By some miracle, James managed to stay silent for the rest of the day, closing February with another item of the list crossed off. A week later he crossed of number 1, having now brought El tea in bed every weekend for a month, leaving only five tasks left to do.
Breakfast one morning in early March, provided great entertainment to everyone in the hall when Lucius Malfoy let out an uncharacteristically high pitched scream, drawing everyones attention to him. The sight was comical to many as the boy's eyes were brimming with tears at the discovery that his hair was rapidly falling out his head.
El stifled a laugh in disbelief, looking over at James who was very clearly crossing the task off the list.
Malfoy then stormed out of the hall, leaving a pile of blond hair where he had been seated.
***
So with only four things left to do, James was becoming more and more confident that he would be able to finish the list. However, he was distracted from it for a day or two when Remus' birthday rolled around.
For some reason, the day was even more dramatic than Sirius' birthday, but started in the same way with everyone singing 'happy birthdaym to him at James' request.
Their last lesson of the day was transfiguration and the birthday boy's three friends were all missing, although there absence was soon given reason when a loud 'bang' was heard from outside.
McGonagall looked out the nearest window, curious to see the source of the noise. "Mr Lupin, i believe there are some people trying to get your attention," she informed, taking a deep breath through her nose in exasperation.
The class all gradually stood up and crowded round the windows to James, Sirius and Peter, all on brooms outside, flying loops around a firework display they'd created.
Everyone quickly ran out the classroom to the courtyard to get a better view, along with many students from other classes. The three boys lapped up all the attention they were receiving, most of the school being outside by now, and was cheering them on.
The final fireworks were released, writing: 'Happy birthday, Moony!" in the sky.
Remus shook his head and clapped reluctantly, almost hating that he found the whole thing so amusing. El gave him a sideways hug, which he happily received, several others patting him on the back and shoulder, sending him birthday wishes.
As expected, the marauders had also planned a not-so-surprise party in the Gryffindor common room. McGonagall had allowed them one night if fun before the detentions they were sure to have for the next month. And, as expected, it didn't take El or Marlene much convincing to turn up.
It only took an hour of drinking and partying for most of the crowd to be completely inebriated. El and Marlene were in the centre of the room, surrounded by people all dancing and singing, while drunkenly waving their various bottles of alcohol around. Peter on the other hand passed out after twenty minutes of being there.
"Letter!" James parted the sea of students to reach the girl he was calling for, "Have you seen Moony or Pads? I haven't seen them in ages,"
The two Slytherins smirked at each other, sharing an understanding of where they thought the two boys were.
James leaned towards the dark haired girl to allow him hear what she was saying over the music. "No idea," she shouted.
James craned his neck, looking over the heads of everyone to see if he could spot his friends. Having no luck, he sighed and walked up the stairs towards his old dorm.
"Wait for it..." El and Marlene both watched the stairway that James had just disappeared down, anticipating his return.
Sure enough, they heard James call El's name, before he marched towards her and pulled her back upstairs.
He opened the door to his old dorm, and sure enough, Sirius was laying casually on the bed— shirtless— and Remus was redressing himself, cursing James as he did so.
"They-" James motioned between his two friends, "-are shagging!"
El leant against the doorway and crossed her arms, "Yeh, they weren't very subtle about it," she ginned. "Where did you think they were on valentines day?"
James stood with his mouth open, taking a while to react, but when he did, he leaped onto the bed on top of Sirius, attacking him in a hug. "This is so great! We can all go on double dates!" James exclaimed, attempting to pull Remus into the hug aswell.
"Count me out," El laughed at the boys' behaviour, not knowing what she'd expected as a reaction but it wasn't this.
"Me too," Remus attempted to take a step back, but James finally managed to successfully pull him into the group hug.
As the four went back down to rejoin the party, Sirius slowed his walk to fall in step with Eleanor and nudge her with his elbow. "You were right, you know?"
She nudged him back, "I always am, but you'll need to be more specific,"
"I am gay," he sent her his typical marauders grin before sauntering towards the group of dancing teens.
***
The next morning was a Saturday, which was lucky for Eleanor, who was nursing an awful hangover. She'd began to make tea when she heard an owl rapping at the window. As she turned to let it in, she grew confused when she was met with an uncomfortably familiar Burke family owl.
James, who has laying half asleep on the sofa, snapped fully awake when the sound of a mug shattering on the ground split through the almost-silence of the room. He leapt up and ran towards the head girl who was staring blankly at the letter in her hand.
"Hey hey, what happened?" a line on James' forehead deepened in concern as he tried to get eye contact with her, but her gaze stayed firm on the parchment.
Careful to avoid the smashed mug, James walked her over to the sofa and sat down next to her, taking the letter out of her hands and placing it on the coffee table.
"El, what's wrong?"
Her gaze finally met his, eyes filled with a look that James wasn't sure what it was—but it wasn't sadness. "My mother died." Eleanors voice was void of any emotion, conveying the information as if it were mundane.
"E-El, i'm sorry," James was unsure how to react, so he just took both her hands in his and stroked her knuckles with his thumb.
"Don't be," she let out a sound that was almost a laugh, "She was a cunt,"
James pulled Els body towards his, letting her head fall to his chest. "Did the letter say how?"
He felt her shake her head but not say anything for a while. "Have we got any firewhiskey left?" she removed herself from his arms and cleared her throat, regaining composure.
"El-"
"Answer my question," she snapped.
Reluctantly, James nodded and plodded up to his room to retrieve the bottle of amber liquid.
El wasted no time in removing the cap and guzzling it down, wiping her mouth afterwards.
"Better?" he queried.
She took several more gulps before nodding, "Yeh." She offered him the bottle but he shook his head.
"I tend to wait 'till after midday,"
"Suit yourself," El shrugged, taking a few more sips then screwing the lid back on. She took a deep breath, "Belvina Burke is dead. That's weird."
***
Eleanor reacted strangely to her mothers death. She was probably one if the only people on her who could lose their mother and not shed a tear. Granted, her mother was an awful person, but part of her couldn't help but feel sad at the fact she was now parentless. She refused to show anyone this though, and spent several days only in the company of Marlene to avoid James' concerned gaze.
There was still yet to be any information on how Belvina Burke met her demise, but given that the woman was in her mid-40s, it was undoubtedly not of natural causes.
In an attempt to take El's mind off the thought, James managed to make Snape cry by deliberately ruining one of his potions, causing it to spew a pink substance all over his robes. It made her laugh temporarily, but she soon went back to not really talking to people much.
With the final quidditch match approaching, James was now even more determined with completing everything else on the list.
After lessons one Wednesday, he was working on the spell he'd been attempting to create.
"Pulchritudinem et pulchritudinem dignus"
El watched him chant over and over, until finally sparks flew out the end of his wand, dancing their way over to her and taking their place as flowers around her head.
"It worked!" James cried, jumping up ecstatically. He ran over to her and held one of the flowers in his hand. "I can't believe it worked!" he said in joyful disbelief.
"You did it," El exclaimed, mirroring his disbelief. "It's a beautiful spell," she took the flowers out of her own her and examined in, "Not what i was expectin', i must admit,"
"What were you expecting?"
The sides of her lips twitched downwards, clearly still impressed by the spell. "I dunno, something that made me grow a moustache...or a tail."
Noticing that El was still inspecting the flower, James put the one in his hand back in her hair. "Do you know what type of flower that is?"
Els eyebrows pulled down together, "If this is a lily, i swear-"
"It's not," James chuckled, cutting her off, "It's a Magnolia Eleanor May flower,"
"There's a flower with my name?" El looked up, pleasantly surprised.
He nodded, waiting a while in thought before reminding her that he now only had two more tasks on her list to complete.
***
"You do realise that you're actually gonna have to go on a date with Potter,"
In all honesty, with all the entertainment based around completing the list, Eleanor had forgotten what the end outcome actually was.
"Yes and thank you for reminding me," El replied, her tone laced heavily with sarcasm.
Her and Marlene sat in the Slytherin common room, slumped across the dark leather sofas, taking up enough space for about six people.
"I think you'll enjoy it," the blonde crossed her arms smugly, narrowing her eyes at her best friend for any detection that she was correct.
"I don't like going on dates," El threw her arms up before flopping them back down like a stubborn toddler. "But i suppose if i had to go with anyone, Potter wouldn't be so bad," she lay length-ways along the couch on her back, staring at the intricately decorated ceiling.
"I knew it!" Marlene clapped as though she'd discovered gold, "You're gonna go on this date, then you and Potter are gonna go make baby Potters,"
"I think you skipped a few steps there," El chuckled. "I still stand by the fact that i don't want a boyfriend though,"
"You don't have a legitimate reason for that, you're just being stubborn," Marlene chastised.
"Yeh, well that's what i do best," the head girl crossed her arms as if that was something to be proud of.
***
a/n: word count 1.9k
guess what star sign El is, i feel like its quite obvious, (she hasnt had her bday yet, so that rules out quite a few)
this is a magnolia eleanor may btw
anyway, please vote if u enjoyed this chapter, this book was #4 in harrypotter yesterday, and #1 in james today. im so grateful and were not far off 40k reads!!