When Eleanor walked down the stairs the next morning, Draco was already waiting for her in the kitchen. His white button up sleeves were folded neatly to his elbows, and his pale hands held a book. Eleanor tried to focus on the cover of it to see what he was so enthralled with reading. Before she could fully read the cover, Draco closed it and put it on the counter.

"Good morning." He greeted, smiling at her. He noticed the purple bags under her eyes almost immediately. His heart squeezed in guilt, knowing he should have fought harder to stay in her room with her.

"You look nice." She noted. "Dressing up on my account?" She raised a playful brow.

"You seem to be doing the same." Draco commented, gesturing to her plain black dress. Both Draco and Eleanor looked very sleek and sophisticated. The Malfoys and the Cordarris disagreed on many things when it came to parenting, but one thing they always agreed on was that it was important to look your best. They were proud of their heritage and who they were, and as such they always liked to put their best foot forward.

"Sometimes I forget how to dress myself once I come back from school." Eleanor chuckled, trying to make small talk while picking at the hem of her dress and tapping to the toe of her nude, heel in discomfort. She felt Draco's eyes on her, looking her over in silence. Her teeth pulled at her bottom lip as her stomach twisted in uncomfortable knots.

"Those damn Hogwarts robes are probably the least flattering things on everyone." Draco tried to joke, tearing his eyes away from Eleanor. He had spent his whole night thinking about her, and actually seeing her in the morning made him realize that his fantasies about her never did actually do her justice.

An awkward silence hung in the air. Eleanor didn't particularly want to go out with Draco. She wasn't looking forward to leaving her home. In all honesty, dressing herself this morning took an extraordinary amount of energy and she was now drained. But Draco was so insistent and Eleanor would feel guilty for canceling.

"Are you ready to go?" Draco asked, feeling uncomfortable that Eleanor looked so on edge. He understood why she did, and he didn't blame her, but he didn't know how to reach her. He wanted to drag her out of the state she was in. She wasn't really Eleanor, not fully. He missed her, he wanted her back. He would never admit it out loud, but she really was his best friend, and he enjoyed his time spent with her more than he enjoyed the time he spent with any of his housemates.

Eleanor nodded once, rubbing her hands together uncomfortably. She felt wrong leaving the house so soon, she wanted to stay home. Her heart hurt at the thought of leaving, she almost told Draco this, but as she opened her mouth to decline his plans, he informed her that he had made reservations at one of the nicer restaurants in Diagon Alley. One that he knew was Eleanor's favorite.

Eleanor felt guilty then for thinking of backing out. Draco seldom ever put this much thought into Eleanor and spending time with her. She wanted to show that she was appreciative of it, so she swallowed her sadness at leaving her beloved home and followed Draco to the fireplace.

It was summer, and the air was warm and pleasant. The sun lifted Eleanor's spirits, but only slightly. It made her yearn to be in her mother's beautiful garden. Draco held the door to the restaurant open for Eleanor to step into.

"Reservation for Malfoy." He smiled charmingly at the hostess who led the two to their table. The restaurant was buzzing with polite business men and women conversing and negotiating deals over lunch. Many ministry folk were about, and most of them recognized Draco and Eleanor based on their fathers. Lucius being a ministry man himself, and Darius being a well known lawyer, and the son of an influential businessman whose companies were still popular both locally and internationally. Everyone knew Draco and Eleanor, and everyone knew the tragedy that Eleanor had just faced. A hush fell over the room when Draco and Eleanor were seated.

"We shouldn't have come, this was stupid." Draco muttered to himself angrily as he felt the eyes of his parent's peers all looking down on Eleanor. In the moment, he didn't care about himself so much. He watched Eleanor shift uncomfortably, with tears in her eyes. Eleanor tried to keep them at bay. Draco had put in considerable effort after all.

"It's fine, Draco." She shook her head, but didn't look up from her menu. He knew she was hiding her emotions in an attempt to be strong. He rolled his eyes at her, reached across the table and removed the menu from her hands so he could see her fully. "I'm fine." She said as she removed a single tear from the corner of her eye. "It's just...they all knew them, and my parents took me here often. It's just a lot to process right now." Eleanor shook her head, picking up her menu again.

"We can go." Draco supplied, a little disappointed his grand plan to make her feel better was backfiring.

"No, no. It was lovely of you to plan this for me Draco. We're staying." Eleanor said firmly. She grabbed the arm of a waiter passing by and pulled him back to the table. "We're ready, I believe." She informed, Draco was a little surprised at her bold action. Eleanor had always been very polite when it came to the help, waiters and waitresses. Kinder than he ever was.

"I'll have the special, he'll have the lobster pasta. And how about two fire whiskeys on the rocks?" Eleanor flashed her best upper class, Pureblood smile. A privilege she seldom ever used.

"Are you over 17, miss?" He asked. Eleanor took a swift look at his name tag.

"Martin," she started, looking up at him through her eyelashes "I am flattered by your compliment, but if I was 17, wouldn't I still be in school?" Martin, the server, looked obviously flustered and glanced at Eleanor's hand still on his forearm. He turned dark pink and nodded quickly before returning to the kitchens.

"How unlike you, El." Draco commented, but had to admit he was impressed with her.

"When you need a drink, you need a drink." Eleanor shrugged, tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for Martin to return so she could numb the hole in her heart for the afternoon.

"I will agree with you there." Draco smirked. "And you know my order?"

"You're ridiculous, of course I do. We've been here countless times together and you always get the same thing. You really aren't as mysterious as you try to be, Draco Malfoy."


Draco thought that the two drinks Eleanor ordered were for the two of them, however Eleanor downed both of them before their meals even came, then ordered two more. Draco was able to sip a bit of the second round, but Eleanor still drank most of it. Draco was anxious now, looking around at friends of their parents, eyeing them suspiciously. Especially now, with Eleanor drunk before noon and chomping loudly on ice. He was waiting for Martin to come back with the bill so he could get Eleanor home before she made a fool of herself.

Draco quickly dumped a few galleons on the table to pay for their meal and tip Martin, who, Draco was sure, knew they weren't over 17 and continued serving them drinks anyway.

"Come along, love." Draco said, holding his arm out for Eleanor to take. "Let's get you home."

"Do we still have to go to dinner with your parents tonight?" Eleanor asked in a slightly whiny voice. Her cheeks were rosy from the alcohol and her eyes her drooping a little. Draco knew Eleanor got tired when she was drunk. He suspected she would be needing a nap.

"I'm afraid we probably do." Draco sighed a little, as he led her out of the restaurant and into the crowded streets of Diagon Alley.

"Draco, I really don't want to." Eleanor began shaking her head, she looked like she might start crying. "I want to go lay out in the flowers."

"I think we are going to get you some water first." Draco informed his friend, pulling her over to a public Floo.

Eleanor took her arm out of Draco's and looked at him in disbelief. "You think I'm drunk." Eleanor accused. Draco rolled his ice blue eyes at his clearly intoxicated friend as she wavered on her feet without the support of his arm. He chuckled lightly and gently grabbed her hand to pull her towards the fireplace.

"You are drunk." Draco laughed, Flooing the duo back to the Cordarri Castle.

"I am not." Eleanor shook her head stubbornly as the pair reentered her childhood home. "And why are you holding my hand like that." Eleanor looked at their still intertwined hands with an accusatory glare, but made no move to let go.

"I'm sorry." Draco said, flexing his fingers to try to release himself, even though he didn't really want to. Eleanor looked at him curiously. "I just didn't want you running off." Draco smirked a little, taking a step towards her to try to maneuver her into the kitchen so that he might be able to get her a glass of water. Eleanor made no move to step out of his path or walk with him.

"You confuse me." Eleanor whispered a little. Draco was close enough to smell the alcohol on her breath, but didn't move away. Somehow, it smelled enchanting rather than revolting when it came from Eleanor.

"Hmm?" Draco hummed, waiting for an explanation. Eleanor looked as though she was calculating what to say next, Draco knew from past experience that drunk Eleanor was arguing with what was left of sober Eleanor inside her head about whether or not she should say something. Draco also knew that drunk Eleanor nearly always won in situations like this.

"Sometimes you look at me like you are thinking about kissing me." Eleanor finally said flatly. Draco's heart sped off, but he made sure to remain stoic. Had he been found out? He always had a soft spot for Eleanor, and he had always been enchanted by her. More so than any other girl he had ever met. But he was sure to remain as emotionless as possible. Especially around her.

"Do you want me to?" Draco asked, wanting to take his chances when Eleanor's guard was down, but there was a nagging voice in his head reminding him that drunk, mourning Eleanor was not the Eleanor he wanted to kiss. He couldn't be blamed for trying to be charming though. He struggled to figure out if charming a drunk, mourning Eleanor was moral or not.

"You shouldn't. I'm drunk. My parents are dead." Eleanor said flatly, as if reading his mind. Part of her wanted Draco to lean closer and kiss her, and part of her wanted to run away. She figured that was the drunk and sober parts of herself arguing over what was right, and what she only wanted to do when she was under the influence.

"Then I won't." Draco stepped away from Eleanor.

"I'm going to remember this." Eleanor nodded. "I'm not that drunk."

Draco paled for a moment at the thought of Eleanor remembering his moment of weakness and putting together that he might have fancied her a bit. He quickly regained himself and took a step away. "Well, I won't embarrass you about it."

"What?" Eleanor furrowed her brows, trying to figure Draco out.

"You obviously were trying to kiss me there, El. I won't bring it up so you don't get embarrassed." Draco said, and left Eleanor in the foyer as he went to the kitchen to get her a glass of water. Eleanor wasn't sure how it was possible, but saying that ended up leaving her feeling more embarrassed and she couldn't quite understand why.