(OotP) CHAPTER SIX: Dragon Heartstring and Reed

Xenophilius' article came out a few days later. Despite being polluted by rather frequent insistences about Sirius' alter ego and other strange theories Xenophilius had concocted, the meat of what she'd wanted included was still there—the full explanation for how things had gone down the night Sirius was arrested.

Sirius, of course, was thrilled. Even if it had been published in a less-than-reputable paper, it had still been published—and as the cover story, no less. Even those who denied believing it would still at least know about it.

"D'you reckon people will believe it?" Ellie asked Fred the day after the article was released. They were at Diagon Alley, shopping for their back-to-school supplies and, most importantly, new wands. They had both lost theirs at the graveyard, and Ellie had felt horribly naked without hers for so long. "At Hogwarts, I mean?"

"The ones who matter will," Fred told her as they stepped into Ollivander's. "The ones who don't, you shouldn't waste your time with, anyway."

She nodded in agreement as they greeted old Ollivander and told him of their situations.

"Ah, yes—I read about this," said Ollivander thoughtfully. "Interesting, isn't it—that people claim you're lying, yet you were somehow rendered wandless, and no one seems to be presenting a better explanation?"

"Interesting, indeed," said Ellie, feeling a rush of gratitude toward the strange, old wand maker.

"Now, then. Ladies first. Your last wand was dragon heartstring, was it not?"

"Both of ours were," said Fred proudly.

"That's right. Dragon heartstring and reed, in Miss Black's case." Ollivander scanned his collection thoughtfully, then reached for a box: rosewood and dragon heartstring, nine inches.

It felt completely wrong.

He handed her several more options that seemed to feel worse and worse until, finally, he heaved a dramatic sigh and pulled out a longer dragon heartstring and reed wand—the same she'd had before.

It was perfect.

"Stubborn one, aren't you?" Ollivander asked her with amusement as she clutched her new wand happily. "Unwilling to accept change?"

"Stubborn, certainly," Fred told him with amusement. "But she comes 'round to change eventually. Maybe she just knows not to let go of something when it's right."

She blushed at that as Ollivander started digging for options for Fred. "Let's see… your last one was chestnut, was it not? Perhaps a nice dogwood this time around—would certainly suit your more mischievous—"

"Can I save you some time?" Fred interrupted him. "Just find another reed and dragon heartstring."

Ellie blinked at him, surprised by that. "What?"

"If you're a dog, I'm a dog, remember?"

She felt a surge of overwhelming emotion overtake her as Ollivander went off in search of a wand almost identical to Ellie's. She locked eyes with Fred, and all she wanted to do—all she craved to do—was kiss him, right there, in the middle of the shop.

Fine by me, he said in her head as his eyes glittered with playfulness. Been far too long, if you ask me.

But Ollivander returned to them at that, interrupting the moment and handing Fred a dragon heartstring and reed wand that chose him instantly.


The day before they left for Hogwarts, Hermione and Ron received letters from Hogwarts congratulating them on being made prefects.

It shouldn't have hurt Ellie the way it did. In what universe was she, with her mediocre grades and affinity for trouble, a better contender for such a job than Hermione? Sure, Ron was a bit more of a gray area, but he had also wanted it more than she had. Until now, the desire to be one had barely crossed her mind.

She saw clear as day behind Harry's plastered-on smile that he felt the same way.

"Harry," she said, cocking her head toward the staircase. "Didn't you have something you wanted to show me upstairs?"

"Er… right," Harry said awkwardly, and the two of them wandered up the stairs just in time to dodge Molly and Arthur's squeals of excitement.

"You looked less than thrilled," Ellie told him when they were alone together. "Feeling a little disappointed?"

He nodded. "Of course I'm happy for them both, but… Well, it's not just the disappointment, is it? It's knowing that they'll share this without me. It's… another thing that makes me even more alone."

She felt a surge of pity for him. "You have Ginny, though, right? Things are going well with you two?"

He ran a hand through his hair, looking pained. "Of course I have her, and I'm grateful for that. It's just… it's really hard to talk about that night. You know? I know she wants to hear about it so she can try to help, but talking about it with someone who wasn't there…"

Ellie understood. She felt the same resistance toward talking to Fred about it, and he had been there. "Well, you have me."

He smiled more genuinely at that. "I know. Your letters really got me through a lot this summer, Ellie. How are you holding up now that Fred's here?"

She bit her lip. Fred had been able to pick up on almost every word of the trial remotely; was he picking up on this now?

Could she really expected to live her entire life differently knowing that her boyfriend was listening in on her every conversation?

"It's… confusing," she said carefully. "I'm glad he's here—I missed him horribly when he wasn't. It's just… hard, too. I get overwhelmed with guilt, and I start questioning things, and…"

"You have nothing to feel guilty about, Ellie. You didn't do anything wrong, and being with him—"

"I know." Tonks' words stuck with her even know—the realization that not being with Fred on Cedric's account might actually be the opposite of what he wanted. And yet… "It's just this lingering feeling that won't go away, despite my rational mind knowing it should."

He nodded, seeming to understand. "Well, you have me, too, Ellie. Always. But I reckon if we don't get down there soon and congratulate our friends, they're going to hold it against us."


When Ellie and Harry returned downstairs, the rest of the house's inhabitants were there, too—Ginny, the twins, Molly, Arthur, and Sirius. Both Fred and Ginny glanced up at them when they approached, and neither looked pleased.

Don't look at me like that, Ellie said in Fred's head as she came over to give Hermione and Ron a proper congratulations. We were just talking.

I heard. He sounded a strange mixture of cross and forlorn. Since when was it easier for you to talk to the Boy Who Lived than me?

You know when. And how is it fair that you listen in on every damn conversation I have these days? How am I supposed to have even a lick of privacy?

I told you, it's not something I can control. I—

Ellie let out a frustrated groan at that, surprising everyone in the room. Blushing, she mumbled an apology and that she needed to go to the loo. As she headed up the stairs, she told him rather fiercely, Come on, then.

He appeared in her room before she did, having Apparated there.

"You being jealous of Harry is absurd," she told him as she stormed into the room and slammed the door closed behind her. "He's got a fantastic girlfriend of his own—one I happen to adore—and we've been just friends for years."

"Is it really so absurd? I heard the guy, El. Your letters really got me through a lot this summer. How many letters did you write to me?"

The answer, of course, was none. And yet… "You were in my dreams, Fred. You were in my head. We didn't have to write letters. Besides, we agreed to take the summer apart."

"Right. Because it's so hard for you to be with me, you can't stand it."

His words made her heart twist and ache with guilt and pain. However hard this was for her, she knew it was a thousand times harder for him. She couldn't even imagine having to see him every day and know that it hurt him to be around her.

"It is hard," she said, reaching out to take his hand. "But that doesn't mean I don't want it, Fred. And it certainly doesn't mean I want to be with Harry."

He sighed, taking a step closer to her and using his free hand to brush her hair away from her face and tuck it behind her cheek. "I just want to make things better for you—for us. But I don't know how."

She took a step closer to him, too, so that they were nearly chest to chest. "Just… be patient with me," she said softly. "Know that I'm trying—and that I don't want you to give up."

His brown eyes were brimming with love and desire for her. She could tell he ached with the urge to kiss her, and she felt it, too. It was time, wasn't it? After what Tonks had said, and what Harry had said…

Pushing past the pain and confusion, she did it—she kissed him.

And just like the last time, things escalated very quickly.

It just felt so good to kiss him—so right—even after all the doubt and pain surrounding it. It was as if the harder and faster she kissed him, the further her mind would wander from all things Cedric and graveyard and Voldemort.

She pushed him onto the bed again, but this time, she didn't start by removing his shirt; she started by removing her own.

"El," he murmured as she did so, as if trying weakly to object. But she ignored that, too, instead taking his hand and pressing it against the bare skin of her stomach, and then up, back, toward the clasp of her bra—

"El," he said again—sharper this time. He pulled away from her, removing his hand from her grasp. His eyes flicked over her body just once, and the lust and desire in them was enough to make her melt right into the bed, but then he looked away from her altogether, handing her her shirt.

"Despite what the devil on my shoulder is telling me," he joked with a wry sort of smile, "it isn't a good idea."

"Why not?" she asked as she accepted the shirt. She made no move to put it back on. "We've been together for a long time, Fred. It's only natural to—"

"We aren't even together now," he interrupted, voice rising, as he rose to his feet. "You can't even look at me half the time. Until you know what you want, it isn't fair to either of us to… to…"

To go further.

She sighed, putting the shirt back on and rising to her own feet. "I do know what I want," she said softly. "I want to be with you. You get that, don't you?"

His eyes were pained—almost haunted—when they looked back at her. "I want to believe you, El. More than anything."

"Then believe it." She was nearly pleading with him at this point. "It was only a few months ago that we lost him, Fred—of course I'm still feeling guilty. But that doesn't mean I've changed how I feel about you. Can't you tell from the way I look at you? Can't you tell from the way I kiss you?"

He sighed, outstretching his arms and taking her into a tight, warm embrace. She melted into his arms, closed her eyes, and tried not to think about anything but Fred.


Finally, the day of their return to Hogwarts was upon them.

"I'm coming with you," Sirius informed them when they gathered in the foyer. "To King's Cross. In my dog form, of course."

"No way," Ellie said immediately—before Molly or Arthur had the chance to do the same. "It's way too risky—especially now that I've come clean to the world about you."

"She and Lupin even told everyone about Pettigrew being an unregistered Animagus," Harry reminded him. "So anyone who's paying attention might start wondering whether you are, too."

"Your Animagus isn't exactly subtle, mate," George teased Sirius. "Couldn't have gone for a nice little terrier?"

Sirius shot George a sarcastic look then glanced at Ellie, looking disappointed. "But…"

"I know you're feeling stir-crazy," she told him softly. "But it won't be forever, Dad. At least people are talking about it now—the possibility of your innocence. And once we find and capture Peter—"

"You will do no such thing!" scoffed Molly. "You are to focus on your fifth year of school—which, in case you forgot, is your O.W.L. year!"

She had forgotten. O.W.L.s, or Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations, were the last thing on Ellie's mind at the moment, but she knew that Molly was right: at some point that year, they'd monopolize her attention.

"Right," she told Molly politely. "Just… you know. Eventually."

Sirius shot her a small grin at that. "Okay, okay. I won't go. Consider it a parting gift to my favourite daughter."

She rolled her eyes as her father embraced her in a warm, tight hug.

"I love you," he said into her ear. "Please take care of yourself this year—your body and your heart."

"I love you, too," she told him as she pulled reluctantly away. "Write as much as you like. And don't be too hard on poor Kreacher."

"Seconded!" chirped Hermione, who had been chastising Sirius since her arrival about his treatment of the family house-elf.

"Come along, now," said Molly as she ushered them toward the door. "Don't want to be late."

Ellie sent one last smile in her father's direction, starting to feel the familiar tug at her heart of saying goodbye to the father who had come to mean so much to her.

When she looked away from him, though, her eyes met Fred's, and her smile widened.

At least she still had the boy who meant the world to her.


Well, Ellie and Fred definitely still have some things to work out, but they seem to be headed in the right direction, don't they? Poor Sirius, being left behind in that big, depressing house. We're heading back to Hogwarts in the next chapter, so be sure not to miss it, and don't forget to keep those reviews and follows coming. As always, thank you for reading and supporting!