ENIGMA

Plot, new characters, new magical terms and abilities etc. are my intellectual property. If you want to borrow then please kindly ask. JK Rowling's characters and Wizarding Universe are all uniquely hers.

Summary: AU: What if everything we ever read in JK Rowling’s books was real – including the people characterised? What would you do if you found yourself caught up in that reality knowing what was to come? SSnape, CDiggory, OFC

Authors Note: It has been mentioned in the story but now I am noting it here. I am a fan of Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’/’Cross Stitch’ series and definitely was influenced by that in writing this story – i.e. the Standing Stones and traveling through time. But I also love Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ series and the tv programme ‘Sliders’ and the alternate universes alongside ours idea comes from there no doubt.

Fantasy/Drama

This story is rated R/M.

ENIGMA

Chapter 033: Reunion

‘He came to and insisted that we couldn’t take him to the hospital…!’ Elio said as Jessica flew into the shop with Giuseppe on her heels.

‘Where…?’

‘Papa’s office!’

Jessica raced up the stairs two at a time, her heart hammering in her chest. When Giuseppe told her that Cedric had passed out cold in the shop, it was everything she could to not try to Disapparate on the spot. Besides, she probably would have hurt herself in the process since she’d never done it on her own before. She’d always clung to Severus like a scared little girl which vexed him greatly. But the only thing that mattered to her was that Cedric was here, and he was in trouble.

‘Jessica?’ Cedric moaned before swallowing.

‘Yes… I’m here Cedric,’ Jessica said softly as she dropped to the floor by the sofa he was stretched out on.

‘I knew I’d find you…’ the Hufflepuff said anxiously as Jessica brushed his damp hair back from his face and neck. ‘I knew I would.’

‘You must have a death wish to be walking all over Venice in weather like this!’

A bell sounded from below.

‘It must be the doctor,’ Marta said as she eyeballed the handsome young man sprawled on the sofa.

‘I love you so much, Jessica. Why did you leave me and without a word?’

‘I thought it was the right thing to do… I thought I had to…!’


A tall, rather stately man entered the room. Giuseppe ordered everyone out except for Jessica. The doctor ignored Cedric’s feeble protests and began to examine him. He stuck a thermometer in his mouth forcing the strapping young man to be quiet.

Several anxious minutes later he rendered his verdict in Italian.

‘You say he’s been exploring the islands for several dawns in this?’ the doctor said to Giuseppe as he gestured towards the windows. ‘He’s paid a price for it; he has a touch of a fever and slight congestion in the lungs.’

‘Will he be alright,’ Jessica asked tearfully as the doctor began scribbling on a pad. Her Italian was at least good enough to have understood that Cedric has risked his life trying to find her. ‘This is all my fault!’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Cedric said gently.

‘He needs these,’ the doctor replied as he handed several prescriptions to Marta who immediately took off for the nearest Pharmacy after a whispered word from Giuseppe. ‘…and plenty of bed rest. No going outside and no unnecessary exertion. There are antibiotics for an inhaler to help him breathe easier if he needs it and bring up the mucus in his lungs and respiratory tract. He should be fine – seems to be quite fit otherwise.’

‘Thank you!’ Jessica squeaked before bursting into tears.

‘Jess…Jess; it’s OK,’ Cedric murmured as he stretched his arm and hand to stroke her hair.

His comforting touch was the only thing that reassured her.

‘You are both welcome to come to stay with us,’ Giuseppe said as Elio showed the doctor out. ‘The house staff will be at your disposal and…’

‘I don’t know how to thank you for what you’ve done; but I’d like to get him home to mine. I need to take care of him my way…’ Jessica said as she stood up.

‘I thought as much,’ the Master Artisan smiled. ‘I have a private taxi on standby to take you home. Elio, Francesco and I will see you in and Marta will bring the medicines.’

Jessica nodded and then her colleagues got Cedric on his feet and down the stairs into the water taxi. They made a detour to his B&B to get his things and check him out before going to Jessica’s flat. The circumstances were explained to the manager, who came outside himself just to check that things were what Elio said they were. However, the Ormessinis were an old and much respected family, so the man wasn’t too worried.

Cedric was traveling completely Muggle, so there were no qualms about having Elio collect the Hufflepuffs things. Once at Jessica’s, Elio and Francesco (the colleague who just also happened to be Marta’s husband) helped put Cedric to bed. The Hufflepuff was so exhausted he couldn’t be bothered to complain about strangers fussing over him.

Marta made her way to Jessica’s flat loaded with bags, ‘just a few’ extra groceries and things she thought Jessica could use including a humidifier. There was so much she had to get help to haul everything up the stairs.

‘Oh my god, what are you like!’ Jessica exclaimed as she looked through the bags. ‘You didn’t have to all this, really!’

‘Please – with kids and a husband like mine?’ Marta said rolling her eyes. ‘Men are so bad when they get sick and you’ll have your hands full!’


‘Speaking of which, Emil has the flu. He’s been sent home from school,’ said Francesco as he put his mobile phone in a pocket. ‘You know, this place is nice but it’s too small I think… You should consider a new place out in the lagoon. Bigger spaces for less money and it won’t be that much time added to the journey in and out. It’s still Venice, after all but less congested. Those islands are a very green and pretty part of the city too. We’ve never regretted moving out there.’

‘You’re right – but I need to get my man back on his feet before we start thinking about that… But it’s on my list of things to do…’

‘Your man?’ Marta asked innocently.

‘”We – as in the two of you, you mean?’ asked Giuseppe with mock incredulity.

‘You heard me,’ came a fierce reply.

‘Listen, you take all the time you need…’ Giuseppe said as he positively beamed with happiness. ‘And when your Cedric is better you will come to the palazzo eh? Let me and my Ines spoil you two rotten with good food, good wine, great music and even better friends!’

‘Now that’s an offer I can’t I can’t refuse; I could do with some spoiling. But what about her Royal Highness?’

‘Are you kidding me – you’re pretty much finished and Christmas isn’t even here yet. I’ll make sure she isn’t a nuisance, don’t you worry about it,’ said Elio. ‘And if she’s that bothered she can go harass someone else. You’ve made some good contacts and believe me we have more than enough customers to deal with, including some new ones for you according to the appointment book. Senorina Lattanzi makes a pig’s arse of herself wherever she goes – that bitch should just be lucky you agreed to do the job in the first place…’

Jessica’s eyes darted down the hallway to where her bedroom was. The Venetians took their leave to give her the privacy she was desperate to have.

She needed to look after Cedric, and they had a lot to talk about.

xxxOOOxxx

Cedric seemed to have fallen asleep by the time Jessica got her friends out of the flat and unpacked all the bags. She tiptoed around the bedroom trying to make things as comfortable as possible and to tidy it up. The bed was positioned along the length of the banks of windows that took up one wall. She moved a table into the small space on the side that the Hufflepuff had claimed for himself and arranged the humidifier in which she’d added eucalyptus oil to the water. It was already dark outside so at least there was no worry about too much light interfering with his sleep. She adjusted the curtains and roman blinds so that the room would be dark in the morning.

In the wizarding world colds and flus were curable with just a small dose of a potion. But they weren’t in that world at the moment. Indeed, Jessica had no idea at all if there were even wizards in Venice. She knew there were some in Italy, but from what she’d gathered during her time at Hogwarts America and the British Isles were the most populated followed by France. Given that fact, she often wondered why the Americans weren’t represented in Rowling’s accounting of the TriWizard Tournament. However, given the parallels between the books and the Second World War, it was quite understandable. Besides, her real-life experience had borne out that the competitors were British and European – and the details exactly as Rowling reported them.

The only light in the room was from a small lamp by her side of the bed. Jessica tended to Cedric as best she could, applying cool compresses to his head and bathing him down in cold water to help lower his temperature. He’d already had one dose of his medicines when Marta arrived, and he was resting comfortably. She moved the cool cloth across his shoulders, neck and chest after doing his arms and hands.


‘You take such good care of me,’ Cedric murmured as she moved the cloth across his abdomen and stomach. She stopped just above his curls. God Almighty – he was so beautiful to look at!

‘You’re supposed to be asleep. I see you found the strength to get your own clothes off; it helps tremendously…’

The Hufflepuff opened his eyes and looked up at his caregiver.

‘I knew you had to be here,’ he said emphatically. ‘One of the first things we ever talked about was how much you had always wanted to learn how to make the masks. I’ve been looking every place where they make them here. I thought I’d leave the biggest area for last…more fool me.’

‘So you were paying attention after all. Does anyone else know?’

‘Yes, I did; and if you mean him – no he doesn’t. He doesn’t open his mouth unless it’s to be nasty! People can say or think whatever they like about you and he won’t say anything!’

‘I meant anyone else in general. I don’t even think about him anymore,’ Jessica said quietly as she sniffed back tears.

‘Then why are you crying?’ Cedric asked as he reached up to touch her face to remind himself that he wasn’t dreaming and that he really was in Venice and he’d found her.

‘You are all I’ve thought about since I left, Cedric; I do like it here, but it’s taken every bit of strength I didn’t know I have to not go back. And you were the only reason I wanted to go back.’

‘I never wanted you to go; and I never stopped loving you or wanting to be with you.’

The former librarian bit back a comment. She was going to have to tell Cedric the truth, the whole and absolute truth about her situation. Of all people, he deserved to know. But she couldn’t tell him. Not yet. Not when they’d only just gotten back together.

‘Are we still together?’ she whispered anxiously.

Cedric pulled her down and gave her a heated kiss.

‘You are going to be the death of me, I swear,’ he sighed as he looked up into her eyes.

Jessica visibly blanched and there was a hard twitch from her as he held her.

‘You’re not going to loose me!’ he insisted. ‘I’m not going die like Peter did! But you need to get over this obsession about something we’ll all have to face sooner or later!’

‘I really did spill my guts to you, didn’t I?’

‘You were really honest with me, more like. But I mean it Jessica! I am tired of this preoccupation with me dying! Anyway it doesn’t matter anymore, the Tournament’s over.’

‘What? What do you mean the Tournament’s over!’

Jessica jumped off the bed and ran a hand through her hair, wild-eyed.

‘The Goblet, the Goblet of Fire, it couldn’t pick anyone for some reason. Apparently it’s always a possibility, but it’s unprecedented because it’s never happened in the hundreds of years the Tournament’s taken place…’

The former librarian swallowed hard and couldn’t stop from shaking. Cedric reached out and pulled her down on the bed.


‘One minute you’re begging me to not put myself forward and now that I haven’t and it’s all over you’re acting like the world is falling apart! What’s going on with you?’

‘You – didn’t put yourself forward?’

‘When I found out that you’d gone, I made a vow, a very sacred vow to you. I promised I wouldn’t put my name forward if it would bring us together again. You know how serious these things are – it’s a binding magical contract. I didn’t put my name forward and somehow I was inspired to come here… and now here we are.’

‘You felt that much for me?’ Jessica said hoarsely.

‘Jessica, what else do I have to do to prove myself to you? Yes, I feel that strongly about you! I still do – why else do you think I’m here going through all this!’

‘And the Goblet…chose…no one?’

‘It made some odd noises – but the Headmaster tried twice and it just didn’t do anything. Next minute the lights when up and the Goblet sealed itself. Professor Dumbledore said the Tournament was over and that was it. Ministry’s been in a right state and don’t get me started about the French and Eastern European governments if what the Prophet was saying is true...’

‘No…but…that’s impossible!’

‘Apparently it’s quite possible according to the rules. It’s only because it’s the first time that it’s ever happened that there’s so much fuss. Things had started to quiet down a bit before I left. Mid-term break couldn’t have fallen at a better time…’

‘This changes everything…’ Jessica mumbled as the stared blankly at the closed curtains. ‘Absolutely everything!’

‘What? Jess – I thought you of all people would be happy! You should be bouncing off the walls. What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing...’

Cedric eased himself up a bit and pulled Jessica closer.

‘After everything we’ve gone through to get to this point… Jess we’re finally together! Can you please just let it go – whatever it is that causes you to go through these changes... Just let it be OK that someone finally put you first.’

‘You really have… there’s no denying it…’

‘But you make it sound like it’s such a horrible thing! What’s done is done; now can we please get on with our lives – I guarantee you everyone else is.’

‘There’s not much choice really.’

‘Exactly,’ Cedric replied with a faint smile.

He ran a hand through her hair and then over her shoulder. He followed the curve of her breasts and then reached up under her shirt to stroke her skin.

‘You are supposed to be resting, Mr. Diggory. No unnecessary exertion the good doctor said.’

‘True – but you can’t just leave me here suffering from blue balls now can you?’

The former librarian giggled and blushed a deep red.


‘I really missed you, even at Hogwarts,’ Cedric said throatily as he unbuttoned the oversized man’s style shirt she was wearing. ‘I didn’t know I could ever miss anyone the way I did you. Hoping to see you and then when I did not being able to talk to you or touch you the way I wanted to… What I said to you about how I much I love you – it became so real to me there in ways I couldn’t have imagined.’

‘I felt the same way,’ Jessica replied as she shook off the shirt. ‘I wanted to slap all those simpering fools hanging all over you. I know it makes me sound like a jealous old hag; but I wanted you all for myself…’

She let her Hufflepuff undo her bra. The rest of her clothes followed and she lay down in the crook of his arm.

‘I may be a bit sick, but I’m not dead yet…’ Cedric mumbled as he began to caress her.

‘No – no you’re not! Thank God…Thank God…!’

Jessica moaned as he began to kiss her and stroke her wetness. She could feel his hardening thickness against her thigh as she thrust against his fingers. Jesus, she wanted him – she wanted him so much!

‘What do you want,’ Cedric moaned as he stared at her hardening nipples and then at her half-closed eyes. ‘Tell me what you want…’

Jessica’s skin visibly flushed with goosepimples and he smiled. He leaned over, half-covering her body with his.

‘Tell me how to please you,’ he sighed.

‘Jesus Christ! You are every woman’s wet dream…’

‘No; just yours...’

They began to kiss heatedly and Cedric moved to her neck. Jessica would definitely have tell-tale marks in the morning, but she wasn’t about to stop him. He continued to her breasts and concentrated on her nipples as his fingers slid and out of her. He found her nub and rubbed gently, causing her to arch up as jolts of pleasure overwhelmed her. Jessica reached down and began to pump his hardness, causing Cedric to cry out as he bucked against her hand.

‘Not... about… me…’ he rasped.

The Hufflepuff struggled to catch his breath and then moved further south after Jessica released him. He began to explore her hungrily with his tongue and mouth. Jessica gasped as her hands grasped bars of the headboard.

‘Yes!’ she hissed through clenched teeth as his tongue flicked inside her and then across her aching clit. ‘Oh Jesus, yes!!’

Cedric only let up when he couldn’t take not being inside her. He pushed hard and deep causing Jessica to cry out, almost in pain as she felt herself stretching to accommodate his size.

‘Like that…’ she groaned as he hit a certain spot for the first time. ‘Jesus right there!’

He pounded her hard as she raised her hips to take him deeper. Jessica focused on a fleshy spot of his neck, marking her territory as Cedric had done with her. They were whispering erotically in each other’s ear, saying things that they’d never said to another soul. She moved on top of him and began to ride him hard. It was Cedric’s turn to moan the house down as his senses were overwhelmed. Even the sounds of their lovemaking turned him on.

‘Oh Merlin!’ he roared as he felt himself exploding deep inside her.

The woman he loved moved off of him and took him into her mouth for the first time ever since they’d become intimate. Her tongue flitted across the head of his cock and then over the most sensitive part of his shaft. Cedric tried not to think about the reality that she’d done this to other men – that she’d definitely done it to Snape.

‘Jess… Jessica please!’ he croaked.

Jessica took his sac into her mouth and it was his turn to grab onto the headboard as she expertly fellated him. Her hand was working his shaft as she moved between it and his balls. Beads of clear fluid dribbled downwards and she flicked her tongue across them before continuing with her ministrations. She alternately kissed and licked his now hard -again member.

‘You like doing that…? Cedric gasped as she tormented the most sensitive part of his manhood with her tongue.

‘I like doing it to you…’ she whispered. ‘Only you Cedric…’

The Hufflepuff pulled her back on top of him and kissed her deeply. He let out a strangled cry as he tasted himself on her. Jessica wouldn’t let him go as her tongue battled his for dominance and she tasted herself on him.

‘You never told me,’ Cedric said huskily as he came up for air. ‘You never told me what you liked…’

‘You did one thing…’

Cedric grinned. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that was.

‘So what’s the other?’ he asked innocently.

Jessica eyeballed his twitching cock.

‘No – I don’t think you’re that open-minded…’ she said coyly.

‘You don’t know unless you put it out there…’

‘I want you to put it somewhere else definitely…’ Jessica said huskily as she picked up the bottle of eucalyptus oil and tipped some of it over his cock.

Cedric breathed hard as she slicked it over every inch of him. The oil made him even harder as the sensations of hot and cold permeated his skin. From the looks of things, they needed much larger bottles of the stuff.

‘Where?’ Cedric demanded playfully as he poked at her sphincter.

‘You tease…’

‘I learned from the best,’ he said as he began to push gently.

‘And who might that be?’

‘This hot little librarian I knew once upon a time. Did she ever make a man out of me!’

‘Hot hmm? You don’t say…’’

‘Red hot… Holy Merlin!’

Jessica felt him entering her and tried to relax as her muscles clenched around him. Cedric spooned against her and they began a gentle give and take. The feel of his curls and the slap of his sac against her arse added to her growing excitement.

‘God Almighty!’ Cedric rasped through his groans of pleasure. ‘Oh, Jess! Jess!’

He clung to her as they rocked back and forth. The impulse to thrust was too much and he moved so that her legs went up over his shoulders. The Hufflepuff lifted her hips and began to thrust hard as she stroked her nub. He liked it – he definitely, definitely like it! Their moans and cries filled the room until neither could take it anymore. They climaxed together and collapsed on the bed, covered in sweat.

‘What are you grinning about?’ Jessica asked as she stroked his hair back from his face.

‘I’m happy… just unbelievably happy. I want to make you as happy as you make me – and more.’

‘You do Cedric, don’t ever doubt it. I want you to be happy too; this relationship isn’t just about me you know. You have to consider yourself and not just me...’

Jessica started to get out of bed, but was held back as Cedric pulled her into his arms.

‘No – stay with me!’ he mumbled as he kissed the back of her neck.

‘We’ve already done more than enough; you’re supposed to rest, remember?’

‘There was no way we were going to spend our first night not being together like that – and I definitely don’t want to be alone, not now. I never want to know what it’s like to not be with you, even if it’s just a cuddle…’

Jessica sighed and settled into his arms, comforted by the warmth of embrace as he fell asleep. She knew exactly how he felt. Now that they were together, she never wanted to know what it was to be separated from him ever again. But Jessica also realised something else; that either Cedric was going to have to forget about Hogwarts and stay in Vienna, or she was going to have to forget about Vienna and go back to Scotland. There was no way she’d ever go back to the famous wizard school as a staff member, not willingly anyway. Somehow a compromise was going to have to be reached; but the only thing she was sure about was that he had to finish his education and especially since he did not have long to go.

She almost laughed out loud. He was free of that ridiculous Tournament and he was alive. He was here because of her and they had a future now! However, Jessica’s jubilation dissipated almost as quickly as it appeared as she fretted over the implications of the Goblet not chosing and the Tournament ending before it even really started.

Everything as she knew had changed – or had it? Had it really? Perhaps she’d made too big a deal of the death of the fictional Cedric Diggory? In the scheme of things, was it really as significant as all that? The whole point of the fourth book was that Lord Voldemort was back; so much of what she knew was still quite possible. Barty Crouch Junior, Mad-Eye Moody, Kakaroff… and then there was Severus. Cedric was a spare alright, to take a word from Rowling’s book.

But he was possibly a very important one, a small voice nagged her, and you’ve changed all that, yes you have.

Was it so wrong to not only love him, but to love him so much that she might have altered destiny irreparably?


xxxOOOxxx

The next morning Jessica woke up first. Cedric was fast asleep, his face plastered to her belly and mouth partially opened. She reached down and smoothed his hair before placing a hand to his forehead. He was still a bit warm, but that probably had more to do with the central heating kicking in overnight as the temperature dropped outside. She could hear the wind positively howling and it seemed as though the weather reports had been right for a change. Ca’Macana would be closed. Fortunately for Giuseppe’s partners, he wasn’t a heartless taskmaster like some of the newer breed of so-called Artisan. They might as well be in investment banking with their grinding schedules that didn’t allow for much of a life or common sense in dealing with the sometimes turbulent weather of their water world.

Her phone rang, startling from her attentiveness to the man clinging for life to her.

‘Sì, Buona Mattina...’ she murmured.

‘Good morning to you too, sleeping beauty!’ Ines cackled. ‘We just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any crazy ideas about going to work, eh?’

‘Not a chance! I’m happy to be a slacker for a change,’ Jessica laughed.

‘And your man…how is he? Although I should ask how you are - sore?’

‘Oh my god!’ Jessica giggled, blushing furiously when she thought of what she and Cedric had done last night.

‘I couldn’t help myself, Mia Cara. The way Marta and Elio carried on – apparently your Cedric is quite a fine specimen of manhood! I think Francesco is a bit jealous, the way she wouldn’t stop talking. It certainly helped in the bedroom last night from what she just told me…’

‘That is too much information,’ Jessica snorted. ‘But she got well and truly laid last night, eh? That’s her payback for the shopping she did for us yesterday…’

Ines roared with laughter down the phone and this caused Jessica to want to laugh hysterically, but she tried to control herself so that Cedric wouldn’t wake up. The Hufflepuff stretched in his sleep and rolled off of her as her stomach moved convulsively. He moved up right next to her and threw an arm around her which Jessica stroked absent-mindedly as she listened to the gory details of how her boyfriend had unwittingly wreaked havoc in Marta’s bedroom.

‘I’m telling you, Cara; that woman can’t remember the last time she had it so good! And your Cedric – he must be quite something, no? You are sounding quite like the cat that got the cream last night yourself…’

‘I’m not telling; Cedric would have my head on a stick if I talked about him like that!’

‘Oooo come on – who would I tell?’

‘Marta and Elio – and then you might as well take out a full-page ad in the papers: “Attention – Jessica Newkirk was fucked like a demon last night! And she gave as good as she got too!”

Ines was crying with laughter.

‘Ooooo?’ Cedric purred to Jessica’s horror.

He started kissing her and humping her hip before tickling her madly.

‘Cedric! Stop it! I…. I…. Ooooooooo!’

‘Is it as good for you as it is for me?’ he said theatrically in a loud voice near the mouthpiece of the phone as he bounced up and down on the bed vigorously, causing a few slats to move and one side of the bed to come crashing down..

Ines was ready to pass out from laughing so hard on the other end of the phone.

‘Oh he is a lively one, no?’

‘Ines, you don’t really think that we’re… He was just fooling around and the stupid bed broke! Wait – I didn’t mean that the way it sounded…!’

Cedric was curled up on the floor clutching his stomach as he laughed into a pillow. Jessica swatted furiously at him and this caused her side of the bed to come crashing down. She shrieked down the phone and swore in Italian.

‘Scopata, scopata, scopata!

‘Say no more, Cara, say no more; I have taken up too much of your time – sounds like you need to go shopping for a new bed…after you two are finished breaking that one…!’

Ines cackled with glee and hung up the phone.

‘Aww don’t look at me like that; I was just having some fun,’ Cedric said sheepishly as Jessica smacked him on his butt. ‘Ooooo so that’s what you had in mind!’

‘This from the man who doesn’t want the world knowing his business?’

‘Well – this is a special occasion, an exception to the rule.’

‘And why is that?’

‘Thanks to you my reputation with the Italians is sealed. No need for me to be intimidated by these Latin Lotharios you’ve been surrounded with…’

‘Ooooo you!’ Jessica said as she shoved him playfully. ‘You are a little devil, aren’t you?’

‘What I am is a man in love!’ Cedric laughed before kissing her. ‘Get used to it Missus.’

He and Jessica got off the bed and he retrieved his wand from his pants.

‘Thank god we got the rest of my things from the B&B. I wouldn’t want to have to go out in that…’

‘Mmmm – I suppose it would be rather undignified to have you strutting your stuff in your birthday suit. Cooking in the nude is fraught with perils, you know…’

‘One splash of the chip fat and…’

‘I wonder if there’s a potion for that…’ Jessica mused as she adjusted one set of curtains just to look outside.

It was pouring rain alright and the winds were definitely gale force. You’d have to be a fool for sure to go out in this, but luckily they didn’t have that problem.

A flick and swish of Cedric’s wand and the bed was repaired. Another few flicks and it was remade with fresh linens.

Jessica held a hand to his forehead.

‘Still a bit warm…’

‘Then there’s only one place for me today, I think,’ Cedric replied as he pulled her back to bed. ‘I need some tender loving care…’

‘Right; I’ll go get your medicine shall I?’

‘You’re all I need, Jessica…’ the Hufflepuff murmured through a yawn.

‘See, you are tired. You need to get some rest, no ifs ands or buts about it...’

It was Jessica’s turn to yawn. She’d needed this time off, and Cedric being here gave her the perfect excuse to not push herself too hard by doing some work at home (which she’d been about to do).

She snuggled up to him and both fell fast asleep, safe in the comfort of finally being together.

xxxOOOxxx

‘That Muggle travel agent thought I was mad,’ Liam said to Minerva as they tucked into their breakfast. ‘Said the weather there at the moment is like something out of a disaster film…’

‘A what… oh yes, now I remember… Well what’s a little rain and wind? Merlin knows we’ve got enough it right here…’

‘I don’t blame her, ye know, for going away like she did. Dumbledore has lost his grip; Snape is out of control… and I think some around her are more attached than anyone’s given them credit for.’

‘Oh? Ye seem quite certain Husband.’

‘Young Mr. Potter. Losing her is like losing his mother all over again. I have to say Minerva, I do wonder about him, he’s got so much anger in him right now.’

‘I know,’ Minerva replied guiltily. ‘But there’s nothing we can do. Jessica isn’t his mother and she’s entitled to her own life. She is safer where she is for the moment…’

‘But ye miss her, don’t ye?’

‘Aye… that I do. She was a lovely one to talk to. I always looked forward to spending time in Hogsmeade with her. Even Rosmerta has asked about her. It’s terrible having to mislead everyone this way…’

‘But we have to. Our luck has held out with her, Mr. Potter’s pushing of the envelop with Snape notwithstanding. In some ways I’m wondering if maybe those three should be Obliviated…’

‘Dumbledore won’t allow it. And I think Jessica is right to trust them. It’s not Hermione or Ronald who are the problem, it’s Harry. I just don’t think there’s an easy solution to what ails him at the moment, nothing short of Jessica coming back to Hogwarts at any rate.’

‘This wasn’t for her. Why should she sacrifice any more than she already has?’

‘Albus wants her back…’

‘Albus is feeling as guilty as sin. He’s a big part of why things have gone the way they have. If he hadn’t left to her to take Potter to the Weasley’s…. things would be different, very different.’

‘What are you not telling me, Liam?’

Her husband took a deep breath. He’d dreaded this moment for quite some time. But Minerva needed to know the truth before they left for their Holiday in Venice. She needed to know everything that he knew, everything that she hadn’t managed to scry that night.

‘I better start from the beginning…’ Liam began.