No man has ever made himself great
by showing how small someone else is.
Friday, April 28th , 1972
Hogwarts, Dungeons, Potions Classroom
Ellie marched with patience next to Lilly, the hallway towards the dungeons seemed long in the early Friday morning. Eleonore didn't really sleep well last night, she lent the Daily Prophet from one of the older students and read it in the common room.
The things that were written in the newspaper weren't too pleasing. Another muggle family was murdered by dark wizards. The ministry was on time to make it look like a carbon oxygen accident towards the muggle world but she knew better. It was written that the father had an immediate Avada and the mother was brutally raped to finish it off with a green flash as well. She honestly didn't want to continue reading what had happened to the two, young children.
"Are you alright?" Lily questioned, holding her potion book against her chest.
"I'm fine. Just slept poorly. I'm pleased we're Friday." Ellie mumbled.
"I was up all night finishing the forgetfulness essay. I know Professor Slughorn told us maximum six pages but I couldn't seem to crop it enou-, Ellie?! Where are you going?" Lily wondered, watching how her friend abruptly turned around to run back towards the main hall.
"I forgot the essay! If Professor Slughorn's there already, tell him I'm going to get it!" The dark haired, now twelve year old spoke. Her birthday was just last Wednesday. The girls and her had celebrated it more quietly. She got a big birthday card though, from everybody in the dormitory and lots of candy.
Ellie tried to run as fast as possible. Her legs carried themselves towards the Gryffindor tower with much haste. She managed to shout a quick hello to Nearly Headless Nick although, he preferred to be called Sir Nicholas. "Volucris" She managed to give the password towards The Fat Lady, who immediately opened her portrait. She hurried herself towards the girls dormitories, finally spotting the rolled up parchment still lying on her nightstand.
Wrapping her fingers around it, she ran down once again. Why was this castle so damn big anyways? She jumped through the portrait exit, ignoring the Fat Lady telling her to watch her steps. She ran back towards the stairs of the Gryffindor tower. Her breath was caught in her throat when she crossed the main hall, turning towards the south hallway to descend down towards the dungeons.
"Snivellus can't do much now, can he?" Ellie heard a familiar voice declare, her feet immediately stilled. She turned around towards the passage where the voices were coming from.
"Oh yes, we caught ourselves a little ugly Slytherin." Eleonore heard another voice. She couldn't believe it! She peeked her head around the corner and there, in front of her, she could see James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew corner the Slytherin.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" She immediately heightened her voice at the three of them, her own fingers wrapped around her wand steadily. "Leave him alone."
"Stay out of this Ellie." James Potter shot back, turning his head towards his classmate. "Go to class."
"I said, leave him alone." Ellie repeated the words. "Peter, I cannot believe you!" The three of them still had the long, dark haired boy in a corner. Sirius his head was still turned towards the Slytherin, his wand raised. James and Peter were giving her their full attention.
"Ell-Ellie, I was just walking to class with them, I did- I didn't know-" Peter stumbled, looking at his female friend in regret.
"Shut it, Pettigrew." She snapped, immediately receiving a yelp back from Peter. He had never seen her angry with him. She always had the most patience for him.
"Don't talk to him like that." Sirius snapped back, defending Peter and looking from Severus to Ellie.
"I can talk however I like." Ellie's eyes blazed fire. "Drop the wand, Black or you'll regret it once again."
"I didn't regret anything, I wasn't the one going to detentions."
James immediately stepped into the conversation, knowing that if he wouldn't, Eleonore would probably throw a hex at his best friend. "Sirius, just drop the wand." He sighed. Sirius his grey eyes adverted from Ellie's green ones toward James Potter and in response, he lowered his wand.
Ellie immediately moved forward, shoving Sirius out of the way. Her own small hands contacted with his chest, pushing it roughly as his back contacted with the cold dungeon brick wall. "Bunch of morons." She grunted, grabbing Severus by his wrist and pulling him towards her. "Let's get out of here, Sev."
The Slytherin didn't say anything, he just let Lily's friend carry him away. When they finally made it out of the hallway and into the east section of the dungeons, she turned towards him. "Are you alright?" She questioned, scanning his entire face. "Did they hurt you?"
"No. No, they didn't." He shook his head as he carefully watched her from underneath his long black hair.
"Good. You should stick up for yourself." Eleonore nodded her head. "If people are trying to bring you down, it only means that you're above them."
"Thank you." Severus mumbled, giving Ellie a small smile. "We should probably get to class." Ellie touched the outsides of her robes, eagerly searching for the reason she was late in the first place. She couldn't help but groan when she realized it was gone. "Everything alright?" The Slytherin looked confused.
"I think I dropped my essay on the forgetfulness potion back there." Ellie sighed.
"Do you want to go back and grab it?" Severus looked at Ellie.
"No, I'll just do it over tonight. I'll tell Professor Slughorn I lost it. It's fine." She honestly didn't want to get back to the boys, afraid that she might after all actually, stun one of them. It took her everything to not hex them in the first place. She was so angry. She could have expected this from Sirius, even from James but she was so disappointed in Peter. He didn't have one ounce of backbone in his body. He didn't defend Severus, he just stood there, enjoying the scene. She couldn't believe him. "Let's go, we're already late."
Severus Snape and Eleonore Darensbourg managed to hurry up to class. When they finally knocked on the potions classroom, they entered with their heads low. Ellie immediately placed herself next to Lily, she was a little disappointed when she noticed Severus making his way towards Rosier, giving her one final nod. "What the hell happened?" Lily whispered harshly. "You took so long."
"It's a long story, Lils. I'll tell you back in the dorms." Ellie mumbled, watching how Professor Slughorn finally administered the two students who just added themselves in the classroom.
"Your essays, Mister Snape and Miss Darensbourg?" Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat when she watched Severus take out a parchment from his bag. She didn't have anything to give the professor.
"I'm sorry, Professor, mine got lo-" She was interrupted by the three previous seen Gryffindors entering the classroom in a hurry. All of them were out of breath.
"Mister Black, Mister Potter and Mister Pettigrew. Please explain." Professor Slughorn spoke, adverting his attention from Eleonore towards the other Gryffindor students.
"We forgot the essays, sir. They were still in our dorms." Ellie squinted her eyes at her lying classmates and clenched her teeth. She watched how James and Peter stepped forward, handing in their homework. James managed to give her an apologizing smile but Peter never locked eyes with her, he ignored her in shame.
Ellie watched how Sirius stepped forward, handing over two parchments. "I found Ellie's on the way to the dungeons, sir. I think it fell out of her bag." Lily immediately turned her head towards her best friend in wonder and even Ellie had to raise her eyebrows a little.
"Next time, please take more care of your assignments. You're lucky Mister Black found yours, Miss Darensbourg." Professor Slughorn spoke. Her green eyes locked with his as he made his way towards the empty seat next to James Potter.
"Very lucky indeed." She murmured to herself, finally disconnecting her stare to take out her potions book.
Saturday, April 29th , 1972
Hogwarts, Gryffindor Tower, Boys dormitory
"I told you, she cannot stand me." Sirius spoke, trying to steady his wand on the inside of his palm. The twelve year old was sitting with his legs crossed upon his bed. "I handed in her homework, for Merlin's sake. If it weren't for me, she would have had to do it all over again. She didn't even thank me."
"Come on, Sirius. Ellie isn't that bad." Frank spoke, lying on his stomach. His Charms homework spread in front of him on the bed.
"She isn't. I told you, I actually had a lot of fun on Christmas Eve with her. Did I tell you her parents have an inside pool? Her house is huge." James Potter spoke, "Her parents are actually really nice as well, you shouldn't have said what you did in the beginning of the year, Sirius."
"I know that, you have told me that a thousand times before. I regret it, okay?" The boy mumbled, sighing when his wand fell off the palms of his hand.
"You never apologized." Remus pointed out, finally entering the conversation. Apart from the boys, he got along best with Eleonore. He didn't want to hear anybody speak negatively about her. She always had his back. "I still think you should. It's the whole reason you're in this little negative circle with her anyways."
"It's not my fault you have a crush on Ellie, Remus." Sirius raised his eyebrows at the brown haired boy laying in the bed on his left.
"You have a crush on Ellie?" Peter peeked, entering the conversation.
"I don't have a crush on Ellie." Remus spoke, trying to hide his blushing cheeks. "She's one of my best friends, we just get along very well."
"Whatever, Remus." Sirius ignored his friend and turned towards James once again. "I think she could have at least said thank you for the homework."
"You tried to hex her friend in the hallway." Remus spoke once again.
"Lupin, seriously, I wasn't the only one there. James and Peter were there as well." Sirius shot back. "Plus, it's not like she's close to Snivellus."
"She'll always stick up for people, it doesn't matter if she's close to them or not." Remus shot back, starting to get a little irritated by Sirius. The full moon was starting to come closer and he couldn't bare the boy's immature attitude anymore. "She's not only mad at you, she's mad at James and Peter too."
"She'll forgive me and my pretty face." James grinned, blinking his eyes rapidly and pushing both his hands underneath his chin. "She's pretty pissed at Peter."
"I-I tried to apologize." The chubby boy spoke sadly. "She said I should have defended Severus. She won't talk to me."
"She'll get over it Peter." Sirius huffed, laying down on the bed and pushing his arms underneath his head. "Don't worry, you still have us."
Peter couldn't really say that he would have preferred to have Ellie over them so he just tried to smile sadly. "Do you think I should send her candy? Think she'll forgive me then? Maybe I should write her a letter to explain?"
James immediately answered, "Just give her some time, Peter. You know she just needs a little while to calm down. I know Ellie, she'll melt eventually."
Peter nodded his head, biting his lip. "I hope so." He mumbled.
"Anyways, enough Eleonore Darensbourg today. Any plans for the summer?" Sirius spoke, changing the subject.
"My parents want to go to Luxembourg." Frank Longbottom answered, "I'll probably be there for like a month."
"I told you guys you could visit my place." James informed, looking at the boys.
"I don't think my parents would let me." Sirius mumbled, recalling the most horrible Christmas he had so far. He didn't leave his room the entire two weeks. His parents managed to intercept every single letter or Christmas card he received from his friends. It had been the two most lonely weeks of his life. "I might actually escape to your house the last week and go to the platform with you. I won't have to deal with them until Christmas then."
"I know my parents wouldn't make a big deal out of it." James shrugged, "You're welcome any time."
"My parents were talking about going to Scotland." Remus replied, hiding the fact that the reason they went to the countryside had something to do with his condition. As far as he could tell, none of the guys really suspected anything. "So I probably won't be able to visit."
"Are you going to be alright with your headaches?" James questioned in concern.
"If I can rest, everything should be alright." Remus replied.
"Well, let us know how they are in the summer. You can always write, if my parents don't take away the letters, that is." Sirius smiled, nodding his head at his friend.
"Yeah, I'll let you guys know." Remus mumbled, shifting his eyes.
"Did I tell you guys that Ellie's parents invited Sirius and I to their house?" James questioned, remembering how Casius and Gisila Darensbourg had been kind enough to invite them, much to the annoyance of their daughter.
"What?!" Sirius shouted, sitting up straight immediately.
"Yeah, my parents told them about you and they actually like you. You should have seen Ellie's face. It was a picture." James Potter laughed. "Apparently, they also allowed Ellie to invite Evans over the summer."
"We're not going." Sirius stated, shrugging. "You just want to go because Evans will be there. What's up with that anyways?"
"There's nothing up with that. It has nothing to do with Evans. You haven't been to Ellie's place. They have an indoor pool and the new Nimbus."
"They do?!" Frank spoke with amazement.
"Yep, Ellie and I flew on one on Christmas Eve. It was amazing." James spoke, trying to change to subject from Lily towards the brooms.
Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend, "I'm not going."
"Fine then. I think you would have ruined Ellie's summer anyways." James spoke, shifting his eyes towards Sirius.
"An indoor pool, you said?" His grey eyes twinkling and a mischief smile upon his face.
"You know what, I already flew on that Nimbus, it's fine." James scrunched up his nose, laughing when Sirius threw a pair of dirty socks to his head. "Maybe we should wait until you guys actually get along before you kill each other over the summer."
Saturday, June 3rd , 1972
Hogwarts, First Floor, Library
Eleonore sat in the corner of the Hogwarts library, trying to summarize the most important information of her entire year of History Of Magic. It wasn't the easiest task. She had fallen asleep through half of her glasses resulting in forgetting to take notes. She sighed once again, chewing on her feather. "The Soap Blizzard of 1378 was followed by a burst of the wizarding economic bubble." She muttered, "But what were the consequences of that?"
"Hey Ellie!" Her eyes immediately shifted towards the familiar head. "I thought I would find you here."
"Remus." She pouted, placing her head on the table in front of her. "Help me, I'm dying of boredom over History of Magic."
"Do we have an essay on that?" He looked a little scared at her, taking out the chair in front of Ellie and placing himself on it. He grabbed his books from his bag, grunting at the weight of The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft.
"No. I'm just trying to summarize everything for the exams in two weeks."
"The entire subject of History of Magic? That's nearly impossible, Ellie." He chuckled at Ellie placing her forehead on her book.
"It would make it a little more possible if I were to loan your notes." She peaked up from underneath her long black hair with an innocent glance.
"So I get to listen and you get to take naps?" He teased her, crooking his head with a smile.
"I gave you notes when you were sick all those times before." She pouted her lip, "Please my loving, caring friend? Pretty please?"
"Like I would even say no to you." Remus laughed, taking out his notes and pushing them towards her.
"Thank you! You're a life saver! I'll send you cookies over the summer." Ellie grinned, scanning her eyes over the parchment in front of her.
"Ellie?" The twelve year old Gryffindor turned her head towards the familiar voice on her right. She lifted her eyes towards the still, small chubby boy she met on her first train ride. "Woul-would you min-mind helping me with Transfiguration to-tonight?"
"I helped you last week, Peter." Remus noticed her facial expression changing immediately. The happy, cheery Eleonore that sat in front of him two minutes ago disappeared and now her eyes were cold.
"I kn-know but I'm really scared I'll fail my exams." Remus noticed the boy's eyes wetting as his eyes widened a little. He couldn't believe Ellie was still holding a grunge over him. The Severus Snape encounter was more than a month ago.
Ellie sighed, biting her lip. She tried to stay mad at the boy, she really did. He hadn't defended Severus whatsoever but she could comprehend that James and Sirius were two big characters. Peter just wasn't as brave as she thought he would be. "Let me just finish this okay, I'll meet you in the common room after dinner."
Ellie watched how he nodded his head and turned around, rapidly leaving the library.
"Are you still mad at him?" Remus questioned. "You know it isn't easy to stand up against James and Sirius. It was a month ago."
Ellie's green eyes locked with Remus his as she breathed heavily, "I know, I should give him a break."
Remus nodded his head in agreement, "Just let go of what you can't change, Ellie. Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness."
"I know." She mumbled, "How come you get to be so smart all the time?"
Remus laughed, "I just think there are some things that you can't change. You can't change Peter's character. He's a follower, he'll never grow a backbone no matter how hard you even try."
"He needs to learn how to stick up for himself." Ellie replied, closing her books.
"Why does he need to do that? He has you sticking up for him." Remus kindly smiled.
"Because one day I won't be there to stick up for him, Remus." Ellie mumbled, throwing her books in her bags. "Are you coming?" She eyed her friend still sitting on the library chair. "Want to grab dinner first?"
"That sounds lovely." Remus his green eyes beamed at the girl waiting for him. "Did you taste the chocolate muffins this morning?"
"I did actually." Ellie laughed, immediately lowering her voice when Madam Steer, the librarian gave her a warning glance. Remus and her made their way towards the main hall. When they entered the Great Hall, she noticed that the girls weren't present at the table. Her eyes adverted towards Remus who encouraged her to sit down next to James.
"Good evening." Ellie nodded her head at James Potter and his always attached limb, Sirius Black.
"Hey Ellie, Remus." James grinned, shoving a piece of meatloaf in his mouth. He quickly grabbed his cup of pumpkin juice, pushing it against his lips.
"Hi." Sirius smiled. Ellie was surprised that he actually acknowledged her.
Since last month, Sirius and her hadn't really spoken. They didn't fight but they blandly ignored one another. James and her had actually even played a couple of games of Exploding Snap and Sirius even watched a game in interest but he never interrupted. "Where are you guys coming from?" James questioned, looking from Remus to Ellie.
"We were in the library, actually." Eleonore smiled, trying to grab the plate of potatoes. She noticed they were too far away and tried to stretch her arm. Before she could even reach the plate, Sirius had lifted it and passed it towards her. She blinked a couple of times but accepted it, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Sirius shortly spoke, ignoring the way Remus and James locked eyes with one another.
Remus shrugged his voice after ten seconds of silence. "We urhm, we were actually preparing for the exams in a couple of weeks."
"Already?" James questioned.
"I was just summarizing History Of Magic." Ellie answered with a smile, placing her fork in one of the potatoes and pushing them in her mouth.
"Oh, that reminds me, Remus, can I actually lend your notes for a little while? I'll try to give them back as soon as possible." Sirius nicely questioned. "I get the tendency to fall asleep in that class."
"We all do." James smirked at his friend.
"Urhm, well Ellie has mine for now. It seems as if she has the same problem." Remus grinned, holding back laughter at her red cheeks.
"I'll pass them on to you when I'm finished. It shouldn't take me long." Eleonore answered, for once not without sarcasm, towards Sirius.
"Okay." Sirius nodded his head, "Thanks Darensbourg."
Ellie just nodded her head in return and continued eating. James and Remus shifted their eyes between the two of them, confusing taking over. What the hell happened that these two were civil with one another and how long would it last? They weren't sure of anything but they knew they had to handle this situation with extreme care. "Remus!" James spoke, getting a bright idea. "I have to pee."
"What?" The boy answered, looking a little confused. "Then go to the bathroom."
"Can you come with me?" James his eyes widened behind his glasses, trying to tell Remus to leave the table so Sirius and Ellie could finally talk one on one. Eleonore couldn't help but acknowledge James Potter's plan already. He wasn't the most subtle.
"Just go Remus. James wants Sirius and I to talk." She sighed, ignoring the grey eyes staring at her from across the table.
"Oh!" Remus adverted his eyes from Sirius to Ellie and then turned his head towards Eleonore. "Will you be-"
"I'll be fine." She shrugged. She honestly was over this whole awkward faze. It lasted the entire year. She remembered the words that Remus told her in the library, grudges were a waste of perfect happiness. She didn't want to hold a grudge over Sirius Black anymore. She was done with it.
Ellie watched how James and Remus left the table and turned her head towards the boy who had managed to work the most on her nerves throughout her entire first year.
"Why do you hate me?" He managed to throw out.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. Dammit, she once again was making fun of him. She wasn't showing him forgiveness. "I don't hate you, Black." She stated, nibbling on a piece of chicken. "I merely dislike you a little bit."
"You don't dislike, James." He pointed out.
"James is different. He's the annoying brother." Ellie answered, "You are the…" Disturbed little nephew? Manipulating twat? Immature chump? "The- urhm." She tried to think about anything nice to say. "I just well, Black, I think it just started when you gave me that look in Diagon Alley."
"I didn't give you any looks."
"You did. You stared down at my mother and I and then you insulted them in front of the whole table on our first day at Hogwarts."
"Look, you know I didn't mean that." Sirius sighed, looking at Ellie.
"Do I?" She raised her eyebrows at him, meaning that he hadn't apologized for anything.
"I'm sorry about your parents, alright? I didn't mean it."
Ellie nodded her head, her eyes softened at least a little bit. "Okay. I'm sorry about shoving my wand in your face."
"You are really scary though." The twelve year old grinned at Ellie for the first time.
"Thank you." Ellie smiled. "Will you be alright… Going back home? With your parents?" The dark haired girl spoke, looking a little concerned at James' friend. She still didn't like the boy but remembering James his father telling her parents about the five howlers, she couldn't help but be troubled.
She noticed how Sirius his face immediately turned blank, a hard expression in his now cold grey eyes. "I'll be fine, Darensbourg."
"It was just a question."
"I don't like talking about it." He shot back, watching how she raised her eyebrows at him.
"Fine then." Ellie shrugged, silence taking over the table. "I hope you have a nice summer." She placed her fork next to her plate. "I'll see you in the common room. I need to help Peter with his Transfiguration essay."
Sirius watched how Ellie turned around, placing her bag across her shoulder and moving towards the exit of the Great Hall. He couldn't help but sigh. He really wasn't sure if he was ever going to figure Eleonore Darensbourg out.
Friday, June 30 , 1972
Hogsmeade station, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts Express
"I can't believe the entire year has passed already." Christina spoke, placing herself next to the window. "It just seemed yesterday that I first met you, Ellie."
Eleonore smiled, taking the seat in front of her blonde dorm mate. "I know. I'll miss you guys over the summer. Maybe we can all meet up at Diagon Alley?"
Alice nodded her head, "That's a great idea! We can have ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, have you tried it before?"
"I haven't actually. I've only been to Diagon Alley once." Ellie answered, shifting a little when Lily placed herself next to her.
"We'll write each other, right?" Lily looked a little worried at her friends.
"Of course." Christina nodded her head. "I'm excited to not be the youngest anymore when we return in September."
"Yeah, then Lils can try to beat her grades of this year." Ellie teased, knowing how her red haired friend had the best grades of the entire year.
"You know, if you would have payed attention in History of Magic and Potions, you would have beaten my score." Lily squinted her eyes at Ellie sticking out her tongue.
"I don't want to beat your score, Lilykins. I want to give you the pleasure of being the best at everything." Ellie teased, watching how Lily rolled her eyes.
"I didn't beat you in Defense Against The Dark Arts."
"No one beat Ellie in Defense Against The Dark Arts, not even the Slytherins." Marlene grinned, being a little proud of her friend. "Remember when she did the Knockback Jinx on Walden MacNair? That was definitely one of the best moments of the year."
"I personally think Ellie nearly hexing Black was one of the best parts of the year." Christina smirked, eyeing the black haired girl.
"Or Lily calling James Potter an annoying prat." Alice pointed out.
"Christina nearly knocking Alixana off her broom at the flying lessons." Ellie laughed, remembering the two racing and Madam Hooch losing her mind.
The girls all laughed together, "That was pretty good, even if I had to say so myself." Christina grinned. "I wonder what's in store for us next year."
"Ellie hexing Sirius Black even more."
"Guys, I told you we cleaned up the air before we left school." Ellie sighed, remembering her little passage at the dinner table with Sirius Black.
"But you still think he's annoying, right?" Lily questioned.
"Ellie will always think Black is annoying, Lily." Christina grinned, "She'll still have the face of a smacked arse when we graduate and she has to stand next to him."
Ellie heard everybody laugh, "Come on guys, you know that's not true."
"Name one good thing about Black! Come on!" Marlene spoke with challenge.
"I-" Ellie was a little lost for words. She honestly didn't know the answer to that. After a minute of thinking, she finally opened her mouth. "He's a good friend to James?"
The entire compartment laughed at Ellie's answer, Marlene interrupted their conversation, eyeing the girls, "Talking about the boys, did you know what I've heard?"
"No…" Alice answered a little frightened about the outcome.
"Peter has a crush on Ellie." She blurted out.
"WHAT?!" Ellie shook her head, that was disgusting. "You are absolutely mental, Marlene."
"That's old information, Marlene." Christina rolled her eyes at the blonde. "He's been smitten by her ever since he stepped in the compartment the very first of September."
"Hello guys, I'm still here!? What?!" Ellie waved her hands in front of Christina's face. "Peter's one of my best friends."
"I heard from it from Frank as well." Alice shrugged, looking at her fingernails. "Said Peter actually cried when you were mad at him that time the boys cornered Severus Snape."
"That's disgusting, guys." Ellie shook her head. "The fact that he cares, doesn't mean he has a crush."
"Come on, he always asks you for help with Transfiguration." Lily explained. "He never asks anybody else. He could ask Remus, Remus is good at transfiguration."
"That's because Peter sucks at transfiguration, Lily." Ellie stated, "A friend needing a FRIEND's help isn't called a crush. You guys are crazy."
"Whatever." Marlene rolled her eyes. "We'll see in a couple of years. It'll come out eventually. He won't be able to hide it for seven years... Oh well, maybe he will, he is Peter after all."
"You're repulsive. Peter is… Peter." Ellie shuddered by only the thoughts of boys. No, she had didn't have time to think about that. She was busy with school and her friends.
"And Remus is Remus?" Christina lifted her eyebrows at the girl in front of her, holding back a grin. She had seen the way the two got along. Apart from Lily, Remus was practically Ellie's best friend.
"Yes exactly." Ellie mumbled, "Remus is Remus." She adverted her eyes towards the ground. "Hey! Who's up for a game of Exploding Snap?" Ellie spoke, forgetting about all the boy nonsense. Her father would have a heart attack if he knew his little girl was already gossiping about male species.
Author's note: So that was the first year? Are you happy it's over? It was quite a rough year for little Black and little Darensbourg. Anyways, things can only go up from here on out. I think. Maybe. Ah, whatever, you know Ellie still has a long road ahead of her with Sirius and it's not gonna be paved by two stones. On to the second year, where there's a big milestone for Remus and Ellie. Their friendship will only get stronger. (; leave me a little review! Thank you, Tina for the wonderful advice. I do harass you quite a bit, don't I?