The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

“I hate myself right now,” Ellary muttered disgracefully the next morning, while rubbing her temples and scrunching her forehead.

“Hangover?” Regulus asked, rubbing her back gently.

He had spent the night with her on the couch, too afraid to leave her alone in the condition that she was in. Almost immediately after he muttered the word hangover, a vile of blue liquid appeared on the coffee table.

“Oh thank Merlin for this room,” Ellary exclaimed, grabbing the liquid and downing the whole thing in one fluid motion.

Within seconds her forehead relaxed and a look of obvious relief appeared on her face. She ran her fingers through her hair without much luck and straightened out her sweatshirt a little.

“I’m sorry about uh- doing what I did last night, you know, breaking down and everything. I cannot believe I got drunk… Sheesh, I can be pathetic sometimes.”

“You’re not pathetic,” Regulus responded, “Just a little out of sorts,” he told her, with an assuring smile.

“Hah! I just spent the night drinking, crying, and passing out. Merlin, I promised myself a long time ago that I would never let a bloke do this to me,” she said, resting her head on the back of the couch.

“I think you’re a lot stronger than you think you are, Ellary,” Regulus responded, “Don’t let the bookworm bring you down.”

“He doesn’t mean to,” Ellary sighed, “He’s only doing what he thinks is the right thing to do.”

“What- breaking your heart?”

“He did not break my heart,” Ellary snapped.

Regulus gave her an incredulous look, “That is not what it looked like last night when you were flipping out,” he told her. “It is okay to show weakness every now and then, you know.”

“Yeah- right. You’re one to talk, Mr. Big Shot,” she retorted.

“Hey, hey! I’m the loser who broke down and talked to you first remember!” he countered.

“Do you realize that we are arguing over who is more pathetic right now?” Ellary came to a sudden realization.

“Jeez we really are… I think that makes us like- super pathetic,” Regulus reasoned.

There was a brief moment of silence before the two of them just burst out laughing. Ellary buried her head in Regulus’ shoulder as she ignored the twinge of pain in her side. Nearly ten minutes went by before the two of them had finally calmed down, “Feeling better?” he finally asked, as Ellary sighed and laid back against the couch with a smile on her face.

“Amazingly, yes… yes I am,” she said with a small chuckle, “Who would have thought that you would be the one to make me feel better?”

“Well I can be quite charming, you know,” Regulus winked, with a sideways smirk on his handsome face.

“Ugh, you’re just like your brother sometimes,” Ellary told him, ruffling up his hair and standing up back on her feet. “Well- thanks for listening to me whine,” she smiled, sticking her hands into the front pocket of her sweatshirt, “I erm- well I appreciate it,” she finished.

“Anytime, Snape. Well… not any time. I mean not if I’m sleeping or eating or around any of the Slytherins…”

“Yeah, I get it Black,” Ellary cut him off, rolling her eyes. “I’d uh- I’d hug you, but I’m sort of afraid you might kick me if I do.”

He snorted at the comment, “I am not going to kick you,” he laughed, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

Her body tensed up for a second when she found herself in a position she never would have imagined she’d ever be in. But eventually she removed her hands from her pocket and returned the gesture.

Regulus wandered into the Slytherin common room around nine thirty the next morning with his usually perfectly brushed black hair a complete mess and wearing the same clothes he had on the day before. ‘Yeah, this doesn’t look at all suspicious Regulus,’ he thought to himself sarcastically as he tiptoed through across the room toward his dormitory. Hopefully no one would be awake just yet, seeing as it was a Sunday. However, the moment he reached the bottom of the dormitory stares he heard his name being called out behind of him. “Regulus! Regulus!” he immediately recognized the raspy, female voice.

“Just go away Bryn…” he grumbled under his breath, pretending not to hear as he walked up the stairs.

“Regulus! Regulus, wait up! I know you can here me!” she persisted. She ran up and grabbed him in the back of the shoulder to spin him around, “Where the hell have you been? Your clothes, your hair… Did you sleep with someone last night? Who’s the skank?” she shouted, immediately jumping to conclusions. “You’re my boyfriend, remember!”

Regulus rolled his eyes, “I’m not your boyfriend, Rookwood. How many times do we have to go over this?” he sighed.

“Oh so you just go around kissing girls for the hell of it,” she spat.

“To be frank, yes. You were no more special than any other girl that I have kissed, so would you back off already? And it is none of your business where I was last night,” he added.

“Just tell me who she is, you’ve been acting different lately. It’s obvious you’ve met someone. Is it that tall blonde in seventh year, Pamela Rodney? Or Karen Bullstrode?” she asked.

She was trying her best not to look hurt by Regulus blowing her off for the hundredth time, but tears were building up behind her dark blue eyes. Even Slytherins had feelings.

“There is no she, Bryn. Please just drop it,” he grumbled, unconvincingly. He turned around and started his walk up the stairs again.

“You’re lying to me Regulus Black,” Bryn called behind him. “I’ll figure out who she is,” Bryn mumbled under her breath, so Regulus could not hear what she was saying, “And I’ll make her pay…”

‘How does she know everything?’ Regulus wondered to himself, when he entered his dormitory.

Luckily the other Slytherin boys in his year: Amadeus Barlow, Karl Goyle, and Franz Stratford, were still sleeping soundly in their beds. Well- that actually didn’t come as much of a surprise to Regulus; his fellow fifth year boys were remarkably dull, which is why he usually found himself hanging around the sixth and seventh years Slytherins instead. They weren’t all that fascinating themselves, but at least they had a hint of intelligence to them.

He flopped down on to his comfortable bed in the corner of the room, not even bothering to change. He stared blankly up at the ceiling, replaying the previous night over and over again in his head. He had never seen Ellary Snape make herself so vulnerable before, it actually made her seem truly human to her. Despite what she would have liked to have people to think, she had her own weaknesses just like everyone else in the world. However, instead of these weaknesses turning Regulus off or lessening his opinion of her they actually seemed to make him even more fascinated with the sharp-tongued, older Gryffindor girl. There was something about her that made him want to know everything about her. He wasn’t sure if he had romantic feelings for her or if it was just pure curiosity that caused her to be continually on his mind. All he knew in the end was that Ellary Snape was a mystery that he intended to solve.

After a long, steaming shower and a change of clothes Ellary found herself feeling considerably better, though there was still that nagging in the back of her mind reminding her about the split with Remus. With a loud, grumbling moan she threw one of the books Remus had given her across the room in a sudden flash of anger.

“What’s your issue, Snape? What did the book ever do to you?”

someone new entered the room, and Ellary silently thanked Merlin that Madame Pomfrey’s potion had been able to clear up most of the cuts on her face so quickly, before turning around. Lily was standing in the doorway with her eyebrow arched and her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Nothing,” Ellary mumbled simply, before turning back around and collapsing down on to her bed into the fetal position.

“Yeah okay, something is definitely wrong with you, Snape,” Lily responded disbelieving.

After debating with herself for a few seconds, she walked over and sat down on the bed, which was next to Ellary’s.

“So what’s up?” she inquired, clasping her hands in her lap.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Ellary responded shortly.

“Did James do something? He’s been looking for you like a madman,” Lily told her, “He even came barging into our room again.”

Ellary let out a muffled laugh; reluctantly she unburied her head from her pillow and flipped onto the other side of her body to face Lily again. This time there were a few tears in her eyes. “Remus broke up with me.”

“What?” Lily exclaimed loudly, her emerald eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “He dumped you? But- but he seemed to be so, you know, crazy about you,” she said, in a considerably lower voice.

Ellary shrugged, “Yeah- well, he still is, I think,” she muttered, “I think it would hurt less if he hated me, actually.”

“What happened? Why?” Lily asked, clearly intrigued.

For a moment Ellary paused and considered how she could explain what had happened to Lily without mentioning the whole werewolf thing, when an idea struck her like lightning. Rapidly the idea formed in her mind and excitement pulsed through her veins…

“Hey Lily! You’re good at Potions right?”

“Uh- yeah… I am in your Potions class, you know,” she answered, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Lily, I know we have never gotten along all that well, but you seem like a decent person,” Ellary began.

“Oh thanks, I’m glad you think I’m decent,” she rolled her eyes.

“Focus!” Ellary exclaimed, “Listen- you seem like a good person when it comes down to it and well- you’re nice to my brother, which is a pretty rare trait,” Ellary continued, but Lily cut her off again.

“What do you mean I’m nice to your brother?” Lily snapped, immediately on the defensive.

“Oh c’mon Evans! Remus might have distracted me a little, but I am certainly not blind. I’ve seen you and my brother laughing and teasing each other in Potions. A nice little secret friendship you got going on there, Evans. Thanks by the way- Severus needs some friends,” she said sincerely, “He’s nice guy underneath it all, I’m glad that someone else finally sees it.”

Lily seemed totally shocked by the statement, “I- erm- I- I- I didn’t know anyone else-” she sputtered.

“Relax. I’m not going to go tell everyone about it, all right? I’ve got a friend in a Slytherin myself – you tell Sirius or James about it and I just might kill you!” she tacked swiftly on the end.

“Who?” Lily asked.

“I- uh- alright, we’ve just gone off on a tangent! I need to get back on track. Look Evans, you’re a good person- well you must be, you are a Gryffindor and James is madly in love with you so… I want to propose a truce and I want to ask for your help with something,” she explained.

“My help? With what exactly?” she asked cautiously, not sure if she really wanted the answer.

“Okay- I am about to trust you with one of the most important secrets that I know. Something that you could never tell anyone else in the entire world, understand? I am going out on a limb with this one, Evans, but I need to help Remus,” Ellary began; she bit the edge of one of her nails nervously.

“Remus? What’s wrong with Remus? Ellary you are confusing me!” Lily exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

“Can I trust you Lily Evans? Yes or no?” Ellary asked firmly, staring directly into her eyes.

“Of course you can,” Lily answered truthfully. Loyalty was one of the most important traits that characterize a Gryffindor and it was certainly not a quality that Lily Evans was lacking.

Ellary took a deep breath, unable to believe that she was going to trust yet another enemy with one of her most important secrets. “Remus is a werewolf,” Ellary blurted out.

Lily hands immediately flew up from her lap and clapped over mouth, her eyes were now as wide as saucers.

“Yeah- I know, came as a bloody shock to me too. But you cannot tell anyone else, understand? Only me, James, Sirius, Pete, and Dumbledore know about it. He’s not dangerous or anything, just monthly transformations in the Shrieking Shack at Hogsmeade. Well see- that is why he dumped me, because he thought I deserved better than a werewolf and that he was too dangerous to be my boyfriend. Transformations are hell for him and I just- I just want to help, so… here’s the plan,” she whipped out a small notebook from her trunk and slapped it down on her lap. Lily watched her scribble down nearly a million words per second with an expression of pure astonishment on her face, while she attempted to let Ellary’s words sink in.