* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART FOUR

Brave New World

Chapter 32: Animal Instincts

"Do you know what date it is?"

"It's the 17th of August. What's special about it?"

"Well," Harry said with a raised eyebrow, "Why have you lot been walking about with mandrake leaves in your mouth for the last month?"

Theo's eyes widened, "Animagus!"

"The potion!" Neville added excitedly.

"I assume it's ready then?" Draco asked. He, of course, wanted to remain cool and calm, even though the others had seen through that façade months ago.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Draco could be so predictable, "It's ready, and it's in the basement. The question is, are you ready? Do you remember all-"

"All the psychological parts? Yes, yes, you went through it all with us," Theo said with a wave of his hand, "Now can we take it? Please?"

Harry sniggered, "I think your animagus form might be a dog, Theo. You do get excited easily."

Neville snorted in amusement and got to his feet, "We are going to take it today, though, aren't we?"

Harry nodded and got to his feet too. He began to lead the way down to the basement as he said, "It would make sense to take it today. That way, you can write to the Ministry to register yourselves and add it into your file with the Aurors. It looks good, being an animagus. It's an extra skill, an edge we'll have over other people."

"Depending on the form," Draco pointed out, "Some have more uses than others. What use was that rat Pettigrew after all?"

"Every animagus form can be useful if you know how to use it," Harry said, "Pettigrew was a scummy bastard, but being able to transform into something small like a rat is useful. You could eavesdrop on important conversations from beneath the floorboards."

"What about a massive animagus form then?" Neville asked, "Like a dragon or a griffin. How would that be of any use? It's hardly inconspicuous."

"Brute force," Harry said, "My form is particularly useful because it enables me to fly."

"Not to mention the fact it enables you to heal people by crying," Neville muttered, a little irritably.

"Don't get pissy yet, Nev," Theo said, "You haven't seen your form yet; it might be even better."

"Better than a bloody phoenix?" Neville said, "That would be difficult since it is literally the coolest animal on earth."

"It is pretty cool," Harry agreed with a smirk. Neville just rolled his eyes.

They entered Harry's room of requirement where a cauldron was bubbling away quite happily, "Okay, so we're going to do this one at a time. Remember to close your eyes and completely clear your mind as if you were about to try and use occlumency."

The other three had stopped joking around to listen now. At the end of the day, if they didn't pay attention, this could go wrong, and Harry was the only one who had successfully done it.

"After you have taken the potion, keep your mind focused on becoming your animal form. When it starts to work, you will feel this weird tingling sensation, and when that stops, you can open your eyes and try to talk," Harry said, "Obviously, it came out a squawk for me, but it will be different depending on your form. Neville, you're up first."

"Of course, your sidekick gets to go first," Theo said, somewhat huffily.

"There's more than enough to go around," Harry said with a pointed look, "So wait your turn."

Draco sniggered as Theo crossed his arms like a child would do upon being told off.

Neville laughed but truthfully; he felt a little nervous as he stepped up to the cauldron. Harry ladled some of the mixture into a goblet and handed it to him, "You'll be fine, Nev, just keep your mind focused."

Neville nodded. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes. Just as Harry had told him to, he cleared his mind then drank deeply from the goblet. He felt Harry pull the empty cup from his hand, but he tried not to think about Harry or the others. He focused on becoming his animal form. He felt a great sense of relief when the tingling sensation started because he knew what it meant; it was working.

The tingling started in his head and worked its way down his entire body. When it stopped, he opened his eyes a little cautiously and tried to say hello. He scared the life out of himself when it came out as a roar.

The others were staring at him in awe, and when Harry transfigured a mirror, Neville realised why. His animagus form was a lion, a huge, fearsome-looking lion.

"From the boy who never thought he was a true Gryffindor," Harry said with a proud grin.

Neville would have grinned too, but lions didn't smile, so it just looked like he was baring his teeth. It gave him immense pleasure to see that Theo looked a little bit terrified of him at the moment.

"To become human again, close your eyes and shut out the noise," Harry instructed, and Neville did so, "Now concentrate on becoming human again. The tingling will start to let you know that it's working."

After a few seconds, the tingling did start. This time in his toes, once it had worked its way up to his head, Neville opened his eyes and was relieved to see that he managed to become completely human again with no consequences, "That was awesome."

"Yeah, it was!" Harry agreed, "A phoenix and a lion, we are going to smash it as Aurors mate!"

Draco rolled his eyes, "You haven't seen our forms yet. Don't get too ahead of yourself."

"I doubt anything can beat a phoenix or a lion, but you're up next, so I suppose we'll find out," Harry said.

Draco stepped up to the cauldron and accepted the goblet filled with the potion, "You Gryffindors always have had problems containing your ego's."

Harry snorted, "Just remember-"

"Clear my head, concentrate, wait for the tingling," Draco recited, "I know."

Before Harry could say anything more, he shut his eyes and cleared his mind. Then he drained the potion and handed the goblet back to Harry. Draco didn't need to concentrate for long before the tingling sensation began. Snape had taught him Occlumency so clearing his mind and focusing weren't particularly difficult skills for him.

Once the tingling had worked its way through his body, Draco opened his eyes and was amazed by what he saw in the mirror before him. He had been worried that his animagus form wouldn't be up to scratch compared to Harry or Neville's, but there had been no need for him to worry because he was a dragon. Not a full-sized dragon, but a six-foot, emerald green, fire breathing, flying dragon.

He could tell that the others were impressed too because they were all gaping at him. Draco had to admit; he felt rather smug as he shut his eyes and concentrated on becoming human again. The tingling worked its way through his body for a second time, and when he opened his eyes, he was human again.

"You were saying?"

"Alright, a dragon is pretty cool," Harry conceded.

Neville nodded, "Yeah, it was pretty impressive."

Theo nodded eagerly, "A phoenix, a lion and a dragon? I can't wait to see what I become!"

Harry chuckled as Theo bounded up to the cauldron, "What if you're a tiny cute little bunny?"

Theo scoffed, "As if Potter, give me the potion."

Harry handed the goblet over, "Just remember to clear your mind and concentrate, or it won't work."

"I know," Theo said as he shut his eyes, "I've studied Legilimency. I'll be fine."

Like Draco, clearing his mind and focusing came naturally to Theo. He began to feel the tell-tale tingling sensation almost straight away, and he felt his excitement building. Once the tingling had moved from his toes to his head, Theo tried to ask, "What am I?"

It came out as a squeak which wasn't an encouraging sign.

When Theo opened his eyes, he was looking for something huge and impressive in the mirror. Instead, what he saw was a tiny little Red Panda.

"Aw, Theo!" Neville said with a grin, "You're so cute. I just want to stroke you!"

Theo glared at Neville; only it didn't work because Red Panda's couldn't glare.

Theo shut his eyes to focus on becoming human again and heard the others snigger. He blocked out the noise, concentrated and silently fumed while the tingling sensation worked its way through his body.

When he was human again, he said, "A Red Panda!? You all become huge, mythical or powerful beasts, and I become a fucking Red Panda?!"

"At least you're cute, though," Neville said.

"You could use that to your advantage if you ever needed to beg for food," Harry pointed out.

"And you're the smallest, so you can slip through gaps that we can't," Draco said, "You can eavesdrop on conversations by hiding on the roof too."

"Red Panda's are excellent climbers," Harry added with a nod.

"And adorable ones."

"I don't want to be cute. I want to be a powerful, mythical beast!" Theo said irritably as he stomped towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Draco called after him.

"Home," Theo said huffily, "Enjoy your fantastic forms together while I go eat some fucking nuts."

Before anyone could say anymore, he had left the room and slammed the door behind him.

"You were a bit harsh there, Nev," Harry said as he bit his lip, "With the whole cute thing."

"Oh, come on, Harry!" Neville exclaimed, "What do you think he would have done if I'd been the small cute one?"

"Neville does have a point," Draco admitted grudgingly, "Theo would have slagged him rotten for it."

"Still," Harry said, "He's having a hard time at the moment. He's worried about Sadie being ill, and he already feels inferior compared to us."

"I think Harry's saying that you need to apologise for being a dick, Neville," Draco said. He smirked in Neville's direction.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, you were a bit of a dick."

Neville rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine. I'll apologise! But only because I feel bad for him with Sadie being the way she is at the moment and definitely not because I think he deserves an apology."

"You tell yourself whatever you need to tell yourself, Nev," Harry said. He shot Draco an amused look as he patted his friend on the back.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Draco agreed as he tried not to burst out laughing himself.

Daphne wasn't sure what to expect on her first day at work with Bill as her mentor. She didn't feel nervous about the change, but all the same, she had no idea what Bill would be like as a mentor.

When she stepped into his office on Tuesday morning with two lattes in cardboard cups and a brown bag, Bill was whistling while he created a neat second desk.

"Ah, just in time!" Bill said when he saw her, "It's not as big as my desk, but that's because you're not as important as me, but I hope it will do."

Daphne smiled, "It's my own desk, and there's no sleazy bastard on the other side of it, so it's perfect. I brought you a pastry, and I didn't know how you liked your coffee, so I got it black."

"I'll drink any coffee but for future reference, white with two sugars," Bill said as he took the cup and bag from her gratefully, "What do you drink?"

"Most of the time, a latte," Daphne replied. She put her handbag down on her desk, "But there are some mornings when a strong, black coffee is required, and this is one of them."

"Ah, the gathering last night," Bill said with an amused smile, "Well, you don't look hungover, and as long as you do your job properly, I won't bug you about it because I'm that kind of mentor."

"How are you going to mentor me, exactly?" Daphne asked curiously, "I thought you weren't a field curse breaker anymore."

"Technically, I'm head of HR," Bill agreed with a nod, "But I'll be honest with you, I hate it. I only took the job because Fleur pushed me into it. She thought we needed more money when we found out we were going to be having a baby. She was right, but sitting at a desk all day is not my forte, so I have hired an HR Assistant. She's going to be doing a large chunk of the paperwork so that I can focus on training my new protégé."

Daphne raised an eyebrow at him, "Your new protégé? Bill, everyone says you're the best Curse Breaker this place has seen in two decades."

Bill smirked, "Exactly, you have far more potential than you know, Daphne. Don't doubt it; confidence is everything. Now, I am going to take you out in the field today, but there are a few rules that I want to go over first."

Daphne nodded; she was still reeling from Bill's comment about her being his protégé.

"I like to think that Curse Breakers who work together should treat each other the same way as Aurors," Bill explained, "Auror partners know everything about each other. They share their worries and fears about life with each other because it's important for them to always know how the other is feeling. Now, as Curse Breakers, we may not save whole towns from dragons or catch dark wizards, but we do save people's lives on a daily basis, and there is quite a large element of danger in our job."

"I know that," Daphne said, "Some of the curses we will be dealing with are going to be nasty."

"That's part of it," Bill agreed, "But there are other dangers. Cursed objects are often owned by dark wizards who are reluctant to part with their dark, dangerous cursed object. There are times when the Aurors get involved, and we all work as a team, but most of the time, we just get on with it ourselves. So that is why I believe it's important to know how our partner is feeling. If you and Harry have had a fight and you're feeling down, then I need to know. If I've been up all night with a screaming baby, you need to know because we need to know that the other isn't at their best. Do you agree?"

Daphne nodded, "Yeah, completely."

"Good," Bill said. He paused to sip his coffee, "So let's spend a little while getting to know each other before we go anywhere."

Daphne frowned, "You do know me though, Bill…."

"I know you're engaged to Harry," Bill said, "I know you love Teddy like he's your own son. I know you and your sister were both in Slytherin, even though the Greengrass family are predominantly Ravenclaws. I know your family own the largest wizarding shipping company in the world. I know you're a proud woman, and I know you are an incredibly skilled witch who will be a fantastic Curse Breaker one day, but that's all I know about you. What do you know about me?"

Daphne's frown deepened, "I know you're from a big family. I know you're married to Fleur, who you met working at Gringotts. I know you're a father to a baby girl called Victoire. I know you were a Gryffindor and that your brother Charlie is your best friend. Um…I know you like Quidditch, and…."

Bill raised an eyebrow at her, "See?"

"Alright," Daphne conceded, "We don't know each other very well."

"So tell me something about yourself," Bill said, "Tell me about your childhood."

Daphne snorted and sat down heavily at her new desk, "Are you sure you want to hear that sob story?"

"I need to know what makes you, you," Bill said, "And our childhood defines us."

"Well," Daphne sighed, "For a start, my sister and I are in Slytherin because we're very similar to our mother, who was a Crouch."

"I see," Bill smiled.

"I grew up in this horrible place called Greengrass House with my mother, father and my little sister. Our family have always been pureblood which is why we're included in the sacred 28. But we only really rose to prominence in the last 200 hundred years or so with the launch of Greengrass Shipping which became Greengrass Industries over time."

Bill nodded, and Daphne continued, "So my house is quite new, but they wanted to seem like they had been around for longer, so they built this horrible modern house and tried to make it look like it had been around since Tudor times. I have no good memories of that place…apart from this one room, at the top of the tower. I think it was once a bell tower, but my sister and I used to use it as a hideaway. It was pretty cold, and all we really had up there were beanbags and blankets, but we still loved it."

Bill smiled, "Charlie and I built a treehouse near the orchard where everyone plays Quidditch. When the house was too loud because of our younger siblings screaming or fighting, we escaped out there. It was on the grounds of the house so that we could use magic with an old wand of my grandfathers, and the Ministry couldn't tell. We used to create fires and cook on them, sometimes the two of us would spend whole weekends out there."

Daphne chuckled, "Astoria and I used to fall asleep up in the tower a lot. We would wake up shivering and huddling together for warmth. Then we would sneak back downstairs to our bedrooms. We had to sneak because my father had a temper, and he wouldn't have approved of us staying up late."

"Your father was Cygnus Greengrass, wasn't he?"

Daphne nodded, "He was 28 when he married my mother. She was only 18, she had just finished Hogwarts, and she had all of these dreams and aspirations for her life. She wanted to become a Healer and work with kids in St. Mungo's, but the marriage was arranged, so she had to marry Cygnus when he demanded it, and he demanded it as soon as he could," she paused to take a breath, "My mother hated my father. He was an icy man, and he could be a ruthless man too. My mother…she had a foolish heart, she would fall in love so easily, and I don't know how many affairs she had over the years. I remember the men I would see around the house, she would tell me they were lawyers here to survey the house or relations that I had never heard of, but the older I got, the more I realised what was really going on. Mind you, a couple of them were her relations. She's a pureblood, and the Crouch's weren't much better than the Blacks."

Charlie snorted in amusement, "We might be blood traitors, but my mother was a Prewett. She and my father are related, second cousins once removed, I think."

"Like Harry and I," Daphne said with an amused smile, "Anyway when I was six, my father worked out that my mother had been betraying him for years," Daphne said, "He got angry, then he got drunk, and he set fire to the house with all of us in it. My mother got us all out with nothing more than minor burns, and while we were in St. Mungo's, I begged her not to go back to my father, but she said that she had no choice. She begged my father to take her back, and he did, after beating her within an inch of her life."

Bill flinched slightly at those words, although he was trying his best to remain neutral.

"My father made her swear to stay faithful to him. He said that if she did, then he would provide for her and me and Astoria even though…" Daphne sighed and looked up, "Harry doesn't even know this part, Bill."

Bill nodded, "I'll keep it in confidence."

"He said he promised to provide for her and her daughters even if one of them wasn't his," Daphne said as she cast her eyes down once more, "He was always kinder to me than Astoria, and there was a part of me that wondered about the difference in appearance between us. I have blonde hair and blue eyes like both of my parents. Astoria has the same eyes as me but dark hair, so it wasn't difficult to work it out. Astoria doesn't know, and as far as I'm concerned, she doesn't need to know…" she trailed off for a moment, "But anyway, my father died in a somewhat noble way, ironically enough. He wasn't a good father or a nice man, but he wasn't a Death Eater; they killed him when he refused to join."

When Daphne looked up at Bill, he said nothing, and his face gave nothing away. She laughed humourlessly, "I did say that you didn't want to hear my sob story. I bet you have no idea what to say now, right?"

Bill shook his head slowly, "I'm glad that you told me because I feel like I understand you on a different level now. I was quiet because I was debating whether I should tell you something that nobody apart from my brother knows about me, not even my wife."

Daphne raised an eyebrow at him, "I thought you Weasley's were all about honesty."

"We are," Bill said, "But there are some things that even us Weasley's don't like to talk about. After everything that you just told me though, I think you deserve to know something about me that nobody knows."

Daphne sipped her coffee and watched him with interest, "I'm listening."

Bill, who had been sitting on the edge of his desk, got to his feet and walked over to the window. Since Bill had a nice office, there was a lovely view out over Diagon Alley, so this place was a real step-up from the cupboard she had been stuck in with Fawley.

"When I was a kid, it was just me and Charlie against the world," Bill began, "Don't get me wrong, our parents loved us, but they just had so many kids in quick succession that it was hard to give a lot of attention to any of them. I was six when Percy was born, and after that, Charlie and I were left to our own devices most of the time. I'm two years older than him, so Mum always trusted me to look after him. She wasn't worried about letting us out of the house as long as we didn't leave the grounds because Voldemort was around, gathering support. The Order of the Phoenix was terrified that he would strike. I remember growing up in fear…I was eleven when Voldemort disappeared, the night he tried to kill Harry. I had just started Hogwarts."

"Merlin," Daphne breathed, "I can't imagine that, growing up with that around you only to have to relieve it as an adult when he came back."

Bill nodded solemnly but said no more on the subject, "Charlie's birthday is in December, and he always loved when it would snow on his birthday, but it didn't happen very often. The first year that it did happen was his fifth birthday, I had just turned seven, and I promised to take him out in the snow. Mum said it was fine as long as we didn't go any further than the orchard, but we knew that there was a lake just beyond there…Dad had taken us fishing there once."

Daphne listened to Bill's tale with as much attention as he had listened to hers.

"Charlie kept bugging me. He said he wanted me to use Grandads old wand to make his shoes into ice skates," Bill said quietly, "He wanted to skate on the pond because it was frozen over, and he just kept nagging until I said that it was okay. I transfigured our shoes, then we left the orchard, and as we were no longer on the grounds of the house, we were no longer protected by all of the enchantments that the order had put on the place."

Daphne had a horrible feeling that she knew where this was going, but she stayed silent and nodded as Bill continued, "At first, it was worth it because the minute Charlie got on the ice, it was obvious that he loved it. I didn't skate much; I just watched him and warned him to stay away from the thin patches of ice. He was a clever kid, so he knew where to skate," he paused for a breath and glanced over at Daphne, "And this is the bit where you wait for me to tell you that the ice broke and he fell in, isn't it?"

Daphne nodded, "Is that what happened?"

"No," Bill said, a dark look flitted across his face briefly, "Something worse than that happened. We heard noises coming from the woods by the orchard; we knew it wasn't Mum or Dad because the orchard is the only part of those woods on our property and the entrance was right in front of the lake. I called Charlie off of the ice and told him to pull his skates off in case we had to run. I told him to be very quiet as we crawled back to the orchard so that nobody would see us. We nearly made it, but when we got close, somebody came out of the woods."

Daphne felt tense just listening to the story, so she didn't blame Bill for having tensed up entirely. He shut his eyes tightly and said, "I now know that the people I saw were Bellatrix Lestrange and the two Lestrange brothers, but back then, I didn't. Charlie and I hid behind the trees while they dragged a bloody body out of the woods, Bellatrix was cackling, and the two brothers were looking around to make sure that nobody was watching them. I still don't know who that man was, but I remember them stringing him up in the forest naked, I told Charlie to look away, but I know he saw more than a five-year-old should have seen. I've never been able to get the image of that man hanging from the tree, naked and with his head on a spike above him, out of my head. I still have nightmares about it, and I still hate going out in wooded areas alone at night because every silhouette looks like the shadow of that man. Charlie and I ran home afterwards, and I made him promise not to tell anyone what he had seen, and he never did but…."

Bill opened his eyes and sighed, "It left a mark on him. He couldn't connect with people for such a long time; animals were his solace because he found them easier than people. His love for dragons was stronger than his love for people, and it cost him so much happiness. I never really forgave myself for that. Not when it lost him Dora…not when it made him move across the world to work with dragons. This last year, having him back and seeing him falling in love with Aurora all over again…well, it's the first time I've allowed myself to stop feeling guilty for what happened all of those years ago."

Daphne smiled slightly, "I can understand that, all of it. Astoria saw horrible things; she was terrified after the fire. Then again, so was I. It took Harry to cure me of my fear of fire and fireworks, but even though it wasn't my fault, I never stopped blaming myself for not being able to shield Astoria from everything that my father did."

Bill sighed, "If I tell you something, Daphne, you have to promise to keep it to yourself."

Daphne nodded, "Don't worry, I'm very good at keeping secrets. I have to be; Harry has a lot of them."

"I can imagine," Bill said thoughtfully, "What you said about me having a good childhood…well, that's not entirely true. I never really had a childhood, if I'm honest, I had so many siblings, and my dad worked so much that I became like a surrogate father to the younger ones. I remember spending my summer holidays looking after Ron and Ginny so Mum could sleep because she was exhausted. I don't want to resent them for that, but I do, and because I had to basically raise them, I find it hard to connect with them. Charlie is the only one who really feels like my younger brother. Does that make any sense?"

"Kind of," Daphne admitted, "But I only have one sister, so I am finding it a bit hard to follow."

"I just never had much in common with my siblings," Bill admitted, "We all love Quidditch, but beyond that, there isn't much. Percy was always too academic for me to connect with, and Fred and George always did their own thing together. Ron irritated me, and I found him to be quite childish because he is ten years younger than me at the end of the day. Then Ginny…she's always been my baby sister, but I've never connected with her on a deeper level than that. This is a horrible thing to say because I know families shouldn't have favourites, but I do. I feel like my favourite siblings are Charlie and Harry."

"Harry?" Daphne asked with interest.

Bill nodded, "I know it's not by blood, but I relate to Harry more than my actual siblings. He's everything I wanted my younger siblings to be. Nobody else really had the same thirst for adrenaline and danger as me. It's a horrible thing to prefer an adopted sibling to most of your blood ones, and it's even more horrible to resent your siblings for stealing your childhood away."

Daphne shook her head, "It's not horrible to resent the people who stole your childhood. I never got to have a normal childhood; I spent most of it protecting Astoria from my Fathers rage after he drank too much. I never got to do normal things until I went to Hogwarts. Tracey took me to my first Quidditch game in my third year.

Bill smiled, "I remember taking Harry to his first Quidditch game. We all went to see Bulgaria play Ireland, and I never realised how big a deal it was for him. I had grown up seeing Quidditch with my dad, so I took it for granted, but it was a pretty awesome thing to see his reaction to his first professional game."

"It's all about making sure that you don't make the same mistakes as your parents when you're raising your own kids," Daphne said thoughtfully, "We take Teddy to every match we can, and he's not old enough to take it in yet. He just likes the atmosphere and the fact he gets ice cream after, but it's important to Harry."

"What's important to you?" Bill asked curiously.

"Making sure that he gets fun holidays and an ordinary life," Daphne replied, "We have this cottage in Devon, and I love taking him there. I love taking him to the beach or letting him play in a park because I never got to do any of that. I want him to be able to enjoy being a kid while he can because it's all over so quickly, and the real-world sucks."

"Ah, it's not so bad all of the time," Bill said with a smile, "When you love what you do, that helps."

"Love helps in general," Daphne said in a contemplative way as she sipped her coffee.

"For those of us who are lucky enough to find true, pure love, then yes, it does," Bill agreed.

"I'm lucky," Daphne admitted, "I never believed in love if I'm completely honest. I thought it was a trick, a rush of pheromones that trick the body into reproducing, natures way of ensuring the human race survives another day. I was sceptic because of what I had grown up seeing, and I never wanted to fall in love. I never wanted to experience pain like my mother had, but then I met Harry, and all of my preconceptions went out of the window. The kind of love he has for me and I have for him…it's nothing that I've ever experienced or that I could ever have imagined, and I suppose if we're going to be doing the whole complete honesty partnership thing, I should tell you that I'm marrying him, soon."

Bill smiled slightly, "How soon?"

"This New Year," Daphne replied, "It's a surprise. We're having a New Years party, but it's actually a wedding. You're the only person who knows, apart from Harry and Astoria."

"In that case, I'm honoured," Bill said with a broad smile, "And I'm happy that you managed to end that conversation on a happy note because it was getting very doom and gloom for a moment there."

Daphne laughed weakly, "Yes, it was," she agreed.

Bill cleared his throat and got to his feet, "I don't know about you, but I feel like we are rather well acquainted now."

Daphne chuckled, "I feel the same. Does that mean we get to go out on a job?"

"It does indeed," Bill said, "Now I spoke to a couple of colleagues yesterday about the guidelines concerning trainee Curse Breakers, and they said that foreign jobs are off-limits until you have been here for six months. So we are stuck in the UK, but I made sure I got the top-priority list of jobs in the UK, so we should have the interesting cases, not the cursed toilets that were biting Muggles arses."

Daphne grinned, "What kind of interesting cases?"

"Well," Bill said as he pulled a brown file out of a drawer in his desk, "Our first case is rather interesting indeed. It concerns Miss Penelope Van Houston from Cambridge. She claims that a 1,206-year-old family heirloom is cursed. Every time it gets a new owner, that new owner has suffered."

"Interesting," Daphne said as they left the office together, "What is the item?"

"It's a wine cabinet," Bill replied, "Apparently, everyone who comes into possession of it starts having horrible nightmares, then bad things happen to them. The last few owners have been known to get mysterious diseases or have died sudden deaths."

"You're right, much more interesting than a cursed toilet seat," Daphne said with a smile, "Thanks, Bill, for being my mentor and for opening up to me."

Bill smiled at her, "Thank you for playing along with my rules. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to do some real work now."

Daphne grinned, "Me too."

* ~ TBC ~ *

A/N: Based on the "Dybbuk Box" story, which is a cursed wine cabinet.