CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
With her trunk packed, Eleanor sat in the Great Hall, alongside Marnie on the Hufflepuff bench waiting for their time that the carriages would arrive and bring them to Hogsmeade Village. It had been mostly a quiet morning, Marnie had yet to say very much since the Third Task. She claimed to be fine, however, it was difficult for Eleanor to believe her best friend, especially when she heard Marnie crying in her sleep when she suffered from night terrors in the dorms that last few days. Eleanor could only imagine how traumatising it had been for Marnie to witness what she believed to be Cedric's dead body. She had gone from preparing herself to confessing her feelings to him to believing she was never going to hear his voice anymore.
Of course, they were both thankful that Cedric was fine. His latest letter that they had received the evening before confirmed that he had gone to St Mungo's by the request of his parents and the Healers found him to be in good health. It was a rarity to see Marnie cry as she always attempted to disguise most of her emotions with anger or disinterest, but Eleanor witnessed her cry over the letter.
"It's so weird without him here," Marnie finally spoke as they were preparing to leave the Great Hall to head to the Entrance Hall. "Even if he's not standing directly with us, he's always around, usually gossiping or something."
"I know, Marnie," Eleanor said, wrapping her arm around her friend's shoulders and pulling her into a side hug, "but it's just temporary. You read his letter, he said he's okay. He has the whole summer to rest up, we can visit him plenty. And before you know it, we'll all be back here for our seventh year and the corridors will be filled with Queenie's gossip once more. Nothing can stop him from acquiring Hogwarts' latest."
Marnie snorted, shaking her head even though she agreed that not even death could stop the Great Queenie from daily gossip. She was about to make a comment as they stepped outside until they were interrupted by someone calling Eleanor's name.
They turned around to see Doncho making his way over.
"Ellie," he said as he finally reached where they were standing, "I'm glad you're still here. I was worried that you had left already. I just wanted to say goodbye before leaving and thank you again for everything. Really, I can't thank you enough for helping me and Vidar. We owe you."
"No, you don't," Eleanor shook her head, "you don't owe me anything. I was more than glad to help."
"Right, and well, we both hope that Cedric recovers well," he continued, "I know he means a lot to you. To both of you. And the same goes for Harry, I hope everyone just takes the summer to relax, especially if what Dumbledore said is true about You-Know-Who. Do you believe what he said?"
"Even if I didn't trust Dumbledore," Eleanor said, "I trust Cedric and Harry with my life, so I do believe them."
Doncho didn't have much to say after that, only telling Eleanor and Marnie that he hoped they had a good summer before pulling Eleanor into a hug. He told her to write to him so they could stay in touch before departing.
"Did you get the feeling that he didn't believe You-Know-Who is back?" Marnie asked as soon as he was out of earshot. "Because I did."
"I don't know, Marnie," Eleanor replied. "I think a lot of people don't want to believe that he's returned...look at Fudge. He flat out refuses to believe it, even though he's always been pretty supportive of Dumbledore. I think everyone is just afraid and I can't blame them."
"I get that, I guess. But by refusing to believe it, they're basically calling Cedric and Harry liars and that doesn't sit right with me."
With the promise of meeting up on the train, Eleanor kept an eye out for Fred as she and Marnie arrived at Hogsmeade Station, along with a few other students. While Lee claimed there were no harsh feelings between him and Marnie over the breakup, there was still plenty of awkwardness to go around. Eleanor figured it would be best not to force the two to share a compartment with one another so soon. She carefully carried Dermot in his cage, while pulling her trunk along as Marnie led the way towards the Hogwarts Express.
"Ellie!"
As Marnie had already boarded, a harsh whisper summoned Eleanor to turn around, where she spotted Artemis standing off to the side. Nervously, as if someone would come up behind her at any given second, she took a look around before approaching Eleanor.
"How are you?" Artemis asked. "Are you okay? I haven't gotten the chance to talk with you since everything happened. The last time I saw you, you ran off. I thought it was something I said and then I heard you were in the Hospital Wing."
"No, Artemis, I'm fine," she said, growing tired of repeating the word "fine" over and over. "I'm sorry about leaving you in the corridor like that. It wasn't anything personal against you. You actually ended up helping me out, come to think of it. I would have reached out sooner to you but there's just been a lot with this end of term, you know?"
"Yeah, I understand," Artemis replied softly, "Listen, about what you said back when we were in the corridor, did you really mean it?"
After the last few days, Eleanor couldn't remember much that had taken place prior to the Third Task.
"You're going to have to help me out here, Artie," she chuckled, "my mind is officially checked out. Remind me what I said back then."
"That if I was in trouble, I could go to your house."
As Artemis looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was approaching, Eleanor blinked several times in surprise. She quickly remembered that Artemis lived in fear of her father, enough that she couldn't even be seen spending time with the "wrong sort" unless she had a good excuse to cover herself.
"Of course, I meant it," Eleanor told her. "If you need any help- "
"Thanks, Ellie."
Before anything else could be said, Artemis quickly brushed past her and boarded the train disappearing from view. Down the way, Eleanor could more students arriving at the station and among them were Flora and Hestia Carrow. A frown developed on Eleanor's lips as the two seemed to spot her as they approached. Despite being younger, they carried such disdain in their eyes as if they believed Eleanor was beneath them, no better than the rubbish that was stuck to the bottom of their shoes.
Part of her wanted to say something as they walked by her, but Eleanor knew she was better off just leaving things as is. If she attempted to say something in Artemis' defence, it would probably cause more trouble for the girl once word made its way back to her father. The only thing she could hope for was Artemis taking her up on the offer and actually leaving her toxic home behind.
It didn't take long for Marnie to fall asleep during the trip to King's Cross Station, with the little sleep she had been getting the last few days, Eleanor was surprised she didn't fall asleep sooner. Fred and George didn't join them right away either, leaving the two alone in the silence of their compartment. A perfect opportunity for Eleanor to focus only on her knitting to bring herself some peace of mind. She knew as soon as she got home, there would be little downtime, especially since Nixie and Sirius were going to be staying with them for who knew how long.
She wondered if Margaret had been informed that Nixie was half-mermaid, thinking her mother would actually find that fascinating rather than scary.
Suddenly, the compartment door opened, and Eleanor peered up to see Fred and George practically beaming as they hurried inside. They looked ready to burst from attempting to contain their excitement as they took a spot sitting on either side of her. She motioned them to keep it down, pointing across the way to where Marnie was asleep before asking where they had been.
"Sorry, love, didn't mean to keep you waiting," Fred said, "we were sitting with Lee for a bit and then he went to go talk to Angie. We were heading here when we saw that git Malfoy trying to start trouble with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, so we stopped to help them out. We got to playing a couple rounds of Exploding Snap and then you won't guess what happened. Georgie, you tell her."
Eleanor barely had enough time to turn her head before holding up a sack that he proceeded to jingle around. The familiar sound of coins clinking brought a grin to her lips before she grabbed it and looked inside.
"Harry gave us his share of the winnings," George told her, "Said he didn't want it. Practically told us he would hex us if we didn't take it."
"So, between what you gave us from Cedric and now what Harry gave us, it's the full winnings," Fred said, "that's a thousand galleons, Ellie! Do you know what we can do with all of this? It's perfect, surely we can get the business up and running over the summer."
"That's great," she said, "I'm so happy for you two."
"You don't really sound excited," George said, only to smack on the back of his head from his brother. "What?! I didn't mean it in a bad way- "
"I'm sorry," Eleanor apologised, "really, I'm excited for both of you and for the business. I just...there's been a lot on my mind with everything that's happened and I'm just tired, but I can't even sleep because my mind won't shut up. Even though he told me he's okay, I'm still worried about Cedric. I'm worried about Harry. I'm worried about Marnie...I'm worried about everything."
The twins exchanged glances with one another before Eleanor found both of them resting their heads on her shoulders. She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped from her lips, knowing it was their way of comforting her together.
"You know we're here for you, Ellie," George reassured her, "we're worried too, but we all have each other. If you need help or just someone to talk to, even if we're busy, tell us to shut up and listen, and we'll gladly do so."
For the remainder of the train ride, Eleanor enjoyed the twins' company as she listened to them come up with their first orders of business and how they planned to spend some of their money. She didn't do much talking, especially as Fred began gently stroking the top of her head, playing with her hair. Her eyes closed first as she leaned into his side, and within a few minutes, she started drifting off. It didn't even feel like she had been asleep for long when she awoke to Fred nudging her.
"Ellie, come on, love, we're here."
Across the way, George had taken it upon himself to wake Marnie up and as Eleanor sat up, she could see they had arrived at Kings' Cross. The twins said they would meet with her outside of the train as they went to go collect their trunks from the other compartment. Eleanor grabbed her things and led the way off the train.
"Are you sure you don't want to just come over to my place?" she asked Marnie one last time. "You know you're welcomed to stay."
"I know, but if I went straight to your house after leaving school, my parents would never stop bitching. I might as well face them and pretend to like my family for a few days before I attempt to come over to your place. Don't worry, we're going to spend plenty of the summer together. Once you pass your apparition test, we can do whatever the hell we want and go wherever the hell we want."
"Sounds like a plan. Send an owl if you need anything."
"Of course, you do the same."
The two embraced each other in a tight hug before Marnie spotted her parents and let out a pained groan under her breath before making her way towards them. She was going to grab Dermot's cage to start walking when she spotted Harry getting off the train.
"Harry!"
He jumped at the sound of her name but quickly recovered as soon as he spotted her. She made her way over to him and pulled him into a hug.
"Listen, if you need anything, don't hesitate to send Hedwig, I'll make sure the letter gets to whoever you want it to," she said. "Try to have a decent summer until I see you again."
"A bit easier said than done with who I have to spend my summer around," Harry said with a laugh, "but I'll try my best."
With Hermione and Ron, along with Fred and George joining them, Eleanor and Harry walked through the barrier, where Eleanor saw her mother, along with Mrs Weasley, and who she assumed to be Harry's uncle, Vernon. Harry wasn't able to stay long as his uncle appeared rather impatient and ready to go. After Mrs Weasley hugged him and Hermione gave him a kiss on the cheek, he waved in everyone's direction before leaving. Hermione spotted her parents and ran off, calling her goodbyes over her shoulder, leaving Margaret and Eleanor with the Weasley family.
As the Weasley family was waiting on Ginny, Eleanor made her way over to greet her mother, there was such a different sense of comfort as Eleanor wrapped Margaret in a hug and held onto her tightly. Margaret seemed slightly caught off guard by the strength of the hold but after hearing the ordeal of what her daughter and her friends had been through, it made sense.
"Mum," she said pulling away, "there are some people I want you to meet. This is the Weasley family, well, some of them. This is Mrs Weasley- "
"We've met, Ellie," Margaret told her, as Mrs Weasley smiled, "she's been over to the house a couple of times over the last few days."
"Oh, well, you haven't met Ron," she said pointing, "and you might remember the time when they came crashing through the fireplace, but that's George. And this is Fred."
As soon as Margaret looked at Fred, Eleanor could see his face turn slightly red, especially as George and Ron snickered in the background. It didn't help when Margaret pulled him into a hug, telling him that he was quite handsome and had only heard good things about him. To save him from turning any darker shade of red, Eleanor whispered "Mum" loud enough and gave her mother a look to stop.
"Well, we should be going, we have a good drive ahead of us," Margaret said, "although I'm sure we'll be seeing all of you soon."
Fred and Eleanor attempted to say goodbye to one another before Eleanor was set to leave, but as they leaned in to kiss one another, it was glaringly obvious that everyone around them was watching. Eleanor looked over her shoulder at her mother, silently pleading for some privacy while Fred cleared his throat loudly. They were given just several brief seconds where Eleanor grabbed the sides of Fred's face and kissed him on the lips before grabbing her trunk and hurrying after Margaret.
In the car, Eleanor placed Dermot's cage in the backseat before loading her trunk and then taking the passenger seat. Her cheeks were still a bit flushed from the kiss, something Margaret noted with an amused smile.
"I'm glad I got to properly meet Fred this time," she told Eleanor, "He seems like a nice boy. Are you two getting along well?"
"Yeah, he's great, he's perfect," Eleanor said, as she glanced out the window, "Look, Mum, I'm sorry about not coming home after everything. It wasn't that I didn't want to see you, I just wanted to be there for my friends. Everything was just so chaotic and- "
"Ellie, you don't have to explain yourself," Margaret interjected, "I understand. I wasn't upset with you in the slightest, more so upset that such a thing happened to you. Your father reassured me that you were okay and that was the most important thing on my mind. And I'm sure you're tired of everyone asking you, but are you okay, sweetheart?"
The car grew silent for a moment when suddenly a small sob emitted from Eleanor. "No. No, I'm not okay. I'm scared, Mum," she admitted, tears streaming down her face. "I'm afraid for my family, for my friends...I don't want anyone to get hurt! I was just knitting that's all, I didn't think something like this would happen. Everyone keeps telling me that I saved Cedric's life, and I'm happy about that, but I feel like I put him in danger too. Dumbledore kept saying it won't be long before You-Know-Who finds out he survived, what if he decides to go after Cedric personally like he's tried with Harry? What if he comes after me because he finds out about my knitting? He kills people! He's going to try and kill me!"
Within seconds, Eleanor had entered a full panic attack in the front seat, leaving Margaret with no choice but to pull over to the side of the road and attempt to comfort her daughter. She held Eleanor in her arms, allowing her to cry as much as she wanted.
"I'm so scared, Mum! I'm scared!"
"Shh, Ellie, it's alright," Margaret said softly, "it's okay to be scared. No one can blame you for being frightened. I wish there was something I could say that would offer you instant peace of mind. But all I can say is that I'm here for you, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Your father and the others have already been hard at work just within the last few days alone. They're not going to let you and any of your friends to get hurt on their watch. And I don't need any bit of magic to keep me from kicking someone's arse if they try to come for you, do you understand?"
In all her life, Eleanor had never seen her mother fight anyone and had never really seen Margaret as a threatening sort, but despite all of that, she believed Margaret would do anything to keep her safe. It took nearly twenty minutes before Eleanor was calm enough that Margaret was able to let her go and start driving again. It remained quiet for a bit before Margaret tried to change the topic to a happier now.
"You know, you have some presents to open when we get home," she said, "It's a big deal now that you're of age in the wizarding world. Your father was telling me that you'll be taking your apparition test and then you'll have the ability to just travel all over."
"Yeah, I need to pass it in order to start my internship with Madam Bones," Eleanor told her, "Hopefully, I pass it the first time."
"Of course, you will, don't worry about such things. Grandpa Lyall said he spoke with Madam Bones recently and she's looking forward to working with you."
Eleanor's eyes lit up as she sat up in the seat. "Really? She said that?"
"She did, your grandfather was bragging about it for a couple of days. He's missed you a great deal, of course. He said you didn't write to him very much this term, but he understands why. He said you can make it up to him by letting him sing happy birthday to you at least seventeen times. Are you up to any birthday celebration tonight?"
"That actually sounds really nice."
The rest of the ride home faired better for Eleanor as she relaxed, listening to Margaret gush over how excited she was when Nixie revealed her mermaid tail to her and how the couple had been wonderful company since their arrival. When they finally arrived at the Ross home, Margaret made her way inside while Eleanor opened up Dermot's cage to let him out. He stretched his wings before flying off and disappearing behind the tree line. Eleanor grabbed her trunk and headed inside.
However, she was awfully confused by the lack of greeting as she walked in and by how dark it was.
"Um, Mum? Hello? Dad? Grandpa? Why is it so dark in here?"
No matter how many times everyone had reminded her of her birthday, Eleanor had not anticipated any sort of surprise party. So, when the lights suddenly came on and it was revealed that not only were her parents and grandfather there, but Cedric and Marnie, along with the Weasley family, and Sirius and Nixie, Eleanor was beyond startled.
They all proceeded to yell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" causing her to stumble backwards.
It would have been perfect had it not been for Eleanor stumbling so far back that she fell off the front stairs of her home and disappeared from sight.
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