[Chapter Two]

With every fine dress that Éponine owned packed away in her trunk, the girl faced her mother, wondering if the woman had neglected that at the end of the summer, she was to return to school and she simply couldn't wear dresses. Noting the concerned look on her daughter's face, Heloise reassured her that when it was time for Éponine to return to Hogwarts, the contents of her trunk would change, but for those moments, everything packed in her trunk was meant to make an impression on young Regulus Black. Éponine shuddered to think what she was becoming, nothing better than the mares that Ernest Nott presented to her father when the studs were ready. 

Each brooding mare was carefully examined because lineage only went so far, it was about conformation as well. It followed the bone structure of the horse, the body proportions, as well as the muscular structure. Each category was examined to see if they could breed perfection and within the pure-blooded families that were becoming a smaller pool with every passing year, Éponine had to become the next perfect brooding mare to produce young that would go on to greatness. After all, destined to carry the line of the Black family was considered an honour and a pleasure. Although Éponine didn't quite see it that way, she did understand the importance of blood purity, however, she thought that many within the families were too obsessed with it, to the point where it clouded their judgements and often time ruined aspects of their families.

And what did it matter if she and Regulus produced healthy children but the marriage was not one of happiness? What example would that set for the child? Luckily, Éponine's parents loved each other and Regulus' parents seemed very much in love over the years she had known them, but would she and Regulus be as lucky as their sets of parents? If not, what would their child come to witness and how would that affect them during a time most crucial towards their development? Éponine didn't even want to think of such things, she was only fifteen, the last thing she wanted on her mind was the discussion of children. 

But that was what her mother was trying to prepare her for, a summer that would lead her to become one step closer to being with Regulus for the rest of her life. All the while, the girl simply drowned out her mother's advice of how to carry herself when in the presence of the members of the Black family, as she realised that with the upcoming fifth year that she would be facing her O.W.L.s, exams that would determine what subjects she would be able to continue taking in her sixth and seventh year. 

However, her mother became quickly aware that her daughter wasn't paying attention and snapped her fingers in front of Éponine's face before telling the girl to bathe before she was due to leave. She also told Éponine to use the heavier perfumed soaps before the girl was allowed to leave the room. Éponine didn't have to be told twice, anything to escape the lecturing of how she had to present herself while spending the summer forced in the company of others. She retreated upstairs to her bath and began running the hot water, to the point where it was hot enough to nearly burn her skin. 

Undressing and leaving the clothes on the floor, Éponine slipped into the hot water and allowed her body to reach the temperatures that turned her skin red. She closed her eyes for a few moments, attempting to relax with the surrounding steam and silence. However, within only a minute, her eyes focused on her right hand that tingled unpleasantly. One would assume it was from the temperature of the water, but it was far from it. It had been tingling and burning her long before her bath, bothering her from the day prior.

Before Ernest had left, Éponine's father had invited him in, to join them for a meal, much to the dismay of his daughter. Luckily, for the most part of his stay, she was upstairs with her mother but during the meal, she could only focus on her plate because every time she looked up the man seemed to be staring at her. She wanted to shout at him and tell him to stop looking at her, but she knew that would only be met with backlash on her behalf and a rather nasty scolding from her parents. Instead, it left her with a cramped neck from keeping her head down and her eyes focused on her plate. 

Her parents didn't seem to ever notice Ernest's over-friendly demeanour or if they did, it never seemed to bother them. After the meal, Éponine attempted to escape the awkward goodbye as she went to hurry off to her room upstairs, but instead, her father called her back to wish Ernest farewell. She had to force a smile as Ernest grabbed her hand and kissed the top of it, the act of a gentleman, but in Éponine's eyes, the act of a predator marking its prey. Immediately following the kiss, with a flustered red face, Éponine ran upstairs and washed her hand, but to that very moment, she could still feel where his dry lips had grazed over the top of her hand. 

Perhaps she didn't scrub hard enough, she thought to herself as she lifted her hand from the water and reached for the perfumed soap that her mother ordered her to use. The bar ran circles over and over the skin of her hand for a solid ten minutes before she rinsed it and she seemed to perform the act over and over, getting lost in time. However, she was startled when her mother called for her to hurry as she needed to get dressed so they could leave. Quickly giving the rest of her body a quick wash, Éponine stood up int he tub to shower off the soap and allowed the water to drain. 

Her skin was red as she stepped out of the tub and onto the mat that was used to collect the excess water before she grabbed her towel. Taking to running it over her body and hair briefly, Éponine made her way over to stand in front of the large mirror that was off to the side to examine her body. She would be forced to face her own conformation that day as she arrived at the Black household, she was sure that Walburga would be examining her just as she did with every visit. 

Back when she was nine years old, Walburga had made the comment that Éponine was quite short, which was an awful observation at the time considering how young the girl was at the time. When the years of puberty struck, Éponine did grow, and she couldn't be considered short when she stood taller than Regulus back in their third and fourth year and stood equal height with Sirius at one point. The males of the Black family were considered petite, slender in figure and light in frames, the two sons resembling their father even as they grew older.

 It worked in their favour though, not only in the aspects of holding an attractive appearance but Regulus was a Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team and most Seekers tended to be quite light as they had to fast on their brooms to grab the snitch in time. Regulus grew in height over time, but it seemed he was destined to stand at equal height as Éponine, making Walburga swallow her premature observations. 

Standing in front of the mirror, Éponine continued to take in her own appearance, wondering what fault Walburga would try to find with her. Éponine was slender too, perhaps her lack of "birthing hips" would be considered a fault, she took on the similar appearance of her mother in those respects and Heloise had delivered just fine. There wasn't much curvature to Éponine's body, unlike some of her classmates that had certainly developed over the summers, the talk of many boys as their breasts took front and centre. 

Glancing down, Éponine cupped at her breasts, believing they were quite inadequate compared to the other girls she had witnessed, from the side view, she saw herself as quite flat. Flat chest, flat stomach, flat smile...flat everything. Leaning in closer, Éponine could rejoice at the fact that her face had finally cleared, the nightmare that had been the third and fourth year when she suffered terribly from acne that riddled her face. While many of her peers wouldn't take to pointing it out directly, she could remember how many of them had snickered behind her back when they thought she couldn't hear them. 

Fortunately, her mother and father helped her, but she wasn't sure if it was for her sake or for the fact that she wouldn't be considered "brooding mare" material if she had imperfections. Regardless of their reasoning behind it, Éponine was thankful to be rid of the acne as she hated facing the blemishes on her face on a daily basis. 

There were a few things that Éponine loved about her outward appearance, one of them being her eyes. They were a dark brown, much like her father's that matched her hair. In groups where everyone seemed to have blue or green eyes, it made Éponine feel special that she had taken after that aspect of her father's looks. She also liked that she developed freckles and as much as her mother wanted to hide them behind powders and such, Éponine allowed them to shine through like stars on a dark night. With the acne gone, Éponine could see how the freckles scattered across her nose and the tops of her cheeks. 

Staring in the mirror, the sight of her freckles brought her to smile. "You look beautiful today, Éponine, " she whispered to herself, unsure if she was going to hear it come from anyone else. "You look beautiful every day."

Her mother's yells from downstairs interrupted the moment of self-love, leaving the girl to chuckle with a small roll of her eyes. She finished drying herself off before placing on her bathrobe, so she could walk out and return to her room. 

A flower print dress, a very mint colour green with a beautiful rich assortment of coloured flowers decorated the fabric. The sleeves stopped over the upper part of her arm, slightly ruffled and the length of the dress fell to her knees. Of course, in her eyes, it did nothing for her figure except show off how flat she was, but Éponine didn't have time to focus on such matters as she had to finish getting ready. Slipping on her shoes, she could hear her mother grow more and more impatient the longer the girl took to make her way downstairs. When Éponine finally showed at the top of the staircase, Heloise had her hands on her hips, her foot tapping against the flooring. 

"Maman," Éponine smiled at her with an innocent grin, holding her arms out for a hug as she descended down the steps. She was hoping that she wasn't in trouble for taking so long, and while her mother seemed irritated, she wasn't annoyed enough to not give her a hug.

"It's Mum," her mother said during the hug before moving Éponine away from her, "you know better."

Éponine frowned, feeling a surge of disappointment with her mother. A native French woman, what shame she brought to her own country to dismiss her mother tongue for the sake of impressing others. Impressing others that weren't even present in their household at the time. Victor allowed Éponine to speak in French when the two of them were alone, but her mother had come to the point where her own daughter couldn't even address her in French. It wasn't always like that, but it seemed the pressure to make a good impression outweighed affections and pride. 

If her mother was willing to go as far to make an impression, Éponine didn't see why they didn't all adopt English names and rid themselves of their French ones. Annoyed, she didn't bother to say anything else to her mother, her eyes scanning for her father instead. Thankfully, Victor arrived on the scene within a few moments, greeting the two members of his family before asking Éponine if she was ready to go. The look on her face made it quite clear that she was not ready to leave home to spend the entire summer in the company of the Black family, but she knew better to say it. 

Pressing her lips together, she simply gave a nod of her head. 

Twelve Grimmauld Place did not change over the years, although there was another head added to the wall of shrunken heads of house-elves. The remaining one was a house-elf by the name of Kreacher, who was as loyal to the Black family as they came. When the Rosier family arrived, he was the house-elf to open the door and welcome him in. He had these massive blue eyes that would stare up at them, Victor didn't really like house-elves. They seemed to creep him out since he was a boy, the ones that worked in the Rosier household and around the horses, did everything to avoid him when possible. He wasn't mean to them, but he certainly didn't go out of his way to be nice either. 

He simply ignored them as if they were there, but Éponine had found them to be exceptionally interesting from the time she was very young. Mainly because house-elves had their own form of magic that Éponine was fascinated with, such as the ability to apparate to places that others could not and even performing magic without the use of a wand. 

"Hello, Kreacher," Éponine greeted the house-elf upon their arrival, "it's good to see you again."

The house-elf went to respond, visibly happy by the acknowledgement, but before he could say anything, Victor pulled the girl along inside and away from the creature. As soon as they were inside fully, they were greeted by Orion and Walburga, no sign of Regulus much to Éponine's delight. Orion greeted her kindly as he always did with a gentle hug and after Walburga finished greeting her parents, Éponine held her breath as the woman made her way over to greet her. It was practically a moment of truth, where Walburga's inspection would take place and if  Éponine passed truly in her eyes. 

As invasive as it was, Walburga held no shame as she grabbed the sides of the girl's face and looked directly at her. Éponine remained still and not once did she blink as the cold hands met her skin. 

"My, Éponine, I must say that your face cleared up completely since I last saw you at Christmas," Walburga told her as if it were the greatest compliment, but in that moment, all Éponine wanted to do was cry. It only confirmed that everyone had looked at her and only saw the acne, especially Walburga as she felt the need to bring it up even though it was no longer a problem. 

"Now we can finally see that beautiful face of yours..."

Just before the girl was about to break into tears, the group became distracted by the sound of someone coming down the staircase. Everyone looked over to see Regulus making his way towards them. At the beginning, he looked quite bored, but as he grew closer, the artificial smile appeared as he greeted Victor and Heloise respectfully. They seemed happy to see him, while she turned her gaze away to focus elsewhere. She could still feel the lump in her throat as the little pep talk she had given herself while staring at her reflection earlier had done nothing to save her from the defeated feeling. 

She could see her reflection in one of the windows in the distance and all she could see was the return of the acne, bringing her to lift one of her hands up to her face quickly checking to see if the bumps had reappeared. Fortunately, as she touched her face, her skin remained smooth leaving her to sigh in relief. 

It brought everyone to look over in her direction, wondering what she was doing, and while everyone seemed to be focused on her expression, Regulus' eyes focused elsewhere. On her hand, there was a red, irritated mark that looked on the verge of being raw, it was in the shape of a circle, nothing big but noticeable. 

Suddenly, Victor cleared his throat before calling his daughter's name to break her out of whatever trance she had fallen into. She turned her head abruptly to see that everyone was staring at her and she quickly lowered her hand down and covered it with the other. Meeting Regulus' gaze briefly, she opened her mouth to say something but she found herself too embarrassed to say anything. Regulus was too focused on her hand but that left him feeling confused as to what he was supposed to be doing at the same time.

With both of them left speechless and red in the face, the adults interpreted the situation as the teens finding themselves flustered in the presence of each other. 

"Oh, I think it would be best to give them some time alone," Walburga whispered but it wasn't like the two couldn't hear what she said, leaving them to become even redder in the face. The two quickly tried to tell their parents that they didn't wish to be left alone for any reason at all. But their pleas didn't matter as they were left in front of the staircase while their parents went off for tea. 

Awkwardly, the two stole a glance at each other before peering away. Éponine noticed that Regulus' artificial smile was gone and Regulus noticed that Éponine had freckles. Something he could never really see when she hid behind a book all the time.