𝐌𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 ∗ 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

My Dearest
Chapter seven

    Ella stood in the corner of Slughorn's room cleaning dirty cauldrons, each and everyone filled to the brim with various disgusting burnt or ungodly smelling concoctions. A lovely, not overly deserved punishment, but hey, the first detention of the year always has to be a good one!

    She was serving detention for 'accidentally' turning Snape into a slug while he tormented some muggle-born first-year Hufflepuffs. With any other teacher it would have played out in her favour, but Sluggy had a little soft spot for his pet Severus, so with her tremendous luck, she was the only one who got in trouble courtesy of Slughorn.
    So while everyone in the Hogwarts student's body enjoyed their sun-filled Hogsmeade trip, full of fresh brew teas and stops at her favourite new book shoppe, she was spending her Saturday cleaning the potions class.

    "Sorry I'm late to supervise detention, I was caught up helping Dumbledore with something"
    "Not to worry my boy," Slughorn patted the prefect on the back, "be careful with this one, she's an angry one," the old man advised with a smile
    "I'm sure I can handle her Sir."

    Ella whipped her head around to see James already relaxed in Slughorn's desk chair as he quickly exited the room to head out for his day off.

    "Oh look it's my favourite Pettigrew, the angry one" he beamed with an annoying grin, he skimmed over the detention slip, his face showing great approval and upmost respect at the detailed report, "I admire your drive, I find it rather outrageous that you find yourself in trouble for your efforts to stop Snivellous, but I'm a fan of your tactics he nods with a smile.
    "Yeah I like to think of myself as a bit of a hero, but I am rather upset with good ole sluggy, I mean I know I wasn't right but he definitely should get off with a clean record after making those kids cry" she shrugged with a tight-lipped smile and continued on with her immense sweeping.
    "I should have just let him continue and see what the school would have done about it," Eleanor said picking up the heavy cauldron from off the ground to get it out of her way and pouring the liquid down the sink.

    James' brows furrowed and he stared in disgust, "you mean not a single detention?? Ella shook her head.
    "Not even a yelling or talking to" she shrugged and shook her head again.
    "That's just bloody outrageous!" He scoffed.
    "Nothing, in fact, he was basically being praised because I abused him and his honour, Horace let him off with a warning" her blood boiled remembering the gross things whispered to her under her breath as the Slytherin uppers circled around her waiting for their head pub house to come up with a punishment.
    "Your kidding right?"
    "I'm not, and now I'm stuck cleaning," she said shrugging, holding up the dustpan as if it was some sort of trophy, motioning to the freshly cleaned cauldrons on the desks, her the classic Ella pout on her lips.

    The two sat in silence for a few minutes as both did their own thing, James quietly flipping through his notebook trying to perfect his latest quidditch plays, while Eleanor swept the floor of the class, loud sighs and groans leaving her mouth in agony as she was put to work.
    James' brows furrowed, his face showing deep concentration on the notebook that displayed his new fool-proof plan, his gaze flickered between the book laying in front of him and Ella who took a break to catch her breath, her face covered in chalk from the blackboards.
    The silence was comforting, the two of them enjoying the peace, although it would have been nicer with better circumstances the two rather enjoyed the calm atmosphere.

    "Ella, I was thinking,"
    "That must have been hard for you" she grinned, watching as he rolled his eyes.
    James licked his bottom lip, and scribbled his thoughts into his notebook, "you deserve justice for your act of kindness, the ones that you were wrongfully got persecuted for, how about a prank in your honour?"
    "I like the sound of that"
    "Wouldn't it be great to show up to breakfast one day and Snape has blonde hair?" James mused as he looked up from his book at a girl with a deep-in-thought look on her face.
    "As head boy should you really be pulling pranks?"
    "Mind your own business"
    "Yes James, I would thoroughly enjoy seeing Snape as a blonde, but don't blame me when you get in trouble," she says throwing the dirt she collected from sweeping into the garbage bin.
    "My dearest Eleanor you only get in trouble if you get caught," he said smirking as he held up her detention slip, the girl who took a seat on top of Slughorn's desk and grabbed it from his hand and flicked him in the forehead.
    "Shut up you twat"
    A string of mumbled curse words left his mouth, causing her to laugh.

    Ella would be lying if she said the connection between the two was built strictly off of hatred. They could joke and talk as if they had been friends their entire life, making her feel like the good moment were natural, and the bad moments equally as normal.
    She absolutely hated the idea of ever having a sort of companionship with James, but it seemed although it was already happening on its own.

    "Female Pettigrew" Eleanor turned her body towards the person saying the gross nickname, at the entrance of the class stood Sirius his body tense as he ushered for her to join him in the hall, "can I speak to you for a moment, alone?" he sent a small smile to James who sent a wave back.
    Her mouth fell slightly agape, confusion taking over as she nodded as she followed him into the hallway, curious as to what he could want.
    James sat at the desk equally as confused about what either of them would ever need to speak about. James knew for a fact that Sirius never overly liked Ella, why was he suddenly needing to speak to her privately?

    Sirius grabbed her by the wrist to speed up the process of her getting her arse into the hallway, they stopped just outside the classroom, and he quickly shut the door and looked around the hall for any listening ears.
    "Did you know that Remus asked Romeo out on a date to Hogsmeade?" Sirius whisper yelled at her with a look of worry on his face.
    "Wait they're on a date right now? Romeo never told me, what a wanker"
    "You set them up!"
    "In my defence, they both were so so lonely and complaining about it, so I knocked two birds out with one stone! I was just giving them a small push, all I did was introduce them, they did the rest on their own" she said awkwardly as she looked up at a fuming Sirius.

    Sirius made short paces around the blonde, his face buried in his hands, "why would you set them up?"
    "I thought they would be a good match? I don't know, they share similar interests?" she shrugged, guilt starting to set as she watched him walk back and forth.
    "That's the problem! They are too good for each other" he said stopped in his tracks and sat down on the floor, his back again the crumbly brick wall, bringing his knees up to his chest and leaning his forehead against his kneecap.

    Ella sat down next to him, she wasn't the biggest fan of Sirius due to his irritable personality, but she definitely felt bad for him.
    He was so in love with someone who was trying to distance themselves from him, she could visibly see the pain on his face and deep in his eyes.
    "He's never gonna love me again, is he Ella?" he said looking up from the ground into her eyes.
    "Sirius, you just need to give him time, you did something that scared him. He's just trying to cope with the pain that he's been dealing with, let him realize that he's still in love with you, he denies it but he still cares about you, but right now he's hurting and needs to figure some things out on his own, okay?" she said wiping a tear from off his cheek and pulling him into a hug.
    She pulled him into a bone crush hug, he cried into the crook of her neck as she comfortingly ran her fingers through the hair but the nape of his neck. Ella opted her eyes looking up to see James standing in the door frame, his hands shoved into his pocket and his brows pulled into a frown, betrayal spread across his face.

    Ella pulled away from Sirius and stood up following after him as he stormed back into the class to grab his notebook and satchel. Sirius looked like the ghost of a man as he sat on the fear in shock.
    "You're in love with Moony?" James asked as he looked at Sirius, "you and moony dated and no one told me" he sounded crushed as the words left his lips.
    "But you told her?" He scoffed and walked off, his head shaking ignoring the pleas from Sirius for James to turn around and listen to the full story