Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world belongs to J. K. Rowling. I own nothing and make absolutely no money out of this. I don't own the song either. It's all for fun! Characters you don't recognise are from my own imagination and belong to me.

Author's Notes: My muse is back! How long has it even been since I’ve updated I wonder... My life has gotten in the way again, between graduating, being unemployed, moving back home and finally finding a job, I’ve had no time to write! However, I’ve still come back to this story as I promised I would finish it and I think watching Half-Blood Prince has also helped to spark my interest again! :-)

In any case, I come here bearing a new and loooong chapter (7,000 words!!) and although I know a lot of you are eagerly awaiting more Dramione scenes, this one is about Abigail. You’ll find out a bit more about her family and things become a little more complicated with Harry...

Enjoy!

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Chapter 15

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Abigail chewed her bottom lip as she scribbled away about forgotten spells, secret potions and family history, pausing only to collect her thoughts or bring a particular memory to the front of her mind. Her quill scratched diligently along the parchment, stopping every so often to be plunged back into a small bottle of black ink.

Rewriting the Serpent books was a tedious task, but it was a necessary one in order to continue the family tradition and pass on her heritage to her descendants. Abigail had vowed to rewrite the books three years ago when the ancestral Serpent books had been burned to ashes. With the help of Dumbledore’s pensieve to explore her memories, Abigail had carefully pieced parts of the books back together.

The headmaster had been kind enough to welcome her into his office on weekends and to set aside a small wooden desk by the window where she could write her manuscripts and store them safely. After all, Abigail could no longer trust her father to keep the re-written books safe and Hogwarts was one of the safest places in the wizarding world.

She placed the final touches on the definition of a particular dark spell that transformed a man into a wolf without the influence of the full moon, then put her quill down and rubbed her tired eyes. She had been working carefully for the past three hours and decided it was time to take a break and finally enjoy the warm cup of coffee one of the House Elves had brought up for her.

Abigail held the mug between her hands in an effort to warm them up as she stared through the narrow cast iron windows. The rain was pouring outside and the mountains surrounding Hogwarts were barely visible through the downfall.

Abigail sighed. Ever since Hermione broke off the wedding it was as if the weather was indulging everyone’s gloomy mood.

Everything was just so depressing.

Since Hermione had cancelled the wedding, she had spent all her time holed up in her room, working on the Malfoy trial and refusing to speak with anyone. Abigail knew she felt terribly guilty about it all and preferred to be left alone for the time being.

Ron, on the other hand, had bottled up his emotions as usual and had since proceeded to lash out at friends and family, co-workers for breathing heavily or looking at him the wrong way, and become careless in his work. He spent his spare time with Moody at the Order’s Headquarters, planning future missions and hanging out at the local Muggle pub in the evenings. He seemed to prefer not to deal with the situation at all and chose to occupy his mind with other things, notably pints of beer.

It seemed that the only good thing to have come out of the whole fiasco was Harry and Ron’s friendship. Harry had been there for Ron when it mattered and that had apparently caused Ron to have a change of heart about him. Suddenly, Harry was spending a lot more time at the Order’s Headquarters, at the Burrow, and Ron had even turned up at one of Harry’s quarter-final Quidditch practices.

Abigail finished her coffee and glanced down at the array of notes strewn over the desk. She had progressed farther then she had expected and began to carefully put away her parchments and quills. Scribbling a quick thank-you note to Dumbledore, she remembered that she had promised herself to visit Snape before she left.

Abigail took her time like always as she made her way downstairs, looking around and reminiscing about her time as a student. She proceeded down the spiral staircase then down the main castle staircases towards the Great Hall. She thought back to her sixth and seventh years and how they hadn’t been particularly pleasant but for the most part, like many other students, Hogwarts had been her home for some of the most important years of her life. She had a lot of fond memories locked within the walls of the castle.

“A well-aimed curse should help her remember,” a voice suddenly echoed up the stairs, startling her.

Knowing better than to interfere with Slytherins and their prey, she skipped down the last few steps.

“Ickle Half-Blood bitch thinks she can badmouth Slytherins and get away with it!”

She rolled her eyes at the gruff voice coming from her left and turned down the corridor leading towards the dungeons.

“It wasn’t me,” a smaller voice cried out and Abigail stopped dead in her tracks, immediately recognising it.

She heard scuffling followed by a loud whimper and pulled out her wand as she turned back around the corner and spotted two large Slytherins, a boy and a girl, picking on a smaller first year Ravenclaw student.

As expected, the smaller girl was her cousin Leah, her Aunt Isabelle’s daughter.

“Leave me alone!” she sobbed, but the two bullies only laughed in response.

“How about you make us stop?” the older boy jeered. Leah looked terrified as the two Slytherins walked towards her backing her into a corner.

The two bullies guffawed even more, but before they could take another step forward, their wands suddenly flew out of their hands.

“Maybe you didn’t hear her the first time,” Abigail spoke up from behind, “but I’m sure she told you to leave her alone.”

Surprised, the Slytherins quickly turned around with wide eyes and looked even more shocked as they recognised their attacker.

“Abigail Serpent,” the tall blonde girl muttered in fear. Her face turned ashen and her eyes dropped to the floor whereas the bulky-looking boy looked rather indifferent.

“Why aren’t you two in the Great Hall having lunch?” Abigail asked, eyeing the small girl behind them to check if she was harmed.

“We weren’t hungry,” the boy sneered, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

The girl, however, continued to stare down at her shoes as if wishing she could disappear.

“Jessie Montague, isn’t it?” Abigail addressed her. “Your sister was such a model student at Hogwarts. What are you doing hanging out with this trash? Maybe I should mention this to your father next time we meet.”

The girl, Jessie, instantly flushed pink with embarrassment and mumbled a quick apology.

“And you,” Abigail continued, staring down at the boy. “Why are you picking on a first-year Ravenclaw and a girl no less? Can’t you find any suitable third-year boys to pick on?”

He smirked in a way that reminded her of Malfoy. “You can’t give me any orders, you’re not at Hogwarts anymore and I don’t know you.”

“You’re right,” Abigail told him, slowly fingering his wand in her hands. “I have no authority here. And as you pointed out, I don’t know you, which tells me that you’re obviously not high up on the social ladder and probably not a Pureblood.”

Her words had obviously hit close to home as she watched the boy scowl at her and tightly clench his fists.

Abigail smirked in return.

“If you ever pick on girls again,” she quietly threatened him, “I’ll make sure the whole Slytherin house knows about it. I may not be at Hogwarts anymore, but I still have my contacts.”

His face immediately blanched at her words and he finally slowly nodded in agreement.

“Now leave, both of you,” she told them. “You can both pick up your wands later from your Head of House.”

Fear suddenly etched on their faces, they quickly scampered off towards the main hall.

Abigail shook her head as she watched their backs, before turning towards her weeping cousin and kneeled down before her.

“Abby!” she cried out as she threw her arms around her and sobbed harder.

Abigail stroked her back soothingly a few times to calm her down.

“It’s okay, Leah,” she said softly, examining her face. “They’re gone now. Did they hurt you?”

She shook her head and Abigail wiped away the rest of her tears. They quickly found her wand next to her tipped over bookbag and Abigail helped pack everything inside again.

“They’re always picking on me,” Leah explained, fighting her tears again. “I don’t understand why it’s always me!”

“Well you just had to go and get yourself sorted into Ravenclaw, didn’t you?” Abigail admonished, handing out her bag. “And where’s Tabitha? Why isn’t your sister here protecting you?”

“Tabby just keeps to herself. She doesn’t even talk to me anymore unless we’re alone.”

Right, Slytherins stick together. She couldn’t help but wonder why they always had to behave so badly, even towards their own siblings.

“Ravenclaw or Slytherin, don’t forget you’re still a Serpent,” she told the small girl while walking her back towards the main hall. “Your mother must have taught you our protective spell, right?”

Leah nodded.

“Well then next time someone bothers you, cast it straight away.”

“I will. Thanks Abby,” her cousin answered, looking reassured. “I’ll be fine now. I can see my friends over there.”

Abigail smiled warmly. “No problem, I’ll see you soon.”

The younger girl walked off, but stopped mid-way and turned around again.

“It’s not the same since you left,” she half-whispered. “Last time there was a meeting, everyone was really rude to Mum and then he said you’d done some bad things and told us nobody was allowed to talk to you anymore. Mum said that was all rubbish and now I know she’s right.”

She smiled again, before running off toward her group of friends. Abigail watched her leave and felt her heart sink upon the realisation that her father was now also trying to keep her away from her own family.

This was all so messed up.

Spotting an older student walk by, she grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him. “Hey, who’s head of Slytherin nowadays?”

The Gryffindor student, too busy reading a thick Arithmancy book, barely registered her words. “Professor Snape.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

The boy slowly lifted his head up. “Oh, er – you’re looking for Darius Rosier then.”

“Thanks.”

Every school year the Slytherins had a leader and no matter what age or sex, their leader was always the most powerful student in terms of magic, political influence and money. For the years Abigail had been a student at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince, had always been the leader.

Now, however, it seemed the title had been passed down to Darius. Darius, the then fifth year, was a tall, devilishly handsome brown-haired Slytherin that had seduced Abigail in her seventh year. Although the details surrounding that night were still fuzzy since alcohol had been involved, Abigail still scowled at the return of the memory.

Walking to the entrance of the Great Hall, she lingered by the open doors in order not to attract the teachers’ attention and instead fixed the Slytherin table. After a few moments, several students noticed her and as good little Slytherins they immediately notified their leader, Darius.

He turned around and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. She tilted her head back, signalling to meet her outside, and waited for him down the corridor. He soon emerged from the hall alone and walked right past her slipping inside an empty classroom. Abigail rolled her eyes at such precaution, but followed him nonetheless, wand still in hand.

“Abigail,” he greeted her, leaning against one of the desks once she had shut the door. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Darius,” she stated curtly.

He crossed his arms and smirked. “I always knew you’d come back for more.”

She shook her head at his arrogance. Just like Malfoy.

“Don’t make me laugh,” she retorted, taking a step closer. “I was told you’re in charge now so I thought we needed to chat about a few things.”

His dark eyes narrowed and seemed to watch her like a hawk. “I’m listening.”

“I don’t care whether they’re Purebloods or not, my cousins are not to be picked on, especially the Ravenclaw, do I make myself clear? And you had also better keep your paws off my cousin Tabitha, she’s not fifteen yet. The Serpent family and any members by extension are off-limits so you had better keep your Slytherins in check.”

“And what’s in it for me?”

Her lips curved into a smile as she took another step. “If I remember correctly, your family isn’t exactly friendly with Malfoy right now, no matter how much spying you do for him.”

Darius opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

“Don’t bother denying anything. I already know you’re the one who informed him of my frequent visits to Hogwarts.”

She watched his face as it neither confirmed nor denied her statement.

“I’m merely saying that when you leave Hogwarts, not having Malfoy as an ally is social suicide for a Slytherin, except for my family. So here’s the deal; you make sure my cousins are left alone in Hogwarts and once you graduate, I’ll be indebted to you. You’ll be able to ask anything you need from me.”

“You’re not the head of your family anymore,” he pointed out.

“A small detail that’s about to change very soon. So, what do you say? Careful before you answer as should you refuse, I will probably be cross enough to hex you and you know how creative my family is with spells,” she informed him, lowering her eyes in a suggestive manner at his crotch.

Instantly catching her meaning, Darius gulped and nodded his head.

-

********

-

Just one more left to go.

Abigail hadn’t spotted Snape in the Great Hall and figured he was probably working in his office. Heading down to the dungoens, she halted before a dark wooden door and knocked twice.

“Come in.”

Opening the door, she walked inside and immediately wrinkled her nose at the various smells emanating from the Potions Master’s office. He was sitting perfectly still at his desk, quill in hand, apparently in the middle of grading papers.

“Miss Serpent, I wasn’t aware you were coming to Hogwarts today,” said Snape dismissively, carrying on with his task. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

Abigail hesitantly stepped forward, taking out the wands of the two Slytherin bullies and putting them down on his desk.

“I caught two third-year Slytherins bullying a Ravenclaw and confiscated their wands,” she informed him. “Yes, I know I have no authority here, but since I caught them, I thought you’d like to know about it.”

Snape continued to stare sharply down his nose at her with narrowed black eyes. “And I supposed the Ravenclaw student happened to be your cousin?”

Abigail nodded, suddenly feeling like a student again.

“Very well,” he said, waving her off. “I will see to it. Was that all?”

Abigail shook her head trying not to let him see how intimidated she truly felt. As much as he seemed to hate her, she also knew he had saved her life on more than one occasion and therefore had feelings somewhere inside him. She wasn’t sure why he had helped her so much – perhaps it was because he felt responsible for her mother’s death or because she had helped Malfoy, his godson, against Voldemort.

She knew he would never admit to the real reasons.

However, no matter how coldly he spoke towards her, Abigail always came to see Snape whenever she was at Hogwarts because deep down she felt obligated to him in so many ways. He was the one who had taken her to a Muggle hospital after Ginny had found her collapsed in the girl’s bathroom and had stayed by her bedside until she had woken up. He had been there for her after the incident too, tutoring her in Potions and DADA to help her catch up the work she had missed. Even after graduating, he still regularly sent her a batch of magic replenishing potion to help her recover quickly whenever she overexerted herself.

“I also wanted to thank you for the new batch of replenishing potions, Professor,” she spoke up with a smile. “It’s amazing how quickly it helps me recover and I’m really grateful -”

“Miss Serpent, if you think I have the time to listen to your chit-chat,” he said curtly, “you are sorely mistaken. Now if you don’t mind -”

“Sorry,” Abigail quickly answered. “I guess... I guess I’ll just... er, go then.”

She turned around to leave, disappointed once again by his cold demeanour as she headed to the door.

As soon as she reached it, she was surprised to hear his voice again.

“I heard about Kingsley’s death,” he said and she was so startled by his words, she could do nothing but stare at the door ahead. “Dumbledore asked me to join him at the funeral, but since I’m not part of the Order anymore, I preferred not to attend.”

“I understand,” she murmured after a while. “I know about the promise you made to Malfoy.”

She could feel his eyes boring into her back, but still she didn’t turn around. She didn’t want to appear weak once more in front of her old Head of House and hated herself for being so affected everytime Kingsley’s death was mentioned.

Finally steeling her nerves, she opened the door. Pausing on the threshold, she recollected her thoughts before finally glancing over her shoulder.

“Goodbye, Professor.”

-

*******

-

The following night, after finishing training with Ginny, Abigail headed to Grimmauld place for an Order meeting. Death Eater activities had died down within the past week, which obviously seemed linked to Malfoy’s upcoming trial, but still the Order kept watch and planned future missions.

Abigail kept quiet during most of the meeting, half-listening as the team leaders talked and debated strategies amongst themselves. She often caught herself staring at the empty seat beside her, now and then, where Kinglsey usually sat. Moody and Ron eventually finalised her team’s missions for the upcoming week and she quickly agreed with them, trusting their judgements. Her other two teammates were both absent, Harry still busy training for the World Cup, while Ginny was taking care of Ryan.

“Abby, I’d like to talk to you in private if you don’t mind,” Ron told her at the end of the meeting while everyone else was filing out of the kitchen.

“Sure, what’s up?” she asked him, sitting back down in her seat.

Waiting for the last people to leave, Ron shut the kitchen door behind them and glanced back at Moody, who was still busy putting away rolls of parchment in the cupboard.

“Go ahead,” he growled with his back to them. “I already know from Dumbledore.”

Ron nodded, before sitting back down opposite Abigail. For the first time in days, she realised just how tired he looked. His face was more pale than usual, causing his freckles to stand out in contrast and his sullen blue eyes were circled with dark shadows.

“Dumbledore wants us to try out something new,” he began, a blank expression on his face. “He says we need to try to do better than Death Eaters both by Muggle fighting, but also through magic.”

Abigail frowned, not quite understanding how they could do better than Death Eaters, until it hit her.

“You mean... wandless magic?” she whispered back.

Ron nodded.

No freaking way!

Abigail looked back at him, completely baffled. “No, that’s impossible! Are you out of your mind? It takes years of practice to master and none of us have shown any signs of it since being children!”

“You have.”

She blinked. “What?”

“You have,” Ron repeated. “You use it when you speak to others through your mind.”

“No,” Abigail immediately replied, shaking her head. “That’s different. That’s just an ancient Serpent spell.”

“Do you use your wand?” Moody suddenly butt in, turning around to face them.

“No, but -”

“Well there you go,” he answered smugly.

There was a long, deep silence as Abigail’s eyes flicked back and forth between them wondering whether they were really serious.

“But it’s ridiculous,” she told them, looking back to Ron. “Dumbledore doesn’t have the time to teach us and he hasn’t even really achieved it himself. How on earth will he do it?”

“He won’t,” Ron answered calmly. “He wants you to be taught how to use it properly but he’s asked someone else to take charge of your lessons, someone who actually can perform wandless magic.”

Abigail quickly ran through a list of names through her head and finally came up with one. She immediately felt her jaw clench in irritation.

Hell no!

“You have got to be kidding me,” she spat out.

Seeing her glower at him seemed to cause Ron’s face to light up and his mouth twitched. “No, I’m not. Harry’s going to be training you from now on.”

He paused to let that statement settle and Abigail quickly realised the whole matter had already been discussed and decided whether she liked it or not.

Her blood suddenly began to boil.

“I refuse,” she instantly fumed. There was no way she was going to be taught by Potter! It was already bad enough she had to put up with him as her teammate.

“That’s not acceptable,” Moody snapped, limping towards her. “You have no choice. You’re doing it for the Order.”

Gritting her teeth in anger, Abigail glanced back at Ron, casting him a silent cry for help, but he remained mute.

In that single moment, she realised just how much her team leader had changed since the wedding. Never before had he made decisions for her or anyone else on his team without their prior consent. But now, none of them seemed to matter anymore compared to the Order and planning Malfoy’s defeat.

There was also something else. Ron seemed much too happy to announce that Harry would be tutoring her and it almost seemed as if he was making her pay for something she had done. Almost as if he was angry with her.

“If you say so,” she finally hissed and before either one could stop her, she stood up and shot out through the door.

-

********

-

“That bastard!”

Abigail angrily slammed the front door as she stepped into Hermione’s flat. Throwing her bag to one side, she headed toward the kitchen, but immediately stopped in her tracks as she noticed dozens of wrapped presents littering the table and chairs. Most of them remained untouched and she quickly realised they were Hermione’s wedding presents. It seemed whatever presents hadn’t piled up in the church had been sent directly to her home address.

Looking around more closely, she spotted Hermione’s dress spilling out of a cardboard box where it had been hastily stuffed along with the veil and stiletto shoes. Next to it on the table sat a steaming mug of tea along with several used tissues.

Completely forgetting about her previous anger, Abigail sighed softly and cleared the mug and tissues away before looking around the flat for her cousin.

She found her inside her bedroom, sitting on her bed, watching televsion with a bottle of champagne in hand and B curled up at her feet.

“Hermione?”

The brightest witch Hogwarts had ever seen startled at the sound of Abigail’s voice and immediately turned her head away, trying to hide her tear-stained cheeks.

“Hermione,” asked Abigail gently, sitting beside her and scratching her dog behind his ears, “why are you drinking champagne at half past four in the afternoon?”

“It was in one of the boxes,” she admitted, collecting another tissue from her nightstand and quickly drying her face, “and I thought, why not?”

Abigail said nothing and instead sat down on the bed and curled up beside her.

“They all hate me,” Hermione finally said, her voice cracking as her eyes began to water again. “All the presents were being kept at the Burrow and I received everything this morning by Muggle delivery with an invoice for all the catering and flower bills. None of them have spoken to me since I cancelled the wedding, even Harry’s been ignoring me and -”

She stopped as more tears spilled from her eyes and she sobbed quietly in her hands.

“God, what have I done?” she stammered between sobs. “Everyone hates me.”

“No, they don’t,” Abigail reassured her, hugging her tightly with one arm. “I’m here for you, remember? And Harry too, he’s just being a git at the moment, but it won’t last. As for the Weasleys, don’t worry, they won’t ignore you forever, we’re all family after all. You just have to give them time.”

Hermione looked up at her, wiping her eyes hastily and sniffing loudly. “And what about Ron?”

“I’m sure he’ll understand, eventually.”

“No,” Hermione told her, shaking her head. “He knows.”

“What?”

“Abby, he knows about Malfoy,” she whispered, covering her face with her hands. “He’ll never forgive me.”

So that was the reason why Ron was so mad, Abigail realised. He had found out about Malfoy and rightly guessed that Abigail knew too and was probably mad at her for not telling him before.

Abigail sighed in frustration at the whole situation and wondered what she would tell him next time she saw him.

“Don’t worry about it,” she finally spoke up, trying her best to comfort Hermione. “You did the right thing cancelling that wedding and one day Ron will see it too. I understand how hard everything is for you at the moment, but it won’t last. Everyone’ll come around and things will be back to normal in no time. Besides, shouldn’t you be worrying about Malfoy’s trial?”

Although Abigail sounded genuine, she wasn’t sure herself if things would eventually calm down and go back to normal. The Weasleys were all pretty upset when they found out Hermione had cancelled the wedding. Ginny had since refused to see Hermione despite Abigail’s pleas and even Fred, who Abigail could usually always count on, had avoided both girls all week. The press had had a field day, of course, once the information had been leaked and had come up with all sorts of titles to announce the end of the Defeaters’ friendship.

Watching Hermione wipe away the last of her tears, Abigail silently wondered whether this really was the end of Ron and Hermione’s friendship.

“I need to get ready for work tonight,” Abigail said, hugging Hermione once more. “I won’t be back late but if you need anything just let me know. Besides, B will stay here with you, won’t you boy?”

She leaned over to the large dog, rubbing his fur vigorously with both hands. “You’ll look after Hermione while I’m gone, won’t you?”

In response, he immediately crawled closer to Hermione before dumping his head in her lap and licking her hand.

Hermione smiled down at him. “I swear to God sometimes it’s as if he understands everything you tell him.”

She stopped and suddenly glanced up at Abigail, who had finally stood up. “This is another one of your spells, isn’t it?”

Abigail’s lips slowly curled into a smile before she turned towards the bedroom door.

“Sorry, family secret.”

-

********

-

It was still light outside as Abigail arrived at the Hellfire Club for work. Ginny was out yet again with Chris that evening and Abigail had a strange feeling that it would be a long shift as she pushed the heavy metal backdoor and headed inside.

Greeting her boss and co-workers, she stopped by her locker to switch her flat shoes to high-heeled black boots and then stepped through to the bar. She immediately noticed a bunch of Aurors around one of the largest tables, drinking and laughing loudly. Among them, she spotted Ron, sitting at one end, a familiar sombre look on his face and several empty pint glasses in front of him. However, she soon found herself staring intently at the man sitting next to him with his back to her.

She could recognise that black, unruly hair anywhere.

“Great,” she muttered under her breath and making a face.

“Hey Abby,” Rebecca greeted her, already behind the bar serving customers. “Something wrong?

“No, nothing,” she told her and quickly got to work.

Several minutes later, she noticed Ron coming up the bar and purposely ignored him.

“Think I can get a pint of ale anytime soon?” he asked her rudely and she shot him a dark look in return.

“Rebecca,” Abigail called out while keeping her eyes on Ron. “Can you mind the bar alone for a sec?”

“Sure,” she answered, already too busy flirting with a regular sitting at one of the stools.

“Ron, a word please?” she asked coldly and then stepped out from behind the bar.

He followed her as she led him to one of the dimly lit corners of the club and made sure the background music was loud enough to cover their conversation.

“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded as soon as she turned to face him. “What the heel happened to you this afternoon?”

He didn’t bat an eye. “What do you mean?”

“Why were you ordering me to take lessons with Potter?” she whispered loudly, trying not to bite off his head. “Since when do you decide stuff like that without telling me first?”

“Since it’s for the good of the Order,” he answered with a hint of irritation in his voice. He never liked talking about Order business out in the open.

“Are you serious? Wandless magic? You always said that was a load of bull- ”

“We both know the real reason why you’re mad is because you don’t want to work with Harry,” Ron said bluntly. “But maybe if you could see past your own issues, you’d realise he could teach you a thing or two.”

Abigail ogled at him in astonishment. “I can’t believe this and from you as well!” she spat, letting out a strangled laugh. “Not even a month ago, you wouldn’t talk to him! You even said you wished he hadn’t come back!”

“Yeah, well things have changed!” Ron snapped quickly. “Harry has been here for me non stop all week. I might have been angry at him before but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s still my best friend. He was there when I needed him most. Where were you?”

Abigail felt her heart skip.

“I’m always here for you Ron and you know it,” she replied fiercely. “You’re like family to me, but I couldn’t leave Hermione by herself. She’s hurting too in case you didn’t know!”

“Is that so?” he queried, looking faintly amused. “Well in that case, why doesn’t she go find Malfoy?”

Abigail’s expression turned to stone. “Don’t,” she warned him, fighting to keep her voice steady. “You don’t know what happened.”

There was a long pause

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he finally asked. His words held such pain and anger that Abigail almost felt ashamed for keeping it a secret for all those years.

“Because it wasn’t my place to tell,” she admitted, her dark eyes scanning his face.

He glanced back but didn’t answer, preferring to dig his hands in his pockets instead, his shoulders sagging slightly.

“Now could you please, please call off these stupid lessons?” she asked again, realising she should head back to the bar soon. “I really don’t want to spend anymore more time than necessary with Potter and it’s already bad enough that he’s part of the team!”

“No, I won’t,” he told her sharply. “I wasn’t lying when I said this is a good thing for the Order so stop being so childish and deal with it.”

Abigail clenched her jaw, her face flushing hot with renewed anger.

However, before she could tell him what she thought of his ‘lessons’ and where he could shove them, a voice spoke up behind her.

“Is everything alright here?”

Abigail fearing it was Harry, spun around angrily only to find herself face to face with Mike Roberts, another Auror, who had recently joined the Order and been captured along with Kingsley and taken to Lestrange Castle.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” Ron snapped rudely.

“Ron!” Abigail chided him.

“It’s okay,” Mike told them, shifting nervously. “Sorry I asked.”

“No, it’s fine,” Abigail immediately said, catching his arm before he could walk away and glancing back at Ron.

Silence, then...

“Yeah, sorry mate,” Ron eventually grunted, running a hand through his hair. “It’s been a long day, you know how it is.”

Mike nodded his head in return.

“I’d better head off home anyway,” Ron added, noticing a few of his friends leaving too. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow Mike, bye Abby.”

“Wait!”

But he was gone before Abigail could stop him and she suddenly found herself alone next to Roberts, whom she had never really spoken to before.

“I need to head back to the bar,” she told him, smiling softly.

“No problem, I’ll join you there. He followed her back, sitting on one of the stools up front.

The club was pretty empty that night and Abigail after helping out with a customer, decided to ask what Roberts wanted to drink.

“Pint of lager, please,” he told her, content to just sit on the stool and watch her work. After she had served him, he spoke up again.

“I guess you must find it weird that I’m here tonight when we don’t really know each other,” he admitted, sipping his drink. “We never really run into each other much back at the headquarters.”

“No, you’re right,” she agreed, she had been wondering why he suddenly wanted to talk to her.

“I was actually hoping to find you here tonight,” he continued, trying to catch her eye. “I was hoping to see you so that I could finally thank you properly.”

Abigail stopped and stared at him.

“Thank you,” he repeated, dropping his voice to a whisper, “for saving my life.”

“Oh... you’re welcome,” Abigail said, feeling herself go red.

He leaned closer over the bar. “And I’d also like to buy you dinner sometime, if that’s okay with you,” he asked, his light brown eyes gazing at her.

Caught off guard by his sudden invitation, Abigail could do nothing but stare at the glass in her hands while she felt his penetrating stare.

“Are you inviting me out to dinner?” she asked him weakly.

“Indeed,” he answered with a grin.

Her head came up once again, her eyes looking at him thoughtfully, but focused instead behind him on the black-haired wizard sitting across the club, staring back intently.

“I’d be delighted,” she finally said, fixing his face again.

“Great, look out for my owl then,” Mike informed her, setting his glass back down. “Thanks for the drink. I’ll see you soon, Abigail.”

She watched him out of the corner of her eye with a smile on her lips as he marched back to his table to grab his jacket and said goodbye to his friends.

Harry seemed to be watching him too.

An hour later, Abigail sat on the metal staircase outside, lazily smoking a cigarette. She could hear the loud chattering and music inside and made the most of the silence surrounding her outside whilst on her break.

Closing her eyes for a few seconds, she clutched her brown jacket closer to her chest as a cold gust of wind picked up around her.

Hearing footsteps approaching behind, she quickly glanced know over her shoulder.

“What do you want?” she sighed.

Harry stepped up beside her and leaned against the metal railing. “Just thought I’d say hello.”

Abigail checked the watch on her wrist. She still had ten minutes before her break was over.

“We’re not exactly on speaking terms, Potter,” she said harshly, hoping he would go away.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” he answered lightly. “Wasn’t it you who came to find me at the wedding?”

“That was an emergency,” she retorted, crushing the cigarette butt into the wall.

The two of them sat in silence for a while. Abigail silently debating whether to light up again or head back inside while Harry seemed content to watch her.

Before she could decide, he spoke up again.

“Ron told me about the lessons before he left,” he said, his tone neutral. “It wasn’t my idea to begin with if that’s any help.”

“It’s not,” she answered dryly.

“I guess I came over to ask you when you were free to start,” he said, walking down the steps and turning to face her. “We’ll meet up at my place.”

“Your place?” she asked puzzled.

Harry grinned in return. “Yeah, I finally bought a flat in London since I’ll be staying here for a while.”

“How nice,” Abigail sneered, pulling another cigarette out of her pack. “I guess I can meet you after work sometime this week. I’ll let you know.”

His brows furrowed as if he wanted to say more, but agreed with her instead.

“Sure. Well, I guess I’d better head off and make sure Ron managed to find his way home.”

His concern for Ron after so many years of silence suddenly annoyed her and her eyes narrowed angrily.

“Why don’t you go check on Hermione instead?” she said sharply, blowing out smoke. “She needs you too.”

He froze momentarily. “I don’t really have anything to say to her.”

Something inside Abigail snapped. “For Merlin’s sake, she’s your best friend, Potter! And yes she cancelled her wedding with Ron, but trust me she had her reasons! So stop being so judgemental and call her or something!”

He didn’t say anything for a while and Abigail watched him carefully as he struggled to come to a decision.

“Alright, I will,” he finally gave in. “But you have to do something for me first.”

Her eyes flew open. “This isn’t exactly a negociation, Potter -”

“Just think of it as an exchange,” he added, a ghost of a smile on his lips and his green eyes suddenly fixing her face. “I promise to call Hermione tonight and take her out for lunch tomorrow if you, in exchange, stop calling me Potter.”

“Stop calling you Potter?” she repeated. “That’s it?”

“Yes.”

Abigail kept a blank expression as she caught the obvious loophole in his deal. “Alright, but you have to stop by the flat first thing tomorrow morning and apologise to her for being such a git. Think you can do that?”

Harry lifted an eyebrow at the insult, but agreed. “I will.”

“Alright then, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

She held out her hand for him to shake it, but he paused, suddenly looking at it with suspicion.

“Just to clarify, you have to stop calling me Potter and call me Harry,” he elaborated. “I know all too well how your Slytherin mind works.”

She paused, tilting her head up to blow out smoke. “Shame,” she uttered with a dangerous smile. “I could have come up with a whole new set of names for you.”

He grinned in return before clasping her hand and the touch of his skin against hers jilted something inside.

They shook hands in silence, staring at each other until Abigail finally pulled away.

“See you soon,” he said and disapparated at once, leaving her alone outside in the darkness.

Abigail remained still for a while, staring down at the palm of her hand that still tingled from Harry’s touch. Finally, she reached inside her jacket to a small inner pocket and slowly retrieved a silver piece of jewelry.

A small bracelet shaped like a snake.

Twirling it around her fingers, she glanced down at the bracelet she had once worn on her wrist day and night. Seeing it again immediately stirred emotions she thought she had shut out a long time ago and memories she had tried to forget.

I’d never hurt you, Abby.

Hastily putting the bracelet away, Abigail stood up, crushed the butt of her cigarette under her heeled boot and walked back inside the club, shutting all emotions out.

--

********

That last line was taken out of The Dragon, the Lion and the Serpent... anyone remember it? I hoped you liked this chapter, no Draco in this one *sigh* but things are about to get a lot more interesting for Hermione and Draco now that Ron's out of the way...

Once again, sorry for the wait! Not sure when I'll get the next chapter up but I tend to update my profile regularly with news so be sure to check it out!

In the next chapter: Draco starts to lose control, someone gets kidnapped and Draco and Hermione meet again for the first time since the cancelled wedding.

I would like to thank each and everyone of you for continuing to read my fic even though it’s been on hiatus for so long! Your reviews are amazing as always and give me the encouragement to sit down and write!

So please let me know what you thought of this chapter and REVIEW even if it’s only two words, thanks! :-)