* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART FOUR

Brave New World

Chapter 54: What Hurts the Most?

"Hermione!"

Hermione looked up and smiled, "Oh, hi, Viktor. What brings you down here?"

"Coffee, just like you," Viktor said. He motioned to the cup in her hand.

Hermione laughed, "Yeah…I guess that makes sense since we are standing next to the coffee cart. How are you finding the ministry then?"

"Ah, I love it," Viktor chirped. He paid for his coffee and smiled at her, "Very welcoming."

"So you think you'll stay?" Hermione asked conversationally as they walked back to the lifts together.

Viktor nodded, "Oh yes, I cannot see any reason to leave. I am looking at apartments next week, but I do not know London very well. Do you think you could maybe help me out?"

"Oh, I don't know London very well either," Hermione admitted, "I'm from Hertfordshire, but my fiancé knows London well. I'll ask him for a few pointers and let you know what he says."

"Fiancé?" Viktor asked with a raised eyebrow, "You and Ron are marrying, huh?"

"Ron? Oh, Merlin, no!" Hermione said with a shake of her head, "Ron and I are…well that didn't…it just didn't happen to be honest. No, I'm engaged to Draco, Draco Malfoy. Did you talk to him much when you were over for the tournament?"

Viktor nodded, "Yes, yes, I remember him. He was not pleasant to you as I remember. He made you cry, no?"

"He did," Hermione agreed, "But a lot changed after the war. It's complicated, I guess."

"You can catch me up over lunch next week?" Viktor suggested when the elevator came to a stop.

The elevator pinged, and Hermione pointed to the door, "This is your floor."

"Ah yes, I will get used to that," Viktor said. He shot her a smile and jumped out of the elevator.

"Todays the day!" Harry said cheerfully as he and the guys walked to the simulation room together after lunch.

"The big one!" Theo joined in.

Draco rolled his eyes.

"The one we've all been waiting for!" Harry exclaimed, "The day the pocket rocket finally joins us!"

"You're an idiot," Neville said as he tried to hide an amused smile.

Blanche snorted, "Do you know how jealous we are that you guys are getting proper missions while we're still stuck with fuckwit and fuckwittier?"

Ophelia sniggered, "They aren't that bad, and you are becoming a very good leader."

"Well, I've got to be, or those two will get us killed," Blanche said with a roll of her eyes, "I hope we get to come in with you guys soon."

"Fingers crossed," Harry said as they reached the waiting room in front of the simulation rooms. Maxwell and Emily were already there, as were Clara and Lilly.

Neville grinned at his girlfriend, and she waved at him.

Clara rolled her eyes, "Focus."

"I am focused," Lilly promised.

Sheppard clapped his hands together, "Right then, folks. Today we've got a missing person case in the junior room for Zabini, Wood, Harper and Wilde."

Maxwell rolled his eyes and scoffed.

Sheppard raised an eyebrow, "Something on your mind, Recruit?"

Maxwell crossed his arms over his chest and said, "How come we're still in the junior room? They've been in the intermediate room for two weeks now."

"To put it bluntly, Harper, you're still in the junior room because you're not good enough yet," Sheppard said.

"So it's not because the boy who lived and his sidekicks are getting preferential treatment then?" Maxwell asked irritably.

Clara laughed, "Preferential treatment? I think that's the first time anyone has accused you of that Shep."

"For good reason," Sheppard agreed, "The whole point of a simulation room is to get you battle ready, Harper. We can throw tests and knowledge at you; that's for paperwork. That's so you don't break the rules and regulations, but simulation room scenarios teach you how to fight."

Sheppard gestured at Harry, Neville, Draco and Theo, "Those four are battle-ready. Potter killed a Dark Lord, Longbottom killed a Horcrux and fought several Death Eaters in the final battle. Nott fought against the Death Eaters in the final battle, one of them being his own father. Black…well, Black handed Potter at his wand at the right moment and got hugged by Voldemort, but somehow he manages to keep up with the other three."

Harry and Neville burst out laughing while Lilly hid an amused grin behind her hand. Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head, "With all due respect, sir, that was a traumatic moment in my life that I try not to think about."

"Yeah, Black, I don't blame you," Sheppard joked, "Now Wood, where were you during the final battle?"

"Sheltering with my family, sir," Ophelia replied.

"And Zabini, where were you?"

"In hiding with my family, sir," Blanche replied.

"Wilde?"

"At home, sir," Emily answered.

"What about you, Harper?"

"Well, I fought," Maxwell argued, "I led the evacuation of the Slytherins."

"No, you didn't!" Theo spoke up, "My wife, Sadie, did that. Then she threw crystal balls at Death Eaters because she's fucking brilliant."

"I'm pretty sure Sadie told us that Harper just cowered in the corner and cried like a little girl," Draco remarked.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Theo agreed with a smirk.

Sheppard bit back a smile, "Enough, guys. But as punishment for speaking out, Harper, you and Wilde are going to spend the afternoons running laps."

"There's a thunderstorm outside!" Maxwell objected.

"Don't take any metal objects with you then," Sheppard retorted, "On you go."

Maxwell rolled his eyes and was scolded by Emily as they left the room.

"Wood, Zabini, you're going solo on that missing person case," Sheppard said.

"Thank Merlin for that," Blanche muttered.

Sheppard chuckled and ushered them into the room, then he turned to those that were left, "Okay guys, the fun times are over. Now you've got your healer – everyone say hello to Trainee Trauma Healer Lilly Moon."

The four boys all grinned and waved at her.

"Yes, I'm aware you're all acquainted with her," Sheppard added with an amused smile.

"Unfortunately, in the case of some," Lilly said, shooting a grin at Draco and Theo.

"Harsh, Lil," Theo said with a shake of his head.

Sheppard cleared his throat, "But when you go into that room together, you do so as colleagues, not friends. In that room, she's not your girlfriend, Longbottom. She's the Healer who is responsible for keeping you alive."

"Yes, sir," Neville said sincerely.

Sheppard continued, "We're starting you off with a big test," he waved his wand, and the light above the door began to flash red, "You know what red means, but do you know what flashing red means?"

Draco nodded, "The kill-switch is activated; anything goes."

"Exactly. Anything that happens to you in there really happens," Sheppard said sincerely, "You lose a leg, that's it gone. It'll be gone when the simulation ends. You die in there? You have a heart attack in real life so take it seriously. Take your time and keep each other safe."

They all nodded. Harry felt his heart pound in his chest as fear set in. He could act bravely in simulations, but it was a different story when he knew that it was real.

Sheppard opened the door and said, "A group of terrorists have launched an attack at a big Quidditch game. You arrive after a proximity charm has gone off underneath one of the stands. The perpetrators are still in the crowd, and it is your job to catch them without creating any further casualties. Any questions?"

They all shook their heads.

"Good luck then, guys," Sheppard said as he took a step back.

Harry led the way into the room, and the simulation began when Lilly and Clara shut the door. The scene was horrific; there were bodies and body parts everywhere within the vicinity of the stand where the explosion had taken place. People were screaming, panicking and apparating away.

Harry acted quickly and said, "Laqueus magus homines hic."

Lilly looked at Harry in disbelief, "What did you do that for? How are we going to get the people out now that you've put an Anti-Disapparition Jinx up?"

"Theo, you're in charge of portkeys," Harry said, without answering Lilly directly, "They will allow us to get more people out quickly, and this way, our perps can't apparate away. Draco, have his back while he's making them and keep an eye on the patients that our healers are working on. We don't know if any of the terrorists got caught up in it; they might be amongst the injured."

Theo and Draco both nodded.

Harry turned to Neville, "You and I will track the bad guys and arrest them."

Neville nodded, and Harry turned to Lilly, "You don't have the room or the time to set up a triage tent, so how do you want to do this?"

"We're going to need to create a tagging system," Lilly replied, "And Theo, I'm going to need those portkeys to be spelled to send patients to different areas of St Mungos. Everyone listen up! Have you guys worked with the traffic light system before?"

They all shook their heads, so Lilly said, "When you find an injured person, tag them. Green for the walking wounded: people who can wait for treatment. Yellow for those with serious injuries who are currently stable. Red for those who need to be treated straight away and have a chance of survival. Black for those who are dead or so far gone that it would be a waste of our resources to heal them. White for those with minor injuries or no injuries at all. The guys in the white zone can leave, but you're going to need someone to guard the apparition point so that none of the terrorists slips through it."

"It will have to be me," Draco said.

Harry nodded, "Set it up near the stand where the injured are so you can have Theo's back."

"Will do."

Lilly continued, "For our green guys, we're going to need a portkey that we can send back and forth from the minor injuries unit at the hospital. For our yellow guys, we're going to need one that we can send back and forth from accident and emergency. For our red guys, we need portkeys that will take them straight to intensive care," she rattled off, "And for the black zone guys, we need to portkey them to the morgue at St Mungos. It's going to be all hands on deck, so when you find someone, you use a paint charm to mark their head clearly, and you move them to the centre of the pitch here," she pointed, "Where Clara and I can start prioritising and clearing the pitch. Is everyone clear on that?"

"Yeah, all clear," Harry agreed, "Come on then, guys, let's get going!"

They all went their separate ways. Lilly and Clara headed for the stand where the majority of the wounded were, and Draco and Theo headed that way too.

Harry and Neville both started to walk in the opposite direction, "If you were a terrorist with a proximity charm on that stand, where would you sit?"

Neville nodded at the stand ahead of them, "There, straight ahead to get a clear view of all the carnage I was about to cause."

"And when the Aurors showed up and trapped you, where would you go?" Harry murmured.

"Under the stands so I could set up another proximity charm," Neville whispered, "Making a whole stand worth of hostages so that I could try and escape."

He flung out an arm and stopped Harry from walking any further and whispered, "Revelio."

A red barrier shone in front of them.

"Shit," Harry muttered.

"Yeah," Neville agreed. He glanced behind him and cast a Patronus charm, "Lilly, we've got a proximity charm under the stand directly ahead of you. Possibility of multiple casualties if anything sets it off."

He sent the Patronus across the pitch and turned back to Harry, "Any idea how we can get past it?"

Harry frowned, "I did it once, but it was risky…."

"You're talking about your morality test," Neville realised, "Turn the whole stand into a portkey?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah but doing so would cause another explosion, and if our perps are touching the stand, they'll get port-keyed out too."

Neville frowned and looked up at the stand, "The charm is only on the perimeter. We could drop in from above?"

"We'd go in blind with no idea of what we were facing," Harry said with a shake of his head, "I have an idea, but it's risky."

"What is it?" Neville asked.

"I've been practising fire flashing in my animagus form," Harry admitted, "I know I can flash myself in there, but I've never tried taking another person in."

"Well, you're not going in there without back-up, so how are we going to do this?" Neville asked.

"I'll transform, you hold onto my tail feathers tightly, and I'll flash us through. It might hurt; I've never taken a human along for the ride before," Harry explained.

"I'll take the risk," Neville said.

Harry nodded and shut his eyes. He drowned out the screams and concentrated. He felt a warm tingling in his head begin to work its way down to his feet, and when he opened his eyes, he was hovering in the air. He flew up a little, and Neville grabbed his tail feathers. He shut his eyes once more, concentrated on getting through the charm, and he and Neville disappeared in a flash of fire.

When they rematerialised on the other side of the proximity charm, Harry transformed back into human form while Neville gasped in alarm, "That was horrible! That was worse than apparition or floo travel. I felt like I just stepped into a fucking fire!"

"Right, you okay now?" Harry asked calmly, "You had your moment because we've got bad guys to catch."

Neville took a breath, "Yeah, I'm over it."

He cast a charm that revealed four magical signatures beneath the stands, "There are two of them."

"One each," Harry joked.

"Don't joke; you know how high the stakes are today," Neville said carefully, "What do we do when we find them? Immobilise them so they can't set off the proximity charm."

"We need them to lift it, remember?"

"I know," Harry said, "I've got a plan, just use petrificus totalus on them the moment that you see them, okay?"

"Okay."

"Let's move in."

They ducked underneath the stands and walked slowly and carefully, with their wands held out in front of them. They heard whispering, so Harry motioned to Neville, and they crept towards it. As they peered around a wooden beam, Neville gave Harry a thumbs up, and they both jumped out.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Both men were immediately immobilised, so Harry said, "Bind the hands and legs of that one."

"Incarcerous!" They said, binding the men's limbs together.

Harry uttered the counter curse to petrificus totalus then hit the perpetrator with a compulsion charm.

His eyes became unfocused, and Harry said, "Take the proximity charm off, now."

The perpetrator raised his wand and slurred a word, which was obviously the password for the proximity charm.

Harry looked at Neville. His Auror partner cast a diagnostic charm and nodded, "He did it."

"Stupefy! Excellent," Harry said.

Neville, on the other hand, frowned, "Don't you think that felt too-"

He stopped when a loud crack sounded above. They both raised their wands and began to say, "Prote-"

But before they could finish putting up shield charms, a third perpetrator came through the wooden floor of the stand above and slapped something on Neville's chest.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, hitting the perp square in the back, "Incarcerous!"

Neville cried out in pain, and Harry spun around, "Neville!"

He grasped his chest and tried to suck in a breath, but he couldn't.

"What did he do?" Harry asked as he grabbed Neville's shoulders.

"He slapped someone on my chest, a bug," Neville hissed, "And it's inside me."

"Fuck!" Harry exclaimed, "A fucking scarab beetle!"

He took a step back and aimed his wand at a spot on Neville's chest that was rippling, "Immobulus!"

Neville hissed in pain, "What did you do?"

"Immobilised it before it could reach your brain and kill you," Harry replied.

"How do you know-"

"Something Daphne read up on a while ago," Harry said quickly, "They are often found in Egyptian tombs, so Bill told her to read up on how to extract them."

"So you can take it out?"

"Yeah, but not on my own; I need Lil," Harry said calmly, "Right, this is what we're going to do. I'm going to levitate these guys, and we're going to walk across the grounds to Lilly. You need to keep watch because I can't."

Neville swallowed, "Why?"

"Because if I stop using immobulus, that thing is going to burrow its way to your brain, and it's going to chew through your spinal cord to get there. At best, it will paralyse you and, at worst, kill you," Harry retorted, "So you need to keep watch until we get to the middle of the pitch where Lilly can cut it out of you."

"You could have started that sentence with 'Don't panic Neville, but-' you know?"

"Would it have helped?"

"Not really, but still…."

"Come on; time is of the essence here," Harry said. With his left hand, he clicked his fingers and flicked them up into the air, which levitated the three bodies behind them.

When Harry began to walk, they floated behind them. Neville walked in front of him slowly, his hand grasping his wand as they crossed the pitch to the area of grass where Lilly and Clara were rushing around. Portkeys were going off, and people were disappearing every few seconds; it was complete chaos.

"Draco!" Harry yelled, "Get these guys more secure than I've got them!"

Draco dashed forward, "Is that all of them?"

"As far as I'm aware," Harry replied, "Where's Theo? Lilly! We need you over here!"

"He's evacuating the last of the white zone guys," Draco replied as he knocked out the guy who was just petrified then bound all three of them together.

Lilly reached them, and Harry said, "Don't panic, but he has a scarab beetle in his chest."

"Oh, so she gets a 'don't panic'?" Neville joked.

"Neville, not now," Harry snapped, "You know what a scarab beetle is, don't you?"

Lilly frowned, "I've heard of them-"

"Small, burrowing creature," Harry said quickly, "It wants to go to his brain, I've got it immobilised, but you need to cut it out."

"If I open him up, can't you just kill it?" Lilly asked.

"No, because it has a fail-safe. If we kill it while it's attached to the host, it will start to rot, and Neville's organs will rot with it," Harry said, "It needs to be cut out while it's alive, then we need to burn the fuck out of it."

"Okay," Lilly said, "Lie down, Neville."

Neville did so, while Harry kept his wand trained on Neville's chest.

Lilly ripped open Neville's shirt and cast a diagnostic charm on his chest, which showed her Neville's bones, internal organs and veins.

"Okay," She said slowly, "It is attached to a muscle but not to any major organs or veins. Harry, do not let it move because if you do, it's going to be too near his heart for me to cut out."

Harry nodded, "Get it out, now."

"What happens if I cast a numbing charm?" Lilly asked, "Does it act like any other creature and try to defend itself?"

"Yeah, if we use any magic on Neville's body, it will defend itself. He's going have to feel all of this," Harry said. He glanced down at Neville and added, "Sorry, mate."

Neville took a shaky breath in response, "You can do it, Lil. I've seen how steady your hand is."

Lilly rummaged in her bag for a scalpel and said, "This isn't the Room of Requirement, Nev."

Neville's skin rippled, and Harry's wand jerked, "Lilly, now! I can't hold the damn thing forever."

Lilly kept her diagnostic charm up to make sure that she didn't nick any arteries and made an extended, thin cut just under Neville's pec.

He groaned in pain and fought to keep himself still. Harry glanced up as Theo returned, "Theo! Draco! Little help over here!"

The two Slytherins reached them, and Harry said, "Theo, take his arms. Draco, take his legs. We need to keep him as still as possible so Lilly can do her job."

Both men did as they were told silently. Lilly handed the scalpel to Harry and used gauze to lift the skin. Theo, who was holding Neville's arms, made a face and averted his gaze.

"There's the bastard," Lilly muttered, "Harry, you said I can't use magic to get it out of him. Can I pull it off with surgical tweezers?"

"Yes, but it's attached itself to him. You need to zap it with an electric current first," Harry replied.

"And how do I do that without magic?" Lilly asked as panic set in.

"You're the muggle-born," Harry said, looking her in the eye, "Be your usual genius self and pull a miracle out of the bag, Lil, please."

Lilly looked down at the beetle, "Second-hand magic. Draco, go into that bag and take out a small jar; it's impenetrable."

Draco rummaged in the bag and grabbed it.

"Open it," Lilly ordered.

Draco did so, and Lilly said, "Theo, cast a lightning charm into the jar and Draco, seal it with magic."

Theo conjured lightning and channelled it into the jar, then Draco shut the lid and levitated the jar to Lilly.

"Okay," Lilly said. She took a deep breath, "Harry, can you levitate this with your other hand?"

Harry nodded and took over, "So I press the jar against his chest, and then you pry it off the second it loosens its grip?"

Lilly nodded, "Draco, Theo: hold on as tight as possible."

She turned to look at Neville, "This is going to the most painful thing that has ever happened to you. It is going to hurt like hell, and I am so sorry, but you have to try really hard not to thrash, okay?"

Neville nodded, "Okay," he said, his eyes meeting hers.

Lilly pried her eyes away from his and looked at Harry, "Go."

Harry pressed the jar against Neville's chest, and he screamed in pain. Draco and Theo held him down, and Harry levitated the jar away when the scarab beetle loosened its grip.

Lilly picked it up with the tweezers and hissed in pain as an electric shock shot up her arm. She threw the beetle down on the ground and yelled, "Incendio!"

"Protego!" Draco added.

A blue bubble encased the fire, and as Lilly looked past it, she saw Clara give her a thumbs up from where she was healing people in the red zone a little further down the pitch.

"Leave it to burn itself into extinction," Draco said by way of explanation, "They are hardy little fuckers."

Lilly nodded and turned back to Neville, "How are you?"

Neville was sweating. He shook his head, "Everything…hurts."

Lilly nodded, "I know, I'm sorry, babe," she twisted her wand and pressed it against his chest. Neville breathed a sigh of relief as a full-body numbing charm began to soothe his aches.

"I just need to sterilise the wound and seal him back up," Lilly said as she lifted her head to inform Harry.

Harry nodded and, out of the corner of his eye, saw a flash of light. He saw the green before he heard the words, "Avada Kedavra!"

The green light flew at Lilly's back, and in the split-second that he had to consider his options, he realised that if he pushed Lilly out of the way, the curse would hit Neville, which left him with only one option. He jumped to the side and threw himself in front of the curse, and it hit him square in the chest.

"Harry!" Several voices screamed as he fell.

Neville made to move, but Lilly stopped him, "No! You'll bleed out if I don't seal this!"

"But Harry!"

Lilly sealed the wound shakily and quickly, then Neville scrambled to his knees while Draco and Theo stunned the perpetrator and bound him.

"I…" Draco said, "I was in charge of the wounded. I was in charge of the fucking wounded Theo!"

Theo wrapped his arms around his best friend, "Nobody could have predicted that, Draco. We all had our backs turned."

"But Harry…"

"I know," Theo said. He swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at Harry's limp, lifeless body.

"No!" Neville yelled as he rested his head on Harry's chest, "No! No!"

"Neville-"

Neville shook her arm off, "No, Lilly! He doesn't get to go through a war and survive all of that just to die in a fucking simulation! It's not right; it's not fucking right!"

Lilly drew Neville into her arms as he let out a heart-wrenching sob.

"He jumped in front of a killing curse to save us," Neville said tearfully, "He saved your life."

Then, in a flash, the scene around them disappeared. Draco took a step back from Theo and looked around, "What the…."

"No fucking way," Theo muttered as a window materialised on the wall in front of them.

Neville looked up and pulled away from Lilly, a frown knitting its way across his face.

The window was pulled open, and Sumner and Sheppard peered out of it.

"That was a test, guys," Sheppard said.

"Ennervate!" Sumner added, pointing his wand at Harry.

Harry blinked his eyes open and looked around blearily, "What the hell?"

Neville looked up at the Aurors furiously, "No."

"Longbottom-"

"NO!" Neville roared, "Is this just a fucking game to you? Do you think it's fun to make me think I'm watching my best friend die? Because I've been there and done that! I ended up with a fucking sorting hat burning on my head while I did too! Do you remember that? Do you? Were you even there?"

"We didn't know that he would do that-" Sumner began to say.

"You didn't know that he would jump in front of a killing curse to save the people that he loves?" Neville bellowed, "Because in case you forgot, he's done it once before!"

"We were testing you," Sumner said calmly, "We needed to see how you would react if Moon got killed on the job."

"Oh, great!" Neville remarked sarcastically, "So you made a mistake? You didn't mean for me to see my best friend get murdered? You just meant for me to see my girlfriend get murdered instead because that's so much better?"

"Longbottom-"

"No, you don't get to play with our heads like that!" Neville snapped, "This is our life; these are the people that we love. I know I can cope and carry on when someone I love dies because it's already bloody happened! We all lost someone we loved in the final battle; I had to end the life of a girl I had known for seven years because a werewolf had mauled her! Draco and Theo had to watch the girl they both loved die trying to shield Draco and Harry; Harry's lost more than most people can take! So no, you didn't need to test us to know that we can carry on regardless because you already know that!"

"Enough!" Sumner snapped, "You would do well to remember that we are your superiors, Longbottom. Sheppard, take him to the brig."

Sheppard nodded, "Yes, sir."

Neville was just beginning to acquaint himself with the brig (which was a tiny, pitch-black room lined with lead to prevent the use of magic) when the door was opened, and someone else was thrown in roughly.

"Hey, Nev."

Neville rolled his eyes in the darkness, "What did you do?"

"Defended you," Harry said evasively.

"You wouldn't have gotten thrown in here for defending me," Neville remarked, "So what did you do?"

"You could say that it was a passionate defence," Harry said, amusement lining his voice, "I might have called Sumner a fuckwit of the highest order."

"You're going to get us fired," Neville muttered.

"I doubt it," Harry said sheepishly as he sat down next to Neville, "This is cosy, isn't it?"

"It's a prison cell," Neville said dryly.

"I've stayed in worse places," Harry remarked.

"Did you really call Sumner that?"

"Yeah, which landed us both in here overnight but don't worry, Lil will probably stay with Daphne tonight," Harry said offhandedly.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Harry said, "She seemed pretty pissed off when I left, but I doubt they'll chuck her in here with us."

"They can't; she's not an Auror," Neville said, "She answers to Clara, not them."

"Yeah," Harry said thoughtfully, "On the bright side, though, we have 16 hours together now to bond over how I'm not dead."

"That's not funny, Harry," Neville said quietly.

"Yeah, Nev, I know it's not."

In the darkness, he felt Neville shuffle so that he was sitting right next to Harry, their shoulders touching.

"You threw yourself in front of a killing curse."

"It was going to hit Lilly, and if I pushed her out of the way, it would have hit you," Harry said softly, "So I did the only logical thing that I could think of and threw myself in front of it."

"But you didn't know that it was a test," Neville said quietly, "You thought it was real."

"Yeah."

"So you would have died to save Lilly and me."

"Yeah, and I'd make the same decision again in a heartbeat."

"No," Neville said firmly, "You don't get to make that decision. You don't get to decide that Daphne is strong enough to raise Teddy on her own. You don't get to say, 'Oh, but Nev, you and Lilly would look after her'. This isn't the war, Harry. This is real life, and if you had died today…I'd have fucking lost it, okay? I'd have lost control of my magic, and I'd have done something terrible."

"Are you saying that I'm your stabilising factor? The thing that keeps you on the straight and narrow and keeps…."

"My magic pure?" Neville finished, "Yeah, I think you probably are."

"It's funny cause that's what you are to me," Harry said honestly, "Without you, I'd be an alcoholic bum with no job, no Daphne, no Teddy…."

"Well, clearly we can't survive without each other, so no more jumping in front of killing curses, okay?"

"Yeah, I think that's a deal that I can agree to."

"Good," Neville said, "How pissed off do you think Daphne's going to be when Lil tells her what happened?"

"I don't even want to think about it," Harry grimaced.

"Yeah, me neither," Neville admitted.

Daphne was singing along to the radio when the front door of Potter Manor opened, "I'm in the kitchen, babe!"

She opened the oven and took a casserole dish out. As she placed it on a pot stand and turned around, a frown formed on her face, "Lilly?"

Lilly smiled, "Hey."

Daphne shook her head and pulled her oven gloves off, "No, you were in simulation with them today, and now they're not here, but you are-"

"They are fine," Lilly promised as she took her cardigan off and picked Teddy up as he grabbed onto her leg, "But they won't be home tonight."

"Why?" Daphne asked, "What happened?"

Lilly pulled a bar of Honeydukes chocolate out of her pocket, and Teddy began to bounce on her hip.

"Lil, he didn't even finish his dinner," Daphne added.

"Shh, fun Aunt Lil can give him chocolate whenever she wants to," Lilly said as she unwrapped the bar and handed Teddy a square, "Because it's so yummy, isn't it?"

Daphne smiled slightly at her ridiculous baby voice, "I thought you didn't like kids?"

"Well, I like this one," Lilly admitted as Teddy began to make happy noises. Lilly turned to look at Daphne, "We did have our first simulation today, and they tested us. They told us that the room was live and that the kill-switch was on."

Daphne frowned, "The kill-switch?"

"Yeah," Lilly said as she popped Teddy back down on the floor, "Meaning that everything that happened in the simulation was really going to happen to us, including death."

"What?" Daphne snapped, "But they've only been there a few months-"

"I know," Lilly said, placing her hands on Daphne's shoulders, "Just hear me out, okay?"

Daphne took a breath and nodded.

"They lied, the room wasn't live at all, but they wanted to see how Neville would react to me dying in the field," Lilly explained, "Only, they didn't account for Harry's hero complex, and he jumped in front of the killing curse to save Neville and me."

Daphne sat down at the kitchen table heavily, "He thought he was going to die, didn't he?"

Lilly nodded, "Yeah, and Neville thought Harry was dead, so he kind of lost it in the simulation. Do you remember how you described Theo reacting during the war when the Carrows told you that Draco was dead?"

Daphne nodded.

"It was like that," Lilly said quietly, "And when the simulation ended…neither of them were very happy about the way it had been handled."

"Which one of them lost it?" Daphne asked, looking up at her best friend.

"Neville," Lilly admitted, "He went mental at them and got dragged off to the brig, then Harry defended him. But he must have finally learned something from you because he didn't lose his temper. He was just cold, logical and cutting about the whole thing. He called Sumner a fuckwit of the highest order then threatened to expel Sheppard's entrails if he ever put them through something like that again. So he got thrown into the brig with Neville."

"Overnight?" Daphne asked in surprise.

Lilly nodded, "They get out at 8 am tomorrow. I need to go in for the debriefing; that probably has something to do with the bat-bogey hex I hit Sheppard with."

Daphne snorted, "How did you not get thrown in the brig?"

"Because I don't answer to them, I answer to Clara," Lilly said with a smirk.

"And let me guess, she gave you a slap on the wrist and told you to go home?" Daphne guessed.

"Yep," Lilly smirked, "Only I didn't much feel like going to Longbottom House, so I came here. I know you don't sleep well without Harry, so I figured we could keep each other company."

"Great idea, you can get up with the teething werewolf baby that you just fed chocolate," Daphne said with a grin.

"Oh, no, no. I'm here for comfort and hugs, not babysitting," Lilly teased, "I'm cool Aunt Lilly. I feed him chocolate, and I don't pace the house soothing him. That's your job."

"We'll see about them when it gets to 4 am, and I'm demented," Daphne snorted.

* ~ TBC ~ *