Hey y'all! I'm sorry for the delay in posting this, I've been reworking the next part of this story in my head and in my notes so my writing has been happening a little slower as I'm mostly back to the storyboard to change up the ending! I hope you all are staying safe and healthy! Let me know what you think, I love hearing from you!


In the end, Eleanor had decided to take both teaching assistant jobs. With the story of Remus and her mother tucked in her heart, and a few Muggle pictures that Remus was able to scrounge up from their year together, Eleanor packed up and the group of them travelled to King's Cross to begin another year at Hogwarts. They had been able to remove the majority of the Coradarri fortune from Gringotts, though they weren't permitted to take all of it. Eleanor felt better knowing that Voldemort wouldn't be able to get his hands on her, Draco, or any of her assets. And while many questions were left up in the air as to why he wanted them in the first place, Eleanor felt more content knowing that things of importance to her were greatly protected, so she felt confident leaving the Cordarri Castle in the hands of Sirius and Remus as she left for another year at Hogwarts.

Getting to the train station was an event in itself. Sirius was in his dog form, which was a shock to Draco who Eleanor quickly realized she forgot to tell about the Animagus situation. Moody and Tonks accompanied the group to the train station, and they were both very vigilant. Draco stiffened next to Eleanor when all of his Slytherin friends saw him with that crowd.

Eleanor and Draco had spent countless hours talking about what the future held for them this year with the huge shift in living situation and Voldemort's original plan for the two of them being thwarted. Draco was petrified at the thought of what his friends would say when he saw him with Harry Potter and their former professor and a swarm of Aurors. Eleanor and him had decided that it was best to lie and say it was the only way the two of them could get a ride with both of their parents being absent or deceased. And he would tell them that he had been living at Cordarri Castle while his mother was on her grief trip, which wasn't a lie. And, Draco hoped, would earn him some reputation back with people knowing he was doing such reckless and adult things like living with his girlfriend.

He grit his teeth at the thought of all of those conversations coming back, he was an idiot. His friends would see right through him. He wanted desperately to hold Eleanor's hand, but knew that his need for affection would make the situation even worse. "El," He whispered softly, so she would know he needed something.

"I know, Draco." She responded lightly. "I know."

"What's more like me, blowing off my prefect meeting, or going to it?" He asked in a thinly veiled panic. Eleanor grabbed his hand and pulled him away her family to create the distance that Draco had wanted but wasn't sure how to create.

"What do you want to do, Draco?" She asked, leaning against a pillar and looking up at him with their fingers interlocked. She was trying to give him the opportunity to look smooth rather than panicked so that he could save face in front of his friends. Draco understood her motives quickly and leaned into her a bit. Remus eyed them suspiciously but continued talking to Harry about the coming year.

"I don't mean me, I mean what would the Draco they know do?" His entire demeanor radiated swagger and smoothness, like the Draco she'd always known, but his eyes were drowning in worry. He had grown so much, and it had been so hard for him to do even with all of the support from her and her newfound family, but going back to those he had grown up with was a different story.

"Do you still want to be the Draco they knew?" Eleanor questioned softly. Draco seemed to think very deeply about this, he squeezed her hand lightly once more, trying to work through his thoughts and emotions. He had been working so hard on processing them so that he'd be helpful to her and bring relative peace, but he felt it slipping away at the sight of his housemates.

"I don't know, El. I don't want things to be weird and give them more reasons to question me and my family, but I don't want to give your family reasons not to trust me." Draco worried. Eleanor couldn't help but smile at him, knowing that a year ago this would not have been something Draco would be fretting over. "What?" Draco asked in an exasperated tone at Eleanor's soft smile.

"Nothing, it's just…" Eleanor trailed off for a moment, searching for words, playing with his fingers in hers. "Whatever you choose to do today on the train, I'm really proud of you."

"What are you proud of me for?" The anxiety was clear in Draco's eyes. "For being confused?"

"Yes." Eleanor nodded automatically, earning a quizzical look from the man in front of her. "You're confused, you're thinking really hard about the decisions you're making rather than doing what is easy to save face for your friends. I think it's wonderful."

"Well, I'm glad that my turmoil is exciting for you." Draco said in a half-joking, half-annoyed voice.

"You want me to make your decision for you?" Eleanor asked. Draco nodded once, desperate. "Look, I think that if you give up being a Prefect, you'll have a lot less on your plate and you can just focus on your NEWT classes and managing stress. I also think that you love and are very proud of yourself for being a Prefect and will be disappointed if you let this opportunity go."

"That's not a decision." Draco reminded, glancing around and seeing that his friends had dispersed onto the train, and so he let his shoulders sag and puffed out a breath. "I don't even know what I want the opportunities for anymore. I used to want to work in the Ministry like my father, but I don't want to be anything like him anymore." Eleanor watched as Draco worked through his own thoughts silently. "I want to be more like you." Eleanor smiled widely at him.

"Come sit with me on the train." She offered and he nodded, squeezing her hand tightly. They made their way over to the group of Aurors, Remus, and Sirius in his dog form.

"Alright, my love," Remus sighed, grasping his daughter by the shoulders, "stay out of trouble this year, keep your head up, I'll miss you terribly."

"I'll miss you too, Remus." Eleanor replied, smiling sadly at him. "I've grown quite fond of your company." Remus cracked a smile and held his daughter's face in his hand for only a brief moment before bringing his hands down.

"I've grown quite fond of yours. I know we're both counting the days until Christmas holiday." Remus put his hand on Sirius' dog head.

"My favorite time of the year." Eleanor chuckled a little, tears glistening in her eyes. She hadn't realized how much she would miss lazy days with Sirius and Remus. She sucked in a deep breath and put on a brave face.

"Draco, my boy, trust your gut. Don't be…" Remus struggled to find the words.

"A prick?" Draco provided with a slight laugh, causing Remus to crack a smile.

"That would be nice." Remus nodded before shuffling the two towards the train. "And please, don't do anything...stupid, you two." He heaved a sigh. "You know what I mean." Eleanor rolled her eyes and Draco turned slightly pink as they both boarded the train and found an empty compartment.

"How're you feeling?" Eleanor asked softly, putting a gentle hand on Draco's shoulder. He melted under her touch, and not slightly, he visibly dissolved onto the seat next to her. Eleanor took note of his shaking hands and sank into the cushion beside him.

"I'm feeling a lot of things." Draco puffed out, fighting a battle with himself. He had never really shared his emotions before, or even acknowledged them, however he was doing both now and it felt like it was too much. He wanted to just switch it off, but something told him not to.

"Tell me." Eleanor prompted, her eyes never leaving him, her attention always trained right on him. It made him uncomfortable, but at the same time it calmed him.

"Everything is...different." He let out. "I know this year is going to be...what it's going to be. My parents are out of the picture, my ideas about the future are changing, my friends are going to make things complicated…" Draco paused for a moment, "Is this how you felt last year?" He asked her softly.

Eleanor nodded slowly, "Pretty much the same."

"And I was so insensitive?" Draco wondered incredulously, rubbing his forehead at the memories of the year prior.

"You were figuring yourself out." Eleanor reasoned. "You were just being yourself, and that was all you needed to be for me."

"No, you needed more from me." Draco sighed. "I don't want to just be myself in the way I've been. I want to be who you've been saying I am for years. I just don't know how to be that person all the time. It's hard, El."

"But you can do it." Eleanor encouraged. "It's hard to be the person you really are, rather than the person that the world has crafted you to be, but that person is so wonderful, Draco."

"I'm going to mess up." Draco warned.

"I expect you to." Eleanor chuckled, kissing him on the cheek softly. "And I will too."

"I seriously doubt it." Draco mumbled. "But thank you, El."


Getting settled back into Hogwarts was odd for Harry and Eleanor in particular. Harry had never felt a longing to be away from Hogwarts, but after the summer he'd just had with Sirius and Remus and Eleanor, he felt oddly sad. Eleanor related to him in a similar way. She'd always taken a bit to get used to Hogwarts because she missed her parents greatly, but that was a feeling she'd never expected to have again. However, she was feeling it now. They had been back at Hogwarts for three days and both Harry and Eleanor were still a bit mopey. Ron and Hermione were on their rounds as Prefects and so the two had a bit of alone time in the Common Room. Eleanor was working on prepping worksheets for a First Year Herbology class and Harry was planning out Quidditch try-out drills.

"Why aren't you with Malfoy?" Harry asked suddenly.

"He and Blaise were going to study in the library for a bit." Eleanor responded quietly. "Thank you for being so understanding this summer, with him and everything."

"Well I didn't think anything I could say would stop it." Harry shrugged nonchalantly. Eleanor chuckled a little and shook her head.

"What about you, Chosen One? Anyone you want to make bad decisions with?" Eleanor joked. "I can't wait to tell Padfoot and Moony all about it so they can embarrass the ever living hell out of you by telling you not to have sex every other minute." They had taken to calling their guardians by their pen names when at Hogwarts to avoid anyone over hearing, and each time they were used, Harry would smile slightly. Eleanor expected it made him feel closer to his father.

"I dunno." Harry let out. "Kind of stressed out about Voldemort, not easy to be attracted to someone when humanity is in danger."

"I wish Marietta isn't the way that she is, she's cute."

"Yeah," Harry responded, uninterested. "Not really my type anyway."

"Oh, interesting." Eleanor hummed. "Who is more your type?"

"Why are we talking about this?" Harry asked, putting his quill down and staring hard at Eleanor.

"I don't know, Harry. I'm your friend, I want to set you up."

"You want all of the pressure to be taken off of you and Malfoy." Harry returned with a slight laugh.

"I'm keeping my eye out, Harry Potter. Just you wait."

"I really don't need someone who is like my sister setting me up with people." Harry laughed to himself before turning bright red and his eyes snapping up to meet Eleanors. "I mean, uh-"

"Harry, do you think of me as a sister?" Eleanor asked, a smile breaking on her face.

"I mean, kind of, but...is that okay?" Harry asked shyly.

"Of course it is." Eleanor nodded. "I've never had any siblings, the closest I've had to growing up with someone is Draco and-"

"Eleanor, no. Please stop." Harry waved her off, both of them dissolving into fits of laughter.


"Draco, can you put the book down for even a moment?" Eleanor fretted as the two studied in an empty classroom one evening. "I've barely seen you the past few days. I know we're studying, but I thought we could at least talk a little."

"Sorry love, I'm just doing research for the-"

"Ministry internship." Eleanor finished for him with a good natured roll of the eyes. "Which you can't even fully participate in until your seventh year."

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared." Draco replied, but closed one of the three books he had borrowed from the library and slid into the spot directly next to Eleanor. "And I would need to do a trial run at the Ministry this summer, and have my application and references turned in by Easter. And it's going to have to be really, really good considering my father is in Azkaban." He flinched at his own words and shook his head softly in an attempt to free himself of thoughts of his father.

"Draco, I think what you are doing is extremely admirable, but it isn't your job to redeem your family name. Do something you want to do, because you want to do it." Eleanor urged softly.

"I want to do this, El," Draco assured, "and I want to redeem my family name. So it's a win all around." Eleanor rolled her eyes a little at him.

"I just want you to be happy." Eleanor sighed, returning to her homework.

"Hey, hey," Draco placed his hand over hers on the table to bring her eyes back to his. "I will be happy. You make me happy, and I plan on keeping you around for a long time."

Eleanor laughed slightly at his cheesiness but couldn't help but smile at it. "What would your friends say if they saw you being so soft, huh?"

Eleanor took note of the stiffness that came into Draco's shoulders at the mention of his friends. Eleanor worried constantly that he was lonely and not supported by those who had been by him throughout childhood. He didn't talk about them much anymore and she wanted answers. "I think something's going on with Blaise." Draco let out quietly.

"What do you mean?" Eleanor's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"He's different, more on edge. He's never been so jumpy, but, I don't know." Draco shook his head, as if trying to shake the thoughts he was having. "Maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe he just doesn't like being around me anymore."

"Blaise wouldn't think like that." Eleanor interjected, though she had to admit she wasn't quite sure whether or not he would. She knew Blaise well enough growing up, but the two were never particularly close. And while he was the kindest of Draco's friends, Eleanor wasn't sure if that bar was set very high.

"That's what I thought too." Draco confirmed. "All of this stuff with You-Know-Who being back, and knowing what we know about my parents, I don't know, I'm just more vigilant than normal."

"You really think Blaise is a Death Eater?" Eleanor asked.

Draco ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know, El, I don't know why he would need to be, or what they could possibly be holding over his head."

"Would they need to hold anything over his head?"

Draco paused, realization washing over his face. "I mean, I didn't think he would just join willingly, but I haven't spent much time with him recently with everything going on. Maybe I just don't know him as well as I thought I did."

"Hey," Eleanor tried to calm his train of thought, "let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Maybe he's just stressed with school, or maybe something is up with his family. This is a scary time for everyone. You could just talk to him." She suggested. "He's your best friend, he'll probably want to talk to you."


Eleanor had always been able to talk about her problems with her friends. She always suggested taking the heartfelt, emotional approach. Draco preferred not to speak about much of anything, ever. However, his new perspective on life was following the mantra of "what would El do?" (Though he was rather mum on this as Eleanor would most definitely hold that over his head pridefully.)

So, with that in the back of his mind, he approached Blaise, who was sitting by the fireplace in the Slytherin common room, bouncing his leg nervously and tearing through an unfamiliar book. Draco tried to read what the title was, but couldn't get a good look.

"Everything okay?" Draco asked quietly, taking a seat next to his friend. Blaise looked up from his book and narrowed his eyes at Draco. Over the summer, talk had been extremely scarce. Especially with everything that Draco was going through, getting drunk with Blaise hadn't been a huge priority. However, looking at him now, with large, dark circles under his eyes, and sunken in cheeks, Draco thought that maybe he should have paid more attention to his friend.

"Fine." Blaise snapped. Draco's lip curled slightly in response to the tone he'd received, but tried to think about what Eleanor would do in this situation, and took a deep breath.

"What class is that for?" Draco pressed, leaning in to get a closer look at the book in Blaise's hands. "The Art of Ancient Transportation." He read.

"Extra credit essay, for History of Magic." Blaise returned quickly, his leg was bouncing wildy and his hands were shaking around the cover.

"What's going on with you?" Draco reached to take the book out of his hands. Blaise smacked his hand away quickly and aggressively. Draco lit up in fury until he saw, just barely visible under Blaise's ajar sleeve, the dreaded skull and snake on his forearm. "Blaise." Draco breathed out, recoiling slightly at the sight of it.

For a split second, and only barely there, tears filled Blaise's eyes. He tugged his sleeve down hard and slammed the book shut.

"Draco," He murmured desperately, his eyes wide and body shaking, "help me."