James was, to put things mildly, Not Amused.

Hillevi certainly understood why, considering how things had gone, but there were only so many times she could explain and apologize for not keeping him in the loop before the words effectively lost meaning.

"Again."

The reddish-brunette dropped her head with a sigh, leaning on bent knees and breathing heavily, before forcing herself to straighten and face off against the improvised wooden dummy once more.

The segments spun with that first blow, and Hillevi moved, blocking and ducking and side-stepping the wooden pegs like Natasha had taught her all those months ago.

Just like all those months ago, her stump was starting to throb instead of ache, and she was too slow.

Biting back a yelp as one of the pegs caught her shoulder at an awkward angle, Hillevi stumbled back to avoid being clocked upside the head and her knees buckling, drenched in sweat.

"Stop."

James appeared like a ghost, suddenly right there instead of hiding in a tree somewhere, the metal of his uncovered arm reflecting the faint rays of sunlight that peeked over the horizon.

"Here."

Accepting the offered water bottle, the Valhallan emptied half of it in one gulp as Latias landed on her shoulders with a worried chirp, reaching up blindly to pat her cheek.

With a blast of fire, Sharpshot and Meatlug tumbled into the clearing, groaning in unison as Houndoom and Mawile joined them, the former licking at a scrape on the latter's cheek.

"Breakfast's in an hour."

Glancing up at James as Stormfly landed on her messy braid and the Terror Twins tumbled around her foot, Hillevi felt a smile spread across her face.

"Then what are we waiting for? I'm starving!"

Rolling across the sun-warm grass, Latias purred as gentle fingers found that spot right behind jaw, stretching languidly as Cotton-Wing and Echo-Ear cuddled up to the soft feathers of her underbelly with sleepy chirps.

Papa had given them the evening off from training, and Mama had decided that taking the Pack out to their Spot was in order, even releasing Alpha so he could play with Stone-Head and Star-Eye, batting them between his paws like a Persian with precious stones.

When Mama paused, a pulse of something melancholy rolling off her skin, Latias fell silent, watchful.

"You don't have to stay here, with me." She started, voice low and soft. "You're all healed now, have been for a while…If you want to leave, no one is going to stop you."

Blinking once, twice, the Eon Pokemon twisted off her back, gently depositing her siblings on the grass as she floated up to be eye-level with their human.

There was resignation and guilt and hope there, an apology for all the danger and pain, an offering of freedom and the dream of friendship, so much that it felt like the earth trying to swallow the sky-

Mama blinked as a Poke Ball floated out of her bag, the surface shiny and new, and Latias smiled, projecting stayPacklove as much as she could in answer.

Tears shimmered in Mama's eyes, the sea overflowing in pearly drops, and she smiled, reaching out to rest a hand on Latias' forehead as the Pack purred and barked in joy.

There was nowhere else she would rather be.

"Thank you…Cloudjumper."

Nothing really changed for Hillevi after facing off against Voldemort.

It was not as if anyone there had not already known who she was-except said wraith, who was far from any position to blab-, so the only difference was extra training and a more visible shadow, since James was not about to let a similar event take place again.

Of course, she apologized profusely to Professor Snape for suspecting him of treacherous behavior, especially after accepting an apprenticeship, but the Head of Slytherin had been surprisingly forgiving, with only a few snide remarks before suggesting a new Potions project.

Without the constant worry of The Ball falling into dangerous hands, Hillevi found herself forgetting about her own problems as well, focusing on her friends and baby Dragons instead.

But there was that little pinprick, in the back of her mind…