- Chapter Forty-Three -
"What am I supposed to do now? I can't just cancel!"
"What the hell was that?"
"Ow!" Sirius rubbed the back of his head where Peter had just hit him whilst Remus and Elladora approached them, keeping their smiles on their faces to try and cheer the boys up. When James saw them coming, he dropped his broom on the ground and just went up to Elladora, enveloping her in a big hug.
She yelped as he lifted her off of the ground and gripped his shoulders to make sure she didn't fall. He spun round in a circle whilst keeping a tight grip on her waist whilst hugging her. "You are amazing!" He exclaimed as he let her set her feet back on the ground.
"What did I do?" She asked, alarmed as she brushed the pieces of hair out of her face that had been caught across her nose. "Did I do something?"
"You told Marple to hit Montgomery and he did, which meant that Martin could get the snitch." He poked her in the side and she squirmed, swatting his hand away. "I've never heard you be so loud before."
"I just wanted you guys to win." She shrugged, smiling. "I had no idea that I was being so loud, I just wanted to tell Ernie that they could win if they hit Adam. I think you should actually go and congratulate Jamie."
James turned to where she was pointing and saw the dark-skinned boy getting pats on the back from the rest of the team. "Oi, Martin!" He called and jogged up to him, Jamie grinned when he saw his captain approaching and met him halfway as they engaged in conversation.
Elladora smiled over in the direction of the two boys and then turned back to the rest of them where Sirius was narrowing his eyes at her, almost as if he was trying to figure something out. She narrowed her eyes back at him and tilted head to the side as they stared at each other.
"Are we...getting in the middle of something?" Peter muttered, looking at Remus, who shrugged and darting his gaze in between the two.
"I think we should just wait it out, see how long they can go before one of them-"
"I just noticed something." Sirius cut Remus off and pointed towards the girl he'd been staring at. She furrowed her eyebrows and stood up straighter, curious at what he was talking about.
"What did you notice?" She asked.
"You never call people by their last names or their nicknames." He said and Remus and Peter mulled over the thought before nodding their heads in realisation. "Well, not people that you like anyway."
"Well, everyone has a name, why not use it?" She reasoned. "They deserve a name. So when I call people by their last names, I need to have a reason, which I do for anyone I call by their last name."
"Well, why don't you call us our nicknames?" Sirius raised an eyebrow and she smiled at him.
"The same reason." She said and the boys looked over at her with confused expressions. "Everyone has a name and that name has a meaning."
"Well, out nicknames do have a meaning."
"Yes, I know but..." She trailed off and looked at Remus. "Yours is a coincidence. Remus was the name given to a small baby in Roman Mythology, Remus had a twin brother called Romulus and they were abandoned as babies, then raised by a Wolf."
Remus pursed his lips and ran a hand through his hair, rendered speechless at this new information. He was named after someone who was raised by a Wolf and just so happened to be a Wolf himself once a month. He looked at Peter next to him, who shrugged, but went wide-eyes when Elladora turned to him next.
"Peter means 'rock' or 'stone'. It comes from a Greek language. And I think it's fitting because we can rely on you." She said and he smiled bashfully, his cheeks tinting red as he looked away nervously towards Sirius, who was waiting with crossed arms.
"Yours is the most fitting." She pointed at him and a large grin adorned his face. "Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Nicknamed the "Dog Star" because it is part of the constellation Canis Major, Latin for "the greater dog.""
"Thats creepy. It's like our mums were physic." Peter chuckle and Elladora smiled at him before he spoke again. "Dora, what does your name mean?"
"Well, in the Greek origin, Elladora means a gift sent from heaven; one who is filled with light." She told them and all three smiled softly. "I don't think it really fit me until this year. Guess my coming-of-age story is done now, right?"
"It's not done until you die, which is a long time away." Sirius walked forward and threw an arm around her shoulder as the group started walking towards James, who was walking towards them.
James joined them with a wide smile. Though the match could've gone better, he was happy that they could win. All they had to do was beat Slytherin after the Easter Holidays and then they won the Quidditch cup. It's no secret that Elladora is practically an honorary Gryffindor, she sits at that table when he can. Most of her friends are in Gryffindor and she constantly cheers them on at matches.
"Oh, oh! Dora, do James." Peter jumped up and down like a little kid.
"Do me? What?" James furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Sirius and Remus.
"Name meanings." Sirius explained and James nodded, looking at Elladora. "I know we joke about her knowing everything, but I actually think she knows everything." He said and she smiled, puffing her chest out slightly.
"Okay, then, what does James mean?"
"Well, James means 'supplanter'. A supplanter takes over or takes the place of someone else, usually on purpose." Elladora said and James scrunched his nose up, shaking his head.
"I don't do that."
"Oh, really." She gave him a look. "Who does Lily Evans like more? You or Snape?"
"James." All four answered, James actually saying his own name.
"Who did she used to like more?"
"Snivellus." Sirius and James said while Peter and Remus just said 'Snape' before they all made noises of realisation.
Elladora smirked at them before shaking her head and turning around, only to be met with someone's hard chest that she bumped into. She stumbled backwards as one of the boys behind her caught her and helped her to stand up straight before she looked up at the person in front of her,
"Oh, hi Ernie." She smiled at the Korean, his black hair flapping about in the wind as he peered down at her. "I didn't see you there."
"Well, I didn't expect you to considering that your back was turned." He laughed and ran a hand through his hair, his brown eyes shone even when there was no sunlight reflecting on them and his lips tipping up into a smile as he held his broom in his hand. "I was just wondering..."
Elladora could practically feel all of the boys staring behind her, and when she turned to check, sure enough they were all standing almost right behind her, staring Ernie down judgementally.
"Don't...don't worry about them." She gave them a weird look and turned back to Ernie, giving him a smile. "What were you saying?"
"Do you maybe wanna come to Hogsmeade with me next Saturday?" He asked, shifting his weight from one foot to another whilst licking his lips nervously.
"Oh," Was all she could said as she widened her eyes and leaned back slightly. "Um...okay, sure. Why not?"
Like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, he sighed in relief and grinned, running a hand through his hair once again. He glanced behind her but his gaze returned to her as soon as it left.
"Great," He smiled. "I'll see you around."
She raised an eyebrow at his back as he walked away, his Quidditch uniform billowing back behind him in the wind.
"Elladora," James started and she turned around to face him. "Did you just agree to go on a date with someone?"
"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head. "No, I didn't. You heard what he said."
"Yeah." Remus nodded and she looked over at him, his eyebrows were pinched together in something that wasn't confusion, but something else that she had never seen on his face before. "He asked you on a date."
"No, he didn't." She denied. "He asked me if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. What's wrong with having another friend?"
The four boys slumped their shoulders and exchanged glances with each other before looking at Ernie's retreating silhouette before back at Elladora. Sirius stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder, knowing that she was bound to get stressed over what she was about to tell her.
"Dora," He started. "Ernie was asking you on a date. Next Saturday is Valentine's Day." He said and her eyes widened about ten times their normal size. Her jaw fell open and she cupped her hands over her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut in regret and running her hands over her face.
"No, no, no." She shook her head. "I thought he just wanted to be my friend. What am I supposed to do now? I can't just cancel!"
"Why not?" Peter asked quickly before realising and clearing his throat. "Uh, why not?"
"Because!" She fretted. "I just can't cancel. It'd be awkward and he's such a nice guy, but I don't like him like that. I don't think I like anyone like that, I don't even know what that feels like."
"Oh."
"It's okay." James soothed, rubbing her back as she took heavy breaths. "It's okay, do you want me to talk to him?"
"No." She shook her head. "No, no. I have to go. I already said yes."
"Want us to come with you?" Remus asked and she looked up at him. "Since you interpreted it as a friendship sort of thing, you could just say you'd invited us or something." He shrugged and her eyes lit up.
"Oh my Godric! You're amazing!" She gripped his forearms and pulled him into a hug. "I don't know what I would've done without you."
"Not have gone to the date?" Peter huffed.
"Not a date!"
•*•*•*•*•
"You have a date?"
Lily Evans excitedly slid into the seat next to Elladora in the library later that night. Elladora paused what she was writing, looking up as a drop of ink splashed onto her parchment, she sighed in annoyance and put her quill pack into the ink pot before facing the redhead.
"Who told you that?" She asked, frowning. She had been stressing about this ever since the Quidditch match and will be until she and the boys actually meet up with Ernie on Valentine's Day. It made her feel really guilty that she had misinterpreted the question.
"Ernie Marple." She grinned and leaned forward.
"Oh no." Elladora groaned and buried her head in her hands.
"What?" Lily's smile dropped and her eyebrows furrowed into an expression of deep concern. "What's wrong?"
"When he asked me, I thought he just wanted to be my friend, not go on a date with me." She admitted and Lily winced. "So I said yes and then the boys said what it meant and I don't know what to do! I don't want to cancel it so they're coming along."
"Well..." She said. "I'm coming too."
"You're not doing anything with James?" Elladora asked and the girl looked shocked out of her mind as she leaned back and stared at her new friend.
"James?" She asked. "Wh-why would you say that?"
"Because you both blush every time you talk to each other." She shrugged and took her quill from the ink pot again, beginning to write more of her essay. "Plus, I can see it in your eyes, you don't hate him as much as you did."
"I guess that's...sort of true." Lily admitted. "But I don't like him. No, not me."
"Sure." Elladora smirked before she got an idea. A truly awful idea that would be fun to see how it played out. Lily and James both obviously liked each other and Lily is obvious too stubborn to admit it, so Elladora had to take matters into her own hands. "Do you really wanna help?"
"Yes, I do." The redhead nodded and put a hand on Elladora's.
"Then we're all meeting at the barrier of the shrieking shack at 12 o'clock on Saturday." She said, smiling and Lily nodded.
"I'll be there.
"Great."
•*•*•*•*•
A/N: Filler 😌🤚