(PoA) CHAPTER SEVEN: Back at Last
When the train arrived at Hogwarts and their group started loading into one of the horseless carriages, Ellie reached gently for Harry's arm, stopping him.
"Tell me," she urged as she guided him to their own horseless carriage behind their friends. She felt Fred's gaze on her as he was taken away, but forced herself to ignore it. "What did Mr. Weasley say to you?"
Harry didn't look all bothered by the question; it was clear that he'd had every intention of telling her as soon as they were alone together, anyway. "He said not to go looking for Sirius Black."
Ellie swallowed, trying to process what it could mean. To her relief, their carriage pulled off toward the castle before anyone else could join them. "Why would you?"
"Apparently he wants to kill me. In the days leading up to his escape, the guards heard him shouting the same thing over and over again in his sleep—He's at Hogwarts." He looked pained. "Is this too much for you to hear, given… everything?"
"No," she said shortly as she struggled to process all she was being told. There had to be a logical explanation, right? Hadn't Sirius told her that Peter Pettigrew himself would be attending Hogwarts in the fall? Surely that was what he had meant, and the assumptions about him being after Harry were, well… assumptions. Right?
"I'm still not sure why Mr. Weasley thinks I'd go looking for someone who wants to kill me," Harry added thoughtfully. "If I had to guess, it has to do with what you read about in that book—about him having betrayed my parents."
"Right. But we aren't sure that's legitimate. Remember?"
"Right." He glanced sideways at her, frowning. "Ellie… are you okay? You seem out of it. Maybe lasting effects of the Dementors?"
"Yeah," she muttered. "The Dementors. Look—we're here."
Ellie didn't pay much attention to the Sorting Ceremony that evening, but there was one thing that caught her ear: Dumbledore's announcement that the Dementors would be joining them all around the edges of the Hogwarts grounds that year. Lupin had mentioned it on the train, but hearing Dumbledore say it somehow made it feel much more real.
"No way," Harry whispered to Ellie. He hadn't yet been awake when Lupin said it on the train. "They brought them here?"
"The Ministry brought them here," she corrected, but her voice was grim. "But Dumbledore allowed it."
It was hard to work up an appetite after all that had gone down that evening, but Ellie did her best to act normal. When she spotted Malfoy sulking at his table, nursing his bloody nose and wincing whenever he tried to talk, her spirits lifted for the first time all night.
"Won't be throwing any snarky insults at you for a while," George said to her when he followed her gaze. "At least, not when Fred's around."
"Which I still have to yell at you about," Ellie said to Fred. "You could've gotten into huge trouble—still could."
Fred rolled his eyes. "Like that's ever stopped any of us."
"Why'd you do it?" Harry asked Fred.
A tense silence filled the table as Fred considered his answer. "She's my best friend, and he was disparaging her," he finally said. "No one else was stopping him."
Ellie swallowed through a dry, scratchy throat as the tense silence continued. She couldn't help but notice that, rather than angry, Harry looked… guilty.
"Well," said Ginny cheerfully, "Malfoy looks like a loser right now, and that's what counts, right?"
They all burst into laughter at that—even Harry and Fred. Ellie shot her pseudo-sister a warm grin, grateful for the save.
Ellie and Harry headed back to the common room with Ron and Hermione after the feast, trailing behind Dean and Seamus, who they still hadn't yet had the chance to speak with. Dean seemed to be avoiding Ellie—they had been in a short, sort-of relationship the year before, so he probably felt awkward around her and Harry—but Seamus was cheerful, as usual.
"Good to see you lot again," Seamus said brightly to them. "How were your summers?"
"Ours was great," Harry replied enthusiastically. "At least, the back half. Got to stay at the Leaky Cauldron and eat way too much ice cream."
"Right, I heard—no parental supervision." Seamus grinned at Harry, but didn't go further than that.
Ellie rolled her eyes, trying not to feel embarrassed. How had the word even spread so quickly? Did everyone assume she and Harry had gone… well… further than they should have? She didn't want to admit she cared what people thought, but she did.
Dean looked almost as uncomfortable as Ellie. She made a mental note to work on their friendship that year; she hated situations like this.
Harry gave Ellie a supportive glance that seemed to promise he'd clear up the misconception later. She relaxed, if only slightly.
"So, we heard something weird happened in your compartment," said Seamus as they waited for the moving staircase to return to them.
"Yeah," said Harry grimly, "the Dementors. Stay away from them this year if you know what's good for you."
"Whoa," said Dean, finally speaking up. "Intense. What'd they do?"
Ellie and Harry glanced at each other; Ellie did her best to explain. "They just sort of… suck up your happiness."
Luckily, they had reached the common room by then. The portrait hole was still open from the last people who had entered; Ellie quickly climbed inside, eager to escape the pressure of the previous conversation.
Unfortunately, the lack of pressure from Dean and Seamus only led to a new kind of pressure from none other than Oliver Wood.
"There's my girl," said the seventh year Quidditch captain when he saw her. "Saw you in the Great Hall—you looked like hell. No offense."
She rolled her eyes as she hugged him by way of greeting. She glanced around for Harry, but was relieved to see that he had wandered off after Dean and Seamus. "Yeah—having your compartment invaded by dementors isn't exactly fun."
"Really?" Oliver asked, eyes bulging.
"Don't worry—everyone's fine. They were just… you know. Looking for someone."
"Right. Black."
She nodded and said nothing.
"Aside from looking like hell," Oliver said, "you look really good, you know. The summer was kind to you."
Ellie glanced down at herself, trying not to turn pink. Trust Oliver to be the one person to comment on her finally starting to develop a woman's body.
"I know, I know," he said when he saw her expression. "You're in love with the Boy Who Lived—or whatever you kids are calling 'love' these days." He leaned in toward her—not quite enough to make her think he might kiss her again, but close enough that Harry glanced back at her from across the common room.
Not just Harry, she noted as her cheeks turned even pinker. Fred, too.
"I'm not giving up on us," Oliver murmured to her in a soft voice that only she could hear. "You haven't had our kind of heat ever—not even with him."
It was true; she hadn't. But it wasn't Oliver that she'd thought of that night with Harry in the Leaky Cauldron as things started to heat up; it was Fred.
"Sleep tight," Oliver said, straightening to his normal stance and winking at her. "See you soon."
And with that, he left.
"Wow," said Ginny from behind her. "Guy really doesn't give up, does he?"
Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati were already asleep when Ellie went upstairs that night. She almost laughed at seeing it, but then, it had been a rather long day. She was exhausted, but not sleepy; she kicked off her shoes, changed into her boxers and a tank top, and pulled out a book to read by moonlight.
The minutes ticket by slowly, and even The Count of Monte Cristo wasn't enough to keep her mind from wandering; Muggle stories, no matter how classic, weren't enough for her anymore. She found herself thinking, instead, about other things. Mostly Sirius. When would she get the chance to go to Dumbledore's office to use the Pensieve? She had no idea how he would react, but she knew better than to try to use it without his permission. She made up her mind to ask him the following today, and to figure out what to say to him in the morning.
From there, her mind wandered to Fred, Harry, and Oliver. Why was it so hard for her to navigate these relationships, she wondered with a pang of frustration, when most of the girls her age had barely even started talking to boys? Sure, Hermione was the exception, but she had never once mentioned a lick about romantic drama; what was it about Ellie that made things so… complicated?
And why, when she was so obviously in love with Harry—at least, as much as someone could be at thirteen—did she find herself desperately wanting to go back down to the common room to talk to Fred, who had been glowing her for the past ten minutes?
They were just friends. That was all. And she and Oliver were even less than that.
She heaved a sigh as her necklace glowed for the fifth time. She tiptoed down the stairs, smiling to herself when she saw Fred waiting with a sub in hand.
"Hey," he greeted softly when she stepped over to him. "Still vegetarian?"
She nodded as she accepted the plate from him. "Still meat-eating?"
"Yup, but I'll have a veggie sub with you tonight—just this once." He bit into his sub, chewed for a moment, then said, "Listen, I'll get right to it—I'm sorry about earlier, El. If I made things weird with you and Harry, I mean."
"You mean, by hitting Draco?"
He nodded.
"It's okay." She frowned. "I mean, it was awesome that you did. I just think it made Harry feel…"
She wasn't sure what the right word was, but he seemed to understand. "I know. I don't blame him. With how close we are, I'm sure a lot of people have a hard time believing we're just friends—especially when I go around punching gits on your behalf."
She laughed at that, but it sounded strange and foreign coming out of her mouth. What was he suggesting? Did they seem like more than just friends to him? "We've hardly given anyone reason to think otherwise, though, besides that punch," she said carefully. "Right?"
He met her gaze, and for a split second, she was sure that he was going to say something out of left field—though what it was, she had no idea. But then his expression settled, and he nodded in agreement. "Right. We've been best friends for over two years now, and nothing's happened between us."
"Right." She couldn't help but feel a twinge of animosity come into her tone. "Because of the code of friendship."
He blinked at that, looking confused. "The what?"
Was he serious? Did he really not remember uttering the words that had quite nearly broken her heart last year? "The code of friendship," she repeated. "You said that getting with someone you were that close to would be like… breaking it."
He looked no less confused than before—and noticeably more uncomfortable. "I said that?"
She had never wanted to hit him more. How could he not remember? Did he really think so little of their relationship—of the mere possibility that there would ever be anything more between them—that he could forget something so important entirely? "Yes, Fred," she said surprisingly hotly. "You said it last year. Shortly before…"
But she trailed off at that, not wanting to reveal too much.
His brown eyes clouded over with realization; she had revealed too much, after all. "El," he said softly. "If you're saying—"
"I'm not saying anything," she interrupted sharply, rising abruptly to her feet. She never should have brought up the code of friendship in the first place. "I'm with Harry now, I'm happy, and that's what matters."
And before he could think of anything to say to that, she ran back up the stairs.
I don't know about you guys, but I have TOTALLY been in that situation before - where the guy just conveniently forgets something PIVOTAL that he once said to you. Poor Ellie... but also, maybe poor Fred, who maybe made the stupid "code of friendship" comment without having any idea the impact it would have on her? Food for thought... Anyway, tomorrow's chapter has the very exciting title of "First Day of Class." Hey, they can't all be doozies. Don't forget to review!
