Better - The Marauders

THIRTY-EIGHT

Elladora didn't know what she would do if her parents ever found out about her group of friends. She couldn't even imagine what they would do if they knew that she was sneaking out at curfew to go to a muggle-borns birthday party, a Gryffindor muggle-born too.

Her black flats padded against the stone floor as she swerved around the corner, fiddling with the end of her sleeve. She was wearing a long-sleeved black cocktail dress that went over her shoulders and finished just above her knees. The boys had sneaked her out to Hogsmeade earlier and they sat in the shop, judging every dress that she came out in.

The first dress she tried was one like this, but red and had a v-neck and had lots of lace, so the boys all immediately said no. It's not like she cared about it though, they had more fashion sense than she probably would ever had. Especially Peter, who took about 10 minutes analysing the dress before suggesting another one.

The second dress was white but it was also too tight and Elladora didn't like it.

But this is the last one she tried on, she trudged out of the dressing room, unamused at the way she was practically modelling them and twirled slowly in a circle. It was all big smiles and thumbs up before she bought it and they sneaked back into Hogwarts under the invisibility cloak.

The same cloak that James had leant to her so she could go about the corridors without getting caught, not like she really needed it. But she used it anyway.

So there she was, strolling up to the portrait that was funnily enough also the entrance to the Gryffindor tower whilst hidden under James' invisibility cloak. Her footsteps were quiet as she creeped up to the fat lady, who looked like she was adjusting a pillow behind her to maybe fall asleep.

"Fortibus Militibus."

The fat lady seemed shocked at the words, especially since no one was there, but she swung open with her eyes narrowed  skeptically. Elladora could see the dancing Hogwarts students inside of the common room and took a moment to prepare herself. The Christmas party that she attended was a far bigger room compared to this one and there were definitely more people, but the common room seemed so crowded.

She could feel an anxious sweat already starting to form on the back of her neck whilst she started debating whether to actually go in or not. Just stood, staring at the interior of the common room as some music echoed out of the portrait hall. They wouldn't necessarily be told off for blasting music right now, since it was 5 minutes to curfew, but she couldn't just be standing around all night.

With the debate still raging inside of her head as she stood staring into the common room, a head poked round the corner and Sirius Black came into view, looking around the outside of the portrait hole.

"Dora? Is that you?" He whispered, his eyes flitting from each particle of air to the next.

"Yeah." She answered out of instinct and squeezed her eyes shut, there was no chance she was walking away now.

"Take that cloak off and come in." He said and exited the portrait hole, holding his hand out and grasping the air in front of him before grabbing the cloak and pulling it off the girl that was now visible.

She smiled sheepishly up at him and glanced around. The portrait closed and the Fat Lady gave her a bit of a glare, Elladora didn't think that she liked her very much. Sirius clicked his fingers in front of her face and she looked to him again.