Moonlark Rising

Explinations

Harry

Harry jumped. The broken windows of the Ministry had been replaced by Hogwarts, tinged pink in the early morning light. His mind raced to catch up. Wait. Sophie was an elf? Seeing his expression, Sophie nodded. They were back near Hagrid's hut.

Quickly, she said, "Yes, I'm an elf. There are different species of intelligent creatures, how we define any creature who can speak a language widely understood by all species. 

The Council sent me to make sure Harry and his friends were safe. They technically told me not to be friends with anyone else," Sophie said, cringing slightly. 

"But I like you guys. You're smart, good at defense, have great senses of humor and more than anything, you're good friends. I'm definitely going to visit you at least once a year, if that's okay by you?"

Hermione nodded, and hugged Sophie tightly. A sudden noise broke the silence. Someone came running up to Sophie and swooped her up in a spinning hug, then put her down and studied her for a second.

"Foster!" he cried. "Why are you limping? Who cut you? Do you need help?"

His attention went to Harry, and he pulled out a dagger, putting his arm out to push Sophie behind him. Sophie rolled her eyes and stepped between them right before Harry got out his wand to fire a jinx.

"Harry, Keefe, don't you dare kill each other. My idea of a good time is not watching two of my friends fight over a silly misunderstanding. 

Everybody, this is Keefe. Keefe, the people who you just threatened with a dagger are my friends." 

Keefe stood up and slipped the dagger in his pocket with a sheepish expression.

"Sorry about that." he said. "The president of the Foster fanclub has to watch out for her. Somehow Lady Fos-Boss gets into the craziest situations and has to spend for-ever in the healing center, and then she goes out and does something reckless again."

Sophie snorted. "Um, you get just as much trouble as I do. And I thought I told you not to call me Lady Fos-Boss!"

Keefe smiled. "But it's so much fun to tease you!"

Ron cut in darkly, "Better be careful. If you annoy her too much, she'll turn into a dragon and breathe fire on you."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Despite how annoying he is, I do care about him." Keefe, on the other hand, looked less shocked and more... triumphant. "SEE! You did get another cool power! And, I also have a new ability. Creepy Experiment Powers buddies!"

He doodled something on his sleeve, then pressed it, and a blue bird flew up into the night sky. Harry could see many questions he'd like to ask, but he also knew that the castle would be awake soon. 

So, they said goodbye to Sophie, who promised again to come and visit, and walked towards the castle. The last they saw of her and Keefe, they were holding hands as Keefe raised a crystal up to the light. 

There was a flash, and they were gone. Harry turned back to Hogwarts, and the feeling of true freedom washed over him.

Voldemort was gone. For good this time.

Keefe

Keefe couldn't stop smiling. Foster was there, truly there, and she had laughed and joked with him just like always. Just like always. Keefe hated that his heart ached at that. 

Despite having a dusting of concrete powder on her hair and Foxfire uniform and a cut on her forehead, despite her limp and how tired she was, she was still beautiful. Tired. Why was she so tired?

"Foster..." he started, his voice teasing her, but also very serious. "Did you sleep at all this week?"

"Yes." "For more than an hour at a time?"

"Maybeeeee...""Every night?"

"No..."

"FOSTER!"

Keefe wished she had allowed herself to sleep more. They walked towards the Shores of Solace, his dad's weird, perfectionist beach house, Sophie telling him about her assignment.

Ro was standing on the porch, and she smiled when she saw Sophie. "GREAT!" Ro said. "Blondie's back! Maybe now you can stop moping around all the time!"

Keefe chose to ignore her, which took a lot of effort. They leaped again, this time to Havenfield, Sophie's home. 

Ro told them to stay by the panakes tree, then jogged off to find Sandor and tell Grady and Edaline that Sophie was home. Keefe looked at her again, and noticed that her forehead had that little crinkle that meant she was thinking about something.

"What's up, Foster?"

"I... Why were you so worried about me?" Keefe couldn't help the laugh he had only half stifled. "Well, for one thing, the Council wouldn't tell us anything. But even if they had told us, I would still worry about you because I care for you more than you know, Foster. More than anyone else."

She frowned, and Keefe could practically hear her thoughts turning. Sighing slightly, he said, "Yes, Foster. You heard me correctly." He leaned forward slightly, and pressed his lips against hers. It felt right, kissing her.

He pulled away, and seeing her expression caused him to laugh. She had beat the Neverseen, and they would be able to enjoy just being themselves, hanging out with friends and going to school, and maybe, just maybe, they had finally found their happily ever after.

Why do I write stories with intensely long separations between love interests? IDK. I feel like Bridging the Divide  is like, a redo version of this after Unlocked but with better writing and a different crossover.