It was obvious that no one wanted the celebration to end as the party lasted until the late evening hours. However, Teddy, Stella, and Eliza let their parents know that they were tired and wanted to go to bed by loud cries into the night.
"I'm with Teddy." Eleanor yawned. "I'm exhausted right now."
"You say that, but when we get home, you're going to crawl into bed and I'm going to find you knitting." Fred said.
"That's not the case tonight, I'm too tired, I probably wouldn't even get my hands to cooperate for one stitch."
"Awww poor Ellie. How are you still functioning now?" Fred pouted at her.
"Do not mock me!" she laughed, when she was suddenly hoisted over his shoulder.
"Alright Ellie, say goodnight to everybody." he said.
"No, put me down!" Eleanor said hitting his back.
"A little lower next time, remember?" he smirked. Quickly, he jumped when he was pinched.
"Ellie!"
"Better?" Eleanor grinned as she set back down on her feet. Fred rubbed his backside, but laughed along with her as he pulled her close to him.
"Keep that up, and you won't be getting any sleep tonight." he whispered in her ear before pulling away to say goodnight to his family.
Eleanor hugged Tonks, her father and then gently placed a soft kiss on Teddy's forehead as he continued to sleep on Remus.
"I'll see you guys soon then, yeah?" she looked up at her father.
"Of course, you know where to find us." Remus told her. "You know you are always welcomed at the house, Ellie. I feel like I shouldn't have to tell you that."
The truth was Eleanor was fully aware that she could visit any time she wanted, but she wanted to give the two privacy and allow them to raise Teddy without her getting in the way. Remus hadn't been able to be there while she was growing up, and he had missed out on a lot. She didn't want him to miss out anything when it came to Teddy's childhood.
"Your grandfather is coming on Tuesday." Remus said. "He said you better be there."
Eleanor smiled. "Of course. I haven't seen him in a bit. I hope he's feeling better."
"Oh that man doesn't stay down long." Remus reassured her. "Trust me."
"Well, I'll definitely be there on Tuesday, if it's any sooner, I'll let you know."
The Lupins left, shortly before Harry was getting ready to leave with Nixie and Sirius. Eleanor gave the birthday man a hug.
"I hope you had a nice birthday, Harry." she told him.
"I definitely did. Couldn't imagine it being any better." He said looking around at everyone hugging and wishing each other a good night.
She patted him on the back, over the years Eleanor had adopted Harry as her little brother without bothering to ask him. She just wanted to see him happy and finally appeared that he was.
"You should come by the shop sometime."
"I've been meaning to. I will on my next day off. What days are you normally working?" Harry asked her.
"Harry, don't worry about that, I'm always there." she leaned into him to whisper. "They won't let me leave."
Harry laughed as Fred and George stood behind her.
"See what I mean?" she pointed to the two.
"Alright, say goodnight Ellie." Fred said.
"Goodnight Ellie!" Eleanor told Harry.
"Goodnight everyone."
After returning to the flat, Eleanor left to the shower first knowing she wouldn't be up much longer while Fred and George sat at the kitchen table going over the plan they had come up with earlier.
Eleanor made sure to check out her products first before using them, and when she finished, she dressed herself in her pajamas and left to collapse onto the bed.
She remembered the time where they had argued about the bed placement, and they ultimately placed the bed by the window. She laid back, resting her head back on the pillow and looked out the window. All of Diagon Alley was closed down for the night, leaving the night sky able to shine. All the stars were lit up, as Eleanor's eyes scanned over them to find the stars that she had named with her mother.
Her eyes fell on the stars named Chip and Carol. She closed her eyes and thought of her mother. She wished her mother hadn't met such a horrible fate, but it comforted Eleanor a little to know her killer was rotting away in Azkaban for the rest of their awful life. It was during times like when she was around Molly and the other women discussing wedding details and such that Eleanor really wished her mother was there. She had a complicated relationship with her mother growing up, but it didn't make her love her mother any less, she missed the woman terribly.
But it wasn't just her mother she missed, she missed Artemis too. She had fought after the battle to ensure that Artemis was praised as a heroine, and not discriminated just because of her last name.
She swallowed the lump that developed in her throat as she thought of the two women, and turned on her side facing away from the room.
Letting out a tired yawn, Eleanor was fully prepared to fall asleep within minutes when the door to the bedroom opened. Fred walked in keeping the light off, as he closed the door behind him slowly to keep quiet.
"Are you asleep?" he whispered into the darkness.
"Not yet." she answered him.
"Good." he climbed onto the bed and laid down beside her.Eleanor curled right into him as his arm snaked around her waist and pulled her close to him. "Did you have fun tonight?" he asked her.
"I did. Besides the fact that I passed out after a couple of pastries..."
"Hmmm..."
"Oh no..what?"
"Pass out pastries..."
"Fred, what have I said about keeping business out of the bedroom." she groaned.
"Well if I make you my business right now?" he said.
"Wait..what?"
"I'm trying to be romantic here, do you mind?" he said as he planted gentle kisses along her jawline. She giggled and turned her head away from him.
"What?" Fred said propping himself up by his elbows.
"That tickled."
"Oh really?!"
"Fred, no...stop!"
She held her hands out to block him from getting any closer to her but Fred was much faster and used to the darkness to his advantage.He snuck himself between her arms and continued kissing around her neck, making her laugh even more.
"Shhh, Ellie don't be so loud."
"Well stop tickling me!"
"No way, I'm having far too much fun." he grinned.
To defend herself, Eleanor ran her hands along Fred's sides and suddenly, he backed away with a laugh. "Oh so you are ticklish too! Ha!"
Fred backed away on the bed. "Now, Ellie, let's not do anything crazy."
"Oh it's on Weasley."
George was grabbing himself a glass of water before bed as he witnessed Fred dart of the bedroom and race down the stairs towards the shop. Only seconds later did Eleanor appear in the doorway.
"Do I even want to know?" he asked.
Eleanor scratched the back of her neck. "Probably not."