"Miss has owls." Zavi said. Hermione nodded her acceptance but let her shoulders slump. It was noon exactly and she supposed he had been holding onto them, probably hoping she would ask but of course she hadn't.

"I haven't answered any either." Sabrina said from her chair a few feet away. She had her eyes closed under the sun hat and a stubborn look on her face.

"If it were Claudia in your place." Hermione offered and Sabrina grimaced. The witch's reaction made her laugh and she picked up the top scroll which was very small. It said nothing at all and when she opened it the lack of absolutely any writing made her huff. Like it was scrap but she knew it wasn't. Pulling her wand, a second later familiar handwriting was large and few in word count but it filled the page.

Cara

Floo me for ten. He can survive. I'll hold everyone else off until Friday, Potter agrees.

Blaise

Hermione thought about that and stood up.

"Blaise?" Sabrina asked and she nodded in answer. The younger witch had her eyes open now and she handed the paper to Sabrina and scanned the air. Thorfinn was up there somewhere but the sun was obscenely bright and she wasn't sure where.

"See you in twenty minutes." Was Sabrina's amused response and Hernione laughed, then turned to the house and thought about what she could say.

Maybe nothing would suffice. Blaise might just look at her and then pour her a cup of tea before sending her back ten minutes later. That could happen but she wasn't sure it would. Blaise was changeable and easier to anticipate if it wasn't Draco or her involved.

"Master be's waiting." Gia said as she exited the floo. Hermione only thanked her and ignored the way the elf was peering at her sceptically.

"Cara." Blaise stood from the small table in the conservatory and she smiled at him. He looked as casual and unworried as she had ever seen, overplaying his hand though so she stopped and then spun around slowly. Giving an overt display that she was alright. Her sundress and bare feet told the story of where she had been.

Then he held a hand out to her and she accepted the gesture and stepped toward him. Her friend pulled her to him and then he was hugging her. Not tightly but firmly and his hand gently rubbed the small of her back.

Hermione relaxed into it, he was as familiar to her now as Harry. They didn't smell similar or feel similar but the safety and comfort was the same. The bone deep trust, and she marveled at her friendship with him. Blaise was the best the same way Harry was, she loved everything about these two. She had other friends and loved them too but she was glad it was him and not Harry today.

"Sit down and tell me if you escaped or he let you leave your haven in sunny France." Blaise gently touched her nose and she swatted at him. Still he was too nonchalant and so she did as he bid and then waited while he poured her cup of her favourite tea and filled a small plate with things she liked especially.

"I escaped. He was on his broom. Sabrina is there." She said casually and he watched her as he chewed a sandwich triangle. The whole situation was so familiar and yet, this was different.

"The Rites are gone." He said as casually and she put down her cup and met his dark eyes squarely.

"It was crazy Blaise. The magics pulled and surged, ours in addition to the Rites. We could barely look at each other and it was hard to deal with. Otherwise it went well and then after dinner we talked some. That was hard to do with the Rites but it was enough. It worked and was amazing. Feeling the magic release me and then." She stopped and he stared at her then leaned back into his chair and picked up his cup in one hand as usual. She relaxed as he did and she sipped, cradling her mug in both hands as he slowly grinned at her and she couldn't help but grin back.

"This morning?" He asked her and before she could answer he added a question with eye contact that meant he knew the significance of this. "Where?"

"The Master Suite. Everything was so white except the couches, which he liked. We went for a walk this morning and had breakfast with Rina and Josh. Then the paper happened which wasn't nice. It's wasn't a bomb though and then we went to the Escape. I offered a broom and he wasn't gung-ho for it but eventually he was staring at it and we goaded him into it." She reported and he was watching her with interest but without indications of concern.

"You saw the bathroom then." Blaise commented and raised a perfect dark brow.

"Yes, it's gorgeous. They did something with the sound so you can hear when some is in the shower. Like I was getting dressed and could totally hear him even though it feels like a sealed shower. I can't wait to see what they do with those flats in the Alley." She answered him and watched him nod at her last point, agreeing and then he looked thoughtful.

"What did he think of the magic on the suite?" Blaise asked her and she flushed, not embarrassed really but this was something she hadn't talked to anyone about except this wizard.

"I don't know. He didn't say anything but the Rites were unreal. I mean once we were alone in the hallway and he said he wanted to go in, I could barely function. It was embarrassing. I mean I flat out admitted it had been ages and that I didn't think I could stand." She felt better, admitting it to Blaise, like it had happened. Just saying something direct about the actual event, or whatever it was, that helped.

Blaise's grin was lecherous and she laughed at the far away look in his eyes.

"So now we can actually talk about how hot it is to have a witch want you that badly. Now that you won't just dismiss it because you think you did this to him or something." She threw her napkin at him and grinned at his clear excitement over this. Blaise had been waiting too, differently, but he made it clear this felt like a big change to him as well.

"How is she?" Hermione asked and watched the look on her friends face change. The relaxation faded some, he looked a bit less comfortable. She waited the minute it took for him to meet her eyes and didn't smile outwardly.

"I'm not sure. She is well and as striking as ever. Worried about you, I think. We have been quiet together the last few days." Were the eventual words and she could see that was honest, that he truly wasn't certain but she thought he had enjoyed the quiet.

"Please tell her that I will write soon." She had noticed a letter from Anastasia under Blaise's but had ignored it like the others when she read his terms.

"Everyone is worried but not frightened. Concerned for you Cara. Sabrina too." That was reassuring. Not their concern, but that no one was panicking or actually upset.

"I'll write Sin today. Sabrina did last night. Harry too, a quick note. I sent Zavi with a basket of sangria ingredients to Pans so she might be loud but isn't actually out of the loop." Her smile was content and it felt good, she felt more normal now and reassured. She had stepped out of the bubble of their homes and it had been fine. Admittedly it was only into Blaise's home but it could count.

"I'll let you go when you tell me about the paper." Blaise said after he stopped his low chuckle at Pansy's dramatics.

"You read it." She said and the meaning behind his raised brow was clear. She knew it wasn't what he meant but didn't like the situation.

"Josh was angry. He left actually, the meal was finished but still. Sabrina was livid and scared. Scared if it would make a difference I think, of how her brother would react. He didn't, not much anyways. He was still for what felt like a long time and then offered to leave. Sabrina calmed some and assured him that wasn't what she wanted. In that moment I was so glad, so relieved we had those hundreds of painful conversations. That we sat around and let her be there when we talked about it. That Draco and even Flint have been around some, that she can see that they are men. People." She finished and held his eyes. This was a topic between them and always had been. She didn't see Theo much, but she did see a lot of other people, more than she had before or ever thought she would. They were people and just as damaged as she was. Her guilt was less though and she had tried to show Sabrina, Sinclair too, that living with anger or fear wasn't the right way to go. They could love people and not the things they had done. It was more an example at first but that had changed some as well.

"Alright, one more. How is it between the brothers?" He asked and she thought about that.

"Sabrina said they are fine. That Rowle said so, and I have seen nothing to indicate otherwise. He said Josh wanted me to buy the paper because it was hard to read about us like that. It was after Josh left but it explains Mac mentioning it all the time. I don't want the paper and I offered it to Sabrina who was equally aghast at the idea. Not very Slytherin of him, I thought." She grumbled the last comment and he barked a laugh. Then he was chuckling and trying to stop it.

"Thank god Drake can view that in my mind. The actual memory. Priceless." Blaise finally got out and she rolled her eyes but grinned.

"Say hi for me alright? Love you." She said and leaned down to hug him but he stood and swept her up.

"I'll come Friday for Breakfast." He said into her hair and she nodded.

"Thanks for coming Cara." Was what he said as she reached the doorway. She only smiled softly back at him and then went back to France.

Scenebreak replace and remove

This whole morning had been more than he could process clearly. It was easier before they had breakfast. Josh was an odd presence with the two witches but it felt so good to have his friend around. To be able to see him and not have him be so tense in his surroundings.

The surroundings were as idyllic as Thor could wish. Pushing off the ground felt like something he had done a thousand times but had to think about it now. While he did this, thankfully his body did what it should and he realised how much stronger his grip was and his shoulders were definitely wider. This wasn't his broom but it was so close that he wondered how she had known what to get.

The wind was way warmer than any but the hottest days at home and the sun was bright. His back felt warm already and as he leveled out he closed his eyes and hovered, moving slowly. Everything was pushing in him but it was quiet up here. Warm and still. There was a slight breeze but no wind. He blinked a few times before trying to look around. Then he spiralled up quickly and couldn't believe how free it felt. To be on a broom in the sun and curious about his surroundings. There was the ocean, grey and stretching away from what looked like a rocky coast.

Thor looked toward it and thought about where he was. He was at the Escape. It was more than a vacation home, it was where the two witches had been living, maybe where they were living now. They were comfortable here, he could see why Sabrina wanted him to come here and why she liked to be here.

There was a pitch, it looked maybe three quarter size and he flew toward it. Noticing the chairs closer to the long side that faced the big lawns up to the house. Further back from the pitch there were big trees and he flew through them. Tables and a few shelter like things and low covered benches. As if they hung out down here he thought. They did, Sinclair flew a lot and she would watch him.

Others would come and be here with them. He didn't doubt that brooms were a big enough part of her life, because of the people that flew them though. Without thinking about it, he circled in wide slow movements up so he could see the whole picture. Wishing while he did that he didn't feel so good and so temporary. As if things wouldn't stay. That everything else would be too much or too fast.

There she was, he could see her long hair and the coral colour of her sundress as she walked between a line of blooming trees. He watched her walk to the house and then waited for her to come back. Sabrina was still on a chair and he flew lower until he could see what she was doing.

Mail. His sister had a small pile of letters on the chair beside her legs and was reading one. He couldn't hear her but Zavi appeared and then she had a quill and was writing on a piece of paper the elf had provided. Then there was a small lap tray that tipped the letter so she could easily write and his sister was scribbling away before the elf disappeared. It was funny, he was sure she had only asked for ink and quill but now she had a whole small secretary's set up on her lap and looked comfortable.

It was so easy to land smoothly on the grass ten feet from her and Sabrina looked up at him, smiled a real smile at him and then went back to writing. It wasn't long before she sealed it up and tapped her wand on it then did a complicated jab. He was watching when she looked up and she grinned at him. It was a satisfied one and he raised a brow, at the wand movement and her clear gloating satisfaction.

"Claudia. Hermione made a comment about if our positions were reversed, so I thought I should. That closure charm is just for me and her. Blaise and Hermione have one, she gave this one to me for my coming of age, to use with people I trust. Then when I graduated she taught me how to make one, so I have one with her and I made one for you." The setting was unfamiliar but there was something about the softer look on her face that he remembered from years ago.

"Thank you Sprite." He said honestly and lay down on the grass beside her chair.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry for asking you but." Her voice was calm but he could also hear her worry. Thor made a hand gesture and she stopped speaking. He understood her meaning and concern. This was as much her life as it was his, more so it felt like.

"Better than I expected Sprite. She's alright?" He asked and shaded his eyes so he could see his sister and Sabrina looked him over. He wondered what she saw and what she was looking for.

"It's strange because it's sex but thank you. She never complained much about it to me but did answer my questions. This morning, it was easy to see it in her eyes and even the way she moved, she is free and it's almost as good as you getting out. I know it was hard for her and she did that for me." The reassurance he felt at the surety in her tone when she said it was easy to see warred with the flash of emotions he felt at the witch being free.

"I really don't think she holds you responsible." His tone made it clear he meant it and she gave him a look.

"I know she doesn't. Someone who had been through less might have but she just wants to be happy, to have a life and have the people she loves be happy too." Maybe his thoughts showed on his face or she just understood his turmoil. As he watched her knowing look, he remembered that she had come from the same background as him.

"You should talk to her Thor. Ask her and tell her. If you know what you want or even what you don't want. I think that's a big part of the gulf between Josh and her. She feels like a burden. That word only came out once and she was talking to Harry not me, but it struck me

as honest. If you want a traditional marriage she will give you that. If you want time then she will give you that too." His sister was grown. The little witch was gone and a young woman sat in a lounge chair wearing a sundress with such serious eyes beside him.

"What about what she wants?" He asked Sabrina, knowing it was revealing and that she would read all sorts of things into it. That he had even asked her directly instead of letting her get to wherever she would eventually go.

"I'm with Blaise on this one. Who cares what she wants, give her what she deserves." The frank tones and feeling behind his sister's words were direct. Gryffindor, and he thought about that.

He didn't want to run roughshod over Hermione, he wasn't sure she would let him either. He did want to know though, know something other than that they would go to bed together tonight. It was one night and he wanted it but he wanted more than that. What did the witch want? She deserved everything and he easily understood what Zabini had meant, what Sabrina did too. Probably the same things though thought of differently.

The letter played over again. The man knew her, Sabrina spoke as if no one knew her like Blaise. He said she was ready, to lose himself in her. Her friend wouldn't have said so if he didn't think she was actually ready. Letting his eyes close again, he leaned back and rested his head on his hands. The warm sun and slight breeze felt amazing and he knew the witch in question had spelled sun protection on all of them as they walked out the wide doors together earlier.

If he thought about it that way, that he wasn't pushing for more than she could give, and really considered it then he wanted to talk to her right now. Wanted to find out why she needed the bonding. He wanted her to want the bonding. Never in a million years would he have ever suggested one, asked for that from a situation like this.

Never had he anticipated marrying a witch that wanted to share a life with him. Marriage had been for other reasons. Liking the hypothetical witch or getting along was something to hope for. There was more but it had always been vague. The betrothal contract for Charlotte had meant he wasn't shopping, not really and and he hadn't wanted to. Couldn't see how it could turn out well for him in any imagined scenario.

Then he was marked and even his father hadn't mentioned it. His pater died and then the war, and his sister, was enough for Thor, more than he could deal with. Other than needed sex and random interactions with people from his past, a relationship or whatever was not on his mind.

Then he had a visitor and she was there, clearly uncomfortable and uncertain. His life was different a year before and he didn't know it, hadn't known it in that cafe, had not known it while hell broke loose in the castle that night. Hadn't known it when Malfoy stuttered quietly to Theo that it had been bad.

Thank Merlin for his sister. He had thought about it a lot, especially in those last months alone in there. Having refused being moved into another cell block, it was just him. The guards were in and out. They hung out in there more, even reading on the cot that had been Josh's. He was grateful for the company but quiet and they didn't seem to mind. So he had thought and was sure she would have looked into Sabrina eventually. His word that his sister would be better off with her had clearly been enough to get her moving at her usual determined speed.

The Rites though, now the magic was gone and he still wanted her. How relieved he was now that the Rites has made him real to her, kept her focused on him. He didn't deserve it. Any of this. Maybe she wanted it though. Her life wasn't that conventional and he liked that, liked just the thought that they wouldn't live a stuffy formal version of marriage that he had seen in the homes of his friends growing up. Maybe it was sort of easier because he didn't really have any memories of his parents together. A few of his mother's soft voice and warmth but not of his parent's life together.

Then his eyes opened when he realised Hermione wasn't here, hadn't come back, and he looked at Sabrina to see her writing again.

She looked up then and smiled at him, handed him a scrap of parchment with writing he recognized from last night. The witch was with Zabini. The way the deal was offered was funny and he chuckled after a second. Sabrina didn't look up but he watched her grin as she wrote another sentence.

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reached out, my family and I are doing well. I sincerely hope all of you and yours are making it through this crazy time. I've been writing, just not editing and doing more enjoyable things than editing. Yelling at my TV and cursing referee's as I do during hockey season, spending more time outside as well with the kiddos.

I'll try and get back into a rhythm of posting more often.

-maybenotahufflepuff