Umbridge took them one by one, writing down their achievements and failures.
During Divination, Eliza sat next to Seamus and watched Umbridge go around, following the professor. Trelawney found it especially hard to work under pressure.
Eliza was genuinely concerned. She looked at Seamus and he looked expectantly at her. The Divination professor was being taunted and teased at the same time, ending with a forced premonition that sounded false even for the professor herself.
They had Transfiguration next and Eliza exchanged a swift glance with Neville, telling him that she wasn't going to vanish any parts of his body today. On the other side, she caught Umbridge glance at her suspiciously when her mouse vanished from the first try.
Dense against the Dark Arts went even worse. Harry found himself with another week of detention and their questions had one universal answer: what the Ministry wants, the Ministry gets. At least that was what Eliza understood.
It would have been a lie if Eliza would have said she wasn't curious how Snape will react with Umbridge. She was looking forward to Potions just for that sole reason.
The next morning, Hermione woke Eliza up just in time for breakfast but after she got dressed and grabbed her books, Hermione led the green eyed witch inside the girls' bathroom.
"This is not the most liable and adequate place to have a bonding conversation." Eliza randomly started, turning with a bemused expression to her friend.
"Harry got detention after he mentioned You-Know-Who in front of Umbridge," Hermione started with a frown, "She tortured him and-"
"Did he tell you that?"
Hermione froze at the sudden serious tone in Eliza's voice.
"Well, no. But we have seen it, me and Ron. He won't agree to tell McGonagall about it. You should look at his hand, Eliza. The marks are visible and he's still getting more of it."
The brown haired witch seemed quite desperate if she asked Eliza for help.
"And what do you want me to do? You and Ron are far closer to him than I am." Eliza stated firmly.
"We've been talking and I think it would be better if Harry would teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts. He used them before and-"
"Did he accept?"
Hermione's face was enough of an answer.
"Not yet but he will. We don't have a choice."
Still that didn't answer Eliza's question, "Why are you telling this to me in the girls' bathroom when we share the same dormitory?"
"Because you have to help Harry. We know you have a talent for the Dark Arts. You learned more than us from both Lupin and Sirius."
Hermione's brown eyes were staring at Eliza with so much earnesty that Eliza considered using a hex on her. Instead, she just sighed heavily.
"I'm not so sure about that. Dad and Remus, they didn't teach me how to hex people. I didn't want to kill or hurt anything." The brunette finally said. "I don't know how I can help. I never fought against anything evil, Hermione. I have just as much experience as you and Ron."
That was not what Hermione wanted to hear.
During the next weeks, life went on pretty well. Classes were going suspiciously well for Eliza and now that she gave up on Muggle Studies, she had enough time to do her homework for Herbology.
Hermione didn't give up on gathering a few students and learning Defense against the Dark Arts from Harry. Eliza overheard her tell Dean to meet at the Hog's Head during the Hogsmeade break.
"Will you go?" He asked her later in the common room.
Eliza glanced at Harry, who was doing his best at his Potions essay, and sighed.
Truthfully, she wasn't sure what to do. Harry knew far more and he used them for real. Eliza only used them in training and she wasn't even sure that counted as something.
However, when the break came around, she was intending to go and offer moral support to Harry. Unfortunately, Snape saw her when she was walking downstairs and dragged her into his office.
"Next week we will begin our real training. I expect you to show me what you studied these passing weeks. You did study, I suppose?" He asked, raising one eyebrow as if waiting for her to say no.
"I did." She responded. "I learned everything."
"Let's say I believe you. If you haven't, you will suffer not me."
Was that a threat? Eliza wasn't sure so she took it as an advice.
"Is it even legal, what she's doing?" Eliza asked during their walk to the dungeons.
Hermione sighed, "Unfortunately, she made it legal."
Eliza scoffed. Once they got into the cold halls of the dungeons she noticed the blond and his friends right away. They were mocking Harry and the rest and for once, Eliza felt like she wanted to punish Malfoy. Her fingers were twitching but luckily Snape opened the door and they got in.
Umbridge was there, taking notes in the back. Just like she expected, the pink buffoon was glancing suspiciously at both her and Harry. One of them was surprisingly talented at Potions.
"Miss Molley, I see that you have a perfect Potion and are working with a Slytherin. Does it happen in every class?" Umbridge asked in that falsely sweet voice of hers.
"Yes. Every Potions class." Eliza emphasized that just so the toad like woman wouldn't misunderstand.
"She's gifted in Potion-ow."
Blaise glowered at the cauldron when she stepped on his foot. Umbridge raised an eyebrow and went along to Pansy Parkinson.
After the class was over, Seamus found it funny to mock her about her partnership with Zabini.
"If I didn't know better I'd say he fancies you." He joked during dinner.
Eliza glared at him before she glared at Ron who was chuckling across Hermione. Then, her sight lowered to Harry's hand. There, faint but still easily recognizable was a wound that looked like someone's written something on there, deep in the flesh.
Eliza didn't open that subject for the next week or so. The weather was getting colder and as the day passed by, the sky was getting darker. The Quidditch team had training and Eliza waited in the common room for Harry.
She waited until Ron went to bed before she walked to the glasses boy.
"I saw your hand. Detention certainly became evil more than lecturing." Eliza started bluntly.
It wasn't a surprised for Harry. She bluntly avoided him for half a year when she came to Hogwarts.
"It's nothing. I'm not going to tell McGonagall about it." He said quickly, thinking that she may start nagging at him.
"I wouldn't recommend going to McGonagall about it. It would create unnecessary fuss." Eliza responded as if it was nothing.
Of course. Harry should have thought better. Eliza was Sirius' daughter and they had similar personalities. She was a person who would probably do exactly the opposite of what Hermione would say.
"My scar's been hurting more and more often. I feel him, his moods." He told her, "I don't want to bother Dumbledore with this again. Besides, Umbridge has been reading my mail and there's no way to contact Sirius now." He continued, everything pouring out.
Eliza listened to him silently before she gave her own opinion.
"I think this connection between you and Voldemort is to be expected. It may even affect you subconsciously so you should be careful. Don't let the anger get to you." She said and gave him a soft smile. "And Umbridge, she is not important. You shouldn't bother with her. She tries to spy on everyone but it's not always successful."
"What do you mean?" He asked curiously.
"For the past weeks, I've been studying Dark Arts with Snape." She saw Harry's eyes widen but didn't let him say anything, "Listen to me, something is going on outside and we should be prepared for it. You can do it. You are the only one who can do it, Harry."
"How? I've always been lucky, I've always had help and-"
"That's what you think, not them. They see you as some kind of freak that's got too much courage."
Harry scoffed, "That's not a good encouragement, Liz."
Eliza chuckled and nodded, "True. But remember the moment you faced Voldemort. How did that feel?"
"Horrible." He grumbled, "But I wasn't alone. I was-"
She raised a finger in the air in order to silence him. "Exactly."
Eliza smiled at him one last time before walking towards the girls dormitory. She was quite content with the encouragement she gave to him. Unfortunately, giving advice to someone else was easier than using that same advice for herself.
That next night, she had a meeting planned with Snape, regarding her new training.
When she entered the Potions classroom, the tables were magically removed and he was standing in the middle of the room with his wand pointing at her.
“Stupefy,” He hissed, throwing her a few feet into the wall. “Is that how you defend yourself, Black? Are you so weak?” Those words slurred out, hitting her pride with power.
Eliza’s eyes narrowed and quickly disarmed him,
“Expelliarmus!” She screamed, only swaying her hand a bit but it worked.
The girl decided to give it one more try,
“Reducto!” She screamed, her hand pointing threateningly at her professor but nothing happened. Instead, a few shelves broke.
Eliza watched while biting her lip as the potions fell on the ground, the bottles breaking into small pieces. She turned to see just what was Snape doing. He looked like he wanted to scold her but instead he recuperated his wand and pointed it at her again.
“You seem mad.” Eliza mumbled, feeling like her pride was breaking along with the bottles.
He didn’t say anything, only narrowed his eyes until he suddenly attacked.
“Locomotor Wibbly!”
Eliza’s eyes widened and jumped to the side, missing it by a foot. She moved her legs in order to check if it affected her but everything was alright.
“Imperio!” Snape attacked again and she realized he was dead serious.
Snape was literally going to make her suffer if she wasn't keeping up.
When she got in the Common Room that night, she was so tired that she almost didn’t remember the password. Walking inside, she realized her legs will not help her walk those stairs and she ended up falling on the couch in front of the fireplace.
It wasn’t the first time she spent her night there and it was probably not going to be the last either.
“Eliza? Hey, Liz wake up.”
Eliza opened her eyes groggily and almost hit the other person when she stretched out. After she got used to the bright light of the morning, she realized it was Seamus.
“Good morning.” She mumbled, though it was hard to understand because she was yawning at the same time.
“You look exhausted. What have you done the whole night?” He asked as he helped her up and sat next to her, “How did you end up on the couch?”
“I came in late.” Her eyes widened when she realized what she said, “I mean, from studying. I’ve been studying on my own a lot since Umbridge doesn’t teach us anything useful.” She continued, absolving herself of any rumor or crime.
“That’s true. It’s been really hard these weeks.”
Seamus sighed and rubbed his forehead, feeling like he was going to begin the day with a headache.
“Do you really believe he’s come back?” He asked out of nowhere.
“All the signs are there. A storm is coming and it’s not going to pass if we don’t force it to.” She used a metaphor to make it seem softer than it truly was.
Her friend sighed and leaned back, feeling like he has been thrown in his own hole.
It was a few days later when Hermione cornered Eliza in their room, looking at her taller friend earnestly.
"We met a few students who want to learn actual spells at Hogsmeade. Twenty-eight, to be precise." The bushy haired girl started.
"What does that have to do with me?" Eliza asked, her mind already flying to what was waiting for her in the dungeons that night.
It was the weekend but she still had training sessions with Snape.
"I heard from Ron who heard from Fred who- you have been training by yourself for a while. They've seen you coming in late and disappearing right after dinner."
Eliza frowned. If only Hermione knew what kind of training that was. But she didn't and it was better to keep that between her and Snape.
"Twenty eight is more than I expected. Did Harry agree then?"
Hermione didn't respond, only looked at Eliza with a serious look on her face. The green eyed witch knew exactly where that was going.
"I have nothing to teach, Hermione."
Besides, she started to doubt her qualities after realizing Sirius has gone easy on her, just like he admitted. Snape couldn't care less if she got hurt during training.
Hermione sighed, "At least, come and help. We're having the first meeting tonight at eight in the Room if Requierment."
That sounded alright but Eliza was curious if she could make it.
Unfortunately, Snape's extra homework was taking a long time and she had to show him at every end of the week just how well the spells were going with and without a wand. The hard work was controlling spells that could destroy or hurt people.
"Again!" He screamed at her angrily.
Eliza was already tired and he seemed to get brighter when the spell wouldn't go well and she'd get hit.
"Stupefy!" She tried with the wand, finally throwing Snape to the side.
"Now, without a wand." He announced, getting up before going back into position.
They have been duelling for a while and she was getting sweaty. She got thrown around and almost snapped her neck. Snape was definitely going with the flow and there were times when he was venting his anger on her.
"Stupefy!" She screamed, using her middle finger as a conductor for the spell.
It seemed she had to use something as a conductor so the magic wouldn't disperse all over her hand, thus making it hard to hit the target. Her middle finger was the tallest and it wouldn't even look nasty since she had to keep her fingers relaxed when using empty handed magic.
Surprisingly enough, Snape told her that. He taught Eliza how to control the magic in her body without having to become a ticking bomb. It was helpful and that wasn't the only helpful thing he taught her. Eliza could see why her mother was so attached to Snape...until he hit her hard and sneered at her, of course.
Snape was hit, luckily, after two hours of intense training.
"You are insane." She breathed, leaning on her knees in order to regain her breath and calm down her nerves, "How are you so neat when I have so many new scratches?" She wandered, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"I am not using my whole energy on spells. I have patience, which you clearly don't have. Just like your father."
Of course he had to say something about Sirius.
"I need to lie down," She concluded when she straightened up and felt her back crack.
Eliza grabbed her robe and walked towards the door, ready for a good night of sleep.
"Next week I expect to see your Patronus." Snape announced from the other side of the room.
It was crazy how one room could become so empty when the tables have been pushed into the back. One of them was actually blocking the door and Eliza had to move it a bit so she could get out.
Once in the corridor, she leaned against a random wall and caught her breath, her legs feeling like jelly.
Eliza became more of a shadow, only seen in class and in the Great Hall for lunch or dinner. She was so tired that she started to jump over breakfast and get a few more hours of sleep.
Unfortunately, that also meant less and less time spent with her friends and Harry didn’t seem to be doing well either.
Umbridge was imposing rules after rules, some quite stupid while others were simply inadequate.
Slytherins were getting curious why Eliza was wandering through the dungeons at night but their curiosity died when Snape literally snapped at them.
Overall, Eliza really became Snape’s pet in the eyes of everyone, including Gryffindors.
“How are you so good at Potions?” Ronald asked in between bites of chicken legs.
It was dinner, one of the few times they could actually sit and talk to each other.
“Maybe because of my family’s inheritance as Slytherins. Probably dad wasn’t bad at it either.” She mumbled, taking as much food as she could in her mouth, making the two of them look like they hadn’t eaten in weeks.
Hermione was watching the two a bit grossed out. At some point she rolled her eyes and turned to Harry, “Anyway, we have to plan our next lesson. We've already done a few basic ones.”
Harry didn't respond.
Hermione turned to Eliza and blinked, “You can help by actually coming, you know.”
Eliza’s head raised immediately.
“I have to go.” She said, taking her stuff quickly and hurrying out of there.
"Where does she run off to every evening?" Ron asked.
Harry knew. He knew why she won't be able to come to the DA meetings in the future either but he didn't feel like telling Ron and Hermione. However, he was curious just what kind of training she had because she seemed to grow more and more tired every day.
To be sincere, Eliza did want to go and witness if not applaud Harry’s bravery to take the lead and help everyone.
“What are you doing?”
She was going to the dungeons when Malfoy appeared and snatched her away.
Eliza’s green eyes were judging him with immense passion, thinking of ways to throw him in a corner and use a spell to make him invisible. The blond took out a letter from his back pocket and unfolded it, preparing to read it out loud.
“I don’t want t-“
He interrupted, “My dear Draco, I was not expecting your father to react such as he did before you left for Hogwarts. I am deeply concerned for your well being as well as Miss Molley’s. If it is true and Eliza is a student, along yourself, then you must keep it a secret for as long as possible.”
Eliza’s eyes widened, too perplexed to actually say or do something; instead, she listened.
It seemed there was more as he continued, “I cannot tell you why you have to do so but it would be safer for both of you if the others aren’t aware of her whereabouts just yet. Your father will try his best to postpone their meeting for as long as he can but sooner or later, our Lord will have to meet her. Take care, Mom.” He finished, folding the paper and throwing it at her.
She didn’t move so the paper fell at her feet. Her mouth opened and closed a few time but she couldn’t find words to express what she was thinking. Her head lowered, looking at the letter before raising her head to look at Malfoy.
“Why is my mother so concerned for your well being, Miss Molley?”
His tone wasn’t helping her think clearly either. Eliza was just as curious and confused as he was.
Since he didn’t get any answer, he grabbed her arm harshly and pulled her closer, “Just who are you?”
“I don’t know.” She whispered, staring into his blue eyes.
Suddenly, his whole face morphed into his father’s and the look she was getting was the one of profound disappointment.
“He will get you killed sooner or later.”
“Avada Kedavra!”
She winced when she imagined Lucius Malfoy pointing his wand at her and attacking her with Voldemort’s voice.
Draco raised an eyebrow intrigued when she backed off, her hands rising in front of her in sign of surrender. He took one step towards her and she took two back, her palms getting red. Draco frowned but was curious to see just how she was going to react if he would get closer.
Before anything dangerous could happen, Snape entered the room and pushed Draco aside.
The greasy haired teacher grabbed his wand and pointed it at Eliza.
“Stupefy!”
Draco watched in surprise as his professor just casted a spell on a student. Snape threw her against the desks and she fainted.
Snape turned his attention on Malfoy and the young wizard swallowed nervously.
“I recommend you keep your mouth shut about this, Draco.” The Potions professor advised his student, knowing the blond wouldn’t utter a word anyway.
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