Illicit | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 18

During dinner, all of the Houses seemed to be occupied with a very interesting discussion.

"Rumor has it a Gryffindor punched Hughes in the face," Kathy said, completely oblivious to the previous incidents.

Eleanor choked on her soup and laughed. Amelia smiled to herself and the Marauders grinned at the one responsible. Remus wore a proud smirk on his face.

"Oh Godric it was you wasn't it?" Kathy sighed, sounding a bit disappointed. Remus put down his fork.

"Hey, he had it coming okay!" he defended himself. "He was talking about Lia like she's someone who just likes to sleep around and stuff, " he muttered.

Sirius nodded and chimed in, "He deserved it."

"Besides, it's just a broken nose, he was lucky," Remus said casually before grabbing himself some pudding. Eleanor gave him a look and snorted.

He eyed her. "I might seem like a softie but nobody hurts my friends like that," he said.

Eleanor bit the inside of her cheek. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Amelia frowned. "I don't think you're a softie," she said. "I think that what you did was really brave," she smiled at him. Remus smiled back, his ears turning pink.

After dinner, Eleanor went back to the common room with her roommates where they played some exploding snaps. They were seated around the table in front of the fireplace, as usual.

Eleanor had been thinking about the happenings of that afternoon the entire time. Remus had been very sensitive around Amelia lately, and that had all started because of her date with Ryan Hughes. Did he like her? That would be weird. Her brother and her best friend. Ew.

"Do you like my brother Lia?" Eleanor asked out of the blue. Doris and Kathy looked at her like they'd just seen fire in water.

"W-What?" Amelia chuckled. "Why would you think that?" she looked up at Eleanor.

She frowned. "I mean, the whole flattery thing, the kissing on the cheek," she said.

"You kissed him on the cheek?!" Kathy gasped. Doris was clapping her hands excitingly.

Amelia shrugged. "He did a really brave thing for me," she said, playing her next card. Eleanor just smiled and decided to let go of the matter.

Shortly after that, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter appeared through the portrait hole, talking rather loud. As they crossed the room to go to their dorm Eleanor caught James' eyes. He quickly showed a pebble from his pocket and she immediately knew what he meant. She smiled and nodded.

When the boys had disappeared upstairs, Eleanor excused herself and ran up the stairs to their dorm. She knocked on the door and after hearing a 'yup' she let herself in. The boys were sitting on their beds like they had been waiting for her to come.

"Er, hi," she laughed. As usual, she sat down on the floor in front of Sirius' bed.

"Show us, James!" Peter said eagerly, edging to the front of his four-poster.

James took out five ordinary pebbles from his pocket and got up. He handed the others each their own pebble and sat back on the edge of his bed. The scene looked quite comical. Eleanor studied her pebble carefully.

"Well, it definitely doesn't stand out," Sirius joked. "How does it work?" he asked.

They all looked over at James, who got out his wand.

"It's very simple," James began. "You just tap it with your wand once and it heats up slightly." 

He did what he just told the others, tapping his pebble once with the tip of his wand. Eleanor indeed felt her pebble heat up and getting a soft red glow around it. She grinned to herself.