* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART FIVE
Blame it on Hate
Love Can Change the Weather
The chapter title is from the song:
Chances by Five for Fighting.
Harry felt far more nervous than he thought he would when Monday rolled around. He had barely slept the night before, and his family had bombarded him with attention that morning
When he got into the DMLE, it was like a ghost town because it was still so early in the morning. The big announcement would come, but before that, he had to meet with the Head of the DMLE.
Harry took a deep breath and knocked on the door of Tiberius McLaggen's office.
"Enter," A curt voice ordered.
Harry stepped inside and forced a polite smile onto his face.
"Good morning, sir."
Tiberius – a slightly overweight man with greying brown hair that was getting sparse around his hairline - smiled back, but Harry could tell it was a false smile.
"Good morning, Harry. Please – sit."
Harry sat down opposite his desk and looked up at him confidently.
"I believe it is a tradition that we meet before the formal announcement?"
"Indeed," Tiberius said, "Your appointment as Head Auror was a rather strange one."
"Was it?" Harry asked, feigning innocence.
Tiberius surveyed him carefully.
"It went above my head, straight to the Minister for Magic."
"I see," Harry said.
"The Minister who fought for the same faction as you in the Second Wizarding War," Tiberius continued, keeping his tone even and giving nothing away.
Harry raised an eyebrow at his boss.
"I'm sorry, are you suggesting that I was given this job because of who I am?"
"I was merely stating a fact," Tiberius remarked, "And I wished to make it known that I do not appreciate Head Aurors who undermine me."
"I have no intention of doing that, sir," Harry promised.
"Good," Tiberius said carefully, "Because if you ever get any smart ideas about going over my head, I suspect the Daily Prophet would catch wind of your recent struggles with firewhiskey."
"Hmm," Harry said with a sincere nod, "Yes, I do suspect that would look bad for the department. I would be stripped of my job, possibly even my rank."
"Indeed," Tiberius agreed, a small smirk making its way onto his face.
"I wonder what would happen to you if the Daily Prophet found out that the only reason that Belinda Zabini got her dream promotion to Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic was through her talents in your bed," Harry said smoothly, "Or perhaps in your office. I suspect you would have wanted to keep your transgressions with her as a secret from your wife and sons."
Tiberius did not let Harry's words openly shock him. He fixed Harry with a penetrating look then, after an endless minute, smiled and held out his hand.
"You understand bureaucracy just fine. It seems we will get on better than I had expected."
Harry smirked and took his outstretched hand.
"My Father-in-Law is Cygnus Greengrass. I am not some green Muggle-born who you can boss around as you did with Sheppard."
Tiberius did not seem fazed by these words, "You are a Potter. I expect nothing less of you. I must say it is a pleasure to see a true Potter working in the department once again. Your father, as noble as he was, was not built for politics and nor was your grandfather."
"In all fairness, I think we can attribute a large portion of my affinity with politics to my wife," Harry admitted with a smile.
Tiberius bowed his head.
"Lady Daphne Greengrass, yes, you did marry well."
"I did," Harry agreed, which pleased Tiberius because he, of course, meant it from a status point of view, but Harry meant it in an entirely different way.
Tiberius stood and motioned to the door.
"Shall we make our way into the department? Some reporters in your office would like to ask you a few questions before the announcement."
"Of course," Harry said, his nerves all but abandoning him now that the day had begun.
"Good morning!"
Daphne yawned, "Is it? It doesn't feel like a good morning."
Bill raised an eyebrow at her.
"Did you get that blood sample from Astoria?"
Daphne put a vial of blood down on the desk in answer to his question.
"Excellent," Bill remarked, "I received word this morning from the contractor in our new building. It is watertight, free of mould, and as of tomorrow, work will begin on the interior."
Daphne perked up at this, "Did you go with the set of plans that I provided?"
"I did," Bill confessed, "You will have your mezzanine office on the top floor with a general reception area on the bottom floor, along with a secure filing room and a – how did you call it – zen, waiting area?"
Daphne grinned, "Yes, thank you, Bill."
Bill smiled, "I do have one question for you."
"Just one?" Daphne quipped.
"Why just one office?" Bill asked.
"The premises are small, and yes, we could make them bigger," Daphne agreed, "But we don't need to. We've spent the last five years working out of this little room, and I like it."
Bill shot her an amused look.
"Are you trying to say, without actually putting it into words, that you would miss me if we didn't share an office anymore?"
Daphne smiled genuinely at him.
"It's called Potter and Weasley Curse Breaking for a reason, Bill. I can't do it without you, and you can't do it without me. We have always been a team, so why would we have two separate offices?"
"Aw Daphne, I love you too," Bill said with a broad grin, "You're the little sister I never wanted."
Daphne snorted, "Don't let Ginny hear you saying that."
Bill just chuckled, "I made you smile though, didn't I?"
"For half a second, maybe," Daphne agreed grudgingly. "But I am not in a smiling mood today. There is an ancient curse on my family, and I have no idea how to break it."
"Luckily for you, I do," Bill said.
Without another word, he poured the vial of blood into a small glass dish then cast an intricate charm on it. A strand of DNA wove itself into the air, and numbers began to manifest themselves above it.
Daphne frowned, "Is it double encrypted?"
Bill nodded, "We'll need to break through this level of encryption before we can even see the curse and…did you say the Selwyn's did this?"
Daphne nodded, "They are a dark family, properly dark, unlike the Crouch's. We're just typical Slytherins. We've always done what we needed to do to survive."
"I can tell that the Selwyn's are a dark family," Bill said sincerely, "Because of that mark right there."
The 'mark' was glimmering with a purple tinge amongst the golden letters. It was a dark magic mark that meant death or danger.
Daphne paled, "If we get this wrong, we die?"
Bill swallowed and looked her in the eye.
"Go."
Daphne fixed him with a stern look.
"What did you just say?"
"I said go," Bill said sternly, "I'll do this. You have four children."
"And you have Victoire," Daphne said, "You have Lara, you have Charlie, and Merlin knows he needs you more than the rest. I don't know what part of 'Potter and Weasley Curse Breaking is a partnership' that you didn't understand, William."
Bill sighed, "Daphne-"
"I'm staying," Daphne said firmly, "And we'll break this together. We'll work it out on the board. We'll run a hundred tests and diagnostics until we're sure, but we do it together. understood?"
Bill's jaw set in protest, but he nodded all the same.
"Understood."
Harry's morning had been as chaotic as he had expected it to be. The reporters had forced him to answer questions for at least an hour. Then they had photographed him with Tiberius McLaggen – a picture he was sure would be on the front page of every newspaper in Britain the following morning. When he finally thought the ordeal was over, Tiberius had marched him out of his office to make the official announcement.
Kingsley had stood on one side of him, and Tiberius had stood on the other. The Aurors lined the corridor, whispering excitedly, photographers were poised at the ready, and someone was recording the audio, probably to play it on repeat on the Wizarding Wireless Network for the next week.
Kingsley put a proud hand on Harry's shoulder and boomed, as only he could.
"I am incredibly proud to announce that today marks the appointment of Harry Potter as Head Auror."
At this, the Aurors all burst into applause, and Harry smiled gratefully at them.
"The youngest Head Auror the department has ever seen," Kingsley continued above the noise, "And rightfully so."
"Hear hear!" Someone, Harry thought it was Percy, yelled.
"Speech!" Oliver yelled.
Harry chuckled and shook his head.
"There is no need for a speech!"
"Youngest Head Auror the department has ever seen?" Theo's voice called, "There needs to be a bloody speech!"
"Speech! Speech!" The other Aurors chanted.
Kingsley smiled at Harry.
"Your people have spoken."
Harry shook his head, grateful that spontaneous speeches were a talent of his. If he tried to plan anything or wrote anything down, he always forgot it. The best speeches were the ones that came from the heart, after all.
"Alright!" Harry cut in, "I'll give you a speech!"
They cheered then fell silent.
Harry smiled out at them all.
"Thank you all for your support. I appreciate it, and that's because I feel like I got here by earning your respect, not by being feared like some Head Aurors before me were, and not by being given the position based on who I am."
The hallway was silent, bar the clicking of cameras and the scratching of quick-quotes quills.
"I like to think that I know every one of you fairly well," Harry promised, "I have faith that every single person in this room would die for the person standing next to them, and that's the way that this department should operate. We are more than wizarding law enforcers. We are a family – my predecessors called us a brotherhood, but some of the best amongst us are women, so I think that statement is a little out of date."
Elizabeth smiled proudly at him.
"After the war with Voldemort, this department was broken. I told our Minister then that I would not lead it until I felt that we had fixed it, and together, we have. I look at all of you today, and I don't see any faces that I feel are untrustworthy. I don't see anyone who I worry will deceive me. I would trust every single one of you with my life, and that is how I know, after years of corruption, that we are finally true to the pledge we all recite when we receive our badges. I know that pledge means something again."
All around the room, people nodded.
Harry bowed his head and raised his hand.
"If they stand behind you, give them protection."
The other Aurors all raised their hands too.
Harry continued, "If they stand beside you, give them respect."
He nodded at Draco, who nodded right back at him. All around the room, other Aurors nodded at their partners in the same way.
Harry brought his hand to his heart, and the Aurors all mimicked him.
"If they stand in front of you, watch their back."
Harry looked out at the sea of Aurors, and they all spoke as one to finish the pledge.
"And if they stand against you, show them no mercy."
The Aurors all cheered and clapped once more, but Harry paid no attention to them. He looked across the hall at Draco for approval. The blonde man smiled and mouthed, 'Well done', which made Harry grin broadly.
It had felt like the dawning of a new era when they all became Aurors after the war, but this felt like the dawn of a new age.
"Bill – it's going to work."
Bill sighed, "We can't be sure-"
"We have done three test runs," Daphne said pointedly, "This is it. If we keep waiting, we're going to talk ourselves out of it when we have the solution right here."
She motioned irritably to the board.
Bill looked at it warily.
"We face curses with booby traps all of the time, Bill," Daphne pointed out, "What's so different about this one?"
"Nothing," Bill admitted.
"Then why the hesitation?" Daphne asked, frowning at her partner, "The skull in France had an instant death curse on it. The diamond in Africa nearly disembowelled you; we were lucky that Lilly had tagged along on that trip, and let's not even get into the close call with the amputation curse on the Egyptian scroll."
"I know," Bill said quietly, "We've nearly died on more than one occasion in the past. You've saved my arse, I've saved yours, we've kept each other alive. Logic dictates that this is no different."
"And logic normally wins with you, but your head isn't beating your heart right now," Daphne said, looking him in the eye, "Why?"
Bill dropped all pretences and let his guard down completely.
"Lara's pregnant."
Daphne nodded and twirled her wand around in her hand absentmindedly.
"Well, that makes sense."
Bill frowned and was about to ask her what she meant or what had given it away. But before he could, she had pointed her wand at the writing in the air and cast what they thought was the counter-curse.
"Daphne!" Bill exclaimed in horror as the golden light enveloped the room.
It was over in seconds, and as they both blinked the bright light away, they could see that the counter-curse had worked.
"That was fucking stupid!" Bill snapped.
"But it worked."
"You could have killed yourself!" Bill barked, "You could have killed both of us!"
"But I didn't because I had faith in our ability," Daphne said, gripping Bill's arm and forcing him to look her in the eye, "You didn't want to cast that counter-curse because Lara is pregnant and for the first time in a long time you're terrified because you have something to lose. I had to cast that counter-curse because if I don't break this, my daughter, my baby girl, is going to turn into a monster."
Bill took a breath to steady his nerves and looked up at the curse, which could now be seen clearly – the letters were scrambled, and they had just come across another stumbling block.
"It's in ancient French," Daphne said.
Bill groaned, "Can any of your friends read it?"
"Not reliably," Daphne admitted, "Hermione recognises the odd word, and Sadie knows a translation spell, but that won't work on a scrambled curse like this. Theo is our best bet, but I don't think even he could piece this together. It would take someone who was both well educated and fluent."
"Someone from a French pureblooded family," Bill said, looking her in the eye.
Daphne nodded, "You need to call her."
"Great," Bill said dryly, "On the day I find out my wife is pregnant, I need to call my ex-wife."
"You just found out today?" Daphne asked in disbelief, "Merlin, no wonder you're tetchy. In light of that bit of news, what I just did was a dick move."
"Thanks for realising that," Bill muttered under his breath.
After the reporters and photographers left the building, Harry gathered the Aurors up again for a less official announcement.
"I know today is supposed to be all about me, but I think all of you know that I'm not an 'all about me' kind of guy," Harry said with a smile, "So let's make today about something far more useful than me being appointed Head Auror."
He had caught their attention, and only a handful of people could predict what he was going to say.
"That being said, I would like you all to congratulate Theodore Nott on the map of London that he has created. He has completed it, and we will utilise it straight away," Harry said proudly.
"Not only will the map revolutionise this department. It is also the first step in improving our ability to survey London, protecting the lives of many witches and wizards."
There was a round of applause. Theo did a mock bow and whispered to Draco.
"Do you want to hear what I've got planned next?"
"I don't think I do, no," Draco replied.
Theo beamed at Draco, his eyes glinting mischievously.
"Killer sharks with laserbeams attached to their heads."
"You need to stop watching movies," Neville muttered from Theo's other side.
Draco shook his head in amusement.
"This is just your dream job, isn't it?"
"They pay me to be a crazy inventor. Are you kidding me? Of course, it's my dream job!"
"Well, they say that women marry men that remind them of their Father," Neville joked, patting Theo on the shoulder, "Just don't invent bombs like Sadie's dad did."
"Yeah, I don't have any intention of doing that," Theo said honestly, "But sharks with-"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because they would only work underwater!"
"What if I made them capable of flying and living on land?" Theo asked.
"Then they would be horrifically terrifying," Draco said, raising an eyebrow at Theo, "And would you be able to train them, or would they eat Aurors as well as bad guys?"
Theo grimaced, "Good point. I guess I'll go back to the drawing board and work on my idea of self-flying patrol broomsticks."
"Now that is a good idea," Neville said with a nod.
Draco nodded, "Yeah, definitely go back to the drawing board with that one and never mention the shark thing again."
"Okay, deal."
Harry watched their antics in amusement, but with a little bit of longing too. He wasn't the guy standing in the middle, slagging off Theo and not having to worry about anything. He was the guy standing up here, making the announcement, surveying things, keeping them alive. He could see why it got to some people who weren't used to having that kind of pressure put on them.
He headed back into his office, hoping for a little bit of quiet, but that didn't happen. By the time Harry got any time to himself, it was past lunchtime, and he was so glad to see all of the reporters and photographers leave the building. He had just sat down with a cup of coffee when a knock sounded on the door.
"Yes?" Harry called.
Elizabeth opened it and ducked her head in.
"Lux Montgomery is here to see you."
Harry sat up straight and nodded.
"Of course. Please send her in, Liz."
Elizabeth smiled at him and opened the door fully. Lux stepped inside, and Elizabeth left.
"How are you doing, Lux?" Harry began.
Lux sighed and shrugged, "As well as we can, I suppose. Ivy is…she seems desensitised to the whole thing, but I suppose that was the years of abuse she suffered under our mother."
Harry thought about Vernon and how little he would care if the foul man was hit by a car tomorrow. He nodded.
"That's common. I do know that Ivy is doing well. She asked to come back to work as soon as she was able to."
Lux swallowed and nodded.
"It's you I'm concerned about," Harry said honestly.
"It's hard," Lux said, "I won't lie and pretend that it isn't. She had her flaws, but she was ultimately my mother, and for the most part, she cared about me. I find it hard to get past the way she treated Ivy, but she did love me. Before Kai died, she loved all of us."
Harry surveyed her while she spoke.
"Do you recall a Slytherin student who was a few years younger than you? She was called Daphne Greengrass?"
Lux frowned and looked up at Harry.
"Yes, although she's Daphne Potter now, isn't she?"
"She is," Harry said with a small smile, "But when she was still Daphne Greengrass, she had to deal with her mother going to jail for attempted murder – the attempted murder of her father. I think if anyone can understand the turmoil that you are going through, it might be her. She would happily meet you for a coffee one day if you thought that would help?"
Lux nodded, "I think it might," she admitted.
"I'll get her to owl you," Harry said, cocking his head at Lux, "But this might brighten your mood."
Lux looked up abruptly.
"How do you feel about getting your rank back?" Harry asked her, "I would have to start you as a Junior in a relatively minor department, but Elizabeth and I both feel that Sheppard unfairly dismissed you."
Lux didn't seem to believe it.
"You would make me an Auror again?"
"If that was what you wanted," Harry said. For a moment, he doubted himself. Maybe he had read her wrong. Perhaps she was glad to be free of the department.
"Of course that's what I want," Lux said quickly. She looked up at Harry, "You'll let me come back?"
Harry nodded, "I believe in second chances. I don't think we should cast people out for one wrong move, especially when it was an emotionally charged you as it was in your case. I think you need some more time to process your grief, so I suggest that you formally return to the department a week today. There will be paperwork to sign before that as well, unfortunately," he said with a roll of his eyes.
Lux chuckled, "There always is."
Harry smiled at her, "I would be putting you in Fraud and partnering you up with Blanche Zabini. Her partner needs to go to the training centre for a few months, so it would be a temporary measure, to begin with."
Unlike Blanche had, Lux didn't let on that there was any reason she shouldn't work with Blanche or that there was any history.
"I understand, sir."
Harry shook his head, "Call me, Harry. Yes, I'm your boss, but we're all equal, we all completed the same training, we've all faced the same hurdles to get where we are right now."
Lux looked at him strangely then she smiled.
"I can see why they call you a revolutionary, Harry."
Harry smiled broadly at that, then politely dismissed her. When she was gone, Elizabeth popped back.
"Well played."
"I wasn't playing it at all," Harry admitted, "Everything I told her was the truth. I just kept some of my more irate thoughts about John to myself."
Elizabeth sighed, "Nobody is angrier at John than John himself."
"I know," Harry confessed, "But I keep coming back to what seemed like a small mistake and realising the waves that it caused. If Lux had stayed in the department, would her mother have been allowed to kill so many people? Or would she have cottoned on and told us that she suspected her mother?"
"We can only guess, and you should know better than anyone, living your life based on 'what if's is dangerous," Elizabeth warned, her eyes meeting his.
Harry swallowed and nodded.
"You're right," he agreed, "No more what if's."
Daphne had forgotten how beautiful Fleur Delacour was. She didn't just step into a room; she floated into it in an ethereal way – her hair flew behind her in an invisible wind, her skin glowed beautifully. She smiled radiantly at them and greeted Daphne in the French fashion with a kiss on both cheeks.
"William," She said, kissing Bill on just one cheek.
Bill smiled a little sadly at her.
"Thank you for coming, Fleur."
Fleur waved off his gesture of thanks and looked at Daphne.
"William said that this was for your daughter, and I would do anything for ours - I understand."
"All the same, I appreciate it," Daphne said honestly.
Fleur smiled, "Where is the curse?"
Daphne gestured to the board where line upon line of ancient French was littered.
"We can't translate it until we unscramble it, and we don't have enough knowledge of the language to do that," Daphne admitted.
Fleur looked at it and mouthed something to herself. She frowned slightly, cocked her head at the board, and finally announced after a long moment.
"Yes, I should be able to unscramble this. If you give me a few hours and some coffee?"
Bill nodded in Daphne's direction.
"Would you mind fetching some from Diagon, Daph?"
Daphne knew that to be a dismissal, and she also knew that Bill wanted her gone for a reasonable length of time because she could have quickly gone to the canteen down the hall for coffee.
"Of course," Daphne said, and she left the former husband and wife in peace.
Fleur got to work straight away. The moment the door swung shut behind Daphne, she began to shift the words on the board around with her wand.
"Are you sleeping with her?"
Bill frowned, "Who? Daphne?"
"Who else?" Fleur asked calmly.
"No," Bill returned, "She's like a little sister to me, and she's Harry's wife for Godric's sake."
"You just seem very comfortable around each other," Fleur noted, putting one already unscrambled word at the top of the board.
"We work together every day," Bill said with a shrug, "And we're launching our new business soon. We're branching out, leaving the bank."
"Are you?" Fleur asked with interest, "I never thought you would leave the bank."
"No, neither did I," Bill admitted, "It was Daphne's idea. She's the visionary. I just go along with her plans, do what she asks for the most part. I stand my ground when I need to. She's my work-wife, I suppose."
Fleur shot him a strange look.
"We do not have that word in French."
Bill sighed, "She keeps me right. Just like you did."
"And as your new wife does?"
Bill had been waiting for that.
"Lara? Yes."
"You never told me that you had married her. I had to find out from our daughter," Fleur said.
"It wasn't the big white wedding," Bill replied, "Both of us had been married before. We didn't see the point. We just did it at the Ministry with Charlie and Astoria as our witnesses."
Fleur said nothing, choosing to continue re-arranging the letters on the board instead.
After a few minutes, Bill spoke.
"Will you ever marry again?"
"Marriage is a sacred vow," Fleur returned quietly, "If I were to remarry, I would like to be more sure that it was for the last time."
Bill frowned; he was sure about Lara. He knew she was the one, the one he hadn't realised that he had been searching for his entire life until he found her again.
Fleur moved another French word to the top of the board.
"We're trying to have a baby," Bill confessed. He didn't want to tell her the truth; he didn't want to tell anyone apart from Daphne and Charlie about that until Lara's pregnancy was a bit further on.
Fleur turned and raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you did not want any more children?"
"I thought that too," Bill confessed, "But I love Victoire and only seeing her on weekends or during the holidays…I know it's my fault, Fleur. I know I screwed our marriage up, and this is the price I have to pay, but it's hard. I don't want to be a weekend Dad."
Fleur turned her nose up.
"You had better not treat this new child any better than you treat Victoire. She is your firstborn. That should mean something regardless of how often you see her."
"It does mean something," Bill assured Fleur.
The French woman didn't look convinced, but thankfully she fell silent and resorted to focusing on the curse.
That evening, Harry's friends held an impromptu party at Blacknot Castle. It was as much a celebration of the fact the family had moved back in again as it was a celebration of Harry's new role as the youngest ever Head Auror.
Daphne was in high spirits because, thanks to Fleur, she and Bill had broken the curse. No more Crouch's would be affected by it. Astoria would be the last. It was bittersweet, Daphne was happy for her children, but she was worried about her sister too.
"She'll be fine," Lilly had said when Daphne voiced this opinion to her best friend.
Daphne had nodded but not truly believed it, which led to their current topic of conversation.
"Well, according to Anastasia, they are going to try and make it work," Daphne was saying, "Along with her sponsor/special friend Amber."
Lilly bit her lip to avoid commenting.
Daphne noticed and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Spit it out."
"I just think it's a little amusing," Lilly admitted, her lips quirking into a smile, "Greengrass women and their lesbian tendencies."
Daphne shot her a suggestive look.
"You are not one to talk."
Lilly snorted very ungraciously, "I didn't say I was, but still. Charlie's okay with the vampire three-way?"
"You've met Charlie, haven't you?" Daphne returned.
"True," Lilly chuckled, "I can't believe you got the portrait of the maid to spy for you, by the way."
Daphne shrugged, "The perks of living in a pureblood Manor, right?"
Lilly shot her an amused look.
"Maybe for you. I'm sick of Augusta telling me that I'm getting fat or that my swollen ankles mean I've got high blood pressure. I don't know how many times I have to yell 'I'm a Healer!' at that damn portrait before she gets it."
"No wonder Neville is so worried about your mental health," Daphne teased.
Lilly punched her in the arm, and Daphne snickered, but the conversation didn't go any further than that because footsteps in the entrance hall alerted them to Harry's presence.
They all fell silent until he walked in, then they yelled.
"SURPRISE!"
Harry jumped out of his skin, and Neville barked out a loud laugh.
"Congratulations, mate."
"Make way!" Theo called dramatically as he dragged Harry into the room, "Youngest Head Auror ever coming through!"
Harry laughed and looked across the room, catching Daphne's eye. She smiled radiantly at him, and he grinned right back.
"Thanks, everyone," Harry said, and they knew he wasn't just talking about the surprise party. He was talking about everything they had helped himself and Daphne through in the past few months.
"Hey," Hermione said, nudging Harry and catching his attention.
He looked over at her. She was standing with Sadie, and they were both looking at him inquisitively.
"Yeah?"
"I just asked you a question, but you were clearly in such a deep daydream that you didn't hear it," Hermione said, amusement lacing her voice, "Draco said there was a story behind you becoming Head Auror. A story involving Rob and Shep and some not so latent homosexual feelings?"
Harry grinned, "Hermione Granger, you gossip."
Hermione shot him a knowing look.
"Hermione Black and like you're going to struggle to oblige. You love a good gossip, so go on, spill the beans."
Harry chuckled and did so. He recounted the whole story, making sure to end it as dramatically as possible.
"And then Rob had Shep up against the tree by his neck," Harry said dramatically, his hands flailing around, "And they were this close," he stepped forward to show Hermione, "Like you and I that night in the tent, remember?"
"Uh-huh," Hermione said, taking a step back and ignoring Sadie's snort of amusement.
"And I swear, I didn't know if they were going to fight or make out," Harry said with a shake of his head, "I thought to myself, this must be what Hermione feels like when Draco and Theo fight."
"Oh, shut up," Hermione retorted.
Sadie smirked, "To be fair, that was what it was like the night of thunderstorm. We were watching them wondering who was going to punch who then all of a sudden they were kissing in the pouring rain."
"So when you say kissing, do you mean like a friendly kiss or a proper kiss?" Harry asked curiously.
"Don't answer him; he's just nosy," Hermione muttered.
Sadie answered all the same, "Oh, it was a proper kiss, alright."
"So, are they sleeping together or what?"
"They are not sleeping together, okay?" Hermione said, nudging him in the ribs, "It's like the two of them need their relationship with each other for their relationships with us to function. I don't know how better to explain it, but they get intimate like that when tensions are fraught, normally little touches are enough for them to feel close to each other."
Harry frowned, "What do you mean?"
Sadie shrugged, "When they sit together, their shoulders or legs are always touching, or one of their hands rests on top of the others. It's in little hugs and brief touches usually – it's only like that when things are desperate."
"Like you and I," Harry said, looking over at Hermione, "During the war – before we were sleeping together, I mean. It was in the little touches; it was …how do I explain it? It was like we needed to feel each other to remind ourselves that we were both still there."
"That's exactly what it is," Hermione said honestly, "So please drop the whole sex thing."
"I will, I promise," Harry said sincerely.
* ~ TBC ~ *