CHAPTER FIVE

NOW

Gwyn knew that the Aurors were about to do something she didn't like. They were being too nice to her. The interrogation techniques had stopped; they had allowed her to sleep for as short a time as she usually would and provided her with some rather nice toast and coffee. A few more Aurors had been into her grey-walled room and tried to speak to her, quietly and respectfully much as Bri had instead of shouting and demanding answers, but Gwyn refused to speak to them. She couldn't trust them or what they said, not like she could trust her sister. Briallen hadn't been in since that one time, but she knew that this wasn't over.

The information she had given her sister was vague at best and she had purposely neglected any details that implicated anyone else, especially James. Well, anyone but Avis Hatch and his 'co-workers'. Gwyn hoped that they wouldn't let Bri back into the room with her. It was harder to keep her words ambiguous when her sister's familiar eyes staring down at her with pity and determination.

Nonetheless, she waited, not that she had much of a choice. It wasn't like she was allowed to leave.

She knew what they were going to do. Bri had told her that in two days they would send him in, but that didn't make it any less shocking when he walked into the room, the door slamming closed loudly behind him.

It wasn't that it had been that long since they last saw each other; they had been together right before the accident that put her in that small room. But he looked different. Dark circles around his tired, red eyes. His hair, always so messy seemed impossibly unkempt; knotted, and unruly. The stubble on his jaw that she knew he hated was unsettling; he suddenly looked more like his father. Possibly the most concerning thing about him at that moment was that he wasn't wearing 'actual clothes' as he often called his carefully pieced-together outfits. Instead, he wore his favourite jogging bottoms – the ones he wore more often not as pyjama bottoms – and a muggle band t-shirt that Lonnie bought him for his birthday two years ago.

"James…" She breathed out. It wasn't what she wanted to say - she wanted to tell him to bugger off – but it was the only thing that she could say.

The word from her mouth alone must have acted like magic, because as soon as Gwyn said his name the man before she darted forward. His movement was fluid and careful as he fell to his knees in front of her, his hands cupping her face and his lips pressing firmly against hers. Gwyn tried to make herself pull away, she really did. She just couldn't find it in herself to move away from the wonderfully familiar feeling of his lips against hers. So she didn't. Instead, she just moved her handcuffed hands around the back of his head, holding on to his neck like she was afraid to let him go.

She'd never admit it, but she was.

James Potter only pulled away from her when a voice echoed through the room, "No touching." He still held onto her despite the warning. Gwyn removed her hands from him and instead knotted them in her dirty t-shirt, over and over and over again while James' fingers smoothed along her bruised cheek. The warning sounded again. James' hands weren't off her for long until he touched her again, his fingers grabbing hers and pulling them away from the tangled mess they had made in her t-shirt.

He held on to her tight, not saying anything for the longest time. He just looked at her, eyebrows furrowed and gaze hard as he took in every inch of her body. Every scratch, every bruise, every patch of dirt. So when he finally spoke, it seemed out of place.

"I left you for an hour and look what you got yourself into." He said with a tense smile. Fake and utterly unnatural on his face. Gwyn didn't want to see that smile on him ever again.

"On the bright side, you can finally get around to telling your parents we live together." Gwyn chuckled quietly. James' eyes flickered up to meet her own, hazel meeting brown once again. And a small smile grew on his face, small but real. Familiar. Honest. Just the sight of it was enough to settle some of the anxiety that was carefully clawing at Gwyn's body.

Unfortunately, it didn't last.

Gwyn watched as James swallowed thickly, eyes now less focused on her and more between darting from her to the door. Memories of being back in school flooded her, memories of James' nervous face before his first Quidditch game as a chaser and his first game as captain. It really didn't suit him.

"Just tell them you know nothing." Gwyn pleaded quietly. James said nothing, but his fingers tightened around hers. "James, please. You don't know anything so don't let yourself get into more trouble. J-just leave, James." Her word was met with silence. "Please."

"I tried to help you," James said. "I knew that you did something wrong and I helped you run. I-I'm at fault too, Gwyn."

Gwyn shook her head, ready to protest James' words. But he reached out again and grabbed her face. Gwyn pressed her cheek against his warm hand, ignoring the voice at called out once more to stop touching. It was so simple but it made the tightness that has begun building in her stomach loosen. It made the lump in her throat finally swallow. It made her pounding heart slow down.

Just his hands on her enough to make her feel content.

And right now that didn't help. It was harder to control her mouth when she felt content.

"You're not guilty, Wyn."

Gwyn scoffed. "Come off it, James. I tried to make a wand more powerful than any currently in existence and then did something awful when I realised how bad I fucked up."

"You didn't do it for power though."

"No, but out of curiosity isn't much better." Her head was pounding now, the stress and happiness and anxiety mixing together into one painful concoction in her brain. Her fingers were going numb from how tightly they were wound in her t-shirt once more. Her back was stiff from how she had been sitting the past merlin knows how many days. But still, seeing the careful but caring glint in James' familiar hazel eyes was somewhat soothing. "Because of what I did powerful magic almost got into the hands of an evil man. Again." James opened his mouth to speak but Gwyn shook her head. "I almost started another war, James. And when I realized that I did a bad thing."

"A necessary thing," James said firmly. "He would have killed you for that wand, Wyn. You know that, right?"

Gwyn said nothing. She didn't believe him; she couldn't. She knew how badly Avis Hatch needed her in order to make more wands. She knew she was the only wizard that could possibly replicate her first success. And she knew that Avis wasn't going to kill her when she pushed him off the roof.

"His back was turned to me," Gwyn whispered. "I thought he would- He was too shocked to even cast a spell, James. He wasn't about to kill me. I did it because he threatened you and Bri-"

"Because of you, the wizarding world is now safe from another Voldemort. Another Grindlewald. Another power-seeking bad guy."

"Somehow I doubt the Wizenegamot is going to see it that way."

"Is Aunt Hermione-?" Gwyn nodded before he could even finish and James took a sharp breath inwards. "That's not going to be easy on either of you. She likes you." Gwyn hummed, unsure of what else to say. James pressed his lips against her hands. "I love you, Gwyn. That means I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you."

"You're thinking of breaking me out of Azkaban?" Gwyn said feigning shocked. The humor wasn't met well; James just frowned. "I'll take whatever punishment the Wizenegamot decides I deserve and so will you, James. Your dad is head of the Department of Magical Law and your aunt is the bloody Minister of Magic. You can't get in trouble or you'll get it bad, remember. You said that, remember?"

"I didn't mean that when I said it."

"Doesn't mean it's not true." Gwyn was quick to defend. "I would rather rot away in Azkaban than have you be in my shoes, James."

Briallan couldn't help but feel awkward. They were watching their family members having a moment. A very intimate moment that normally would have her bursting into the room, making disgusting noises, and demanding that they stop doing that in front of her, just for the effect of embarrassing her sister. And yet she couldn't force herself to look away now. Seeing her sister happy - even a melancholy kind of happiness - was so almost addictive after seeing her so quiet and run down for days.

Harry Potter didn't seem as relieved to see his son. Instead, he stared forward, hand roughly holding his bearded chin until his knuckles were white. Glassy eyes behind round frames, lips pressed into a thin line, eyebrows pinched together; he wasn't hiding his distress very well.

Briallen once thought Harry Potter - the infamous boy who lived, she reminded herself - was infallible. He must be strong, must be brave, must be perfect to have accomplished all that he did. He defeated Voldemort! There was no way he could be anything but amazing. So when she saw Gwyn's relationship with the Potter-Weasley group grow during Hogwarts Bri didn't think it would amount to much. Then they grew closer, and suddenly Gwyn was staying over their houses for Easter, calling Harry Potter simply just Harry. It felt wrong. Of course, Bri learned over the past couple of years working with him - not quite alongside but with nonetheless - that Harry was quite simply average.

Didn't stop her from feeling intimidated by standing next to him, sharing his emotions as they watched their relatives share this moment.

"My son is in a relationship with Gwyn?" Harry asked slowly, watching the display of affection before them. Bri nodded. Unlike Harry, she couldn't look at the way James cupped her sister's face, the way her eyes softened when she looked at him. She couldn't stand to see the determination to take all the blame for James on her sister's face. "I knew they had a... thing, but Ginny and I assumed that it finished when James started dating- Did you know?"

Bri turned to the man before her. She had known for longer than Gwyn probably thought. She knew that James and her younger sister were dancing around each other since they were in their third year and when they got older... Well, you'd have to be blind not to notice it then. Gwyn had been completely honest with her sister about her position of making out with James when they were both tipsy, even as far as rolling her eyes when Briallen made her remind her to be safe and use protection but not denying anything. And Bri could see the difference in her sister when she finished her NEWTS and she finally allowed herself to give in to what had been building between herself and James for years.

They weren't particularly subtle, so how Harry had missed it Bri did not know.

"Sort of," she finally said. "I guessed they were together. I mean, they made out a lot and they sort of lived together."

"What?"

Bri's lip pursed in confusion. "Yeah, above Ollivanders. Gwyn said it was for rent control, but she doesn't have to pay it because she owns the shop. She didn't tell me anything if it involved James. Makes more sense now; she had something to protect the person she loved from."

"Love?"

"Merlin, Sir. I thought Gwyn and I didn't talk about things that mattered. When was the last time you spoke to your son about his life?"

"After everything that went on with my other son, I guess I sort of… forgot to make sure that James was okay."

Bri watched the man before her carefully, finding it easier than watching her sister's antics. It was strange to see someone as well known for their strength as Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world, look so broken. But that was the best way to describe how he looked at that moment. Broken.

Neither of them looked away from the window when the door opened. Bri didn't particularly want anyone else observing this moment but wanted to speak to who she knew was at the door even less. Frazer had a way of pulling information from Briallen without a second thought.

Briallen didn't want to share what she had heard. She didn't want to share how it made her feel, watching her sister's love and what she had learned from it that could help then possibly throw her sister away in Azkaban for attempted terrorism. If she looked at Frazer she would give it all away.

"Well?" Frazer asked from the door. Neither Bri nor Harry spoke. "Has he gotten anything out of her? Should we call him back out?"

"Leave them be for a bit." Harry's words were not a question.

Bri could feel the heat coming off Frazer without looking at her, so Bri was quick to add, "Gwyn should sleep. She'll be a lot more likely to talk if she can sleep and she sleeps better with him there."

Bri knew it was true. Gwyn used to have a rough time sleeping, often being up when the sun was rising regardless of the day or how much she had slept the night before. But when she was at Hogwarts she slept better, Gwyn had said. And Bri wasn't deaf to the rumors she had heard while she was at Hogwarts with her sister; she knew the two of them snuck off somewhere to spend the nights.

"You know we can't leave Potter in there." Harry's hands tightened on the table in front of him at her question.

Bri looked over her shoulder, still avoiding Frazer's eye, "She's ready to give information. Let him stay there until she sleeps. There are people watching so they aren't going to get up to no good in there."

If Frazer disagrees with her she didn't say it. Instead, Briallen heard the door shut and she immediately turned her attention to the window once more. Gwyn already looked close to sleep, leaning on her hands on the table, looking at James as the two of them talked quietly. James held on to her arms, thumbs moving along her skin in a comforting fashion. Bri knew her sister was in good hands with James Potter and, somehow, she felt it would be better on James if it was only his father he saw when he was forced to leave Gwyn for the final time.

Bri, with a heavy heart, said her goodbyes to Harry Potter and went home.