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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Silas hadn't written much and pretty much kept it to one sentence. He said he was sorry and to meet him in the corner of the courtyard at eleven tonight. Ellie thought it was weird that they couldn't just talk now, or that he couldn't put what he wanted to say in his letter, and the suspense then began to irk her -- the fact that she couldn't know now at this second. It was beginning to sound against the law.
Deciding to just skip dinner since she never got to eat much anyway, Ellie waited patiently, holed up in her dormitory for the rest of the day and evening. She pretended to be sleeping when the other girls walked in, chatting and giggling. There was a light scoff in the air when the giggling stopped, but no indication that it was towards Ellie.
Everything was quiet after that and when she was sure that everyone was fast asleep, Ellie jumped up out of bed, put on her robes and grabbed her wand before going down into the common room.
Ellie hated venturing the castle at night when she was supposed to be sleeping. She had only ever done it once in her first-year when she was good friends with Pansy, and they went into the third-floor corridor which was forbidden at the time. Only the door was locked and they weren't aware of alohomora, so they treaded back to their dormitories.
It was scary to be wandering the castle at night while it was deserted, and if she ran into Filch or his creepy cat she was done for. That was the scariest thought of all.
When she reached the courtyard, it was somewhat hard to see but she decided not to light up her wand and headed toward the shadowy silhouette of what had to be Silas, sitting on the ground in the corner where he was very much hidden from anyone who would walk past, unless they were deliberately looking for him.
"Ellie -- sit, quickly," Silas whispered, and Ellie obliged. He muttered a charm so that they could talk without being heard. "I have so much to tell you."
"Oh, now you want to talk? Where we aren't seen? What could Nikolai possibly do if you and I are seen together? I'd be much less afraid if you stuck with me, Silas, but no -- you leave me alone . . ."
Silas looked down shamefully, and it looked very sincere. Ellie knew she couldn't be too angry with him, not when he was the only one out of her friends who was aware of how Nikolai Orlov really was as a person. And maybe, during the time she was forced to isolate him, he had found out much more.
"So, what did you want to tell me?"
"I really am sorry, Ellie. I know that what I was doing was hurting you but I was selfish and only thinking about myself," said Silas. "I was scared."
"Scared? Of Nikolai?" Ellie frowned. "Why -- what did he say to you exactly?"
"No, not of him. Of how you would react if . . . if he . . ." Silas paused for a moment and took in a deep breath, before slowly exhaling. "Okay. I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anybody before. I wanted to tell my parents first but . . . I don't know. I'm a coward."
"You can trust me," Ellie told him, and she took his hand in hers. "Please tell me. I'm getting worried."
"You don't need to be worried. But here goes. I'm -- I'm not like other boys. I'm not . . . normal. I guess I'm kind of like you. Wait -- no, that's not right. I'm sorry, Ellie, I'm just afraid . . ."
But Ellie simply smiled. And then she squealed. Silas jumped slightly and retreated his hand from hers.
"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" Ellie squealed excitedly.
"You . . . you did?" Silas blinked rapidly. "Was it that obvious?"
"What, that you're into boys? Yes I knew! Well, I had two theories. Gay, or just didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable so you never brought up girls, or crushes, or anything. Silas, you didn't have to be afraid of telling me! Now we can fawn and creep over boys together."
Silas's mouth twitched at the sound of that, but then it disappeared a second later. "Nikolai was holding that against me and I was afraid of you finding out from him rather than myself, and I didn't know if you'd like me anymore no matter who you heard it from. And I guess I just needed time to . . . prepare myself . . . to gather the courage to say it. I'm sorry, it was really selfish."
"No, it wasn't," Ellie said softly, poking her wand through a crack in the concrete. "I can see it from your perspective and I'm sure it must've been scary to have that git using that against you. He's such a . . . ugh! So he knew? He made it like he didn't like the amount of time you and I were spending together and thought maybe you were getting the wrong idea, or something. And today he asked Lavender and Parvarti if they wanted to study with him. He's trying to turn everyone against me, or at least have me friendless."
"And he did that to you," Silas gritted, pointing to her face. His eyes then fell to her wrist, where she no longer had it bandaged. "And your wrist, I saw that, I just wasn't sure. Would you like to plot ways on how to murder him?"
"Hmm, tempting," Ellie smirked jokingly. "But no, I've got it sorted. I'm gathering the evidence . . . on me, to use against him. I'm going to tell my parents, and I'm going to show them what he's done."
"Good," Silas said seriously, then leaning closer and saying. "He's even more dubious when you aren't around him, Ellie."
"What?"
"Yeah, shocking I know," Silas rolled his eyes. "There's this journal he carries around, it's ugly and looks ancient --"
"-- Oh, yes. I've seen that a few times. When he took me into his dorm I picked it up, and he reacted . . . strangely."
"There's got to be something bad written in there. When his friends are around him, and he has that book, it's like he's reading stuff to them and they look . . . weirdly intrigued. I can't help but think that maybe . . . maybe it's, like, Death Eater stuff," Silas shuddered, looking away as he finished. "I know, it's silly, You-Know-Who is pretty gone . . . but what if he's a crazy fan or something?"
Ellie bit her lip, pondering. His journal would be an even bigger game changer than her polaroids. "And if we somehow acquired this journal . . ."
"And if what's written in there is crazy, your parents would have no choice but to cancel everything."
A spark of hope began to spread through Ellie, a warm euphoria
"I think I can get my hands on it," said Ellie, watching as Silas's face changed completely, realising that he wouldn't be around Ellie when she does. "Nikolai has taken me into Slytherin once before, he'll do it again. I just need a way to nick it without him noticing. How can I do that?"
"Ellie, I really, really don't like the sound of that. Just thinking about what could happen if he catches you scares me. I want to be there."
"But you can't," said Ellie. "I have to on my own. Although maybe . . ."
"Maybe what?"
"I think . . . I think maybe Malfoy would help me."
"Malfoy?" Silas belched. Ellie couldn't help but smile. "Hang on, I need a minute before I say something silly. Can you update me please?"
