Illicit | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 16

Doris collected the rest of her stuff and put it into her bag. She stood up and hung it over her shoulder.

"I've got extra Herbology with Sprout," she said. Eleanor frowned and looked up at her.

"I'm a nerd, Ella, don't question my ways," she laughed before turning on her heels, leaving the Library.

Eleanor laughed softly and shook her head. She took Doris' piece of parchment and started to copy her essay, changing up some bits here and there to make it seem like her own work.

When she finished she looked around and noticed James still working on his little pebble-project. Or well, Sirius' project. But James was generally better at spells and enchantments, so it made sense he decided to take on the task.

Eleanor got up and walked over to where he was sitting. James looked up as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

"How're you getting along Jamie?" she grinned. He smirked at her and messed up his hair.

"Very well actually," he said proudly. "I think I'll have them done by tomorrow. I expected it to be a lot more difficult, but really, Sirius could've done this as well." They both laughed at that.

James continued his work and Eleanor watched. It started to sink in that they were doing all of this for her brother, for Remus. She thought it was beautiful.  Eleanor leaped forward and hugged James.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he whispered, sounding concerned. He put down his wand and put an arm around her, rubbing circles on her shoulder with his thumb.

"Thank you for doing all of this," she mumbled. She pulled back and smiled up at him. James smiled warmly in return.

"Of course," he said, pulling his arm away from her. He straightened his glasses and ran a hand through his hair. "If you come to our dorm after dinner tomorrow I'll show you the finished product," he winked at her.

Eleanor chuckled and nodded. She got up, meaning to go over to her original seat again. When she turned the corner next to a bookcase she bumped into someone hard. A pile of books dropped to the floor.

"Oh Godric I'm so sorry!" she whisper-yelled. Her eyes shot up and met a pair of cold, grey ones.

"It's okay," Regulus chuckled.

He wanted to bend down to collect his books but Eleanor was ahead of him. She knelt down and put the books on top of each other. When she stood back up the corner of Regulus' mouth had turned up into a smirk. She smiled shyly at him and handed him his books.

"Thank you," he said softly. "I've actually been meaning to talk to you. About our little Potions thingy?" he grinned.

Eleanor didn't really know what he was talking about, but she smiled at him anyway. His eyes roamed her face.

Regulus cleared his throat. "I thought we could maybe meet up once or twice a week to go over all of the assignments together, help each other out you know," he suggested. He had a hopeful smile on his face.

Eleanor lowered her gaze a bit as she bit her lip to suppress a huge smile. She then looked up into his eyes again and nodded.

"I'd love that," she replied. Regulus smirked. "I don't want to be rude but I do have to go now, I promised my brother I'd see him this afternoon. He's ill again," she quickly said before going to grab her stuff.

Regulus chuckled to himself and gently grabbed her wrist. Eleanor looked back over her shoulder.

"So Tuesday then?" he grinned. Eleanor blushed and nodded. He winked at her and let go of her wrist before walking over to an empty desk.

James noticed she couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she left the Library to go and see Remus before the full moon

***

"I told you I don't need more chocolate El," Remus spat. He was really grumpy, another one of the side effects that came along with the full moons.

Eleanor shrugged and took a bite of the bar. "Suit yourself," she said, leaning back in her chair. She had been sitting with him for about half an hour, and even though he was always happy when she came to see him, he really wasn't having it that day.

"Can you not chew so loud," he muttered, shooting an irritated glance at her.

Eleanor looked away and sighed. "Merlin Remus if you want me to leave you can just say so," she said, looking back at him again.

Remus gulped and shook his head. Eleanor smiled feebly and handed him his chocolate bar. He took a bite and seemed to remember something he wanted to say.

"How did Amelia's date go?" he said with a mouth full of chocolate.

"I don't know I haven't spoken to her yet, I was in the Library all afternoon after she left," she explained. "But I'll let you know tomorrow if you want to?"

Remus smiled and nodded.

"Oh I meant to tell you by the way," Eleanor sat up straight. "James made a start on the pebbles today and he said he'd have them done tomorrow night," she said enthusiastically.

Remus smiled broadly. "That's great. Let's just hope there will be a storm soon," he said. Eleanor nodded.

Remus yawned and sank back into his bed, pulling up the covers a little higher. She knew that when he did that he wanted to be left alone to sleep. So she stood up and put away her chair.

"I'll see you tomorrow Remy," she whispered, leaning in to give him a gentle hug. Remus patted her on the back.

"See ya, sis," he mumbled. Eleanor let go and waved shortly at him before leaving the Hospital Wing.

When she reached the Fat Lady she said the password and climbed through the portrait hole. Her pretty happy mood changed when she saw all of her friends sitting together in front of the fireplace. Amelia was sitting in the middle, sobbing.

"What's going on?" Eleanor asked, her eyes wide with concern. Doris and Kathy both had an arm wrapped around Amelia's shoulders. Peter was holding a cup of hot cocoa, supposedly made for Amelia as well. Sirius had a tray of sugar cookies on his lap, and he was eating one as well.

Kathy turned around to look at Eleanor and shook her head. "He stood her up," she explained. At this Amelia starting sobbing heavily again.

"Oh honey," Eleanor said with a sympathetic look on her face. She grabbed a tissue and sat down in front of her. Amelia took the tissue and dried her eyes.

"H-He's a jerk," she managed to bring out. "I e-eventually f-f-found him and, and asked w-why he did it, b-but he ju-just l-laughed," she said in-between sobs.

Eleanor gritted her teeth shook her head. "What an arse," she mumbled.

Sirius huffed, "He doesn't know what he's gotten himself into, he will pay for this," he said, putting down the tray. Peter nodded eagerly.

"Nobody hurts our friends. now he'll have to deal with the consequences. And believe me, nobody wants to deal with the Marauders," he grinned.