The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

“Hey Sev, what are you doing?” Ellary asked sleepily, when she woke up the next morning, which happened to be Christmas morning. She had spotted her brother in the corner of the room cutting some silver wrapping paper.

He jumped at the sound of her voice, “I erm- I didn’t think you would be up so early,” he mumbled, some color flushing into his cheeks with embarrassment. “I was just- I was just wrapping a present I forgot to send out,” he answered.

“Ooh a present, huh?” Ellary asked excitedly, “For whom may I ask?” she smirked, hopping out of her bed.

She shivered a little as her bare feet made contact with the cold, wooden floor.

“No one,” he lied, hiding a box behind his back swiftly.

“Yeah, okay Sev. A present for no one?” Ellary responded incredulously. “Just tell me,” she prodded, sitting down on the floor in front of him.

He paused for a moment as he debated in his head whether or not he should tell her, “Fine,” he gave in, “It’s uh- it’s for Lily Evans, okay,” he mumbled out speedily, so she could barely hear him.

Ellary squealed like a little girl at the reply, “Really? That is so sweet! What did you get her?” she asked, curiously.

“You have to promise not to laugh,” he said seriously, still holding the box protectively behind his back.

“I promise,” Ellary declared, holding her hand over her heart.

With that he handed the long silver box over to her, still looking a little unsure about the whole situation. She slowly lifted the lid of the box and gasped when she saw the item inside.

“Oh Merlin, this is gorgeous. I- I am speechless,” she said breathlessly.

Inside the box was one of the loveliest necklaces she had ever seen. It was a long, golden chain with a dragonfly charm made completely out of sparkling, emerald diamonds.

“She loves dragonflies,” he explained, “She told me once. And the diamonds- the diamonds reminded me of her eyes,” he added softly, “Do you- do you think she will like it?”

“She would be crazy not to,” Ellary replied, sincerely. “I had no idea you felt this seriously about her.”

He bit his lip and looked toward the window on the other side of the room, “I think I might love her Ellary,” he whispered. “She’s the first person who has really ever understood me, you know? But it could never happen, we could never happen,” he sighed.

Ellary shook her head in disagreement, “You’re a great person Severus. If you show her who you really are she won’t be able to help, but fall in love with you too. Just drop that Slytherin attitude you’ve been developing lately,” she chuckled, standing up.

When she stood up her eyes fell upon the pile of gifts that were sitting on the foot of her bed and it struck her that it was December twenty-fifth, Christmas Day.

“Bloody hell! It’s Christmas!” she exclaimed, dashing over to her brightly wrapped presents in anticipation.

“Thank you Captain Obvious,” Severus laughed, rolling his eyes at his sister as he finally finished wrapping the necklace. He walked over and handed it to Ellary’s owl, Digby, with a note attached to it and then released him out the window. “Looks like you got a lot of gifts,” he pointed out, glancing over at his own miniscule pile with a dejected expression on his face.

“I wonder who they could all be from,” she wondered out loud, digging into them eagerly.

In the span of about eight minutes she had unwrapped a bag full of Chocolate Frogs from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a cat figurine that resembled her animagus form from Peter, ‘Quidditch Through the Ages’ from James, a book of potions from Lily, a dark red sweater from her mother, beater bat polish from Drew Wood, and a set of gold-plated quills from Mr. and Mrs. Potter. In the end only three more presents remained in the pile for her to open; the ones from Sirius, Regulus, and Remus. Something about these three gifts set them apart from all the others and made them save them for last.

After a silent chorus of eeny-meeny-miny-mo in her head, she opted to open Sirius’ gift first. The small box was wrapped in neon orange wrapping paper that made her laugh out loud, Sirius could be really funny sometimes. She ripped off the paper, opened up the box, and grinned when she saw what was inside. It was beautiful, dangly, gold charm bracelet with small dog, wolf, cat, deer, and mouse charms hanging from it, one for each of the Marauders. She picked up the note that was located underneath it in the box and read:

Dear Ellary,

Merry Christmas, love! I saw this bracelet when we were in the Hogsmeade Gift Shop and I thought it would be perfect for you. I know us Marauders have been having a little trouble lately, but when it comes down to it we are going to be friends until the world ends. If you ever start to forget that just look at this bracelet.
I hope you are having a great Christmas and get a lot of kick arse presents, which I’m sure you will because you are THAT awesome. If you’re ever feeling down just think about me fending over my maniac parents. Oh, and my grandparents are coming over in a few days too. Double the fun, eh?
Anyways- I really hope you like the gift and just know that I will be thinking about you constantly. After that kiss we shared on the train, how could I not? You’re a great person Ella, remember that.

Yours With Love,
Sirius Black

She folded up the letter with a smile on her face and slipped the bracelet around her wrist before moving on to the next present, which was Regulus’. It was a rectangular, black box that wasn’t wrapped, but instead just adorned a satin red bow around it. Gradually she undid the ribbon and threw the lid off to reveal what was inside. A smile spread across her face as she picked up the simple, silver locket and dangled it front of her face so that it caught the early sunlight pouring through the window perfectly. The heart charm at the end had the engraving of an elegant serpent on the front and on the back there some fading initials. The last letter seemed to be an ‘S’, but the rest she couldn’t make out, she wondered if they were her own. She made effort to open the heart up, but to her surprise it wouldn’t budge, so instead she picked up the note that had come with it…

Ellary,

Merry Christmas, I hope you are having a nice break so far and that you like the gift I got you. It is actually an old family heirloom (explains the serpent on the front, eh?), but it’s actually quite beautiful for something that belongs to a family as black as mind (no pun intended). Anyways, I thought you might like it. It belonged to a very powerful and brilliant wizard of the past; maybe it will inspire you to achieve the great things that you are capable of. It’s delicate, so keep it safe.
Also, thank you again for the book you gave me before we left. It’s the only thing that is keeping me sane in this house right now. My grandparents and that bloody girl I am supposed to marry are coming over in a few days, so I will need something to keep me going.

Sincerely,
Regulus A. Black

She looked down at the locket again with curiosity. It looked extremely old, like something you would see in an old book or something. Once again she attempted to read the initials on the back, but still had no luck. After that she placed the necklace gently back in its box and then she finally picked up the gift from Remus; from the way he had been acting around her lately she was surprised he had gotten her anything at all. What she found when she ripped off the paper definitely surprised her. It was a small, simple leather bound book with her name engraved on the front in a flowing script. She flipped it open to find the pages were blank; it was a journal. Actually- nearly all of the pages were blank; every one but the first. On the first page Remus had written:

Ellary,

We all go through tough times during our lives and we all have secrets. Luckily I have friends like you and the rest of the gang to turn to when I feel like my life is falling apart, and I hope you feel the same way too. Know that I will always be ready to listen if you ever need some to talk to despite everything we have been going through lately. No matter what I am first and foremost your best friend.
I got you this journal because I thought if you ever need to vent to some and we’re not around than you have something to turn to. I know it’s not the fanciest gift in the world, but I thought you would like it. Thanks for being a great friend Ellary; I really do appreciate it even if I don’t always show it.

Merry Christmas, Ella.

Love Always,
Remus

It was impossible to suppress her smile after she read the note. The fact that she and Remus were still friends definitely lifted a weight off of her chest, but she wondered if Remus would be able to speak to her like that in person. With a relieved sigh she looked closer at the journal and chuckled a little.

‘Leave it to Remus to get me a book I have to write in myself,’ she thought to herself.

“Hey Ellie,” Severus called over and Ellary set the journal down with the rest of her presents.

“Yeah, Severus?” she turned.

“Thanks for the Potions set,” he smiled.

“Well you’re always writing down new potions in your textbooks, so I thought you might actually like to see if they worked or not,” she laughed.

She had bought the very same present for Lily, so they would be able to use it to further their progress on developing a cure for Remus.

He nodded, “I got you something to,” he said, “I just didn’t get to put it over in your pile. You’re probably all gifted out by now, but here it is,” he chuckled, holding out a small box to her.

“Are you kidding? One can never receive too many gifts my dear brother,” she joked, walking over and taking it from him.

Excitedly she removed the lid from the top of it and peered inside; she gasped when she saw what it was.

“Oh Severus, it’s magnificent,” she whispered, gently lifting the item out into the light.

It was a stunning, cherry wood box decorated with skillfully hand-painted flowers and vines. Slowly she lifted the lid of the box and a slow, melodious tune filled the room.

“Do you really like it? I hoped you would,” he said.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, as she placed it gently down on her nightstand, “Thanks so much,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug. “This is turning out be a great Christmas, isn’t it?” she sighed, after releasing him.

Little did she know that this would turn out to be one of the worst Christmas vacations of her life…