Hello All! I am SO sorry that this has taken so long to get to you. I didn't intend to take a break like this, but life got a little crazy. I graduated, then needed to job and house hunt at the same time. It's been a busy few months. But here we are again, starting it back up and I'm DYING to hear what you all think!
"Are you angry he didn't leave anything to you?" Ginny asked Eleanor uncomfortably as the pair watched the current Minister of Magic relinquish Dumbledore's dying gifts to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"I honestly wasn't expecting him to." Eleanor shrugged, "I've always been a little bit on the outs because of ... my background."
"Because of Draco, you mean." Ginny snorted, tearing her eyes from the exchange happening and looking at Eleanor. "He throws a bit of a wrench in things, doesn't he?"
"He definitely used to." Eleanor conceded, but cast her gaze out the window to the garden where Draco was wrestling garden gnomes alongside the twins and felt her heart swell at the way he now seemed to blend right in, as much as he could manage anyway. "Past or present, I don't think Dumbledore was his biggest fan and I was marred by association. Not that I care, it looks like all they got was a bunch of junk."
"Well I was literally possessed by Voldemort under his watch, I'd have liked to receive some form of reparations, even if it is glorified junk." Ginny sniffed in annoyance. Eleanor gave a quick chuckle in response before pulling Ginny upstairs to begin getting ready for the wedding. About half an hour after Eleanor and Ginny had begun their preparations, Hermione came up to join them. Ginny wasted no time before excitedly asking what was given to them. She was disappointed when Hermione provided an answer.
"A children's book, a lighter, and a choking hazard?" She sighed, "What a let down."
"I told you it was all junk." Eleanor jeered with a laugh, causing Ginny to throw a make-up sponge at her with precise accuracy.
"It has to be more than just junk, right?" Hermione sounded as though she were looking for reassurance rather than providing an explanation. "I mean, he left Harry with the task of killing Voldemort, he's got to have more than a rusty old Snitch to help him."
"Maybe tetanus is the answer." Eleanor shrugged, trying to tame her unruly hair and make it appear like the curls were planned and deliberate.
"Eleanor, can't you be serious just once." Ginny groaned.
"I've been serious," Eleanor started, beginning to glare at her friend.
"Oh stop that, no you haven't." Ginny snapped. "You've been flouncing around with your boyfriend all summer, and lazing away playing games while we're all trying to figure this all out."
"Who is 'we all', Ginny?" Eleanor turned to fully face Ginny and crossed her arms while Hermione stood uncomfortably in the doorway.
"Harry feels it too." Ginny shrugged.
"Harry?"
"Yes. It's frustrating because you are also in grave danger because Voldemort wants you for some reason that no one knows, and you've been perfectly happy to just shag Draco and ignore all other responsibilities." Ginny set her jaw firmly and mirrored Eleanor's posture.
"I know how much danger I'm in, did you or Harry ever stop and think that so far I have lost the most? I don't know if I'm going to make it out of this, or if Draco is, or if anybody is. I've been trying to live my life while I still can. We all knew that once Hogwarts was starting again that shit was going to get real, but I was happy to have a few weeks where I ignored my worries for a bit."
"I just wish everyone was able to have the mentality is all," Ginny shrugged. Eleanor was annoyed and unsure of where this animosity came from.
"Grow up, Ginny. It isn't like I was the only one getting shagged this summer to ignore the fact the world was ending."
"Oh dear," Hermione squeaked out as Harry, Ron, and Draco all rounded the stairs and arrived on the landing in perfect earshot of the girls.
"Hold on, what?" Ron's voice began climbing as he stared menacingly at Harry.
"I was going to tell you," Harry insisted quietly.
"Like hell you were!" Ginny shouted at him fiercely.
"You're 16!" Ron exclaimed.
"You were 16 when you slept with Lavender." Hermione pointed out.
"That's different."
"How?" Ginny demanded.
"It - it's just - it just is." Ron spluttered.
"Hey!" Fred's voice joined the fray. "My mother is already on the brink of a heart attack with her first son getting married, and her having a herd of people in her home in the middle of a bloody war. She doesn't need to hear the sex lives of her children being shouted through the rafters."
Everyone quieted after that. Eleanor broke the silence first, "I'm sorry I've been so distant this summer. And I'm sorry I brought up you and Harry."
Ginny sighed and waved a forgiving hand. "It's fine, Ron was going to find out eventually."
"I'm sorry you didn't hear it from me." Harry conceded to Ron.
"I guess there are worse people my sister could be...with. At least it's not you, Malfoy." Ron half-heartedly joked.
"Thanks." Draco said flatly. "I've only been doting on your mother all afternoon while you've been...lighting up?" Draco gestured to the lighter in Ron's hand, which was quickly shoved in his pocket upon Draco's comment.
"It's a gift from Dumbledore." Ron grumbled and looked away dejectedly. Only Eleanor could tell the effort it took for Draco to not roll his eyes. Feeling the tension sitting stiff in the crowded room, Eleanor grabbed her dress as well as Draco's suit from the closet and announced her intention to go change. Draco immediately trailed behind her up the stairs on her search for an empty room.
"What's going on with them?" He grumbled.
"You're just mad no one is praising you for working tirelessly for Mrs. Weasley today."
"I mean, some acknowledgement would be nice." Draco sniffed as they entered into a spare room. Eleanor slipped behind the privacy partition and began changing into her dress. She had hoped to buy a new one for the occasion, however with the majority of the Wizarding World being so unsafe she decided to use one of her old ones. It was one her mother had bought for her as a gift. It was made of a deep purple silk, the hem tickled the tops of her knees, and the billowing sleeves hung around her arms. However the waist, which was meant to be laced up and cinched tightly shut had become an area of struggle. No matter how tightly Eleanor pulled, the back would not come together.
"Draco, can you tie this dress for me? I can't seem to get it tight enough." Eleanor finally let out, stepping into the main part of the room as Draco was finishing his final buttons. She turned her back to him to allow him to inspect.
"It looks like it's as tight as it can go, love." Draco explained gently while inspecting. "It looks fine with your back exposed a bit. It honestly looks like it was designed that way."
"Well, it wasn't. My mother wouldn't have gotten her daughter an open back, corseted dress. It looks too-"
"Sexy?" Draco supplied.
"Exactly." Eleanor shot back, undoing the knots herself and trying to look at her back in the mirror to see how tight it could go. But to no avail. "I don't understand why it doesn't fit."
"When did you last wear it?" Draco asked.
"Not that long ago," Eleanor said, "I mean, I wore it when…" She trailed off, searching her memory for the last time she'd worn it, her mind racing. "It must've been-" She stopped herself again. "It was the Easter of 4th year." She signed. "Merlin, I haven't worn it in over two years." She stared at herself in the mirror for a long while. She was a completely different person than the last time she'd worn this dress. It was a completely different world. She felt a soft lump grow in her throat as she observed the way she'd changed. The way she continued filling out, the way her hair had grown and she'd changed how she parted it. She did her make up differently than she did when she was 14. Her face looked older. Her parents had no idea how much she'd changed. "Has it really been two years?" She whispered. Draco wasn't sure if she was talking to him, or just wondering out loud. He gently moved behind her and began lacing her dress comfortably against her skin and gave her a soft kiss on the head.
"You look stunning." He told her sincerely. Eleanor tore herself away from the mirror and the ever turning hands of time, reminding her that one day her parents would be gone for longer than they were around, and she would be an even more evolved version of herself. But she couldn't dwell on that now. She slipped on her shoes and checked the clock on the wall. She knew guests would be arriving soon and they'd be expected in their seats in a short time.
"Sorry," Eleanor said quickly, tying Draco's tie for him. He was more than capable of doing it on his own, but she wanted to give him this piece of intimacy. "Sometimes I forget how long it's been, then I get upset with myself that I forget." She sighed. "But today is a happy day, not a sad one."
"Honestly, for a second there I was worried you were pregnant." Draco chuckled nervously. Eleanor smacked him lightly on the shoulder with a slight chuckle.
"I'm not an idiot. I know how to take a birth control potion." Eleanor scolded.
"I don't know, sometimes mistakes happen." Draco shrugged. "And it would have been really terrible timing."
"Don't worry. I won't spring a baby on you any time soon." Eleanor reassured, giving him a quick peck then heading for the door.
"Good. That would probably be the worst thing that could happen to us right now."
"I love weddings," Eleanor noted in Draco's arms as they danced among other couples at the Weasley reception, "but I think this one is my favorite."
"Really?" Draco asked. He danced remarkably well, they both did. They'd been taught from such a young age and seldom got to show it off. "I would have thought you enjoyed Mariella Flint's wedding? Do you remember Marcus' older sister? That wedding was right before our 4th year."
"That was the first wedding we went to where we snuck alcohol during the reception." Eleanor chuckled at the memory. "We thought we were being so sneaky."
"Oh all of our parents definitely knew." Draco smirked along with her. "Weddings were always so joyous, they didn't seem to mind our misbehavior. And your parents softened mine up a lot."
"Is that why you thought that wedding would be my favorite, because of our first drinking escapade?"
"No, no. I just thought it was a nice wedding. A proper wedding."
"Well, proper in terms of Pureblood society, sure. It was beautiful. But this is so much more fun, don't you think? And you can see that this is what Bill and Fluer really wanted. You can see little bits of them in the planning. You could never see that at Sacred 28 weddings. It was all flair and no authenticity."
"Have you always been this smart?" Draco asked, looking at Eleanor with the twinkle of awe in his eyes.
"You've only just noticed? How insulting." Eleanor chuckled, then leaned in for a kiss at the exact moment the tent filled blue, causing them to scramble off the dance floor, clutching each other tightly.
"The ministry has fallen." The patronus warned ominously. "They are coming. They are coming."
Panic ensued immediately. People were running to loved ones, apparating on the spot. They were shouts of terror echoing around them. Draco grabbed Eleanor desperately, begging her to be ready to apparate back to Cordarri Castle.
"No!" Eleanor shook him off. "You go find the others and get them home. The Weasleys can't stay here, I need to find the ones who've never been to the Castle and apparate with them. I'll see you at home."
"El!" Draco shouted after her, but she had ducked into the crowd on her own search and disappeared from him in a moment. "God damn it, Eleanor!" He shouted. He tried to follow her, tried to find her in the chaos. But Sirius got hold of him first, and before he could protest. The two were inside Cordarri Castle.
There were disheveled Weasleys all in the foyer. Molly was crying and being comforted by Hermione. Ron stood dumbfounded by Harry and Remus, who'd obviously all three apparated together considering Remus still had his hands in a whiteknuckle grip around their jacket sleeves. The twins and Ginny were talking with Arthur in hushed tones. Draco heard the mention of Bill, Charlie and Percy; the Weasleys who weren't there, and the ones that Eleanor had presumably gone to find.
"Where's Eleanor?" Draco asked softly, scanning the room again.
"She's not with you?" Sirius asked.
"Clearly not."
"I just saw you, I figured she was with you so I apparated you both. I thought…" Sirius began.
"She went to find the other Weasleys. The ones who couldn't get in on their own." Draco explained, looking around and feeling himself begin to panic.
"Then they'll be here shortly, I'm sure." Arthur assured softly, though no one was convinced.
Just as he spoke those words, a burst of blue light entered the foyer with them and Bill's voice started filling the space. "Mom, Dad I hope you're safe. We're good, we got out. The four of us are making a safe house and we'll get back to you soon. Percy, Charlie, Fluer and I. We're good."
Everyone exchanged glances and stayed silent for a moment before Draco broke out of Sirius' grip and looked around seething.
"Where the fuck is Eleanor?"