* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART FOUR
Brave New World
Chapter 25: The Isolation Period
A/N: Pretty much every scene starts with the scene location for the next few chapters because the gang are spread far and wide so it makes it a bit easier to follow!
Amiens, France.
Lilly had never felt as nervous as she did on the first morning of her training course. She hadn't had a chance to meet her fellow recruits because she had already been in bed when most of them arrived the previous night. She was glad that she had her own dorm room; however, she worried that she would have to share for another year.
All Lilly knew about her fellow trainees was that there were seven of them. She had been observing them discreetly as they waited in line to meet the head of the centre. There were five girls, including herself, and three boys.
"Good morning, trainees!" A harsh female voice barked.
Lilly jumped and looked up. The voice belonged to a tall, slim, rigorous looking woman wearing Healers robes adorned with the French flag, "My name is Madame Tyrannique. I am the Head Senior Healer here at the Centre for Trauma Healing, and I will be overseeing your training while you are here."
Lilly was grateful for the fact that there were a few kinder looking Healers standing behind her.
"If you have any issues, you must come to me, but you will be working with my colleagues here," Madam Tyrannique said as she gestured behind herself, "There will be two trainees assigned to each Senior Healer. By the end of the year, I fully expect one trainee to be assigned to each Healer because I do not doubt that some of you will not have the stomach for this job. Yes, we treat broken bones and bad cuts, but you will see brain fluid, you will see bones sticking out of screaming patients, you will see blood gushing from people. Frankly, you have to have an extraordinary mindset to be able to cope with this job."
Lilly glanced around; there were already a couple of green-ish faces.
"I shall make a prediction right now," Madam Tyrannique said sternly, "One of you will quit, one of you will change course to study a more conventional sort of healing, and two of you will go home to work in local practices healing minor ailments."
Lilly wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be any of those people. She held her head up a little higher as if trying to prove that.
"Now, I do not believe you have met your fellow trainees, so if each of you could tell us your name and where you are from, that would be much appreciated."
Lilly was first in the row, so she smiled and said, "My name is Lillian Moon, but I prefer Lilly. I'm from London in the UK."
The next person was an unassuming girl with dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes, "I am Eleonore Valjean and I from Paris in France."
The next person was a relatively handsome dark-skinned boy, "I'm Ayo Farrah, and I'm from Cairo in Egypt."
Next to speak was a girl with dark red hair. She was tall and very conventionally good looking. She smiled and spoke with a thick Texan accent, "Hey all. My name is Savannah Adkinson, and I'm from Texas in the United States of America."
Next was a stocky boy with mousy brown hair, "I'm Michael Smith, and I'm from Vancouver in Canada."
Next in line was a dark-skinned girl with beautiful dark brown hair. She smiled very genuinely and said, "Hello, my name is Lucille Williams, and I am from Kingston in Jamaica."
Lilly had a good feeling about Lucille; she seemed like the most genuine of all of the people who had introduced themselves. Next was a beautiful girl with tanned skin and bleached blonde hair, "Hi, I'm Charlotte Thompson and I'm from Wellington in New Zealand."
The last person to speak was a boy with light blonde hair and very white, shiny teeth. Lilly supposed that a lot of women would find him good looking, but he just seemed a bit too false for her liking. She liked her men a little rougher around the edges; the thought made her smile slightly as she thought about Neville.
"I am Marcel Bissett, and I am from Calais in France," Marcel said with a huge, very false smile.
Madam Tyrannique nodded and then consulted a list that she had on a clipboard in front of her, "Trainee Moon and Trainee Bissett; you are assigned to Senior Healer Clara Selwyn."
Lilly had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Of all the people she could have been paired with, it just had to be the French glamour king. She zoned out as all of the others were paired off and only started to pay attention when their Senior Healer walked over to greet them.
"Miss Moon, Mr Bissett," Clara Selwyn said with a smile as she shook their hands. She was a classically beautiful woman with brown hair so dark it almost looked black, and deep blue eyes. She looked older than them but not quite middle-aged. Lilly guessed that she was in her mid-20's.
"Nice to meet you," Lilly said politely.
"Enchante," Marcel said, "May I kiss your hand?"
"No, you may not," Clara said swiftly, "And I will not tolerate any of that French nonsense, Mr Bissett. I am as English as they come, none of your fellow countrymen have managed to charm me in my six years in this country, so I doubt that you will succeed."
Lilly smirked as Marcel nodded and said, "My apologies, ma'am."
Clara shot him a defiant look and said, "Now shall we get started? I like to start things off with a tour of the facilities."
"That sounds great," Lilly said eagerly. She had only seen the dorm room and the cafeteria so far.
"I hope you're this eager when the real work starts, Miss Moon," Clara said with a pointed look, "Now this is the lecture hall. You will attend three classes a week here, and you will take all of your written assignments here. The remainder of your course will be physical, that consists of observation and also of physical training."
"Why is there such a large physical aspect of the course?" Marcel asked.
Lilly raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh, I don't know, Marcel, maybe because we're going to be working with Aurors in the field where there will be bad guys shooting spells at us. I think that's why it might be a good idea to be fit enough to run away while holding injured people."
Clara glanced down to hide her smirk, "I would encourage a friendlier attitude to your colleague Miss Moon. However, you are entirely correct. You may have to treat someone in the middle of a warzone; you need to be prepared for that situation."
"I understand that there will be a degree of action involved," Marcel said calmly, "But a warzone? Isn't that an exaggeration in current times?"
"In current times?" Lilly asked in disbelief, "I literally just saw friends die in a war! I was one of those people treating people in the middle of a warzone while giants stomped around and werewolves tried to eat people, and Death Eaters were everywhere! Do you never look at newspapers?"
"Alright, I should tell you off for your attitude Miss Moon," Clara said, "But as one of the trauma healers who served in that war, I can't find it in me to do so. To worsen things, you were merely a school pupil when you witnessed these things."
Marcel swallowed, "I am very sorry, Miss Moon. I did not mean to be insensitive. It wounds me to upset such a beautiful girl."
Lilly rolled her eyes, "Yes, and I have a boyfriend who destroyed a Horcrux with a goblin made sword. He's also Harry Potters right-hand man, and he killed Lord Voldemort, so I'm not interested in silly little French boys, okay?"
Clara bit her lip in amusement; she sensed a tumultuous year ahead, "Come on, guys, let's continue the tour. Through here, we have the mock operating theatre. The Aurors back home have a simulation room, and this is very similar to that. Once a week, you will work together on an operation. However, the entire thing will be simulated by the rooms awe-inspiring magic. We will be watching and marking you. These marks add up over the year and are very important."
Lilly nodded and remained silent as they were led up a set of stairs, "These three floors are all wards and operating rooms. Each floor has a break room where you can help yourselves to tea and coffee," Clara told them as she led them through the hospital, "We are an active training hospital after all. Upstairs you have your dorms and a shared common room. In that building over there you have the cafeteria where all meals are provided for you. Below the cafeteria is a swimming pool where you will spend an hour each week. We want to ensure that all of you are strong swimmers in case you ever have to retrieve a patient or a body from the water."
Lilly nodded and listened as she took it all in, "Outside, we have the track, which you will be running around every morning at 6.30 am sharp. It's a good wake up call as much as anything else. There is also a Quidditch pitch further down that path, and the hospital has a team that you can try out for you if you so wish. I think that just about covers it. Do you have any other questions?"
"When do we start?" Lilly asked.
Clara chuckled, "Tomorrow morning. Today you have paperwork to fill out and your induction to complete," she led them through a door at the back of the lecture hall that they had somehow found their way back to. They were in a small classroom full of chatter because all of the other pairs were here with their Healers too.
"First of all, here are your timetables," Clara said, "Whenever it says, Hospital Placement, that means you will be with me. Everywhere I go, you come too. You will see patients getting admitted as well as check-ups and check-outs. Not to mention different sorts of surgeries."
"Do we get to do any fieldwork?" Marcel asked.
"Not until you have been here for six months," Clara replied, "At that point, we'll send you home to the care of your own countries Auror training department. When you're there, you will get to go on simulated missions."
Lilly frowned as she glanced down at the timetable, "Excuse me, Clara, what does Auror Placement mean?"
Clara looked down at her timetable briefly, "Ah yes, you will go back to your home countries on a Wednesday afternoon and work with the Aurors who will be starting fieldwork the same year that you graduate. This is to ensure that you have a working relationship with them before you all start running riot in the real world."
Lilly grinned brightly at that, and Clara frowned, "You seem overly happy about that, Miss Moon."
"My boyfriend is training to be an Auror," Lilly explained, "And we won't see each other much with me being in France."
"Ah," Clara said, she smiled, and it looked sympathetic, "I understand how hard long-distance relationships are. Hopefully, this Wednesday workshop will make a difference for you."
"Hopefully," Lilly said with a smile.
Auror Training Base, London.
"Are you going to spend the next two weeks looking like a mopey zoo lion?"
Theo huffed.
"Did you just huff? Seriously?"
"Would you guys leave me alone?" Theo said irritably, "I have to spend two weeks stuck in here while my wife galivants around Egypt seeing cool shit with people who are smarter, better looking and more privileged than me. I'm not exactly thrilled about it, alright?"
"Okay, can I just make a point?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
Theo glared at him in response.
"I find it hard to believe that there are people in this world more privileged than you," Harry continued, "Apart from Daph maybe, she's pretty high maintenance."
Draco snorted, "You've never been to wizarding Europe, have you?"
"I've never been to Europe, period," Harry said.
"What?" Draco and Theo echoed.
"Deprived childhood, remember?" Neville chipped in, "Evil Aunt and Uncle wouldn't take him on family outings. They were hardly going to put him in their suitcase and take him to the Algarve, were they?"
Harry snorted in amusement at that thought, "Thanks for the support there, Nev."
"You have never been to Europe?" Theo asked again, only slower this time.
"Theo, I've never left Britain," Harry said, "I don't even have a passport."
"A what?"
"It's a thing Muggles need," Draco said with a wave of his hand, "You need to pay money to get this passport thing, and if you don't have one, you can't leave the country."
Theo scoffed, "That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Here you just go to the International Apparition Centre, tell them whether you're travelling for business or pleasure and get your wand checked. Once they know you're not a criminal, you're good to go."
"Unless you're trying to smuggle illegal fauna into the country, in which case they search your trunk and detain you," Draco said, smirking at Neville.
Neville rolled his eyes, "I didn't know it was illegal, I just wanted to bring my new plant home with me, and I was six."
"They bound his hands together and read him his rights; he cried like a baby," Draco joked.
"How do you know this?" Harry asked, looking between his two friends with an amused smile.
"Because Draco had tagged along on his dad's business trip to Austria, and Gran and me were coming back from our holiday in Cyprus," Neville explained.
"So I just happened to be in the right place at the right time for the perfect blackmail opportunity," Draco smirked.
"You want blackmail? We were friends back then, remember? You came over to hug me, and your dad whacked you round the head with his cane," Neville reminded him.
Harry winced, "Your dad was a right bastard, but it is good to know you had a conscience before Hermione reformed you."
Draco rolled his eyes, "Very funny."
"Quit the chatter, girls!"
The group of friends fell silent upon hearing that command. They hadn't heard Auror Sumner enter the lecture hall where they had been killing time for the last half an hour.
"Welcome to the start of Auror training," Sumner boomed, "I want you all to look around you at the people in this room. When you are all fully qualified Aurors, these people will be your peers and probably even your friends, but right now, they are your competition."
Harry frowned at that and looked around the room; his three friends looked equally as confused. As did the other two pairs, Blanche Zabini and Ophelia Wood, and Maxwell Harper and Emily Wilde.
"While you are here, you are competing to be the best. We have a leaderboard, and we keep track of those getting the highest marks in their classes. That's both written and practical classes. There will be incentives for those that are at the top of the leaderboard, prizes if you like," Sumner explained, "So it's in your best interest to work your arses off."
Harry and Neville shared a determined look, they were the best, and they were also Gryffindors, which made them more stubborn than most.
"The other reason you're competing is because not all of you will finish your training," Sumner said, "By the end of your training period, at least two of you will have fallen by the wayside, one way or another. If we end up with two qualified pairs of Aurors at the end of three years, we consider that a good year. Do you understand how high our standards are now?"
"Yes, sir," They all echoed.
Sumner nodded, "Good, now as you were all briefed, the next two weeks are known as the isolation period. There's a reason for that, a very good reason," he paused to see if anyone questioned this. Still, nobody did, "The reason is that we want you to bond with your new partner so that when we throw ourselves into the first year of training, you are already close enough to that person that you would kill or die for them."
Harry's hand shot into the air.
Sumner knew what was coming before he even said, "Yes, Potter?"
"I have killed for Neville, I've also died for Neville in a round-about way, I sort of died for all of my friends, which included him," Harry began, "Oh, and I've known him since I was 11, so we've already bonded."
"We killed a snake together, not to mention Lord Voldemort," Neville agreed.
Harry nodded, "So can we just go home for the next couple of weeks?"
"Draco and I have bonded too!" Theo cut in, "We've known each other since we were babies, and I once shoved a bezoar down his throat because he drank a poisonous potion."
"Just to clarify, I was three years old at the time," Draco added, "But he's right, he's saved my life, and I did kill a Death Eater to save his arse in the final battle."
"So I guess we can go home too then?" Theo half said, half asked.
Sumner was trying not to smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest. They could tell that he was finding it difficult to keep his tough-guy act up, "Nobody is exempt from isolation! I don't care how many snakes or dark lords you've killed. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir," The four boys echoed.
"I have not had to put up with shit like this since I had James Potter and Sirius Black on this base, and let me tell you; I will not hesitate to throw their heirs into the same isolation cell that I had to throw those clowns into Merlin knows how many times," Sumner continued, "Do you idiots understand me?"
"Yes, sir," They echoed. Although Harry secretly found it quite amusing that they were reminding Sumner of his father and godfather.
"Right!" Sumner barked, "Now that the class clowns have hung up their oversized shoes, let me tell you exactly why we call this the isolation period. We don't just leave you on the base and not let you call your partner, mum, or granny because we're cold-hearted bastards. We do something much worse than that; you are going to spend the next two weeks in some of the most isolated places we know with only your Auror partner, your wand and a tent."
There were groans and gasps, all sounds of horror or dread.
Harry raised his hand, and Sumner narrowed his eyes at him, "Yes, Potter?"
"Camping then?"
Sumner narrowed his eyes even more, "I suppose you could call it camping, but there are no amenities."
"You do realise, sir, that I spent an entire year camping with no amenities while avoiding all of Lord Voldemort's minions who were scouring the country for me?" Harry said, "So I feel like I should maybe just get a two-week vacation instead."
"Potter!" Sumner barked while the others snickered or chuckled, "I said no cheek, and I mean no fucking cheek! You had better think about your attitude during isolation because if it doesn't change by the time you get back here, I will kick you to the curb, war hero or not. Do you understand me?"
Harry took it seriously this time, "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
Sumner's cheeks had been getting gradually redder and redder; he currently looked like a tomato, "So listen up! Sheppard is going to come in here and collect you, one pair at a time. Then he's going to tweak your wands and dump you in the middle of nowhere. Your wands are being tweaked so that you can't cast a Patronus or try to communicate with anyone in any other way, and there will definitely not be any fireplaces where you are going."
Draco raised his hand.
Sumner looked at him warily, "Yes, Black?"
"What if there are Dementors?"
Sumner rolled his eyes, "There will not be any Dementors Black, we have scouted out where you're going, and we know what you may or may not face there. If we thought there was the slightest chance you would run into Dementors, we wouldn't disallow the Patronus charm. Do you think we're stupid? The last thing we want is for a family like yours to bring a lawsuit against us if you get your stupid arse killed."
Harry and Neville snorted in amusement at these words.
"Are there any other stupid questions?" Sumner asked irritably.
"Is this a test?" Ophelia Wood asked.
"Technically speaking, no," Sumner replied honestly, "But if you end up half-dead at the end of two weeks in isolation, then we might have to reconsider your place here."
Blanche's hand shot up next.
"Yes, Zabini?"
"So what do we have to do? Just survive for two weeks?" Blanche asked.
"Yes," Sumner replied, "It will be up to you to work out where you are and how to survive there. Any further questions?"
Everyone shook their heads, so Sumner nodded, "Good. Auror Sheppard will start collecting you shortly, do not leave this hall until he arrives."
The trainees nodded in agreement as Sumner turned to leave. They all remained silent until the door had clicked shut behind the Senior Auror, at which point chatter broke out.
"This is going to be a piece of piss," Harry said to Neville.
"Is it?" Neville asked, raising an eyebrow at him, "How much do you want to bet that you found it so easy to survive on the run because of Hermione?"
Harry scoffed, "Hey, I never said it was easy, but I can do it without Hermione. Don't get me wrong, she was great with the whole finding Horcruxes thing, but I did the whole on the run thing myself."
"Really?" Draco asked with a vaguely amused look on his face, "Who cast the protective enchantments on the campsite then?"
"Uh…that would have been Hermione," Harry admitted sheepishly.
"Who cooked?" Draco asked.
"Oh, come on, you cannot call that shitty mushroom soup she made cooking!" Harry exclaimed, "We lived on baked beans and spam for an entire year."
"She provided you with moral support," Theo said. He waggled his eyebrows at Harry, "Bet you couldn't have gotten through without that."
"Yeah, I'm happy to fill Hermione's shoes with the other bits but definitely not with that," Neville said.
Harry rolled his eyes, "That wasn't like that, alright? It wasn't about being on the run. It was about the war and being so close to death every day."
"Can we not talk about how my fiancé spent the war shagging one of my best friends, please?" Draco grimaced.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Harry said, glaring at Theo, "Let's just stop talking about it, entirely okay? I have experience of being on the run. Nev and I will manage just fine. You two, on the other hand…."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked defensively.
"Well, you two are privileged prats," Neville said, "How are you going to trade your Manors and nice big houses for a tent without killing each other?"
"We used to go camping when we were kids," Theo argued.
"You went camping once," Neville said with an amused look, "And you didn't even last the whole night. You went home crying because you thought you had seen an omen when it was just a stray dog."
"I can sympathise on that one," Harry said, although he was still chuckling, "And I love that you know so many embarrassing stories about those two."
"I don't," Theo said as he glared at the Gryffindor, "Some friend, you are Nev."
Before the group of friends could argue any further, Sheppard stepped into the room and called out, "Black and Nott!"
"Good luck," Harry said to them as they got to the feet, "We were just kidding. I know you'll do fine."
"Thanks, good luck to you too," Draco said.
Neville nodded, "Yeah, you'll be great. Good luck and…sorry, Theo."
Theo smiled and patted Neville on the back, "It's alright, mate, good luck."
With all good lucks said, the group parted ways. The moment Sheppard had left the hall with Draco and Theo, Harry and Neville looked at each other and said in unison, "They are so fucked."
They both sniggered, "I mean Draco might be able to make something of it," Harry continued, "But Theo?"
"If there are any magical creatures there, he will probably get mauled to death, even if it's only a Flobberworm," Neville said.
"Forget magical creatures. What about Muggle animals?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"And he has no idea what sorts of plants are poisonous and what sort are okay to eat," Neville added.
"Are we saying that Theo might die in the next two weeks?" Harry asked.
Neville snorted, "Nah, Draco loves him too much to let that happen; he'll keep him alive."
"True," Harry chuckled.
They continued to make small talk, mostly they were wondering what stupid stuff Theo would end up doing, or they were discussing where they might end up being stuck for the next two weeks. After about 10 minutes Maxwell and Emily were called out of the lecture hall to be whisked away to their isolated location, then Sheppard entered the room again and called, "Potter and Longbottom!"
"Here we go," Harry said as he and Neville followed Sheppard out of the big hall into a smaller room.
"Wands, please, boys."
Harry and Neville handed their wands over while Sheppard tweaked them to be unable to communicate with their other halves. After about five minutes, he handed the wands back. Then he mumbled a spell under his breath and did some fancy wand work; the result was a portal appearing in the wall behind them.
Harry and Neville both stared into the portal in amazement.
"Alright, boys, a couple of things to know before you step on through. If you get into any serious danger, I want you to say, Rursus ut Turpia. This portal will appear for about five seconds, and you shoot red sparks through to let us know you're in trouble. The other thing is this, remember you're in the real world, not a simulated environment, so if you do anything to endanger anyone else or to break the statute of secrecy, there will be consequences. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, sir," Harry and Neville replied in unison.
Sheppard smiled, "Alright then, on you go. Good luck."
"Thank you, sir," Harry said as he stepped through the portal with Neville on his heels.
Inverarnan, Scotland.
"Where the hell are we?"
Theo squinted up at the sky, "Scotland."
"What?"
"The north of Scotland…." Theo continued, "Not as far up as Shetland or Orkney but definitely further up than Edinburgh," he shielded his eyes from the bright sun and frowned, "Somewhere in the Grampians."
"How on Merlin's Earth, did you know that?" Draco asked as he stared at his best friend in disbelief.
"Uh, did you miss the massive mountains that we are surrounded by, Drakey?" Theo asked in amusement.
Draco rolled his eyes, "No, I saw the mountains smart arse. How the hell did you work out that we were in Scotland based on the position of the sun?"
"Maybe I wasn't as shit at Muggle studies as everyone thought I was," Theo said smugly, "Navigating by the sun, the moon and the stars, my friend. That's what Galileo taught me."
"Uh…Theo, I know I never took Muggle studies, but I'm engaged to a Muggle-born, and I'm pretty sure that's not what Galileo was all about," Draco pointed out, "Wasn't it some guy in a ship who worked out how to do that? Marco Polo or something?"
"Don't even talk to me about Marco Polo. He was an arsehole," Theo said, "Galileo is my man, and we are most definitely somewhere on the West Highland Way."
"What makes you so sure about that?" Draco asked.
"That sign over there," Theo said, pointing behind Draco's head, "The one that says, You are here on the West Highland Way."
Draco spun around to look at the sign and groaned, "You didn't navigate anything by the fucking sun, did you?"
"No, I didn't, I love you, man, but you are such a Hufflepuff sometimes," Theo chuckled as he whacked Draco on the back.
Draco shook his head irritably, "I'll tell Susan you said that. She'll have your balls, and you know it."
Theo shuddered, "That I do, anyway. We know where we are, so what now?"
"Walk to Hogwarts?"
"I'm just guessing here, but I'm pretty sure that would be classed as cheating," Theo pointed out matter of factly.
"Yeah, probably," Draco sighed, "Let's find somewhere to pitch this tent and work the rest out from there."
"What's a good place to pitch a tent?" Theo asked.
"Well, not a mountain for a start," Draco said as he shot Theo an amused look, "Let's look for a clearing in that wooded area over there. That way, if it rains, we'll be sheltered from the worst of the weather."
"It's August," Theo reminded him.
"And we're in Scotland, so that means nothing," Draco remarked, "Plus, there probably won't be Muggles in the woods. They'll be using the designated camping spots."
"Alright, I can get on board with this plan. Let's go," Theo chirped.
Draco shook his head at his friend as he walked towards the wooded area, whistling as he went.
The Forest of Dean, England.
"Neville…I know where we are."
Neville frowned at his best friend, "Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?"
Harry sighed, "Because we're in the Forest of Dean."
Neville looked at Harry blankly, "And?"
"The Forest of Dean," Harry said slowly, "You know, it's a forest in the South of England."
"Yeah, I know where the Forest of Dean is," Neville said, "I just don't know why you're acting so weird. This is fine; there are trees which means we have firewood; there will be animals that we can hunt, edible plants that we can harvest. There won't be many Muggles, and there will be plenty of clearings to camp in."
"Yes," Harry said, "There are plenty of clearings to camp in, I would know because Hermione and I camped here for a couple of months after Ron left us."
Realisation dawned on Neville's face, "Oh…oh….OH! This is where you…you two…."
"Yeah," Harry said quickly, "This is where it happened."
"Right," Neville said slowly as he tried to work out whether he should make a joke about the situation or whether he should tell Harry just to man up. In the end, he said, "Well, in that case, I better make sure I don't make any mushroom soup. Otherwise, you might jump my bones."
Harry didn't expect to laugh at that, but it just sort of slipped out. He laughed loudly and heartily. For a moment, he thought that he sounded like Sirius.
"Sorry Nev, I didn't mean to be a downer about it," Harry said as he looked around at the trees, "It was just…it was a hard time for me, so it feels strange being back here again."
Neville nodded as he pulled the tent out of the bag Sheppard had given them, "Erecto."
As the tent began to put itself up, Neville asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Harry swithered over the question, "I didn't talk about it to anyone for a long time. I told Daphne obviously, but I told her what she needed to know and nothing else."
"Not talking about something like that is a bad idea," Neville said as he watched the tent erect itself.
"Hermione and I talked about it," Harry admitted, "That summer after the war? You know the one when I was a dick and missed your birthday party cause I was too busy brooding?"
Neville chuckled, "I wasn't expecting you to be there," he admitted. The tent pinged into position, and Neville crawled inside to inspect it. Harry followed him in, and as they looked around the tiny tent that would be home for the next two weeks, they continued their conversation.
"Top or bottom bunk?" Neville asked.
The tent wasn't like the one that Harry had used during the war. It was just one room with bunk beds against one wall and a small seating area that contained no seats. If they wanted to cook, they would have to do it outside on an open fire.
"Top," Harry replied, "Hermione always slept on the bottom bunk during the war…or she did when Ron left anyway."
"Until you ended up sleeping in the bottom bunk together," Neville said, "When you and Hermione talked about it, you know after the war? Did it bring back any feelings?"
"I don't think the feelings ever went away, to be honest," Harry said, "I loved her, and she loved me. But it wasn't love like it should be, you know? It was twisted by circumstance."
"Yeah, I do get that," Neville said with a frown, "Susan and I had a thing like that. It was why we could never have gotten together after what happened with Hannah."
Harry nodded, "When you see someone at their worst like that…in their darkest place…."
"It's hard to go back," Neville finished.
"Yeah," Harry sighed, "I thought we might get together, but then the final battle happened, and after it, I was just so numb. Every time I looked at her, I felt guilty because …I took something from her, you know? And I beat myself up for that. We managed to salvage our friendship though, and I always thought she would be my best friend forever, but she isn't."
Neville looked up in surprise, "She isn't?"
Harry shook his head, "You are, Nev. You're the one I want to talk to about shit like this, and you're the one I want to have my back when I'm out in the field. You're the one I want to have mock duels with when I'm stressed, and you're the only one I trust with my life. You're the guy I want standing by my side when I marry Daphne. Not Ron, not Hermione…you."
Neville frowned down at the ground, "I'm your best friend?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah. It's not the first time I've referred to you as my best friend. Why are you so surprised?"
"I always thought you meant that I was one of your best friends," Neville admitted, "Cause for a long time, Lilly was my best friend, and nobody noticed it because nobody noticed me. I always just hung around with whoever would put up with me. Sometimes it was Seamus and Dean, but they used to talk about me behind my back, and Hermione was nice to me, but she always kept me at arm's length…I used to have a crush on her too, you know."
"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly, "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have told you that story."
Neville shrugged, "That's just it, though. We both had a crush on Hermione at school, but she only ever smiled at me and called me cute in a kind of condescending way; it was you she slept with because it was always you. Either one of us could have been the boy who lived, but Voldemort chose you, Ginny chose you, Hermione chose you. Notice a recurring theme there?"
"Nah," Harry said with a shake of his head, "I'm not going to let you go down this whole self-deprecating route. Ginny didn't choose me; she chose you. We had this unspoken agreement to wait for each other, but she didn't know that I'd slept with Hermione. She slept with you; she chose you."
"But you said-"
"That I was fine with it?" Harry countered, "Yeah, I am fine with it, but the point is that she chose you. Hannah chose you. Lilly chose you. People choose you because you deserve their love. You didn't just become my best friend by chance, Nev. I chose you."
"Careful," Neville joked, "You're starting to sound like Draco."
"Yeah, well, maybe that's not such a bad thing," Harry shrugged.
Neville frowned, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I'm finally starting to understand Draco and Theo's relationship," Harry said honestly.
"Oh fuck," Neville joked.
Harry smiled slightly, "I get it now. Draco loves Theo, but they aren't into each other sexually. It's a relationship, Nev. An unconventional sexless, polyamorous one but a relationship all the same."
"You've been talking to too many portraits," Neville chuckled, but he kept his eyes on Harrys' all the same.
"Draco needs Theo; he doesn't know what he would do without him. Theo is the person he wants to go to when something bad happens. Theo is the person he has always been able to rely on and will always rely on. He's the only person who can bring Draco back when he's on the brink of destruction when he's on the verge of darkness or when he's about to lose himself," Harry said quietly, "And that's how I feel about you, Nev."
Neville nodded, "Yeah," he said in a resigned tone of voice, "That's how I feel about you too. You bring me back when things are getting on top of me. You're always there, even when you're going through your own shit, you'd drop everything for me, and I'd drop everything for you."
Harry cocked his head at Neville, "So I'm sorry for not seeing it sooner. I'm sorry for being the dick that only spoke to you when his other friends had fallen out with him. I'm sorry for treating you like you were second-best and taking too long to realise how fucking brilliant you are."
Neville snorted.
"I mean it," Harry said firmly, "It took me a while to realise that Ron wasn't who I thought he was. I thought he was brave underneath the cluelessness. I thought he would fight for what he believed in, but he wasn't that guy, Nev. You were."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I made some mistakes when we were at Hogwarts," Harry replied, "But now that I've grown up and worked everything out, it's you I want as my Auror partner. It's you I trust with my life, not Ron. You aren't second-best, Nev; you aren't just a backup Ron. That's what I'm trying to tell you."
Neville smiled slightly, and Harry was sure that he could see his friend holding himself up a little straighter, "If I'm honest, Harry, that's all I've ever wanted to hear from you."
Harry grinned and clapped him on the shoulder, "So, what's our plan of action then?"
Inverarnan, Scotland.
"See? It really wasn't that hard."
"You used magic," Theo pointed out as he lay on the bottom bunk bed in the tent, "It would have been more of a challenge if you hadn't been allowed to use magic."
"Why do I get the feeling you're going to be really unhelpful over the next two weeks?" Draco asked.
"I'm helpful. I mean…I can cook."
"Do you know a poisonous berry from an edible one?"
"Uh…no."
Draco shook his head with some sort of fond amusement, "Do you have the faintest idea how to hunt?"
"Yes, I do actually," Theo said, "But this is the Cairngorms, so we can't hunt."
"Bugger," Draco muttered, "Protected area…how are we going to eat?"
"Live on plants like a rabbit?" Theo suggested.
"No, there must be another way…." Draco said with a frown, "What would Hermione do in this situation…transfigure something into food?"
"Nope, Gamps Law, no can do," Theo said, "Hey, I hear Harry says she makes a mean mushroom soup."
Draco let his hand drop down the side of the bed so that he could hit Theo, "Shut up, I don't want to think about that. I don't ever want to think about him and Hermione, you know…together, alright?"
"No offence Draco but this seems like a pretty sore spot for you," Theo mused.
"Uh yeah, it is," Draco said irritably, "I hated him at the time, and he was sleeping with the girl I had admired for years, and now he's one of my best friends, so I don't want to talk about it."
"Right, but the thing is," Theo said as he stood up so that he could look at Draco, "You had a crush on Hermione, then you started dating Daphne because it was what your parents wanted, and yeah, you loved her in a schoolboy kind of way."
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Then you became a Death Eater, Daphne broke up with you, and you were with Pansy," Theo said calmly, "And you were in love with Pansy. You were stupidly in love with Pansy, and you were fucking her right underneath my bunk bed, actually."
"What's your point?"
"You can't be pissed off at her for fucking Harry, who she loved," Theo remarked, "When you were doing the exact same thing. Let's face it, if Pansy hadn't died, you two would be married with a kid right now, and Hermione would probably be dating Harry."
"Wow, Theo," Draco hissed, "Don't hold back."
"I'm not going to hold back," Theo said firmly, "You can't have stupid hang-ups like this for the rest of your life because if you do, you're going to end up as a bitter, twisted old man like your dad."
"You better not be saying I'm anything like that man!"
"I'm not!" Theo snapped, "But you need to stop holding onto the past. What you did in the war, and what she did in the war? It's irrelevant, Draco. Hermione loves you now; what happened with Harry doesn't matter. If you gave her the option to go back and not sleep with Harry, she'd probably say yes. Just like you would say yes if you were given the opportunity to go back and not take the mark. You both have things in your past that you would change if you could, but you can't."
Draco looked up and caught Theo's eye.
"Holding onto that stuff is just going to make you bitter," Theo said softly, "And you're not bitter, Draco. You're not like your dad because you have so much compassion, even for people who don't deserve it."
"I don't have compassion," Draco sighed, "Don't talk about me like I'm a hero or something. I walked out on you during the war because of Pansy, and it…it wasn't even because I loved her more than you, it wasn't that."
"It was because she was pregnant with your baby, and your father never protected you," Theo said.
Draco looked up sharply, "How did you…."
"I know pretty much everything about you, Draco," Theo said, "Even the stuff you haven't worked out yet. The minute you broke down to me about Pansy being pregnant, I knew if push came to shove, you'd chose her over me. It hurt, I mean, of course, it fucking hurt, that's why I avoided you for a while after the war, but in the end, I couldn't condemn you for that because if I had been in your shoes, I'd have done the same thing."
"I feel guilty all of the time, Theo," Draco said quietly, "I lied to myself. I spent weeks grieving like Pansy had been the love of my life, and now everyone thinks she was and…I did love her, but truth be told, I think I loved Daphne more. It just…I couldn't tell everyone else that it wasn't Pansy I was grieving for. It was that baby that we lost…it was a ray of hope on the horizon, you know? A future that I thought would make me better because there were so many days when all I could see was darkness and," he cut himself off and tried to hold it together, "I still feel like that Theo. I feel like I'm constantly on the verge of darkness, like my life is a scale, and I'm terrified that the smallest thing is going to tip it in that direction, and that terrifies me."
"In that case, you need to let it all go," Theo said. He sat down on the edge of Draco's bed and grabbed his hand, "And you need to tell Hermione the truth. She can handle it, you're just scared of her reaction, but she can take more than you think she can. She's okay with us, isn't she? And we knew Sadie would understand, but there was no guarantee that Hermione would."
Draco just nodded.
"One day, you and Hermione are going to have little curly-haired blonde babies of your own," Theo continued, "And you're going to be a great Dad, Draco. You're going to do all of the things that your father never did for you. You'll be there cheering them on when they think they are hotshots at Mini Quidditch, even though they are only a foot off the ground."
Draco laughed tearfully and leant into Theo's embrace.
"You'll be there to scare away the monsters under the bed, and you'll be there to pick up the pieces when they get their hearts broken. You'll be there to walk your daughter down the aisle, and you'll tell them that you love them. You'll make sure that they grew up knowing what those words mean," Theo said, wrapping his arms around Draco as she spoke, "Because we're not going to let history repeat itself. We're going to dote on our kids, and we're going to be the best Dads that we can be. We're going to give our kids everything we never had."
Draco couldn't speak. He was choked with tears.
"We can't change the past, Draco," Theo murmured, "You can't get that kid back that you lost with Pansy. But the past has changed us, and we're with the right people now. When we have kids, we're going to right the wrongs our fathers made. And we're going to do that together. I'll always be there; you know that? It doesn't matter what you do or say to me; I'll always forgive you because you're my best friend, and I love you. That's unconditional, and I don't just feel like that because we grew up together. I feel like that because you're a good person. I've always been able to see it, even when you can't, and now Hermione can too. Between the two of us, we're going to keep you on the straight and narrow."
Draco hugged Theo tightly, "I love you too, Theo."
"That's all I get after that epic speech? I love you too, Theo? That's like me saying I love you, and you come back with I know," Theo joked with a shake of his head, "Just go the full fucking Hans Solo on me, why don't you?"
"Fuck you," Draco laughed, although tears were still streaming down his cheeks.
"Nah, not into blokes, remember? I know it's gonna be a long two weeks, but I don't think I'm gonna get that desperate," Theo said, smirking at Draco in amusement, "I mean, I know Hermione and I are cousins and all, but-"
"Shut up," Draco said through his laughter, "Just don't make me any mushroom soup, and we'll be alright."
Theo grinned, "See? Now we're joking about Harry and Hermione shagging during the war! That's good; it means we got past your internal demons!"
"Since when were you a psychologist?"
"Since I got bored the summer after the war and took a night class," Theo said with a wink, "And if it makes you feel at all better, Hermione said Harry was a shit shag."
"She didn't say that," Draco snorted, "She doesn't talk to you about stuff like that."
"No, but ever since our little four-way after graduation, haven't you noticed that Sadie and Hermione spend more time together? All that drinking wine together while we duel or hang out in my man cave? What do you think they talk about?"
"That Harry Potter is shit in the bedroom, apparently," Draco said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve and looking at Theo with an amused smile.
"Yep, inexperienced and sloppy were the words she used," Theo said with a grin, "Wanna know what she said about the first time you shagged? After you withheld for weeks because you thought she actually gave a shit about the snake on your arm, that is?"
Draco raised an eyebrow at him, "What did she say?"
"Mind-blowingly good sex," Theo said with a grin, "So there you go. Harry Potter is shit in the sack, and he's shagging your sloppy seconds. Therefore, you're the man."
Draco let out a hearty, genuine laugh, "I love you, Theo."
Theo smirked, "I know."
"Now who's going the full Hans Solo?"
* ~ TBC ~ *