selcouth // h. granger

◤cingulomania◢

sing-gyoo-Loh-may-nee-uh /(seŋgolumania)/
noun
a strong desire to hold a person in your arms

☠︎~~~☠︎

Although everyone had gotten their packing done early, the morning when they took the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts was hurried and rather stressful. Elara just barely had time to pull on her trainers before being rushed out the door. At least this time, Mrs. Black wasn't screaming from her portrait again.

"Bye, dad! Love you!" she called over her shoulder after heading down the stairs, feeling the strange need to say that before she left.

"Love you, El!" Sirius called back with a grin before summoning Harry over for his own goodbye.

Elara didn't take the word 'love' lightly. It just felt right to say it at the moment... did that make sense?

In a matter of two minutes, the students, accompanied by Remus and Tonks (who was disguised as a tweedy woman with sharp, grey hair) strode down the street swiftly. "Come on, the quicker we get on the bus, the better," Tonks rushed, turning a corner before Remus threw out his right arm.

Instantly, and not without a loud bang, a triple-decked purple bus appeared in mid-air, nearly knocking over a lamp post in the process. Stan Shunpike lept down to greet them all, saying, "Welcome to the-"

"Yes, yes, we know, thank you," Tonks interrupted hastily, beckoning them all up the steps. "On, on, get on-" Elara could've sworn she heard Tonks mutter menacingly to the other conductor after recognizing Harry, "If you shout his name, I will curse you into oblivion."

"I've always wanted to go on this thing," Ron proclaimed in awe, gazing around at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Elara snorted, then almost screamed as she saw a cockroach run out of a fallen purse and quickly scurried away. It was near the afternoon, the bus was packed, and the only empty seats were separated from each other.

"Looks like we'll have to split up," Tonks pointed out, seeming a bit anxious. "Fred, George, Ginny, and Elara, if you just take those seats at the back... Remus can stay with you..."

Having absolutely no problem with that group, as she needed to continue her conversation with Fred and George that got cut off that morning with shouts from Mrs. Weasley, Elara followed Remus and the others to the empty seats at the back of the bus.

Right after the moment they had sat down and paid Stan eleven sickles each, the bus sped off with another furious BANG, and everyone was thrown backward in their seats. Elara narrowly avoided falling by grabbing onto a short railing above, most likely there for that reason.

As the bus continued its pace without any sudden stops or jerks, people slowly started resuming their activities, in which Fred passed Elara a small piece of parchment. She gave him a curious look before unfolding it, just to read off in her head:

Helping Ellie Get The Girl!
Do these (In no particular order):
~Spend time with her
~Take her on a date
~Compliment her
~Small, meaningful things
You're welcome,
Your favorite Gryffindors

Elara was completely stunned at the fact Fred and George came up with this and even wrote the word 'meaningful.' Technically, she already did... two of four of those things. She most definitely had not worked up the courage to ask Hermione out and hadn't really thought of complimenting her. Out of all her thoughts, it hadn't crossed her mind.

The only reason she had asked for help was because of what Sirius said. She knew how perfect her grandparents were together; she's seen dozens of pictures among pictures. If her Grandmother really couldn't read her Grandfather, and this was the same situation with Hermione, perhaps 'getting the girl' was worth a shot. She didn't really like that term, though.