"Of Mr. Darcy it was now a matter of anxiety to think well; and, as far as their acquaintance reached, there was no fault to find."

Theo stopped his stride up one of the trails that criss-crossed The Meadows' grounds and took a deep lungful of fresh, English air. It was good to be back—the soft greens and greys soothing after weeks of the searing blue and gold of Morocco and Spain.

Not that it hadn't been wonderful. Traveling, doing absolutely nothing, totally cut off from the world, just being who he was with whom he wanted… he'd never been happier. But it was good to be home again too.

Approaching the doors to the guest house, he was surprised to see them fling open and Draco step out, barefoot and uncharacteristically rumpled.

"Look who's back from beyond," he called, a grin splitting his face. Theo felt his lips pull up into a smile too. To his surprise, Draco moved forward and embraced him tightly. And when Theo went to pull away, Draco kept ahold of him, muttering, "I fucking missed you."

"I missed you too," Theo replied, successfully pulling back this time and glancing at his friend in surprise. Then he got a close-up look at Draco's face— and ran his eyes down his friend's body, which looked, and felt, about half a stone thinner than when he'd last seen him. He felt his smile fade as Draco's eyes darkened too.

"What the hell happened?" Theo asked slowly, knowing already.

"How long do you have?" Draco tried for light, but didn't quite achieve it.

"Fuck, I go away for a couple of months…" Theo shook his head and frowned into Draco's eyes. "Did you do something? Did she do something?"

"Yes?" Draco rubbed his hand over his face. "Come inside. I've got fresh coffee. I'll tell you the whole story."

Theo felt his eyebrows fly up, but he agreed and followed his friend into the warm interior.

~oOo~

"So yesterday was the first time I'd seen her since I gave her the letter." Draco sounded exhausted as he finished his recitation of what Theo found to be an extremely frustrating tale.

Theo drained his coffee. "And how did she seem?"

"Embarrassed? Quiet. She said she didn't expect me to be there. I don't think she would've come if she'd known I would be."

Shite, this was worse than he had thought.

"Well, she probably was embarrassed at being found there like that. With no word." Draco shrugged and Theo sighed. "Fuck, I feel terrible for my part in this." He held Draco's gaze.

"What? For the thing with Potter?" Draco shook his head. "Don't." He stopped and looked thoughtful. "Well, I mean if you want to talk to her about it you should," Theo nodded. "...But I think it was my reserve around it that was the real problem. My reserve around a lot of things." Draco sighed and fell back against the sofa cushions. "That's why I'm trying to turn over a new leaf." Theo squinted at him. "Talking to people about things." he continued. Letting them know that I missed them." His mouth quirked up, "even if they're wankers who left me high and dry in my time of need."

Theo closed his eyes and groaned, "I'm so sorry!"

"No, don't be!" Draco laughed "I'm just giving you a hard time. You deserved every minute."

"Well thank you," Theo smiled. He looked at his friend, still not quite adjusted to the changes in him. "I'm not sure my holiday was worth your whole life falling apart, though."

Draco snorted. "Not my whole life. Work has been productive. And my flying has really come on. How is Rafik, by the way?"

Theo just shook his head. "He's fine. In Paris signing a new band, but he'll be in London soon."

Draco murmured something polite and Theo inclined his head, then took a deep breath, straightened up and clapped his hands. "So. What's next? She'll be here tonight?"

"If she shows. I invited her and her friends, Charlie Weasley and his fiancé Hamish." Draco's eyes cut to Theo's and Theo felt his features register surprise—had he known Charlie Weasley was gay...? "So they'll be coming for dinner," Draco continued. "And she's having lunch with Astoria, who has not yet appeared this morning." Draco glanced toward the stairs and raised his voice. "Slug."

"Heyyy," came a sleepy voice from above.

"Well if the shoe fits…" drawled Theo.

Astoria's petite frame and messy head appeared at the top of the steps, "THEO!" She skidded to the bottom and launched herself at him. He intercepted her with a chuckle then spent a few minutes answering her breathless inquiries about his travels and his love life.

"And has anything in your life gone entirely to shit while I've been gone?" he asked her after a bit.

"Nooo," she tilted her head and frowned. "My life is great, other than that this one is so blue." She wrapped her arm around Draco, who had been sitting silently and letting them chat, and tilted into his shoulder. Theo found himself surprised anew that Draco had confided in her as well.

Draco briefly touched his head to hers then pushed up from between them. "I'm going for a shower." He turned and took them in, his brow creasing as he gazed at them. "You two… I am asking you, no ordering, you not to meddle," he said. "I don't want to make this any more awkward than it already is."

Astoria nodded solemnly, but Theo didn't. Like hell he wasn't going to meddle.

"We're due in the village in thirty minutes, Astoria." Draco said as he turned toward the stairs. He stopped and looked back, "I don't need to make it clear that 'not meddling' includes this lunch?"

"No," she said. "I'll keep mum."

He nodded and headed up the stairs. Theo turned to Astoria and raised his brows. She blew her breath out in a huge sigh and cocked her head as Draco's footsteps receded and a door slammed above them.

"So it's been bad?" Theo asked.

"Awful. I've never seen him like this. Especially after how happy he was this summer. I'm worried about him, Theo. He's not eating. I'm certain he's not sleeping. You should hear the music he's been listening to."

Theo gave a short laugh then frowned. "I cannot believe I was not here to stop this."

Astoria shook her head. "You couldn't have known. None of us could. It happened so fast. One moment they were as happy as I'd ever seen two people and the next, boom. Heartbreak." She ran her hand through her short hair, her dark eyes worried on his. "So he told you everything too?"

Theo nodded with a little smile, "the new Draco."

"I know! So different. But what's your take? Is it fixable?"

"I feel like it would have been." Theo shook his head. "They just needed to talk to each other, the idiots! But now all this time has gone by… And he said something about Hermione thinking they're bad for each other and that being why she's stayed away…" he trailed off.

"Yes, he said something similar to me."

"I hope she wouldn't think that," Theo said softly, glancing up the stairs. Sadness for his friend crept over him. He had really thought this might be it for Draco. He'd hoped it was.

Shite.

"I made him my own playlist."

"Hmm?" Theo looked at Astoria, not quite absorbing what she'd said.

"I made him a 'stop moping' list. A counterpart to all the sad breakup songs he'd had on repeat. Part, 'cheer up'—part, 'don't give up'." Her dimple flashed briefly.

Theo tilted his head and regarded her for a second. "You're absolutely right," he finally said.

She gave him a puzzled frown. "What?"

"They can't give up on this. Nor should we. He needs our help."

"But I've said I wouldn't meddle!"

"I didn't."

Astoria gave a little gurgle of laughter, "no, you did not!" Then she sobered and layed a small hand on his. "But be careful, Theo. I think the stakes are rather high." Her fine black brows drew together.

"Yes I know, darling. I know."

~oOo~

Hermione paced her room in frustration. She couldn't decide what to wear for this dinner, her hair was not cooperating, and a strange combination of dread and anticipation sat in her stomach like a stone. The last 24 hours had been such a total mind-fuck, she didn't know if she was coming or going.

After they'd left The Meadows yesterday, she'd been numb. Shock, probably. As soon as they'd alighted at the inn, she'd made a weak excuse to Charlie and Hamish and fled to her room, where she'd proceeded to stare into space for approximately two hours, her restless mind roving over the events of the afternoon.

God, seeing him again. She'd known it would be difficult, but she hadn't anticipated that level of hectic paralysis; a sort of suspended state between full panic and an utter inability to make her brain do anything. She was embarrassed at being found there, yes, but it was more than that. Her body's reaction to him had been instant, elemental. She'd felt the way she had the first time they'd kissed—as if every cell was reaching out to him.

But her doubts had crept in. About herself, about how he felt about her, about what had happened.

And she hadn't been able to read him well. Of course he'd been surprised at first, but then he'd gone cool and aloof after her tactless comment about expecting him not to be there. Why had she said that!? Although, when Hamish had first walked in, she could have sworn… But then when Charlie had appeared, he'd become almost warm.

He'd genuinely liked them. She paused her pacing and a tiny puff of laughter escaped her lips. She'd wager that had surprised him, actually liking a Weasley.

She began pacing again, her thoughts darting back to the night before when a soft but insistent knock on her door around dinnertime had startled her out of her thoughts, making her realize she was sitting in the dark and had been for some time. She'd opened it expecting to find Hamish and a third degree, but instead Charlie had been there with a room service tray. He'd made her eat, spoken softly and not mentioned Draco once. He'd also ordered her to get into bed and "try not to think about anything until after a good night's sleep." She'd snorted at this advice, but then been surprised when exhaustion overcame her almost the moment her head hit the pillow.

The next morning, the numbness had been replaced by nerves. She'd gotten up early and taken an energetic walk around the village, lingering in the bookshop in an attempt to kill time until her appointment with Astoria—which frankly had been a little awkward at first, with Hermione stuck in a sort of stiff, overly cheery mode. But Astoria's natural warmth had dispelled it and they had quickly regained their old intimacy, if not quite the same degree of levity.

They hadn't talked about Draco—despite Hermione's mind being rather crowded with him at first. She'd glimpsed him exiting the inn after delivering Astor to the doorstep, the glint of platinum she'd been half waiting-for leading her eyes to his elegant profile, his long stride. She'd watched him walk down the block until Astoria's greeting had forced her from the window.

But even avoiding controversial topics, the two witches had much to discuss: Beauxbatons, news of the herd, Lucretia's exotic travels. Astoria had even shyly brought up Wickham, telling Hermione she'd wanted to confide in her but hadn't known where to start. Hermione had held both of her hands and spoken her feelings on the matter in a low voice, again feeling the surge of protective magic gather around her. Astoria had felt it too and looked at her with tears in her eyes, whispering that she was a good friend.

They'd parted, back on the best of terms, and for a bit Hermione had felt more relaxed. But then as the day had worn on toward evening, her nerves had ratcheted up again, until she'd come to this point, stalking around her room with mad hair and half an outfit on.

She sighed angrily. What had happened to her calm strength? Her determination? Squaring her posture, she took several deep breaths, but then her shoulders fell. She didn't really have a choice in the matter, did she? She snorted, frustrated. She wasn't used to not having control over herself and her emotions.

A brisk knock sounded on the door and she knew that this time it would be Hamish. She admitted him and he raised his eyebrows at her state.

"I know," she groaned. "I can't think, Hamish!"

"Let's have a calming drink," he said, pulling a slim bottle from his vest pocket and transfiguring her water glasses into brandy snifters.

"Very nice." She smiled at the clever bit of magic.

"Well we're not animals."

Her smile turned into a laugh and the corners of his mouth pulled up too.

"So," he regarded her. "It looks like you need to make the bottom half of that outfit resolve with the top. I'll wait."

She made a face at him and then ducked into her closet, calling, "so Charlie finally let you come talk to me?"

He snorted. "Yes the 24-hour cooling off period has transpired."

She giggled, then emerged in a skirt and top that actually went together.

"Very pretty," he said from the chair in front of her fireplace.

"I just need to do something with this," she murmured, looking in the mirror and trying to smooth her hair.

"Let it go loose," he said. "He seems to like it that way." This last was buried in his glass of cognac and she looked sharply at him.

"What did you say?"

"Did I say something?" His face was absolutely angelic as she glared at him. She kept glaring until he sighed. "Fine. I just noticed him looking at it yesterday. A couple of times."

"Tell me," she commanded, sitting on the ottoman near his chair and leaning forward. "What did you think about the whole thing? I couldn't register what was happening, I was so embarrassed. I felt like I wasn't even occupying my own body."

"I hardly know what to think," he mused. "He holds his cards close, doesn't he?"

She shook her head, "tell me about it."

"One thing." She nodded, brows raised expectantly. He took a deliberate swallow of his drink. "He's absolutely stunning. I mean, God."

"Not helping, Hamish."

"So deliciously reserved. And that hair. The fit of his suit."

She threw a small pillow at him. He ducked then threw up his hands. "Well I don't have a lot for you. He seemed slightly flustered at first. But that could have been because he felt the awkwardness of us being there. But then I noticed him looking at you a few times... Of course you're gorgeous too, so that could have just been het stuff," he waved his hand vaguely. "I'll be watching tonight. Much more scope for observation."

She groaned. "God, I'm so anxious!"

"Don't be. You look lovely and you have Charlie and me to rescue you if anything goes sideways." He stood up and extended his hand to her. "You'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

She took it, but scowled. "Somehow I bloody doubt it."