Chapter 18: Almost Home

December 21st


Elara woke with a start, looking wildly around as she tried to make out the figures in the darkness around her. Cold fear coursing through her veins and sweat prickling her forehead. She looked down next to her, locating the terrified whining sound as she saw Harry's naked body, writhing around in the blanket. His chest rising and falling in heavy pants and tears seeping from his closed eyes.

"Harry!" She said, alarmed. She gave his shoulder a gentle shake. "Harry! Wake up! You're having a nightmare. Wake up!"

He bolted upright and looked around the room before stumbling out of the sofa turned bed and falling to all fours, heaving the contents of his stomach onto the ground.

Elara rushed out of the blankets and knelt beside him, rubbing his back and making "shushing" sounds. Her hair still standing on its ends from the prickly terror. When Harry finished retching, she calmly conjured a goblet of water and handed it to him.

"Are you alright?" She whispered, waving her wand with a quick Tergeo to clean up the vomit. She sat on the ground next to him and placed her hand on his knee while he gulped down the cool water.

He nodded. "I'm fine." He said, closing his eyes an taking a few deep breaths. "I'm alright. Really. Sorry I got sick. It happens a lot."

"I knew you got nightmares, you've told me about that… But I didn't realize they were this bad. Harry, you need to talk to someone about them."

He shook his head. "I relive it every night. Every. Night." He sighed and took a few more sips of water. "I watch him die, over and over. I watch Ron's dad get attacked over and over… I see Cedric…"

"Harry… I can help." She said, taking his hand in both of hers. "I can bury it."

He shook his head. "No." He set the goblet down and placed one hand against her cheek. "I can't let you do that. But you can stay with me. Just, lay here with me? Yeah?"

She nodded. "You're terrified." She said. "Are you sure I can't help? I can ease it…"

"I'm sure." He said. "This is my fight. Not yours."

He stood, pulling her up with him. He walked back to the bed and climbed under the blankets, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her.

"When did the sofa become a bed?" She asked, tracing invisible patterns into his chest with her fingers.

"After you fell asleep. I thought that we would be more comfortable in a bed, so the room transfigured the couch."

She smiled and kissed his chest. "Good idea." She said, stifling a yawn.

"You're tired." Harry said, threading his fingers through her hair. "Go back to sleep."

She shook her head. "No, I'm okay. I'll sleep on the train back to London."

"I'm worried for you." Harry admitted, after several minutes of silence. His voice was a whisper and he wasn't sure she was even still awake to hear him. "I don't know what you're doing, or what your brother has you wrapped up in, but I'm scared for you."

Elara tilted her head to look at him, slowly blinking the heaviness from her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I know you've been involved with something." He said. "Draco is scared for you."

"How would you know that?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"I heard him." Harry said. "He was talking to Snape in the Hall after he crashed the party. He said you were getting out. What does that mean?"

"I think you're delirious, Harry." Elara said, feeling her stomach churn. "I was talking to him in the hall after he crashed the party."

"I know." Harry whispered. "After that. After you left and went back inside, he was talking to Snape. It got pretty heated."

She sat up and turned to look down at him. "How would you know?"

He looked back up at her, only able to see her outline in the darkness without his glasses. "I followed you out."

"You eavesdropped on our conversation?" She asked, panic gripping at her chest. She kept her tone steady and her face blank. "Why would you do that?"

"I… I don't know." He sighed. "I thought maybe you were going to get into a row and you'd need back up? I don't know why I followed you. It just seemed like I needed to."

"It seemed like you needed to?" She asked, drawing out the syllables as she repeated the statement.

"I know I shouldn't have." He said, sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. "I-I feel bad about it. But… Ellie… Are you in some kind of trouble? Snape seemed adamant that you were going to be killed."

"Snape has no idea what he's talking about." She snapped. "And neither do you, for that matter."

"I know!" He said, becoming frustrated. "I know! I shouldn't have followed you out there! I shouldn't have listened in! But… Ellie, if you were in danger, you would tell me, wouldn't you? You would tell me!"

"Harry." She said, turning to face him. "I'm not in danger. I don't know what you think you heard, but I'm okay."

"You would tell me though." Harry pressed. "You would let me know if you weren't."

"Yes." She lied. "I would tell you."

He stared at her for a long moment before laying back down and pulling her back to his chest. He continued his previous ministrations, pulling his fingers through her hair and lightly caressing her scalp as he did it. "I just realized I haven't got you anything for Christmas."

She gave a soft laugh. "I didn't get you anything either. It's okay."

He nodded, burying his face into her hair and kissing the top of her head. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed, comfortable and finally feeling sleepy again. "You know, I think I love you, though." He whispered.

Her hand stopped moving on his chest and she stiffened, slowly tilting her head to look up at him. "What did you say?" She felt his chest rumble as he laughed.

"I said I think I love you."

She stared at him again, trying to gather her thoughts. She could feel the sincerity pouring from him. He loved her? She didn't know if she loved him. She wasn't sure she knew what it meant to love someone that wasn't her family. Because Malfoy love came with strings attached, with conditions and expectations. Did Harry have expectations? He had lied to her, he just admitted to it, but was it really even lying? He eavesdropped on her, yes. But, he didn't say he didn't do it, he just apologized and said he didn't know why he did it. And she had lied to him. So many times that she's lost count. She just lied by telling him she wasn't in danger. Could you even love someone you lied to regularly? Who you began a friendship with based on lies and expectation?

Could she trust him? Could she trust that love was what she really was feeling? She had just talked herself out of it. It didn't make sense to be in love with him. He has too many other important things to worry about and do than love her! If she loved him, that put him at even more of a risk. It gave him weaknesses he couldn't afford.

"Typically, this is when you tell me to bugger off or tell me that you love me too." Harry whispered, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat.

He was nervous now. Great. Her inability to respond with anything other than silence was making him nervous, making him doubt himself. "Harry I… I just…"

"You don't have to say it back." Harry said. "That's okay."

He tightened his grip around her and snuggled into her.

"It's not that I don't." She whispered.

"If you can't say it yet, that's okay." Harry said. "But I needed to tell you. Before you went back home. I just wanted to let you know."

Fear again. He was nervous and scared. And she felt terrible. She couldn't say it back! Why couldn't she just say it?! She was sure just a few days ago that she was feeling it! Why couldn't she tell him?!

"I care for you a lot, Harry." She said. "I just…"

"I understand." He said, snaking his finger under her chin and tilting her head up. He craned his neck down to kiss her lips. "You don't have to say it back. But, I love you. And I wanted you to know."

OOOOOOOO

Elara sat at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. She had decided to spend as much time with Harry today as she possibly could before she had to return to the Manor for the next two weeks and not see or talk to him at all. She was tucking into some fresh fruit and her Cranberry Juice, listening to Ron and Harry go on about the new Professional Range Quidditch gear that was being released in the next year.

She heard the screeching of owls as the morning mail came and saw her owl barn owl, Ignatius and Draco's eagle owl, Maximus. Maximus soared to the Slytherin table, dropping just in front of Draco and Elara held out her arm as Ignatius swooped and landed gracefully on her extended limb.

"You're owl is trained well!" Hermione said.

Elara nodded. "We've spent a lot of time together at the Manor over the years." She pet it's head and gave him a piece of bacon. "What've you got, Iggy?" She said, pulling the scroll from it's leg. The owl gave a soft hoot and nuzzled her momentarily before taking back off out to the grounds.

"Elara,

Emiliana Zabini will be meeting you and Draco at King's Cross when you arrive. She will be there to bring you home by portkey. Please pack lightly, as we will not be able to return for a secondary trip to gather your belongings.

I look forward to your arrival tonight. We have much to discuss.

All my love,

Mother"

Harry leaned over her shoulder, reading the letter with her. "She's not coming to get you?"

Elara shrugged. "She didn't enter the platform when we came at the start of the year. She doesn't want any of the reporters to corner us. Nearly every time we go in public she's being attacked on all sides by nosy people."

She looked up from the parchment and scanned the Slytherin table, locking eyes with Draco. He pursed his lips and shrugged and then Blaise turned around and smiled and waved at her.

"I wonder how she got a portkey." Harry said.

"Ms. Zabini has a way with getting what she wants. She probably has loads of them." Elara said. "She travels internationally so often, and international apparition is difficult… She's probably just fixed one to take us to the manor. She's actually a very clever witch."

"That's illegal." Hermione said. "You can't change the location of a portkey without having it approved by the ministry and-

"Hermione." Elara laughed. "This is my family, we're talking about. Would it really surprise you to know that a friend of the family has illegal portkeys?"

Hermione grimaced. "I suppose not."

"Having a stash of blank portkeys could be bloody useful though!" Ron said, with a mouth full of eggs. "Imagine being able to just go wherever you needed to go- no tracers, no questions asked and no risk of splinching yourself from a long apparition! That's brilliant, really!"

"Yes, brilliant and illegal." Hermione said.

Elara laughed and finished her breakfast, smiling as Harry draped an arm around her shoulders. "It is." Elara said. "But until a few months ago, there were far more illegal things in the dungeons under my bedroom so, I can't judge a few illegal portkeys."

Hermione's face went white and the small group of surrounding Gryffindors all became silent. Finally, Harry laughed, breaking the awkwardness of the moment and leaned over to kiss Elara's cheek. "You can't talk about dark illegal artifacts at the Gryffindor table, my love. It upsets the locals."

Elara snorted and finished her cranberry juice. "Sorry!" She said. "I shouldn't joke about things like that."

"Oh! Ellie, I have something for you!" Hermione said, pulling out of the discomfort of the situation and digging in her pocket. She handed her a galleon.

"Erm, thanks?" Elara said. "But, I don't quite need a galleon."

Hermione rolled her eyes and handed one to Harry as well. "It isn't a galleon. It's a-"

"The D.A. coins!" Harry said, looking it over and smiling. "Oh! Hermione you are absolutely brilliant!"

She smiled. "We used these last year to communicate without Umbridge finding out. Harry, I changed them a bit this time. You can spell out words now, instead of numerals. The words won't appear unless the person the message is meant for is holding the coin… Harry think of something to tell Elara!"

He rubbed his thumb on the coin and closed his eyes, Elara looked at the coin in her palm. "Is it supposed to be doing- Oh! Oh, it's gotten warm!"

"Yes!" Hermione said. "It will warm up when you've received a message."

Elara looked down at the coin and watched at the numerals on the surrounding edges transformed into letters that said, "now we can talk". She smiled. "A Protean Charm then?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes."

"That's very complicated magic, Hermione. You're seriously amazing!"

Hermione gave a wide smile and pulled out more coins. She handed two more to Elara, one to Ron, and held one for herself. "I've given you one to give to Blaise and Draco, just in case. And Ron and I both have one as well. But remember, the message can only be seen by the person it's meant for. So, if you want to say something to all of us, you have to think of that while you think of the message."

Elara nodded. "Brilliant." She said. "Really! This was so thoughtful!"

"It was selfish." Hermione said. "I didn't want to go all break without talking to you, either. I love Harry and Ron, but sometimes an intellectual conversation does my mind well."

Elara laughed as Harry and Ron both scoffed, pretending to be offended. Elara felt overwhelmed with gratitude for her friends. She was happy. And not just the kind of happy she got from spending time with Harry or tending to her plants. She could feel her mind changing, she could feel the years of forced stoicism melting away, the years of feeling less than because she was damned to her room at the Manor. The years of being terrified that someone would find out about her, about her abilities, her ideas, her soft spot for muggles… She could feel that it was fading. Her friends were truly good people. They were thoughtful, funny, caring, compassionate, and kind people. She loved them. She felt her stomach twist at the thought. She did love them; she did love Harry. She just wasn't ready to say it. She cursed her upbringing, the constant repression of emotions- always trying to control them and how they made her feel… It had her confused and frustrated. People deserved to know that you care about them, so why couldn't she just say it?!

"Are you going to sit with me on the train?" Harry asked, as they got up from the table and the hall began to clear out.

She nodded. "I plan to."

He smiled. "Good. I'd like to stare at you awkwardly for a few more hours before I don't get to see you for a while."

She laughed and took his hand, lacing their fingers together. "Are you packed then?"

"Mostly." He said. "You?"

She lifted her knapsack to her shoulder. "It's all in here. I'm not taking much back with me. I finished all of my holiday homework the other day so I don't have to work on anything for classes."

"Swot." Harry said, dodging the back of her had as she made to playfully smack him. "I'll see you on the train then."

She nodded and stood on her tip toes to kiss his lips. He lingered a few seconds and pulled back, a bright smile on his face. "Love you." He said. "You don't have to say it back, but I'm going to keep telling you."

She bit her lip and smiled and watched as he tore up the stairs, taking them two at time. She began down the corridor and turned to head down the stairs to the dungeons.

"Love huh?" Blaise's voice came from behind her. "And you aren't returning the sentiment?"

"Have I ever told you that I love you?" She asked.

"You know, I don't actually think you have. I tell you that you love me." He laughed.

She nodded. "Love is hard." She said. "It isn't like.. Joy or fear. Those things are tangible to me. They make sense. Love isn't a real emotion. Not really. You feel it, but it's different for everyone. Other emotions aren't. they feel the same when they roll off your skin and love is the one I can't feel. It's hard to tell someone you love them when you aren't even sure what it's supposed to be."

Blaise stopped and grabbed her shoulder to look at her. "that's what makes it so good, isn't it?" He said. "That it's different for everyone. It makes it more genuine."

"I don't know." She said. "It doesn't matter. I haven't said it back… I'm not sure if I will."

"So you aren't going to tell anyone that you love them?"

"I tell my parents. And Coco…" She said. "But I always have. I didn't make the conscious decision to love them, I just always have."

"I'm sure Potter didn't make the conscious decision to love you either, but he still said it. It's not a choice. You can choose to be happy or angry about things, but love… You can't choose who you love."

"You're wrong there." She said. "I think you can, to some extent…" She trailed off and continued walking. Maybe she was wrong. She certainly didn't choose to develop feelings for Harry. In fact, she tried hard not to at the beginning of the term. Even when he tormenting her and being insufferable, there was something about him that attracted her…

"Before I forget…" She said, interrupting her own dangerous line of thought. She dug into her pocket and handed Blaise one of the coins. "It's charmed so that you can talk to me at the Manor without using owls. You just think of what you want to say, and who you want to say it to, and it shows up."

She gave the same demonstration that Harry and Hermione had shown her in the hall. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, me, you, and Draco will all have one. I think they're paranoid that something bad is going to happen over break." She explained.

"I don't think that's paranoia." Blaise said. "Aren't you in Divination? Can't you tell that there's something odd about this year?"

She rolled her eyes. "Flight patterns are normal and tea leaves show nothing. You're all insane."

Blaise snorted with laughter as they reached the common room entrance. "I want you to say that again but slower, and then tell me I'm mental again."

"Shut up." She said, giving him a slap. "Your mum offered to take us to the Manor, then?"

Blaise nodded. "I may have had something to do with that. I wrote my mum and asked her to check on yours throughout the term. I know your mum has never been fond of mine, but my mum knows how to live without a husband. She's been going to tea at the Manor once a week, I think they've become friendly."

"Your mum kills her husbands, Blaise. It's hardly the same thing."

He shrugged. "She still goes awhile between them before she courts some new unlucky bloke to pick off. Plus, she likes you and Draco and thinks it's sad that you have to be wrapped up in politics at a young age. She probably offered to pick you up."

"Well, it'll be nice to go by portkey. I was afraid we'd have to take a muggle car and while I like muggles, their methods of travel are quite slow and I'm anxious to just get home."

"No chance of convincing you to just come to Italy with me, then?"

Elara rolled her eyes and made her way to her dorm. "No. I want to see my mum. Make sure she's okay."

Blaise nodded. "You riding in our cabin or are you and Potter getting your own cabin so you can shag the entire way back?"

"We almost made it!" She said, exasperated. "We almost made it an entire conversation without you bringing up Harry and I shagging! We were so close!"

Blaise laughed loudly. "You didn't answer my question!" He shouted to her as he walked the opposite direction to the boys' dorm.

"I'm riding back with Harry, you absolute twit!" She said, closing her dormitory door behind her and chuckling.


The ride back to London was long and uneventful. Ron and Harry talked a lot about Quidditch plays for the returning season. Ron complained about Lavender for half of the trip and Elara had slept through a good chunk of the trip, her head in Harry's lap and unable to hold her eyes open as he grazed his fingers absentmindedly through her hair while he talked to Ron. Neville had stopped in to give Elara a book he had on taming Devil's Snare to read over in hopes that when they returned, they would be able to figure out exactly what was going on with the crossbred snare in the greenhouses.

It was getting late, and she could tell she had been asleep for quite sometime due to the stiffness of her neck. She was about to open her eyes when she heard Harry and Ron's conversation met with Hermione's voice.

"She didn't say it back?" Hermione asked.

"No." Harry said, his voice quiet, still tugging his fingers through her hair. "I'm not upset about it. But I thought she felt the same."

Elara's heart dropped. She did feel strongly for him. She did want to tell him that she loved him, but she just couldn't. She couldn't get the words to leave her lips, she wasn't ready for it yet.

"You've only been dating a few months." Hermione said. "Maybe it's just too soon."

"She said she cared for me though. I told her she didn't have to say it back, if she wasn't ready."

"That's rough, mate." Ron said.

She felt his body shift with a shrug. "I told her that I heard that conversation with Snape and her brother."

"Why would you do that?" Ron asked, sounding frantic.

"I don't know." Harry said. "It felt like I was lying by not telling her… And there's so much I already can't tell her… And Snape sounded really worried that she was in danger. She said she wasn't, but I'm not sure I believe her. I feel like she's hiding something from me."

Her heart was racing. She knew she should open her eyes, let him know that she was listening… But… there's so much he can't tell me? She thought to herself. She wanted to know what it was.

"Dumbledore said it was okay to talk to us about it." Ron said. "Maybe he wouldn't care if you told Ellie."

"I don't think I can." Harry sighed. "She's too close to them. All it would take is Voldemort using Legilimency once and he would know. And she'd probably be killed in the process."

"Are you afraid he'll find out about you being a couple?" Hermione asked. "If your theory is right, and they're all staying at Malfoy Manor, aren't you worried?"

"Yeah." Harry said. "But not for me. I'll be fine. I'm worried for her." His hand paused on the side of her neck, cradling just below her ear. "I've just got a really terrible feeling about it."

Elara took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes, turning her head to look around. Harry looked down at her and smiled. "Morning, sleepy head." He said. "You've slept the last two hours."

"It's your fault." She said, yawning and sitting up. "Playing with my hair like that! How was I not supposed to fall asleep?"

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You missed the last food trolley. Are you hungry?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm okay. Are we close?"

"Nearly there now." Hermione said. "Shouldn't be more than an hour."

"Ron, Hermione, would you mind if I talk to Harry?" Elara asked.

"We need to do our rounds anyway." Hermione said, standing up. "Come on, Ronald. I'm sure Lavender is dying without you." She rolled her eyes.

"Thanks." Elara said, smiling at them as they said they'd be back in about twenty minutes.

"Everything okay?" Harry asked, looking at her confused.

"Harry, you know I'm going to be fine right? I'm going home. I know the Manor is unsettling for most people, but I've lived there my entire life."

"You were awake." Harry said, closing his eyes briefly and nodding.

"I'm not going to die while on holiday." She said, taking his hands in hers. "I'm going to be fine. And it's only two weeks. It'll pass before you know it and we'll be back in the library studying."

"I'm not too keen on being back in the library, but there are other things I'm interested in when you get back." He smirked.

She shook her head and laughed. "Ridiculous."

"It's your own fault." He said. "How am I supposed to not think about your mouth doing that constantly?!"

She leaned in a gave his lips a peck. "Guess you'll just have to think about it and wait."

"Evil woman." He muttered, smiling into her lips.

"Seriously though, I will be okay. We have the coins. I'll talk to you every day."

He nodded. "Every day."

When the train pulled into King's Cross, Elara gathered her knapsack, slinging it over her shoulders and smiled as Harry took her hand. Because her Mother wasn't going to be the one to take them back to the Manor, she figured there was no harm in seeing Harry off as he left to go to the Weasley's.

They stepped onto the platform and she could see Blaise and Draco standing off to the side, accompanied by Blaise's mum. Emiliana Zabini was easily the most striking woman Elara had ever seen. Every time she saw her, it seemed as if the woman didn't age and she had somehow become more graceful. She had skin the color of café au lait and large slanted brown eyes. She was tall and her thick black hair fell in waves to her elbows. She had the presence, not unlike her own mother, that demanded the attention in the room. But with Narcissa's demand coming from respect and status, Emiliana's came from her looks and the chilling feeling that she knew everything about you from looking at you. As if she could look straight through to your soul.

"Would you erm- would you want to come meet Ron's mum real fast? She's like a mother to me and I think I'd like to introduce you." Harry said, sounding nervous.

Elara looked over her shoulder and caught Blaise's eyes. She held up a hand signaling 'one moment' and he gave a nod. "Yes. I think I would like that." She said.

The Weasley's were not hard to miss amongst the crowd. There were two tall boys, identical in looks, standing next to a smaller slightly pudgy man and squat woman. All with fiery red hair. Ginny was standing next to the woman, talking happily while Hermione talked to the two adults standing next to Mr. Weasley, Elara assumed they were her parents. They were dressed very muggle for adults on the platform and they looked slightly uneasy. The woman had hair and freckles that matched Hermione and the man had the exact same smile.

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, pulling Ron into a tight hug and kissing his face.

"Oi! Mum!" He said, struggling to get away from her.

"And Harry!" She said, happily. She pulled Harry in for a hug and pushed him away to grip his face and look him over. "I swear! Do they not feed you at that school?! You always look so thin!"

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley!" Harry smiled.

"We'd best be off." Mr. Weasley said. "We're going to take a stop at the shop so Fred and George can grab a few things and then…" He trailed off, finally catching sight of Elara standing a foot behind Harry, watching the scene before here with curiosity, a small smile on her face as she waited politely to be introduced.

"Oh, I wanted to introduce you…" Harry said. "I nearly forgot you were back there, you got so quiet!" He said to Elara. "My erm… my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?!" Mrs. Weasley said, laughing loudly and looking beside herself with joy. "Oh, Harry! You have a girlfriend! That's wonderful! Give us your name then, Dear."

She smiled and extended her hand. "Elara, ma'am."

Mrs. Weasley shook her hand. "Elara. Pretty name for a pretty girl!"

"Malfoy." Mr. Weasley said, his eyes narrowing. "Elara Malfoy, right?"

She felt Mrs. Weasley's hand drop from her own as the older gingers stared from her to Harry in disbelief. "Y-Yes." She said. "Elara Malfoy."

"Harry…?" Mrs. Weasley began, confusion tightening her face.

"Ellie, these are my parents!" Hermione broke in, smiling and walking toward her. "They're dentists!"

"Dentists?" Elara said. "Like healers for your teeth, right?"

They both gave a confused nod. "That's brilliant!" Elara said. "Do you use telephones in your office? I've been reading about them a lot recently! Can you really talk through them? Instead of using Floo?"

Her mother smiled and nodded. "Yes. I imagine it's much less clean up than owls, as well."

Elara laughed. "I would say so! Do you have a television? Harry was telling me about something called a movie? Like moving portraits that tell stories? Do you watch it? How do you hear them? Can you-

"Ellie gets very excited about muggles." Harry said, laughing as Elara quickly shut her mouth and gave an apologetic look.

"Sorry." She said. "I've never really met muggles. Just the kids in the village by the Manor, and they're usually on bicycles or walking when I see them. I can't really ask them these questions without them thinking I'm completely gone."

Mr. Granger chuckled. "Our Hermione is always the studious one, it sounds like she's made a friend in you, by her letters."

Elara smiled and nodded, feeling touched that Hermione would mention her to her parents. "We study together every week. Sometimes more than that. She's the only person I've ever met that likes to read as much as I do."

"Harry finally gets a girlfriend and she's a Malfoy?" One of the twins said, laughing loudly. "Seems about right."

Harry glared at them, but laughed anyway. "Your brother is staring at us, I think you should go."

She nodded. "It was really nice to meet you all. I hear about you all the time. Have a happy Christmas!"

Harry took her hands and pulled her into a kiss. "Every day, yeah?"

She nodded, giving him one last peck. "Every day."


a/n: Sorry I had to cut this one short. Also, apologies for not posting as quickly as I had originally planned. This week has been absolutely hellacious. On top of my injury from my fall at work, I also had to say goodbye to a very special person in my life Thursday night. I'm trying to keep my updates frequent and keep posting as normal next week, but as we plan the funeral and get things situated, it may be a little longer than normal. I do for sure know that the next chapter will be a continuation of this chapter, mainly because I want to introduce a specific tone with the arrival at the Manor.

As always, thank you for reading and reviewing and following! I really love seeing that this story is something people like! Please continue to review and tell me what you think! I love the feedback!

I'm off to get some much needed rest. I think I've slept a total of 3 hours in the last 4 or so days and I'm exhausted. I'm trying to have the next one up by tuesday!

xo

-mimi