A/N: Thanks again for the reviews guys. Hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!

The Years that Followed the Morning After.

by Flaignhan.

"And then he was like, 'well we were never properly going out anyway so it's not even classed as cheating, I don't know why you're getting so wound up,' and then I was like 'excuse me?' Can you believe him?" Annabel waited only a second or two before nudging Emily with her foot under the table. "Em?"

Emily sat up and widened her eyes slightly, "Oh, no, I can't. What an idiot." She took a sip of her Butterbeer and put her glass back down on the table.

This seemed to be all Annabel needed to continue. "So I said that I wasn't going to have anything to do with him anymore and he acted like he didn't care but I know deep down he did because he looked completely heartbroken when I left and I'm so glad I did that because now he knows he can't just mess me around and if he wants me he has to want me properly and he definitely can't go round seeing other girls behind my back and try to explain it away by saying we weren't even properly together anyway. What does he call the last three months?"

"Yeah, I know, right?" Emily replied, her brain working on autopilot as she studied the menacing faces of the jack-o-lanterns lined up on the windowsill.

"Well exactly, I'm glad you understand. How's it going with you and Michael?"

"Fine," Emily replied, glancing around at the crowds of students filling The Three Broomsticks with noise and chatter. "We write to each other and everything, I'll see him quite a bit over the summer. He's going to try and get me a job in his friend's Dad's shop."

"Oh that sounds all right, what do they sell?"

Emily shrugged, jumping when a hand landed firmly on her shoulder.

"Hello," he murmured into her ear. "Thought I might see you around here somewhere."

Emily turned around to look at him and smiled. His face was inches from hers, his perfectly sculpted jaw showing just a little stubble at that late hour in the day. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and in her peripheral vision Emily saw Annabel raise an eyebrow.

"Tom," she said warningly. "I've got a boyfriend."

Tom's nose creased. "Oh yes...Mitchell or something, wasn't it?"

Emily couldn't help but smile. He knew full well what Michael's name was, he was just making a point.

"Michael," she corrected.

"Ah," he said, a fake expression of recognition lighting his face momentarily. "Well, never mind him for now, will you take a walk with me?"

Emily glanced towards Annabel, who for once, was staying quiet. "Is that all right?" she asked. "You don't mind, do you?"

"No, I suppose not..."

"I'll see you back at the castle?"

Annabel nodded, and sipped her Butterbeer through her straw. Tom frowned.

Emily slid off of her stool and followed Tom out of the pub, keeping her head low in the hope that nobody would see her disappearing with the womanising ex-Head Boy that she had once been involved with.

"How old is she?" he asked one they were outside.

"Same age as me," Emily answered, knowing exactly what he was getting at. "It's so she doesn't mess up her lipstick...and apparently men find it sexier."

"I find it downright repulsive," Tom said. "Only children use straws."

"Does it matter?" Emily asked, pulling her cloak tighter around her to protect her from the unforgiving gusts of wind. "What d'you want anyway?"

"What makes you think I want anything other than your company?" he asked.

Emily said nothing and they walked down the lane in silence. Once there was a sufficient distance between them and the masses of Hogwarts students, Tom took her hand in his own and all became clear.

"Tom, I've got –"

"An idiot who constantly takes you for granted," he said, cutting in. "Did I ever take you for granted? No. Did I ever make you unhappy? No. I miss you."

Emily stopped and let go of his hand. He turned to face her, one hand travelling up to stroke a finger along her jaw line. She let her eyes flutter shut and within seconds his lips had met with hers and she found that despite her conscience screaming that what she was doing was wrong, she didn't want to push him away.

He pulled away from her, his grey eyes locked on hers. "Somewhere more private?"

"Yeah," Emily breathed, and he took her hand.

They turned together, disappearing into the crushing black.

Emily didn't take in her surroundings once they had reappeared in reality. She didn't have any time to. Tom was already kissing her fiercely, steering her backwards around several pieces of furniture until she felt the softness of a mattress against the back of her knees. She fell onto the bed, pulling him down with her, desperate to have his hands on her bare skin.

Emily had slept with Michael only once and it had been a rather messy and unsatisfying affair that she had tried hard to forget. What she had been unable to forget, however, (not that she'd tried) were all the nights she'd spent in the Slytherin dormitory, Tom's body pressed against her own, staying up late into the night and then waking to hushed conversations between Arcturus and Abraxas. Often she would pull the curtain aside and join in if Tom was still asleep, other times she just watched him.

"Tom," she breathed, eyes shut as his lips travelled over her skin.

"What?" he asked.

"...Nothing."

"I should go," Emily said, though she didn't move, opting to stay wrapped around Tom, her face resting against his chest.

They stayed quiet, their breathing falling into sync. Eventually Tom spoke.

"I'm going away tomorrow."

"Where?" Emily asked, twisting to look at him. His eyes were looking towards the ceiling, though they didn't seem to be seeing anything at all.

"America...Albania...anywhere beginning with 'A' really."

"Australia?" Emily asked.

"Maybe," he replied.

"Get me a boomerang if you go to Australia. I want one of those."

"What do you want a stick that comes back for? Haven't you learned Summoning charms yet?"

"I just want one," Emily said, smiling into his chest.

"Right," Tom replied, his small frown disappearing after a second, "I probably won't see you again though."

Emily's frown returned, more pronounced this time. "Why?"

"I'm going away for a long time."

"What's happened?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbows, "are you in trouble? Is it money? I can help you out if it's money –"

Tom smiled and stroked her back, pulling her gently down towards him so she was laying against his chest once more. "I'm not in trouble," he assured her. "I'm just going away, seeing the world, trying new things, all of that."

"Will you write to me?"

"No."

"Oh."

"I'm breaking contact with Abraxas and Arcturus as well," he said. "Don't take it the wrong way. I just wanted to be with you, one last time."

"I thought you wanted to get back together with me," Emily replied, but she didn't manage to keep the bitterness from seeping into her voice.

"If it's any consolation, I won't be getting with anyone else when I'm away."

"Oh yeah?" Emily asked sceptically.

"Yeah," Tom said, "I'm not going to have much contact with humans at all, actually, so I imagine finding a girl who's half as good as you won't be particularly easy."

"Why aren't you going to have contact with humans? What are you doing?" she started to sit up again but he held her in place against him.

"Experimenting," he said simply.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," she replied.

He kissed the top of her head and they said no more.

She sat at the table, staring blankly at the last breakfast she would ever have inside the castle.

"Oh stop looking so glum," Annabel said, taking a bite out of her toast. "It's only school! It's done now! We can be proper adults and do what we want and we won't have homework."

"Haven't you enjoyed it though?" Emily asked.

"The homework? No, especially not this year, I've barely had a second to myself!"

"Not the homework," Emily said exasperatedly. "Being here?"

"What, with students dropping dead in our second year and Professor Kettleburn trying to teach us about trolls by bringing out one of the 'baby' ones from the Forbidden Forest to our lesson? Yeah, it's been a right laugh."

Emily sighed and turned her attention on her breakfast once more, realising she would make no headway with Annabel on the matter. Since her fourth break up with Terry, it seemed she couldn't wait to get out of the school.

The screech of the post owls sounded, though the delivery was considerably less today than it was usually – no parents bothered sending their children anything when they would be seeing them later that day, so it was much to Emily's surprise when a package landed on the table in front of her.

It was a large box, and seemed to have been delivered by three jet black owls that were now gliding towards the hatch that led to their freedom. None of them belonged to her parents.

She pulled the brown paper off of the package, tossing it aside as Annabel peered over her shoulder curiously. She took the lid off of the cardboard box, her jaw dropping when she saw what was inside.

"What is it?" Annabel asked, scowling at the foreign object.

Emily laughed and picked up the smooth piece of wood that was carved with intricate designs.

"It's a boomerang!"

"A what?"

Emily didn't bother repeating herself. Instead she hugged the boomerang to her chest, inhaling the fragrant scent of the wood, her eyes closed.

She was sure she could smell him.