Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

"What is your problem?"

Heads turned to see Sarah yelling at Brahm, a sight none had seen. Brahm himself was in shock, she'd yelled a few times as Luna, but never with this amount of wrath. "What's my problem? Sarah, you should have stayed out of it! You knew better!"

"You were outnumbered, and I was trying to have your back."

"You have no idea how close you were to getting hurt. I can't believe you took that risk. How would I have felt if I—"

The sentence was cut off as Sarah's fist connected with his jaw, sending him reeling back, tripping over a chair and crashing to the ground. He stared up, far too shocked to respond in any meaningful way. His jaw throbbed and he ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth to feel if his teeth had been loosened. "What the heck?"

"Who's the weak one now?" Sarah looked down at him, look on her face that he'd only seen from a handful of people in his life. The first three were the Dursleys. "You are so stupid, Brahm Evans. Sometimes, I wish I'd never met you!"

Sarah stalked off and Brahm could only watch, hearing Hermione's voice saying almost word for word what she had just said. He felt a fist in his chest, clenching his heart, closing the air from his lungs. He was suddenly afraid, remembering the sensation from before, blowing up a building. They had said that was related to his breaking of the bindings that had been placed on him, but he wondered if they were wrong somehow.

After carefully regaining control, pushing away his emotions, Brahm slowly rose, dusting himself off. Despite her not being able to hear him, he responded, voice tone as calm and even as he could make it. "If that's what you want, fine." The others were watching. He knew that the message would get to her. Even in the House of Loyalty, gossip was king.

He turned and walked out the door, striding swiftly down the hall. He heard Susan call out to him but chose to disillusion himself and press against the wall. She half walked, half ran past him, never looking in his direction and rounded a corner. As soon as her steps were out of earshot, he exhaled softly. It was funny how similar this event was to before. He'd been hit, then pursued into a corridor where he had to hide. Any other time, he might have laughed. Instead, he activated his portkey and reentered the Chamber of Secrets, walking over to his tent.

"Dobby? Mimsy?"

There was a pop and the pair stood before Brahm, reaching out to hold each other's hands. He watched them a moment, remembering when they told him they were together. While he was glad for them, it hurt to see them this moment.

"Sarah has made it clear to me that she no longer wants me to be part of her life." He paused, feeling a clenching in his chest. That evening in October when he had time to really consider the whole situation, he'd let himself think that it was real. That he wasn't alone anymore. He was really good at lying to himself. "It'd been a good month and a half. I'll appreciate that time." He whispered as he spoke to himself, continuing as he looked down at the two now worried looking elves.

He sank into a seat at the table. "I'm not entirely sure how to handle this, as we still have the issue of dealing with the Bearded One." He stared at his hands, now flat on the table. "If nothing else, we have to take care of him and his deeper plans. At the least, what he's up to isn't good for society in general. At worst, it's supervillain material."

"I liked Miss Sarah." Mimsy looked down and Brahm knelt down and touched her shoulder.

"I know, little one." He exhaled. I did, too. "Okay, so here's my thinking on it. The mission is important, but so are you guys. I have no problems, Mimsy, if you answer her calls. If you help her with things. I just don't want you to do two things. I don't want you to tell her where I am and I don't want you to bring anything from her to me, including her herself."

"Did she hit you?" Dobby asked. "Your eye."

Brahm had managed to forget by then, but the reminder caused both to throb again. "Yes, but no repercussions. Just the rules I told Mimsy, okay?"

The pair nodded, then looked at each other. "What about Christmas?" Mimsy asked.

Brahm exhaled, shaking his head. "We can sign up to stay here until an hour before the train leaves. I'll sign up just before then. I have some ideas of how to get more intel on Dumbledore. You two are certainly welcome to spend Christmas at Algie's."

He took a breath, then reached into his robe pocket, removing the map. He surveyed the map, looking for quiet places. The library was virtually empty, other than a few very close dots that he suspected had found some mistletoe, and he nodded with satisfaction. "Perfect place to land. Dobby? Can you do me a favor?"

Dobby nodded. "Can you bring me my bag? Then I need you to take me to the library, this table." He pointed at the map, choosing a table that was far away from Granger's usual haunt.

Dobby again nodded but was silent. Too silent for his usual excitable nature, even with his working with the other elves having settled him some.

"Umm, are you okay?"

"Dobby is worried that you are going to do something rash."

"No, my friend. I'm going to go and study some, try to read ahead in class."

Dobby seemed to think about this, then snapped his fingers, making the bag appear on the table. Brahm slung the bag over his shoulder, then felt a pop and he was in the library, a second pop marking Dobby vanishing. He sat down, opening his Defense book, but didn't read. He just stared at the page. He couldn't see the words, only Sarah's look of disgust.

Soon, it was dinner time, and he went to the kitchens, eating with the elves. Their antics made him laugh and he was surprised that they sang as they worked. He began humming along with them, enjoying the platter of chicken and potatoes before moving to a slice of cake. For the entirety of the meal, he'd forgotten the fight. Afterwards, he had little to focus on and the pain began again.

He slipped back into the common room under a modified version of the notice-me-not. There were very few left in the room. Susan sat on one of the couches, book in her hand. Brahm crept carefully along the wall, away from the entrance as she looked back, clearly having heard the door open. He took a soft breath and waited. She sighed, closing the book, and walking back through the girl's side entrance.

Soon, the last few prefects went to bed as well, dimming the lights. Brahm sat in front of the fire, still lit and sighed. "This is going to be a long few days."

He heard a sound and looked up, but only saw a pair of bright green eyes staring at him. "Hello, Whisper." He was surprised as the small cat leapt up onto his lap, sitting and staring up at him. "Guess a notice-me-not won't work on a Kneazle."

The cat, of course, didn't answer, not that he'd truly expected anything other than a claw, considering what her owner thought of him. "I know, she's mad at me. Just do your worse."

The eyes blinked once, then the cat curled up on his lap and purred. He had to take a few deep breaths then before petting the cat quietly. "At least you still love me."

The next day was more of the same, slipping out early and hiding in various locations, the only interruption being before dinner again. Susan plopped down in a seat next to him and smiled. "Hey, we've missed you."

Brahm met her gaze with a smile, but he knew that she didn't buy it. He wasn't sure anyone would have. "I've been busy."

Susan frowned, reaching out to touch his face. "You should get Madame Pomfrey to look at your eye." She touched the swollen portion under his eye and Brahm winced slightly.

"It's fine, as long as someone isn't poking it," he said, trying to make his tone light. "Besides, letting it heal naturally will remind me about…everything."

Susan lowered her hand, taking his. "What's wrong?"

"Had that fight with Sarah. Wasn't ready to face her."

"Couples fight, though, Brahm."

He couldn't understand it. Weren't all women supposed to stand together against the man in these situations? "Yeah, but there were two things that bothered me. She hit me and what she said." He was surprised that he couldn't say the words.

"You're not stupid."

"I know." He looked back to the book in front of him. "A few years ago, I had a two really good friends say to me that they wish they had never met me. I never really spoke to them again."

"Did you see them again? I mean, if you moved or something…"

"No, I've seen them since. They ignored me or threatened me, nothing else. I stopped trying."

"What did you fight about?"

"I got us in some trouble, and they turned on me. I actually agree with them. I was at fault."

Susan touched his arm. "No, little brother. You and Sarah."

Brahm sighed. "So, last class yesterday was Potions."

"Hey, Evans!"

He was taking the long way, wanting to walk and clear his head after Potions and stopped. Malfoy's voice was an unwelcome interruption. "What is it?"

"You've been a thorn in our sides all year."

Knowing that he'd covered his tracks all year and hadn't been seen ambushing the various ambushers on junior Death Eaters here, he had no idea what Malfoy was talking about. "I don't really care what you do or who you are, so why am I a thorn?"

"You don't show the proper respect for purebloods." Another Slytherin, a Seventh Year, stepped in behind him.

"Plus, we think you're the one that's been taking us down in ambushes in the castle." Malfoy continued, his bookends come up behind and standing, sinister grins on their faces.

"To show respect would mean I respected you." He turned his head towards the Seventh Year. "I don't even know your name, so who cares?"

Two more joined, older girls that he again didn't know. Brahm was ready to release his wand into his hand, debating targets. Malfoy was more talk than anything else, the boulders were pathetic with wands and the Seventh Years were unknown quantities. "You'll know my name before we get done with you."

"Yeah, that didn't sound very prison rapey at all." Brahm said, smirking just a little to remove any idea of fear, not ready to give them the satisfaction. "And what are you going to do to me?"

"Purify the hallway." Draco said, drawing his wand.

That was enough for Brahm and he snapped his hand back towards them, casting an overpowered Banishing Hex at Draco as he turned to face the Seventh Years, firing three Stunners and a widely dispersed Reductor. Draco called out in pain and Brahm used this as an excuse to get out of the potential crossfire, turning his back on the Seventh Years, shielding behind as he ran, looking for a spot where the corridor opened up. As he went to jump over Draco, he had a thought, changing his launch and landing with one foot hard on his stomach, jumping again and spinning in midair to cast a stream of fire.

At that, he turned it into a flat out run, knowing he'd caught one of the girl's robes. Spell bolts whipped down the corridor and he fired blindly over his shoulder, spreading Stunners out. A repeat of the Weasley chase, only this time, he knew what he was doing.

Finally, he got to an open area and flicked his wand at a suit of armor, hurling it down the hallway. There was a cry of pain and two of the three remaining Slytherins stepped into view.

"All right, Puff. You've had your fun. Take your beating like a man."

The inconsistency of the underlying meaning of the statement made him stare immediately, then he began dueling the pair, dodging, and casting as fast as he could. Just as the girl fell, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he hit the floor in front of the boy from the group with a Reductor, spinning and lifting his wand. Sarah stood in front of him, Theo Nott and the two bookends lying unconscious behind her. For a brief second, as he was drawing back the Cutting Curse he'd almost cast in Sarah's face, he wondered how they'd gotten around him.

"You almost hit her with a Cutter?"

Brahm bowed his head, mumbling out a soft "Yes." He took a breath and spoke. "I was scared. I yelled at her and she yelled back, then I stalked off, trying to get clear to cool off. I was ready for a fight then. Everything Algie taught me was right there, begging to be used. I had to get away from her. Now, I don't have to worry about it. I'm all alone now."

"Brahm…"

He was surprised that he cringed away, expecting at least a slap to the head. What he wasn't expecting was the strawberry blonde to lean over and wrap her arms around him. He hugged her back and found that his eyes were watering. "You don't have to do this. I know I'm just going to lose you, too. I lose everyone."

"Well, Sarah was right about one thing, Brahm. You are stupid. I'm not going anywhere." Susan just squeezed tighter, and they sat in near silence, the only sound being Brahm's breakdown into her shoulder. He was surprised to find that it felt really good to let it all out, the emotions at least. The one thing he had to hold back was the truth now, even if he wasn't working with her anymore, he wouldn't break Sarah's cover.

Susan whispered again. "I'm not leaving you behind. I'm going to be a thorn in your bum until one of us is in the ground."

Brahm just tightened his grip on her, torn between disbelief and gratitude.