Chapter eleven:

“Where were you?” Ginny demanded the minute she stepped through the portrait hole. “No were, Peeves stole my bag, and I had to chase him through half the castle. Ginny didn’t look like she had succeeded in getting the entire story. “And that took two hours?” she asked. Ellie shuffled her feet. “Well, not exactly, but, you know, I got to talking with someone.” Ginny raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything more, but retreated up the girl’s dormitory steps. “Seriously!” she yelled after her. “Well, it was true.” Ellie mumbled to herself, and plopped down to finish her essays. She soon finished the last one at 2 in the mourning. She knew it was awful, but she was dead tired, and needed sleep. Unfortunately, this was what almost every day was like at Hogwarts. Lots of work, little sleep. The Quidditch team had it especially bad, because Harry scheduled a practice almost every day, with an extra long one on Saturday. But the good thing about all these practices were that now, they were un beatable. The chasers were perfect. They almost knew what each other were thinking, swooping out of no were to snatch up the ball. Ron was letting in only two or three balls a practice, and every time he made a save, the entire team would cheer, making him go red. Ellie and Alfred were doing spectacular. Only once did one of their team mates get hit, and it wasn’t a very mad one, either. “Just a slight bruise.” Harry had said dismissively as he rolled down his sleeve, covering the place were it had hit. And speaking of Harry, he was perfect. At last week’s game against Hufflepuf, (Gryffindor flattened Hufflepuf) a Quidditch scout had come, and had talked to Harry after the game. He wouldn’t tell anyone what had been talked about, but the ghost of a smile had flittered across his face when someone asked. But Gryffindor was perfection. Fred and George had come to one of the games too, and had said that they were amazing. “You would be better with us, though.” George said “No offence!” Fred added. Ellie just laughed, and said it was no big deal, but she liked them. They were very funny, and they gave her and Alfred a large amount of free Weasley Wizard Wheeze products, making sure they told everyone were they got them. Also, through the next few weeks, many people started to notice a slow, yet steady change in Draco Malfoy. He stopped hexing the younger students, and told of Crabbe and Goyle for beating up others. He would always wave, or smile at Ellie in the halls, and that usually came with a “good mourning” or “Hello.” Ginny was surprised when Draco walked past her and Ellie in the halls, and said “Hey Ellie.” But was absolutely shocked when he turned to her and said “Hi Ginny. Nice day today.” She had dropped all her books, and had stared after Draco for at least a minute, mouth hanging open, and eyes blank, before Ellie could get her attention. “What was that about?” she hissed, as they walked off to Divinations. That night, Hermione had forced Ellie, Ginny, Harry, and Ron to do homework, and had made them come to the Head girl and Boy homeroom, so she could keep and eye on them. They all arrived and plunked their books on the table. “How am I supposed to write a stupid essay about reading minds? She didn’t tell us anything about it!” Ginny exclaimed with frustration. Harry nodded sympathetically. “I know. Trelawney never makes any sense. Ask Hermione.” Just then Hermione came out of her bedroom, and went to help Ginny. Everything was going well, and then, out of the other room, came Draco. He stopped when he saw all the new people in his common room, but then turned to Hermione. “I have Quidditch practice tonight, and it runs late. Could you take the evening round of the school, and I’ll take it tomorrow?” Hermione thought for a moment, then said “Yes, that works out perfectly. Professor McGonagall asked me to help younger students with homework tomorrow, and that can run late sometimes.” Draco thanked her, and then left, giving Ellie a smile. Once Ron was sure that Draco had gone, he turned to both Hermione and Ellie. “Ok. What is going on here?” he demanded. Hermione looked confused, and Ellie tried to, but from the look on Harry’s face, she wasn’t succeeding. “What do you mean, Ron?” Hermione asked him “Well, he was being all, nice to you. He talked normally, and didn’t call you a… mudblood, or anything! And you!” he said louder, turning on Ellie. “What is up with you?!” when she tried to look confused again, he spat “Oh, don’t even try to pretend you don’t know what is going on! He says hi to you in the halls, and you say hi back! Are you, going out or something?” Ellie had a strong urge to laugh, but thought it would be a bad time. “No. And there is nothing wrong with him being nice.” Ron stared at her. “What do you mean? This is MALFOY we are talking about! He’s evil! Haven’t you heard all the things he’s done to us? He is pure evil!” Ellie could feel her face getting hot, and knew she shouldn’t get angry, but she couldn’t help herself. Ron had no idea what he was talking about. “SHUT UP RON!” (excuse the use of words Erin.) Ellie screamed at him. Ron fell of his chair at the ferocity in her voice. “SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON THERE! SO JUST… JUST… SHUTUP!” Ellie grabbed her bag, and marched through the portrait hole, and ran through the halls, until she had ended up in front of the pink lady “pickles.” She muttered, and disappeared inside and up to her bed. She didn’t even know why she was so angry at him. He hadn’t even said that much, but it had really made her mad. Her cat, Leo, climbed up onto her bed and rubbed against her hand. Ellie couldn’t help but smile.

“Ok, ok.” She started to pet Leo, and looked around the room. Her eyes landed on some parchment, ink, and quill, and felt like she really needed to write her mom. She took it all out, and began to write.

Hey mom.
I just thought I would write, and see what’s up back home. Things are cool here, and I kind of told Draco the truth about, you know, how we’re related. Classes are cool, and all the teachers are, kind of nice. Hey, I wanted to ask you something. Would it be cool if Draco came to our place for Christmas? See, we kind of talk sometimes, and I invited him over, and he sounded really exited. So, it would be really cool if he could. Our Christmas break starts in two weeks, so I’ll see you then, and maybe you can meet Draco! See you!

~Ellie

She tucked it into an envelope, and sent it off, wondering what the answer would be.

Ok, I know I haven't posted in, like, a really long time, but My mom wouldn't let me on the internet, for a really long time!

~Lo-lo