The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

Remus sat on his bed staring blankly out the window beside of him though nothing out of the ordinary could be seen there. His hair was messy and uncombed, his eyes were bloodshot, and a pile of half-eaten chocolate bars littered the floor around his bed; he was a sad sight indeed…

“Moony? Moony, would you stop your moping already? You’re going to be late for your first class if you don’t get you arse down to breakfast soon,” James told him, hoping that the thought of actually being late to a class would finally snap his friend out of his trance. No such luck. “Come on! If you don’t move all the good cereal is going to be gone by the time we get there.”

“I’m not hungry. Go on without me,” Remus droned, not removing his eyes from the random spot where he was staring.

“Moony, do you really want Ella to see you like this? Snap out of it man and suck it up! Now put on a clean shirt, brush your hair, plaster a damn smile to your face, and let’s go get some breakfast!” Peter shouted, sounding more like a drill sergeant in the military than a supportive friend.

“I don’t want to,” Remus pouted, “I just want to stay here and sleep,” he muttered, burying his head into his pillow.

Sirius sighed loudly from the other side of the room, “If you are so miserable, just go and talk to her. You didn’t have to dump her, you know,” he said, “Just go tell her you’re sorry and were being stupid.”

Remus shook his head, “I can’t do that, it’s over and I just- I just got to accept it, I guess,” he said, picking his head up slowly.

“Hey mates!” Ellary burst through the boy’s dormitory door, fully dressed and ready in her Gryffindor uniform, “What are you guys doing in here, I’ve been waiting down in the common room for the last half hour. I’m hungry, dammit!” she exclaimed, giving them all harsh looks.

“So am I,” Sirius muttered, “I’ll go down with you,” he said, grabbing up his book bag and pushing her threw the door before she could catch a glance of Remus in his wretched state.

“She looked nice,” Remus grumbled, “Why don’t I look nice? Why doesn’t she look like me?” he whined.

“She is taking this just as bad as you are Remus, I promise you that,” James responded, “She on the other hand knows how to pull herself together, now I suggest you start doing the same! You’ll get through this mate. But if you don’t start hurrying up I am leaving you too, a man has got to eat!”

Remus moaned, “Fine, I’m going,” he conceded, rising from his bed for the first time in awhile.

He threw off his dirty pajamas and changed quickly into his uniform, not bothering to straighten out the wrinkles or to fix his tie. Without much effort he patted down his hair, before swinging his book bag over his shoulder and following gloomily behind his two friends.

“So how are you feeling?” Sirius asked, as he and Ellary walked down the hallway with their arms linked together.

“Oh- Magnificent,” Ellary answered sarcastically.

“Can you answer a question without being sarcastic for once?” Sirius replied, “I’m honestly concerned about you, Patch.”

“I’m sorry. You know I get sarcastic when I’m upset,” Ellary sighed, resting her head on his shoulder, “I’m doing okay I suppose. Better than I thought I would be, but I think I just might be in denial at this point,” she said truthfully.

Sirius nodded in understanding, “Well if you ever need someone to talk to-” he began, but she cut him off.

“I know,” she whispered, smiling up at him, “I know.”

Sirius smiled back, but looked away when he felt his stomach do an involuntary flip. “You know there is a Hogsmeade trip this weekend,” he said, trying to change the subject to a more cheerful one and to mask the fact that he was blushing.

“Oh, that’s cool I guess. I need to buy my Christmas presents and I have really wanted some Honeyduke’s chocolate lately. According to Bea Huckle it’s the best way to get over a break up,” she chuckled. “I take it that you already have a date?”

“Actually, I don’t,” he shrugged, “I mean- a few girls have asked me of course,” he smirked, “But I turned them all down.”

“Playing hard to get, are we?” Ellary teased, “That’s a new strategy.”

“Naw, none of them interested me, is all. I think I’ve dated every girl in this bloody school, now it’s just boring,” he complained.

Ellary rolled her eyes, “Correction. You’ve dated every tall, gorgeous girl with half a brain or less in this school.”

Sirius laughed, “I’d argue with that, but it’s true,” he admitted, “Anyways- you can go with me if you want,” he said casually.

Ellary cocked an eyebrow at him, “You would rather spend the day with pathetic old me than some hot blonde?” she asked, incredulously.

“You don’t really think I am that shallow, do you Ella? Of course I would rather spend the day with my best friend,” he replied.

She couldn’t help but smile at his answer, “Thanks Padfoot, I really appreciate that,” she said honestly, giving him a side hug around his waist, “Thank Merlin, I have friends like you.”

“Oh Sirius… have you really sunk so low?” a high-pitched, girl’s voice questioned from behind of them. They turned around to see Emmy Carlisle and her band of sycophantic followers glaring daggers at them. “You mean to tell me that you turned down me to go to Hogsmeade with pipsqueak over here?” she sneered, tossing a disdainful glance in Ellary’s direction.

“I’m short, Carlisle, but I could still kick your arse from here to next Tuesday- remember that!” Ellary warned.

Emmy snorted, “Just you go ahead and try. You’ll be in detention for the rest of the year,” she retorted.

“Oh, it would be well worth it to see that pretty little face of yours with a couple of bruises,” Ellary replied, stepping forward with her fists clenched, but Sirius pulled her back.

“Whoa, touchy today aren’t we Snape? That’s to be expected, I guess. It’s going all around the school about how that geek, Remus Lupin, or whatever his name is, broke it off with you. What did you do to scare him away? Did he finally come to his senses and realize what an ugly, nasty little twit you are?” she snickered.

“My personal life is none of your goddamn business!” Ellary snapped, “Leave Remus out of this.”

“Just back off Emmy. Go throw yourself in the lake,” Sirius barked, putting his arm protectively around Ellary instinctively.

Emmy looked caught off guard by Sirius’ harsh comment, but she quickly regained her composure. “Oh Sirius- don’t be silly. Don’t waste your time with this piece of trash, I mean you have seen her brother, haven’t you? Positively disgusting, the pair of them! And her parents-”

“Don’t you dare bloody talk about my parents! You know nothing!” Ellary hissed dangerously.

Her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest. Sirius looked somewhat confused by the comment; he never really knew much about Ellary’s parents except that her father was a muggle and that they weren’t the nicest people on the planet. But Ellary looked as if she had just been slapped in the face; there was definitely something she hadn’t been telling him.

“Oh I know everything. Our mothers were dear friends in school, remember?” she smirked, “Ah yes- Helen Prince is her name right? She married a man less than a prince now didn’t she? My mother told me that your mother is a complete nutter and that your father is a drunken lunatic! That must be why you and your brother are such-” but she never got to finish her sentence.

Ellary lunged from under Sirius’ arm and straight at the tall, blonde in front of her. Before the other girl could even react Ellary had laid a hard punch across her face sending her flying back into her friends who shrieked in surprise.

“Out of my way!” Ellary demanded fiercely when they went to help her up and they immediately all obeyed her order out of fear.

She tucked a piece of her raven hair behind her ear before leaning over her enemy, locking her dark eyes with Emmy’s blue ones. She pointed her finger threateningly in her face, “Don’t talk about things that you know absolutely nothing about, got it?” she hissed, so only Emmy could hear her.

The Hufflepuff merely nodded in response, her eyes wide.

“Good,” Ellary spat, before straightening up again. “What you all heard here is a load of crap and if I hear any of you are spreading any of it around the school you’ll find yourself on the ground next to her,” she said to the rest of the girls before marching back over to Sirius.

“What the hell was that all about?” Sirius whispered, as they walked away. He looked utterly bewildered.

“Rumors,” Ellary mumbled in response, “No truth to them at all, my parents- my parents are not like that,” she whispered.

“I never said they were,” Sirius responded, “I actually don’t know anything about your parents,” he said, with curiosity in his tone.

“Erm- yeah, well they’re not all that interesting. They tend to ignore me, but for the most part they’re just normal, I guess,” she lied. “But that’s not important! I’m starved, let’s get some breakfast!” she said, changing the subject.

“Yeah, yeah okay,” Sirius said awkwardly, something about what had just happened made him feel uneasy and he was almost positive that Ellary was not telling him the whole truth.

Ellary stood at the table she and Remus shared in Potions class, nervously biting one of her nails. Her eyes were practically pasted on the doorway as she awaited Remus’ arrival. She hadn’t talked or actually really seen him since they had broken up and was not looking forward to having to spend a two hour period alone with him working on a love potion no less.

“How you holding up?” the words snapped her back into reality and she turned to see Lily’s emerald eyes on her.

“Fine. Just uh- just not sure how this is going to go,” she answered, “I haven’t talked to him since- you know,” she muttered.

Lily shrugged, “It will be fine, I’m sure. Anyways- just wanted to let you know I discovered this root called Dogwood in one of the books in the library. I think combined with some of the other potions we’ve compiled together that we could create the Wolfsbane Potion- meet me in the library tonight,” she said, before dashing away just as Remus entered the room.

He paused in the door for a second and looked up at Ellary, anguish showing clearly on his face, before he took a deep breath and continued on his way.

“Morning Ellary,” he said in an overly formal manner.

“Remus,” Ellary said shortly, not looking up from the notebook she had suddenly become fascinated with. “We’re doing love potions today,” she mumbled, pointing toward the board covered with instructions, “So you can erm- start chopping up daisy stems and I’ll just- erm- do the other stuff,” she sputtered out.

“Yeah, okay,” Remus nodded, grabbing up one of the knives in his shaky hands. He went to chop up one of the daisy stems, but in his nervousness dropped it to the floor with a clatter.

“Do be more careful, Mr. Lupin! Don’t want to poke someone’s eyes out!” Slughorn called from the front of the classroom.

“Yes- yes, sir,” Remus muttered, turning crimson from embarrassment. Ellary sighed; the situation could have not been more awkward.

“Look Remus, we’ve been friends since our first year here and I don’t want that friendship to be ruined because everything that happened. So let’s just- let’s just pretend like that whole dating thing never happened, okay?” Ellary suggested, “Let’s go back to being friends like before.”

Remus knew Ellary was trying to be nice by saying this, but he couldn’t help being hurt by the comment. He didn’t want to forget the nights he spent with Ellary in front of the fire, the walks they took by the lake, the play fights they got into during Potions class, and the kisses that they shared. But what other choice did he have? He was the one who had ended all of that, not him. It was inevitable, he had to move on or at least pretend that he had.

“That sounds good,” he forced a smile to his face, “Friends,” he said, the word hung uncomfortably in the air between them.

“Yeah- friends…” Ellary sighed, with a forced smile to mirror his.