Chapter Forty-seven.

"Goodfellow!"

"Leading Seaman?"

"You're needed to come with the group of Marine Biologists to 'that' small cove. You know the one?"

"Yeah Leading Seaman, sounds good. What time are we leaving?"

"Be ready at 0400 hours. Take off is at 0600 hours."

"Will do. Who else is on the crew?"

"We've got Malloy as Navigator, Keato as distance watch and I'll be co-piloting with the Captain."

"That's all?" Goodfellow looked surprised and O'Harrow grinned.

"Naw, just can't remember all – Attention on Deck!" O'Harrow and Goodfellow stood at attention, with O'Harrow saluting, as the Captain came out on deck and around them, other sailors did the same.

"Leading Seaman." He called out as he passed and went into a different cabin.

O'Harrow quirked a smile briefly at the young Captain's back.

"You like him." Goodfellow whispered. The official business was done, and with no one listening, they were free to drop protocol briefly.

She blushed and stuttered, "I – I – I do not!"

"You do."

"No!"

"Heh Heh. Yeah you do."

"Adriana Goodfellow!"

"There's nothing you can do about it. You like him and now you know I know."

"Shh! Fine! So, I think he's… fairly good-looking and… that he's a good leader… and - "

"You like him."

"Shut up!" The two girls giggled and chatted their way back to the offices below deck. The large ship barely moved in the bright blue sea, there was hardly a ripple of a wave and the sun shone brightly in the cloudless blue sky.

Hermione sighed as she doodled on the piece of paper. Around her, students scratched frantically at the mock exam papers she had given. They had all been given the required Anti-Cheating Quill, but she had subtly put up a ward that detected all Magical Use and was frequently used in China. It proved extremely useful when one sly student decided to test out an 'Accio' charm on a hidden Auto-Answer Quill and the ward had let off a high shrieking noise, as well as yelling something in Mandarin. It had scared the pants off all the kids and the guilty one had been quick to confess in order to get the ward to shut up.

Hermione and Kylie Morton's room was now filled with books on the spells, enchantments and hexes of different cultures and countries. The twins had also discovered the delights of those types of spells and were putting them to good use. In fact, they were now trading with joke shops in Russia and Japan and had never been happier.

Hermione glanced up at the timekeeper, just as it ran out of sand.

"Okay, class! That's time! Please leave your papers on my desk as you go out and have a nice supper!"

The class mumbled as they filed out, Hermione could hear several of them already lamenting their predicted failure and she sniggered quietly to herself.

Soon Hermione was alone in an empty classroom. She sighed as the candle flickered, gathered up the papers and left the room, waving her hand and extinguishing the candle's flame as she closed the door.

Friday nights. The one night of the week when Harry, Hermione, Draco, Blaise and Luna (and until recently, Ron and Padma… and Alice) all met for drinks in Dufftown. Of course, so many others came too, Neville and Hannah, Seamus and Dean and their pretty lasses too came by occasionally. Kylie Morton had been dropping hints that she should come with them on Friday as a 'bonding' session, so they had finally relented and allowed her to come. Harry regretted it almost instantly, the girl hung off his arm and giggled at everything he said.

Hermione hated her about as much as Harry, as while she laughed and giggled with Harry, she was also making goo-goo eyes at her fiancé.

They sat at the crowded table, Hermione and Luna practically in their respective partner's laps, side by side, while Harry opted for the seat at the very end of the booth as to make a quick and convenient exit… (this wasn't just years of fighting for his life talking though…)

Blaise chatted amicably to Neville, over the loud noise, while Draco kept jibbing at an annoyed Harry. Bored, Hermione fiddled with the rim of her (third...fourth... well, it couldn't be fifth, right?) glass and leant over to chat with an equally quiet (and possibly drunk. It was hard to tell) Luna. Even though people surrounded her, it still felt too quiet.

"It feels like we're missing someone, right?" Luna asked softly and they both unwillingly looked at the seat Alice usually took, currently occupied by a Miss Kylie Morton.

"I – I can't believe… that its been two months since Draco got back…and still…"

"It seems like an impossible amount of time, don't you think?" Luna fiddled with a large polished stone that hung off her thin chain necklace.

"Completely impossible! I mean, before she came, I – well, I kept trying to, you know, get even with Draco - ' heh heh, legendary stuff that, I think it's gonna be the talk of Hogwarts for decades to come! 'and then, when she came, she joined in whole-heartedly! Even though they're…some sort of family, I guess."

"And now you feel like your will to go on with something so petty is an insurmountable odd against Alice and what she might've gone through?"

Alice had brought a new light of understanding. Before, Luna always got her way when it came to 'imaginary' creatures, but when the New Zealander showed up, she was suddenly called upon to double-research, check hypothesises and then go up against the other witch's experiences of a world that none else had touched.

Hermione groaned and put her head in her hands, around them, people chatted and went on with their lives.

"Well, at least, technically, we haven't had as much time to mourn as Amelia."

"How do you mean?"

"Australia is in the part of the world that rises first with the sun. The sun reaches us nine hours after them... well something like that... so Amelia has been mourning for Alice nine hours longer than us." Hermione reasoned, desperate to turn off all emotions.

Luna paused and cocked her head, "Hermione, do you know what Amelia's last name is?"

"Uh, Fletcher, wasn't it?"

"Uh huh, but, Amelia's married, right?"

"…Yeah?"

"So, why did Alice have Amelia's last name, instead of her father's name; Goodfellow?"

Hermione paused in raising her glass to her lips, "Luna, you're a genius!"

She blinked, "I am?"

"Yes! I'm pretty sure I just had an epiphany, but for the life of me I can't remember what!" She cried enthusiastically, about to slam the glass down onto the table. Draco's hand caught hers before it could get to the table. Note to self; forget slinky red dresses, yelling and waving a glass full of wine attracts your fiance's attention.

"'Mione, are you sloshed?"

"No, just pissed!" She said cheerfully. Hermione, to the amusement of everyone, was a very happy drunk. Luna chuckled and then turned her attention to Blaise and Neville when Draco's hand captured Hermione's face.

"Really? That's too bad, I don't kiss and tell to drunks."

"I'm not that bad right now…' she whispered loudly, her eyes sparkling in amusement, '…so, what did you want to tell me?"

"I never knew you were a gossip hound, 'Mione."

"Only when I'm drunk!"

"How about I give you a kis - "

"Nah, You said you'd tell me something, so you have to!"

"I said I don't tell to drunks."

"I'm tipsy, not drunk, there's a difference!" she cried indignantly.

Draco chuckled and caressed her face softly as he leaned in and whispered gently into her ear, making her shiver as his breath tickled against her skin, "I always found it so ironic, that you, a person of high status in the Muggle world was a'Mud-Blood' in the Wizarding World and was teased by a 'Pureblood' of the Wizarding world, but yet that person was the 'Mub-Blood' of the Fae world…"

"Oh, Draco…" Hermione patted his hair as he leant his forehead against hers.

"I'm a failure 'Mione, how can I call her family when I'm sitting here, drinking the night away, when she could be Circe knows where?"

"Draco, no matter what, Alice's here. Maybe… she was just a figment of our imagination…someone to open our minds up to a world bigger and more amazing than we ever thought possible."

"Yes, I suppose so."