A/N: I forgot about the Inferi/fire thing. I've only read HBP once so I don't know it well. Here goes, last chapter, - love it or loathe it.

Chapter Sixteen

James waited, anxiously but by no means patiently, for his father to begin. Celesca, as though sensing he needed comfort and reassurance, pulled her chair up close and slipped her arm into his. He squeezed it tight, feeling as thankful as he could that she was there to help him through whatever is was that was about to emerge. His father took another breath and looked at him; it was a strange look, as though acknowledging for the first time that his son was growing into a man.

“It began, I suppose, at the Yule Ball in our fourth year,” said Dad slowly. He looked at Aunt Hermione, who closed her eyes and smiled as she remembered. “That is, at least, when it first came to the surface.”

“We'd been friends from early on at Hogwarts,” Aunt Hermione added. “Not right away - your dad thought I was an interfering little busy-body which, in truth, wasn't too far wrong.”

“I mellowed though,” said Dad, “and saw how much worth there was in her. We grew to be great friends, but I learned that at some point in a friendship between a boy and a girl, something has to change.”

“How do you mean?” asked James.

“Boys and girls are too different to be just friends,” said Aunt Hermione wisely. “The genus of both sexes doesn't allow for friendships.”

“You saw it at Christmas,” said Dad. “When your mother and I picked you up from Kings Cross and met Celesca - we teased you about your relationship. Boys and girls can't be just friends - it simply doesn't occur.”

“They branch off into two sets,” said Aunt Hermione. “Either familiar relationships - you know, seeing each other as siblings - or the other kind, where you are attracted to somebody or not. It sounds crude, but if you boil every relationship you have with a girl down they'll fall into one category or the other.”

James thought this was a daft assertion but as he thought on it he became less sure. His only relationships with girls had been childish little flings, until he saw Celesca in her true form. He'd liked Cassie in the past, which is why he invited her to the Christmas dance, and the more he considered it the more he realised that he didn't have and girl friends; for as long as he could remember he and Richard had divided girls into the ones they fancied and the ones who were mingers. It was infantile and chauvinistic to him now but it was pretty much what Aunt Hermione was saying.

“So, which group were you in?” asked James.

“Until fourth year we were most like extra-close siblings,” said Aunt Hermione.

“But then something changed,” added Dad.

“What was it?”

“Your Uncle Ron,” said Dad.

“Ron?” said James, bewildered. “I don't understand.”

“We had to find dates for the Ball,” Dad explained. “I asked Cho Chang, who would later think, like you and others, that something was going on with me and Hermione. She already had a date and things were looking bleak for us. Then Ron realised that Hermione was a girl and could go with one of us.”

“But I'd already been asked,” said Aunt Hermione, blushing a little. “By Viktor Krum. I was so flattered that he'd taken an interest that I was more than happy to say yes.”

“But how has this got anything to do with your relationship?” asked James.

“It has everything to do with it,” said Dad. “You see, up until then I'd only seen Hermione as my friend - genderless in my eyes because she was so ingrained into my life. Ron saw her in pretty much the same way, until that realisation.”

“Ah,” said Celesca, knowingly. “So as soon as he realised it, you did too.”

“Precisely,” said Dad. “It was on my mind for a while. It had been obvious to ask Hermione, so obvious that I didn't even see it. I felt guilty for not asking her, or at least not having her be there with Ron - like it was a rejection of her.”

“Which was to become something of a pattern with us,” added Aunt Hermione.

“Anyway, the night of the Ball came and everyone was talking about this really pretty girl who was going with Krum. I saw her and was impressed, like the others, but when I saw it was Hermione I was gob smacked. She looked incredible and I had to stop myself looking at her all night. It took me ages to stop feeling uncomfortable that I'd been acting that way. Hermione was my friend; I shouldn't have been staring at her like that. Luckily, I had the threat to my life which was the Triwizard Tournament to distract me.”

“How come you never told me about that?” asked James. “Sounds like it was fun.”

“I nearly died in every task and I saw a boy killed as Voldemort came back to power,” said Dad darkly. “It's one of those things I never want to remember.”

“So okay, you saw Aunt Hermione as a girl,” said James. “So, what?”

“So at the end of the year she kissed me,” said Dad. Aunt Hermione smiled coyly.

“What!” James cried.

“It was a goodbye peck,” said Aunt Hermione quickly to offset James's anger. “After the year he'd had I thought he needed some affection.”

“The problem was I was too afraid of Voldemort's return to really think about it,” said Dad.

“And all I did was think about it all summer,” said Aunt Hermione. “I wondered how he'd react, what it meant that I'd felt the need to do it and what it said about my feelings for Harry, which were changing rapidly.”

“Only I did nothing,” said Dad, a potent rueful air to his voice. “Voldemort was inside my head; part of his soul was in me and his anger and hate spilled into me at times.”

Celesca gasped and James wasn't sure if it was from the shock of the disclosure or the painful grip he gave to her arm.

“You were possessed by him?” said James.

“It's not as simple as that,” said Dad. “Part of his soul was lodged in me from when he tried to kill me as a baby. It meant I could feel when his emotions were particularly strong, and as these were usually negative it turned me very moody and angsty. It wasn't the most pleasant summer of my life.”

“So what happened after the summer?”

“When I saw Harry again I couldn't stop myself from hugging him,” said Aunt Hermione. “And it wasn't merely a friendly hug either; I knew that from the way my heart beat harder when I was holding him. He'd been in danger but my real motive was fuelled by two months of thinking about him. I wanted to see how he'd react to me.”

“Only I reacted badly,” said Dad. “I was angry and upset at being kept in the dark about things and for some reason I found the idea of Ron and Hermione alone without me totally abhorrent.”

“I took it as a rejection,” said Aunt Hermione. “I don't know why, but I assumed Harry had been just like me, dwelling on the kiss all summer. I thought he hadn't liked that I'd done it; that was quite a blow to me. I wasn't put off though and I even thought I had a great chance to get some alone time with him - which was something I wanted a little too much - when I thought he'd been made a Prefect with me.”

“Only it was Ron's badge, not mine,” said Dad.

“I kept trying, throughout the year, to test the waters,” said Aunt Hermione. “I asked a few times for Harry to join me knitting elf hats; I tried to build his confidence by setting up the Defence group; I even took an interest in his love life so he might consider me in the same breath.”

“But I didn't,” said Dad. “Not until Cho made that suggestion that Hermione was closer than a friend. But other things got in the way again. Then I nearly got Hermione killed at the Ministry. I remember, even now, the numbing sensation I had when I thought she was dead. After that I couldn't look at her; I was grieving over the death of my godfather but I was also grappling with the memory of Hermione lying there. I didn't want to face what it might mean - so I buried it.”

“After that our relationship strained,” said Aunt Hermione. “I was scared; scared at what being Harry's girlfriend would be like but even more scared that I would still be willing to take that risk. The very thought confirmed to me that my feelings for him had gone beyond friendship. But he'd never shown an interest in me like that and I knew I could never survive the heartbreak of hearing him confirm it, so I copied him and buried my feelings.”

James felt total sorrow. He hadn't been expecting to; he had fully believed that their story would be horrid and lurid and that James would lash out at their betrayal of their partners. But so far all this had gone on before either pair got together and James couldn't help but feel sorry for the emotions both had had to suppress. Celesca's soft stroking of his hand told him that her thoughts weren't too far different from his own.

“We pulled away from each other after that,” said Aunt Hermione. “Not consciously, but instinctively, as though we knew how dangerous it was to be so close.”

“I transferred all my attention to your mother,” said Dad. “She'd always liked me and we'd enjoyed a close relationship; I'd always viewed her as Ron's sister but suddenly she was an attractive girl to me.”

“And I knew Ron was interested in me,” said Aunt Hermione. “I cared very deeply for Ron but I wasn't sure how suitably matched we really were. But I knew I'd be happy with him and so gave him a chance to prove his worth.”

“And so it was until we joined the fight against Voldemort,” said Dad. James moved to the edge of his seat, feeling the disclosure near. “We had to travel around the country in a magically concealed tent. We were hunting for fragments of Voldemort's soul - we had to destroy them before he could be killed.”

“Only the search was difficult,” said Aunt Hermione.

“And often fruitless,” said Dad.

“And highly frustrating,” said Aunt Hermione. “We had one piece of his soul but it affected whoever carried it in a negative way. Several times rows or disputes broke out because of it.”

“With all this combined it was only a matter of time before one of us cracked,” said Dad.

“Which one was it?” asked James.

“It was Ron,” said Dad. “He left us and I couldn't blame him for it.”

“He left you!” cried James. “While you were in the middle of a fight? I never pegged him for a coward.”

“And he wasn't one, so don't get ideas in your head,” said Dad fiercely. “His motives were personal. It was his parting words that really hit both Hermione and me.”

“What did he say?”

“He said that I'd chosen Harry over him,” said Aunt Hermione. “And, in truth, I had. Only I never wanted it to come out.”

“We didn't speak properly for a couple of weeks,” said Dad. Amidst all the fear and uncertainty I wondered whether or not Ron was actually right, just like the others had been. With Cho and Viktor and Rita I could just brush it off…but with Ron -”

“It just had that much more truth to it,” said Aunt Hermione. “He was closer to us than anyone and if he could see it then surely something was there. For my part I knew my feelings well enough, but I didn't want Harry to know them. His response was the one thing I feared and I cried myself to sleep every night thinking about it.”

“I reacted in the worst possible way,” said Dad. “I should have confronted Hermione about it, got everything out into the open, but I was afraid of doing it. So instead I left it and let Hermione think whatever she liked. The damage was done and she thought I didn't care. Then Ron came back, just as we were getting closer again, and we found a Horcrux - a vessel where Voldemort kept his soul fragments; they all had self-defence mechanisms and this one tried to unsettle Ron's mind. It showed his fears that Hermione and I were in a relationship and that he wasn't good enough for her. Evil versions of us kissed and when I saw the anger in Ron's face as he smashed the thing I knew what I had to do.”

James gulped, knowing what was coming.

“I couldn't part them,” said Dad leaning closer. “Ron and his family had been everything to me and I knew I had to choose between what was the right choice and the easy one. I chose the easy one, knowing that I'd be happy with Ginny and Hermione with Ron. The right choice would have come at too high a cost.”

At this point James's father stood up and crossed to him, crouching at his knee and speaking earnestly to him.

“James, I don't want you to think that I've never loved your mother,” he said. “I have, and together we've created the most wonderful things in my life in you and Al and Lily. I love you all so much and nothing will ever change that.”

“I know that, Dad,” said James. “But why didn't you want to follow your heart.”

“I knew what would happen if I did,” said Dad. He sighed. “Your mother gave me exactly what I needed - peace, after a lifetime of war. Had I pursued Hermione, who I wasn't even sure felt that way about me, it would have led to more conflict…and I felt I'd had just about enough of that to last two lifetimes.”

To James's right. Celesca and Aunt Hermione gave twin little sniffs. The latter conjured two handkerchiefs and passed one to Celesca.

“But then why the strained relationship?” asked James. “If it ended there you could have just gone on pretending, like you had been before.”

“Only it didn't end there,” said Dad. “I thought it had, but I was wrong.”

“Which is where I'm to blame,” said Aunt Hermione sniffily. “Ron and I were engaged soon after leaving school. I was happy but as soon as the war and Voldemort and all of it drifted into the past, my mind began thinking about what might have been if none of it had ever happened.”

“Normality returned slowly,” said Dad. “It was a kind of world I'd never experienced - one without the threat of Voldemort in some form or another. When we all began to settle into normal life again, certain things resurfaced. I watched Ron and Hermione get engaged with a fair amount of jealousy. Your mother was still in school and as we went into jobs in the same place we were forced together -”

“Even though we'd tried to stay further apart than ever,” said Aunt Hermione.

“Which Ron seemed keen on at first,” said Dad. “I was thankful - the most powerful thought I'd had before I went to die at Voldemort's hand was about Hermione and I could think of nothing else each time I saw her.”

“But I couldn't let it go as easily,” said Aunt Hermione. “I had to clear my chest; I couldn't marry Ron without a clear conscience, without this weighing on me. And, I suppose, part of me wanted to know once at for all what Harry really felt.”

“It was a few days before the wedding,” said Dad. “Ron was away measuring up for his outfit and Hermione and I were having a late lunch.”

“I knew I might not get many more times alone with Harry so I just blurted it out,” said Aunt Hermione. “I told him everything about the tent, about why I'd been upset, all of it.”

“And I did the same,” said Dad. “Hearing Hermione relate her feelings simply reinforced my own and I told her what I felt.”

“It was clear that we'd gone beyond friendship and beyond family,” said Aunt Hermione. “I loved Ron very much but whatever I felt for Harry was equally as powerful, maybe more so, if somewhat different.”

“But in the end we both realised it was too little too late,” said Dad. “It changed nothing aside from the fact that we both knew each other perfectly then.”

“We made a conscious decision to go with our lives,” said Aunt Hermione. “Too many people would have been hurt by our getting together. It was something neither of us wanted to face.”

“That's when my saving-people-thing ended,” said Dad. “In that one act I saved everyone that was important to me at the cost of myself.”

Birds chirruped the first song of the day from trees in the wood nearby. Thin fog rose against the shimmering light of the morning and James felt that he would never have the selflessness to act as his father had.

“Try to understand, James,” said Aunt Hermione. “By that point we had made our life choices and were content enough to stick with them.”

“But at the cost of your souls,” said James. “I could never do that.”

“No…not our souls,” said Dad. He exchanged a look with Aunt Hermione that was packed with meaning.

“I don't get it,” said James.

“Your father has seen the afterlife,” said Aunt Hermione. “He knows it exists. That's where we will set everything right.”

“We've brought life and happiness to the world around us,” said Dad. “But when the time comes to leave this world, when we go to a place where all things are as they should be, our souls will be together.”

James looked at his father, more perplexed than ever.

“Your mother is my life partner, and I love her dearly,” said Dad.

“And it's the same for me and your Uncle Ron,” said Aunt Hermione.

“But the coin around my neck and the one that Hermione keeps hidden are more than just linked objects,” said Dad.

“Their tokens of our exchange of vows,” said Aunt Hermione. “We have our life partners, but this binds us as soul mates.”

James was utterly confused and it still sounded like a form of cheating to him.

“So you are having an affair?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Dad.

“Two, actually,” said Aunt Hermione.

“I don't get it,” said James.

“You see, son, our souls mated before we ever considered marriage to our partners,” said Dad.

“So really, it's each other we are cheating on,” said Aunt Hermione. “But it's okay because we know about it.”

“But what will happen to the souls of Ron and Mum in the afterlife?” said James. “What about them?”

“That isn't for us to decide,” said Dad. “Our souls chose each other before we even knew about it. Who are we to argue with them?”

“But aren't you unhappy with your choices?” said James. “Wouldn't it have been worth it to be together?”

“Certainly,” said Dad. “But we know what's going to happen in the end so we're happy bringing happiness to others in the meantime.”

“It's what heroes do,” said Aunt Hermione. “Put others before themselves.”

“And in any case, I'm living that relationship through you,” said Dad. “You and Celesca have the relationship Hermione and I should have had, if the world had been equal. Watching you two makes up for the hand that life dealt me.”

“You might not know it but your souls are bound too,” said Aunt Hermione. “I can see it in you.”

Dad moved in closer. “I made sacrifices to create a world in which you didn't have to. I'm happy with that and I'm overjoyed that you've found a girl who's as perfect to you as Hermione would have been to me.”

“So what happens now?” asked James.

“Well that's down to you,” said Dad. “Now that you know everything you have to decide the next step.”

“What's it to do with me?”

“You have the power to change everything,” said Aunt Hermione. “By telling what you know the people involved will be affected. You really have the power to decide where we go from here.”

James had the distinct feeling that he'd been backed into a corner, sucked into the web of deception weaved by his dad and aunt. The obvious answer was to blow the lid off all of it; Mum and Uncle Ron deserved to know the truth, after all, but it wasn't that simple. There were four other children to consider, as well as the wider family and friends. As he thought on it he found himself drawing comparisons between his own position and the one which must have faced his dad and Aunt Hermione all those years ago when they acknowledged their feelings to each other. This, more than anything, served to bring about an understanding which made his decision an easy one. He looked at Celesca, thinking how he would act in the same situation. He hated the idea of someone else being with her but remembered his father's words that his sacrifices had been necessary to prevent James from having to make such decisions. He respected his father even more as he thought this.

“You know what I'm going to do, don't you?” James whispered to Celesca.

“You're going to make the right choice,” said Celesca. “You're going to follow your heart and mine will be right there backing it up.”

James smiled at her. He looked at his father and Aunt Hermione in turn, trying not to be amused at the earnest looks on their faces.

“I'm not going to say anything,” said James. “I have what you should have had, so I know how much you gave up. And besides, you're going to have to deal with Ron and Mum for eternity in the afterlife and I think that's worse than anything I could do down here.”

“We know that,” said Dad.

“And we're spending the rest of our lives preparing for it,” said Aunt Hermione.

James smirked at this. “I still don't like it though. Too much cheating, too many lies.”

“Neither do I,” said Dad. “That's why we stay apart. It's easier that way.”

“I'm sorry about the way I was earlier,” said James. “Not trusting you. I'd just got so paranoid after all I'd found out and Lily seemed so scared…I didn't know if she might know something.”

“It's okay,” said Dad smiling. “I think it shows a concern for your sister that I find very pleasing.”

“I suppose we should wake her up and see what her running away was all about,” said James.

“Will you let me use the Enervate spell on her?” said Dad with a big grin. “Or will you try and duel me again? You looked pretty sharp against the Inferi back there.”

“Just try not to be too mad at her,” said James.

“Why would I be mad at her?”

“For causing all this worry,” said James. “She's scared that you're going to yell at her. Try to sympathise with why she ran away.”

“The child becomes a father,” said Aunt Hermione affectionately. “I'm glad to see you've got more sensibility than your father, James. He never was much for empathising.”

“It would have helped if you were less of a closed book!” said Dad, latching on quickly to Aunt Hermione's meaning. “Which isn't a phrase which applies much to you.”

“So you'd rather have had me throw away my books and throw myself at you?” said Aunt Hermione incredulously.

“Well…” Dad began.

“Look, I can accept that you're soulmates and that you're bound together for eternity and stuff,” said James. “But I don't want to hear you flirting. Have a bit of respect for your spouses and your kids. Let me and Celesca do your flirting for you. I'm still not totally happy about what you're doing to my mum.”

“You're right, James, I'm sorry,” said Aunt Hermione.

“It won't happen again,” said Dad.

“Good. It's bad enough thinking about you and Mum,” said James, smirking. “I don't want more visions of `Dad the Lothario'.”

All four of them laughed. Dad lifted Lily from James's lap and propped her on his own empty seat. He pointed his wand at her, muttered his spell and sat on the arm of the chair while she stirred. James found it quite funny watching her come around and try and get her bearings in what must have seemed the most alien of circumstances. She looked terrified at the sight of her father sitting over her and looked to James for reassurance. He smiled and her and she visibly relaxed.

“How are you feeling?” asked Dad.

“I'm, um, okay,” said Lily shakily. “A bit tired.”

“We'll take you home in a bit,” said Dad. “First of all I think you owe us an explanation.”

“I'm sorry, Daddy,” said Lily. She looked close to tears.

“What made you run away, sis?” asked James.

“I just wanted to see you,” said Lily. She got up and ran to James, jumping onto his lap. “I've got nothing to do at home. Mum and Dad are in work all day and my nanny is old and smells of soup. Then I read these horrible things in the paper and I couldn't ask anyone about them. Mum would have got mad and she wouldn't bring me up to see you so I thought I'd try to get up to you. They aren't true, are they?”

James looked over at his father and Aunt Hermione. “No, there's no truth in any of it. But why would you think so? You know Dad and Auntie Hermione. They are already married.”

“I know it was silly,” said Lily. “But the paper said…”

“The paper also says that the Chudley Cannons are a Quidditch team,” said James. “They're a bunch of dunderheads, really.”

Lily giggled. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble.”

“Yes you did,” James teased. “You're my little sister, that's what you're on this world to do.”

“Harry, we'd better get going soon,” said Aunt Hermione. “Whoever farms this field will be out soon and the presence of pink armchairs on his land would be hard to explain.”

“You're right,” said Dad. “We'll take Lily home. Her mother will be going nuts by now.”

“Try not to let her shout at Lily,” said James.

“Shout at my little girl?” said Dad. “Not a chance. You'd better get going, too. If Hagrid realises one of his Hippogriff's has gone missing he might implode. He loves them all.”

“Okay,” said James.

His father suddenly hugged him. “You're a good boy, James. I'm sorry you had to get drawn into this. No-one else was ever supposed to find out.”

“Don't worry,” said James. “As long as you are good to Mum, no-one else ever will.”

“I really have done a decent job with you,” said Dad. “Now get going while you still have cloud cover.”

James led Celesca by the hand back towards the stream where the Hippogriff was grazing. He turned around to take one last look at his father but they were already gone.

* * *

The Daily Prophet made for interesting reading over the next couple of days. Several stories littered the pages concerned with Muggle sightings of `flying, ugly horses' and a spate of disappearances near a forest in Essex. James and Celesca did passable impressions of ignorance as they discussed with their classmates possible and outlandish explanations for these events. Many of them feared a new Dark Wizard uprising and were quite excited by James's offer to teach them all the super fighting spells of his father in the wake of such an event.

More importantly, however, were a series of stories which only found their way into the inner pages of the paper. In a blatant act of shamefully trying to distance themselves from scandal, the Prophet gave minimal coverage to stories regarding the shaming of Rita Skeeter; unearthed as an illegal Animagus and exposed as using various potions to worm information out of people for her stories, the once vaunted writer was handed a life ban from journalism and a healthy stay in Azkaban.

In the wake of these stories, James was paid a most unusual visit. After Quidditch practice one afternoon in March, he was approached by a familiar figure, who had been waiting for him by the changing rooms. It was Scorpius Malfoy and he looked very agitated.

“James, can I speak with you a moment?” he asked sheepishly.

“Sure,” said James. “You haven't been bullied again, have you?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” said Scorpius. “I just feel really guilty and I have to confess to someone.”

James was surprised to say the least but intrigued nonetheless. “Walk with me up to the castle, tell me all about it.”

“Well, it's about your friend,” Scorpius began. “The one who's in the hospital wing. It's my fault if he doesn't recover.”

“I can't see how,” said James. “And besides, they think they have the antidote now. He's responding to treatment and the nurse thinks he'll wake up soon.”

“Oh, that's good,” said Scorpius, his relief evident.

“How does it involve you, though?” James asked.

“Because it was me who let her in,” said Scorpius. “I'm really sorry, James. I didn't know what she was really like; I didn't know what she was planning to do.”

“Do you mean Rita?” said James, anger stirring slightly.

“Yes, I'm really, really sorry.”

“You were the one letting her into the castle?” asked James.

Scorpius nodded. “She knew a way into the Slytherin Common Room. She said she used it years ago. But she couldn't get around the castle, see, and she said she needed to for a story.”

“So you helped her?” said James, unable to stop his voice from rising. “Why?”

“Because she said she'd help clear my family name,” said Scorpius, cowering under James's rising fury. “I thought if she did that I might not have such a hard time of things. So I did it.”

James anger bubble deflated a little. Rita was a conniving and vicious woman who would stop and nothing to achieve her goals, even promising the impossible to a desperate little boy. He looked so fragile and pathetic that James couldn't be too mad at him.

“Look, it doesn't matter,” he said. “Rita tricked a hell of a lot of people. Smarter ones than me or you. Don't beat yourself up about it.”

“But your friend -”

“He'll be fine,” said James. “And Rita's where she should be. Look, no magic wand is going to clear your family name, just like no-one will look at me without thinking of my dad. You just have to learn to deal with it and forge your own way. In the end, someone will see you for you - just try your best to show that person to the world.”

“I'll try,” said Scorpius doubtfully. “Thanks, James, and I really am sorry.”

“I know you are,” said James. “See you around.”

A few days later and James and Celesca were lying together on the battered old couch that was almost reserved for them in the Gryffindor Common Room. Celesca was checking James's homework while he flung scrunched up balls of discarded parchment into the wastepaper basket near the hearth. He was thinking about things; about how his father and Aunt Hermione were living their respective lies now knowing that James knew all about them; about how Lily was doing at home and whether she'd managed to work her side of the two-way mirror that James had sent her. But mostly he was dwelling on own conscience over the whole affair.

“Do you think I'm doing the right thing?” he asked Celesca.

“I've told you before that I do,” she replied, scratching a correction on James's homework and knowing automatically what he was referring to.

“I just can't help feeling guilty,” said James.

“You shouldn't,” said Celesca. “Your father and aunt are the ones who are guilty, whether it's guilty to their partners or guilty to themselves. I'm sure they never meant for anyone to find out, to be part of the secret, but you did and now you are, and so am I. But you're doing what you have to do; putting others before yourself so they don't have to struggle with the things you are. And besides, you have me to share it with, which means you can never leave me because I might expose your family just to punish you.”

“Oh is that right?” said James, tickling Celesca playfully. “Just so I know.”

“Well at least you're forewarned,” said Celesca.

“What will we do now that we've finished hunting the truth about my father's relationship with my aunt?”

“Well, we can finally start enjoying our own without worrying about theirs,” said Celesca, turning to plant her head into James's chest. “It'll be nice to have you all to myself.”

“I bet it would, you dirty vixen!” said a voice from above them.

“Richard!”

“Cosy enough there, buddy?” asked Richard, grinning madly.

“Yes, as it goes,” said James. “But stop staring - it's pervy.”

“A guy's been out of it for a little while and his best mate stops him having a bit of a perv,” said Richard sarcastically. “The world's not fair.”

“Then let's have someone else perv at us.”

Cassie had come up behind Richard, span him round and kissed him full on the lips. James watched in astonishment and Celesca laughed in surprise.

“When did all this happen?” asked Celesca.

“Well I got out of the hospital wing a couple of hours ago,” said Richard. “Don't feel bad that you didn't meet me, Jim. I can see you've been busy.”

“But I was there to give him a welcome back to life all of my own,” said Cassie. She hugged Richard again.

“Hey, have you seen the notice for the Hogsmeade trip next week?” asked James. “We could make it our first double date.”

“Yeah, and you can fill me in on all I've missed during my little siesta.”

James looked at Celesca and couldn't help but laugh. He was looking forward to Hogsmeade but he chuckled as he thought that by the time he omitted all that he had to from that story, it might make the shortest conversation he and Richard had ever had.

The End.