Finding Her Way | Sirius Black

22. Summer

Ellie looked at Spencer, bewildered.

"What do you reckon?" She asked, laughing nervously and looking up into his lavender eye.

"Why not?" He said, but Ellie was fooled by his calm and collected demeanor. However, his insides were twisting and spiraling in his stomach, causing him to become quite sick. He knew Sirius had only given them invitations to his family's dance in the hopes that Ellie would want him back. No, Spencer didn't want to go, but he also didn't want to be the jealous boyfriend.

"It could be fun..." Ellie said, and Spencer could hear the gears turning in her head, "Yeah let's go! It will be so fun!" Spencer grinned down at her.

"Okay let's go!" He said, putting on a convincing smile and nodding his head vigorously. She beamed up at him, and he beamed back.

Two days later their trunks were packed, broomsticks shut away, and a disgruntled Delta was shoved, rather unceremoniously, into her cage. Ellie and Spencer had gotten a compartment on the trolley by themselves, and she has just sat herself down next to Spencer when he opened his mouth, presumably to ask a question, but Ellie cut him off, looking outside of the window.

"Trolley's here, want something to eat?" She asked brightly, springing up and rummaging in the pocket of her robes to pull out 5 or 6 large round gold coins, clearly oblivious to the fact that he had been trying to ask a question, "My treat."

"Thanks!" Spencer replied, excited to delay the moment when he would have to ask the question he wanted to ask. He felt small just thinking about it, "Um, can you get me a chocolate frog please?"

"Sure." Ellie said, opening the sliding door and going out to meet the lady on the trolley, laughing and grinning broadly and she brought not one, but heaps of chocolate frogs into the compartment, splaying them out where she had been sitting and going over to sit next to Spencer, curling herself up into the crook of his elbow. He reached his hand around her and gripped her shoulder, becoming acutely aware of their proximity and feeling her hot breath coming in quick, short gasps after carrying the frogs in.

"So..." He started, looking down at her and drawing a deep breath, "What color dress are you wearing, I want to wear a tie that matches." It sounded like a simple question, but it had taken all of Spencer's gut to ask it. For one thing, he had never been very good at talking to pretty girls. Now, Ellie was his girlfriend, and these types of questions hadn't gotten any easier. He felt stupid and old-fashioned, wanting to match her, but if he did, then everyone would know that Ellie was his. No one would ever doubt that Ellie liked him, especially him. Ellie blushed.

"Light blue." She said, and he grinned, letting out a deep breath internally, opening his trunk and showing her the contents.

"Wherever will I find a color like that?" He asked sarcastically, for his trunk was chock-full of light blues and navies, poking out very oddly, as he hadn't folded them. Ellie laughed, and her laugh seemed to light up the compartment. Spencer leaned in and kissed her, feeling her laugh stop and her lips connect to his. He pulled away to find her blushing furiously, "I like you a lot," he said. But he touched his lips, confused, as the train screeched to a stop in King's Cross Station, and they were bustling off the train hurriedly, trying not to bump into each other.

"I've owled my mum to tell her that I'm spending the summer with you. She's not going to be at the station, thank Merlin." Now it was Spencer's turn to laugh. He was glad that he had extended the invitation for the whole summer, after hearing about her abusive family life. He looked at her in awe. She dealt with everything with the same even and happy tone. He heaved his trunk off of the train and Ellie followed, Delta residing contentedly on her shoulder, before Ellie stopped short.

"Sorry D, gotta put you back in your cage." Delta squirmed and hooted angrily at Ellie but did agree to hop back into her cage. Ellie hopped down on the train platform and craned her neck, looking for Spencer, she'd lost him while returning Delta to her cage.

"Over here!" He shouted over the hustle and bustle of the platform, and she went over, almost tripping several times over Ellie. Ellie giggled as she approached but smoothed her robes out and smiled down at little Mrs. White.

"Oh, hello dear. It's so nice to finally meet you. Spencer's told me so much about you."

"Mom!!" Spencer said, and Mrs. White smiled up at them both, noting the pale flush that had crept up both of their faces.

"Oh, don't be embarrassed sweetie, you've been constantly talking about her. You are sweet dear, I'm so excited you're going to be spending the summer with us." Mrs. White was a short woman, and very warm, with close cropped pearly hair and eyes that sparkled brightly and reminded Ellie forcefully of Spencer, for both of them were lavender.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay with you Mrs. White. I look forward to it." Ellie said.

"Please, call me Susan, and it's our pleasure!" She replied, and her comforting nature almost brought Ellie to tears. When she thought of all that she could have done, all that she could've been, with a mother like this, it made her so sad.

"Thank you." Ellie said, for that was all she could muster. They waited in line until the man who was manning the barrier waved them through, and Mrs. White spoke again.

"Ellie dear, please grip my hand very tightly. Are you okay with side-along apparition?" Ellie gulped and nodded, gripping Mrs. White's arm tightly and when Spencer gripped her other side, Ellie felt like she was being squeezed into a tube, she felt a jerk behind her navel, and suddenly she was standing on the edge of the lake. Spinning around, she looked where Spencer and Mrs. White were headed. She gasped.

"Wow."