As she was writing a letter back to Doris, Eleanor heard her mother shriek downstairs.
"That'll be them," she grinned to herself. She quickly finished her letter and ran down the stairs.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Judith," Mrs. Lupin panted, holding on to the armchair. "I'll never get used to that Foo Network of yours." Amelia and her mother chuckled.
Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Floo Network mum," she said. Her mother sighed.
"Lia!" she said happily and then brought her friend into a hug. Amelia laughed.
Loud footsteps were heard on the stairs. Remus, probably coming to see who got to their house first.
Eleanor noticed him smiling when he saw Amelia standing next to her mother. Remus was wearing a dark blue shirt and black trousers.
Eleanor raised an eyebrow at her brother. "What?" he spat.
"Did you dress up?" she grinned.
Remus crossed his arms over his chest. "So what if I did?" he retorted. Eleanor held her hands up in front of her and said goodbye to Mrs. King, who then apparated home.
"You look good Remus, just ignore her," Amelia chuckled. Remus' cheeks flushed lightly. Eleanor smacked Amelia on her arm.
Mrs. Lupin got back to doing the last of the dishes. The teens sat down and talked a bit about their holidays.
"Remus when are James and-" Crack "JESUS CHRIST LYALL CAN'T YOU JUST DRIVE A BLOODY CAR!" Mrs. Lupin clutched at her heart as Mr. Lupin apparated inside the hall. Lyall just laughed and shook his head.
At almost the exact same time, a green fire roared from the fireplace and James Potter stepped out, making Mrs. Lupin jump out of her skin once more.
"Hola senor, senoritas," James said with a grin. His hair was all messy because of the Floo Network. He put up his best smile, "Nice to see you again Mr. and Mrs. Lupin."
The girls laughed and shook their heads. Remus got up and gave his best friend and brotherly hug. The girls stood up as well and greeted him with a hug.
Shortly after, green flames shot up again and Sirius stepped out. Mrs. Lupin was prepared this time.
Sirius scrunched up his nose and wiped the dust off his leather jacket. Eleanor's smile was probably bigger than it should have been.
"Evening," he said with a handsome smirk. He hugged Remus and then went over to the kitchen to say hello to their parents.
After Peter had arrived as well, they all sat down in the living room with mugs of hot cocoa. James started talking about his plans to get Lily to go out with him.
"...and then, after I take her to Madam Puddifoot's we'll go to the Lake and watch the sunset together. It's the most romantic date, am I right?" he asked hopefully, looking a bit daydreamy.
Eleanor blinked a couple of times. "Probably not, but to be honest I wasn't really listening," she said flatly.
"What were we talking about again?" Remus said with a frown. James rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair.
"Right you lot, we're off," Mr. Lupin announced as he walked into the living room. "Remus, El, I want you to make sure everything is tidy again before we get back tomorrow or your mum will get mad," he said, pointing a finger at his two children.
Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Can't you just do that with magic when you get back?" she groaned.
Mr. Lupin put his fingers in his ears and started to walk back to the hall. "Lalala I can't hear you, have a good time don't do anything stupid lalala," he said loudly.
Eleanor threw her head back and sighed deeply when she heard a loud crack. Amelia sniggered.
"Right," Remus clapped in his hands. "Who's up for some pizza and firewhisky," he said with a grin, his eyes roaming the group mischievously.
"I'll turn the oven on!" Eleanor said. She jumped off the sofa and ran into the kitchen, leaving four people in utter confusion.
Eleanor turned on the oven and then left the kitchen. She went into the basement and got six pizzas topped with pepperoni from the freezer.
When Eleanor returned to the kitchen, she bent over with laughter as she saw James, Sirius, Peter, and Ameliastanding before their oven in awe.
Fifteen minutes and a complete explanation on ovens later, the six Gryffindors were enjoying their meal and cold firewhisky in the living room with the radio turned on.
"Didn't you say we were going to sleep downstairs Moony?" James asked, licking his fingers. Eleanor swallowed her food and gave her brother a strange look; that's not what she had in mind.
"Okay, I have to ask," Amelia said. She put down her plate and turned to the boys. "Moony? Prongs? What are you talking about?"
Sirius grinned, as did James and Peter. "They're just nicknames," Remus explained to her.
Amelia frowned and put her plate back on her lap. "Bloody weird ones," she mumbled and took another bite of her last slice of pizza. James shrugged.
"But yeah, you're right I did say that, so we'll have to get our mattresses down, our inflatable ones as well," he said and gulped down the rest of his firewhisky.
Eleanor got up, collected the empty plates, and brought them to the kitchen. She heard someone turn up the volume on the radio and smiled to herself. A wizarding band called the Weird Sisters was playing. They were a fairly new group, but Eleanor rather liked their songs. She hummed along as she started to wash the plates and mugs in the sink.
"Need help with that?" James' voice came from behind her. Eleanor smiled to him and nodded.
James got a towel from the rack and dried the clean dishes. "Did you get my letter?" he asked. So that's what he was on about.
"I did," Eleanor answered. James frowned.
"So why didn't you reply then?"
Eleanor set down a mug and looked up at him. "Because it was a stupid letter, James," she said bluntly. "What were you even thinking when you wrote it?" She shook her head and put her hands back into the warm water.
James sighed and put down his towel. "Ella, there's a war going on. There's going to be a time when we're gonna have to pick sides, and Regulus has clearly already chosen-"
"Stop talking about him like that!" Eleanor yelled at him. Luckily the radio covered it up.
"I'm well aware that things are looking bad, and that soon we might even have to fight back, but I will not abandon my friends like that!" Her voice cracked at the end. Eleanor noticed the muscles twitch in his jaw.
"Tonight I just don't want to think about it, okay? I just want to be with my friends and do stupid things- live my life," she said helplessly.
James lowered his gaze and nodded. "Right, I shouldn't have brought it up, m'sorry El," he gave her a guilty look.
Eleanor sighed and rubbed her eyes. "It's okay," she said and James wrapped an arm around her.
Remus peeked his head into the kitchen. "Hope I'm not interrupting, but Amelia wants to hear Queen, shall I put it on?" he said, sounding excited.
Eleanor's mood immediately lifted again. She nodded eagerly and watched Remus run up the stairs to get the LP from her room.
Not long after, Sirius had turned off the radio and was watching closely as Remus lowered the needle on the spinning LP. They had all gathered in a circle around the record player.
Eleanor waited anxiously for the music to start. She knew 'Death On Two Legs' would be the first one to come on. Then slowly a piano started to come alive. Then a guitar. More guitars. And then a soft piano again.
She looked over at the others. Remus was leaning his head in his hand, looking like he could kiss the record player any moment. But that could've been the booze as well.
Peter looked confused. He was also sitting the furthest away from everyone. Amelia was nodding along to the beat with a smile on her face. James seemed to enjoy it as well.
But when she looked over at Sirius, her heart melted. His eyes were wide in admiration and his mouth hung slightly open as he heard the music unfold.
"This is bloody brilliant," Eleanor heard him mumble. A smile formed on her lips.
Remus got up and announced he was going to get the mattresses and the rest of the stuff from upstairs. Peter, James, and Amelia offered to help him, so the four of them went upstairs.
Sirius pointed at the record player. 'I'm In Love With My Car' was playing now, the one she liked the least.
"A-Are these people inside that disk?" Sirius asked her with furrowed eyebrows.
Eleanor blinked, not really sure whether he was just messing with her or not. "What- no, no of course not," she chuckled. Sirius' face turned red.
"But then how does it work?" he bent over to take a closer look at the piece of Muggle machinery.
She opened her mouth to say something but then frowned. "You know, I haven't the slightest idea," Eleanor admitted. Sirius grinned.
"But it works, and I can assure you that Freddie Mercury is not inside that LP," she added and then took a sip from her firewhisky.
"Freddie Mercury?" he asked. Thuds could be heard as James threw some mattresses and blankets down the stairs
Elanor nodded. "He's the lead singer," she explained. She picked up the album cover and handed it to him.
"That's Freddie, Brian May plays guitar, John Deacon bass, and Roger Taylor plays drums," she said, pointing at each of them.
When ''39' came on, Eleanor smiled to herself. Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. "This is my favorite one after Bohemian Rhapsody," she said shyly.
Sirius shook his head. "Bless you," he said looking confused. Eleanor laughed.
"Wait 'till you hear it. It's a masterpiece," she said with a grin and got up from her seat to move some things around so the beds would fit.
It took them some puzzling to fit all six mattresses, but they did it. Just as they dropped down onto their safe haven of cushions and softness, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' started to play. Eleanor turned her head and met Remus' gaze, who was thinking the same thing.
Eleanor finished her drink in one go and stood up straight. Remus followed her actions. The others shared strange looks.
"MAMAAAAAAAAAAAA OHOHOHOOOOOOOH DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE YOU CRY," Remus sank down to his knees, holding an invisible microphone. Eleanor was singing to the sky.
Remus looked up at Eleanor and gave her a reassuring nod.
"MAMAAAAA OHOHOHOOOOOH, I DON'T WANNA DIE, I SOMETIMES WISH I'D NEVER BEEN BORN AT AAAAAAALL," she more so yelled than sang, punching the sky. Remus proceeded to play air guitar.
When Eleanor looked down at her friends, she grinned to herself as they were crying with laughter. But what struck her most was that Sirius just watched them in complete awe.
Eleanor and Remus altered between high and low pitched 'Galileo's', Remus screamed 'mamma mia', and then they completely lost it as Brian May started his insane guitar solo.
The song ended and brother and sister high-fived each other, meanwhile receiving applause from their audience.
Eleanor lay down next to Amelia with a huge grin on her face. "God I love them," she panted. Amelia chuckled.
"I have decided on something," Sirius said, putting down his bottle resolutely. "I could be gay for that Mercury guy."
Peter snorted and the others laughed. Remus just smiled, being a little uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed.
James shook his head. "Nah, not me. I mean you do you, but I'm as straight as anyone could be," he said with a smirk. Peter nodded in agreement. An awkward silence fell amongst the group.
"I'm bi," Remus said in a small voice, fidgeting with the corner of a pillow.
Eleanor smiled proudly at her brother. Finally. After two and a half years, he had finally come out to his best friends. Remus had told her about his sexuality during Summer break after her second year, so she knew it already. But deep down, she had figured out even before Remus did that he wasn't just into girls.
"Bloody hell mate you got the whole lot to choose from!" Sirius said with a grin. Remus' ears turned pink.
"Yeah mate, good for you," James smirked and gave him a pat on the back. Peter grinned at him as well but didn't say anything else on the matter.
The boys got to talking about how he found out, whether he'd already dated a guy, and if so what that was like. They already were a bit tipsy, Eleanor couldn't blame them.
But she was caught by surprise when she heard Amelia next to her say, "I knew it," with a smile on her face.
Eleanor frowned. "You did?"
Amelia nodded eagerly. "Oh yeah, back in our first year he had a massive crush on Sirius. Anyone could tell," she chuckled.
It felt like someone smacked her in the face with a frying pan when she said that. Surely he was over it now, right? She was pretty sure he was, he never really talked about Sirius in that type of way.
"Hey, what happened to the music?" Sirius suddenly said.
They ended up playing the album hours on end until even Remus had finally had enough and turned the radio back on again.
When it was close to midnight, the six of them put on their coats, scarves, and hats, and went outside to see the fireworks. They had completely forgotten their own, but after some thinking, they didn't mind just watching the rest of the neighborhood doing it for them.
"10...9...8...7...6..." they counted in unison. They all huddled up together.
"3...2...1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Fireworks started to going off everywhere as Eleanor pulled her best friend into a tight hug, then her brother, and then Peter.
James smiled at her before hugging her as well. "I really am sorry for what happened," he whispered in her ear.
"Me too," she mumbled against his scarf. They both pulled back and Eleanor ruffled up his hair with a grin. James laughed and then turned to Remus.
Her heart began to beat faster when she realized she only had Sirius left. He walked over to her and before she could even say something he just hugged her tightly.
Eleanor smiled as the familiar scent of coconut and leather filled her nostrils once again. It had been a long time since they last hugged each other. It felt good.
Sirius pulled back and smiled at her. "Happy new year," he said softly, his hair slightly falling over his eyes.
"Happy new year Sirius," she said, smiling up at him. Her green eyes twinkled under the lights of the fireworks.
He winked at her and then followed the rest into the house. They all seemed to be cold. But not Eleanor. The butterflies in her stomach made her go all warm inside.
Oh Black, what have you done to me?