The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

“Do you think we can do it?” Ellary asked hopefully, after she had finally finished explaining her plan to Lily.

“I- I really don’t know. I mean- talented wizards have been trying to figure out how to stop the symptoms of being a werewolf for years without any luck,” Lily sighed, “But you know what, I am honestly going to try. I never knew- I mean- Remus Lupin should not have to go through something so horrible. He is such a nice guy,” she trailed off a little, “I am going to help you develop a potion to help Remus. Together, I think that we can do it,” finished.

Ellary smiled broadly at her, “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the redhead, catching her completely off guard. “Well I have got to go, I’m sure James is about to freak out right now, but we’ll start working on this soon. Maybe tomorrow in the library during lunch?” she suggested.

“Yeah, that sounds fine,” Lily agreed, “I’ll erm- I guess I’ll see you there then,” she said, a little awkwardly.

“Where in bloody hell have you been? I have been looking all over the bloody school for you for the last three bloody hours! I have been worried sick about you Ellary!” James shouted, when he spotted his friend across the common room.

The rest of the Gryffindors in the room all turned and stared oddly at him, but he didn’t seem to notice in the slightest. He sprinted over to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her, “How are you feeling?” he asked, resting his forehead on top of hers.

Ellary closed her eyes for a moment; James’ question had just deflated the emotional high she had been in after Lily had agreed to help her. “I erm- well I guess I’ve been better,” she shrugged. Fortunately she had pretty much drained herself of all the tears she had to cry over the past few hours and wasn’t about to break down again in front of James. “A little tired, I suppose.”

James cocked an eyebrow at her, “You seem erm- surprisingly calm,” he said, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face.

She nodded, “I did my crying last night, Prongs,” she admitted, “I’ve got nothing else left.”

“I’m so sorry about everything, Ellie,” James whispered, pulling her into another tight hug. “Moony might be a genius, but he can be a damned idiot sometimes if you ask me,” he grunted.

Ellary shook her head, “Don’t be mad at Remus… he- he’s just doing what he thinks is best for me,” she said quietly in reply. “Look, I’ll see you around later James, okay? There’s someone I kind of want to talk to.”

“Who?” James inquired, curiosity in his hazel gray eyes.

“Erm- my brother,” Ellary answered, “I just- I haven’t seen him in awhile, you know,” she explained.

“Is that necessarily a bad thing?” James joked, but Ellary gave him a stern look. “Sorry, sorry!” James exclaimed, before she could even speak, “I know you don’t like when I talk about your brother,” he said.

“It’s alright,” Ellary told him, “Thanks for being a good friend, Prongs,” she said, hugging him for the third time, “I’ll see you at dinner,” and with that she disappeared through the portrait hole that led in and out of the Gryffindor common room.

Ellary wandered down the hallway toward the library on the other side of the school. Though she wasn’t positive that Severus would be there, more likely than not her would be. Instead of hanging outside under one of the numerous trees on the grounds or playing Quidditch on the pitch, he usually just sat in the library spilling over dozens of books filled with complex and elaborate potions or dark art spells. Finally she arrived at her destination and turned into the room, almost immediately she spotted her brother’s somewhat greasy black hair. He was sitting alone in the darkest, most deserted corner of the library with at least twenty books tossed carelessly here and there around him, plus the one he was currently immersed in.

‘How someone can actually read on a weekend I will never know…’ Ellary thought to herself, slightly amused.

“Hey Severus,” Ellary greeted quietly, but the sound of another’s human voice spooked him so much that nearly fell right off his chair. She couldn’t help, but laugh, “Sorry Sev, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she apologized.

“You didn’t scare me!” he snapped, running his fingers through his hair, “Just caught me off guard.”

“Okay then. Whatever you say,” she chuckled, sitting down in the chair beside of him. “So erm- how have you been? I feel like I haven’t talked to you since school started,” she said.

“That’s because you haven’t,” Severus responded, a definite note of bitterness present in his voice.

Ellary smiled uncomfortably, “Yeah- sorry about that.”

Severus shrugged, “It’s not like I care or anything,” he said in an unconvincing tone, “And anyways- it’s pretty obvious that you’ve been busy with that boyfriend of yours lately,” he sneered, “So busy, in fact, that you haven’t been able to keep those barbarian friends of yours under control.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Potter and Black,” he muttered, “They’ve been on my case for the past month and I am sick of it,” he spat.

Ellary sighed as pang of guilt pierced her stomach, “I’m sorry Severus, I’ll talk to them, I promise. But you know, you haven’t exactly made much of an effort to talk to me either, you know. When I was in the hospital wing you didn’t even come to visit me,” she said, revealing that it hurt her a little.

“Oh yeah- and get beat up by your bodyguards!” he exclaimed.

“They won’t touch if you if I tell them not to, you know that,” Ellary retorted.

“I am sick of you having to stand up for me, Ellary!” he shouted back.

“Why? You’re always standing up for me, why can’t I do the same thing as you?” she countered fiercely.

Severus stared at her for a few moments, looking thrown off by the statement. “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“Do you think I’m oblivious, Severus? I know what you do at home. You’re not stupid enough to provoke dad for no good reason. I know you do it for me and mum, so we won’t get hurt,” Ellary said softly, looking directly into her brother’s eyes that mirrored her own nearly identically. Severus looked down at his shoes; “I just wanted to thank you for that. But you can let me take some of the punches sometimes, you know, I’m a tough girl,” she smirked.

He nodded, “I know you are, Ella,” he said, patting her on the shoulder, “But I’ve gotten used to it by now,” he sighed.

Ellary bit her lower lip and balled her hands into fists, “I really hate him sometimes,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

Severus nodded, “Me too,” he seconded, “But hey- only one more year and then were out of there for good.”

Ellary smiled at him, “I never knew you to be one to look on the bright side,” she laughed.

“Yeah, well I got keep myself going somehow,” he said.

“So anyways- how’s your thing with Lupin going?” he asked trying to keep the conversation going. Though he would never admit, he loved the conversations he got to have with his twin sister, though they were usually few and far between. “I have to say out of those blokes you hang out with, he’s the least irritating.”

Ellary head dropped at the comment, “Actually we- erm- we broke up yesterday,” she mumbled out, “But that’s not important, I actually wanted to inquire about your social life,” she chuckled lightly.

“My social life? I wasn’t aware that I had one,” he said in all seriousness.

“Oh come on! Do you honestly think I don’t notice the googly eyes you’ve been giving Evans lately? Got a thing for redheads then, huh?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” he exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically for it to be believable.

Ellary smirked, “You can trust me Severus,” she assured him, “Admit it. You fancy her,” she teased.

“I don’t fancy Lily Evans!” he responded indignantly, “First of all she’s a mudblood-” he began.

“Don’t say that word, you know I hate it,” Ellary chided, “And who cares if her parents were muggles?”

“I care,” Severus spat, but Ellary gave him an incredulous look. “Fine…” he broke down, running his fingers through his hair again, “I might fancy her a little. I mean she’s the only person who’s really ever given me a chance before. And she is so smart and her eyes are like emeralds,” he said dreamily with his eyes staring distractedly off into the distance, making Ellary giggle. “Don’t laugh at me!” he said coming back to his senses, he pushed her roughly, so that she almost fell from her chair.

“Hey, watch the violence! I wasn’t laughing at you, I’m just excited for you is all. Your first crush! This is an historic moment my brother!” she exclaimed.

“Shut up. This isn’t something that should be celebrated. Like I was saying… first, she’s a muggleborn. Second, she is way out of my league. Third, if I talk to her in public I’ll get my ass kicked by every single Slytherin in this bloody school, not like they don’t beat me up already but I digress. And finally, that Potter idiot is always chasing after her like a lovesick puppy. He might have rocks for brains, but I still can’t compete with Mr. Quidditch Captain,” he said bitterly.

“I don’t think you need to worry about her falling for James,” Ellary laughed, silently recalling the numerous times Lily had shot James down fondly in her mind. “Anyways- who cares about all that crap? If you really like her, I’m sure you can find a way,” she told him, patting him on the shoulder.

“Hah, I don’t know about that,” he muttered.

“You never know! Anything is possible, right?”

“If only that was true,” he sighed.