“If a Slytherin invited you to a party at their common room… Would you go?” 

Luna hesitated and stared mildly into space as if she hadn’t heard the question, then she said: “Depends on who is inviting me.” 

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” said Eleanor with a frown. 

“Is a Slytherin inviting you to a party at their common room?” Luna asked straight out. 

“Well, yes.” 

“Draco?” 

“Yes.” 

Luna hesitated again, observing the wall again, then concluded: “Yes, I would go.”  

Eleanor observed her a moment critically, then she said: “What if this is some sort of… joke.”

Luna looked at her: “A joke? … But it wouldn’t be funny.” 

“No, but… he can’t be trusted, can he?” 

“You like him don’t you?” 

“Well….” 

“Why do you like him?” 

“What?” 

“Why do you like him?” 

“Uh… he’s been really nice to me lately… he was there when no one else was…and… he is kind of good looking…” Eleanor added a little more quietly. 

Luna only smiled at her, then she said: “What makes you think he could be playing a joke on you now?” 

“You know what the others think of him.” 

“Well, how bad can it be? Maybe they will laugh at you. So what? Better that than wondering for the rest of your life whether Draco was sincere or not.”