crushed - remus lupin

-twenty-five-

Ella Novak was never the type of girl who dealt with anyone's bullshit.

It was a common occurrence to see her stuck in classrooms far after classes had ended, purely because she had earned detention for speaking her mind.

In the past, these had been because she had told teachers to "suck on her dick" and students to "go fuck themselves".

This particular time, Ella had gotten a detention she didn't deserve, which was unusual.

Ella was walking down the hallway towards the Great Hall, ready to grab some food and get the hell out of there.

The Great Hall was noisy, annoying, and the Slytherin table was the center of the worst things about Hogwarts, in her opinion. There sat the people Ella detested most in the world, besides Shelley.

The two chose to avoid the Great Hall as much as possible, taking quick trips to get food, and at dinner, when they were forced to stay, they would sneak over to the Gryffindor table as often as they could manage it.

She was about to make her dramatic entrance and quick exit when she heard a noise.

It was the sound of pain.

Ella knew that sound all too well.

It was the sound that would leave her lips when she went home for the summer.

It was the sound of torture.

Ella Novak was many things, but a coward was not one of them.

After rounding the corner, she could identify that there were two boys that were the problem. She quickly sized them up, trying to figure out what would be best, physical aggression or magic.

They looked to be about six feet tall, leanly built, and too arrogant for their own good. Just like that, Ella had a plan.

She walked right up to them, batted her eyelashes and said in a voice that resembled Veronica Bluebottle's, "Oh. my. gosh. Are you torturing a mudblood?"

The two boys, who Ella could now identify as Finn and Elliot Goyle, took one look at her green and silver tie (Elliot's eyes strayed a bit further then she would like) and nodded proudly.

"Yeah?" She said, her voice sticky sweet. With a swift kick, the boys were hunched over, holding their crotches. That was when Ella decided they needed an extra reminder of their actions, so she grabbed both of their heads and crashed them together.

As the two boys ran down the hall clumsily, clutching their heads in their hands, Ella blew them a kiss and called after them, "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week!"

Her mood shifted as she turned to see the terrified first year girl huddled in the corner. She had light brown hair that was tied into pigtail braids, and the girl was using them to wipe her tears off of her face.

Ella was silent for a minute, wanting to make sure she handled this right. She sat down next to the girl quietly, waiting a bit before speaking.

"What's your name?"

The girl looked up. "Angeline Markson." She sniffled.

"Hey Angie, is it okay I call you that?" Angie nodded.

"I'm Ella. What those boys did to you was not okay. Just because your parents are muggles, that doesn't mean that you can't be the best witch on this planet." Ella wiped a tear from Angeline's face with her thumb.