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Eleanora got separated from Fred the second he spotted Lee Jordan. The two of them stopped to talk to him for a second, and then Eleanora insisted that she had to find Bill. "I'll meet up with you, okay?" she said, hugging Fred and giving Lee a kiss on the cheek. Then, she hurtled off to find her husband before the fighting really picked up.
She found Bill standing on the grounds, wand pointed at the school. "We're casting as many protection spells as possible," Bill said, relief etched all over his face the second he saw Eleanora. "How's Daisy?"
"Sleeping," Eleanora said. Bill furrowed his brow, looking down at Eleanora curiously. She looked too tired for the beginning of a battle, too worn out. In the last year, it was like she'd aged five. She reminded him of the way Cillian looked, with the dark circles etched under her eyes and the way her eyes went dull and vacant when she got too overwhelmed or worried.
He reached out a hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. "She put up a fight, didn't she?"
"Fred had to carry her."
"Sounds about right." He squeezed Eleanora's hand three times; I love you. She looked up at him, the faintest hint of the usual glimmer back in her eye and her lips twitching into the closest thing she could get to a smile.
She squeezed back. "At least she'll be safe. That's all that matters for now."
Bill nodded his head. "Have you seen your dad yet?"
"Come to think of it... no. Have you?" Worry grew in Eleanora's eyes as she scanned the grounds for any sign of Cillian. She hated that her first thought was that he could be playing double agent again, but at the same time she couldn't help thinking it.
Bill watched Eleanora bite down on her lower lip, her eyes drifting over the property. "I'm sure he's here," he said in a low voice. "He wouldn't... do that... to you and Daisy."
"Right." Eleanora shook her head hard, trying to clear it and get ready for what was coming next. She turned to the castle and sent up a protection charm, nothing much, but she figured anything helped. Then, without thinking, Eleanora turned and pulled Bill down, her lips meeting his in a frantic, passionate attempt to make the most of their last moments before danger. Bill's arms went around her waist and he held her so tightly, her feet almost lifted off the ground. When they broke apart, he pressed his forehead to hers. "Bill, if one of us doesn't make it-"
"No, El-"
"Bill. Listen to me. If one of us doesn't make it, we have to promise... we have to promise to always love each other, okay?"
"Eleanora, we're both going to make it. We're going to be okay-"
"You can't promise that!" Eleanora cried, breaking apart from Bill and clutching his robes in her clenched fists. "We don't know what's going to happen tonight, so we just have to promise-"
