The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

“Hey, Patch! Patch! EARTH TO ELLARY SNAPE!” Peter waved his hand violently in Ellary’s face as he tried to get her attention, but her eyes continued to stare blankly at a plate on the table and the food on her plate remained completely untouched. “What the hell is wrong with her?”

“I think she might have fallen asleep with her eyes open, mate,” Sirius reasoned, flicking Ellary sharply on the ear.

“Ouch! What was that for, Padfoot?” Ellary snapped as she shook herself awake, rubbing her ear and glaring at Sirius.

“You were in a weird sort of trance,” Remus replied, “Are you feeling alright Ellie? You don’t look very good,” he said, with concern in his golden brown eyes. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

She sighed, remembering the previous night with confusion. “Not really,” she admitted, running her fingers through her slightly messy raven hair that she had neglected to brush that morning. Ellary had always had a lot of trouble sleeping at night because she thought too much. “After Quidditch practice I snuck out of the Common Room to uh- think I guess and I ran into Regulus,” she began, but Sirius immediately cut her off at the mention of his brother.

“Did he hurt you? Because I swear I will kick his scrawny little arse if he did!” Sirius declared, standing up and looking toward the Slytherin table with fire shining in his stony eyes.

“Oh Sirius, sit down,” Ellary ordered, pulling him down by his arm, though she was secretly touched by his gesture. “He didn’t hurt me, I think I actually might have done more damage to him than he did to me,” she sighed, sounding removed. “I don’t know, it just made me think and I couldn’t fall to sleep when I got back to my dormitory. All I need is a little coffee,” she assured them, grabbing Sirius’ cup of coffee and drinking it for herself.

“Why must you always steal my stuff,” Sirius shook his head.

“Because you sit next to me mate and we all know I am far too lazy to reach over across the table,” she responded, with a weak smile.

He rolled his eyes at her and patted her atop the head, “Feel better mate,” he said, kissing her on the top of the head causing her cheeks to go pink. “I’m out of here, Emmy wants me to walk her to class,” he announced to the group, winking obnoxiously at James. Ellary almost dropped the cup in her hands at his words.

“Augh! This goop smells nasty!” Ellary exclaimed, trying to waft the orders of the Polyjuice potion away from her nostrils. “Do you think you could stir it for awhile Moony? I think I am going to throw up,” she said honestly.

“Of course,” Remus replied kindly, taking the spoon from her hand and standing up to blend the contents of the cauldron.

Ellary took a seat at the desk and started to work on their essay that Remus had been working on beforehand. Her attention quickly drifted away from the properties of dragonroot, however, and she found herself thinking back to what Regulus had said to her the night before. ‘Don’t pretend like you know me,’ the words ran through her head over and over again.

“So you and Regulus must have had a really intense fight last night, huh?” Remus spoke, as if he was reading her mind. He had always had the uncanny ability to do that.

“Mmm…” she nodded, “It was weird. He almost seemed human for once,” she sighed. “But I don’t want to talk about it,” she added quickly before Remus had the chance to respond, “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Alright,” Remus said respectfully, he would never push Ellary to do something that she did not want to do.

“Thanks Remus,” she smiled appreciatively.

“No problem,” he responded, “So did you figure out whom you are going to bring to the party yet?” he asked curiously, looking down at his shoelaces instead of at her as he said it.

“I uh-” she was about to tell him she hadn’t, but when she looked up at him something changed her mind.

She thought about what James had said to her yesterday, then about all the wonderful things Remus had done for her in the past, and finally the comment Sirius had made about Emmy that morning.

“I uh- I have actually,” she answered, catching herself a little off guard with the statement.

“You have?” he blurted out, nearly dropping the large spoon into the cauldron. “I mean, you have?” he said more casually.

“Mhmm,” she smiled.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“Guess,” she smirked.

Remus sighed, “Nothing is ever easy with you, is it Ell?” he laughed amusedly.

“Erm- let’s see… Drew Wood?” Ellary shook her head no. “Bernie? Johnny? Kingsley?” Nick?” but Ellary replied to each guess with a shake of her head.

“You’re not very good at this mate,” she told him.

Remus shot her a mock glare, “Alright, give me a hint.”

“He’s a cutie,” she winked, chuckling quietly to herself.

“Sirius?” Remus asked unsurely.

“I said he was cute! If I was talking about Sirius I would have said arrogant butthead,” she joked.

“Oh fine! I give up!” he said in defeat.

“You, you dunderhead!” Ellary exclaimed, “That is if you want to go with me, of course” she tacked speedily on the end. For a few moments he did not answer, he just stared at her in utter disbelief. “Erm- Remus, do you want to go to the party with me?” she asked again, giving him a peculiar look.

“I- I- of course I do!” he responded a little over zealously, “I mean- I mean I would love to,” softening his voice a great deal. “I just- you caught me by surprise,” he laughed nervously, nearly dropping the spoon again.

Ellary laughed at his sweet reaction. “Don’t be so surprised,” she told him, “You’re a great guy Remus, any girl would be happy to have you as date,” she winked at him again, making him blush crimson red. “The party is at six o’clock tomorrow night, so naturally we are not going to show up until around six thirty,” she laughed, “It unfortunately is formal,” she added.

“You mean I get to see you in a dress?” he asked excitedly.

Ellary despised dresses and usually refused to wear one. She had shown up to the last Yule Ball Hogwarts had had in fourth year with a reindeer costume on. Needless to say her Ravenclaw date, Nick Buckley, had been quite unhappy.

“Don’t rub it in Remus and don’t you dare tell Sirius or James!” she warned him, “I would never live it down.”

It was a murky, September day outside as she stood outside on the Quidditch pitch. The chilly wind was whipping right through Ellary’s thin practice robes, so that she had to hug herself in a futile attempt to keep warm.

“James it is positively freezing out here and I am pretty sure it is starting to rain, can we just start practice already?” Ellary interrupted his long strategy speech, which she hadn’t been paying attention to anyways, huffily, “Or make your speech in the locker room next time, at least,” she suggested and the rest of the team shouted out in agreement, “Poor little Katy over here is turning blue,” she pointed to the tiny, blonde, second year seeker Katy Fitzgerald who was shivering from head to toe.

“What did I tell you last practice about interrupting me, Patch?” James responded, crossing his arms angrily in front of his chest.

“But she’s right, Potter!” Ellary’s fellow beater Drew Wood exclaimed, from beside of her.

He was a sturdily built boy a grade younger than the Marauders, with shaggy dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, tan skin, and a deep Scottish accent. He had a personality that was very similar to Ellary’s, which is why they made such a great beater team during the games.

“This is mutiny! My own team is turning on me as I speak,” he cried throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. “Fine, but if we lose the game Sunday it is on your heads!” he gave up, “We’ll talk strategy after practice, inside the locker room,” he added to the chaser Cameron Drury who had opened his mouth to protest. “Johnny get in the net! Bernie, Cameron, and I are going to take a few shots on you. Katy unleash the snitch and practice with that for a while, I need you to catch that little bugger a little more often than our old seeker Bidelia did last year. And as for you two,” he said pointedly to Ellary and Drew, “You two can do laps for interrupting me so rudely,” he said with a triumphant, cruel grin on his face.

“We did laps last practice!” Ellary griped, just as sheets of rain began to pour from the sky above.

“And you will do laps until you learn not to interrupt your captain,” he smirked, as he hopped up on his broom and flew into the air.

“This is abuse!” Drew asserted heatedly, flicking James off as he flew away. “He is turning into a tyrant!”

Ellary smiled at her fellow beater, “Oh I wouldn’t let it bother you too much, Wood. We’ll get him back, I have little something planned for our favorite captain,” she smiled mischievously.

“Oh come on Bernie, just put it on! He is going to be coming back any minute,” Ellary urged the chaser.

Bernie Nichols was a rather tall and skinny, unattractive boy with terrible acne, a long nose, and beady black eyes. Ellary was trying to shove a red wig she had still in her locker from a prank she pulled last year on to his head, but he was not making it easy. “Nichols!” she yelled in frustration.

“Why does it always have to be me? I don’t want him to make me do laps too!” Bernie protested, looking at the wig uneasily.

“You’re the only one skinny enough to pull it off!” Drew exclaimed. In one swift motion Drew swooped down behind Bernie and pinned his arms roughly behind his back, “Go!” he ordered and Ellary fasted the long ginger hair to his head.

Their fellow teammates Johnny, Katy, and Cameron were laughing hysterically as they watched on.

“Alright, good,” Drew said victoriously when the wig was on, “Now put on Ella’s robe and get out of here! James will be back any second!”

“I hate you guys for this, you know that right?” Bernie muttered, bitterness dripping from every word.

“But we still love you,” Katy chuckled quietly, patting him on the back sympathetically as he threw Ellary’s Gryffindor robes around him.

“Yeah, now get out there,” Ellary commanded, practically pushing him outside the locker room and under the overhang outside.

Just as Bernie left James came walking into the locker room with the box that held the Quidditch game balls over his shoulder. “Thank you all so much for helping me carry this,” he said sarcastically to them. “Where did Bernie go?” he inquired as he dropped the box to the ground with a bang.

“Hospital wing,” Katy chimed in quickly, “He was feeling rather under the weather after being in the rain so long, I’m afraid.” Ellary smiled at her, she was really starting to like this new girl.

James sighed, “Oh he will be fine,” he said unconcerned, reaching for his playbook on one of the benches.

“Oh yeah, I need to tell you something before you get started with your speech, mate! I wouldn’t want to interrupt you again,” Ellary smirked. “Lily was waiting outside for you when we came in, she wanted to ask you something about a party, I think?” she said casually.

“Maybe it is about Slughorn’s?” Drew suggested, as he struggled to keep a straight face. “I heard she was looking for a date, you know.”

“Lily? Lily is outside?” James asked excitedly, “I will be right back!” he informed the team before dashing away.

The rest of the team followed after him and gathered around the window to see their plan ensue. James walked up behind Bernie, who was posing as Lily, messing up his hair in his usual cocky manner.

“Hey Lily, I heard you were looking for me,” he said in an unnaturally deep voice that made the team snigger. Bernie only replied by letting out a little girlish squeak. James came up behind Bernie and wrapped his arm around him, “No need to be shy around me, love,” he whispered and then suddenly he caught sight of her face.

“Bloody hell!” he exclaimed in shock, falling backwards in fright and landing right in a particularly deep puddle. The entire Quidditch team nearly fell to the ground because they were laughing so hard.

“Bernie? What the hell? ELLARY SNAPE I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!” James’ voice roared from outside the door. He came stopping in with a look of pure anger on his face, soaked from head to toe.

“Who, me?” Ellary asked innocently, “I had nothing to do with this, Jamie,” she said sweetly, trying to stifle her laughs, but it was useless.

“Ellary Snape you are an evil genius!” Sirius laughed when she walked back into the Common Room after taking a shower in her dormitories. “Drew told me what you did to Prongs,” he explained, pulling her into a hug.

She chortled, “That will teach him not to get on my bad side again,” she smirked with satisfaction as she plopped down beside a studying Remus on the couch by the roaring fire.

“I know I wouldn’t want to be on your bad side,” Peter said sincerely from his seat on the floor, “I’d be scared for my life,” he admitted.

“Ellary is the only one who should be scared for her life right now,” James said, as he returned from taking his shower as well. “That was an nasty little stunt you pulled today, Snape,” he glared at her.

“I think it was sheer brilliance,” Sirius chuckled and James chucked a pillow maliciously at his head.

“I’m sorry, James,” Ellary said genuinely, “I didn’t mean to get your hopes for the party or anything,” she told him, “I wasn’t thinking straight after doing laps in the mud all practice,” she added pointedly.

“Alright, alright! I am sorry for making you do laps. Forgive me?” he asked.

“Forgiven. Forgive me?”

“Forgiven,” he smiled.

“Aww, look how cute! They’re making up! Now give her a kiss!” Sirius teased, as he sprawled out on the couch and rested his legs on top of James’ lap.

Normally James would have pushed them off, but he looked as exhausted from practice as Ellary felt. She rested her head comfortably on Remus’ shoulder. He turned his head away from his book for a moment and smiled affectionately down at her as she soon began to drift a little in out and of consciousness.

“They’re still sitting down there together, you know,” Sirius muttered as he, James, and Peter walked up the stairs to the boys’ dormitories to go to bed. “I mean is he going to wake her up or are they going to just sleep there all night?” Sirius asked with a note of frustration clearly in his voice.

“Why do you care what Remus and Ellary do?” James asked, rubbing his eyes a little in an attempt to stay awake.

“I don’t,” Sirius snapped, “I just- I just think Ellary barely gets enough sleep as it is and if he is going to wake her up than he’d better do it now,” he said, a little defensively. His eyes were averted from James’ the entire time.

“Ellie will be fine, you know her! A little caffeine and she is good to go,” James patted him on the back, “If I didn’t know better I would think that you are little jealous of Moony,” James said, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“Why would I be jealous of Moony?” Sirius questioned incredulously.

“Because he is sitting down there with Ella and you’re not,” Peter replied matter of factly.

“So, what? What would that matter to me?” Sirius responded, as he sat down on his bed and kicked off his shoes.

“I don’t know, mate. Maybe you’re falling for her,” James suggested.

Sirius paused for a second as if considering what James said, “No that’s crazy,” Sirius concluded, “Right?”