The white wolf looked over her shoulder and stared straight into the stag's black eyes.
"You need to get him out of here James, I'll take care of Remus," Eleanor said.
He frantically looked around. Remus had turned to face them again and was drooling because of the smell of blood. If they wouldn't move him quickly, Sirius would be a dead man.
"No you do it, Ella, I can't just go now, he's getting hostile!" James yelled as he pushed forward again with his antlers.
Eleanor was afraid Sirius would be too heavy for her to carry, but they couldn't switch places now. She wouldn't be able to hold back her brother anyway, and James was way stronger than her.
She was snapped from her thought as she felt Sirius stir beneath her. His eyes opened and he groaned out in agony.
"Okay, James, I'm going to change back, be prepared okay, do anything to hold him back," Eleanor said loudly over all kinds of noises coming from Remus, who was getting very aggressive at this point.
"Just do it!"
With that, Eleanor turned back into her human form. She breathed heavily as she tried to get Sirius off the ground. But she couldn't do it. Her body was shaking because of all kinds of emotions.
"I can't do it! I can't he's too heavy!" she yelled. Tears and beads of sweat were rolling down her face.
But James didn't answer. At least, she couldn't understand him. Eleanor looked over her shoulder as she tried to drag Sirius away from the scene.
James was trying with all his might to hold him back. But it was too much. Remus pushed through and ran forward.
"NOOO!" Eleanor screamed as she tried to cover Sirius with her body.
"STUPEFY!"
A loud thud. Eleanor had her eyes closed. Still waiting for the pain. But it never came.
She looked up and saw Peter standing in his human form with his wand in his hand. He was trembling and he looked very pale. Eleanor gulped and turned to see what had happened.
Werewolf Remus was laying on the floor. He seemed to be knocked out. James was staring down at his friend, his chest rose and fell rapidly. She noticed a scratch on his right cheek.
Eleanor gulped, her throat was very dry. "You- You saved my life," she said softly, her eyes darting up to look at Peter.
He looked back at her, his mouth slightly open. He seemed lost for words. But Eleanor knew what to do. She got up, her knees shaking, and gave the boy a tight hug.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Peter smiled a bit but didn't say anything. He was still processing the fact that he had actually done that. He had saved his friends' lives.
"He's changing again," James suddenly said.
Eleanor turned to see her brother squirming on the floor, very slowly turning back into his old self. James grabbed a few blankets and spread them out on top of his friend.
"H-Help," Sirius said in a small voice.
"Oh, Merlin Sirius!" Eleanor gasped and she kneeled down in front of him.
He was bleeding a lot from his shoulder. His face scrunched up in pain every so often. James stepped forward as well and squatted down.
"It's okay, shh, it's okay," Eleanor whispered, wiping away some of her own tears. She grabbed her wand from the floor. "This might hurt a bit, okay, but I promise it'll be over soon."
Sirius looked at her with bloodshot eyes and gave a weak nod. She smiled reassuringly at him and ripped the fabric that covered the wound so it wouldn't get in the way. It was pretty deep, about two centimeters.
Eleanor had never healed wounds like these before, but Regulus had taught her how to. So, without thinking twice, she put the tip of her wand to the bleeding wound and spoke the incantation softly.
He screamed out in pain and panted as the wound closed itself up again. Even though she was crying again because of his agonizing screams, she was relieved; it was working. When it was done, Sirius let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes again.
"That was really impressive El," James said, looking at her as she stood up straight again.
"It's nothing, but at least Pomfrey won't ask any weird questions. You should get him over there James, I'll stay here with Remus," she said, pocketing her wand.
James nodded and carefully picked Sirius up from the floor, who groaned. Eleanor winced as she noticed his other arm was sticking out a rather weird angle.
"Watch out," she said. "His arm is broken." James checked it and then nodded.
"I'll come back for you with the Cloak," he said, panting, and then quickly carried Sirius down the stairs.
Eleanor was still in a bit of a shock as she sank down next to her now fully transformed brother. Some of his curly hair was poking out from underneath the heavy blanket. She gently stroked it and smiled sadly to herself.
She heard Peter move behind her. Just turned her head to see what he was doing. Peter was sitting in an old leather armchair with his hands in his hair. His shoulder synced with the movement of his breathing.
"Petey?" Peter's head shot up at his name. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Peter shook his head lightly. "I don't know what I was thinking," he said in a hoarse voice.
"What do you mean? You did the right thing to stun him," Eleanor said, getting up to comfort him. "Who knows what else he would've done."
She sat down on the armrest and put her arms around the small boy. Peter let out a deep sigh and nodded.
"Right, yeah, it's good. And he's fine," he said softly and looked up at Eleanor. "Right?"
Eleanor smiled at him and nodded. The two of them remained like that for a while until Remus started to stir. His head poked out from beneath the blanket and a pair of tired, green eyes looked up at them.
"Hi," he managed to bring out.
As he tried to sit up a bit, Peter and Eleanor went forward to help him. She got another blanket and wrapped it around her brother's bare shoulders. He was shaking because of the cold. Remus winced and looked down to see what had hurt him. A large scratch ran down his side.
He looked up at his sister. "What happened? Where's James and Sirius?" he asked.
Peter gulped. Eleanor put her hand on his arm. "They're okay, Sirius just got hurt a bit-"
"What?!" he sort of yelled. His face grimaced in pain as he moved too quickly.
"Calm down Remus or you'll just make it worse for yourself," Eleanor said strictly. "You got angry at Sirius, but he's okay, really. James has taken him to Madam Pomfrey just to make sure it's not too bad."
Remus' mouth hung slightly open as he processed everything she had just told him. "Why- Why was I angry?" he asked, his eyes filled with worry.
Eleanor bit the inside of her cheek as she tried to remembered what had actually happened just moments before Remus attacked Sirius. They had been arguing, James and him. James wanted him to apologize to Eleanor but he refused to do so. At the time it didn't matter much to her, but now her heart ached at the thought of him not caring at all about how she felt.
"Because Padfoot was being a wuss," Peter mumbled. Remus looked confused, to Peter explained further. "Prongs was making him apologize to Ella but he didn't budge, so I think that's what got you going all mad at him."
"I see," Remus said softly.
A silence fell upon them. They were all shivering because of the cold at this point. Eleanor grabbed a few more blankets to make sure they could keep themselves warm a bit more. Eventually, Peter and Remus dozed off. But Eleanor couldn't manage to get to sleep. Her mind was still racing with everything that went on.
She guessed it had to be at least two hours later when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Eleanor put her hand on her wand just in case, but quickly put it back again when she saw a head with messy black hair pop out above the edge of the stairwell.
James smiled shortly at her when he saw the other two boys were asleep. He sat down next to her on the floor and put a blanket around himself.
"How did it go?" she asked him in a whisper.
James scratched his nose. "He's okay, Pomfrey said she'd get him fixed up in no time," he told her. "She was kind of suspicious of my he-fell-down-the-stairs story, but she bought it in the end." James grinned as she facepalmed.
"Have you told him yet?" he whispered, nodding at Remus.
"Yeah, he woke up not long after you left. I think he's just angry at himself, but I told him not to worry too much about Sirius," she whispered. James nodded.
"Prongs?" said a sleepy voice beside her. Remus had woken up and was now listening in on the conversation.
James shifted a little and smiled at his friend. "Hey Moons, how're you feeling mate?" he said in a gentle way.
"M'alright," Remus mumbled and he sat up a bit. "Is Padfoot okay?"
"Yeah, he had a broken arm but Madam Pomfrey is looking after him now," James told him.
Remus' eyes widened. "A broken arm?! But how is he going to play? You've got a match coming up and-"
James put a hand on his shoulder. "Moony, it's Pomfrey, she'll have him fixed up before the next match. Really," he said reassuringly. Peter had woken up at this point because of all the fuss.
Her brother sighed. "Right, yeah," he muttered.
The four of them sat together and talked for the entire remaining time that night. After a while, the wind started to settle and it wasn't as cold anymore. When Eleanor looked outside, she saw the snow had stopped falling as well. It was getting lighter outside.
"I think we should go guys," Eleanor said as she walked back from the window.
James and Peter got up. "We'll see you later Moony," James said and smiled at him. Peter waved goodbye and the boys went downstairs.
Eleanor hugged her brother carefully. "I love you," she whispered.
"Love you too sis," he mumbled.
They pulled back and smiled at each other before Eleanor headed back down as well. The journey went back through the long tunnel, up to the castle, up the passageway behind Gregory the Smarmy, and then up to the boys' dormitory. The three of them arrived safely and James pulled off the Cloak. Eleanor pulled the boys into a hug.
"You don't know half of just how great you guys are," she said with a smile.
James pulled back. "Well, I'm pretty great," he said with a cocky grin.
Eleanor and Peter laughed. "Goodnight," she said, and then went up the stairs to her dorm.
She leaped onto her bed and quickly drew the curtains closed. She changed into her pajamas and got under the covers. Eleanor sighed, being relieved everything turned out alright in the end. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
***
"Are you coming with us?" James asked her as he and Peter got up from their seats.
Eleanor nodded with a smile and went along with the boys. They'd just had lunch together and they all wanted to see Sirius and Remus in the Hospital Wing.
Her heart was racing as she thought of the many ways to greet Sirius again after leaving him in quite a state the previous night. She was desperate to see him again, to see how he was doing, to hug him, to be in his presence.
She was well aware he had been very rude to her, not wanting to apologize even after James had given him a nufge in the right direction.
James knocked on the big oak door and then entered. Eleanor went in after Peter. She smiled when she saw the two injured boys laying on two beds next to each other. They were talking to each other.
To her surprise, Sirius arm seemed to be just fine as he wasn't wearing anything to hold it up.
"Mister Potter, please keep it down if you will yes, even if you all know about mister Lupin's - condition," Pomfrey said in a stern voice.
Eleanor clenched her jaws together at those words. She hated it when people called her brother's lycanthropy a condition. Like it was something he was born with.
"Yes of course- oi lads!" he said happily as he pulled up two chairs.
Sirius' head shot up. "Ella?" he breathed.
James raised an eyebrow. "Er, you sure you're alright mate? Not hallucinating or anything?"
Peter and Remus chuckled. But Sirius didn't pay attention to him. His grey eyes met Eleanor's green ones, making her heart race. She smiled at him and waved awkwardly.
But Sirius got up from his bed and walked over to her. Eleanor frowned and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Mister Black, get back in bed immediately!" she heard Pomfrey utter.
But mister Black clearly had other ideas in mind.
"Mister Black!"
Sirius stopped before her, his eyes roaming her face. Eleanor felt her cheeks burn because of the way he was looking at her.
"IF YOU DON'T GET BACK TO BED RIGHT NOW!"
What happened then was something beyond her wildest expectations. Sirus cupped her face with his left hand and crashed his lips onto hers.
Eleanor felt the air getting knocked out of her lungs. For a second, she didn't know what to do. But then, after she was sure his lips weren't planning on leaving hers anytime soon, she grabbed on to his collar and pulled him closer. He grinned against her lips and slowly pulled away.
Their faces were only an inch apart, and she could definitely smell his cologne. Both of them were breathing heavily as they stared into each others eyes.
"You're blushing," Sirius said with a handsome grin.
Eleanor chuckled and smacked him on his chest playfully. She lowered her gaze. Was this really happening? Had he really just kissed her like that?
"Ella," he whispered, putting to fingers under her chin to make her look at him. "I-I'm really sorry, for everything."
She smiled sweetly at him. "It's okay," she said softly.
His eyes darted from her lips back up to her eyes. "I'm sorry what did you say? I got a bit distracted," he smirked.
Eleanor rolled her eyes and let out a laugh. "You're unbelievable Black," she said, shaking her head.
"IF YOU TWO DON'T BREAK APART RIGHT NOW, I'LL GET THE HEADMASTER DOWN HERE!" Pomfrey shouted, kbviously losing her temper. "MY PATIENTS NEED SOME PEACE AND QUIET!"
The two broke apart in a fit of laughter. Sirius winked at her and walked back over to his bed, letting her know this obviously wasn't over yet. And goodness knew she hoped it wasn't.