A long way home

Christabelle had finally made her way back to Hogwarts which had been her home for most of the previous year until she disappeared around Christmas. Everyone close to her thought she had returned home to help her mother who was close to giving birth since the death of her father but when Abbey had returned from Christmas break and said Christabelle wasn't at home questions where raised as to where she was.

Now that she had returned she had a lot to think about. It wouldn't be like it had been when she first got here. Her cousin would no longer be there to watch after her or guide her. Even though she was older only by a few minutes her cousin had treated her like he was the older brother and somehow she had accepted it without incident.

But as she stood infront of the lake back in her school uniform looking out onto the horizon something felt different about this...about her. She couldn't place her finger on it but something about her had changed since she had been gone.

It was quiet, there was the same chill in the air that had been there at Christmas. He should have known better than to go back down to the lake. It wasn't a place that enveloped around him like it had done in the past. The odd thing was that he could pick the frozen over pens and notepad out of the icy ground and even then, with his drawings back in his possession, the area still felt new and unappealing to Eli.

It felt as if he was waking up from some kind of stasis. He had been to classes but he hadn't even thought about going down to the lake. Scenarios were flashing through Eli's mind. He'd trip and pass out or slip over and damage his spine. Perhaps he would fall into the lake again. This time, though, there wouldn't be anyone to save him.

Eli looked up from the floor where he was watching for any hazards and stopped himself in time. He was nearly going to bump into a girl. A girl in a Hogwarts uniform. This was odd because although she was very beautiful and someone Elijah wouldn't forget, he didn't recognise her. This irked the young artist and he decided he wanted to find out why he hadn't met her before.

He cleared his throat and sucked in a breath. What was there to say? "Hello, I'm Elijah. Are you alright?"

Christabelle ran a hand through her long curls. She turned around when she heard a voice. "I'm fine." she said as a soft smile graced her lips. She held out her hand her German accent thicker than normal having not spoken English in a while, "I'm Christabelle." She hadn't recognized him either. Even though she had been at Hogwarts for half a year she still didn't know many people and despite being a half veela hadn't made herself known to too many. Most people just thought her as the champion that ran away from the tasks..if they only knew the real reason.

She pulled her jacket around her tighter as the cold wind blew around them. "Pretty cold day out isn't it?" she asked trying to make polite conversation. Come on Christabelle don't make yourself look like a total freak on your first day back. she thought as she ran her hand through her hair again, this time tucking a stray curl behind her ear.

She seemed fairly troubled. Elijah wondered if something had happened to her. He decided that it was best to let her tell him but that seemed unlikely considering they knew nothing about each other. He knew that he wouldn't spill his guts out to a complete stranger but he would really spill his guts out to anyone if he was honest with himself. He could deal with pain and suffering better when it was his call and not someone else's. He could bottle it up and let it eat away inside of him until he cracked. It was what he always did but it hadn't been as bad over the years -- nothing drastic had happened like his mother's death. Although, if his mother was to die then he would probably have a party.

Eli took his jacket off and draped it across her shoulders. He knew she could do with the extra warmth. He didn't need it -- he'd been under the lake in sub-zero temperatures for goodness sake, the cold really didn't bother him anymore. He tucked some hair behind his ear and looked out across the lake. It did still scare him that he'd been under those waters being pushed down by the water and just letting it happen because of pure exhaustion. He should have been alive yet here he was, unfortunately still kicking. "It is cold out, yes." he nodded. "You shouldn't be out and about without extra warmth. I'm very pleased to meet you though, Christabelle."

"Oh I'm quite used to the cold." she said as he put his jacket around her. "But thank you. You get used to it when you live in the Alps. I just got a little too used to Beauxbatons and the weather there i suppose." she would of had to guess that was the reason she really didn't like the cold so much. When she had been younger she would walk barefoot in the snow, not even frostbite grazing her.

She looked at him curiously. "Are you knew to Hogwarts?" she asked, "I mean its just that before I left for holiday I hadn't seen you around here."

"The alps?" Eli couldn't get the tone disbelief out of his voice. He hated the cold with a passion but had somehow been able to grow some defences after his drowning escapade and the consequential pneumonia. Eli knew he wouldn't last in the alps, there was just no way. He would probably be found in some sort of block of ice after the first few hours. He liked being a non-frozen, walking human instead of a frozen 'I'll thaw out in fifty years' human. "I think I preferred Beauxbatons in the summer." Eli said, thinking back to last year when he had snuck into the school. He had never heard women squeal so loud but he was glad that they were excited to see him.

Eli chuckled. "Sort of." he said with a smile on his face. "I used to attend Durmstrang but I wasn't there for my fourth year. Instead I dropped out and went to Paris which is where I was until about November of last year when my mother found my studio and forcibly dragged me back to Bulgaria and then sent me here."

"Yes the alps." she replied. "My father was the German minister of Magic who was murdered little over two months ago." she explained. She was still wishing she could get a hold of his murderer....at least who in her heart she thought they were. But as far as she knew everything was being taken care of.

"I loved Beauxbatons in the summer my mother is a professor there, hence why I went there until my sixth year." she explained. "I was going to finish early so my parents sent me here hoping that English would keep me busy enough that I didn't skip a year." she hated that was the only reason she was there. Other wise she would have finished school by her seventeenth birthday and she was so looking forward to that. "So why did yours send you here?"

The German Minister for Magic was her father? Jesus. Elijah felt sorry for Christabelle but he figured she had a good bond with her father. He on the other hand was probably the exception to the rule with everything. He chose not to say anything about it. Things were definitely better left unsaid especially when he had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth when trying to give his condolences. He wasn’t good at faking feelings; he was an artist for Christ sake!

“I was at Durmstrang until my fourth year. I took a year off and lived in Paris, soaking up the art, food and obviously the women. I stayed there for a year, making a name for myself in the art world and impressing dealer after dealer. This, as far as I know, was all off the record because my mother didn’t want anyone finding out about my indiscretions. In November she finally managed to track me down and dragged me out of Paris before booting me off to this hell hole. It’s not as great as everyone makes it out to be and I don’t really understand the romance with Hogwarts and those inside of it.

People call it a home but I don’t really get what’s homey about it. But then that’s just me, I don’t exactly have a home. I have houses, lots of them and a loft in Paris filled with my art but not even that is a home to me – the one place I spent most of my time in. I think I have yet to find my place in the world. Spending half of the day drunk and waking up wrapped around a model every morning isn’t the way I plan on spending my life. It’s probably the way I’ll end up but I can at least try and prevent it.”

Christabelle listened to him speak and took everything in. "I do have to agree. It isn't much of a home but more of a hell hole." She had hated this place since the day she arrived, "But then again you have to make the most of everywhere even if you are in a hell hole like this." She couldn't wait until she was out of school. She had contemplated dropping out a good bit or just going back to Beauxbatons but her mother thought she would like being here with her sister Abbey.

She decided to change the subject, "Indiscretions aren't all that bad as everyone would make them to be." It had been true. She had, had one in the last few months that turned into something more. Much less she had spent her days completely and totally sloshed not remembering what had happened the night before when she woke up in the morning.

"I don't know about you but when I get out of here I plan on seeing the world again." she continued to say. "Being here is fine and well but I've done modeling and all that goes along with it and found I have a love for seeing different cultures in the world."