[ 1 ] EXPLODE ( r. black ! )

twenty-six || family of three

ACT ONE; CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
FAMILY OF THREE

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EFFICIENCY WEREN'T OFTEN spells selling points. Although, the issues Eleanor was having as she retrieved her clothes from the bag she'd shrunk them into was probably not on the minds of the spells' creators. It didn't change the fact that shrinking clothes caused some of them to crease when she returned them to their normal size. Not even the fun of performing extra spells could lighten Eleanor's dampened mood – she was having to face the reality of being disowned.

                Pulling on the last leg of her jeans to complete her only non-creased outfit choice (she'd decided to leave the rest as a problem for later), Eleanor rehearsed in the stain mirror her speech to convince the Goblins of her cause. Halfway into explaining to her fake audience that she really was a good person, her ears detected a knock at the door but she discarded it. In her struggle to find where she'd paused in her memorised quotes, the distractions grew more intense and she walked to the bathroom door, creaking it open so she could hear.

                "Woah, woah. Can I help you?" Regulus was saying in his superior Black tone. Fearing it was one of Eleanor's multiple enemies – her parents, her sister, Voldemort or even his Death Eaters were all viable options considering who the owners of the room happened to be – she clutched her wand tightly, ready to act at a milliseconds notice.

                "Don't be sarcastic, you little shit!" A voice snarled back in anger and Eleanor let out a breath of relief. Regardless, realising the Black brothers were in the same room did have the affect in you to not want to put your wand away. "Where's Eleanor?"

                Eleanor could hear Regulus' eyeroll as he lazily responded, "Eleanor's getting changed. She's going to get her money before her parents remember she's far smarter than they are and figure out her moves."

                "I don't believe you."

                "Trust me." Regulus emphasized to his brother. A flash of sadness crossed Eleanor's face, and she counted herself lucky that her presence was still hidden as pity was not something she wanted – but it was evident on her face that she did want Blair to be as desperate for a second chance as Regulus so clearly was, shown just by how his tone shifted for those two words alone.

                Sirius, however, seemed not to hear it and he scoffed, "Trust you?"

                After living with people for the best part of six years, even silence around them spoke a thousand words. Eleanor recognised the brief silence that followed as the brothers egging each other on to provoke a fight. Since she has a rather busy day of scheming against her former parents planned, Eleanor decided that then was the perfect time to make a dramatic entrance.