It was havoc at Grimmald Place, people always coming and going and it was only the beginning. Elle had been staying there for the last few days helping the Order to clean it up, but to also allow her time to get to know and trust Sirius as she was still a bit unsure of him. But she soon learnt he was no threat and enjoyed mucking around with him. He had a childish side to him that reminded her of some of the boys she had lived with at the institute. One minute he would be all serious and down to business pushing her out of the kitchen to discuss things with the Order, and then the next moment he would be tackling her or ruffling her hair with this boyish cheeky grin on his face. It was almost like something would just click in his mind and all of a sudden he had this craziness to him.
Tonight they were expecting the Weasley's to arrive and stay to help with the house as well as have some more Order member's close by. Hermione was to arrive a few days after. Elle still wasn't sure what was happening with Harry, she knew he would eventually be coming to stay with them but she wasn't sure when or how he would get here, but they were all under strict instructions not to tell Harry anything about what was happening.
Both her and Sirius were in the kitchen when they heard the Weasley's arrive. Tonks had been sitting with them while they cooked but she jumped to her feet when she heard the Weasley's to go and greet them. Elle could hear Kinsley and Lupin discussing things quietly in the hallway with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Bill but the kids made their way straight to the kitchen.
"Ah, welcome, welcome," Sirius greeted them warmly. "I've made a lovely Shepard's Pie for dinner, my speciality, so I hope you're hungry."
"Umm, excuse me, but I think I remember making it," Elle spoke up.
"No, we both did. Team work!" He clapped her on the back roughly.
"Oh, okay, was that what that was?" Elle said as he turned his back to her facing the Weasley's again. She then mouthed to them, "I did all the work," while pointing to herself. "Him," she pointed to Sirius, "Nothing!" she gestured the same thing she mouthed with her hands.
The twins both cracked a smile and Ginny let out a small giggle. Sirius followed their eyes back to Elle who immediately straightened up and grinned at him.
"I gotta watch you," he growled playfully ruffling her hair. "Taking credit for my masterpiece."
Elle pretended to be shocked and mouthed, "What?!"
"Oh, it's good to see the both of you getting along," Mrs. Weasley said entering the room before she sniffed the air. "Is that dinner?" she asked nervously.
"Sure is. Made it myself," Sirius said proudly.
"No, I–" But Elle couldn't finish what she was going to say as Sirius quickly covered her mouth so all they could hear was, "Mmm, mmmmm mmmn mmmmm!"
"Well now that I'm here I think I can make the meals for everyone," Mrs. Weasley said.
"On second thoughts I think it was Elle who cooked," Sirius said removing his hand.
"Actually, I was just the helper. Besides, I'm young; I'm still allowed to make mistakes when I cook. Unlike you whose had how many years to learn how to cook properly?" Elle teased.
"Oi! Are you calling me old?"
"Would I do that?" She looked up at him innocently.
Dinner went well, even with Mrs. Weasley's uncertainty of the meal, it didn't taste too bad. Elle happily conversed with the Weasley kids although Ron said very little. She soon learned that the twins were both pranksters and it didn't take long before they both started to tease her, though she didn't really care, it made her laugh.
Just through dinner they had managed to mock her over her height, her accent, and her cooking; though she did try to put the blame on Sirius for that one. Plus she had accidentally let slip that she still had some of her Muggle belongings with her. This had caught Mr. Weasley's interest whom immediately demanded her attention so she could explain to him how exactly her hair dryer worked. Though her explanation was short ("umm, you just plug it in and turn it on…"), she found it difficult to block out the twins laughter. She made the mistake of telling Mr. Weasley that plugs were different in Australia compared to the English one's.
"Really?" he said with his face lighting up with excitement, he was practically bouncing of his chair as he continued his never-ending round of questions.
"Wow, Elle. I never knew plugs could be so interesting!" said one of the twins sarcastically.
"Yes, please tell me more," the other joined in.
Mr. Weasley frowned at his son's jokes while Elle hid her face in her hands. "Oh, my God. It's bad enough with Sirius and now I'm going to have you two making fun of me as well. That's not fair, you're going to gang up on me, what did I ever do?" Elle said giggling with Ginny. Within a few moments of meeting Ginny properly she had liked her almost instantly.
"Well you kinda bring it upon yourself," laughed one of the twins; Fred she thought it was.
"What do you mean? 'Cause I'm an easy target?"
"Got it in one," replied the other twin whom she was guessing was George.
"Oh, great!" she said laughing again.
"Okay, okay, come on, George. I think we should tone it down a bit; after all we only arrived here just over an hour ago," said Fred as he watched his mother leave the room with his dad, Kinsley and Lupin. "I think we should give her time to get to know our sense of humour so we don't offend her or anything."
"I couldn't agree more, Fred," replied George grinning widely. There was something cagey in the looks they were giving each other as they spoke.
Elle looked from one twin to the other suspiciously. "What… should I be worried?"
"No, no. We just want to offer you a truce. Here, have the last of my sweets that I was saving, to show that we can be nice," said Fred offering her a bag of brightly wrapped sweets.
She stared at Fred right in the eye. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"
The twins both looked at each other raising an eyebrow and said in unison, "Well–"
"It was a rhetorical question," she cut them off trying to cover her smile. "What's in them?"
"I think you should be more worried about what they do to you," Ginny piped up.
"What do they do to you?"
"Here, try one. I promise you they're fine. Well, to an extent," said Fred.
"Make me," Elle replied. Whoops!
After that it became a game between the twins to get her to eat one. One would try and hold her while the other would attempt and place the sweet in her mouth. Elle realised she hadn't giggled this much for ages as she dodged them trying her hardest to hide behind someone hoping they would stick up for her. She had no luck with Tonk's who simply stepped aside enjoying the spectacle too much to put a stop to it; she had even worse luck with Sirius who, to her horror, grabbed her arms and cried, "I got her!" She was saved when Mrs. Weasley re-entered the room and the twins both quickly hid the sweets, hoping their mother wouldn't spot them and destroy them again.
"What's going on in here?" she demanded glaring at her son's.
"They–" Elle began to say but stopped herself when she saw Fred and George's pleading looks. She guessed Mrs. Weasley didn't know about the sweets and quickly said to cover up for them, "They were chasing me because I thought it would be funny to pull Fred's chair out from under him when he leant forward for seconds, you know payback for them teasing me before." She giggled hoping it sounded believable even though she knew it was beyond lame. She hadn't done that since she was ten and even then she knew it was a cheap shot.
"Oh, ok then," Mrs. Weasley said indifferently; obviously used to her sons' childish behaviour.
When the kids left the kitchen later to head upstairs she noticed Fred leaning closer to her and whispered, "Thanks. We owe you one." George was next to him and smiled in agreement.
"No problem," she replied. "I'll let you know when I need the favour."
Elle was overjoyed she was now not the only person pushed out of the kitchen when the Order's meeting were about to begin. It had been very lonely when it was just her all by herself and the meetings always seemed to drag on, though now they didn't seem as long anymore. They would usually all squish into someone's bedroom chatting or stand out in the hallway above the stairs and try out Fred and George's Extendable Ears.
Hermione arrived two days after the Weasley's had which seemed to lighten Ron's mood. At first she had frowned upon the Extendable Ears but soon her curiosity got the better of her. When they weren't eavesdropping or cleaning both her and Ron would separate themselves from the others and disappeared into Ron's room. Fred and George loved to joke that there was something going on between them.
"Ron's too hopeless when it comes to girls," said Fred one afternoon. "Besides, Hermione's hardly out-going is she? I doubt she'd start something."
"That's true," George agreed. "And for someone as intelligent as her it would be pretty stupid of her to go for someone like Ron."
"Wonder what they're doing then?" Fred mused.
"Is it that hard to believe that two friends can be opposite sexes?" Elle asked them. "I mean look at us. I'm always in your room talking with you guys, maybe they're thinking the same thing."
"No way, you're hardly a girl. You're a– an Elle," said Fred. "I'm yet to see a girly side to you."
"And that's probably exactly how Ron sees Hermione. To him she's not a girl she's a – what was the phrase you used? Oh yeah, she's a Hermione," said Elle making her point.
"You see, you're too much of a smart-ass to be a girl," Fred laughed.
"And off you go with the teasing again," Elle smiled.
"What do you expect, it's our second nature," George joined in.
Elle opened her mouth to reply with a witty response but was over spoken by Mrs. Weasley yelling at them to get to bed from downstairs.
"Lucky, saved by your mother," Elle said as she got to her feet.
"Ooo! We're so scared, aren't we, George?" said Fred.
"Terrified. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight," George agreed.
Elle was still giggling as she left the room and headed towards the bedroom she shared with Hermione and Ginny. She still couldn't believe how much she was enjoying life now. She still thought at times she was simply going to wake up from an amazing dream to find herself living in hell again but for the moment she was happy and she didn't care if it was real or not, she wanted to enjoy as much of it as she could.
A:N/ Yay, another chapter up! Sorry it's taking me so long to upload chapters but I'm back at college. Don't give up on me though, I'm writing heaps in my spare time and I'll be able to post when I come back for the holidays or if I come home for weekends. Hope you're enjoying it, please tell me what you think or if something needs fixing or if something seems a bit odd by reviewing, it's the only way I'll get better and be able to keep the story interesting, though I've got heaps of ideas for upcoming chapters