11; GO HOME, ELARA

The following week, Elara was training harder than she had ever trained in her life, but she was happy. She was so happy to be training with her role model and to be training with the team she had dreamed of playing for her whole life.

The day before she was supposed to head back to Grimmauld for the holidays, she had an evening practice. Those were some of the best, flying around in the dark, and feeling the cold air whipping all around. Her uniforms were charmed to keep her warm, and they worked wonders.

Her suitcase was all packed and ready at her apartment, ready for when she would Apparate the following morning, but it seems that wouldn't be happening.

As they were taking a short water break, and owl flew into the stadium and landed right in front of Elara, with a letter tied to its leg. The young girl furrowed her eyebrows and placed her water bottle down, untying the letter.

The owl ruffled its feathers and flew away without even waiting for a response. Elara unrolled the parchment.

El,

Something's happened, Harry's had a vision that Dad was attacked by a snake and we've been sent to Grimmauld early. Dad's in St. Mungo's. It's serious. It's just us Weasley's and Harry here with your Dad. The rest are getting here tomorrow.

Thought you ought to know.

Ginny xx

Elara dropped the letter, letting it flutter to her feet and almost stumbled back had it not been for Jemma grabbing her arm and steadying her. "El, what's wrong?" Gwenog asked her as everyone crowded around her.

"Someone- someone-" Elara paused and took a deep breath, trying to keep her tears away. She'd known Arthur Weasley since she was 11, and he was one of the kindest people she had met in her life. He didn't deserve this. "Uhm- someone's been attacked by snake. He's in St. Mungo's."

"Someone you know, I'm assuming?" Jemma asked softly.

"Yeah, I've known him since I was in my first year at Hogwarts." Elara wiped her face. "He's the father of some of my closest friends."

"El, sweetheart. Take the rest of the evening off. Go home early, yeah? We'll see you after the break." Gwenog said gently to the younger girl, who nodded, taking her wand out after profusely thanking her fellow beater.

She quickly Apparated to her apartment, grabbing her bag in one hand and then with her broom still in her other hand, Apparated straight to Grimmauld still dressed in her training uniform. She appeared in the hallway, right in front of the door, and dropped her suitcase and broom there, walking towards the living room.

"Anyone home?" She called. Suddenly several people ran into the kitchen where she stood, pushing each other to get to her first. Ginny managed to hug her first. "Hey, Gin."

"Hi, El. I see you got my letter." The redhead had her arms wrapped around Elara's waist and her head just under her shoulder.

"Yeah. Gave me quite a shock right in the middle of training." Elara replied. Ginny pulled away and gasped when she saw what Elara was wearing.

"Is that-"

"My training uniform."

"Wow." Ginny circled her, gasping again when she saw 'BLACK' on the back with her player number, and the Harpies symbol on the front. "That's so cool!"

But before she could continue gushing over it, she was squeezed from both sides by the twins. "I missed you guys too, but I saw you a week ago."

"Simply too long." Fred began, letting her go.

"We missed you." George finished, standing beside his brother now. This left one Weasley left for her to greet.

"Come on, bring it in." She rolled her eyes at the shy boy stood in front of her. Ron hugged her. "How you feeling?"

"Alright, I suppose." He let go, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Did you come right from training?"

"Yeah, Gwenog let me leave early." She looked around, noting the absence of two people. "Where's Harry? And my Dad?"

"Living room. Harry's still a bit shaken considering what he saw." Ron replied. Elara didn't even respond, she just walked towards the living room. As soon as Sirius saw her, he stood from where he was sat beside Harry and walked over to her silently, wrapping her in a tight hug.

"Hi, Dad."

"Little moon. You're early." He commented, stroking her hair.

"Yeah, Ginny sent a letter. I got the rest of the day off. Decided to head home." Elara explained, before letting go of her father.

"Nice outfit."

"Thank you." She smirked. "I Apparated straight here. Didn't have time to get changed and all that."

"It suits you."

"I know." She winked, before looking past him at Harry, who was asleep on the couch. "Is he alright?"

"I don't know."

Elara nodded before making her way over to where Harry was. She sat beside him and gently nudged him. "Harry?"

He groaned, refusing to open his eyes. "Five more minutes."

"Harry, your necks going to hurt if you sleep here. Come on." She ran her fingers through his messy hair, her heart aching at the sight of dry tear tracks on his face. She couldn't imagine what it must have felt like to see the attack, and not be able to do anything but watch helplessly.

"El?" He mumbled, eyes flickering open. They widened when he saw her, and he threw himself into her open arms. "You're here!"

"I'm here." She confirmed. "Heard you had a bit of a tough night." She rested her chin on his head.

"Yeah. I missed you."

"I missed you too, little brother."

"You're in uniform." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes, I'm aware." She laughs quietly. "I cut practice short to come here. Gwenog gave me the rest of the evening off."

"Thanks for coming."

"Anytime."

She could feel the weight on her chest grow heavier as his eyes closed, and she knew she wouldn't be able to move any time soon. So, she simply closed her eyes and let her fingers continue running through the younger boys hair.

Everyone else was sat in the kitchen, so as to not disturb the pair. When Mrs Weasley came in the early hours of the morning, she smiled at the sight of the sleeping children on the couch, and quietly told everyone that Arthur Weasley would be ok.

Sirius eventually turned the lights off in the living room and covered Elara and Harry with a blanket, shutting the door so no one would disturb them, because he knew that in a few hours, the house would be full of people, especially the students coming home from Hogwarts.