"Potter," Draco grunted, greeting his old enemy at the front door of Ellia's new profound home. Harry glanced at Draco, biting back his tongue at all the words he could say to him.
"Malfoy," he bluntly replied, pushing past him into the house as Draco closed the door behind him. Rolling his eyes at the guest, Draco followed Harry into the living, where Ellia was settled in a chair reading the Daily Prophet. For a split second, Draco and Harry thought that they had seen their old potions Professor in the chair.
"Harry, what are you doing here?" Ellia asked, springing from the chair and dropping the Daily Prophet. The difference between her and her late father was now clear, and the energy Ellia was emitting pushed Harry towards that conclusion.
"We're all concerned, we haven't seen you around in a while," Harry answered, watching Ellia as she pulled her hand brought her straight hair.
"Oh don't worry, I'm fine," Ellia chuckled, picking up a small bowl of sherbet lemons that sat beside her chair on a little table,"Sherbet Lemon?"
"Urm, please?" Harry answered, picking out a small sherbet lemon that was blanketed in its plastic cover. Now Draco noticed her Dumbledore roots showing through, she'd sat in the same chair all week with the bowl of sherbet lemons.
"Anyway, how's Marley doing?" Ellia asked Harry, intrigued about how to little ginger offspring was doing.
"She's doing good, you should see her sometime. She's grown up a lot," Harry suggested, taking the lemon out of the wrapping and placing it in his mouth.
"I will, it's just I've been busy lately," She sighed, placing the bowl back on the table as Harry sucked on the sweet.
"Busy? El, I'm not being funny but you've been banged up in this house for days, weeks, months even," Draco said, standing beside Harry for once. It was no lie, she'd been separated from everybody around her following the list of funerals she had attended. It was in fact, Draco's first time that month seeing Ellia, she'd again and again given people excuses that she was busy and couldn't see them.
"Draco, please," Ellia said, afraid Harry was bring up the fact that her mental health was now a cause for concern.
"He's right though. I know it hard Ellia, but boxing yourself in this house won't make anything better. You're 16, you should be out there socialising, not reading the Daily Prophet and their lies," Harry agreed, him and Draco finally having something in common.
"You don't know what it's like," Ellia argued, "You find yourself in a dark place."
"It's been six months," Draco replied, his voice calm and quiet.
"You need help, witch or not," Harry followed, his voice mirroring Draco's.
"Well fine, I'll go see Marley, and Teddy, and Panemia, and Aberforth. And I'll drink some happy potion and everything will be the same again. Is that what you're saying?" Ellia argued, falling back into the chair before covering her face with her hands, "It's not that simple."
"Look, your father blamed himself for my mothers, and your mothers death his whole life," Harry started.
"And it made him sour and heartless and cold," Draco carried on.
"So what we're saying is that we won't let you end up like that," Harry said.
"Enemies or not," Draco finished, as Ellia looked up at the pair of them.
"Then what do I do?" Ellia asked them.
"I'll take you up north to Aberforth," Draco said, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her into an embrace in his arms, "And I'll stay there with you and won't leave your side."
"Molly will be happy to greet you in Hogsmede with George and Marley. I'm sure Andromeda will bring Teddy there as well," Harry piped in, awkwardly stood at the side as the two embraced.
"I'm sorry," Ellia murmured into Draco's shoulders, her voice breaking down as her walls guarding her were slowly being torn down.
"It's not your fault," Draco said, rubbing his hand up and down her back, "We'll pack some things and go."
As soon as she was packed, Ellia ran out of the house with her bags in her hand ready. She couldn't bare stay behind any longer, and she just wanted to be done packing as soon as she started. She'd only taken a selection of clothing, as well as her essentials, which consisted of toiletries, a potion making book, ingredients, a cauldron and her wand, which was hidden up her sleeve.
"Are you ready to go?" Draco asked her, closing and locking the front door behind them, before turning to face her.
"I don't want to stay a minute longer," Ellia replied, as Draco encased his hand around hers and begun walking away from the house. Ellia didn't take one look back, she kept looking forward on at the future with Draco, together. The streets were cold and there were no children playing out. Yet she was leaving it behind. They reached a small alleyway, where it was just as empty as the streets before, but out of the public eye. They apparated straight into Hogsmede, landing in the middle of the snowing streets.
"It's freezing," Draco replied, pulling two cloaks from his own bag and wrapping one around Ellia.
"You're too good to me Draco," Ellia chuckled, watching him as he wrapped one around himself.
"I think it's the opposite way around, after all, I'm the ex-Death Eater," Draco replied, grabbing hold of Ellia's hand once more as a couple of children skipped past them.
"What month is it again?" Ellia asked him, watching more cloaked children rush past.
"December, why?" Draco asked her, following the direction of her eyes.
"They're Hogwarts students. I forgot it re-opened in September," Ellia sighed, watching the children run around excited. First Years, obviously. McGonagall has obviously abolished the rule that only Third Years and above can go to Hogsmede, although they were probably had extra supervision somewhere.
"Do you think it's a trip to Hogsmede by any chance?" Draco asked her, walking away from the students.
"Yeah, the Hogs Head will be reasonably busy then," Ellia said, walking towards the Hogs Head as the snow settled on the ground.
"You never, you might just see McGonagall around or something," Draco said, as he opened the door to the Hogs Head and stepped inside. There were small mixtapes in the background of chatting coming from some Hogwarts students, but it was Aberforth who caught Ellia's eye.
"Ellia, how grand of you to join us," Aberforth greeted her, stepping away from the bar and huddling towards her.
"Us?" Ellia asked, placing her bags down on the floor. In her head, she didn't expect anybody else to be there at the exact moment.
"El..l..l..l..l," A small fluffy hair ginger came running through the private quarters doors, her hair bouncy up and down as she toddled along the floor, barely keeping her balance. For a 18 month old, she sure was lively.
"Marley," Ellia said, her jaw dropping as she ran towards the toddler, swooping down and grabbing hold of the toddler before throwing her up in the air, "How's little Marley Moooooo?" The toddler burst out in laughter of excitement.
"Ellia sweetheart," Molly followed after Marley into the room, wrapping an arm around the girl who was holding the toddler, "It's so good to see you."
"You too Molly," Ellia replied, beaming for the first time in weeks, "I didn't expect to see anybody here yet. I mean, I knew you were coming, but not now."
"Well, surprise I suppose," Molly said, as George and Arthur burst into the room.
"GEORGE!" Ellia shouted, slowly placing Marley down and running up to her best friend, "GEORGE YOU IDIOT!" She wrapped her arms around him, as George mirrored her actions.
"Little Snapey, wow I've missed you," George said, his voice excited and fulfilled.
"How have you been?" Ellia asked him, letting go and almost bouncing in excitement.
"Better than you, I've heard," George said.
"We'll that's a different story," Ellia said, changing the subject and turning around to Aberforth, "Aberforth, gosh I owe you so much."
"Hush, after all, you are my great-great-great niece," Aberforth assured her, his crippled lip curled to form a smile.