That Year We All Changed...

Chapter Four: May I?

"Oh my God... Oh my God, Lily, we have to hide right now!"

"What?" Lily asked, glancing around Hogsmeade as her friend began pushing her into a dark alley. "Why? What's wrong?" She hid behind Ellie as the brunette peeked around the corner. "Is there someone with a gun?"

Ellie stared at her. "What wizards use guns?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "No, no one has a gun. Remus is coming!"

Lily groaned loudly and stopped crouching down, trying to hide behind Ellie. "That's it?" she exclaimed. "You are so, so, so stupid! Get a life!"

"Shut up!" Ellie hissed.

"No! You know what? I will not shut up! You push me into this dark alley, where I could get raped, and then you expect me to just be all quiet while you hide from your lover!" Ellie opened her mouth to protest, but Lily cut her off. "You need to face the music!" With that, Lily shoved Ellie back out into the street...

Where her foot caught in a small hole, she stumbled, and was consequently caught by Remus, who happened to be passing right by the alley at that minute.

"Fancy meeting you here." Ellie giggled and looked up at him.

"We just can't stop running into each other, can we?" Remus asked, smiling down at her. They stayed in the embrace, his arms wrapped around her waist, and her clinging on to his arms, until Sirius cleared his throat loudly. Ellie pried herself from Remus' grasp and stared down at her feet as everyone thought of something to say.

"H-Hey..." James spoke up finally, as if at first he didn't want to say anything, but became very certain he did. "Do you guys want to come with us? We're going to go to Honeydukes, maybe Jonko's..."

"Not Madam Puddifoot's, though, I hope?" Lily asked him. She and Ellie exchanged a glance and made similar disgusted faces.

"Of course not, m'dears," James replied smoothly, linking arms with Lily in a slightly-more-than-friendly way. Remus, Peter, Ellie, and Sirius exchanged knowing glances as Lily turned the same color red as her hair.

"Well, while were at it..." Sirius linked arms with Ellie and grinned down at her hopefully.

"Aw..." Ellie reached up and pinched his cheek adoringly. "You're cute, but... no."

"Clear off," Remus stated, linking onto Ellie's other arm. "Get your own brunette."

"But..." Sirius sputtered. "I like brunettes!"

"Oh... if it means that much to you, you guys can both have my arm," Ellie offered helpfully.

"No, I'll just..." Sirius took Peter's arm. "Peter? May I?" The group burst into laughter.

~*x*~

"Oh, Remus! Ice cream!" Ellie grinned up at him and grabbed his arm, dragging him over to the case that the Never-Melting Ice Cream (Now Trout-Flavored!) sat in.

"How can I help you?" the short old woman asked, smiling happily at the two.

"I'll have a chocolate chip cookie dough, please," Ellie stated, licking her lips in anticipation of the sweet treat.

It hadn't occurred to him until now, but Remus realized how much she had changed, just since last year. Her hair the year before had been frizzy and unmanageable, but she had managed to smooth it out and it was wonderfully soft and silky looking. She had also lost weight - not that she had been even pleasantly plump before, but now that she had gotten rid of her baby-fat love handles, her curves were more noticeable now. And, instead of her jeans-and-tee shirt combinations, she also wore khakis or skirts - like now, she was wearing a pistachio-colored, knee-length skirt with thin lines of black lace running around it, and a pair of mittens and matching hat.

Then there was the make-up... not too much, just enough to make her look older. Which she always did, anyway, even when she wasn't wearing make-up.

"That'll be three sickles, please."

Ellie rummaged around in her pockets, eventually pulling out two sickles and a few pieces of torn-up trash. "Um..." She grinned sheepishly at the woman. "Sorry, I don't have enough."

"It's okay, Ells," Remus began, digging into his own pockets and producing several sickles. "Can I have one too, please?"

"What flavor?"

"The same, please." He grinned over at Ellie, who stared back at him with a look of giddy disbelief on her face. The woman handed them the two ice creams, Remus paid the six sickles, and they walked out of the store to wait for the others.

"Thank you... for buying the ice cream, I mean. Oh, this is the kind with the chunks in it!" Ellie smiled over at him. "I'll pay you back."

"No, you don't need to," he replied, licking his ice cream slowly.

"Well, I feel like I should..."

"Honestly, Ellie, you don't have to pay me back. I did it because I wanted to."

"Oh..." The girl scuffed her foot along the dirt ground, whose dust had lately become clay-like with the recent rains. "Are you going to Quidditch practice tomorrow?"

"Course!" exclaimed Remus, glad to be off the subject of who was paying whom back. "Why would I miss it?"

"Well, we have that essay due in History of Magic, and, if you're like me, you waited until last minute, so I might have to skip it..." Ellie shrugged, and Remus thought it was odd that their roles had suddenly become reversed, him being the out-going leader of the conversation, and Ellie being the quiet, shy tag-along.

"But you're out best Keeper!" Remus protested.

"I'm the only Keeper," she retorted.

"You're only making my point! If you don't come to practice, then we'll have to use a second year-" He cringed at the thought. "-As your practice stand-in. Besides, you miss another installment of James trying - fruitlessly - to catch the Snitch and Sirius pretending to be a woman?"

"Hey!" James shouted indignantly from behind them. The two turned and grinned sheepishly at each other. "I can too catch the Snitch... usually." He shoved another Fizzing Whisbee into his mouth.

"And I do not act like a woman!" Sirius added, his mouth full of several chocolate frogs, which were all still hopping in an attempt to jump out of his mouth. "... Usually."

"Course you don't, Sirius," Ellie replied soothingly, patting his arm. "Course you don't."

"I'm very straight."

Ellie giggled slightly. "I... never accused you of not being straight," she pointed out, giving him a thoughtful look. "Is there something you need to tell us, dear?"

"You better be careful, Roget," he cautioned, taking her suddenly by the hand, spinning her and dipping her, as if this were something he did every day.

"Why?" she asked, smirking up at him. Her breath, smelling like ice cream mixed with cold, wafted over him.

"Because one day, I might just sweep you off your feet." With that, he released her, and she found her footing again, coming back to her spot beside Remus.

"Keep dreaming."

Author's Note: Oh... some major foreshadowing in this chapter. It very cleverly set in, but I bet whoever reads this will get it... hopefully... I was also very mellow when I wrote the last half or so of this chapter. That's why characters that usually aren't mellow are.