Rose had only gotten into bed at six in the morning, and she was not in the mood to go into Hogsmeade, especially after falling asleep into her porridge at breakfast. That was okay with Sirius who was just glad to not be dead, and to have someone who would be able to keep him that way.
And that left Ellie and James.
They set out first thing, giving their passes to Filch as they left the castle grounds, joining other Gryffindor s on the long walk to the village. Once they got there, they went into the small stores, like Honeyduke's and Zonko's to shop. They bought several bags of practical jokes, including a new product called dung bombs, that released a terrible smell, which they cleverly planned on using to clear out the common room if there was ever an emergency and they needed to get to the secret passage. They bought new quills and ink, to make up for what Rose had used to pay of Peeves, and James sampled a pair of socks that were quidditch themed.
"Oh, Rose would absolutely love this necklace," Ellie commented, finding one with a tiny geographically correct globe painted inside of a hollow glass sphere. It was breathtaking.
"Maybe I should buy it for Sirius to give to her as a 'thank you for saving my ass' gift," he joked.
Ellie laughed.
"That's not a bad idea, except for the fact that she's allergic to silver. Wear that necklace and she's be the one whose ass would need saving," Ellie remarked. The necklace ended up costing too much, so they left it behind.
"What about you? Allergic to anything?" James asked, making a stab at conversation.
"Nope. How about you?"
"I've got a horrible problem with trees. Makes quidditch practice hell in the spring," he complained lightly.
"I can imagine. You're the captain this year, right? What do you think our odds are of taking the House Championship?"
"Pretty good. Slytherin lost all of their good players," James replied. They launched into a detailed conversation about quidditch that I won't bother to write, though it can be assured that it was more than enough to sustain them until around lunch time (which was only a half hour away) when they made their way to The Three Broomsticks where they sat together in a corner.
They had just finished their drinks, and James was playing with his hair as he always did, ruffling it up to be even messier, which somehow suited him. Ellie had just realized that she was awkwardly staring and was about to look away, when she noticed James was staring a bit too.
"Hey! What're you looking at?" She accused.
"Something pretty," he replied. "Come on. I have something to show you, and it's gonna take a little while to get there."
He took her by the hand and led her out of the crowded shop and down into the cobblestoned street, dodging carts and students that were walking slowly in flocks. Ellie had to focus entirely on not tripping over her feet, so she didn't notice as they made it to the edge of the village limits until they stepped off the road.
Here, the path was thinner and made of dirt, and it led off into a light wood.
James led down the path and off into the woods. The pair continued to talk, now away from the crowds and feeling more comfortable about their conversation, discussing what they thought their animagi would end up being, what they thought the rest of the process would entail.
The woods were gorgeous this time of year, the leaves turning, and the light filtering through the branches in a golden flow. Birds sang in the trees and flew low over their heads, a few of them were owls heading to the owlery or the school.
The pair came to a clearing at the edge of a cliff, a small one, that looked off into a valley. The sun was beginning to set, and they sat, barely touching on a rock above the overlook.
"This is gorgeous. How'd you find it? No, wait. Let me guess. An old family secret," she guessed, watching the sun slowly sink.
He laughed and ruffled his hair again.
"Nope. Sirius and I found it. First year," he mused.
"The first Hogsmeade trip isn't until third year. Nice try," she replied.
"Ah, very perceptive. But I think that you know that the normal rules don't apply to us."
"No, you're right. They're just made so you can break them," she replied.
He laughed again, and she couldn't help but smile. His mirth was contagious.
"Nah, that's just Sirius. I tag along for the fun of it," James replied.
"And this? Staying out after curfew? How do you plan on getting away with that?"
"Just an old Gryffindor family secret," he smirked. The last rays of sun floated over the horizon and darkness began to take their place. "Shall we?"
"We shall."
She was the one giggling now.
As they crept through the forest after dark, Ellie couldn't help but be somewhat jumpy. Every shadow looked like something looming out of the fog to get her. Every crack of a branch underfoot was something ready to eat her alive. She wanted to light up her wand, but knew she would be in trouble for using magic outside of school.
James must have realized that she was worried and took her hand. She felt the warmth and immediately forgot to be afraid of the dark, instead, transfixed by his slight touch, the warmth of his large hands, the callouses from many hours on a broomstick.
"Hang in there. We're almost back," he said, his voice breaking the eerie silence.
"Thanks," she replied gratefully.
They made their way back through the empty, dark town, wearing the invisibility cloak and back to the castle through a secret passage through the basement of Honeyduke's.
Even though the darkness stopped with the lights in the window at the Hog's Head Inn at the edge of town, they still held hands all the way back through the castle.
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The day was a quiet one, Rose nodding off in her arm chair and not being woken until dinner by Sirius. She spent the rest of the day trying to level her massive stack of homework and mostly succeeding, even getting a chance to sit down on the sofa with Lupin and talk about runes.
Sirius saw what they were doing, lost interest, and resorted to levitating furniture that had first-years in it.
After the third or fourth bench of eleven year olds went flying and ink had fallen onto the rug at least twice, Rose put a stop to it.
"Sirius, come on. You're going to get into trouble," she told him, complaining softly.
"I'm bored though," he complained, letting the chair he had up spin in slow circles.
"Well, then, get ahead on your homework," she suggested.
"That'll just make me more bored," he replied, lazily letting the seat drop.
"Well, you know what they say. 'If you're bored, then you're boring'," she replied.
"Quite right. Which is why you must help to kill my boredom, so I am not assumed to be a typical, mundane human being," he flopped down next to her on the couch and put his head on her shoulder.
"Well, how about a masquerade. On Halloween night. With me. Does that interest you at all?"
He perked up.
"What color robes should I wear?"
"Not so bored any more, are we?" She teased, amused by his sudden alertness.
"You tend to make things interesting," he replied, smiling at her.
"Well, since you're now less bored, I am going to kill the romantic moment and finish these runes with Remus. Give me ten minutes," she instructed.
He pouted.
"I'll be back in eight," he replied, going to Join Peter for a game of Gobstones.
"It won't even take that long for Peter to beat you," Rose replied, referring to Peter's unnatural talent with the game. Peter smiled happily.
"So sorry," Rose said, turning back to Remus.
"No, you actually handled that pretty well considering how Sirius normally acts," he replied almost with an accidentally dark undertone, flipping through the book. They attempted to puzzle through a few more runes.
"What about James and Ellie?" Rose asked, looking around the common room and noticing students begin to trickle back in from the village as the sky grew dark.
"He had plans. They'll be back before long," he dismissed, unconcerned.
Rose was more than a little bit ticked off. After all, she had already done her half of their charms project and she was waiting on Ellie's return to do the rest. Also, she was out, outside of castle grounds, after dark. That could be dangerous. And with James Potter? If anyone would be sneaking out of grounds with Ellie, Rose had assumed that it would have been herself.
She shrugged it aside, worried that it wasn't her place to be thinking such things.
"Reckon he'll ask her to the ball?" She asked, after comparing a rune from the tunnel to one from an ancient goblin text.
"He likes to take his time. Probably, though," Remus replied.
"That's what I thought. I'd arrange for you and Peter to get invited too, but he said he didn't want to go, and you'll be sick," she explained as Remus froze. She continued working, showing no sign that she had said anything terribly wrong.
"Excuse me?" Remus asked, after a minute, trying to pretend that he didn't know what she was talking about.
"I know, Remus. I'm not stupid," she said, glancing up sideways from her paper. He sighed and started to show his internal panic a little.
"Did Sirius tell you?" He asked, ready to flagrantly abuse his prefect privileges and give his friend a detention.
"No. I've known for almost a year now. Don't worry."
He sighed again.
"I always worry," he replied, his eyes looking tired in the firelight.
"And that's not a bad thing. You need to, sometimes. But right now you don't. You're perfectly safe here, with us. Your secret's hidden with me," she replied, carefully, but with confidence.
"That's not what I'm worried about. You, and Sirius, and Ellie and James, and Peter, you're all whole. But I'm..."
"What we are is your friends, whatever that means. And it's not going to change. We'll be there for you, no matter what you are on occasion. Now stop looking so down. Here come James and Ellie," she was right, the pair entered the room, dropping hands as they did so.
Ellie came in and sat down next to her. Lupin excused himself to finish studying for a defense against the dark arts practical that was coming up. Sirius went with him, and James followed suit. That left Peter, sitting in the corner and toiling with an essay.
Rose realized how exhausted she was, and how damaged her sleep schedule had become, and said an early good night to Ellie, leaving her alone to finish their charms project, still grinning and humming quietly to herself after her first real day with James.
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Writing is hard sometimes AGHHH. Anyways, Feel free to review with any thoughts! Thanks for reading, and don't let the muggles get you down!
post edit: STILL TRUE IT IS SO HARD SOMETIMES but okay other times i guess. Thanks for putting up with this, once again.