Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒as she held her composure as Remus sat beside her at the Quidditch match. She wasn't scared of him, not at all, but she didn't necessarily know how to act around him now.
Remus John Lupin, her friendly, innocent, charming mentor, was a werewolf, a dark, magical creature found in children's nightmares and Halloween's frightening stories.
It was pouring rain outside. Perfect weather to match the inner turmoil Ella was feeling. Again, it was not simply because she knew he was a werewolf, but that he didn't know she knew he was a werewolf. And she wasn't sure if he would want her to know the fact.
"Remus," she greeted, her voice thankfully clear and friendly over the loud rain sounds. There were coverings above all the boxes and bleachers, thankfully, so she only needed to speak through air, not water. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better."
"I am. Thank you, Lovella." He told her gratefully, touched every time she expressed her concern for his well-being. "I do hope Severus wasn't too harsh on you."
"Now that you're feeling better, hopefully the students will get an extension on the essay he assigned them yesterday," she said hopefully.
Remus had been asking about her, not the class, but he didn't correct her. His focus should have been on his students, not her, he had to keep reminding himself. Yet with each passing day, he found it harder and harder to keep her off his mind, out of his thoughts. It certainly didn't help that he couldn't even get her out of his classroom every day.
"And shall I presume you are rooting for Hufflepuff today, and not Harry?" Remus asked, eyeing the yellow scarf around her neck.
"I'm cheering for both," Ella answered, gesturing to her scarf with a sly smile. "Is it yellow, or is it gold? One can never know for sure." She winked playfully, and Remus chuckled at that, ignoring how the blood suddenly rushed down from his head at the gesture.
"You truly are a most brilliant witch." His tone was teasing, but Ella saw by the caring expression on his face that he believed his words wholeheartedly.
Ella felt her face warm as she stared into Remus's caring gaze. it had only been a few days since she had seen him last, and she had missed him dearly. But she hadn't realized until that moment, the two of them together on the bench, side by side, that she realized just how much she missed drowning in the green sea of his eyes. Perhaps, it was Snape's doing that she yearned for him so much this time around. He had been a particularly nasty substitute to the lovely Lupin.
But Ella knew the truth: she felt this way simply because she liked Remus. She didn't miss him because she preferred his kindness to Snape's cruelty; she missed him because he was Remus. The kind, caring, intelligent, and so damn goodhearted.
