good things fall apart • sirius black

The Youngest Descendent

    "Why do they even need to put on this stupid ball? It's all just nonsense." Peter grumbled at breakfast before the big event.

It was finally upon them and all the students had the day off to get ready whilst the teachers and kitchen house elves prepared the Great Hall for this evening's festivities. But having never found a date, the smallest Marauder was starting to feel bitter - the complete contrast to Remus, who was more than happy he wasn't going with anyone. In fact, Remus would be happy not going at all, it wasn't really his scene after all, but he wasn't going to miss the opportunity to watch his best friends fumble around on the dance floor with their dates.

However, he had no doubt that Ellie, nor Sirius, would ever be able to make a fool of themselves where these things were concerned.

    "It'll be fun! Quit mopping around and get yourself excited." Ellie was the most excited of all the friends, which really was a turn of events after her initially frustration over it all.

She was even more excited than James and he was taking Lily Evans.

    "You're only saying that 'cause these types of things are like in your genes or whatever." Peter mumbled, stuffing scrambled eggs in his mouth.

There was nothing that anyone could say that would change his mind on the matter. Not even the fact that there would be a feast, promised to be better than any other they'd had all school year.

    "She's not even wearing jeans, come on Pete, stay on topic." James interjected, receiving a bunch of questioning looks from his friends and a rather swift hit to the back of the head from Sirius.

In all fairness though, the messy haired boy wasn't really listening to the conversation. How could he? Tonight was the night he'd be taking Lily Evans to the ball. The same Lily Evans he'd been pining for ever since first year. The same Lily Evans that had never given him the time of day before.

It was going to be a big night.

Ellie was waiting on the arrival of her dress, as the old lady had sent a letter in the week to tell all three of the girls that she'd send them first thing Friday morning. The anticipation of it all made her loose her appetite, and she watched Sirius shovel pancakes soaked in syrup into his mouth with a scrunched-up nose. All of a sudden though, the flapping noises of the morning post made her head shoot up to the ceiling and she started wiggling uncontrollably in her seat. The agony of not knowing what her dress was going to look like had plagued her since the trip to Hogsmeade - Ellie really needed to know it was Adelaide Gryffin standards.

Further down the table, Lily and Marlene also waited patiently for any sign of their dresses to arrive, and to their relief, four owls swooped down to their level. With two owls carrying each package, Lily and Marlene's squeals could almost be heard from where Ellie sat, and they were gently dropped in front of the girls. Ellie's face however, set in a deep frown, no sign of a package for her in sight. She watched from a far as both Lily and Marlene unboxed the amazing dresses they'd picked, Marlene's having had silver sparkles added to the neckline.

    "Wasn't your dress supposed to come?" Sirius had syrup dripping down his chin as he spoke to the beautiful girl who looked rather put out by her missing ball gown.

Flooding into a state of panic, Ellie scanned the ceiling again for any indication that her dress was on the way. If it didn't come now, she'd be dress-less. She was sure the old lady at the shop wouldn't let her down and at least contact her if something had gone wrong.

Yet there was nothing.

However, just as she was about to go and ask Lily and Marlene whether there was some sort of letter or note that came with their dresses, a familiar eagle owl came swooping down in between the group of friends, dropping a small package and landing right on top of the plate of bacon.