Everybody falls,
But someday, someone will pick you back up
And dust the dirt off
Friday, September 1st, 1972
King's Cross, Platform ¾ , Hogwarts Express
Ellie's eyes scanned the familiar corridors of the Hogwarts Express. Her small steady hands were trying to hold on to Archimedes. For once, she wasn't one of the last students entering the train. It seemed as if the goodbye's to her parents became easier as she aged. She sighed happily, summer had been enjoyable, of course but she had missed that cozy castle in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. She couldn't wait for the weekend to lunge around in the common room with her girlfriends.
She was happy that September First came on a Friday, because it meant that even though the timetables would be given on Saturday morning, she did not have to go to class. Her eyes scanned the compartments one by one, searching for a familiar face. She grinned when she saw James Potter sitting in one, alone.
It was an odd sight that his attached-at-the-hip buddy wasn't around yet. You could never seem to find them alone last year. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she opened the compartment with a Cheshire smile. "Well, well, well I have found myself a Potter on his own."
"Ellie." James Potter spoke in acknowledgement, a grin upon his face. His eyes smiled in appreciation behind his glasses. Remembering last summer, his face turned into a small scowl. "The letters to everybody about my Quidditch abilities were very unnecessary."
"Really?" Eleonore placed the owl upon the seat closest to the door and sat herself straight across from him. "I actually considered them very essential. Cookie?" She placed Minnie's stack of cookies on the small table in front of her.
"That is an excellent blackmail tool for Remus, but not for me." He eyed the chocolate biscuits in front of him.
"Shame, they're really good." Ellie grinned, nibbling on one of them. Her blue summer dress flowed nicely off her body. Her mother and her had been shopping, since Ellie seemed to have gotten a grow spurt this summer and all of her clothes from last year were too small. "Anyways, we'll do a rematch around Christmas or next summer."
"It wasn't fair, you were flying the Nimbus and I was not. Next time you have to come over to MY house on MY field." James crossed his arms in front of his chest, not noticing the crowd in the hallway passing by. The Express hooted underneath them as she felt it move forward.
Ellie eyed the crowd outside, finally spotting her parents who seemed to have found Fleamont and Euphemia Potter. The two couples waved at their children sitting in the same compartment. "That's fine, I'll still kick your ass at your place."
She immediately turned her head towards the door when she heard someone tut. "Tut, tut, tut. Such a bad word from such an innocent girl." Her eyes rolled immediately at the voice calling her out.
"Sirius!" James immediately jumped out of his seat, throwing his arms around the boy he had to miss for almost two months.
Ellie rolled her eyes at their little cuddle time. "Black, I see you survived the summer." She noticed someone standing behind Sirius. It was hard to see because James and him were still hugging like a couple but when she finally saw the light brown patch of hair on top of the boy's head and the familiar green eyes, her own lit up immediately. "Remus!"
Eleonore jumped up, pushing the nearly married couple aside and hugged her friend. "See, how come I don't get such a welcome?" Sirius questioned, looking at a beaming Ellie and Remus his small blush.
"Because you're an annoying twat, Black." Ellie shot back, not making eye contact with Sirius. "You look really well." Her eyes roamed over Remus his face. He seemed to have gotten somewhat taller over the Summer, but he didn't carry the bags underneath his eyes as he did when he left Hogwarts. "Where did you get that scar?" Her finger gently touched the small red stripe underneath his right eye in concern.
The boy immediately adverted his eyes, trying not to shudder. "I fell down, hit my head pretty roughly."
"Oh I'm sorry." Ellie continued, "I hope it did-"
"What is your damn owl doing here, Darensbourg?" Sirius shot from behind her, interrupting the two friends.
"Archimedes is here because I am here. He's in a cage, he's not going to bite you anymore. Stop being such a little boy." She annoyingly spoke, rolling her eyes. She then turned towards Remus, "Well apart from the scar, you do look better than you did when you left Hogwarts in June."
"The owl bit you?" Peter squeaked from behind Remus. It was the first time Ellie saw Peter since the summer.
"Hey Petey!" She grinned, roughing his hair in an amused matter, not paying attention whatsoever to his cheeks reddening. "Did you have a nice summer?"
"I- I did. Ha-happy to be back." He answered truthfully, looking at the friendly, green eyes of the girl. He sat himself next to Sirius, on the other side of the compartment, looking a little scared at the owl who seemed to be staring at him with a none impressive matter.
Ellie turned towards Archimedes and lifted the cage, placing it underneath the small table. Remus happily took the seat next to Eleonore. "He actually tried to bite me once again when you wrote your damn letter. But instead, he bit my mother when she tried to take it away. " Sirius spoke. He had to hold back laughter remembering how his mother yelped when the owl snapped its beak at her. He didn't like the owl whatsoever, but at least the animal made sure he actually got one letter from somebody over the summer.
"Archimedes always delivers his letters to the person himself." Ellie spoke. "Has anybody seen any of the girls?"
"I think I saw Marlene on the platform together with Christina." Peter replied, nodding his head.
"Are you scared that you won't survive your train ride with us, Darensbourg?" Sirius grinned, crooking one eyebrow at the girl. He noticed too that her facial features turned sharper over the summer, how her hair was even longer than it already had been and how her legs had seemed to lengthen even more.
"The only thing I'm scared of is that I'll actually have killed you by the end of it and I'll be expelled." She snapped back at him, rolling her eyes and then turning towards Remus with a sweet smile. "Tell me all about Scotland over the summer."
Sirius his mouth widened at the two of them having a conversation right in front of him. He managed to turn towards James with an open mouthed glance. The boy in glasses just seemed to shrug, "It is a possibility."
Saturday, September 2nd , 1972
Great Hall, Hogwarts
When they arrived last night at Hogwarts, it was the first time Ellie went up to the castle in the carriages instead of the boats. She had found Lily with Severus at the Hogsmeade station and managed to leave to group to say hello. She had shared a carriage with the two. An eight hour train ride with the boys was more than enough, she didn't felt the need to share another ride.
The sorting seemed to go quite smoothly, she noticed that there were less students being sorted than there had been last year. There were many Hufflepuffs.
When Professor McGonagall handed out their timetables the next morning, Ellie noticed that the Gryffindors had the first two hours of Monday morning off and she squealed. Christina immediately chuckled at her friend, "You get to sleep late on Monday."
Ellie happily sighed, "Yep. I love this timetable."
"There's more Defense Against The Dark Arts on it than last year." Frank Longbottom spoke, looking a little scared at the paper lying in front of him.
"Even better!" Ellie grinned, "Quidditch try outs are next week, James."
"I hope you'll do better than you did when you competed against Ellie." Eleonore couldn't help but smirk when she heard Lily mumble the words right next to her. It seems as if the ginger got a little more fierce over the summer.
"I am pretty good at Quidditch, Lils. It's not James his fault."
"Are you going to try out, Ellie?" Peter piped up, stuffing a sausage in his mouth.
"No, I don't think so." The dark haired girl shook her head, pushing her fork into some scrambled eggs. Looking at the timetable, she thought that the Quidditch practice would probably happen on Monday morning and she did not look forward getting out of bed.
"You think Quidditch practice will happen on Monday morning, don't you?" Alice grinned, looking at Ellie nodded her head. Her friends knew her too well.
"Well, I for one don't care about getting up." James spoke proudly. "I'm going to try out."
"Are you trying out, Sirius?" Marlene spoke, eyeing the boy sitting next to James Potter.
"I don't think so, I'll let Jamie here take the credit for this year." Ellie couldn't help but roll her eyes when she saw James look at his friend with a loving gaze. "I'll be there at every match, supporting him."
Eleonore tried to ignore the two friends and turned towards Lily, "What do you want to do today?"
"The weather's nice, maybe we could lay in the grass around the Black Lake. Just a quiet day would be nice." Lily's eyes turned towards Potter and Black who now seemed to throw potatoes at one another.
"I fully understand." Ellie tried not to laugh when she saw James hit Sirius square in the forehead, leaving a grease mark. "Ready?"
Lily nodded her head, standing up. James immediately turned towards the two of them. "Hey! Where are you going?"
"Away from this childish behavior." Lily snapped, wrapping her right hand around Ellie's wrist to drag her out of the Great Hall. Eleonore couldn't help but turn her head around, sticking out her tongue at the boys when Lily and her nearly excited the hall.
Thursday, September 7 , 1972
Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom, First Floor, Hogwarts
Professor Emlin was a broad chested African American who seemed to have an authority over his class the moments the students stepped inside. His dark brown eyes scanned the seconds year in front of him. Gryffindors and Slytherins. Some looked frightened, others looked ready for a challenge. Silence overtook the room as the man bluntly requested, "Turn to page 102. Read the first paragraph, Mister?" The teacher raised his eyebrows at Remus.
"Lu-lupin. Remus Lupin." Ellie stared at the back of her friend sitting in front of her.
"Mister Lupin. First paragraph, page 102."
Remus bit his lip, his eyes scanning the page in front of him. He let out a subtle breath, "The Disarming Charm, also known as the Expelliarmus Spell or Disarming Spell is a defensive charm which forced the victim to release whatever they were holding at the time. It is common to see this spell used in duels, to make an opponent release their wand." He paused and then continued. "The Disarming Charm always appears as a jet of red light. This is one of the things that makes it recognizable before the effects of the charm are seen. However the intensity of the light appears to correspond to the strength of the spell as a weak or moderate one creates a small flash of white light whereas a more powerful version manifests as a bright jet of scarlet light. Another notable effect of the charm is that if multiple charms are used on the same target, the target will be disarmed, but at the same time will be blasted backwards."
"Very good, mister Lupin." Professor Emlin's eyes scanned his crowd once again. Everybody seemed to avert their eyes from his gaze until his dark brown orbs landed on Eleonore. Almic Emlin had heard from her indeed. The last Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher had told him about this class, in particular the best student, Eleonore Darensbourg. "You. Come up here."
Lily's eyes turned towards her friend in concern. Ellie didn't mind coming up the front of the class. Her wand in her right hand, she proudly walked forward, shoulders back. "Eleonore Darensbourg, right?" The teacher questioned with raised eyebrows.
"Indeed, professor." Ellie nodded her head.
"I shall try to perform this particular spell upon you." The Professor smiled kindly. "How you choose to react is your responsibility."
Everybody in the classroom seemed to turn their attention towards the front. Their eyes were glued intensely at the duo standing in front of the blackboard. "We shall bow first." Professor Emlin spoke, bending his upper body in a graceful way.
Ellie couldn't help but get a little nervous right now. She had never dueled properly and this was their first class of the second year. He surely didn't expect her to knock him off his feet? She knew the knockback jinx from her first year, but she didn't feel like receiving another detention for blasting out her own teacher against the wall.
Her eyes registered his mouth moving before he actually spoke the words. He shouted afterwards, "Expelliarmus!" A scarlet light blasted from the teacher's wand, right at Ellie's.
Before it could even reach her, she instinctively shouted back, "Protego!" The shield charm blew out of her own wand, a blue light casting an armor in front of her.
The teacher knocked back a little unexpectedly, looking with interest at his student in front of him. The whole class seemed to quiet as the two of them looked at one another, Ellie's shield still being up. The professor and her didn't lose eye contact once as they seemed to walk around one another. She knew if she did, her shield would fall off and he would immediately disarm her.
It wasn't until she heard something fall in the classroom that her eyes adverted, her attention being pulled away from the professor. "Expelliarmus." He shouted once again as Ellie felt her wand pull away from her hand. Professor Emlin grinned, catching it in one swift mood. "That was really impressive, Miss Darensbourg but you got distracted. A small gesture that can lead up to big consequences. None the less, impressive for a second year. Ten points to Griffyndor." The man smiled at her, handing out her wand to take.
"Thank you, Professor." Ellie mumbled, grabbing her wand back and walking back towards her seat.
"It is not known precisely who created the Disarming Charm. Some wizarding historians claim that it may have been invented by Merlin himself, others claim that its first widespread use was in Madagascar in the 11th century." The Professor spoke, eyeing the class once again. "Even if any of this is true, the fact remains that it was not very popular until 1379, when Elizabeth Smudgling — the most likely inventor, in the opinion of Miranda Goshawk - used it in a duelling contest in Dartmoor." He pointed his wand at the blackboard. "This is the movement. I want you to form teams of two and practice it on each other. Remember, ex-PELL-ee-ARE-muss."
As soon as the students stood up, the professor pointed his wand at the tables. They pushed themselves aside, making a big space in the middle. "For now you can pick a friend to team up with."
Ellie felt Lily intertwine her arm with hers and smiled at her. "Come on."
Eleonore followed Lily towards the left side of the classroom. "You can try first. I won't put up a shield." Ellie spoke, eyeing her friend. She loosely hung on to her wand, wanting Lily to start of easily.
The red hair looked at her friend and nodded, her wand up in the air. "Expelliarmus!" She spoke, pointing her wand at Ellie's. It didn't even move.
"You have to mean it, Lils. You have to want my wand to fly away. You have to want to disarm me." Ellie informed.
Lily looked at her friend with uncertainty, biting her lip. "Expelliarmus!" Lily yelled a little louder.
The wand only budged a little bit. "Come on, Lils. You want that wand out of my hand." Ellie eagerly encouraged. "Do you want me to piss you off a little bit?" Ellie smirked at her friend who was now squinting her eyes at her. "I actually had a lot of fun with Potter at Chri-"
"EXPELLIARMUS!" The red head shouted, a scarlet flash coming out of her wand. Ellie immediately felt her wand rip out of her hands and smirked.
"Nice one, Lils." The dark haired girl spoke, chuckling a little at her friend's annoyed glance at her. Eleonore took back her wand and looked around in the classroom, James and Sirius seemed to manage both well. Marlene had knocked Alice her wand out of her hands and Ellie had to suppress her squeal when she noticed Tina disarming Alixana's wand. "Good job, Tina!" Ellie shouted, watching how the blonde raised her thumb at her friend with a grin.
"Pay attention to your own duel, Miss Darensbourg." Professor Emlin spoke, addressing the young girl.
Ellie immediately turned around, a goofy grin still plastered on her face. "Ready Lily? Try to block me off. Expelliarmus!" Lily's wand immediately flew out of her hands and towards Ellie's hand.
Friday, September 22 , 1972
Gryffindor Common Room, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts
"Are you nervous for your first match?" Ellie heard Sirius speak in the background towards his friend. James Potter had indeed tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team two weeks ago and after many Monday morning practices, he would finally play for the first time tomorrow.
"Not really, Hufflepuff isn't that challenging." Eleonore rolled her eyes at James his self-confidence voice.
"You haven't even competed against them, how would you know?" She questioned, looking up from her Charms assignment. Ellie's knees were resting over the chair in front of the fireplace. It was nearly eight o'clock in the evening and most of the students were just hanging around playing Wizarding Chess or Exploding Snap. She was the only one already starting the essay on the Engorgement Charm.
"I've seen them play last year, Ellie. I didn't miss one match." James pointed out, ruffling his hair to make it even more untidier.
"Well, we'll see about that tomorrow." Ellie answered.
"Are you coming to see me play?" James grinned, his eyes adverting from Ellie towards Lily who sat at the table next to Alice. He knew if Ellie would come, Lily would probably be there as well.
"Of course, I am." She smiled sweetly. Even though James and her didn't always think on the same page, she didn't want to see him fail. "Have any of you seen Remus? We were going to do this essay together." Ellie wondered, staring at James and Sirius.
"Last time I saw him he didn't look so well. We haven't seen him since." James answered.
"What is up with you two always doing homework on Friday nights anyways?" Sirius mumbled, putting another card from his hand on the floor.
"Not that it is any of your business, Black but we want to do our homework so we're free the rest of the weekend." Ellie answered shortly, a hint of concern coming through. Where was Remus? He was not the type of guy to not meet his appointments. He was always on time. "Maybe I should search for him."
"He's not feeling well, Ellie. Let him rest. He's probably asleep. You'll see him tomorrow." James spoke, yelping when the card in front of him exploded. His glasses turned black and his hair stood up even more. Sirius immediately threw his head back in laughter, pointing at his friend.
She tried holding back laughter herself but couldn't when she actually saw his shocked face. James was right, Remus was probably just sleeping. He had been looking worse these past days, he told her he had another migraine coming up and she didn't want to whine too much. She was just worried about him. She'd bring him some chocolate with her tomorrow at the Quidditch game.
"Another game, James?" She heard Sirius questioned his friend while he bit his cheek.
"No, not for me. I'm going to sit with Peter for a minute, ask Ellie." James huffed, ruffling his hair to get rid of the ashes.
"Darensbourg, you up for the challenge?" Sirius looked at the girl who still had her homework spread in front of her on her thighs.
She turned her green eyes upon him. She didn't think she would be able to continue this homework without worrying over Remus. She might as well try to take her mind off him. "Alright then." Ellie shrugged, pushing her legs over the chair and standing up straight.
Sirius seemed surprised by her gesture, his eyebrows lifted in the air as she sat down in front of the fireplace right opposite of him. Her long legs were crossed as her socks were still raised up to her knees. Her Gryffindor tie loosely hanging around her neck. "Come on then, start shuffling." She gestured, a little annoyed that he kept staring at her.
It was the first time he realized she was actually a girl. She had always irritated him. Her slight tad of arrogance, the way she always so sarcastically threw comments at him. Even now, as she crooked her eyebrow at him, her sharp razorblade cheekbones accentuated in the light of the fire, she seemed impatient.
He adverted his eyes towards the cards in his hands. "Here's your pack." He handed her the pack of cards.
"Thanks." She looked up, an edge of worry in her eyes. "I've never asked you how your summer was."
"How do you think it was?" He shortly replied, placing one card on the floor.
"Shitty, probably." Ellie mumbled, throwing her card on top of his.
He had to chuckle a little, "That's an understatement."
"Sorry."
"Don't." His grey eyes locked with her green eyes. "Don't apologize for someone else. It's not your fault."
She nodded her head slowly, "It's not yours either." Ellie mumbled, a little surprised at her own words. "You can't help who you are."
"And I am?" He raised her eyebrows in challenge at her.
"Annoying, most of the time." She held back a grin, throwing her own card on top of his with a little more power. The card immediately started to shake as her mouth widened, a frightened expression upon her face. "Oh no."
Sirius immediately started to laugh, knowing what was going to happen. The card exploded in Ellie's face. Her hair was a tangled mess and her normally white shirt, was now black. "This game sucks." She threw the rest of the cards down, ignoring the way Sirius rolled on his stomach in laughter.
"See you can't help who you are." He teasingly spoke back at her, noticing her death glare. "You can't help that you're a sore loser."
"I'm not a sore loser." She shook her head at him.
"You are. You really are." He stated, noticing how the rest of common room tried holding back laughter at the two.
"You must have hexed these cards. I'm usually quite good at Exploding Snap." Ellie mumbled, pushing her hair out of her face.
"How is it always my fault that you suck at something?" Sirius shot back, taking the cards and carefully created a pile.
"Because."
"Because?" He raised his eyebrows at her, trying to hold back laughter.
"Because you always get on my last nerve, Black. For Merlin's sake." Ellie huffed, "I'm off to bed. Have fun playing with yourself."
"Oh, I will." She didn't notice the way James and Sirius smirked at one another.
Saturday, September 23 , 1972
Quidditch Pitch, Hogwarts Fields, Hogwarts
"And the Quaffle is taken by Diggory, passing it on to Peppering. Peppering tries once again, OH NO- M.G. MCGONAGALL DEFENDS!" The Quidditch Commantary spoke through the speakers.
"Come on, James." Ellie mumbled, following her friend's movements on the pitch. The weather was quite nice, it wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold. Perfect quidditch weather. "Yes!" She jumped on her feet, clapping her hands when she saw James fly through the Hufflepuffs, towards their goal.
"POTTER SCORES! GRYFFINDOR IS LEADING! 50 – 40!"
Eleonore jumped, throwing her Gryffindor scarf in the air in enthusiasm. Peter was standing next to her on her left and he seemed a little surprised when she wrapped her hands around him in excitement. "He's doing great, isn't he?!"
"Ye-yes, he is." The small boy mumbled, his eyes adverting back towards the pitch.
"Now is the time for the snitch. Come on, Hamblin." Ellie eagerly spoke, her eyes finding the Gryffindor Quidditch captain on the field. The fifteen year old's eyes were frantically looking around, trying to find the small, winged golden ball. In the meantime the chasers were still flying around, passing the quaffle. "DIGGORY HAS THE QUAFFLE AGAIN! HE TRIES TO SCORE- POTTER TAKES THE QUAFLLE IN FRONT OF PEPPERING!"
"Have you seen Remus by the way, Peter?" Ellie eyes turned towards the small boy standing on her left. "I'm concerned. I just don't see why he's not here, it's the first time James is playing."
"I- I haven't seen him, no. He's probably sick again." Peter spoke, a little annoyed that Ellie kept on asking about Remus when he was with her. "I could be dying and I'd still be here. It's James his first match, this is important."
Ellie's green eyes stared at the chubby boy, she didn't really have an explanation either. She hadn't heard from Remus since yesterday morning. She bit her lip, "Yeah… He did look quite bad yesterday though… Maybe he's just really, really sick."
"This is James his moment of glory, let's not think about Remus for now." The boy spoke, turning his eyes back towards the field.
"You're right." Ellie answered, a hint of worry still coming through. She noticed Hamblin making a 90 degree dive towards the ground. The Hufflepuff seeker immediately followed. "DAVID HAMBLIN SEES SOMETHING! LOOK AT HIM SHOOTING THROUGH THE AIR! HE LOOKS LIKE A SHOOTING STAR!"
"Come on, come on, come on!" Ellie murmured to herself, her eyes not leaving the blonde seeker in front of her. "HAMBLIN HAS THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS WITH 200 – 40!"
Eleonore jumped up immediately, screaming as her arms waved through the air. Every single Gryffindor supporter seemed ecstatic by the win as they shouted in celebration. Her arms flew around Peter's neck in fervor, jumping around with him. "YES! YES! YES!"
She released Peter who grinned at her and turned towards Lily who screamed in joy herself. "Potter's never going to let this one down."
"I don't even care!" Ellie cheered, watching how the Gryffindor team landed and immediately jumped on one another. "We won! Let's go down! I want to join them."
Lily laughed at Eleonore jumping over the bench to descend down the stairs.
Even though she was overjoyed by the Gryffindor win, she couldn't help but wonder why Remus wasn't here. Peter was right, she could be sick as hell and she would still not miss a match. Finally making it down to the ground, she ran towards James. "You won! You won! That was amazing! Hamblin, you are amazing!" She cheered at the fourth year Quidditch captain, who laughed at her enthusiasm.
"I told you we were going to win!" James grinned, watching how Sirius came up to him and hugged him.
"It was a good match. I'm proud of you!" Sirius laughed, ruffling James his hair even more.
Eleonore couldn't help but roll her eyes at the two of them, a held back grin upon her face. "Let's get inside, Lils and give these two the privacy to kiss."
Sunday, September 24 , 1972
Gryffindor Common Room, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts
The aftermath of the very first Quidditch game was quite big. The Gryffindors had actually celebrated throughout the entire Saturdaynight. Ellie wondered what it would be like if they would actually win the Quidditch cup. She suspected that the festivities would last an entire month.
James Potter walked around the common room with a smug grin upon his face the entire evening. His always-attached-limb Sirius Black proudly beaming behind him. Her eyes scanned the common room once again, finally lightening up when she saw a familiar face descending down the dorm's stairs.
"Remus." She mumbled, her legs straightening out immediately to meet him. She glanced at him in worry, noticing how pale he looked. "I've been worried sick about you."
He gave her a timid smile, the tiredness still evident in his green eyes. "No need to worry about me, Ellie."
"You weren't there for James his first match." She stated, "I knew you had to be really sick to miss that out. Why didn't you ask for help? I could have been there for you, you know."
"I can take care of myself, I'm better now." He adverted his insecure eyes from her scanning glance. "I feel really bad about missing James his first game."
"You can't help that you're sick, Remus." The moment she saw him, she instantly regretted her thoughts at the Quidditch game, the way she agreed with Peter. "Do you want me to do your Charms homework?" She knew it was due tomorrow.
"No, no, I'll be fine." He tried to sound convincing but his limbs were so tired. Full moon had been on Friday and he was absolutely drained. It had been a long time since the transfiguration was this bad. Madam Pomfrey explained it to him that it had something to do with puberty and how he was growing, which included his hormones to link with his inner werewolf.
The only thing he remembered was the scrutinizing pain before it began and then waking up 36 hours later in the hospital, a concerned Albus Dumbledore looking over him. He wanted to go to James his match. Regret filled him when he heard it was already finished and he had missed it.
"Let me help you, okay?" Ellie smiled at him, her almond shaped eyes lightening up when she saw his tired eyes smile at her.
"Okay." He nodded his head at her.
"I have some chocolate chip cookies." She enthusiastically spoke, waving the cookies in front of his face.
Remus gratefully smiled at her, placing himself down at the table. "I'm sorry about not meeting up with you on Friday."
"Stop apologizing." Ellie spoke, "It's not necessary. Let me help you and then you can lay down for another few hours. You look like you need it."
"Thank you, Ellie." His eyes sought hers over the table. "I appreciate everything you do for me."
"No worries, you're my friend. I would do it for every friend of mine." She grinned. He slowly nodded his head at her, watching how she took out her own homework. "Eat these first." Eleonore instructed, shifting the cookies at him.
Remus tiredly grabbed the cookies, nibbling on the first one. He couldn't help but let his eyes wonder at the girl sitting in front of him. Her long black hair hung in front of her bright green eyes. She was biting her lip as the quill scribbled over the parchment, every now and then dipping it back in the jar of ink.
If she would know, he was certain she wouldn't want anything to do with him anymore.
For the first time, he felt an extreme amount of fear over losing someone.