Snape's mistake

Ellie wasn't going to deny that the last couple of months had been strange. She hadn't argued with any of the marauders, and when she did, they were joking or arguing about who gets the last cauldron cake. Yep, Ellie was actually friends with the famous 4 boys who over the last 5 years at school had been a huge hassle in her life. She was friends with them. That was odd. Lily was outraged when Ellie sat with them one morning at breakfast, Marlene was livid when Peter called Ellie 'Elladora' and she didn't hex him. Cassie didn't give a crap and Katherine was jealous that Ellie was actually chatting to Sirius Black and James Potter. The girls went by, of course, still best friends but there was no denying it, that Marlene, Lily, Dorcas and even Alice were confused with the new friendship.

Ellie wouldn't have called it odd, she was just being civil. She had always been friends with Remus, and she had always spoken to Peter, James and Sirius. The only difference was that after the encounter between Sirius and Ellie about the Aldern's, Ellie found herself relaxing around the usually intimidating boys. Ellie still spent literally all of her time with the girls, just every now and then they all sat with the marauders. What was wrong with that?


The crowd were eager to get out into the grounds after their last OWL exam, summer holidays were coming up and nothing felt better than realising there were no more tests and revising. Summer was soon and Ellie couldn't help gush, she stood by the entrance door overlooking 5th years lying on the grass, she saw the marauders plant themselves under the large tree by the lake, she saw Lily perched by the other end of the lake, her jaw moving up and down excitedly, she was probably revealing the answers she put down whilst Marlene sat next to her, her head in her hands. Even from where Ellie stood she could see Dorcas fretting over the recent exam. She noticed Snape sit himself down by the bushes, shielding himself from the glaring sun.

She made to walk over to her friends but was called by Dylan Baker. Ellie hadn't spoken to him in months! What did he want? She collected her nerves and strolled over to him

"How was your exam, OWL year, ouch!" he reminisced, he was only in the year above, but spoke as if it was years ago

"Yeah, OWL's," She shuddered then laughed, ignoring the emerging yells behind her, she didn't know what was happening and she didn't care

"Well, they're important, but I'm sure you did great! I hear you're smart, should've been in Ravenclaw" he smiled gently, his brown hair flopped in his face loosely, his blue eyes sparkled in the sun and Ellie honestly felt her insides turn to jelly. She smiled and began talking away. This surprised her. She was shy and apparently 'socially inept' but she was actually talking to Dylan Baker, she beamed. When he spoke, his nose scrunched but it was so cute, his laugh was gentle and he smiled beautifully, she couldn't help stare at his striking face.

"I was wondering if I could ask you something?" he threw his hand up to his hair and ruffled it, Ellie just wanted to grab his head and kiss it…

"I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!" Ellie wasn't paying attention to the scene behind but whipped around when she heard that, it was Snape. Ellie turned and saw Lily. Snape called lily a mudblood? No way, they were friends. Lily threw an insult at Snape and turned to leave

"Apologise to Evans!" James shouted threateningly but Lily screamed back. Ellie guessed that being called a mudblood in front of everyone and the months of James tormenting her finally caught up with her. She was bloody angry. Lily's face turned pink and turned on her heel, she glanced around and her face crumpled. She hurried away. Ellie noticed instant regret etched onto Snape's face and she heard James calling after Lily. He looked helplessly at Ellie, but she just stood surprised, angry and shock rushed over her and she turned and swept away. Ellie knew if she left, James and Sirius would probably beat Snape up, but she needed to make sure her best friend was okay, without acknowledging Dylan or replying to his inquiry, she darted off in the same direction as Lily, as she retreated into the castle she heard yells and curses. As Ellie ran she saw a whip of red hair rush up the stairs, she finally caught up with the shaking girl at the top of the stairs

"I don't know, I can't remember, I…" Lily was blundering at the Fat lady who was denying her access to the common room

"Hippogriff" Ellie spoke gently; she noticed Lily's shoulders shaking as she clambered through the portrait hole and up the stairs.


They both sat on Lily's bed in silence. The silence wasn't awkward or depressing, it was comfortable, after around 10 minutes of Lily just staring in surprise, she finally collapsed into tears in her friend's lap

"Oh Ell, how could he say that, he was my best mate, in front of everyone, I feel humiliated!" she mumbled into Ellie and sobbed quietly. It hurt her so much to see her friend destroyed by that snake! Calling her that.

"And Potter!"

"He did defend you…" Ellie whispered gently

"Elladora! Don't side with the enemy!"

"The enemy? Lily," she stroked Lily's hair, but the red head sat up abruptly

"NO! it's his fault! If he didn't hex everyone every second," she paused "Ellie!" she moaned at the look etching onto her friends face "please just let me hate them"

"Okay, fine, but we were all just starting to get on with the marauders…and he did defend you" Ellie knew she was fighting a losing battle

"No, you are just starting to get along with them, I can't stand them, well except Remus, he's alright,"

"Lil," Lily just fell back onto the bed dramatically and sniffed, "fine" the brunette chuckled and stood up "I'll find the girls, I think we're all in need of chocolate and a good bitching?" Lily rose her head and smiled, Ellie made her way to the door and before closing it she heard Lily call "Or you could just kill me!" Ellie giggled and went to hunt for the girls, she smiled at the thought of Marlene attempting to kill Snape.


"Where's Evans?" James immediately asked as Ellie closed the compartment door

"With the girls, I'm just wondering if you have food." Ellie plonked herself down between Remus and James and grabbed the box of Bertie Botts from James' hand, his face was full of concern and angst "She'll be fine, she just needs a summer to cool off." Ellie replied, Peter looked up and smiled at Ellie, but Sirius was too focused on the game of gobstones

"I don't see why she's so angry, we hexed Snape for her!" Sirius eventually looked up as he won the game, Peter moaned and pushed the game away "sorry Wormy, pay up!"

"You're all really clueless aren't you?" Ellie shook her head "She's upset, Severus was one of her best friends and he called her that! You couldn't imagine what she's going through" Sirius just stared perplexed at Ellie, Peter sniffed, Remus sighed and James shook his head

"Is there anything I can do to make her feel better?"

"Nope, you just have to let her get over it. Anyway, she snoozing right now, so no bugging her Potter!" she turned and glared at the messy haired boy, his glasses lopsided and he grinned

"How about a game, all of us, be warned, I'm the best at Gobstones!" Remus laughed

"Yeah right Moony, Let me show you how it's done, Elladora? Game?" Sirius set up the board and glanced at the curly haired girl, "come on, you won't be seeing me until September, you'll want this fantastic memory to get you through the months" He made puppy dog eyes and Ellie couldn't help notice his puppy dog eyes were absolutely brilliant, she poked her tongue out and sank onto the compartment floor and began to play gobstones with the marauders. What was she letting herself in for?

She decided, whilst playing the game, she liked being friends with the 4 boys, it was nice to not have 4 people hexing her and making her self conscious or making her life a misery, 2 months of no detentions or screaming matches. Ellie liked this; she smiled to herself as she won the first 3 games.

A/N: ergh, this chapter is so sucky, but I needed to show that they were all leaving 5th year, yay. I'll post the next chapter very soon, it's got a bit more Sirius in it, which is always fabulous to know