Off your feet with the crumbs she throws you

The exit of Valentine's Day was no more than the signal to begin preparing for Easter. Angelique smiled as she served herself a hot cross bun, though she didn't believe in the muggles' hero, his baked goods were immensely satisfying.

She looked down up and down the table at what ought to have been the smiling faces of her fellow housemates. Hello! They ruled this school! Especially now. But Angelique was disappointed, for despondence was written across almost every face sitting here. She couldn't have done better if she'd marked them all out in ink. No wonder her days were dull.

Angelique sighed and turned to the person next to her. She wasn't paying attention to who it was, so long as they were as high as her shoulder, she assumed they were safe to speak to.

"What is wrong with everyone lately?" she demanded.

The Great Hall was abuzz with activity, activity Elijah would rather not be part of. Simultaneous events had brought him to this point: the point where he was staring down into his plate of food wondering why he was sober again. Drinking hour to hour and eating more than he could work off back home had been a pleasure of sorts. Now he was back at Hogwarts, acutely aware of everything that was going on instead of barely.

Needless to say, Elijah wasn't best pleased.

Picking up his fork, Elijah began to sift through the food on his plate as he listened to what was going on around him. Apparently Sandy-what's-her-face had gotten pregnant or something, Lucy-something-or-rather was getting fatter by the day and Sadie-whatever-her-name-was was giving foot-rubs in the common room to anyone and everyone whether they liked it or not. Again.

So when Angelique leaned over and demanded to know the answer to the question he felt like voicing, Elijah smiled. He put his fork down and picked up his goblet. He drank down some of the pomegranate juice before placing it back on the table and looking over at his fellow Slytherin.

"It's something I've been wondering myself and I can't answer it, I'm afraid. Cupid missed and instead of the butt cheek he got everyone in the eye. There'll be a fight soon no doubt. Not to worry."

Angelique looked critically at Elijah. Now she had time to process who she was talking to: the angst king himself!

"Well if you can't answer it I suppose nobody can," she said, "seeing as how you're the worst of the lot. You can't deny you've not been the same since December."

She bit her lip in anticipation and lowered her voice to ask the question she'd been wondering about all along.

"So, what happened?''

Elijah bristled at the insult and he averted his eyes, turning them back to the plate of food in front of him. He looked up again when Angelique spoke again. Was that a hint of genuine concern? Elijah doubted it. She had no reason to worry about him. Elijah sighed and pursed his lips. Why would she want to know? She couldn't care. Yet that guarantee made Elijah feel as if he needed to tell her.

"I, uh, had a bit of a run-in with Felix Barker. I was stupid. I should have known who he was. I should have walked away but stupidly I fell for it. He would be an asset to the Death Eaters...he..." Elijah sucked in a breath and picked up his goblet of water. He brought it to his lips and swallowed a mouthful before speaking once more. "Now of course...my mother was murdered. It was a blasting curse of sorts. They don't even know who did it." Elijah shook his head and put his goblet down. "It's not been the best of years so far."

It hadn't been the worst, though. Elijah had cut out Chase's part in the whole ugly picture. 'Lique didn't need to know about that.

He didn't blow up in her face. He didn't get up and storm out of the hall entirely. To Angelique it seemed that the confession - for confession it was, even she could see that - slipped from Elijah Krum's lips almost of its own accord.

Felix Barker must be an interesting man indeed. He'd managed to kidnap a ministry official twice, had taken Elijah unaware and although the newspapers still listed her as missing, as though there was hope she would still be found alive, the plain fact of the matter was that he had probably killed Naomi.

"That's sad," she said absently.

She knew it was sad when people died, but Angelique always felt like there was a shield charm between herself and the rest of humanity. Nothing ever touched her.

"All the more reason to make it better from here on out, though," she suggested. "I suppose your mum was pretty amazing? She must have been, to snag your dad."

Elijah hadn't quite known what to expect from his house mate. He didn't need to be enveloped in a supposedly consoling hug. He didn't need to listen to words that in the long run meant nothing to him or to the person saying them. He didn't expect that from Angelique and thanked the gods he didn't get it.

He didn't even get a half-hearted "I'm sorry".

Good, Elijah thought, good.

Elijah reached forward and picked up his goblet. He brought it to his lips and sipped the pomegranate juice inside. After swallowing and putting the goblet down, Elijah looked at Angelique.

"She was awful," he told her with a half-smile. "She was a witch but Viktor always looked at her as if that horrible person was n't actually who she was. He was right, too. That wasn't who she was to begin with but it was who she was at the end. She could make even the strongest of men shake in their boots.."

"Listen to me going on," he laughed and shook his head. "What about you? How have you been?"

Angelique thought making strong men quake in their boots was just about the best thing any witch could do. She imagined she could do it quite easily, if only she ever tried. Elijah, on the other hand, obviously had other ideas. He probably thought women, or perhaps only mothers, ought to be soft and kind and weak.

What she didn't understand was why Elijah was so upset if his mother had been so terrible. Surely after getting rid of someone horrid, one ought to be happy? Angelique knew with certainty that she would not be upset if either of her parents were suddenly killed. In fact, it would be incredibly convenient, because they suspected she had baited the family's house elf into drowning itself on purpose (it had genuinely been an accident) and were therefore always attempting to restrict her freedom both at home and at school.

She wouldn't do it herself, and she wouldn't be overjoyed (again, that would be suspicious) but she wouldn't be so upset if there was an accident or if it turned out that somebody else had a deadly grudge against them, either.

It was just while she was musing over this and over how odd some people were that Eli asked about her. She wished he wouldn't. Angelique almost never talked about herself.

"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm always fine. Nothing untoward ever happens to me."

The conversation was getting stale now. Any moment they'd be talking about the weather and then Angelique would just leave because, well, boring.

"What's Barker like?" she blurted.

Elijah hadn't pegged Angelique for being tactless. She wasn't really, just curious. That didn’t stop him from wincing though, when she mentioned Felix. Elijah snuck a look at her and bit his lip. He rubbed his eyes and searched for the right words to describe Felix with. Elijah sucked his lip into his mouth and decided on the words.

"Felix is...interesting," he murmured. "He's not just a mindless criminal. He has a method to his madness. I don't really know how to describe he's just...a kicked puppy and he's set in his ways. He doesn't deserve just to rot, though."

Elijah cleared his throat and picked up his goblet once more. He drank some more of the juice and placed it back down again before speaking once more,

"Why do you want to know anyway?"

"He kidnapped and tortured three people and killed one of them but he doesn't deserve to be left to rot?" she asked, because this was a unique idea for Angelique.

In her experience Good people (and she was almost certain Elijah considered himself one of the Good Guys) were quite happy to let people they disliked rot. Perhaps there was some hope for her, if she ever turned into a Felix Barker. Not that she could tell Eli that.

Of course, there was the other thing. He might just have Stockholm Syndrome. How did that work again?

"I assume you mean he deserves to have his heart ripped out and shown to him instead," she went on.

The final question she ignored. She knew he would probably ask again, and that was fine. By the time he asked the second time, she'd have time to think up an answer that didn't incriminate her.

Elijah managed a smirk in response to Angelique's incredulous reply. He nodded and picked up his fork. He leaned over and stabbed a piece of fish sitting with the rest on a golden platter. He took his knife and used it to brace the fish as he brought it back to his plate. Elijah sat back down and began to cut the fish, forming a new sentence in his head to get Angelique's mind working.

Uncharacteristically, Elijah said, "He should receive the same treatment he'd bestowed on others. Torture. Why not? He certainly deserves it. Still...unlike the survivors, I doubt he'd handle it as well."

Elijah didn't want him to die. He wanted Felix to suffer, just because. Exhaling, Elijah brought the fish to his lips. He took the food into his mouth as his mind whirled. Elijah swallowed and looked at Angelique. He allowed a small smile to grace his lips before turning attention to his food once more.

"He needs to be shown the error of his ways." Elijah replied simply.