Sunshine {C L O S E D}

Although Aylee hadn't visited the gardens for a long time, she still remembered it clearly like her house- she remembered where every path lead, where every bench sat, which bushes you should best hide behind when playing hide and seek. That day she decided to go visit. Like everywhere else in the castle, it was beautiful in its' own way. And anyway, her brother Kynan needed help with his homework and he had begged her to help. Luckily she had finished her homework last night, or she'd have been spending the whole day inside.

After planning to meet up with her brother later, Aylee left breakfast with a full tummy and walked down towards the gardens. She took her time, taking in the view. It was still as beautiful as ever, and the flowers always took her breath away. She smiled- the only time that she had been there was with Elita, over two years ago at least, yet she remembered the day like it was yesterday. She sat down on a bench and waited for her brother to join her. He'd probably come running in any minute, bag wide open and half his books about to fall down.

This thread is closed to Elita Fontayne Vega and Kynan Walters.

It's been a while since Elita had last been in the gardens. This was the place she'd grown her friendship with Aylee and met Leo. This was the place she could trust to make her feel better because of the colourful flowers. However, now it all seemed dull and hopeless to her.

She had been crying again without even realising it. Slowly, she walked through the familiar paths of the gardens and tried to control her breathing while listening to the soft chirps of nearby birds. Up ahead, she spotted an older girl sitting on a bench. Taking a few more steps, she realised it was Aylee. Hesitating, she approached her and sat beside her.

Her floral print sun dress flowed out around her as she sat. Her face still pale and her eyes still held a faraway gaze. She was out of uniform today as it was a Hogsmeade day, though, she didn't really feel like going.

A few moments later, someone joined Aylee but it wasn't Kynan. It was Elita, wearing a pretty sun dress. But her eyes were red, as if the girl had been crying, and her face was pale. Elita sat down without speaking. Usually, she'd call it plain rude but given the girl's circumstances, she didn't question it. Although she'd have thought that Elita would've gotten out of the shock of the attack by now, since it happened well over a year ago. Maybe something had happened in between? Pushing the thought away, Aylee smiled encouragingly at Elita and said, "Hello!"

Most people must have not heard about Ella and probably wouldn't, Elita thought, wondering how she would break the news to Aylee and Ella's other friends. Before long, she realised that Aylee had spoken towards her. "Hi." Elita said trying to smile again and look normal, but failing miserably. "How are you?" Maybe the girl couldn't see the hurt and pain in her eyes, maybe she can just pretend that she's tired and nothing happened.

It seemed that Elita hadn't noticed that Aylee had talked to her for a few moments. The girl tried being cheerful, but it was obvious that she wasn't. Elita's smile seemed to be a myth now. There was pain and worry in her red eyes. Just by her face she could tell that Elita was not okay. This made her even more worried. Given the fact that the two of them had been attacked by Umbridge, she'd thought that Ellie would trust her if she ever needed to talk. It didn't seem like that, though. Instead of answering the question, Aylee just asked, "What happened?"

Without thinking, Elita blurted out "Ella!" before throwing her hands over her mouth. Well, now she'd done it. She'd have no choice but to explain now. She searched Aylee's eyes as if looking she be sure she could trust her. Her breath became unsteady and soft as she thought about what to say next.

Her hand fumbled with the hem of her dress as she remembered the note and what was written on it. Slowly, she began to recite the entire note from memory to Aylee. Once she finished, she looked down at the ground and imagined Ella's quick handwriting and posh looking signature. Was she that bad that Ella wanted to leave her? What had really happened to Ella? What was her motives? She could never stare into those dark, cold cerulean eyes again; they were lost from her forever.

"Oh?" Aylee asked when Elita blurted out Ella's name. But it seemed like Elita didn't want to tell her anything. So why was she reciting some kind of note? Without thinking about it, she pulled Ellie into a hug, a kind of bone-crushing one, where you try to tell the person it's okay. But since when was anything okay around here? "D'you know where she went?" she just asked softly. So was that it? Ella was just... gone?

Elita nodded her head as the girl hugged her. "I saw it. The needle. The black ink. The new mark on her arm. Her grandmother." She could say nothing else as tears streamed down her face causing her cheeks to glow red and her eyes to sting. She never wanted to admit it, but she knew her vision was final. Ella joined the band of Death Eaters.

Although Aylee felt something wet on her shoulder, she didn't care. Simply by Elita's voice, she could tell that the girl had been crying. At one point, she had thought that Ella would be strong enough to resist joining the Dark Ones. But I guess she wasn't... What had persuaded the girl to join them? Blackmail? Dreams of power? Then, the fact that Elita mentioned their grandmother got Aylee to frown. So the woman was still alive. For a moment, she felt her eyes start stinging. Maybe she was about to cry herself. Ella was gone. That was it. Even though she didn't know Ella that well, she felt more upset than betrayed. She rubbed her eyes.

Then she remembered something from a long time ago- back to her first year when she first met Elita. "Don't worry, Ellie," she whispered. "Chosen, small and strong one. Remember?" She pulled away, looked Elita in the eye and said, "I don't think you know how strong you are. You were orphaned. You managed to get into Hogwarts and keep up the act of being an eleven-year old when you were just nine. You got hurt by your sister, and almost bled to death if nobody found you. You survived the Cruciatus Curse twice, cast by your own grandmother, at twelve years. Your sister has joined the Death Eaters. Your life was hell, yet you're still alive. Living proof that you are even stronger than you think. Maybe you are living up to your name." Aylee smiled weakly.

She paused, then asked, "Have you seen your grandmother again since... that night?" Aylee was referring to that time when Elita was tortured in the forest by Umbridge.

"No," she shook her head, "I haven't seen her." Elita replayed the vision she'd seen in her head. An attack was coming soon and she would be prepared this time. She couldn't believe her sister would just betray her and then be the one to attack her.

The thing that scared her the most, was when her sister comes to attack, would she be able to kill her or injure her? "I don't think I'm so strong anymore, just small and frail." Elita sighed, causing her whole body to shake. She kicked her shoe at the ground and dropped the hem of her dress.

Aylee nodded. Maybe Addie would leave Elita alone now that the woman had Ella on her side? She shrugged, then bit her lip at Elita's next words. "No, you're not," she said, then decided that maybe they should talk about something different. "Er... how's your year going? I heard you've been held back to your proper year."

Nodding, she replied, "Yeah, I was a third year again last year making me a fourth year this year, which falls right since I just turned fourteen." The young girl thought back to her birthday and how she had found the letter on her fourteenth birthday. Of all days Ella could leave, she was selfish and chose an important day for the young girl.

Ellie reached up and touched the dove charm around her neck. It was a replica of the same charm her adopted mother had given both her and Ella, except hers was inscripted with Elita. It was a simple action but to her, it was huge and it meant a lot. Her mother's patronus at one point was a snake until she adopted Ella and herself and it became a dove. It symbolised love, peace and freedom, two of which she felt she lacked. Clearing her head, she looked at Aylee, "How's school for you?" she frowned.

Kynan's laziness has officially caused him to be late for everything. He barely ever did his homework, he almost always arrived late to class and he practically forgot that he was supposed to meet Aylee in the gardens. Not to mention, he seemed to be Peeve's favourite victim these days because the ghost was taunting him every time they met. One time, Peeves had thrown water balloons at Kynan, causing him to get all wet and arrived late to Potions. Another time, the ghost ripped his school bag and spilled ink everywhere. This time, the poltergeist had broken a window and set off a bunch of spiders loose in the castle, so Kynan had to dodge spiders everywhere he stepped.

When he finally made it out, he burst into a full-on sprint towards the gardens. He had been here once before, and that was with Maya. At the thought, he paused, getting a slight tummyache. Did everywhere he want have to remind him of her? Kynan frowned, and then continued walking in the gardens, looking for Aylee. But instead, he found Aylee with another girl he had never met. He remembered the girl, though, it was the Slytherin who had smirked when Aylee lost points from her house in Defence Against the Dark Arts. He decided that he did not like the girl. "Hello," he said cautiously.

Elita turned up and saw the approaching boy guessing it was Kynan, Aylee's little brother. Mentally, she hoped her eyes weren't still red and her face pale, but she had no control over that.  She noticed he looked a lot like Aylee.

"Hello." Elita answered back warily, studying him. She believed she had him for a class though she wasn't sure.

Aylee nodded, and then Elita asked her how school was for her. She opened her mouth, about to start blabbing about how much she hated the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. But luckily, her brother had arrived just in time to shut her up. She turned to look at Kynan and grinned. "Hey!" she greeted him, and then stood up so her brother could sit instead of her. Quickly, Aylee gave her brother a side-hug, because she recognized his face and wanted to wipe that expression off it. She immediately noticed that Kynan was not pleased to see Elita. Of course, he didn't know of the girl's past and she had no intention of telling him the history of it. "Go easy on her, dufus, she's been through worse than you," she whispered to Kynan.

Kynan didn't reply, he just looked back at Aylee with a blank expression. To others it would look plain rude, but the two of them knew exactly what he meant. Fine. But don't blame me if I do anything stupid. His sister didn't say anything, so they just left it there. Whatever the girl had ever gone through, he never knew and probably didn't care. Then he looked back at the Slytherin who looked as if she'd been crying. "Um... what's your name?" he blurted out. He hated addressing others as that Slytherin or the little girl. "I'm Kynan."