i'm coming home.

Charles couldn't believe he was back here after all these years. It had been six years since he had seen the last of this place. It didn't change while he was gone. It was still small and quaint and the houses were still built too closely together. He didn't mind. He got to visit and that was all that mattered.

He didn't know if Lena was here for the summer, but it was a pleasant surprise if she was. He wasn't here to visit her, though. He was here because he missed everyone here.

He wondered if anyone remembered him. So far, that number was zero. A big, fat, zero.

Uncharacteristically, Lena waved goodbye to her Muggle friends before starting the walk home on her own. Usually they would accompany her because they'd often stay at her house for tea, but not today. She'd told them she would have a guest over, even if that wasn't true.

Really, she needed some time on her own to think. To think about the consequences of her actions, her depression constantly flooding her with sadness.

The walk home so far had provided her with some solace, but not much. The blonde finally looked up from the trodden soil, and she gasped when she saw a face she hadn't expected to see.

"Charles!" she called, flailing her arms about and flinging them around him. "Holy fuck! I missed you!" She let herself hold on to him, bursting into tears.

Charles blinked when someone tackled him and hugged him. "Charles!" he heard them call. He smiled when he saw it was Lena. His memories as a six year old boy came to him, but he knew it was different now. It was both a good and a bad thing. He loved the fact she was treating him nicely again, but she was crying.

"Uh oh," he muttered, hugging Lena back. "What the hell happened since the last time I saw you?" He shook his head. "Oh God, don't tell me you and Edmunds are still broken up, because if you are I will gladly kill myself and write him a suicide note saying the kiss WAS MY FAULT." He whispered. "It's alright, Lena. I've been your best friend since we were kids and I'm not going to kiss you anymore. Even on the cheek."

Weeping, the blonde girl tried to halt it, but the tears kept coming. It disheartened her to just cry like that, but what else could she do? She can't control her tears, now can she?

Finally, the tide paused.

"Well, I saw you like three months ago, and shit has gone down," Lena whispered, her hand tugging on the ends of Charles's hair. It was a gesture they both shared since childhood to show each other that they were deathly scared of something.

"And by shit, let me... give you the details." She took a deep breath, her hand trembling, "Right. I kissed Frodo, and Kait and Anya are pissed about it. I don't know what the fuck is going on with Dylan and Lora, and Rhys can't talk, goddammit!" She blinked back tears, "Yes, we're back together, but who the hell has to deal with a mute boyfriend, godfuckingdammit?"

Her voice was a weak croak, but she chuckled at the image of Charles committing suicide. "Oh, you wouldn't do that; I know you well enough," declared the German girl. "And you can kiss me on the cheek if it's a formal outing we're ay. I don't see why friends don't do that. Just make sure we don't fight again, alright?"

Closing her eyes and resting her head on Charles's shoulder, she whispered, "Can we be best friends forever again?"

Charles nearly laughed when Lena said shit had gone down, because with Lena shit always went down. She couldn't step one foot without getting into trouble or causing some drama somewhere else. He couldn't laugh because she'd beat him up afterwards, he knew that.

But that was why they were best friends. She caused the drama, he solves it. He gets into trouble, she helps him through it. He missed their six-year-old days. Now it was the other way round, sort of.

"YOU KISSED FRODO?!" Charles asked. "Wow. Were you on crack, Lena? I mean, he's ugly. And that's really stupid, even for you." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I don't blame Kait, but Anya I'm not sure. You two are so damn close, you would smoke crack together and not change your relationship dynamics." He then hugged Lena back tighter when she mentioned Edmunds was mute.

"Did you put a Silencing Potion on him or what?" he asked again. "What happened?" He thought about what would happen if Tshering was mute. That would not be good, because he would want to hear here voice sing the most amazing songs he could think of as he played his violin. "I just... damn. I wish I can help you. I'm a con man, not a scientist."

Charles nodded. "Best friends forever?" he smirked, "I thought that title belonged to Anya." He was joking of course.

The yelling Chuck gave her made her feel ever so idiotic, albeit the fact that it was probably biased because Charles disliked most of her friends. Already her friends and family had chided her for even thinking about it, but when it came from Charles, it sealed it: kissing Frodo was an unnecessary action. It caused unnecessary fights, unnecessary enmity, unnecessary hatred and estrangement.

Too late to change that now.

Brushing her hair to one side, Lena retracted herself away from Charles and just stood in front of him, the empty space her cushion. She needed hugs, kind ones. Yet she knew she couldn't get them from Charles because if someone from Durmstrang saw her hugging him who knows what sort of rumours would pile up about her getting a new man?

Then again, Charles probably had gotten himself a girlfriend from the ring she saw on his hand as she pulled back. Perhaps he was even engaged. She was in no inquisitive mood to ask him, and told herself she would ask the next time she saw him.

"Thanks for the advice, Charles," deadpanned the Uchitel, "you made me feel so fucking better I can die right now and feel no regrets." A hand came up to land on the boy's cheek, a loud slap the result of a direct hit, or so Lena had hoped. "Fuck you!" she yelled, "how dare you say I put a Silencing Potion on him! Do you really think I'm that cruel to my own boyfriend? I'm no Leon Prentiss, you know!" She spat every single word she said from here on out. "Even if you weren't a scientist, I'm sure you've heard of something called a newspaper. It doesn't take Merlin to know that the Zlobins are dead! The Zlobins. Are. Fucking. Dead. And he saw them being murdered! Don't you think that he would be terrified if that shit happened in front of him?"

Violently shaking her head, Lena's brows began to relax. "Oh Morgana, here I am breaking promises as soon as they are made. Fuuuck," she muttered, mostly to herself. She then crossed her arms and cocked her head confidently in an attempt to make herself feel better.

"You can be my best friend too, alright?" Lena replied, her volume increasing, but a ghost of a smile was apparent, "I mean... for now, you're the only person I can talk to without thinking that you'll be on Kait's side of the argument."

Charles would have asked Lena to just hold on to him because she looked like she was going to explode, but he let her go this time. He knew that she probably needed that distance. The length of the hug made the space between them seem really awkward but he tried not to think about it.

He then saw that she saw his ring and as much as he wanted to tell her about the good news something told him it was a bad idea. He just watched her rant because he knew that if he tried to say anything he would get slapped in the face.

Speak of the devil, he thought as Lena had put a red handprint across his cheek. It stung really badly but he didn't care. He continued to look at her like nothing happened and watched how angry she was. He wanted to control her and tell her she was probably out of her mind but it would only earn him another slap and that was so not his plan. His eyes widened when Lena mentioned that Edmunds's family was dead. He wanted to just tell her it was alright but Leon had told him sugar coating the truth for other people was just a horrible thing to do.

"It's ok, Lena," Charles replied, keeping his cool. "I know it's scary for you to go through this but at least you have friends, right?"

His question was immediately answered. "Oh... so I'm the only person on your side of this now?" he asked. "I'm sorry man."

"Friends?" Lena yelled, eyes blotched with apparent sadness, "do I look like I have any friends?" She leaned in closer towards him so a passing couple - who were once her classmates - wouldn't notice her and therefore would not be interested to know what they were talking about. "Anya hates me because of what I did to Frodo," she half-spat, half-whispered, "Lora wouldn't want to talk to me if Kait doesn't. Dylan would go with whatever Lora does. I haven't seen Tessa or Savannah or Eva in ages and they're dead for all I know. Haze won't give a shit because she's too busy screwing every boy who'd let her. I don't trust Paloma or anyone I don't know that well. Yeah. I think I have friends." She pulled her body back from him, her arms crossed though her face was all one bogus smile.

The Uchitel merely shrugged her shoulders, her brows furrowing. "I think you're the only person who cares about my side of the story," she replied honestly, resentfully, "because it was I who initiated the kiss so everyone immediately blames me. And also, you know me longer, and I can bribe you with shit like, 'Oh - I'll get Millicent in a mental hospital someday,' but I want that to happen too so it's like, I'm fulfilling my wishes too."

She heard the couple - who were, oddly enough, Leonora Bruckner and Jurgen Maivald (who, as far as Lena could tell, hated each other in grundschule) - call out her name in delight, and being the courteous person she liked to think she was, she waved back towards them. Jurgen even called out Charles's name in a cordial manner and the blonde couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, Jurgen forgot about how cruel you were to him!" joked she merrily.

Again, Lena observed the ring Charles had on his hand. "Okay, I cannot be the first person to ask about this, Liebechen," she proclaimed, "but why do you have that diamond ring on your hand? And I expect all the details, no matter how silly you think they are. And while you're at it, tell me about Life In Durmstrang While The Queen Was Gone."

"At least you had friends?" Charles replied. He was only trying to make everything better and if Lena didn't want to brighten her day then it was her choice. He noticed she kept looking at a passing couple and she seemed pretty nervous about them so he did not lean in like Lena did so they wouldn't be so suspicious and it would just look like she was telling him some secret. "It's not your fault, but it's not their fault. And no one's dead, right? So just take a deep breath, Le," Charles calmly said. He then opened his arms wide, "Hug?"

Charles began to laugh at the idea of Millicent being in a mental hospital. "Well, everyone blamed me for kissing you, remember?" he smiled. It was nice to see him talking about it like an old joke. "But that time it was me who started the kiss."

The boy waved back at Jurgen stiffly and he glared daggers at Lena. "Don't you dare talk about that, alright?" he warned. He then smiled to show her he was joking too about being mad. It was good to see he was forgiven for silly shit he did when he was young.

"What if I told you Jaelyn Morozov I got married?" Charles asked, smirking. "I'm joking... I met this girl - Anna - from Hogwarts during summer camp and we clicked. I didn't know I'd meet her in Durmstrang so when I saw her it was like... wow. I told her everything about me and she told me everything about her. We just cared for each other so much and um... I kind of proposed to her and now we promise to be friends no matter what." He took a deep breath.

Charles's words only made Lena cringe. "'Had' is the past tense of friends, so that means I don't have friends anymore. Dammit, Chuck, for a Vorstenbach as awesome as I am that is so sad," muttered the Uchitel, trying her best to crack a smile. She couldn't help but run into his arms when he offered her a hug. She didn't care that they were older now and if they hugged it would not be looked on as 'cute', but as if they loved each other. She needed his sick sense of humour, his laugh, his sarcastic remarks. She needed her best friend.

The mention of the kiss made Lena laugh, "Yeah, I remember, but it was your fault!" She slapped him playfully on the back. "I think I forgot to tell you, but I forgive you for it. I totally understand. And it's all behind us now, right? My friends would probably hate the fact that we're friends, but since they refuse to see my side then I refuse to see theirs. Fair, right? Speaking of which..." She pressed her lips on Chuck's cheek, and felt nothing.

From a distance, the blonde could see that Jurgen poked Leonora on the back, and now the girl was waving back at them as well. "Well, Leo's forgotten that you're mean to her boyfriend," mused she merrily, "and it's not like it matters if we talk about it, right? It was seven years ago. Get over it, man."

Lena grinned and clutched Charles even tighter than she did before. "Congrats!" she exclaimed, "she must be someone really special, huh?"

Charles let Lena hug him of course. She probably needed it. For all he knew if he didn't ask her to hug him she might end up crying and when she cried she often cried for hours. He knew because the time she got an A- in a maths test she practically yelled and screamed in her room for two hours. He knew because he was there trying to block his ears. "You're the best Vorstenbach ever, if that helps," he laughed.

"You make your friends sound absolutely horrible. Actually, they are!" Charles said, smiling. "No, I'm joking. I like your friends sometimes. They're just too insane for me. But looking at you, I guess I can handle insanity." When she kissed him he simply kissed her back, on her cheek. He felt nothing. "There! We're even!" he joked. "Remember when we used to do this all the time?"

Charles frowned. "The boy got me a month of detention!" he complained. "Of course it matters!" He rolled his eyes. "Then you get over that bitch K... Kara Finster. Just because she punched you does not mean you had to throttle her and make her nose bleed!"

The Hitrost nodded. His smile grew bigger. "She's really, really special," he sighed. "I won't be seeing her next year even if I did sign up for the exchange program."

"Stop mocking me!" yelled the blonde, but she knew he wasn't. She let out a laugh, her heart rising. In her mind, she knew the fact was true because even with the unfolding events she can't help but be so damn cocky, but her heart begged her to not brag about it, so she didn't. It was weird, how she listened to both her mind and her heart. She loved Charles, she really did - in a platonic way. And that was all she wanted it to be.

Somehow, she knew he wanted it to be that way too.

Lena's eyes narrowed, "You calling me insane?" She had exclaimed that statement angrily - though it wasn't real rage. She then burst into peals of laughter. A pair of lips gently pressed her cheek and the blonde nodded, reminiscing those times. "Yeah," she muttered, her voice rather dreamlike, "you used to do it in front of my mother, and she was like, 'I'll be your wedding planner.' And we would both sticking our tongues out at her."

The blonde's eyes widened, "What do you mean, you won't see her next year?"