Quick Note: Hello all! Hope you enjoy this chapter. This is really where I start to diverge from canon a fair amount and the story starts to shift quite a bit! Excited for what's to come!
"Have I thanked you yet today?" Sirius asked, walking into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Eleanor had a warm cup of tea in her hands and was sitting by Harry, who had the Daily Prophet flipped open.
"Only twice." Eleanor rolled her eyes in good humor, smiling at the dark haired man.
"Let me make it a third time. Thank you, Eleanor Cordarri, for saving my life." He grinned. Eleanor let out a laugh.
"Anyone else would have done the same." Eleanor shrugged off. She didn't think anyone would have actually stood by and let Sirius die, she was just the first one to act, if she hadn't have acted, somebody else surely would have.
"But no one else did, so I thank you."
"Okay, you've hit your quota for the day." Remus patted his friend on the shoulder as he entered the kitchen. "We don't need her head getting any bigger." The Weasleys had returned to the Burrow for the beginning of summer vacation, and Harry and Eleanor had gone over a few times, but both preferred to stay with Remus and Sirius in Grimmauld Place. They were quite the happy quartet. The home was full of jokes and laughter, and Eleanor didn't even feel left out being the only girl considering Tonks stopped by frequently and Hermione was an excellent writer. Hermione would be joining the crew later in the summer, after her family's holiday.
Eleanor didn't have much intention to live at Cordarri Castle long term for the time being. Last summer she enjoyed the private, she needed time to herself to grieve, but now it was nearly exclusively used as a rendezvous point for her and Draco. School had been out for a few weeks at this point, and Eleanor had successfully avoided Malfoy Manor while Lucius awaited, and was found guilty at his trial. Her and Draco didn't discuss his father much. She told him what Lucius had revealed to her and Draco was quietly working through his own mistrust in his father. The two spent their time together sharing in joy, and in a near indecent amount of kisses.
"Eleanor, not to put a damper on your summer vacation, but I thought we might talk about what to do about this guardianship situation." Remus said, as though it were a casual event that everyone had to talk about. Remus was happier for living with Sirius, Harry, and Eleanor. He was constantly surrounded by his favorite people. It made his pre and post transitions easier, and lifted the burden of everyday life. "I've been talking to Kingsley about the legality of the documents, and if the Ministry should fall-"
"Which it won't." Sirius put in.
"Yes, but if it should," Remus gave his friend a pointed look, "the best way to ensure you're funds are not tied to the Malfoy family in any way is to have them taken out of Gringotts."
"I don't know if I can do that." Eleanor creased her forehead. She had seen their Gringotts vault one time, and it was massive and filled to the brim. Thousands of years of Cordarri money and artifacts sat deep within the bank.
"Now I did a little research on ancient protection spells, and Moody tested my theories. They are Cordarri family spells, so technically, only a Cordarri can break them. Your parents manipulated them specifically so that you might be considered a Cordarri by law and the spells are put in place to protect you and blood relatives. So right now, only you and I can access your home."
"And Hermione and Draco. I gave them permission." Eleanor reminded.
"Draco has permission to-" Remus began to question, but Sirius bumped Remus' arm with his elbow.
"Another time, mate." Sirius said quietly, causing Eleanor to blush slightly.
"Right, sorry. You are the only person who can break the spells considering they are family spells, and even though I am blood related and can enter the home, I can't break the spells. Because you are the only person to have access to your home and breaking it's spells, I say that you move all of your money from your vault to your home that way it is undetectable if the worst case scenario were to happen and you would be considered betrothed to this Malfoy boy." Remus explained it all quickly and Eleanor was entranced by his explanation of her family's magic.
"Do you think Gringotts would let me empty it?" Eleanor asked.
"Yes, if we act quickly. You are still your own ward and guardian of yourself and will be able to legally take the money. My suggestion is when we go to the vault to get your school money at the end of the summer, we ask to close the account and take the money with us. Gringotts has its ways of transferring physical money compactly, so we don't need to worry about that aspect of it." Eleanor nodded slowly. "Unfortunately, about the betrothal situation, the only thing we can do to prevent that before you come of age next year is for me to legally adopt you and for you to not recognize your parent's legitimacy anymore."
Eleanor simply shrugged. "If Voldemort really wants us to be betrothed, he doesn't need a document saying so. He would torture me to convince Draco, and torture Draco to convince me. I'm assuming, though, that when my money becomes untouchable, he won't care so much about a betrothal."
Remus looked at her sadly, thinking about how her fate might end up. He was thankful for her fortress of a home that would protect her during the worst of times, but he knew that her big heart would put her in danger somewhere along the line.
"Okay, enough with this legal talk, what are we thinking for dinner?" Sirius asked, getting up from the table.
"No, not enough with the legal talk." Remus stood up with him. "It's your turn now. How are we going to get you pardoned?"
"Pettigrew is in hiding and isn't likely to show his face any time soon because the Death Eaters know that will absolve me. I think I'll be stuck in hiding a bit longer." Sirius gave a sad chuckle. "Any other business to attend to, captain?" He asked Remus with lifted eyebrows.
"Yes, I think I would like to return to the fact that you and your boyfriend have a private home to yourselves at any given moment." Remus leaned against the counter and crossed his arms, looking pointedly at Eleanor. Harry cleared his throat and made a move to stand up and leave the room. He and Eleanor had bonded quite a lot since they took up permanent residence in 12 Grimmauld Place, however this didn't mean he completely accepted or liked the fact that her and Draco were now a real item, no matter how Eleanor tried to defend her beloved.
"I live here, don't I?" Eleanor reminded in a light voice. Remus had taken the place of a parental figure, and she still informed when she came and went, but both of them had an understanding that Remus wouldn't come into her life and start disciplining her, not that she needed much. He held her accountable and wanted her to be safe, he asked her reflective questions that made her think about her behavior ("How would you feel if you wanted to cook and the dishes were piled in the sink?" "What's your plan for getting better?", etc.) But Remus never really disciplined. Harry and Eleanor basically had run of the place, as Sirius wasn't a disciplinarian either. This was the first time either of them had seen Remus be actually serious about anything behavior wise.
"It's just slightly concerning to me, as a father, that you can be completely unsupervised at any moment with a boy. You're teenagers and teenagers in love, and not having accountability leads too…"
"Remus," Eleanor put up her hands, stopping him mid-thought. "I would like to remind you of a conversation we had last Christmas where you said certain allowances could be made given the nature of our relationship and what you and your friends got up to when you were my age."
"Moony!" Sirius hissed in false anger, "I'm raising a teenager now too, we can't tell them our secrets, we'll lose all authority." Harry just laughed in the corner.
"Also," Eleanor continued, "I hate to point out the obvious, but last summer we had access to the house as well."
"He wasn't your boyfriend then." Remus countered.
"He was certainly her something." Harry added laughingly. Eleanor shot him a look.
"Thank you, Harry." She said through gritted teeth. "Draco and I are smart and will not do anything to disgrace the Lupin-Black-Cordarri-Potter name." She flashed them a smile. The pain of the anniversary of the death of Olga and Darius, her first birthday without them, another summer break from Hogwarts not going on a family holiday, it all passed by Eleanor's eyes. And, of course, it was sad, but she laughed every day here. Those three men filled her heart and life with joy, and there was another one waiting for her that did the same. It wasn't all good, but it wasn't all bad either. She had found little bits of hope and planted a new garden of happiness over the burnt ruins of the old one. "Speaking of, he is waiting for me." Eleanor brushed by Remus and Harry to head to the Floo.
"Where are you going to be?" Remus questioned.
"At my house." Eleanor shrugged. "Draco doesn't want to be seen out so soon after his father's trial, and I have some gardening to do, anyway."
"Yeah, gardening." Harry smirked from the corner. Eleanor grabbed a towel from the counter next to her and chucked it heavily at her friend, her brother now it seemed.
"Harry James Potter!" She yelled as he ducked out of the room.
"Will you be home for dinner?" Remus pressed, looking worried but deciding to bring the whole overprotective act to a close.
"Probably not, I'm thinking Draco and I will cook something. I'll be back around nine or ten tonight." Eleanor promised.
"That's late." Sirius commented.
"And that's enough out of you two." Eleanor rolled her eyes before disappearing into the Floo.
Coming together had been easy for Eleanor and Draco. It seemed as natural as breathing. However, life outside of their happy little bubble was hard. Lucius was sentenced to life in Azkaban for being a Death Eater. Eleanor had decided not to bring his conspiracies against her parents to light for the sole reason of not wanting to testify against him in court. She never wanted to see the man again. Narcissa was a mess, understandably, but not entirely forgiven by Eleanor. While she didn't help Lucius plan she sure didn't say anything either. Draco, for the most part, lived at Cordarri Castle or with the Zabini's. He almost didn't mind the Death Eater part so much, it was gambling with his and Eleanor's fates that did him in. He was also trying to avoid Voldemort for as long as he possibly could. Eleanor offered him the protection of the Order time and time again, and Draco simply explained that he couldn't completely abandon his mother, whom the Order was not so keen to take in, just as she wasn't keen to join them.
The whole situation made Eleanor fear for Draco's future. What would happen to him when his father's mistakes caught up with him? Eleanor shuddered to think about it.
But when she came to Cordarri Castle and saw Draco lounging and reading, or practicing his Quidditch in the yard, or working on his summer course work, her heart swelled and she was thankful for their time.
"About time you showed up love." Draco greeted, kissing her on the cheek.
"Remus wanted to talk about legal things, then wanted to talk about how you and I needed to be safe spending so much time alone." She rolled her eyes slightly as she wrapped herself in his arms. "You just say the word and I will live here, full-time, with you." She promised.
"No." Draco said firmly. "I miss you, of course, but you're safer with them than you are with me."
"Why do you say that?" Eleanor pulled away to look quizzically into his face, then quickly glanced down his forearms, seeing them still free of a Dark Mark.
"I'm not a Death Eater yet, El. But it's really only a matter of time." He sighed, pushing his fingers through his hair. "He's eventually going to make a threat on my mother's life, and even though I'm not pleased with her right now, I can't let her die."
"Has He?" Eleanor asked. "Threatened your mother?"
"Not yet. He's biding his time, I'd expect." Draco didn't want to look as frightened as he felt, so he shook off the thought and smiled down at Eleanor. "It isn't happening tonight, so I just want to focus on us." He said confidently. Eleanor stood on her toes to kiss him swiftly.
"I'm here to talk, when you want to." She assured.
"Right now, I just want to kiss you." Draco's eyes were mischievous as the pair retreated onto the couch and spent a blissful while lost in each other's embrace. Eleanor thought she could spend her whole life intertwined in Draco's arms. Despite all of the unknowns, he felt like a sure thing.
Her parents had always told her that she wouldn't meet the love of her life when she was young. Her parents had met at work, both of them working in law. They were older, though they knew each other vaguely from Hogwarts, they became acquainted as adults. Eleanor believed that her and Draco were too young to really start planning a future, and with the war brewing and everything feeling so uncertain, it was foolish to try to plan anything at 16 years old. But she loved how he made her feel, and she didn't want to lose that, she didn't want to lose him.
"What do you want from this year?" Draco asked suddenly while Eleanor was kissing his neck softly while laying on top of him, her shorts discarded on the floor, leaving her in a t-shirt and undies.
"Is that really what you're thinking about right now?" She asked in exasperation, sitting up to look at him. He looked hungrily at her.
"I've other things on my mind too." He smirked, playing with the hem of her shirt, which would be the next thing to go. "But I want to know what you want from this year." Eleanor bit her lip thoughtfully and Draco had half a mind to forget this whole "creating goals" endeavor and continue to snog her silly.
"I want for things to go smoothly for our relationship. Everything else is a giant question mark, but I don't want you and I to be." She answered, looking at him with a smile. "And I want you to stay out of trouble. What do you want?" She countered.
"Oh, I want to get into all sorts of trouble." His voice nearly sounded like a growl as he flipped her and pinned her under him and began kissing her furiously. He had once gone months without kissing her, and that was a hell he didn't want to endure again. Eleanor giggled under him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down so she felt his weight on top of her.
"Draco," Eleanor sighed out as the aforementioned trailed soft kisses down her body.
"Hmm." He responded against her skin.
"I think we should go for it." Her voice was so soft, she almost didn't hear it, but Draco did. He lifted his head from her stomach to meet her eyes. Even after 6 months of sneaking around before their big fight, and nearly two months since their devotion of love, they were still an "everything-but" sort of couple. Which Eleanor was fine with, and so was Draco, but something clicked for her as they spent long summer afternoons kissing and talking and laughing. She didn't feel Bridget's presence anymore, it was just her and Draco.
"I don't." Draco replied, though a more primal part of him didn't understand why.
"What?"
"It's only been two months, love." Draco reminded. "I'm happy doing this."
"What if I want more?" Eleanor asked.
"El, the last time I had sex, it was to spite you." Eleanor had heard him say it before, but she still didn't like to be reminded of his intentions. "I'm not going to hurt you like that again." He promised softly. "And I really want to." He assured. "I just, I fucked up last time, and I'm terrified now. I'm not ready. It isn't because of you, it's because of mistakes I've made." Eleanor pouted slightly, but understand and was grateful to Draco for being honest with her. "But, I will keep doing this." Draco's voice got lost as his head lowered further and further.