Naturally, Remus had no qualms or objections regarding Margaret accompanying them to his father's home. He figured that once Lyall met Eleanor, he would be more than curious to find out who the mother was of his grandchild. Of course, it was not solely his decision to make as he and Eleanor waited on Margaret's answer. She seemed entirely surprised by the invitation as she glanced back and forth between the two. At one point, it appeared as though she was going to decline and come up with an excuse as to why she was going to stay behind, but as Eleanor took her hand and held it in her own, there was no way she could back out of it then.
"I would love to go," Margaret answered softly with a smile, "if you'll just allow me some time to get ready, we can leave shortly."
Both Eleanor and Remus nodded their heads before Margaret left the room to get ready and Eleanor turned to him with a bright grin.
"If you want to shower too, you can use the bathroom upstairs," she offered to him, noting his suitcase by the door, "I'm sure you'll be finished long before Mum. There are fresh towels in the cupboard across it and there are bars of soap under the sink."
"Are you trying to say I smell, Ellie?" Remus asked, his expression appeared offended and had one of his brows raised in a questioning manner. He could only watch as Eleanor's face paled and she quickly began shaking her head.
"N-n-no!" she stammered. "I wasn't trying to imply that at all! I just figured since you stayed the night and slept on the sofa that you would want to freshen up before we left. But you don't smell at all, I swear! I was just- "
Suddenly, her rambling came to an end as Remus started laughing. Eleanor pursed her lips together, realising her father's attempt to poke fun at her. It wasn't something she was used to within the household, mostly because it was only recently that Margaret had taken on a more laidback approach to parenting.
"I walked myself into that one," Eleanor said with a nervous laugh, "didn't I?"
Remus only smiled to himself as he summoned his suitcase over with his wand and headed upstairs, leaving Eleanor to venture into the sitting room alone.
Everything felt so incredibly surreal during such moments as she could hear the sound of her mother singing in the shower. She couldn't remember the last time she had heard Margaret sing in the home and even though nothing had changed physically within the home, everything suddenly felt brighter if that made any sense. The Ross household no longer felt gloomy or much like a prison anymore.
And even though only a short period of time had passed since the reveal of Remus being her father, quite literally only a day, Eleanor hoped that his presence would become more within the family. All the times she had dreamed about having her family whole, it had been in a traditional sense, where her parents were happy together. It was too soon to ask if either Margaret or Remus had any plans to pick up where they had left off.
But Eleanor could hope, couldn't she?
After all, neither one of them seemed to have a bad thing to say about each other, even after being separated for over sixteen years. Margaret was making leaps and bounds, not only accepting the fact that Remus was a werewolf, but willing to help him pay for his doses of Wolfsbane. And after everything Remus had been through, even in just recent times, did it sound so bad to live with those that were willing to love and support him?
Too caught up in her thoughts, Eleanor didn't even hear the sound of movement in her fireplace until it was too late.
There was a thunderous crash that made the entire house shake or at least, that's what it felt like as Eleanor jumped up to her feet. She whipped around to see not one, but four bodies lying on the floor of the sitting room. And while her initial reaction would have been to scream, she quickly recognised the "intruders" and placed her hands on her hips.
"What the hell are you all doing here?!"
Lying on the floor was Marnie, Cedric, George, and Fred, in that order.
All of them were groaning in pain, ignoring Eleanor's question as she made her way over to stand in front of them. Fred and George were the first to push themselves up and brush off the front of their clothes. While George took a moment to look around, Fred immediately spotted Eleanor and grinned as he walked over to her.
"Good morning, Love," he greeted, "long time, no see. How's your summer been going so far?"
"It's only been a day," she told him, "and yes, good morning to you. Would you be so kind and explain just what you're doing here?! Didn't you get my letter?"
"I did get your letter," Fred said, placing his arm around her shoulders, "and that's exactly why I'm here. You really thought you were being funny. Trying to have me believe that Professor Lupin was your father, I will say, Ellie, the dedication to the letter writing and the story was phenomenal, but really, don't you think it was a bit far-fetched?"
"Oh, dear Merlin," Eleanor whispered under her breath before looking up to where Marnie and Cedric were helping each other off the floor, "Is that why you two are here too? Marnie, I thought you were on holiday with your family, I was going to wait to send you a letter until you wrote to me first!"
"Well, we are going on holiday," Marnie said, "but we were leaving this afternoon. I was packing my things and then this one shows up at my house, telling me that it was an emergency and that we needed to come see you! What's this about Professor Lupin being your father?"
Clapping her hands over her face, Eleanor mumbled a few obscenities to herself before looking back up at the group. But her eyes quickly fell on Cedric, who attempted to appear like he wasn't involved in the entire situation as he whistled in the corner.
"Dammit, Queenie!" she pointed at him in an accusing manner. "I expected you to show up, but did you really go out and grab everyone for this?"
Cedric placed his hands up in a defensive manner. "I only brought Marnie; I swear! I don't know what they're doing here! But it looks like we all came up with the same plan at the same time. We've must have collided in the Floo Network."
"Look my mum is in the shower and she's going to be really confused as to why you all showed up," she said before turning to the twins, "especially you two! I- "
"Ellie! Ellie!"
Margaret's voice rang out and Eleanor froze in place as her mother appeared a few moments later, her bathrobe wrapped around her body tightly and her hair still dripping wet. Her face was painted in panic initially until she spotted the four additional teenagers standing in the room. She recognised Cedric and Marnie right away, but it took a moment for her to realise that the "Weasel Twins" were there as well.
"What's going on here?" Margaret asked. "I heard a crash and- "
To add to Eleanor's embarrassment, Remus entered the room, freshly showered as his hair was still wet too, thankfully, he was dressed.
Cedric gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth, while Marnie and the twins shared the same expression of shock.
For a moment or so, no one said anything, and no one moved. Remus' face took on a lovely shade of red that matched Eleanor's as he looked at his former students standing in front of him. It seemed they were all waiting on him to say something.
"Er, hello," he said finally.
"Hey," all four greeted him sheepishly as they waved in his direction.
The shock wore off, turning into cheeky grins as they looked back and forth between him and Margaret. Remus was about to question what they were trying to get at when he put together the scene of his wet hair, paired with Margaret's wet hair and her still being in the bathrobe.
"Well, Marnie was just about to head off on holiday with her family and she didn't get a proper goodbye yesterday at the station," Cedric began, "so I brought her by to say goodbye. And I think we're good, so we're just going to go. It was nice seeing you again, Professor, um, Ms Ross."
Eleanor took a step towards them, only to have her best friends race into the fireplace, Cedric pulling out his pouch of Floo Powder and calling out his home before they disappeared into the green flames.
Meanwhile, Fred and George looked completely lost but took on the more honest approach as George spoke.
"Didn't mean to interrupt anything," he said, "we were just concerned about Ellie. We thought she was joking around or something and perhaps things didn't go so well, so we came here to check up on her. But clearly, this isn't a prank, so with that, we're going to head back home. Freddie?"
"You know, now that's it out there," Fred said, as he tiptoed towards the fireplace, " I can totally see the resemblance between the two of you. Striking really. Well, I hope you all have a nice summer. Sorry for scaring you, love, and uh, sorry about interrupting the shower you two were taking."
Eleanor pinched the bridge of her nose, wanting to die on the spot as Fred was doing no one any favours.
"Bye!" George called out, before turning to Fred in the fireplace. "You are so lucky that he's not our professor anymore. Imagine how detentions he would give you if he found out you liked his daugh-"
"THE BURROW!" Fred yelled before they disappeared into the flames, leaving Eleanor, Remus, and Margaret to stand around completely mortified.
"Well, I'm sorry that you two had to be a witness to all that. It's quite clear that all my friends share the same brain cell," Eleanor said, "that being said, if anyone needs me, I'll be up in my room, pretending this didn't happen until it's time to leave."
Everyone in the Ross household seemed to agree that they wouldn't speak about the incident that happened prior to when they were due to leave. Instead, trying to ignore the fireplace completely, Remus suggested that they apparate to his father's home, noting it would be quicker as well. He asked that they both hold onto him tightly before they departed, and while he knew Eleanor would be fine, it was Margaret he was worried about.
Apparating was tricky business, even for skilled witches and wizards, and with Side-Apparition, there was a lot that could go wrong. As Eleanor held onto his arm, Remus thought it would be better for him to hold Margaret by the waist to reduce any chances of issues arising. She seemed caught off by the gesture, her cheeks turning a light peach in colour, as she avoided his gaze.
And as promised, the trip itself was incredibly short, but not the easiest on the inexperienced. As soon as they landed outside of the Lupin home, Eleanor gripped his arm to keep herself up but Margaret didn't remain on her feet for long. Remus went to help her but Margaret asked to have a moment to herself.
"I guess I should have mentioned that Mum gets vertigo pretty easily, "Eleanor whispered to him, "Apparating might not be the best form of travel for her. Mum, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Ellie," Margaret said holding her forehead, "why don't you two head inside, I'll catch up in a minute or so."
"Mum, we can wait- "
"No, no it's okay. Go on, Ellie! I'll be right there, I promise."
Remus and Eleanor seemed hesitant about leaving Margaret outside, but as she shooed them off once more, they approached the Tudor style home in the distance. The home itself was beautiful in appearance if Eleanor was being honest. The steeply pitched gable roof, a couple of masonry chimneys, framed with decorative half-timbering, groupings of windows, and a large, embellished door.
"You grew up here?" Eleanor asked as they approached the door and Remus knocked.
"We moved quite a bit when I was younger, this just happened to be the last house that we moved to before I left Hogwarts. Seeing as the neighbours are few and far in between, it was the perfect location to help when I was home for the summer."
Eleanor realised that he was hinting at his monthly transformations but before she could respond, the two of them heard footsteps approaching the door. She suddenly felt nervous about meeting her grandfather and quickly tucked herself behind Remus.
Seconds later, a man with thinning grey hair, that stood a head shorter than Remus answered the door, and almost immediately, a smile that wrinkled the corner of his eyes appeared.
"Remus, my boy! You're home!" Lyall exclaimed. "What brings you to visit? Not that you need a reason, always a pleasure to have you come and see me. I was just making some fresh tea when I heard the knock at the door. How's about I pour you a cup? I can-"
Lyall stopped talking as soon as Eleanor peered over Remus' shoulder to get a better look at her grandfather. He spotted her and clutched his hand to his chest, realising his son wasn't alone on his visit home.
"Merlin's beard!" he cried out. "I thought it was the ghost of your dear late mother. Remus..."
As Eleanor hid away again, Remus cleared his throat. "Right, well, Dad, you see that's why I'm here."
He moved Eleanor from behind her and placed her between him and Lyall. "You're a grandfather!"
It probably wasn't the best way to expose the news as Lyall scrunched up his face and eyed the two of them strangely.
"She's a bit young for you, isn't she, Remus?"