So, after much struggle today (which I will explain at the end because I know you're all eager to read this chapter) I finally got the chapter up.

Enjoy. :)


Chapter 17

Cloud stepped out of the floo network and into the entrance floor of the Ministry of Magic, his sword strapped to his back, and Zack's sword held in one hand. After the commotion caused by Aerith and Cid crash landing two days ago, Cid had overseen the clean up as older students and teachers assisted the mechanic in transferring the wrecked Gummy Ship into an abandoned shed on the edge of Hogwarts grounds.

Cloud had retrieved their gear and Zack's sword just before they moved the main bulk of the ship out of the castle. The sword had then sat on the wall in his and Leon's shared bedroom all day yesterday, while Cloud debated the best time to give the Buster sword to his best friend. Zack was back at work today, so he figured now would be a good time.

Having left and talked to the Headmistress, Cloud travelled by Floo to the Ministry of Magic, both of them having decided that would be the simplest mode of travel. He arrived, stumbling out of the hearth on the other side, and blinked in surprise, looking around with wide eyes as he took in the green and black decorated underground.

People came and left in a hurry, and Cloud stepped out of the way as the fireplace behind him flared up again and a middle aged witch stepped out, brushing the ash off of her robes as she glanced at him, her eyes widening a bit at the sight of the swords before rushing away, files held in her arms.

Following the flow of arriving people down the corridor, Cloud appeared in a large foyer and walked slowly as he took everything in. The room was bright, despite there being no natural light anywhere, or artificial lighting. A waterfall cascaded down one wall from top to bottom, the water running over the glass and creating a patterned effect that cast rippling patters around the rest of the foyer.

There was a large statue in the middle of the Ministry that had three people - two men and a woman – on top. Walking over curiously, Cloud paused at the edge of the watery moat with a seat as a barrier wall and read the plaque. Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger – the Golden Trio who Defeated Lord Voldermort in 1998. Looking up again, Cloud kept moving, walking around to see if he could spot his friend.

Paper airplanes zoomed over his head and settled themselves in an open elevator as people stepped out and others stepped in, the doors closing behind them. Attempting to stop a couple of people that walked past him, Cloud was shrugged off. One wizard paused briefly before directing him to the Information Desk over in one corner and hurried on, his steps almost settling into a run. They were obviously busy.

Doing as instructed, Cloud walked over to the information desk, where two young witches sat in the booth giggling to each other as they talked. Cloud knocked on one of the windows to get their attention.

They both looked at him, welcoming smiles on their faces, before they both saw the two swords, and one of the girls shrieked in alarm while the other pressed a button and the two scrambled backwards out of the booth.

An alarm sounded in the foyer, and Cloud blinked and looked around as everyone milling around scrambled for cover. The light brightened to almost blinding, and Cloud winced and threw a hand up to shade his eyes as his sensitive eyes were assaulted.

Letting his eyes adjust, Cloud watched with narrowed eyes as the elevators opened and Auror's in dark red robes poured into the atrium, immediately surrounding him and holding him at wand point.

"Don't move!" a wizard yelled firmly. "Drop the swords, and whatever other weapons you're hiding."

Sighing, Cloud leant Zack's sword against the booth and slipped back into a relaxed pose, complete with arms crossed, to wait for someone to figure out he wasn't here to attack anyone.

"I said drop your sword!" the Wizard yelled again. "And turn over your wand!"

Cloud ignored him and turned to a younger female who was looking at him in a bit of confusion. "Get me Zack Fair," he demanded and she blinked rapidly, looking at her superior for instruction.

"Do as he says," the older wizard who was yelling instructions grumbled. The witch hurried off at a run.

Cloud, content now that his request was being carried out, relaxed and lowered his head; eyes closing while his senses remained alert. He ignored any questions fired at him and waited.

"Spike? What are you doing here?" Zack asked incredulously a few minutes later as he hurried over to the surrounded ex-SOLDIER.

"You know this guy Fair?" the Auror asked quietly.

"Merlin, yes. He's harmless." Cloud raised a disbelieving eyebrow as Zack stepped up to give the blond a hug, a grin on his face.

"Harmless?" Cloud asked his best friend quietly, defensiveness ringing clear in his voice as he stiffened.

"Just play along," Zack murmured back and pulled away. "What are you doing here?" He asked loudly, planting his hands on his hips. "I wasn't expecting to see you for at least a week."

Cloud went to reply when he noticed the Auror's all relaxing one by one.

"What are the swords for?" a curious young wizard asked.

"Swords?" Zack asked, turning to scan the area beside Cloud, his eyes landing on his Buster sword and his eyes widened as he froze.

Cloud smiled a bit and picked the sword up, handing it over hilt first. "I thought you might want this back."

Zack took it slowly, completely speechless as he ran a hand over the blade, the metal showing its age, but having been well taken care of. "Cloud…"

"It's yours," Cloud argued, stepping back and placing both hands on his elbows, so they crossed about belly button height. "You deserve to have it back."

"I can't believe you kept it," Zack replied quietly as he tested his grip, old memories and technique coming back rapidly.

Cloud blushed and avoided his best friend's gaze. "Is it so surprising?"

Zack gave his best friend a smile and stepped forward to hug him with one arm. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"I have some idea," Cloud replied in a mumble as he pressed his face into the taller mans shoulder.

They separated after a few seconds, and Cloud watched in amusement as Zack swung around and wielded his sword up and over his head, stopping in a neutral hold with both hands in front of him, a reckless grin on his face. The Auror's all took a wary step back.

Zack laughed and swung the sword to his side, hefting it with his right hand as he swung it up and on habit tried to settle it against its holder, blinking and blushing in surprise as the moment he let the hilt go, it crashed to the floor with a loud clang, chipping a couple of the black tiles. "Oops…" Bending down, he gave Cloud a sheepish grin as he picked it up again.

Cloud just shook his head, a smile crossing his lips.

"Think I'm going to have to pull my sword sling out of storage."

"You kept it?" Cloud asked curiously.

"Of course. I couldn't just throw it away," Zack replied with a shrug as he straightened up.

Cloud nodded in understanding. "Are you busy?"

"Kinda, yeah," Zack replied as his free hand rose to scratch the back of his head. "But meh. Hey, wanna come and train with me? I feel like I won't be able to do anything until I get a spar out of my system."

Cloud laughed and nodded. "You bet."

Zack grinned and led the way to the elevators. "Come on, I'll show you around. You haven't been here before, right?"

"No," Cloud replied as he looked around again.

They were followed by an entourage of curious Auror's and Ministry members, who had just stepped into the foyer. "Okay, so this is our main entrance. It's the only place we can come and go from. The rest of the place is warded, although we can communicate through our floo networks. Only a few are able to come and leave through the private ones."

Cloud nodded, somewhat getting it. They entered an elevator that was just arriving and people were emptying out of. Stepping in, Zack pressed the button for level two and waited for the other Auror's to enter. They went down, and Cloud blinked, pausing as the other Auror's piled out of the elevator. "Come on," Zack replied as he strode out of the elevator. The doors closed behind them and Cloud blinked as he watched the elevator drop down again. "Welcome to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Zack introduced as he turned left and began walking down the corridor and through a set of open double doors with a large sign above the doorframe stating Auror Division. "Come on, I think Reno should be back by now."

Cloud followed his best friend down a corridor, glancing in through the odd open door as they passed offices, only to find Auror's in conference, sipping at mugs of coffee or tea, and a quite a few doing stacks of paperwork that resided on their desks. A few Auror's slipped out of offices, hurrying down the corridors or striding confidently the other way, every one greeting Zack as he passed, giving Cloud a curious once over before dropping him out of their mind once he was out of sight.

Zack stepped into an office without knocking and stepped in. "Hey, guess who I found."

"Oh god," Reno replied, sounding extremely hung over. "Please tell me it's not that long legged brunette come back to haunt me. She was intense enough last night."

Zack raised an eyebrow as he opened the door wider to allow Cloud access. "I take it things didn't go well?"

"No, they went brilliantly! That's the problem. They went a little too well."

"I don't follow," Zack replied with a frown.

Cloud stepped forward, only to find Reno face planted on his paperwork.

Reno lifted his head to retort when he spotted the golden head in the doorway. He grinned. "Spike!"

"Hi," Cloud replied with a questioning raised eyebrow.

"Okay, explain," Zack continued as he shut the door and leant his sword against the wall. "What happened?"

Reno rested his chin on the paperwork glumly. "She was a muggle spy."

"What?!" Zack asked in disbelief, eyes going wide. "How the hell did you manage to land that? She was hot."

Cloud too was curious.

"That's the issue! She was hot! And she came way too easily." Reno snickered a bit at his own joke. "I had to execute the Tesseur maneuver to escape this morning."

"That bad?" Zack asked in surprise and Cloud's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"Yeah, that bad," Reno replied. "I woke up to get out of bed this morning and she immediately had a knife against my neck. She then finished handcuffing me to the bed and went through everything."

Zack groaned, his head dropping back and his eyes closing. "Did you obliviate her?"

"Are you kidding?" Reno's head shot up in alarm. "I got the fuck out of there the moment I got free and found my wand! Hell, I almost landed a bullet in my hip. I had to drop through yours to borrow some robes and a hangover potion. Aerith is looking good by the way." The crimson brows waggled suggestively in his dark haired partners direction, a cheeky grin on the ex-Turk's face.

"You mean she could still be there?" Zack asked, eyebrows creased.

"Hyne, yes! I went straight to the Obliviators and told them to find her. She's probably unearthed just about everything in my apartment by now. Shiva, Potter is going to have my head if they don't find her. Man, she can put up a fight. She could rival Yazoo, and that guy was a fucking fluid fighter."

"You didn't stun her?"

"Course I fucking tried! She dodged and fired at me again! No way I was hanging around. I apparated out of there first chance I got!"

Zack raised his hands to appease his aggravated partner. "Alright, alright, calm down."

Reno huffed and leant back onto his chair, dropping an arm over his eyes.

Cloud and Zack both looked at each other. "Well, we'll leave you to it. Spike and I are going to go spar." Zack grinned and picked up his Buster sword again. "He gave me my sword back."

Reno ignored him, raising the arm off his eyes and waving it randomly in the air. "Congratu-fucking-lations."

Zack rolled his eyes. "Come on Spike. Later slut-face."

Reno gave him his middle finger as they walked out. Zack grinned.

"Come on. Let's get down to one of the training rooms." The ex-SOLDIER rubbed his hands together gleefully and led the way down another couple of corridors.

As they passed an open office, Zack paused as his name was called loudly. Backtracking, he poked his head in the office. "You wanted me?"

"Yeah, what was all the commotion earlier?" A familiar voice asked, and Cloud stepped closer, getting into an angle where he could spot the speaker. It was Harry Potter. "Oh… Hello. I wasn't expecting to see you here Mr Strife," Harry greeted pleasantly.

"He was the commotion," Zack replied with a grin, flicking his thumb at his best friend.

"Ah…"

"Anyway, we're off."

"Okay." Harry nodded and Zack backed out of the office.

"Come on." They set off down the corridor again.

LINEBREAK

Cloud flipped backwards out of the way, skidding backwards on the scorched and marked wooden floor, just barely managing to skip backwards out of harms way as Zack came after him again. Blimey, his friend certainly hadn't lost his touch.

They clashed again and Cloud defended as Zack lunged another attack. Gritting his teeth, Cloud attempted to throw the dark haired Auror off his game to get the upper hand by dropping low and sneaking an attack at his ankles. As Zack jumped over the attack, Cloud followed through by pushing himself up and aiming for the older man's torso.

Just barely getting his sword in front of him to avoid the sneaky attack, the dark haired ex-SOLDIER tripped over his own feet and landed on his arse, and he couldn't help but burst out into loud peals of laughter even as the blond allowed the tip of his sword to rest against the pale neck.

Raising a curious eye as he watched his best friend laugh, Cloud stepped back as Zack yielded.

"I give in. You win." Panting from the exertion of a fight he hadn't experienced in a long time, Zack, still laughing, fell back onto the hardwood floorboards and lay flat, staring up at the enchanted ceiling. Sweat soaked his hair and clothes, and a few droplets ran freely down the side of his face to drip onto the floor.

Cloud himself was warm with a light covering of perspiration, and his breathing was a little uneven, but he smiled and flopped down next to his best friend, enjoying the closeness of sharing a training session. "You know, I've missed this," Cloud murmured, turning his head to meet matching mako blue eyes.

Zack turned to look at him, his smile softening into affection as he reached a hand out to grip the blonde's. "Me too."

The two of them stared at each other for a few minutes, just relishing in the silence. Cloud eventually broke the silence. "How are things going between you and Aerith?"

Zack gave a most unexpected answer. He blushed. Bright red.

Cloud blinked curiously and sat up, giving his friend a confused look. "What does that blush mean?" he asked in amusement.

Zack gave him a cheeky grin. "Do you really want all the details? She's pretty kinky actually."

Cloud immediately stuck his hands over his ears, eyes closed in embarrassment. "Oh god! You couldn't have just said you were getting along really well?"

"Well you asked!" Zack protested with a grin as he too sat up. "Did you know she has the cutest little-"

"I am not listening to this!" Cloud yelled loudly as he stood up and kept his hands over his ears while singing loudly. "Lalalalalalalalala!"

Zack laughed loudly and clutched at his stomach while Cloud dropped his hands with a grin. "Seriously though," Zack said once he'd calmed down and took the hand Cloud offered him. "We're going well."

"I'm glad," Cloud replied, a soft smile gracing his lips.

Zack strode over to pluck his wand out of his robes, which were resting on the floor over on a wall. He cast a Tempus charm and inhaled sharply. "Is that the time? Crap! Um…. Listen, we're going to have to stop. I'm meeting someone in ten minutes." Zack looked decidedly nervous as he quickly pulled his robes over his head.

"You having lunch with Aerith?" Cloud asked in amusement.

Zack blinked at him in surprise, one arm halfway down the sleeve. "How did you know?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Oh please. It was obvious."

Zack flushed happily and continued dressing. "How do I look?" He asked once he was dressed.

"Like you need a shower," Cloud replied as he crossed his arms, looking amused.

Zack ran a hand through his hair in thought before shrugging and pulling his wand out and pointing it at himself. "Scourgify." As most of the sweat disappeared, he quickly cast a drying spell on his hair. "I'll shower later. Don't have time right now."

Cloud just gave his friend an amused look before scooping up his sword and placing it back in its sling. "Come on. Let's go."

They left the training room, quickly dropping back past Zack and Reno's office to drop the sword off and see if the red head was there. He wasn't. Neither of them were too worried though.

As Zack led his friend back to the Ministry foyer, he filled the blond in on what he and Aerith would be doing for lunch. Eating out at a restaurant and catching up, yet again.

Cloud merely rolled his eyes good-naturedly at his friend and waved him off when Zack apologized about not escorting him back to Hogwarts. "I'm not helpless," Cloud replied in amusement.

"Right….well, I'd best be off," Zack fidgeted as he straightened his robes, running a hand through his mussed hair. "Are you sure I look alright?"

"You look fine. Very handsome," Cloud soothed with a smile.

"You're just saying that," Zack grumbled as he pulled his wand out.

"No, I'm not," Cloud replied mischievously. "You really do look handsome. Irresistible in fact. She won't be able to keep her hands off your flabby form." He grinned and quickly headed for a fireplace as Zack squawked in alarm and began feeling himself for flabby bits.

"STRIFE!" Was the angry yell from his best friend as Cloud laughed and quickly vanished in an eruption of green flames.

LINEBREAK

Sora hurried back to the Gryffindor Common Room later that night. He'd had a full day of classes, and it was Friday, meaning they had the weekend to do what they wanted. And the first thing Sora wanted to do, was to find his cat. And then sit in front of the fireplace with Baubles and laugh with friends. They were an interesting bunch.

Finally reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, Sora spoke the password and slipped inside, smiling and waving as his best friend, who was already seated in front of the fire, spotted him. So far he was the only one there, and Riku had changed out of his uniform into the casual clothes Yuffie, Leon and Cloud had brought them.

"Hey," he greeted, heading over to the Slytherin.

"Hey yourself," Riku replied with a smile. "Had a good day?"

"Yeah, it's been fun," Sora replied. "Let me go and get changed and then we can head to dinner."

"Sure. Hurry it up Slowpoke."

Sticking his tongue out at his best friend, Sora darted up the stairs and into his dormitory. Quickly dropping his books and changing, Sora whistled for Baubles, who was nowhere to be seen. She must be out exploring, he decided and quickly headed back down to the common room.

"Ready?" Riku asked once he appeared again.

"Yep. Let's go."

Riku stood and followed his best friend out of the Gryffindor Common Room. "Excited for the weekend?"

"You have no idea," Sora replied with a grin.

-tbc.


Alright, so, you know how yesterday I said I had up to chapter 22 written? I did, but my computer died this morning, and the last back up I had was one from two weeks ago, so I lost the five chapters i'd written, plus two extra scenes for later on down the track. It's died twice today, and had to be recovered twice, so I thought that while it was working I'd get this chapter up and give you all a heads up on what's happening.

Fear not, I have the chapter 19 already mostly written again, and the other four will be easy because they were mostly scenes I already had written months ago. It's my computer that is going to be the issue. Fingers crossed that not installing its latest update (which I did twice before) will do the trick. the OS system kept stuffing up, so I restarted it and... it didn't restart. It just hit a blank white screen and did nothing. *sighs* Might call for a trip to the Apple store if this doesn't fix it.

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic night, enjoyed this chapter immensely, and I should hopefully, fingers crossed, be able to get the those chapters redone without too much effort in the next couple of days. :)

-Vex