September 16th, 1976.
"We were just teenagers, living in a world of fire, trying not to burn when it felt as if our insides were highly flammable."
This story contains an OC, if that's not your type of thing then this story may not be for you.
The black cauldron lay dauntingly in front of Elaina, its worn exterior that was full of scratches had rendered it dull, but it sat on the counter - taunting her all the same. It was the first real Potions' class of her sixth year — as they've had a few classes to date, but it was strictly teaching, research, and assignments. This was the first class where all of the sixth years were attempting to make a difficult potion which they had been researching extensively for the past few days.
Elaina had presented herself to class moments before being deemed late — this meant that she would be partnerless throughout the class, making her work undeniably more challenging. Elaina was more than aware that she would have been partnerless whether she arrived late or twenty minutes early, which was made quite evident throughout fifth year when she was alienated by everyone in her house. Elaina remained friendless, and thus partnerless when it came to Potions classes, so she ended up arriving late, which placed her in whichever desk was free — usually on Gryffindor's side of the room; lucky none of them paid any attention to her either, as it was already embarrassing enough to her that she wasn't capable of sitting with her own house.
"Okay, now today, class, we will be brewing the Draught of Peace," Professor Slughorn stated while moving to the front of the room, "which we have been analyzing for the past few days. Now, I will be making my way around the classroom periodically to assure that everything is going smoothly, but if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me. This is an advanced potion, and the first of many that we will be brewing over the course of sixth year, so please do not shy away from asking me for assistance."
That was the only instruction that was given to the sixth year students before they were given the rest of the period to work on their potion. Elaina was more than prepared to brew this potion, as she had stayed up in her common room reading relentlessly over all of the materials she had pertaining to the Draught of Peace; however, it was evident that many of the other students were not as prepared as she.
Some students shakily mixed their ingredients, whereas others read over the step ten times prior to completing the step; Elaina, however, glossed over the instructions before promptly accomplishing what was stated. Despite the fact that this was quite a difficult potion to brew, she found it quite simple, and found her mind drifting elsewhere. She intently listened to the conversation circulating in the classroom. The typical Gryffindor banter had her suppressing a grin, for you see Elaina loved to hear people enjoying each others company, but nobody seemed to enjoy hers.
Loneliness had surrounded Elaina Pierson since the second half of her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was actually quite popular within her own house and had many friends (a few of which were in different houses, a fact that can be considered rare among the majority of students in Slytherin), prior to their discovery of her blood status. In Slytherin, blood purity was not necessary but highly regarded, and since she was muggle born she lacked what her friends at least partially had. The shock hit all of her friends in Slytherin very hard, they felt betrayed that she kept that from them for five years, resulting in them all turning their back on Elaina.
Now on the seventh step of the potion, Elaina shook the powdered porcupine quills vigorously prior to adding some until her potion turned a rich maroon colour. She promptly stirred the potion until it became orange. The process of adding porcupine quills to the potion was repeated until the potion turned turquoise, and being on the tenth step she had to allow the potion to simmer until it changed to a deep purple. Elaina was no doubt making quick work of this potion, as other students were merely approaching the step of forcefully shaking the porcupine quills. Elaina suppressed a tiny smirk as she intently gazed at her cauldron, as the other students were behind her and they had two people working on each potion, and she was alone, producing the potion quicker than the rest of the class.
"Here, James, catch this," Sirius Black, a troublesome Gryffindor student a few tables behind called out to his friend. He tossed the container of powdered porcupine quills toward his messy haired friend. James Potter's hand flew up to catch it, but was a fraction of a second too late, the porcupine quills merely being hit by his swinging hand, causing them to fly directly into Elaina's now purple potion.
Elaina who was ready to add the powdered unicorn horn into her cauldron saw the quills sink into the mixture, turning her potion a murky brown, which bubbled furiously. She cursed under her breath before glaring behind her and meeting the shocked expression of the two nuisances.
"Well, it looks like you have made an error, Elaina," Professor Slughorn said, approaching her table after seeing the colour of her failed potion.
"Yes." Elaina muttered through gritted teeth.
"I wouldn't have expected every student to pull this off flawlessly, and it would have surprised me if you would have completed this potion all by yourself on the first try," the professor continued, gazing into her potion. Elaina seemed to be the only one fully aware of Sirius and James intently listening in on the conversation, ready for her to tell the professor what had happened. A part of Elaina truly wanted to reassure the professor it was not her fault and that she had been right all along, but another part of her - perhaps a suppressed one - seemed to get ahold of her tongue first.
"Yes, I added porcupine quills by accident when I should have added powdered unicorn horn," Elaina explained, gazing down intently at her table that was littered with wasted potion ingredients.
"Ah! An honest mistake with the consistent repetition of adding porcupine quills…" the professor commented, aware that other students were watching to merely see what punishment she would receive.
"Thank you for understanding," Elaina pronounced, her hands meeting behind her back as she stared down at her shoes.
"I'll refrain from giving you a zero if you would consider writing an essay about the Draught of Peace to be due at the next lesson acknowledging where your errors were and what should have happened had you added the proper ingredient rather than the porcupine quills," he offered, waving his wand over her cauldron causing the bubbling brown concoction to be cleared.
Elaina nodded before cleaning her station and proceeding to exit the class avoiding the curious eyes of James Potter and Sirius Black.
The Marauders were scrambling to leave, tripping over one another the moment that Professor Slughorn had dismissed their Potions class; they were the first ones to leave, and thus they were the first ones to head to the Great Hall. Their child-like routine continued all the way from the dungeons to the Great Hall for dinner; for example, one of them would sprint ahead and the others would then have to struggle to keep up, then one of them — typically Sirius — would stop right in the middle of the group, causing them all to trip over one another and fight for their own balance.
You see, everyone in Hogwarts knew who the Marauders were: they were the four trouble-makers in Gryffindor. What made them appear so trendy was their close-knit group and how they would practically do anything for one another; they gave everyone the impression that they were brothers rather than just close friends. The exclusiveness of this group is what made others envious of them, I mean sure they were all quite good-looking in their own unique way, yet it wasn't merely their looks that the girls seemed to fawn over. Let's face it, the four of them weren't well-known for just their attractiveness, it was the stunts, the pranks, the tight friendship, and the constant laughs that made them so reputable; however, no matter how untouchable they seemed to the public eye, they were simply one more goofy handshake away from being the biggest dorks ever.
Their textbooks were swiftly shoved underneath the Gryffindor table before they took their seats; Sirius's book, however, was haphazardly tossed rather than neatly tucked away. The boys gaped at the bountiful meal provided for them before carelessly scooping some potatoes, vegetables and pork onto their plates. Their food was far from proportionate to the amount that the other students took, since most students enjoyed a few scoops of potatoes but the boys (apart from Remus) each enjoyed a mountain of potatoes.
"So, what in the hell do you reckon that was?" questioned Sirius before he had the chance to attack his massive plate of food.
"What happened?" Peter quizzed, encouraging Sirius to elaborate while his fork, loaded with mashed potatoes, was shoved into his mouth.
"He's referring to what happened in Potions, where Elaina Pierson took responsibility for a little havoc that James and Sirius had caused," Remus described to Peter. It had come as no shock that Peter was unaware of the situation, since he had to focus intently on Potions to produce an acceptable result.
"Why in the bloody hell would she want to do something like that?" Peter managed to ask over his mouth full of potatoes, his brows pulled down in confusion while his fork dove back to his plate.
"Our dazzling good looks maybe," James chuckled, running a hand messily through his hair, raising his eyebrows, and shooting a look at his three other friends, earning him a few laughs. He pushed the snitch which was gripped tightly in his other hand into his pocket before grabbing his fork and starting on the food.
"I wonder why she would feel the need to do that," Remus spoke after taking a sip of water, "I mean, you two are practically in detention every other day and her record is practically spotless."
"How do you know so much about her, Remus?" Sirius asked, with a suggestive smirk tugging at his lips, reaching for his drink and taking a quick sip.
"Because I actually pay attention."
"I pay attention to what matters," Sirius fired back playfully.
"Hence why you doze off in certain classes and focus the majority of your energy into pulling pranks that land you into detention, right?" Remus chortled, taking a monstrous bite of a buttered dinner roll.
"Exactly!"
"Hey, what did you say her name was again?" James asked through a mouthful of food.
"Elaina Pierson," Remus repeated, continuing on the dinner roll.
"Maybe you guys should thank her or something," Peter suggested after swallowing some vegetables, "I mean, she didn't have to and Remus said her record is practically spotless…"
"'Practically' spotless… What does that even mean!?" Sirius exclaimed.
"Why should I thank her, she's merely prevented me from achieving the title of having the most detentions ever?" James replied half-heartedly.
"I'm sure you and Sirius both hold that title already," Remus said.
"Yeah, not much competition there," Peter added.
"I'm aiming for an unbreakable record," Sirius stated with a devilish grin.
"With two years left full of opportunities, I'm sure it's fully capable for the both of you," Remus stated finishing up the food on his plate and rounding up his books from underneath the table.
"So, anything specific planned for after dinner, lads?" Sirius quizzed the other three.
"I was going to head off to the library and get a head start on the Transfiguration essay McGonagall mentioned on Wednesday," Remus promptly answered, steadying his books in his lap.
"Boring," Sirius exclaimed, "James?"
"Sorry, mate, I've got a quidditch practice."
"Peter?"
"I didn't have anything particular in mind, Sirius," he replied.
"Then let's cause a little hell until the other boys get back to the common room, we can all chat later," Sirius spoke with a certain mischievous gleam in his eye, "because, I think I've found someone who can buy some firewhisky for us."
"We'll have to get some for when Gryffindor undeniably crush Ravenclaw at the first quidditch match," James grinned before getting up from his seat and heading back to the Gryffindor tower, his potions book firmly clutched in his right hand. He was undeniably fetching his broom and robes for the practice.
One of Elaina's long fingers grazed over the spines of the various volumes that were tightly packed on the shelves of the library. She perused the titles of thick books intended for the use of upper year students, searching within the 'Charms' section for the perfect text to reference in her essay. She settled upon a textbook titled "Intricate Charms: Some of the Most Challenging Charms and Why They're Important" and tossed it on top of the small piles that she had on the floor. Feeling that she had enough material to scrutinize, Elaina organized the books into two piles that she could carry and brought them over to an empty desk.
On the desk, Elaina set out three roles of parchment in case she were to make an error, a quill, and two bottles of ink. The books remained in piles at her feet, ready to be examined one by one. Realizing that she had a lot of work to do, she grabbed the first book in the stack and began reading over the table of contents and jotting down anything that seemed pertinent.
Gathering references was a chore for Elaina, and she knew she would be here until after the sun would set, bringing out the moon; however, being a sixth year student aiming for top grades, she knew that the moon being in the sky was no indicator of the end of her work. Her tea, sitting on her left hand side, grew cold; the flame of the candle near her slowly dipped further into the wax, and her list of solid information grew significantly.
As the need to stretch her legs grew, Elaina stood up and decided to return the books that she did not find useful to the shelves where she had found them. She ambled past all of the rows of subjects, most of the aisles had been empty apart from a few students searching for volumes of Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. The row containing all of the charms books was once again unoccupied, and Elaina promptly began returning some books.
"Hey, uh," a shy but strong voice began, breaking Elaina out of her reverie about her thesis statement, "I was wondering if I could ask you something?"
Elaina snapped around, her breath being caught in her chest and her wide eyes meeting the pale, scarred face of Remus Lupin.
"Oh, Remus… Uh, yeah, sure, I don't see why not," she spoke, picking up a book from her shrinking pile and placing it on the empty space in the shelf.
"Well, the boys and I were wondering why you took the blame for what happened in Potions today," Remus explained, his gaze not wavering from Elaina's face; yet the same couldn't be said for Elaina, as her eyes never seemed to meet Remus's face.
"Uh…" Elaina trailed off, returning another book to the shelves. To be completely honest, Elaina's brain was still focused on her Charms paper, and her actions in the previous Potion's class had completely slipped her mind.
"See, the boys think it's just some strange attraction."
"Oh," Elaina breathed with a shaky chuckle, "I'm sorry but they're wrong."
"Then why else would you take the blame for them?"
"Look, I'm sorry Remus, but I'm fairly tired and the only thing my brain is focused on right now is that Charms paper due on Monday," Elaina explained, "so, if you want answers just give me a moment."
"Oh right, Charms, I had totally forgotten about that," Remus said, his gaze shifting from her for once.
Just as a moment of silence had taken over the conversation, Madam Pince traipsed by the Charms section, and without a moments hesitation told them, "The library is not a place to hold a conversation, and if you would like to chat, I'd suggest that you do it elsewhere, Ms Pierson and Mr Lupin."
"Very sorry," Remus began, "Elaina was just giving me a book recommendation for our charms paper, we'll try and keep the noise down."
She pursed her lips and gave a curt nod before heading off to make another lap around the library. Madam Irma Pince was not always so strict about noise levels in the library, and students could frequently have a brief, yet hushed conversation; however, if it could be perceived as a distraction to working students, that's when she would intervene.
"Here, follow me, we'll take a seat," Remus said, "that way she'll think we're working and she won't be as likely to interrupt."
"Well, my stuff is already in the right corner of the library," Elaina whispered, shoving another thick volume back onto the shelf.
Remus nodded, helping her place the remaining few books onto the shelf before following her back to the seat where all of her materials were situated. Elaina slumped into her seat upon their arrival, and began focusing on her gathered information - suddenly charms had lost its appeal, especially when someone like Remus Lupin was sitting across from her.
After what seemed like an insufferably awkward silence, Remus spoke up, "Hey, want to make a deal?"
Elaina peeked up after having read the same line about ten times, "What?"
"We can trade references," he explained, "so let's say you find the charms references and I'll find the references for the Transfiguration essay and we'll trade them to save time."
"Well, that depends, how well do you typically do on your papers?" Elaina quizzed - but it was quite foolish to ask, as anyone who knew the four troublemakers from Gryffindor were also aware that Remus Lupin was the genius of the group.
"Typically well," he spoke with a slight grin, "although on a few occasions I have received poor grades, but I have a feeling I'll do well on this one."
"Then it's a deal," Elaina said, mimicking his grin, "finding references is the worst."
Remus leaned back in his seat, his eyes curiously meeting hers, "…so, Potions class?"
"I acted on impulse," she stated, "I don't really have a reason."
"So, not any form of attraction?"
"No."
"Well, that's kind of unusual then," Remus commented, his eyes squinting skeptically at her.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, I mean, it's not as if you're particularly close to James or Sirius," Remus answered, "and well, it's not so typical for someone who isn't our close friend to bail us out of trouble."
"Well, they already have detention for the next two weeks," Elaina mentioned, "who in their right mind would want a third week of detention?"
Remus chuckled slightly, "They actually enjoy it, for some odd reason they take detention as a compliment."
"They must be a little insane," Elaina commented before returning her gaze to her paper.
"We're all a little insane," Remus replied, the smirk still playing around on his face.
Another few laborious minutes passed in silence.
"It's just so unusual, especially since you're a Slytherin."
"Now I really know why you're in Gryffindor," Elaina said, challenging his gaze once more.
"What?"
It was her turn to do the explaining now.
"I always thought with your quick wit that you'd be in Ravenclaw," she began, "but your slight arrogance and ignorance to things that don't pertain to you makes me see why you're a Gryffindor."
"Slytherins don't help Gryffindors, I don't see how that's a statement of ignorance, Elaina," Remus breathed, still partially shocked that she had so openly called him arrogant and ignorant in the same sentence, yet it could not have been done any more pleasantly.
"Cunning, ambition, and resourcefulness," Elaina listed, "those are a few of the traits of Slytherin students, it's not all about being an evil person with pure blood."
Remus remained speechless.
"Slytherin students aren't the type of people to have a hundred friends, or to be number one in the public eye, we're more sly than that," she continued to argue, "we're the type of people to stick to a small group of friends and look out for them for an immeasurable amount of time."
"Remus, it's not all about 'Slytherins don't help Gryffindors' simply because it's not all about our rivalry. Slytherins make great friends and anyone would be lucky to have a friend in Slytherin whether they're in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff."
Elaina paused for a moment, picking up her quill and staring down at the page. She was slightly embarrassed after going on such a long tangent.
"Are you done?" he asked in a quiet voice — not an annoyed tone, but a curious one.
"Yes," she grinned, looking up, "I also took the blame because I wanted to act a little rebellious for once."
Remus's eyes gleamed — for being rebellious was something he could completely understand — Remus met her gaze, and in that moment they both shared an inciting grin. He could see that beneath her portrayed demeanour she truly wanted to act riotous — that deep down Elaina Pierson was hiding the side of her that was a disobedient trouble-maker.
It was a magnificent thing that Remus considered her statement to be entirely true, for Elaina was perceived as the "quiet" girl at Hogwarts; however, in the muggle world, she was a typical outcast. Elaina had no idea why she broke her quiet girl facade, or why she broke it to Remus Lupin for that matter… kind of like she had no idea why she decided to take the blame for James Potter and Sirius Black in Potions class.