Better - The Marauders

EIGHTY-FOUR

- Chapter Eighty-Four -
"He was dead before you could even dry your own tears."

The Hogsmeade heat was unbearable. Thankfully, Elladora's skirt allowed her legs to catch some air but her top was the problem; sweat was layering on her arms but there was no way she could roll her sleeves up otherwise everyone she was with would see the inked skull and snake printed clearly on her inner arm. It wasn't just the boys she was disappointing anymore which would still surely be the worst part but it was also Lily, a muggleborn, who Elladora had become very close with in the past week. The thought took a toll on her, she didn't know what she would do if they found out and left her and she hated not knowing things.

But it seemed at the moment none of them were any the wiser and she was determined to keep it that way. She and Remus had been walking beside each other since they got out of the castle, hands brushing from their closeness but Mary talking her ear off on the other side of her was quite the distraction from the thrill rushing through her at the feeling of skin on skin. It was like the littlest touch from him set her whole figure on fire and her grin grows wider until her cheeks hurt. Sirius was walking in between James and Lily, his arms thrown over their shoulders as he rambled on about something.

Marlene and Dorcas had linked arms and walked ahead, talking and laughing with each other and Peter was by Remus' side, the two of them talking quietly.

"So, you know, I really think that writing would be good for me." Mary said as they walked through Hogsmeade, walking past Dervish and Banges that had a variety of different cauldrons propped up in the store window and a singular telescope on a higher platform. "Not like a schoolbook but like a fiction book, kind of like an Agatha Christie thing but just Mary Macdonald."

"I've never heard of Agatha Christie." Elladora tilted her head as they walked, the Three Broomsticks was up ahead and Elladora supposed they would be heading in there and getting a cool drink for a small break of walking.

"She's next on our list." Remus butted in from beside her and both girls looked up to him, Mary furrowed her eyebrows and Elladora's lip quirked up slightly at the mention of their book list. "Murder on the Orient Express, The mysterious affair at Styles, Crooked house..."

"What list?" Mary asked curiously, glancing in between the two as Peter jogged forward and over to Marlene who had beckoned him over to prove to Dorcas how tall she was in comparison; Elladora smiled as Peter scowled and pouted sulkily at the two girls poking fun of him.

"Me and Dora have a book list." Remus explained and Elladora looked away from Peter and back to him, smiling at the way the sun filtered perfectly through his hair that he had run a hand through multiple times so far. "We've done a lot of Jane Austen, but we're taking a break from that, we did Little Women, The Great Gatsby, Carrie, The Shining and now we're moving onto Agatha Christie because Dora was a scaredy cat and couldn't handle Stephen King."