~
Eleanora woke up in Bill's bed the next morning with a splitting headache and a bad taste in her mouth. She rolled over without opening her eyes, expecting Bill to be right next to her like usual, but the bed was empty and she let out a small scream as she plummeted onto the floor. "Good morning to you too," Bill called from across the room, amused.
"Shut up," muttered Eleanora. The events of the night before came back to her slowly and she buried her head in her arms, wishing she could just go back to sleep.
A pair of strong arms wrapped around her after a second, helping her back into bed. "Come on, Nora," Bill murmured. "I've got to get to work."
Eleanora let out a low groan and pulled Bill on top of her once she was back on the mattress. "Just stay here," she whispered in his ear. "Take the day off."
Bill laughed, but shook his head. "Can't. Got to keep up appearances." He kissed her forehead and stood back up, running a hand through his ever-growing hair. "Moody wants you on patrol with Lupin in Hogsmeade at noon, okay?"
"Mhmm."
"I love you."
Eleanora squinted up at him with a small, tired smile. "Want to go to Shell Cottage tonight?"
"Sure."
"Okay. I love you too."
Bill grinned down at her for a second, and then disappeared out the door. As soon as he left, Eleanora rolled over and buried her face in the pillow, feeling as though her head might split open. She made a mental note to hex Lee next time she saw him. She wondered if the twins were staying in their old room or if they'd gone back to their apartment for the night.
It took Eleanora another two hours of drifting in and out of sleep to finally drag herself out of bed and change out of the clothes she'd been wearing since the night before. She found a pair of her own jeans on the floor a few feet from the bed and pulled one of Bill's sweaters on overtop. When she got down to the kitchen, only Mrs. Weasley was sitting at the table, flipping through a Witch Weekly magazine. "Ahhh, you're finally up," she said in a pointed tone. "There's coffee on the counter."
"Thanks," Eleanora said, her voice raspy. She poured herself a large mug full and sat down across from Mrs. Weasley. "Sorry about last night."
Mrs. Weasley sighed and set the magazine down. "Don't be, dear. You're kids, you deserve to have fun."
Eleanora was taken aback, but she didn't question it. "Where are the twins?"
"Had to get to the shop early this morning. Looked even worse than you."
Eleanora laughed, but stopped because it hurt too much. "This... this might be worse than the Cruciatus curse."
"Oh, don't be silly," Mrs. Weasley said with a dry smile. "Now, weren't you supposed to be in Hogsmeade a half an hour ago?"
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..."
"I'll be fine," said Lupin, his mouth twitching into a small smile. "Tonks is patrolling at Hogwarts right now so maybe I'll meet up with her after. Take the night off."
Eleanora tried to protest, but it didn't take much for Lupin to convince her to go home early. Her head felt heavy and her vision was fuzzy from dehydration. "Alright then," she said at last. "Let me know if you need anything, I'll be at Shell Cottage."
"I'll send word if anything happens."
"Take care of yourself," said Eleanora, her voice suddenly full of genuine concern. "Promise?"
"Of course I will. You take care of yourself too. Say hello to Bill for me."
"I will." Eleanora gave him one last wave, then turned on the spot and disappeared.
She showed up on the beach outside of Shell Cottage, which was considerably colder than the streets of Hogsmeade because of the sea breeze. She hugged Bill's sweater tighter around herself and started towards the front door, the wind blowing her long hair in every direction. She jogged the last few steps to the door and flung it open, eager to get out of the cold wind. The moment she closed it behind her, hard raindrops started splattering on all of the windowpanes in the house.
Eleanora let out a breath and slid away from the door, creeping into the kitchen to put a pot of tea on. While it was heating up, she sat down on the kitchen floor and leaned her head against one of the counters. She couldn't wait to live here permanently. Visions of her and Bill cooking dinner together, relaxing on the couch in the living room in the middle of a rainstorm, and walking the beach in the early mornings danced through her head as her eyes drooped and her head rested against the side of the counter. She dozed off to the sound of rain splattering on the roof and the waves outside growing louder and louder in her ears.
"Shit!" Eleanora woke up to see Bill furiously stifling a growing fire with a towel. He swore again and pulled out his wand. "Extinguisio." The fire died and Bill pulled the teapot from the stove, hurriedly setting it in the sink and running cold water over it.
"What's happening?" Eleanora asked, struggling to stand up. The rain had grown even harder and the sky outside was pitch black. Bill was still in his work clothes and his hair was soaking wet from the rain.
"You- almost set the house on fire!" Bill spluttered, wiping rain water off of his face. "What were you thinking?"
"I- I dunno," Eleanora said, her voice still full of sleep. "I must've- fallen asleep."
"Well yeah, that's obvious." Bill rolled his eyes and took a step back, surveying the scene. Luckily, nothing had really gotten burned aside from the teapot. "Why would you leave it on?"
It was rare that Eleanora heard him get this worked up. She scowled at him. "I wasn't planning on falling asleep- it just happened." Bill scoffed but didn't say anything. He paced to the other side of the kitchen, pulling his tie off as he went. "Wait..." Eleanora said, only now looking at the clock. "Why are you just getting home now? I thought you got off work at six?"
"I had to stay late," Bill muttered, not meeting her eyes. "We got busy."
"You got busy? At the bank? You're always talking about how slow things have been lately." Eleanora crossed the room to face Bill, trying to read his expression.
"El- don't change the subject." Bill sounded exhausted, but Eleanora was still skeptical.
"No, where were you?"
"I was at work," Bill said through gritted teeth. "Maybe you would understand if you'd ever bothered to get a real job."
That stung. Eleanora took a step back, a look of disgust on her face. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Bill sighed. "Forget it."
"No- why are you being like this right now?" Eleanora's voice rose and she took another step back when Bill met her gaze. They'd never been in a real fight before, and Eleanora hated the look he was giving her. "What's wrong?" she said, more softly this time.
"You almost burnt our house down!" Bill practically shouted. He immediately felt bad when he saw Eleanora flinch at the sudden noise.
"Our house?" she shouted back. "Last I checked it wasn't our house, it was my house-"
"And that makes it alright to burn it to the ground?" Bill yelled. "You know, the rest of us don't have rich dark wizard fathers who can buy-"
"Stop it!" cried Eleanora, backing away towards the garden door. "Just- stop it! I'm not doing this right now."
"El-"
But she was gone. Bill swore again then ran out the door after her, trying to see through the blinding sheets of rain soaking his clothes and hair through. He turned in a slow circle, but Eleanora had already apparated away. Bill paused, staring out at the tumultuous ocean for a moment, and then turned on the spot, knowing exactly where Eleanora had run to.
just got my wisdom teeth out so im highly medicated
words dont look like words rn