good things fall apart • sirius black

We're often left confused

It'll take more than that for her to give him the time of day. She said no to Amos Diggory though.

Doesn't everyone love him? He's the badger version of Darren Wayne.

Shrugging, Ellie had no reply. She was still none the wiser as to why Lily had decided to say no to the Hufflepuff, and she hoped it wasn't just because she wasn't feeling herself at the moment. Both her and Marlene were both so excited for the ball, that Ellie didn't want Snape to ruin Lily's night. Caring, feisty and so clever, Lily was such an amazing person that she didn't deserve friends that couldn't see how spectacular she was.

When the beautiful girl got distracted staring off at her friend, Sirius took the parchment back to write something else, before sliding it in front of Ellie again. He was starting to believe she was never going to be on board with the idea, which was something he respected, but was disappointed by all the same. Holding out to know what she was doing, Sirius had turned down every girl that had asked him so far, but now he was panicking that he should've said yes to one of them just in case. At this rate, even after having so many proposals, he'd be showing up alone.

Have you decided if you're going to the dance yet?

Ellie just shook her head when she read what he'd wrote, and Sirius scribbled something else.

Have you been asked though?

After the incident with Ebony Lockheart at the party, another one of the Hufflepuffs that was sat in the little group at the time had found Ellie after she'd met Regulus during one of her free periods two days later. He'd asked her if she wanted to go with him, and whilst he generally looked kind, Ellie had a feeling he was only asking because he knew no one had asked her yet. When she'd said 'I'm really sorry, but I wasn't lying when I said I might not be going. I can't say yes in case I let you down', he hadn't seemed offended at all, and left her with a bashful wave.

That however, had seemed to open the flood gates to her being asked by lots of people. Whether he'd told everyone that she'd said no to him, or word had just got out that she didn't have a date yet, she didn't know, but she was being approached left, right, and centre.

It was always when she was on her own, which made it all rather overwhelming, and the more she told people that she couldn't be their date because she might not be going, the more embarrassing the situation got. This is why she hadn't told anyone about it. She was flattered, and she didn't want to be rude, but no one seemed to be able to understand that she wasn't planning on attending. By the way rumours travelled around the school, Ellie had half expected everyone to know about her decision, but apparently every boy that asked her thought that he was going to be the one to change her mind.

At this point the beautiful girl avoided walking the halls alone at any cost, and her face heated up red at the thought.

She shook her head at Sirius' question, avoiding his gaze in hopes he'd believe her lie. Eying her carefully, Sirius knew something was up, but he didn't think she had any reason to not tell him the truth, so he didn't question her answer.

A part of him was irrationally angry at the population of Hogwarts for ignoring the beautiful girl like this. He couldn't understand how no one was interested in taking her to the ball. The Marauders weren't popular amongst everyone, but even him, who supposedly was hated by all of Ravenclaw for being a player, had been turning away the eagles. And somehow, Ellie Gryffin hadn't been asked at all.

Ellie Gryffin who was pureblood royalty, Ellie Gryffin who was a celebrated Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Ellie Gryffin who was drop dead gorgeous.