good things fall apart • sirius black

Fragile things get broken

It had been just over two weeks since Ellie and Sirius last spoken. In fact, it had been over two weeks since Ellie had seen any of the Marauders.

She retreated to Lily, Mary, and Alice, who welcomed her with loving arms and as much support as she needed. Then when she wasn't with them, she was knocking about with Jessica, Darren, and all their friends. They were easy going and knew nothing of what had happened between her and Sirius, for not even Flora spoke to Fraser anymore about her relationship with the handsome boy.

Things were definitely not easy, but Ellie was putting on a brave face. She'd left behind the unstable girl who picked fights with people and was difficult to talk to, flipping back to the old Ellie Gryffin who was as sunny as possible. Even her hair was back to chocolate brown. The dramatic switching of personalities so often had definitely sent her head spinning, but that had to be ignored in the name of plodding on. She kept the boys close by recycling her old wardrobe of their cast offs, burying her skirts and halter tops in the bottom of her trunk, and dusting off her denim flares instead. The beautiful girl needed stability and comfort through this rough patch, and if she'd have been able to run off to the Orangery, she would've done.

But instead, school continued, Christmas crept nearer, and Ellie kept stumbling along. Stumbling along blindly through her new world that was absent of any stars now that her brightest one had burnt out.

And with everything else continuing around her as she so desperately wanted it all to stop, followed the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, and for the first time ever, the last thing she wanted to do was go. Andromeda had written to her in the days that followed her and Sirius' last argument, asking for her to go with him when he met her at the Three Broomsticks. Whilst Ellie had been planning on just not showing, now she couldn't ignore the situation at all. It would be rude to say no to Andromeda, and the beautiful girl really had missed her, but the visit came with one terrible snag.

Sirius.

How were they supposed to walk there together, smile for his cousin and act as they used to be when it was all so broken now? The answer was, they couldn't. Or at least, Ellie wouldn't be able to. But this was one of those times that she'd learnt to fake smile through recently, for of course, she'd learnt how to wear masks from the handsome boy who was always so accustomed to doing so.

Which was why she found herself alone with him, walking down the path to Hogsmeade in total silence as she pulled Remus' jumper over her hands for comfort. Nothing in Ellie's life had ever been so awkward, so tense and so soul destroying. Every second was too long, every minute like an hour, and it really didn't help that she could feel his eyes in the back of her head the whole time. Sirius was willing her to turn around so that he could see the way he'd broken her, Ellie knew it, so she kept her head facing forward. Eyes on the path ahead, her feet moved in a steady rhythm, nothing but the sound of her converse crunching on the odd stone.

Those combat boots he'd brought her, the ones that made them match - they'd been buried deep in her trunk too. Out of sight, out of mind.

But then his voice cut through the air like a blade, ricocheting around her and filling her up like a fix she'd forgotten she'd needed.

"I can't promise that my shit attitude will go away overnight, and I can't promise that I'll be able to stop myself butting into your business either." His words caught Ellie completely off guard and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What?" She blurted, rounding in seconds.

Those stormy grey eyes were ready to greet her like they always used to be, but Ellie's guard was up high now, and she knew better than to let it crumble for him easily.