2.| ✮𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓑𝓲𝓵𝓵. ✮ {𝓑. 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓵𝓮𝔂}

\𝓈𝒾𝓍\

Eleanora checked the clock and promptly choked on her coffee. "Yeah- I was." She stood up and hurried for the door. "Thanks for the coffee, Mrs. Weasley! See you!" She apparated the second she made it to the front walkway, but did it sloppily and ended up skidding into a pile of trash bins in an alley in Hogsmeade with a crash that did nothing for the pain in her head.

"Who's there?" a harsh voice shouted down the alley at her.

"It's me," Eleanora groaned, putting her hands up in surrender. "It's just me, Lupin."

"You're late." Lupin put his wand away and hurried to help her stand. "You alright? I don't think I've ever seen a worse apparition job- and I helped teach it to Hogwarts students for a year."

Eleanora dusted herself off before looking up at him with a small frown. "No need to be mean about it," she said, combing through her hair with her fingers.

Lupin only shrugged. "Have you eaten yet today?" Eleanora shook her head. "Let's get lunch."

The air was crisp, but not cold enough yet to be unbearable. Lupin and Eleanora found a cafe and brought their food outside to watch the street as they ate. Eleanora got more coffee and pancakes, the perfect hangover food, and Lupin got a grilled cheese with hot tea. The fall air smelled like wood smoke and dead leaves, and Eleanora noticed that Lupin looked more at ease than usual in the crisp fall weather. "So..." Eleanora said after a long, but friendly, silence. "How's everything?"

"Everything?" Lupin's gaze drifted from the street to Eleanora's face, a far-off expression in them.

"Oh, you know. We haven't talked in awhile." Eleanora shrugged. She hadn't really had anything in particular in mind.

"Everything's alright," Lupin said decidedly. "How about you? How are the wedding plans coming along?"

"We decided on a date, or at least a relative date. We want to have it next summer. Probably early July."

Lupin nodded slowly. "That'll be nice. And it'll be at the Burrow?"

"Yep. The whole Order's invited. You'll go, won't you?" She looked at him hopefully and he gave her a small smile.

"Of course I'll go," he said softly. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." Eleanora nodded her head, satisfied.

A shiver ran through her spine at the thought of herself finally marrying Bill. After all these years, it almost didn't feel real. She could remember each time she'd fallen in and out of love with him, all the while hoping it would be him at the end, and now, finally, it was. Lupin and Eleanora sat outside the cafe for a long time before getting up and patrolling the street a few times. They didn't talk much, but there was a pleasant sort of silence between them. Neither of them had real jobs, so the time they spent working for the Order together was special.

At around five that evening, Eleanora let out a deep sigh and leaned against the outside wall of Zonko's joke shop. "Nothing ever happens when we're on patrol," she said in a tired voice.

Lupin gave her a dry smile and leaned next to her, playing absentmindedly with the corner of his robes. "I think that's something we should be glad about," he murmured.

"I s'ppose so," said Eleanora.

She still felt bored out her mind. The hangover had mostly worn off, but the day had still been too slow for her liking. She felt sluggish and irritable.

Lupin gave her a long, slightly worried look. "Why don't you take off early?" he said slowly. "You look tired."

Eleanora shrugged. "I don't want to leave you by yourself..."