The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

It was pitch black in the hallway, but she had walked the same route so many times that finding her way through the darkness was no problem at all. Within a few moments she arrived at her destination and opened the door that led into their secret meeting place, the Room of Requirement. A blast of warm air from the roaring fireplace on the far wall greeted her when she stepped inside and immediately she felt a strange, sort of at-home feeling in the room.

"Hey Regulus,” Ellary greeted, when she spotted him sitting on the ground just staring into the flames.

They had planned to secretly meet on the last night before Christmas vacation because the next morning they would have to go their separate ways.

“Hey Ella,” he replied, “You’re late,” he told her, looking up at the clock on the wall that read half past eleven.

“Yeah- sorry about that. I had to wait for Remus to fall asleep, for some reason he stayed on the common room couch. But I’m here aren’t I?” she grinned, plopping down on the floor next to him. She crossed her legs underneath her in Indian-style and pulled a box out of her book bag. “Here, I got you something for Christmas,” she told him, handing over the brightly wrapped gift.

“Oh! I bought you something too, but I thought I would send it to you on Christmas by owl. If I had known, I would have brought it,” he began to apologize.

“Don’t worry about,” she stopped him, “I just didn’t want to send it to your house over Christmas break, in case Sirius or your parents spotted it or something,” she explained, “Open it!”

He smiled and a glint of excitement lit up his usually cold eyes. Quickly he tore off the metallic red and green paper to reveal the present inside.

“You got me- you got me a book,” he chuckled, flipping it over to read the title. ‘Flying High: Memoirs of a Chaser’ was what it read.

“It was written by the captain of the Irish World Cup team, I know you like them. He’s a chaser like you,” she said, “I thought you might like it,” she shrugged, wondering if the gift had been a letdown.

“I do like it,” he told her, with sincerity in his eyes. “Thank you so much, El. I really do appreciate it,” he told her.

He placed the book down on to the floor and then pulled her into a hug. To her surprise her kissed her on the forehead, before returning back to his sitting position.

“I’m just so glad you like it,” she chuckled, “I’ve always been bad at picking out gifts,” she said. “I got Remus this awful sweater once, it had little snowflakes on it and everything! I have no bloody clue what I was thinking, but I swear that boy can be a saint sometimes! He wore the damn thing nearly all winter!”

He chuckled lightly, “Well thank Merlin you didn’t get me one because I wouldn’t have been so nice,” he said, “So- anyways, what happened with you and Sirius after our little talk at Hogsmeade?”

“Don’t try to play stupid. I know you listened to every word of our conversation when I got back,” Ellary responded, with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes, “Alright- I listened to the whole thing,” he confessed, “So you really do fancy him, then? I can’t imagine why. He’s so bloody arrogant and full of himself!” Regulus exclaimed.

“Oh and you aren’t?” she retorted and he glared back at her. “Despite all that he is a good person, just like you,” she added, “It could work you know, it’s not impossible,” but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of that point rather than Regulus anymore.

“Whatever you say Ella, you already know my opinion on the subject,” he answered, looking back into the fire again.

Ellary observed him for a moment. He resembled his brother so much with his high cheekbones, stormy gray eyes, but there was something unique about him. There was softness to his face that made him look more boyish and innocent than Sirius, which was ironic seeing as Regulus was the one who ended up in Slytherin.

“You are a good person, Regulus,” Ellary repeated softly to him, as she stared into his captivating eyes, which were reflecting the orange flames of the fire spectacularly in the dim light.

He looked at her for a moment, seemingly confused, but then he nodded. “Thanks Ella,” he whispered back.

“I’ll see you when we get back from vacation. You better write me over break,” she told him, standing up from the ground. She leaned over and kissed him on the top of the head in a friendly manner, “I’ll miss you Reg,” she said.

“Right back at you,” he replied, “I hope everything goes okay at home. If your father tries anything- you can write me, you know.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about that,” she told him, “Well Merry Christmas, mate!” she exclaimed, making her way toward the door.

“Merry Christmas,” he whispered, as he watched her go. As she departed he felt as if part of him had gone with her.

A pile of unfolded clothes, open textbooks, and stray pieces of parchment surrounded the general area where Ellary was seated in her dormitory. Her knees ached from propping herself up on the ground while she attempted to fold her clothes and fit all her belongings back into her trunk.

“A little last minute packing?” Lily asked, with an amused expression on her face.

“You know it. I really have got to stop procrastinating with this type of stuff, I’d use my wand, but I’ve got to leave some of this crap behind if I ever want to be able to lift this thing,” she muttered. If one used a packing spell, it would instantly pack all of one’s belongings, but Ellary wanted to leave a lot of stuff behind.

She didn’t really need much while she was at home, it’s not like her parents would take them out to eat or anything like that.

“I’ll help you out,” Lily offered, dropping down to her knees as well and picking up some of the books. “Did you uh- did you read the Daily Prophet today?” she asked, while the two of them worked.

“No, not yet,” she answered, “I have a subscription, but I haven’t been down to the Great Hall yet,” she explained. “Why? Was there actually something interesting inside?” she asked, curiously.

“I guess you could say that,” Lily mumbled, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable. She stood up and walked over to her bed where she grabbed the paper off her pillow. She tossed it over to Ellary.

“Five muggles dead from the Avada Kedavra curse, Aurors on the lookout for suspects,” Ellary read of the front page. She sighed as the feeling of disgust entered her stomach; “I hate wizards like this, who think they are so much better than muggles. A bunch of ignorant buggers, if you ask me,” she growled.

“I agree,” Lily whispered. “But these- these aren’t the first muggle killings recently. There were some last week and the week before that. And most of them have been linked to wizards, you know. These people were the family of a muggle-born wizard that graduated last year, Kenneth Barley. It just- it makes me nervous, seeing as my parents are muggles and it doesn’t help that this family lived just down the street from us,” she mumbled out.

Ellary nodded and looked up at Lily sympathetically, “I’m sure they aren’t in danger, Lily. My dad is a muggle too,” she answered. “Things like this happen every now and then, but the Aurors will catch them and everything will be just fine,” she assured her, “Your family will be fine.”

“I hope so,” Lily sighed, “It just pisses me off that people can be so intolerant! I am just as good as any pureblood wizard and my parents are good people, despite the fact they aren’t magic!”

“I completely agree with you,” Ellary responded, “Hopefully one day everyone will, but until then you just got to keep your head up. Don’t let them ever make you feel like you aren’t good enough,” she said, slamming her trunk shut when she finally finished her packing.

Ellary sat in the Hogwarts Express compartment with her head resting on a sleeping James’ shoulder as she read through the Daily Prophet. On the floor Peter and Sirius were playing a rather rowdy game of exploding snaps. Remus was sitting on the other bench across from her, with his nose buried in a book as usual. Despite the occasional bangs and shouts of triumph from the two boys on the floor, it was a spectacularly quiet train ride for the Marauders.

Ellary lifted her eyes from the page when she finished the last sentence of the chapter. She looked down at Sirius on the ground. He was grinning brightly because he had just won about his fifteenth match against Peter. His eyes were glowing brilliantly, Ellary wondered silently if there could possibly be someone better looking than the guy in front of her. ‘He really lucked out when it came to genes,’ she though amusedly to herself. Then she looked up at Remus, who was reading quietly in the corner.

His golden eyes looked so sad as they scanned across the lines of his book, but there was a sorrowful sort of beauty to them. They were so different, Sirius and Remus. Sirius was overconfident, playful, and daring, while Remus on the hand had next to no self-esteem, careful, and serious. She wondered how she could feel so strongly about two people who could not have been less alike if they tried.

“Ellary,” she snapped back into reality at the sound of Sirius’ voice and his hand waving in front of her face. “The train stopped,” he laughed, “The others are waiting for us outside, James took your trunk,” he said.

“Oh- okay,” she said, “I must have just spaced out,” she chuckled, brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear.

“You look tired,” he said, “Up late last night?” Ellary’s stomach lurched as the image of Regulus by the fire flashed through her mind.

“Yeah, I guess I was,” she answered, “But I’m alright. I’m a little bummed out about having to go home though, I would rather just stay at Hogwarts over vacation,” she admitted.

“Hah! Tell me about it,” he responded, “No one understands that better than me, love,” he laughed. “My parents wouldn’t even let me stay with the Potters this year, they felt the need to torture me in person.”

Ellary gave him a sympathetic look, “I’m sorry Sirius, I’m sorry you have to go through all that,” she whispered.

He shrugged it off, “It’s okay, as long as I still got you… and James and them too,” he added quickly, blushing slightly.

She grinned as she stood up, “I’m going to miss you, write me okay?” she asked him and he nodded.

“Definitely. I’ll be thinking about you, Ella,” he said.

And then he did something Ellary did not expect. He gently placed his hands on her hips and gently pulled her body towards his. She gasped as their abdomens touched; he lifted his arm slowly and cupped her cheek.

“Can I- can I kiss you?” he whispered, his face so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath washing over her lips.

Desire pulsed through her veins as she looked up into his sensational gray eyes. The only thing she wanted in the world at that moment was to throw her arms around his neck and feel his scarlet lips against hers. She nodded slowly, completely caught up in the moment. She traced over the intricacies of his muscular chest with her fingers and slowly made her way to his shoulder and then around his neck, breathing fast. With that nod of consent he swooped down on her, his lips crashing against hers in a fervent passion that made her knees nearly give out from underneath her.

Her heart was practically beating out of her chest as she ran her fingers through his long, silky black hair. Suddenly he pushed her back up against the compartment wall and pressed his body closer to hers, making butterflies erupt in her stomach. His kiss was so different from the ones she had experienced while with Remus. Remus had always been shy and sweet, always holding a little back, but Sirius was confident and passionate. She had expected that he would be a good kisser, seeing as he had plenty of experience in the area, but the feeling that had taken over her was beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

“Wow…” she whispered, breathless, when they released. He rested his forehead on hers as he panted for air. “Wow,” she said again.

He chuckled, “You weren’t so bad yourself, Snape,” he smiled and kissed her again, sweetly on the lips.

“We’d better get going,” she sighed, straightening out her blouse and her hair a little, but not really wanting him to remove his arms from around her. She reached up and patted down his usually perfectly combed hair that she had messed up, “There, all better,” she smiled. He intertwined his fingers with hers and led her out of the compartment toward the exit; her heart was still racing in her chest.

“What took you two so long?” James inquired, when they walked off the train.

He was sitting atop Ellary’s trunk with her owl’s cage on one side of him and Remus on the other.

“We were just erm- saying goodbye,” Ellary lied, but she couldn’t wipe the silly grin off her face, making quite obvious to everyone else that a little something more had happened.

“Riiight…” James said sarcastically, “Well my parents are waiting, I just wanted to say goodbye to you two before I took off.” He stood and wrapped his arms around Ellary in a friendly hug, before walking over to Sirius and giving him a manly handshake that made Ellary laugh under her breath.

“Hey Pete! Where do you think you are going?” Ellary shouted, when she spotted Peter walking away, “I don’t even get a hug goodbye? What is that about?” she laughed, holding her arms out to him.

He smiled and the pain in his stomach seemed to vanish for a moment, at least Ellary remembered him.

“Sorry El, how could I not say goodbye to you?” he chuckled, walking bag and giving her a goodbye hug.

“Bye Pete, have fun at home,” she said in his ear, as they hugged. “I got you a kick arse present by the way,” she winked, when they released.

“Thanks, Ella. I can’t wait to open it,” he replied, and in a move very out of character for him, he kissed her on the cheek. “Have a good vacation,” and with that he walked away, Sirius and James were too busy talking to stop him, and Remus seemed to have drifted off into his own little world.

“Remus? Hey, Remus! Anyone in there?” Ellary called, tapping him on the shoulder. He shot up from her trunk and spun around to face her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya mate,” she chuckled.

“Oh no- you didn’t, I was just uh- spacing out,” he replied.

“Yeah- it happens sometimes,” she smirked, “So- I just wanted to say goodbye,” she said, wringing her hands together behind her back. She walked over to hug him, but he stuck out his hand in front of him before she could.

“Goodbye Ellary,” he mumbled.

She paused and stared down at his hand for a moment, not understanding what he was doing, and then it finally hit her. She forced a smile on her face and took his hand in hers in the most uncomfortable handshake she had ever experienced in her life.

“Bye Remus- have a nice vacation,” she said, this time with distinct coldness in her tone. “Bye mates!” she called over to Sirius and James one last time, before picking up her owl and trunk, and making her way toward Severus who was waiting for her at the other side of the station.

Remus watched her go, mentally slapping himself on the forehead. Why had he just done that? A handshake? She must think he hates her now, but he didn’t hate her. He could never hate her.

“Why do you always have to go and screw everything up?” he grumbled to himself, running his hand through his hair, “You do it to yourself man, you do it to yourself.”

“Hey Sev! Sorry I took so long, I was just saying goodbye to the gang,” Ellary apologized, in a strained voice.

Despite the fact she was a great beater, she still found it rather hard to lift her heavy trunk full of presents, clothes, notebooks, and about a dozen textbooks.

“Whatever,” he shrugged, not really seeming to care. “I’m not exactly thrilled about going home anyways,” he muttered.

Ellary’s heart dropped immediately at the words, “I think I’ve been in denial about going home,” she sighed, “Maybe- maybe he won’t be so bad. He was nice that one Christmas when we were ten, remember? He even bought me a dollhouse.”

Severus laughed bitterly at the comment, “There’s not a chance in hell of that anymore Ella and you know it. He’s way too far-gone now, you saw him this summer. This is going to be the Christmas from hell for us.”

“Not if we don’t get in his way,” Ellary retorted, trying to stay at least a little optimistic. “You can stay in my room if you want. We’ll be safer together,” she mumbled out, feeling a little embarrassed.

The truth was that she really didn’t want to be alone during her stay at home.

Severus raised his eyebrow at the suggestion, but when he saw the pleading look on his sister’s face he seemed to change his mind, “Yeah- sure Ellie,” he nodded, “I’ll set up the cot,” he told her.

“Thank you Severus,” she said, hugging him tightly.

His body tensed at the show of affection, it had been a long time since someone had actually hugged him; he had become more accustomed to being beat up.