twenty-two || advice

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ACT ONE; CHAPTER TWENTY-TWOADVICE

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ACT ONE; CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ADVICE


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LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS were all well and good to be around when you weren't wishing you were in the same boat as you sat, picking on a treacle tart, watching them rather than sailing. Sadly, that was Eleanor's life during the Yule Ball. She'd never not enjoyed the event – even the year before which occurred just after the breakup she had with Jordan Rickson – and she was desperately trying to keep that streak.

Which, admittedly, was working to some extent. The relationships she was around, as much as they made her heart ache on the inside, brought a smile on the outside. To see all her friends like that, knowing how much they deserved it, was something she couldn't help but smile at even when she was sad. From Pandora and Xeno dancing alongside Lily and James, both couples staring lovingly at their other half or laughing over a joke, to the hands held in between Sirius and Remus as they commentated their friends' nights.

One day, she hoped to have the same thing. Somebody to adore, to laugh with, to share conversations meant for them alone. Having Pandora and Kelsie was everything to Eleanor and she wouldn't trade them for all the chances for love in the world but even they knew that true romantic love was something entirely different than the true love they shared. Eleanor hoped she'd get it as Pandora had, almost as much as she hoped Kelsie would get another chance.

When she began to wonder who Kelsie's second chance could be with – a task set to keep Eleanor's mind functioning on something more practical than sad emotions inducing – she caught sight of a blur occupying one of the many empty seats on her table. At first, she thought the body was owned by the girl she was thinking of and was about to make a remark about thinking of the devil. It was when she remembered Kelsie's dress was not purple and she didn't use her Metamorphmagus abilities for anything... let alone to produce a beard Gandalf would envy at a public event.

As Eleanor stared at Headmaster Albus Dumbledore incredulously, he smiled and said, "Good evening, Miss Archord."

Not many times had Eleanor been in conversation with her Headmaster. The few times it did happen most memorably included when the Order of the Phoenix had been outed to him and he spoke to each known member individually. Before that discussion, Eleanor had rather admired the old man who had never outwardly done anything bad to her specifically – she had always been willing to overlook the bias that led to Slytherin being unfairly treated. Afterwards was when her criticism of him began, mostly surrounding the War.

The way he acted seemed to express his belief that people were expendable and that expressed a similar stance as Voldemort's opinions. Eleanor wasn't dumb or a particularly optimistic person, she knew that in war people died, but she also knew that they shouldn't be sacrificed. Somehow she found herself wondering if Dumbledore agreed with her or if he only cared about somebody if it benefited him. With that thought, she speculated if that was why he cared so much when those people he allowed to die did just that.

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