Fortunately, after the incident, the remainer of Eliot's first year was largely uneventful. He only received a week's detention for the fight, but it was more than enough to teach him a lesson. Not to say he didn't get in any more fights — he was much too prickly for that. However, if he felt like punching someone, he instead cursed them so they couldn't speak. Outside of fighting, he engaged in no more than minor rule breaking, which Fred and George were happy to take the fall for in the event that they were caught. ("We have a reputation to keep," Fred told him.) Though he had a penchant for mischief, he still managed to be a fine student. All in all, he had a quite average first year at Hogwarts.
Eliot's second year was fast approaching and excitement was building among many — this was the year that the famous Harry Potter would come to Hogwarts. Eliot had been thrilled by the idea of reuniting with his best friend from infancy, but he was quickly shut down.
"You mustn't tell Harry who you are to him," Remus said sternly, holding up a piece of parchment with neat cursive writing on it. "Dumbledore's orders."
Eliot crossed his arms. "Why not? Doesn't he have a right to know about his family?"
"What do you plan on telling him, exactly?" Remus asked.
"That my dad was his godfather and his dad was mine," Eliot said. He had always thought it was obvious that he and Harry should reunite someday. Their fathers had wanted them to be godbrothers — did their opinions no longer matter? As much as everyone hated Sirius, surely James's desire for the two to grow up as godbrothers still meant something? But apparently, it didn't.
"And how do you think he'll react when he finds out who your dad is and what he did to James and Lily?"
Eliot deflated. He'd forgotten about that. "I guess he'd be upset."
"Probably a bit of an understatement, yes," Remus agreed. "So you'll stay quiet, then?"
"Yeah. I think I can stay quiet about one more thing," Eliot muttered as he trudged to his room to sulk. He repeated his secrets in his head. My dad. My name. My blood. Remus. James. Hufflepuffs were supposed to be honest, but there were at least five things he had to lie about constantly. He couldn't help but think the Sorting Hat had been right nearly a year ago. Maybe he really would've been better off in Slytherin.
As Remus and Eliot ran through the wall to Platform 9 3/4 for the second year in a row, Eliot once again felt his heart drop. In his excitement to see his friends again, he'd nearly forgotten that he had to leave Remus. They were already running late, which left little time to draw out their goodbye.
"Eli!" A familiar voice shouted. Fred was waving frantically from beside the train, and George gave a small wave from behind his brother. They hadn't seen each other in months — not since Eliot had come to visit the Burrow for a day in June. Mrs. Weasley also waved, but Percy was nowhere to be seen and the two younger children refused to look up.
"Hello!" Eliot shouted as he waved back, then turned to Remus. "Okay. Um, I've got all my stuff, I think."
The older man pulled him into a tight hug. "I'll write to you every week, just like last year, I promise."
"Yeah, me too," Eliot mumbled. "See you at Christmas."
"Good luck." Remus said before letting Eliot go.
Eliot boarded the train and walked down the aisle. He peeked into compartments, chatting a bit with some fellow Hufflepuffs and greeting the first years. But as many compartments as he looked into, he couldn't find the twins anywhere. He spotted a lone redhead and thought for a moment, Charlie!, but quickly remembered that he had graduated the year before. It was their younger brother, Ron, who Eliot had met briefly over the summer. Good enough, Eliot thought as he threw the compartment door open.
"Hey there, Ron. Have you seen Fred and George?" Eliot asked. He looked at the other two kids in the compartment, both clearly first-years — a cute girl with bushy brown hair, and a boy who was unmistakably Harry Potter. He looked exactly like James did in the cropped photograph of him, Lily, Remus, and Peter on the wall of Remus's kitchen. The piece that had been cut off was hidden at the bottom of Eliot's trunk, one of the few photographs he had of his father. He wanted to say something, but he was unsure what the consequences would be if he did. No good could come of it. He would keep his mouth shut.
"A while ago, yeah. Not sure where they went," Ron said.
"Well, I'll have to find them, then. Nice to see you, though." He turned to the other two. He decided that Harry would probably be recognized more than enough in his first days at Hogwarts. Maybe the kid needed to not be recognized for once. "Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Eli Black. And you are...?"
"Hermione Granger," The girl spoke up quickly. "Black, is that one of the twenty-eight pureblood families?"
"Clever of you to point it out, but just the opposite, actually. I'm a half-blood, I had two Muggle-born parents," Eliot lied cheerfully. He thought he was done having to repeat that lie, but apparently not. However, the girl brightened up at the word 'Muggle-born,' so Eliot figured she was probably nice enough. "Nice to meet you. And you." He nodded at Harry.
"Oh, um, Harry Potter." He held out his hand to shake. Eliot gave it one hard shake.
"Nice to meet you, Harry." Eliot winked. He felt a tightness in his chest as he pretended not to know the other boy. He thought of a million things he wanted to tell him, but held his tongue. "I'll see you around." He grinned and ducked out of the compartment, resuming his search for Fred and George.