[Chapter Four]

Sleeping in a home that was not her own and sleeping outside of a bed that was not hers at home or Hogwarts, was enough that Éponine found it difficult to sleep at night. She would remain wide awake while the members of the Black family slept and when her exhausted state finally took over, it felt like she had only been asleep for a few minutes when she was being woken up by Kreacher or Walburga. It certainly didn't feel like she was on holiday as she woken so early summer mornings, not to mention, the family didn't really venture outside. They seemed to enjoy staying inside their home or visiting other places that involved them remaining indoors.

It was terrible for Éponine as she knew if she were home then she would be outside with the horses at some point or at least, taking advantage of the rare sunny days to actually read outside. All in all, she found the Black family quite dull with how they spent their time and she was already struggling to stay awake since her sleeping schedule had become a downright mess. 

Every morning, she was to join Walburga, Orion, and Regulus for breakfast at the table, even on the mornings where she didn't find herself so hungry. Her mother had warned her before they left that Éponine was to remain polite and respectful and that meant taking everything that was offered to her. She had to listen to the discussions that Walburga and Orion carried on with since she and Regulus didn't dare initiate conversations with one another. Since the two of them had spoken over the incident with Kreacher, neither one of them had bothered to speak again. 

By the way Walburga watched the interaction between the two, or rather the lack of it, Éponine was sure there was going to be an intervention sooner rather than later. Éponine was dreading the moment where the two would be forced to spend time with each other as it was already awkward enough for her to live under the same roof as him. But she had to remember that it was going to become part of her life soon enough. Once they were married they would be practically stuck under the same roof and it wouldn't be just for the summer. 

It wouldn't involve them sleeping in separate rooms, being monitored by adults, they would find themselves as the adults in the situation with duties to fulfil in the names of their families. They would be expected to produce children and the mere thought of falling pregnant was enough to make Éponine shake in place, like a small dog. She couldn't picture herself as a mother as she still needed her mother to remind her of things just to keep functioning sometimes, not to mention, she couldn't imagine Regulus as a father. The way he carried himself, he didn't seem to carry the hopeful prospects of being a good father. 

Was it too early for a girl to hope that she would not be able to carry?

After dinner one evening, Walburga had an announcement to make, one that she had been dreading, knowing it was to come. She claimed that they would be taking a day trip to Diagon Alley, something that actually sounded pleasant to Éponine as it meant that she would finally be able to venture outside again. However, there was a catch to it as the girl expected there to be. She and Regulus would be keeping each other company for the entire day while Walburga and Orion met up with an old friend. Just as Éponine went to roll her eyes, she stopped herself as she could already hear her mother nagging away in her ear. 

"Thank you so much, Mrs Black," Éponine bowed her head slightly, thanking the woman for the opportunity. "I truly appreciate it."

It was, of course, a lie, because Éponine had absolutely no desire to spend the day with Regulus, even if she had the freedom of being outside. She was also aware that she simply couldn't ditch the boy while they were in Diagon Alley or that would more than likely be reported back to her parents. While she hadn't been able to roll her eyes, Regulus stood behind his mother and as soon as Éponine claimed to be appreciative, he took to rolling his eyes while making a small scoffing noise. 

She wanted nothing more but to rip one of her shoes off her own feet and throw it at his head. But instead, Éponine took to leaving the room shortly after the adults, leaving Regulus behind. With only a couple of hours to spare before they were all expected to settle down for bed, she found herself with little to do. She had already been there for a week and already she had gone through all the books that she had brought with her. Her boredom was taking her to new levels where she was looking to start all of them all over again.

However, with the promise of going to Diagon Alley the next day, she was somewhat relieved as she was sure she would be able to go to Flourish and Blotts and collect a few more books to survive the summer. She already had a small list of titles that she was hoping the bookstore had, but the problem lied with Regulus, hopefully, he wouldn't give her a hard time about going to the store. She thought about asking him in advance but she figured that would just work against her. 

Wandering around the Black household, it seemed like such a large space for three people, and even when Sirius was around, it was a big home for the only four that lived there besides the house-elves. But she couldn't really talk, her parents were beyond excessive when it came to their manor as they had all sorts of guest rooms scattered around their home, ones that had never been used. There were only three of them and the amount of land that her father had purchased for all the horses would probably seem a bit excessive as well, so all of her thoughts suddenly became quite hypocritical.

But for some reason, Éponine liked the idea of a small home, perhaps a small cottage by the seaside, overlooking the cliffs. The sounds of waves crashing against the walls of the cliff and the fresh smell of the sea-breeze. There would also be the sounds of nothing else but the nature around the household, not the sound of multiple children running about outside, but perhaps the laughter of one. There would be no need for house-elves, but there would be a few scattered about working in the gardens just as the extra help. 

The house-elves would look well kept, even kept better than the horses. They wouldn't be covered in bruises or injuries as they would have no desire to disobey any orders because there wouldn't be so much work placed on them. And they couldn't really screw up the idea of working in the gardens, life would be better for them too. 

Trapped in her own daydream, Éponine was not paying attention to where she was walking and found herself tripping over a brolly stand that was inconveniently placed. Fortunately, she didn't fall but she felt quite embarrassed just running into it in the first place. She was just thankful no one had come to witness her trip either if it had been Regulus she was sure that she would only be met with laughter and ridicule, similar to the time when she fell in one of the corridors back at school. 

It had been the first day of classes back in fourth year and she had made the stupid mistake of actually leaving her wand back in the dorms. She had been running back towards the Slytherin Common Room entrance where she swore she had been tripped as she felt something clock her above the ankles. Taking a nasty spill, her hands scraped against the cold floors leaving them to burn as well as her knees before she pushed herself up. 

She hoped that someone would come over and ask if she was alright at the time, but instead, Éponine was met with laughter. And just like all the other times when she looked over at the source of the laughter, was the same group consisting all those that teased her and among them, was Regulus. Among the faces as well, was the one by the name of Severus Snape and Éponine had to find herself in a state of surprise as he usually the victim of Sirius' friends doing the same to him. Did he honestly find it appropriate to do the same thing to others that brought him great frustration?

Apparently so.

It didn't matter if Éponine cried or did her best to conceal her tears because they would make fun of her until she did cry. Just thinking of the memory brought Éponine to sniffle in the empty hall of the household. However, her sniffling came to an abrupt end as she heard the sound of a piano being played within the household. Curious as to who was playing so beautifully, Éponine followed the music until he brought her to one of the rooms on the second floor. Reaching the room, she found the door open and peered inside to see Orion Black sitting on the bench playing, with Regulus sitting next to him.

The man was playing while Regulus watched on quietly, his own hands in his lap. Éponine didn't have so much of an interest in who was playing but what they were playing as the slow song played from the keys was incredibly soothing to her ears. She had never heard the tune of the song before but she continued to listen until it came to an end. Just as she was getting ready to walk away, Orion scooted over on the bench and offered Regulus to play as well.

The boy didn't seem to hold a problem with picking up where his father left off, leaving Éponine curious about he compared to his father's playing. Unfortunately, she found herself equally as impressed as Regulus seemed to know what he was doing and while she was paying attention to him, she didn't notice Orion glance over in her direction and catch her watching. 

It was only when the man stood up and started making his way over towards the doorway, did she realise that she had been caught. Quickly going to walk away, Éponine turned away from the doorway but Orion called at her to remain put. Swearing under her breath, Éponine remained still until Orion called her back into the room. Feeling as if she had been placed under the Imperius Curse, she walked back to where Orion was standing, seeing that Regulus had stopped playing and was now paying attention to the interaction between her and his father. 

"Have you ever played the piano, Éponine?" Orion asked her with a smile, definitely seeing an opportunity that she didn't catch her right away.

"No, Sir," she answered quickly, " my mother says that my father and I have no rhythmic abilities."

"Nonsense," Orion said placing his hands on the back of her shoulders gently, "everyone is capable of learning. Only lazy people say such things as that."

He began guiding her over to the bench where Regulus was sitting, leaving her to quickly start dragging her feet as she had no intentions of joining Regulus for a music lesson. But that's exactly what Orion had in mind as he led her to sit down beside his son.

"Regulus is an excellent player, I am sure he can show you a bit. I'll leave you two to it."

Orion looked all too proud of himself as he left the two, all the while Éponine was hoping that he would catch fire for putting her in such an awkward position. The two teens sat in complete silence for over a minute until they heard Orion's throat clear in the hall outside the room, suddenly leaving Regulus to pick up his hands and begin playing. 

"Watch my hands," Regulus instructed her, leaving Éponine to raise a brow. He didn't honestly believe that she had any interest in being taught in that moment, did he? She was only there because Orion had given her little choice and she was sure he was only sitting there because he wasn't certain if his father was still standing outside the room. Rolling her eyes just as he had done back after dinner, Éponine watched him play for a few minutes before she let out a small yawn.

"Shh," Regulus told her cutting her yawn in half. She nearly choked on her breath at his rudeness, but Regulus' only excuse was that she was distracting him and that she was being rude. Éponine wore an incredulous look on her face at his nerve to call him rude. Just as he was playing, she reached up one finger and hit a key, messing up the song. 

With great pleasure, she watched as Regulus flinched at the wrong note, but continued playing. And every so often without warning, she would reach out a finger quickly and hit a key. Éponine could see the frustration building on his features as Regulus clenched his jaw at her behaviour, but she found his reaction rather amusing, encouraging her behaviour to continue. 

After the tenth time, Regulus finally lost it and turned to her as she had one finger raised about to hit a key again.

"Will you stop that?!" He demanded. "I am trying to teach you-"

Suddenly, the boy stopped as Éponine gave him a cold look and placed her hands on the keys and began playing the same song on the piano that he had been playing with her father. All the while she would keep looking back and forth between the keys and Regulus to drive her point home.

"I don't need your bloody lessons," she muttered as she picked herself up from the bench and went to cross the room and leave.

"But you told him that you didn't play!" Regulus called after her as she reached the doorway.

She placed her hand on the frame and looked over at him. "Well, I lied, obviously."

When everyone in the Black household was supposed to be asleep that evening, Éponine found herself wide awake once again in her room, staring up at the darkness. She had her hands resting on her flat stomach that was growling slightly. She was regretting not eating more at dinner time, but with Walburga watching her every move all the time, the last thing she needed was the woman making any sort of comment on her weight. Yet, her stomach didn't give the slightest damn at the time as it was telling Éponine to tell Walburga to go to hell and eat. 

Thinking about sneaking down to the kitchen and hoping to find something, Éponine sat up on the bed and carefully listened to see if everyone was asleep. She didn't really hear any noise, leaving her to feel safe enough to push herself up and head towards the door. The hardwood floors were cold against her bare feet but she ignored it as she opened the door and ventured out into the hall. She was making her way over to the staircase when she heard what sounded like crying.

Frozen in place, Éponine listened but it didn't sound like any of the people in the household crying. 

But it did sound like Kreacher. 

Concerned that the house-elf had been punished unfairly once more, the girl tiptoed down the steps quietly, only to see Kreacher halfway down the steps staring up at the heads of shrunken house-elf heads that were mounted. He was looking up at one in particular as his little hand touched the wall. 

"Kreacher misses you, Mother. But Kreacher works every day to make Master and Mistress very happy."

Covering up her mouth, Éponine was able to muffle the small noise that escaped her, in slight pity for the house-elf, but she couldn't stop herself from gasp when she finally made the connection. The poor house-elf had to pass by the face of his mother, whose head was mounted on the wall. It was beyond sick in her head as she stared at the scene of the house-elf crying in front of his mother. How sick were these people when it came to these poor creatures that did nothing but serve them?

She was about to make her way down the stairs and tell Kreacher to go to bed, but a hand grabbed her shoulder causing her to shriek. However, her shriek had startled the other person reaching out towards her, bringing them to yell out as well. Kreacher added to the mix as he became frightened as well. 

"What are you doing?!" She whispered harshly as she clutched at her chest and caught sight of Regulus standing behind her, standing taller as he was up on a few higher steps.

"Me? What are you doing wandering around in the dark?!" Regulus whispered back to her.

"I heard Kreacher crying and I wanted to see if he was alright," Éponine told him, bringing Regulus to look off in the direction of Kreacher, who was hurrying down the steps to avoid getting in trouble.

"Will you leave him alone?!"

"I will not," she protested, " I am trying to help him-"

"Well, if you truly wanted to help him, you would leave him alone. Bringing attention to him is only going to get him in trouble with-"

"What is going on here?!"

The two stopped and looked up to see a sleepy Orion, wand in hand with a worried looking Walburga holding onto his arm. The end of his wand was lit up, slightly blinding the teens as they peered up.

"What are you two doing out of bed?" Walburga questioned them, bringing Éponine and Regulus to exchange looks. Regulus went to open his mouth, but Éponine beat him to it.

"I was hungry," she admitted, " and Regulus said he could get me something snack on. But on the way down the stairs, he stepped on my foot and I didn't mean to yell but I must have scared him enough to yell as well. I apologise, I didn't wish to wake anyone."

The adults looked to Regulus for confirmation, who quickly nodded his head and gave his own apology for waking them. And while Éponine thought she was going to meet some ridicule for her appetite, Walburga told Regulus not to keep the girl waiting before the couple headed back to bed. As soon as the two were gone, the teens let out simultaneous sighs of relief. 

Since they were free, Regulus grumbled a good night and went to head back to his room when he suddenly heard Éponine's stomach growl loudly as it echoed on the stairs. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the girl wringing her hands together with an embarrassed look on her face. With a tired sigh, he didn't say anything but made his way down the stairs, grabbing her by the wrist and leading her downstairs towards the kitchen. 

Chapter dedicated to VictoriaRobinson64 for the beautiful cover! Thank you again!