1 01. HONEY, I'M HOME

*elara will always be wearing the rings she got from sirius and bianca, the bracelet from bianca and the earrings from sirius. even if i don't say it, she's always wearing them*

"Thank you for the brilliant summer, Charlie. I really did need it to nudge me in the right direction, career wise." Elara grinned at her redheaded friend, who stood taller than her.

"Anytime, El. That's it then? Dragons in your future?"

"Dragons in my past, present and future." She winked teasingly. "But yes, I am looking forward to coming back here, hopefully on a full-time job next time."

"Well, it would be an absolute delight to have you work here. Bring that boyfriend of yours next time, I want to get to know him." Charlie placed his hand on her shoulder. She nodded.

"You got it." Then, she turned towards the little house that her and Harry had been given for the summer and yelled out, "HARRY!"

There was a crash inside. "I'M COMING!" The younger boy hurried out, his hair as messy as ever, glasses slightly lopsided and his trunk and owl clutched in his hands. He stopped beside her and placed his things down, breathing heavily.

"Hey, take a breath, alright?" Elara let out a little laugh, reaching out to fix his glasses, and mess his hair up even more, causing him to scowl.

"Come on, El, it's alright bad enough."

"Alright you two, let's get you back home." Charlie rolled his eyes teasingly. He shrunk Harry's trunk and placed it inside Elara's bag, which already held her shrunk trunk. Then, he held both his hands out, leaving Elara to take one, and Harry to take the other, with Hedwig's cage in his other hand.

Charlie Disapparated and appeared outside a long line of houses. Elara let go of his hand and stepped forward. She said the password that her and her father had agreed on in their last letter, and the houses began moving, revealing another in between number 11 and number 13.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Elara Luna Black was home.

She turned to face the other two. "Coming?"

They both grinned and followed her to the front door. She placed a hand on the knob and whispered the password once more, causing it to click and the door to swing open. It hit the wall softly, and Elara slipped her bag off, placing it on the table beside the door.

Her combat boots made no noise as she walked down the corridor quietly. "Where d'you reckon everyone is?" She turned to ask Charlie and Harry, who both shrugged.

"Dining room, I'd say." Someone replied. Elara whipped her head around at the familiar voice and grinned when she saw two redheads.

"Hello, boys."

They both hopped down from the stairs where they stood and hugged her. "Welcome back, El."

"Good to be back." She laughed before letting go. "Dining room, you say?"

"Oh yes," George spoke.

"Private meetings," Fred continued.

"Order business." George finished.

"How come you two aren't in there?" Elara raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Oh, mum wouldn't let us."

"So, you two, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Theo, Daph and Tori aren't allowed in?" Elara questioned.

"Yes to the rest."

"But not Theodore and Daphne."

"Sirius let them in."

"Says they're old enough to make their own choices."

"Well, that's wonderful isn't it." She grinned, before patting their shoulders sympathetically. "I'm sure you two will be there in due time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go greet everyone."

She gently pushed past the twins and headed up the corridor till she got to the door at the end, which lead to the dining room. Taking a deep breath and placed a hand on the doorknob and then pushed the door open, causing everyone in the room to look over.

"Evening everyone." She smirked, looking at everyone's shocked faces. Before anyone could respond, she was being hugged by a dark haired boy. "Hey, Theo."

"Hey, Lara." He replied, voice muffled. She wrapped her arms around his neck in return, and they stayed like that for several blissful moments before Theodore was yanked away from her.

"Out of the way, Nott, I haven't seen my daughter in months." Sirius squeezed his daughter into a tight hug.

"Hey, Dad." She laughed, smiling sheepishly at Theodore over her father's shoulder. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, little moon." He fake sobbed, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

Elara pulled away. "What's this I've been hearing about you acting childish?"

"Who told you that?" Sirius asked, eyes wide and mouth open in shock.

"I won't tell, just know that I have several informants in this house, and any one of them could have told me." Elara smirked. "Now, let me hug everyone else."

Elara walked to the table where everyone else was sat. She first headed to Remus. "Hi, Uncle Moony. Missed you." He hugged her.

"Missed you too, El."

She continued to hug everyone until she finished saying hello to them all, and when she turned around, she saw that Harry had walked in, and was being hugged by Sirius, then Molly. "Good to be back, Harry?"

"Great to be back, El." He grinned over at her. "Where's everyone else?"

"Upstairs, let us take you." George grabbed Harry and Apparated. Fred, however, turned towards Elara with a mischievous grin on his face.

"No, no." She turned to Theodore and was about to run in his direction when Fred grabbed her arm and apparated. Everyone downstairs heard the thud upstairs, and Elara's response when she landed. "Fuck you, Fred Weasley."

Theodore rolled his eyes, shaking his head. He turned towards Sirius; eyebrows raised. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Sirius placed his hand on Theodore's shoulder and transported them both upstairs. They landed beside Elara, who was stood leaning against the wall. "Alright, have fun, bye." Sirius waved and Disapparated.

Elara held her hand out, and he took it, linking their fingers. "You didn't go in?"

"I wanted to give Harry some time to greet his best buds." She replied. "I'll go say hi, then I'm headed to my room. I miss my bed, and I missed you." She kissed his cheek before opening the door. "Hello everyone."

"EL!" She was tackled to the ground by a brunette, causing her to groan.

"Ow, bloody hell, Bia. Kill me why don't you?" Elara sat up and hugged her best friend. "I missed you too."

"Sorry, I just missed you too much." Bianca replied, squeezing her best friend before letting her go. She stood and walked back to the bed she was previously sat on. Elara stayed on the ground, cross-legged.

She looked around at the different faces in the room. "Hey, Blaise." She waved. He waved back, a small smile on his face.

"Hey, El. Thanks for coming back, Bianca wouldn't shut up about how much she missed you."

"Oh, I know, the amount of letters from her were amazing." She turned to the Greengrass heiress. "Hey Daphne. Summer gone well?"

"Better than anything I could have expected." Daphne grinned at her friend, brushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Thank you again, El."

"It was my pleasure." Then, she turned to the people sat beside Harry. "Ron, Hermione, you guys doing alright?"

They both nodded and smiled.

"Ginny and Astoria?"

"They're sharing a room, and they've bonded quite a bit this summer. It's nice to see Tori with a friend outside of her house." Daphne smiled softly.

"That's wonderful. Anyways, while it's lovely spending time with you all, I can practically hear my bed calling my name, and I would like to spend some time with my boyfriend, so, for now, goodbye." She stood and grabbed Theodore's hand, closing the door behind her.

The pair walked up to the top floor where their bedrooms were. Elara opened the door and breathed in the musty scent of her room. It was still as messy as she left it, bed unmade and clothes tossed onto the armchair in the corner, some on the ground in front of her closet.

Elara let go of Theodore's hand, whipped her wand out and flicked it. "Accio bag." Her bag zoomed upstairs and into her awaiting hand. She grinned, tossed her wand onto her dresser and then herself onto her bed.

"Wow, bloody hell, I've missed my bed." She looked up at her boyfriend and patted her space beside her. She sat up and crossed her legs, allowing him to sit with her in the same way. Theodore sat where she motioned and crossed his legs as well.

She leaned forward and kissed him briefly before pulling away. "Been meaning to do that."

"If you hadn't, I would have." He replied.

"Right, well, I got you all something." She opened her bag, and stuck her hand in, it going in until way past her elbow. First, she pulled out a small trunk, and held her hand out, allowing her wand to zoom to it. She waved it at the trunk, and it enlarged.

When it was large, she placed it beside her on the bed and went back to her smaller bag, digging through it once more and pulling out another trunk. A flick of her wand and it enlarged. It was smaller than the other trunk. She waved her wand at it once more. "Alohomora."

The lock clicked and she opened the trunk, revealing multiple wrapped presents inside. All of them wrapped the same way, with brown paper, but what differentiated them were the name tags on them all.

She placed her wand down beside and her brought the trunk closer to her and began looking through. She pulled out two wrapped presents, one a larger box and the other a smaller one. She handed Theodore the larger box first.

"Open this one first." She looked very eager, which piqued Theodore's interest. "And don't be slow with it, rip the paper."

And so, he obliged. He ripped through the paper to find a plain box, which he opened and inside he found a bottle filled with a blue potion that glowed. There was a little tag attached to it, and he lifted it to read it. It was in Elara's writing.

I found this potion that they use in Romania for those who don't have an Animagus, and it allows them to turn into their form for a few hours or so, depending on the dosage they take.

Elara xx

"Lara, this is bloody brilliant. Thank you!"

"Oh, I'm not done yet, look inside."

He placed the potion back in the box and saw there were two other jars. One contained leaves, leaves that looked oddly similar to Mandrake leaves, and the other jar contained something familiar too. "Is that-"

"The chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth? Bloody yes it is." Elara grinned. "I thought the potion wouldn't be enough, so, I brought back these because I threw mine away when I was done. If you want to, you have everything you need to become an Animagus, and you have my expertise and previous notes in the subject."

"Merlin's balls." Theodore was in shock. He placed everything back in the box, placed it to the side and then tackled Elara in a hug. She laughed, laying on her back with him on top of her, hugging her close. "Of course I fucking want to."

"Brilliant." She patted his chest. "Alright, well, let me up so I can give you your other present."

He sat up and she handed him the other box. The smaller one. When he opened it, he saw that it was a simple black ring. "Elara Black, are you proposing to me?" He looked up at her with a teasing smile.

Elara rolled her eyes. "No, you wanker, it's just a bloody ring. I got myself one, but I'm not wearing it on my finger, otherwise people will think you proposed to me." She lifted a necklace from under her top, and revealed an almost identical ring hanging off it, hers only being a little slenderer.

"Well in that case, thank you." He kissed her and slipped the ring onto his finger. "Speaking of proposal, we never have talked about marriage and all that."

"Do you want to get married? Even in the future?" Elara raised her eyebrows curiously.

"Would you hate me if I said no?"

"No, I agree. I don't want to get married. It feels like it holds you down in a way. And it places expectations for children, that's a lot of pressure that I don't want. I don't even want kids."

"Me neither. We can be the cool aunt and uncle." Theodore smiled, glad she agreed.

"I'm so glad you agree. Now, let's go downstairs so I can give everyone their presents." She closed the trunk, grabbed it in one hand and offered her other one to Theodore, who took it and stood.

They walked downstairs, stopping at the middle floor for the other kids. Elara opened the door. "Ho, ho, ho." She said mockingly, a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Oh shut up El, it isn't Christmas." Bianca rolled her eyes.

"So, you don't want presents?"

"What the bloody hell, of course I do, give me!" Bianca grabbed Elara's hand from Theodore and dragged her over to where everyone else was sat. Bianca sat on the bed, and Elara opted for the floor. Theodore sat down beside her and leaned his back against the bed.

The dark haired girl unzipped the trunk and pulled out the box with Bianca's name tag. She handed it to the Zabini heiress. "Lovely wrapping paper, El."

"Oh thank you, your highness." Elara flipped her off. Bianca ripped the wrapping paper off and gasped when she saw what was inside.

"Oh my Merlin, El you didn't!"

"Oh, but I did. I've got myself one as well."

Bianca pulled out a glimmering bottle filled to the brim with firewhiskey. But not just any whiskey. It was whiskey from 20 years ago, meaning it was only stronger. "This is beautiful."

"You two are alcoholics." Blaise commented.

"Yes, we already know that, Blaise. Thanks." His sister replied, a sarcastic smile on her face. "Thank you, El."

"Anytime." Elara winked, before pulling out two identical boxes and tossing them to Fred and George. "Your brother chipped in for those." She gestured to the boxes. The twins grinned and ripped the wrapping paper away to reveal boxes from one of the most esteemed joke shops in the world, one that happened to have a shop near the Romanian sanctuary.

"Thank you, El!" The both chimed.

"You're welcome, boys." She grinned, before pulling out the last few boxes, handing one to Blaise, one to Hermione, one to Daphne and one to Ron.

Blaise opened his first, revealing a model dragon like the one Harry. "Thought you'd like one of your own, considering you seemed very infatuated with mine. Now, we can both be masochists who love our dragons." She gave him a teasing smile, causing the room to laugh.

"Very funny, El." Blaise rolled his eyes.

"I know."

"But, thank you,"

"You are very welcome." She smiled, before watching Hermione open hers to reveal a large book with detailed information about dragons and several papers sticking out. When the younger girl opened it, she saw some parts highlighted and other marked off, and added to with handwritten notes.

"I had two copies of this, a clean one, and this one. I gave you this one because it has all the little information you wouldn't find in normal books, stuff that I got told there, and stuff that I added in. I already know all of it by heart."

"This is brilliant." Hermione's eyes were glimmering, wide and excited. "Thank you!"

"Anytime."

Daphne carefully unwrapped hers to reveal a pink box. She removed the lid to reveal something wrapped in tissue paper, and when she opened it, there was a delicate little bracelet. It was gold and a small chain with an emerald heart attached to it. "The green's for Slytherin."

"El, I-it's beautiful. Thank you." Daphne handed the bracelet to Bianca who clasped it for her.

"You're welcome. It was nothing. I got Tori one too." Elara smiled, before she turned her gaze to Ron, who was sniffing his box. "Ronald, I spelled it, you won't get anything from that."

He frowned. "Can I open it?"

"Go ahead."

He ripped into the box and when he removed the lid of the box inside, he saw sweets from all parts of Europe. None of them were familiar. "I had Charlie and his friends recommend some of them. Didn't want to get you something with firewhiskey in it. I can't take responsibility if you get drunk."

"You let Harry drink!"

"Harry is basically my brother. You have Fred and George to get you drinks. But from what I've seen, you Weasley's don't handle your liquor well. So, maybe just stick with butterbeer, yeah?" She laughed, high fiving Harry.

The door suddenly opened, and Ginny and Astoria walked in. "EL!" They both cried out, rushing to her and hugging her.

"Hey guys." She hugged them back. Before pulling away. "Come sit, I got you both something."

They both sat down in front of her, cross-legged. Elara fished out two more presents and handed one to each. Astoria opened hers first, revealing a bracelet identical to the one she got Daphne. "I got your sister the same one."

Astoria thanked her then handed her bracelet to Daphne who clasped it for her. Then, Ginny opened her larger present to reveal a few books, each one detailed to jinxes, hexes and curses. Nothing too intense, just something fun. "Heard you've got a mean Bat-Bogey Hex." Elara winked. "If you want to expand your knowledge, read these."

Ginny sent her a sly smile. "I will read them tonight actually."

"Oh, Ginerva Weasley. You could have been a Slytherin, I swear." Elara smirked.

"The Hat considered it. But decided on Gryffindor." Ginny shrugged.

"Well, you missed out, I'll tell you that. Having to deal with this lot. Plus, we have the best common room and dorms. They're under the lake. We've seen mermaid and the Giant Squid." Elara commented nonchalantly. "But, you're not allowed in. Only Slytherins."

"You brought me in!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry, I had to put a cloak over your head to keep anyone from seeing you. You're on the list."

"What list?" Hermione asked.

"List of people banned from our common room. Harry's on it, because believe it or not, lots of people don't like you. Fred and George are on it, due to the many pranks. And, I think Seamus is as well."

"Seamus Finnigan?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah. I think he blew a wall or something." Daphne commented.

"Wait, Finnigan? As in...?" Theodore looked over at Elara questioningly.

"I hate that woman, but yes."

"Woah clue us in or something. I'm going crazy here not knowing." Harry leaned forward.

Elara took a deep breath, then opened her mouth and spoke.