Elinor writes articles about cat fashion shows. (copperpot) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2010-03-17 16:47:00 |
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Elinor was by herself for the first time since her parents had gone missing. Up until now, her and Aaron's house had been flooded with extended family, and she had almost always had her husband and at least one sibling by her side. Now it was Monday and she'd insisted that Aaron go back to work, that she would be fine. Aaron's mother had waved off Elinor's claims that she was fine to take the children today (despite not returning to work herself; if anything was like to cause her to lose it, it would be the indifference of news reporters at the Daily Prophet), and told her daughter-in-law that she would come back in the afternoon for tea. It was earlier than usual, but would still give Elinor plenty of time to just... digest what had happened, as, certainly, she had yet to. She was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea when the floo grate glowed green. Emily stepped out of the floo and gave herself a quick dust off. The entire weekend had worn on her. Normally well cared for hair was pulled back from her face in a haphazard knot at the base of her neck, and her clothing was a bit wrinkled. She hated not knowing what had happened to her parents, but perhaps almost as much as that, she hated not being able to do something about it. There was the thought that it might be partially her fault as well. After all - she was an Auror and obviously an enemy of the Death Eaters. After having spent hours going around on the idea though, she'd come to the simple conclusion that the best thing she could do for the moment was to go and visit her family. Until they were ready to let her do something on the case (which Emily was well versed enough in the DMLE to know would be not anytime soon) there was very little she could do at work. "Elinor," she said without preamble and stepped forward towards her sister quite willing to wrap her in a large hug if she would be allowed. "Oh! Emily, I--" Elinor started, getting to her feet in surprise. She wasn't sure who else she might have been expecting--one of her brothers? Aaron returning almost immediately after he'd left?--but there was a certain relief in seeing her sister there. As a child Elinor had idolized Emily and still in her adulthood she took many of her cues from her big sister. But what cues were there to take when your parents had been abducted? Without saying anything else, she held out her arms and embraced her sister warmly, taking deep breaths to stop herself from crying for what felt like the thousandth time. Emily let the embrace hold on for a while. To be honest, even if she was the elder of the two sisters, she had no idea what she should be doing right now. It was not the sort of thing you prepared for even if perhaps you ought to do so in a world such as the one that they currently lived in. And there was a part of her that was furious with even having that thought. What sort of world did they live in that such a thought would even occur to someone who had lost their parents? When she finally pulled back, it was only to give her sister the once over. "Have you been eating? and sleeping?" Older sister habits died hard, even though Emily could not have answered either of those questions affirmatively at the moment. "How are the girls?" Tears had escaped at that point, so hard as Elinor had fought against them, quiet streams down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the palm of one hand, and attempted to wave Emily off with the other. "Yes to eating, not so much for the sleeping, though not for lack of trying," she responded. "Aaron is making sure I've been eating, and apparently our home is the family hub, as I have been sent more casserole's than I know what to do with. Please, take one or seven with you when you leave. And the girls are fine, they're with Aaron's mother. She's been quite good about all this, I..." she paused and swallowed, attempting to prevent more tears. "Would you like some tea?" Emily nodded. She'd drank more tea in the past weekend than she knew what to do with, but she supposed that was how she knew that she was well and firmly British. Nothing like a cup of tea in a crisis, and the more, the better -- for all involved. She stepped back and wiped her hand across her own cheeks, trying not to allow herself to cry too much. She'd rather be strong than to fall apart. "I suppose I can take one at least, although you know with it being just me, that I'll be eating it for a week," she raised a hand to her temple massaging it briefly. "John sent me an owl," she added almost as an after thought. It hadn't been so terribly surprising to hear from her ex-husband in the aftermath of the report in the paper, but it had been startling. The two had parted mostly amicably, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a level of discomfort in conversations. Particularly knowing how much it had bothered her mother when the two had split. "Just a, thinking of you, sort of thing," she waved a hand. Elinor gestured for Emily to take a seat at the table while she busied herself with the kettle, accio-ing a cup from the cupboard with a slight flick of her wand. To the comment regarding Emily's ex-husband, she nodded thoughtfully. "That is very kind of him," she said, unsure of what else might be necessary in context. Finished preparing her sister's tea, Elinor moved back to the table, sitting the cup in front of Emily and then re-seating herself. "He sent his thoughts to the entire family, really," Emily took the cup gratefully and was quiet for a moment. From the moment this had happened everything had felt a bit odd to her. As if the world had gotten just slightly off rotation and was now going round the sun at a slightly different angle than it had before. it was odd for John to owl her -- odder still because it rather seemed as if he should of been owling her mother. It had always seemed as if her mother would have rathered have overlooked the fact of the divorce. She wanted to tell Elinor that she was sorry, because there was a very real part of her that felt as if this was all her fault, but she kept stopping herself. It wasn't her fault that there were men out there who would tear families apart on a whim. Not when the DMLE had been working for as long as it had to figure out who they were, and had even had some successes. She couldn't take the blame of the world on her shoulders. She took a sip of tea then. "It's good of Aaron's mother to take the girls." Elinor nodded absently, holding her tea cup to her lips with both hands without taking a drink, staring off into the distance. "Yes. I could have taken them today, but she insisted." Probably for the better, she thought as her eyes began to well again. She focused on her sister, pursing her lips before adding, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to... since everyone's left and I've nothing to do to keep myself occupied, I feel like there's nothing else to think about." Emily took another sip of tea and nodded, finally looking up to meet her sister's eyes. "I understand precisely, Elinor, you needn't apologise to me. I-- as horrible as it sounds I wish I could be at work. I just feel useless sitting here, and not having any idea where they are, or what--" She stopped then because it really wasn't a good idea to continue down that train of thought. Elinor knew well enough what Death Eaters could do, and she didn't work in the DMLE. She didn't need Emily's coming along with details that only an Auror would have access too. "Well," she said a bit more curtly, wiping a hand at the corner of her eyes. "I don't think it's very like us Prewett women to sit around weepy." Never mind that she'd done rather a lot of it in the last forty-eight hours. "I suspect they'll let us into the house today. Perhaps we should go and do a bit of pick-up so that it's in good shape." She didn't know if this was a good idea or not, but she disliked the idea of it being dirty and a complete mess when her parents returned. And she really wanted to believe that they would return soon. Taking a deep breath, Elinor nodded again, this time keeping her attention on Emily. "That... would be a good idea," she agreed, thinking that making everything nice and clean for their parents would help in taking away the sting of their absence, or of the possible reality they could be facing if their mother and father weren't returned soon. It had been... too long already. "Anna said that she would bring the girls home around three. I'll have time before then, if Magical Law Enforcement permits us to. Should I floo the boys? They might like to help." Emily tried not to think too much about whether or not it would be more difficult at the house. In some ways it might be, in some it might seem a bit more like their parents had just gone for a holiday, a mini-break and they'd be back sooner or later. She raised the cup of tea to her lips once more, taking some solace in the warm liquid and nodded. "I think that might be good," she said, not adding that at least they would all be together. And to be honest she supposed that was what she felt like they might need most. Whatever the outcome, if they were together -- well, at least they were together then? "Mother won't be able to say we never clean anything up," she said with the briefest of smiles. Elinor gave a little laugh, along with a smile. "That she won't. She always tries to tidy up here, whenever she's over," she said, and that was true enough. Echo was forever tutting at the laundry piles in Elinor's kitchen, that always grew and shrunk but never got properly folded and put away. Then she added dryly, "Perhaps afterward, we can come back here and enjoy a casserole." Emily set the nearly empty tea cup down on the table and laughed briefly. The sound was odd -- it was the first time she'd laughed for several days now and it almost felt like a relief to do so even if at the same time she couldn't help a tinge of guilt. Laughter when she still didn't know whether her parents were going to be all right. "I see what you're trying to do, Elinor... and I suppose I'll let it slide this once." She shook her head and kept the smile on her lips. "Cleaning supplies still in the closet?" She queried. "I'll run grab them and you can floo the boys." "Yes, where they always are, collecting dust," Elinor mused before draining her own tea. "The irony!" She made to stand then. "And certainly. Sounds like a plan." |