Pure Thoughts (Sirius Black)

Do Me a Favour

The man who can keep a secret may be wise,

But he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep

Monday, March 19, 1973

Library corridor, first floor, Training Grounds Tower, Hogwarts

Eleonore sighed, staring at her Herbology assignment. Her essay on fluxweed wasn't as simple as she thought it would be. She knew the plant was a member of the mustard family and it had healing abilities but that was about it. She had one page and couldn't seem to bring herself to write out more, even though she had to hand in six full pages.

She tiredly rubbed her eyes. God, it was only Monday. The weekend had gone so fast. There had been a Quidditch match this weekend, resulting in the loss of the Gryffindors against the Ravenclaws. Everybody was a little dull, even James Potter wasn't his cheery self.

"Hey Ellie." Remus smiled, placing himself on his usual seat next to his classmate.

"Remus." Eleonore smiled gratefully, happy to have some company. The library was quite vacated since it was only Monday. "How are you?"

"I'm alright. Herbology?" He pointed at the parchment laying in front of her.

"Unfortunately, yes. The Fluxweed assignment. It's not coming along like I want it to." Her eyes scanned the words in front of her. "I can't seem to write more on it."

"I've actually finished it this weekend. Do you want to overlook mine?" Remus suggested, taking out his books.

"Ah no, I don't want to copy yours, I should be able to finish this myself." She mumbled, her hint of pride taking over. She was usually quite good in Herbology, she didn't understand why her mind wasn't set on it.

"What do you have already? Maybe I can help you think of more things to write about." He kindly suggested.

"Just that it's part of the mustard family and the healing abilities." She muttered, leaning her head on her arms that were lying on top of the library table. "I should be able to think of more, I can't see why it doesn't come up."

"Have you thought of the potions it's used in?"

Her eyes turned towards Remus, "I can't even believe I skipped that part. It's so obvious. Of course. Potions. I seem out of it." Ellie shook her head, straightening her legs to find a potions book in the nearest row.

"Try Polyjuice, you can find a lot about it in there." Remus answered loudly, looking at Ellie's eyes scanning the books not far away from their table.

"You're a genius." Ellie grinned, her eyes shifted towards his kind smile. She finally found the book she was searching for and took it out of the shelf. Sitting back down, she opened it, her eyes scanning the page in front of her. "Are you sure you're alright, Remus?" She mumbled, silently reading the words in front of her, she could feel his eyes staring at the side of her face.

"I just- I, yes I'm alright." He mumbled, taking an empty parchment out of his bag.

"You know you can talk to me." She kindly smiled, finally adverting her eyes towards the young man sitting next to her.

"Yes, I know that."

"Okay then." She scanned his face uncertainly before turning her eyes back onto her parchment. "How are things- you know, with the boys?" Ellie mumbled, trying to speak as silently as possible. She now knew that James, Peter and Sirius were aware of his lycantrophy.