It was getting close to 6pm, and Andrew had already left to have dinner with his family.
Sirius, James, Remus, and Eleanor had gathered on the sofa with a snack to still a bit of their hunger. She had no idea where her mother was, but she surely would be home soon. Lyall's work at the Ministry usually had no ending, so she never knew when he'd ever get home.
It was after Andrew had left that the subject changed to the war. There had been another front-page article in the Daily Prophet on it that day, and the four of them were eager to share their ideas.
Especially James and Sirius had a lot to share. Apparently, strange things had been occurring at Potter Manor lately - or well, people.
"All these people just keep coming and going all day," he said, with Sirius nodding along.
"But what for?" Remus asked eagerly.
Both him and Eleanor were on the edge of their seats. Their father never told them much about what was going on at the Ministry or the war in general. He thought they were still too young and shouldn't be meddling in those sorts of things.
"Wouldn't know, mum makes us go upstairs every time," James said, fiddling with his glasses that he'd taken off.
"I swear I saw Dumbledore once though!" Sirius chimed in.
James groaned. "You didn't see him, Pads. Why on earth would Dumbledore be in my house?"
"But I saw him!" Sirius pushed on, making Eleanor chuckle.
Remus' brow had turned into a frown and he was looking out ahead of him. Like something very strange was going on just two feet in front of him.
"Maybe it is because of Voldemort," he said darkly.
Sirius and Eleanor gave each other an uneasy look. The name always sent shivers down her spine, like a spider crawling on your skin. It felt unnatural.
They all simultaneously grabbed their drink and took a sip, except for Remus. He leaned his elbows on his knees and frowned at the table.
"I mean, another young couple went missing yesterday, it was in the Prophet. Who knows what else is happening that the papers don't report?"
He met the grave-looking gazes of the others and gulped.
Eleanor immediately looked down again. Of course she wanted to know what was going on in the world, it was so important.
But another part of her wished she was oblivious to everything. The cruelty and horror of the past few months were getting too real for her. Too close to home.
"Let's listen to some music, eh? Or maybe there's something on that tevelision of yours?" James tried to lighten the mood, squinting at the TV set standing in the corner.
"Television, James," Eleanor corrected him with a little laugh.
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just put the bloody thing on."
Eleanor sat on her knees in front of the TV and switched between different stations. They never watched a lot of TV. Not that she knew of anyway; they were at Hogwarts most of the year.
Nothing interesting came on. She just lingered a bit when a strange commercial came on for canned mashed potatoes, getting a laugh from Sirius and James. Other than that, back to the news it was.
James frowned at the screen. "I don't understand why Muggles don't just read the paper," he said.
"They do, but sometimes they don't-"
All heads turned when suddenly the front door opened. There was a rushed jingling of keys and the thud of shoes being thrown on the ground.
Hope Lupin walked into the living room, shopping bag hanging limp from one hand. Her bright brown eyes were tired, like a child who goes to the zoo for the first time; exhausted with new experience.
Her eyes scanned all four faces. "Where's your father?" she asked.
Eleanor and Remus looked at each other, then looked back at their mother.
"Well he's not home yet, maybe he's working late again," Remus said.
"Oh, right," Mrs. Lupin mumbled and slowly started nodding. She turned around to head for the kitchen.
"Is everything alright, Mrs. Lupin?" Sirius asked with a look of concern.
She looked back at him and smiled. "Yes dear, everything's fine. I'll make something to eat for you, so sorry I'm so late," she ended the last bit in a murmur as she went into the kitchen.
James and Sirius looked at Eleanor and Remus with utter confusion. But brother and sister just shrugged, and Eleanor mouthed a 'Dunno'.
There was silence except for the man talking on the news channel, and some rummaging coming from the kitchen.
"...shopping centre in Bristol collapsed this afternoon. Passersby say their was a loud bang before the building suddenly came down."
At once the news was very interesting. Eleanor clasped a hand to her mouth when the newsroom switched to live footage of the destroyed building. People of all sorts - police, firemen, doctors - were rushing around the site.
"Holy shit," James breathed.
"Mum!" Eleanor yelled, her eyes wide with terror.
Immediately Mrs. Lupin came running from the kitchen. When she saw the horrible images, she gasped.
"Oh dear Lord," she whispered, hand trembling towards her mouth.
"So far the police has reported 79 deaths and 46 severely injured people, of which 10 are in critical condition. One boy, age 7, managed to run before his mother and younger brother were buried under the debris.
"Police so far can say very little about the tragic accident, other than that a number of hooded figures were seen right after the collapse."
She suddenly felt very cold, even in Sirius' usually warm embrace. His muscles had tensed and he was staring straight at the TV, but he wasn't really looking at it.
Mrs. Lupin walked forward and pushed on the power button of the television set. The screen immediately went black and it got earily quiet.
She turned to the four teenagers. "Dinner is almost ready. You can set the table."
Eleanor's eyes followed her mother as she quickly went back into the kitchen. As if on cue, she and Remus rose from their seats. Eleanor grabbed the plates from the cupboard, Remus set down a bottle of water and five glasses, just like they always did.
The smell of Sunday roast was making its way from the kitchen into the hungry teens' nostrils. Eleanor could involuntarily feel her mouth start to water, even though she thought she'd lost her appetite.
Not ten minutes later, the five of them were eating their meals in complete silence except for the clanking of cuttlery against the porcelain plates.
Remus barely touched his food, Sirius did not look up from his plate once, and it took James at least five minutes before he noticed that Mrs. Lupin had put food on his plate.
She did lose her appetite, but she kept on eating anyway, knowing that it would hurt her mother's feelings if she didn't.
When nobody touched their plate for a while, Mrs. Lupin got up from her seat and collected the plates.
CRACK
More cracks sounded as Mrs. Lupin dropped all five plates to the floor. Eleanor shrieked and almost toppled from her chair, but Sirius caught her just in time.
"Lyall-"
"STOP DOING THAT!"
It was Remus who yelled. His breathing was heavy as he pointed his wand at his father.
"Remus John, put that away right now," Mrs. Lupin hissed.
But Remus didn't move. Neither did Mr. Lupin. He seemed frozen under the livid look in his son's eyes. Then slowly, he lift up his arm and gently pushed Remus' hand down.
"It's alright son, it's just me," Lyall spoke softly, all the while keeping eye contact with Remus.
James, who had turned around in his seat to see what was happening, quickly took the wand from in-between Remus' fingers and put it on the table.
Mrs. Lupin crouched down to collect the broken dishes, but Mr. Lupin waved his wand and the shattered pieces all became whole again before stacking on top of each other in a neat pile on the table. Mrs. Lupin stood up again and straightened her skirt.
"If you kids would go upstairs for a moment," Mr. Lupin asked them.
Eleanor looked around to see what the others were thinking. Sirius grabbed her hand under the table and gave it a little squeeze. Then he turned to James and gave him a nod.
The three rose from the table. Eleanor walked along with the boys as they went around the table.
"Really?!" Remus shouted.
They all abruptly turned around and looked at him.
"We're in this too you know! We're as much a part of all this mess as they are!" he continued, pointing at his parents, but looking at his friends the entire time.
Eleanor was shocked by her brother's sudden outbursts. Well, shocked was putting it mildly. The look in his eyes was insane.
"Rem let's just go," Eleanor said in a soft tone.
But Remus remained where he stood.
She noticed Sirius' hand getting sweaty in hers, and when she looked up at him, he was gnawing on his bottom lip.
Mrs. Lupin sighed impatiently. "Remus, your father asked you to go-"
"I don't care!" he cut her off. "If anyone doesn't have to be here, it would be you!"
The tension in the air at that moment was unbearable. She couldn't believe he'd actually said that. All Eleanor could do was look at him and shake her head in disbelief.
Mrs. Lupin glared shortly at him, then snatched his wand from the table and left the room.
"Sit down," Mr. Lupin ordered his son.
Remus looked puzzled. "Wha-"
"You wanted to know, so sit down," he repeated.
Remus shot a quick look at his two friends standing unsurely by the doorway, then did as he was told and sat down in his chair.
She wanted to know. She really wanted to know what was going on that was so important or dangerous that they weren't supposed to hear it.
Eleanor let go of her boyfriend's hand and sat down next to her brother.
Her father raised his eyebrows at her. "You're too young, Elly," he said.
She looked up at him. It was then that she realised how tired he actually looked. Fine lines had taken over his entire face. He looked so much older than he did before the war.
"I can handle it," she replied softly.
Feeling like they didn't have a choice, James and Sirius took a seat as well. Eleanor knew that deep down they desperately wanted to know as well, so she wasn't surprised.
"Okay," Mr. Lupin sighed.
He put his hands on the table and leaned on them.
"The past week, a lot of horrible, horrible things have happened. First the two Muggle families, then another Pureblood family, now the-"
"The mall," James finished his sentence.
Mr. Lupin looked at him. "Yes, the mall."
"We know, of course, that all of that was the work of He Who Must Not Be Named and his followers."
"Death Eaters," Sirius mumbled.
"Yes, Death Eaters. As you can imagine, it has put an awful lot of pressure on the Ministry. People are expecting that we can take on You Know Who, that we can fight him."
Eleanor was clinging onto his every word.
"But we can't."
There was a moment of silence when they all took in that new information.
Sirius' eyes shot around the room. "But- what do you mean 'you can't'?"
Mr. Lupin stood up straight. "It's not possible, there's too many of them."
"But there's a lot of us too!" James remarked.
He chuckled a little at that, but it was sad. "You're right, there is, but not a lot of us are prepared to do what it takes to bring him down."
Eleanor's heart sank at those words. Wouldn't everyone want to live in peace again? To not worry if their friends or family would live to see another day, magical or Muggle?
"But we- we have to do something, right?" Remus asked aloud, looking up at his father. "We can't just sit around and wait for him to take over the world?!"
"Yeah! Surely there are people who are prepared to do whatever it takes to destroy him. I know I am," James ended in a mumble.
Sirius and Remus nodded along.
But a thought popped into Eleanor's mind. Voldemort was a very powerful Dark Wizard, everybody knew that. But good defeats bad almost all the time, right?
She looked up at her father. "What does Dumbledore say?"
He smiled a little to himself. "I'd have thought you'd ask that. But I'm afraid I have no idea. I don't hear a lot about it."
Remus frowned. "But how do you know all this stuff then?"
Mr. Lupins face turned grave again and he looked down at the table. "Because, today, the Minister for Magic resigned from office.