A couple of things happened in quick succession from Harry's point of view. The first thing worthy of his attention was the fact that Enola's spectral form faded away upon the sight of Matthew. He initially saw that as the girl running away from her problems, something he sorely wished he could have done as well. But then he considered what she'd told him about the process, about how the connection relied on his magic just as much as her own, and he realised that it was entirely possible that the giant distraction in the form of his puzzled friend had killed the link stone dead.

There was every chance that Enola had no clue what was going on.

What if she thought that she'd hung up on her, or whatever the accurate term was when you were speaking to someone through the power of their magical essence? What if she saw that as a display of rudeness, one that would forever colour her opinion of him? What if she took that as a sign that he wasn't interested in what she had to say, proving to her that there was no need to keep up her duplicitous spying. Was that the last time he was ever going to speak to her?

Frankly, Harry had much more important - and daunting - factors to worry about, with the second thing that happened. Matthew, momentarily breaking free from his shock, stormed towards him, a furious look in his eye. The small figure he'd resembled following catching them in the act was gone, a temporary period of weakness he'd evidently pushed to one side. Harry didn't know what Matthew was going to do. Maybe he'd fire a spell at him or curse him for good measure. Maybe he'd resort to more physical means of violence, to truly expel all of his anger.

Yet Matthew eventually came to a stop right in front of Harry, his chest heaving and his eyes brimming with angry tears. And Harry realised that the wounded boy from before hadn't actually disappeared, instead standing right before him, making it perfectly clear what sort of impact Harry's actions had had. He'd expected there to be more fury or disappointment, yet Matthew's face was solely scarred by the ghosts of his past, particularly the one that had just shown up wearing the face of his old friend.

"I…I was going to tell you," Harry sputtered. "You have to believe me. I took so long to come upstairs because I was preparing myself for exactly that. But she…ended up distracting me, taking me by surprise. Please, Matthew. Don't be angry."

"That…that was Enola," the other boy said quietly.

"It was."

"My Enola."

"I was just as surprised as you were. It's only because of what the locket did that I recognised her when we first met, and even then it didn't click until a bit later."

"When did you meet? Not tonight, it seems, judging by how close you were standing next to her."

Was there a hint of jealousy in Matthew's tone? Perhaps he was being protective over his friend, like a kid not wanting to share a beloved toy. Or maybe Harry was looking for another explanation for Matthew's anger, one that didn't necessarily link directly to his apparent betrayal. Had Harry looked at him the same way the night the Tardis had been revealed? With so much disgust, as if one couldn't recognise the other?

"When…when the Death Eaters took me?"
"It's been going on for that long?!"

"Don't shout!" Harry hissed. "You'll wake everyone else up. And we should do this alone, where we can hash things out."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"I saw it more as a suggestion if that helps…"

"Why was she with the Death Eaters?"

"She…she was looking for you. She travelled through time, a bit like you did, but she ended up being found by Voldemort. She's been working alongside him ever since, but it doesn't have to be as bad as it sounds. Enola is the only reason I made it out of Malfoy Manor. You can even ask Draco. He was there to see her in action."

"The last thing I want to do is involve that slimy ferret. Because it's exactly as bad as it sounds! The fact that you can't see that boggles the mind!"

"Boys! What on Earth are you doing?"

Hermione was standing at the bottom of the staircase, having snuck up on them whilst the pair bickered. Her hair was unkempt and unruly, and she was sporting a set of pyjamas that she normally wouldn't have allowed anyone else to have seen her in. She might have been just as furious as Matthew was for Harry's evident lack of tact, but that was washed away by her sheer concern at the sight of the fracturing friendship.

"Did we wake you?" Harry asked.

"I couldn't sleep, not when I knew what you were planning on discussing," she explained. "I told you that I'd be keeping an ear out for any shouting matches. I don't know whether to be relieved or annoyed at the fact that it's taken so long to come about."

Harry rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I may have dawdled, but that isn't exactly all my fault."

He may have been expecting Matthew to intervene at any point, given how much he'd wanted to unload since arriving in the common room. Instead, the other boy was staring at his girlfriend with a similar dose of hurt. It was a look that Hermione promptly picked up on too, and it was her turn to squirm under his questioning, wounded gaze.

"You knew?" Matthew whispered. "You knew about Enola?"

"Only today," she replied. "The letter that came for Harry, that was from her. When Harry took me to one side, it wasn't about girl trouble. Although I suppose it technically was, if you look at it in a certain way."

"You never said anything."
"Because, frankly, I felt that it was Harry's mess to clean up. And he'll tell you himself that I pushed him into having this conversation as soon as possible."

"It's like she's been tugging on my ear all day," Harry said, hoping that he could at least save their relationship if theirs was about to crumble. "Don't be mad at her."

"I'm not. I'm not even annoyed with you. Not really."

"You're…not?"

"I can at least understand why you made this decision, even if I don't like it. A lot has been going on, which is a massive understatement. You've been recovering from the trauma of being kidnapped, which I don't think has been focused on enough, which is partly our fault. And…well, it's not everyday that someone comes back from the dead, so it stands to reason that you might not know how to approach me about certain things. Especially something as sensitive as this."

"To be honest…I expected you to be more surprised about Enola coming back."

"That's who I am annoyed with. And I'm annoyed with you for falling under her spell so easily."

"What are you talking about?"

"This should be a good thing," Hermione argued. "You should be celebrating. You have your friend back. I can't wait to meet her, myself. She must have so many stories from when the two of you were growing up. And, based on what Harry's briefly told me, her powers can even rival your own, Matthew."

"And who's currently in possession of those powers?" he asked the two of them.

"Voldemort," Harry said. "But she's not on his side."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"I just told you that she saved me! Isn't that enough?"
"It's evidently enough to ensure she's in your good books."

Hermione placed a hand on Matthew's chest, as if that would calm the panicking boy. "Why are you being so suspicious of her? What aren't you telling us? You've always painted her in such a glowing light, talking about how much you miss her."

"Just consider the implications of how she's here in the first place."

"Time travel," Harry replied. "That's obvious."

"And how would she have managed that? She's got her own Tardis!"

"...and that's bad because?"

Matthew shook his head, sighing as he turned to Hermione. "Think back to the first time I introduced you to the old girl, the first time I introduced you to myself. Why was I forced to run?"

"Because people got greedy. Fights broke out. You said that people in your society had special capabilities, almost specific to each family. It was your family that managed to bend time to their will, creating the Tardis in the process. In the end, your parents pushed you to safety because others…wanted that power for themselves."

"Exactly. And Enola is a Karstark, not a Mormont. Her family wouldn't have been able to unlock those secrets unless…unless…well, unless they won! My family wouldn't have given up that magic unless it was forcibly taken. If she's here, if she's truly alive in the present day, then it proves that my parents were right to make me flee."

"Have you always known this? Have you always suspected that Enola was involved? Because this doesn't make sense. This animosity doesn't make sense when the mere mention of her has brought you to tears in the past."

"I didn't know, not for certain. At least I knew she, herself, wasn't involved. She couldn't be blamed for what her relatives did. And when I think about her, I remember a time in my life when I was carefree, when I didn't have to worry about war or being the last of my line. When I think about her, I see what I've lost and how much we were changed because of the war. Just think about the locket. It showed me a vision of her because it understood the guilt I feel towards her, the way I wish things had panned out differently.

"The fact remains, however, that things didn't go differently. Enola presumably has a Tardis, which means she's reaping the rewards of my family's demise. Do you understand now, Harry, why I'm so concerned about what she's planning?"

"She doesn't have to be planning anything," he suggested, not wanting to believe this different side to the girl he'd grown fond of.

"Why else would she be here? What if she's been trying to track me down, to finish the job?"

"If that was the case, then she would have come with me. I asked her to come to Hogwarts during our escape. In the end, she turned me down, thinking she could help us more as an insider. Those aren't the actions of someone with evil intentions."

"She might be playing the long game."

"Or maybe she's scared of seeing you again," Hermione put forward. "Especially if she knows you'd react like this. She won't want to witness the proof that your friendship has come to an end."

"I think you're painting her in too positive a light."

"And I think you've been scarred by the past and don't want to get your hopes up. You don't want to risk believing that she's good, that she's here to be reunited with you, because finding out the alternative would break your heart all over again."

A begrudging smile almost appeared on his face. "I don't appreciate just how well you know me."

"I think you do."

"I'm looking out for Harry."

"By sharing your pain? Is that a way of helping him, or helping yourself?"

"Please, just consider the implications of what she's doing. She's with Voldemort, for goodness sake! And she has a Tardis! If he gets his hands on that, then we're done. Game over. He won't care about paradoxes. He'll travel back in time and kill you, rectifying his mistake all those years ago. Enola might have the best intentions, not that I believe that, but she's put everyone in jeopardy by forming that allegiance."

"Maybe that's why she chose to say," Harry suggested. "Because she's looking after the Tardis, guarding it, making sure that he can't get his hands on it."

"Do you think she could stop him if he set his mind to it?"

"She seemed pretty powerful to me, that's all I'm saying."

"No one holds out for long against him, even someone like her. She should have run away as soon as she discovered his true intentions."

"Frankly, if Voldemort was planning on changing the past, then I'm sure we would have already known about it," Hermione retorted. "The ripples would have already taken shape."

"You've watched sci-fi shows. You know it doesn't always work like that. Time isn't a linear progression. And what happens if he's stalling? What happens if he knows we're hunting down the horcruxes? We could be on the verge of killing him for good, and all it would take is one trip into history and all our work would be undone. That's what we're fighting against now, until we have Enola under our watchful eye."

"I told you that she killed that idea stone dead," Harry reminded him.

"Then we convince her otherwise. She might be more agreeable now that I'm involved. She might have even more reason to come, if she is here to kill me. Though she's in for a rude awakening, seeing as someone beat her to the punch."

"Stop that," Hermione said sharply. "I've made it perfectly clear that I don't want you to make light of what happened. You can joke around all you want, but not when it comes to that."

He quickly bowed his head. "Sorry. You're right."

"I don't know how you plan on reaching her, however. Unless you think the power of the written word is going to change her mind."

"It looks as if Harry has already figured out a way past that."

The boy in question suddenly found the full force of Hermione's questioning gaze being directed at him, and that was never a good place to be in when the answer was a fairly awkward one. It was bad enough when it had just been Matthew scrutinising him, but the couple uniting as one was enough to make him sweat. It made Harry wish that he had Enola by his side, if just to dilute their ire somewhat. And maybe he was starting to consider that he could have something similar with Enola as to what Matthew and Hermione shared.

Though that was a sign that he was massively getting ahead of himself.

"He was speaking to her just now," Matthew continued, presumably thinking that Harry was taking too long to start his explanation. "I reckon that's the only reason why I was told about everything in the end, just because I happened to walk in on them."

Hermione's eyebrows lifted in response. "She was here?"

"Not technically," Harry sighed, squirming under the attention. "It was the letter. I thought there was more to it. She basically…connected herself to the message, so that her consciousness could be unlocked. All the hints about fire were clues as to how to unlock it. It was only because of Matthew's arrival that I lost concentration and inadvertently pushed her away."

Matthew folded his arms in frustration. "So I'm getting blamed for that now?"

"I can barely wrap my head around the power that must have been involved in that," Hermione enthused. "Magical projection like that is largely theoretical, so to see it in the flesh must have been amazing. You're so lucky, Harry!"

"It wasn't really in the flesh," he explained. "It was more like a ghost. But one…made of magic. I didn't really understand the intricacies. But it allowed us to talk as if she were standing right in front of me."

"Do you think she'd be willing to do that again?"

"She'd have to send another letter, I imagine. And she might not be in a rush to do so after Matthew's heated reaction."

"I think I can be allowed a bit of leeway in that regard," he grumbled. "It was a bit of a shock."

"I reckon the ball is in her court. She…she wants to be an informant, to help us know ahead of time what Voldemort is planning. Like before, Enola was telling me that he intends to infiltrate Hogwarts, though she didn't know any of the specifics."

"It sounds as if she's been exceptionally useful so far, then."

"Give her a chance. It must be dangerous work to even let that information slip. Enola seemed to think that Voldemort would look for someone on the inside to help him, maybe someone who could open a previously unknown entrance."

"Malfoy. Malfoy's the obvious target. And you've just welcomed him back with open arms."

"It might sound crazy, but I don't think he'd do that. You weren't there to see just how broken he was thanks to his time with the Death Eaters. He was scared. He'd be in no rush to go back. He's the one who made the choice to leave, I didn't force him."

"And that could be the exact plan they were waiting for. Malfoy makes it look as if you're helping him, and then he can use his new found position to stab you in the back, both figuratively and literally, no doubt."

"I wouldn't think they were planning on letting me escape in the first place. It's an awful lot of effort to go to when they already had me in their clutches."

"It could have been a last minute decision, one made by Voldemort when he realised he wasn't going to be able to prevent the attack from succeeding."

"We both know that Voldemort's ego is far too big to ever believe he's going to lose. No, do you know what this is? You're stuck in your ways. You can't for one second believe that Malfoy has changed, even slightly, for the better, and so you're judging him on the past. It's precisely the same as what you're doing with Enola. You're normally a lot cleverer than that."

Matthew reacted a few ways in a short amount of time. His eyes widened, as if shocked by Harry's counterargument. He then looked to be quite angry, which stood to reason, seeing as Harry was rather effectively calling him out. His last port of call was to glance at Hermione, as if she was going to get him out of the hole he now found himself in. The issue was that she appeared to be just as flabbergasted by Harry's outburst.

Amidst it all, Harry was feeling quite proud of himself. Over the years, he'd often found himself to be playing second fiddle whenever he had a confrontation with Matthew, not that it happened too often. Now, he'd been able to put his friend on the backfoot, standing up for himself and, partly, defending Enola at the same time. He was refusing to be steamrolled and Matthew looked to be understandably shocked at the shift in the status quo.

"It seems as if I've got to get used to a few changes around here," he admitted.

"I did a lot of growing up during that time you were away," Harry said.

"I can see that. I just hope that it doesn't come back to haunt you."

"Why would it?"

"Hermione's right when she said Enola is a powerful individual. We've been working under the assumption, following the prophecy, that the key to defeating Voldemort is the power he knows not, and that such a power is probably pure magic. What happens if he forces Enola to teach him, to show him what potential lies within him?"

"She wouldn't do that."

"Until I've got proof one way or the other, I'm willing to believe that she has your best interests at heart. Maybe even my own. But that won't amount to anything if Voldemort has his way. The longer she's with him, the more likely it is that the war is already lost."

"What should we do then?"

"Let's put your theory to the test. Let's see if there is good in some people. I want to see if she reaches out again and what information she can provide. And, if she makes another appearance, I'll be the one to speak to her. She'll no doubt be glad that it won't technically be a face to face confrontation because I've got plenty I need to get off my chest."

xxxxxxxxxx

"I knew you'd be in here."

Hermione smiled softly as she looked at the boy working away by the console. Matthew initially had his back to her, no matter how the creaking doors must have already given her presence away. She'd taken the sight for granted once upon a time, before she'd known what was to be ripped away from her. And so, instead of getting annoyed at his lack of response, she simply enjoyed the moment, revelling in the sheer normality that came from the absurdity of their surroundings.

It was the setting that forced her mind to wander. Following her recent actions, the Tardis felt different. It had always come across as a sentient creation, something that was alive without ever giving an explanation for that existence. But now, Hermione could practically grasp it, feeling the connection she'd forged without even realising that was what she'd been doing. It could have been overwhelming. It should have been too much to bear. Yet her soul almost felt complete now that she was inside the magical blue box.

"It's where you go whenever you're grumpy," she pointed out in a playful tone of voice.

"I'm always in here!" he pointed out, finally turning to look at her.

"Exactly."

Her eyes danced with mirth at the sign of his wounded pride, Matthew exaggeratedly clutching his chest as if his heart had broken into thousands of tiny pieces. Instead of keeping up the performance, he was soon holding out his arms in invitation and she was only too happy to accept, Hermione closing the distance until she was wrapped up in the warm embrace. Her face was ensconced softly against his chest and, for a moment, the Tardis' presence was muffled in her mind, despite the fact that the boy's aura carried a similar weight.

"I'll never get sick of this."

A long breath escaped her lips contentedly. "You'll get no complaints from me."

"How about we fly away somewhere? Just for today. We could go to a beach! When was the last time you saw the sea? And I've never seen you in a bikini, which is a crime. A damn crime."

She made sure to tap him on his arm for his cheek. "You're always suggesting that we fly away and don't look back."

"That isn't a no."

"One day, I might just say yes to your grand plans."

"But today isn't that day."

"No, because we have to address the elephant in the room."

Matthew pulled away slightly. "There hasn't been an elephant in the Tardis since that one incident and I've already sent a written apology to the zoo. It wasn't even my fault, not really! And I had to clean up the mess afterwards, which was more than enough of a punishment."

"I was referring to the cause of your grumpiness."

"And here I was, thinking that I could get out of this conversation by throwing an entertaining anecdote at you."

"You mustn't know me at all well if you thought that would work."

"I know you too well, which makes me believe this chat isn't going to be good for my health."

They parted after that, the two of them coming to a silent and mutual understanding that the discussion couldn't be done properly whilst they were hugging. Matthew's entire demeanour was defensive, shielding himself against what was to come. Hermione liked to think that she was one of the few people, perhaps the only one, who could work past those defences.

"You didn't eat a lot at breakfast."

"You make me sound like Ron Weasley, constantly shoving food into my mouth."

"I wouldn't want to insult you to that extent."

He smirked, a crack in those shields. "If you must know, I didn't have much of an appetite. Not after last night."

"You're still thinking about Enola."

"It's hard to take my mind off her, yeah."

Hermione should have felt more unnerved by the fact that her boyfriend was openly admitting to thinking about another girl, particularly one who he shared an intense connection with. It was part of the reason why she'd made the decision to visit the Tardis, not wanting those feelings to eat away at her for too long. She'd already witnessed the day before how resentment was usually the end product when things were left unsaid.

"I'm worried, Hermione."

"About Enola?"
"About what her presence means. Not just for me, but for Harry too. He seems to like her, and he isn't the sort of person to forge friendships with others easily. If she was to betray that trust…"

"He's big enough of a person to worry about that for himself, Matthew. I don't think that's the main reason for your concern."

"I went into a lot of detail about those reasons last night. She's not the same girl that I grew up with. Her looking for me isn't necessarily a good thing. What does she hope to achieve by owning up to what her family did? She can't change the past."

"But you also can't allow the past to dictate the future."

"I said that I'd hear her out if the chance crops up. What more do you want from me? I don't have to be happy about it."

"I wouldn't expect you to be. It's opening up old wounds that you'd done well to heal. I just want to remind you that you don't have to process whatever you're feeling on your own."

"I'm not going to forget that, trust me. Just think about what I was like when we first met. You never would have got this sort of information out of me back then."

"There's still an element of pulling teeth, but I suppose I should be content with any form of progress."

"See, you get it."

"You never once mentioned that Enola was involved in you having to leave your family."

"Because I didn't know for sure. Everything happened so quickly that I was never given a proper explanation, especially one that a kid could understand. All these years, I've been able to preserve her memory in a positive light out of nothing more than delusion. Her being able to travel through time confirms a certain level of involvement and now…"

"...the esteem in which you held her has shattered. Is this what this is all about? Those memories being tarnished?"

"I suppose it is."

"You've been the first to say in the past that living in the past is a sure fire way to miss out on the present. You're falling into that trap."

"It's proving to be unnervingly difficult to avoid it. Enola…she was the one thing I could hold onto from my childhood, one thing I could look back on without feeling a complete sense of guilt. There was some, of course, over the fact that I had to leave her behind. But she was a bright spot in that part of my life, and now that's potentially been taken from me."

"You can't know that for sure until you see her again, and we don't have a clue when that's going to happen. For the time being, you get to continue in that state of blissful ignorance."

He smirked. "You'd normally say that's a bad thing."

"Harry was right when he said things had changed. Some might even call me easy going nowadays."

Matthew arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well…no…but it's nice to imagine it, right?"

"The last thing I want to change is you, Hermione. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

"I suppose you won't mind hearing what I've got to admit, seeing as it's a clear indication that my mind hasn't changed. It shows that I still can't stop thinking, even when the thoughts aren't too nice."

He bridged the gap between them. "Is it a good admission or a bad admission?"

"It depends on your perspective, I guess." She was shuffling her feet, unwilling to look him in the eye until he was guiding her head upwards with a hand underneath her chin. "It's just that…I was worried that…with Enola returning to the fold…she might…well…oh, I thought she might end up replacing me."

"What?"

"You obviously still hold a candle to her. And you come from the same background. When Harry told me about her return, I couldn't help but think about her bumping me down the pecking order."

"Who knew that the brightest witch of her age could be so…"

"...I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, mister."

He simply chose to hug her once again instead. "No one…and I mean no one…is going to make me feel any differently about you. That's a promise. I love you, Hermione Granger."

"And I love you too."

"It's not me that you have to worry about, anyway. I only caught a glimpse but I'm sure that Harry's already fallen under her spell. It's one of the main reasons why I'm concerned as to where this is heading."

"Harry?"

"Yup."

"Our Harry?"

"Do you know many others?"

"She did save his life, if his story is true. That's enough to make anyone a knight in shining armour. Most people can't resist such a figure."

"That's why you're with me, yeah?"

Hermione patted his cheek. "Whatever you want to tell yourself, my knight."

They settled into a state of relative quiet, the only sound coming from Matthew's heartbeat as Hermione rested her head against him. Joining that was the thrum of the Tardis, the two noises almost running at the same tempo, as if one couldn't operate without the other. Hermione wondered if her own heartbeat was now a part of that concerto, wondered if Matthew was hearing the same thing.

"I can feel her, you know."

"Who?"

"The Tardis. You…you were right about me having a connection with her after what I did. When I'm in here now…it's like I can understand her on an entirely different level, like she's trying to speak to me."

"You might even come to understand her words at some point."

"You think?"

"Why do you think I'm always having conversations with her?"

"I just presumed that it was a sign of your madness."

"That too." He laughed into her hair. "What can you understand now, at this moment in time?"

Hermione scrunched up her face in concentration. "I get the sense that she wants to leave. She wants to be of use. She wants to explore what the world has to offer."

"So you've figured out why I'm always suggesting that, yeah? It's just to appease her insatiable appetite for adventure."

"Sure it is. It has nothing to do with her being a bad influence on you."

"If anything, it's the other way around."

"There's also something else I can sense."

"What is it?"

"The Tardis wardrobes…they're just down the corridor…so if you were wanting to finally see me in a bikini…"

His hand had been resting against the console up until that point, but her words made it slip clumsily. "Who even needs a beach?"