Are We Mad? (Professor R.J.Lupin)

Chapter 2: Nothing Special

All pictures in this book unless said otherwise were taken by me, usually at work. I live in such a beautiful part of England. Some others were taken on my travels around the world.

Ella sat with Fred, George and her friend Tom Costello in the great hall. Tom was a tall boy with shoulder length jet black hair and cheekbones as sharp as knives, people presumed they were together and wondered "What a good-looking boy like him doing with a rat like her" Ella was used to this by now. Tom always told her they were jealous of her, but she always found it difficult to believe, she never found herself attractive in the slightest, but she was wrong a lot of people thought she was beautiful. Ella had a guard, a guard she didn't just let down to anyone, so It gives off as Tom puts it an "icy exterior".

Ella glanced around the room as the first years were getting sorted until her eyes locked eyes with the familiar pair of Remus Lupin, he was smiling at her, a warm truly caring smile that met his eyes. Ella weakly smiled back before returning her eyes to the sleeves of her robes, playing with them nervously as she blushed mentally telling herself to get it together. She slowly looked up watching the first years getting sorted, she noticed Remus still looking at her. "Why is he looking at me" she thought "I'm nothing special"

Remus was still staring at Ella most of the sorting ceremony watching how she acted, he noticed how she played with her robes when she was nervous. He thought she was the most interesting person in the room, her face told so many stories and when he looked in her eyes, he saw the stars. He didn't necessarily fancy her he told himself, she's just interesting. Remus tried to tell himself that but deep down he knew he found the girl beautiful, trying to keep that hidden. He noticed that she noticed his eyes were still on her and he noticed how uncomfortable it made her quickly looking down towards his lap thinking how creepy he must have looked no wonder she looked uncomfortable not realising that she was trying to hide her eyes own attraction for the man.

Ella was deep in thought when Tom nudged her.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Ella looked up at Tom and back at the table noticing that the feast had begun. Ella grabbed a small amount of food and began to eat, Ella always wanted to watch her weight as it's something she always struggled with along with her self-confidence. She slowly eats noticing Tom and Ron wolfing down their food as Hermione watched on in disgust.

~time skip~

Ella sat upright in her bed after hours of tossing and turning not able to get to sleep. She decided to get up and go down to the black lake. Ella always went to sit there when she couldn't sleep or was worried. Wrapping herself up in her big pink cardigan and walked cautiously down out the common room and through the empty halls. It was eerily quiet compared to the hustle and bustle during the day.

As Ella sat down near the water, she felt her stress melt away staring into the lake. The crescent moon shone bright and reflected on the water.

"Miss Lestrange" an unknown voice called from Behind her. Ella jumped up and turned around to see the person behind her seeing it was Remus.

"Oh, professor sorry I couldn't sleep and.." Ella began to ramble and trailed off. Remus smile kindly and motioned for her to sit back down.

"It's quite alright Miss Lestrange" sitting down next to her. Ella was slightly disappointed by the generous gap left between the two. " I used to come down here to calm down when I was a Hogwarts" Remus said reminiscing over his time at Hogwarts. Ella smiled at him.

"What house were you in?" Ella asked not sure what else to say realising how hopeless she was talking to people.

"I was in Gryffindor" He replied smiling back at her. She looked down and fiddled with her cardigan. A small awkward silence fell upon the two they had a strange tension between them.

"Miss Lestrange?" Remus questioned. Ella looked up to him nodding for him to continue. "I hope you don't find me rude but why did you come down here tonight, you know there's a killer on the loose and you look worried?" He said worry evident in his voice. Ella looked down and continued to fiddle and pull at her cardigan thinking of what to say next.

"Just to clear my mind and he hasn't been spotted near here yet." Remus sighed not getting the information he craved.

"Are you okay Miss Lestrange?"

"Ella" she said looking up at him that stars dancing in her eyes as Remus felt himself getting lost in them.

"What?" He said confused.

"Please call me Ella I don't like being referred to by my last name"

I don't think that's appropriate Mis- Ella" Remus said smirking slightly.

"Well you just did" Ella said giggling

"Anyway Ella" he said smirking "what's wrong with your last name?" Remus asked hoping she would mention what part of the Lestrange family she was from, knowing it was shallow judging her by her last name this way but it was judging necessarily Remus was just intrigued as she was nothing like what he knows Bellatrix or Rodolphus to be like and he didn't know much about his brother.

Ella bit her lip and said "well my family doesn't have the best of reputations do they"

"What do you mean?" He asked hoping she would mention more staring intently into her eyes and looking at her beautiful features the moonlight reflecting her eyes perfectly blushing slightly as he did so. She looked at him confused.

"Have you never heard of my mother and father, I'm surprised" she said smirking slightly.

"They aren't Bellatrix and Rodolphus by any chance?" Remus said quietly, Ella couldn't read his facing expression, but it was obvious what he was asking and that he didn't like either of them. She laughed slightly.

"Ah good to see their amazing reputation is still intact" Ella said laughing again and Remus joined in making Ella feel happy for some reason. It was like his laugh was the most magical sound in the world.

"I'm shocked they're your parents though you seem nothing like them" Ella stopped laughing biting her lip again as Remus realised that he had offended her. "I'm sorry that came out wrong" he said feeling guilty and embarrassed.

"It's fine" Ella stated with a small smile " I really am nothing like them, all they did was wrong but they were both talented and I'm nothing like that, nothing special" she said the last part so quietly hoping Remus didn't hear it but he did and his heart broke for the girl.

" I'm sure that's not true Ella" Remus said moving closer to her as she sighed and smiled slightly.

She seemed so broken to Remus, so delicate and fragile. He wanted to open his arms up to her and tell here everything was okay, that he was here for her, to protect her. He knew he couldn't, deciding instead to push his feelings for the girl down deeper although it was getting harder. He originally thought his feelings were only physical attraction, but he realised she has the most amazing personality to go along with her looks.

The two chatted for a while longer talking about books, they had both read. Ella thought it must be at least 3 in the morning as she began to feel tired.

"So how long will my detention be" Ella said confusing Remus. "Well you caught me out of bed so I would presume a detention would be coming my way"

"I think I can let it slide tonight Miss Lestrange" going back to her last name as he realised how unprofessional he had been that night. " you better go to bed now though" Ella nodded and they bid goodnight he watched Ella run off towards the castle.

Well done Remus he thought to himself. Letting things slide on your first night and taking a liking to a student, shame on you. He began to walk back himself scolding himself all the way there reminding himself he can't mess this up but he couldn't shake the girl from his mind, telling himself he was being silly and that they had only met today so how could he like her already. Ella had the same thought scolding herself also for this "silly schoolgirl fantasy crush" she had. One thing was for sure, defence against the dark arts classes would be interesting for the two.

A/n
Okay so... I mean I'm kinda proud of this. It could have been better but ya know not bad so far for my first try 😂