Golden Snitch: Barbegazi: Anniversary Event: Yellow Balloon: Write about Justin Finch-Fletchley

Links to: the best of us can find happiness in misery

Word Count: 625

I won't leave (till we're finished here)

He finds her not long after the war is over. Susan directs him to where she is hiding, a small house in the middle of nowhere. There's a woman in the kitchen, but he can't find her. "'O are you?" the woman asks, turning around to face him with a semi-disgusted expression on her face.

"I'm—I'm Justin," he replies, because that's who he is.

"Are you looking for Eloise?" The woman doesn't wait for an answer, instead calling for Eloise.

His friend enters the room slowly, cradling a massive bump that is in her stomach. Justin doesn't understand what it is, until it clicks as to why Susan told him to be careful. She's pregnant. Justin is shocked but he tries to push past it.

"Hello," Eloise says timidly. "It's nice to see you, Justin."

"And you." He contemplates asking her if she is okay, but that is probably a stupid idea. It's obvious she's not okay from the dark circles under her eyes and the subtle downturn of her lips.

"Did you fight in the final battle?" she asks, voice weary. "I would have, only…" She gestures at the bump.

"Yes, I did," Justin replies. "I fought with Susan, Hannah and Ernie. We fought for you."

"That's good." Eloise smiles at him. It doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Thanks for coming. I was hoping… that you would."

"I wouldn't imagine not being here," Justin replies. "What have I missed?"

So Eloise sits him down on the sofa, and tells him everything that he missed when he was on the run. At the end, Eloise has to wipe away a few tears, and Justin wraps her in his arms. "I'm here for you now," he whispers into her ear, and she just wraps her arms around him tighter.

A few days later, on the tenth of May, Eloise goes into labour. The woman, who Justin finds out is Eloise's aunt, helps her deliver the baby, and a few hours later a small baby girl is born. "She's beautiful," Justin tells Eloise.

"Are you sure?" she asks, fear in her voice.

"'E's positive," Eloise's aunt, Eve, answers, placing the baby into Eloise's arms. "Oi, Dawn, get a mop and bucket and clear this mess up."

Dawn is Eve's youngest child. She's almost fourteen but she's not at Hogwarts. Dawn jumps and almost runs out of the room, her brown hair bouncing on her shoulders.

Eloise smiles down at the baby. "Hello," she says softly, rocking the bundle of blankets in her arms. "I'm your mummy. And you're my little ray of hope." Eloise blinks twice, looking over Eve's shoulder to find Justin. "Is Hope an okay name for a baby?"

Justin is surprised to be asked a question about the baby that's not his, but he answers anyway. "It's a perfect name."

Eloise turns back to her aunt. "I want to call her Hope Gabrielle."

Dawn walks back into the room, carrying the mop and bucket in her hand. It shakes slightly as she sets the bucket down on the floor and cleans up the remains of the blood. "That's a lovely name, Ellie," Eve replies, her brown hair dangling over her shoulder as she bent down to look at Eloise. "Is it for Gabriel?" Gabriel is Eloise's older brother. He died in the battle the other day.

"Yes."

A month has passed and they've finally left the house in the middle of nowhere. Justin has no family left, so he invites Eloise to stay in his house and she says yes. He treats Hope as if she is his own child, even if she is far from it. "Thank you," Eloise murmurs one night before they go into their rooms.

"What for?"

"For saving me."

Ew. Ew ew ew. I love Justin/Eloise but this doesn't do them any justice whatsoever. Eh.

~Buttercat