* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART FOUR

Brave New World

Chapter 26: Far Away for Far Too Long

A/N: The chapter title comes from the song:

Far Away by Nickelback.

Cairo, Egypt.

She had been here for a couple of days now, and it was safe to say, Sadie hated Egypt. The food was spicy, and it made her stomach churn. She had hardly eaten since she got here. The Centre for Alchemical Studies was the most hideous and garish place that she had ever had the misfortune to stay in.

Then there were the people, Merlin, the people she had to study with.

"Good morning Sadie!" Myla said in a high-pitched tone of voice as she skipped alongside Sadie, "Isn't it a lovely morning to be studying famous alchemists?"

"It's 6 am," Sadie said dryly without opening her eyes or drawing the curtain around her bed back.

"I know, don't you just love to be up bright and early?" Myla asked cheerfully.

"No," Sadie mumbled, "I like to sleep."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Sadie sighed.

"Oh, good morning Myla!" Priscilla said in just as high and irritating a tone of voice, "Famous philosophers class today! Don't you think that will be odd for Brucey? We will be studying his father!"

Sadie rolled her eyes; their classes didn't start until 8 am so there really was no reason to be up screeching at this time of the morning.

"Oh, that will be weird!" Myla agreed, "He's just gorgeous, isn't he?"

Priscilla sighed, "Completely, and that accent. Don't you just love it, Sadie?"

"I prefer an English accent, actually," Sadie said dryly. She had completely lost her happy go lucky attitude since arriving in Egypt, "I'm quite partial to a West Country twang."

"Sadie," Priscilla sighed, "You can't just say that because your husband is from Somerset!"

"Yes, I can," Sadie said as she held two fingers to her head, "I like Theo's accent. I'm not too fond of Bruce's accent. Frankly, I think it's quite whiny and irritating, actually."

Priscilla tutted, "Unbelievable."

"Unbelievable," Myla reiterated, "Shall we go and study together in the cafeteria before class?"

"Oh, yes, let's!"

The door shut behind them, and Sadie sunk further down into her bed, "Thank Merlin for that," she mumbled to herself. She was sure she heard Arielle chuckle from the bed next to hers. It turned out that the French girl was one of the more decent people here. She was a little shy but not as irritating as Myla and Priscilla.

London, England.

"I am so bored!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at Daphne, "You've been in the job for how long?"

"Two and a half days," Daphne said, "And yesterday was the first day on the job. The first day was all about paperwork."

"Yeah, mine too," Hermione said as they ate lunch together in a small café just outside Diagon Alley, "Although it's not a good sign if you're bored already."

"I'm only bored because they chuck the trainees in this cursed room," Daphne said with a wave of her hand, "It's basically-"

"A room full of all the cursed objects found in vaults when a family has died with no heir," Hermione said quickly, "I always thought there would be fascinating things in there! Are they fascinating?"

"Nope, shitty old trophies and cheap arse jewellery with curses on it to make it appear more expensive," Daphne said with a roll of her eyes, "The curses are all so easy to break. It's so boring, Hermione! Bill said he reckoned we should be getting through about 8 to 10 cursed objects a day; I cleared 21 yesterday."

Hermione snorted, "Yeah, I understand why you're getting bored. If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same. I get posted to different departments so that they can assess my ability, but they started me off in the admin office. Do you know how boring and soul-destroying it is to sit at a desk for 8 hours writing document after document?"

"Probably equal with using the same curse-breaking method on one piece of shitty jewellery after another," Daphne said dryly, "Ugh, I miss Harry! And I miss you and Draco; you did my head in when you lived there because you kept cock-blocking us, but now the house feels empty and lonely."

"Little bit too much information there, Daph," Hermione said with a slight smile, "But I appreciate the sentiment."

"Do you want to come over for a week-long sleepover?" Daphne asked as she gave Hermione the puppy dog eyes.

"That might work on Harry…and Draco….and probably Sadie," Hermione said in amusement, "But it won't work on me. You are not dragging me away from my library for anything, sorry."

"Well, then I can come for a sleepover at your house!" Daphne suggested eagerly.

"Daph, traditionally, you're supposed to wait for someone to invite you," Hermione said as she tried to hide an amused smile.

"I know, but Hermione, I'm lonely," Daphne said, "And I'm…I'm not sleeping so well with Harry being away."

Hermione's eyes softened, "Yeah, I can sympathise on that one. I don't sleep great without Draco either."

"Does that mean I can stay?"

"Of course you can," Hermione said with a smile, "But as soon as the boys come home, I'm kicking you out."

"Fair deal," Daphne grinned, "I'll bring my things over tonight; you're the best, Hermione!"

Hermione shot Daphne a smile as she got to her feet, "Yeah, I know. See you tonight."

Amiens, France.

"Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?"

Lilly rolled her eyes, "Walk past me as many times as you want Marcel, but you will never be anything but irritating."

Marcel smiled, "Ah, so you say! Can I sit next to you? Since we are partners, after all."

"We aren't partners," Lilly pointed out, "We're just both assigned to Healer Selwyn."

Before Marcel could say anything else, a Senior Healer walked into the lecture hall and began to talk about the different ways of magically sealing wounds.

The Forest of Dean, England.

"Harry, just kill the deer!"

"I can't! It reminds me of my mother!"

"It's a deer!" Neville said in exasperation, "Do you want to eat or not?"

"I can't kill it," Harry said with a shake of his head, "It would be like killing my mother. I can't do it, Neville."

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Neville said. He raised his wand.

"No! You can't kill it!"

"Harry, it's a bloody deer!"

"You don't understand, Neville!"

"Great," Neville muttered, "You scared it away, now what are we going to eat?"

"Can't we just apparate to the edge of the forest, nip into the nearest town and buy rations?" Harry asked as he sat down on a tree trunk.

"I'm pretty sure apparating would count as cheating," Neville said irritably, "So it's going to be another night of thistle soup."

Harry sighed, "I'm sorry, but I just can't…it was a doe, Neville. My mother's Patronus was a doe, and she came to me during the war."

"What?"

"Well, technically, Snape helped me, and his Patronus was a doe because he loved my mother," Harry admitted, "But that doesn't change the significance of the occasion."

"We're going to starve because Snape sent you his Patronus during the war, and you thought it was a sign from above? Seriously?"

"Merlin Neville, you're grumpy when you're hungry," Harry said irritably, "It's like being on the run with Ron."

Neville glared at him, "Yes, I'm hungry, and you are acting like a sensitive little girl. If you can't kill a deer, how are you going to kill a bad guy in a duel if it needs to happen?"

"That's different," Harry argued, "In the heat of battle, it's different. I'm sorry I couldn't kill the deer, but I have very little to remind me of my mother, and a doe always makes me think of her."

"I know, I'm sorry," Neville sighed, "I'm just a bastard when I'm hungry, and I am fucking sick of thistle soup."

"I'm sorry, Nev, I'll go and check if my trap caught any rabbits," Harry said as he shot his friend an apologetic look.

Tyndrum, Scotland.

Draco and Theo awoke to the sound of a soft banging outside their tent.

"What's that?" Draco asked in a panicked whisper.

Theo's eyes widened, "Shit! Did we put up Muggle repelling charms?"

Draco frowned, "I thought you did it."

"I thought you did it!" Theo exclaimed.

"Bugger," The two men muttered at the same time.

"What now?" Theo asked as he glanced at the flap of the tent.

Draco sighed, "Go out there and distract them. I'll work something out."

"Distract them how?"

"I don't know, just distract them!" Draco said as he pushed Theo towards the flap of the tent.

Theo glared at his friend one last time, then he unzipped the flap of the tent and stepped outside. He kept his hand close to his back pocket in case he needed his wand for whatever reason, but he wasn't met with a particularly sinister sight. It was just a couple of Muggle tourists pitching their tent.

"Oh, good morning!" The woman said brightly, she had some accent, but Theo couldn't work out where she was from. It was either South Africa or Australia.

Theo smiled at her a little nervously, "Good morning."

"How long have you been camping here for?"

"A couple of days," Theo said with a nod.

"We're just stopping here for today then making our way further up," The woman said, "It's just so beautiful here, isn't it? I can feel the magic."

"Oh…uh…really?" Theo asked as he began to panic, "I suppose it is a…uh…a lovely place. Don't you think Draco?" he called into the tent.

"Draco?" The man who was with the woman said, "That's an unusual name."

"Yeah, my family have an obsession with the stars," Draco said as he emerged from the tent, "Have you introduced yourself, Theo?"

Theo shook his head, "No, I'm Theo, that's Draco."

"I'm Elsie, and this is my husband Rod," The woman said with a smile, "I was just saying, you can really feel the magic here, can't you?"

"Uh, magic?" Draco asked with a frown, "No, no, definitely no magic here."

Elsie frowned at Draco after that comment, "So…uh…what brings the two of you out here anyway?"

"We're on holiday," Theo said quickly. The strange look that Elsie had just given them, combined with the fact that she was questioning their reason for being here, made him panic, "Aren't we, honey?"

Draco shot his friend a brief look of horror before regaining his composure, "Uh yeah…we always wanted to walk the West Highland Way."

"Oh, that's what we're doing too!" Rod said eagerly, "You guys should do it with us. We can use the same camp spots."

"We like discreet camp spots. We try and avoid the sites," Draco said.

Theo nodded, "Why stay in crowded places when we can surround ourselves with this beauty, right?"

Elsie beamed, "Exactly, wow, you guys are just like us. It's so progressive to see a gay couple just so open like you. You must be very brave."

"Yeah, that's us," Theo said, "We're brave guys."

Elsie smiled at him, "We were just going to fry up some breakfast. Do you want some?"

"Oh, breakfast sounds great. We're actually running a bit low on rations," Draco said with his best polite smile.

"We're always happy to share with our fellow campers," Rod chirped, "Come on over and have a seat. We'll just nip in and grab the gas fire."

The couple disappeared inside their tent, and Draco turned on Theo, "Honey?" he hissed.

"I panicked!" Theo whispered.

"Well, now they think we're gay!"

"Yes, but they are also going to feed us," Theo muttered.

Draco paused, "Are you suggesting we pretend to be gay for the next two weeks for free food?"

Theo frowned slightly, "Yeah, I think I am."

"That's the worst idea you have ever had," Draco whispered.

"Are you a Slytherin or not, Draco?"

"There's being Slytherin, and there's being Slytherin. This is just being stupid. We could never pull it off," Draco said.

"Yes, we could. We know everything about each other," Theo whispered as they heard movement inside the tent, "Come on, Draco, trust me."

Draco glared at him, "If this doesn't work, I will kill you."

Theo grinned at that, "No, you don't. You love me too much, darling."

Draco's glare just intensified upon that comment.

"Here we go! Let's light this and have some breakfast!"

London, England.

"I'm worried."

"About Draco?" Daphne asked as she looked up from the book that she was reading. The two of them had spent the last few hours sitting on the roof terrace together underneath a blanket. They had been immersing themselves in muggle literature as the sunset over London.

"About Theo," Hermione admitted, "I mean, I know that Draco is fairly competent, but he's responsible for Theo now too. He's far more likely to get himself killed trying to keep Theo alive than he is trying to keep himself alive."

"I wouldn't worry too much, Hermione," Daphne said, "Theo isn't as bad as you think he is. He lets us all believe that he's useless, but he's pretty competent. He'll have Draco's back."

"I know," Hermione said with a slight smile, "He plays the fool, but he could rival me as far as intelligence goes. I would never tell either of them this, but he's probably smarter than Draco."

Daphne smiled, "He probably is," she agreed as she leant into Hermione and rested her head on the Gryffindor girls shoulder.

"This is nice," Hermione mused.

"Yeah," Daphne agreed, "And I'm glad this week has turned out like this, you know?"

"Me too," Hermione admitted, "I thought you'd be lost without Sadie."

Daphne shook her head, "No, Sadie and I have always been close, but Tracey was my best friend. Sadie hung out with us sometimes, but then other times, she would be in the library with you or Lilly. It's why she can relate to Neville so much. She never really had a best friend. She had me, but I had Tracey. She had Theo, but he had Draco. You know?"

"Yeah," Hermione said softly, "I can understand that."

"That's why I'm glad that it's worked out this way, with Sadie being in Egypt and Lilly in France," Daphne continued, "Because we were getting pretty close at school and then when you lived at the manor and I thought…well, I kind of thought once you moved in here we'd drift apart. I thought it would be you and Sadie and me and Lilly because of our inseparable other halves."

Hermione laughed, "I wouldn't class any of you as my best friend; I love you all. It's different with Sadie and I, undoubtedly. I mean, it has to be with the situation as it is."

"Yeah…what is going on with you guys, exactly?" Daphne asked curiously.

"Well, we basically all live in one massive house now," Hermione said with an amused smile, "Although Sadie doesn't know that yet. Draco and Theo built a door in the basement between the two houses."

"A warded door?" Daphne asked.

"No, just a regular door," Hermione said, "One I've been using all week to feed Sadie's cat and check up on their house-elf."

"So basically, you're just one big, happy, pureblood family?" Daphne asked with an amused grin.

"I guess so," Hermione answered.

"And how are you so okay with that, exactly?" Daphne questioned.

"Because in a way, I'm used to it," Hermione replied, "I've always been part of a threesome, you know? It's just that I've changed Ron and Harry for their Slytherin counterparts, and now I have Sadie, which means I get some intelligent company."

"And you're engaged to one, and the cousin of the other," Daphne said with a chuckle, "I mean, I get the whole, being part of a trio helps you understand thing. But still…I don't know if I could do it, but you're so calm about the whole thing."

"At the end of the day, I love Draco, and I knew from an early point in our relationship that he and Theo were a package deal," Hermione said honestly, "The war taught me to be more open-minded. People died because of things that they couldn't change, because of their blood. We survived that, and the world we forge shouldn't be one where people are punished for their feelings or beliefs."

"Well, the war certainly did change you," Daphne said with a smile, "How intimate is this four-way then?"

"It's not, apart from the one time it was," Hermione said sheepishly, "Mostly, Sadie and I just sit up here and drink wine together while those two are off duelling or scheming. Actually, the first time we talked about it, we were up here…."

"So what, Sadie's your girlfriend? Draco's your fiancé, and Theo is his boyfriend?"

"Shut up, Daph," Hermione snorted, "If history repeats itself, you'll end up in the exact same situation."

"If history repeats itself?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"I've learned about pureblood family history since Abraxas and Elladora moved into our hall," Hermione said with a chuckle, "Elladora loves to talk and gossip more to the point. Did you know that Elladora Potter, Abraxas Malfoy, Thaddeus Nott and Gertrude Longbottom had a very similar relationship to ours?"

"Oh shit," Daphne muttered, "It's in their DNA. We're screwed."

Hermione chuckled and cast a warming charm as it began to get a little chilly now that the sun had set.

"You know, going back to our original topic of conversation…sometimes I worry about Harry too. I know he's the chosen one, and he defeated Voldemort, but he's not super-human, Hermione."

"I know he isn't, but you don't need to worry about him," Hermione said gently, "Not with something like this anyway. It's about survival, and Harry copes with that well."

"Sometimes, I wish Harry and I had the same relationship that you and Harry have. The two of you know each other so well," Daphne said.

Guilt flitted through Hermione's eyes briefly, but she glanced down before Daphne could notice, "Trust me, you don't what the kind of relationship that Harry and I have had. So much of it has just been dictated by the need for survival and the effect that has on you…it's not good, it's not healthy."

Daphne frowned, "Hermione, you both did what you had to do to survive during the war. We all did, in our own way. You shouldn't feel guilty about having to do things you regret."

"That's not what I mean, Daphne," Hermione said as she caught Daphne's eye, "I'm talking about everything that happened between Harry and I when Ron was gone."

"You were in the heat of battle. You thought you were going to die," Daphne said, "I understand how that could heighten emotions. You forget that I fought in that war too, and I know what happens when emotions are heightened. I made mistakes with Blaise."

Hermione frowned, "How much has Harry told you about what happened?"

"He told me that he nearly died after being bitten by a snake," Daphne began, "You were worried sick, and when he woke up, things were tense. You danced one night, and one thing led to another. He never went into detail. Why?"

Hermione bit her lip, "Because it wasn't like it is with you and Harry. Do you know what you said to me when you were worried about how much Harry was drinking? About how he was a bit more aggressive in the bedroom?"

Daphne frowned, "Yeah?"

"That's what he does when he's stressed," Hermione said carefully, "And he was stressed during the war when he and I were together."

"Are you saying…" Daphne trailed off.

"I'm saying that how he is with you when he's stressed…that's how he was with me, all of the time," Hermione said, eyeing Daphne anxiously as she waited to see how she would react to this news.

"Wow," Daphne uttered after a moment, "So he just fucking used you?"

"We used each other, don't paint me as the victim," Hermione said carefully, "But it wasn't loving and tender. We weren't in a relationship like that."

"Yes, but that's just…." Daphne sighed, "I can understand why he feels so much regret about it now. He was the first guy you slept with, and he just…."

"The first time wasn't so bad," Hermione said honestly, "He gave me plenty of options to back out, and I didn't. We're both at fault, Daphne. But I just wanted to make it clear; you don't want the kind of relationship we had. You've got the good Harry, the Harry that I would have wanted if we had had a relationship, but there was no way that we could have after that."

"He might be the good Harry," Daphne agreed, "But he's still broken. He's wracked with regret and guilt. I spend most of my nights soothing him back to sleep from the nightmares. He saved everyone, but he paid the price for that."

"Yes, he did pay the price," Hermione agreed, "But he also got you, and I know from the way he talks about you that for you, he would pay that price over and over again. He loves you and respects you; he adores you, Daphne."

"At the end of the day, it was always going to be complicated," Daphne said with a slight smile, "You're one of my best friends, and you're engaged to my first love. Then there's the fact that I'm engaged to yours."

"And I'm fine with that," Hermione said with a smile, "Because you took the broken Harry that I knew and made him whole again."

"And you took the shell that was Draco after Pansy's death and brought him back to life again," Daphne said, grabbing Hermione's hand.

"Everyone ended up happy in the end," Hermione said with a smile, "Just like in a Walt Disney story."

"Speaking of which, can we talk about how utterly unrealistic Pocahontas was?"

Hermione laughed and said, "Yes! Totally historically inaccurate…."

Cairo, Egypt.

Sadie had been at the centre for just short of a week when she began to long for home. She had been eating nothing apart from cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. Some days she couldn't even keep the sandwich down. The Egyptian food had played havoc with her stomach, and the heat made her feel sick pretty much constantly. The other girls that she shared a dormitory with didn't feel the same way; Priscilla and Arielle lived in France, and Myla was from a part of America that got hot in the summer. As a result, nobody let her open the window in the dorm room at night, so she wasn't sleeping much either.

"Do you feel okay, Sadie?" Arielle asked one night as Sadie hung over the balcony attached to the common room.

"I just feel so hot all of the time," Sadie sighed, "And there's hardly even a breeze at 8 pm!"

"It's Egypt in August," Arielle said by way of explanation, "You look awfully pale."

"I haven't been that well since I got here," Sadie admitted, "I think it's just a combination of the Egyptian food and the heat."

"The climate doesn't agree with everyone," Arielle said. It agreed with her, though; she had a beautiful tan. Unlike Sadie's pale, blotchy, sunburnt skin.

"I'm glad I won't be studying here all year," Sadie sighed, "I'll be home for a while soon."

Arielle frowned, "Aren't you staying at the centre?"

Sadie shook her head, "I explained that I was married and couldn't spend an entire year away from Theo, so they gave me a place on the course but with only half of the year studying here. I spend two weeks here then two weeks at home doing self-study."

"Oh," Arielle said, "I guess that makes sense. Just try to get through the next week then, after that, you can go back to your lovely cold England."

Sadie laughed at that, "I never realised how much I would miss the wind!" she joked.

Bridge of Orchy, Scotland.

"I don't want to leave this tent."

"Why not? I can smell Elsie's cooking; it smells amazing."

Draco glared at Theo as he pulled his t-shirt on, "Believe it or not, I'm not looking forward to another day of hiking through Scotland pretending to be your bloody boyfriend."

"I think it's worth it for the food," Theo said with a shrug, "And at least if I'm spending the day hiking and chatting to a couple of Muggles, I'm not thinking about how much I miss Sadie."

Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes; he was surprised it had taken this long for Theo to bring up his wife, "Well, I'm sure she's enjoying herself in Egypt."

"Yeah, that's the problem," Theo said irritably, "I don't want her to enjoy herself too much, you know?"

"She's not going to cheat on you, Theo," Draco assured his friend, "But I wonder how she'll feel when she finds out you've been cheating on her for two weeks."

Theo snorted in amusement, "Nah, she's known about that for ages. Do you remember that time before the wedding when she introduced you as my boyfriend to her parents?"

"Yes, didn't she say; This is my boyfriend Theo, this Theo's boyfriend, Draco, and this is Draco's girlfriend, Hermione?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was what she said," Theo said with a chuckle, "I bet that's why they wound us up during the selection process. Sorenson probably said something."

Draco hummed thoughtfully as they left the tent, "I wonder how Hermione is getting on with her new library."

"She probably hasn't slept all week," Theo smirked, "We'll get home, and she'll have read every book."

"Hermione? Don't you boys just have some friends with unusual names?" Elsie chirped, "Breakfast?"

"Oh yes, please, Elsie," Theo said eagerly.

"So this Hermione? Are her parent's fans of Shakespeare?"

Draco nodded, "Her parents both love the theatre, but they didn't have many friends who enjoyed going with them. When they went to see "A Winters Tale", they ended up sitting together, and Hermione's dad asked her mum if he wanted to go on a date."

"I never knew that about Mione," Theo said thoughtfully, "That's kind of a cute story."

Draco smiled slightly, "For everyone except Hermione, who just has to deal with having a weird name because of her parent's love story."

"You're named after a star. Your name is weirder," Theo commented.

"Thanks for that, Theo," Draco said as he raised an eyebrow at the boy.

Elsie chuckled, "You boys are just adorable. Do you have any other friends with strange names?"

"Uh…not really," Draco said as he thought through the names of their friends, "Except Neville."

"Neville? You don't hear that one much anymore," Rod said, "Don't suppose he was named for the Prime Minister?"

"He was actually," Theo mused, "His gran was the illegitimate daughter of Neville Chamberlain, so our friend Neville is actually named for his great grandfather."

"How do you know that?" Draco asked in surprise, "I didn't know that."

Theo shrugged, "You can kind of be an asshole to Neville sometimes. He's more my friend than yours."

"Does he think I'm an asshole?"

"You bullied him all the way through school Draco," Theo reminded him, "So sometimes he thinks you're an asshole, yeah."

Draco sighed, "Shit…I didn't realise that. I should really apologise to him when we get home."

Elsie smiled at them, "How many miles do you think we should cover today? Rod and I thought we should aim for the bottom of that mountain in the distance."

Theo nodded, "Yeah, let's aim for that and see how we get on."

"Speaking of love stories and people's names," Elsie said, "How did you two meet?"

"Oh, we've known each other forever, really," Draco replied, "Our parents knew each other, so we practically grew up together."

"So you were childhood sweethearts?" Elsie asked eagerly, "That's adorable."

"Yeah," Theo said with a false smile, "Our Fathers…they led a similar lifestyle, so our families came together a lot. Draco and I became friends when we were kids, then we went to the same boarding school, and we were in the same house, so we shared a dorm for seven years."

"How did you fall in love if you were friends originally?" Elsie asked curiously.

They hadn't discussed a cover story, so Theo was completely winging it as he said, "Well…there was always something between us, and we both knew it. But we were too scared to act on it because we didn't want to ruin our friendship. We spent our school years trying to ignore it, you know, dating other people then getting jealous and falling out? The usual kind of thing."

Elsie nodded and dished out some eggs and bacon on plastic plates.

"Then, in our last year of school, I got fed up with pretending. We have this other friend, she's called Daphne, and she had a crush on this guy who Draco hated through school. Daphne is one of Draco's best friends, so I figured there was no way she would get with this guy, so we made a bet," Theo explained, "I said if Daphne ever slept with the guy she had a crush on, I would tell Draco how I felt."

Elsie nodded again and leant forward; she was following the story with great interest.

"So I told him in the breakfast hall, and everyone made a big scene out of it," Theo said, "We kissed, people cheered, and the rest is history."

"That was bold of you," Elsie said, "I mean, we're very open-minded people, but not everyone is so accepting."

"Yes, that's something we have to live with every day," Draco said with a solemn nod.

Elsie nodded sadly and nipped inside the tent to tell Rod that breakfast was ready.

"You just told you and Sadie's love story but put my name in," Draco muttered.

"Best I could do on short notice," Theo said. He waggled his eyebrows at his friend, "Would you have rather that I told them the epic tale of the Astronomy Tower? Where we declared our love for each other?"

Draco rolled his eyes and whacked his friend over the head, "Shut up you arse."

Amiens, France.

"Is your Dad a thief?"

"What?" Lilly asked Marcel with a frown as she sat on the edge of the swimming pool while waiting for their instructor.

"I just wondered if your Dad was a thief because someone stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes," Marcel said smoothly.

"Marcel, do I have to spell this out for you? I. have. a. boyfriend," Lilly said slowly, "And for your information, my dad works in musical theatre. In fact, he dresses up as a woman for a living and prances about on stage with his boyfriend."

Marcel gaped at her for a moment. Then the instructor walked in and told them all to get in the pool.

Lilly smirked and jumped in, pleased she had managed to leave Marcel speechless, even if it was brief.

The Forest of Dean, England.

"Thank Merlin, your rabbit traps finally paid off," Neville said as he and Harry sat in the entrance of the tent with a fire lit just outside.

"I know, I was so hungry," Harry agreed, "Not that it's a foreign feeling, mind you."

"Yeah, you would have gotten used to being hungry during the war, I guess," Neville said thoughtfully, "I know how you feel. It was hard to get food to the Room of Requirement and then to ration it after that. There were some weeks when we barely had enough to keep everyone going."

"I wasn't actually talking about the war," Harry said with a faraway look in his eyes, "I was thinking about when I was kid, living with my Aunt and Uncle."

Neville frowned, "Did they starve you?"

"No, they just didn't feed me as often or as much as they fed themselves," Harry admitted.

Neville's frown deepened, "Harry…you've never actually told me about your life before Hogwarts. I mean, I know you lived with your Muggle Aunt, Uncle and cousin, but that's about it."

Harry sighed, "That's because I don't like to think about it, let alone talk about it. Everyone thinks that because I was the chosen one, I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth, but it couldn't be further from the truth, to be honest, Nev."

"Then tell me," Neville said gently, "Because if we're going to work together seamlessly like they want us to, we need to know everything about each other."

Harry sighed but said nothing.

"I mean, I always thought I had a crappy childhood," Neville said to get Harry to open up, "My Uncle thought I was a squib, so he tried to force the magic out of me by holding me out of windows and throwing me off bloody piers."

"My Uncle used to try and beat the magic out of me so that I wouldn't be a freak like my parents," Harry said quietly, "And my Aunt used to hit me with a frying pan if I asked too many questions about what had happened to my parents. My cousin…he used to chase me to school and home from school with his gang of friends, they treated it like a sport, they called it Harry-hunting."

Neville was trying to keep the horrified look off of his face, but he wasn't sure he was doing a great job, "That's disgusting, Harry."

Harry shrugged, "It was all I knew then but looking back now, I suppose it was a form of abuse. Do you know I never had a bedroom until I was 11? Dudley had two bedrooms, one to sleep in and one to fill with all of his toys, Merlin he was a spoiled little bloody brat."

"If you didn't have a bedroom, where did you sleep?" Neville asked with a frown.

"The cupboard under the stairs," Harry replied, "There wasn't any room for a bed, so I slept on a mattress. Every time Dudley ran down the stairs, he dislodged dust and spiders onto me, the dust annoyed me because I always had a cough, but I grew to like the spiders. I used to talk to them because I didn't have any friends at school, so I didn't have anybody else to talk to. Everyone was too scared of Dudley to be my friend."

"Fucking hell Harry," Neville barked, "That's bloody child abuse! Your Aunt and Uncle should have been put in jail for that!"

Harry shrugged, "It doesn't matter now; it's in the past."

"Is it?" Neville asked, "Because I don't think being locked in a cupboard, being treated like a house-elf and being beaten by your own family is the sort of thing that just disappears overnight."

"I'm fine now, Nev."

"What would happen if I locked you in a small space then?" Neville asked, "Would you freak out?"

Harry smirked at his friend, "I locked myself in a good few broom closets with Daph last year. Stop worrying, Nev; I'm fine now."

"I'm not talking about being locked in a broom cupboard with your girlfriend. What if we were captured and you were locked in a tiny cupboard for days?" Neville said, "Are you sure it wouldn't get to you?"

"I passed all the Aurors mental tests, didn't I?" Harry quipped, "I am past all of it so you can stop worrying, really. I'm more messed up by everything that happened with Voldemort than from what the Dursleys did."

Neville knew all about Harry's problems relating to Voldemort, so he nodded and said, "Alright," but truthfully, he didn't quite believe his best friend.

All that talk of the abuse Harry had gone through at the hands of his muggle family had obviously gotten to him more than he thought because that night, he had a nightmare, a very old one.

He was back in the graveyard at the end of his fourth year. Only this time, Cedric wasn't with him. It was Neville whose name he screamed after the yell of, "Kill the spare!"

It was Neville whose body he sobbed over; it was Neville who he tried to avenge when he got his feet in a blind rage.

And it was Neville who was holding him tightly when he woke up with tears on his cheeks, his breath coming in gasps.

"It's okay," Neville said softly, "It's okay, you're safe, Harry. The war is over, and you're safe."

Harry gripped at Neville's t-shirt as he tried to draw in a deep breath. The vision of that green light flying for his best friend was still burned in his brain. He shut his eyes tightly.

"There's no graveyard; we're just in a tent in the forest," Neville murmured, "You're safe."

Harry managed to steady his breathing, but his heart was still racing. Neville had clambered up onto the top bunk to try and bring Harry out of the nightmare when he started screaming.

Harry breathed in shakily and rested his head on Neville's shoulder, "That was a new take on an old classic."

"You go back to the graveyard a lot, don't you?" Neville asked.

Harry nodded. The tent was in complete darkness, so Neville couldn't see the tear tracks on his cheeks, "Yeah. I spent a whole summer watching Cedric die over and over again. But that was the first time I watched you die."

"Me?"

"Yeah," Harry sighed, "You were in Cedric's shoes."

"It wasn't real, Harry," Neville said, putting his arm around Harry's shoulder, "I'm right here."

Harry took a breath and nodded, "I know."

"Do you want me to leave you alone so you can get back to sleep?" Neville asked.

"No," Harry replied quickly, too quickly, "I mean-"

"It's fine. I can stay if you want," Neville said.

"I sleep better when there is someone else there," Harry said, "Someone's heartbeat to listen to, the rhythm lulls me to sleep, and it reminds me that I'm not alone."

"I get it," Neville said honestly. He lay down and looked up at the roof of the tent, "I spent a year sleeping in a room full of people. I mean, granted, we didn't sleep much with guard duty, but still, …it was hard to go back to sleeping alone after that."

"Yeah," Harry mused, lying down next to Neville in the small bunk, "I…I spent most of the war sleeping with Hermione and then in the summer, I slept right next to Ron's bed, so I was never really alone."

"I know. I remember what it was like after the final battle," Neville said quietly, "It was just you and I in the Gryffindor dorm while we were fixing the castle. Every night we'd start off in our own beds, but by the morning, we'd be together because someone had a nightmare and the other one had fallen asleep after talking them off the ledge."

"Yeah," Harry remembered, "We were both in dark places back then."

"We were," Neville agreed, "It's why we stayed to fix the castle; we were fixing ourselves in the process."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "I guess we were, and I guess we've always been a bit more like Draco and Theo than we thought."

"Ah well, it does make sense," Neville mused in the darkness, "We'd have been even more like them if we'd grown up together like we were supposed to. Those two are as close as they are because their fathers were scumbags, Draco's mother was under his father's control, and Theo's mother died when he was so young. That meant that they only really had each other growing up."

Harry shut his eyes as his heart rate finally returned to normal, "They have a good few years on us, I suppose, and you always were a late bloomer."

Neville laughed, "The real concern here is the fact that we're in the forest of dean in a tent, and now you've managed to get me into your bed. If I turn on the radio, we're absolutely fucked."

Harry let out a genuine laugh at that, "Shut up, Nev," he murmured fondly as he felt sleep begin to wash over him once more.

Cairo, Egypt.

As the second week began, Sadie continued to feel awful. She could barely stay awake in a lab about the alchemical properties of rare stones like the stone of Erised. The window was open, and there was the tiniest little breeze coming in; it was giving her so much relief that her eyes kept drooping shut.

"Sadie," A voice whispered, "Chin up. If you fall asleep, you'll get kicked out of class."

Sadie's head snapped up, "Sorry, Ash," she whispered as she rubbed her eyes, "I just can't sleep at night in this heat."

"It will pass. August is always a hot month over here," Ash said, "This breeze comes along in September, and it is honestly heavenly."

Sadie smiled slightly, "September feels a long way away."

"You will get used to the heat. Just give it time," Ash said, "And you need to eat. Why don't you eat at dinnertime?"

"The Egyptian food just makes me so ill," Sadie admitted sheepishly, "It's too rich and spicy. I've never been good with spicy food."

"I'll have a word with the chef and see if he can whizz you up something to remind you of home," Ash said. He shot her a wink and then looked back down at the stones they were studying before the professor could catch them talking.

London, England.

Daphne hated Mondays at the best of times. She hated them even more when she got called to the boss's office the minute she walked through the door. She knew Bill, which made her slightly less nervous, but all the same, her heart pounded a little faster than it should have as she walked to Bill's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Bill's voice called.

Daphne took a deep breath, composed herself, and then walked into the office with a smile, "Good morning, Bill," she said.

Bill smiled back at her from where he was sitting behind his desk. However, he was not alone in the office. Leaning against his desk was a man who looked to be in his early 30's. He had slicked-back dark brown hair and icy blue eyes.

"Good morning Daphne," Bill chirped, "How was your weekend?"

"Good," Daphne replied politely, "I got well acquainted with Hermione's new library. How was yours?"

"Great, Fleur and I took Vic over to France for the weekend," Bill said, "Sit down, will you?"

Daphne obliged and sat down across from Bill. The redhead gestured to the man in the room, "This is Stuart Fawley. He's one of our Senior Curse Breakers."

Daphne smiled and shook his hand, "Pleasure to meet you."

"You too, Miss Greengrass," Stuart said with a smile, "I've heard lots of good things about you."

"Have you?" Daphne asked as she raised an eyebrow at Bill.

"There's no need to look so suspicious, Daphne," Bill said, "Stuart is here because he's going to become your mentor. When I heard that you broke the curses on 119 objects last week, I decided to pull you out of the cursed room. Frankly, your talents are wasted there. That's almost three times as many objects as we expect trainees to get through in their first week."

Daphne grinned broadly, "Does this mean I get to go out in the field?"

"That is entirely up to Stuart," Bill replied, "At first, he will let you consult from the office, and if you prove that you're good enough to handle yourself in the field, he might well choose to take you out. Do you have any questions for me about this next step?"

"Apart from, when can I start?" Daphne asked eagerly.

Stuart laughed, "Always happy to take on an eager young trainee like yourself, Miss. Greengrass. I think we will work well together."

Bill nodded, "I'm sure you will. If you have any questions or concerns, Daphne, you know where I am."

Daphne nodded, "Thanks, Bill, I was getting so bored in that cursed room."

"A mind like yours is truly wasted there," Stuart said as he opened the door for her, "Shall I show you to our office?"

Daphne nodded and smiled one last time at Bill as she left with Stuart. As they walked through the bank, Stuart chatted away to her, "So what brings a girl like you to a place like this?"

Daphne raised an eyebrow at him, "Because I'm blonde and pretty, so there's no way I could have the brains to be a Curse Breaker, right?"

"Not at all," Stuart said smoothly, "But blonde, pretty girls have lots of options and not many of them fancy daring adventures and dangerous curses."

"Well, I'm not your average pretty, blonde girl," Daphne remarked, "And my fiancé is Harry Potter; daring adventures comes with the territory."

"You're quite young to be engaged if you don't mind me saying," Stuart remarked.

"I do mind you saying actually," Daphne said shortly, "And not that it's any of your business, but he's a very good man."

"I'm sure he is," Stuart said, "He did save the wizarding world from a terrible fate. Mind you, they do say that heroes are the most broken people around. They don't make great husband material."

"According to who?" Daphne asked with a raised eyebrow, "Stan Lee?"

"I have no idea who that is," Stuart admitted.

"He wrote comic books; it's a muggle thing," Daphne said nonchalantly, "One of my best friends is a muggle-born, and Harry grew up with muggles too."

"Ah, I'm a pureblood," Stuart said, "I'm sure you know the name Fawley?"

"I've seen a few of you about," Daphne said, "But I don't know the name. Has anyone in your family done anything of significance?"

"Oh yes, there's a Minister for Magic in there," Stuart said a little proudly, "Of course everyone knows what your family is famous for. Greengrass shipping, I'm sure that's left you with a lovely trust fund."

"No, my father blew all of his money on gambling and alcohol years ago," Daphne said matter of factly, "And the family business is a joke these days; everyone knows that it's tipped to go into administration by the end of the year so quit pretending."

Stuart nodded, "Right," he said a little awkwardly, "Here we are. It's small and humble, but I do spend more time in the field than in here, so I don't mind. You can have the other side of the desk there."

The small, humble office was a broom cupboard, but Daphne didn't say anything because she was so pleased to be out of the cursed room. She sat down on one side of the desk, and Stuart sat down opposite her. As he did so, he brushed his leg against hers then apologised, but something told Daphne that it hadn't been an accident.

"Take half of this pile of papers," Stuart said as he pushed it into the middle of the desk, "And have a read through it. If anything looks like a serious claim of a cursed object, let me know, and we'll start investigating."

"Okay," Daphne said as she began to glance over the first file. Despite being a little wary of her new mentor, she knew that she would enjoy this part of the job far more than she had enjoyed breaking boring everyday curses.

London, England.

"Honey, I'm home!"

"Daphne, you don't actually live here!" Hermione's amused voice called from the kitchen.

"I'm a temporary tenant. Where are you?"

"Kitchen," Hermione called back.

Daphne followed the smell of food into the kitchen and put her handbag down on the table.

"You're a terrible tenant, by the way. You aren't even paying rent," Hermione joked.

Daphne shrugged and smiled, "I'm gracing you with my presence. Isn't that a gift in itself?"

Hermione snorted, "You're in a good mood today. How many cursed objects did you get through?"

"None, I got promoted," Daphne said smugly, "Bill called me into the office first thing this morning to meet my new mentor. I got through three times as many cursed objects as the other trainees last week, so Bill said there wasn't any point in wasting my talents by keeping me there."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," Hermione admitted, "I got to spend the day in court today, so that was good. I was so sick of the four walls of that bloody office…mind you, sitting taking notes through trial after trial was only marginally better."

Daphne hummed thoughtfully, "It's only for another three weeks though then you get to try something new. What are you cooking?"

"Pasta, it's about all I can cook," Hermione admitted.

"Well, it smells good," Daphne said.

"So this promotion of yours, what is it?"

"Proper curse breaking," Daphne said eagerly, "My mentor and I spent the day looking through letters sent in from Muggles and wizards about objects they claim to be cursed. Some of them are nonsense, but some are legit. Today's job was sorting through them to work that out. Once we've done that, we go out into the field to hunt down and destroy or un-curse the objects. Bill said it's at Stuart's discretion whether he takes me into the field or not, but Stuart said he couldn't see any reason why I couldn't go with him on a find and retrieve mission tomorrow."

"Well, that sounds exciting," Hermione said a little bitterly, "I'll be honest; I'm jealous."

Daphne chuckled, "It isn't all that great. My mentor is sleazy. I'm pretty sure he's been flirting with me all day."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at her, "Is he good looking?"

"Oh totally," Daphne replied, "Dark hair, blue eyes, well-structured face. Conventionally he's excellent looking, but he's in his 30's, and there's just something about him that makes me squirm."

"Oh, the creepy sort?" Hermione said.

"Not creepy exactly, just sleazy," Daphne admitted, "He kept rubbing his leg against mine today. Our office is a cupboard, and we have to share a desk, so there isn't much room."

"Didn't you tell him to lay off?"

Daphne shook her head, "I wasn't sure if he was doing it on purpose or not and…well, if I say something and piss him off, I could end up getting thrown back in the cursed room again."

"Daph, if this guy is a sleaze, then you need to tell him to back off," Hermione warned her, "Otherwise, he'll take silence as encouragement."

Daphne scoffed, "Trust me, he knows that I'm not interested. I shot him down with every topic of conversation yesterday, and I made it very clear I was engaged."

"That doesn't matter to those sorts of guys," Hermione said, "Some of them get off on sleeping with other people's wives or girlfriends."

Daphne shook her head, "I'm a big girl Hermione, I know how to handle sleazy guys, don't worry."

Hermione smiled slightly, "I know you do, Daph. Hey, do you fancy taking a break from the library tonight and watching a Disney film?"

"I feel in the mood for a superhero movie actually," Daphne mused, "Maybe I'm just missing Harry and his hero complex."

Hermione chuckled and said, "Either way, you can pick the film. Oh, look, dinner is ready!"

* ~ TBC ~