My Dearest
Chapter five
"Not Eleanor Rigby!" all the girls groaned as Eleanor placed the Beatles record on the record player and pressed play, the nostalgic song blaring making Ella break into smiles as she rhythmically danced along with the lyrics.
"Ella, remember when the room as a collective banned this song from the record player till the end of time, or at least till we each have our own flats?" Alice frowned, her hatred for the Beatles the strongest of the groups.
"Put some respect on that song Mrs. Longbottom. I was named after it you twats," Ella said to the 'collective' as she slipped on a pair of mom jeans and a jumper she had probably stolen from Remus but deemed as her own, continuing on with her happy dancing around the dorm.
The blonde twirled and jumped around the room until Alice put a stop to the song and changed the vinyl to one of the new Bees Gees albums, Ella stopped in her tracks her lips in a tight line, accepting defeat and collapsing down onto her back trying to bury herself in her comforter and she laid on back staring at glistening constellations they had charmed onto the ceiling.
She hated this, nights out began to get repetitive after she gave up liquor. The rest of the girls rushed to look their bests so they could go out, get sloshed, and then come back and let Ella take care of them in their hungover state.
Ella had learnt that alcohol simply wasn't her friend, in fact, it was rather the opposite, countless nights of making a fool of herself or doing things that sober her wasn't very proud of, just before the summer holidays, she vowed to remain a sober friend for her own and her friend's benefit. Plus playing babysitter and watching everyone make a fool out of themselves sounded just a tad bit more amusing than a hangover the next day.
"Don't you think it would be nice to dress up for the first party of the term?" Mary questioned as she adjusted the straps of her coffee-coloured tank top, her patterned midi skirt paired with it.
"Have you gone MAD! Everyone, I think Mary is ill, I hope it's not catching I would hate to miss this party" Ella said hopping off her bed to feel Mary's forehead.
But before her hand could even touch Mary she grabbed it and glared at her, "go to the bathroom and put on some makeup and do your hair, you may not like parties but your attendance is mandatory and it's gonna be loads of fun, off you go!"
Ella groaned like a child, turning around and looking at Dorcas wide-eyed, "I wonder who got her panties in a twist" she said causing Dorcas to cackle.
Mary glared at Eleanor pointing at the bathroom, "fine! I'm going, I'm going" she said putting her hands up as if she was surrendering and stomping over to the bathroom to do her hair.
-
"Romeo stop being a wanker it's not that hard it's just friendly conversation," Athena said as both Ella and herself tried to push him up to Remus.
"No it's a friendly conversation with a very fit bloke, I can't, I'm too sober for this" he protested trying to get to the other side of the room, as far away from Remus as possible.
Ella stopped pushing him for a second, she grabbed his face and spun him around to face her, she held his face in her hands, taking a moment to admire the light makeup Athena had done on him half hour before their arrival.
"Now listen here and listen good you adorable bastard, you are going to march up there and have a flirty conversation, and being the kind friend I am, I will help you with the introductions. But Romeo trust me you got this, but if you need it here is a confidence shot" she said pulling three shots of fire whiskey from behind her back and placing one in his hand then passing one to Athena.
Breaking her no alcohol vow for the first time tonight.
All three of them shot back the bitter-tasting liquid, all of them slightly wincing at the burning sensation that worked its way down their chests.
"Okay I got this"
"You got this!?"
"I got this," he said hyping himself up.
Eleanor gently grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him over to Remus an evil grin spread across her face as she stopped in front of the lanky boy, "hello Remus I wanted to introduce you to a close friend of mine, Romeo Abbott, you probably already know him but I wanted to formally introduce you two. Romeo this is Remus, Remus this is Romeo!" She paused to catch her breath for a split second.
Remus laughed confused as to why she was being so formal, "I feel as though you two would hit it off, so please have chat!" she announced, quickly walking away leaving the two boys speechless.
Remus smiled at the shorter boy who stared at his feet with nerves, the confidence shot not working at all, "is she trying to set us up?" he asked confused, a flustered expression now travelling up his face.
"I'm afraid so" Romeo nervously chuckled, causing the pair to laugh.
James sat on the couch on the opposite side of the common room, watching as the party went on. He sat staring at the growing crowd, dancing and chatting, feeling a bit isolated in his little world.
He stared off in Lily's direction, watching her laugh and dance with other guys and her friends, his heart slightly breaking at the sight. That look of pure happiness on her face was something that felt so foreign to him.
Ever since he'd been eleven years old, James Potter had dreamt that it would be him making her that happy, wasting endless wishes, and hopeless fantasies.
For a little under six years, James had prayed that his liking was just the tiniest bit returned, but that just want the reality. Sure he had small flings and crushes, but everything felt insignificant compared to what he had for Lily Evans.
His attention was quickly caught by Ella who sat down next to him, "I'm still mad at you" she said quietly, her tone genuine which was something new to James, "but you look like your world is crumbling so I felt the need to come and ask you what's wrong" she said smiled awkwardly at him as she handed him a cup of some awful tasting beverage that she wasn't sure what kind of alcohol was in it, but she had a great buzz on so she didn't quite mind.
"Are you being nice to me because you're drunk?"
"Stop deflecting and answer the question James" she warned with a hiccup.
Alcohol is not her friend whatsoever.
"It's nothing Eleanor really, go and have fun with Moony"
"Remus is busy, I'm here to bug you" she beamed at him and he slipped the solo cup of liquor out of her grasp replacing it with water.
"I hate parties, thought you'd know, alcohol makes me fuzzy and crowds make me feel too many things at once" she batted her lashes and smiled at him, "I shared my problems with you, it's your turn"
"I'm good thanks' he gave her a tight-lipped smile and turned away from her.
"Potter stop arguing and talk to me, tonight we are not enemies, I will be your friend-" she took a pause to fake gag, "seriously, your friends are all shit-faced and having a blast and you look gloomy, It's seventh year, you should be having fun"
James let out a deep sigh and ran his hand over his face, taking a shot from the flask in his pocket, "I don't think I'm over lily, or at least I'm mourning the loss of something I used to cherish" he spat it out like word vomit, a stern look sat on bis face as the words kept coming out, "I'm trying my hardest to get past it, sure I've always had a thing for Evans but it obviously isn't working out for me," he said staring at the floor and then up at lily who was dancing around the Prewitt twins.
Eleanor laughed making James give her this look of disbelief, "okay so the girl you've fancied for a long time doesn't like you?"
"Yeah. That's kinda my whole internal battle here!"
"The ever so charming and narcissistic James Potter I know would have much more faith in himself than that" Ella turned herself to look at James, her hands finding the sides of his face so that he could look her in the eyes.
James' heart began thumping as his hands found her wrists for support, "Evans doesn't like you, fuck it. And I mean this from the bottom of my very cold heart, fuck it, James you are so much more than the guy who fawned over Lily for what six years? No, you're a fucking Marauder, a Gryffindor, a bloody good quidditch player, and at this exact moment, you are talking to the hottest person in the entirety of Hogwarts. So fuck it"
He looked up at her with a smirk across his face, "you think I'm good at quidditch?"
"Yes, and you didn't protest to me calling myself the hottest person in Hogwarts" she smirked back making him bite the inside of his cheek.
In the background, the song Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles came on causing a smile to work its way onto both James and Eleanor's faces.
"This is my favourite song," James said tapping his foot along with the beat, "hey aren't you named after this song?"
Ella nodded "I am, and I'm glad someone likes this song all my friends hate it"
"Well they have terrible taste in music, now get up we are gonna dance, even though it isn't really a dancing song but we are gonna dance anyways" James jumped onto his feet as he reached his hand out for Ella to take.
"Every song is a dancing song," she took the lead and pulled him straight into the crowd.
He stopped just on the outside of the main group and spun her around before dipping her down, she flung right back up as he pulled her casing their noses to touch, a smile on James' face as he spun her slowly once more.
"Don't forget Potter, I still hate you" she said wrapping her hands around his neck as he gently placed his hands on her hips.
Somehow this feeling felt very natural, the two of them, both in very close proximity, all felt too comfortable. The two had barely had a civil conversation over the past six years, but suddenly this feeling of warmth in their chests that they were both experiencing felt a little too familiar.
He looked into her soft green eyes, mesmerized at how captivating they were. He tried to move his gaze anywhere else but he couldn't look away, her doe-like eyes pulled him in like a trance, the harder he tried to pull away the deeper he felt he was being pulled in.
She was feeling the same way, her chest pressed up against his as the person behind them bumped into her back.
His velvety hazel eyes felt although they were staring into her soul, her gaze fell just a bit lower to his lips, where she only glanced for a split second before her attention was pulled to the other side of the room.
"Prongs!" Sirius yelled out in search of his best friend, Ella looked up to see Sirius attempting to do a drunken air guitar solo right next to the fireplace.
"James" she whispered to him trying to gain his attention, his eyes stuck now staring at her bottom lip, " you should probably try and go stop him before anything happens," she ushered over to Sirius who was now screaming bowie louder than anything in the room, his arms flying around as he pretends to play the guitar.
"Yeah, sorry," he said quickly pulling his arms away from her and awkwardly stuffing them in his pockets.
"Good idea, well um see you around," Ella said before fast walking over to Athena who was drunk and flirting with Regulus Black.
"Fucking hell" she mumbled under her breath as she took a seat, Athena passed her two shots too which she gladly took trying to forget the great night she just had.