Chapter 10

Saturday, 9 November 1996

Hogwarts, Scotland

The Gryffindor-Slytherin quidditch match, the first of the season, was on the second Saturday in November that year. Harry and the team were standing in the changing room at the Hogwarts pitch, waiting to be called. Lee was gone so Zacharias Smith, of Hufflepuff, was announcing the games now. He briefly wondered how he'd been selected, but then Ginny, who'd had her ear to the door straightened.

"Let's go!" she shouted, and hauled the door open.

Harry followed the rest of the team out into the bleak Scottish weather. It was dumping rain in buckets, blustery and cold. He could hardly recall worse weather for a game. Perhaps the match against Slytherin in third year was almost as bad, but Harry couldn't really remember.

Harry was fortunate that he'd applied imperturbable and warming charms to his jersey and trousers as he mounted his broom to circle the pitch. The chill November wind and icy rain stung his face and ran down inside his uniform, shocking him.

The balls were released and the game began, but even with his glasses charmed, Harry couldn't see much through the driving rain. Harper, the Slytherin seeker was nowhere to be found, so Harry just flew randomly around the pitch looking for it. After twenty minutes, Harry finally spotted his rival far above, perched unmoving on his broom, his uniform cape wrapped around him. To Harry it looked as though he were shivering. His face was certainly pale, and he looked thoroughly soaked.

Around the thirty-minute mark, Harry's charms started to fail. The wind shot through his clothes as though they weren't there, and he was starting to lose feeling in his fingers and toes. Harry looked around briefly just to make sure there weren't any dementors present. He didn't really think there were, it was just so miserable, he had to check. The clock ticked forward, yet the snitch made no appearance. Over the sound of the rain, Harry heard Smith announce a Gryffindor goal. The score was fifty to twenty in favour of the Lions.

At the hour mark, Ginny subbed in the reserves for the chaser line for fifteen minutes. Though less experienced, the reserves were warm, dry, and had plenty of energy. The sodden and chilled Slytherins were no match for them, and the Gryffindor lead quickly rose to eighty to twenty. When Ginny put the starting chasers in, she waited another fifteen minutes and subbed in the reserves again, this time for Ron, Jimmy, and Harry.

Harry descended to the sidelines and was dragged into the changing room by Hermione, who he was surprised to see there. She immediate cast drying charms on the three of them, followed by warming charms. Then she reapplied the impervious charms to their uniforms and gave them all some hot chocolate, which Harry greatly appreciated.

"Did Ginny ask you to do this?" Harry asked, wondering.

"Yes," Hermione replied. "When she saw what the weather was like this morning, she pulled me aside and asked me to organise this.

"It's brilliant, Hermione," Harry said, leaning in to kiss her. "Thanks."

"Erm… mate?" Ron asked, looking at Harry in confusion. "Something you'd like to tell me? You're not cheating on Katie are you? 'Cause I'd have to kill you for pulling a Ron. You don't even have the excuse you're drunk."

"No, Ron," Harry laughed. "Katie knows." Hermione blushed at that admission.

"What exactly does Katie know?" Ron wondered.

"I'll fill you in after the game," Harry promised. "Just know I'm not cheating."

"Good," Ron said, satisfied for now.

"Time's almost up. Best get back out there," Hermione said, sighing and pushing them and Jimmy towards the door. With a herculean effort, Harry trudged back out into the weather, mounted his broom, and reclaimed his spot as seeker.

When play resumed, he actually felt a little better. Being warm and dry really did help quite a bit. Harry looked up. Harper hadn't moved. Harry rose up to check on the boy. As he closed the distance, Harry could see his lips were blue, and he was shivering badly. The higher Harry got, the worse the Slytherin looked. Then, by a miracle, Harry saw the snitch. The blasted thing was not two feet behind the other boy, hovering, blocked from everyone else's view by the Slytherin seeker and his broom.

Apparently, snitches are also affected by the weather, as this one was almost as sluggish as Harper. Seeing the snitch, Harry lunged at it. Harper, thinking Harry was coming for him, dove, leaving the snitch uncovered. It barely had a chance to move before Harry nabbed it. He'd been back on the pitch for only two mintes.

"Gryffindor wins!" Smith announced. "The final score is 230 to 30. Now let's all get back inside. It's bloody cold outside!"

"Smith!" Harry heard McGonagall shouting over the weather. Harry laughed. Smith wasn't wrong. It was miserable. He landed next to Katie.

"How does a nice relaxing afternoon at the Resort sound?" Harry asked.

"I'd rather have a private party on the Refuge d'Ile," Katie countered.

"As my lady wishes," Harry proffered in a faux courtly accent. They followed the rest of the team into the changing room. As they were busy ditching their soaked uniforms, Harry announced, "In lieu of the victory party in the common room, Lord Potter invites you and your most especial friends to a private party at the tropical Refuge d'Ile. The boat departs the dock at Port-sur-Mer in forty-five minutes."

"That's not enough time to get shagged!" Ginny protested. "That's barely enough time to get there."

"We can shag on the island," Dean pointed out. "Harry told me there's a Roman bath there."

"Oh," Ginny said lamely. "That's alright then. Lead on, your lordship."

Ten minutes later, Harry and the rest of the team arrived in the Gryffindor common room, where they received their accolades, waved to their adoring fans, collected Hermione, Neville, Seamus, Vicki, and Leanne, and marched up the stairs to Harry's trunk.

"Neville," Harry said as they were awaiting their turn to enter the trunk. "D'you want to grab Hannah and Susan?"

"No," Neville said quickly.

"Is everything OK?" Harry asked, sensing something was wrong.

"I… I don't know," Neville said. "I mean, no. Something's very wrong."

"Uh oh," Harry said. "D'you want to talk about it later?"

"Yeah," Neville nodded. "I mean. Hermione should probably be there, too."

"Is this about you, or Justin?" Harry asked, confused. Those were the only two reasons to include Hermione Harry could think of.

"Both?" Neville said, a little unsure. "Definitely Justin."

"Say no more," Harry said. "We can talk about it on the train."

Five minutes later, the train was steaming briskly towards Port-sur-Mer, and the partygoers were all congregated in the lounge car on Harry's private train. Jimmy, Richie, and Demelza left to go get some snacks before Neville could start his tale.

"Last night I discovered quite a few things I'd not known before," Neville began once Harry had prompted him. "Hannah and I had gone over to the Necropolis to study with Susan, but apparently Susan had forgotten our plans." Neville paused to try to figure out how to proceed. "We caught her in flagrante delicto."

"What?" Ron asked, confused.

"It means in blazing offence," Hermione said. "But colloquially, it means he caught her having sex. Correct?"

"Yeah," Neville nodded. "She was in her room having sex. But that wasn't the shocking thing."

"What was the shocking thing?" Leanne asked, leaning in.

"She was having sex with Justin," Neville informed them. Everyone's eyes went wide at that revelation. Then, most people glanced at Hermione to see her reaction. Ron however, wasn't so restrained.

"He wasn't raping her, was he?" Harry asked.

"He fucking better not have been!" Ron practically shouted. Harry glanced at Ron, surprised. Harry knew Ron still cared about Susan, at least a bit, but he was sitting next to his girlfriend, who suddenly looked extremely hurt. Harry sighed inwardly. Making eye contact with Vicki, he nodded at her, hoping she remembered their conversation at Hermione's party.

"Ron," Harry looked at his friend. "She's not your girlfriend anymore mate. She can shag who she likes. I just wanted to make sure it was shagging and not what we know he's done in the past."

"It wasn't rape," Neville finally managed to get out. "I backed out of the room immediately and went to a nearby sitting room. When Hannah didn't come by for several minutes, I went looking for them. That's when I overheard them talking." Neville paused, trying to figure out how to say what he had to next.

"I overheard Hannah and Susan," Neville pressed ahead at last. "They were talking about how they could cover up what I'd just seen. Hufflepuffs are loyal, especially to other Hufflepuffs. Apparently, there's a code in Hufflepuff, like omerta."

"What?" Ron asked again.

"The mafia's code of silence," Katie told him. "No one blabs or they get offed."

"Yeah," Neville nodded. "Anyway, I learned that Susan and Justin are dating now. They've been dating in secret for a couple weeks." He paused again here. "They've been sleeping together for longer." He turned a sad visage to Hermione.

"How long?" she asked softly.

"Since at least last April," Neville said. Hermione's hands went white as she gripped the arms of the chair she was sitting in. No one seemed to notice, but Harry did. "She wasn't the only one he was with either."

"Bastard," Katie whispered under her breath. Louder, she asked, "Who?"

"Megan Jones, Tamsin Appleby, Sophie Roper, Sally…" Neville listed.

"That bitch!" Leanne shouted. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. If I'd known…"

"It's not your fault," Hermione consoled her, holding in her anger. She motioned for Neville to continue.

"…And Hannah," he said, almost inaudibly quiet and on the verge of tears. "And that's just the names I heard."

"Son of a bitch!" Harry cursed. Everyone was outraged. Harry saw Hermione's eyes flash. He wouldn't want to be either Justin or Hannah the next time Hurricane Hermione saw them.

"Oh, Neville," Ginny said, leaning over and giving him a side-armed hug. "I'm so sorry."

"I… I don't know what to do," he admitted.

"How many times did they… you know?" Katie asked.

"They didn't say," Neville said, breathing deeply to ward off his feelings. "They made it sound like they did it with him together a few times, or… or with other blokes in Hufflepuff."

"I guess it's not just in the quidditch showers then," Katie said sadly.

"I don't think it is," Neville said. "It sounded like being a couple was declaring a couple preferred each other in Hufflepuff, rather than announcing their exclusivity with each other."

"That's not entirely restricted to Hufflepuff," Harry admitted gently. "But we talk about that sort of thing beforehand, and other blokes' girls and other girls' blokes are off-limits without permission from the significant other."

"Oh, they talk about it," Neville sniffed. "At least, within Hufflepuff. But if you're not in Hufflepuff… fuck you, you don't have a right to know." Harry was surprised the normally proper boy swore. "Hannah… her exact words were, 'I don't know what I'd do if Neville found out about me and Justin.' Then Susan added, 'Or you and Kevin, or you and Wayne, or you and Roger.'"

"Jesus," Katie snapped. "What the fuck kind of house are they running over there?"

"I'm gonna fucking murder my sister," Leanne spat. Then she got a big grin on her face. "No, I'm gonna out her to our parents."

"Did you break up with her?" Dean asked Neville.

"No," Neville said, his shoulders sagging. "I was shocked. I turned around and left. I never opened the door. I went home and cried. I haven't seen her since."

"How can we help?" Harry asked firmly.

"I don't know," Neville admitted, looking completely lost. "I… I loved her. I… I don't want to break up with her, or I didn't before. I just don't know how I can even look at her now."

"It's OK," Harry said. "We're here for you. You can spend all the time you need thinking about it, and if you want to bounce ideas off any of us, we're here to help you."

"Absolutely," Katie added. The rest of the group were nodding as well. The group descended into silence as everyone considered the revelations they'd heard. Surprisingly, Ron was the first to speak.

"That bitch!" Ron swore.

"What?" Harry asked, looking at his friend.

"She got so bloody pissed off about me shagging Lavender and Vicki, and she was probably doing it with other blokes the whole effing time!" Ron raged. Harry noticed that Vicki wasn't particularly pleased by Ron's referencing her indiscretion. Harry closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to will that problem away. It didn't work. Fortunately for everyone's sanity, the train rolled to a stop at the Port-sur-Mer station. They boarded the ferry and set off for the Refuge d'Ile.

The ferry and her two sisters were patterned after the M/F St. Faith late of the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route operated by Sealink British Ferries. This particular ship, the M/F James Potter, could hold over 700 people and almost 150 cars, but of course, it would never carry that in trunk service. The elves had definitely gone overboard.

The cruise to the island would take about twenty-five minutes, and after a few minutes watching the northern shore disappear, Harry decided he needed to do… something.

"I'm gonna go get a drink," he told Katie. "D'you want something?"

"Sure," Katie agreed. "Can you get me a butterbeer?"

"One butterbeer, coming up," Harry nodded. Then he headed into the ship to the bar. He was almost there when he practically ran into Vicki coming out of the girls' loo. "Oops, sorry," he said, as he caught her, preventing them from knocking heads.

"No, I'm sorry," Vicki replied softly. "I should watch where I'm going."

"I think everyone's properly distracted after that conversation on the train," Harry pointed out. "No harm." He released her and went to go around her.

"Harry," she said before he could leave her line of sight. He stopped and turned back to her.

"What's up?"

"D'you remember that conversation we had…" she trailed off.

"At Hermione's party?" Harry nodded. "I do. D'you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah," Vicki nodded.

"C'mon," Harry said. "I'm gonna get some butterbeers, we can chat on the way." They lapsed into silence for a few meters.

"I think I want to break up with Ron," Vicki said, looking at her feet.

"That's fair," Harry nodded. "He was a bit… dense today."

"He was defending his ex," Vicki pointed out. "I mean… I was right there!"

"If it's any consolation, I think that conversation put paid to any remaining feelings he had for her," Harry opined. She gave him a flat look. "Still, he shouldn't've jumped to her defence like that."

"He also shouldn't have brought up…" she trailed off, reddening.

"That one time?" Harry asked, nodding. "That was tactless. Like I said before, Ron's my friend, but if Michael, and Susan, and Justin, and now Hannah apparently, has taught me anything, it's that it's better to break up with someone if the feelings aren't there than string the other person along and do something foolish like cheat on them. You, erm… haven't done that, have you?"

"No," Vicki shook her head, reddening. "We… we haven't done much of… you know."

"Really?" Harry asked, surprised. "Can I ask why not?"

"Ron's… not confident," Vicki explained. "Y'know… about his size. I told him I didn't mind. It actually helped me, because my first time didn't hurt as much…" She suddenly realised what she'd just confided in Harry, and physically stopped, blushing, eyes wide.

"It's alright," Harry reassured her. "My lips are sealed. Does he make up for it in other ways? Y'know, oral, his hands?"

"No," Vicki answered, as she resumed following Harry towards the bar. "He quite likes my breasts, but he seems scared of… down there. He uses his fingers sometimes…"

"So, he's thoughtless with his comments, and he's not the partner you'd envisioned in the bedroom," Harry restated. They arrived at the bar. "Three butterbeers, please," he told the elf tending bar.

"Actually, can you make mine a ginger beer?" Vicki asked.

"Two butterbeers and a ginger beer," Harry corrected himself and turned back to Vicki. "Is there anything else about Ron?"

"He's a nice enough bloke," Vicki said after a moment's thought. "But it seems like it's all on the surface with me. I see how he is with his friends, and he's genuine and warm. With me, he's more proper and polite, but a little distant. I can't seem to get through. But the second Susan's name comes up… came up, I guess, he was very defensive."

"For what it's worth, I think Ron doesn't know what Ron wants," Harry told her as he took his drinks. "Thanks," he said to the bar elf, and passed the ginger beer to Vicki. "I think he really liked Susan a lot and you were a safe choice for a second girlfriend. He likes you, but I think that's as far as the feelings go. I do think he feels bad that he doesn't feel more for you. I'm not sure, but that's the impression I get."

"That… sounds about right," Vicki admitted, sighing.

"Look, Vicki, you're a nice girl," Harry told her sincerely. "You're cute, have interesting hobbies, are polite, and I assume you don't suck at school. Bloke's'd be all over you if you were single. You deserve to be happy, and if Ron's not making you blissfully happy, you… Well, I'm not going to tell you what to do; you can make up your own mind, but I know what I'd do."

"Thanks," she blushed slightly at the compliment and started back to the railing. Harry followed gamely. "So, what happens now?"

"That's up to you," Harry reasoned. "You could take things in hand and cut Ron loose, or I could lay some groundwork for you first."

"What would you do?" Vicki asked him.

"Probably talk to him myself," Harry admitted. "Having a friend intercede's a bit of a cop out, and it doesn't help you in the long run. Someday there might not be a friend to talk to your boyfriend or husband, so it's important you learn to break the bad news now."

"I understand," Vicki nodded. "Thanks. I think I'll tell Ron myself."

"Good luck," Harry said, bumping her shoulder with his shoulder with affection. "And even if you do break up with Ron, you're always welcome here, so don't be a stranger, alright?"

"OK," Vicki said with a weak smile. When they emerged onto deck, Vicki and Harry went their separate ways.

"Here's your butterbeer," Harry said, passing the bottle to Katie.

"What took you so long?" she asked, pulling a swig from her drink.

"Vicki had some stuff she wanted to talk through," Harry said.

"She's gonna break up with Ron?" Katie guessed. She'd long thought that relationship was a mistake. Harry had to admit there didn't seem to be much passion there.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Lot of that going around today, huh?"

"Yep," Katie acknowledged. "I did have an idea, though."

"Oh?" Harry wondered.

"I thought of how we could get Hermione and Neville together," Katie told him.

"Isn't it a bit soon?" Harry asked. "He hasn't even properly ended things with Hannah yet."

"Not right away," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "I mean in a few weeks. It'll help you too."

"How's that?" Harry asked.

"So, you know our deal with Hermione?" Katie prefaced.

"You want us to invite them both into our bed and have a four-way?" Harry sputtered, after nearly choking on some of his butterbeer.

"Eventually," Katie nodded. "But first, what if we invited Neville to sleep with just us? You could watch Neville shag me, and we could work our way up to you both double-teaming me. Then, we introduce Hermione into the mix. Eventually, we wean Neville off us and onto Hermione."

"I don't know if that'll take much work," Harry acknowledged. "But we've already got Hermione sleeping in our bed. How do we kick her out politely?"

"We have Neville playtime during the day, and Hermione time at night," Katie said reasonably.

"We'll have to tell Hermione and Neville about each other, though," Harry told her. "It wouldn't be fair to them, otherwise."

"You're right," Katie nodded. "But we need to sound Neville out first. Once he agrees, we'll tell Hermione."

"How much do we tell her?" Harry wanted to know. "This seems a bit like scheming. They might resent us."

"Oh," Katie realised. Suddenly, her idea didn't seem so great.

"Let me see what I can think of," Harry said. "I'll get back to you. But you'd be OK sleeping with Neville?"

"Yeah," Katie nodded. "He's nice, and he got royally shafted by that bitch."

"Alright," Harry allowed. "I've got some work to do once we land.

-oooo-

The party broke up when the ferry docked. Ginny and Dean went to check out the Roman baths, by which, Harry assumed they meant, shag in the Roman baths. Neville and Seamus followed Fay, Hermione, and Leanne onto the beach. Vicki pulled Ron off for a walk around the island. Jimmy and Demelza also headed for the beach, but a different part than the older students. Harry noticed Richie pull Natalie aside and invite her on a walk as well.

"Did you talk to Demelza about…" Harry nodded in the direction of Richie and Natalie.

"Yeah," Katie said as they strolled over to a clear section of beach. "I mentioned that Jimmy didn't look 100 percent when she was sucking Richie's dick, and that she should make sure that they talked about what they wanted to do before going farther. She was… upset. She was upset at herself for not bothering to check in with her boyfriend. I also suggested that maybe if Richie had a girlfriend, Jimmy might be more open to doing things like the twins were. When she asked about possible girlfriends, it wasn't hard to point her in Natalie's direction."

"Smooth," Harry grinned, semi-sarcastically. "I suppose one or both of them managed to get over their awkwardness and talk to Richie about it."

"I wonder which one it was," Katie mused.

"I don't think we'll ever know for sure, but my money's on Demelza," Harry said. "She seems like she's the Angelina of that group."

"You're right," Katie nodded. "She's definitely driving that train." She pulled off her clothes and plopped down on the sand.

"You do realise that this is a French beach, right?" Harry asked, seeing her nude.

"You do realise that this is a quidditch party, right?" Katie countered with a grin. "Besides, unlike the Resort, this is a private residence."

"Touché," Harry acknowledged, shucking his pants and sitting down on the sand next to Katie.

"So, is this a German beach?" Hermione called over to them from her own spot on the sand.

"I suppose for today," Harry allowed. Hermione instantly stood up and pulled off her knickers, which she'd been wearing as bikini bottoms. Leanne quickly followed, with Fay eventually also removing her underwear. Seamus was out of his boxers half a heartbeat after Hermione, sporting a raging erection, though he was decidedly average in that department. Neville, like Fay, was slower, but eventually also removed his underpants, causing Seamus to deflate somewhat as he lay eyes on the competition.

"Oi!" Harry called. "Seamus, I know it's impressively large, but stop staring at Neville's dick, or we'll think you play for the other side!" Seamus reddened, then looked away. Neville grinned and sat back down.

The friends spent the rest of the morning enjoying the beach. When lunch rolled around, the elves brought them a picnic, which they ate on the sand. Dean and Ginny were the first of the far flung guests to reappear. Ginny looked flush and happy. They stripped down and joined the rest of the party to eat.

Almost immediately thereafter, the younger foursome reappeared. Behind a buoyant Jimmy and a happy Demelza, Harry noted that Richie and Natalie were holding hands, and she was beaming. When Harry looked at her, she pointed to their joined hands with her free hand and then gave Harry a thumbs up. Harry grinned at her and waved them all over for lunch. They'd already conformed to the French beach, so it was the work of seconds to strip down the rest of the way.

Near the end of lunch, Vicki reappeared alone.

"Everything alright?" Harry asked, seeing her face.

"I broke up with Ron," she said. The rest of the group had varying reactions, but pity and understanding seemed to be dominant. Harry nodded, his mouth in a line.

"Are you gonna be OK?" he wanted to know.

"Yeah," Vicki agreed. "I actually… I feel, I dunno, lighter, now, I guess, but also sad, and like I'm kinda a bad person. It's weird. He wasn't angry. It's almost like he expected it. But I could tell he was sad."

"Breakups are usually sad," Hermione said from her spot on the sand. "There's nothing for it but time."

"D'you want some lunch?" Ginny asked, holding up a roast beef sandwich.

"Sure," Vicki said, smiling weakly at her classmate. Seeing the others nude, she stripped down, sitting on her skirt so her bum didn't touch the sand. Harry noticed Seamus discreetly checking her out. So far as he knew, they were both free. He wasn't opposed to Seamus necessarily, but he felt Vicki could do better. Not really having a dog in the fight, Harry ignored it. Leanne, on the other hand, slapped Seamus on the back of the head.

"What's wrong with you?" Leanne asked. "She just broke up with her boyfriend and you're already treating her like a piece of meat?"

"C'mon, mate," Dean said. "Not cool."

"Sorry," Seamus mumbled, returning to his crisps. The group traded small talk for another ten minutes as they finished their food. When they were done, Dobby popped in to clear up.

"Dobby, do you know where Ron is?" Harry asked.

"Master Wheezey bes in the back gallery, Harry," Dobby informed him.

"I think I'm gonna go make sure he's OK," Harry said. He picked up his clothes and put them on. When he was done, he headed off. "I'll see you lot in a bit."

-oooo-

Harry found Ron sitting in the back gallery looking out over the water below. His eyes were red, but he wasn't crying.

"Hey, mate," Harry said, sitting down. "Alright?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded, sniffling. "Vicki broke up with me."

"I know," Harry said. "She told us." He patted his friend reassuringly on the back. "It's gonna be OK."

"I know," Ron nodded. "I screwed up again."

"We all make mistakes," Harry told him. "You learn from each one."

"I should've treated her better," Ron spat. "She deserved better than that."

"She doesn't blame you," Harry said. "She's a good person. She's not like Susan. You just… didn't fit together, is all."

"Yeah," Ron sighed. "Next time I have to pay better attention to my girlfriend."

"Hopefully, you'll like and even maybe love your girlfriend," Harry pointed out.

"I did like her," Ron said.

"But you were still in love with Susan," Harry noted.

"Not anymore," Ron spat, his anger showing. "Bitch."

"Yeah," Harry nodded, a smile crossing his face. "So, you won't make the same mistake again. Your heart's free to fall for the next girl you date."

-oooo-

It was after dinner by the time Gryffindor team and their friends loaded back on the ferry to return to real life. Harry found Neville standing alone against the rail.

"Hey, Nev," Harry said, coming up beside him.

"Hi, Harry," Neville replied. He didn't look at Harry, instead, his eyes fixed on the horizon and the mountains shielding the setting sun. The sky was ablaze in oranges and reds shifting to purple.

"Are you OK?" Harry asked. He realised the he asked that question a lot today.

"I will be," Neville nodded.

"Look, Nev," Harry said, feeling his way forward in his mind. "You remember when Hermione broke up with Justin?"

"Yes," the other boy agreed.

"Katie and I… offered to help her out after that," Harry revealed. "She had issues with her self-worth after that relationship ended, and wanted to work on some of her preconceived notions about sex in general. We've been helping her work through all that."

"What sort of help are you giving her?" Neville wondered.

"She's sleeping with us," Harry informed him.

"Sleeping as in…" Neville trailed off, leaving Harry to fill in the blanks.

"As in both sleeping in our bed at night and having sex with me," Harry told his friend. Neville looked surprised, but Harry pushed forward. "She was worried about a lot of things. I'd encourage you to talk to her about them if you're interested. Now, she's watched me have sex with Katie, and had sex with me while Katie's watched. They've even both had sex with me at once. It's helped her understand that sex and love can be, but aren't necessarily, linked, and that trust isn't predicated on whether you only have sex with one person, but whether sex with other people is a shared adventure. She sees that sex is something people can do for fun."

"It sounded like Hannah had fun…" Neville said in a surprising for him but understandably bitter tone.

"The one thing I absolutely can't stand is when someone has sex with someone who's not their partner without talking about it and getting approval from their partner ahead of time," Harry said firmly, putting a hand on Neville's shoulder.

"Why are you telling me this?" Neville asked, confused.

"Because Katie and I want to offer you the same sort of help we're giving Hermione," Harry explained.

"But… I mean…" the boy sputtered.

"You saw how Ron just jumped into another relationship immediately after breaking up with Susan?" Harry clarified. Neville nodded. "He didn't have a buffer separating himself from his last relationship, so his next one suffered. There wasn't a clean break. You're in less trouble because of what Hannah did to you, but it's still important that you have a… mourning period, if you will. You need to reset your mind, so that you can become invested in another relationship without the baggage from the first. This gives you that, and you can see that sex with multiple people who respect each other is possible so long as there's communication and honesty, and you can have sex with a straight hottie. Plus, you'd be helping me out."

"How's that, then?" Neville wanted to know.

"I've had sex with Hermione, but Katie's only had sex with me," Harry explained. "There's some other couples we'd like to swing with, but we want to ease ourselves into swinging to make sure we're both comfortable with it. Katie likes you, and wants to have sex with you, but she's not in love with you, and I don't think you're in love with her…"

"I'm not," Neville reported.

"Good," Harry smiled. "Anyway, if I can watch you guys have sex, and maybe if we can double team her, I'll be able to internalise that it's no big deal if we're both shagging other people at the same time in the same place. It's about getting me in the right headspace."

"I see," Neville said.

"Obviously, this is an offer," Harry suggested. "I don't want you to say yes right now. I want you to think about it. It's there if you decide you want it, and if you don't, that's fine. I can find someone else to help me out." He got a playful look on his face. "I'm sure Seamus'd help."

"He'd cock it all up," Neville laughed. "Alright, I'll think about it. But I have to break up with Hannah first."

"Take what time you need," Harry said. "If you have questions, you can ask Katie or I, or you can talk to Hermione."

"I'll do," Neville promised.

"OK," Harry agreed. "I need to go find Katie, and make sure Seamus isn't trying to talk her out of her knickers." With a smile and a wave, Harry left.