TEA WITH MOM AND MOLLY
Before Eloise could go to the Burrow, two things had happened. One, her coworker, Jennifer, had owled and asked to switch shifts. Eloise agreed, glad she wouldn't have to work, especially after the second event: her father had phoned the muggle telephone in the flat, asking her to come over on urgent business. Eloise had apparated over immediately, walking into the house from the backyard.
"Dad! Mum!"
John Martin winced. Anne Martin gave him a stern look.
"In the kitchen, Eloise!"
Eloise entered, kissed her mother and father's cheeks and sat down across from him at the table.
"I'm going to check on Pops," Anne said, leaving the table.
John stared at Eloise. It hurt him to finally tell her.
"Eloise, I need to come clean about something. You aren't a muggleborn witch," he blurted.
Eloise looked at him baffled. "Of course I am, you and Mum are muggles."
"Actually, Eloise, my wife is a muggle. Your mother and I are not."
Eloise's eyes grew wide. "No."
"Your mother was killed in the Wizarding World — just a few months after you were born. I didn't know how to cope, so I ran. I wrote Dumbledore, resigned from the Order of the Phoenix and told him I'm disassociating from magic and will live as a muggle. I moved home with my parents, turned my Wizarding currency into muggle funds and started over."
"No, I'm named for Mum's favorite novels."
"No, Eloise, you're named after your mother's grandmother and your mum. Those names just so happen to also be the names of Anne's favorite books, so that's what we told you."
"But you and Mum have been married for — "
"You were one, we married 20 years ago and Anne agreed we would celebrate early so you never knew."
"But," Eloise tried to continue but choked on her words, tears threatening to fall.
"I'm sorry, Eloise," her dad told her, patting her hand.
"What was her name?"
"Madeline Grace Pederson. She was a muggleborn."
Eloise stood quickly, walked out the back door she had come in, and apparated away.
***
Eloise knocked on the door of the Burrow. She immediately heard Molly call, "Come in, dear!"
Eloise opened the door and found Molly chopping vegetables — presumably for dinner. She began to move away from her chopping board, leaving the knife cutting, and towards Eloise, arms open.
Eloise immediately burst into tears into Molly's shoulder. Molly's grip tightened as the girl started to sink to the ground.
"My dad," she blubbered.
"Eloise, dear, sit down," Molly said, calmly, guiding her to the couch. "I'm going to get some tea."
Eloise didn't see, as she was watching the flames of the fire, trying to catch her breath, but Molly picked up the muggle telephone she so hated and started to
dial the number pinned above it — belonging to one Charles Weasley.
Molly then brought tea to Eloise, who began to apologize profusely.
"Oh, please, dear, don't —" Molly was interrupted by a series of grunts tumbling from the fireplace in front of them.
"Charlie!" Eloise exclaimed.
"El!" he replied, cheerfully, hugging the small girl into him tightly.
"I heard my best girl was crying. I came as fast as I could."
Eloise smiled, turning to Molly, who was looking a bit sheepish. It was no secret Molly wanted Eloise and Charlie to be together.
"But seriously, Elo, what's happened?"
Eloise sat down and recounted the two recent visits to her childhood home.
"Merlin!" Molly yelped upon hearing the name. "She was a Hufflepuff in my year. Prefect, just like you, Eloise. I don't know about your father, but I can ask Arthur."
Eloise's lip quivered and Charlie pulled her into his chest.
"Why now?" Eloise whimpered. "Why not tell me when I got my letter?"
Charlie and Molly said nothing, but sat there as Eloise began to weep into Charlie's shirt.
Eventually, she became so exhausted, she fell asleep in Charlie's arms.
"Oh, my," Molly said. "You can put her in your bed, dear."
Charlie shook his head. "I'll take her home. Tell Dora what happened."
Molly nodded solemnly.
Charlie then left the house with a kiss to his mother's cheek and apparated to Madam Malkin's, then made his way up the stairs to her flat. He kicked the door, as his hands held Eloise.
A man Charlie immediately recognized opened the door.
"Oh my Merlin!" he yelled, waking Eloise. She tugged on his arm and he put her down, shoving her behind him a bit.
Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the new location. "Oh, fuck. Come in, love, quick."
Sirius winced at the word love, but only Charlie noticed as he kept Eloise behind him while entering the flat.
"Dora!" Eloise called into the flat, ignoring Charlie's attempts to "protect" her.
The purple haired girl entered the room, and her eyes grew as she looked from the redhead to her cousin and back again.
"Shit."
***
The girls ended up explaining everything to a very hesitant Charlie — while forgetting to explain who exactly Charlie was to Sirius.
"So, wait, why are you here?" Dora asked the redhead after he had calmed down.
"Eloise showed up at the Burrow sobbing and my mom called."
"Eloise, why were you crying?" Dora exclaimed, grabbing her friend's head.
Eloise shoved her off playfully and, much more calmly than she had at the Burrow, explained everything to her flatmates.
Charlie took this opportunity to write an owl to the Reserve, informing them he would return from urgent business in London next week.
"No fucking way!" Dora yelled upon learning Eloise's news. "We should write Mum about it."
Eloise shook her head. "I'm okay. I honestly just want to watch a film and have some takeout. I know it breaks the schedule, but —"
Dora was up and making an order for Leaky Cauldron delivery.
Charlie and Eloise cuddled up into the loveseat, her body between his legs with the back of her head resting on his chest and his arms wrapped around her torso.
"Thank you for staying," she said to him.
"Anything for you, Elo."