- Chapter Eighty-Three -
"For a good reason!"

Elladora didn't want to get out of bed.

It was the weekend and as much as she would love to go out to Hogsmeade with her friends and sit in the Three Broomsticks with a cold glass of water in her hands and taking advantage of the coolness it would bring, there was always the Death Eater meeting to think about. She had absolutely no idea where it would be, when Yaxley would get her or where he would find her but nevertheless, it was bound to be a trying time. The only upside of the meeting is seeing Evan again and allowing him to intimidate the other young Death Eaters so they wouldn't target her like they always did, she'd scare them herself but she was too scared of the consequences punching one of them would get her.

Another boiling night had gone by, curtains pulled around the bed, little to no clothes and only a think blanket around her rather than a whole duvet. It had still been too warm for her to sleep mixed with the nerves about the meeting the next day so she stayed up reading, her wand being the only source of light she used as her fingers softly turned the pages of a book called Little Women that Remus had given her. He had the most amazing taste in literature and her admiration only grew with every book he gifted. Although she didn't appreciate the way that every book he gave her made her cry.

A tear had travelled quickly down her cheek when the death of Beth had been made clear and through her time as the second youngest March sister, Elladora had grown to love her and was sure she had felt heartbreak when her death came around. And when she had read The Great Gatsby and had cried at the ending, though the middle part was actually quite boring. Other books had scared her and made her not want to sleep because she was scared that a teenage girl named Carrie White was lurking beyond her curtains covered in blood or a guy called Jack Torrance was there with an axe; Remus had been in for it the next morning.

She remembered him telling her that the book had come out in January and it was a muggle one and she had firmly told him that if he ever brought her another book by the man Stephen King, she was going to burn it to ashes immediately.

"Wendy? Darling?" He had started to say earlier that day when the group was under the tree that they had claimed as their own (Lily and her friends now in their little circle). Elladora had stopped in the middle of her sentence when talking to Lily and had slowly glanced towards Remus and the goofy little smirk he had on his face. "Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt-"

"Stop!" She grabbed a Charms textbook from where someone had closed it on the floor after their studying and hit him on the shoulder with it and although she was laughing, the words sent a sickly crawling up her back from the absolute terror she had faced in reading the book. "Don't you dare!"

"All right, all right, I'll stop." He had laughed, holding his hands up in defence and snatching the Charms book off of her and putting it back to ground whilst she smiled in satisfaction and went back to her conversation with Lily now very very anxious of Remus trying to creep her out once more.

That had been on the Wednesday, two days after her aimless confession of her odd feelings. Nothing much had changed except for the lingering gazes, knowing smiles and hands brushing every time they walked next to each other. Remus would sneak small pecks on her forehead or cheek every now and then either when they were alone for a split second or when no one was watching and although risky, it made her cheeks flush pink like never before; it was quite an odd experience but at the same time it made her feel happy.

But lay in bed the morning of seeing her parents and the Dark Lord again did not make her happy as Remus did. She would rather read The Shining again and have multiple nightmares about it than go to another meeting. Nevertheless, she knew that someone would drag her out of her bed to get her there if they had to so as the soft snoring of her dorm mates who decided to sleep in became more apparent to her, she reached a hand out of the curtains and snatched her outfit she set out the night before into her hands before getting dressed and out of bed ready to start the surely torturous day.

•*•*•*•*•

"Morning." Elladora greeted her extended group of friends softly with a small smile as she met them at the Gryffindor table for breakfast; the boys were half asleep, almost falling asleep into their cereal bowls and through their dozing heads, none of them seemed to notice her appearance. The girls however, all turned to give her cheerful greetings and large smiles as they talked animatedly. "What's up with these guys?"

"Up all night, I think." Marlene shrugged her shoulders, scooting up the bench and patting the space she had made in between her and Remus for Elladora to sit in. "I went up to the dorm at about ten o'clock and they were sprawled out all over the sofas talking, then when we all came down this morning they were in the same positions except Sirius was holding onto Peter like he was a teddy."

As Elladora placed herself next to Marlene, she smiled amusedly at the sight of Sirius and Peter cuddling. She glanced over to Peter and saw him actually asleep with his head rested on the table, James was in between him and Lily and opposite Elladora, also now asleep. Sirius was close, his head hanging and nodding slightly; Remus was also sleeping, his head nuzzled into his arms and his hair a perfect mess as his shoulders rose in a nice, soft and steady rhythm.

"Rumour has it you and Lupin locked lips at the after party last week." Dorcas Meadowes, a striking Gryffindor girl with lovely braids in her hair and a face shaped and constructed magnificently like she was some sort of Greek Goddess, leaned forward with a whisper. Mary McDonald snapped her head over to her with wide eyes, shooting her hand out to slap her friend lightly on the shoulder.

"Dorcas." Lily seethed quietly, now a small shade of red as Elladora looked at her accusingly with an incredulous expression. "I'm sorry! I just couldn't keep my mouth shut but I promise you that no one else will find out. Ever. Unless you're the one who tells them."

"It's fine, Lily." Elladora reassured quietly, discretely glancing over to the boys and being filled with relief that they were all fast asleep. "Just keep it quiet, all of you, please."

"Of course." Mary nodded; she was also stunningly pretty. Her black, curly hair was pulled up into a bun at the top of her head and two strands were pulled out of it and framed the sides of her honey coloured skin. Brown eyes glistened in the sunlight that filtered in through the windows and her pearly white teeth were beauteously blinding. "It's not our secret to tell."

"Yeah. Besides, we've all got secrets but not from each other." Marlene stuffed some toast in her mouth, Dorcas shaking her head with a smile from opposite each other. Elladora reckoned that Gryffindor girls were absolutely perfect; Marlene's blonde hair fell in light waves down her shoulders and her eyebrows looked effortlessly defined, her nose was flawless in every way and she looked like every person's dream. "You're one of us now."

"I am?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows together slightly. Since Lily and James started dating for real, they had obviously started to hang out with the other group more but never did Elladora think that she would be one of them as Marlene said.

"Course." Lily smiled and glanced around at the boys again, smiling tightly. "But you're also still one of them so we need your help to wake them up so we won't be late for Hogsmeade."

"I got this." She breathed out, standing from her place next to Marlene, her white skirt swishing slightly as she stood. Once again, she had a black long-sleeve on her top-half but this time it was something called a turtleneck that made it warmer but made her look nice as...Hope had said at Christmas.

A book was limp in Remus' left hand, he had probably been reading it before he dozed off and making sure his bookmark was in place, Elladora closed the thick book and shuddered at the sight of it being another Stephen King book before pushing some goblets and plates away and lifting it high before letting go and watching as it fell.

A mighty bang echoed around the hall and the boys jerked awake with some snorts, some wide eyes and a confused frown on all of their faces. The girls laughed as Elladora smiled in satisfaction and slipped back into her seat beside Marlene as though nothing had happened; the boys were looking around themselves and rubbing their eyes tiredly, running hands through their hair distractedly as Mary snorted with laughter from behind her hand.

"When did you get here?" Sirius narrowed his eyes at Elladora when he recomposed himself and the three others turned their heads to look at her.

"Me? I've been here all this time." She shrugged and poured herself a drink from the jug in the middle of the table whilst Sirius narrowed his eyes at her again in suspicion. James faced Lily with his messy hair and askew glasses and she giggled at him and his goofy smile as he tried to fix his appearance.

A small piece of empty parchment was tossed across the table to her and looking down at the clear Marauders Map, she tugged it towards her and slipped it into her skirt pocket for her and Sirius to use to get into Hogsmeade. Remus picked up his book and looked over it in confusion for he was sure he had it in his hands, then he realised what had happened and looked over at Elladora with a small smile, receiving an innocently guilty one back.

"Now that you losers are up," Marlene dusted her hands free of breadcrumbs and stood off of the bench, wiping her hands on her top. "We can actually go to Hogsmeade."

"You could've gone without us." Remus reasoned, standing up and grunting slightly as he did so. Next Sunday was the full moon so Elladora would have to get his potion from Dumbledore's office tomorrow; she hadn't seen her headmaster around recently at all but just supposed he was out on his little missions he liked to go on.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Mary said exaggeratedly as she stood, Dorcas and Lily following and all the girls were immediately ready to leave, the boys a bit more sluggish. "What we would dream of, however, is David Bowie."

"Oh my god, enough about Bowie." Marlene groaned and rolled her eyes but she still had a smile on her face as she talked to her friend. "He's good and all but Blondie is so much hotter and the lovely ladies from ABBA of course."

"Who's David Bowie?" Elladora turned cluelessly towards Remus, her source for all things muggle-related and he let out a large laugh as he brushed off his t-shirt but when he looked down at his genuinely inquisitive eyes, his face fell flat. "What?"

"You seriously don't know who Bowie is?" He asked, his eyes pinching together as he put a hand out for her; she took it and pulled herself up out of her seat, standing next to him and looking up at his amused eyes.

"I'm a Slytherin pureblood, I'm not supposed to know who you are." She reasoned with a chuckle, shaking her head at him as they started walking out of the Great Hall with the others in front of them.

"But you do know who I am." He reasoned, holding a finger up and turning to face her as he walked backwards and she walked forwards.

"Would I be talking to you if I didn't?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and he laughed as he twisted back around and walked forward by her side again, his hand dangling down as it brushed ever so softly against her own; the need to lace his fingers with hers was unbearable but he knew he couldn't and risk any of the others looking back and seeing it.

"I see you point." He nodded as they walked. "But my point...is that if you know who I am, your reasoning of not knowing Bowie because you're a pureblood is insubstantial."

"You'll just have to tell me about him." She shrugged.

"I can't tell you about Bowie, I have to show you." He reasoned, shaking his head and laughing as she furrowed her eyebrows at him adorably. "Once we get back from Hogsmeade, we can listen to the record up in the dorm, how about that?"

"Is he good?" She asked with uncertainty, tilting her head at him as the entrance hall greeted them in all it's splendour and the doors filtered in a large amount of blazing light that blinded Elladora as she and Remus turned to walk out of the doors.

"The best."

"Nothing can beat Queen."

"You are obsessed."

"For a good reason!"

•*•*•*•*•
A/N: a little filler with not a lot of relevance except for my blatant gayness when describing the girls

i finally finished planning out the whole book up until chapter 100 where it will end and i am so excited but also heartbroken to say that all I need to do it write them when the time comes.