Secrets

#11

James POV
"PADFOOT GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Remus screams, as Eliana chases after him, laughing as hard as she can. Remus laughs at her snorting, but keeps chasing after Sirius. Sirius is running straight to the kitchen to get food for the party, while Remus tries to lecture him about being nice. My sister is here for the fun and Peters is in Hogsmeade with Marlene stealing drinks.

"Let him be. We have elves and he's nice to them," I say but I cant help but laugh.

"Shut up, Prongs."

"Where do these nicknames come from anyway?" Eli asks, and even Sirius looks back to exchange looks. "What? I'm your twin, James, you have to tell me."

"Nope," I say, because if she founds about my animagus, she might tell dad, and she'll get freaked out by Remus' furry little problem. She's a good person and is very accepting, but since Beauxbatons she's been very skittish. And something like a werewolf being her friend would not be great for her getting adjusted.

"Remus? Please?" Eli drags out the please, and I know Remus can't resist. He's gone soft, and he likes El.

"Remus, stay strong man. Stay strong. You can make it through this," I say, causing Sirius to chuckle.

"Shut the hell up," he says, smiling back.

-
Remus POV
"This is going to be a banger," Eli looks up, and smiles at me. She has the prettiest teeth and very pink lips, that I catch myself looking at, and quickly look away. We're setting up tables, because if Sirius has anything to do with that, shit will hit the fan. James is handling food and were handling alcohol. Peter and Sirius are decorating, Frank and Lily are trying to figure out teachers schedules so we dont get busted. The rest of the girls are extending invitations, Mary to Hufflepuff, Dorcas and Callie to Ravenclaw, Alice and Emmeline to Gryffindors that don't know yet, and Marlene to select Slytherins.

"Want to have a shot with me before the party starts?" Eli grins up to me and I find myself not being able to say no to her, so I smile and pour vodka in two shot glasses. Her eyes light up and she takes hers. "To Gryffindor." I smile and we down our shots. Her smile gets a little wider, but she just takes our glasses and puts cleaning charms on them.

"We need to put music on."

"Yes!" She shouts and summons a wizard radio. "Dance music?"

"Of course," I smile, "ABBA."

"We'll do a mix of muggle and wizard, make everyone feel welcome. But ABBA will definitely be featured more than once." I've never seen a rich pureblood as considerate of muggleborn and half blood comforts and wishes, other than James. Even Sirius isn't like that, just because he was raised different than James and Eliana.

She walks over to me, and looks confused at a spot above my right eye. "Where did you get that scar? It looks like it hurts." She reaches up to touch it, then pulls away. "Sorry, personal question."

"No, its alright." I've never seen her so concerned, and it's nice to see it directed towards me. I feel terrible lying to her, but I can't tell her I'm werewolf. So I have my routine story. "When I was a kid I got assaulted by a tree branch. My friends and I were running through the park, and I didn't dodge a tree in time. But I pretend its a war wound. It makes me seem cooler."

She laughs and I feel worse than I already did, but then James walks over and says people are starting to trickle in. Dorcas screams 'El', and she smiles goodbye at me before running to Dorcas. I watch her go, and startle when Marlene says, "I won't tell James, but you tell her."

"What do you mean?" I rip my gaze from Eliana to see Marlene with her eyebrows raised.

"I'm not stupid. You've been staring at Eli since the incident where you caught her on the grounds. It's gotten worse since you've talked more and you don't take notes anymore in potions because you're to busy talking to El. Don't lie to me. You're looking at me like I'm crazy, but I'm not. Lily sees it too. And Lily is matchmaker extraordinaire. Tell her Remus. It's there, you're not delusional. I've known Eli for about a month now, and I see how she smiles at people, and then how she smiles at you. It's different. Go for it. I'll distract James."