The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

“How is she doing? Any better?” James asked, the next morning. Everyone’s trunks were piled in the corner of the hallway by the door.

“She’s talking a little more, but she’s different, mate. She keeps saying she’s fine, but her eyes are so distant, you know? I can tell she’s not over it yet,” Sirius replied, taking a piece of toast from the table.

“I wouldn’t expect her to be. It happened yesterday, man,” James sighed, “And you’re right about her eyes, they can tell you everything that girl is feeling. I wish I could help her, mate. I really wish I could,” he admitted.

“You can’t help her,” Severus sneered, when he suddenly appeared in the room, catching both James and Severus off guard.

“Well we sure as hell can try,” Sirius shot back, glaring at the greasy-haired boy in front of him.

“You can try, but nothing you say is going to make it any better. You have no idea what went on in our house, do you? I doubt that she ever told you and she was right not to trust you,” Severus hissed back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sirius inquired, subconsciously clenching his fists by his side.

“Do you think that my father being drunk and violent was a one time thing? Do you think this was the first time that he tweaked out?” Severus asked, but neither James nor Sirius responded.

“Well- then you’re both imbeciles. Ellary and I have been living in hell since we were children. The day we started showing magical powers our father went over the edge! You think your parents hate you Sirius? Well we disgusted our father to the point where he turned into a raging drunk and we were his punching bags!” Severus voice had developed into a shout.

“Stop it, Severus,” Ellary ordered, in a quiet yet dangerous tone.

They all whipped around to see her standing in the corner of the room; none of them had noticed her walk in. She looked drained, her skin was pale as a ghost’s and her eyes hinted toward the pain she was inside. The dark orbs seemed oddly detached from the world and no longer possessed the same sparkle.

“Is that true Ellary? Did your father abuse you?” Sirius asked, standing up from his seat and looking her dead in the eyes.

“It wasn’t all that bad,” she mumbled, looking down at her shoelaces. “He mostly went after my mother, he could barely stand to even look at me never mind touch me,” she finished.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me? Don’t you trust me?” he asked, obviously hurt by the fact she had kept her pain a secret.

“It never came up. I mean- I don’t go around telling people that my father is a aggressive, drunk muggle and my mum’s off her rocker.”

“But we’re your best friends,” James joined in the conversation.

“What the hell do you know James? You have the perfect bloody life!” she screamed at him, making him shrink back down into his chair.

“But mine’s not,” Sirius whispered, “And neither is Remus’- hell he is a bloody werewolf! And Peter! His father left them, remember? We all have our problems Ellie, you can talk to us.”

“I know I can,” she whispered, tears welling up behind her eyes, “I just- I just didn’t want to,” she sighed, “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, okay? I love you guys so much, you know that. But, can we please just let this go? I really don’t need to be attacked right now.”

“Of course, I’m sorry Ell,” Sirius whispered, wrapping his arms around her shoulders tightly.

Gently he kissed her on top of her head, “But next time, if you ever need to talk about anything, you come to us,” he said, and she nodded in agreement.

Ellary hugged Remus closely when she walked into the train compartment; Sirius and James had gone off to find Peter, leaving them alone. When they released she could see the sympathy shining for her in his golden eyes and she didn’t like it one bit. She didn’t want people to feel bad for her.

“Did you have a nice Christmas, Moony?” she asked, trying to get a smile on to her face.

“Yeah- yeah, it was nice,” Remus lied. In truth he had had a miserable holiday, but nothing that could even compare to Ellary’s.

“That’s good. I loved the journal by the way, it did me a lot of good this morning,” she said quietly to him.

She had filled up nearly five full pages in the journal while trying to figure out exactly what she was feeling after her mother’s murder.

“That’s what it’s for,” he smiled, warmly, “I’m glad that you liked it. Nice bracelet by the way,” he pointed out her charm bracelet. “Is that a wolf charm? And a dog, and a cat… hey these are us!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, Sirius got it for me,” she smiled fondly down at it. Remus’ previous, cheerful expression disappeared at these words.

“Oh- that was nice of him,” he said, looking away from her. Just then Peter, Sirius, and James all walked through the door.

“We found him! Raiding the food trolley, go figure!” Sirius chuckled, clapping Peter on the back.

He had been trying extra hard to be cheery around Ellary to help her forget what had happened.

“I got you a cauldron cake and some chocolate frogs,” he told Ellary, as he sat down in the seat next to her. He dropped the treats on her lap and draped his arm around her shoulder.

“Thanks,” she grinned, immediately unwrapping the cauldron cake; she had barely eaten anything since the incident. “Oh and hey Pete, I hope you had a nice Christmas,” she said, before taking her first bite, “The figurine you got me was beautiful.”

Peter smiled, but the same sympathy that she sensed from Remus was also radiating from his beady, blue eyes. “Christmas was nice, I never mind a chance to sit around and eat for a week,” he joked, “Those books you got me were great by the way- I actually sat down and started reading! You’re the only person who didn’t get me candy for a present,” he laughed.

“Well- to be fair Peter, you do love candy,” James broke in, with a wink.

“Yes, and every time I try to get you to read a book you just roll your eyes at me! It’s because Ellary is prettier than me, right? I’m hurt Wormtail, I’m hurt,” Remus feigned offense, holding his hand over his heart.

“No, that’s not it Moony, darling. You know I think you’re pretty too,” Peter went along with the gag.

“Sometimes I just don’t think you do!” Remus pretended to cry.

Ellary grinned, “Oh, I have missed you guys,” she sighed, as all the horrible memories slowly slipped away for a moment.

But that moment disintegrated the moment Bellatrix Black flung open their compartment door with a twisted smile across her face.

“Evening Marauders, I trust you all had fabulous vacations,” she smirked, brushing a large strand of her coal black hair behind her ear.

Soon her younger sister Narcissa, her boyfriend Rudolphus, and finally Regulus Black appeared behind her. Regulus peered over his older cousin’s shoulder and attempted to make apologetic eye contact with Ellary, but she was far too preoccupied with the girl in front of her.

“What the hell do you want Bellatrix?” Sirius sneered, automatically shielding Ellary from his cousin.

“Oh nothing, just wanted to say hello especially to Miss Snape over here. I heard all about your vacation from the mother, it’s been spreading around like wildfire. So that dirty, muggle father of yours finally went over the edge, eh? Serves your mother right if you ask me, that’s what she gets for marrying a muggle in the first place,” a cruel laughed escaped her lips and the rest of her group snickered to themselves.

Ellary’s teeth clenched, “What did you just say?” she hissed, in a voice that would have scared even the bravest Gryffindor, but Bellatrix seemed unperturbed by her dangerous tone.

“Did I stutter?” she hissed, “I said- your mother deserved what she got,” and the rest of her friends, with the single exception of a very quiet Regulus, laughed heartily, and with that Ellary sprang up from her seat with her fists flailing wildly through the air.

Bellatrix’s lackeys jumped out in front of her like she was the bloody Minister of Magic and they her secret service. James also bounded up and wrapped his arms around Ellary’s waist, forcing her to the back of the compartment and away from the fight. Sirius immediately whipped out his wand and sent Bellatrix flying out into the hallway with a well-placed spell.

To Ellary’s shock, Remus completely disregarded his wand and instead employed the use of his fist to Rudolphus’ face, knocking him back against the wall with a loud bang. Peter looked lost for a second, but eventually regained his composure and threw a rather heavy textbook roughly at Regulus’ head, hitting him smack in the forehead.

“Let go of me James Patrick Potter!” Ellary demanded, trying to wriggle free from his strong arms.

“You’re not in your right mind Ellie, just calm down,” James whispered to her, “Just calm down.”

“NO!” Ellary exclaimed, pushing him off of her with her the strength she had gained from being a Quidditch beater for five years.

She sprinted past Peter, Regulus, and everyone else into the hallway and stopped over Bellatrix.

“You look a little upset Snape,” she chortled, rubbing the back of her head. “Having a bad day?” she mocked.

“It was going okay until you came along,” Ellary growled.

People had begun to stick their heads out of their compartments at all the noise and soon a sort of circle had gathered around the two girls.

“That’s what I’m here for!” Bellatrix grinned, “To brighten your day whenever I can, you dirty little half blood. But now your father’s in prison and your mother’s dead, what’s the little mudblood going to do? What is the poor, little orphan going to?” she taunted, speaking to Ellary in the same type of tone that one would use when speaking to a newborn baby.

“Shut up!” Ellary cut her off, anger flowing through her body. “REDUCTO!” a small explosion came from her wand and Bellatrix was chucked into a group of Hufflepuff girls behind of her.

“STUPEFY!” but Ellary easily parried the curse with a simple blocking spell; she had always excelled in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“You’re going to have to better than that, Bella, darling,” Ellary hissed, “You made this fight personal and now you are going to pay for it,” she threatened, before shouting out another spell. Suddenly her legs broke out dancing in a rapid jig, sending her flying across the aisle, on the way dropping her wand.

“Stop it, stop it now!” Bellatrix snarled, trying to press her legs down with her own hands, but having no luck.

“Why should I?” Ellary hissed back, watching Bellatrix gyrating on the floor with content.

“REGULUS HELP ME!” Bellatrix ordered, Regulus broke away from Peter’s grip and a smirk unintentionally came to his face when she saw Bellatrix’s condition. “Are you laughing at me Regulus?” she hissed.

“No, no- of course not,” Regulus lied, through a small chuckle, before casting the counter curse for her.

“We’re out of here!” Bellatrix ordered, and the Slytherins followed her away down the hall with their legs between their tales like defeated puppies.

‘That’s what you get for messing with a Gryffindor,’ Ellary thought.

“How are you, Ellary?” Lily Evans sat down at the end of Ellary’s bed, looking her straight in the eyes as if trying to read her emotions. It was rather dark inside the dormitory, with only a few candles lit. Bea and Candace were already fast asleep; their faint snores were the only sounds in the room.

“So, you’ve heard too then?” Ellary sighed, knowing immediately by the commiseration in her tone.

Lily nodded, but she didn’t break her eye contact like everyone else did. “I heard some people talking about it, so I asked Remus and he filled me in, for the most part,” she explained.

“Well, to answer your question, I am fine,” she said firmly, “I mean it, Evans,” she added, when she gave her a skeptical look.

Lily nodded, “Are you there’s nothing I can do to help you out or anything?” she inquired.

“No, I’ve got all the help I need,” she answered, running her hand gently over her Marauders charm bracelet. “My brother, on the other hand- he could really use someone other than me to talk to,” she started, “He’s really fond of you Evans, I don’t think I have ever seen him so happy then I did the moment he saw that he got a Christmas gift from you. Hell! He hadn’t even opened the thing yet and he was already grinning like a fool,” she chuckled lightly, “Try talking to him, he’s going to need a lot more than I do,” she sighed.

Lily nodded slowly, “I like your brother Ellary, I really do,” she whispered, pulling out the necklace he had bought her for Christmas from underneath her shirt. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Gorgeous, he showed it to me before he sent it,” she responded, “He’ll be thrilled that you like it.”

“He remembered I liked dragonflies, I only mentioned it once when we met by the lake to talk. Just once and he remembered it,” she murmured, “I was bloody shocked when I saw it, you know.”

“I told you he was fond of you, Lil,” Ellary said, “I think you’re the only one who can get him through this. He’ll claim to be just fine, but he’s in a bad state. I know he is,” she finished, “I hope you help him out.”

“I will, I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Lily replied, “I’ll write him a letter tonight,” she said, standing back up. “I’ll write him right now,” she repeated to herself, as she glided across the room.