the lucky ones. [eleanora]

“All of that for inconclusive!?” she screeched dramatically, taking the magazine out of her brother’s hand to look at the result herself. She wrinkled her nose in suspicion but laughed anyway at the ridiculousness of the entire quiz, “Guess I’ll tell mum to send out the wedding invites since it seems like I’ve found myself a perfect match,” she teased. Eleanora could almost already tell the sort of reaction her mother would have if she introduced Danny to her family. They weren’t anywhere near that stage but for the sake of making her mother upset, she kind of wanted to have him over for Sunday brunch.

“Ugh you’re so full of yourself, Andy,” she bemoaned, rolling her eyes at her brother with a smile. “I gotta tell Jacq to start being more honest with you because if your head gets any bigger, it might actually explode,” she teased, looking through the magazine then back at her brother to think about what sort of quiz would be best for him. “I can already tell you what the hair quiz is going to say,” she continued, turning to the horoscope and reaching for the quill in his hand.

“Okay, it says I need to put in your birthday—” she started, writing it in, “birth place,” she added in Birbury, then looked up at him again, “Do you remember what time you were born?” she asked, “apparently it needs the time to give you an accurate reading of your—interests in love and—ew,” sex!? gross, “let’s just stick to love first, Andy, I don’t need to know about the other stuff,” she shivered dramatically as if to emphasize her point. “And tell me Jacq’s too!”

"Can you imagine?" He asked her, a completely incredulous look on his face at the thought of their mother finding out about her stranger soul mate. It might even get her off of Andy's back for a little while. If anything would do it, this would be it. He laughed out loud, covering his mouth before he managed to wake the whole block, but his eyes were still squinting with glee. He'd finally finished what was on his plate and even though he wanted to keep eating because it was sooo good his stomach was screaming at him to stop. Maybe he'd run around a little, burn some calories to make room for more, in a minute.

Right now he just felt like sinking into the cushions of her sofa. He'd had a pretty rough day, with the pinching and the quitting and the screaming, he hadn't realized how tiring it all had been. But being here with Eleanora, joking about everything the world had to throw at them, was rejuvenating. "You will do no such thing." He demanded from her, giving her another mock expression that showed off his extreme displeasure. "I think she likes my hair." Andy teased, sticking his tongue out at her and then folding his arms across his chest. "Oh yeah what would it say?"

The exact time he was born... he had no idea. He searched his mind for a minute, trying to remember anything he'd been told about it, but came up blank. "You should know what time, you were there." Andy smiled at her and adding a little bit more before she could say it for him. "I know I was there too, but I was a little busy." He laughed again before she brought up what the quiz was going to tell them and it got weird. Moving right along he shook his head, not wanting to discuss everything with his older sister and taking solace in the fact that she was of the same mind. "Jacq's is January 20, 1986. And she was born in Thorntonhall which is back in Scotland. Ugh... I don't know what time though?" He gave her a lopsided look, unsure, and hoped Ellie didn't come up with any ideas about sending his girlfriend a quick owl or anything.

“I’ll invite him over to brunch sometime, you can be there for emotional support,” she grinned, wondering how Andy might balance pleasing their parents and keeping an outsider company. Naturally, Eleanora would have her hands full telling her mother all sorts of things like where he grew up and what he did, and she might even embellish a bit just for the sake of seeing the shocked expression on her face. It would be short-lived of course but completely worth it.

“Might be the only thing she likes about you too,” she joked, very curious about how the two teenagers interacted with each other when they were on dates and things like that, “You should invite her over some time, so she can see how good you are at folding laundry, girls like that kind of stuff,” she continued, not really sure if Jacqueline would be into it but very amused by the idea that Andy would be trying really hard to impress his girlfriend. “That you’re a pretty boy that’s in love with his mirror,” she said, poking her tongue out at him teasingly as she wrote down the details of his birth.

“I think I was? I honestly don’t remember though,” she confessed, “Let’s just say uh—three am, I'm pretty sure it was in the middle of the night at some point,” she remembered vaguely, everything had happened so quickly and by the time Eleanora realized what exactly was going on, she was looking down at this little person that her father had placed in her arms only for a moment. Had she known he was going to be the best brother ever she might not have cried so hard when he started crying. She had been a little girl herself and felt confused by all of the sudden noise.

“Let’s see here—” she waited as the answer started to manifest slowly on the page. “Okay, here it says that you are generous and warm, very loyal, enjoy the chase…” she paused as she read along, “Andy has high expectations and has a high need for physical expression—you need a lot of attention…blah blah blah…if you start to feel like your partner loses interest, you lose interest as well,” she laughed. “Are you two really like that?” she thought about what to do about Jacq’s birthday time but smiled, “Owl her! Tell her you’re at my house trying to figure out if you’re soulmates,” she joked.

Andy wondered what this mystery wizard was really like, especially since Ellie had brought up the idea of bringing him for Sunday brunch. A joke or not, it was new. He hadn't really seen her take interest in anyone since River and seeing this side of her was refreshing. Andronicus was happy as long as she was happy, and even if it wasn't meant to be happily ever after, he was still glad to see her getting back out there. And who knows, maybe she had met her soul mate. The teenage wizard believed in that sort of thing. Life would be too dull if he stopped believing magic.

"Oh please." He snorted at her comment about what Jacq liked most about him but he couldn't help but run a hand subconsciously through his silky smooth brown hair. Maybe he did care too much about it, but he was a Lovecraft, their family had literally made fortunes off of people like him, so he felt safe in the crowd. "Thanks for calling me pretty." Andy teased her with another stuck out tongue and then chuckled.

He watched her fill in the bits of information on the quiz and leaned forward to try to peak at the answers before they were totally conjured. He slumped back, feeling impatient and not wanting to wait for her to tell him the answers. He wanted it to say good things, but he knew it would. And if it didn't then he would just chalk it up to the witch weekly being full of crap, no harm done. When she started telling him what the quiz said he was like he smiled, dimples on full display, and kept quiet til the end.

"See it knows I'm awesome too." He beamed at her, his overconfidence shining through as it often did. "See I am more than just a full head of hair, or an apparently pinchable bum." Chuckling he went back over what she'd said he was like in a relationship and shook his head. "Not that I know of... but we haven't lost interest. And it's not gonna' happen anytime soon, I can tell ya that." He declared, a sharp nod following. He loved the physical stuff, of course, after all he was a teenage boy, but he wasn't really going to emphasize on that part with his sister. They were close, but that was weird to talk about with your sister. "I don't need a lot of attention though, do I?" He asked, not realizing that he was proving the point by the way he posed the question.

"No no no." Outright declining what she had brought up he waved his hands in front of him with a smile. "We are not owling Jacq." He couldn't imagine trying to explain this to her. She'd probably think it was cute or something, Jacq was amazing like that, but still.

"Unless you want to owl your soul mate too? What's his name?"

“But you’re still not prettier than me,” she stuck out her tongue in return at his comment, relieved once again that she was not spending another day curled up on the messy couch with a book and with her brother instead. Andy was sort of an expert in making all of the negativity that plagued her mind go away, making it much easier for her to feel normal again instead of in her head repeating a past she was incapable of fixing. They couldn’t really talk like this at school, Eleanora kept her distance on purpose so that he wouldn’t feel the need to juggle her with the million other things he was involved in but now that she was home and he was, too, she hoped he would be able to stay with her for a while. It was much better than living alone.

“Oh I don’t know, this doesn’t sound like a credible source to me,” she teased, but it seemed accurate to a degree. Andy was ambitious and he certainly chased after what he wanted, at least in things not related to romantic relationships she had seen it. Eleanora wasn’t really sure how the entire thing between Jacq and Andy went down but she did know that he had developed feelings for her early on and had done something about them. Eleanora, on the other hand, wasn’t so easily moved to confession. She had liked many guys but had done very little about it, feeling ambivalent at the idea of showing others the more difficult parts of herself. “Well you’re both still babies, no need to rush into things just for the sake of doing it—” she explained. The phrase could take on several meanings but she certainly did not want to have the sex talk with her brother though she was pretty sure her parents did not intend to either.

But Andy was responsible, even if a little full of himself, so Eleanora doubted that he would rush into anything without thinking it through. And if he ever needed help or advice there too, she knew that she would be willing to help him to the best of her ability, though she wasn’t particularly thrilled at the prospect. “Well you’re asking me so I’m going to say yes,” she joked, “but it’s okay, one of us has to be big-headed and needy, guess that’s you,” she added jokingly, looking over the quiz again to make sure she hadn’t missed any important information.

“Oh come on! Jacq would totally understand, you can even have her over for second dinner or something,” Eleanora teased a little, “Or shall I write her myself?” she threatened lightly, but she wouldn’t. Of course, when he suggested that she owl Danny, Eleanora fell a little silent. “Absolutely not, that’s the sure way to scare someone away, he’d think I was crazy,” she added.

“Danny,” she said after several moments, “but don’t go around trying to find him or anything, or I’ll do something terrible like show Jacq all your baby photos,” she continued with a smile. “Want some ice cream?” she offered in return, “We can do sheet masks and you can tell me all about your turbulent romance story with Jacq.”

Feigning shock, Andronicus gave her a sassy look when she claimed she was the pretty one before sticking his tongue back at her. Maybe he did care a little bit too much about his hair, but it was hard not to with brown locks as perfect and soft as his. He grinned at her, finding comfort in the same playful fight they'd been having since they were children. Andy had missed his big sister, he had missed this side of her really because even though she hadn't been far away physically these last few years he had felt like her mind had been elsewhere. He was glad to see her joking and enjoying things again. Seeing her in so much pain after River had broken his heart, mainly because he had no idea how to help her.

Giving her an uncomfortable scrunch of his nose, the teenager shook his head. "No, no, we're good there." He said with a little wave of his hand. As much as he trusted and felt comfortable with Eleanora, he didn't want to have the sex talk with her right now. Not that he and Jacq were at that point, even though he thought about it often, but he felt like he knew what he needed to know already. Even though their parents were basically allergic to the idea of sex before what he assumed was some pureblood arranged marriage nonsense, Andy had done his own research. And not just by listening to the out of control stories in the sixth year Slytherin boy's dorms. He'd visited the library in their neighborhood and found some answers, and some diagrams he was never going to forget.

"I take offense to that!" He said suddenly, voice a little louder as he gave her a shocked look. He was excitable and already having so much fun, he was bound to start shouting sooner or later. "Noooo Ellie don't~" he whined at her, holding his hands up to surrender. As much as he always wanted to be around Jacqueline, he wasn't keen on her finding out they were doing soul mate quizzes about their relationship. The male in him screamed about how embarrassing that would be, and he simply couldn't handle it right now. He was still in that phase where he needed Jacq to think he was strong and manly and attractive, and doing teen romance quizzes during a sleepover with his big sister didn't exactly exude that idea.

"Ooh Danny," Andy repeated playfully as he wiggled his eyebrows at her. He opened his mouth to tease her some more, but she cut him off at the knees, and he shut it just as quickly. Eyes wide with fake worry at the threat of baby pictures, he laughed loudly. He leaned back into the couch as he laughed, really letting the moment catch up to him. Head still resting on the back of the sofa, he turned it to look at her and shrugged. "Do it then, I was freaking adorable as a baby, and you're just jealous." He laughed again and relaxed into the soft material of her sofa.

"Always." He said in short response to her offer of ice cream, and then his smile grew a little with her next words. "Do you have any of the green tea ones left?" He asked her entirely serious about the question. It was hard not to know these things with the upbringing he'd had. Andy had idolized his older sister for as long as he could remember, always wanting to do the things she did and be like her. And the fact that they came from a family that literally made a killing on magical beauty supplies certainly helped. Andy pulled his legs up on the couch and rested his hands on his knees comfortably as he waited for her to return. "I don't know if I'd call it turbulent, really, Jacq is amazing." He gushed, eyes forward as he fell into a floaty little trance thinking about his girlfriend.

"Did I tell you how I asked her out?"

Eleanora smiled and nodded, extremely grateful that he did not intend to make her go through with the conversation and that her point had made it across without issue. Even if Andy didn’t do the appropriate amount of research, she knew that Jacq was no fool and wouldn’t get into something she wasn’t ready for. It was so strange to see her brother, whom she had seen walk around in diapers and throw temper tantrums, in what she believed to be his first, true Hogwarts romance. Even though it wasn’t so long ago, Eleanora remembered what that had felt like, how much she had thrived off of the attention of her partner and how things just seemed so different and happy when they were together. Only recently were things starting to feel a little normal again, her life not entirely complete but no overbearingly empty.

“Fine, fine,” Eleanora rolled her eyes playfully, having already decided not to owl Jacqueline to begin with for the sake of not embarrassing her little brother any more than she had already done so. The witch was a little mean to Andy on occasion but she loved her brother and wouldn’t sabotage his relationship for the sake of giggles, not that she even believed she could come in between them. “But girls like sensitive, romantic guys too, talking about your feelings and stuff always gets you extra points,” she suggested playfully.

She gave him a look when he said Danny’s name in that way, even at her age she didn’t like the idea of being teased for going out on a date which probably wasn’t anything more than just two people the same age having dinner down the street. But, Eleanora was grateful when he dropped it, giggling at his statement about the baby pictures as she got up to fetch the masks and ice creams, dragging her feet along the tiled floor of the kitchen to not lose her precious bunny slippers. “What about the one where you went around wearing panties on your head and dancing in your diapers? Or all the crying ones?” she opened the fridge to take a look around, pausing to look back at Andy with a smirk. “You are not cute when you throw temper tantrums and cry, believe me,” she made a face.

Eleanora pulled two small tubs out of ice cream from the freezer, fetched some spoons, before reaching into another drawer from the freezer for a couple of masks. “Yep, just got some yesterday,” she said with a smile, waving the green packets from her position in the kitchen before bringing them back. “They’re sooo cold!” she exclaimed happily, setting the items on the counter as she made her way to the small bathroom next to the living room. “Come wash your face,” she insisted, gathering her hair into a loose bun as she started to run the water, taking one of the cleansing potion powders and lathering up her face. “Yeah, yeah, I know she’s awesome,” she said sarcastically though she had known Jacqueline for a long time, and she was.
“You didn’t! Tell me everything.”

Andy shrugged, a smile still playing on his lips because he believed it was true. He'd gotten heaps further with Jacq and fixed relationships he'd set on fire, by being a nice sensitive guy versus the thing he nearly became when he let peer pressure control him. The teenage wizard knew he was a nice guy, and Andy was glad it was easy to be such. Andronicus still had plenty of the classic Slytherin traits, he was ambitious and stubborn, motivated and intelligent, dedicated, and even a bit arrogant, but he was trying hard not to be a jerk anymore. He watched from the sofa as she got up to grab the masks from the freezer, and his smile grew. She always had the best kinds. Following her to the sink, he shook his head at her comments about his baby pictures. "I'd bet they are still cuter than the ones of you covered in chickenpox." He teased her back, remembering the photographs, but not the events themselves, of her with oven mitts covering her hands and red bumps all over her skin.

After she'd splashed water on her face and began to wash it, he moved closer to the sink and followed the same steps, little bits of water catching in his styled hair, but he didn't mind. Rubbing soap across his skin and then leaning down to rinse it off, he reached out for a hand towel with his eyes still covered. "Well," he said, eyes closed and water dripping down his chin, "I took some of your advice actually... and well.. from your witch weekly." He was pretty sure she'd figured it out already that he'd been sneaking them and memorizing the little columns for some time now, but he still wanted to tell her. He found the towel he'd been looking for and dabbed his face dry before looking back at her with the tiniest bit of red warming his dimpled cheeks.

"I charmed notes to show up in her books and at lunch and stuff, you know, like a secret admirer. She never knew it was me." He was still proud of that, especially since he nearly gave it away when one of the notes accidentally showed up while they were eating breakfast. "And asked her to meet me in Hogsmeade." He leaned up against the wall while he waited for her to finish washing her face. "Ellie.. she looked so pretty." Andronicus couldn't help but gush now, the warmth in his cheeks rising, but he wasn't embarrassed; he was in love. "And we played chess in the little courtyard behind the three broomsticks, just like the old days." He was sure Eleanora would remember little Jacq and Andy spending hours in the backyard at the Lovecraft home playing the giant lawn chess set and eating snacks. They never wanted to come inside; some of those crying pictures were probably from that. Absently he wondered if there were any pictures of Jacq and him as children, thinking that would make a romantic gift one day.

“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes as he suggested that at any point he had been cuter than she had, “granny only tells you you’re handsome because she doesn’t want to damage your self-esteem, but we all know I was always the pretty one,” she teased, a smile on her face as she wondered if he would protest what she said or consider it on a deeper level. But more than just to reveal whether or not they had been good looking children, their baby pictures also reminded Eleanora that the two of them had been close for as long as she could remember. It was no wonder then that even at this age, the had a lot of fun spending time with each other, cracking jokes and talking about things like their love lives. Eleanora realized that she wanted to get her hands on some of those photos, maybe hang them up in her room along with the other pictures of her friends and family she had collected over the years. Eleanora had even had some of River at one point but had taken them down, not confident that she could look at his face on a daily basis without eventually falling apart.

“Yeah, I know you were in my stash, I keep them in a certain order you know,” she smirked at his confession. Eleanora really didn’t, in fact, she probably wouldn’t have noticed anything but one of her favorite ones went missing for a while and it was then that she suspected that either Andy, or their younger sister Morgana, had gotten her hands on her magazines. Reaching into her cabinet for a toning potion, she applied a bit of that one next before patting her face with her hands for good measure, the fragrant smell of lavender, and whatever else they had put in it extremely relaxing. Eleanora nodded as she offered him the potion as well. “That’s actually—” she paused for good measure, “really cute. Who knew Andronicus Lovecraft was such a romantic,” she teased, nudging him gently with her elbow as she walked out of the bathroom to return to the couch. “You two look really good together, too, which is always a plus!” she added. Not that it really mattered but it was obvious from afar that the two really liked each other and as long as her little brother was happy, Eleanora was happy as well.

“Did you tell mum you’re dating, yet?” she wondered, opening the mask before placing the freezing cold paper on her face. “Ahh—so nice!” she noted to herself as she waited for Andy to try on his own. “I actually don’t think mum will mind as much? We’ve known her family forever plus, she probably meets all of mum’s ridiculous criteria on the perfect girl for you,” she added.

Andronicus couldn't help but laugh at her when she declared her reign of being the prettiest Lovecraft child. He shook his head, still laughing too much to dispute it, not that he really would. He thought he was good looking enough, but if they were talking about who was prettier he was happy to let his big sister keep the crown. He'd been called pretty boy plenty of times, and he wasn't sure it was never meant as a compliment coming from his housemates. Andy followed her lead, finishing washing and patting his face dry, and then applying some toner and feeling the potion started to sink into his skin. It made his face tingle a little, it was a tranquil sort of feeling, and he didn't mind it. Andy had never been ashamed of using products or taking care of himself, he didn't go overboard, and he certainly didn't broadcast it to his roommates, but he was no stranger to face masks either.

Following her back to the sofa he plopped back down where he was sitting, not realizing he always sat in the same spot and got comfortable. Sooner or later this cushion would have an imprint of his rear end from all the time he spent sitting her hanging out with her. It was nice to have such a cool older sister, someone to eat copious amounts of taking out with and then detox with a face mask. "Who knew," he repeated with a playful shrug of his shoulders because honestly he'd been surprised by it too. He had always been thoughtful in that way, trying to make the few friends he had a laugh and happy, but things were different when it came to Jacq. He wanted to impress her, to wow her, and he wasn't afraid to get all cutesy in his efforts to sweep her right off her feet.

Andy opened up his mask and leaned his head back on the sofa before laying it on his clean skin. Immediately he felt it cooling down, opening his senses, it was invigorating. He had closed his eyes when he was placing the mask but at her question he opened them back up, peering at her through the cutout holes of the mask and shaking his head. "Oh don't remind me," of course their mother's opinion wouldn't change Andy's one way or the other the teenager was in no way looking for the witch's approval. "I don't know if I'm going to tell her, or dad, honestly." He said, turning his head back to stare up at the ceiling as the mask worked its magic. He was pretty sure they were enchanted because it was so soothing. "She always has to make such a big deal about things, she will want to invite Jacq over for dinner and make a whole thing out of it. Probably invite her parents too and it will be so weird."

“You better say something soon,” she warned, “last time mum managed to drag me to afternoon tea with her friends, Desdemona Anderson’s mum was making all sort of comments about how you ought to start preparing,” she continued. Desdemona had been a childhood acquaintance, one that had followed Andy around like a puppy for as long as the two of them could remember. She was from a good background but had been homeschooled, her mother a bit of a worrywart and always assuming the very worst of any establishment she couldn’t completely control. It was obvious, however, that trying to marry off her daughter was another way she was exercising her control over her daughter’s future. Not that the young woman would mind it, Eleanora was sure, she practically talked to Andy and tried to grab his attention any chance she got.

“Oh Merlin, imagine you married to Desdemona Anderson,” Eleanora added, laughing at how comical the idea was. The girl was rather odd, or better yet peculiar was probably a nicer way to put it. Eleanora chackled it up to her being introverted because of how much time she spent at home with her mum filling her head with all sorts of things. Then again, Eleanora’s own mum wasn’t that much different. Thankfully, Eleanora did not take everything her mother said to heart. “But if I get to choose my sister in law, I’d rather Jacq,” she said, though that much was obvious. “Desdemona I’ll have you living at her house with her mum telling you both what you can and cannot do,” she teased. But more importantly than personality, Eleanora was glad that Andy was with someone he truly loved rather than someone he was assigned to.

“Isn’t inviting her parents over like a thing you do when you’re about to get married?” she asked, bringing her hand to press on the mask and make sure that it was sticking to her skin properly. “Anyway, I think the two of you are cute,” she smiled. “Don’t get married now though, it’s going to make me look bad and mum’ll have me looking for potential suitors as soon as you do,” she added playfully. “You’ll be getting your inheritance soon, you know what you plan to do with all that money, yet?” she began. It had at one point been a point of jealous, the fact that as a male Lovecraft, Andy would get a sizably larger inheritance in comparison to herself. The politics of finance in her family were so strange after all.

Andronicus wasn't really looking forward to when his mother got her hooks into his personal life. When he was away at Hogwarts, it was always a little bit easier to dodge her, but at home, she seemed to try to control every moment of it for the summer. She'd been trying to get him to do things since the moment he'd stepped off the train, and he certainly wasn't eager for her to find out about the whole job situation either.

"Oh, no," he said as the mask on his face flapped back and forth over his sharply cut dimples. "You don't think..." No, they wouldn't. "Not. Gonna. Happen." Sitting back and laughing it off, Andy waved his hands in the air. "I've sworn off all Desdemona's," he declared with a half chuckle, but as much as he wanted to make light of it, he couldn't help but think about the summers spent with their Aunts. "No one good is named Desdemona," he had decided, even if it was childish, to assume this was true. It wasn't really all that long ago that Desdemona Anderson's attention had done nothing but stroke his ego. Andy would be lying to say he hadn't enjoyed her little crush on him, despite her oddities, but now it was the last thing he wanted to encourage. He liked being with Jacq, and he especially liked that no one other than the two of them had had a say in the relationship. He would never let his parents dictate who he could and couldn't be with. That was his choice alone. Not saying they wouldn't try, though.

Andronicus shrugged his shoulders when Eleanora asked her next question, but a part of him hoped that was the case. He had met Jacq's parents on plenty of occasions; their families had been close while they were growing up but under different circumstances. A special dinner in light of Andy and Jacq's relationship would be just too weird. At least, so soon after they had started dating, their mother wasn't exactly averse to humiliating her children in social niceties. And it would be far from the first time, too. "You know mum, though, and what she's capable of," Andy narrowed his eyes on his big sister; it was like some kind of war story they both shared. Growing up in their house had been a little bit like trench warfare, after all. His cheeks reddened a little when Ellie said she thought they were cute, and his smile grew. "Thanks," he muttered quickly before beginning to laugh again. "Oh, I'm sure she's already got a list of proper wizards lined up for you," It was sad but probably true.

"No, not really," he said with a shrug, even though he had thought on it some. Andronicus had always felt weird when the subject of inheritance came up. Even with Eleanora, his best friend in the world, it was awkward. He hated that his family somehow valued male children more than female ones, it was an awful tradition, but it wasn't something he could just stop. The best he could do was share his inheritance with Eleanora and Morgana, which he had always planned to do, behind their parent's backs. He'd do better when it came to his own children, but he had some time before that was an issue. "Probably buy a new broom," It was such a basic idea, but Andronicus was obsessed with brooms. He loved Quidditch, and he spent entirely too much time working on his broom. He was like a muggle with his first car; he was obsessed. "Maybe take a trip?"

"You traveled anywhere cool lately?" He asked, the feeling of wanderlust coming over him as it often did. Andy was excited for his Seventh year, but he was also excited to graduate and be free in the world. Free to roam, make his own path, and explore new places.

Her brother’s reaction amused Eleanora, but a tiny part was indeed hopeful that her parents wouldn’t try to ruin his life like that. It wasn’t the 1800s anymore, and even if their cousin Genevieve lived in the dark ages, it didn’t mean that everyone in the Lovecraft family had to follow suit, no matter what tradition was. “Aunt Desdemona’s alright,” she shrugged her shoulders, though as the current manager of the Lovecraft Apothecary, she left much to be desired in the personality department. So in a way, she could understand her younger brother’s feelings about his aversion to the name and the people behind it.

“I won’t let her do it,” Eleanora promised though, in reality, there wasn’t much that she could do if her mum suddenly became overwhelmingly set on the idea to marry them off. Indeed it would play out like a romance novel, forced to marry some woman but entirely in love with one another. Probably a much more excellent read than the horror story she had been reading before Andy arrived, but she didn’t want to think about that. It had been pretty terrifying. “Ugh—” she made a face at the thought of proper wizards, what did that even mean? “No, thanks, if it’s mum’s choice or become a spinster, I’ll gladly choose the latter,” she retorted.

Eleanora had been sent on dates before, really unpleasant ones where she had to pretend to care about half of the things those arrogant men talked about and was expected to laugh at stupid jokes. Her date with Danny had been the most normal one she had been on in the last couple of years and that was saying a lot considering how many times her mum had tried to “set her up” with someone else. She was making a face just thinking about it.

“A broom!?” she exclaimed dramatically, “all that coin and you’d buy a broom, oh you poor thing between brooms and all that hair care you’re going to go bankrupt within the year!” she teased. But Eleanora liked that he was so devoted to Quidditch and did wonder if he’d ever make a career out of it. She’d reckon that he’d try to if their parents didn’t try so hard to dissuade them first.

“I went to gram’s house in Spain recently,” she suggested. The old woman lived on the coast and wasn’t as obsessed withturning her nose up at people like their mother was. She even cooked her own food! “But only for the weekend. She misses you, you ought to visit her soon,” she added as an afterthought.

“Where would you go on like your ultimate vacation?” she asked, “would you take Jacq with you as well or would it be more of a boy’s trip? I think I’d very much like to visit South America. Evie did some work there and though I’d never want to be stuck there with her, she’s told me all sorts of interesting things about the place.”

When Eleanora said she wouldn't let their mother marry him off, Andronicus believed her, even if they both knew they were a bit powerless to stop it. He just hoped it wouldn't;t come to that. As much as Andy felt like he was becoming the wizard he was supposed to be, he didn't want to fight with his parents. As awful as they could be, they were still their parents, which still meant something to Andy. It was why he'd eventually return home after his little retreat at Eleanora's apartment. And it was why they had both known that would be the case even from the very beginning. Eventually, all roads lead home, right?

He shifted in his seat a little as his skin's soothing effect really started to sink in. It was like it was pulling the stress right out thru his pores. "Yes, a broom, don't laugh," He said even as he began to chuckle. "What this doesn't come cheap, you know," He fluffed his hair a bit and let it fall perfectly back into place. His dimpled grin shined almost as much as his hair, almost. "What would you buy, then?" He returned, giving her a sharp nod.

It had been a long time since he had been to Spain and to see their grandmother, but he hadn't realized it until just then. He supposed it was up to him now that he was of age. He could, and did, travel on his own, so he couldn't hide behind the fact that his parents didn't bring him out there anymore. "I should go for a visit, maybe before summer is out," Andy chewed on his lip for a moment before that smirk returned, "Next time I need to escape the apothecary, I suppose," Grams was an excellent refuge, and she always had good food.

"South America, like Brazil and stuff?" It was more than evident that Andronicus knew very little about that side of the world. It was a mix of ignorance and living in such a small world for so long. The older he got, the more he wanted to get out there and see it, and one day he would. He had a list of places he'd like to go and check out, but there was undoubtedly a lack of destinations in the Western Hemisphere.

"I'd love to go east, like Toyko and Beijing, I've heard they have these amazing all night Quidditch pitches. They never turn the lanterns down. From the pictures I've seen, it's like the city never sleeps." London was sort of like that, but London wasn't far away and interesting. "Of course I'd take Jacq, you could come too," he chuckled again, giving himself away before he finished the thought, "I mean if you're keen to be some kind of spinster third wheel," He joked, but really, he'd of love to go on an adventure with his big sister.

“Not a broom,” she teased. Truthfully, Eleanora had not given her inheritance much thought, it hadn’t seemed like a conversation she wanted to have with her parents considering how many disagreements she had had with them as of late. “Maybe I’ll give it all to charity,” she suggested with a shrug. It was an idea she contemplated once in a while, the thought often came when she considered leaving things behind, disassociating herself from her family as much as possible. You do not like the way we think but that certainly doesn’t keep you from benefiting from our way, now does it? her mum had told her once. At the time, it had been a sensitive conversation. However, the more she considered it, the more truth she found in her mother’s words. But that wasn’t really something she wanted to think about at the moment. “Or buy myself a nice, comfy estate in the countryside and become a recluse,” she laughed. The possibilities were endless.

“You ought to!” she encouraged, wondering if they might both go to Spain together before the end of the summer and spend a week or two with the old woman. Eleanora realized that it had been some time before the two of them had traveled together, which was a shame considering how different she assumed the experience would be now that they were older teenagers. Her grandmother’s home in Spain had been filled with much more pleasant memories, the seaside home she inhabited had served as a refuge to her and her younger siblings more than once. The old woman took great pleasure in protecting her grandchildren and was not above scolding her own daughter if she thought her too pushy or too ridiculous. There mum was plenty of both.

Eleanora had not really considered where in South America she wished to go apart from the fact that she wanted to go there. Maybe it was the distance that attracted her, or the fact that she assumed a place that far had to be a complete mystery to someone like her. The young witch regretted the lack of attention she had paid during the family’s previous vacations. She had been simply concerned with being comfortable, traveling in a way in which she saw the things she wanted to see from a distance. The next time she went on a vacation she vowed to do it on her own or at the very least, without her parents. “I haven’t really thought about it,” she confessed, “but sure, Brazil sounds just as well,” she smiled.

Asia, on the other hand, felt a little far from her comfort zone. She had heard her father talk about it often, he did attend a Potioneering conference in those parts once in a while and had at times even returned with peculiar trinkets. There had been a beckoning cat statue once, that would meow and purr in the direction of any bystander to intrigue them to enter a room. That had been a cute item though she never found any use for it. “Wow, Andy, now that you’ve got a girlfriend I’m the spinster older sister!?” she exclaimed dramatically, removing the mask from her face. “And the third wheel, too,” she added for emphasis. She wasn’t hurt, though.

“Maybe that’s what I’ll do with my money, travel the world a few times over. Dad’s going to expect that you take over his position as chief Potioneer, is that kind of where you see yourself in a few years?” she wondered. In a way, that was one of the perks of being born a girl in this family. There weren’t such career expectations, not for her, anyway. “Genevieve is going to be your boss one day,” she wrinkled her nose, “Yuck."

But at the very least, he had a career picked out for him.