[ 1 ] EXPLODE ( r. black ! )

twenty-six || family of three

                "Trust Eleanor?" She questioned, a sheepish smile on her face as she stepped into the bedroom. At her words, five heads of messy boyish hair spun to face her – all with different expressions but, much to her happiness, none of them bad.

                "Eleanor!" Sirius exclaimed, pleased to finally see the person he came for rather than be face-to-face with one of the people he'd happily never see again. "You we trust!"

                With that, he and James tackled her into a hug. Even though her Quidditch skills were dormant, she was thankful that they kicked in and prevented her from tripping on her own two feet as they forced her to stumble backwards. Their grip around her tightened, as if they could squeeze the bad energy from her parents out of her by brute force, and Eleanor's laugh grew strained.

                "You two do realise she needs to breathe, right?" Peter questioned his friends, from his spot beside Regulus who looked as unimpressed as Peter did concerned.

                Humour on his face also straining, a now grimacing Remus slipped his hands in the middle of the hug and helped release the girl. "Pete's right – she is alive like I said she would be so you can let her go now before you change that."

                "Nothing like a good 'I told you so' is there, Moony?" James chuckled, but released his arms, using them to peel Sirius away by the back of his shirt jokingly.

                Eleanor had barely had time to gain her breath and straighten out her clothes – due to the whole creased shrinking charm fiasco, she was quite conscious of it – when Sirius began his rant that everybody knew was coming. All the boys had even taken a seat for it, even Regulus.

                "Look, you say the word and I will go round to the Archord house right now and kick their asses! And I mean, all their asses... Tina, Robert, Blair, the cat... Do you have a cat? I don't think you do, but you get the picture. I cannot believe they had the audacity to speak bad of you when you're one of the best people I have ever met – right up there with those three and Myron Wagtail, the lead singer of the Weird Sisters! Speaking of music, I've already started thinking about possible verses in my Christmas song for your parents, right alongside Voldy, Snivellus and Death Eaters! Personally, I think they fit in quite well. Do you want to hear a sneak peek—"

                "I would love to, Sirius," Eleanor cut in, holding her hands out as if to pause him magically. Scooting around so she was on the side of the room that had the sweet release of the door that let them exit the room, she smiled apologetically. "But can it wait? I really have to get to Gringotts."

                That wasn't a lie, in all truthfulness. Not only did Eleanor have a soft spot of amusement for the infamous tune that Sirius had learnt to charm the suits of armour that guarded Hogwarts' halls to sing in a humourful monotone voice, but she really did have to get to Gringotts. As much as her friends may've underestimated her family, she knew that her intellect did not appear completely out of nowhere – the hard work to develop it was entirely her own though – and she was quite worried her parents would write her name out of the family vault before Eleanor had chance to step onto the cobbles of Diagon Alley.

                "What about us?"

                "You can all wait here for me to come back. I think it's about time we all had a talk, don't you two?" Eleanor pointedly looked at Regulus and Sirius. In response, the brothers examined each other and turned to face Eleanor with a worried expression, one that was mimicked in disbelief on Peter and even Remus' own faces. The girl sighed, "Just play nice."

                "I'll do my best to keep everyone alive." James assured her, being the only one of the four boys who actually liked each of the others, gaining a nod of appreciation for his services.