A/N: I won't be writing Eloise or Fleur's accents in the way JK does, I don't think I would be able to do it consistently and I think it would take away from the dialogue. But both of them still have lovely French accents.

July 1998

The humid summer air filled Shell Cottage. Fleur was sitting at the kitchen table, leaning back in the chair lazily and fanning herself with the latest edition of The Daily Prophet. She had her blonde hair wrapped up loosely into a bun, held in place by her wand. In an attempt to feel more comfortable in the summer heat, that had her feeling incredibly grumpy, she was wearing a flowy white summer dress - although it didn't help much.

"My love, it is entirely too hot today." the blonde witch complained to her husband.

"I agree darling." Bill responded, straightening his tie and bending over to place a kiss on his wife's forehead.

Bill turned around to continue what he was doing and Fleur set down the newspaper, leaning forward to rest her chin on her hand as she watched him walk around the kitchen getting ready to go to work, a frown still plastered on her face. "I would gladly work if it meant getting out of this oven we call a house." she grumbled.

He laughed, "I assure you Gringotts has been very stressful in the last few months, turns out a war changes people's views on money and security, who knew? Besides, aren't you excited for Eloise to arrive today?"

Eloise was one of Fleur's closest friends. They met while studying together at Beauxbatons, and although Eloise was a year below her in school, the two were inseparable growing up.

They were so close that Eloise was meant to be a bridesmaid in Bill and Fleur's wedding but her family forbid her from attending, saying it was far too dangerous for her to travel from France at the time. As most little girls do, they had many conversations about their wedding days while growing up. They would talk dreamily about the types of dresses they would wear and the flowers they would carry, so not being able to be together that day broke both of their hearts.

They hadn't been able to see each other since Fleur moved to England to work at Gringotts part-time during Eloise's last year of school. Though they haven't seen each other in person for several years, they were very consistent with sending letters to each other, even during the war for a while, which stressed Bill out. He would tell her that the owls could be intercepted to which Fleur would respond "I am not stupid enough to sign my name on these letters, William. Let the Death Eaters read my letters about recipes I am learning and the books I am reading, I do not care. Maybe they can be my pen pals too."

"I am excited to see her. But I hope she is not late, she was always terrible about arriving on time. It is truly one of her worst traits." she mused.

Fleur had always been incredibly blunt, it was one of the things that caused tension between her, Molly, and Ginny when Bill first brought her to the Burrow to meet his family. Though her honesty has always been one of Bill's favorite things about her.

"Speaking of being late, I better get going. I'll be home around 5:30 this evening." he put a hand under her chin and tilted her head up to give her a kiss.

"Have a good day, my love."

-

Eloise was due to arrive at Shell Cottage at 10:30 that morning, but Fleur was correct about her friend, Eloise had not outgrown her infamously horrible time management. It was quarter to 11 when Fleur heard the unmistakable sound of someone apparating outside her front door. Rather than waiting for Eloise to knock on the door, Fleur rushed outside to greet her.

"You are late." Fleur said with a warm smile on her face.

"You were foolish to expect anything differently. To be fair, I am only fifteen minutes late. It could have been much worse."

Eloise dropped her trunk at her feet and they both rushed forward pulling each other into a tight embrace, kissing each other on the cheek. Fleur pulled away and placed her hands on the sides of Eloise's face, turning her head to each side as she took in the sight of the friend she hadn't seen for three years.

"You have not changed a bit. Tu es très belle, mon amie." Fleur smiled and placed another kiss on Eloise's cheek.

Eloise had long wavy golden blonde hair with soft facial features - round cheeks speckled with freckles and full rosy lips. She was a stark contrast to her friend who had thin elegant features and straight icy blonde hair. Fleur always told Eloise that she had a friendlier face than her, to which Eloise would respond by saying that she was a friendlier person than her - a line that never failed to make both of them laugh.

Fleur finally released her friend from the embrace and pulled her wand from her hair, causing the blonde locks to fall gracefully around on her shoulders. She daintily waved her wand at Eloise's trunk which began floating towards the house, "Let me show you to your room."

The two walked into the house and Eloise immediately fell in love, she thought it was even more bright and beautiful than Fleur had described it in her letters. Fleur led her upstairs and showed her to a room with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the ocean. Fleur set Eloise's trunk on the bed and turned to see that Eloise was completely captivated by the view.

"Thank you for staying with us. Since Bill has started going back to work it has been difficult to sit at home alone. I feel quite anxious on my own, so I'm glad you will be here with me while he is gone." Fleur said as she walked to stand next to her friend, gazing out at the ocean with her.

Eloise grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, "I have missed you so much, I am happy to be here with you."

They both turned to face one another and gave each other a warm smile. It was actually Bill who had suggested that she invite Eloise to live with them so she wouldn't be alone, Fleur felt anxious about the idea. How could she be expected to ask her friend to drop everything and move to a different country only a few months after the war finished? She felt guilty but Bill told her she would never know how Eloise would react unless she tried.

A week after Fred's funeral Fleur grabbed her quill and a scrap piece of parchment from Bill's office and wrote the letter to her friend in France. She knew the grief of losing her brother-in-law and watching her husband and his family be in such pain was the main reason she finally got the courage to invite her friend to live with them. Her family was falling apart and she selfishly needed more support.

Fueled by strong emotions, Fleur sent the owl without a second thought. It was days before she received a response and the longer she waited the more foolish she felt. She knew it was too much to ask for someone to abandon the life they had built.

Five days later as she was washing dishes near the open window in her kitchen, an owl dropped a small roll of parchment on the sill. Fleur quickly dried her hands, anticipating a simple "No." on the inside of the letter. Her heart was racing with anticipation, but to her joy and surprise, Eloise's response was short and sweet.

"Fleur,

I will be there on July 12th at 10:30 am.

All my love,
Eloise"

"Elle, why did you so willing come here for me?"

Eloise didn't respond right away, she turned away from Fleur and crossed her arms, looking back out the large windows of her new bedroom. As she watched the waves crash into the shore, she pondered why she had agreed to drop everything and give up her life back home.

The truth was that Eloise had initially not wanted to come live with Fleur at all, it would have been much easier to say no. Eloise had just started working in a magical bookshop near her parent's house and she was quite comfortable continuing to live near her family for the foreseeable future, especially considering everything that had been going on in the world over the last few years.

But Eloise knew she had bigger dreams than that. When she was in school she had ambitions to work at the Ministry of Magic. Specifically in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, just as her father had done years ago.

Originally the idea of working there was incredibly romantic to her, as her parents had met while her father was working on an assignment in France one summer. They were completely smitten right away and the rest is history. But as she continued through school, her ambitions grew and she continued to try to get top marks in hopes of working in the International Magical Office of Law, she didn't want to recreate her parents' love story like she had dreamed to when she was a little girl, she wanted to help make an impact on the Wizarding world.

But as the war progressed, and the Ministry of Magic became corrupt and evil she slowly let go of the dream she had worked for all throughout school. Instead upon graduating she considered applying to teach at Beauxbatons, but never committed to the idea. With no direction in life she worked dead-end jobs like the one she currently had at the bookstore.

But when Fleur's letter came, Eloise saw it as a sign. While she did want to say no, because change is incredibly scary and difficult, she ultimately agreed to move. Partly because she knew her friend desperately needed her through this traumatic time her family was going through, and partly because this was a chance for Eloise to take back control of her own life and pursue something that would truly make her happy.

As Fleur waited for a response her brows furrowed as if she were bracing herself for Eloise to say that she had regretted coming after all.

"I wasn't going to say yes, originally." Eloise replied, finally turning to face her friend who now had a surprised and slightly hurt look on her face.

Eloise continued, "I won't lie to you, I had to think about it. I was leaning towards no at first, I was scared to leave my life and parents behind. That's why it took me so long to reply. But I needed to put my own fear aside. I remembered the letters you had sent to me through the war, about how scared you were about losing a loved one and after your brother-in-law, well-" she cut herself off feeling it was inappropriate to bring up Fred right now, "You need me, and I need you. Ultimately agreeing to come here was very simple, even though I was almost too scared to."

Fleur quickly pulled Eloise into a tight hug, "Thank you. I know it was a lot to ask, I just-" Fleur stopped herself as she felt her voice get shaky as she fought the grateful tears that were desperately trying to form in her eyes, "Thank you."

-

Fleur offered to cook Eloise her favorite meal that evening. The woman had not been known to set foot in a kitchen until she married Bill, and even then, she was a terrible cook until very recently. It was a result of being bored while in hiding and the slew of previous passive aggressive comments from Molly that Bill wasn't eating enough that motivated Fleur to pick up the skill.

Though she felt like she had grown to be competent in the kitchen, she had secretly wished that Eloise's favorite meal was something a little more simple than chicken confit. She was pointing her wand around various cabinets and utensils in the kitchen, the knife was peeling and chopping potatoes by itself on the island behind her as she was skimming over the page in her recipe book with her brows furrowed in concentration.

With her eyes still focused on the book, she pointed her wand over her shoulder to retrieve a pot from a cabinet on the opposite wall.

Returning from work right at that moment, Bill walked in the door and was greeted by a large pot flying straight towards his head. Startled by the projectile, he let out a yelp while ducking quickly to avoid getting hit.

"Oh I am sorry, my love. My mind is all over the place." Fleur said, barely paying attention to her husband as the pot landed on the counter beside her, quickly being filled with ingredients.

Bill stood upright and straightened out his tie, "Uh, do you need any help darling?" he asked while looking around at the chaos ensuing in their kitchen.

"No, no, I have already banished Elle to the living room. She tried to ask me three separate times if I wanted help, I had to threaten her with a knife before she took no for an answer." Fleur laughed with her back still turned to her husband

"Right then, I think I'll go introduce myself." he said with a look of fright as he promptly evacuated from the kitchen.

Eloise was reading a book by the open window in the living room when Bill entered, she was too enthralled with the sounds of the ocean and the story she was reading to notice him at first. He cleared his throat to grab her attention, as he set his blazer down over the armchair nearest to him. Eloise brought her head up to see the tall ginger man stood before her, she recognized him immediately from the wedding photo Fleur had sent to her last summer.

She closed her book and set it down on her lap before smiling up at him, "Good evening, Bill."

Eloise had heard so much about Bill in Fleur's letters that she felt as if she already knew him and therefore didn't need a stuffy formal introduction.

He chuckled, "Hello, Eloise. I suppose it would be silly to introduce ourselves wouldn't it? I assume you have heard as much about me as I have about you."

Bill took a seat in the arm chair he had dropped his blazer across moments before and Eloise nodded at him.

"It will be interesting to figure out exactly how much we already know about each other." Eloise smirked.

"Well, let's see," Bill started, crossing his ankle over his knee and leaning back into the chair, "You met Fleur during your first year at Beauxbatons, she was in her second year. You're an only child but Fleur says you used to tell other students that you were sisters. You were too young to go to Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament but you told Fleur that you'd fly straight to Hogwarts immediately if you didn't hear from her after each task to let you know that she was still alive. Oh, and you're rubbish at flying according to Fleur, so that plan would have never worked."

Eloise laughed and nodded, "Yes that is all true." She set the book on the coffee table in front of her, and brought her legs up on the couch so she was sitting crossed legged, angled towards Bill.

"Now let's see how much I know about you."

"Go on then." he smiled.

Eloise unlocked the mental filing cabinet she had that stored information Fleur had told her over the years about Bill, "You are a Curse-Breaker at Gringotts, but you worked a desk job there for a while which is how you and Fleur started dating. You are seven years older than Fleur, which her mother was not pleased about initially but she came around when she met you. Her mother thinks you are a complete gentleman. You were attacked by a werewolf a few years back, but are still just as handsome as ever according to Fleur, and I agree. And you are the oldest of seven children, You, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and then Ginny."

Bill wasn't expecting to hear Fred's name in his very first conversation with Eloise, he figured it would be a long while before they would discuss him, if ever. He had barely even discussed Fred with Fleur since everything had happened, after all.

Despite being taken aback by the mention of him, he didn't realize how much he would appreciate the fact that she didn't exclude him from the list of his siblings. Just because he was gone didn't make him any less of his brother, and that thought alone felt comforting to him, even if she hadn't meant anything by it.

"Dinner is ready!" Fleur called from the kitchen.

At the sound of his wife's voice, Bill brought his attention back to Eloise as he stood up from the armchair and gestured towards the kitchen door with his arm, "After you."

Eloise rose from the couch and placed her feet in the slippers that she had tucked under the coffee table earlier in the evening. As she made her way towards the kitchen, she paused for a moment next to Bill.

She looked up at him and whispered, "If she destroyed the kitchen, I promise I will help her clean it up. It has sounded like a war zone in there all evening."

Bill shook his head and laughed as he followed her into the kitchen. He felt happy for Fleur to have a friend like Eloise in the house and even happier to know that it felt like he already had a friend in her as well.