B.I.G {Ellie!} M'I'S'T'A'K'E

[Louis Weasley]

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Louis had taken to pacing in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room for the past half hour while mentally berating himself. He had been completely and utterly stupid! Twice! Firstly he'd missed the chance he now so desperately craved by being to shy and scared, and second he'd lied to his best friend. Both of these messes were of course related.

Louis Weasley had had feelings for his best friend, Lilah Krum, for a few years now, but of course being the stupid boy he was he'd never told her. No he'd kept himself in the role of the best friend, assuming of course that him revealing the truth would mess up his friendship with her, little did he know that apparently she'd had a thing for him too. Only now she was completely in love with her boyfriend. Louis cousin, James Potter.

So when Lilah had asked him to share the secret of who he liked he'd fought against it. Refusing to tell her furiously. But as always she'd worn him down. And that's where the lie comes in, he could've been honest but he wasn't, he told her that he had a crush on Ellie Rayne, a fifth year Gryffindor.

Now Ellie was one of Louis close friends too, but that was all she'd ever be. And now he had to tell her what he'd told Lilah so she wouldn't be caught off guard should Lilah 'accidentally' let something slip under the guise of 'helping him out'. This was going to be painful!

So there he was pacing a hole in the carpet in front of the fire while he waited for Ellie to appear. All the while the voices inside his head were shouting blue murder at him.

[Ellie Rayne]

<sub>Ellie still had her black eye, which tended to turn heads in the hallways just as much as it had before. It was fading though. It’s original black was now a sort f brightened, mauve color, with hints of green around the edges. Quite unappealing to look at. But Ellie liked it. It meant less first years came up to talk to her in the hallways, which was always annoying as hell.

She was up in her dormitory now, putting the clothes she’d just washed away in her trunk. The girl did laundry every so often, just to make sure she had enough clean clothes to make it through the week. After all, what she wore usually got pretty dirty, as she was constantly rolling around in the mud or things like that. Never anything clean or socially accepted. That just wasn’t the girl’s style. Besides, if she didn’t have to do it, then she simply wouldn’t.

After she’d tossed her three pairs of cargo pants and a couple mismatched t-shirts, tank tops, and sweatshirts into the trunk by the end of her bed, the Gryffie girl made her way down the steps and into the Common Room. There, she spotted her good friend Louis, who looked as though he was about to blow a gasket or something of the likes. Ellie made her way over to him, hoping he wasn’t having one of those days where his fuse was very, very short.

”Hey Lou,” she greeted him, plopping herself down on one of the squishy armchairs by the fire and looking up at him, her feet tucked neatly underneath her like a cat’s. ”You alright? You look a tad distressed.” She paused for a moment, before grinning and adding, ”Sickle for you thoughts?”</sub>

[Louis Weasley]

Stopping dead in his tracks, Louis was brought back into the Common Room by the once voice he both wanted to hear, and didn't. He turned to look at his friend, and shook his head briefly at her black eye, though it was looking a lot better than it had. When she asked it he was alright he let out a short, forced laugh.

"I'm a fucking idiot. That's pretty much what I'm thinking Elle. I'm the biggest fucking idiot ever!" He almost shouted the words but managed to keep his voice vaguely controlled volume wise, even if he spit them through gritted teeth. Explaining this mess that he'd gotten himself into to Ellie was not going to be fun, in fact he was almost certain it was going to be painful.

He flopped into a chair opposite Ellie and closed his eyes, he looked truly defeated. Running a hand through his hair he opened his eyes staring back into the fireplace, watching the flames. It was easier than looking at his friend right at that moment.

[Ellie Rayne]

<sub>Her brow immediately furrowed at his words. He seemed more than distressed. Perhaps it was girl problems. Sure, she’d never been terribly good at talking about girls with him. Because, he naturally thought she’d know more about them than she did. She was a girl, after all, but she didn’t really act like one. But she figured she’d ask anyways.

”You’re not an idiot, love,” she answered him, grinning in his direction before coming out and asking, ”Is it a girl, deary? Are you in loooooove?”

She only asked because it usually WAS a girl. That was the only thing he ever got truly like this about. Besides, Louis had enough girls going after him to comfort half the lonely guys in the school. Maybe one of them had attacked him in the hallways, and he’d kicked them in the ovary. Now, THAT would be an idiotic move on his part. He needed to aim for the uterus. Because, after all, there were TWO ovaries, and reproduction was still possible if one of them was damaged.

She laughed to herself, shaking her head at the randomness of her thoughts.</sub>

[Louis Weasley]

Louis laughed bitterly as she told him he wasn't an idiot, shaking his head a little, still not looking at her. Was he in love? Yes. Did that make and iota of a difference? No. His thoughts were just as bitter as his laugh, as he sat stone still for a few more moments before turning his head to look at Ellie.

"Ellie, I'm the biggest fucking idiot in this entire school. Trust me." His voice was calm, deceptively so, contrasting greatly with the words he was saying. "Not just a girl Elle. No, she's not just a girl." He said quietly, his blue eyes betraying just how angry he was at himself. "But that part is nothing new. This turmoil has been going on for a while."

He took a deep breath. "No it's so much worse than that now."

[Ellie Rayne]

<sub>Not just a girl.

Jesus, did Louis have any idea how much of a love-sick idiot he sounded right now. Sure, she knew Lou. He was a lovely guy, but when it came to love, he didn't really know shit. He'd been in love with his best friend, that sodding Huffle who didn't know what was good for her, since, well, forever. Ellie wasn't stupid, and she'd told him a while ago that she knew. Yeah, she definitely had a clue who he was talking about.

"Is it that Lilah chick again?" Ellie asked, rolling her eyes and raising an eyebrow at her friend. "Fuck, Lou, you need to take a hint and get over her. Yeah, I think you'd be bloody adorable together, but Potter tends to be a tad possessive."

While the young Gryffie girl liked to fight, she'd rather keep her friends out of it, especially when they didn't have a chance at winning. In fact, Louis had less than a chance. James would fucking murder him, no doubt about that. And Ellie would rather not scrape her dear friend's remains off the corridor floor while James walked off with Lilah on his arm. It just wouldn't be right.</sub>

[Louis Weasley]

Louis simply sighed as Ellie spoke, of course he knew who he was talking about, Ellie had told him a while ago that she knew. "Who else do you think I'm talking about?! And I know I need to get over her, it's just proving to be very difficult!" He said, looking at his friend.

"And anyway, that's not the main problem right now Elle. That's an ongoing sideline, not really that important right now." He sighed running his hand through his hair, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I said something, something really stupid earlier Elle."

[Ellie Rayne]

<sub>She listened to his words, a slight frown on his face. He never got this angry with her. Or frustrated. He had to know she was only kidding. Fuck, he was one of her closest friends. Probably the only one that actually told their problems to her. He had to know that she preferred joking over the sappy stuff that most people fell back on to get them through situations like this.

"Jesus, Lou," she told him, trying to calm this weird angry tension he had up against her, "Chill the hell out, and stop bloody yelling at me."

In the next moment, he was saying he'd said something stupid. But that didn't make sense. Unless he told that Huffle that he loved her. Oh God, if he'd done that, Ellie would never let him live it down. But she doubted he'd done that. She knew Louis. And the boy she knew wouldn't do something so moronically stupid as tell a girl with a boyfriend that she loved very much, that he was in love with her. Jesus, Ellie hoped he wasn't that stupid.

"Ahh, we all have or idiot moments," she said, a grin playing on her odd face. "Now spill the beans, lover boy. I'm simply dying to know." At that, she laughed a bit, tapping him lightly on the nose in an attempt to lighten his mood a tad.</sub>

[Louis Weasley]

He felt bad for snapping at Ellie, it wasn't her fault he was an idiot. "Sorry Elle, I didn't mean to yell at you." He apologised, smiling weakly at her. This was going to be difficult enough without him biting her head off as well.

He shook his head a little as she tapped him on the nose, "I was with Lilah earlier, and we were talking, like we do. About random stuff and... whatever." He didn't want to think about the main body of his conversation with his best friend just then, it really wouldn't help anything. "Well, she ended up asking me who I liked, and before you say anything I didn't tell her the truth, I'm not that stupid. But once I told her a name, she told me a secret. Which really just proved my stupidity." He took a deep breath before continuing.

"It could've been me Elle. It could've been me not James, if I hadn't been such a scary fucking idiot." No, he hadn't told Ellie the part he knew he had to but he needed to get this off his chest first.

[Ellie Rayne]

<sub>At his apology, she waved him off, sending him a playful wink. It was no big deal when he got worked up at her. Shit happens, after all, and she didn't really give a crap whether he blew up at her or not, as long as they were friends and she could joke with him afterwards.

But at his next gushing of information, her heart sank. "Fuck, Lou. Don't tell me you told her you were gay." She slapped her forehead. "Shit. There're enough rumors going around anyways without you adding fuel to the fire." She was only joking after all, with a tad bit of truth chucked in. She wanted the boy to be happy. That's what friends were, and she did love him dearly, and she showed it in her own little ways. In fact, she loved all her friends.

At his next words, she leaned over and hugged him tightly, trying to calm him. "And it should've been you," she told him firmly as she pulled away, her face set in a strangely serious line. "You deserve her, Louis." The next moment, her face broke into one of those grins one just couldn't help but smile back at.</sub>

[Louis Weasley]

"No, Elle, I didn't tell her I was gay."" He sighed, but couldn't help but smile slightly, she could always make him smile, and things were generally really easy between them, but there was a wall up at the moment, one Louis had constructed himself by not telling Ellie what he had to. He was stalling, mainly because he quite liked his face just how it was.

"But it's not me. And as long as she's happy I can deal with that. It was just a it of a shock to the system, you know? Getting a glimpse into what could've been if I'd just of told her." Louis smiled at Ellie as she grinned, "Thanks, Elle." He said quietly as she said he deserved her. "But I don't know that I do, I lied to her, she asked me a straight forward, relatively simple question and I lied to her."

[Ellie Rayne]

<sub>Ellie laughed a little when he shot down her belief. "Thank God for that," she exclaimed, still grinning a bit, the smile bouncing around on her face a little before settling in to stay. She really did know how to lighten the mood, but at the moment, she didn't know if she wated to. After all, she could tell he needed to tell her something, and she wanted to know what.

But he didn't continue on that topic. Instead, he began talking about something something she knew he had a hard time with. The fact that both him and James were fighting for her, even if neither Lilah nor his cousin knew anything about the war that was raging. Ellie felt sorry for him. She wanted to comfort him, but at the same time, she knew he had to figure this out by himself. Even if he fucked up badly, she couldn't really help him all to much. Because the outcome only rested on him.

She shook her head slowly. "Don't do that to yourself, Lou," she told him, looking slightly concerned for him. "Nothing good comes from dreaming about what could have been. So don't do it. It's a fucking black hole, and you'll just suck yourself into it." She never was terribly good with analogies, so they tended to come out a tad coarse and unrefined. "You're a better guy than Potter'll ever by. All he wants to do is sleep with her. I over heard him pushing her towards it in the library. And I know you'd never do that to anyone. You are what society calls a bloody gentleman."</sub>

[Louis Weasley]

"Don't worry I'm not dwelling on it, it was just a flash of possibility, and it only lasted a moment. I know it's a dangerous road to go down, but I'm not going to do that, so don't worry." He said reassuringly, and it was true, he wasn't going to dwell on what could have been with Lilah, well no more so than usual.

"Can we not talk about James? I really don't want to think about him right now. It's all I've heard all day." He sighed, he really didn't need to go back over that conversation, or have his fears confirmed that James was pushing Lilah to sleep with him. It wasn't a good line for conversation with him. "I like to think I'd never do that to anyone Elles. And my dad would be s proud to hear e described as a gentleman, thanks." He smiled, but it soon faded, he need to tell Ellie the truth, now.

"Ellie, I need to tell you something and I doubt you're going to like it. In fact I know you won't but I can't do anything about that now." He was rambling, almost tripping over his words, "Just remember it's not true and I only said it to get her off my back, ok?" One more deep breath. "ItoldLilahthatIlikedyou." He blurted out as fast as he could, part of him hoping she wouldn't be able to make sense of it.

[Ellie Rayne]

<sub>She simply listened to his answers to everything she'd said. He seemed to be heating up, getting closer to what he needed to tell her, and that told her to talk less. To give him more room to breathe and think sot hat he'd tell her sooner. Really, she'd prefer he'd just spit it out, as she didn't like waiting, but she'd figured out long ago that it was easier to simply ease it out of people.

The moment he said it, her heart sank, but she hid her emotions behind a mask of indifference, as she thought for a moment. It seemed to be much longer than it actually was, but to her, as well as to him if she knew him as well as she believed to, it felt like forever. She made up her mind very carefully, and went over her decision twice before voicing it.

Ellie wouldn't get mad at him. In fact, she couldn't. He'd only been trying to protect himself from getting hurt, and she couldn't yell at him for that, no matter how much she wanted to tell him he'd been a bloody idiot for telling Lilah that. So instead, she breathed a breath before turning to him and asking in probably the most serious voice she had all that night, "I'm supposing we're gonna have to fake something right? So as your lovely Lilah won't get suspicious?" The extra adjective used to describe the boy's love interest was a slight poke at his stupidity. But it was all she could manage to give. She had to restrain herself from biting his head off.</sub>

[Louis Weasley]

The time between him speaking and her answering was immeasurable, it felt like a lifetime or two. He knew he couldn't say anything, and he didn't dare move. His stomach was churning. Only worsening his feeling of nausea. He let go of a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, when she spoke. She didn't kill him, which was a good start.

Biting bak the urge to tell her to stop being funny about Lilah, which really would not of helped the situation in any way shape of form, he shrugged. "I don't know....I guess....maybe. Shit. Elle, I didn't thing this thing through, it just kind of happened. Sorry for kind of getting you involved in all of this." He sighed, in his attempt to save one friendship, and his sanity, he may have risked losing another close friend instead, which he really didn't want to happen.

Why couldn't life be simple?