Disclaimer: This all belongs to JKR. I'm not making any profit off of this; I just like to play.

Ve Praha

Part 1

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Why," Eloise Midgen moaned in frustration, "did we ever choose to travel the Muggle way? This is ridiculous!"

Justin Finch-Fletchley rolled his eyes at Hannah Abbott and answered, "Because that was the consensus of the group."

Hannah snorted her laughter into her palm and stared at the back of the seat in front of her, trying to regain her composure. Eloise had been complaining about the train rides ever since they started off from London with the Eurostar. With every new city they travelled to, her complaints became much more enthusiastic, and Justin seemed to become more and more annoyed with it.

Undaunted, Eloise continued on with her rant. "We could have Apparated just as easily, and that would have cut the time into fractions.

"But then," Hannah piped in, her laughter subsiding, "we wouldn't get to see all these magnificent landscapes."

"Bugger the landscapes," Eloise said mournfully, trying to look put-out. But it was clear she was enjoying the scenery just as much as Hannah.

And what was going on outside of the train window was beautiful. Hannah, Justin, Eloise, and Susan Bones (who was currently chatting up a Muggle on the other side of the train car) were on their way to Prague, fresh from Berlin, and they were just passing through a slightly mountainous region. They'd been travelling for about two weeks, and they'd been to Brugge, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Berlin.

Hannah was having a wonderful time, with the exception of the small quibbles and the ugly brawl that had broken out in Stockholm. It felt good to be able to travel after the years of war the wizarding world had suffered through.

In a way, it was almost surreal. Just over a year ago, Hannah and six of her friends had made a pact that they would take an extended holiday after the war, visiting cities all over Europe and just plain enjoying life.

Only four of the original seven lived long enough to carry out their pact.

When she noticed someone plopping down in Susan's empty seat, Hannah tore her gaze from the window to see a brightly smiling Justin.

Feeling her heart race slightly, Hannah glanced around. "Where's Eloise?"

Justin arched an eyebrow and answered, "Her excuse was that she went to find Susan, but I think she wanted to talk to the Muggle men."

Hannah's mouth dropped slightly, and her head instinctively turned towards the front of the car. She didn't know how those two did it, talking to strange men. Hannah could never work up that sort of courage.

"Don't you go too," Justin said in a mock pleading voice as he grabbed her hand. "Then I'd be all alone with no one to talk to."

Hannah smiled and turned her attention back to Justin. "Don't worry, I won't be going up there."

"Good," he replied, looking as though he really meant it. Hannah blushed. Why did she always have to do that around him?

Yet, as always, Justin didn't seem to notice. Or if he did, he was being a gentleman and ignoring it. She was thankful when he started speaking again. It brought the attention away from her. "What is it you would like to do when we arrive?"

After taking a moment to think, Hannah replied simply. "Honestly, I'm not sure. The only thing I know about Prague is that it was the centre of the European wizarding world at some point."

"So you did pay attention to Binns!" Justin joked.

"I didn't learn that from Binns." I learned that from you. "I must have picked it up somewhere," Hannah mumbled. She desperately wanted to steer this conversation elsewhere. "What do you want to do in Prague?"

Relief sprang over her when Justin smiled widely, swatting a stray curl from his face. He gestured wildly as he went on about the astrological clock on the town hall, the Charles Bridge, and the ghetto with its mythical creature, the Golem.

All Hannah could do was sit back and watch him talk animatedly. She wished she could lift her hand up to tuck the unruly strand of curly hair that was once again in his face, but knew that she would never have that right.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hannah hugged herself for warmth as she stood in the enormous Old Town Square in the centre of Prague. Although it was the middle of August, it was rather chilly at night. She thought about transfiguring her scarf into a more suitable sweater, but she figured with her luck, the scarf would turn into an umbrella or ten.

Hannah stood there, already slightly drunk from the copious amount of beer they had at dinner. She absentmindedly ran her foot along the bronze Prague Meridian that was barely visible next to the cobblestone ground in the dark of night.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. It smelled different than London. Here she could smell the magic in the air. She felt she could almost touch it. Back in London, although magic was still around, there was something covering it up. Somehow it seemed to be in a more pure state in Prague. Hannah couldn't seem to explain it.

She put her arms out to her sides, ignoring the chill and wanting to feel the magic. Instead, she lost her balance and stumbled.

Holding back a snort of laughter, she looked over her shoulder towards her friends. Justin and Susan were still arguing over a map and Eloise was pacing back and forth. Finding this all quite amusing, for reasons she couldn't quite explain, she broke into side-splitting laughter.

"All right," Susan called out, assuredly, pointing across the square, past a very large statue of someone named Jan something-or-other. "We're going that way."

Stopping in her tracks, Eloise looked in the direction Susan was pointing. "Are you sure?"

"No," Susan said confidently. "But we're going to go that way."

Susan and Eloise started walking briskly over towards the far corner of the square, while Hannah followed. She jumped nearly out of her skin when Justin bumped her arm gently.

"Don't scare me!" she yelped, pushing him away playfully.

Raising his eyebrows, Justin smiled. "Are you scared?" His eyes were heavy, and Hannah tried to remember how much Justin had had to drink. It seemed like it was probably a decent amount, especially considering he couldn't seem to walk in a straight line.

"You don't scare me," Hannah managed to say through her laughter.

Just as Hannah stumbled with her steps, Justin yelled loudly, as though he was attacking her, and grabbed her from the back. Hannah shrieked out with laughter as he spun her around.

A moment later, Justin cursed loudly, and they were both sprawled out on the cobblestones. Hannah's laughter exploded threefold. Her sides ached and her eyes were tearing. She couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed this hard, if indeed she ever had.

She forced her eyes open and was immediately aware of Justin's presence. One of his hands were resting lightly on her stomach, their legs were so intertwined she couldn't tell which leg belonged to who, and worst (best) of all, his face was so close, she could feel his breath hitting her cheek. He was most definitely not laughing.

Almost immediately, Hannah's laughs tapered off into silence, and she was lost. When his hand moved on her stomach almost imperceptibly, her body reacted immediately, and she felt the familiar ache in her lower abdomen that appeared almost whenever Justin was around. Unable to work up the courage to look at him, Hannah shut her eyes tightly and held her breath. She didn't want to do anything that might break this moment.

"Oi," Susan's voice rang out in the distance. "What are you two doing down there?"

In an instant, Justin had disentangled himself, and Hannah felt like she had lost something.

Hannah opened her eyes and noticed Justin's proffered hand. "Are you all right?" he asked softly, but with a slightly drunken slur.

Accepting the hand, Hannah wobbly rose to her feet. "Yes."

They started walking again without another word spoken between them. The silence hung around them as they trailed after Susan and Eloise.

Hannah once again wrapped her arms around herself for warmth. The streets were eerily devoid of people, and there seemed to be a strange glow about the street. A chilled wind fluttered past them and Hannah shivered.

"Are you cold?" Justin asked, concerned.

Hannah started at the broken silence. "A little," she replied truthfully.

"Well, it's no wonder with what you're wearing," Justin said, looking her over, making her feel suddenly warm all over.

"It's August," she explained hastily. "I thought it'd be warmer."

"I'm not complaining, but you really must be cold. Give me your scarf."

"Taking away my clothes is not going to make me warmer," Hannah said with a smile. Yet, as soon as she processed what she'd said, images of she and Justin naked and in a passionate embrace, sweating, appeared in her mind. She realized Justin had just the right idea. Undressing was a good plan of action in order to get heated.

Hannah licked her lips and slowly unwrapped her scarf from her neck, relishing in the feel of the material grazing across the sensitive skin of her neck. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask Justin which item of clothing would be next to come off (it didn't matter they were on a public street), when Justin spoke.

"Why didn't you transfigure this into something else?"

Oh, of course. Hannah shook herself from her fantasies. "You know how I am with that. It would have been disastrous if I had even tried."

Smiling, Justin glanced around before pulling his wand out. "Well, then you're in luck. We've got someone here who actually passed their Transfiguration OWL." He mumbled a few choice words, and Hannah watched the scarf turn into a comfortable sweater that, while warm-looking, did not go with her outfit in the very least.

Hannah smiled widely and immediately put on the sweater that perhaps more closely resembled a potato sack. "Thank you. And I'll have you know, I did pass my Transfiguration OWL. I did decently well on the written exam, and I managed to scrap by with an 'A', despite the flamingos.

They shared a brief laugh together as they continued to follow their friends down the road.

"When do you suppose we'll get to wherever we're going?" Justin asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Probably never, at the rate we're going," Hannah whispered back.

It was then she felt it, and it made her breath freeze in her lungs. His hand had just barely grazed her own. The contact was only for a moment, but it affected her whole body.

When it happened a second time, the contact was held, and Hannah didn't think she could ever breathe again. His hand moved with hers, their knuckles grazing against each other. Hannah felt she could die from this feather-light touch of the hand.

But if she had thought that the back of Justin's hand was erotic, it was nothing compared to when he took her hand in his, their fingers interlocking playfully.

His fingertips moved across the back of her palm, making her want to allow those same fingers access to every inch of her. If his fingers felt like that against her hand, she couldn't imagine what they'd feel like elsewhere--grazing over her neck. Softly caressing her thighs. She wanted to feel his fingers on her stomach again, this time without the barrier of clothing. She wanted his fingers to run circles around her flesh, knead and pinch her breasts and dive deep inside her.

Hannah felt her whole body burn and she had to concentrate to keep herself from panting and giving away how much she wanted him.

"Hannah," Justin said, stopping her with his hand. She didn't miss the catch in his voice as he said her name.

"Yes," she replied, entirely too fast and entirely too breathy.

"BUGGER IT ALL TO HELL!" Eloise's voice rang clear into the night.

Immediately, Hannah and Justin dropped hands and turned towards the sound of the cry. Hannah gasped when she realized she could not see neither Eloise nor Susan.

"Come on," Justin said worriedly, before setting off at a run. She immediately followed after, her heart racing now no longer from desire, but from fear.

When she turned the corner, she immediately came to a halt.

There was Susan and Eloise, perfectly safe and standing in the Old Town Square. They were right back where they'd started.

A feeling of relief spread through her, quickly followed by a pang of deep annoyance.

"We are never going to find this place," Susan groaned out in exasperation before cocking her head in Hannah and Justin's direction curiously.

"Then let's just go here." Justin gestured behind him as he rubbed his forehead in what seemed to be a combination of relief and frustration. Hannah wondered if she looked the same way because she certainly felt like the way Justin appeared.

Looking a bit sceptical, Eloise asked, "Are you sure?"

Running his hand through his curly hair, Justin replied, "It's an Irish pub and it's open. It'll be all right. At the very least they'll speak English."

"I agree with Justin," Hannah piped up, snuggling into the transfigured sweater.

Susan, suddenly seeming very interested in Hannah and Justin, interrupted whatever Eloise was gearing up to say. "It's fine, I suppose. Is there something the matter with you?" she asked Justin, putting on an act of innocence. She glanced at Hannah, before looking Justin up and down again. A sly grin spread over her face. "You seem tense. What were you two up to?"

"Nothing!" Hannah cringed when she and Justin answered at the same moment. They sounded like guilty children being interrogated about an empty cookie jar.

Just over an hour later, Hannah found herself seated at a large table in the Irish pub surrounded by her friends and perhaps a dozen other people from various parts of the globe.

Eloise seemed to be getting close to an Italian who was currently at the bar buying the next round. Across the table, Susan was flat out snogging someone from New Zealand. Hannah wasn't talking to anyone.

Feeling somewhat left out, Hannah hastily finished the last sip of her drink. She was well and drunk, which usually made her quite the talkative bee, but right now, she seemed completely mute.

She looked over to her left, towards Justin. She looked at him and the woman he was talking to. The woman with perfect hair in tight ringlets bouncing down her back… with perfect make-up and breasts that filled out a low cut, red dress that Hannah could never get away with wearing.

She was Spanish… and she was openly flirting with Justin, who seemed to be enjoying the situation immensely.

Hannah could feel the tears begin to well up in her eyes.

"Do not worry about Katherina," a rough, smoke-filled voice whispered in her ear. "She is 'armless."

Turning, Hannah came face to face with a stunningly gorgeous man with piercing ice-blue eyes. "Armless?" Hannah was confused; the woman looked as though she had both her arms firmly attached to her torso.

"Si, 'armless," the man said confidently as he sat down next to Hannah. "You have nothing to worry about. She will go no farther than the flirting. Her… how do you say it? Her bark is worse than her nipple."

"What?" This was not making Hannah feel better.

"Her nipple. Nipple." The man looked highly frustrated that Hannah wasn't understanding him. "You know…" The man started biting his hand, and Hannah's jaw dropped. He had nice hands. "Nipple."

Realisation suddenly flowed through Hannah. "Oh! Nibble. Bite." She was filled with jubilation for figuring out this riddle. "Her bark is worse than her bite!"

The man smiled, revealing a stunning smile that nearly knocked Hannah off her seat. "That is it! Si, her bark is worse than her bite!"

The man removed a package of cigarettes from his pocket, removing one. He put the cigarette in his mouth, so that it rested in between his rough lips. Hannah briefly wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips. He offered her the pack of cigarettes and Hannah quickly shook her head. Shrugging, he put the pack away and went to light the cigarette.

If Justin was going to flirt with that woman… Katherina… surely Hannah could have her own fun. It wasn't as though they had any obligations to each other.

Blowing out a puff of smoke the man said, "My name is Diego. I am from Barcelona."

"I'm Hannah, from England."

A smile broke out on Diego's face. "And your fiancé? He is also English?"

"My fiancé?" Hannah asked, bewildered.

"Si, your fiancé." Diego pointed in Justin's direction.

Hannah was stunned. Where would this man get the impression that she and Justin were going to be married? "He's not my fiancé," Hannah tried to explain. She felt her heart fall into her stomach. "We're not together."

Hannah could have sworn she saw a glimmer of triumph in the smile that broke out on Diego's face. "That," he said, reaching out to grab a lock of her hair, "is his loss. You have beautiful hair, like - like the sun."

Hannah blushed and glanced over at Justin. He was still wrapped up with Katherina.

"Thank you," she replied to Diego.

He took a long drag off his cigarette. Hannah usually thought the things were vile, but she was in an experimental mood at the moment. Diego licked his top lip before asking, "You are not seeing anyone?"

Shaking her head, she answered, "No one."

"This I find very hard to believe." Releasing her hair, Diego slid his fingertips over Hannah's cheek. His touch was soft. When he skimmed the pad of his thumb across her lower lip, Hannah shivered. She quickly glanced over to where Justin was sitting. Nothing.

Diego leaned closer and whispered, "You are very beautiful." With that, he leaned fully in and captured her mouth with his lips.

Instantly, Hannah knew she wasn't enjoying herself. She didn't want to be kissing Diego; she wanted to be kissing someone else. Something simply wasn't right about this kiss. It was rough, but not passionate. Diego's five o'clock shadow was irritatingly scratching her face. He tasted like smoke.

When his tongue practically forced its way into her mouth, Hannah nearly yelped. Her eyes wide open, she tensely sat there as Diego jabbed his pointy tongue in and out of her mouth.

Hannah pulled away as quickly as she could, just as someone coughed none too subtly right beside her. She stared at Diego in shock. It was incredibly how he had gone from attractive to repulsive in the span of one bad kiss.

The same someone coughed again. The same cough as just a moment ago. Hannah quickly turned her head to the source of the noise.

"Justin!" she yelped out in surprise, her hand flying to her throat.

He was standing right next to her, glaring at Diego. Hannah had barely ever seen that look on Justin's face, in fact, she hadn't seen it since the war had ended.

"Hannah, it's time to go." His voice was strong and fierce and directed at the man seated across from her.

Hannah shot Diego a smile that she hoped looked apologetic and quickly stood up. How had Justin known that she suddenly wanted to get out of here? She tried to send Justin a silent 'thank you' through her eyes, but she found he was still glaring at Diego.

"Maybe, she doesn't want to go," the Spaniard said in a slow, raspy voice.

"Oh, no," Hannah said quickly. "I'm ready to go." She smiled toothily at smoke-covered bad-kisser and sincerely at Justin.

As they walked away, Hannah noticed that Justin lingered, staring back at Diego before following after her. It made Hannah feel strange. Part of her felt all tingly and comforted, while another part of her was thoroughly upset at him. He didn't have the right to act that way towards Diego.

"Eloise," Hannah said, kneeling down to speak into her ear. "I think we're going now."

"Oh." Eloise sounded a little disappointed. "All right." She looked over to the man she was talking to, and said, "It was nice meeting you. I have to go." She gave a little wave, said a little "Bye," and stood up to follow Hannah.

When they approached Susan and told her they were leaving, they got a completely different reaction.

"Oh, er." She grabbed onto Eloise's arm, looking between Justin and Hannah. "Me and Elly are gonna-"

"Elly?" Eloise spurted out in a fit of giggles.

"Yes, Elly." Susan was obviously trying to hide her giggles, while she leaned heavily on Eloise's arm. "We are going to stay here a bit longer, and you two are going to go and…" Susan dissolved into a fit of laughter, hiding her face in Eloise's arm.

"All right," Justin said impatiently. "You two are staying here?"

Laughing, Eloise nodded. "I guess so."

Just as she and Justin were halfway out the door, Hannah heard Susan yell out, "Have fun, you two!"

Hannah blushed at what her friend was implying. She quickly managed to glance back at Susan, only to see her friend wink at her suggestively, which only made Hannah blush harder at Susan's misunderstanding.

Nothing was going to happen between her and Justin. Nothing had happened in all the years they'd known each other, how could anything happen in just one night.

The walk back to their hotel was silent. Not one word was spoken between them as they walked through the Old Town Square or when they walked through the small streets lined with sparkling crystal shops. Nothing as they entered the hotel lobby or as they walked up the two flight to their room.

There were two kinds of silences, Hannah mused. The comfortable silence that she and Justin normally shared. They could be around each other, be completely silent and things would still be relaxed.

Then there was the tense silence that usually happened around strangers trying to make small talk. That silence was uncomfortable, edgy and usually didn't happen between Hannah and Justin.

The silence the two walked home in was the latter kind of silence.

Hannah stood next to her hotel room, number 22, and watched Justin's back as he walked down the hallway. He hadn't even said goodnight to her. What was going on with him?

"Goodnight, Justin," she yelled down the hall, letting her annoyance be audible, and also a tad louder than she should have done at this hour.

Immediately he turned around, something akin to fury burning in his eyes. "Be quiet. Do you want to wake everyone up?"

"I was just saying goodnight. Something friends do." Hannah clenched her room key tightly in her hand.

Justin stared at her for a moment. "Goodnight," he said finally.

Hannah sighed and went to unlock her door.

"What were you doing with that man?" he asked rather harshly, making Hannah jump. She suddenly felt cheap.

She turned to face Justin and said the first thing that came to mind. "What where you doing with that woman? Katherina?"

"I was just talking to her," Justin replied, almost pleadingly.

Hannah felt her throat close up. Just talking? Taking a deep breath, she managed to say, "Well, I was just talking to Diego."

Justin took a few steps towards her, so they were well within arm reach. "You were doing more than 'just talking'. I saw you kissing him."

She suddenly felt highly defensive. What did it matter to him? "So what?" she asked. "What does that matter? Aren't I allowed to have a little fun every once and a while? After all we've been through these past few years, I thought fun should be a priority. And it didn't seem to bother you that Susan was having a lot of fun with that man she was with. You didn't seem to care about her."

Justin stared at her, and Hannah felt like she might have gone too far. Although, she wasn't quite sure what exactly she had taken too far.

"You're right," he whispered, backing up. "Go have all the fun you want. I sure as hell don't care who you snog." With that, Justin quickly walked away and roughly went into his room.

Hannah stood there, frozen in her place. She stood there for several minutes, until she could feel her tears falling down her cheeks. Quietly, she went into her own room.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

A/N: This isn't the end; this is a two-part story, and the next part should be up shortly! Thank you so much to Ranee, Julia Weasley and Cronje for the beta. And thank you for reading this! I really appreciate it. If you want to leave a quick review, I'd be forever grateful!

Oh, and 'Ve Praha' means 'In Prague' in Czech.