All of the petrified students were cured on the same day that Harry saved the school from Voldemort once again. Everything that had happened was explained to them when they awoke, and Eliot got the gist. Voldemort possessed Ginny Weasley and Harry saved her life. It sounded about right based on the little Eliot knew about last year's nonsense. Once their questions were answered, they were sent down to the celebratory feast. As everyone was joyfully leaving the hospital wing, Eliot hung back by his bed, staring at the card on his bedside table.
"You coming?" Hermione asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Er — I'll meet you down there," Eli said. He sat on the edge of the bed that had been his for the past several months and picked up the card. Bright yellow, it read 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON!' in blue letters, but Remus crossed out 'son' and scribbled 'Eli' below it. Probably a mean joke, but certainly fitting their collective sense of humor. Eli smiled and opened it to find that Remus had a lot to say. Mainly "I miss you"s and "I love you"s and other things that most other boys Eliot's age might find embarrassing. But he wasn't embarrassed by Remus. Eliot was proud and grateful and loved him. As he read the card, tears threatened to fall from his eyes. It was clear that Remus wasn't doing well. There was no time to waste. The feast could wait; Remus needed him. Remus needed him a month ago, and surely he needed him even more now.
Hi Moony! Long time, no write, huh? Sorry about that. I've been indisposed. But I'm all good now! Feeling great! Incredibly well-rested, really. Several months' worth of sleep will do that to you. That's really all it felt like: an odd sort of sleep. I'm glad you survived without my letters. Maybe I'll send a hundred or so between now and when I come home to make up for it all. I'd say more now, but I haven't got much to say. Nothing has happened to me in months! How dreadfully boring.
In all seriousness, I hope you are well. I can't wait to come home and see you. Love you! Thanks for the chocolate. I think I'll save it for the train ride home. See you soon! I am overwhelmed with antici...
Eli
P.S. ...pation.
He pocketed the card and the chocolate and headed to the owlery. His stomach rumbled; he hadn't eaten since... Well, January. He supposed he could eat as much as he liked at the feast and no one would be able to say anything about it. Perhaps he would eat only desserts. He would figure it out when he got there. It took far too long to walk to the owlery, and it would probably take nearly forever for the owl to actually reach Remus. When he finally arrived, he hastily chose a school owl and explained, "This is for Remus Lupin. Please bring it to him as quickly as you can." The owl flew off into the night with the letter. Eliot always felt a little bit stupid talking to owls, but they seemed to understand what he meant.
He rushed down to the feast as quickly as his legs would carry him, and found the Great Hall in a state of near-madness. People were cheering and drinking Butterbeer and hugging. No one was sitting down, save for some of the teachers. Eliot pushed through the crowd and bumped into Cedric.
"Eli! There you are!" He said, pulling Eliot into an abrupt and unexpected hug. "I was looking for you! I saw Anna, She said you woke up but didn't come down— "
"I had to run a quick errand, sorry," Eliot muttered into Cedric's shoulder. They stayed in their embrace for perhaps a moment too long for it to be entirely platonic. When they broke apart, Eliot asked, "Er — How did Quidditch go?"
"Oh, miserable. We were hopeless without the two of you." He chuckled. "Really. It went very poorly. We lost every match."
"I'm sorry." Eliot shifted from one foot to the other, not really knowing what to say. He didn't have to think of anything, because he was suddenly tackled from behind and pulled into a group hug.
"THERE HE IS!" George shouted directly into Eliot's ear.
"IN THE FLESH!" Fred called back into his other ear.
"OUR BEST FRIEND!"
"ELI BLACK!"
"AWAKE!"
"ALIVE!"
"UN-PETRIFIED!"
"That I am," Eliot said weakly, squished between the twins. "Good to see you."
They freed him from the hug, but Fred immediately grabbed both his arms. "Eli. You're really here! What should we do? Put a dungbomb under Snape's chair? Frog spawn soap in the stew? Something a bit more elaborate?" He hugged Eliot again. Eliot's head ended up squished against Fred's neck, and he thought perhaps he'd like to stay there amongst the smell of sweat and firewhisky and singed skin from a prank gone wrong. Fred let him out of the hug once more and cupped Eliot's face in both hands. "What should we doooooo?"
"Eat dessert," Eliot decided. "I want to eat dessert. Something chocolate."
Fred looked a bit disappointed that they wouldn't immediately be pranking someone, but George was clearly on Team Eliot. Eli turned to ask Cedric to come, but he had disappeared back into the crowd. As Eliot and the twins made their way to the food, a few people said hello and welcomed him back. Eli spotted Harry and shouted, "Hey, Harry, thank you!" and Harry gave him a thumbs up and a grin.
He found Anna standing by the Hufflepuff table, shoving a pumpkin pasty into her mouth and holding a goblet of illegal firewhisky. "EEELIIIIII! MY MAN!"
"Anna!" He said cheerfully.
She shoved the firewhisky into him, presumably trying to hand it to him but only spilling it on his robes. "Oh! Oh no. I'm sorry, Eli, here—" She rummaged around in her pockets for her wand and pointed it at him.
He put his hand on hers and lowered it. She was in no state to do magic. "No, I got it." He pulled out his own wand and muttered a spell under his breath, and suddenly his sweater was dry and the stain gone.
The goblet refilled itself, and Anna handed it to him more carefully this time. "You're a great Beater, you know that? I'm gonna miss playing Quidditch with you. I'm really gonna miss you, kid."
"I'll miss you, too." Eliot looked down at the goblet. He wasn't one for crimes. Trouble, mischief, shenanigans, tricks, pranks, capers — those were his strong suits. But to drink alcohol on school grounds was probably worse than his usual rule-breaking. Probably an actual crime. Probably something that would make Remus give him the Oh, I thought you were Eli but I guess you're Sirius because you're sure acting like him look.
"To Harry!" Someone shouted, and goblets were raised, and so was Eliot's, and then he was drinking and his throat was burning and he felt a little bit bad. He soon began to feel great, joking and laughing and alive.
The festivities continued into the early hours of the morning. There was plenty to celebrate, after all. Petrified students returned, the Heir of Slytherin was defeated, and Hogwarts could safely reopen next year. The students eventually stumbled off to their dormitories while professors pretended not to notice their drunkenness. Eliot decided to walk Fred and George back to their dormitory before heading to his own, as he was the least intoxicated of the three of them and worried about their ability to walk up the stairs.
George slurred the password at the Fat Lady and stumbled over the portrait hole. Fred staggered after him, tripped over the edge of the portrait hole, and fell on his face.
"God, Fred, are you alright?" Eliot asked as he pulled Fred back to his feet. Fred slumped into him and his head fell on Eliot's shoulder.
"I'm lovely." He purred. "I'm with you."
Eliot's stomach was doing cartwheels. He hoped it was the firewhisky affecting him.
"C'mon, you should get to bed," Eliot muttered, following George and practically dragging Fred to his dormitory. When they finally reached Fred's bed, he didn't lay down. He stood, staring at Eliot.
"Er, goodnight, then," Eliot said.
"I love you." Fred slurred with a grin, looking directly into Eliot's eyes.
"What?" Eliot asked.
"I love you, man," Fred repeated, falling into Eliot again. "You're my best friend! My best friend. 'Cept for George, but he doesn't count. He's different, y'know. You're Eli."
"Oh." Eliot sighed. "Yeah, love you too... erm, man."
Fred giggled. "You're funny."
"I didn't say anything funny," Eliot said. Drunk people are weird, he thought.
Fred gave Eliot a sloppy kiss on the cheek, laughed, and collapsed into bed. Eliot's face grew hot as he wiped his face on his sleeve. Correction, drunk people are EXTREMELY weird. Eliot wondered what he himself might've done if he drank more firewhisky.
"Funny," Fred whispered. "G'night."
"Goodnight!" Eliot squeaked. He fleed from the room before anyone could do anything weirder.
On the train ride home, Eliot tried to sit alone, but Fred and George quickly found him. Eliot pretended to be normal, and so did Fred and George. Maybe, if they ignored it, it would all go away. Unfortunately, George left the compartment to go find Lee Jordan, leaving Fred and Eliot alone and sat across from each other. Fred shut the door.
"Er, Eli, I wanted to apologize for the other night." Fred looked more serious than Eliot had ever seen him. "I think I drank a bit too much, and, um, I remember kissing you, and..."
"It's fine!" Eliot said a bit too enthusiastically. "Fine fine fine. All fine. What's a kiss on the cheek between two friends, am I right?" A lot. It's a lot and now my life is ruined because I am definitely gay and I think Fred Weasley is very cute and he kissed my face and now I just have to live with that, Eli thought.
Confusion flashed across Fred's face for a second, but he quickly brightened up. "The cheek! Yes. I kissed you on the cheek. It's all coming back to me now. Well, I'm sorry."
Eliot shrugged. "It's no problem, really."
"Good. I don't want things to be weird between us." Fred put his feet up next to Eli.
"Not weird at all," Eliot lied. That was that; the rest of the train ride was as normal as anything could be, though Eliot continued to panic internally.
As the train pulled into the station, Eliot practically pressed his face up against the window looking for Remus. He spotted him standing close to the platform and looking around at the people. Eliot pulled the window open and stuck his head out. "REMUS!" He shouted. Remus startled and looked up.
"Get your head back in the train!" Remus yelled, though he beamed as he said it.
Eliot smiled and ducked back into the train. The wait to get off the train was agonizing. As soon as he was onto the platform, he rushed over to Remus and practically attacked him with a hug.
"REMUS!" He shouted, muffled by Remus's chest.
"Hello, Eli." Remus chuckled. They let go of one another and Eliot looked behind him to see the twins just getting off the train.
"Couldn't wait to get away from us, could you?" George grumbled.
Eliot shrugged and laughed. "Maybe."
Remus pulled him into another hug and kissed the top of Eliot's head. "I missed you," He mumbled into the mop of hair.
"I missed you, too." Eliot's face was tinged pink as Remus released him.
Remus watched as Eliot said goodbye to his friends. Eliot aggressively pulled his friends into embraces and laughed at their rude jokes. He smiled mostly with his eyes, just the corners of his mouth turning up slightly, just the way Sirius did. An air of camaraderie was present between him and people who Remus assumed must be his Quidditch teammates. Eliot pulled Harry into a hug. For just a moment, Remus was fourteen again, watching Sirius say goodbye to James for the summer.