2.| ✮𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓑𝓲𝓵𝓵. ✮ {𝓑. 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓵𝓮𝔂}

\ℯ𝒾ℊ𝒽𝓉ℯℯ𝓃\

"Mrs. Weasley said he's been acting weird," Hermione said softly, pulling her legs up onto the bed.

"Yeah, I'll say," George muttered.

"We think he blames himself for what happened to Dad," Fred said. "Which is completely ridiculous. He's the reason Dad lived, honestly."

Hermione sighed and shook her head. She swung her legs down and grabbed a few extra biscuits before starting towards the door. "I've got to talk to him," she said in a tired voice. "Thanks for these." She held up the biscuits.

"Glad you're here!" Fred called after her. Eleanora laughed and hit him with a pillow.

"You're hopeless, Freddie."

"What?" Fred gave her an innocent look and sipped from his coffee mug.

They chatted for a few more minutes about the usual things, trying to keep the conversation light. They'd been discussing all of the heavy things that had happened since they'd last seen each other all morning, and were all feeling tired and sort of depressed. Fred was telling Eleanora all about the mess of a quidditch season the Gryffindor team was having when they heard Sirius climbing the stairs singing, "God Rest Ye Merry, Hippogriffs" at the top of his lungs. He stopped when he reached the twins' room and poked his head through the door. "Bill's home early from work, El. Thought you'd want to know."

"Thanks Sirius!" Eleanora hopped off the bed. "I'll see you two later." She hurried out of the room, a smile covering her face. Fred turned to George, eyes twinkling.

"I don't think we're the favorites anymore, mate," he said in an amused voice.

"We'll always be the favorites, Freddie. Bill's only tied with us because of his hair." The boys chuckled and went back to their breakfasts.

~

On Christmas morning, Eleanora woke up alone in bed and immediately brought her stack of presents to the twins room. When she got to the doorway, they were already there, letting themselves into the room and looking shaking. "Don't go downstairs for a bit," George said darkly.

"Why not?"

"Mum's crying," said Fred. "Percy sent back his Christmas jumper."

"Without a note," added George. "Hasn't asked how Dad is or visited him or anything..."

Eleanora hadn't found out about the drama with Percy until after she got home from her mission. By then, it had been months since anybody had heard from the third Weasley brother. She was mostly angry at him for how upset he was making Mrs. Weasley. She hated anybody messing with her second mother. "Is anybody down there with her?" Eleanora asked, ready to go down and help comfort Molly.

"Lupin's got her," said George. "We tried, but she didn't take very well to us telling her Percy's nothing more than a humongous pile of rat droppings..."

"Right," Eleanora said sarcastically. "I wonder why she didn't take that well." She let herself into the twins room and lay down on Fred's bed to open her presents. After pulling on her traditional purple Weasley sweater, she got up and ruffled George's hair on her way to the door.

"Where are you going?" Fred asked.

"Not downstairs, I hope," said George.

"I'm just going to hang out with Bill," Eleanora said with a laugh. "I'll see you at breakfast."

~

Bill was still asleep when Eleanora slipped through his bedroom door. He'd been on patrol for the Order until late the night before. Eleanora climbed into bed next to him and pulled the warm covers over her. She laid her head down and kissed his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him. Bill groaned and rolled over, pulling Eleanora closer. She loved when he did that. "Merry Christmas," she murmured.