Thanks to: laceyowens50, Bratwurst, Colin Creevey, IcyChains7 and Sasuke for reviewing!

Antonius barely slept the night of his twelfth birthday, tossing and turning as he tried not to think about how much happier he'd been this time last year, about how this was the first birthday he'd have without his dad, about how all his birthdays would be without his dad now. He hadn't forgotten about Andreas' birthday present either. When he did finally asleep, he felt like it was only a second later he was jolted awake by Lawson having a nightmare. He knew it wasn't a second later though, the room was now bathed in a dim, misty morning light while beams of dawn sunshine tried to jab their way through the curtains. He sighed, already feeling very wide awake.

At first he was annoyed but after a few minutes of lying there, tuning out Lawson's garbled mutterings to himself, he started to think that maybe this was actually a good thing. It was quiet now while everyone was still asleep but soon it wouldn't be, the days were all bustle with too many crammed into too small a house and last night had been the full moon so it'd probably be pretty hectic getting the werewolves back and making sure they were alright (he knew Tabitha had still been concerned about how the transformation would affect the still recovering Marigold, naturally he was more personally concerned about Sebastian though but Scorpius had promised to be with him) and Scorpius had said that he would see him today. Antonius probably wouldn't have any time to himself until everyone had gone to sleep tonight so now was the perfect opportunity to open Andreas' present if he didn't want to wait all day, he just needed a bit more privacy…

Mind made up, Antonius pulled himself up into a sitting position and threw back his bed covers. His chestnut eyes immediately went to the long lightning-shaped scar on his lower leg, it wasn't shaped like a bolt of lightning like his other scar but like what a real bolt of lightning looked like, all barbed and jagged. He hated it, it was gross and ugly and he hated how the biggest trunk of it was slightly indented, making it feel like his leg had a groove in it, he was starting to get hair on his legs so with any luck that might hide it eventually. The worst part was that his leg didn't seem to want to obey him anymore, it twitched and trundled awkwardly after his good leg when he swung them both over the side of the bed. He was still getting used to the delayed reaction of his scarred leg, it was a weird feeling to not have your own leg immediately do what you want and it always felt a bit numb, as if the leg had been dosed with dentist numbing stuff that hadn't fully worn off yet. He didn't know if that was permanent or just a result of some of the healing spells and potions, he was afraid to ask.

He pulled on his pajama bottoms on over his boxers with only a bit of difficulty- he'd been getting used to accommodating his disobedient leg- and double checked the pocket to make sure Andreas' gift was still there. It was, so he called his crutches up and stood with them like Hogan had taught him, he'd been practicing. He knew Hogan wanted him to take it easy but he was determined to get off double crutches as soon as possible, how was he ever supposed to be useful in the war when he didn't even have a hand free when standing to hold his wand? He had to be useful or they'd get rid of him, Michael was already avoiding him, Antonius was sure it was because he knew how useless he was. Hogan had said though that if everything was going well he might let him try one crutch on his birthday, Antonius was determined to make sure everything was going well.

Antonius maneuvered his way out of the dining room turned infirmary, his biggest obstacle being his massive dog, Hope, who had bounded after him excitedly when she realized he was moving and didn't seem to have learned yet that she needed to give him space to move. At least she'd stopped trying to grab the crutches, though he was sure she still thought it was some kind of strange game he was playing. It was easier once he left the infirmary as there was more space, especially with everyone still asleep. He made his way to the kitchen and opened the back door to let Hope outside to go to the toilet, she bounded out enthusiastically and he watched wistfully as she ran across the lawn. This time last year he wouldn't have believed it if someone had told him by his next birthday he'd never be able to run again, he also wasn't even sure if crutches worked on grass and made a mental note to ask Hogan when he saw him later.

He left Hope to it and crutched back inside, meandering around the kitchen table to the stairs. This required switching his crutches to one hand and putting the other onto the bannister for support on the other side instead, he was admittedly more apprehensive about the stairs which was mostly because it made his bad leg more noticeable. It was easier to ignore cruising around on crutches taking the weight off but stairs required more bending of the leg which made its reluctance to obey more noticeable, he felt more like he was puppeteering his own leg rather than simply moving it and he felt it tremble a little every time he put it down despite the support. He made it though (he'd been practicing this too) and switched the crutches back to normal, crossing the short distance to the bathroom and closing the door behind him. A jolt of unexpected panic shot through him as he clicked the lock shut and he swallowed, waiting all day suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Trying to ignore his squirming insides, he leaned the crutches against the door and quickly grabbed onto the sink for support at the loss of stability, his bad leg trying to buckle at the thought of having to do its job so he had to put the pressure on his good leg and the sink. He stumbled backwards and sat down on the fluffy blue toilet seat lid, breathing heavily for a minute while his scarred leg tingled because of the magically blocked pain and twitched once. He still needed more practice with that but the bathroom was so small he didn't feel like it was worth using the crutches and he knew he could get around it without them, it just took some practice learning to lean on things for support and to stand with the pressure on only one leg as much as possible because it felt very weird and unnatural. He didn't have much choice but to get used to it, this would be his life now as much as he hated it, he hated everything about it including how stupidly the cause of it was.

He sighed unhappily and pulled Andreas' gift out of his pocket, setting it on his lap and finding his previous line of thought evaporating in favor of Andreas' stupid lopsided smile, stretching across his mocha skin to light up his brilliantly brown eyes speckled with flecks of gleaming gold. He could still taste Andreas' lips against his own if he closed his eyes, unfortunately he could also still feel the Andreas' blood slipping through his fingers as he vainly tried to pressure the wound to stop bleeding. Antonius opened his eyes, feeling the guilt and grief pounding through his veins. It wasn't that Andreas' death had stopped hurting, losing his dad had just drowned it out somewhat.

With trembling fingers he hesitantly began to unwrap the small package, not entirely sure why he felt so nervous, and found what looked like crinkled up piece of paper wrapped around something. As he started to unwrap the paper, something heavy and bronze fell back onto his lap while the paper smoothed itself out and snapped into shape as a birthday card. Antonius tried to smile but his heart twisted too painfully, Andreas had been talented with spells like that. The front of the card read 'Happy Birthday Anton' in bright scarlet letters on a deep purple background which were his favorite colors, balloons of various shapes, sizes and colors drifted by behind the letters, it all looked Andreas had drawn and colored it himself. He opened the card to check for a message and a blast of confetti was thrown into the air while the loud bang of a party horn blew away the silence, he closed the card very quickly hoping it hadn't woken anyone.

Antonius stayed frozen for a minute, listening out to see if he heard anyone but there was nothing. Letting out a relieved breath, he set the card down and instead picked up the gift. It seemed to be some kind of necklace, held by a long black string was a bronze pendant of a magnificent creature. At first he thought it was a hippogriff but quickly realized otherwise, it had the proud head and front talons of an eagle but its brilliant wings were on the body of a lion, it was a griffin. The griffin stood proudly in his palm, head up, wings out and tufted lion's tail flicked out behind it. He admired the intricate detail in the feathers and claws for a minute before trying it on, expecting it to be rather uncomfortable and impractical to wear but it shifted it folded in one of its wings to prevent it stabbing into him. He wouldn't be surprised if Andreas had done that too, he'd been very good at Transfiguration.

He picked the card back up and opened it carefully, this time it was silent and no more confetti blew out. Andreas hadn't written a short note, he'd written an essay that crawled into the every corner of the card to try fit it all. Andreas' last message. Swallowing hard, he read:

Hey FRIEND!

Happy Birthday! Hope you're well, hope you're having a good day, hope you like my present. I thought it was perfect for you, half-eagle like the Ravenclaw house you wanted to get and half-lion like the Gryffindor house you actually got. It's like the two sides of yourself wrapped into one real creature that already exists, I saw it and it made me think it was designed for you. And hey, if you don't like it then you can just sell it, I spent like all my allowance on it so you can probably sell it for a good price. I don't mind.

Anyway, a part of me just wants to leave it there but I can't. I don't know where things will stand by now, in the perfect world the Shadow Master will have been defeated and I'm home with my Mum counting down the days I can go back to school and see you again. The world isn't perfect so more likely the war is on, Hogwarts is probably gone and you're somewhere off with Gray plotting our demise, I hope you win.

If we're on opposite sides now then I can only tell you that I'm sorry, I know the solution always seems so simple to you but that's just because you take for granted your own courage, I don't have your bravery to be able to turn against them. And if we're not on opposite sides then it must be because I'm dead, if that hurts then I'm sorry for that as well. I don't want to die but it's the better of the two options I have, better to die now then become a Soul Eater monster, right? I just hope it was a good death. Either way, I know I won't see you again so this is my last goodbye.

This year has definitely had its ups and downs but damn, it was the best year of my life. I'm not sorry it's over, I'm happy that I had this time at all and I'm glad I got to know you. I want to thank you for being a big part of what made my last year so great and I hope someday you'll be able to look back on our time together as fondly as I do, I can only hope I brought you a glimmer of the joy you brought mine and that you'll be able to remember me like that instead of what I may become. You made me feel like a human, made me feel things I hadn't felt before and I would wish I had more time but there's never enough time. At least we had some fun, right? And what is life without fun?

Words don't really do my feelings justice so you'll just have to take my word for it, I'm running out of space anyway. So I wish you a happy birthday, for this birthday and all the hopefully many, many birthdays you have left to come.

Goodbye, Anton, lead a great life.

Love Andreas

Antonius closed the card, not wanting to smudge the ink as he was crying by the end of it. He slumped over, burying his head in his hands and feeling his shoulders shaking from his silent sobs, still scared of waking anyone. He'd hoped he wouldn't cry but he wasn't surprised, why did loss have to hurt so much? He'd gladly cripple both his legs if it meant no one else he cared about had to die, it already felt like too much as it was. He didn't know how he'd cope with anymore.

He didn't know how long he sat there crying like a child when he was supposed to be twelve, long enough that his hands were wet with his tears and his eyes were stinging painfully from the aggravating liquid. A part of him desperately and childishly wished his dad was there, he was sure he'd have something comforting to say as he hugged the pain away. Another part of him thought his dad would be disgusted at how pathetic he was being, in fact he wasn't even sure how his dad would feel about his relationship with Andreas so for all he knew his dad would be disgusted at that too. His dad was dead too though so he couldn't be there either way. Antonius was snapped sharply from his sobbing stupor by a knock on the door.

"Are you nearly done in there, Hermione?" Wyatt's voice called awkwardly, "I'll be really quick, I promise."

"Just a minute!" Antonius called back, his voice coming out as a croak through his sob-strangled throat.

Feeling his cheeks flushing with embarrassment at being caught in the bathroom crying, he hastily tried to wipe his eyes and shove the card back into his pocket. He flushed the toilet to give the impression he had actually been using it and pushed himself to his feet, grabbing quickly onto the sink for support as his bad leg quivered weakly. In the mirror he saw his face was still streaked with tears while his chestnut brown eyes were all red-rimmed and puffy, he splashed water onto his face to try wash it off and shook his head to make his dark auburn hair fall in front of his face to hopefully help hide it. He then took up his crutches again, unlocking the door and hastily stumbling out.

"Sorry, Antonius, thought you were Hermione," Wyatt offered apologetically as Antonius opened the door, "Happy birthday by the way, cool necklace."

"It was a gift from my friend Andreas," Antonius blurted, trying to sound normal and hastily move past the one-eyed animagus with his head down.

"Actually that reminds me," Wyatt said and Antonius heard him snap his fingers, "I erm… I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"What?" Antonius questioned disinterestedly, pausing and maneuvering himself back around very awkwardly with the crutches.

"I erm… well, I know we don't know each other well and um well… I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this," Wyatt was saying and Antonius risked sparing him a glance, the gangly blond was fidgeting uncomfortably like he wanted to go to the bathroom– which he probably did- and also not looking at him, he ran his hand through his hair, "I… I don't know if anyone ever told you this but… erm… I actually joined Gray after the Shadows… after they… they killed my boyfriend."

"Really?" Antonius wondered in shock, "I thought you joined after they killed your roommate?"

"Yeah… and he was my roommate because he was my boyfriend, we were living together," Wyatt explained, his gaze averted and he swallowed heavily before continuing, "I just… I'm not good with the whole grieving thing. Even as a little kid I used to tell people my Mum was alive and off on adventures for her 'job' when in reality she died when I was a baby, Father was furious when he found out of course, but… it just seemed so much easier to pretend than admit she was dead. And then… and then when Rudy…"

Wyatt trailed off abruptly, wincing as he said the name like it physically hurt him. The unnatural paleness and gauntness of his face caused by his recent imprisonment only seemed to exacerbate the pain in his eye, the other covered by a brown eye patch. Antonius wasn't sure if he should say something but then Wyatt continued after a shaky breath, his voice stronger.

"Rudy was the name of my boyfriend but after he died… I… I thought it would be easier to refer to him as just my roommate, I felt like it would hurt less than having to admit that I actually… that I actually lost someone I really loved," Wyatt admitted and paused, his expression pensive, "It doesn't help though, you know, it doesn't make it hurt any less. Pretending to be okay doesn't make you okay, you're still just as messed up on the inside."

Wyatt finally seemed to have worked up the nerve to look at him, meeting his gaze. His visible eye was kind though. And tired, he didn't look like he'd slept well last night either. He was still fidgeting idly though.

"I um… I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about your relationship with Andreas-" Wyatt began and Antonius' eyes snapped to the ground quickly, somehow he kept forgetting he'd kissed Andreas in front of other people, "-that's between you and him but I erm… I do get the impression he was more than just a friend to you, which if he was then… well, I understand. I know what it's like and I know what it's like to lose them."

Antonius hesitantly glanced back to him.

"I just wanted you to know that you're not alone and if you ever want to talk to someone who… understands, then I'm all ears," Wyatt offered kindly and gave him an encouraging kind of smile before glancing briefly at the bathroom, "Just um… maybe not when I need the loo."

"Thanks for offering, I'll think about it," Antonius said hesitantly, not sure whether he actually would take him up on his offer but he still appreciated the gesture. This seemed to have been about as much as Wyatt had expected as he nodded before turning into the bathroom, "Oh, and Wyatt?"

Wyatt halted in the bathroom doorway, glancing back to him.

"I'm sorry… you know, about your boyfriend," Antonius told him and a whole gamut of emotions seemed to sweep through his eye for a moment, grief, pain, relief, gratitude. Wyatt swallowed very hard.

"Thanks."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Abby Longbottom asked of Albus anxiously, not for the first time, as she gazed at her childhood friend.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me, I'm almost well enough to leave," Albus insisted cheerfully as he flashed her a smile, still he looked perpetually peaky since he was still recovering from his Inferi injuries, "Go see your fiancé, relax, we'll still be here when you get back."

Abby didn't say anything but that was actually exactly what she was worried about, she was scared of leaving then coming back to find the Shadows had attacked and everyone was already dead. She was sure Plymouth would be attacked sooner or later as it was a sizable city, the sooner they could all be safely transferred to the new base the better. Admittedly she'd also been putting off going to see Sequoia for other reasons but her fear was very real, she hadn't been sleeping well since Hogwarts. Death happened in a heartbeat, you just had to blink and you could miss losing a friend or a brother or whoever else mattered to you so she didn't want to leave him. But she knew she couldn't keep putting this off and the longer she waited the worse it would be, she sighed heavily.

"Okay, Al, I'll see you later," Abby said reluctantly and Albus threw her a wave of farewell as she turned to leave.

She left the Embry's overcrowded house and walked out into the intense heat of the summer sun, there wasn't a speck of cloud in the brilliant blue sky just the blinding sunlight, she was sure they were experiencing a heatwave. It certainly didn't look like an attack was imminent but then it never did, did it? Fiddling guiltily with the engagement ring on her finger, Abby closed her eyes and focused on Sequoia's house. With a sound like the crack of a whip, her body was bending through space and reappearing outside the Pentakel home, an old Tudor style house that had been in their family for just as long… the place she'd been expecting to be moving into around this time a few months ago. She forced her legs to move forward and on autopilot knocked on the door.

There was a muffled shout along the line of 'I'll get it' from inside followed by sounds, thudding of probably footsteps and the click of the door unlocking before it was pulled open. Not by Sequoia but one of his four sisters, the second youngest, Eliza, who was in the year below Abby and the only Slytherin in a family of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. She would've been pretty if she didn't always look so severe, she had very short dark hair exactly like her brother except decorated with a red barrette and wore a very plain purple dress over her petite frame.

"Hey Eliza," Abby forced a smile, Eliza didn't return it, "Can I come in? I'm here to see your brother."

"About time," Eliza said in her crisp voice that always sounded like it was spoken with a sharp tongue, she stepped aside to allow Abby entry into the house living room, "He's been worried sick, you know."

"I know but I-"

"Did you also know Christa died?" Eliza questioned over her, the words punctuated by the door slamming shut behind her. Abby spun back to face her and her surprise must have shown on her face as Eliza continued, "Thought not. She was killed helping with the London evacuation, didn't make it out in time."

"I'm so sorry," Abby offered with sincerity, Christa was the eldest of the Pentakel children who had had to drop out of Hogwarts to care for her siblings after they were orphaned by the Shadows early in the war, "I-"

"It's not me you should be apologizing to," Eliza cut her off again, a curt nod pointing her in the direction of the sun room, "He's out there."

"Thanks," Abby said but the girl was already scampering back up the wooden corner staircase to the left.

Feeling even worse than she had when she arrived, Abby walked her way through the familiar house to the sunroom out back where she saw Sequoia's tall silhouette pacing long before she reached him. He was a year older than her, in fact today was his nineteenth birthday. His sharp blue eyes snapped towards her when he heard her approach, his handsome face hidden behind gouges scored into his face by a werewolf attack. Relief washed over his face instantly and in a second, he had crossed the distance between them and enveloped her in his safe, strong arms.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Sequoia breathed into her hair, squeezing her tightly for a minute before quickly pulling away to examine her with a look of concern, "You are okay, right? You're not hurt at all?"

"I'm fine," Abby reassured him and saw some of the tension leave his body, guilt gnawed at her soul, "How are you doing? Eliza told me about Christa. I'm so sorry, Sequoia."

"It's been pretty rough, at first we kept hoping since we didn't get a body but… that hope died. Mirra was so freaked out she wanted us to go to the shelters, finally we agreed she should take Terra to one then Eliza and I could join them later, I didn't want to leave in case you came back," Sequoia explained solemnly, "How about you? I heard about August from your parents, they're really broken up about it."

"You spoke to my parents?"

"Well yeah, I was worried about you and I wondered if they'd heard anything. They said you were with Gray."

"I was- I mean I am, I have to go back."

"Yeah, I understand," Sequoia offered with absolute sincerity that just made her feel worse and she started guiltily fiddling with her engagement ring again, "I figured you were busy doing important things and it's all very secret for your own security."

"Yeah…" Abby muttered, her eyes drifting to the taupe floor tiles. Sequoia started to take a step towards her to hug her again but she stepped back and he froze. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly as dry as a desert sponge and her stomach churned so violently she wanted to hurl, "Look, we… we need to talk."

"Okay…?" Sequoia wondered, sounding worried and she forced herself to look him into his concerned eyes, she owed him that much at least. She tried to blink away her tears, a big part of her feeling like she was making a horrible mistake.

"We can't be together anymore," Abby announced, her voice coming out stronger than she felt. As expected, she saw the confusion and pain flash across his eyes, his scarred face crumpled hopelessly and her own tears leaked from her eyes, "I'm so sorry, Sequoia."

"Why? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, of course not."

"Is it to do with Gray?"

"No," Abby answered and she saw the realization click on his face.

"It's because of Albus, isn't it?" he guessed correctly, his voice cracking barely above a whisper and she knew her face gave away the answer before she spoke because he looked away with tearing eyes.

"He… He almost died, Sequoia, in Hogwarts and he… I just… it made me reevaluate everything… and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Abby stammered out choking on a sob and looking away again as she pulled off the ring that suddenly felt like fire around her finger, "I can't be with you when I have feelings for him. And it's not even like I don't have feelings for you or that you did anything wrong, it's just that I knew him first and for longer, our connection runs far and… and I'm sorry but I just can't, even if I ignore it's just… it's just not right… I…"

"It's okay," Sequoia said gently, his voice hoarse and she felt his hand on hers. For a second she thought he was trying to comfort her with his touch but then he moved his hand away, taking the ring with him and she suddenly felt the absence like a void.

"It is?" she wondered, lifting her head to his again. His face was damp with tears and there was pain in his eyes but he had a smile, a kind one.

"I love you, Abby, I want you to be happy… even if it's not with me," Sequoia told her, his voice cracking slightly and he looked down at the engagement ring in his hand before slowly closing his fist over it, "Albus is a lucky guy."

"Thanks," Abby muttered not sure what else to say and somehow feeling even worse, she felt like she deserved for him to be angry at her, to be cursed out and yelled at, she didn't feel like she deserved understanding. She swallowed hard and wiped at her eyes, "Now that you don't have to wait for me anymore, you can go join your sisters in the shelters."

"Maybe."

"Please, Sequoia, I really do still care about you and I don't want anything to happen to you too," Abby pleaded and he met her eyes for the last time, "Go the shelters, stay as safe as you can."

"Okay," Sequoia agreed after heaving a sigh and Abby let out a relieved breath, somehow she'd expected it'd be harder to convince him considering the difficulty Scorpius had had, "Take care of yourself, Abby."

"You too," Abby agreed shakily, stepping back as she sensed it was her time to go.

Sequoia didn't watch her go, instead gazed sadly down at the engagement ring in his hand. She turned and walked away, glancing back over her shoulder she saw he'd slumped into one of the armchairs with a look of defeat on his face, it was only then she noticed the ripped packaging on the side table beside it and recalled that today was his birthday. Mentally she cursed herself, her desire to do this today had probably been her subconsciously remembering that instead. Feeling even worse, she tried to leave as quickly as possible before being called back.

"Hey! Wait!"

Abby turned in surprise, it wasn't Sequoia but his sister who was calling her. Eliza was racing hurriedly down the steps, leaping three at a time to reach her faster. She'd changed out of her dress and instead was dressed like a navy ninja, she had a matching bag slung over her shoulder, her very thin wand holstered at her hip and had a stack of parchment clutched in her hands. Abby would probably have been baffled if she wasn't so upset.

"Look, Eliza, now's not a good time," Abby tried to tell her, not sure what the girl would want with or what was with the weird getup, "I just broke up with your broth-"

"This isn't about my brother!" Eliza snapped briskly and shoved the stack of parchment into Abby's hands, "Here, I think you'll find everything's in order."

"What is it?" Abby questioned, sparing half a disinterested glance at the papers and seeing the top one was Eliza's OWL results.

"My application to join Gray, of course," Eliza stated as if it were obvious, tapping the page as if trying to coax Abby to look at it, "Take a look, I think you'll find they're all Os, I'm a straight O student. My OWLs are on top as they're the most official results but the other test results are arranged by date on the proceeding pages, my apparation license is there as well and some letters of recommendation from teachers I had started gathering for job applications, I had hoped to do some kind of internship over the summer before finishing my final NEWT year-"

"Eliza…" Abby said tired, not really in the mood for this and trying to hand back the papers

"You didn't even look at them!"

"Because joining Gray isn't a job application-"

"I know but I don't have any other frame of reference to apply so I hoped this would suffice," Eliza snapped and glared at her furiously as Abby handed her back the papers, "What is the correct application process then? Because I'd like to try that, I don't care how difficult it is, I can handle whatever you throw at me and I think my performance during the Hogwarts evacuation proves it."

"There isn't an application process," Abby told her and Eliza looked at her as if she'd just said the grass was blue.

"Then how do you join?"

"I don't know, you just… kind of ask Varanian, I guess?"

"Well can you ask Varanian if I can join then?" Eliza asked and shoved the papers back at her, "You can show him my OWL results, Maurice should be able to back it up from before he moved up a year and if there's anyone else from my year in Gray they should be able to vouch for my grades as well-"

"Eliza," Abby cut her off and sighed again, "Look it's… I mean… I just don't think you're taking this very seriously."

Eliza's jaw dropped.

"Not taking it seriously?" she repeated in shock, "How much more seriously do you possibly think I can be taking this?"

"Maybe that's the wrong way to phrase it," Abby admitted and scratched her chin, "I just mean that… it's not so clinical? People are in Gray because they want to help stop the Shadows, it means something to them."

"And what? You think just because I keep my emotions to myself it doesn't mean anything to me? That just because I'm a Slytherin I'm heartless?" Eliza snapped, glaring so furiously that Abby half-expected to catch fire, "The fate of the country, the world, the whole entire future is on the line here, how can you possibly think I don't care about that? I want to have a future, a career, a family, a life, and I want for my siblings to have that too, I want my friends to have that, I even want the people I dislike in school to have that. Furthermore, the Shadow Master killed my parents, my sister- Christa practically had to give up everything she'd wanted just to make sure we could stay together and she even complained, not one single time. And she died trying to help people who won't even know her name, not even a footnote in history, she died before we even had the chance to make it up to her for everything she did, killed by that fucking bitch. And you have the gall to stand there and say that this war doesn't mean anything to me? Who do you think you are?"

"You're right, I'm… I'm sorry," Abby apologized though Eliza continued to stare daggers at her, "I'll ask if you can get into Gray but… just don't expect it to be half as organized as you're expecting and we really don't need your grades."

"Fine," Eliza said tersely and Abby continued on her way out, finally pulling open the front door, "You better let me know, either way."

"I will," Abby promised, realizing she really would have to as Sequoia probably wouldn't go to the shelter if his sister was still here waiting. She walked away from the house and disapparated.

Molly finished checking the perimeter and setting up protective enchantments and headed back to their encampment, eleven year old Oathan was already in his sleeping bag by the fire but Flan was not. A ways off, on the crest of the hill, were several large boulders and he was leaning back against one of them, gazing out at the star studded sky. Her eyes were magnetically drawn to Pyxis, the compass, usually a faint constellation but it was bright tonight. It was a beautiful night, as if the sky had been draped in a cloak of dark velvet pierced by millions of pinpricks that twinkled through the cloak, the air was chilly but it barely seemed to matter under the smile of the stars.

"Hey," Molly said to Flan as she approached, he glanced briefly at her as she sat down beside him and leaned back against the boulder next to his.

"Perimeter secure?" he asked and she nodded, he turned back to the stars, "Oathan went out like a light, the magic lessons are draining for him."

"It'll get easier for him with time."

"I hope so."

"He's learning and having fun, I wouldn't be pushing him if he hated it," Molly reassured him and he nodded, cyan eyes still skywards as he fell silent. Despite the casual tone of the conversation, she felt an invisible knot of tension forming in her heart, "Beautiful night, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he agreed, a sad smile gracing his chapped lips, "It makes me think of my daughter, sometimes if Maurene had a bad dream I'd take her outside to look at the stars. We used to make up funny names for the constellations and tell silly stories with them, take her mind off everything."

"My parents would never have allowed that," Molly admitted, a similarly sad smile crossing her face as she also glanced up at the sky and thought of her also dead family, "Everything had to use the proper names for things, they wanted me to learn things correctly. I got to have a skylight though so that was cool, I missed it when I got to Hogwarts."

"I can see how a bedroom skylight would be nice and hey, it's nice to know the real names of the constellations. I don't really remember them now."

"Pyxis, Antila, Centaurus, Lupus, Scorpius…" Molly trailed off when she got to pointing out the constellation her dead boyfriend had been named after, "Crazy to think he's been dead five years now."

"Yeah, it, feels like a whole lifetime ago but also like it was only yesterday at the same time. Remember when people were still alive?"

"Good times," Molly recalled and slipped her gaze sideways at him.

He was still staring at the sky. His russet-colored hair was longer than it had been five years ago, growing in with the same parting and waves as his late uncle's. He also had stubble covering the lower half of his face, some of it showing hints of gray now, he was also more muscular after years of wielding the sword of Gryffindor which was resting sheathed on the ground beside him. The scars around his eyes had faded with time but were still visible and like her, he was missing several fingers across his hands. She braced herself mentally before speaking.

"Do you ever thing of moving on from your wife? Finding someone else?"

"You mean with all of the no people I meet?" Flan gave a derisive short and threw her an amused look, clearly thinking she was joking, "Yeah, I'm fine by myself, I don't even know anyone else."

"You know me," Molly pointed out and his face sobered immediately as he caught her serious tone.

"Well…" Flan began and looked away at the ground, heaving a sigh and his words came out cautiously, "I guess I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't occurred to me lately, I'd never have guessed that five years ago but…"

"It's not like we don't get along," Molly decided to take over as he trailed into silence, seemingly unable to articulate his thought. She swallowed nervously and her next words came out a little faster than she would've liked, "We're friends, we have things in common, we like each other. And it's not like we can be with the people we'd really want to be with, Myriam and Scorpius are both dead."

"I know."

"It might be good for us," she added quietly and he turned his head back to her, his cyan eyes almost luminous in the night as they gazed into hers

"It might," he breathed, equally quietly and she was suddenly very aware of how close they were sitting to each other, the bounders were packed very close together.

Before her brain could process her nerves, her lips closed the distance between them as she pressed them against his. She felt his hesitation for only a moment before he kissed her back, his lips were as dry as hers probably were but his kiss was gentle. Nick's kisses had always firm, Scorpius' had always felt… right, somewhere in the middle but Flan was so gentle.

She felt herself melt into the moment, all her nerves and doubts and hesitations and concerns just evaporated, everything else just seemed to fade away for once. Instinctively, she put her arms on his shoulders to help steady herself from leaning too far into the kiss. In response he shifted his position and encircled her in his strong arms, shielding her from the chilly air. They finally broke apart to draw breath and now gazing into each other's eyes, they smiled then locked their lips together once more.