Quick Note: Hey friends, the holidays have been nuts and my updating schedule completely got away from me! So here is this chapter with the next chapter following very shortly to get us back on track! I know this one is a little shorter, but there is lots of good info in here! Thanks for sticking with me! Let me know what you think!
Eleanor hadn't been hungover since she couldn't remember when, but at the table surrounded by a large chunk of the Order, she realized exactly how much she hadn't missed this side effect. Over the summer she had her father's potions to get her by, and while Eleanor was sure there were similar potions somewhere in Grimmauld Place, she was too ashamed to ask.
"You doing alright?" Remus nudged her in good humor as Eleanor pushed the scrambled eggs around on her plate with nausea clear on her face.
"Peachy." Eleanor responded with a close lipped smile. Fred and George chuckled madly from across the table at Eleanor's obvious struggling, which deepened Eleanor's shame. But she couldn't bring herself to regret drinking the night before. After so long of feeling miserable and not like herself, she felt like she had taken control of her emotions again. And it wasn't because of the drinking, it was the carelessness. Eleanor had been longing to feel it since the moment her parents died and she had been searching for it endlessly. It felt good to let some of the Draco situation off of her chest.
It wasn't until early afternoon that Eleanor stopped feeling the need to constantly search for a bathroom just in case she needed to empty her stomach. Luckily, she never did. She found a quiet study to get away from the havoc that was embodied by Grimmauld Place, and snoozed off and on while reading bits of a Muggle book she had found amongst the bookshelves.
"How's the hangover?" Remus' voice chuckled lightly from the doorway. Eleanor felt her face light up in an embarrassed blaze as she sat on the window seat.
"What do you mean?" She tried to be unknowing, as she kept staring at the pages before her.
"Molly is convinced Ginny would never drink underage, so by association, you all are safe. But I know a hangover when I see one." His voice was full of humor. Eleanor couldn't imagine her parents ever thinking her drinking heavily would ever be funny, so Remus' apparent amusement confused her.
"You're not … angry?" Eleanor tried to gage, her eyebrows knit together in confusion and disbelief.
"I'm not thrilled, but I also don't feel as though you and I have a relationship where I can reprimand you in anyway. You're a teenager. I can assure you that Sirius, James, Peter and I did much worse when we were your age."
"So you're basically saying I'm free of consequences now?" Eleanor chuckled. "Above the law."
Remus laughed as he sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. "Not that I expect to be a person in your life you can give you consequences, but let's just try to not get too ahead of ourselves."
Eleanor took a moment to lean into Remus. She enjoyed this connection with him. They still felt partly unsure of what to think of each other. They had been getting closer since their first dinner excursion. Obviously close enough for her to seek refuge with him, however something still felt fragile and tentative between them.
"Darling, can I ask why you came here so early?" Remus asked quietly. "Can I ask for honesty?"
"I told you before," Eleanor started, "things at the Manor are just...different."
"Is it because of that Malfoy boy? I'm not trying to be snoopy, I just overheard Harry and them talking about the two of you and I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it, as your father." Remus let out. Eleanor smiled at his support and pushed herself closer to him.
"I appreciate it, Remus, really." Eleanor chuckled and put a hand on his arm to calm him. "If I'm being honest, my parents and I always spent Christmas with the Malfoys and when it's the same Christmas traditions, it's very obvious to see what's missing. I needed a complete change, and I didn't want it to be my first Christmas season alone, I wanted to remember it as my first Christmas with you."
Remus' eyes were wet and he smiled widely. "Eleanor, I'm so sorry for the pain you have endured. I don't want you to think I'm trying to replace your parents, but having you in my life has brought me so much joy."
"You've brought me a lot of joy too, Remus." Eleanor smiled. "Thank you."
"Eleanor," Harry stuck his head into the room from the hallway, "can we talk to you for a second?"
Eleanor gave another smile to Remus before following Harry out of the room. He led her up the stairs to the overcrowded room that most of the kids were staying in. It was an absolute mess, especially after the night before. There were some mattresses on the floor and hardly any walking space for people's trunks and piles of clothes.
In the room was Fred, George, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. All staring happily at Eleanor.
"We have been very unwelcoming to you," Hermione started, "and that wasn't fair of us. We are going to work harder at letting you do what you want to do with whoever you would like to do it without any judgement."
"Without excessive judgement." Ron corrected lightly, which caused Eleanor to roll her eyes with a small laugh.
"We trust you, and we love you a lot. We really want you to be apart of Dumbledore's Army." Hermione insisted, everyone was nodding in agreement.
"We miss you there." Harry put in.
Ginny handed her the quill and parchment. "Please?" She asked.
Eleanor, who had been so afraid of being unwanted, felt the love now. So much so that she gave in and signed the parchment with a large smile on her face.
"Lucius Malfoy, you tell me what is going on this minute!" Narcissa demanded, flying into her husband's study after Draco had turned in for the night. She had waited all night so as not to alarm her son, but the fear, betrayal and dishonesty had been eating at her and boiled down to raging anger.
Lucius, who had been nursing whiskey all day, looked up at his wife under drooping eyelids. "My love-" He sputtered out.
"Don't!" She yelled, "Do not sweet talk me. You have been nonexistent in this household since the summer. Until earlier today I had convinced myself it was sadness about the passing of your best friend, but now I'm thinking otherwise. What are you keeping from me? What are you and my sister up to?"
"Cissa, I-" Lucius let out a small, drunken burp, "He's back. And he's making me do things that I can't tell you about."
Narcissa lunged across his desk and grabbed him by the collar. Blind rage was fueling her every move. "You and I made a vow to each other nearly 20 years ago that we were in this together, for better or for worse. It's worse Lucius, we're in this together."
"Narcissa-"
"We made another vow, six years after our first one, over the crib of our darling boy, that we would never keep things from each other. You are slipping. If you think I'm going to let you get away with this, you will be sorely mistaken."
"Let me speak." Lucius bit out, shaking off his wife's hands. Her glare was hard, making him shrink under her knowing gaze. He had been cooped up all day; drinking and thinking about how to talk himself out of this. He knew, now, looking at his outraged wife, that he couldn't.
"He wanted them, Olga and Darius, from the beginning. Our seemingly neutral friends were putting large heaps of money into the Order of the Phoenix. They were trying to be anonymous, but The Dark Lord has his ways of knowing. He was going to kill them if they didn't join, he was going to kill Eleanor. I tried to warn them." Lucius took a breath. "They didn't want my help, they turned me away. The Dark Lord, in an attempt to motivate me to motivate them orchestrated a legally binding document that Eleanor be betrothed to Draco should he ever become a Death Eater - securing both of their loyalties to Him. He was always planning to kill them, giving us full custody of Eleanor, and therefore being able to ensure her marriage to Draco, and her allegiance to the Dark Lord, as well as her funds.
"They changed their will to ensure Eleanor has full custody of herself, they did this secretly and very last minute, so I didn't know. But, of course, the Dark Lord knew. I was to put them under the Imperius curse and have them legally recognize Draco and Eleanor's betrothal and give it priority over their will. Bellatrix took me by surprise in the Department of Mysteries and killed them right before my eyes. She's since been making frequent trips to the hospital to Obliviate any doctor that gives a cause of death."
Narcissa gulped and took several steps back before falling into an armchair, clutching her heart.
"I don't understand." She let out nearly silently after a few moments. "Eleanor and Draco are betrothed?"
"Only if Draco becomes a Death Eater." Lucius amended. "Which will only happen if I fail." He clicked his tongue quietly. "What motivation."
"Why would the Dark Lord want her?" Narcissa puzzled.
"Her money, her name being tied to his. The Cordarris have been one of the wealthiest and most influential families for nearly a millennium. I think we tend to forget this because of how humble Olga and Darius were."
"But the will says-"
"The will doesn't matter if her and Draco are betrothed. I made them sign the document stating it." Lucius let out, drunk and halfway insane.
"Draco won't become a Death Eater. He wouldn't ever chose that."
"I thought so too. I found solace in that. But the two fell in love. The Dark Lord knows that. He will give Draco a choice, watch Eleanor die, or become a Death Eater. What do you think he is going to choose?" Lucius took another drink from his glass. Narcissa took it from his hands to take a long chug for herself.
"The moment I die, or get shipped to Azkaban, Draco and Eleanor's fates are sealed."