The Tomb Of Our Forlorn Love

Ellary couldn’t remember feeling so peaceful in her life. She pulled the soft, warm blanket tighter to her body. ‘When did my bed get so comfortable,’ she thought to herself, still half asleep. There was warmth radiating from somewhere in front of her and she couldn’t figure out what it could be coming from, so she curiously blinked open her eyes to see the common room fireplace in front of her. She stared at it for a few moments feeling thoroughly confused about why she was waking up in the common room, ‘I didn’t get drunk last night did I?’ she wondered, but quickly wrote off that thought. Slowly she lifted herself up on her elbow to see a sleeping Remus who was sitting up with his head resting against the back of the couch. Her own head had been resting on his lap and he must have thrown a blanket around her during the night. A vague memory of last night came back to her, she remembered coming back from Quidditch practice and then coming down to the common room after her shower. She was so exhausted from running laps that she must have fallen asleep on him.

“Remus, wake up,” she whispered softly, tapping him gently on the shoulder.

Gradually his eyelids blinked open to reveal his beautiful golden orbs. He saw Ellary’s face in front of him and looked surprise at first, but a smile came to his when the recollection of last night came back to him. “Good morning,” he said in a quiet voice, still looking very much asleep.

“Good morning,” she replied, “I’m really sorry if I fell asleep on you last night, I was just so exhausted,” she apologized, “You could have woken me up, I wouldn’t have been mad or anything.”

“I know,” he said, “But you looked so peaceful for once and I know you haven’t been sleeping well for a while, I just didn’t want to ruin it,” he explained, as he stretched out his arms in front of him.

Ellary’s heart melted at his words, “Aw Moony, I think that might be the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard,” she chuckled, but her words were sincere. “You’re such a good friend,” she smiled before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.

He smiled back at her. Her hair was all over the place, sticking out in each and every direction possible, she had a huge red spot on her cheek where she had been leaning against Remus’ knee, and she had no make-up on at all, but to him she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. He could not remove his eyes from her as she sat up and stretched her arms out over her head.

“Well, I should go get ready… I’ll see you in a few minutes?” she said, standing up and he nodded, his words escaping him.

“Hey, Moony! Where were you last night?” James smirked, when Remus walked into the room with a silly grin on his face.

“I fell asleep in the common room,” he said simply, shrugging James off and walking over to his trunk to get out his uniform and book bag.

“With whom did you fall asleep with? Huh, Moony?” Peter chuckled, coming out of the bathroom. This was usually when Sirius would throw in a witty comment of his own, but today he just merely sat in his bed with his arms folded in front of him and a blank look on his face.

“Ellary fell asleep and I didn’t want to wake her up, that is all,” Remus said firmly, but the grin that was still plastered on his face made it hard for anyone to actually take him seriously. James and Peter gave him incredulous looks, both raising their eyebrows at him. “Just shut up! It’s not like anything happened!” Remus exclaimed, blushing scarlet by this point.

“We weren’t saying anything at all, mate!” James laughed. “And nothing may have happened yet, but I am well aware that you have a little date with Miss Snape tonight,” he winked.

Sirius’ head shot up at this comment, “You are going to Slughorn’s party with Ella? She asked you?”

“Yeah, mate, yesterday during Potions class,” Remus answered. “I was bloody shocked when she did,” he laughed.

“Believe me we’re all shocked you ended up with her,” Peter teased. “If anyone was going to get her, my money would have been on Sirius,” he joked.

“Eh, he can’t have them all! You had to lose sometime, right Padfoot?” Remus joked good-heartedly, but Sirius didn’t really find it funny.

“Yeah, sure man…” Sirius mumbled, standing up from his bed and grabbing his book bag. “I have Flitwick first today and if I’m late again he might actually give me a detention, so I’ll see you all later,” he announced, before walking out of the room without another word.

“What’s wrong with him?” Remus asked.

“I uh- I just think that he’s tired,” James blurted out quickly, knowing in the back of his mind what the real truth was.

“Where were you last night, Snape?” Bea asked suspiciously when Ellary came walking into the room after being absent the entire previous night. “I believe last time I saw you that you were sleeping on the couch with Remus,” she said, “So you and Remus are an item, huh?” she asked, jumping to conclusions.

“No I am not with Remus,” Ellary replied gruffly, in no mood to hear Bea Huckle’s squeaky voice so early in the morning. “We are just friends,” she added firmly, while getting together her uniform.

“It doesn’t look that way,” Lily responded, “I see you two giggling all the time in Potions class and I heard you ask him to Slughorn’s party yesterday. You seem to be a little bit more than friends to me,” she smirked.

“Eavesdropping on my conversations now, Evans? And I thought you could go no lower,” Ellary snapped.

“Well I need to do something to keep myself somewhat amused in that class. Your brother is quite the bore, you see,” she replied.

“Yeah, well find something else to do,” Ellary glared at her, “Who are you going with to the party tonight anyways?” she asked a little randomly, but she knew James was going to ask her about it at breakfast.

“Kingsley Shacklebolt from Ravenclaw,” she answered with a bright smile on her face, “He’s very handsome,” she giggled.

It took Ellary a few seconds because she had just woken up, but then she realized who Kingsley was. He was a tall, good-looking Ravenclaw boy in her grade with dark skin, dark brown hair, and light brown eyes. He played on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team as a chaser.

“James is going to be very upset,” Ellary said with a small chuckle, as she attempted to brush out her hair.

“He’ll get over it. It’s only the what- one hundredth time that I’ve shot him down?” Lily responded, “I think he’ll be okay.”

“You should give him a chance, I don’t think it’s fair you keep brushing him off,” Ellary said.

“Yeah, well luckily I don’t care what you think,” Lily replied.

“You know, he really isn’t that bad Lil,” Candace broke in, “I think he’s actually really good looking,” she admitted, her face blushing deep red as she said it, “And he seems very sweet.”

“If I didn’t know better Flaherty I would think you have a little crush on my mate James,” Ellary said.

“Well maybe I do,” Candace said quietly, sounding a little embarrassed. Lily let our a little yelp of disgust and Bea’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground at the revelation, but Ellary only smiled.

“Well good luck with that, Flaherty, but I don’t think he is getting over carrot top anytime soon,” Ellary sighed, before walking out of the room to suffer through another day of classes.

Ellary traipsed down the hall at the slowest speed she could manage. She was supposed to be in Ancient Runes, but told Professor Vector that she needed to go to the restroom, citing the infamous ‘womanly problems’ as her reason. As she walked by the classrooms Professors gave her suspicious looks from their desks, most likely because she was prone to skipping class. She just waved her handy dandy yellow bathroom pass at them and continued merrily on her way. She had almost reached the bathroom, when suddenly something or rather someone knocked her clear off her feet.

“Umph,” Ellary fell to the ground and landed hard on her rear for the second time in the last few days.

Above her stood a man whom she did not recognize in the least. He was wearing plain black robes and looked to be in about his late twenties or early thirties. In Ellary’s opinion he was one of the best looking men she had ever seen, besides the Black brothers of course. He had long raven hair like her own, dark brown eyes, pale skin, and defined facial features. There was something about his appearance that drew one in, he was very dignified looking and held his head high in pride. However, he had his flaws like any other person. His cheeks did look a little sunken, there were dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept well in awhile and he looked rather irritated about something.

“I- I- I’m-” she was trying to say, ‘I’m sorry’, but the words would not come out. There was something about the man that left her speechless.

He raised an eyebrow at her before grudgingly extending his hand out to help her up, “Watch where you are going next time,” he scolded harshly.

“I believe it is you that bumped into me, thank you very much,” Ellary spat back, finding her words again.

His dark eyes narrowed dangerously at her for a moment, striking fear into her heart, but they quickly relaxed back and a smile came to his face. It wasn’t what one would describe as a pleasant smile though; there was something about it that made Ellary feel uneasy.

“What is your name girl?” he asked, moving closer to her. As he spoke his eyes never left hers once.

“Ella- Ellary Snape,” she answered, shakily.

“Snape…” he repeated the name to himself and a thoughtful look appeared on his face. “So you’re a half blood then?” he asked bluntly.

“Yeah, I am. My father is a muggle, got a problem with that?” Ellary snapped back, defensively.

“Muggles are filth,” he snapped, “But you- you don’t like your father, do you?” he spoke in a knowing voice. “He treats you the dirt on the bottom of his shoes.”

“How the hell do you know that?” Ellary asked loudly, backing away subconsciously. The man was beginning to scare her.

“I know a lot of things, Ellary Amarantha,” he smirked at her, “I know you are a very powerful witch even if you haven’t realized it for yourself yet. And you love revenge, don’t you? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth with you, eh? That is a dangerous yet profitable quality to have my friend; we may be in touch. I can help you get that retribution your heart so desperately desires. I believe you could be an ally of mine someday,” he finished.

“An ally? An ally in what exactly?” Ellary asked, but she would never receive the answer to that inquiry.

“Mr. Riddle, what are you still doing here?” a foreign voice broke up the conversation. Dumbledore came sweeping down the hallway faster than Ellary thought any elderly man could move.

“I was just leaving,” he replied sneeringly, before turning on his heel. But he spun back around, “Nice meeting you Ellary,” he smiled again before finally making his way to leave.

“What did he say to you?” Dumbledore asked hurriedly, looking straight into Ellary’s eyes as he spoke. The tone of the question caught her off guard, there almost seemed to be alarm in his voice.

“I am not really sure,” she responded, feeling thoroughly confused. “He knew things about me Professor, private things,” she added.

Dumbledore shook his head in trepidation, “Don’t let that man bother you, don’t spare him another one of your thoughts, understand? And if you are ever to see him again, walk the other way,” he advised her firmly, “Do you understand?”

Ellary nodded slowly, “Of course Professor,” she answered. “But who was he?” she asked.

“He is a bad wizard, Miss Snape,” and that is all he said.

Ellary sat in front of the mirror with a box of make up and hair products in front her, completely unsure of where to begin. These were times when she desperately wished she actually had a friend that was girl to help her out with this stuff, but regrettably none of them seemed to like her very much. There was only about another hour before the party and she was still in her pajama pants. The stress of getting ready did prove a good distraction from the disturbing conversation she had with the mysterious Mr. Riddle earlier that day; it had been afflicting her mind all day. Just when Ellary was about to give up Lily came waltzing into the bathroom wearing a gorgeous silk green dress that brought out her eyes with her hair tied back in elegant bun.

“Having trouble, Snape?” she asked, with an amused smirk on her face.

Ellary sighed, already hating herself for what she was about to say. “Look Evans, I don’t know how to do this stuff,” she said motioning toward the make up, “And I need help… so what do you think?”

“Are you asking me for help, Ellary Snape?” Lily asked, positively beaming at the thought.
Ellary had to fight off the urge to yell “NO!” right in her face, but managed to say, “Yes, I am.”

“Now this is an historic moment indeed! Bea, Candace! Get in here you two!” she yelled and the two girls came rushing in the bathroom within seconds. They were in their pajamas, neither one of them had been invited to go to the party. “Ellary here needs our help,” Lily smiled and Ellary couldn’t help but think she had just made a terrible mistake.

An hour later though she realized that it definitely wasn’t a mistake asking Lily’s help. She barely even recognized herself when she looked into the mirror. Her raven black hair was hanging gracefully over her shoulders in soft, loose ringlets. Her make up was practically flawless and was just enough to bring out Ellary’s natural features and disguise some of her imperfections. Around her neck she was wearing a necklace of pearls that Candace had lent her in return for mentioning her name during a conversation with James. She was sporting her mother’s old dress from school. It was a knee-length, halter-top, satin red dress with a plunging neckline, gathered details at the bust, a jeweled brooch detail, and an inlet waist. She twirled around in her high heeled, strappy black shoes, feeling attractive for the first time in a very long time.

“Wow, you clean up pretty well Snape,” Lily said seriously, “Jeez if you tried more often you’d have every guy in school after you.”

Ellary rolled her eyes at the comment, “Naw, they’re all too busy lusting after you Evans,” she chortled. Tonight she felt so happy that she was even getting along with Lily and she could not stop smiling.

Lily laughed, “Well you’d better get moving. It is already quarter past six I think, we’re late,” she said.

“Fashionably late,” Ellary responded, “But you’re probably right. Remus is most likely having a heart attack downstairs.”

“Hah! He’s really going to have a heart attack when he sees you,” she smirked.

Ellary’s hands were shaking nervously at her side. As soon as she rounded the next corner she would be revealed to the rest of the common room, knowing very well that everyone had probably gathered to see who had been invited to the party and who was going with whom. Ellary had never really cared about what people thought about her, but tonight for some reason she felt a little self-conscious. She wasn’t used to wearing something as short as her dress was, or as revealing for that matter. Lily kept walking like it was no big deal, but Ellary held back for a moment. With one last deep breath she turned the corner to walk down the stairs. A lot of the people stared up at her in shock; they had never seen her dressed up in all the six years that they had known her. Ellary spotted Remus standing at the bottom of the stairs looking dashing in a traditional black suit and tie. His long, shaggy light brown hair was brushed and left to hang casually down over his golden eyes. He was gaping up at Ellary in disbelief. He had always thought Ellary was beautiful, but the way she looked tonight was on a completely different level to him.

“Hey there, Moony,” Ellary smiled, when she safely reached the bottom of the stairs, without tripping once to her relief.

“You look absolutely amazing, Ellary,” he said breathlessly, “Merlin, I don’t even know what to say,” he said.

She laughed and blushed a little, “You don’t look half bad yourself Lupin,” she responded, running her fingers flirtatiously through his hair. “You definitely clean up well,” she remarked.
“Look who’s talking,” James exclaimed, approaching the two of them, with a gawking Sirius and Peter close behind him; both looked like they had never seen her before in their lives.

They had gotten so used to the tomboy Ellary, that this girl in the dress was a surprise to them. Sirius was dressed up himself in a debonair suit and tie with his long, jet-black hair slicked back attractively.

“You look amazing, Ella! Sheesh, sometimes I forget that you are a girl!” he laughed.

“Thanks James, that’s nice of you,” Ellary replied sarcastically.

“Will you marry me, Ellary Snape?” Peter asked jokingly, taking her hand in his dramatically.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that, Pete,” Ellary laughed in response. “You’re looking good Sirius,” she said to her other friend.

“As are you,” he chuckled, “Merlin, you should really stop wearing those baggy shirts of yours Ell.”

“I like my baggy shirts,” Ellary retorted.

“Wow Lily looks gorgeous too…” James sighed sadly, as his attention turned to the tall red head leaving the room.

“Aw Prongs, you’ll get her someday,” she comforted, messing up his already extremely untidy hair. “So are you ready to go?” Ellary asked Remus and he nodded.

The two linked their arms together and prepared to leave. “Hey Sirius, where are you meeting that blonde-haired bimbo of yours?” Ellary asked, referring jokingly to Sirius’ date Emmy Chancellor.

“Uh- down in front of the Great Hall, I think,” he answered.

“Great, you can walk with us then,” she suggested.

“Erm- thanks, but no thanks. She’s not exactly fond you Ella,” he responded, “Plus I forgot something in my dormitory,” he added, before he turned around to go back up the staircase, he seemed a little aloof to her.

Ellary watched him go with a confused expression of her face, feeling a little hurt by his comment, even thought it was true. “Is something wrong with him? He usually could care less what Emmy thinks about me.”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “Maybe he just realized how dull Emmy really is and doesn’t want to draw our attention to it,” he proposed.

“I like the way you think, Moony,” she laughed and with that the two of them left the common room arm in arm, ready to party the night away.

“I think this might be the first time I have ever had fun at one of Slughorn’s parties!” Ellary exclaimed happily, as she and Remus left the dance floor panting to get a drink of punch and take a quick rest.

They had been dancing consistently for the past hour and both were close to passing out. Remus handed her a butter beer, but she only took a few sips of it before setting it down. Butter beers were harmless for the most part, but Ellary knew that Slughorn liked to order the particularly strong stuff and if she had enough she would be pissing drunk before long. She didn’t want to ruin what was turning out to be a good night by doing that, so she put the mug down on the table and picked up a glass of water instead.

“Well I’ve never been to one before, but this has definitely been fun,” he responded cheerfully. Just as he said this, the fast song that had been playing came to an end and a slow, beautiful melody began to fill the room. Remus’ body seemed to stiffen nervously, as it did often around Ellary, when the song came on. “Do you- do you maybe want to dance?” he asked a little hesitantly.

“Of course I do,” she answered, “I thought you’d never ask,” she laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling him out on to the middle of the dance floor.

His hands shakily grasped her waist as she pressed her body up against his. She wrapped her arms tightly around Remus’ shoulder, catching him of guard, and rested her lightly on his chest allowing her to hear his heart beating fast in his chest.

“Do you remember the day we met, Ellary?” Remus whispered softly in her ear, halfway through the song.

Ellary lifted her and looked straight into his eyes, so there faces were just centimeters apart. “Yeah, of course I remember. It was the day we all met. Plus you nearly killed me!” she joked.

He chuckled a little, “Yeah, I guess I did,” but his face soon became serious again. “Ella, I think that might have been the day that I- I-” he trailed off and broke his eye contact with her.

“Go on,” Ellary encouraged, “What were you saying? What happened that day?” she asked curiously.

“I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life and I have never stopped thinking that,” he said in one breath. “Ella, I think- I really like you,” he finally said, “As more than a friend, that is,” he added.

“Really?” she asked, innocently. She had already been informed of this fact by James, but she wanted to give Remus the chance to tell her himself.

“Really,” he answered. Inside his stomach was tying into a knot as he awaited her response.

“I think I like you too,” she laughed in reply, “I think I just might.” And with that she leaned up and planted a sweet, innocent kiss upon his lips.