A/N: I want to sincerely apologize for the hiatus. Truth is my muse left me for this story, and I'm writing it as ideas come. Meaning not often. This story, unfortunately, is slowly drawing to its close. I already have the last chapter written, all I need now is walking to it. So, sorry again if I update only once a month or something. Blame the muse.

21. Battle at Helm's deep

On the first of March, Elyn passed her OWL in Herbology, being gratified an Exceptional Effort by Professor Sprout.

Time continued on its tracks, slowly but surely drawing closer to Easter holidays.

If she wondered about spending those holidays alone, Elyn never said.

She knew for a fact that her idea of camping for a week had been quite forgotten by her friends, and she also knew Lily and James so spend their holidays together with James' parents in Cornwall.

So Sirius would remain at school.

That was one good point.

"Sme? Where the hell are you hiding?"

Elyn looked up from the book she had been reading in the library. She sighed. "Here, Pads, and don't shout, Mrs Pince doesn't like it."

"Nah, the old goat has left for a secret date with Filch."

Elyn made a disgusted noise, and then Sirius' scruffy hair appeared in the corner of a shelf. "What is it?"

He smirked. "Tired of being alone?"

She huffed. "Pads, I've been reading, that's hardly a chore."

He rolled his eyes and grabbed her wrist, hoisting her to him and roughly pulling her towards the exit. "You're coming, whether you like it or not."

Five minutes later, she found herself sitting in the commons' couch, Remus sitting before her and studying, Sirius placing a chessboard in front of her.

"You know the rules?"

She snorted. "I'm not dumb." She whirled the board around so she possessed the black pieces, and whispered "Pawn in C3."

The pawn moved from its spot to the designated one, and she huffed in content.

Sirius was definitely a lot better than her at chess. After two parts, Elyn's blood was so heated in annoyance she wished to kick something. Or someone.

"Right, what do you say to a picnic right here right now?"

Remus hummed. "Not a bad idea at all, Sirius."

Elyn nodded. "I'm in."

He stood up. "Alright, you two don't move, I'm fetching the food." And he strode out of the common-room.

Remus soon sighed, and closed the Charms book he was studying.

Elyn's gaze met his above the table, and she shuddered under the intensity of it.

"What do you say of a little game between you and I?"

She shrugged. "Depends on the game."

He smirked and placed a blank sheet of paper before her, and a quill next to it. "First to blank on Lord of the Rings characters loses and has to run in the corridors yelling he or she is a dollop-head."

Elyn chuckled. "Deal." She grabbed the quill and applied herself to properly write "Bilbo Baggins" on the top of the sheet.

Remus smiled and took the quill from her hand, his fingers grazing hers as he did so, and wrote "Aragorn, King Elessar" under her character.

She sneered. "You're going to lose, Moony."

"Well, let's see, shall we, Smeagol?"

When Sirius came back from the kitchens, Remus and Elyn were fighting over one of her entries.

Remus was rolling his eyes. "Hasufel isn't a character."

"He is! If Tolkien gave him a name, then he is."

He sighed and surrendered. "If you want to play that game..." He took the quill and quickly wrote "Arod" under "Hasufel". "There."

She mumbled under her breath and thought really quick, before writing "Snowmane" under it.

Remus sighed. "Who the hell is Snowmane?"

She smirked. "Theoden's horse!"

He rubbed his forehead. "This is tiring."

She leaned in, a predatory smile on her lips. "Do you give up?"

His gaze met hers, aflame. "Never." And he grabbed the quill once again, to write "Bert" under her entry.

Sirius, who had been following the exchanged as one follows a tennis match, sighed as he put the food on the table. "Get a room."

The day went by like this, until Lily and James came back from their weekly hermitage somewhere in the castle.

Lily sat beside Elyn, who was deep in thought after almost two hundred characters had been cited. "El?" She mumbled. "Sirius has told me you taught Remus and he how to cast silent spells?" She was almost saying it in a husky voice.

Elyn's eyes cast upwards, after she managed to come out with "Quickbeam". "And?"

James rolled his eyes. "Teach us?"

She snorted. "No bloody way. They know how, ask them."

Remus sighed. "Elyn... You are the best at it. And James and Lily are your friends too."

In fact, it wasn't that matter that made Elyn cringe. She knew the classroom she had been teaching them in wasn't free on Saturdays. And she knew exactly who needed it for his own practising. "Can't it be another day?"

Sirius snorted. "Nope. Come on, sunshine." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the Fat Lady's portrait.

Nothing she could say on their way up could stop them from going.

So when Sirius kicked the door of their practising-room opened, it was indeed occupied.

Severus' wand shot from his sleeve.

Sirius' too.

Behind Elyn, Lily gasped, James walked up next to his bestfriend, and Remus stayed behind, glaring but not threatening.

James hissed. "What are you doing here, Snivellus?"

Severus' already dark eyes shot even darker. "Not your business, Potter." Elyn noticed how he avoided her eyes.

James shrugged. "As you wish." He went to curse him, but at the last second, Elyn placed herself before Severus, arms outstretched, and cast her shield.

"No! James, no!"

Her friends' eyes widened at the sight she gave her. Protecting a Slytherin over her own house? Never seen before.

Severus hissed behind her. "Stay out of this, Foren."

She growled and whirled around, glaring openly at him. "You stay out of trouble, Sev! I already told you, neither of you have the right to curse each other!"

James growled as well. "I knew it... That's what you where doing on all those weekends you disappeared for hours. You...fraternised. With the enemy."

His wand now pointed at Elyn.

Who faced him, now glaring at the Pottergang. "Yeah? Come on, James Potter, try and curse me. But if you end up with two heads or no head at all, don't blame me."

Lily stepped before her boyfriend, and she was clearly torn between anger and confusion. "But...why, Elyn?"

She shrugged. "Severus and I are friends. I'm not asking of you to understand why, but we are. And if you attack him, you attack me." She eyed Severus over her shoulder. He was smirking. "Same goes for you, Sev."

Now Remus stepped forward. "The day you first turned into an Animagus. It was his idea, wasn't it?"

Her eyes locked onto his. More amber than brown, given the time of the month. She nodded. "Yes, it was."

Remus' gaze turned into a glare, and he turned it to Severus. "What gave you that idea?"

Severus huffed. "Really? Surely you have noticed too, Lupin. You're probably the least idiot of this group."

Lily snorted, while James turned to Remus. "What does he mean?"

Elyn prayed inwardly. Please no.

But Remus said it. "Elyn never loses. She always casts perfect spells first try. And can't be harmed other than mentally or emotionally."

Sirius' gaze settled back onto Elyn. "And why is that?"

She sighed and tears began flowing off her eyes.

But it wasn't her who answered.

It was...Lily. "Because she's not from this world."

Here comes the hardest parts to write. I don't know when it'll be ready to be read, but not soon enough for you, I think... :(