The Eighth Year Universe

Love Wins

I've Never Been This Far From Peace

The chapter title is from the song:

Redemption – Hurts


A Mágia Nemzetgyűlése

Budapest, Hungary

The Hungarian Ministry for Magic was a beautiful building – it was inside an old church, designed to look like it was falling into ruin at first glance but stunning on the inside.

The architecture was gothic, in keeping with much of the city of Budapest. Inside, the theme continued. Rather than a huge atrium like the British Ministry had, the Hungarian one had a smaller rectangular area. At the far end, there was a tower with a spire atop it.

"Ministerial offices," Daphne said in a whisper, nudging her head towards it.

"Much fancier than Hermione's office," Neville mused.

"Status is more of a thing here," Daphne returned quietly, "Be aware of that. Blood status, financial status, we did our best to destroy that in Britain, but countries this far east aren't quite there yet."

The others nodded but said nothing. Harry was the only person amongst them who had actually been here before. When he and Draco worked together, they had come to a conference together at the Hungarian Ministry.

Everyone else was in awe of the architecture. Above them was a roof with stone and wooden beams. But on either side of them were terraces, taking up the entire side of the building. There had to be at least six levels, each comprised of stone archways with ornate metal railings. There were doors into various offices and departments dotted around everywhere, and it was a very busy place.

An ambassador greeted them and led them into the Hungarian Auror Department. They were debriefed on the political situation by the Head Auror, a rather inhospitable man named Andor Simko.

It took a few hours. By the end, they had not learned anything that they didn't already know. They'd had intel coming in from across Europe for weeks, after all. Still, the Hungarian Ministry authorised them to proceed as they saw fit. Finally, they were all transported to their designated safe house.

It was on the edges of Budapest, and the gothic theme continued there. The place looked like an abandoned clocktower at first glance, and once inside, it wasn't in much better condition. It had obviously once been a grand place, but now the paint was peeling, and the metal railings rusting.

They stood in the hallway, looking up at the spiral staircase that wound its way upwards. There were doors on every level, and as they had just been dumped here by the Hungarian ambassador, the only thing to do was go upwards.

Lilly stepped into the middle of the room and peered down some stone steps, "Well, there's a dungeon, which is a good start."

"This is a strike mission, Lilly," Harry said calmly, "We won't be taking prisoners, so we don't need a dungeon."

"Is that Auror speak for 'nobody is going to be alive to need the dungeon'?" Victoire asked, her eyes flitting between the Aurors.

"Yep," Nevaeh replied.

"How would you know, Nevee?" Lilly asked with a frown.

"I did date an Auror for a little while," Nevaeh said offhandedly, "Which at least two of you know since he was, you know, your son."

Daphne resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Yes, we are aware of that. But as it has nothing to do with the mission at hand, I fail to see why it's relevant. Shall we head up, Harry? See what we've got to work with here?"

Harry nodded and drew his wand.

"We have no reason to believe that the Hungarian ministry is trustworthy or legitimate in their claims that it is not run by the Statute Saboteurs. For that reason, we treat them as guilty until proven innocent. Daphne, I want you upfront with Neville and me. Bill, form the rear with Shep and Mitch. Healers in the middle for safety reasons, Lorne and Wood, make sure they stay there."

Daphne had to admit, she was surprised by how well it worked. And she could see now why Harry had wanted this mission run this way – this group of people worked like a well-oiled machine.

They headed up to the first level and opened the ornate wooden door there. Harry stepped into the room once the doorway had been marked as clear of curses or booby traps. It had clearly been used as living quarters because it had a common area and a kitchen.

On the next level, they discovered their sleeping quarters. Some team members were less than impressed when they realised that they would all be sleeping in one room and sharing a very open-plan bathroom.

"Why are there no cubicles?" Nevaeh asked in a whisper.

"Because cubicles aren't the done thing in Europe, people just shower together," Victoire replied, "What's the big deal with that? Have you never seen a naked body before?"

Nevaeh made a face, "Of course you're not weird about it. You shower outside, like a heathen."

Victoire gave her a long-suffering look but said nothing as they reached the top floor of the clock tower. Once again, there were no curses present, so Harry stepped into the room. This time, he motioned for everyone else to follow him in.

This room was large but relatively bare. It was the actual clock part of the clocktower, and on all four sides, there were huge clock faces that doubled as windows. At the centre of the room was an old table, but beyond that, it was sparse.

Harry, however, seemed happy with it. He clapped his hands together and nodded.

"Perfect. This is our makeshift office," He said, turning to the others, "Now, the first step is discovering where the Saboteurs are operating from. All of our intel says it's somewhere in or near Budapest. Obviously, wherever it is will be extensively warded, so I need our Curse Breakers to grab some brooms and do a night-time flyover."

Daphne and Bill looked outside, and Nevaeh turned back to Harry, "But it's only midday."

"Yeah, there's a lot of killing time on these kinds of jobs," Harry said with a half-hearted smile, "Welcome to the DMLE."

"Great," Nevaeh said dryly.

Harry ignored her and looked back to the others, "While we wait, we can sort out other things, though. Lilly, make sure your girls know exactly how to deal with the most common three curses we see on jobs like these. Daphne, you can help them if you like."

Without waiting for a response, he looked out at the Aurors, "Guys, I want the warding on this place removed in favour of our own warding. Put every defensive spell you know on it. We can't have the Statute Saboteurs finding us here because if they do, there's only one way in and out."

"Which would make us sitting ducks," John agreed with a nod, "Yeah, we'll get right on it."


Lilly went over the three most common curses found in booby-trapped buildings (disintegration, cutting and trigger). Then she left Victoire and Nevaeh to their own devices to practice on a dummy she had transfigured for them.

"Do you think anyone has ever survived a disintegration curse?" Nevee mused.

"Probably," Victoire replied, glancing up at her friend, "If you only put your hand or foot through it, you might survive."

"It would cut through a major artery, though," Nevee pointed out, "You'd bleed out, surely."

Victoire thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, it's not like there would be anything to cauterise the wound, I suppose. The limb would just disappear…maybe if you stemmed the bleeding fast enough, you could save someone's life?"

"If it was just the wrist, they would have a good chance," Lilly said, dropping down next to them and handing them both a protein bar.

The two girls took them gratefully and bit into them while Lilly continued to explain.

"If it was further up the arm, you'd be struggling," Lilly said, taking a bite of her own protein bar.

"What about the leg?" Victoire asked through her mouthful.

"Depends how far in it went," Lilly replied, "I've saved a guy who just put his toes in. Managed to stop the bleeding, and he lost half his right foot. But I saw a guy put his whole lower leg through, and it was like something out of a horror film, blood spraying everywhere."

Nevee took a bite, "How much blood did that guy lose?"

"Probably about half of the blood in his body," Lilly said. She took another bite of her protein bar.

"He was dead in seconds, obviously. The general rule with a disintegration curse is that as soon as it takes away any body part connected via a major artery, you're in trouble. Unless you can stop the blood loss and cauterise the wound extremely quickly, there's no chance."

Daphne made a face as she listened to their conversation. She glanced over at Harry and asked, "Is she always this graphic?"

"Sometimes, especially when she's teaching the young ones," Harry chuckled.

"Is that because it scares them?" Daphne asked.

Harry shook her head, "Nah, I think you have to be okay with gore if you get this far in your training to be a Trauma Healer. Lil thinks the best way to teach is to be as precise and realistic as possible, otherwise - "

" – a Trauma Healer who has been mollycoddled freaks out the first time they see someone half-dead in a dragon attack," Lilly finished.

She smiled and held out a protein bar, "You listen to me, Harry. I suppose miracles do still happen."

Daphne chuckled, and Harry shot Lilly an amused grin.

Daphne raised an eyebrow at her best friend, "Finished discussing the various ways people have bled out on you?"

Lilly snorted and handed her a protein bar, "If you can talk about deformed heads over dinner, I can talk about blood spatter over lunch. I'm a midwifery healer. I've seen every bodily fluid known to man."

Daphne shook her head at Lilly in amusement as she moved on, handing out protein bars to everyone on the team.

Back on the floor, Victoire and Nevaeh's conversation had taken a different turn.

"What do you think Edie is doing right about now?"

Victoire looked down at her watch, "Probably sleeping. I think she's on the late shift all week."

Nevee hummed thoughtfully, "I've been thinking of asking her to move in with me, so I can get out the Closes, you know? She's staying with her mum, who is basically living with her girlfriend now…."

"D'you think that's weird for her?" Victoire asked, "That her mum has a girlfriend all of a sudden. I mean, do you think she even knew her mum was into girls?"

"She wasn't weird about it when she told us, so I guess her mum was always open about it," Nevee shrugged, "And if they're happy, then what's weird about it?"

"I don't know," Victoire said. She glanced over at her dad, who was talking to one of the Aurors.

"But if my dad was suddenly dating a guy, or my mum a woman….I'd find it weird," Victoire said.

"Well, Edith has always been a pretty open, accepting person," Nevee said. She shrugged and looked down at the dummy they were working on.

"Yeah…" Victoire mused. She looked at her friend, cocked her head and decided to say something that had been on her mind for a while.

"You know you're in love with her, right?"

"What?" Nevee hissed.

"Edith," Victoire continued calmly, "You're in love with her."

Nevee scoffed, "Since when?"

"Since pretty much always," Victoire said. She raised an eyebrow at Nevaeh.

"All the snarky little comments? It's like you don't know how to flirt with her, so you're just pulling on her pigtails like a bully in the playground."

Nevee rolled her eyes, "Uh, I don't know what planet you are living on, but I'm not into girls."

"Apart from that one time with Delphi Black," Victoire whispered.

"I could curse Lilly for mentioning that," Nevee grumbled.

"Look, Nevee, it's okay," Victoire whispered, "If you're gay, it's cool. I have loads of gay friends, including our mutual friend, Teddy."

Nevee bit her lip and lowered her voice, "I'm not gay. I'm just…like Teddy, okay? I realised when he and I were dating, actually."

Victoire nodded, "Okay, so what? Nobody cares who you love. You think I'm gonna judge you or something? Because I'm not."

"I don't love her anyway," Nevee said, frowning down at her hands, "It's not that simple."

"I know," Victoire admitted, "But you obviously do like her."

"Yeah," Nevee sighed, "And sometimes the best way to stay close to someone you care about is by just being friends."

"Even if it hurts?" Victoire asked.

"Even if it hurts," Nevee agreed quietly.


The Lake District, England

"Teddy, I fucked up."

Teddy snorted and looked up at his younger brother. He was splitting his time between Nina and Mina, and Nick. But he had come back to the manor to check in on his siblings like his parents had asked.

Alastor threw himself onto Teddy's bed and groaned.

"I went to that Herbology convention," Alastor said with a sigh.

He shook his head, "The one Uncle Nev told me to go to, you know, to help me figure out what kind of Herbology career I want?"

Teddy nodded, "Uh-huh. Did you get the answers you wanted?"

"Yeah, I want to study at the International Centre for Magical Plants and Herbs in Brazil," Alastor said offhandedly.

"Brazil?" Teddy echoed.

"Yeah."

"Mum is gonna kill you," Teddy snorted.

"I know, but I'll tell her and dad once this whole thing has blown over," Alastor said with a sigh, "It'll be fine. Luna and Rolf know people over there, so I'll figure it out, you know?"

"Uh-huh," Teddy said with a smile, "I'm proud of you, Al. Branching out on your own like that? Takes balls, you know."

"Yeah, I just wish I had the same balls when it came to guys," Alastor groaned, "Cause I ran into an old friend at the convention."

Teddy's eyebrows shot up, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Alastor groaned, "Ric Montague."

"Emeric Montague?" Teddy asked, "The Slytherin in the year above you, the one you were obsessed with for like three years?"

"Yes, that one. He was there, and he was like, oh Alastor, I had no idea you liked Herbology this much!" Alastor said, getting off the bed and waving his hands dramatically as he talked.

"And I was like, yeah, and he was all, 'what kind of Herbology do you want to study?" Alastor rolled his eyes, "And I told him I was going to Brazil, and he said 'What, seriously? Me too!"

Teddy watched his little brother in amusement.

"Uh-huh."

"And I said, well, it will be nice to have someone I know there. Maybe we could get a place together?" Alastor said, "And he said, 'Merlin, that would be great. It's so expensive over there. I'm so happy, I could kiss you!"

Teddy grinned.

"And I said neat!" Alastor despaired, "Neat, nobody says that, Teddy!"

Teddy laughed, "Al, take the positive here. Ric Montague is going to move in with you in Brazil. He's older than you, and he's bloody decent on the eyes."

"I know," Alastor whined.

"So don't beat yourself up about it," Teddy said with a chuckle. "Don't you remember when Nick woke up in the hospital wing after I took that fake killing curse for him in Auror training?"

"You talked about this for literally weeks afterwards, so yes, I remember," Alastor returned dryly.

Teddy shook his head as he remembered, "He was high as fuck on pain potions, and he flat out said, 'Teddy, I think I fancy you,' and d'you remember what I said?"

Alastor grinned, "Didn't you thank him?"

Teddy threw himself back onto his bed and looked at the top of the four-poster, "I fucking thanked him."

"Do you think us Potter men are just destined to be shit at this whole romance thing?"

Teddy snorted, "I think we take after dad in that regard."

"So…yes?" Alastor joked.

Teddy chuckled, "Yeah, but he did alright, pulling Mum."

Alastor sniggered.

Teddy smiled at his brother, "But seriously, congratulations on finding your path and maybe even a hot boyfriend with it."

Alastor grinned at that, "Thanks, Ted."

"Just don't say neat when he snogs you," Teddy teased.

Alastor snorted and face planted on Teddy's bed.

"I think I'm gonna die of embarrassment, honestly."


London, England

Theo had been let into the house that Lacey and her husband shared by their house-elf. It was all very modest, and Theo loved that. He was so pleased she didn't yearn for a huge house or status. She had married for love and nothing else.

She was so little like their father, and that made Theo unbelievably happy. Although Lacey had called him Dad for years, they both knew that her real father had been a monster.

He knocked on the bannister and called, "Lace, you decent?"

"Yes, Dad!" Came the response from somewhere below him.

Theo looked ahead and took a breath. It didn't matter how many years had passed; he still had an issue with sub-levels in houses like this. Lacey and Jackson lived in a three-bedroom townhouse, so it was nowhere near the same size as Grimmauld Place, but still – the kitchen was in the basement.

He doubted that Lacey had any idea how hard it was for him to go down there every time he visited, but Theo wanted it to stay that way. Those were his problems to deal with, and he would never let it affect his ability to go and see her.

So, Theo swallowed shut his eyes and stepped into the narrow stairway down to the kitchen. He kept his eyes closed and blocked out the images that still flashed back to him from that false life he had lived. The pictures of Sadie, bleeding on the staircase with unseeing eyes.

The potion he had taken had helped – that world felt like a distant nightmare now, not a reality that he had lived. But still, that nightmare recurred frequently – at least once a week, even after all of these years.

When Theo opened his eyes and stepped into the kitchen, the bad memories floated away from him.

He chuckled, "Are you baking?"

"I'm bored!" Lacey objected, "Not nesting like Jack thinks."

Theo smiled and put the kettle on, "Is he at work?"

"Yeah, it's all hands on deck right now with…everything."

Her eyes darkened, and Theo noticed. He nodded and said, "Yeah, I know. Are you okay?"

Lacey put on a smile, "I'm fine. The baby is fine."

Theo grabbed a couple of mugs from the cupboard, "You know what you're having yet?"

"No, like I told you, Dad," Lacey said, kissing him on the cheek as she brushed past him, "We want it to be a surprise."

"Well, that's entirely up to you," Theo said. He smiled and rested his cane against the counter to reach up for the teabags.

"Dad," Lacey said, "Don't. You remember what the Healers said about over-exerting yourself."

Theo gave her a long-suffering look and grabbed the teabags, "I'm just an old cripple. You are pregnant. Sit down and let me make you a cup of tea."

Lacey snorted, "No chance."

Theo looked at her while the kettle boiled on the stove. She was due on the 5th of November, and it was late July now. She had a noticeable bump, but unlike Sadie, who had looked ill throughout her entire pregnancy, Lacey was glowing.

"You must be, what, four months along now?"

The kettle screeched, so Theo lifted it from the stove.

"Five," Lacey corrected, "And do you know something? The woman who did my check-up the other day called it a geriatric pregnancy. I swear to Merlin, I could have cursed the bitch."

"Geriatric?" Theo chuckled, "You're only 29."

"I know," Lacey agreed, "I'm not even 30 until next May. What age was Hermione when she had the twins?"

Theo thought about that for a moment, "They were born in 2006 just after her birthday, so Hermione would have been…27."

"27?" Lacey echoed, "You had six kids at 27? How on earth did you cope?"

"There were four of us, Lace," Theo said, setting a cup of tea in front of her and kissing her on the forehead, "And I have seven kids, actually."

Lacey gave him a sceptical look, "You're always talking about your six kids."

"That's because the Black-Notts have six kids," Theo said. He sat down opposite her with a cup of tea in his hands and smiled, "I have seven."

"So I'm like your kid from a previous marriage that you only saw on the weekends?" Lacey joked.

Theo grinned, "Does that make your mother my dirty mistress?"

"Ugh, never say that in front of her," Lacey said, shooting him an amused look, "She will kill you."

Theo chuckled, "I don't doubt it."

Lacey sat down at the table and said, "Jason is still trying to convince her to get married, you know?"

"Is he?" Theo asked in surprise, "I thought he would have given up the ghost by now."

"Any sane man would," Lacey said with a roll of her eyes, "But Jason wants to make an honest woman of her."

Theo snorted into his cup of tea, "You and Jack talked much about baby names then?"

"Yes, we have a few ideas," Lacey said, eyeing him suspiciously, "And no, none of them are Theodore or Theodora."

"Thank Salazar for that," Theo said with a laugh, "I thought we agreed to break the tradition of naming every Nott 'Theodore'?"

"We did, but this baby is going to be a Sheppard, not a Nott," Lacey reminded him with a smirk.

"Yes, I am aware of that, Larissa Sheppard," Theo said with a grin, "I walked you down the aisle, remember?"

"I'll never forget," Lacey promised, smiling warmly at him.

Theo reached over and took her hand, "Something is bothering you, even if you're trying to pretend that you're fine."

Lacey smiled sadly and looked down, "Honestly, Dad, I am bored. I usually spend the summer getting things together for the next term, and knowing I won't be working next year, I can't do that. I'm doing little bits around the house to pass the time, and that just leaves me with more time to…worry."

"About the baby or Jack?"

"Both," Lacey admitted sadly, "I worry about Jack all of the time with the increase in attacks by the Statute Saboteurs and…I worry about the world that I'm bringing my baby into."

"You're always going to worry about that," Theo said. He let go of her hand and smiled at her, "You know what? I'm actually going to give you some advice from an unexpected source."

"Okay…" Lacey said in confusion.

"It's something Uncle Cygnus says," Theo explained, "And it's true – there is always a crisis, but the best thing to do is live your life during it, otherwise you might miss it."

Lacey smiled slightly and nodded, "That does sound like Uncle Cygnus, and he may have a point."

"There's always going to be war and conflict, Lace," Theo said honestly, "But so long as there are people who fight for what's right, then it all turns out okay in the end."

"Yeah," Lacey said. She smiled genuinely at him, "I guess it does."

Theo nodded and sipped his tea. He didn't realise quite how much Lacey had needed to hear those words until she walked around the table to hug him.

Theo hugged her back carefully. He didn't want to jostle her or squeeze her bump, after all.

"Thanks for coming by today, Dad," She murmured.

"Always," Theo promised.


Budapest, Hungary

Day One – 9.50 pm

Daphne and Bill had just returned from their flyover with rosy cheeks and a whole heap of information about warded buildings.

"Most of them had light warding," Daphne explained, "The sort that we'd expect over a residential area. But this spot here?"

She pointed to the map that Harry had laid out on the table.

He nodded, "North-West of Budapest?"

"Yeah," Bill agreed, "That place was warded to hell and high water. I'm talking close to Hogwarts."

"That's not right," Harry said, his eyes on the map, "It doesn't look like anything fancy."

"It's not," Daphne remarked, "It looks like a house, to be honest. It's not a large structure or anything."

"Obviously just a base of operations," Harry mused. "Alright, well, it's not on the list of Ministry operated buildings that the Hungarian ambassador gave us, so there's obviously something up with it."

He looked down at the map for a moment, then looked up again.

"Bill, go back there with Mitch," Harry ordered, "Blow a hole in the wards or remove a layer of encryption. Something subtle that they won't notice until they refresh the wards. Then Mitch, map out the place."

Cameron nodded and caught the broom that Daphne had just thrown in his direction.

Harry looked down at the map again.

"I want to know what we're walking into when we make our move," Harry finished.

Bill mounted his broom again and shot out via the roof. Cameron followed him, and as the others watched them go, Daphne moved over to Harry.

"When he said the warding was on a par with Hogwarts…." Harry said, tailing off,

"He wasn't exaggerating," Daphne promised in a whisper.

"Great," Harry muttered dryly.


Blacknot Castle, Scotland

To take their minds off the mission to Hungary, Draco and Hermione were constantly keeping themselves busy with either work or extra-curricular activities. Theo and Sadie both knew what they were doing and why they were doing it, so rather than staging an intervention, they were enabling it.

"Do you want to come and yell at the Board of Governors for me tomorrow?"

Draco looked across the library at his wife, "If it involved yelling at Neville, I would say yes in a heartbeat. But since he's in Hungary, that means sitting through an hour-long meeting with Howard Abbott, so no."

"Really?" Hermione complained.

"Really," Draco echoed, "I can think of several thousand things I would rather do. Starting with putting pins in my eyes and finishing with-"

Hermione rolled her eyes and threw a crumpled-up piece of parchment at him.

"I could fire you."

"You could," Draco said, smirking in her direction, "But you would never find anyone who does it quite like me."

Sadie chuckled and looked over, "Are you talking about your role as her head of the DMLE or something else?"

Draco grinned, "You'll never know."

"You are in a remarkably good mood today," Sadie mused. She narrowed her eyes at him, "What do you know?"

"Just that the strike team have had a promising start," Draco replied honestly, "They've found a suspicious building. It seems very likely that it's linked to the Saboteurs. They're doing overnight recon, and I'm expecting another update around 3 pm tomorrow."

"Which also explains your blasé mood," Sadie said with a nod in Hermione's direction.

Theo dropped down and tried to peer at Sadie's notebook, "Why are you not in a good mood?"

"Because I'm supposed to be on sabbatical, but I'm being roped into doing work because of…everything," Sadie said with a sigh, "And honestly, I've made my decision. Once this is all done, the Statute Saboteurs and everything…I'm quitting."

"Really?" Three voices echoed.

Sadie nodded, "I don't want to live like this anymore. Don't get me wrong, I've loved it, and I have no idea what I will do when I leave, but I need to – for myself, for us…for the kids."

"For Sparta?" Theo joked.

Sadie nudged him in the ribs, "You're an arse."

Draco chuckled and looked down at the crossword in his lap, "What's a five-letter word for marriage?"

"Fraud," Theo answered far too quickly.

That one earned him a smack around the head with Sadie's notebook and a stinging hex from across the room, courtesy of Hermione.

Draco chuckled and shook his head, "Are you ever going to learn?"

"I doubt it," Theo said, chuckling as he rubbed his head.

"Try 'match', Draco," Hermione said idly.

"No, it begins with a U."

"Union," The other three echoed.

Draco looked at them in alarm, "When did we start answering in unison?"

"When we became a union," Theo teased. He kissed Sadie lightly and pushed himself to his feet.

Hermione shook her head at the feeble joke, "Are you going to bed?"

"I'm thinking about it," Theo admitted, "I visited Lacey today, and it…took more out of me than I'd like to admit."

Draco looked up at him, "Did you have to go into the kitchen?"

"Yeah," Theo said. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed his eyes, "You'd think I'd be over that by now, huh?"

Draco got to his feet and shook his head. He reached out to grip Theo's shoulder, but he ended up hugging the other man, "You're never going to be over it, and that's okay."

Theo pulled back from the hug to look at Draco, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Draco said softly, "It was traumatic, but you lived and now, all of this? It's the price you're paying for surviving, and personally, I think it's worth it."

"Me too," Theo murmured. He bridged the gap to kiss Draco lightly, then he leaned down and brushed his lips against Hermione's.

"I'll sit through your Board of Governors meeting with you tomorrow," Theo murmured.

Hermione let out a small sigh of relief and pulled him onto the sofa with her, "Oh, Theo, I love you. I've got notes here, but it's going to take two of us to get Howie to shut his mouth when he gets on a rant and-"

Theo covered her mouth with his hand and grabbed the notebook, "Princess, I love you, but I am way too tired to hear this whole rant. Just let it play out in your head, and I'll imagine you're saying it, okay?"

She gave him a long-suffering look but, to her credit, Hermione did shut up.

Draco chuckled and leaned over the back of the sofa to look at Sadie's encrypted notebook.

"You might as well unencrypt it," He murmured, "I'm your direct superior, so I know exactly what you're working on."

Sadie swallowed, "Draco, you're breathing down my neck; stop it."

"Why?" Draco asked quietly.

Theo didn't look up from Hermione's extensive notes when he replied, "Because it turns her on."

Draco chuckled, and Sadie shivered, "Draco! Seriously, I'm trying to concentrate."

"Huh," Draco said, "This is where you're going wrong, by the way. My Sanskrit is rusty, but I can work that much out."

Sadie moved aside and patted the arm of her chair, "Sit there."

So Draco sat down, and Sadie unencrypted the notebook to make the diagram clearer.

"Don't look at that page unless you want to see exactly what happens to a soul when it's ripped apart by the Horcrux spell," Sadie said offhandedly.

Draco had no desire to see that, so he focused on the diagram, and Sadie shuffled a little closer to him.

"So this is the problem," Sadie said, "We have the counter-curse to the imperius curse. It can be used the old fashioned way, with a wand and an incantation. Or it can be put into a more direct form and injected."

Draco nodded, "It's turning that injected form into an airbound form that's the problem."

"Exactly," Sadie said, "We've tried everything we can think of, but the compound is always unstable."

Draco frowned and looked at the page, "Well, it's like when we were in school, isn't it? With Melody? We hit a brick wall because we removed too many compounds but didn't add one to stabilise the potion. You need a catalyst, something that will be part of the reaction but unaffected by it, and therefore a stabilising agent."

Sadie's eyes widened, "Oh….Merlin, that's it! You're right, you're totally right!"

She turned to the side and kissed him, which made Draco make a slight sound of alarm. Still, once he'd gotten over the initial shock of Sadie initiating a kiss for no actual reason, Draco did move his hands to the side of her face and kiss her back.

Theo looked up from the notebook and raised an eyebrow, "Well, that's different."

Hermione glanced over and bit back a chuckle, "Oh, I think that's been coming since Sadie ripped time apart to save his life, actually."

"Yeah, fair point," Theo said, cocking his head at them, "They're gonna have to come up for air at some point, though."

As if on cue, Sadie broke the kiss. Her cheeks were flushed, and she bit her lip when she saw the look of shock on Draco's face.

"Sorry."

"No, it's…." Draco cleared his throat, "…It's fine. Unexpected, but fine."

Sadie nodded, "You… you worked it out, the solution to this thing that has been bugging me for weeks!"

Draco nodded as realisation filtered in, "Which is why you kissed me?"

"Well," Sadie said, suddenly looking a little awkward.

"That and…there seemed to be a lot of unresolved tension since…that kiss in the secret passageway and the whole argument we had when I…."

" – threatened to rip apart time and killed a man to save me?" Draco asked slowly.

Sadie swallowed and nodded, "Uh…yeah."

"Yeah," Draco said, his frown slowly disappearing as he looked at Sadie, "Yeah, there was, actually."

Sadie nodded and looked at him, "Yeah," she said.

This time Draco leant forward to initiate the kiss, and Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I genuinely don't know how two people can be so oblivious," She remarked.

Hermione then turned her attention to Theo again, "What do you think of my suggestion to increase security at Hogwarts, by the way, Theo?"

"Never gonna fly without Nev there to okay it," Theo replied. He glanced from Sadie and Draco to Hermione.

"You remember when you were a kid, and you used to draw stupid little diagrams and stuff with lines connecting them all together?"

Hermione frowned over at him, "You mean mind maps?"

"Yeah, those," Theo said, glancing back at the two blondes, "I feel like we're four boxes on one of those charts, and to begin with, there was a line between Sadie and me and you and Draco. Then this other line appeared between Draco and me, then one between you and Sadie. And after the whole thing with Lucia, one appeared between you and me but that," he nudged his head at Draco and Sadie.

"It's the final line, connecting everything up," Hermione finished.

Theo nodded, "I can't believe you followed that. It was messy even in my head."

"I'm pretty good at navigating your messy head these days," Hermione said, leaning forward to kiss Theo lightly.

"I know you are," He murmured against her lips.

They both looked over at Sadie and Draco when they broke for air, again, and this time they actually turned to look at their husband and wife.

"Oh…" Sadie grimaced.

"Yes," Theo said, fighting an amused grin, "We are still here. Thank you for noticing."

Draco caught Theo's eye and looked sheepish, "Was I projecting?"

"Yes, but I was shutting you out," Theo said, his amused eyes hovering over Draco.

"Considering how much lust just got blasted my way though, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you don't think of Sadie as a sister anymore."

"And now you see how easily that line is crossed," Hermione smirked, "Never again will you insult Harry and me."

"Then again, he's a Black," Theo said, nudging his head towards Draco, "Incest might be a turn on for him."

Hermione snorted in amusement, and Draco remarked, "Oh, fuck off, Theo."

With a shake of her head, Sadie suggested.

"Maybe we should all go to bed?"

"That's an excellent idea," Theo said quickly, too quickly.

Draco caught his eye, "You felt everything I just felt through the mind link, didn't you?"

"Yes," Theo said matter of factly, "Yes, I did, which is why I think bed is an excellent plan. I'm exhausted after all, aren't you lot?"

Hermione got to her feet and nudged him playfully.

"We'll take the only passageway the kids don't know about it, and for heaven's sake, Draco, please remember silencing charms this time."

- TBC -