A/N: It seems short chapters are the only way I can post without feeling overwhelmed. Bah, anxiety.

Harry tapped his foot impatiently beneath the table he'd chosen inside the Leaky Cauldron and cast a solemn glance in the direction of the door. It had opened and closed numerous times since he had first arrived an hour ago, but his friend had not been amongst the stragglers stopping by for a much-needed respite from the outside chill. Blowing out a frustrated sigh as a curly-haired wizard sat at the bar, Harry turned back to the plate before him and idly flicked at its edge with his thumb.

The hearty bowl of soup and the bread set at its edge would have normally been heaven for him after a long day at the office, but his appetite had been close to nonexistent for the past two weeks. In truth, he only had it because Hannah had set it in front of him and worriedly whispered something about how thin he looked. The smell was making him nauseous but it seemed rude not to take the plate and thank her when her husband was putting their life together on the line for him.

The bell above the door rang again and he looked once more, hoping that this time Neville's good-natured face would greet him. No such luck. A couple carrying several black robes across their arms and their two beaming would-be students stepped through the doorway and waved at Hannah as she beamed at them from behind the bar. Harry flicked at his food plate a second time and sank deeper into his chair. He didn't have to posses Hermione's wit to see that the situation was not looking promising.

Neville hadn't exactly agreed to the ludicrous plan Harry had proposed when he'd finally replied, but his friend had said that he would attempt to pry some information from the school archives during his breaks from work. That almost-promise had been good enough for Harry and he'd immediately set up a meeting at the Cauldron after giving him a week to work on the assignment. However, Harry had been sitting there for what seemed like an eternity with no sign from Neville and his anxiety was beginning to sink its claws in deep.

Could he truly blame someone who had nothing to do with his mishap for not showing up? Neville had always been so reserved and withdrawn that Harry knew he'd made the man's life a nightmare just by sharing this grim situation with him. It was one thing to do something behind your wife's back, but doing it right in front of her face as she happily worked a few feet away was another matter altogether. Ginny and Hannah were both innocent victims of his immense stupidity. This convoluted mess should've been his problem. His and his alone.

A wave of regret washed over him. He picked up the glass of firewhisky he had ordered and swallowed half of it in a large gulp before setting it back on the table while simultaneously pushing the plate of cold food away. It wasn't fair, what he'd done. Neville shouldn't have to lie to Hannah, who always brought over a drink or complimentary plate of food whenever they crossed paths at the Cauldron, and he'd been a shit friend to even ask something like that of him when he hadn't even managed to make it to their wedding.

He placed a few coins for Hannah's trouble on the table and was about to leave when the crisp chime of the bell rang over the noise in the room. The impulse to look was so ingrained that he immediately craned his neck in the direction. A warm wave of relief that had little to do with the flames crackling in the nearby fireplace came flooding in as Neville's blond head popped from beneath the black bowl hat he'd been wearing. He ran a hand over an unshaven jaw and smiled as his wife moved to plant a kiss on him, then looked around in a manner that was entirely too casual to be discreet.

"Oh, thank the stars." Harry ran a hand through hair that had grow overtly long since he'd first received the letter and watched as Hannah sent her husband in his direction. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you, Neville."

"Yeah." Neville plopped down on the opposite side of the table and set his hat next to the plate of food, a weak smile on his bristly face. "You too, Harry."

"I appreciate the lie." While Neville looked horribly uncomfortable, his arrival let Harry know that he hadn't made a mistake by confiding in him. "If there's anything I can do to repay you, please let me know."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. It's no trouble…" Neville nodded in his direction but trailed off as he spotted the half-finished glass of alcohol before him. He blinked and ran his tongue across his lower lip. "Hannah doesn't let me drink anymore."

"Ah." He'd heard rumors about his friend's struggles with drink. Harry himself had almost lapsed into alcoholism shortly after the war had ended. He normally didn't encourage bad habits, but Neville looked like he needed it. Besides, there wasn't much of it left. "Feel free to finish it."

"Cheers." Neville made sure his wife wasn't looking at them before hastily finishing the glass. Thirst slaked and the itch scratched, he turned to Harry with a tight smile still in place. "Life is sort of strange, isn't it?"

"I..." That was an odd thing to say. "I suppose."

Without so much of a word, Neville picked up the cutlery and pulled out his wand to warm the food before eating a spoonful. "How are you doing?"

Honestly? He felt like curling up in his bed and wasting away beneath the sheltering embrace of his coverlet. But that was hardly something the Head of the Auror's Department should be saying out loud. As far as the world knew, Harry Potter's life was perfect. "As well as I can be."

"Yeah…" He ate in silence for a couple of minutes and stopped to smile as his wife came over with a mug of butterbeer for him and another glass of firewhisky at Harry's request. When she was finally gone again, Neville gestured for another sip of alcohol and sat back as he casually sipped. "Have you told anyone about it?"

"Just you." He'd been tempted several times to confide in Hermione. He'd almost confessed after finding himself alone with her while Ginny helped Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen. But Hermione was also Ginny's best friend and he wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to keep it a secret for long. "You?"

"Not a soul."Neville shook his head slowly. "Besides, Hannah would probably die of shock if I told her what I was up to."

"So you did it, then?" Protecting his glass of firewhisky from his overeager friend suddenly became less interesting. Harry scooted his chair closer to the table and leaned in to better hear him. "Well?"

"This can't get out, Harry." Neville began to search the inside pockets of his coat, his eyes skating over his wife's form as she laughed at something the curly-haired wizard Harry had seen enter the pub earlier said. "You're not the only one whose marriage is on the line."

His stomach unexpectedly churned with dread at the thought. If good-natured Neville was struggling to keep his marriage afloat when Hannah seemed so happy to see him, what hope did his own crumbling marriage have once word of his indiscretion got out? A disconcerting thought, to be sure. "Of course, Neville"

"I tried being as subtle about it as I could." He finally pulled something out and set it on the table. It was folded and Harry couldn't make out what little he saw written on it in its current state. "I saw a Corner in this year's list, so I checked for siblings on a hunch. Found a girl about a year or so younger than…the letter's writer should be."

"Gin's ex?" Harry sat back silently and waited for him to unfold the parchment while wondering just what Neville was doing chasing after Corner's kids. Cho and Corner hadn't been particularly affectionate when he'd last seen them. She had, however, stood right beside him after arriving at the castle before the battle of Hogwarts. "Are they married?"

"As far as I know, they never even had a relationship." Neville shrugged. "The Ravenclaws almost always came into the DA sessions together. I think he was just making sure she was okay. I don't even know how that dating rumor started, to be honest. I never saw them together while I was looking at Luna."

"Oh." Harry suddenly remembered his wife had been the one to tell him about Cho and Michael. He had never really questioned it because, well, he hadn't seen much of Cho after their fight. He'd been peeved with her as well, so he hadn't really cared. "So, erm, what does that have to do with me, then?"

"Corner liked Edgecombe. I heard rumors about them eloping during Christmas but they were never seen together. Their oldest was apparently born shortly after our seventh year began." Harry nodded in order to let Neville know he'd understood, but still had no idea why the information was important. "I figured they'd still be friends, so I decided to see if the kid was in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team."

Still, nothing clicked. "Ah."

"I thought that maybe their kids would be friends. Friends help friends. You put Ron on the team even when he was blatantly awful at it, didn't you?" Neville must've seen the confusion on his face because his words were deliberately slow, as if he were talking to a child. His smile was suddenly genuine. "I found what I was looking for. Except…I don't know what to make of it."

Harry's pulse was drumming so hard against his eardrums that he'd barely been able to make out Neville's words. Green eyes fixed themselves on the item his friend was leisurely tapping. What he'd first thought to be a piece of parchment had revealed itself to be the back of a picture after Neville flipped open. He could see movement and the blue of the uniforms belonging to the Ravenclaw team...but little else. He swallowed thickly and met Neville's troubled gaze.

"It might just be a coincidence-"

"What is it, Neville?" The question came out sharper than he intended. He cleared his throat, extended his hand and tried again in a less aggressive tone. "Let me have a look."

"Well, you see," Harry made an impatient sound and immediately pushed his drink across the table. He would buy Neville as many rounds as he wanted if it sped up the whole ordeal. "It's the oddest thing. I tend to forget faces after the first year, but I suddenly remembered…"

Neville finally pushed the picture across the table. Harry immediately snatched it and pulled it so close to his face that it almost collided with his glasses. The teens were all dark haired and the picture had been taken from a distance. He was barely able to make out any distinguishing features.

His temper resurfaced. He set the picture down and failed to keep irritation from coloring his words. "What's weird, Neville?"

Neville took the glass he had offered but refused to meet his searching eyes. "Turn the picture around, Harry."

He immediately obliged. The team had all signed the picture with their names and positions in the team. He traced the neatly scrawled words with his fingers until he neared the end of the paper…and his heart seized as he reached the very bottom. Chang. His ears began to ring, the pulse that had been steadily tapping there becoming less noticeable as the new high-pitched sound smothered it.

"Neville…" His fingers shook as he turned the picture around and stared at it, unsure if what he'd read had been real or a trick of the dim light around them. He felt quite sick to his stomach. The little alcohol he'd drunk rose to his throat in the shape of bitter tasting bile. "Neville, there's two of them there."

Oh, Bollocks.

A/N: Chapter three, up! I know it sounds a little like it, but I'm not making Ginny awful, I promise. x3 R&R, please. ^-^