(24 months after the Second Wizarding War and the death of Voldemort.)

"Harry! Harry!"

"Yes, Ellie?" Harry looked up in affection as Eleanor came bustling towards him, bursting with energy. It was truly crazy how much love he had for her, so much that Harry thought sometimes he could burst apart from it all. He felt as if his heart was growing so big that it would surely erupt from his chest, he sometimes felt so overwhelmed with love that he thought he couldn't manage it all.

He never used to understand the saying that love is pain, but that was before he met Eleanor. Of course he loved Ron and Hermione, and Sirius and Remus, and Josh and all the others but that was a different type of love. The love he felt for Eleanor was different. It was all-consuming. Sometimes he felt so happy he thought he would explode and other times he ached for her so badly that he could rip his hair out.

Love truly was pain but Harry thought it was a good kind of pain. Yes, Harry loved Eleanor so much that it was painful but it was a pain he would happily endure forever. He remembered the pain he felt when he thought he had lost her and fought back a shudder. Even now the thought of what had happened froze his world, made him paralysed with pain and heartache.

In all her excitement, Eleanor ran into Harry not being able to stop herself. Harry was thankful for her distraction. He put his hands out to steady her. He was already smiling. "What's got you all excited?"

Eleanor was dancing on the balls of her feet, a letter was clutched in her hands but in all her frenzy Harry couldn't make out any of the words.

Eleanor was positively beaming. "I got in!"

Harry was confused for a moment. "You got in?"

Eleanor shoved the letter in his face. "I got IN!"

The words were blurred and his eyes needed a moment to adjust to the letter that was so close to his face but he saw the word university and it all came dawning on him. He grinned. "YOU GOT IN!"

Eleanor squealed, she was so overcome with joy. "I GOT IN!"

Harry could feel his cheeks hurting from smiling so much. He knew how much Eleanor had wanted this and he was so glad that she had managed to achieve it herself.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I'm so proud of you!" And feeling as if this didn't portray how excited he was for her, he picked her up and twirled her around. Eleanor laughed. "I'm so so proud of you." Harry said as Eleanor's feet touched the ground again.

His hands were resting on her shoulders. He ran his hand down her left arm and grabbed her hand. He squeezed it. His other hand stayed on her right shoulder. Loosing her right arm had been hard for Eleanor, it took some adjusting and she had had many frustrated days where she struggled to get by with just the help of one hand, but Harry thought she was doing brilliantly. Harry had loved her before but he thought maybe he loved her just a little more now, for how strong she has been.

"I can't believe it...I actually got accepted."

"I can," Harry said, smiling. "I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you'd do it."

"Well," Eleanor said, with her signature sarcastic smile. "You surely would have been dissapointed if I had failed."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'd still be extremely proud of you. What you're doing is hard and besides any university would have been insanely stupid not to accept you."

Eleanor smiled. "You're just biased."

"I certainly am not." Harry said with an air of mock offense. "I would've said it if you were a stranger on the streets. You just radiate this kind of energy that you can do anything you want, and I think the rest of the world sees it too."

Eleanor pulled Harry close. "You truly are sappy, Potter."

Harry shrugged. "I've resigned to my fate at this point."

Eleanor laughed against Harry's lips. "You're such a hopeless romantic, Haz."

Harry rolled his eyes. She loved teasing him. "Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before. But it's all your fault, you know."

Eleanor pulled back slightly, and Harry suppressed a groan. "My fault? Bu-"

"Shut up, and just kiss me." Harry pulled Eleanor forward and their lips crashed into one another. Harry suppressed a sigh. He truly had found where he belongs and he was never going to let anyone or anything try and come between the two of them again.

•••

(University of London, 26 months after the War.)

Eleanor stepped out of the car. It was finally the day she would be moving onto the campus of her dream University. So much had changed since she was introduced into the Wizarding world.

She used to dream of attending a University in New York with Cass by her side, now she couldn't comprehend leaving London. The place had never felt more like home to her. She wanted to be close enough to her friends and family but far away enough that she actually had an excuse to leave her home town for a while. She adored her parents above everything else, but she had hated moving back to Magnolia Crescent after the threat of Voldemort was over.

Eleanor breathed in deep as the cool air rushed around her. She looked up at the campus she would be living in for the next four years and smiled. She had already completed her two years at college which went by in a blur in which Eleanor and Cass passed with flying colours.

Up until about 8 months ago, Cass was still adamant on going to live in New York, which Eleanor had been heartbroken and excited of all at once. She had never known her life without Cass by her side but she knew that she was so happy for Cass to be following her dreams.

But once Eleanor had told Cass the truth about her life, she had changed her mind. Cass had been introduced to everyone and fell in love with them all immediately. She even had a thing going with a certain red headed, Fred Weasley. Eleanor admitted they made a great pair. (Things hadn't worked out with her previous girlfriend.)

And with that Cass decided not to go to New York. Instead she chose her second choice of university (Cass wanted a back up plan because it was no garentee she would get into NYU) and so Cass would now be attending a University in Edinburgh. It still felt weird not to have Cass by Eleanor's side but at least now they would both be in the same country which made it much easier for them to see eachother.

"You ready, honey?"

Eleanor looked over at her father's and Josh who had come to see her off. She smiled, feeling bittersweet. But she was more than ready to embark on this new adventure. "Ready as I'll ever be."

•••

(Grimmauld Place, 18 months after the War.)

Eleanor could feel her hands shaking. She glanced again at her watch, feeling sick.

"Relax, Ellie."

Eleanor looked at Remus. "What if she hates me after I tell her?"

Harry grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze. "She won't hate you."

Eleanor shook her head. "I've known you guys for 5 years, give or take and I've kept you a secret for so long, what if she doesn't forgive me?"

Sirius shook his head. His eyes were soft. "Cass has known you much longer than we have. She will understand once you explain it to her why you had to keep us a secret. If you had told her, you would have been putting her in great danger. I'm sure she will appreciate that you are telling her the truth now."

"I thought you said Cass would freak out if she knew the truth? Aren't you excited for her to find out?" Harry asked.

They were all sat around the dining table. Eleanor wanted her to meet everyone, so everyone had showed up at Grimmauld Place for her. The place was packed, but luckily everyone was upstairs or wondering around the house so it was just Harry, Remus, Sirius and Eleanor sat at the table.

"Of course I'm excited, but I'm also worried. I've known her for years but she still might not take it the way I think she will. She could think I'm crazy, or she could hate me for even telling her the truth. Some people don't want to believe in things such as magic." Eleanor said. She had had many nightmares about how this day would go, but she had also had many daydreams of finally telling Cass the truth and not feeling guilty about keeping it from her anymore.

Of course Eleanor wasn't going to just lead Cass into a house full of Wizards. There was a park around the corner which Cass would meet her at. The plan was for Eleanor to explain it all there and if all went well, she would take Cass to Grimmauld Place to meet everyone.

"You know that's not true. I'm sure Cass will accept us all, you've always gone on about how accepting Cass is." Harry said.

Eleanor groaned in frustration. "I know. I know I'm being silly tying myself into knots but I just can't help it. Cass is my best and oldest friend and I just can't bare the thought of loosing her."

Remus shifted in his chair. He was gazing very intently at her. "That's not going to happen. Friendships are some of the most loyal people you can have by your side. They are also some of the strongest bonds you have. I've had many fall outs with James and Sirius in the past but we always went back to one another and sorted it out because the alternative would be a life without eachother which was something we could never bear the thought of." Remus took a deep breath. The thought of James still caused him pain, Eleanor could see it in his eyes. Sirius gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Cass may not understand today, or tomorrow, but I do know that things like this take time. She might need to adjust or she may ignore that you told her about it at all, but she will not abandon you, your bond is too stong for that to happen."

Eleanor was speechless for a moment but when she went to open her mouth to reply, she saw Harry glance down at the watch on her wrist (his gold watch from Mrs. Weasley hadn't worked for some time now, but he couldn't bear to take it off just yet.) "It's time Ellie."

Ellie stood with shaking knees. She knew she was being silly but she was so nervous. She breathed in deep. "Okay, I've got this. It will go well, I just need to stop thinking of the worst case scenarios."

Harry pulled her into a hug. "Breathe. Everything will be okay El, and no matter what happens we will all be here to welcome you home no matter what."

Home.

The word lodged itself into her chest and spread warmth down her entire body. She felt it seep into her bones and she felt a little less nervous.

She smiled at Harry. "I'll be back soon." And she left for the park.

•••

(45 minutes later.)

"So that's it. That's the whole truth." Eleanor gazed nervously at Cass waiting for her reaction. Cass' face was emotionless, Eleanor couldn't decipher if this was a good or bad thing yet.

She had spent the last 40 minutes talking none stop about everything to Cass. She had left nothing out, Cass knew everything and honestly Eleanor felt a little weight lift off her shoulders. It felt good to finally tell someone.

Cass stood up. It was freezing outside. The clouds were a stormy grey and Eleanor had the feeling it was going to snow again. The streets and pavements were already covered in snow from the night before. Eleanor liked this time of year, it made everything so much cozier when it snowed.

"Holy shit!" Cass breathed. She wasn't looking at Eleanor. She seemed to be thinking deeply about something. "Holy shit!"

"Er, Cass-"

"This explains everything-"

"You believe me!"

Cass finally looked at Eleanor. "Of course I fucking do, you idiot. I mean I was always so confused about why you moved out of your house and went practically MIA. This explains it."

Eleanor breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Cass rounded on Eleanor. "So that person who used to take you to school? Was he a wizard?"

Eleanor nodded.

Cass laughed. "Holy shit. This is so cool." Cass suddenly fell very serious. She gave Eleanor a tight hug. "I mean of course it's cool but I'm so glad you're okay, that must have been so scary, and all the people that got lost in the war, I can't imagine how hard it's been."

Eleanor hugged Cass back just as tightly. "It has been hard, but it's also been a blessing in disguise and I'm so glad I've met the people I have. I'm just sorry I couldn't tell you sooner."

Cass rolled her eyes. "Of course you couldn't tell me. You had a psycho lunatic wizard after you and your boyfriend."

Eleanor laughed. "When you put it that way, it does sound insane."

"It is insane. Do you know how crazy you sound."

Eleanor laughed some more. "I know, I can't believe you actually believe me."

Cass suddenly looked excited. "So when do I get to meet everyone?"

Eleanor smiled a bit sheepishly. "Now, if you like?"

•••

Just as Cass and Eleanor were walking up to 12 Grimmauld Place, Eleanor showed Cass the peice of parchment in which Sirius had wrote the address on as he was the Secret Keeper now Dumbledore was dead. It wasn't necessary now to still keep the Headquarters hidden, as the threat was well and truly gone but everyone in the Order were still happy to keep it that way and so was Eleanor, it made her feel more safe.

"What's this? There is no number 12."

Eleanor smirked. "Think about what's on that parchment. Truly think about it and nothing else."

Cass eyes Eleanor cautiously. "Fine, but I hope you know how weird this is."

After a minute, Eleanor felt the ground begin to rumble and Number 12 began to appear from Number 13.

"You're a witch?!"

"Shh!" Eleanor hissed. "Of course I'm not. It's a simple enchantment. Sirius is the Secret Keeper of this place and since he wanted us to find it, we were able too. Without that parchment you wouldn't have a chance of getting in there."

Eleanor smirked at Cass' stunned face and began walking up the stairs. "C'mon."

Eleanor opened the door with mounting excitement. "We're back everyone!"

Eleanor heard a stampede of footsteps and anxious faces greeted her in the hall.

"Did she believe you?"

"Did it go alright?"

"Where's Cass?"

"Did she believe you?"

Eleanor smiled. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Cass waved awkwardly from behind Eleanor. "Hello, everyone."

Everyone immediately broke into relieved smiles, it was clear they were all hoping Cass would believe Eleanor too.

"Hello, dear." Molly greeted as usual with her warm smile.

Cass was as awkward as ever. "This is really weird." Just then Josh ran up. "Oh, hi Josh...This is so weird."

Eleanor laughed. "Believe me you'll get used to it."

Suddenly Cass took notice of the Weasley twins. "Oh I'm sure I'll warm up to them quick enough."

Eleanor hit her on the arm. "Behave, you!"

Cass batted her eyelashes innocently. "Who? Me? I'm an angel." Cass said, then in an undertone. "Besides who's the one with a wizard boyfriend who literally saved the wizarding world."

Eleanor opened her mouth to reply when she was interjected. "Why don't you come and sit down, dear, then we can introduce you to everyone."

Eleanor got Deja Vu for a moment as she watched everyone follow Cass into the dining room and remembered her first ever night here. She couldn't help but smile.

"Looks like it was a success."

Eleanor looked over and saw Harry watching her.

"Yeah, it was. I think she's still in shock but she'll come around." Eleanor said.

Harry approached her. "Shock is understandable, look how you were on your first night here."

"I was just thinking about that."

Harry smiled. "So much has changed."

Eleanor grabbed his hand. "Mostly for the best. I mean at least we're safe now and you're finally free. You can do whatever the hell you want now."

Harry laughed. "I know." Then his smile broke. "I just wish we didn't have to pay such a high price to get it."

Eleanor rested her forehead against his. "You can't save everyone, Harry Potter."

Harry looked into Eleanor's eyes. "I know."

"It'll be alright."

"Yeah," Harry smiled. "We'll be alright." And he pulled her close and kissed her.

(Have an early present. Happy holidays everyone! <3)

(Yes I didn't kill Fred. I couldn't okay! Call me a coward because I practically kept everyone alive, but I don't care, they should have survived anyway!)