"How far away is it?"
"Not too far – it's down to the right."
Draco had led Seamus and Neville out of the entrance hall to collectively kill Nagini as soon as they'd found him in the scraps of battle.
"You still have the fang?" Seamus asked.
Draco nodded, wracking his brain to remember the way he had run from the room only minutes earlier. He tried to keep his thoughts far from the battle in the entrance hall, where his mother would be a sitting target for the Death Eaters, and where Amelia presumably now was. The ring still burned pleasantly against his skin though, which meant that she must've been okay for now at least.
"Down here," Draco said, turning left down a corridor. He stopped in his tracks though, Neville and Seamus almost bowling into the back of him. "No, wait – this doesn't look familiar."
"Come on man, wasn't this your house?" Seamus asked impatiently.
Draco whipped around and glared at him. "Forgive me if my memory is a little foggy after having been imprisoned here for the last day," he said coldly, which made Seamus snap his mouth shut and elicited a small amused smirk from Neville.
"To be fair, this place is massive," Neville defended.
Draco started back the way they had come and instead turned the other way. "Yes – this is it. This is the right way."
He picked up his pace, jogging down the corridors, convinced that he'd seen these portraits before. He could feel Seamus and Neville right behind him and had to admit that it was comforting to finally have someone beside him in battle, even if they were among the most unlikely of trios.
As they whipped down the corridor the sounds of battle began to feel closer. An almighty blast made all three men stumble sideways and soon after, smoke began to seep from under a door in front of them.
"Sounds like things are kicking up a notch down there," Seamus noted darkly.
"I think it might be closer than we think…" Draco replied, straining his ears to hear more.
Before Seamus or Neville could reply to this, a door ahead swung open, stopping all three of them in their tracks. They raised their wands, ready to curse whoever came through.
"Steady on boys – only me," a ruffled Henry said as he stumbled through the door, wiping his brow. To Draco's surprise Henry threw his arms around him, clapping him on the back. "Glad you're alright, mate," he said, beaming at Draco as he stepped back to look at him. "You've looked better, I'll admit, but you're in one piece."
"Just about," Draco nodded.
"The snake?" Henry asked, his face turning serious.
"On our way – I tried before but… I almost had it before you lot showed up... " Draco mumbled, guilt rising inside of him at not being able to achieve everything in their plan.
Henry shook his head dismissively. "Draco – mate, you've done more than enough. None of this would be possible without what you've done in the last 48 hours."
Draco nodded, the bubbling guilt settling to a simmer once more.
"Keep a clear head lads, and we might just pull this off," Henry said excitedly.
Their conversation was interrupted by a curse flying overhead. They all ducked as one and turned around to see two Death Eaters running up the corridor.
"Oi Malfoy! Not so fast!"
Draco swore under his breath and turned to face the Death Eaters when Henry put himself in between the approaching attackers and his friends.
"You guys go on – I'll keep these guys at bay," he said over his shoulder as he threw a curse towards the Death Eaters.
"I can stay and help," Neville said.
Henry shook his head as the Death Eaters began closing the gap between them. "The snake is the most important thing."
Draco stabbed the air with his wand, sending a curse back towards the Death Eaters. He couldn't leave. "Henry…" He tried to argue, but Henry took another step forward.
"I'm fine – there's only two of them – get out of here!" He said in between throwing curses.
It was now or never. Draco sighed and ripped his feet from the floor, racing back down the corridor with Seamus and Neville on his heels once more. Before they turned down another corridor Draco chanced a look back at Henry who seemed to be doing well at fending off the two masked Death Eaters.
He felt awful leaving him there to defend himself, but he knew that Henry was right: nothing was more important right now than killing the snake. The sooner Nagini was killed and there was a clear path to Voldemort, the sooner they could end this.
"This is it," Draco finally said as they came to the end of a short corridor where a large door stood.
"You sure?" Seamus asked, catching his breath with his hands on his knees.
Draco nodded.
"And the disabled wards should apply to this room?" Neville asked.
Draco shrugged. "Apparently."
He sensed the look of uncertainty Seamus and Neville gave to each other behind him.
He hastily wiped his brow and tried to swallow down his panting breath. He wrapped a hand around the golden door knob and turned it, bracing himself.
Nothing.
He looked back to the other two who stood side by side, wands out and eyebrows high. Draco had expected something – anything - to happen, but it opened just like any other door. His hand throbbed and stung painfully from where he'd had to make the cut to disable the wards, but if it got them into this room guarding Nagini, it would be more than worth it.
He quickly grabbed the fang from his sock, glanced back at the other two who had their wands held at the ready, and cautiously pushed the door open.
Draco had never been in this room; he'd not even known it existed until his mother mentioned it only a few hours ago.
It was larger than his father's drawing room where Draco had just been held captive and with no windows and hardly any lighting, it felt incredibly sinister.
"Is it just me or it is freezing in here?" Seamus mumbled to Draco's right.
They walked through the room with wary steps, Draco brandishing the fang at eye level like a dagger.
The room had a ceiling at least twice the height of any other room in the house; bewitched, Draco assumed. There was a cabinet with gold and silver trinkets, most of which looked like they could be incredibly painful torture devices. Another cabinet held a collection of potions in every colour imaginable from a florescent orange to one that looked like black tar; none of them were labelled. There were bookshelves almost as high as the ceiling lining each side of the room as they walked through and a large wooden box on the floor that almost looked like a treasure chest. Draco shuddered to think of what might be contained in there.
"Bloody hell, what is all this stuff?" Neville whispered as they continued through more cabinets and shelves of disturbing objects.
"It's a protected room: I imagine that when the wards are up it's entirely undetectable to anyone who doesn't know about it, and much harder to get into. My father set it up to hide dark artefacts in case the Ministry ever came snooping around," Draco replied with distaste. "Before the Death Eaters took over the Ministry, obviously," he added in a dry mumble.
"Charming," Seamus quipped. "Sounds like a pleasant fellow," he joked darkly.
Draco snorted; "You have no idea…"
They finally came to the back of the room without having seen anything that might indicate a snake could be in there.
"And it's definitely in here, you reckon?" Seamus asked.
Draco heard the urgency in Seamus's voice; he itched to return to the battle on the other side of this door. They all did.
He wasn't ready to consider that the snake might not be in this room, or even in this building. It would all be for nothing…
"It has to be. Let's spread out, look for anything that could tell us where she might be hidden in the room. Maybe there's a secret entrance to a second part of the room or something…" Draco said, trying to sound optimistic. The other two looked less than convinced but there was no other option. They spilt up around the room and Draco wasted no time in scanning some nearby shelves, pressing each book in case one was enchanted to reveal a secret door.
Ten long minutes of frantic searching around the room, lifting, pressing, pulling various objects, and Neville made a triumphant sound from a corner of the room. Draco whipped around: he was standing over the large wooden chest. It looked like he'd moved it aside.
"Here, here!" He said, beckoning Draco and Seamus. "There's a trapdoor – look!"
He was right: beneath the chest was a small trapdoor, so inconspicuous that it easily could've just been another tile in the floor, were it not for the tiny slit to pull it open. Seamus whooped loudly and clapped Neville on the back, but Draco wasn't ready to celebrate.
Neville went to open it, crouching down and wrapping his fingers around the small slit in the tiles. As he heaved the door upwards with great effort, Seamus and Draco both pointed their wands straight at it, not knowing what might come bursting out.
Again, nothing. Draco lit his wand and peered down, letting the wandlight fill the darkness below.
It seemed to be a large pipe dropping straight down, just big enough to fit a grown person.
"What's down there? Do you think it leads to the dungeons?"
"No idea – just seems to keep going down," Draco said, frowning as he stared into the dark void.
They stood for a moment, all three men peering down, trying to make out where the bottom was.
"Right, I'll go first shall I?" Neville suddenly said.
Draco's eyes snapped up to Neville; he looked cheerfully determined. So different to the boy Draco had endlessly teased and tormented in Hogwarts years ago. He made a mental note to apologise if they both came out of this night alive.
Draco and Seamus stepped aside as Neville lowered himself to the lip of the pipe.
"Shall I take the fang? Just in case…"
"Be my guest," Draco said dryly, gladly handing the fang over to Neville.
A thought occurred to Draco: "Hold on!" He ran back to where he'd seen an old broomstick propped against a nearby bookshelf.
"Not really the right time for a spot of Quidditch," Seamus said when Draco came back holding the broom.
"Well, we'll need to get back up, won't we?"
Seamus nodded in understanding. "Ah, right – fair play. You sure the handle's not infused with some sort of elaborate dark magic?"
Draco shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. No other way back up though."
Before they could say any more, Neville grabbed the broom and swung his leg over, grasping the handle with both hands. "Right then, see you down there," he said with a small grin, before bracing himself and jumping down the hole on the broomstick.
Draco held his breath for a couple of moments, straining his ears to hear Neville touch the bottom. He exhaled hard when he heard the echo of shoes thumping onto a stone floor.
"All good?" Seamus called down the hole in the ground.
"Yeah – just do a cushioning charm when the pipe opens itself up!" Neville's voice travelled up the pipe.
Draco and Seamus wasted no time in following Neville down the pipe. Draco straightened up after successfully softening his landing at the bottom and peered around; they seemed to be in some sort of underground cave. The air was hot, damp and hung low in the air, and Draco inwardly noted that it was the perfectly curated climate for a snake to inhabit. There were torches lining the walls of the narrow cave, leading them further into it like a tunnel, stretching so far that it was only darkness up ahead.
"This must be under the dungeons," Draco mumbled, mostly to himself.
The three men travelled down the narrow tunnel of the cave, using their wands as extra light. The only movement was the flickering of the torch flames and the occasional mouse scampering past their feet. The only sounds were the echoed tick-tocking of falling drips from the ceiling, and the gravel crunching under their shoes.
As they walked Draco began to lose hope; the tunnel seemed never ending and by all accounts, empty. But then, as he swept his wand over the space in front of them, the light landed on a pile of unmistakably human bones lying in a heap in the middle of the tunnel. All three of them stopped short before stumbling over the skeletal remains.
"Bloody hell…" Neville said as he crouched down to examine the bones.
"Poor bugger," Seamus muttered.
"Nagini must be down here," Draco said in a loud whisper. "She's clearly feeding," he added, nodding to the bones scattered unceremoniously over the floor. He tried not to imagine who the bones might've belonged to.
Saying this seemed to spark something in the cave to come to life in the darkness up ahead, and all of a sudden there was an almighty creature sliding across the ground at an alarming pace towards the three men. At least twelve feet long and as thick as a tree trunk, there was no mistaking that this was Nagini.
Seamus cried 'reducto!', but the snake coming towards them barely faltered.
Draco looked into Nagini's eyes: he'd seen them years before, as she had devoured his old Muggle Studies teacher right in front of him. Seeing the snake again reawakened something in him and all of a sudden it was as if he was being swallowed and sucked back into that moment when he was 17 and completely powerless and terrified. Something threatened to take over inside him and he felt his entire body seize up, as if someone had hit him with a body lock curse. He'd seen those red, hungry eyes in his nightmares night after night, had heard the heavy sliding of her leathery scales over the table, the crunching of Madame Burbage's bones in her mouth… and now here she was: a snake holding the last piece of Voldemort's withered soul.
Seamus' bellow next to him snapped his mind back into the room and the task at hand. He blinked and shook his head.
"Neville – we'll bait the snake over here. You jump behind and use the fang!" Draco barked.
"Got it!" Neville shouted back.
As Neville stepped aside and pressed himself against the wall, Draco sent red sparks into the air from his wand, catching Nagini's attention. He and Seamus ducked to avoid Nagini's head jabbing at them, trying to bite. Her fangs gleamed in the torchlight: slimy, pearly, enormous.
Draco began to run back in the direction they had come up the cave's tunnel, closely followed by Seamus. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Nagini was chasing them, her eyes flashing red and her jaw widening, her fangs standing like daggers in her mouth. They stopped when they reached where they had dropped in from the pipe above. It was a dead end; there was nowhere left to run.
"Incendio!" Draco yelled, waving his wand through the air and burning the advancing Nagini with a string of flames. She gave out an agonising cry and briefly stopped her pursuit of them, but it only seemed to aggravate her further as she darted towards them and almost managed to get Seamus in the grasp of her jaw.
"Neville – now!" Draco yelled again, though he couldn't even see where Neville was. Nagini had completely cornered him and Seamus as they tried desperately to keep the snake at bay with a flurry of curses.
As Nagini rose above them, baring down at Draco and Seamus from at least six feet in the air, Draco prepared another curse. He saw a figure jump behind the snake, grabbing Nagini around her neck and holding onto her. For a moment the scene looked almost as if Neville had mounted a horse as a confused Nagini tried to get free of him as he wrapped a strong arm around tighter her neck. Then, the Gryffindor raised the basilisk fang high into the air, his teeth exposed in a growl, and plunged it deep into her throat.
Draco winced as the snake once again gave an almighty cry; an excruciating choking sound that gurgled from her throat as she rose even further into the air, stiffening and eyes widening. Her long body seized and writhed and once again darted towards Seamus and Draco, making one more attempt at devouring them. Before she could reach them though, she suddenly slumped gracelessly onto the floor, unmoving.
Draco braced himself for what might come next. Harry had described in great detail the destruction of other Horcruxes and the horrors that were exposed. He had expected that the small part of Voldemort's soul living inside of Nagini would make itself known before it died and perhaps try to latch itself onto one of the other living things in the room. Instead, the snake just lay unmoving on the floor, her red eyes staring straight at the damp, stone ceiling.
Neville collapsed onto the ground next to the dead snake, breathing heavily and looking entirely surprised at what he'd just managed.
After a moment of slow realisation Seamus started chuckling and clapping, patting Draco on the back and going to help Neville up off the ground.
"Neville Longbottom, you've just gone and killed the last blooming Horcrux!" Seamus said with appropriate amount of ceremony, a wide grin spreading across his face.
Neville still looked utterly bewildered, staring down at the fang still deeply embedded into Nagini's neck, which now oozed a thick stream of blood.
Draco stepped over Nagini's long, half-coiled body towards the other two, allowing a grin of his own and clapping Neville on the back.
"Safe to say I would not have pulled that off on my own," Draco said with a chuckle, to the amusement of the other two.
"Just got to kill him now," Neville said breathily, smiling in a bemused fashion like someone who'd had too many firewhiskies.
"Piece of piss – we've just taken down a twelve foot snake," Seamus replied.
The triumph was indeed intoxicating; Draco felt stronger than he had all day, despite being at an all time weakness. Any aches and pains in his body felt muted in this moment though; in this moment, all felt possible.
There was no time to bask in their success and they hurriedly made their way back up the trapdoor, Seamus using the broomstick to ferry Neville and then Draco back up the pipe.
"How long do you reckon we've been gone?" Seamus asked as they approached the door back into the Manor.
"Too long…" Draco said quietly. During their brief moments underground, he had almost forgotten that a battle still raged up above them. Now though, he dreaded what might lie beyond the door.
.
.
Amelia clambered to her feet, having just been slammed into a wall by a Death Eater. It was Arthur Weasley who swooped in between the advancing Death Eater and a spluttering Amelia, firing a curse that sent the attacker across the room to lie in an unmoving heap.
"Thanks," Amelia mumbled, rubbing her back and trying to regain the breath that had been knocked out of her.
"Are you alright?" Arthur shouted back over the sound of the battle all around them.
Amelia nodded and gave him a thumbs up with a smile that probably appeared more like a grimace. There wasn't an opportunity to say anymore as a cry to their left as sent Arthur darting back through the other people duelling to help.
Amelia surveyed the scene before her from the corner of the room: people duelled all over the place and already there were bodies strewn on the floor. She had seen a couple of people be portkeyed back to the resistance, but she couldn't allow herself to let her eyes linger long enough to see who it was, or what condition they were in. She couldn't bear to think that by the end of the night people who she loved might not be there anymore. Even still, the number of resistance fighters had doubled since they arrived and more kept apparating in. In one corner there were two Hogwarts teachers, Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn, fiercely duelling with two Death Eaters. In another corner stood Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie MacMillan shoulder to shoulder, gleefully fighting another Death Eater. Amelia had often wondered what had become of her schoolmate Justin, a muggle-born, after the Battle of Hogwarts. She hoped that she could greet him and Ernie at the end of the night, if they all miraculously survived.
As she gaged where to add her weight, Amelia's eyes snapped onto a Death Eater as they climbed the sweeping marble stairs, glancing over their shoulder every few steps. They were slightly shorter and more slender than the average Death Eater in the room and Amelia frowned as she watched the masked figure duck into a corridor off the landing at the top of the stairs.
Amelia thought of Draco, Seamus and Neville as they presumably looked for the snake, and wondered if this Death Eater could be trying to stop them.
She didn't give herself time to reconsider this; she darted through the hordes of curses flying through the air and followed the Death Eater's path up the stairs. The fighters all around the room were wild like a moving forest, limbs and wands whirling like branches in a harsh wind and it was almost impossible to avoid them.
Amelia sprinted up the stairs two at a time and turned down the corridor, following the Death Eater away from the battle and into the labyrinth of Malfoy Manor. From the sounds that bounced all around the walls, the fighting had spilled out into every corner of the building.
Just as the Death Eater was about to turn another corner, Amelia threw a curse that landed just above their head, blasting a portrait from the wall, but narrowly missing the Death Eater. It was enough to make them whip around though.
"Hey!" Amelia called, readying her wand again.
To her surprise, the Death Eater started striding back up the corridor, after seemingly clocking Amelia.
"You…" She heard the Death Eater say from under their mask. It was a female voice, one that Amelia swore she recognised…
.
.
Draco stalked back down the corridors, flanked by Seamus and Neville either side of him. Every now and then they would hear an explosion – sometimes close by, and other times in the distance of the vast building. Booming sounds rattled the windows and the walls. It was clear that the battle had grown immensely since they'd been gone, and now occupied almost all of the Manor.
"There are more sounds coming from down there," Seamus said, pointing down a corridor to the left that Draco knew did in fact provide a quicker route back to the entrance hall. "Should we cut through?"
Draco shook his head. "Henry. We need to make sure he's okay."
And so they continued, re-tracing the path they had been on no more than an hour before.
As they turned another corner, Draco squinted as he saw something up ahead. Large jagged pieces of a fallen statue of a stone serpent were strewn across the floor, dusty debris drifting like a cloud of smoke above it. But it was the sight of a limp arm underneath a piece of the broken statue that made him break into a sprint.
"No, no, no, no…" he mumbled under his breath as he raced towards the scene, the other two on his heels.
When he reached the statue he skidded to a halt and swore loudly.
The statue - which would have been as high as the ceiling - had been blasted into pieces, but the large body of the stone serpent lay atop Henry's middle, trapping him beneath.
Henry lay, covered in debris, his eyes half-open and staring at the ceiling. There was still a shallow rise and fall in his chest though: he was alive.
"Help me move this!" Draco shouted at the other two, who came to stand beside him, looking down at the scene in horror. "Quick!"
All three wizards trained their wands on the heavy pieces of stone on top of Henry, jaws clenched and eyes narrowed as they concentrated on magically lifting the weight from their friend. Draco could feel the sheer weight of the stone in the resistance against the spell, but a final flick of their wands threw the stone a few feet away.
"Henry – Henry – can you hear us?" Draco asked, dropping to his knees and gently grasping his shoulders. He was relieved to see that his friend's eyes batted slowly and seemed to focus on Draco's face above him.
"Draco… lads… you made it back?" Henry asked, and any relief Draco felt was instantly stripped away by the sound of his voice. It was as if there were no air in his lungs at all. He couldn't bring himself to look at any damage to his body, and instead kept his gaze on Henry's face.
"All done," Draco confirmed, and a weary smile bloomed onto Henry's face.
It sounded like fighting was spilling around the corner from them and renewed urgency made Draco's stomach churn momentarily.
"We need to get you out of here."
Henry closed his eyes and exhaled; it came out as an agonising wheeze. "Don't worry about me… Think I'm finished…"
Draco shook his head, blonde curtains waving in front of his eyes. "Don't say that," he hissed angrily. "We never should have left you," he said, half to himself.
Henry grinned again. "You think two measly Death Eaters took me down? Not a chance. No, it was the three mates that joined them."
He spluttered and wheezed again.
"Portkey… we need a portkey – Neville, Seamus?" Draco asked frantically, adamant that Henry receive medical attention rather than giving up.
"Draco, it's okay. This is my time. It's okay."
Draco felt a hotness prickle behind his eyes. "You can't leave Amelia. You can't do that to her," he whispered harshly, angered that Henry would even think of just giving up on himself.
Henry shook his head with great effort. "Look after her. Please. Make sure that you and her both survive tonight."
"You need to survive as well," Draco pushed back.
"I'm trying, believe me."
"You're all that Amelia has, Henry. She – we – need you around."
Henry shook his head again, grimacing at the pain he must've felt at the small movement. "She has you now. Promise me you'll always look out for her. Give her a good life… no more sadness."
Draco swallowed. "No – no, we need to get you to the medical tent back at camp." His hands shook with the panic he felt as he watched the life wilt inside his friend and Amelia's brother; the only family she had left.
"Draco… promise me. Look after my sister." His voice was fading to little more than a breathless whisper.
Draco looked down at Henry; it was like the light was slowly fading from his eyes. Eyes that were so like that of the woman Draco loved.
"Fine. Of course I promise," Draco said through gritted teeth.
"You're a good lad, Malfoy. Glad my little sister found you, even if you are a stubborn prick sometimes."
As Draco gave a hollow laugh at this, he felt a hot tear spill from his eye.
"Tell Amelia not to worry about me… about any of this. Tell her to live enough life for the both of us."
Draco swallowed and gave a stiff nod.
"We're so close to getting our freedom back. We're saving our entire world... That's worth one little life." His breathing was so laboured now that every syllable seemed to drain all of Henry's energy, each breath deflating him more and more. His face didn't look pained though as he said these words; he looked at peace.
It was all Draco could do to nod; his throat was far too tight for words. He wanted to scream out or sob, but did neither. Henry held up his hand and Draco grasped it; it was cold, clammy and violently shaking. He held Henry's gaze – foggy silver eyes boring into the dark fading eyes – and hoped that Henry knew that of course Draco would always protect Amelia and do everything in his power to help her have a happy life; that he could let go if he needed to, knowing that his sister would be alright for as long as Draco was around.
And then all of a sudden the shaking stopped. The painful wheezing ceased. The hand in Draco's grasp went limp.
Draco looked back to Henry's face; his eyes were staring straight ahead. That mischievous, determined twinkle was no longer there.
He placed Henry's hand onto his lifeless chest and swore loudly, his voice shredding his swollen throat. His despair rang through the still corridor.
"I'll portkey him back to the resistance. Anyone who dies tonight at least deserves a proper burial," came Seamus's voice from up above Draco. The Gryffindor's voice wobbled and cracked as he spoke and Draco turned to look up at him and Neville, both standing shoulder to shoulder with sombre expressions. Draco had almost forgotten that they were here with him.
Draco nodded and stood, another warm tear streak down his face as Seamus pulled the portkey from his pocket – a small corkscrew – and gave a sad, hollow grin to the two men before taking Henry's limp hand in his and disappearing, leaving Draco alone with Neville Longbottom.
Draco felt Neville's hand clap him on the back as he continued to stare at the spot Henry had just lay. The thought of having to tell Amelia this… or having her discover his body back at the resistance… or worse still, if a Death Eater told her.
He hastily wiped away a stray tear and cleared his throat, glancing at Neville who looked equally wounded by the loss of one of their leaders and friends.
"Guess we better get back to it," Neville offered with the hint of an understanding smile.
Draco nodded, but was unable to pull himself away from the scene, his eyes still transfixed to where Henry had just been.
"He won't have died for nothing," Neville said, his voice sounding a bit stronger now. Draco frowned slightly. "We have a clear path to Voldemort now, and a real chance of winning this. And none of this would've happened without Henry. That's not a bad legacy to leave."
Draco cleared his throat again and rolled his shoulders, suddenly uncomfortable with a spotlight on his emotions as Neville clearly tried to comfort both Draco and himself.
Neville was right though; Draco nodded and finally dragged his eyes away from the vacant spot on the carpet and they continued the path they had been on, down the deserted corridor in the direction of the nearby fighting.
"Longbottom – I mean, Neville… uh, just in case we both cark it tonight… it's probably worth mentioning that I'm sorry. Everything at school – I was a prat," Draco said, avoiding Neville's startled eyes at his words and instead looking determinedly forward. He didn't do well with earnestness, and certainly not with humbleness.
"You were a prat, yes. But it's all good. We were kids," Neville said with a shrug. "Seems like a million years ago now…"
"Yeah," Draco agreed, thankful for Neville's reaction.
"I'll let you buy me a butterbeer when this is all over," Neville said, smiling.
Draco chuckled. "Think I'll be needing a triple firewhisky, but sounds good."
Neville laughed and nodded, and for just a second they shared in a relaxed moment of reconciliation.
