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SIYE Time:23:57 on 28th March 2024
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The Space Between
By YelloWitchGrl

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Category: Post-Hogwarts, Post-DH/AB, Post-DH/PM
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Fluff, General, Humor, Tragedy
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Mental Abuse, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Rape, Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse
Rating: R
Reviews: 559
Summary: Harry and Ginny's lives have finally evened out. They've faced trauma, and loss, more than most have, but they've fought hard to find a normal.

If only things could stay that way... Old enemies find new ways to seek revenge.

This story is the sequel to Bound. It would be extremely helpful if you read that first.

Warnings are to be safe. It's probably overkill. Please message me if you have any questions or concerns.
Hitcount: Story Total: 352190; Chapter Total: 2401
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
For those who have reviewed, thank you! I try to respond to every review. I very much appreciate the feedback. The story ticks on and I hope you're enjoying it.

If you'd like to support me on patreon, I'd love that. It's $3/month and I post a chapter of a new (original) story every other week. Find me at Sarah Jaune (that's also me on twitter and facebook).

Thank you also to Arnel for beta'ing!




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Caroline sat at the kitchen table and studied the last of the falling leaves as a gentle autumn breeze blew through the yard. She let her mind wander, as it often it, off to places far away and things she’d rather forget.

When she’d lived in America they’d had a house bigger than this one, the one James had picked out, but unlike this home, the one she’d lived in had never had a single warm moment. Her mother had been beautiful, but silent and beaten down. Her father… well, he was better off dead and buried, no question about it. Thinking of him and what he’d done to her hurt her still, very deeply, but it wasn’t the raw, scraped, open wound it had been for so long. She’d been through a lot of therapy and all of it had helped.

She used to think it was her fault. She used to feel she’d deserved what happened to her, but everything was different now. James had learned to love her even when she hadn’t been lovable. He’d stuck by her when no one else would have. He’d showed her unconditional acceptance and safety when she hadn’t felt like the world would ever be safe again. With James had come an entire family. Her family. They were her family, now, hers and Honor’s. Even before she and James had married, she’d known she could count on the Potters and the Weasleys for everything. They’d never let her down. They accepted both her and her sister, even though they knew what she’d been through.

Because the truth underpinning all of it was her history didn’t mean she wasn’t worth loving. Her history was part of her, and it mattered, but she was embraced anyway. No. No buts about it. They loved her and embraced her. They did the same for Honor. Caroline treasured all of that more than she could possibly begin to say.

She and James had been married for over two months and they’d been some of the easiest months of her life. She’d felt safe, always, in this house. She wasn’t lonely since she had him home every night, although that would change if he made the national team. But that was a problem for a different day. She didn’t have to deal with nasty boys at school, or bosses who wanted more from her. She never had to deal with anyone or anything.

And it was driving her a little nuts. Her therapist had stressed to her that when things were uncomfortable, she should try to stay there as long as she possibly could because staying in the discomfort would bring strength. She hated that her therapist was right, but it did work. Or mostly it worked. Sometimes she’d still panic and leave, but sometimes she’d been able to stick things out and the panic had gone away. It had been her strategy with her boss’s son, when he’d been hitting on her. She’d tried to deal with him on her own, just to prove she could. But realistically she couldn’t. She needed the job and she hadn’t been able to find anything else, save for working in the joke shop. Mr. Potter, Harry, she had to get used to calling them Harry and Ginny, had saved her and then he’d taken care of the bills.

She needed to be around people again or she was going to fall back into the trap of being afraid of all people, all the time.

All of that had led her to go back to her cheer gym in October, where she was still eligible to cheer for another year, but instead she’d asked for a job and amazingly they’d had one. The coach for the tiny tots class, the three- and four-year-olds, had wanted to go on maternity leave early, but without a backup coach she hadn’t been able to. She wanted to be off for the rest of the year, so Caroline had the job as coach until the woman came back.

For two days a week, Caroline went to the gym and helped the main teacher teach the small girls, and one boy, how to cheer. The pay was pretty terrible, but the kids were adorable and it gave Caroline a chance to stretch her wings and workout in the gym with the teams. It was a definite side benefit as she wanted to keep in shape and she felt safe at the gym.

One of the boys who had been on her team since she’d joined had hit on her the very first night she was back. She’d taught the toddler class at three for an hour and then stuck around until five when her old team appeared. It had been great seeing the girls again and they’d hugged and laughed and chatted too much. Her old coach let her sit in on the workouts and even let her help with some of the newer girls to get their stunts.

Then on a water break, one of the boys had come over to ask her if she was busy later that night. This used to make her nervous. This used to fluster her. This might have sent her into a panic attack. She still felt a fluttering of panic, but she smiled and shook her head before holding up her hand. “I’m married, Bobby.”

He’d been surprised, everyone had, but that was that. It was as though the wedding ring was a magical shield. Except, Caroline had come to realize, it wasn’t a magical shield at all. It was only a piece of metal. What mattered was her attitude over the whole situation. She knew how to protect herself against a Muggle man. She knew how to get away. She knew she wasn’t helpless. She knew she was free and it made all the difference in the world.

She was done being a victim. She’d survived the worst her father could throw at her, and then some. He’d not only been a sick bastard, he’d been a psycho on top of it. He’d put her life in danger and for what? Money? She still didn’t know. She probably didn’t ever want to know. Now she was a survivor and she had to think about the future.

She had her room in this five-bedroom house. It was up the stairs on the left and next to hers was Honor’s room. Across the hall, in the master suit, was James’ room. He had his own bathroom, and she had her own bathroom. Well, she shared it with Honor when Honor was there. She’d laid awake at night, more nights than she could count, thinking about what it would be like to walk across the hall and crawl into bed with James. He was her husband, but currently it still felt like he was her boyfriend. They kissed and it never went further than that. He never pushed for more. In fact, he was always the one to pull back first.

But she hadn’t yet made her way from her room to his. She still barely went into his room, except to clean. He’d told her he’d clean his own stuff but the fact was she was bored and cleaning was at least something to do. She needed a job, a purpose. She just didn’t know what it would be yet.

She was teaching herself to cook and experimenting with a lot of new ideas. She liked the cooking, but hated the cleanup, so she always left that to James.

Her mind flittered back to the day they’d married and the conversation with Ginny.

A baby…

A large part of Caroline’s brain completely rejected the notion that what Ginny had dreamed would come true. But the other part yelled at her that much of it had already come true, so she’d better just get used to the idea. Her thoughts kept going round in circles. Why would the mother give the baby up? Where would James be? How could she do this? Would the baby be a boy or a girl? Had James actually had sex with the woman or had it been something else? He’d been checked over for diseases and he was clear, so they had no answers. But as she’d said to him before, she didn’t hold it against him. It was all horrible and sad. He felt bad about it. She knew he did. He’d apologized more than once and promised he’d never cheat on her.

And she believed him, which surprised her more than anything else. But it just wasn’t in his nature. He’d fallen for her and he’d stayed true this whole time.

She’d already committed to raising the baby. They would figure it out, but she had no idea how they’d tell the world about the baby.

Her mind was brought back to the present with an immediate jolt to her heart as Ginny’s voice came from the fireplace a moment before Ginny stepped through with Emma in her arms.

“The babies are coming!”

The babies… OH. “Victoire’s in labor?” Caroline asked as she jumped up from her seat and hurried over to take Emma. They’d arranged for her to care for Emma during the birth, so everyone else could be there to support Victoire.

“Her water just broke,” Ginny told her as she handed over a bag with Emma’s things. She was potty trained, sort of, but extra clothes were still needed. “I’m heading straight over from here, so if you need us, that’s where you’ll find us.”

“We’ll be fine,” Caroline said as she set Emma down so the baby could run headlong for the dog. “James is off early today anyway, so he’ll be here in less than an hour.”

“Okay, thank you again,” Ginny told her, clearly flustered, as she pulled Caroline in for a quick hug. “I’ll keep you posted when we have babies!”

“Bye Gamma!” Emma called out from her favorite spot, laying on Rufus’ back.

“Bye baby, be good!”

Then they were alone again. “Are you hungry?” Caroline asked her.

“No,” Emma said as she snuggled further into the big dog’s fur. “Want walk!”

Emma’s absolute favorite game was to walk Rufus around the yard. “Alright, let me find your coat and I’ll get mine,” Caroline said with a grin as Rufus finally opened one eye. “You’re going on a walk.”

The dog chuffed in acknowledgement, but waited until they were suitably attired to push to his paws. Caroline clipped on the utterly useless leash and handed it to Emma, who solemnly held onto the end and began to walk. Before the slack could be taken up, Rufus was plodding along after her. Two hundred and fifty pounds of dog led along by twenty-four pounds of toddler. Caroline grinned and opened the door for them to go into the back garden.

They were still out there when James came home.

“Wunkle Jamie!” Emma called out as she dropped Rufus’ leash to run for him.

“Hey,” he called out as he caught her and swung her up over his head.

Something in Caroline’s heart always did a flip when she watched them, the baby laughing in delight, and the man smiling as though nothing could be better than this moment. Then he looked to her and she knew she was going to love him for the rest of her life.

She’d already known it, of course, but moments like this reinforced it. He loved so easily and she always wanted to be part of that. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to keep this love. Her therapist had warned her about sabotaging herself and early on she’d caught herself doing it all the time. She wasn’t going to anymore. She wasn’t going to ruin something first, assuming it would be ruined sometime later. Things might go bad later, but maybe they wouldn’t and she wasn’t going to miss out on what was great then for what might suck later.

“So do we have babies yet?” James asked as he gave Emma a big, noisy kiss to make her laugh.

“Not yet, not that I know of,” Caroline said as Rufus came over to lean against her hip so she could scratch his ears. “You’re such a good dog,” she told him as she bent to kiss the top of his head.

“Walk!” Emma said as she squirmed to get down. She took James’ hand and moved over to get the leash again. She smiled angelically up at James. “Walk.”

“I guess we’re going on a walk,” James told Caroline with a lopsided grin as Emma tugged him to move.

“I’ll get started on some dinner, then. It might be awhile before we hear about the babies.”

~*~

Teddy knelt on the floor of their bedroom and held Victoire up as she groaned and shifted. She had her head pressed to his shoulder as sweat rolled down her brow. “It’s burning!”

“Almost there,” Alberta, the sturdy midwife who had delivered Emma, said from behind Victoire. “You’re doing beautiful.”

Fleur, who was sitting on the bed, bent over to kiss her daughter’s hair while Ginny sat on the floor holding her lit wand so the midwife could see. Victoire had insisted the lights were all too bright for her and thus they were working from wand light.

Victoire let out a pained gasp which went straight to Teddy’s gut, squeezing her arms around his neck, but a second later he looked down and saw the baby in the midwife’s hands as she let out a small cry. Victoire began to cry as Ginny helped guide her down onto the towel so the midwife could hand her the baby. Her beautiful, sweaty, red face beamed up at him as she leaned against the footboard and cradled their newest daughter to her chest.

Teddy felt his eyes sting as he sat down and studied the little girl, who looked almost exactly like Emma had when she was born. “She’s beautiful, luv,” he told her as he kissed his wife’s brow. “You did so well.”

“One down,” Victoire laughed in exhaustion. “One down, one to go.”

They didn’t have long between the babies. Within three minutes the urge to push was back and Victoire wanted back into the same kneeling position. This time Fleur held the first baby who had already fallen asleep.

Less than ten minutes later both babies were out safely and Victoire was back in their bed, holding the babies on her chest. Teddy knew she couldn’t get enough of looking at them. He knew because he felt the same way as he crawled in beside her to marvel at his children. This felt perfect. It felt right. He couldn’t wait to have Emma meet the babies.

“Names?” Alberta asked as she used a quill to fill out some forms.

They’d talked about names and had them picked out already. They both studied the girls and both immediately named the first one out as Amelia and the second as Olivia.

A knock sounded at the door and after they were bidden to enter, Harry and Bill came in to see their newest granddaughters.

There was nothing better in the world than this.

“I’m going to go get Emma,” Teddy told Victoire who nodded and went back to beaming at the new babies.

As he was leaving, he heard Alberta say, “Let’s get them weighed and then you can feed them.”

Teddy used the Floo to get to James and Caroline’s house and yet again had to shake off the odd notion that his godbrother was married and had his own house. It all seemed so odd to him, but yet it felt right. “Hullo,” he called out and heard a call from the kitchen. He walked in to see them seated at the table with Emma in a high chair. He had no idea where it had come from, but he didn’t bother to ask. “The girls are here,” he laughed as they both cheered.

“That’s wonderful,” James said as he pushed to his feet to pull him in for a hug. “Congratulations!”

Another thing that was weird was James being the same height as him. “Thanks,” he said as he released him and zeroed in on his daughter. “Hi, baby!”

“Daddy!” Emma called out happily as she raised her arms to be picked up. He pulled her in close and snuggled her, smelling the autumn air and her sweet shampoo on her and felt utterly complete.

It was what he told Victoire later that night after Emma was tucked in, after holding both of her sisters. “I feel really good about this. We can stop now.”

Victoire looked up from latching on Olivia and quirked a brow. “What?”

“We can be done now, if you want,” he told her as he finished with Amelia’s nappy. She was fussing and ready to eat, as well, but this double nursing was proving to be tricky. He held her until Victoire could get her positioned correctly and latched on. A moment later both girls were nursing together. “It’s good this isn’t your first time nursing.”

“I was thinking that earlier,” Victoire agreed as she leaned back against the pillows in their bed. She studied him for a long moment. “You don’t want more children?”

He’d given this a lot of thought over the last few months and he knew what he wanted to say. “I don’t want you to be sick like that again. You were in bed for months.”

“I did alright towards the end,” she reminded him. She’d been off the feeding tube for two months and she’d been caring for Emma up until the last two days when she’d said she needed help and Ginny and her mum had stepped back in. But she’d been nine months pregnant with twins so needing help to keep up with a toddler was expected.

“You did wonderfully in the end,” he agreed as he rubbed at her leg. “We have three perfect, wonderful girls. I’m good with stopping here. I can get that procedure done so we won’t have anymore.”

She nodded to herself for a moment, and then shook her head. “I’m not ready to say that, yet.”

Surprised, he could only stare at her. “You want to do this again?”

“I think I want to do this again,” she admitted. “I think I want at least one more. I always wanted a big family.”

“Really?” he asked, amused to find a fact about her he hadn’t known before.

She shrugged and looked down at the girls. “I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t think we’d be able to afford it. Now that’s not an issue. I have decades and decades to work. I don’t have decades to have babies. I work one day a week as a midwife and I keep my job.”

It was the system she’d worked out with the hospital. She worked one of the weekend shifts to give the main staff a break. Best of all, Teddy could work on the weekends, as well, taking off a different day to be home with his girls.

His girls. Four of them, one of him. He grinned and belt to gently, tenderly kiss her. “I’m up for whatever you are up for. But if you decide you’ve had enough, just say the word.”

“I will,” she promised. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

He went one last time to check in on his sleeping Emma, but she was out. She’d probably walked that dog around the yard for over an hour.

Teddy was willing to bet the dog was sleeping soundly, as well.

~*~

“What is that?” Nat asked as she grabbed Al’s elbow just as he sat down next to her at dinner while the noise of the Great Hall clattered all around them.

“Come again?” he said as she took a better look at his elbow. Even through the sweater she could see the green magical light radiating through his clothes. “What are you on about?”

“Did you eat something green? A potion?” Nat whispered, so only he would hear.

“No, I–” his voice trailed off. “Yeah, the potion we made just now in our advanced studies class.”

He and Rose had both opted into the class which delved into more complicated potions which would be needed. Rose wanted to be a potions master and Al an Auror, so they were taking extra lessons with four other seventh years.

Nat turned to study Rose but didn’t see any green in her at all. “What color was it supposed to be?”

“Dark green,” Rose told her as she pushed her hair behind her ears. “What’s wrong?”

“This is very much neon green,” Nat told them as she felt a weird tingling in her fingers, close to where she was touching Al’s arm.

Then, much to all of their surprise, neon green liquid soaked into the sleeve of Al’s shirt.

They all stared at it, absolutely dumbfounded.

“That… was unexpected,” Scorpius said as he studied the spreading stain which began to run down to the bench.

Rose waved her wand and the liquid vanished.

Al turned to Nat, his eyes wide. “We have to talk to my dad.”

“Yeah,” Nat sighed. She hadn’t meant to pull the potion out of Al’s elbow, but clearly she’d just managed to do just that. Somehow. Without knowing how.

Lovely.

They flagged down Professor Longbottom after dinner and within an hour they were seated in his office with Mr. Potter.

“Explain this for me again,” Mr. Potter said slowly. “You pulled a potion out through his skin?”

“I guess so!” Nat sighed as she threw up her hands. “I didn’t mean to do it, but I felt this weird tingling in my fingers and then green goo started leaking out his sleeve.”

Harry considered her thoughtfully before turning to Al. “You didn’t know the potion wasn’t right?”

“I didn’t,” Al admitted. “I felt a little weird afterwards, but we’ve been studying a lot and Quidditch. Come to it, my elbow was aching a bit, but now it feels fine.”

“I wish Rose hadn’t cleared it up, but I’m also thankful she did. That would have drawn a lot of attention.” Harry said as he paced around Neville’s small office. Then he turned to his son. “Can I experiment on you?”

Al shrugged. “Why not?”

“Come around here so we’re facing each other,” he said as he performed the charm to turn Al’s hair green. “Alright, Nat,” he told her. “Turn it back.”

Confused, Nat shook her head. “I don’t know the counter charm.”

“With your hands,” Harry said. “See if you can change it with your hands.”

“That’s not possible,” Nat reminded him. “That’s wandless magic.”

“What exactly was it when you removed the potion from my arm with your fingers?” Al wondered with a grin.

Nat glanced between the three men and then shrugged. She took the Al’s hand but didn’t feel anything. “This is… I think I have to touch your head.”

“Alright,” Al agreed as he sat down on one of the seats.

Nat could see the magic for what it was, of course. She could see it wasn’t right and as her hands drew towards his head, she could feel it wasn’t right. That wasn’t new. She’d been feeling the magic for a while, now, but this felt different. Nat instinctively closed her eyes and rested her hands into his soft hair. The buzzing of the magic was almost painful and instinctively she wanted it gone.

And then it was. The buzzing stopped, both Harry and Neville gasped, and Nat opened her eyes to see Al’s black, messy hair at her eye level.

Al’s grin was almost cheeky. “Look at you doing wandless magic.”

“You want to be careful with that,” Harry said thoughtfully. “You could accidentally undo protections around the castle.”

“Dad, lay off,” Al said instantly as Nat’s face fell. “She’s not going to do anything like that. She’s always careful.”

Harry held up his hands. “I’m only pointing out what could happen.”

“He’s right, Al,” Nat said as she turned back to Mr. Potter. “I know I could cause a lot of problems if I’m not careful. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

“Good, now,” Harry went on, “you only have another week left until the hols and while you’re home we will work on this a lot more. If you can practice this, practice controlling it so you don’t undo spells, that’s going to be key.”

“I’m going to spend a lot of time with green hair,” Al joked with a grin. “I can see it now.”

The two of them walked slowly back up to Gryffindor Tower ten minutes later. The students were all tucked in already, with only some Prefects out on patrol.

“This is weird,” Nat began as they headed up the stairs. She chewed on her bottom lip as they passed one portrait after another, all of them ignoring them and focused on their own conversations.

Al slung an arm around her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze before letting his arm drop. “What isn’t weird with you?”

“Thanks,” Nat laughed as she rolled her eyes. “I mean… this is big, Al.”

“This is very big,” he agreed. “This is big on a whole other scale of big.”

Then she tripped on her own feet and found herself pressed up against Al’s arms. “Oof!”

“Are you okay?” he asked as he set her upright again.

Suddenly and without warning, tears filled her eyes as she stared down at the stone floor at the nothing she’d tripped on.

“Aw, Leah,” he whispered as he pulled her in for a hug.

“Someone amazing should have this gift!” she told him through broken sobs.

“Someone amazing does have this gift,” he retorted firmly. “Look at all you’ve done! You’re so accomplished.”

“I’m not strong,” she reminded him. “I’m not powerful at casting spells! I’m crap at defensive magic. Dumbledore did amazing things because he was so powerful! I can’t do anything like he can.”

Al rested his cheek on the top of her head for a moment and then set her at arm’s length. His expression was hard and serious. “You’ve been given this gift for a reason, Leah. You. Not someone else. We don’t need another Dumbledore. We need you.”

“If someone finds out–”

“I’m going to protect you.”

He said it with such confidence as though it was already done. “You won’t always be there.”

Al was silent for a moment. “I’m going to always be there for you.”

Nat pulled away and swiped at her eyes. “You’ll get married someday and your wife might not want me hanging around, you know. I have to stand on my own.”

When he didn’t respond, she turned back to see his expression completely closed off.

And she didn’t know why, but she felt the chasm between them as if it were real.

“Let’s get back to the common room,” she said softly as she turned to go.

~*~

They had one day left before school let out for the hols and Rose could not spend another minute of it indoors. “I have to get out,” she told Nat as she closed her books and stared out at the early afternoon sky which was blanketed in gray. It wasn’t terribly cold out, but they hadn’t had proper sun in at least two weeks.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Nat asked as Al continued to scribble away at his transfiguration homework essay which was due in less than an hour. Al was going to have to scramble to get it done but he’d left it late in favor of his Defense homework.

“No, I want to be alone for a bit,” Rose told her as she grabbed a jumper and threw it on over her sweater. She was already in jeans since they were done with classes until they returned in January.

“Be careful,” Nat told her and Rose nodded, heading for the door.

She had a lot on her mind. She’d now dated three boys. Andrew was first, and he was great, but they had turned into solid friends. Next had been Hal and that had been fireworks, at first, but then it had turned weird. Finally, she’d secretly dated the Head Boy for about a month before they’d both realized it was a mistake.

Rose knew her head wasn’t on straight when it came to boys and she was starting to think it was because of her parents. Her parents had been wildly in love when they’d been her age. They’d fallen in love in very difficult times and they’d married before they really knew what it was they wanted. But while falling in love seemed nice, she didn’t like the ups and downs that came with it.

She had goals and plans. She had dreams. She wanted to be a potions master. She knew the Ministry had been looking for one for over a decade now and she wanted that job. It was going to take her years of study to hit mastery and there was no pay involved in it. It was why no one went on to be a potions master. You had to be independently wealthy in order to get there.

Her parents weren’t poor, not by any stretch. They could help her pay for some of the training, which would involve going to Germany on a regular basis to study with the closest master still practicing. The one potions master the ministry used had been fired for stealing and the other had just died. Slughorn was still the only one in Britain and he didn’t take on students anymore. So she needed to be independently wealthy because Portkeys to Germany were going to cost a fortune, unless she moved there and if she moved there, the Ministry might decide she wasn’t truly British anymore and they wouldn’t hire her.

It was all very fraught.

“Rose?”

Rose stopped at the door leading out of the castle and turned to see Andrew striding towards her. His brown hair was a bit disheveled, as though he’d been running his hands through it, and his eyes looked almost haunted. “Hey,” she greeted him. “I’m going for a walk.”

And, she realized, she didn’t mind if he tagged along.

“I fancied the same, actually,” he told her as he caught up to her. “Mind if I join you?”

“No,” she promised as they began a walk towards the lake. “What’s up with you?”

He shook his head. “You first.”

Rose had no intention of telling him anything.

None.

“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. When he made a noise to go on, she did despite not wanting to tell him everything. “It’s going to cost a lot of gold for me to become a potions master and my parents have said they can supply some of it, but probably not even half of it. I’d have to work for three or four years to save up the money I need.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t mind doing that, but then it’ll take years to get to be a potions master and then I’ll be pushing thirty before I can even begin a career and what if I want children?”

When Andrew didn’t say anything, she just kept on spewing out everything that had been weighing on her. “I’m absolute rubbish at relationships. Well, you know that. My parents had this wild, passionate love and it’s totally fizzled on them. They’re still together because they have to be. I mean, they love each other, but it’s not like my Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. They are absolutely still in love with each other and what if I’m no good at that? Also, what if I can’t find someone who supports my ambition? It’s going to be so expensive!”

She fell silent again as all of the thoughts continued to swirl around in her mind. “I had this dream I’d do great things with my career just like my mum has, but not like her. She puts her work before us all the time. We never came first. It was always Dad who was there for us. I want children,” she assured Andrew. “I’m so excited to meet Victoire and Teddy’s new girls. I love Emma. I don’t think I want to have them as young as Victoire did, but I do want at least two children. But I don’t know how to deal with a husband.”

This time she really fell silent and they continued to walk. “Okay, your turn.”

Andrew sighed and let out a small laugh. “My aunt is fading fast.”

“What?” Rose asked him, utterly shocked. “I’m so sorry, Andrew! Is there anything I can do?”

He shrugged. “Her health is not good. She’s caring for Claire, but really it’s the nanny who is taking care of my sister, and that’s fine. I only have another few months here and then I’ll be home, but Claire will effectively be my child. She needs a parent. She deserves two parents.”

Almost naturally, Rose took his hand and squeezed his fingers. They linked them and kept walking.

“I thought I’d found something with Ryan. I felt… I felt really good with her, but Rosie… she took one look at my big house and it sunk in just what it would mean to be in my world and I don’t know how to find someone to do that!”

“I know,” Rose murmured. “It’s a lot.”

“I need someone who knows the magical me, which includes the magical Claire, and I need someone who can be the duchess! If I select someone from the appropriate circles, I’m going to have to deal with that person not knowing how to deal with the magical side. If I pick a magical partner, I end up with someone who doesn’t know how to deal with the Muggle side. It’s a loss either way, and it isn’t like I can ignore this forever and hope it goes away. I have to marry. I have to produce children, a son, or the line dies out. I don’t have any cousins or distant relatives to take over.”

“You’ll find someone,” Rose told him even though she didn’t believe it.

He stopped, pulling her to a stop with him and he kept his hand firmly in hers. His blue eyes were intense as they studied her. “You walked into my life without a single hesitation.”

“I did,” she agreed. “Which means you can find someone else who–”

“I don’t want anyone else.”

Rose blinked. “What?”

Andrew glanced away from her, out over the lake. “I’m not explaining this well.”

“So explain,” she said evenly, even though her heart had jumped up into her throat.

Andrew grinned and turned back to her. “This is what makes you the best, Rose! I muddle things up and you let me work through them. Okay,” he said and he started them walking again. “In my world we often arrange marriages because it makes the most sense. You arrange a marriage and you walk in knowing what you can expect, right?”

“Right,” Rose agreed. “We have those in some families in the magical world.”

“I want… to arrange a marriage. With you.”

Rose kept walking. She wasn’t sure how because her legs were numb.

“Hear me out,” he went on. “I want to date you again, if you’re willing to try it. If it works out then we’d get engaged, formally, this summer and marry the summer after that. That’s my thought. I’d have someone who can do the duchess thing, or at least learn, and… and you’d have a way to become a potions master because I have a lot of money.”

“Okay, but–”

“And Claire would have a mother figure in her life, or at least a big sister.”

Rose still couldn’t speak.

“Your parents could pay for your first year of the potions master courses, and I’d take up the rest of it after we marry,” he told her. He seemed to be warming to the idea.

“You want to get married?” Rose said slowly.

He stopped her again and this time he dropped her hand to cup her cheeks. She thought he might kiss her, but instead he pressed his forehead to hers. “When my parents and my brothers died and I was lost, you were there. When I needed a friend to just be a friend, you were my friend. My title doesn’t change anything about our relationship and I cannot tell you how big of a relief that is. I trust you completely. I care about you a lot, Rose. I might even love you as a friend already. I want to see if we can make this work.”

Rose felt her heart flutter, but it was the wild tattoo she’d felt when she’d been kissing Hal. It was Andrew. It was calm and nice and warm. It had always been that way. “What would the terms be?”

“We’d have to be faithful to each other,” he said simply. “That’s really the only thing I care about.”

She couldn’t imagine ever cheating on anyone in any circumstance. “That’s fine. With a soul bond it’s pretty much not a thing, anyway. You don’t mess with those.”

“Right, I forgot about that part,” he sighed and his breath tickled her cheeks. “Rose?”

She tipped her face up and pressed her mouth to his. She felt him smile and she smiled, as well. They kissed for a long moment and it felt… it felt like coming home. It wasn’t sparks flying off the walls, but it was lovely all the same.

Unlike with Hal, she felt absolutely safe with Andrew. It might not have been as exciting, but there was something to be said about safety.

When they broke apart, Andrew studied her, waiting on her to say something.

“I don’t want to tell anyone we arranged this,” Rose said finally. “I want them to think we got back together because of the normal reasons.”

“Fine by me,” he said evenly as he took both of her hands again. “Does that mean you’ll give this a try?”

Rose thought about all of the things that could go wrong, or might not work out. She thought about what it would be like to be with this man for a hundred years. But she knew what he’d be like in a hundred years. He’s still be a good, decent, honorable man because it was who he was. He’d faced horrible, life-altering tragedy, and he’d faced it with courage and conviction. He wasn’t too proud to try and he wasn’t too proud to ask for help. He loved his sister and he would love her, even if it wasn’t a wild passion.

Could that be enough?

She thought of her parents and realized that without expectations of a wild romance, she wouldn’t feel like she was being let down if they didn’t happen.

“I’m willing to date until this summer to see if this is going to work,” she told him simply. “I think we’ll know by then if it will. If it does, then we’ll go ahead with the engagement.”

Andrew bent down to kiss her again. “Alright, six months and we’ll see how we feel then.”

“No hard feelings on either side if we decide it isn’t working?”

“None,” he promised and his expression lightened tremendously. “I can count on you, Rose. You can count on me. We’ll always be friends.”
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