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After seeing off Bill and Cillian, Eleanora went upstairs to get to bed early. That day, the deaths of her mother and Sirius were hitting her particularly hard. Bill had noticed immediately and offered to stay home with Eleanora, but she assured him she would rather have the night to herself. When she got up to her bedroom, she changed her mind. She sank down onto the bed and stared at the wall in front of her, running over the options of who she could go to.
She knew Lupin's doors were always open, but she wasn't exactly in the mood for his usual cynicism. Moody was also an option, but Eleanora knew he would want to talk strategy and she was too tired for that. The twins were, of course, an option, but they hated silence and were too energetic to just sit still for an evening. Eleanora could hear Mrs. Weasley and Daisy talking in the kitchen, baking cookies for the next Order meeting. She didn't exactly feel like talking to anyone. Eleanora slowly came to the realization to the only person she really felt like being with was the one she'd sent out for drinks with her father.
She sighed and laid back on her bed, trying to get the images of her mother's body and Sirius falling through the veil out of her head. Her fingers clenched around the bedspread and unclenched as she tried with all her might to think of something- anything different. She squeezed her eyes shut because the flowers covering the room reminded her too much of her mother. Eveline had loved flowers so much.
Finally, Eleanora couldn't take it anymore. She slid out of bed and crossed the floor in her bare feet, escaping the pink, flower covered bedroom and leaning against the wall in the hallway to catch her breath. Through the window on the landing, she could see that dusk was just now settling into twilight. Bill wouldn't be home for hours. She turned and climbed the stairs, stopping at the twins' old room, which Daisy was using as her bedroom while the twins were living by themselves. She thought about sleeping in there, but she didn't want to answer any questions Daisy might have when she got upstairs. She climbed another flight of stairs to stand outside of Bill's room. The two of them mainly hung out in Eleanora's room, and she honestly couldn't really remember when she'd last been in Bill's. It must've been before the mission last year. She pushed the door open.
Bill's room was cozy, with blankets and books lying about everywhere. It was cluttered in a comforting way, and Eleanora immediately felt at home. She crossed over to the bed and climbed under the covers, inhaling the smell of peppermint, leather, citrus, and cologne. It was an odd combination, but one of her favorites in the world. She buried her face in the pillow and breathed deeply, finally calming her nerves for the first time all night. When she turned her head, Eleanora caught a glimpse of the picture frame on Bill's bedside table. She sat up to get a better look, and smiled when she saw the picture. It was of her and Bill last summer, before they'd even gotten together.
She could remember when the picture had been taken, it had been the day after Ginny's birthday. Ginny had gotten a camera as a gift from her aunt, and had spent the entire day taking moving pictures of everyone in the house. The one in the frame by Bill's bedside was of Eleanora and Bill in the kitchen of the Burrow drinking coffee. Neither of them were looking at the camera- instead, Eleanora was laughing hard at something Bill had said, her joyful eyes cast towards the ground, and Bill was staring at Eleanora with a large grin covering his face. Looking down at the picture, Eleanora couldn't help but smile to herself at the obvious love filling Bill's eyes. How did she not see it before? Eleanora took one more look at the picture, then set it back down on the table and settled into Bill's bed, closing her eyes and falling asleep for the first time in what felt like days.
