* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART FOUR

Brave New World

Chapter 30: Crime and Punishment

The moment Theo stepped into the dimly lit kitchen of the home that he shared with Sadie, he was almost knocked off his feet.

"Oomph – Sadie!"

"Sorry," Sadie said sheepishly as she grabbed his arm to steady him, "It's just been the most awful two weeks, and I've missed you so much."

Theo pulled her closer and kissed her on the top of the head, "I've missed you too, but I want to know why you've had an awful two weeks. Are you okay? Did something happen in Egypt?"

"It's fine, Theo, you don't want all my doom and gloom," Sadie said offhandedly as she pulled back from the hug, "Why don't you just tell me all about isolation instead?"

"I don't want to talk about the two weeks of hell I had to endure with Draco," Theo began to joke as he pulled away from her, "So – lumos – why don't you tell me about, holy shit Sadie!"

Sadie jumped in alarm, "What?"

"You look ill," Theo said. He stepped closer to her and cupped her face with his hands, "You're lying about something happening in Egypt."

"Nothing happened in Egypt," Sadie promised, "It just disagreed with me."

"Forget about my two weeks," Theo said as he shoved her into a kitchen chair, "Tell me why you look like you need to be admitted to St. Mungo's."

Sadie sighed, "Well, I probably look a little grey because I'm struggling to keep anything down. It's just the Egyptian food; it really made me ill. You know that I can't handle spicy food or exotic food in general, I've been feeling better since I got home, but my stomach still hasn't settled yet."

Theo didn't look entirely convinced by that, "And there's nothing more to it than a funny belly? Because there's a sparkle in your eyes that's missing."

Sadie sighed again and glanced down to avoid his gaze, "Honestly, Theo, it's Egypt. I hate it. I hate everything about it. The class division is disgusting, there are beggars all over the streets, and then you have the wizarding buildings, which are literally paved with gold. Then there are the people on the course, they are horrible! Every one of them has a famous daddy who invented some shitty invention or a famous mummy who will be Australian Minister for Magic one day. I don't fit in with them at all."

Theo smiled slightly, "Love, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your daddy invented the sneakoscope, and he's pretty famous for that. And your mummy is a pretty famous criminal law attorney."

"Yeah, but I don't go around rubbing that in everyone's face, Theo!" Sadie snapped, "Ugh, you just don't get it! I'm not a privileged bitch. I'm not!"

"Sadie, calm down," Theo said quickly, "I didn't say that."

"You were thinking it!"

"No, I wasn't," Theo said gently, "You know me pretty well, but you don't always know what I'm thinking. Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"I'm fine!" Sadie said irritably, "I just hate Egypt! The course isn't even what I expected, and I hate it!"

She got to her feet in the middle of her rant and began to take her frustration out on Theo. With every point, she hit him in the chest, "I hate the thought of going back there!"

"I hate being surrounded by those people!"

"I hate being away from you for two weeks at a time!"

"I hate it!"

"Alright, alright," Theo said. He grabbed her hands and pulled her into a hug so that she couldn't hit him anymore. Her voice had begun to shake towards the end of her rant, and Theo could tell that she was crying against his chest. He could feel her body shaking; he shut his eyes and whispered, "It's alright, you don't have to go anywhere for the next two weeks, and I'll be here to look after you. Okay, baby?"

Sadie nodded against his chest, "Okay," she whispered.

"And at the end of those two weeks, if you don't want to go back, then we'll look at your options," Theo promised her, "If you hate it, then there's no point making yourself miserable for the next year."

Sadie pulled back and looked at him with bloodstained eyes. She shook her head, "I can't back out on it now that I've started."

"We'll just have to find a way to make you love it then," Theo said as he drew her closer again and kissed her lips softly, "I'm sure we'll find a way."

Sadie smiled tearfully, "I love you, and I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too," Theo said, and it came from the heart, "I've just spent two weeks spilling my heart to Draco. I think we probably know everything there is to know about each other now. But all I wanted was to tell you about it, and you weren't there. I hated it too, baby. I really did."

Sadie nodded; she buried her face into his shirt and sighed, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Theo said honestly, "But we'll work it out. We always do, don't we?"

She nodded again and held him tightly, "Yeah, we always do."

When Neville stepped into the kitchen of Longbottom House, he felt utterly exhausted. He wanted a hot bath. Then he wanted to collapse in his lovely, comfortable king-size bed. Sleeping on a bunk bed with Harry's loud snoring keeping him awake wasn't his idea of fun.

He yawned as he trudged through the dark, empty kitchen. He dumped his bag by the door; he knew that their lovely house elf would do his laundry even though he never asked her to do it. Lilly had picked a good one there. He felt a pang that was becoming very familiar when he thought about Lilly. He knew that all of his friends were going home to their other halves tonight, but Neville wasn't expecting to see Lilly until the following weekend. After all, she was only allowed to leave the training centre between 9 pm on a Friday and 7 am on a Monday. Then there was her travel time to consider between those times, so Neville knew that it wasn't worth her time to come over for one night.

There had been a tiny glimmer of hope that had died when he stepped into the empty kitchen. It didn't mean anything anyway; he kept telling himself that as he made his way upstairs in the house, which had become very familiar to him.

By the time he reached the door to his bedroom, he couldn't be bothered with the bath that he had previously been looking forward to. Instead, he decided just to collapse into his bed. He opened the door and lazily murmured, "Lumos."

The light flew from his wand into a lamp on the bedside table.

"Hey."

Neville jumped out of his skin and fell back against the door. He should have been able to feel that something was different, but he was just too tired to notice, so he really hadn't expected to turn on the light and find somebody in his bed.

That somebody was, of course, Lilly, and she was currently cackling.

Neville picked himself up and tried to slow his racing heart, "Coming home to find you naked in our bed would have been hot if you hadn't just about killed me, and the cackling is a definite turn off."

Lilly grinned and threw a pillow at him, "I came all the way from France to shag you tonight, so watch your mouth, Longbottom! I can quite easily just go back to France and leave you frustrated for another two weeks."

"Oh no, no," Neville said as he walked towards the bed, "No way Lillian Moon. You don't get to come in here trying to give a man a heart attack, then run off without apologising."

Lilly chuckled. As soon as he was close enough, she grabbed him and pulled him onto the bed, "How was isolation?"

"Isolating, and totally not what I want to talk about right now," Neville said as he pulled his t-shirt off.

"What if I want to hear about it?"

"I'll tell you about it later," Neville said. He slipped his jeans off and threw them across the room.

"Did you and Harry bond?" Lilly asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Do you really wanna talk about Harry right now?" Neville said, taking his boxers off and climbing into bed with her, "Because I don't. I want to enjoy the only night I'm going to get with you for two weeks."

"I think I can live with that."

Neville kept his promise. As he lay in bed with Lilly wrapped up in his arms, he told her about isolation, "I spent two weeks straight with Harry in the Forest of Dean. We had a lot of heart to hearts and a couple of fights, and we ate way too much bloody rabbit. I never want to eat it again if I'm honest."

Lilly smiled slightly, "I think you secretly enjoyed it."

"It's no secret," Neville said with a smile, "I did enjoy it. Harry said I was his best friend."

Lilly frowned, "Uh…yeah? Everyone knows that."

"I didn't know that," Neville said as he looked down at her, "I thought Ron and Hermione were his best friends. As it turns out, it's a whole other thing between him and Hermione, but he said that I'm his best friend."

"So you're just replacing me now that I'm shagging you, huh?" Lilly teased, "All those Spice Girls concerts and Quidditch World Cup games just mean nothing now, I guess."

Neville laughed heartily at that and kissed the top of her head. He shut his eyes and smiled at the smell of her hair, it was stupid, but he wanted to remember all of these little details for the times when they were apart, "I love you so much, Lil, and I can't tell you how happy I am about this whole Wednesday afternoon joint class."

Lilly's eyes lit up, "Oh, I know! We will have to work but still, getting to see you will be amazing. It also means that we'll get to work together in simulated situations before we graduate, which means you'll be able to see that I'm not going to get myself killed on my first day on the job."

Neville doubted that anything would ease his worries, but he didn't want to tell Lilly that. Instead, he smiled and said, "I hadn't thought about it like that, but that's true. Anyway, how is your new life in Amiens?"

"It's pretty amazing," Lilly admitted, "I just wish I could move it all to England so that I could see you every day, but I love it. My mentor is called Clara Selwyn, and she's from Britain too. She ran away to France because her brother was a Death Eater, and she's been there for years, but she's getting kind of sick of it because her fiancé works over here-"

"Yeah, I know, her fiancé is Sorenson," Neville cut in, "Sadie's brother."

"How did you know that?" Lilly asked in surprise.

"Because I spoke to her for ages at Sadie and Theo's wedding while you were getting drunk with Daphne and Hermione," Neville said as he shot a grin her way.

Lilly rolled her eyes, "Great, that's really embarrassing. I felt bad that I didn't know that, being so close with Sadie and all but Clara didn't seem bothered by it. She's really nice; I get to shadow her, so I see all of the operations she does, and I also help with her rounds in the wards. Once she's satisfied with my scores in the written tests and my answers during observation, she's going to let me assist on operations."

"It sounds like you love it," Neville said with a small smile.

"I do," Lilly said eagerly, "After the first six months are over, I'll get to come home to you boys and observe or assist in the field too. The only thing I don't like about the course is Marcel."

"That sounds like a sleazy name."

"It belongs to a sleazy guy," Lilly said distastefully, "He's French, and he flirts with me all of the time. When I say all of the time, by the way, I literally mean all of the time. The other day we were getting ready to go and observe a guy getting life or death surgery. We were getting prepped to go in, and I was trying to get ready to see someone die in front of me, then Marcel started flirting with me."

"Just threaten him and tell him to leave you alone," Neville said as he ran his hand along her spine, "You're short but scary. I'm sure it would work."

"No, he just doesn't seem to get the message," Lilly said with a roll of her eyes, "I tried to tell him to stop every single time, but he kept doing it. I spoke to Clara, and she said if he kept making comments, she would have a formal word with him about it."

"I'll have a 'formal' word with him about it too," Neville said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "I'll see him when I come to visit you next weekend."

"You're going to threaten him, aren't you?"

"Yep," Neville chirped, "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Nope, I think it's pretty hot," Lilly grinned.

"Good, because I'm going to tell him if he doesn't leave my girlfriend alone that I happen to know where to find the sword of Gryffindor and how to use it."

Lilly's grin widened, "Oh, you definitely know how to use that sword," she whispered as she caught his lips in a kiss.

Daphne had been sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the kitchen for the last half an hour. Her eyes kept flickering over towards the fireplace as she waited for Harry to get home. She had it all planned out. She would offer him a cup of tea, ask about his week and then calmly explain everything to him.

All the same, she hadn't felt this nervous in a long time. She was strong; she was calm; she was cool; she was the ice queen. This shouldn't have upset her as much as it had, she kept telling herself that she was being silly, but that didn't make her feel any less sick to her stomach about the events of the past week.

When the floo did eventually whir to life, Daphne jumped out of her skin because the room had been entirely silent up to that point. She watched the flames warp anxiously, and after what felt like forever, Harry stepped out.

He looked around the room, probably expecting it to be empty, but then his eyes fell on Daphne. He started to smile, but then a frown began to form on his face, "Daph, what's wrong?"

The look on her face told him that something was seriously wrong, and his first thought was to panic.

"What's happened?" Harry asked as he pulled her to her feet and enveloped her in a hug. The moment he wrapped his arms around her, she began to cry quietly. As a whole, Daphne didn't sob. The only exception had been when she finally let herself break down over Tracey's death.

"Daph," Harry whispered as he held her tightly, "Please tell me you're okay. Did someone hurt you? Tell me what's going on, please."

Her body shook in his arms, and he closed his eyes tightly. His worst fear had been realised, he had been gone for two weeks, and someone had hurt her. He hadn't been there to protect her; it was just like he had told Neville that he feared.

"I've been so scared," Daphne said breathlessly, "I don't know how to tell you and…I…I…please don't leave me, Harry, I'm so sorry."

"Daphne, calm down," Harry said in the most soothing voice that he could muster, "What are you talking about? I would never leave you. Why would you say that?"

"Because of what he did," Daphne said through a sob.

Harry's entire body went tense, "What? What who did? What happened, and who did it?"

Daphne pulled back from the hug, her eyes were red and bloodshot, and she couldn't look him in the eye, "I…about a week ago I got paired up with a mentor at work and…and…."

"And what, Daphne?"

Daphne shut her eyes tightly. Harry sighed. He could tell that it was tough for her to say what she needed to say, so he picked her up and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs with her on his lap.

Daphne instantly hid her head in his chest and said very quickly, "He sexually assaulted me and blackmailed me all week. It started with just comments, and he would rub his leg against mine underneath the desk…."

She told him the entire story, and throughout it all, Harry did not say a single word. He listened with a face that gave nothing away, and Daphne spilled it all out. She cried, and she stumbled over her words, and she didn't look him in the eye once because she just couldn't face the shame and disappointment that she knew she would see there.

When she had finally told him how the story ended, how she had eventually told Bill earlier that day and that Fawley would be punished, she looked up at Harry with wide, terrified eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Harry asked in an emotionless tone, "None of this is your fault."

"But it still happened."

"It happened to you, Daphne," Harry said as he got up and set her down on the chair, "You didn't make it happen."

Daphne looked at him warily, "But he…."

"He violated you," Harry said, rage creeping into his voice, "He used you, and he hurt you. Nobody gets to treat you like that, do you understand me? Because you might have thawed, but you are still a queen to me. You are selfless, you have a beautiful soul, you are kind, you are intelligent, you are brave, and you are perfect."

Daphne blinked the tears out of her eyes and hugged him tightly, "I love you."

"I love you too," Harry promised. He wrapped his arms around, "So much, and this does not change that. Do you understand?"

She nodded, but there was nothing else that she could say to him. Harry put an arm around her waist and gently led her upstairs. He said she needed sleep because she looked exhausted, and truth be told, she felt it.

He sat silently by her dresser while she changed and got ready for bed. Then he lay with her, and she was asleep faster than she had been in weeks. The comforting beat of his heart, the familiar smell of him and the circular motions that his hand was rubbing on her back lulled her into a peaceful sleep.

Once she was asleep, Harry got to his feet and tiptoed out of the bedroom. He walked into the drawing-room, and his eyes were drawn to the drinks cabinet.

"Don't you dare, Harry James Potter."

"I won't," Harry told his mother, who was watching him suspiciously from the frame of her portrait. He threw some floo powder into the fire and said, "11 Grimmauld Place."

Sadie's face appeared in the fire quickly, "How is she?"

"She's asleep," Harry said quietly, "Can you come over to keep watch? There's something I need to do."

"Harry," Sadie began to say, "If you kill him-"

"I'm not going to kill him, Sadie," Harry snapped, "But it is taking everything ounce of self-control that I have right now not to open the bottle of Ogdens in that cupboard. So I need to go to the person who keeps my temper in check and makes sure that I don't kill fucking bastards like this!"

"Neville," Sadie said softly.

Harry bowed his head, "Yeah. But I can't leave her alone, Sadie."

"I know," Sadie said, "Stand back. I'm coming through."

"Before you do, tell Theo to get Draco and be here in ten minutes. Okay?"

Sadie nodded, and Harry stood back from the fireplace. A few minutes later, she stepped out of the fire.

She kissed him on the cheek and said, "Don't do anything stupid."

Harry sighed but nodded. "Make yourself at home, okay?"

Sadie just nodded in response.

As soon as she left the room, Harry conjured a Patronus and said, "Neville, you remember that chat we had in the Forest of Dean about how I should come to you if I felt like I was going to do something stupid that would put me in Azkaban? Well, I'm testing your loyalty. I need you right now."

He sent the Patronus to Neville and sunk into one of the hard wooden chairs. How could he have let this happen? This was all his fault if he had just been here…if he had been able to help her, if-

"Floo signature, Neville Longbottom."

"Access granted," Harry said. He hadn't expected Neville to arrive so quickly.

The floo roared to life, and Neville folded himself out of the fireplace.

"Good, you're wearing a cardigan. I need the cardigan-wearing Neville right now."

"What's going on, Harry?"

"Can you please stop me killing someone?"

"Woah, rewind," Neville said quickly, "Who are you killing and why are you killing them?"

"Floo signatures, Draco Black and Theodore Nott."

"Access Granted."

The floo roared to life for the second time, and Draco stepped through with Theo hot on his heels.

"What's going on? Theo just said I was urgently needed here," Draco said as he frowned around at all the serious faces.

"Is someone hurt?" Theo asked nervously.

"I don't want to get into it in detail," Harry said, "But Daphne got paired up with a mentor at work, and the fucking bastard tried it on with her, got told no and then blackmailed her and sexually assaulted her."

"What?" Theo hissed, "By sexual assault do you mean-"

"Not that far but pretty fucking unacceptable all the same," Harry said, "So we are going to go and deal with him."

"And by deal, do you mean kill?" Theo asked, "Because if so, I would suggest we take him to muggle ground, somewhere isolated where they wouldn't think to send cadaver dogs."

"Or we cut him up and portkey his body parts into different oceans," Draco said, "The muggle authorities are useless when it comes to working together, so they would never be able to solve it."

"Right, Bonnie and Clyde, we're here to stop Harry murdering this guy, not to help him," Neville told them.

"Why? He hurt Daphne; he deserves to fucking die," Theo said.

Draco and Neville looked at him in disbelief.

"She's my family, guys," Theo said, "I know we act like we don't like each other, but she's my cousin, and nobody treats my family like that."

Draco gripped Theo's wrist, "Calm down, Theo. She means a lot to all of us, but landing ourselves in Azkaban isn't going to help her. Is it?"

"Guys," Harry said, his voice shook, "We need to do something. I'm going to flip. You have no idea how close I am to losing it right now," Harry said in a dangerous tone of voice.

"Okay, Harry, I'm sorry. How do we find him?" Draco asked.

"He gambles in Knockturn on a Sunday night," Harry said.

"So we want to catch him on his own and whizz him away to somewhere isolated," Theo said, "How about I lure him into the bathroom, and Draco knocks him out, then we side apparate him to St. Kilda?"

"Where?"

"Scottish island, it's in the middle of nowhere with no inhabitants," Theo said, "Once we get him there, we bind him, and then we wake him up and hex him within an inch of his life."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, I like that plan. Let's go."

"You aren't going to Knockturn Alley right now," Neville said. He grabbed his friends arm, "If someone dodgy so much as looks the wrong way at you, you would knock them out."

"You're right," Harry admitted grudgingly, "Draco, Theo; would you two mind playing fetch?"

Draco and Theo smirked at each other, "It would be our pleasure," Draco said maliciously.

"We'll meet you on St. Kilda," Neville said, "Bring him to us in one piece. Harry deserves to destroy this guy, not us."

"Yes, boss," Theo joked as he and Draco headed for the front door so that they could apparate down to Knockturn Alley.

When Stuart Fawley woke up, the first thing he was aware of was that he was freezing. The second thing was that he couldn't move his hands or legs. He jolted awake sharply and looked around; he was tied to a chair in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. He could hear the ocean crashing against the shore, and there was the distinctive salty aroma of seaweed in the air.

There were no street lights, only the dim light of the full moon. His sense of dread kicked in when he heard a distant howl.

"Don't try and work out where you are," A voice from the shadows said, "You never will and knowing won't help you anyway."

"Who are you?" Fawley asked. He sounded far less afraid than he was.

"I'm glad you asked that," The voice said as it got closer, "My name is Theodore Nott which probably means nothing to you, but it should because – Lumos – Daphne is my cousin, but I love her like a sister."

Fawley swallowed as he looked into Theo's enraged face, "Look, man, this has been a misunderstanding."

"Oh, there is no misunderstanding here," Another voice said, a smoother one, "We know exactly what you did to Daphne."

"We?" Fawley asked. The panic was beginning to show in his voice now.

"I'm Draco Black, formerly Malfoy. I suspect you have heard of me. My Father is rotting in a commonwealth prison for torturing scumbags like you and – Lumos – I'm one of Daphne's best friends, not to mention her first love."

Fawley already looked terrified, which pleased Draco and Theo immensely because they were only the warm-up act.

"It's not what you think, really," Fawley said quickly, "I just kissed her. How was I to know that she wasn't into it?"

"Of course you knew that she wasn't into it," A third voice said from the darkness, "But you forced yourself on her anyway."

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Fawley muttered, "Who are you people?"

"I'm Neville Longbottom. If the name rings a bell, it's because I got famous when I beheaded Voldemort's snake last year and – Lumos – I'm here because I have one vital job to do tonight."

"What was that job again, Neville?" Theo asked.

"To stop me from doing something that will land me in Azkaban," A fourth voice said, "You see, Fawley, I have a bit of a temper."

"And who are you, my would-be assassin?"

"My name is Harry Potter and – Lumos – nobody fucks with my fiancé."

"Harry!" Daphne exclaimed when Harry got back.

"She woke up not long after you left," Sadie said by way of explanation, "All the tea in the world couldn't calm her down when she realised where you were."

Harry pulled Daphne into his arms, and Sadie eyed his bruised and scratched knuckles, "Are you okay?"

Harry nodded, "Everyone is fine, and Fawley is alive," he promised his fiancé.

Daphne drew back. She wasn't crying anymore; her ice queen façade was back up. He knew that would bring its own challenges, she bottled everything up, but she would explode if she carried on that way.

"What did you do to him?" Daphne asked, her eyes searching his.

"Let's just say he'll be spending quite a bit of time getting acquainted with four white walls in St. Mungo's," Harry said cryptically.

Daphne raised an eyebrow, "You're not going to tell me any more than that, are you?"

"I don't think you need to know the ins and outs of it," Harry said, "More to the point, I don't think you want to. After all, it's not going to make what he did to you go away, is it?"

"No," Daphne agreed. Her icy blue eyes met his, "Nothing short of being obliviated can do that, but knowing that he suffered would give me satisfaction."

Harry met her eyes, "Would it?"

Sadie stepped over and grabbed Daphne's hand, "Would it?" she echoed, "Or would it just make you realise quite how dangerous your future husband is?"

"I know how dangerous he is, Sadie," Daphne said, her eyes on Harry's, "I know what he would do for the people that he loves… so what did you do to him?"

Harry let go of her arms and took a step back, "Okay, you want to know what I did to him? I had Neville hold him down while I stood on his crotch until he was screaming for mercy. I did that so he can never treat a woman the way he treated you, ever again. Then I let Theo beat the shit out of him for what he did to you."

Daphne swallowed as a dark look passed through Harry's eyes, "Then I broke his leg and told him that it would be better for everyone if he went to St Mungo's and told them he had a bad fall down the stairs because if he didn't, I would find him and I would kill him, slowly and painfully. Starting by cutting off his balls and finishing by expelling his entrails while he was still alive."

Sadie sighed and looked at her best friend, "Are you happy that you asked?"

"Yes," Daphne said honestly, "I needed the closure. I needed to know that he got what he deserved."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, "I know I took it too far. Most guys would have just knocked him out."

"You are not most guys," Daphne said as she wrapped her arms around him, "You've lost too much."

Harry melted into her embrace and glanced at Sadie, "You should go home. Theo made a real mess of his hands."

Sadie nodded, "She'll be okay now that you're home," she said.

And without another word, she disappeared through the floo.

"I'm sorry," Harry murmured against Daphne's neck, "I'm sorry for failing you."

Daphne frowned at him, "You didn't fail me. What are you talking about?"

"I promised myself that I would always protect you and Teddy," Harry said, "When Neville and I were out there in the Forest of Dean, I promised myself that. I failed because if I had been here, you would have told me, and it wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did."

"The Forest of Dean? I thought you were in isolation on the base," Daphne said.

"No, we had to spend two weeks doing survival training. They ditched all the Auror pairs in the middle of nowhere," Harry said quickly, "But that wasn't the point you were supposed to take away from what I just said."

"I know, but frankly, I think you're being stupid," Daphne admitted, "I get that you have your whole hero complex, and you think you're Atlas, walking around carrying the woes of the whole wizarding world on your bloody shoulders but you are being stupid if you think this was your fault. You were working, and I…I let it get that bad, I should have told someone sooner."

"No, don't you dare go down that road," Harry said, "It wasn't your fault, none of it was your fault. He blackmailed you; he twisted your thoughts so that you would be too scared to talk to anyone about it. That's what sick bastards like him do; you acted exactly the way he planned for you to act."

Daphne sighed, "And why? I'm supposed to be strong. They called me the ice queen. Why did I let this happen to me?"

"You didn't let it happen to you," Harry said firmly, "It was a shitty thing that happened to you; it wasn't something that you could control. You've wanted to be a Curse Breaker since you started Hogwarts. I bet that's in your employee file. Fawley used that to prey on you because that's exactly what he is, a predator."

Daphne nodded slowly, "You're right; it wasn't my fault. He's just a sick bastard."

Harry smiled slightly and reached out to grab her hand. When he touched her, she flinched, and he looked up in surprise.

"I'm sorry," Daphne said quickly, "It was just a…reflex."

Harry held his hand out to her, "You don't have to be afraid of me. I would never do anything to hurt you."

"I know," Daphne said. She took his hand and looked into his eye, "But you will do terrible things to protect me, and I…I'm scared that one day if something does happen to me….you'll turn, you'll go down a dark path."

"Not as long as I have Neville," Harry said. He sat down and motioned for her to sit next to him.

"Oh no," Daphne said with a slight smile, "You spend two weeks camping in the Forest of Dean. Is this the point when you tell me you're more like Draco and Theo than you realised?"

"Well, we are," Harry chuckled, "But not to that extent."

"So you didn't shag him then?" Daphne teased.

Harry shot her an amused look, "Hilarious."

When Sadie stepped into the kitchen of her house, she wasn't surprised to find it empty. She walked through the door to number 12 and made her way up into their kitchen. When she reached it, she heard the sound of soft mumbling.

She yawned and stepped into the doorway. Theo was sitting in a kitchen chair. Hermione was kneeling by his side, dabbing a cloth into a murky green liquid then applying it to his hands. Theo was hissing in pain as she did so, and Draco stood behind him, his hands on his best friends shoulders.

"So Harry didn't kill him."

They all looked up when they heard Sadie's voice.

Hermione shook her head, "No, but Theo gave it his best shot."

"You have made your disapproval clear, Mione," Theo said through gritted teeth.

"She's nearly done," Draco said, tightening his grip on Theo's shoulder.

"Well," Sadie said. She cleared her throat and pulled a bottle of Ogden's out of the cupboard, "I said that I wanted him to suffer."

"And I told you that our boys would make sure that he did," Hermione agreed.

Sadie poured out four glasses of firewhiskey, "You did."

"I wasn't expecting Theo to break four fingers doing so," Hermione said, looking at Theo in exasperation.

"He hurt Daphne," Theo said by way of explanation.

"And he deserved whatever he got," Hermione said, "But physical violence is beneath you, Theo."

"She's right," Sadie said, putting a glass of firewhiskey on the table in front of him and handing one to Draco, "You're better than that," she sipped from her glass.

"You are," Draco agreed, "But sometimes you let your temper get the better of you. Sometimes you are hot-headed enough to be a Gryffindor, Theo."

"When it concerns the people I love, I guess I am," Theo said simply.

"Alright," Hermione said, she pushed herself to her feet, "You're done."

"There you are, Hermione," Sadie said, handing her a glass of firewhiskey, "I know it's not your drink of choice, but it does steady the nerves."

"I don't need-"

Sadie gripped her wrist, "Look at your hand."

Surely enough, Hermione's hand shook. The dark-haired girl nodded and accepted the glass. She took a sip and made a face at the bitter, sharp taste.

"I hated seeing Daphne so vulnerable," Hermione said. She sank into a chair opposite Theo, "I've never seen her like that."

"We have," Theo said.

"Just once," Draco said with a frown, "During the war."

"Was that when she was under the nightmare curse?" Hermione asked.

The three Slytherins nodded. Hermione asked, "Do you know what she saw there?"

"Her worst fear," Sadie said, "Which at the time was becoming like the people she despised most in the world."

"Her parents?" Hermione asked.

"The Death Eaters, my aunt in particular," Draco replied. He remained standing behind Theo's chair, but Sadie had sunk into a seat next to Hermione.

"Bellatrix?" Hermione asked, her hand automatically pulling the sleeve of her top down.

Sadie noticed and grabbed Hermione's hand, "You don't have to hide it from us. It's just a scar, one that reminds you of what you are fighting for every time you walk into the Ministry and one that made you stronger. What happened to Daphne? It's going to leave a scar too, just not one that we can see."

"But she will get past it," Theo agreed, "She's one of the strongest people I know."

Sadie nodded.

"And while we're on the subject of difficult truths," Theo said. He looked up at his best friend, "Draco, you have something you need to discuss with Hermione. If you want us to stay, we will. Equally, if you want us to go, we will."

Draco shook his head, "Stay," he said.

Hermione frowned as her fiancé took a seat next to his best friend.

"We talked a lot when we were in isolation," Draco said honestly, "I mean, you do when you spend two weeks straight with someone. I thought we knew everything about each other, but it turns out that there are always things you can learn about another person because we all change and evolve every day."

Sadie nodded thoughtfully.

"As it turns out, Theo's actually pretty wise," Draco said with a slight smile, "And one of the things he told me is that I need to be completely truthful with you if I want our relationship to work."

Hermione's frown deepened, "But I thought I already knew everything about the war?"

"Not quite everything," Draco confessed, "I haven't told you the whole truth about Pansy. You know that I was in love with her and that she died, but you don't know why. You don't know that behind her cold exterior, she had a wicked sense of humour. You don't know that she bullied people to cover up her own insecurities. You don't know that she had a way of cheering me up when everything felt hopeless, and that's my fault. You don't know any of that because I was too afraid to tell you because of the way she was to you at school."

"I never told you the good parts about Harry for the same reason, for a long time," Hermione admitted, "I understand more than you think."

"You don't understand all of it, though," Sadie said, looking pointedly at Draco.

Draco nodded, "Sadie's right. I don't like to talk about Pansy because it still hurts to think about her death, and that's not because she was the great love of my life. I did love her, but I lost a lot more than a girlfriend when she died because she was…" his voice caught.

"She was pregnant when she died, Hermione," Theo finished.

Hermione's eyes widened, "Oh…Merlin…."

Draco cleared his throat and looked down at the table, "I told her it would be okay, and I betrayed my friends to keep her and the baby safe. I went back to Voldemort. I left Theo and Sadie, Daphne and Tracey…I left them in that bathroom to starve because I selfishly only thought of that baby."

The room was silent as Draco took a breath, "I re-pledged myself to Voldemort. I tortured Luna Lovegood to do that, and I…I lost myself if I'm honest. For a little while, I lost myself, and Theo shunned me, which he was perfectly within his rights to. It was Daphne who kept me alive that summer after the war, which is why I stood by and let Theo beat Fawley within an inch of his life tonight."

Hermione reached across the table and took his hand.

"I loved Pansy, but the reason I fell apart after the war," Draco blinked away a couple of stray tears and took a shuddering breath, "It was because I was mourning that baby and the life I could have had. I was in a very dark place, and that baby was the light at the end of the tunnel, the thing I clung to. It was the hope of a better world."

"There is a better world," Hermione said softly as she walked around the table so that she could hug him, "Not the world you envisioned, but a better world all the same, and you helped build that."

Draco breathed in deeply, "I didn't want to tell you. I didn't see the point in bringing up something I buried a long time ago, but Theo felt that you ought to know the truth."

"And he was right," Hermione said, smiling sadly at Theo, "I did need to know."

Theo nodded.

"Thank you," Hermione mouthed as she held Draco tightly.

Theo smiled and got to his feet. He pulled Sadie up and said, "Now that all is right with the world again. Can we go home, love?"

"Yes," Sadie sighed, "I'm exhausted."

Draco nodded. He got to his feet and rubbed his eyes, "Thanks, Theo."

"For what?" Theo asked from the doorway.

"Everything over the last two weeks," Draco said genuinely, "And everything before that too."

Theo smiled, "Anytime, Draco," he said as he put his arm around Sadie's shoulders and led his wife out of the house.

* ~ TBC ~ *