Sugar and Spice: Letters from home

Keith stood in the owlery, leaping up and unsuccessfully grabbing at an owl that had perched itself in the rafters.

"Get down here Baldur!" He shouted, vainly jumping again. The owl above him hooted in disdain and moved it's talons. Sparks fell from Keith's wand, which the owl had wrested from the boy's grasp only a few moments before. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. You don't like me. But you can-" he said, jumping up again, "at least give me my wand. And what the hell? You're magically trained to deliver letters! Why the hell won't you do it for me!"

Stelladora had always been firm in her belief that God had blessed Elijah. She was religious to a point of not being able to function if she didn’t have her prayer beads. She’d said that it was her parents’ doing and she hated them for it yet she could not blame them. She admitted that she could have left the church but she decided to remain a part of it when she met him. That made Elijah feel incredibly guilty. He loathed seeing his mother for all intents and purposes panic if she lost the beads or misplaced her bible while cleaning. He helped her a lot of the time, finding her things and returning them to her. It was that that made her believe he was blessed.

Right now, Elijah felt far from holy.

The Slytherin had reached a dead end as well as the bottom of his packet of cigarettes. He was just about ready to blow his money on as much alcohol as he could get his hands on. He had enough, a grand or so wouldn’t be missed. If he needed more he could sell a painting or two. Yes, that would work. He could just keep drinking and drinking and drinking. And maybe, just to spite his parents, he’d spend some of their money too. They had yet to really cut him off.

Until he could embark on his drinking escapade, something else was calling for his attention, namely, his family.

Since the descent of his cousins at Jen’s club they’d been hounding him to write. Elijah was aware that Elisabeth wanted him at home for Christmas along with Fauve, Thierry and anyone else he wanted to bring. Harry had been a little more difficult to appease. He wanted to spend some real time with Elijah and actually get to know him again. The twins were easy to please, as per usual; they just wanted food and entertainment – easy. Adam didn’t care and as long as he was there, Lis was happy. But he needed to give Ziva his letters otherwise he’d have another round of written abuse from them.

Elijah opened the door of the owlery. The hinges squealed in protest and he hastily stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He turned at the sound of a disgruntled voice and recognised that Ravenclaw that caused all the trouble. Idly, Elijah wondered what he was up to but he didn’t care. He was concerned for the owl he was cursing, however. “They ignore you if you shout at them,” Elijah said blandly, “They like abuse as much as you and me.” He clicked his fingers and held his arm up. An ebony bird moved from high up in the owlery and flew down to rest on his arm. She nipped his fingers and Elijah ruffled her feathers. “Good Day Ziva...” he smiled.

Of course Keith knew Elijah.

Who didn't? If Hogwarts was some kind of medieval court, Eli was the king. Or maybe the kick-ass soldier that dropped by every once and a while to be generally awesome and impress the hell out of everyone. Of course, most of Keith's "friends" at Hogwarts were older girls, so his view of Eli might be tilted...a bit.

Flirt. Tease. Liar.

Okay, maybe a lot.

Still Keith was careful around Elijah. You had to be careful around people bigger than you - and Keith didn't mean it in the physical sense. Well, that too, but what he meant more was the social sense. Eli was simply more important than Keith at the moment, and he held much more sway over the people of Hogwarts than Keith did. That made him important, and definitely not the type of person Keith wanted on his bad side.

Keith's back pocket itched, and he had to stop himself from reaching back. That would only draw attention to the small vial filled with bright blue liquid, something that would only cause him problems.

Come to think of it, Eli might not mind that much. He was always doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing, whether that was drinking or smoking or just generally disregarding the rules. In fact, he might not be adverse to a little extra...something something on the side. Just to take his mind off things of course. Whenever the women, booze, and cigarettes couldn't do it.

"Yeah yeah," Keith muttered. He hadn't really been focusing on what Eli had been saying, but he had caught enough of the tone to realize the older boy had been lecturing him. "If you're so smart, why don't you get him down?"