the lucky ones. [eleanora]

July 2003

"Ellie you home?" Andy called as he knocked on the door of her apartment a few times. He had a bag of what used to be warm take out tucked under one arm and a backpack slung over his shoulder. He knocked again, hoping she wasn't out and realizing he should have owled ahead. She told him he could stop by anytime, and he'd taken her up on that offer more than once already this summer, but this time he was hoping to stay for a few days.

After a particularly nasty fight with their mother and quitting his job at the Apothecary he really needed some where to lay low for a while. Their parents were insane, they were controlling and particular about everything, and Andy could only handle so much. He was jealous of Eleanora having graduated and gotten out of their grips.

He only had one more year to go but at this moment it felt like an eternity. Something made a cracking sound not far down the block and Andronicus jumped a little, startled by the sound. He was probably just being paranoid but honestly with the trace still on him he wouldn't put it past his parents to track him down and drag him home. Quitting wasn't something he was supposed to do, obviously. He shook off the nerves, taking a deep breath, and reminding himself that he would be safe here. Andy really didn't want to hear for the seven hundredth time how he was letting them down. Being the only wizard in their family put even more pressure on him than just being a Lovecraft and he wasn't up to the challenge right now.

Eleanora had been in the middle of a particularly riveting horror story when she heard the knock at her door, the sound of a hand against the hardwood and someone’s muffled voice making her jump almost immediately. The book was going to probably give her nightmares, she really didn’t need to be reading that kind of stuff as a person who lived alone but it had been too interesting to put down. The second knock took her out of her thoughts, causing her to roll off of the couch, stretching her arms over her head and yawn, she really had spent most of the day lounging on the couch and had absolutely no regrets about their encounter.

“Andy?” she called out when she realized who that voice belonged to, further proof given when she walked over to look through the peephole before slightly opening the door. “Did you bring provisions? I’m starving,” she noted as she looked at him suspiciously, her eyes immediately traveling down to see what looked like, and smelled like food. Relenting, she opened the door, with a big smile on her face. “Welcome, welcome,” she said, opening the door and patting his shoulder to encourage him inside, walking over to the couch to move a pile of blankets, pillows, and some clothes to the corner to make space.

“Sorry it’s a mess, I got caught up in a novel,” she smiled, gesturing absentmindedly at the book in the corner. “So what do we got today? Chinese? Mexican?” she tried, her stomach grumbling in agreement at the thought of food.

When the door finally opened a crack he gave his big sister a smile and a quick nod. "Like I would come without food." He told her warmly, but with a classic bit of sarcasm. Neither one of them had ever learned how to cook a proper meal. How would they of? According to their parents that was what the house elves were for. And Hogwarts didn't help much in the matter either. Maybe one day he'd learn.. but probably not, especially not with how easy it was to get take out in the city. At any hour of the day he could get his hands on just about anything. He held the bag up to her as evidence as she allowed him inside and pushed some things out of the way to make space for him. Andy kicked off his shoes after he'd stepped inside, already making himself at home.

He liked her apartment, it was warmer than their family home. A lot more blankets and a lot less floor to ceiling tapestries that looked way too serious. "Chinese this time." He said as he put the bags down on her table and started dolling out all of the little cartons. "There were goblins on strike outside the Mexican place again." Settling into the comfortable sofa in her leaving room he let his backpack fall to the ground and let out a sigh. "Oh yeah, what book were you reading?"

Absentmindedly he sorted out everything he'd brought in a neat little display. The folded paper containers were arranged based on type, spring rolls in the middle, dumplings on one side, moo shui pork on the other, and a few containers of fried rice and lo mein throughout. When Andy bought them dinner, he went to town, he wanted to be stuffed by the end of it. And he'd eat the left overs for days if there was any. Passing her a set of wrapped chopsticks he pulled his apart and started building a plate.

“You know the way to my heart,” she teased, looking around the room as she spotted her bunny slippers, moving over to them to slip them on, wiggling her toes inside of the warm, plush material. Eleanora was pretty sure that she would be surviving on takeaway for the rest of the summer, which was a shame because the kitchen looked really nice and would have been great to use had she any idea how to do anything with it. The last time she had tried to cook something simple, scrambled eggs, she had almost burned the entire apartment down and it was then that she decided cooking was not her forte. Not that she would tell her parents, the last thing she needed was a house full of nosy staff reporting her every move to her family. But the comfort of having someone else do the laundry and the cooking had not been completely dismissed.
 
“Oh yum, did you get the one with the little corn things?” she asked curiously, excitedly opening the package, the smell of the food permeating the air, she had hoped he had brought generous portions, she could probably eat the whole thing on her own if he let her. “That’s fine, I had Mexican the other day,” she smiled in response, not particularly picky about what was on the menu as long as it was edible.

Eleanora struggled to take apart the wooden chopsticks as she looked at the food, daring to pick up one of the spring rolls with her fingers and taking a bite. “Fiends and Witches,” she said as she ate, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth as she spoke, “You should read it, it’s really good but so scary,” she continued. “Aren’t you supposed to be working at the shop today?” she asked, he had told her last time that he had gotten work at the family’s apothecary, “Did you get the day off?”

Andy undid the collar of his stuffy buttonup uniform shirt, revealing the Chudley Cannons shirt he had on underneath, and let himself get more comfortable as his sister slipped on her pink fuzzy loafers. After he'd finished setting up their main course he struggled to set the chopsticks up right in his hands. He'd used them before, this was far from the first time they had gotten take out, but he still wasn't used to it. He'd of probably had an easier time stabbing the spring roll he was trying to collect with his wand than he was with the chopsticks. He moved on, resigning to come back to that, and built himself a little pancake of mu shui instead. "Never heard of it, maybe let me borrow it when your done?" He asked, turning his head to the side and taking a bite of his pork, still looking at her.

When she asked about the shop he choked on his bite a little and set the folded food back down. He coughed, clearing his throat and covering his mouth with a balled up hand. "Well... about that." He started, looking away for a moment and studying the canvas that was hanging across from him on the wall. He knew she wouldn't react like his mother had but still he took a moment to tell her. "So I kind of quit today..." Andy began, giving her a half smile and rubbing his hands on his jeans. "It's just.. that job was awful. I thought it was going to be easy, but it wasn't."

He looked across the room again, sucking in a breath as a bit of shell shock fell on his face. "It was awful Ellie. They had me giving batty old witches facials." His face was still, no classic Andy smirk, no quip on the tip of his tongue, none of that. He turned to look back at her, a strange seriousness in his eyes and the faintest bit of pink in his cheeks.

"They kept pinching my bum."

“Oh I don’t know Andy, might be too mature for you,” she joked, giving up on the chopsticks for now as she set them aside and reached in for another spring roll, dipping it in the sauce that accompanied the dish and taking a generous bite from the food. “Don’t eat it all unless you’re planning to go our morning time and get us breakfast,” she admonished him though she was almost certain they wouldn’t have any leftovers. From the looks of the backpack he had hauled with him, similar to one he had hauled over before the times he had spent the night, she could only assume that he intended to stay. Possibly he had the early shift the next day? She considered, but didn’t pry. Eleanora didn’t care, either way, his room was always there whenever he needed it, he didn’t even need to ask.

She listened to him as he confessed that he quit his job, her expression growing serious before she burst out in laughter as he ended it, the tale taking a much more comical twist than he had initially anticipated. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t laugh but honestly why would you ever want to work there in the first place?” she asked tears in her eyes from the amount of laughter she was doing. “Told you so,” she continued, a smile still plastered on her face. “That you’d regret it. But I thought auntie Morwenna would drive you up the wall, not the little old ladies,” she continued.

Eleanora knew better than to take a job opportunity from her family members, they had a way of just being their overbearingly controlling selves, no matter how hard you worked or how well you did. “Should’ve had Jacq come in and get a facial, bet you wouldn’t have minded if she’d been pinching your bum,” she said as seriously as she could, trying to keep herself from smiling. “But in all honestly, how angry was mum? She must’ve been furious!”

He tried not to pout when she started giggling at him but after a moment her laughter became contagious and his own face broke out into a smile. It felt good to laugh about it, but it was still as horryfing to think about as her novel must have been, he was sure of that. He shook his head, his floof of soft brown hair flipping from one side to the other and he tucked it back quickly.

"I know, I knowww~" He said, drawing out his last word as he tilted his head back. "You were right." Eleanora had warned him about taking any sort of job their family had to offer. They were given every opportunity, but there was always a catch. Honestly he figured he'd be doing heavy lifting or testing new products that might singe of his eyebrows or something. Or worse, working directly under his aunt where she could watch him closely and keeping working on her mission to make him a proper Lovecraft heir.

 "No you don't understand." He said, even as she kept laughing. "They were whistling, and cat calling, and everything." He shuddered. "Like I was just a piece of meat." He had never in his life experienced something like this and he never wanted to again. When she brought up Jacq a ridiculous smile came to his face. Honestly he wasn't sure how he'd even gone this long without talking about the love of his teenage life. Usually he was talking Ellie's ear off about the wonderful, gorgeous, brilliant witch who was just silly enough to agree to date him.

Hearing her question snapped him out of his little love bubble day dream and he shook his head. "She was pretty ticked." He said. "I don't think I have ever heard her voice reach such a high pitch before." He confessed, sitting up straight to attempt to mock their mother and her tone. "Lovecrafts do not quit!" He smirked, pushing his hair back out of his face again. "She demanded I march right down there and get back to work... so," he shrugged his shoulders, copying his big sister and picking up a spring roll with his fingers before dipping it. "Here I am."

“How many teen boys you think they get to talk to?” she said nonchalantly as if the women’s behavior had been the most natural thing in the world. It had not been but the entire situation was humorous nonetheless, “Poor little old ladies, you were probably the most entertaining person they’ve talked to all week,” she added, "youngest one too," she continued. The Loveacraft Apothecary had a very specific audience, mostly older women with money to spend trying to turn back time on the aging their faces had done over the last few years. It was a popular place and for an exorbitant amount of money, one could get all sorts of treatments done on the premises. Naturally, the only people willing to pay that much money for something so exclusive were usually entitled and somewhat pervy, little old ladies.

“Oh I understand,” she reassured him, having a very good idea of what that was like and possibly how traumatic the entire thing had been to begin with. “Next time mum tries to give you a job tell her no thanks, or shadow dad at the factory, much more fun,” she suggested, finally trying again successfully to pull apart the chopsticks, though unevenly as she dug into the lo mein. Eleanora had shadowed her father a couple of times, the Potioneering bit was much more interesting and helpful than anything at the apothecary had ever been.

Eleanora laughed once again as she saw Andy mocking their mother, their tones almost identical as he spoke. They had done this a lot as children and had become pretty good at it. “Mum’s probably apologizing to the entire family now, better not show your face to any of the soirees, they’ll all gang up on you,” she warned, having experienced something very similar, and equally traumatic before. “Good, you’re safe here,” she noted with a smile, “At least till mum comes looking for you,” she added as an addendum, the woman always did eventually. “I’ll owl her tonight and try to talk some sense into her,” she promised, intent on keeping Andy away from their mother as long as possible.

“So what’s the plan now? Lounging around the house all summer? Getting a much better job? Spending our inheritance?” she offered.

He knew she was right again, but it didn't make the ghostly feelings of their wrinkly old hands on him go away. And it didn't make it right either. He shook his head again. "But still, it just.. it wasn't okay." He popped another bite of his spring roll into his mouth, stabbing it with the chopstick this time, "Never going back." And though he didn't hate the idea of seeing how the factory worked Andronicus was shaking his head at that idea as well. "Nope I'm swearing off all Lovecraft employment." He made a crossing motion with his hands, one still donning an empty chopstick, before smiling. He'd figure something else out, it wasn't like he was hurting for sickles or anything. He swore off the job opportunity, not the allowance.

He finished his spring roll and reached for a carton of noodles to dump out onto his plate, remembering her warning about not eating everything or else he'd be the one running for brekky, he paused and pushed some of the noodles back into the carton. Of course they'd probably polish it all of anyway, but he could at least pace himself. And besides he couldn't fill up on noodles and miss out on the dumplings. "Oh yeah she is." Andy couldn't help but roll his eyes at the thought of their mother fretting, distraught, and apologizing to their family for his mistakes. As far as he was concerned the mistake was hiring a teenage boy to work at a magical spa in the first place. "An excuse to not attend the next event?" He asked her, mock excitement in his voice, "I might have to start disappointing them even more." He chuckled.

"I'm hoping to get at least a few hours before she realizes I didn't go back to the Apothecary." He told her softly, of course their mother would assume the next place he'd go was either to see Jacq or to hide at Eleanora's so it wouldn't be long before she came knocking. But if it was late enough, their mother would be forced to wait until tomorrow morning to come for him, seeing as proper witches did not walk the streets alone at night. Just think of the rumors, oh, the shame.

Shrugging his shoulders Andy wondered about the answer her next question he tried not to think to far into the last part. As the only male heir his inheritance was going to be a lot loftier than either of his sisters, despite Eleanora being the first born, and sometimes that made him feel awkward. He'd share it with them, of course, but that wasn't exactly the point. Their family was all sorts of messed up when it came to the prehistoric pureblood traditions. "Hoping to crash here for a while? If that is okay?" He said, turning to look at her. "I will feed you." He offered with a cheeky grin, knowing payment wasn't necessary because she had always been there for him, but wanting to propose it anyway. "I guess I should probably find a job..."

"How is your thing going by the way?"

“Good choice,” Eleanora quipped in return, scooping up more noodles with her chopsticks and following that bite with the rest of the spring roll she was working on. Who knew Chinese food tasted so much better over conversation? Or maybe it was just the hunger talking, either way, she was enjoying her meal quite a bit. He had made the right decision, anything to do with their family always ended up in disaster one way or another. It was like a curse. Eleanora knew that had she stayed at home, her parents would have forced her to do something like that too, get a job that they wanted her to have so that she could improve skills they approved of. But it was hard to fight with people like the Lovecrafts for long, especially when they started holding your inheritance over your head.

She reached for the container of soy sauce, plucking one of the bigger dumplings that she saw and popping it into her mouth. “That’s what I’ve been doing for years now, believe me, anything is better than those stupid family get-togethers,” she added. Family meets were the worst, particularly because she’d often be forced to be polite to the cousins and other relatives that she actively went out of her way to not encounter, and for good reason. They’d start shoveling their beliefs down your throat or start asking you a million questions about things you didn’t have an answer to in the first place.

“It’s almost dinner time, dad’ll stall her, buy you some time I’m sure,” she replied. Their father, the actual Lovecraft, was a little more relaxed than their demanding mother and had a better way of dealing with things that he did not like. Eleanora considered it might be easier to appeal to him in a letter since he probably did read them, though she expected that her mother would send in a howler by morning time, “If you see a red envelope though, run for the hills,” she said with a smile, no stranger to those, she had gotten a few howlers from her parents when she was in school too, all unpleasantly loud and insulting.

“Well—” she said slowly, “As long as you plan to get the takeaway, I guess you can stay,” she teased, of course, she would allow him too. And after reading that scary novel, it was probably better to have some company, in case some creepy villain tried to attack her in her sleep. “Stay as long as you like, ill give you housework duties till you find a job,” she joked. Eleanora was not the neatest person in the world, especially when she had no motivation. “In exchange, ill give you facials and let you into Coven once in a while,” she promised with a wink. Eleanora probably didn’t need to sneak her kid brother into clubs but Andy was harmless, she was sure he’d behave himself.

“Coven’s good, I go in tomorrow, got a late shift but it’s fun. I get those creepy old guys sometimes but they’re good tippers and they like to chit chat, so that’s been helpful with being social and all that,” she suggested. “Want to work there as a busboy or something?”

She always seemed to know what to do when it came to their family. Andronicus envied that about her. Eleanora, even during the worst times, had always been his hero. She made her own choices, forged her own path, meanwhile Andy had been dragged down the rabbit hole more times than he wanted to count. He was making an effort to be more like her. To do things he knew were right and damn whatever his parents or their family had to say about it. They always had something to say. And logistically he knew that would be easier if he stopped going to all of the Lovecraft gatherings. He wondered how his mother would react when neither one of them showed up for the garden party next week. The thought brought a wicked smile to his face.

"Yeah I hope." Although their father was certainly more reasonable than their mother Andy didn't have a great relationship with him either. Strained would be putting it lightly. Andy always felt like his father expected too much, and when he disappointed him, it was that much heavier. When he irritated his mom he could shake it off but when he let down his father he always second guessed himself. Even if it was irrational. "Oh Merlin you think she will send one of those?" He said, a look in his eye that denoted fear. He'd gotten them before, probably not as many times as Ellie had at Hogwarts, but enough to know it was not pretty. He'd tried to set one on fire once, before it could shout at him, and that had been even worse. The howler had followed him for half a day screaming, instead of it's typical one and done rant.

He finished his noodles off and went in for another helping while she was teasing him about staying. He smiled at her through the chopsticks and dangling noodles he had raised to his mouth. "No no more homework." He said, an exhausted roll to his words. He'd just gotten finish with his sixth year which meant he'd had a ridiculous workload for all of the NEWTs he'd gotten. And next year he'd have to do even more, with his OWLs coming up. He was homework-ed out. "It's my last summer vacation. No homework." He told her with a chuckle, the realization cutting at his insides. One more year and he'd be out of Hogwarts. He'd be on his own, he'd be seventeen and on his way to freedom. It was daunting but thrilling. When she mentioned facials he dramatically cringed and chuckled. "I guess I could show you some tricks I learned at the Apothecary, put that torture to good use."

"Wait you would do that?" He perked up. Coven was awesome, or so he'd been told, and the idea of her sneaking him in was pretty much amazing. "That would be wicked." He told her quickly, needing her to know how interested he was in this thought. The idea of creepy guys talking to her too much made him uncomfortable but he could tell she had it handled. Andy was pretty sure after everything she'd been through there wasn't a thing that Ellie couldn't handle. Still, the idea of being around in case any of those losers got out of hand wasn't lost on him when she brought up another idea. "You think they would let me be a busboy? I turn sixteen in a month?" He wondered what the age limit was, he hoped it wasn't seventeen like everything else seemed to be.

Andy smiled at her and leaned back against the sofa. He brought his plate with him, balancing it on his hand as his noodle pile kept getting smaller and smaller. When he'd picked up his plate from the coffee table he'd uncovered a magazine that was sitting with other things. He noticed it at this moment, setting down his chopsticks and picking it up to hold it out to her. "Witch Weekly?" He teased, although stealing notes from one of her earlier issues had helped him quite a bit in the dating department. He turned it back to himself and read the cover blurbs with amusement. "What does your horoscope tell you about your soul mate? -- Are you meant to be? Take this quiz and find out? -- What your hair says about you.." He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he read each of the titles and laughed in between.

“Unless she gives you the silent treatment, then you know she’s really mad,” she offered, though to some degree it was consolatory, at least he’d have a little time on his own before he had to face her and that was probably the type of time Andy needed right now, to figure out how he wanted to approach things. Eleanora remembered the first of several times that their mother had given her the silent treatment, it had been when she had decided not to return to Hogwarts the first time. It had been an ongoing battle between the two of them, a shouting match that eventually led to silence, one that Eleanora greatly appreciated.

It gave her time to think, to figure things out on her own, and stand by her decision before she was at it again over something insignificant. She had tried threatening them with cutting them off of their allowance before but it wasn’t long before Eleanora discovered that it was an empty threat, it wasn’t up to her to decide when or how much money they received, after all. “But at least that gives you a few days to relax before she starts arguing with you about something else,” she added. “Can’t really do much, grandpa’s not going to let her take away your inheritance, you know how rare boys are in our family? You’re like a golden goose,” she teased.

“Cleaning the bathroom is not nearly as bad as a History of Magic assignment,” she said nonchalantly, “Definitely not as interesting but alas, it’s either me or the house-elves,” she added, sighing a little at the thought but moving in for some more food regardless. Eleanora hated chores probably as much as the next person, she decided, but she had always been firm about her choice not to give in to her mother’s insistence that she get staff to attend to the house. The less dependent she was on her parent’s help, the more freedom she felt, and in turn the less power they held over her. It felt nice to do things on her own, even though it was a significant amount of work.

She shrugged in response to his question but it was obvious on her face that she was happy that he was excited at the prospect. Eleanora had always felt like a bit of an emotional burden to Andy, especially when things were at their worst. Now, she found herself finding ways to do little things for him, nothing special just enough to show him that he was definitely her favorite little brother and for good reason. “I’ll ask and see if you’re cleaning tables I don’t see what would be the issue unless of course, you try to sneak off into the corner and drink up the leftover drinks,” she laughed at the thought. But she was almost certain that Andy wouldn’t do that. “But are you going to like it? It’s a lot of dirty dishes and the people in the kitchen aren’t always that nice,” she continued. In general, her team was great but there were a couple of people that she certainly wouldn’t miss if they quit.

Moving over to the fridge, she got them both glasses of orange juice before moving over to the couch to sit on it. She had left the food behind on the table for now but would definitely be back for more a little later, “What? It’s good, and don’t think I don’t know you didn’t go through my stash at home,” she said accusingly. She didn’t know but she was sure about to find out. “Oh! Are you meant to be? Let’s do that one,” she insisted, setting her drink down on the table. “We’ll see if you and Jacq are a match and I’ll see if I and…” she trailed off, hesitating for a moment, “This guy I met are going to hit it off,” she said vaguely.

At this point the silent treatment didn't sound all that bad. At least it meant she wasn't yelling at him anymore. Andy couldn't remember if he'd ever made her mad enough before but remembered what it was like when Eleanora and their mother would really get into it. "Kind of wish I didn't have to go back.." He mused, knowing it wasn't really an option but feeling comfortable enough here to day dream a little. Every teenager must have felt what he was feeling to some degree. He didn't want to be controlled anymore, he didn't want them dictating how he behaved, what he wore, who he spoke to. He was his own man now. Or at least he felt like he was.

And even though he'd of loved to be out on his own, like Eleanora was, he also knew it wasn't practical. He was still a student, he still had the trace on him, he couldn't really fend for himself if he wasn't even allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts yet. He had no ideas about leaving school or anything, so he knew he was going to have to return to his mother and the Lovecraft home for at least one more year. "Yeah, the golden goose." He repeated with a chuckle, never really feeling lucky about being the only boy born in forever. There was a lot of pressure to that, a lot of expectations. He was pretty sure their family wouldn't approve of him avoiding the family business and playing Quidditch professionally instead.

"Gross I'm not cleaning your bathroom." Andy protested with another laugh and shook his head. "That's what magic is for and since I can't do it without bringing Mother and the Ministry down on me that one's gonna' have to be your responsibility. How about I.... fold your laundry." He had looked around the room and his eyes settled on the mound of clothing she had pushed out of the way when he'd first come over. He assumed it was clean, since it wasn't on the floor, and he shook his head at her. "Missing the house elves yet?" He asked with a little grin as they continued eating and chatting. He loved moments like these, when they were just hanging out and talking about whatever came to mind. They could bounce ideas, figure things out, stuff their faces, you know, the important stuff. When they were children it was in the rumpus room between their bedrooms, now it seemed Ellie's flat would be their new treehouse.

"I wouldn't do that!" He said, taking a mockingly offended tone and placing a hand over his heart. Probably he would try to sneak some sort of thing, if she offered, but he wasn't going to be drinking anyone's back wash leftovers. That was an easy thing not to be tempted by. If he wanted alcohol that badly it wasn't like it was very hard to find, he'd just raid his mother's liquor cabinet. "I mean as long as their not pinching my arse I think I can handle it." He laughed again, he was never going to get over that.

He nodded a thank you when she brought back orange juice for them and took a big sip before grabbing the magazine. He would deny stealing her old ones until the day he died, but they both knew the truth. And they had come quite in handy. It was the closest he would ever get to knowing what was going on inside the brain of a witch, he supposed. "I... do not know what your talking about." He said as he crammed more noodles into his mouth to avoid anymore accusations. "Wait the guy you met?" Andy stopped chewing, mouth still half full, to ask the question. She hadn't mentioned him yet and he wondered what that meant. He wanted to know more, but he decided to let the quiz do the questioning for them.

Setting down his plate he grabbed a quick-quill that was among the things on the coffee table, folded the magazine so that the quiz page was on the front, turned toward her, and settled in. "Okay question one: Where did you meet?" He waited for her to answer before ticking the box that fit best. "Question two: What was your first impression of him?" He waited again before continuing.

"Question three: Do you find him attractive?"

"Question four: Can you picture the two of you together in five years? What are you doing?"

"And finally, Question Five: What do you think he feels about you?"

“You don’t have to go back if you don’t want to, Andy,” she reassured him, though she wasn’t sure if those were words that she was capable of fulfilling. Eventually, their parents would demand that he return back to the family estate but in truth, they would probably be relieved to find him staying with his own sister than say another family or a friend. Eleanora was not popular with her own parents due to her choices but she had always been responsible, especially when it came to the well-being of her younger siblings. She looked out for them in school, helped watch after and play with them when they were children, and even when things were particularly difficult, she found a way to put her personal feelings aside should they need her.

“Sure, fold the laundry I haven’t taken care of in like a month, that ought to keep you plenty busy,” she teased, though it was probably partially true. With her accommodations well taken care of and a monthly allowance to keep her living expenses, Eleanora was having a hard time finding reasons not to just buy more clothes when she needed them rather than just use the wardrobe she had. But at least she was sort of making her own money and using that more than her allowance which she had taken care of to store at her personal account at Gringotts for later use. That had to account for something. “Nope,” she said confidently, “But I do miss the Sunday brunch spread we used to have,” she sighed a little at the thought, “Not enough to go, though~” she added in a singsong voice, with a grin on her face.

“Those grandmas really did a number on you, didn’t they?” she joked, amused by the mental image that the entire situation had produced. “There are special clubs for that if some guy tries that on me, I’ll break his arm,” she threatened, something she would totally do if it occurred to her brother as well. The last thing he needed was for some random person to take liberties with her body only because she worked in a nightclub. In general, the customers were respectful, they would flirt of course but there was a very obvious line there and most didn’t dare cross it. She had heard of some incidents, but thankfully Eleanora had not been the recipient of any of those unsavory communications.

She laughed at the expression on his face, it was enough to tell her that he was guilty but she was feeling rather generous and wasn’t going to pry. Contrary to popular belief, many of the articles in there were pretty interesting and applicable to both men and women as long as you took them with a grain of salt. “I went on a date, yes,” she said vaguely, not really wanting to get into it lest Andy teased her about it. Andy surely knew of the people she had dated and was probably well aware that it had been some time since she had even shown interest in someone else. But it was still very early and the last thing she wanted was to jinx it.

She thought about the questions and answered with the first thing that came to mind, not wanting to jinx it by thinking too long about something so unsure.
Where did you meet? “Through a friend,” she replied without hesitation. “She set us up,” she explained a bit further.

What was your first impression of him? “Uh—at first a thought he was a bit weird,” she smiled at the thought, “but he’s actually rather sweet and very funny, good impression I’d say,” she answered.

Do you find him attractive? “He’s pretty cute, yeah. Obviously I wouldn’t have stayed otherwise,” she teased. But she would have, Eleanora liked to think that she wasn’t entirely superficial.

Can you picture the two of you together in five years? “Five years!?” she laughed, “I mean I could hang out with him again sure, five years sounds a bit more….Andy/Jacq territory,” she teased.

What do you think he feels about you? “I think we hit it off well? I don’t know, this is too deep,” she said.

“Give me, give me, what’s the result? Are to be married and live happily ever after?” she joked. “Which quiz do you want to do?”

As she answered the questions he ticked the box, the magical magazine tallying up the scores per question as they went. Toward the bottom he snuck a peak at what sort of amount she'd need for a good answer, but it wasn't looking up for the mystery man. He couldn't help but blush when she said five years was more of a him and Jacq thing. Man he hoped so. She had been the love of his life before he even knew that was a thing. She was perfect. He hoped she wouldn't come to her senses any time soon and dump his ass.

He laughed by the end, this was rather deep for someone she'd just met, but that sort of made it more fun. It was so obvious that the magazine had no idea what it was talking about but he couldn't help but find it interesting. Before she could snatch it away he gave her a grin, "Inconclusive." He said, holding back the magazine for a moment and teasing her before releasing it. Honestly it had said that the two of them were a match made in Libatius Borage's cauldron (which meant they were 100% soulmates, naturally) and Andy balked at the results with another laugh.

"Oh I don't know." He replied to her question about which one he'd to do. "Horoscopes or Hair....?" He wondered out loud. "Well I mean there is a lot of mystery going on up here." He said, doing a swooping motion around his glossy brown hair.

"Dealer's choice."