Christmas was fast approaching. Eleanor was having such a blast that the worry about Voldemort vanished from her mind. Sometimes she would have sudden guilty moments where she reminded herself why she was actually at Grimmauld Place and the familiar ping of panic would hit her but then it would evaporate as quickly as it came when she watched Tonks change her nose into a pig's snout across the dining room table. Again, Eleanor tried not to let herself feel too guilty about this.

Eleanor wasn't the only one having a good time. Since Mr. Weasley's return from St. Mungo's everyone seemed in much better spirits. Eleanor's parents, William and Ethan, were enjoying themselves so much that they seemed to have forgotten to be angry at Harry and acted quite cheerfully around him now which both Eleanor and Harry were very thankful for. Even Josh, who had found out that he wouldn't be receiving many Christmas presents this year because his parents hadn't had enough time to finish Christmas shopping since being escorted to Grimmauld Place, was practically buzzing for Christmas day just because of the fact he was spending it in a magical household.

A few days before Christmas eve, everyone was helping decorate Grimmauld place to make it look festive. Eleanor was embarrassed but rather very happy when the inhabitants inside Grimmauld place all agreed not to use magic to put up the decorations in the house so it allowed Eleanor, Josh and their parents to help out and join in too.

This was all very fun for Eleanor as she finally had a chance to explore the rest of the house. Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George had no problem explaining to Eleanor why the house looked quite empty from the upstairs and they all had much fun explaining all the dark and dangerous things they had to get rid of before the house became livable.

After finishing most of the upstairs, Eleanor was now helping Hermione and Ginny string garland around the stairwell banister which the boys had not been trusted with as Mrs Weasley had strict instructions on how the garland had to be placed. Eleanor had found this highly amusing and enjoyed countless precious minutes teasing them about it, until the boys were instructed by Mrs Weasley to get a move on and they had to leave.

Just as the three girls were reaching the end of the stairs, the weird creature that had scared William on his first night at Grimmauld place came shuffling past Eleanor.

Eleanor had quickly learned that the strange creature was an House Elf, which were owned only by the richest of wizarding families. House Elves, Eleanor learned, were enslaved to serve one wizarding family for their whole life.

The House Elf standing before Eleanor was called Kreacher and had belonged to Sirius' mother. Sirius had explained to Eleanor on her second night staying at the house, that Kreacher had always been unpleasant but it seemed all the years alone had seemed to finally drive the poor creature over the edge.

Eleanor also quickly learned that Kreacher wasn't much of a fan of her. In fact, Kreacher didn't like anyone much. He shared the same views as Sirius' mother, which were old fashioned, biased views involving that if anyone were not Pure-blood then they simply weren't worthy of being in the house. And although Sirius was a Pure-blood, he associated with those his mother thought unworthy and so in Kreacher's eyes, there was no one worse than Sirius Black.

"Hello, Kreacher!" Eleanor greeted as herself, Ginny and Hermione finally finished with the garland.

"The Muggle is talking to me as if she is equal. Oh, if only Mistress Black knew...if only she knew what filth was inside her precious house..." Kreacher mumbled, apparently oblivious that the three girls could hear every word he was mumbling.

"We can hear you, you know!" Ginny said angrily.

Hermione shot her a reproachful look. Hermione took pity on the House Elf which Eleanor quickly learned. And although Eleanor took the same approach at the start and only tried to be kind to the House Elf, she quickly became irritated with his constant insults and mutterings about everyone in the house.

"Kreacher did not say anything, miss!" Kreacher said, then bowing low began muttering. "Blood traitors, the lot of them. And that Mudblood girl talks to me much like the Muggle, as if we were friends. Oh how Mistress would woe if she knew! My poor Mistresses house! How shameful it has become!"

Before any of them could respond, a loud BANG resonated around the hallway, making them all jump. They turned and saw Tonks had fallen over the old umbrella stand again. Without anyone noticing, Kreacher slipped away.

Ginny quickly went to help Tonks up but the noise had been enough. Mrs. Black had awoken. Her black curtains swung back revealing the creepily realistic oil painting of her and her screams once again filled the house.

"Filth! Vermin! Blood-traitors, Mudbloods, besmirching the house of Black. The noble house of Black! How dare you step foot in it! How dare you-"

"SHUT UP!" Sirius had suddenly come thundering down the hall, glaring at the painting of his mother with what could only be described as deepest loathing.

"SHUT UP, YOU OLD HAG!" Sirius seized the curtains and with all his might, began to try and pull them closed.

Eleanor immediately ran to his aid, grinning slightly in a satisfied way, knowing that Mrs. Black would want not even an inch of Eleanor's being near her painting. And as if predicting it, Mrs. Black began to scream louder as Eleanor began to help Sirius.

"YOU!" She screamed at Eleanor, her face twisted in ugly fury.

"Me!" Eleanor responded with a grin, although slightly out of breath. Both Sirius and Eleanor were panting with the effort of trying to close the curtain.

"Filthy Muggles in my house! I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT! GET OUT! GET-"

Finally, Sirius and Eleanor managed to prise the curtain closed and blissful silence fell around the house.

"Lovely woman, your mother." Eleanor said airily as she leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

>>>

It was Christmas eve. Snow was falling slowly outside the window of Ron and Harry's bedroom. Dinner had been finished with and Mrs. Weasley had agreed to let them stay up a bit longer than normal.

Eleanor was sat next to Harry on his bed, where opposite Ron and Hermione were sat on Ron's bed. Ginny, Fred and George had grabbed pillows and were sitting comfortably on the floor.

Ginny was playing with Crookshanks, Hermione's ginger cat with a rather squished face and Eleanor's dog, Max, was laying some feet away, completely unbothered by everything.

"This is horrid!" Eleanor exclaimed, for Hermione had just shown her snippets of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet. In each snippet were little digs at Harry whether it being about his sanity or the fact they thought him a nasty liar, it seemed the paper was truly out to undermine him. "No wonder nobody believes you at school, they are making you out to seem unhinged!"

"I know." grumbled Harry, who remembering how the students at Hogwarts treated him, did not at all like where this conversation was going.

"It's disgusting," Fred said. "But because everyone reads the Prophet, everyone believes what's written about Harry. The more people believe Harry is lying, the more people become ignorant to the fact Voldemort is back."

"But he is back. Harry saw it!" Eleanor said indignantly.

"We know!" said Ginny. "But as long as the Ministry fail to realise it, there is not much we can do to make people see sense."

Eleanor opened her mouth to argue some more but upon seeing the look on Harry's face, opted to change the subject.

"So.." Eleanor thought for a moment, unable to think of something to say. "So, where are the rest of your brothers?" Eleanor directed to the Weasley's. "I could've sworn Harry said that there were seven of you."

"Yeah, there are." began Ron. "Bill used to work at Gringotts. A bank where wizards keep their gold." He explained quickly after seeing the look of confusion on Eleanor's face.

"So where is he now?" Eleanor asked.

"Well he used to work in Egypt as a Curse-Breaker but he came home and has an office job now to be closer to the Order." Ron said.

"Charlie," continued George. "Is still in Romania working with dragons. Dumbledore wanted him to stay there so he could try and persuade wizards from over there to join our side. He can also keep an ear out for news that might have happened in places where we don't have eyes and ears."

Eleanor who had been following this information with frequent bursts of excitement, (dragons, curse-breakers and Gringotts!) didn't ask about any of these as one thing didn't add up.

"Well that makes six of you. What about- Percy, was it?" Eleanor knew immediately she had said something wrong for everyone's faces fell and the Weasley's suddenly looked murderous.

"I'm sorry! Did I get his name wrong?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that Percy's a giant git!" Fred spat.

"Oh." Afraid to ask more, Eleanor stayed silent. But she needn't have asked anyway because Ron was soon opening his mouth to speak.

"Percy believes the rubbish they put in the Prophet."

Eleanor gasped. "But how could he? It's obvious it's all a load of crap. How could he not believe his own family? Surely he would have realised that Harry was speaking the truth as soon as your parents backed him up."

Ginny who was staring hard at the floor, snorted. "You'd think that, wouldn't you? But no, Percy and Dad had a massive row at the start of the summer. Percy thinks dads too close to Dumbledore. He's been brainwashed by the Ministry, he doesn't believe a word Harry has said."

These words hung heavy in the air for a moment. Everyone was silent as they once again mused angrily over how Percy could turn his back on his family. The only noise in the room for a while was Max's loud snores.

"Try not to mention Percy to mum though El, she get's really upset about it still." George said. "Right, well I'm off to bed. I suspect mum will be getting us up early in the morning."

And a moment later, a loud CRACK sounded and Fred and George vanished from the room.

Before much else could be said between the rest of them, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs and sure enough, Mrs. Weasley's head popped around the door.

"Come on you three," she directed at the girls. "I want lights out now, it's an early start tomorrow."

With Mrs. Weasley waiting for them, Eleanor, Ginny and Hermione had no choice but to say goodnight to Ron and Harry and follow Mrs. Weasley upstairs to their bedroom.

Ten minutes later, they were all in bed and without really knowing when, Eleanor drifted off to sleep.

(I really like how I've written this chapter ngl. Thank you all for supporting this story still and I hope you all enjoy!)