Thnx Claire, camping was great Hope ur new years went well
Next post!

“Merlin’s beard! Thank heavens you’re alright”, he said, his voice breaking awkwardly. Ellouise just stared up at him. It didn’t make sense, but then everything started coming back to her. She remembered the early morning, having breakfast, she remembered Tver, remembered watching the death eaters appear, followed by the Russian ministry officials. Ellouise inhaled sharply as she realised what had happened shortly after that, she remembered standing in the dark hallway, her hand covered in blood. Instinctively she placed her hand at her side, she felt the bandage hugging her wound, it was still quite tender. She tried to speak, but no sound came out. After taking a sip of water from the glass on her bedside table she cleared her throat noisily.
“Get out,” she rasped, her facial expression hard and unforgiving.
Anton nodded and left the room, his footsteps disappearing as they continued to climb the stairs. He had understood why she wanted him to leave. He didn’t blame her, but his heart sank, knowing that he wasn’t welcome at Grimmauld Place anymore.

Ellouise drank some more of her water, she was feeling quite dehydrated. It trickled down her throat softly, soothing the dry ache. After setting the empty glass down on the bedside table Ellouise glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight, but no doubt people would still be awake. Slowly and carefully Ellouise shifted to the edge of the bed and lowered her feet to the floor. The pain in her side ached and throbbed but was bearable. After grabbing her nightgown off the hook on the back of her door she proceeded down the stairs. All was quiet at Grimmauld Place, there was a slight eeriness to it. Shadows moved along the walls as she descended in the low light, from the candles burning in their candelabra. It took Ellouise some time to venture down the stairs, she winced occasionally as she turned. The green drawing room was empty, the red embers burned brightly in the grate, but the fire had long died out. Voices could be heard now, laughing, chuckling and giggling away. Ellouise proceeded down a small flight of stairs that led to the kitchen below. Nobody heard her enter. She stood silently in the shadows, observing the people in the room. There were the usual suspects of course, Naomi, Remus, Sirius, James and Lily all sat at one end of the long kitchen table, deep in discussion, their voices hushed. There was a red-headed man amongst them, Ellouise recognised his face but still hadn’t been introduced to him. Further down the table sat Xavier, Carlisle and Harry, they too had unfamiliar guests. There were five red-headed boys sitting with them. Two of which were identical twins. Ellouise stared for a moment as she watched them talking and laughing. Xavier smiled at Harry and the youngest of the red-headed boys. They were talking loudly, the red-headed boy seemed to be explaining to Harry why he thought the Chudley Cannons were the best quidditch team, Ellouise suppressed a laugh, she seemed to think that was a lost cause. Xavier’s gaze drifted from Harry and the others to the shadows by the door. Ellouise smiled slowly as she saw his expression change from complacency to one of surprise and joy. Xavier immediately jumped up from his seat and ran to Ellouise, throwing his arms around her. Ellouise winced in pain, but didn’t push him away. When Xavier finally released her she was pulled into another hug by Remus, who had also conveniently forgotten she was injured. Ellouise screwed up her face in pain, but held on tightly, embracing Remus’s warmth. How long had she been out for? She didn’t know.
“Elle,” started Remus, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again”, he said as he led her to the table so that she could sit down.
By this stage everyone that was in the kitchen had gathered around her, the red-heads grouped together slightly apart from them all but still very close. Ellouise smiled at them, the twins grinned at her broadly while the younger just stood there gaping, his jaw had literally dropped to his chest. Harry sat next to her on one side and hugged her tightly, she didn’t mind it was worth it for Harry. Naomi set down a fresh pot of nettle tea and conjured up some cups. As soon as the tea-pot poured her tea she gulped down the sweetened liquid in one shot. Ellouise was still very thirsty, she didn’t even mind as the liquid scorched her tongue and burned her throat on its way down, though her stomach wasn’t too happy about it. The loud rumbles emanated from her stomach like thunder.
“So... so,” Ellouise paused, her voice was still raspy, but she forced the words to come out, “How long... has it been?” she asked.
There was a sudden silence as Remus, Naomi, Xavier, Sirius, James, Lily and Carlisle exchanged looks. “Well...Elle, dearest. You’ve been unconscious for a few days”, piped up Naomi as she put a comforting arm around her shoulder. The others nodded.
“I’m so sorry for what happened Elle. My brother... I can’t defend his actions”, he said, his eyes pleading with her to understand. Ellouise nodded, she understood. He was Carlisle’s family after all, and no matter what happens between family, you would always love them. Even if it was easier not to.

The night wore on, Ellouise was introduced the Weasley Family, Arthur was the red-headed man she had seen here before the reconnaissance mission, he was very polite and friendly and very eager for discussion. His wife Molly, who had joined them after taking their daughter Ginny to bed, was a short plump witch with rosy cheeks and a warm personality. She had gushed over Ellouise when she entered the kitchen, “My goodness, Remus... she’s ok. She’s beautiful... and to have gone through so much. Poor dear. Horrible times these are. Children! Children sent out to do our bidding. Why I wouldn’t let Bill out of my sight if I had a choice in the matter”, she had gone on for so long. Ellouise couldn’t help but laugh. Though Molly and Andrea were so different in a number of ways, their passion and love for their children was much the same. Ellouise was reminded of this, and visions from her dream flashed through her mind. The eldest son of the Weasley family, Bill, wasn’t there, the eighteen year old was on the front line in London, fighting against the dark side. Charlie was sixteen and had shoulder length red hair that was tied into a pony-tail. He was quiet and didn’t say much, Ellouise noticed that he, like Xavier had a sense of masculinity about him, though he was still quite young his muscles were well developed and he carried himself like his adult counterparts. Next came Percy, he was a great deal skinnier, not at all like Bill. He had short red hair and unnaturally pale skin, almost as if he had never been out of doors. Fred and George Weasley caused Ellouise the most grief in their short meeting. Their sense of humour was so extravagant and lively that she couldn’t help but laugh at them, though this did bring many tears to her eyes as she clutched the wound at her side. Xavier and Remus looked at the twins, both were equally disapproving. Lastly was Ron, the youngest son. Ron was very shy in the beginning, he had been simply astonished at the fact that Ellouise was a member of the Order of the Phoenix and that she had been fatally injured during a mission. It had taken him about an hour to feel comfortable in her presence, and then came all the questions, “Did you fight the death eaters?”, “What did they look like?”, “Do they smell really bad? Like a corpse?” he had asked. “I heard that they have huge horrible scars all over their faces so that if their masks are removed they can’t be identified, is it true?” Ellouise had just smiled at him, trying to answer his questions as quickly, politely and accurately as possible. Ellouise glanced up at the wall clock, as she was so accustomed to doing, it was almost four in the morning, but she wasn’t tired enough to go to bed. Instead she settled herself down in the green drawing room and watched Xavier and Carlisle play a few games of Wizard chess.