That Year We All Changed...

Chapter One: A Brief Meeting in the Library

Remus Lupin glanced uninterestedly around the History of Magic classroom, looking for something to do. It was no use listening to Binns; Peter was busy taking notes; and James and Sirius were dueling with... plastic fish?!

Remus shook his head, scanning the room for someone else that wasn't staring off into space or sleeping. His dull gray eyes locked onto a pair of pale green ones.

Ellie Roget grinned back tiredly, her head resting on her hand. She winked at him, and mouthed a single statement: 'I'm bored.'

Remus grinned, grabbing a piece of paper from his bag and scribbling something on it. With a quick glance to the front of the classroom, he sloppily folded up the paper and handed it, across the aisle, to the brunette seated beside him.

Wanna pass notes?

The girl tried to hold back a laugh, scribbled something down, and handed it back to him.

Sure. Did you see Frank last weekend?

When he kept falling over? That was hilarious!

Ellie glared at him.

I felt kind of sorry for him! Poor guy! Everyone was laughing at him. I bought him an ice cream, afterward.

But he's fine! He keeps joking about it now. You've such a soft heart, Ells.

Ellie glared at him again, leaning across the aisle. "What's that supposed to me?" she hissed, punching him lightly in the arm.

"Ow!" he muttered. "Watch the arm! I've gotta use that for Quidditch, you know!"

"Miss Roget..." Ellie snapped up straight in her seat. The entire class turned to stare at her. There were a few rude snickers. "Can you tell the class in which year the fiercest goblin rebellion was?"

"1753," Ellie repeated automatically. Binns mouth opened and closed several times in surprise.

"Well, uh... er..." He cleared his throat. "Thank you, Miss Roget." He returned to his monotonous lecture.

"How do you do that?" Sirius hissed.

"Huh?" Ellie turned in her seat to face him.

"How do you answer him just like that?" he asked quietly. "When you haven't even been listening to his lecture. I mean, I barely pass in this class... and that's only by copying off James, who copies off Lily, who doesn't know that James copies off her, but she deserves a lot more credit than she gets..."

Ellie glared at him. "I'm going to tell her that! She's almost my best friend! I can't let you do that! And what if you get caught? They'll blame Lily!"

"Breathe, Ells, breathe," James commanded, patting her arm. "They won't blame Lils. We'll just tell them the truth."

"Whatever."

~*x*~

"Remmy!"

Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter turned to see Ellie barreling down the corridor towards him. She didn't stop soon enough, so he ended up catching her in a hug.

"Hey, Rems!" she breathed. "Thanks for catching me!"

"Get a room..." Sirius muttered.

"Shut up..." Remus muttered. "Arse." Sirius grinned back cheekily.

"Yes, indeed, Sirius!" Ellie joined in loudly. "You are certainly an anus." She winked smarmily. "Learned that in Muggle school, I did. Also learned how to do a roundhouse, but that's a whole different reason and a whole different story." She received a multitude of stares.

"Are you hyper?" Sirius asked. "Because, you know, if you are, we can just-"

"You know what we could really use right now?" The entire group groaned. "Show tunes! C'mon, you guys know you love singing My Fair Lady with me! Broadway!" She frowned at the unresponsive faces. "Oh, fine, I've gotta go to the library anyway..." She melodramatically sulked down the corridor, and, halfway down, turned to them and grinned cheekily, and continued down the hallway in her usual jaunty manner.

"You know, I have to go to the library, too," Remus stated.

James glared at him appraisingly. "Remus, what would you have to do in the library? People like us don't need to use a library."

Remus smiled. "Well, you know, I have that... thing... for that class... and, er..." He cleared his throat. "I have to go."

"What's he doing?" James asked Sirius, watching the shorter young man dash frantically down the hall.

"I have no clue," Sirius stated. He threw James a glance, and grinned. "But I get the feeling it has nothing to do with learning."

~*x*~

Ellie was halfway through skimming through My Life in Herbology, which she was considering using for a herbology paper, when she got the distinct feeling that someone was watching her. She glanced from side to side, but found no one in the aisle, or at the end of it.

Glancing over the row of books just below her line of vision, she glimpsed a black-robed chest with the Gryffindor emblem embroidered on it.

"Hey, Remmy." Ellie grinned, standing on tiptoe to glance over the next row of books. Sure enough, her eyes locked on Remus' pale gray ones.

"Oh, er... hey, Ells," greeted Remus, pretending that he was surprised to find her there (when, in reality, he had followed her there and was watching her). "Fancy meeting you here."

"How now, spirit? Whither wander you?" Ellie returned, strolling slowly to the end of the row, Remus following parallel to her. She leaned around the corner, and he followed suit. "Looking for a book for the herbology essay?"

"Er... yeah..." He pushed his glasses up farther on his nose. "Got any good suggestions?"

"Well, you could start by looking in the herbology aisle." She gave him a sympathetic smile. He glanced up at the sign for the aisle he was in: Love Potions.

"Yeah." He grinned back sheepishly. "Who would've thought we'd have an entire row dedicated to love potions?"

"Um..." Ellie cast her eyes to the left and gestured towards his neck.

"What, Ells, I don't speak..."

"Shut up..." she murmured, cocking her head a little to the left. He turned his head to see Madam Pince standing at the opposite end of the aisle, glaring very frighteningly in their direction.

"I will not tolerate talking in my library!" she screeched, glaring at the two sixth years.

"Sorry, Madam Pince," the two said in unison.

"I'm very surprised in you... both of you!" she continued, placing her hands on her hips. "Normally you're so good in the library... maybe that's because you spend so much time in here..."

"Must be seventh-year-itus," Ellie stated, smiling sadly.

"We're only sixth years, though," Remus reminded her.

"I know. But mine started last year," she replied, as if this were some unfortunate circumstance that was small and annoying, but couldn't be avoided or gotten rid of.

"Just... keep it down!" Madam Pince hissed, flouncing off to her desk.

"What was it you were trying to say?" Remus asked, turning back to her and grinned lopsidedly.

"Your tie..." stated Ellie, reaching forward and adjusting it so that it was straight. "Is that too tight?"

"Nope."

"Okay. You're good, then." She leaned more heavily against the shelf and bit her lip, as if trying to think of something to say. "Can I try on your glasses?"

"Wha... What?" he asked at this random question.

"I like to put on people's glasses. Can I put yours on?"

"Oh... sure." He slipped them off and handed them to Ellie.

"Oh... I like these. They're very nice. And comfy."

"They look nice on you."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Ellie with a lopsided grin on her face, and Remus with a half smile, until the dinner bell rang, breaking them out of their reverie.

"Man! I promised Lily I'd meet her in the common room at six!" the brunette murmured, glancing down at her watch and high-tailing out of the room. "I'll see you later!"

~*x*~

"It's about time you got here!" Lily sighed, glaring at her best friend. "I was beginning to think you forgot about me!"

"Um... yeah, Lils... course I didn't forget about you..." Ellie gave her friend a sarcastically sheepish grin. Lily shoved her in the ribs as the two set out for the Great Hall. "Actually, I was in the library."

"Oh, really?" the redhead tried to act only half-interested. "And with whom, may I ask?"

"Wha... who... what are you talking about?" Ellie asked, covering up her shock.

"I heard Sirius and James talking. They said Remus went to the library right after you," Lily explained, rolling her eyes. "Gosh, Ells, when it comes to you and guys, you can't keep a single secret, can you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" the brunette asked indignantly.

"I mean you and Remus, meeting up in the library. It's so obvious that you like him. Everyone can tell... except probably Remus. That's normally how these things go."

"Who ever said I met up with Remus in the library?" Ellie asked defensively. "Maybe I he met up with me. Maybe I was just innocently standing in the library, and he happened to be in the next row over..."

"Sure." Lily rolled her emerald-green eyes. "Whatever you say. Wait... since when have you had glasses?"

"Oh, man..." Ellie rolled her eyes. "I borrowed them from Remus. I must've forgotten to give them back at the... library." Lily smirked, but said nothing.

The two walked in silence for a few minutes. "You know, there's a Hogsmead trip tomorrow..." began Lily.

"Yeah... and so what if there is?"

"Wow. Who're you, and what have you done with my happy Ellie? You don't have to get all snippy."

"I'm not getting snippy," Ellie retorted, glaring at Lily. "I just don't know why you feel like you have to remind me about a Hogsmead trip..."

"Well, because Remus'll be there, and I thought, maybe we could catch up with him, and James, and the whole little gang..."

"Wait a minute, Lily..." Ellie sat down nest to her friend Alex. " - Hey Alex - since when have you been able to tolerate James' presence? I believe it is now my turn to ask: who are you, and what have you done with my James-hating Lily?"

"Lily doesn't hate James anymore?" Alex asked, leaning in closer. "You've finally ended the love-hate charade?"

"What love-hate charade?" Lily asked defensively. "There was, and is, no such thing. James has just... changed, I guess. Matured."

"If you call growing an inch and learning how to blow your nose maturing," Ellie muttered, taking a bite of her tuna-and-lettuce sandwich.