The summer of 1994 would be a summer that Eleanor would never forget, while some memories had been considered harrowing, there were memories that exceeded her best dreams from childhood. However, as much as Eleanor enjoyed spending her time among her family, she missed Marnie profusely. The letters certainly didn't make up for the absence of one of her best friends, and there was so much to be written in a letter, that it was best to wait until they saw each other in person.
It had been a bittersweet morning in the Ross household as everyone, including Grandpa Lyall, had gathered for breakfast before it was time to bring Eleanor to King's Cross Station. While Remus continued to reassure her that she was going to do well in all of her classes, Margaret was making sure that Eleanor had packed plenty of clothing outside of her robes and uniforms, and going over her school list, double-checking that she had all her supplies as well. But before Eleanor was set to leave, she had made it her mission to get one thing completed during the course of the summer.
Normally, her knitting projects didn't take her very long, but since she had been spending so much time with friends that summer, she hadn't come close to her record time. After finishing her breakfast, Eleanor headed up to her room and grabbed her latest knitting garment. She hurried back down the stairs and approached Grandpa Lyall. He had just finished his morning coffee when he found Eleanor standing before him, and before he could ask, Eleanor presented the completed version of a jumper.
At first, he was confused until he realised it was the jumper that Hope had started. There was a happy cry that startled Remus and Margaret in the other room and as they came in, they found Lyall in tears. They were about to ask him what was wrong until Lyall jumped up to his feet and hugged Eleanor.
"I'm sorry it took so long, Grandpa," Eleanor said, "but I did promise I would have it finished before I headed off to school, didn't I? I didn't realise at first but judging by the pattern, I think Grandma was making this jumper for you, so I made it in your size. It should fit! Oh, I also made a matching hat and socks for it, hold on, I left those upstairs."
Eleanor ran off, giving Lyall the opportunity to put it on, but as soon as he did, he found himself pulled into the scene of Eleanor's bedroom. He was oddly confused as Eleanor had been next to him only seconds ago, only to see that she was sitting on her bed, working on the jumper he was currently wearing. He could also see through her bedroom window that it was night as it was dark outside, but it had been sunny outside that morning.
But as Eleanor sat working on her bed, she seemed to be working intently to finish and just as Lyall went to blink, he swore he saw Hope sitting beside her, watching Eleanor knit with a smile on her face. However, the scene quickly vanished and Lyall found himself back in the kitchen, Margaret had left the room, but Remus stood there, eyeing his father suspiciously.
"You saw something," Remus hurried over and whispered to him, "didn't you? Did you see a memory?"
"I don't know," Lyall breathed, pressing a hand to his chest to touch the front of the jumper, "I put it on and found myself in Ellie's room and then...I saw your mother with her. The two of them just sitting there, your mother was smiling while Eleanor worked."
Remus raised a confused brow as Lyall's experience seemed to differ from his own, but there was little time to discuss as Eleanor returned to the kitchen, carrying the matching hat and socks. Neither of the men mentioned what Lyall had seen, but Remus was starting to put together that there was something oddly peculiar with Eleanor's knitting and believed it had to do with the fact that she knitted with her wand.
She never mentioned placing any charms on her garments, but he thought back to when she had first approached him in his classroom back at Hogwarts. At the time, Remus wasn't feeling his best, still recovering from a recent full moon and Eleanor had come to him with a question regarding a person casting magic to protect themselves, even if they weren't aware that they were doing so.
"What if a person didn't cast a protection spell? The spell was cast, they weren't aware of it, but the spell didn't hit them. Is there a form of protective magic that would be able to repel a spell without a person being aware of it? For example, let's say you attempted to hex me, I'm not aware that you're about to attack, but I still manage to dodge it or maybe it rebounds."
At the time, Eleanor brushed it off quickly and claimed it had been nothing more than a random thought that crossed her mind, but perhaps she was aware of something odd happening. Of course, there was a difference between Remus and Lyall seeing possible memories versus Eleanor repelling spells, but maybe they weren't that far apart.
Either way, Remus was aware he wasn't the only one to experience something.
Arriving at King's Cross Station, for the first time, Eleanor had quite the entourage with her. Margaret, Remus, and Lyall made it a point to accompany her, but Margaret's trip ended a little short as she remained outside the barrier. The two embraced in a hug and it seemed more than ever, Margaret didn't wish to let her go. She promised that Eleanor would learn of the surprise that awaited her at school soon and once she did, she wanted to hear everything about her daughter's reaction in Eleanor's next letter.
"I love you, Mum," Eleanor told her, "I'll write as soon as I can. And maybe you can tell me all about the dates you and Dad have gone on because I know he's not going to tell me."
"Ellie!"
"See you at Christmas!" she laughed before pulling her trunk along to the barrier where Remus and Lyall were waiting on her. She passed through first, her initial reaction was to look around for Cedric and Marnie, but also, in Fred's latest letter, he told her that he and George wanted to join them in their compartment for the ride, rather than having Eleanor go back and forth.
But before departing, Eleanor said her goodbyes to Lyall, who threatened that if she didn't write him, that he would show up at Hogwarts and embarrass the living hell out of her without hesitation. And when she turned to Remus, she wanted to smile, but seeing the flicker of sadness in his eyes, she couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Come on, Dad," she said, nudging him slightly, "Christmas isn't that far off, we'll see each other soon. Don't look so sad."
"I'm not sad, Ellie," he said, "I'm just going to miss you that's all. Don't worry about me. I want you to have fun and try not to get into too much trouble."
"No promises."
"I mean it, Ellie, I'm serious- "
"I thought you were Remus?"
There was a moment as the two of them stared at each other, until they simultaneously broke into laughter.
"Touché."
With two more departing hugs, Eleanor waved in the direction of her father and grandfather before making her way to board the Hogwarts Express. Something told her that Marnie had probably already boarded the train, in hopes of escaping her family as soon as possible. She was scanning each compartment and finally, just as she hoped, she came upon Marnie. Sliding the door open forcefully, Eleanor hurried in and upon seeing her, Marnie jumped up from her seat.
"Marnie!"
"Ellie, the love of my life!" Marnie screeched as she grabbed her. "You don't know how happy I am to see you!"
"The love of your life, huh? Did you really miss me that much?" Eleanor chuckled as the two of them plopped down in the nearest seat.
"You have no idea, this summer was a complete and utter hell," she answered. "You would think travelling across Europe would be exciting and something to write about. But no, not when you're in the company of the Saxon family, what a fucking embarrassment my parents are."
"Oh, it couldn't have been that bad, Marnie."
"Oh, but it was, Ellie, it really was. Remember how I told you that we went to go visit the Catacombs of Paris? I was actually looking forward to it the most, my parents even booked a muggle tour. But do you know why they booked the muggle tour, Ellie? It was so they could talk over the tour guide the entire time, telling the entire history and not only did they tell it in English, because that would be too easy. No, they also told it in fluent French. It was so embarrassing, I kept trying to get them to stop, but they wouldn't listen to me."
Eleanor cringed at the mere thought of Marnie's parents taking over the tour, the second-hand embarrassment was overwhelming. "Well, couldn't the tour guide tell them to stop?"
"She tried, that poor woman, she tried, but they just kept right on going. They did this at every historical monument we visited. And they were so loud about it, other tourists were complaining too. But when I finally complained, they lectured me about not knowing the world's history and being completely ungrateful at the opportunity to learn."
"Marnie, I'm so sorry," Eleanor frowned, "really, I am. I thought maybe going on holiday that you would have fun."
"Me too, go figure, "Marnie said, "and then to hear about all the fun you and Cedric had over the summer. Professor Lupin turned out to be your father, you met your grandfather, you went to the Weasleys' home, you went to the World Quidditch Cup. You had a damn good summer, Ross, I'm completely jealous. Just please tell me that you and Fred are an item now because, after everything that happened, I'm surprised you two didn't run off to get married."
With a laugh, Eleanor shook her head. "No! We're not together and we certainly didn't run off to get married."
Marnie let out a groan. "Oh, why the hell not? Not the marriage thing, but he hasn't asked you out on a date. What the hell is he waiting for? What are you waiting for? You two are more romantic than most married couples I've seen. My goodness, the way you two are just tiptoeing around this, do you want me to tell him for you?"
Eleanor's face drained all colour. "For the love of Merlin's ear hair, no, I don't want you to tell him for me. That never ends well. Don't you remember back when Roger Davies had his friend tell me that he liked me back in fourth year? And I had to awkwardly tell him to tell Roger that I wasn't interested. Roger still can't look me in the eye to this very day."
"Okay, but in all fairness, Roger never did anything to make it obvious that he liked you, that boy has the personality of a toaster. Fred, on the other hand, pretty much carries around a banner that says, "I love Eleanor Ross" and waves it at any chance he's given."
"Well, if you think it's fair to tell Fred that I like him, why don't I tell Cedric that you like him?"
At any other time that Eleanor threatened to expose Marnie's crush on Cedric, she was either met with angry denial or violence, but surprisingly Marnie remained calm.
"Oh, I guess you haven't heard, but I don't fancy Cedric anymore," Marnie said, checking out her nail bed, "I decided that over the summer that we were better off as friends."
Eleanor's eyes widened. "Who are you and what have you done to the real Marnie Saxon? You've been in love with him for years now, you mean to tell me that in a span of a few weeks you managed to get over him?"
"What good was it doing me fancying him? I was just wasting my time; I need to focus my attention on finding the right person for me."
"But what about the hundred angry quidditch babies? Including the one you'll name after me?"
Part of her thought Marnie was putting on a huge front, probably because now that Cedric and Cho were back at school, they would probably start dating soon enough. However, as Cedric arrived at their compartment, Marnie didn't appear flustered at all. Instead, she greeted him with a hug that caught not only Cedric but Eleanor off guard before Marnie settled back and demanded that the two fill her in over the details of the summer.
Cedric exchanged a side glance with Eleanor, looking puzzled by Marnie's slight shift in demeanour, but Eleanor said nothing, especially as Fred and George arrived, with Lee following behind them inside. Fred came to sit beside her, and Eleanor swore everyone else was smiling at the two of them. Thankfully, there was the distraction of Cedric leaving to head to the Prefects' Compartment for a meeting.
"So, Ellie, I heard that Professor Lupin turned out to be your father," Lee said at one point, "amazing, that is. Any chance that you convinced him to come back and teach this year?"
"Sorry, Lee," Eleanor gave a slight shake of her head, "he's found himself quite busy doing other things. But I did try."
"Well, that's a shame, I wonder who our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor will be?"