Ella ○ Harry Potter

Eighteen: Chocolate Bunny

Cedric rubbed his eyes, trying to stop himself from falling asleep.

The Hogwarts Express was practically empty, with very few students that chose to return home for Easter holiday, and a few travelers who traveled to Hogsmeade. But along with a few first years, there was also Professor Lupin, looking for a seat on a free comparment.

While Cedric was practically nodding off, Ella was ever vigilant, though she was reading a rather thick book, and all Cedric knew was that it was somehow connected to Quantom physics. He wasn't sure what that was, in all honesty.

"Remus!" she called, making Cedric's eyes snap open. True, the raggedy professor stood at the hallway, and their door was left ajar when one of the first years rushed in to ask if they've seen a cat.

"You'll never call me professor, would you?" he asked with a grin, and peeked inside. "Hello Cedric."

"Hey Professor," Cedric greeted simply, before hiding a yawn.

"Why would I, Remus?" she grinned. "We're friends, it'd be odd."

"You're odd, Ella," Cedric mumbled, and she was tempted to chuck the book at him, but decided against it.

"You both went home for the holiday?" Remus wondered, hovering at the door. Ella, unlike a sleepy Cedric, realized he probably didn't have a free comparment, with the train being noticably shorter than it was at Holidays, with only two carriages connected to the iconically red driver's vehicle.

"Well, we both went to Ella's home," Cedric admitted, and Remus looked between the two in slight surprise, about to frown when he remembered Ella was, in fact, at the same age as Cedric, and not two years younger (as would be assumed with her being a third year), and that they were both closer to 17 than they were to 15. "It was a real rollercoaster."

"Always is with me," she grinned. "First impression of the neighborhood for Ced was guns on his right, and football on his left."

"And I later found out it's pretty much what always happens," Cedric shook his head, and Remus grinned slightly. "It explains a bit about Ella being so weird, right?"

"Well, it gives her an excuse, I suppose," Remus stated, and was about to say his goodbyes, when Ella hopped up and moved her suitcase from the seat.

"Here, Remus, join us!" she offered.

"Oh, I don't know," he started. "I wouldn't want to burden you, and I'm sure I can find another seat."

"With first years," she pointed out. "Or with this weird hag that has been cutting open chocolate frogs. I think we're the best option," she turned to look at Cedric, that was obviously fighting a losing battle against sleep. "And Ced's been studying a bit over the time we stayed at my house, and lost some sleep over it. He won't even realize you're here, and I'm invested in my book."

"What book is it?"

"In Search of the Edge of Time," she started. "Uh, it's been published almost two years back, it's about black holes and worm holes as a thing of reality and not science fiction," she closed the book for a moment, grinning a bit. "It's kind of a simplified version of this whole thing, and it gives some background about some old astronomers. I think it's a really nice book to read so far, but Cedric tried reading a few pages and said it sounds too complicated and that he has no idea what the hell is a quantom."

"Sounds... delightful," Remus said simply. He peeked at the book as Ella opened it again, and saw a few mathematical equations. He was good with spells, not numbers, so he decided that this book won't be easy reading for him. Not as much as it was for Ella, who was flipping pages as though she was reading a simple fairytale.