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eloise jean blanchard

PURE BLOOD - RAVENCLAW - 6TH - LAURA SCHULLER

FREESTYLE

Marjorie and Tomas Blanchard were not well known in the wizarding world, but neither of them felt that was a necessity. They wanted to live in London, have a family, and just be happy. Roughly a year after their marriage, Eloise was born. She was a healthy baby with her mother's red hair and her father's blue eyes. She grew up in a two bedroom apartment where her bedroom was yellow because she wanted it yellow. When Eloise was two, her sister, Marilyn, was born. She was early, and very sick. She was kept in the hospital for two months before she was allowed to come home. Marilyn had a weakened immune system, but the Blanchard family just dealt with it. The two girls shared the yellow bedroom and got along fine.

When Eloise was five, she began to learn to read and write while Marilyn learned to count and say her abc's. The two girls were homeschooled by their mother, since both of the girls showed signs of magic and their parents knew they would attend Hogwarts when they were old enough. As they got older, Ellie excelled at reading and writing, while Mary was much better at maths. But both of them loved the stories that their mother and father would tell them throughout the days about magic and Hogwarts. They could hardly wait to go there. They would often pretend they were students at Hogwarts, learning all there was to learn about magic. They had quite the imaginations.

When Ellie was nine and Marilyn was seven, Ellie came to an incorrect realization. Mary and Ellie were waiting on the stairs of the apartment building for their mother to come down and take them shopping, and there were a few other kids running around the lobby area. Ellie and Mary didn't ever play with these kids; they prefered one another's company. Their parents hadn't raised them to dislike muggles, but they just prefered not to play with the other children. But these children caught Ellie's attention that day, and changed her entire life. If this day had gone differently, and Marjorie Blanchard hadn't taken her children out, Ellie might have become a studious girl to pass all of her exams without the bat of an eye and go on to be a wonderful role model to her younger sister. But that is not how things went. This day, two little boys and one little girl, around Ellie's age, were running through the lobby area where Ellie and Mary were waiting for their mother. The kids kept giving them weird glances and whispering among themselves. They would look at Ellie, then Mary, then Ellie, then Mary, then whisper to one another. Ellie wondered what they were whispering about. She assumed the worst. She was still pondering this when the girls' mother came down and took them to Diagon Alley for shopping. Diagon Alley was a treat for Ellie and Mary, and still Ellie hardly paid attention to it. She was busy comparing herself to Mary. Mary had curly brown hair and no freckles and her cheeks weren't puffy and she had stick legs that poked out of her dress and her arms were roughly the same width from elbow to shoulder. Ellie knew that this was because Mary was sick, but still, she couldn't help but notice how her hair was red and curly and she had freckles and her cheeks were puffy and she still had 'baby fat', and Ellie did not like that one bit. She did not like it so much that when their mother got the girls ice cream, Ellie claimed a stomach ache and gave her ice cream to Mary.

An eleven year old Eloise stood with the other first years and waited for her name to be called. She wasn't nervous; she was excited. She had waited forever it felt like to come to Hogwarts and now she was finally there, standing in the Great Hall, about to get sorted. She was on an adrenaline rush. Eloise still had freckles and crazy red hair, but she had defined cheekbones and visible collar bones and her baby fat was long gone. She still felt bad when she thought about it, but stnading there, in the Great Hall on an empty stomach, Ellie felt weightless. "Eloise Blanchard!" She grinned, her smile too big for her narrow face, and walked to the chair. She sat, and the hat was placed on her head, sitting atop her curls. "Not nervous...brave...secretive...hmmm...Ravenclaw!" the hat called out. Ellie smiled wider, were it possible, as the hat was removed and she made her way to the Ravenclaw table. Claps and smiles from the others at the table welcomed her and she returned their smiles before turning her attention to the rest of the ceremony.

Eloise wrote weekly letters home to her mother, father, and Mary. Mary and Ellie were close, and had both been in tears when Ellie had to leave for Hogwarts without Mary. But the letters did well enough for the two of them. Mary often wrote back within a day or two of receiving Ellie's letters and then Ellie would write back to her, separately from the letters she sent to their mum and dad.

The summer between her first and second year at Hogwarts, Eloise sat on the floor of the bathroom, tears falling down her face at a rapid pace as she learned over the toilet. She could feel the toast in her stomach like a rock. She needed it gone; she needed to feel empty and pure. Her pointer finger and middle finger already had scars from knocking against her teeth so often, but that didn't stop Ellie from sticking them in her mouth again. She needed to throw up, otherwise that toast would make her fat. She didn't care that the toast she was trying to extract from her body was the first thing she'd eaten in four days. She didn't care. She needed it gone. Knock, knock, knock "Ellie?" Marilyn asked from behind the door. Ellie shoved her hand against the door with a thud, "Go away!" She yelled. A minute later, another knock. "Go away, I said!" She wiped her cheeks, trying to dry her face that way. "Eloise, open the door. You've been in there for fifteen minutes," her mother called. Ellie ignored her, pushing her fingers into her mouth and leaning over the toilet. Water was all that came out, but she tried and tried again. "Eloise? ... Eloise?" Her mother pushed open the door, over-powering Eloise easily. The tears were flowing harder now, "Mummy..." Eloise whispered, "Why can't I be prettier like Marilyn?" Marilyn stood by the door, watching her mother bend down help Eloise up, then ran back to her bedroom.

Eloise spent most of her second year on St. Mungo's mental health floor. She had no roommate, as she was one of the few people on that floor, and wasn't allowed to do much. She was forbidden to exercise; she could only read under supervision; she was allowed daily walks outside with a nurse. She was released in April of what would have been her second year with a diagnosis of what muggles called an eating disorder, self-starvation. She returned to school for what would be her third year, as a second year. Marilyn was a first year at this time.

The relationship that Ellie and Mary had before Ellie was admitted had been flaking apart since.

"Did you hear?" "She was on the crazy floor last year." "That's why she's a second year again." "She's bonkers, that one." The whispers that followed Ellie around school were unbearable. She didn't talk to anyone unless she had to, including her family. She didn't write to her mum and dad, although they wrote to her. She waved to Mary in the hallways and spoke to her rarely. The only time she really talked to Mary was when Mary fell ill, which was more often than any normal person did, with her weakened immune system. Eloise was still very protective of her sister, no matter how much their relationship had fallen apart. She didn't make friends. And by the beginning of her fourth year (what should have been her fifth), Ellie was relapsing. It started off small. No breakfast, then slowly no supper, then no breads, then no drinks but water, etc, etc, etc. It got worse and by the beginning of her fifth (sixth) year, Eloise was full-blown back to where she started. But she was smart about it. She put empty wrappers in her bag and pockets. She filled glasses with juice, then poured them out and left the empty glass on her nightstand. She put crumbs on a plate and kept that beside her bed. She was sneaky and no one noticed. When she had to eat in front of people, she ate fruits and vegetables. She drank nothing but water. Then she threw it up later if she could. If not, she would run.

Running was Ellie's escape. A year after she got released from Mungo's, she started running as a stress reliever. As long as she ate, she was allowed to run. It emptied her mind and let her just feel free. She could do anything she wanted if she ran. She didn't have to talk to anyone; she didn't have to lie; she didn't have to sneak around; she didn't have to pretend to like people; she didn't have to impress anyone.

THE PLAYER

Name/alias: Faith
Age: 18
Gender: Female
OOC House: Hufflepuff (Slytherin).
Limits: none
How did you find us: Caution.

TEMPLATE BY FEDORA @ CAUTION 2.0 AND A THOUSAND FIREFLIES