good things fall apart • sirius black

Reflections

    "Everyone's staring at us..."

    "They're just admiring our beauty."

    "I don't know about that."

    "Did you just call us ugly?"

    "No."

    "I'll have you know, we're the prettiest people in the hall right now. To hell, we're always the prettiest people in the hall. They're all just intimidated."

Ellie finally hit Sirius upside of the head, earning herself a kick under the table in return.

This was the first time she'd ventured out of the Hospital Wing in two weeks, and a lot had changed in that time - scars healed properly, practically half of the moon cycle already passed. Sirius hadn't left her side at any point throughout her recovery until the point where Madam Pomfrey had actually started to like him. He never failed to bring it up wherever he could. And now, they sat side by side right up one end of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, as far from the rest of the Marauders as possible, drawing every unwanted pair of eyes imaginable. Not only did Ellie Gryffin look as if she'd been mauled by a Hippogriff, but her and Sirius Black weren't even casting glances down at their friends, something very suspicious indeed.

Of course rumours had been stirred up enough about why the beautiful girl had been missing for so long, theories ranging from another lost family member to unwanted pregnancies with the handsome boy that had also been just as illusive, but no one had predicted the state she'd return in. Whispers swirled in flurries, and it seemed like everyone was trying to get a closer look at her. Ellie really wasn't excited for her first few lessons back.

    "We've got magical creatures first, you're gonna be fine, Cubs." Sirius told her knowingly, shovelling syrup-soaked pancakes into his mouth.

    "Can you read minds now too?" She mumbled, running a finger around the rim of her coffee mug.

    "I just know you."

Setting his knife down, Sirius pulled the hair tie off the end of her nearest braid before retrieving the other one too, starting to untangle the waves that had been returned to chocolate brown. Ellie had felt too sombre for such a bright hair colour during her recovery.

    "Stop that." She batted his hand away, "It's an awkward length and must stay tied up to hide that fact."

    "You don't need to hide anything... Now, eat."

Sirius shoved his plate in front of her, gesturing at the two pancakes left of his previously enormous stack, and he refused to stop staring at her until she'd finished every last mouthful. Whilst Ellie ate perhaps very begrudgingly, she felt better for it in the end. Like Remus around the full moon, her appetite had been on and off ever since she'd been bitten, where sometimes she could probably eat a whole cow, to others where just the mere mention of food made her queasy. The mornings were bad for it, but the evenings even worse, almost as if the moon coming out made her hungry for something else. Something she refused to think about.

    "Better?" Sirius asked once she was done and Ellie nodded, "You did brilliant."

    "Can we get a head start walking to class? I don't really fancy sitting here with all these eyes on us any longer."

She offered her hand and Sirius didn't hesitate in taking it, both standing and making a swift exit, but it was plainly obvious that they avoided those they were supposed to be friends with. Lily was sat with the rest of the Marauders, as were Alice, Frank, and Mary, and whilst Ellie knew it wasn't the case, it very much felt like her and Sirius' absence went unnoticed. James never even flinched as they breezed by, too busy discussing Transfiguration with Lily and Peter; Alice and Frank were in their own world as usual; and Remus was laughing heartily at something Mary had said.