Disclaimer: You know it already, I own nothing apart from Hex, Sophie and Goldsmelter.


Potter Farm, Porch

.

"Septima?"

The former Arithmancy teacher turned towards the source of the sound, finding her friend there, watching her with a concerned expression on his face. "Yes, Harry?"

"You seem distant. You've been that way since you woke up. What's bugging you?" he gently asked, sitting on the chair next to hers.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." she muttered, staring into the distance and nursing the cup of tea she was holding.

"Septima, you do realize I can tell you're lying when you say that, don't you?" he asked, shaking his head sadly at the reminder of the number of times he said 'I'm fine' when he wasn't fine at all.

She sighed, but didn't reply immediately, taking a sip of her tea before she found the courage to reply. "I had a nightmare, that's it." she admitted quietly. She tried to make it sound like a small nuisance, but the tone of her voice betrayed her true feelings.

Harry understood that all too well. "Hogwarts?"

"Yes, I can't... seeing them..." she seemed to lack the proper words to describe her feelings at the moment.

The wizard, however, knew what she was feeling all too well. "I know. I still have nightmares every now and then. It was worse on the month that came after the battle, though." He did not tell her everything, though. No need to make things worse by mentioning the countless nights he woke up drenched on his cold sweat, or the times he drew his wand because he thought the shadows were concealing someone. That was the worst part of that month, walking through the halls of the school feeling like he could be attacked at every corner. He got better, yes, but remembering the sheer terror he felt, and the extent that his paranoia reached, checking even under his bed for Death Eaters, left him with a very grim outlook on the trauma that the war inflicted on the survivors. A Muggle once said that 'War is hell'. Harry couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly with him. War was, indeed, a fucking hell.

"You never told me about that." she said, "How do you deal with them?"

"I try to remind myself that there was no way for me to save them all, no matter how hard I tried. Now it's just the nightmares, but for some time after I came here, I had these... episodes." he confessed.

"Episodes? What do you mean?"

"Sometimes there was an idea that came to my mind, and I couldn't help but analyse it time and time again, until I realized that no, that wouldn't work."

"That was... messed up."

The wizard nodded grimly. "Yea... spent a whole year with a Mind Healer to get those ideas out of my head. He said I was lucky that I didn't find a plan that worked, there's no telling on how I would react if I found out there was a way to save them."

Septima nodded. "I can see his point. Compared to you, most of us got off lightly."

Harry laughed ruefully. "'Lightly' is very subjective. That arsehole did plenty of damage to the society in general. I guess some scars will only be gone when the everybody that saw the horrors of this war is dead, preferable from old age. Of course, there's also that big help that is knowing that the Dork Lord's sycophants are now locked on Azkaban until they kick their damned bucket, apart from Malfoy."

"I still can't get my head around the concept of having you standing for Malfoy." the witch said, remembering how the blond Death Eaters gained their freedom due to their defection (and Harry's help) in the end. "I always thought you hated his son."

"Oh, I did. And I don't think I could be near the ferret for long without wanting to punch his face in, but the truth is, I had a debt to Narcissa. That was my chance to repay her. She didn't expect me to remember that, but we talked about it after their trial, and she thanked me for returning the favour."

The former Arithmancy teacher blinked, processing the man's words. "Wait, wait, you owed her? What happened?"

"Oh, it's a not-so-short story. Remember when Hagrid carried me, and Voldemort said I was dead? Well, he only said that because he AK'ed me and asked Narcissa to check if I was dead. She lied to him blatantly. So, I owed her one."

The witch stared at him, her face sporting a disbelieving look. "Hold on a second, he AK'ed you a second time? And you're telling that to me like you were just talking about the weather!" she sighed loudly, pinching her nose. "Sometimes, Harry, you are the most infuriating man I've ever known, you know that?"

He gave a mock salute. "I aim to please."

Septima playfully slapped him on the arm, something made harder by the fact she was trying to prevent the tea from spilling. "Prat!"

.

Merlose Family Home, Studio

.

"Sophie dear, could you give me a second of your time?" asked Hex, rereading a passage of the book he was currently holding.

"Sure thing sweetie, what's the matter?"

"I want you to check this out. I have the feeling this might be important, but I want to hear your opinion first." he explained, as he handed the book.

Sophie read for a few moments, taking notes on the notebook she kept close to her at all times. Hex was right, this was important, but there seemed to be something missing, but what was it? "We need more informations about this." she sighed, returning the book to her husband. "What exactly are those 'elementals', what can they do? For all we know right now, an elemental could be just a simple manifestation of magic. Of course, knowing those ruins, this is just wishful thinking. They'll probably be violent, and if they are, we still don't know how to kill them."

"They're elementals. It's not like we don't know how to kill them, but we may need to find the Grimoires first."

"That much is true," agreed the woman, "but don't forget that the book mentioned that they could be hurt by swords. Maybe firearms can hurt them as well. Anyway, it's not like we can start shooting them like you two did with the Timmies..."

"Yeah, our theories about this will have to be proven in a real situation... I just hope we can defeat them... or at least run away quickly."

"Very wise plan, husband." Sophie purred, leaning forwards with a mischievous grin. "But we both know you don't turn tail and run away, right?"

The wizard closed the book, his face sporting the exact same grin as his wife's. "If I turned back and ran, I wouldn't be married to you now."

She chuckled, remembering every failed attempt at courting her, the slaps she gave him, the times she sent him to the Healer with a nasty combination of hexes... and yet he came back for more. She decided to give him a chance and agreed to have a date with him.

One evening on the cinema was all that took for her to know he was the one. One year after finishing their NEWTs, they married.

That was ten years ago. He became a bit more mature since then... two Masteries, the Patrol, the Island Council, but he never lost that youthful spark that charmed her, something that Harry Potter could confirm.

Harry Potter. Her mind turned towards the raven-haired, green-eyed wizard. Hex and him quickly became friends. She never expected that. Or maybe she did. She could see the signs that those two, despite only knowing each other for a few days, recognized each other as potential brothers-in-arms. Either way, they stuck together like glue and time only made their bonds of friendship grow stronger. Now they were exploring the very reason why the island always had a Merlose around: The Ruins.

As much as she had come to terms with the idea that her husband could get hurt from these explorations, the thought still scared her. However, she also understood why this became so important to him. It was a piece of his family history, something that the books couldn't fully describe. The blade he brought with him in the end of the first expedition was but a piece of the puzzle, something that might shed a light over a part of the bigger mystery.

"Knut for your thoughts?" softly asked Hex, holding her hand.

"I was just thinking... about us... about the ruins... you know, the usual." she replied sheepishly, eliciting a chuckle from the wizard.

"I guess we've been worrying about this for too long already. How about," he said, getting to his feet and hugging her from behind, "a nice breakfast, to recover energies, hmm?"

"With pancakes and raspberry jam?" she asked cutely.

Hex smiled. "And that juice you love." he said.

She freed herself from his embrace, grabbed him by the neck and proceeded to give him a quite passionate kiss. "It's a date... but first, how about a nice bath to compensate for a night of studying?" she asked sultrily.

The officer raised an amused eyebrow. "You know I can't say no when you talk like that, my dear. Lead the way, milady!"

Sophie kissed him again, and promptly dragged him to the bathroom. After all, even after ten years of marriage, they still acted like newly-weds... and she didn't mind it one bit.

.

Potter Farm, Bill's Room

.

"So, it seems that they're not there yet. What's keeping them?" mused Bill, his eyes watching the patterns of colour on the room's ceiling.

"It seems to me," Fleur said slowly, "that time did not heal as many wounds as we hoped."

The redhead sighed, caressing his wife's arm. "Then I guess those wounds will never heal. Then again, maybe we're worrying too much, and those two are just behaving like lovestruck teenagers."

The part-Veela blinked slowly, thinking about Bill's words. "... that makes a lot of sense." she admitted. Raising her head to look at her husband in the eye, she smiled mischievously. "And if it is like you said, then we can just use one of the plans we used for your brother Charlie."

The cursebreaker returned the grin. "I especially liked the 'get him drunk' one. Not that it worked, but it sure was funny as hell."

The blonde chuckled. "That it was, but I was thinking about... the lucky number, you know?"

"Plan Number Seven? That's... a bit extreme, don't you think?"

"The situation requires drastic measures, mon cher."

"Let's hope the situation doesn't come to that, then. I don't think we'd survive if they found out we were behind that." he said, knowing that neither Harry nor Septima would find the situation to be funny.

"That's why we should ask Hex and Sophie to help, no?"

'Oh my,' Bill thought, noticing the expression on his wife's face, 'she's with that face again.' He now knew that she would see it to the end. Many people never noticed it, but Veelas always tried to... 'give a little hand' to those people mutually attracted to each other, but that wouldn't confess it without any help. It made sense, when he thought about it. Their allure was something that came from their main instinct: to find, and help others find, true love. Fleur, despite being only part-Veela, had the same instinct. Too bad girls pushed her away because they felt she was a threat to their boyfriends. It was somewhat obvious that said boyfriends wouldn't be too honest on their love if they decided to chase Fleur's skirt.

The last time Fleur got the... urge to help was with his brother Charlie. For three months, Fleur cooked several plans to get him and a fellow dragon keeper together. Bill wasn't too sure if that would work, but she got them married and with two kids already.

On the other hand, he would never be able to drink a Butterbeer without casting scanning charms first. It worked with Charlie, yes, but cheerful dragon keepers were very, very weird. Especially when they admitted their feelings. Even if it was to one of the reserve's dragons, like that poor guy who took a swig off Charlie's bottle did. And that was just Plan Number Three.

"All right then." he finally said, "Let's try some of the other plans first, though. I guess we could start with Number Ten."

"Spike their drinks with Sleeping Potion, strip them to their underwear and tie them to the bed?"

"Ah, not that one. I keep switching that one with the other... you know which one."

"Oh, Number Thirteen then. That's a good way to start. A bit cliché, yes, but effective."

"Well, we gotta start somewhere... but we still need to find how to apply it, though."

"Do you really think I don't have a plan for that as well?"

"Fleur, sometimes, just sometimes, you can be very, very scary."

"I know that Bill, just like I know that sometimes, just sometimes, you will be very, very uncomfortable sleeping on the couch."

.

Potter Farm, Living Room

.

That night, the group was once again sitting around to coffee table, waiting for the usual pre-exploration briefing to start.

"All right," Harry said, "now that we're all ready, let's get this show on the road. We're going a bit deeper this time." he explained, handing the other people on the room a general outline of the second area to explore.

Bill rubbed his chin. "I thought we were going to stick to the closer areas. Oh," he said, noticing the details of the area they explored already, "I see. Never mind, then."

"Yeah, the area we're going to explore can be accessed through the main street of the place we visited last time. We won't go farther than that for now, though. We'll only go deeper once the other side is charted as well." Hexior explained.

"A sound plan." Septima agreed. "Do you have any news on that sword?"

"None yet. My best guess would be that we'll have some answers the day after tomorrow."

"Hmm, I guess we'll have to wait, then. By the way, do you think we may find the same kind of beasts?"

"That's possible, yes, but I think we'll find other monsters as well." Hex traded glances with Harry. "We don't think it will be very dangerous, but we couldn't scout this area from the tower on the outside."

"All right then. I guess things should be easy, then."

"It should go pretty much like our last exploration, but it wouldn't hurt to be cautious. Our loadout should be pretty much the same that we took before. Hex, do you have something to add?" asked Harry, turning towards his fellow officer.

Merlose leaned forward slowly, deep in thought. "So far, we're exploring the areas near the walls, so it shouldn't be too hard to go through the areas. However, I've been thinking about the Timmies. If you check the map, the are we're going to explore is on the opposite side of the wall that has the hole. Somehow, I think those guys have some semblance of logic about the places they roam."

"That is worrying." Bill said. "On the other hand, if we know they can show up at a given spot, we can be ready to greet them properly."

"That's also true," agreed Hexior, "and that is the point that makes me think that taking this risk is worth it. Anyway, regarding the information about the ruins, I read a few more things, although I don't expect to see those things on the upper levels."

"What are you talking about?" inquired Septima, eyeing the officer with an intrigued look.

"Well, I've found out about a few enemies that lie on the lower levels of the ruins... Elementals."

Everybody in the room stood silent for a few moments, before Fleur decided to ask the question on the minds of every single person there. "Elementals? Like, fire, water, air..."

"Yes," the officer nodded, "Entities embodying the power of the elements. I don't have that much information on them, though.

"Well, we won't meet them there yet, so I guess that isn't very worrying, right?" quipped Septima, eliciting nods of agreement from the other members of the team.

"Exactly." Sophie said. "So you," she turned her gaze to her husband, "shouldn't worry about that for now."

"Yes dear."

"Good boy."

Hex rolled his eyes. "Are you going to ask me to play dead?"

"No, bit I may hit you with a newspaper if you don't behave. Now that I think of it, should I use a paddle?"

Harry chuckled, amused by the couple's antics. "Oooh, kinky."

"Don't worry, I'll lend the paddle to you if you want a spanking as well." Sophie retorted, in a tone of voice that made it sound like it was a perfectly trivial thing.

The green-eyed wizard almost spat the tea he was currently drinking. "Wh- Whaaaaaaat?" he asked, blushing deeply. "No thanks, I'll pass your offer."

Sophie smirked, seeing the young man's embarrassed face. "Your loss." Chuckles were heard around the table as Harry's blush seemed to go beyond the physically possible.

"May we move our conversation away from spanking, please?" he asked, trying to salvage what was left of his dignity.

Merlose snorted, seeing Harry's attempt to escape further embarrassment. "Sure. When are you sending the status report to Goldsmelter?"

Harry mentally sighed in relief. "I sent the report regarding the first exploration the day after we went there, but I told him he was free to come by when he had the time to spare, so he could hear more details."

"And check the wine." his fellow officer said, smiling.

"Right."

"All right then. Does anyone have any questions? No? Well, I guess this briefing is over, then. Let's get some rest."


And another chapter comes and goes. Next chapter: Exploring the Ruins, Round Two!

See ya!