The Tardis had more or less always been a safe haven for Harry. There'd been a short period when the blue box had represented a confounding mystery, one that had tested the strength of his friendship with Matthew. But, over the years, that wonderful vessel had saved his life on numerous occasions, with increasing levels of drama and spectacle. He'd always felt that, if things were to go extremely wrong, he'd at least have the Tardis to rely on as an unorthodox home.

Except, as Harry looked at it now, it didn't remotely convey the same sort of warmth and joy. In truth, it resembled the daunting statue that still remained in Diagon Alley, a tribute to Matthew's sacrifice. Once his friend had re-entered the picture, Harry had assumed that those ill feelings would dissipate. Trust a hefty dose of teenage angst to make things sour again. It explained why he was hesitating by the doors, wondering whether he had to follow Hermione's advice.

She hadn't steered him wrong up to that point.

And, if he didn't follow through with the plan, then she was likely going to hunt him down for sport.

Harry had found the Tardis in its usual hiding place amidst the abandoned classrooms of Hogwarts, which had initially surprised him. With the way Matthew had stormed out of Dumbledore's office, he'd assumed that the other boy would have flown away, looking to put some distance between them for both their sakes. Harry was trying to view the Tardis' lingering presence as a positive sign, as an indication that Matthew wanted to talk just as much as Harry wanted to get certain things off his chest.

That didn't make it any easier to walk inside.

There was a distinct possibility that Matthew was watching the display from within, using the monitors to observe Harry's nervous back-and-forth pacing. Harry knew that he must have looked like an utter fool, but he was struggling to decide how he was going to proceed. Did he need to start off with an apology? Was he supposed to enter the ship on his hands and knees, begging for forgiveness? Or was it better to come from a position of strength, outlining exactly what he'd done and why it didn't need to be a big deal?

In the end, plucking up the courage bestowed upon him as a Gryffindor, he pushed open the doors without really having a clue as to which tactic he was going to deploy. That momentary sense of bravado was quick to dissipate once he was within the confines of the console room, with the thud of the doors making it perfectly clear just how isolated he now was. It was at that point that Harry realised he should have brought back-up in one form or another, not knowing how Matthew was going to react.

It wasn't as if Harry thought that his friend was going to turn to violence, pushed to his breaking point by the perceived betrayal. But he'd left himself exposed on the off chance that no words were actually going to be shared. Moody was no doubt cursing his name for the blatant lack of preparation, for walking straight into a potential trap. But there was no turning back, even if Matthew hadn't turned around from his position at the controls, evidently choosing to ignore Harry's presence for as long as possible.

Harry, frankly, wasn't going to play along.

"We need to talk."

Matthew's laugh was a dry one. "An understatement if there ever was one."

At least he'd opened his mouth. At least he'd taken part in the conversation, no matter how scathing his tone was. Harry was at the stage of seeking comfort in any positivity he could cling onto. No spells had been cast. No curses had been uttered. Compared to what he'd imagined in his head, the present situation was akin to the two of them linking arms and frollicking through a field of daisies. He might have laughed at the mental image he'd created, if he hadn't known that such a sound would have likely set Matthew off.

The phrase 'walking on eggshells' had never been so pertinent.

"I'm surprised you're still here."

"So am I."

"Thank you. For staying. For giving me a chance to explain everything."

"Do you actually think I'm doing this for you? Hermione would kill me all over again if I ignored this problem."

"She's the one who made me do this too, if I'm being honest. It's good to know that she's still got us wrapped around her little finger."

"At least that hasn't changed."

Harry grimaced. For a split second, it had almost felt like they were sharing a normal conversation, filled with levity and quips. He could have imagined them sitting in the Gryffindor common room, laughing by the fireplace. Matthew's continued animosity was a stark reminder that they were actually separated by a sizable distance, and it was down to Harry to bridge that gap. The issue was that, for the time being, he didn't know how he was going to do it.

"Things haven't changed," he tried to counter. "I haven't changed."

Matthew scoffed. "I'm struggling to believe that."

"Why?"

"Because you didn't use to lie this easily!"

It appeared that Harry had inadvertently poked the bear in his attempts to smooth things over. He got the sense that Matthew had simply been waiting for the opportunity to start shouting. The good news was that he'd finally left the safety of the console, looking down at Harry's position on the lower floor. The bad news was that that meant Harry was being met with the full force of Matthew's glare. When he'd been facing the controls, it had been easy to ignore just how dire the situation was.

Now, Harry couldn't help but accept the hurt he'd caused.

"I…I didn't mean to lie. It just…happened."

If that was the best he could muster under pressure, then he should have just turned on his heel and left the Tardis. Because there was no way that such feeble arguments were going to win Matthew over. The worrying thing was that, as Harry collected his thoughts, he couldn't exactly come up with anything better. He hadn't meant for feelings to blossom between him and Enola. It had just happened naturally, taking him by surprise. It highlighted why he'd chosen to obscure the truth up to that point - because it just didn't seem like sharing it was going to help.

"You know what? That's something I can believe. Because I don't think you would be so stupid to do this on purpose."

"...thanks?"

"You would have used your common sense if it was actually planned. Because do you really think we wouldn't already know about this?"

Harry was ready to defend himself once more, but was stopped as he fully absorbed Matthew's words. A frown painted his face, the confusion clouding his mind. It was now clearer than ever that he'd walked into a trap. It just wasn't the one he'd been expecting. Matthew looked as if he'd been waiting patiently to drop that particular bombshell, holding off until he could catch Harry off guard the most. Credit had to be given for just how effectively he'd pulled that plan off.

"You…already know? About me and Enola?"

"Dumbledore quite literally told you that he was going to place a tracking charm on Enola's Tardis. Every time she's visited you at Grimmauld Place, he's been able to pinpoint where she was. Did you forget about that? Were you too busy snogging her senseless to appreciate how people were trying to protect you?"

Harry's face blanched, and it wasn't entirely down to the image Matthew had concocted. He was rather pleased at how good he'd been at kissing Enola, seeing as he barely had any practice. But the fact that his friend was now bringing it up brought home how they'd been caught out in the Room of Requirement. It reminded him exactly why they were now sparring against one another. And any pride he'd been feeling was quick to disappear once more.

As he took the time to accept Matthew's point, he considered the precautions he'd been told about. Because he had known about Dumbledore's surveillance of Enola, seeing as it was one of the reasons why she'd been able to stick around. And it had crossed his mind that first time she'd arrived outside his home. But the fact of the matter remained that, as soon as he'd realised just how much fun it was to be in her company, he'd simply chosen to ignore those concerns.

"But…Enola visited every week over summer. Why didn't Dumbledore say anything?"

"So you admit that this was a repeat offence?"

Harry was being backed into a corner and every new statement he made felt like yet another misstep. He was trying to remember what he'd already told Matthew and the points his friend was just assuming. It was a latticework of deceit that Harry was struggling to navigate, and it meant he was revealing more of his wrongdoing than he'd initially planned. Yet again, he was regretting following Hermione's advice, wondering whether she'd pushed him into it in support of her boyfriend.

Did she know about the full extent of his transgressions?

"You make me sound like some sort of criminal," Harry said, rather than holding his hands up in surrender. "Are you going to cart me off to Azkaban? I kissed a girl, for Merlin's sake! Is that enough to warrant an interrogation?"

"You're the one who's sweating buckets, like a criminal in the spotlight."

"Because you're making me nervous! I'm worried that you're going to kick me to the curb."

"You should have thought about that before you started…whatever you have going on with Enola."

"As well you know, as soon as kissing's involved, it's difficult to think about anything else."

For a split second, Matthew smirked and it seemed to be a genuine show of mirth. There was a chance that he was just impressed by the boldness Harry was clinging onto, defiantly defending himself even after he'd been caught out. Judging by the subtle pinkness at the top of his ears, he was likely also thinking about all the times he'd spent with Hermione, snogging her senseless, and how rational thinking was pushed right down to the bottom of the pecking order.

"I'll give you that."

"What would you have wanted me to do? Push her away? Tell her to get out of there as soon as she showed her face?"

"Yes! Exactly that!"

"Dumbledore obviously isn't in agreement, seeing as he hasn't brought it up with me yet. If he was so concerned about my safety, then he would have intervened during that first meeting. I know what he's like. He can't resist a grand arrival in a show of flames. It would have been right up his street."

Matthew was shaking his head. "I get the impression that Dumbledore has his own motives. You've pushed him away, barely involving him anymore. Do you know how frustrating that must be for a man who's basically controlled everything for decades? He's trying to win back your favour. If he stood in the way of your…teenage romance…then he'd be kissing that goodbye. If he's seen to be purposefully doing something in your favour, at a potential cost to him, then he must think that that'll get him back in your good books."

"Is it bad that it's working?"

"Yes. Absolutely. He's using your love life to his advantage. It's the definition of creepy."

"But he must have told you about all this. Maybe this is his plan. He knows you'll get angry at what I've done, fracturing our friendship. Hermione would no doubt have to side with you. So, if I was more alone, he'd have a better chance of worming his way back into the fold."

"You're painting him as some kind of evil villain."

"No, just desperate. And maybe a touch apologetic. He's sorry for the mistakes he made and thinks giving me this shot at a normal life is the best way to make up for them."

"Whatever his intentions, you're wrong about one thing. He didn't tell me."

Harry was tired of being perplexed. "But…you weren't entirely surprised when you found me and Enola…"

"Do you really think I can't sense when another Tardis is nearby? At your birthday party? You left for a while, thinking that none of us would notice. She came to see you, didn't she?"

"...yeah."

"A Tardis is a rare thing. I wouldn't need Dumbledore's monitoring charms to know that one was appearing outside."

"You…didn't say anything."

"No. First of all, I went to Dumbledore, just to verify what I'd picked up on. I didn't want to accuse you of anything without having proof. There might have been some shouting involved once he made it clear that he'd been ignoring the issue, but he's more than used to me raising my voice."

"And…once you knew that you were right…"

"I still kept it to myself."

"So you haven't even told Hermione?"

"You did that yourself, eventually. If she's the one who sent you here. It wasn't my place."

"Why? Why did you show that restraint?"

"Maybe I wanted to see how long it would take for you to come forward. Maybe I wanted to see just how long you'd keep the lie up. In the end, it wasn't even your choice to share the news. You couldn't control yourself so much that I ended up walking in on you."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "Have I…apologised for that yet?"

"No, and it's not even at the top of the list of the apologies needed right now."

"You have every right to be angry…but I'm not going to say sorry for liking Enola. I can't control how I feel. I've tried, I've really tried. I was adamant on putting space between us after what happened, stopping myself from thinking about her. But it didn't work."

"Is that what you think? That I'm angry you're dating Enola?"

Harry was fed up. He was fed up with being at a loss, not understanding the true source of Matthew's anger. He was fed up with not knowing what on Earth was happening between him and Enola, so much so that the term dating left a rash crawling up his neck. And so he finally made the decision to stomp up the steps so that he could be on the same level of Matthew, even if that robbed him of the protection he'd been clinging onto up to that point.

"If that's not the case, then what's going on? Because I'm detecting a lot of anger from you."

"When it comes to you and Enola…I'm confused, yeah. Slightly taken aback. A little bit queasy at the images I've now got permanently etched into my brain. But I'm not angry. Merlin knows I put common sense to one side when Hermione and I first got together, ignoring how you'd react, so I can't exactly blame you for doing the same thing now. Just think back to the day leading up to the attack. Enola asked you to go on a date and I gave my blessing. I told you to enjoy yourself and that we'd talk about it later."

"Then…everything happened, yeah."

"So I'm not angry about that. I haven't been from the beginning, not really. No, I'm angry because you never spoke about it. You lied. You kept it to yourself. It was the one term of the agreement. I'd put aside my differences with Enola for the sake of your happiness, as long as you were open with me. I didn't expect the finer details, such as what you got up to in your own privacy. I just wanted to know that you were okay. And you couldn't even do that. Because you knew that what you were doing was wrong, in some way or another."

"Matthew…you're right."

"Well…it's big of you to admit that."

"I guess…it was just fun."

Matthew put his hands on his hips. "That's the argument you're going for?"

Harry scrambled, looking to get the words out before he found himself in an even deeper hole. "Let me explain, before you kill me. As you know, I've never had the chance to be a normal kid or a normal teenager. When Enola turned up at the start of summer, I realised that that was the opportunity I'd been looking for. The sneaking around. The excitement."

"The fact remains that you're not a normal person, Harry. You can't take those chances."

"But obviously I can, seeing as nothing's gone wrong. Enola didn't sell me out. She didn't capture me and take me to Voldemort. Actually, whenever she was there with me, I didn't once think about him. And you don't realise how desperately I needed that. An hour or two of blissful ignorance. I haven't really had that since I arrived at Hogwarts. So…it doesn't make what I did right, but I wanted you to understand why I did it."

Once more, the ball had been left in Matthew's court and Harry wasn't entirely sure if it was just going to be thrown straight back at him. His friend was drumming his fingers against the closest metal surface, a rhythmic beating that broke the silence that would have otherwise enveloped them. Harry didn't know what to make of the lack of response. He was caught between hoping that Matthew was mulling over his defence and fearing that Matthew was planning on how to get suitable retribution.

"Does it have to be Enola?" he eventually asked.

Matthew sounded so petulant, so much like a sulky child, that it brought a smile to Harry's face. The question had broken the tension, cutting through the heavy air with a surgical precision. For the first time since entering the Tardis, Harry started to believe that he was not only going to be able to leave, but also leave with forgiveness washed over him. In truth, it was more than he'd been expecting beforehand. But he wasn't going to count his blessings until he was told directly that the two of them were going to be okay.

"What do you mean?"

"If it's an escape you're looking for, then there are loads of young women in this school who'd bite your hand off for the chance to provide it."

"Hermione told me to remind you that we can't help who we like."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course she'd throw that at me. But you've liked other people before! What about Margot?"

"She's in France."

He gestured to their surroundings. "A short hop, skip and a jump in this thing. And are you forgetting that we're scheduled to visit Beauxbatons? You could rekindle that romance."

"Are you trying to be my love guru? Because it really doesn't suit you."

"I don't really know what I'm trying to do. Just…making sense of everything, and failing quite spectacularly."

He'd moved now so that he was occupying the top step, and Harry saw that as an invitation to join him. For a few moments, neither of them chose to speak. It largely resembled how the pair had acted when Matthew had opened up about his true identity and his feelings for Hermione. Harry could remember just how irate he'd been at the time thanks to the perceived betrayal, and wondered whether those were the same issues that Matthew was working through now.

"Is there a bit of jealousy involved?" Harry risked asking.

Matthew craned his neck to look at him. "Jealousy?"

"You know…of the fact that I've been spending time with Enola."

"The greatest witch of her age happens to be my girlfriend. I don't have anything to complain about. I don't deserve Hermione. The least I can do to make the most of her apparent lack of taste is not having a wandering eye. I can assure you that I don't have those feelings for Enola."

"Yeah, but it doesn't have to be romantic jealousy. You might be missing your friend. You might be annoyed that she chose to focus her energy on me."

"If you haven't noticed, Enola tried extremely hard to restart our friendship and I put an end to that before it could even begin. I never gave her a chance, so I can't complain that she found someone else. Being alone is the worst thing in existence. Believe me, I know. She can't be blamed for seeking that sort of companionship and you, Harry, were the one person willing to see her as an average teenager, rather than branding her with her past. It's no wonder that she's enamoured with you."

Matthew gave him a slight nudge with his shoulder and Harry let out a huff of laughter. It wasn't a topic they discussed very often, the minefield that was feelings and young love. Perhaps that was where they'd gone wrong, leaving too much bottled up so that it felt like a logical decision to keep important things from each other. Perhaps they were on the road towards getting better at that. Even if Harry wouldn't have minded if such discussions were still kept at a minimum.

"Does this mean…you're not going to stand in the way? You're not going to kill us both?"

"It's a tempting thought. I'd have fewer headaches." Matthew allowed the threat to hang for a couple of seconds, just to make Harry sweat a bit more. "But I'd be an awful friend if I stopped this. I don't even have the right to intervene. It's your life, Harry. I just want you to be careful, because you could lose it in an instant."

"She's a good person, Matthew. I've been able to see that."

"Maybe I'll try to see that too. Or at least start. I'm not making any promises. It doesn't mean I'm going to be her best bud all of a sudden. But…I won't bite her head off whenever we're in the same room."

It was more than Harry could have reasonably predicted. It was more success than he could have rationally asked for. He didn't really know how he was supposed to respond. Was he meant to say thanks or did words not really do it justice? Would it have been better to bring Matthew into a hug, or were the scars still too fresh for that sort of thing? Perhaps a more manly handshake was required, or would the strange formality add to the awkwardness?

"She'll appreciate that. More than you know."

"I'm not doing it for her, Harry. But if she makes you happy, for whatever reason, then I can't begrudge her that. In fact, I'll thank her for that, because it's all I've ever strived to do."

There was a soft knock at the door, disturbing their newly established peace. "Does this mean I can come in now?"

Hermione's voice drifted through, revealing that she was standing right outside. Harry jumped slightly, as if they'd been caught doing something wrong. He could only imagine what she'd heard through the doors. And he was now second guessing his previous suggestion that Matthew might have had eyes for another girl. The last thing he needed was to have repaired his relationship with one friend, only to need to do the same with another.

"I swear I didn't bring her to eavesdrop," he quickly said, holding up his hands.

"Relax, that didn't even cross my mind. Do you think she would have sent you to your supposed doom without any back-up? She's no doubt been waiting outside, ready to intervene if we started trading blows."

"And she wants it on record that she'd run rings the both of you if it came to that," Hermione argued.

Matthew smirked but he didn't show any sign of moving once the doors opened, the brunette girl striding towards them once she knew it was safe to do so. There'd been a brief moment of trepidation on her part as she'd entered, like she'd anticipated seeing the console room in ruins after their fight. But she was soon making her way up the steps to join her friends, sitting in between them so that Matthew could lazily wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"Are we good?" she asked quietly.

Harry made sure to glance at Matthew, who nodded his head, before answering. "We're good."

"Didn't I tell you how much better things would be if you were open with each other?"

Matthew groaned. "This is just going to fuel your opinion that you always know what's best."

"Is it an opinion if it's an irrefutable fact?"

"You know I'm not going to argue against you, dear. I may be brave, but I'm not stupid."

"That's what I thought."

"I'm not even stupid enough to hold onto my grudge with Enola. As much as I have been."

"That's all we can ask."

"Because the best thing now is that we get to watch Harry try to date someone, and that's more entertainment than I could ever hope for."

Harry pulled a face. "Hey! I'm still sitting here."

"He might have a point," Hermione countered with a wince, the two of them ganging up on him.

Matthew nodded his head. "Because we've seen what you're like when a girl is involved. And with Margot coming back on the scene, I'll be grabbing the popcorn."

"When…" Harry paused, having to gulp. "...when is that visit actually happening, by the way? Just so I know when to disappear for the good of my own sanity."

"I think it's best if we don't tell you. Consider that your punishment for lying. And my reward for being such a good friend."

"Can I take back my apology?"

Matthew patted him on the back. "Too late."