It was May and this was the last time Josh would be in here this month. It was counting down now. His friend was getting out of here in March. Flint and Pucey would get out this September and that felt soon. They were talking like it was actually coming up and that was hard and reassuring. It was strange to think so much about so few people but that seemed to be how it was. Yourself, those around you, and the few you cared about out there. Flint got a visit today too, earlier and he had been pretty quiet since his mother left. Thorfinn didn't think he was upset though and Pucey wasn't concerned so that was as much reassurance as he could get without asking.
He wasn't sure how he felt about most things these days. Even when he hadn't liked what was happening in his life he had been pretty sure how he felt about it. Now though, things were different. He had never spent so much time thinking about things before. He had never felt like he had a future. Not after fourteen or so. That was when reality crashed down and his scion duties came into effect. After that it was as if he could see each step ahead of him. All he could do was try to make things easy for himself and carve out the areas of time and privacy that he did have. Quidditch and Josh basically. Within his tight ropes he had tried his best to live. School was some escape and he had a good time there.
After that things were different. The Dark Lord was back and his father was more demanding and more erratic. This trend continued until his death and keeping Sabrina mostly out of things had been all he could do. What else he wanted to do or might have done was irrelevant. Even after his father died, he was fortunate that things had been coming to a climax. His overseers were busy and being summoned and tortured regularly. Then it was as if the trips the Dark Lord took abroad were like strange stretches of calm. Things went on but the nearly frantic atmosphere lessened and Josh was way better during those times. Once his father had died, he had pretty much locked down the Tower and bunked with Josh or the two of them with Yaxley.
Sabrina had been at school and then they were captured. The rage and frustration had ripples through the ranks and spilled over everywhere. All were blamed and the only full meeting he attended happened two days after the trio escaped Malfoy Manor with prisoners. He was lucky to be further back. The Malfoys looked half dead and the mad bitch was seething and bloody. He didn't want to think about whose it was or why she didn't wash it off. Greyback ended up being tortured for letting the bitch get away. He had designs on her it seemed.
The hunt had stepped up then and they were sent everywhere. The search wasn't successful but he thought it less than a complete waste of resources. Then the Gringotts break in and it had been like poking a nest of those skrewts The giant had tried to raise. Everyone was moving and then the call came. He and josh and been sitting down in his study with a whiskey after a late dinner and they had frozen and looked at each other. Then had hurried conversations with an elf each and answered the summons. Then they had been in the processing office. Everything in between was like a rush and he had been knocked out for a while. When he came to he didn't know where Josh was and didn't see him again until the trials were over. He did know he was also there but until the witch came and told him Josh was alright, he didn't know anything other than he was alive.
Everything had changed then but he hadn't understood it then. Hadn't known to anticipate the way things had gone. Nearly two years had passed since the end of May and he felt that he accepted more of it now. That he would have spent three years in a cell. Sabrina would be three years older. More, since he hadn't seen her since Christmas her fifth year. Imagining the war being over wasn't hard and he didn't think he would have issues with that. Flint had talked about it a lot, how it would be to step into a world that had moved on. They had all talked about things they wondered about and meetings between people who wouldn't raise wands now.
Hermione was here. In the same dark Stone Tower as he was. His witch. She was his already. He could tell that she had accepted it but wasn't sure how it would play out. Neither was he but he was more sure of how it wouldn't go now. He would have traded his own happiness for Sabrina's. Even if the witch had been a selfish bitch with him, he would have taken it and handled it like many of his peers would or were doing. She had taken care of his sister and done it with real care. More since then and was considering what would happen. Or trying to.
That she had left the master suite of her house in France empty. Wasn't sleeping in it now or making it hers. That had been the first gesture. Or he felt like it was the first one directly for him. It didn't have anything to do with Sabrina or the family or Josh. Just the two of them. That it would be their space. Then she had gone to the Tower and he hadn't thought much about it then. He had tried to listen and not stutter or question her more than needed. She was flushed and unsettled. She was also more enthusiastic than he would have anticipated. About the Tower anyways.
That the witch was a Gryffindor was sometimes startling when it reared up. No piece of paper means she can't be happy and of course he will love her if she gives him the chance to. It was something close to that it had been honest. He was sure she hadn't been playing with him somehow. It was brave and a kind of plea that he wouldn't have considered making. Maybe he might have decided he wanted those things and set about trying to have it but he would never have mentioned them to her. Might have spent forever trying to decide if the witch hated him underneath their interactions instead.
Sometimes Sabrina's words, or hers, whispered through his mind. She is so easy to love. Her scars make it easier to see her. Those ones seemed like grains of truth. Sometimes the sprite, Sabrina, was nearly empathic or something. She didn't usually care enough though.
Her friend Claudia, it had been like that. She could be a real friend to me Thor and I need one. It's what I want more than anything. So he had met the young witch's unlikable mother and made sure his father was never the one dealing with it. Didn't know that a muggle man had fathered the polite and seemingly cultured young witch that was rarely there but owled all the time. His disinterest has been a saving grace as much as it needled them both. Until the last few years and then all they could hope for was disinterest and periods without communication.
The sounds of the doors into this side of this floor brought him from his thoughts and he looked up to watch Josh be escorted into his cell across from him. As usual his friend moved to the back corner and leaned into it. He didn't close his eyes or anything but Thorfinn watched his body slowly lose some of the tension and he waited for the mask Josh showed the guards to fade. It had been alright, she had come and it hadn't been a screaming match or silence. He relaxed too, in response to Josh's obvious lessening in frustration.
The way she had spoken about Daphne before she left their visit was revealing, or he thought it was. The witch thought her friend deserved recognition and the support such a thing showed. Deserved to have everything she could, mostly Josh's consideration, the ways that she could be shown he cared. It was easy to see that she meant it and that kind of fierce loyalty was so attractive.
He was sure she displayed it on behalf of his sister, though all he usually seen was an easy pride and affection. Had seen her be smug about the boys flying skills and she loved her friends, loved them hard. Kept secrets for them and even when they weren't around, she was looking out for them.
Now he watched his friend finally meet his eyes and knew that it had been better than he expected. Thorfinn always tried to separate what could happen from what might or would happen. The very worst rarely did and Josh found it easier to plan for the very worst and hard to see some middle ground.
Hermione had not lived up to expectations, they hadn't been high enough. He had started out with insanely high expectations and placed them without thinking, asking her to invoke the Rights. He hadn't held her hostage to get her too either and he had been thankful when Malfoy pointed that out.
Surmising from what wasn't said that Josh had forced her hand. The witch could have said no or tried to find another way. She hadn't and while it might have been taking advantage of her post war trauma it hadn't been malicious or forced and that was something.
"Graduation is in two weeks and Sabrina is ready. Hermione gave her all of her materials and flashcards, this made her too popular in the common room. So she ended up putting a stack at the end of whatever table she was working at and people cycled through. Then she sent them back as she finished with them so everyone would leave her alone." Josh said and it was easy to hear the humour in his voice.
"I can't even think of what her study materials for NEWTs look like. Don't want to either. Someone could get buried under that pile of parchment." Flint commented and Thorfinn grinned at Josh. The guy was proud of his sister's smarts even if he didn't say so. Liked to give him a look that said it had been good for Sabrina too. Who would have done well, but probably not as well if pretty much every effort wasn't put into it. They had been working on the duelling problem for two years nearly and that kind of tutoring made an impact.
"Nothing else to report?" He asked and knew Josh would say more after lights out, or the next time they could speak privately.
"She has decided to have a graduation celebration this summer. This year's class and last. My home is being opened to the masses, she assures that they will be careful and that it's for the benefit of Wizarding Britain. She had that grim look that I think means she doesn't actually want to do this. Everyone around her is in alt, except Sinclair and Potter. Neither of whom are keen on dancing or people being around. It's amusing to hear her talk about people. As if their idiosyncrasies are endearing. Draco has been pestering her to let Blaise include him in more of their endeavours. Potter and Malfoy are two apiece in regulated snitch battles. It sounds like a spectator event from her tone, there was face paint." He chuckled at the tone of his friend's voice when he said face paint. As if it were something messy and useless that they had to let lesser people enjoy, away from them.
"She sounds fun. Think I could go?" Marc asked them and Thorfinn knew he meant to watch the two seekers chase a snitch.
"Probably, she has let every other unwanted person in." He answered and Adrian snickered.
"I'll do the talking Marc. Excuse me Miss Rosier, we happened to be in the neighborhood and would like to come in." Pucey's tones were as smooth and cultured as anyone could ask and Josh snorted.
The other two made plans and he just watched Josh sag slowly and then after a few minutes sit on the edge of his cot and put his head in his hands. He always did this when he wanted to think clearly. Or some version of eyes closed, this was as public a place as he had ever seen him do it. Thorfinn wasn't even sure anyone besides him had ever seen it before Marc was his cell buddy.
When Malfoy and the other two got out and it was just the four of them the guards put them at the end and and in pairs of friends. They had been thankful and he had nodded his thanks, even if Josh didn't.
He was comfortable and thinking about the grove he had only been to a few times and Sabrina's graduation when Josh lifted his head and he was curious when the familiar eyes looked at him with speculation. Like he knew something that Josh didn't. There were some things but those were none of his business.
"The apple trees above the jagged creek have blossoms this year." He said and Thorfinn watched his friend openly analyze him. He didn't respond but did feel himself shift minutely. Enough that Josh knew he understood. She hadn't told Josh about the ritual she had done there, why that was he didn't know but he wasn't willing to betray her confidence. Josh did know that she had been there. Which he knew, he had told Josh himself. So it was for whatever had prompted the message and her tone or expression, whatever had piqued his interest.
At Ginny and Ron's graduation she had felt a fierce pride and nearly triumph. To see the ones who had gone back and who had never left stand together on a platform in the Great Hall. Their own expressions had been different from today's. That had been heavy and charged but this one was much lighter.
Her pride was as strong but it wasn't the same. Sabrina looked beautiful and like herself. Her hair was in a loose but intricate braid and she had a lovely and subtle makeup glamour on. Her black Hogwarts robes fit her perfectly and the blue and bronze trim that had appeared when she accepted her diploma complimented her perfectly.
Hermione stood alone which was unusual and watched Claudia smile at her friend and discreetly leave her with Camden Wood. Who was smiling at Sabrina and it was a handsome one.
"He's a determined lad." She turned to the voice and smiled at Oliver Wood. Then the two turned back to the younger ones and watched them. As discreetly as they could.
"I think he will have to be patient." She admitted after a moment. Then met Oliver's happy hazel eyes.
"Aye. Cam is a fisherman. Fast water and a worm on a hook. All morning for maybe a bite, catches one big enough to fry up mayhap twice a year." Was his reply and she considered that. Startled that maybe this was more than she had considered.
"They did well." She said and he grinned down at her.
"That they did. Different for them. For me too." He said and she nodded and they shared a look. Oliver was in the same year as Josh and Rowle.
"How is the rebuilding going?" She asked him and he easily answered her. Oliver had taken a place on the Ministry payroll in the Sports department to help with the leagues.
"Is'nae nothing worse than paper and arguing numbers." He grumbled at the end and she couldn't help laughing. Oliver Wood throwing papers in the common room hadn't been an unusual sight.
"Has anyone told you about Sin's flying lessons last summer?" She asked him and he frowned.
"Nae. Cam mentioned him flying on weekends. Said I should watch em if I could." He looked interested enough and was definitely more so after she explained what the Toulouse team had done for him. Then what they were doing this summer. When Harry walked up to them five minutes later she knew that someone else here thought something like this a good idea. Mentorship or lessons or something. Oliver walked away a few minutes later and Harry looked at her.
"You alright Mione?" He asked her quietly and she smiled her reassurance.
"Yes Harry. Is Gin still taking photos?" She asked him and they grinned at the redheads reluctance to be in picture after picture with students of all ages.
Harry Potter might be the boy who lived and won but Ginny and Neville were heroes here. In the school when these people needed them and it was heartwarming to see them blush as parents and grandparents were introduced. Much younger siblings were in awe of them and it provided their friends some genuine amusement.
"Let's go find some trouble then. Makes everyone nervous to see you alone like this." The last was muttered and she gave the expected scowl and scanned the room for Draco. He was with Blaise, Theo, and a few other Slytherins from a couple years ahead of them. She smiled at him when he caught her eye and went with Harry to find someone interesting to speak to. He left her when Mrs Chang began speaking of her midwifery training and she was kept in the circle and didn't really try to get away until it's make up shifted. Within minutes she was the only one there from before and Astoria wasn't taking her cues to leave.
"Sabrina wanted to introduce me to some people so I have to go. Have a good afternoon ladies." This was the firmest she had been yet and wasn't surprised but wasn't pleased when the circle around her closed tighter. No longer on the outside but nearly ten circled by the witches in robes.
"As I was saying, Daphne said she began by being involved with you and I too would like the courtesy." Astoria said with a smile and she caught Adelaide Avery's eye. A small smile said she wasn't pushing but did agree. In a moment she understood and for a second she looked around before making a decision.
"As I said, Sabrina will be waiting for me." All of them understood and for a second she waited. Then took a step backwards and Gemma Farley didn't move out of her way. She stopped and looked around again.
"Today is about the graduates and the school." She said as quietly as she could and with as polite a smile as she could paste on.
"You've made quite a name for yourself. Even if it has changed. It seems rude to exclude those who were merely raised differently." Farley said from behind her and she didn't stiffen.
"People's behaviour now is more relevant than anything that went before." She pointed out and let some of her ironic feelings be heard. Avery caught her eye then and Hermione held her gaze. The witch didn't back down from her and didn't move aside. This would be a scene of some kind if she didn't break it up. Already she could see people watching them.
"If you would like to organize some way of helping with any of the many situations that need it, then I'm sure your time and help will be appreciated." She wouldn't fold was angry. Angry that Adelaide of Astoria even didn't approach her differently.
"Enjoy your last year of freedom Rosier." This was much quieter and nearly hissed at her.
"I always try and enjoy myself if I can." She turned and smiled at the gorgeous blonde. Gemma Farley was pretty. Voluptuous and her face wasn't as aristocratic or harsh as most of her peers. Her curls were also to be envied. Long and tight controlled spirals that Hermione had envied all of the Hogwarts years they shared.
"Thor will be less than pleased but you've been useful. The girl loves you and half of England does. Better than he might have gotten." She said conversationally and Hermione did smile at that. Not a happy one but an ironic one.
"Thank you for your opinion." She said and tried to be genuine. Fighting with her wasn't an option here and she couldn't really argue with that. Gemma has spent seven years with him and she hadn't spent seven total hours with him. At least she didn't think it amounted to that.
"I would like to be released now." She said pleasantly and turned around. Eyes caught hers and Avery shifted but she was the only one. Stupid vapid women.
"This will make the papers if it ends abruptly. I will not fold to your attempted power play." Narcissa had made sure she could smile through anything and said her eyes conveyed that needed warning well enough.
"We will remember this." Farley commented from behind her and she did a slow spin of the witches around her before she nodded and then walked directly toward Adelaide. She could see the dark and light heads of Blaise and Draco moving toward her and didn't want them to make it here. A last glance and Adelaide moved aside. Hermione didn't answer her small smile and didn't look back as she walked toward her friends.
Blaise had an easy smile on his face and Draco was smirking. This wasn't the usual versions though and she smiled genuinely at them and watched them catch eyes for a moment before they continued toward her.
"Hermione." The crawling feeling was disgusting and she had to make herself not flinch away from Cormac Mclaggan. Knowing she wouldn't have long before her gallant knights came to save her, she smiled politely and gently pulled her hand away. His came with it and she didn't stop her smile from falling now. His smile was charming but her senses were loudly telling her no and this was different from the few creeping feelings she had experienced before. It made her feel as if he were looking at pictures of her or something. Violated and she didn't like it.
"Cormac. Good to see you." Neville held a hand out and the other wrapped around the wrist of the hand holding hers and it disappeared. Neville was shaking the man's hand but turned to her. His eyes asked if she was alright and she tried to smile and then made it a real one. Blaise and Draco reaches her then and she was nearly blockaded by two shoulders that left about six inches of space between them. Neville didn't look affronted though and met both men's eyes before nodding and keeping hold of Cormac. Who was looking at them with interest. Then he was leading the unwanted man away and the black shoulders parted and then turned so both men were looking down at her.
"I'm alright. Neville understood I think. He is the first one other than you Blaise. Without being told anyways." She said quietly and in Italian. Hers wasn't great and Draco wasn't flawless either but she could manage this.
"Sabrina asked for you and we lied to her. Didn't like it but didn't want her following you over there so let's get her before she ends up in a similar trap." Blaise said and the three of them headed into the milling crowds.