I - Number 12 Grimmauld Place
"Look who's back."
Mrs. Weasley ushered her husband in through the kitchen door and directed him to a vacant chair, which stood at the end of the long wooden table.
Until just now, the mood at number 12 Grimmauld Place had been subdued and tense, but the sight of Mr. Arthur Weasley, more specific a living Mr. Arthur Weasley managed to bring a smile to everyone's face, or at least a tiny lift of the corners of their mouths.
Mr. Weasley wore a lopsided purple paper crown that sat crookedly on his head and grinned broadly at the crowd. His face littering with scratches, and his left eye turned to an unhealty blue-red-color. His hands bandaged, one of his arms was held in front of his chest by a bright white sling so he could spare the arm.
He was feeling quite good but exhausted and worn out.
And so the red-haired man offered a whimsical impression as he announced in a way to cheerful voice that he even had to get stitched up Muggle-style because magical healing methods did show no effect whatsoever on the snakebite. Not that it wondered anybody, the snake he had encountered was quite the beast.
"Very fascinating, you know kids?" reported Arthur Weasley happily. He picked up a plate with his healthier hand, which Molly held in front of him, "They have a real needle there, about this big." With the fingers of his healthier hand, he tried to make the size clear, "and then they take one of these ..."
"That's enough, Arthur. This really isn't a dinner issue," his wife said energetically and made clear, that this topic was not open to discussion.
Molly Weasley pressed her lips tightly together, and she looked as if she would explode at any moment. She set another plate of pumpkin soup a little too forcefull down in front of Sirius. Some splashed across the table and onto his dark brown shirt. It didn't bother him as he knew the woman just had been scared for her husbands life.
"Molly, don't get so upset," Remus, who was sitting across from Sirius, tried to calm down the red-haired woman, "we were all worried sick about Arthur. The most important thing is that he's on the mend."
The addressed sighed and sat down at the table with the last plate in hand. She knew he was right, but the icky feeling of dreading worry stil clung to her and she feared to loose him stil.
"You're right, Remus. Then eat now and make it quick because you've got all kinds of work to do my dears. The doxies aren't going to disappear from the bedrooms on their own."
A loaf of sourdough bread landed beside her, cutting and serving itself in thick slices to each person. With a sideways glance at Mr. Weasley, she still announced.
"And no talk of needles and hospitals."
The meal passed reasonably quiet, with no deeper conversation. Only a little small talk here and there took place.
Hermione wondered aloud if perhaps she was already too late to study for exams. Shouldn't she have started at least at the beginning of December, and why, with Merlin's twirled top lip beard, she was so often distracted by Ronald and Harry.
Tonks, sitting next to her, just rolled her eyes. Studying was definitely not an issue for the Christmas vacations.
Harry and Ginny discussed the Quidditch season and the games each team had won and lost so far. Sports.
Sirius was eager to hear the Weasley twins present their latest inventions. Nosebleed Nougat from the skiving snack boxes and canary creams, a plain but fun joke product.
Arthur Weasley tried to soften his wife by complimenting her cooking, while Molly Weasley made sure everyone was full.
Remus, meanwhile, was silent and smiled a weak smile as he watched Emilia. She was ignoring him, obviously because she was mad at him, he was painfully aware of that, and it was no less painful how she had demonstratively started a conversation with Ron, flirting with him.
Of course, Remus Lupin was aware that he had rejected her very harshly, perhaps a little too harshly, but it had been for her own good. After all, he had only wanted to protect her, to protect her from himself.
Still, he disliked this situation and didn't know what displeased him more: that she was flirting with Ron Weasley or that he had rejected her, even though he was in love with her.
One by one, they left the table, and 12 plates and spoons floated towards the sink to clean themselves with the help of the enchanted dish brush, dry, and then put away.
Molly Weasley followed the younger children to oversee that they did indeed remove doxies. On the way, she put her husband Arthur to bed because he needed to rest, as the healer had ordered.
Tonks, on the other hand, said goodbye to those who remained. She winked briefly at Remus and then disappeared to return to her parents, to whom she had promised that she would stop by.
Remus Lupin stayed behind at the table, watching Emilia for a while, not noticing that she had long since gone upstairs. In return, he got a peck in the side from Sirius Black, his best friend. The latter and the two Weasley twins, who had decided they had enough doxies for their joke production and therefore didn't want to help clean up, had also stayed downstairs.
"So how's Umbridge doing in Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Remus had turned his gaze to Fred and George.
"Well, Umbitch is a ..." George put in, deliberately replacing the pink toad's actual name with what he thought was a much more appropriate term, and Fred added, "... real bitch, worse than a Blast-Ended Skrewt. But that's why we have Harry to teach us."
"Top Secret, of course!"
Both redheads held a finger to their lips.
"You guys shouldn't mess with her. She's known to make life a living hell for the people she dislikes," Sirius noted, very uncharacteristically, with a sideways glance at Remus. He just nodded wearily at that.
"Don't underestimate her. In that case, Sirius is right."
"And to make her life a living hell, we have Eli," George grimaced.
Fred continued, "She's a newly transferred student that joined at the beginning of the school year. And she's so cool: she helped us perfect the nosebleed nougat and most importantly," he dragged the a in and, "Georgie here", he patted his twins back, "has a massive crush on her."
Sirius winked conspiratorially at George: "Soso a Crush," he wiggled his eyebrows ambiguously. "You found yourself a great girl, a darling sweatheart?"
Remus snorted in amusement at Sirius' attempt to sound like a proud father.
"To put it in more similar terms to what you would say," George mumbled through his hands, "she's a bloody gorgeous woman with a lasciouvsly swinging hips that I am certain are out of this world."
"Georgie," Fred poked his twin in the side, "don't mumble like that. Nobody understands you like that."
The one addressed raised an eyebrow and looked at his twin. Was he trying to reprimand him right now?
He took a deep breath, the tips of his ears turning reddish, and there was a slight flush on his cheeks as well, as he repeated a little louder than necessary, "To use Sirius' words: she's a bloody gorgeous woman with a lasciouvsly swinging hipsthat I am certain are out of this world."
"Thanks for the compliment, George. Funnily enough, they are the exact words that Sirius said about me when first meeting me."
All four heads jerked towards the door.
Fred bit his finger as he took a bite of his pie. George's ears took on an unhealthy burning red color. Remus spat out the sip of tea he had just taken, and Sirius had jumped up and stood speechless, shocked, petrified. The chair he had sat on previously fell down with heavy impact and then there was utter silence.
For a moment, all eyes were on the young woman in the doorway, then Sirius found his voice again along with Remus.
"Elinor?"
They both continued to look at the door in disbelief as George asked, "How do you know Eli?" And the young woman, who had to be Elinor, smiled sadly.
"Hello, Sirius. Hello, Remus. It's nice to see you again."