Elyssa Greer came from a Pureblood family, a Pureblood descent of Serbians. She was the outcast of her family; the only Gryffindor after centuries of the Greer and Banović family being sorted into Slytherin. Ellie felt like an outcast before she was...
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Ellie stuck with her own friends in her Potions class, in which the fifth-years were to create the Draught of Peace, and everything would have gone according to plan what with the instructions on the blackboard if it weren't for Nikolai distracting her from across the room. He would often catch her eye with a soft smile or she could see him staring at her out of the corner of her eye, or she could feel his stare. Yet somehow with all the staring, Nikolai had done rather well on his Potion. Ellie, however, did not. It didn't look anything as Snape had described it should; it wasn't a light silver, it was a moldy looking green that smelt a lot like sweaty armpits.
To make the matter worse, Gryffindor lost ten points because Ellie had laughed at Goyle whose robes were set on fire from his flagon shattering. People surrounded him, trying to put out the flames, when all Snape had to do was wave his wand and the fire was gone. The ginger left with Lavender and Parvarti at her side until she caught sight of Silas' back.
"Wait," Parvarti grabbed her hand. "Sit with us this time."
"I can sit with you at dinner," Ellie offered. "Or come and join us, even."
"No," Lavender said, longing the word. "Everything gets awkward around him and he doesn't even like us. He's like a bubble of awkward."
"Try getting to know him," Ellie shrugged at her friends. "He's not so bad, he just needs time getting to know you back. All he knows about you is that you two are a bubble of giggles and he hates it, especially that you sound like a pair of childish girls."
Parvarti gasped. "He said that?"
"Oh, Parvarti, I'm sure everybody thinks it," said Ellie, as the trio entered the Great Hall together. "It's fine though," she added quickly when she saw the two girls share a look. "I don't mind. Now I have classes with you, so I'm going to spend lunch with Silas. I'll see you in a bit."
"OK, fair enough," Lavender decided, and she walked with Parvarti in the direction of the Gryffindors.
Ellie spun around on her feet, ready to bore Silas to death with what had happened in her classes, only to come inches away from knocking into a chest. She knew who it was from the smell of his cologne, and even more so as her eyes trailed up to the confident smile. Nikolai grabbed Ellie's hand.
"Come eat with us," he said kindly. "With me."
Ellie looked desperately between Silas and Nikolai, torn, even more so as Silas' stared at her with a blank face yet his eyes expressing that he knew who she was going to sit with. He looked away from her gloomily and reached for fruit. Nikolai raised his delicate eyebrows and Ellie had almost become too distracted with how perfectly shaped they were, that he had to squeeze her hand to grab her full attention.
"You know, I get the feeling that your friends don't particularly like me very much," Ellie laughed half-heartedly, her eyes straying to her friend at the Ravenclaw table, all by himself . . . if only he would talk to someone . . . "I'm sure you get that vibe, as well."
"It doesn't matter, you're not marrying them, are you? You're marring me," Nikolai smiled down at her. He seemed to get the wrong idea of what she was saying, as he continued with, "Look, if they make you feel uncomfortable, I'll have a little talk with them at the end of the day. They should understand, they know we're engaged. So, obviously we're going to spend a lot of time with one another so that we can know more."
The tall boy didn't give her a chance to respond as he had already handled her a little tighter and dragged her further away from her dear friend. Ellie looked back, but Silas was staring ahead at his food. All she could see now was the back of his head. She wanted to argue with Nikolai that she preferred to sit with Silas for a while, but she didn't want him getting the wrong idea, he was already suspicious of the two. But that was silly! They had been friends for years, she'd told him that. It should have been obvious that she would choose Silas before Nikolai.
And so she ate her lunch with the Slytherins, quietly, not bothering to respond to any hateful comments from Pansy, or Goyle who was offended that Ellie had laughed at his robes. Any other Slytherin who wasn't in Nikolai's clique said nothing to or about Ellie.
"Ellie," Nikolai said after a while; it seemed he had forgotten she was there and spent that time laughing with his friends, and hadn't bothered to defend her when Pansy was making comments. The redhead looked at him. "Why is it that you prefer to be called Ellie? Why not Elyssa? I'm actually quite fond of Elyssa more than I am of Ellie."
"Um . . ." Ellie started awkwardly, bringing her hand up to her mouth before quickly lowering it again. "I don't know."
"C'mon," Nikolai grinned at her. "There's gotta be a reason."
"Elyssa's just weird," Ellie blurted.
Her eyes turned toward the snicker that came from Pansy. "She sure is."
The remainder of Nikolai's friends laughed while Ellie ignored it.
"It sounds too sophisticated," Ellie added when Nikolai tilted his head and gaped his perfectly shaped lips. "I used to be called Elyssa all the time but then Silas started to call me Ellie and it kind of just stuck. My Mum refuses to call me Ellie but my Dad is cool with it."
"Oh," Nikolai said, rather sharply too. He seemed annoyed whenever Ellie would mention Silas.
"What about you?" she said. "You don't prefer to be called Nick or anything?"
"No, only Nikolai. It's what my parents named me so it's what I'll be called. Nick sounds lazy and low-status just like Ellie does. I'm going to call you Elyssa and see if I have a chance to get it stuck again," he smiled.
Something crumbled and she suddenly didn't care much anymore. There he was at the Ravenclaw table all alone and bored, almost sad, and here Ellie was watching him be all those things. She rose from the bench and slung her bag over her shoulder. Nikolai looked up at her, confused.
"I'm sorry," she said, stepping out from in front of the bench. "Er - I'll see you in class."
Nikolai said nothing, or he had but Ellie didn't know because she legged it out of there. She approached the back of Silas and covered his eyes from behind.
"Guess who."
"A ditcher, perhaps?" he said lightly, and went on after Ellie gasped, "Oh, did I guess right?"
The Gryffindor flicked his shoulder, to which he leaned way from her and rubbed it. "Don't be silly."
He looked at her and turned his mouth to the side. "It's fine. I can't be angry about you spending all your time with him; you're going to be married in two years. You can't exactly wed a stranger, I wouldn't allow it."
"Come. Let's go for a walk around the courtyard," she responded, taking his hand and pulling him up from the bench. She shoved his bag in his hands and pulled him by the arm.
"Good," he grumbled, struggling to hold his bag and have Ellie pull him both at the same time. "You can tell me all about this bloke."
