I bet that by now the staff of St. Mungo's has figured out that I only really come in early when I want to escape my home life. Well, there are worse motives, I suppose. This is exactly what I do the morning after Teddy left. Even though some tension has tangibly lifted, the atmosphere remains suffocating. I wonder why I'm not yet acclimatized to this.

Anyway, a hospital is probably the worst place to seek to clear one's mind, but I don't have much of a choice. I slip through the halls unnoticed, until I arrive at Bertie's room. The door is open a crack and I am about to knock when I see that a certain blond friend of mine is seated on a chair next to the sleeping Bertie. Eli's eyes are a little red and puffy and for a moment I'm perplexed. Then something clicks I feel like the biggest git on the planet.

I try to open the door quietly, but that attempt fails. She hurriedly rubs at her face and smiles grimly at me.

I shuffle into the room and take in a slow breath. "Eli, why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask."

"But I thought you were upset over Wright. I saw the ring."

"I saw it too, but who cares?"

"I guess I thought you did. I'm sorry," I say with an easiness and sincerity that surprises me a bit.

"Me too, I'm sorry," she says, standing up to hug me. Laughing mildly, I look over to Bertie who has quietly awakened. He winks at me subtly and settles back into his pillows and sheets.


I arrive a little late to lunch because Walker is a monster and made me review venom antidotes out of the blue, which is ridiculous on its own, but before lunch and singling me out for no apparent reason, I swear I am this close to—well, you know.

So naturally, there is no spot left at the cafeteria table. I hover around its perimeter for a few seconds, searching for an opening, when Des mercifully slides to one side. I sit down, mutter my thanks, and he smiles—however, without meeting my eyes. Baby steps, I suppose.


The next morning we all go in early and for a considerably better motive. The interns have decided to throw Bertie a little get-better-soon party. But when we reach the hall his room is off, it's apparent immediately that something is wrong. The corridor is a flurry of frantic Healers. As the rest of us stand dazed, clutching our cards and flowers, Eli discards her own presents and charges into the thick of things. Des and I work our way closer until we're outside the window and we see that Eli has somehow taken over the responsibility of monitoring Bertie's erratic heartbeat. After not too long, it ceases. There's a hush, a lull, a break in the usual clatter.

"Time of death, Reddor?" Wright asks solemnly.

She doesn't even have to review her charts. "7:21 a.m.," she says, her voice a little squeaky and distinctly childlike. Then the clatter resumes and the strange moment at 7:21 a.m. is lost in a long day of other tragedies, only to be recorded for formality's sake.


The day after is appropriately somber. We all wear black under our violently green robes, and sit around our table in the cafeteria, sullen-faced and staring about silently. Wright pulls up a chair in his usual casual manner. He frowns, taking in our dark attire. "Did I miss the memo?"

Eli doesn't smile, doesn't even look at him. That's certainly a change. "We're mourning," she explains.

"Over Bertie?"

"No, over my pet gerbil—of course, Bertie."

Wright looks surprised. That's definitely not a side of Eli he's ever seen. In fact he's probably only seen the aren't-I-brilliant-and-perfect-don't-you-want-to-b ang-me side of her. Definitely far removed from her sarcastic, hostile side.

Wright gets over it, though, and says calmly, "I hope you all know it's not your fault."

"We know that," Eli says, not sounding overly convinced.

"Really, though. I think kids come into this profession thinking that magic can defeat death. It really can't, though."

"Well," Gabe says, chuckling. "I'm officially depressed."

"Sorry." Wright grimaces. "That wasn't my intention."

"What was your intention, then?" Eli grumbles.

"Reassurance, actually, but I'm apparently rubbish at it."

"Well, I appreciated your little 'death conquers all' speech. Now please leave us in our misery," Eli says with a tone of finality that maybe only I pick up on.

As Wright shrugs and stands up to join a table with the other adults, the other important people, I realize I'm a little prouder of Eli than maybe I should be.


The funeral in a few days is the last step in our accelerated grieving process. With all the business and distractions and realizing that we actually could remember very little of Bertie from a year ago, it didn't take us long at all to breeze through to acceptance. By the time we file into the old abbey, we are ready to move on and let it go completely. The small group of us interns fills in the empty chairs at the back, hushing each other as the older and grayer attendants pivot around to narrow their eyes at us. I sit with Des and Gabe in the row behind Eli and Rafa. Throughout the service, Eli slowly begins to let her head rest on his shoulder, and Rafa eagerly accommodates this development by draping an arm across the back of her chair. Toward the end, he is bold enough to gently rub her upper arm with his fingertips.

"That is actually adorable," I whisper to Des, who nods with disinterest.


About a week after the funeral, I get a letter from Teddy. I hold it, looking down at it with a weird feeling in my stomach. He loves to drop by - he loves to chat in person. A letter? This is ... well, new, at least. I open it, realizing I don't even really know his handwriting. Turns out, it's pretty chicken-scratchy. It takes me a while to decipher some of the words.

Bri, hi. This is Teddy. I want you to know that I'm back together with Victoire. Not engaged, or anything - just together again. Kinda starting over. Kinda picking up where we left off. It's nice. I'm really sorry about what happened between us and I know I'm an asshole for asking this, but can we pretend that it never happened at all? If you never want to see me again that's fine. That's probably a good decision for you, actually. But I really hope we can be okay. You're not just my best friend - you're my only friend. And I shouldn't have taken that for granted. I'm sorry, Bri.

-Teddy

I don't really react much to the letter. Just read it, once through, fold in half and toss it in the bathroom garbage on my way down to grab dinner. I'll write him back in a few days, but no sooner than that. And I'll limit my reply to ten words or less.

Things get back to normal pretty easily. Well, as normal as you can get as an intern at St. Mungo's. It's spring, though, and we're almost done being interns altogether. I never thought I'd feel ready, but suddenly I do. I can just feel it. I'm ready for the responsibility and the leadership and for Merlin's sake am I ready for the paycheck.

Next year Eli will go into Emergency Care as she always dreamed, and it's about time we all start being happy for her about that. Or me. I should be happy for her about that. While she studies around the clock for the entrance exam, Des and I still try to figure out where exactly we're headed.

"I've got it narrowed down," Des tells me one night, as we split a bottle of firewhisky, sitting on our front porch. "Either surgery… Muggle treatment… Or physical therapy." He counts them off with his fingers. "Well, then there's always Potions. I did like Potions in school. But I'm kind of afraid of Indie. What's Cha-Cha doing?"

"I think surgery. He said that once."

"I mean, spell damage is interesting, too, I've enjoyed that…"

"So five paths."

"Four. No way I'm doing surgery with Cha-Cha." He snorts a laugh.

"He's not that bad, really - if you want to do surgery, you should do it," I encourage him.

"No, no - can't stand him. Speaking of Mr. Cha-Cha… I'm really glad Teddy's gone." He doesn't break eye-contact with me as he takes another drink.

"Why is that speaking of…?"

"They're the two guys you fucked," he says, so matter-of-fact, it makes me flinch.

"You keeping tabs on me?" I joke.

"No, you… you tell me everything. You never really had a boyfriend. Well, that one guy in, what, fourth year? But you never kissed him - wait, no. Once." He cracks a grin. "Then he dumped you."

I glower at him. "Do you enjoy detailing my incredibly lame love life?"

"Mine's lamer. At least you got to sleep with the guy you've been crushing on all these years. I have not had such luck. Well, actually - I got to be friends with her." He looks up at me and I notice, for maybe the first time, the interesting green hue of his eyes.

"What are you saying, Des?" I don't want to guess. For once I just want to be told. I've never been told.

"I'm in love with you," he says, but he turns away from me, looking out onto the street.

I'm still apprehensive. "I think you've had a little too much to drink."

"No, no - the perfect amount. 'Cause I finally told you."

"Finally," I murmur, repeating the really important word in that sentence.

He seems to sober up suddenly. "Yeah. Why did you think I hated Teddy so much?"

"Because… he was hurting me."

He scoffs. "But why would I care if he was hurting you?"

"Because you're my friend! Eli hates him, too."

"No, she hates what he does to you. I hate him," he says almost philosophically.

I stare at him blankly. "Oh, well, that clears everything up… I can't believe I couldn't differentiate between those two very distinct emotions…"

"Hating a person and hating their effect actually are very different."

"You're losing me."

"My point is, though, you can't honestly be surprised. You had to have known."

"I didn't. Honest. It's like when I told Teddy that I—" Des bristles, and my voice trails off. After a second, I start again. "Wow. I saw that. Did you do that every time I mentioned him before?"

"I tried not to."

"I'm sorry I didn't see it."

"It's fine." He pauses, smiles a little. "I just couldn't believe you were actually that oblivious."

I throw my hands up in surrender. "Hey—I'm a complete idiot. Give me some credit here."

After a long beat, he says, "So… can I get a response beyond incredulity?"

"Look… I'm gonna have to think about it. I've only considered you a friend before so I need some time. To figure things out."

His face falls. "And it might 'ruin our friendship' and you 'wouldn't want that,' right?"

"If you don't want me to take that into account, I won't," I promise him.

"Well, what else would you have to think about?"

"Look, Des, just… give me some space, alright? And… I'm cutting you off." I grab the alcohol and head back inside.

"I'm not even that drunk!" he yells after me.

"Uh, huh…"

"I can, like, control my blood-alcohol level!"


The next morning, I stand outside of Des's bedroom for about fifteen minutes. Eli walks by four times during that time, each time looking a little more like she knows what's going on. Before she completely figures it out, I knock. He opens the door before I can even knock a third time, but then he leans on the doorframe casually. For his sake, I don't laugh.

"I hope you're not looking for a second chance," he says, crossing his arms. "That was a one-time offer."

"I told you I wanted to think it over."

A long pause passes, during which he uncrosses and re-crosses his arms at least twice. He stands up straight, arms at his side and asks, sort of quietly, "Did you come to any conclusions?"

I smile and his relief is tangible. "I'm not sure yet," I tell him, but I don't think he hears as I feel his hand snake around my wrist. "But… I'm warming up to the idea."

"I'd buy your uncertainty if only you hadn't come to tell me this at seven in the morning."

I bite my lip. "Well, we have to make up for lost time."

His smile is explosive as he pulls me fully into the room and I kick the door shut behind us.


A/N: I'm sorry if that was cheesy, but… eh. To continue the apologies (sorry, can't help it, I'm Minnesotan (wait, did I just apologize for apologizing too much?! Typical.)), soooo sorry about how long it took to get this final chapter up here… Looking at you guys' lovely reviews absolutely inspired me and obligated me to finish this. So this is really for you, in every way. If you'd be so kind, please let me know what you thought of the story over all! A few excuses for my tardiness: senior year = applying to college = nightmare. I've been screenwriting a lot, so yay, but less time for novelly stuff. As far as what you will see here in the future from me… not much. But some short stories/one shots are bound to happen! Defs some Harry Potter, maybe some Sherlock, Breaking Bad, ooh fun. We'll see what happens. Thank you all for your support and I hope I left you somewhat satisfied :)