"Ní mhaireann solas na maidine don lá." // "No morning sun lasts all day."

Groggy, and honestly feeling quite ill, Tara followed Lally and Jacob into the Great Hall for breakfast the following morning.

There was something about the familiarity of the walk down the halls and into the grand chamber that only served to heighten her festering anxieties. It felt wrong for it to feel so familiar. So many things had changed. So many things were missing. Things that should’ve been there. Her friends were not there. Her bullies were nowhere to be seen. And Theseus…

Tara quickly shook her head, moving to catch up with Lally.

A few scattered students had begun to arrive alongside them, and the professor had quickly placed herself at the end of the Gryffindor table in order to speak with a small group of, what appeared to be, students of hers.

Jacob, upon being revealed as a Muggle, had quickly gathered a crowd of his own. He was being bombarded with constant questions, which he answered excitedly through large bites of food.

In a stark contrast to her two companions, Tara was sitting alone, a few spaces down the table from Lally and her students. A large plate of uneaten food was splayed out before her, as her unfocused gaze lingered on the fork precariously balancing in between two of her fingers.

“Not that either of you asked-” she could hear Lally saying. “-but I would highly recommend learning Charms.”

Letting out a quiet breath, Tara lifted up her head to perform a half-hearted scan of the room. She watched clusters of small witches and wizards moving with sluggish excitement into the Great Hall. Exchanging both words and laughter with each other as they went. She had tilted her head over her shoulder to glance out at the house table that had once upon a time been hers, when suddenly she noticed two larger figures stepping through the main threshold of the chamber.

Her initial thought was that they must have been professors, for they easily towered over the students that were flowing in alongside them like the waters of a steady stream. But as her eyes remained on them for just a moment longer, they quickly glossed over with a striking recognition.

As an uneven gasp fell out of her throat, Tara pushed herself up from the wooden bench she had been sitting on. Her quick moments immediately caught Lally’s attention, who peered over the top of her students' heads to watch the witch stumble away from her breakfast.

Slipping out into the makeshift corridors between tables, Tara practically sprinted towards the back of the hall.

Where the two Scamander brothers were shuffling forward, briefly unaware.

Forgetting every ounce of embarrassment, fear, or propriety, the moment that Theseus was standing in front of her again, Tara all but launched herself forward, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders.

She felt a low chuckle travel through the man's chest as he instantly hugged her back.

When she eventually pried her face out of his chest, she instead braced her hands on either side of his face. Tilting his head from side to side, the witch frantically looked him over for any sign of injury. But the only things that her eyes ended up finding were superficial cuts and bruises.

Eyes still wide and wild, Tara then turned her attention to Newt, who was still standing awkwardly at his brother’s side.

“Are you both alright?” 

Newt silently nodded his head.

Turning her attention back to Theseus, Tara found his eyes already trained back on her face, seemingly unmoving. Only a soft smile painting his expression.

“What?” she whispered, confused.

Theseus’ smile grew.

“You’re hugging me.” he stated very matter-of-factly, tilting his head to the side. “In front of people.” he then added, with a voice as giddy as that of a child on Christmas morning.

Tara swallowed, swiftly dropping the hold she had on his face. As her arms fell, her fingers reached out to curl into the collection of fabric at the bottom of his shirt.

“Yeah, well…you scared me, Scamander.” she scolded in a near-whisper.

Theseus’ smile faltered ever so slightly, his hands coming to rest on either side of her hips. Applying the softest amounts of pressure, he pulled her towards him a bit, his head dipping down as if to kiss her, when suddenly Newt let out a loud, pointed cough.

“Lally.” he greeted at a slightly abnormal volume.

All three heads turned in time to watch Lally slide up to where they were standing. 

Even though they had quickly slipped apart, Theseus’ arm remained quasi-wrapped around Tara’s waist. Something Lally acknowledged with an almost inconceivable nod of her head.

“What kept you two?” the professor asked.

Newt winced.

“We encountered some complications,” he replied vaguely. “And you?”

Lally tempered smirk.

“We encountered some complications.” she repeated before handing the Magizoologist a copy of the Daily Prophet.

Looking down from over Tara’s shoulder, Theseus scoffed upon reading the headline splayed out across the front page: “Murderous Muggle!” Underneath which was a photo of a rather terrified-looking Jacob from the dinner fiasco the night before.

“Jacob tried to murder Grindelwald?”

“It’s…a long story.” Tara huffed.

Lally turned around to wave a hand over her shoulder at someone further down in the hall.

“Jacob! Look who we found!”

The Muggle’s head shot up, his eyes widening upon seeing the two Scamander's. He briefly turned back to the kids at the table with him, speaking some parting words before standing and jogging his way over to the small group, a large smile on his face.

“Can you believe this place? They got pint-sized witches and wizards running around here!”

“You don’t say.” Theseus muttered sarcastically.

“Newt, Theseus, and Tara all went to Hogwarts.” Lally gently informed the man.

“Oh. I knew that.” Jacob replied. “Well, they’re being very nice to me. The Slytherin boys over there, they gave me these. They’re delicious, who wants one?” he said, holding up a small pouch of what appeared to be unassuming chocolates. But when he popped one into his mouth, Tara immediately placed a hand over her own.

“I never cared for Cockroach Clusters much myself.” Newt replied. “Though Honeydukes are supposed to be the best.”

Jacob immediately paled. And a chorus of laughter erupted from the group of Slytherin students that he had pointed out previously.

Back behind him, some students and teachers had begun to slink out of the Great Hall. Breakfast was quickly winding down around them now.

Glancing over his shoulder, Theseus took note of two forms that were seemingly heading their way. And in response, Tara felt his hand flexed in the dip of her waist.

“McGonagall. Albus.” he greeted officially as the two wizards came to a stop outside of their small circle.

Dumbledore smiled back at them.

“Well done. All of you.” the professor said, clapping his hands together. “Well done. Congratulations.”

Tara blinked.

“Congratulations?” she repeated incredulously.

“Indeed.” the professor responded, gesturing out towards Lally then Theseus. “Professor Hicks managed to foil an assassination. And you are alive, and you are well. The fact that everything did not go precisely to plan…was precisely the plan.”

“Countersight 101.” Lally noted with a smirk.

With his free hand, Theseus tapped two of his fingers to his forehead, a confused wince crossing his expression.

“Albus, forgive me, but aren’t we back where we started?”

“Actually, I would argue that things are a great deal worse.” Dumbledore replied before his eyes hopped to Lally and Tara in particular. “You haven’t told them, have you?”

Both Scamander brothers immediately turned towards the two women.

Lally heaved a sigh.

“Grindelwald has been allowed to stand in the election.”

“What?” Newt exclaimed breathlessly.

“How?”

“Because Vogel chose easy over right.” Dumbledore said with a sigh. 

Taking out his wand, the professor pointed it up towards the ceiling of the Great Hall. With a swipe of his hand, he began to depict a beautiful, smokey landscape above their heads. Green mountains began to encircle them on all sides, their peaks covered in snow at the very top, with villages dotting the cliffaces at multiple different altitudes.

Jacob had momentarily stumbled on his feet, as if getting hit by a wave of nausea.

“Bhutan.” Newt quickly identified.

“Correct. Three points to Hufflepuff.” Dumbledore quipped. “The kingdom of Bhutan sits high in the Eastern Himalayas. It’s a place of indescribable beauty. Some of our most important magic has its origins there. They say if you listen carefully enough, the past whispers to you…it also happens to be where the election will be held.”

There was a pause, as the group continued to stare at the shifting and changing landscape above their heads.

“He can’t win…can he?” Theseus asked quietly.

“Only a few days ago, he was a fugitive from justice.” Dumbledore said knowingly. “Now he’s an official candidate in the International Confederation of Wizards. Dangerous times favor dangerous men.”

Dumbledore then placed his wand back into his pocket before turning heel and making his way towards the main entrance of the Great Hall, the smoky depiction of Bhutan slowly fading in the absence of his magic.

“And by the way-” Dumbledore said, calling back to the group over his shoulder. “-we’ll be dining with my brother in the village. Should you need anything before then, Minerva is here.”

When the professor finally disappeared from their sights, Lally glanced back over at her fellow co-conspirators.

“Dumbledore has a brother?”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡☆ﾟ.･ ───

When night fell, the group promptly returned to the same run-down tavern that Tara and the Scamanders had met Dumbledore in only a few weeks prior. The professor himself had been the one to push open the door for the rag-tag squadron as they all filed inside.

Emerging out into the dimly lit room of the bar, they found that three forms were already gathered inside: Aberforth, Bunty, and the Qilin. The latter of which was happily prancing up and down the length of the bar itself. Aberforth had just been setting down a small bowl of milk for it as they made their entrance.

“Bunty! You’re here!” Newt greeted.

“Yes.”

Newt immediately b-lined for the bar and the Qilin.

“How is she?”

“Oh, she’s fine.” Bunty replied with a wave of her hand. As she spoke, two smaller shapes darted out from underneath the stool she was sitting on, heading straight for Newt.

“Whoa!” Newt exclaimed happily as the two Niffler's clambered up his legs. “What’s Alfie done now? You’ve not been biting Timothy’s bottom again, have you?” he cooed.

Tara tempered down a smile.

“Miss Broadacre-” Dumbledore greeted kindly, making his way over to the bar. “I trust my brother has been a gracious host?”

“Yes. Ever so gracious.”

Dumbledore glanced over his shoulder at where his brother was stirring something in a large, steaming pot behind the bar.

“I’m delighted to hear.” Dumbledore noted. “So, rooms have been arranged for you in the village, and Aberforth here will prepare you a delicious dinner. His own recipe.” he explained with a clap of his hands.

As if on some sort of pre-practiced cue, Aberforth came out from around the bar, only to practically slam the large, silver pot down onto the end of the table closest to him. Using his wand, small semi-broken bowls floated out from shelves that they could not see and lined themselves up on the surface of the table, before the ladle then began dishing out the gray-colored stew.

Everyone moved, with notably little enthusiasm, to sit down along the wooden benches.

“There’s more of that if you want it.” the barkeep said gruffly.

“Thank you. Thanks.” Bunty had squeaked in response.

Aberforth glared out at the group for a fraction of a second longer before stomping his way up the staircase at the back of the tavern’s main floor.

Theseus had been the first of them to take a tentative gulp of the stew.

“Astonishing…” he mumbled. “Never has something that looked so repellent tasted so delicious.”

Almost as if in agreement, the Qilin let out a shrill bleat, hopping its way up and down the long table the group was sitting at.

After the vouch from Theseus, everyone else began to dig in.

“Who’s this little one?” Jacob asked about the creature that was attempting to eat the stew out of his bowl. “Hey, do you mind?”

Newt did his best to hold back a laugh.

“She’s a Qilin, Jacob.” he began to explain. “She’s incredibly rare. One of the most beloved creatures in the wizarding world.”

“Why?”

“Because she can see into your soul.”

Jacob looked up at his friend in surprise.

“Oh, you’re kidding me.”

The Magizoologist shook his head.

“So, if you’re good and worthy, then she’ll see that,” he explained. “If, on the other hand, you're cruel and deceitful, then she will know that too.”

“Oh yeah?” Jacob huffed, looking back over at the Qilin in front of him. “Does she just tell you that or…?”

Newt let out a soft laugh.

“Not exactly tells-”

“Well, she bows.” Lally chimed in. “But only in the presence of someone truly pure of heart.”

Jacob’s eyes had glazed over by that point. 

“I mean, almost none of us are, of course.” Lally continued to ramble on. “No matter how good a person we try to be. There was actually a time, many, many years ago, when the Qilin chose who would lead us.”

There was a pleasant pause following her words, and in that silence, Jacob stood up from the bench, walking over to the milk bowl that Aberforth had originally laid out for the small creature. He then promptly dropped some of his stew down into it. 

The Qilin squealed happily, bouncing off of the tables and vaulting back up and onto the bar.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡☆ﾟ.･ ───

Later on in the evening, they had all retreated into the respective rooms that Aberforth had prepared for them. Most of them had been forced to double-up due to the lack of space, a fact that Tara found herself silently grateful for. As she was given the ability to keep an overtly attentive eye on Theseus as they turned in for the night.

Even when they did finally slip underneath the shoddy covers, she was finding it particularly hard to fall asleep. Not due to the terrors that had plagued her the night prior, but rather because she was instead focusing all her energy on visually tracing Theseus’ features in the dim lantern light of the room.

“You alright?” the wizard suddenly whispered, eyes still closed.

Tara silently cursed him, but nodded her head.

“Yeah. I think so.” she replied in a whisper.

“Yeah?” he repeated, slowly peeling his eyes open.

Tara continued to watch him as he observed her expression in the dark. Pulling one of his arms out from underneath the sheets, the wizard reached over to brush some of the hair out of her face. As he did so, a small smile flickered onto his expression.

“‘Cause you’re kinda holding onto my arm a bit tight there.” he suddenly pointed out.

Tara flushed, immediately releasing the grip that she had on the limb propped up underneath her head. For a second, she had gotten a glimpse of just how white her knuckles had grown during the time they had laid there.

“Sorry.”

“No-” Theseus immediately interjected, dropping his arm to rest on top of her waist instead. “Don’t apologize.”

A tense silence fell over the room.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Theseus eventually said in a rather bold-sounding whisper. “It’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than the German Ministry to take me away from you. You know that right?”

Tara caught his eyeline in the dark again, her grip re-tightening around his arm.

“I know.” she whispered in response, beginning to repeat it like a mantra. “I know.”

Theseus leaned forward just enough to press a light kiss to her forehead.

And as they finally managed to drift off to sleep, Tara could’ve sworn that she heard Theseus start humming the song he sang to the Qilin all those weeks ago.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡☆ﾟ.･ ───