Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

Sarah's checkup in the infirmary went well and after lunch, they went to the library. As Brahm was finishing his Potions essay, he watched as Granger flew past, tears streaming down her face. As soon as she was out of sight, he lifted his book again and continued reading. He could just see as Sarah followed her path with her eyes, before looking back to him. "Did you really mean what you said?"

"Hmm?" Brahm thought for a moment. "I usually mean what I say, but I don't know what you're talking about."

"Did you mean what you said before, in the Great Hall?"

"What part?"

"That you don't mind if I'm friends with Hermione."

Hoping to avoid the topic, he smirked. "Since when did you want my permission for anything?"

She sighed. "I just finally got your attention. I don't want to lose you already."

Brahm took a deep breath, steadying himself for this conversation, setting the Potions text aside. "I'm going to be totally honest here. I want to tell you to stay away from her…because of everything. Forget what happened before, she's been fairly unstable lately. However, if you feel safe with her and you want to be friends with her, though, I'm not going to get in the way."

Sarah leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "And that's why I fell in love you."

Brahm smiled softly to himself as she walked toward the crying girl, heading back to her hidden study table in the stacks. He scribbled the last few lines of the essay, then blew on the ink to dry it as Neville sat down next to him. "What's wrong, Neville? You look like the lion after someone shaved it."

"I broke it off with Hermione."

"Oh." Brahm nodded, trying to be sympathetic. Why does everyone want to talk to me about her? Does everyone know who I really am and are trying to drive me crazy or something? "I…uh…"

"I know the last thing you want to hear is her name, but I just wanted to make sure you knew I didn't have anything to do with all of that she was doing."

"I know. You weren't there."

Neville ran his hands through his hair. "I thought she liked me. She acted like she did. Now I wonder if I wasn't just second choice for…well, you never met him."

Brahm thought of what Susan had said the night before. "We are young, Neville. You don't have the burden of a betrothal like Sarah and I do. I'm just grateful that she is someone I care about, once I realized what I was feeling."

"You don't understand. You're a lot like Harry was. Confident, powerful…"

"Yeah, I have some power, but I'm not as confident as I seem."

"You stood up to McGonagall."

Brahm laughed, rolling up his essay to stuff into a scroll holder in his bag. "I spent the entire time wondering if she was going to transfigure me into a newt or something."

"You were afraid?"

"Of course, I was. Only crazy people aren't afraid at all." He stopped, thinking. "If you knew what I was feeling when I heard Sarah scream. The first time I heard it…and I saw what they were doing to her." For a moment, Brahm was Harry again, looking at Luna's broken body through the shattered remains of the doorframe. Those terrible few seconds where he didn't know who she was, but knew that if he didn't do anything, no one would.

"You don't have to…"

"No. I do. Both for you and for me." He folded his hands together, squeezing slightly. "I actually didn't recognize her at first. She was bad off. Then I just did what needed to be done. It was a case where I knew I was on my own."

"So, yesterday…"

"I knew that, if I didn't do something, no one else would." He shrugged. "This wasn't about fearlessness. It was fear of what could have happened." Brahm was silent for a moment. "Did you care about Granger?"

"Not like that. Not like you seem to with Sarah. I thought she was pretty and smart, but the more time I spent with her, the more I realized that she was just…"

"Filling a spot?"

"Maybe." Neville frowned as he sat there, staring off to the side. "Maybe for both of us."

Brahm nodded. "I'd wondered if what might happen when I made the comment about the Golden Trio not being a Trio anymore." This did bother him. He hadn't considered that it might hurt Neville. While he was showing more steel in his spine now, he definitely had been hurt by this latest betrayal. Another way they were similar, both betrayed by the same people.

"It wasn't fair to me."

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes. "Did you tell her that?"

"I did, right before I told her it was over."

Brahm nodded, then a stray thought struck him. "Why did you follow her?"

"I may have been angry, but she's been so…off lately." Neville shivered. "I was kinda afraid that she would do something drastic."

Brahm swallowed, thinking of what he'd said in the Great Hall, about how she should have stayed home. He felt a little sick. I think I went too far.

"I didn't help…why don't you get out of this and let Sarah do her magic." He sighed. "I will apologize for reacting so strongly once they've had some time."

Neville nodded. "So, what do I do now?"

"Take some time, clear your head." He thought for a minute, then grinned. "Maybe go hang out with some of the gardening types."

Neville smiled. "I do like hanging out with Susan's study group with the younger years. We work in the greenhouses sometimes to make sure everything's ready for classes. Professor Sprout gives us a little extra credit that way."

"Perfect. Sue was talking about hanging out in the common room, but I'll walk down with you to get her."

The two boys walked down to the Sett, Brahm leaving Neville at the door, and he stepped inside. Susan and Hannah were sitting to one side. Hannah was hidden behind a copy of Witch Weekly and Susan was staring at a Potions manual.

He leaned down behind Susan, blowing lightly to get her hair out of his nose. "How would you like a chance to get to know Neville better?"

Susan straightened. "What did you do?"

"I showed him that Granger was a little bit of a know-it-all this morning in the Great Hall and he broke up with her. Sarah's putting the girl back together, but now Neville is feeling guilty. So, I suggested he find you and some of the gardeners to go out and play in the greenhouse."

She turned to face him, a huge smile on her face, then it faded. "But I don't want to be a rebound."

Brahm grinned at her. "So, don't be. Just be friends with him. Talk to him. Be patient with him. Let him have a chance to decide what he wants, and you tell him you want something more than a rebound relationship." Brahm touched her shoulder, squeezing lightly once he was sure she was paying attention. "This will help him build confidence. She hurt him with the way she was being, and you aren't her. I think you could help him heal…and maybe both of you find a little more."

She nodded slowly, then wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him off balance. "Thank you."

"Just be gentle with each other now, remember that. Hogwarts wasn't built in a day. Or was it Rome…whatever."

As he straightened, Susan went to grab a few of the first and second years, calling out that it was time to study. Brahm grinned and turned to leave. "That was a nice thing you just did."

Brahm looked at Hannah as she lowered her magazine. "Didn't think you were paying attention." He was silent for a moment as he considered her. "They're both my friends and they're both unhappy. If they find happiness as a couple, great. If they just find happiness in their friendship, just as good." He waved and she nodded, raising her magazine.

Outside, Neville looked like he was going to walk away. "She was gathering some first and second years. I think you've just volunteered to head a study session."

"Oh. I just thought she wasn't interested…" He stopped, put a smile on his face. "Never mind. Thanks!"

Harry wanted to laugh as he realized what had almost slipped out. The words "in me" couldn't have been more obvious. "Just don't do anything stupid. Don't talk about Granger, just enjoy the time with some rugrats and a good friend."

Neville nodded and sat down on the bench near the entryway. Harry walked back to the library to brace himself for what he was likely to face.

Sarah trailed through the stacks, nostalgically reaching for the Loony Luna act as she was almost a ghost through the crowded shelves. She heard the sound of weeping and began to move with more of a purpose, not surprised to see the girl sitting at the table she had virtually claimed.

This time, there were no books, just Hermione's own head on the table as she cried. "Hermione?"

"Go away…oh, it's you." The last was a whisper, the former surprisingly not eliciting a hissing sound from the strict librarian. Sarah sat next to the girl and rubbed her back.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm sorry about Brahm this morning, I don't know what you two have against each other."

"Something about him makes me so angry! He breaks rules and does as he pleases!"

"And is equal to you in the academic standings." Sarah said. "Everyone knows your brains are your pride and joy, so just admit it." She was silent for a moment. "You know, you have a reputation for breaking a rule or two, too. Everyone in Gryffindor tells the story about you breaking Draco's nose, even Madame Pomfrey brought it up when you interrupted Brahm and I in the beginning of the year and he lost a tooth."

"Don't remind me. I can't believe I got involved in all of that." Hermione lifted her face from her hands and nodded. "He doesn't seem to work at it, and it drives me crazy."

"He's practically a Master Occlumens. He actually knocked Dumbledore back when he tried to read him. My uncle taught him. Part of Occulmency is training your brain and, once he got past some trauma of his own, he put the work into it. Because of the training, he's got a very good memory."

"So, he just knows some trick I don't?"

Sarah frowned slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Considering all the effort I saw him put into it, I don't think I'd call it a trick, but if it makes you feel better."

"Can you do it?" Hermione wiped her eyes.

Sarah nodded. "I don't know some of the techniques that he does, but yes, I can do Occlumency. Brahm knows how to take a memory and strip away identifying parts of it and use it as a weapon. He did that to Dumbledore the first full day we were here, when he was being interrogated about that Potter kid."

Hermione's face went from curious to dismissive. "What memory could have had to put Albus Dumbledore in the hospital?" Hermione asked, incredulously. "I know he's your boyfriend, but he's not all powerful…"

Sarah frowned, withdrawing her hand from the girl's back, and placing it in her own lap, holding her hands together as she remembered Harry's explanation of the night he'd been possessed by Riddle. "He used the pain of a nearly full minute session under the Cruciatus curse."

Hermione was silent, looking down at the table. "Why would someone do that to him?"

She was stuck here. She couldn't tell the truth, so she went with what everyone knew about, the reminder that everyone knew making her shudder. "They were angry with him. He had fought them in the past. His father was an Auror, I think. I don't really remember well, they died when he and I both were young. When he came to live with us, I know he had a massive array of defensive and offensive related books. Of course, he was only interested in the coloring books and trucks then. He was four." She smiled at the mental image she'd concocted, then the smile faded as she remembered what four-year-old Harry was really going through at the time.

"Once he mastered Occlumency, he practically became a walking library of spells. My parents were investigators and had crossed the wrong people. We'd had a few incidents where we had to fight until we could get home. Anyway, he deprived them of a prize once, so I can't imagine the dark wizards who wanted to hurt my family were very happy with him."

"What did he take?"

"Me." Sarah swallowed. She'd spoken to two people about her experiences and she wasn't sure that she could make it through adding Hermione as the third.

"You…they kidnapped you?"

"Yeah." She was silent. "I was minding my own business in the bushes, looking for some potion ingredients that grew wild near our house and they grabbed me." She shivered. "The man you pointed a wand at this morning killed six people and took the arm off of a seventh to rescue me. That seventh was a woman named Bellatrix Lestrange."

"He fought Lestrange?" Hermione paled. "He's killed?"

"You saw yesterday. He didn't hesitate to unleash Fiendfyre on a group of your Death Eaters for a Professor he doesn't particularly care for. We never wanted a part of your conflict, then we find out when we're here that we were already part of it." She shrugged. "Knowing Brahm, he figured killing them was worth it."

"It was." Brahm stepped out from the stacks and leaned against the case, casually. "A fair duel is one thing, but an assault like that deserves no mercy."

"How'd you know where we were?" Hermione asked this question with some suspicion, hands under the table.

He held his hand up, showing his ring. "I was worried."

Hermione caught something in the tone and looked away. "I'm not going to hurt her."

"I know. I'd throw you out that window if you tried."

Sarah turned to say that he was being ridiculous, but then noticed that his wand was already in his hand, his knuckles whitened from the force of the grip he held on it. Hermione carefully pulled her new wand out and set it on the table. "Please don't break this one."

"I paid for it, didn't I? I'm not that stupid." Sarah watched as he stared her down for a moment. "Why did you overreact to that message on your arm? It was clearly just a joke."

"I don't think you understand how it is for me here. I want to be the best and I keep learning that it doesn't matter what I do, I'll always be the girl who chased off the Boy Who Lived."

Brahm openly said something filthy enough that Sarah hissed at him, then he shrugged. "Give me my change." Hermione handed the bag over, plus a slip of parchment. Brahm tossed and caught the bag lightly, Sarah knowing it was a charmed bag with magic of the bag tell him the coin amount. "It's here."

"I said I was…"

"The only thing I know about you is that you are exceptionally rule driven until you decide that someone has wronged you, then you do stupid things." Brahm gestured. "I heard enough to know she's told you some of what I've done. Don't cross me and don't hurt her." He stepped forward, leaning in and kissing Sarah on the cheek. "Have a nice conversation with your friend."

"I'll see you later, sweetie."

Brahm smiled down at her and then vanished into the stacks. "He really hates me."

"I'm going to remind you that just a few hours ago, you were pointing a wand at his head and now he has a week's detention with Snape." Sarah said. "Let's go back to the Potter thing. Who cares?"

"He was my friend!"

"Was. The article said you'd turned your back on him. Do you regret it?"

"Yes, but I have no way of making it up to him."

"Have you tried writing him?"

"Ginny has his owl. She won't carry a letter for me. She used to."

Sarah found herself surprised that the girl hadn't thought the problem through further than just asking Hedwig. "So, use a school owl. Write him. Maybe he'll write you back. Just tell him everything."

Hermione flushed. "I can't tell him that I was so mad at him because I fancied him, and he didn't notice me."

Sarah stared for a moment, then shook her head. "That would complicate things a little. I thought you were with Neville."

"That happened after the Department of Mysteries fiasco. I said what I did to Harry because now I have this scar and I can't hide that from my parents…just getting back here was a disaster. Over the summer, Neville wrote me, and he was sweet."

Sarah nodded. "But he wasn't Potter."

"I mean, I like him, I just…" Hermione wilted under Sarah's gaze. "I'm a terrible person. I used Neville."

"That wasn't very nice."

Hermione nodded. "I'll apologize in a few days. I will give him some time."

"Don't tell him that you had a thing for the other boy. Neville's a nice guy and it would hurt him badly."

"I think he knew…or figured it out." Hermione finally nodded. "I have no idea how I'll do it, but I will do right by him."

Sarah sat with the girl for some time, then finally left her as soon as she was sure she wasn't going to do herself harm. She walked back alone to the Hufflepuff entryway, starting as Brahm appeared out of a doorway. She put her hand over her chest. "What the heck, Brahm?"

"Just making sure you were safe. You know what's going on with some of those older kids attacking younger kids when they're on their own."

Sarah eyed him. "Yeah. I keep hearing about some of these older kids coming up in the infirmary, too." Brahm simply took her hand and smiled, convincing her that he not only had been using the Marauder's Map, but that he was going about playing hero. "As long as you're careful, sweetheart."

"You're loving being able to say that now."

She stopped, pulling him to a stop with her, then leaned up and kissed him softly. "I'm just glad you pulled your head out of your butt, sweetie."

Brahm hugged her, laughing aloud, and they went into the Hufflepuff dorm. Inside, they sat in the corner chair, smirking as the lights blazed even brighter than the previous night. Brahm decided that he was pretty sure it was less to make sure people didn't do something stupid and more to embarrass the couple. He could live with it.

She sat in his lap again and they were silent, Sarah simply enjoying the feel of being in his arms. "You know, you said it right. I don't know what I'm doing."

"What do you mean?" She asked, resettling against him.

"I've been on one date and kissed three girls now, once by choice, once out of friendship. How would I know how to be with you?"

"Respect me," she said. "If I say no, don't push."

"Sounds easy."

"Some guys don't." Sarah said. "Of course, some girls are just as bad, but you never hear about it."

"So, should I ask you to the next Hogsmeade weekend or is it assumed?"

"Asking is nice, though I think I'd rather go somewhere quiet." She sighed. "I don't know that I'll ever return to Hogsmeade and feel the same way."

Brahm reached for her hand, squeezing it when she took his. "Next time I won't leave you behind."

"You'd better not." She leaned forward, pushing herself up to softly kiss him. "For someone who's never done that before, you're not bad."

"I have no one to compare to," Brahm said, smirking as he spoke. "That makes me the best you'll ever have."

"You're an idiot." She burrowed into his hold, breathing deeply. "But I hope you're right."