Chapter 5: Loose Ends

Even though Draco felt confident his mum would be all right in the interview, a flutter of nerves touched his stomach after she rose from the table. Madam Bones at least didn't put off the air that she would be grilling all of them to the point of confessing to things none of them had done.

Everyone else fell nervous too. Hildegard gravitated closer to Dagmar once Helka had taken her leave.

"I didn't think about me being interviewed either," Dagmar broke the room's new stuffiness with a sigh. "It should at least be short. I don't have much to tell, unless Madam Bones just wants some kind of insight on Voldemort's inner workings."

"Could be that." Draco rested a hand on her knee under the table. "I wouldn't be concerned. You can't possibly have done anything to get yourself in trouble."

It perhaps wasn't the best thing to say. Hildegard, Mr Nott, and Draco's father all went quiet.

"Ja," Dagmar agreed anyway. "I bet your mum takes a while. Want to help me write some letters?"

"Sure."

Draco followed Dagmar up to his room. While Dagmar took a seat at the desk, Draco stole the chair Dagmar's shadow-Aurors seemed to have claimed. The newest one on shift this morning took a lean against the wall by the door.

"Is there something you're concerned about, being interviewed?" Draco asked Dagmar in Norwegian.

"Not really." Dagmar shook her head. "I just hope that Madam Bones and the Wizengamot understand that the best way to stop Voldemort was to let him get exactly what he wanted."

"I understand." Draco shrugged. "Can't be that difficult for a bunch of old tossers sitting in the bowels of the Ministry."

Dagmar exhaled in place of a laugh, glancing warmly at Draco. She brought a piece of parchment out of the desk and then pulled the current inkwell in use closer. "You'd hope, but it can be hard not to look at Voldemort through anything other than a black and white lens. He wasn't all bad, but whatever kindness he had wasn't much just for the sake of it. He did nice things to keep everyone in check."

"Was he nice to you?"

"I guess. He made sure it was clear he didn't mean for the two of us to be stuck together like this. So he was apologetic. He did everything he could to give me back my body, but that was all just as much for him, wasn't it? He was hard on Bellatrix pretty much the whole time we were on the island. Mean, occasionally."

"Oh?"

"He was really angry at her for this. I wasn't awake for it, but your mum told me that for pretty much all of December your aunt was tiptoeing around him. Getting ignored, snapped at, and the like. He told me once he knew she could do better. She could be better, for him."

"Maybe that's the kind of insight Madam Bones would want from you."

Dagmar nodded idly, dipping her quill. "I suppose I ought to think it all over for when I'm in the room with her. I'd rather just forget, and I've honestly been trying for that. The longer I'm away from there, the less I can believe what all happened. I don't feel Voldemort, so it's hard to accept that he's still here. He doesn't feel like a threat. I just want to go home."

Her bottom lip trembled in a telltale way, pulling her cheeks in with it. Since she was left-handed, Draco could take her right one without stalling her on the letter she intended. Dagmar stopped anyway, sniffling.

"The cottage isn't going anywhere," Draco told her. "It'll be waiting for us whenever this is all over. I bet it wouldn't be much to ask that we go already, if you want to. Another ward rune, and maybe the Norwegian Ministry would let us connect it directly to Malfoy Manor and Ramstad Manor."

"I don't want Voldemort in our home again, even if it means I don't get to go yet. He already ruined it. People have died there. Luca's mum did. I did. I was just lucky enough to stand back up."

Draco ran his thumb over her knuckles. "Those things aren't necessarily going to change when Voldemort is gone."

"No," Dagmar quietly agreed. The blue in her eyes was crisp when she looked at Draco. "Did Luca ever say anything about us living in the house where his mum was killed?"

"Not really."

"He knows, right?"

"Yeah." Draco cleared his throat. "We talked about it a little bit once. He'd been told why. On this side of everything now, I hate that it makes even more sense why Aunt Bella did that."

"What do you mean?"

Draco's instinct was to shield Dagmar, because no doubt she was going to see that this was somehow her fault. He didn't want to infantilize her and decide what she could handle though, and Draco would rather she heard it from him. "After Potter left with me, it was only Kingsley and Professor Parasca left against Aunt Bella and whoever was out in the garden. Kingsley told Parasca to get your body and go. That's when Aunt Bella got her. She probably didn't want Parasca to run off with Voldemort."

Dagmar's face fell.

"When Luca and I talked about it, he was relieved in a weird way," Draco continued. "I guess in Romanian custom, when someone dies you're supposed to open the doors so that the spirit can escape. They keep a lot of water around so that the spirit can be clean. You'd think the way Parasca went was undignified, but it was comforting for Luca. She died trying to bring you home. If she'd managed, Voldemort might have been captured right away."

"Too bad she didn't."

"I hope you don't blame yourself."

"Of course I blame myself."

Her tone clipped a bit, but Draco wasn't sure if she was actually angry. Some moisture collected under her eyes, not really falling, just determined to stick around. Dagmar's hand went limp in Draco's before they fell away from each other. Dagmar used it to wipe her eyes.

"Look," Draco said after a moment. "I talked to Granger before I left Hogwarts yesterday about what I did for Potter down in the Chamber. I told her I couldn't believe I did that, and she said that nobody knows how they're going to act in that sort of situation. Would it have been Potter's fault if Voldemort landed that Killing Curse on me?"

"No." Dagmar's face crumpled. "I don't know."

"Potter didn't want me to protect him," Draco continued. "Even before Voldemort showed up there, he was saying things like he didn't think he was going to survive the attack on Hogwarts. He meant it, too. He really believed he wouldn't make it. When I was standing in front of him, he even told me it was all right. He gave me permission to move. I still didn't. I would've taken the Killing Curse."

"Why, though?" Dagmar looked at Draco again.

"I just couldn't bear it. I didn't want Potter's death on my hands. Still didn't think Voldemort would actually try to do me in, either."

Dagmar set her quill down, given completely to the racks of her shoulders.

"I hate this," she finally said. "How's anyone ever going to look at me the same? I almost killed you and Potter. I killed Dumbledore. Luca's mum could've survived if my stupid body wasn't lying there in the cottage. My dad died to spare me this, but he only actually bought me a couple extra months. Why did they go through so much trouble to save me? They want Voldemort gone, they might as well just point a wand to my head. It's not like my life is worth all of this."

Draco's stomach ran hot, raising an uncomfortable lump into his throat. "That's not true."

"I'm not going to be able to do anything with my life anyway, if Voldemort won't leave," Dagmar said. "We won't ever be truly alone, even without Aurors shadowing me. I won't be able to go into Healing, because who's going to trust me to put a hand on them when Voldemort could spring out at any moment? I won't be able to have kids. I wouldn't put it past Voldemort to smother them in the middle of the night."

After everything Draco had dealt with in the last three months, the last thing he could bear was any sort of hint that Dagmar might willingly give her life if it meant the end of Voldemort's. He tried to shrug off all the grief he'd muddled through since December fourth before it could creep back in. Draco felt like he might toss. Rather than make the trek for the toilet, he pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth and hoped for the best.

Dagmar had nothing else to say either. She eventually tired herself out, her face turning blotchy and sinuses plugged. She stared at her hands where she toyed with them in her lap.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Is that really how you feel?" Draco asked. "That you ought to sacrifice yourself?"

"It's not like I want to." Dagmar sniffled again. "It's hard not to be scared. It's hard not to start dreaming again about the things we wanted, and even harder to try and temper my expectations."

"I can't let you go."

Those five small words were too close to Draco's soul. The hurt from them enveloped his chest, leaving him with pain not dissimilar to that which plagued him in Azkaban when Dagmar's apparent death was fresh. He fought their emergence, opting to look out the window rather than at her. Draco wished more than ever that the Auror in his room could go away.

His shoulder twitched when Dagmar laid a hand on his forearm. "Is it really worth planning around this, if he doesn't leave?"

"It is to me." Draco hastily wiped his eyes, still unable to look at her. "You don't know what it was like for me, Dagmar. I was looking your way when Potter's Killing Curse rebounded. In an instant, my entire life was ripped away from me. I can't go through that again. Not after you've come back."

"I thought about that while I was gone," Dagmar replied. "How much I hurt you from this happening."

"Wouldn't have hurt so bad if I didn't love you so bloody much."

"Ja."

Draco grew immensely interested in a couple of the owls making their way leisurely through the sky toward one of the oak trees along the drive. Light fingers skimmed his forearm. Draco looked over at Dagmar as her hand came to rest.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I really shouldn't talk like that. I want the future we planned so badly, but it's still out of our reach at the moment."

"I think I ought to write Potter." Draco cleared his throat so that his voice wouldn't be so raspy. "Maybe he knows what the plan is, or at least if there is one. He told me down in the Chamber that they hoped to capture Voldemort when he tried to take Hogwarts. I can't say that when Madam Bones popped her head into the dining room, she looked at you like a funeral was being planned."

"Nei," Dagmar agreed, then sighed. "I think I've spent too much time in Voldemort's head. I've seen how determined he is."

"There's no harm acknowledging that it's not going to be easy to coax him on. It can't be impossible. It's like Granger said yesterday. How long do you think Voldemort will put up with not being able to do anything? He'll have to watch himself become irrelevant as all the Death Eaters are put away. There's no more after this. He's been captured, and with his whole soul intact. He doesn't have a backup. Is being stuck with you for the rest of his life worth that? Just to be alive?"

"To be fair. . ." The hint of an amused glimmer came to Dagmar's eye. "You want to be."

It was weak, but Draco laughed. "That's very different."

"Ja."

Dagmar's hand slid down Draco's forearm, coming to rest now on his hand. Draco turned his palm up so that they could more properly entwine.

"I suppose I ought to get writing," Dagmar said. "It's so weird to tell people that I'm alive. I'm a little glad I don't have to do it face to face. I don't much fancy getting the look over and over again like someone's just seen a ghost."

"I get that. Would you pass me Potter's messenger?" Draco asked, sitting up straighter in the chair. "After you were gone, I braced myself every time I had to see someone new that knew you. Thankfully never had to break the news myself."

"That's good, I guess." Dagmar rifled through the pile of messengers on the other end of the desk. "I hate that I put you in that position. It's very strange to know how people reacted to my death."

"You can't say you weren't missed."

"It's kind of awkward. I can't help but feel bad, even if it wasn't my fault I left like that."

"Are you okay with me talking about it?"

"I want you to talk to me about everything and anything. I missed your voice."

Touched as Draco was at her sincerity and the little flirty smile, it didn't feel much like a direct answer. "I think a little awkwardness is to be expected. We can do our best to put that behind us, yeah?"

"Ja." Dagmar moved her inkwell closer to Draco so that they could share. "I've developed a bit of a tolerance to awkwardness, honestly. It's very weird sharing a body with someone. There's no such thing as privacy."

"I guess not, hey?" Draco dipped the quill that Dagmar handed him. "I didn't think about that."

Dagmar started on her first letter, gaze fixed. "I hope it doesn't bother you you're not the only man that's seen me naked anymore."

"It'll only bother me if he took advantage of that."

"Nei, he didn't," Dagmar said quickly with a glance at Draco. "He was respectful about it, but he did have to see me naked for things like going to the toilet or keeping my body clean. He had to deal with my periods. He let me take all that back over when I was awake again. When he put those runes I was wearing on, he had your mum do it since he thought that was who I might be most comfortable with in the house. He told me when I woke up that he just ignored it whenever I was randy."

Draco wrinkled his nose on Dagmar's behalf.

"The most awkward parts of it was when that hit if I was awake." Dagmar's quillwork turned very deliberate. "I couldn't help dwelling if I was bored. He'd get annoyed and tell me to deal with it because it was distracting."

"Oh."

"I shouldn't feel so bad about it. I mean, it's my body. I wanted the relief too. But it was weird and it made me feel kind of gross. Even if he made himself scarce, I don't much like to think too hard on Voldemort knowing how it feels for me to be turned on. You'd think with him there, those sorts of feelings wouldn't happen."

"I thought the same when I'd have extremely vivid erotic dreams and then wake up on the verge of cumming." Draco shrugged. "Grief is weird. Stress is too. I mean, if you're looking for some sort of escape, it makes sense that that would come up. The flush of endorphins doesn't hurt either."

"Nei, it sure didn't."

Both of them chuckled. The air around them lightened, which made it easier to catch the other's eye. Draco stirred a little. He hoped that wasn't inappropriate when Dagmar was just talking about how her sexuality had taken a strange turn while they were separated. Draco hadn't noticed much a change in her when they'd shagged last night.

"It helped a bit to be around other people that were going through the same thing. Being separated and frustrated," Draco emphasized when Dagmar furrowed her brow in confusion. "Before I went back to Hogwarts, I spent most of my free time with Blaise. At Hogwarts, with Luca. Both of them were griping about it."

"Blaise was open enough to?" Dagmar asked. "He's usually so quiet about that part of their relationship. Used to be, anyway."

"Not as forthright as Luca. I think Blaise was more cognizant about the fact he was complaining about being away from his boyfriend when my situation with you seemed so much more permanent."

"That's fair."

"Luca was whinging the one day before he realized the same thing. I didn't mind. I missed having someone to talk to about that, even just in a silly way." Draco's eyes widened a little at retrospective realization. "Ergh, I can't believe I told your brother I never had the chance to try eating your arse."

The Auror lingering by the bedroom door jolted upright at Dagmar's outburst of laughter. She covered her face with her right hand, its fairness sharp in contrast to her flushed cheeks. Draco grinned, hot above the collar too.

Dagmar sniffled and wiped her eyes as she came down. "Herregud, Draco."

"What can I say?" Draco shrugged in forced nonchalance. "My two best mates through everything were gay. Lots of arse talk."

"I suppose it gets less taboo once it's a frequent topic."

"Not like I could contribute anything. Luca was just disappointed that the Valentine's Hogsmeade weekend was cancelled. He and Blaise had 'big plans', capital B-P."

Dagmar snickered. "I'm still getting used to the idea of having a brother. Now I need to hear about him getting his rear stuffed."

"You probably will unless he suddenly goes shy about it."

"Or he decides we won't have a relationship."

The humour dried up between them with that. Dagmar's smile had vanished before she went back to writing.

"I could always pop in at Blaise's and see how he's doing," Draco offered. "He wasn't saying anything bad yesterday at Hogwarts. Said he always loved you like a sister anyway."

"I loved him like a brother too. But I have to admit it's different when you find out that's what you really are. Especially when this is how we find out." Dagmar signed her name at the bottom of her first letter. "He wouldn't look at me."

"I think it was more he didn't want to look at Voldemort, in case he happened to pop back out," Draco said. "It's probably fair he needs some time to absorb everything. Blaise told me Luca's always been curious about where he came from, and this wasn't at all what he expected. He thought he was just abandoned, and that his bio-mum was French. He didn't wonder too much about his bio-dad because it's possible he didn't even know Luca existed."

"He thought his mum was French?"

"That's what the note Magnus left with him was written in."

"Oh." Dagmar started another letter. "I didn't realize he left one. Kingsley didn't even know he'd been adopted."

"The Parascas kept it quiet outside their immediate family," Draco said. "Luca mentioned it that one time to us, but the only one that really knew about it was Blaise. Apparently Parasca did some murky legal stuff to have Luca be biologically hers on paper. Being a former Head Auror, I guess that could look bad."

"There's not really a lot of stability in that part of the world either," Dagmar replied. "It's better now I think, but it's not that long ago the Magical Balkans broke up into their own countries again. Then I think that happened in the Muggle world too. And I think there's still a war going on."

"Seems there's always a war," Draco commented. "Weird to think ours is over, isn't it?"

"Just some loose ends to clear up."

"Yep."

Dagmar focused more on finishing the letters she wanted to send to Håkon, Agneta, Ingrid, Janne and Filip, and Arne. Draco watched the messenger they shared with Potter for a response, but it never came. He wasn't too surprised. Either Potter dove back into everything head first, or he took a much-deserved step back to try and relax after such a close call.

Draco followed Dagmar down to the owlery to help her send everything off. "Are you sure you don't want me to send them from Trollmannsgaten or something when I go up to Bergen?"

"Mm, it's okay," Dagmar said as she fixed a letter to Stix's leg. "I'd like to get replies. I'm going to tell all the owls to hang around and wait for one."

"All right."

"When were you going?" Dagmar asked.

"Whenever." Draco shrugged. "Gunvor will be around the reserve until later this afternoon."

"Are you going to the cottage at all?"

"I can if you need me to."

"I wouldn't mind some of my school books." Dagmar gestured Teeko closer for her next delivery. "I never got a chance to buy the ones for my winter term, but I don't know if there's a point to doing that. Did you ever hear how I did in my exams for the autumn term?"

"Top marks, according to Ingrid."

"I hope Arne would let me still be involved in the programme." Dagmar sighed. "I asked, although it's definitely too late for this term. I missed half of it. Maybe there's still hope that I can get in for the summer term if Voldemort is gone by then. I guess that depends if the summer courses build on the winter ones. I'd hate to take an entire year off because of this."

"I bet Arne will bend over backwards. He knew how much of an asset your druidic abilities were to the hospital."

Dagmar brightened. "I was definitely ahead of everyone else on choosing an area of specialty."

Ulysses showed up then with a vole clutched in his beak. While scratching his head, Draco spotted movement out the corner of his eye. It wasn't just one of the Aurors checking in. Well—not any Auror, anyway.

Potter smiled tightly, leaned against the frame. "All right?"

Dagmar whipped her head around. "Oh, hi."

Her voice was breathy. Awkwardness tensed her shoulders as well, although Draco noticed that ease up as he returned to where she and Potter stood.

"You got my message?" Draco asked.

"Message?" Potter furrowed his brow. "Er, no. Just had to pop in to ask a couple questions and figured I'd touch base with you two. What did you want?"

Draco hesitated, for it was perhaps a topic too large to breach in the breezy owlery. "Time for tea?"

"Sure. I'm just sort of floating around right now, helping where it's needed."

"Didn't take you for one to sit everything out." Draco made an attempt at a joke and was pleased to be rewarded with a laugh. Dagmar smiled but remained otherwise quiet. "Not even one day, Potter?"

"Nah." Potter slipped his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans. He hadn't dressed the part today, although Draco supposed his usual suit was pretty impractical for the things that needed done. "Didn't have anything going on at home. Pansy went out last night with Ginny to take her mind off things. The two of them are pretty sick this morning. Then Ron and the twins volunteered their wands up at Hogwarts for clean up. Hermione's back and forth between the Ministry and Hogwarts, dealing with the administrative side of the hafgufa and Nagini."

"What about Nagini?" Dagmar asked as they migrated back toward the dining room.

"They've got her caged, but they don't really know what to do with her." Potter glanced back over his shoulder. "Wild release is on the table, like maybe in the Amazon or something. Thing is, she has a taste for human flesh. That complicates things."

Draco wrinkled his nose. "She does?"

"She ate a kid up by Tromsø." Potter paused. "I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to euthanize her."

"Oh," Dagmar quietly replied. "Shame."

Potter lingered by the dining room stairs as Draco and Dagmar passed him by for the now-empty table. Draco felt a sudden jab of nausea as he recalled the last time he and Potter had been at Malfoy Manor together. He cleared his throat to make rid of it, since it no longer mattered. Dagmar was back, and Azkaban never graduated beyond a threat. Potter had undone everything that was possible about that horrid afternoon.

"Did you get friendly with Nagini, or something?" Potter asked Dagmar.

"Not really, I suppose." Dagmar took a seat in one of the corner chairs. "She's just an incredible animal, isn't she?"

"A dangerous one." Potter took the end of the table, to Dagmar's right. "The Beast division is weighing all the options, anyway. They're not just going to decide anything willy-nilly. I think if it was soon enough after Nagini ate that kid, they might have done it without delay so that some of the remains could've been returned to the family."

"I guess she's too big for captivity too." Dagmar sighed. "She didn't mind it for Voldemort, although he let her roam free on the mainland. I guess you knew that, if she was hunting."

"What did she do on the island?" Potter asked.

"Laid in front of the fire, mostly. Slept in the library sometimes. Voldemort didn't like letting her roam the island because he wasn't sure what Lys and Vann might do to her."

Potter was interrupted mid-nod by the arrival of tea on the table between them. While they all made up their cups, Draco caught Potter looking at Dagmar a few times. When his gaze met Draco's, Draco held it for as long as he could before Potter's sheepishness won out.

The quiet lingered as they all took their first sips. In the lull, Potter struggled with himself. He glanced at Draco first this time before Dagmar, then cleared his throat.

"It's really good to see you," he said.

"You too," Dagmar replied with a smile and slight tilt of her head. "I missed you, actually."

Potter blinked. "Really?"

"Of course. When you used to come around and badger me for information, memories, or whatever else, my life was bloody normal."

Mid-sip, Draco settled into a cough as the three of them laughed. His eyes started to water. Dagmar laid a hand on his shoulder, eventually squeezing.

"Jokes aside." Although Potter's expression settled, a slight glimmer remained in his gaze. "I owe you an apology. I didn't mean for what happened up at your place. Before we figured out what happened with Voldemort and all that, it was really hard to come to terms with."

"You did what you were supposed to," Dagmar said. "You didn't know what would happen."

"I was relieved when I realized there might be a way for you to still be alive, but it was bittersweet. I hated to think about you stuck with him. Stuck with all of them."

Dagmar shrugged, running her thumb over her tea cup. "It could've been worse than it was. I didn't see the worst bits, like Azkaban or. . .most of Hogwarts. Voldemort himself could've been worse."

"Kingsley said the same thing," Potter replied. "I talked to him a bit yesterday. He said he pretty much had a right good time. Seemed a bit unsettled about it, really."

"I mean, for what they could have done, he got off easy. Bellatrix and Rodolphus wanted at him for sure. Voldemort gave Bellatrix a telling off a few times about how over-eager she was. He said once he wondered if he forgave her prematurely for Bergen. She actually confronted him about how he'd been treating her. It was strange to watch."

"You watched a lot?"

Dagmar shrugged. "When I was awake, ja. Didn't have much a choice. I got bored a lot. Voldemort spent most of his time poring over scrolls in the library. I couldn't read any of it. I watched a meeting or two. They'd sent Death Eaters ahead of them to the Balkans to find some archmages. When we reached the Thracian Sea, they all came down to the island to fill Voldemort in. Voldemort decided to talk to one of the archmages, a woman in Belgrade. He and my mum went."

"How did Voldemort and your mum get in unnoticed? I'm pretty sure after the Azkaban break, the faces of the escapees were posted as far as Turkey."

"Voldemort had a Polyjuice Potion. We went as two people on the island that weren't known Death Eaters." Dagmar sipped her tea. "It was a school. They told the woman—Magdalena—that they were looking for their son who'd been kidnapped. He wasn't there, obviously. When my mum described Bjorn for Magdalena, I realized she was talking about Luca."

"Yeah."

"I went to sleep because I didn't want Voldemort to realize something was wrong. They went to Romania after that, to see another archmage named Caturix. He'd been the one to modify Magnus' memory, but Magnus didn't have Luca when he went there. My guess, he dropped Luca off in Bucharest and then headed north. Caturix's castle wasn't very far from there. In the Carpathians, east of Brasov." Dagmar paused. "So what about you then? You figured things out when you went to visit Helka, or something?"

"I visited her when we were trying to confirm things." Potter's gaze flitted to Draco, who was content just to sit back and listen. "Hermione and I were working together on figuring out druid stuff, since it seemed like it might be key. We'd already had an eye on Luca because of how eerily he physically resembled Voldemort when he was our age. After Azkaban, it went back on the table that Voldemort might still be alive. Azkaban didn't seem like something Bellatrix could've organized. Not her style. Things kind of just clicked into place when I realized your mum was probably a doppelgänger. Not a lich, like I'd assumed based on your mum mentioning a locket holding Voldemort's soul. Then I thought about Bjorn. It hadn't always made sense to me that Magnus killed him, although I accepted that sort of thing can happen. Still, if he took Bjorn instead, and Voldemort was the only man around a doppelgänger, we knew what that baby would grow up to look like. And here he potentially was, sitting right in front of me."

"You confirmed it, though?" Dagmar set an elbow on the table. "He's really Bjorn?"

Potter nodded. "Snape made a potion that indicates familial relation. Biologically, Luca's a direct descendant of Voldemort's father."

"I hope he's doing okay about it all." Dagmar sighed, relaxing a bit about the shoulders when Draco touched her back. "I'd be the first one to tell him that it's a lot to absorb. I learned while on the island that I've been around just as long as my mum. Whenever she started a new life cycle, it was always me she gave birth to. Voldemort said he was there when I was born this time. I met him when I was about thirteen in my last life. I taught him how to read everything in the library."

So much had been going on down in the Chamber, Draco didn't think he fully absorbed the fact that Dagmar lived in cycles like her mum did. His thumb turned rhythmic on the small of her back.

"I don't remember anything," Dagmar said. "That's just what Voldemort told me. My mum told me last night there's something else she hasn't told me yet, but she's waiting until Voldemort leaves before she does. She doesn't want to make it anymore tempting for him to stick around."

Potter's pursed lips moved from side to side. His brow settled down into a furrow as he gazed at his tea. He sipped it quickly, like a second thought.

"I know what it is," he spoke deliberately. "I won't overstep your mum and tell you, since it's probably well due she was honest. I think Voldemort already knows, though."

Draco's stomach sunk. Dagmar's face went long, paling as she pressed her lips together. Draco leaned forward on the table. "That's part of why I messaged you. We wanted to know how exactly the Ministry or whoever plans on getting Voldemort out of Dagmar."

"I'm not completely sure on that." Potter grimaced briefly. "The plan on capturing Voldemort at Hogwarts was meant as a way to put the situation on ice. We peeled his Death Eaters away from him. He's isolated. We're holding him so that he can't just run around doing whatever he wants anymore. Kingsley said something yesterday about how we weren't prepared to deal with the actual psychology of the Death Eaters, but we're already getting new information about how they tick. That's got to mean something when it comes to Voldemort. I mean, nobody can say he's not ambitious. How long do you really think he'll want to sit around doing nothing with his life? How long will he want to be aware that everything he worked for is gone? His followers, his plans to overthrow the Ministry and Hogwarts, even his immortality—it's gone. He failed."

"I hope not long," Dagmar mumbled. "That all hits really close to home, though. I've already been wondering how long I'm supposed to sit around and wait for him to leave so I can get on with my life. I at least have something to look forward to. If he doesn't, I mean. . .he might drive himself out. Death is better than watching the time slip away."

"I'll maybe talk to your mum about it first," Potter said. "I'm the only one that knows what she was going to tell you. Helka told me when I went to Leidfall, and she asked that I keep it to myself. The Ministry doesn't know, but they might need to if it'll play into Voldemort leaving."

"Okay," Dagmar agreed.

"Before that, just before I forget." Potter moved his attention to Draco. "I hoped to talk to your mum about this, but your dad turned out to know well enough. The only Death Eater left running free is Peter Pettigrew. He never left your cottage."

Draco wrinkled his nose. "He didn't?"

"Not with the rest. When your mum left, it was her, Bellatrix, Voldemort, the Carrow siblings, and that Yaxley bloke. Voldemort had mentioned that Wormtail got left behind, although he wasn't concerned about him." Potter adjusted in his seat. "He can't be inside your cottage because of the Fidelius Charm over it. Based on his past behaviour, he's not likely to resurface as a human. I would double my doubt based on the fact he's in an unfamiliar foreign country, where the Ministry went on very high alert after Voldemort was known to have been in the area. He's probably hiding in the wilderness around the cottage in his animagus form."

"Ergh." Draco didn't even want to think about that literal and figurative rat being so close to their home.

"I've talked to Helka about this, but haven't had a chance to run it by Kingsley yet. He'll have to talk to the Norwegian Auror office too. Helka's an Animagus—a crow. She could probably track him down well enough. If we get the green light, would we be able to use your cottage as a base? It would give us a place to hide away from being sensed. I know it's a lot to ask—"

"No," Draco said. "Use it. Do what you have to, to get him."

Potter nodded. "All right."

"I'll be spending some time in Norway soon, I think," Draco replied. "I was going to go up today to talk to Gunvor, and then with everything at Hogwarts done I'm probably good to arrange the firedrakes' return to the reserve. After that, there's nothing really stopping me from returning to work. I'll see what Gunvor has to say about that."

"I guess you're stuck here, huh?" Potter asked Dagmar. "It could probably be arranged for you to go home. Our floo department would just have to get permission for your fireplace from the Norwegian Ministry."

"I'm not going to worry about it," Dagmar said. "I'll go home once Voldemort is gone. I'd rather Draco and I had our house to ourselves once things are back to normal, and for now I'd like to stay close to everyone else."

"Whichever you prefer." Potter sipped his tea. "Just let me know if you change your mind, and I'll see what I can do."

"Okay."

The conversation drifted onto other things while they finished their drinks. Potter gave them more of an update on everything that went on at Hogwarts since their departure. Dumbledore's body had been removed from where it temporarily laid in the hospital wing, and was due to be buried in a family plot at Godric's Hollow (Draco wondered if that was close to Potter's parents, but didn't ask). There would be a celebration of his life at some point, probably once things had settled down a bit more and the Hogwarts grounds could be open to the general public. Draco raised his eyebrows to hear that a group of Unspeakables showed up in answer to the dementor problem. Whatever they did before leaving as quietly as they arrived, the dementors were gone.

"Other than that. . ." Potter finished up with a shrug. "Oh, they've been moving the Death Eaters. All the stymies they were waiting for showed up, so McGonagall was able to lift the anti-apparation spells over a room adjacent to the Room of Requirement. We don't have enough holding cells at the Auror office for this sort of scale, plus only three spots for prisoners on each ferry. So that's a bit of a slow process."

"It all gets done eventually," Draco said.

"I think they started with the most dangerous ones. Your aunt and uncle went first, along with the two that assassinated Scrimgeour. Then I think they were just going in alphabetical order after that." Potter tilted his tea cup toward himself, then leaned up to stretch his back. "I should probably make a move here soon."

"It was nice to get to visit again." Dagmar had relaxed through the course of it. Her smile turned impish as they all stood up. "I hope you don't think you're getting out of here without a hug, though."

"A hug?"

"Ja, you know, when you squeeze somebody out of gratitude." Although Potter looked taken aback that Dagmar might want something like that, he acquiesced. She didn't hug him for very long, just long enough for Potter's reluctance to give way to a placid smile. "Thank you for helping me come home."

"No problem." Slight colour rose in Potter's cheeks before he cleared his throat. "It was nothing."

"Shut up, Potter." The smirk Draco couldn't suppress flourished into a grin when Potter realized with a groan what he was up to, coming around the table corner. "Come here."

"Fine." Potter's face glowed red as he accepted a brief one-armed hug.

"We never have to discuss this," Draco told him. "You should probably get used to people saying thanks when you do the sorts of things you just did for us."

"You really want to go there?" Potter raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look. "You nearly died for me."

"I knew you were going to be insufferable about it."

"Shut up, Malfoy. I'm allowed to say thank you too."

"You would've died along with me if I didn't deflect that curse, so you hardly owe me thanks." Draco paused. "No idea how that happened, do you?"

"Haven't thought much about it, really." Potter put his hands back into his pockets and shrugged. "My wand finally doesn't stink anymore, although it's gone touchy. Yours?"

"I haven't bothered with it since I settled in here yesterday." Draco put an arm around Dagmar when she rested her head on his shoulder. "I mean, I'll accept how things happened, no questions asked. I'm just curious."

"I bet lots of people will be, once things settle down a bit. I mean, surviving the Killing Curse. . ." Potter's cheeks pinched as he tried to hide an amused smile. "Reckon that's only happened once before."

Draco's stomach flipped oddly. "Oh. Guess so."

"Good, you can take some of that Boy Who Lived bollocks off my shoulders." Potter snorted, then looked at Dagmar. "Where could I find your mum?"

"If you go up the stairs here, take two lefts," Dagmar said.

"All right." Potter nodded at Draco. "If you're going to be in and out of the country, I'll just write you in the messenger when I find out more about Wormtail."

"Sounds good."

Draco was very glad Potter didn't stick around to rub in the status they now shared, having survived the same curse. It still left him pensive when Potter disappeared up the dining room stairs to the first floor.

"I hope I don't get attention for that like he did." Draco wrinkled his nose as he and Dagmar migrated instead to the great room. "I don't really want it."

"If Potter's any kind of indicator, whether you want it or not is irrelevant," Dagmar replied. "I'd rather get through all this as quietly as possible too. I'm already nervous about Madam Bones having stated publicly that Voldemort faked his death and lived on by possessing a former Hogwarts student. When I've been announced dead and then come back at the same time all this happened, it probably won't take long for people to put two-and-two together. You'll have an easier time with nosy people."

Draco sighed. "It's going to be weird."

"Better than the alternatives, I suppose."

They came to a stop in front of the fireplace. Dagmar smiled as Draco pulled her into a hug, just as unwilling to pull away. Draco would probably only be gone for a couple of hours, but his resolve to leave was wilting.

"I'll see you later." Dagmar leaned up for a kiss, then studied Draco afterward. Her brow furrowed as she looked down at their feet.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Since when are you taller than me?"

Draco laughed. "I noticed back in autumn. Last growth spurt, I think."

With a hum, Dagmar entwined her fingers in Draco's. "I guess being away from each other for a little while, things like that become more obvious. I thought your face was a little different too."

"Good different, I hope."

"Oh yes." Dagmar's snicker was cut off by Draco kissing her again. "Just more prominent bone structure, things like that. I'm glad you're mine, so I don't have to bother trying to resist."

Dagmar wasn't making it any easier to leave. Since they had the great room to themselves spare a handful of Aurors, Draco blocked them out and happily indulged in a snog.

Draco turned to the main Auror after Dagmar headed off. "Can I have my wand?"

The Auror had it locked in a box, which he opened with a tap of his own wand. He picked up Draco's wand, then hesitated before holding it out to Draco. Draco furrowed his brow as to why that would've been a problem. His frown deepened as he held his wand.

It didn't feel any different from a stick he might have picked up outside.

"That normal?" the Auror asked.

"No. Lumos."

Nothing happened. Draco's first thought was that his wand had been replaced with some sort of decoy, but that didn't explain the Auror's equal confusion. It looked the same as his too, cut and resealed down the shaft with a resin-like substance.

"Trip to Ollivander's for me then, I guess." Draco shrugged and stepped into the fireplace.