Hermione watched Cloud and Tifa have sex, and she turned her gaze away and lay down, “Don’t even feel like looking at him.”

Aerith giggled, and Hermione asked a question, “When will you tell me what this is about?”

“Hm. How about…stay with him for a month, and then when you and Harry come back to the school—”

“Right, Harry!! I forgot all about him!” Hermione jumped from the bed, looking for something to cover her body, but Aerith was using the blanket. In embarrassment, she ran over to the door, looking out to see if anyone was there in sight.

Aerith sat up, patting Cloud’s shoulder, making him stop, much to both his and Tifa’s annoyance, “Cloud…Harry?”

“Still sleeping,” Cloud gasped for breaths, and Tifa covered his mouth, pulling him closer.

“That idiot,” Hermione shut the door, “I told him to wake up an hour ago!”

“Good thing he’s still asleep,” Aerith grinned, “Oh, he would have heard all the noise you two were making.”

Hermione covered her pink, burning cheeks, “I’ll never be able to show my face to him if he heard that.”

Aerith blinked, noticing that the humping sound had disappeared, leaving the sound of their breaths, “You two done?”

Tifa gently kissed Cloud’s lips, lying on the large bed with him, in his arms, “Yes. Even with the two of you spoiling the mood.”

Aerith grinned, “Sorry about that. Let’s leave…I have a bad feeling.”

Tifa caressed Cloud’s cheek, kissing his cheek, “Take care of yourself?”

“I will,” He kissed her forehead, taking Aerith’s palm, kissing her fingers, “The Sling Ring is in the first drawer.”

Aerith turned to the stand, opening the first drawer to see the Sling Ring and Tesseract, and took the ring, putting it on her fingers.

“You have to—” Cloud stopped between, watching her open the portal, even getting the stance right, “Did you meet her too?”

“No. Echo taught me,” Aerith looked at the bathroom on the other side and picked her clothes from the ground, “Bye, Cloud.”

Tifa kissed his lips, whispering, “Bye.”

“Bye,” Cloud whispered back, watching her leave with Aerith and the portal close after them. He stood up from the bed, taking Hermione’s palm, “Let’s take a shower.”

Hermione gripped his palm tightly, hugging his hand, “Ok.”

By the time Cloud and Hermione went down the stairs, Harry was fumbling, trying to get ready as fast as possible. He had woken up and realised that he had overslept for nearly an hour.

“Master, what should Winky cook for you?”

“Nothing,” Cloud patted Harry’s shoulder, who was having his egg and toast, “We’ll eat on the way. We are late.”

“Yes!” Harry stood up, nearly dropping his plate, but Winky used magic to stop it from dropping, “Please do not drop the plate from Madam’s favourite set?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Harry stood up, looking towards Hermione, who wasn’t even looking at him or anyone.

“Master, Madam said not to let you take your bike. You do not have the licenses yet.”

Cloud stopped, “Fine. Teleport us to the Headquarters.”

“Yes. Master,” Winky snapped her fingers, teleporting with them, taking them to Avalanche Inc’s Headquarters. In Cloud’s Office.

“Thank you,” Cloud said, and Winky bowed, teleporting away.

“This is…the company you run?” Hermione looked at the office out of the window before she turned to look at Cloud, who was sitting in front of a white computer, “You guys have a computer? I have only heard of it.”

“Hm,” Cloud waited for it to open, sitting down on the chair, “Yeah. This is a Private Security Company. There are Missions, Assignments, and Jobs. The Third-Class takes the Jobs, and Second-Class takes Assignments. As for First-Class, there are only four, and we have No Missions.”

“Since Assignments take time, and are a few in between, most of the Second-Class train. You two will be training with them.”

“Training with them? We won’t be training in Magic?” Harry confusedly asked.

“Theoretical and Legilimency will be practical, but other than that? No. It would help if you learned how to fight, especially if you lose your wands, which is likely to happen. You two…mainly you, Harry, have learned to cast powerful magic but lack the stamina and time to build it. It’s time you get rid of your dependence on the Wand.”

“Isn’t Wand a good thing? It helps us focus our magic?”

“Wands are nothing but tools, made so that the weaker Wizards can use magic and quantity of Wizards and Witches go up.”

“Even Dumbledore and You-Know-Who use magic wands,” Hermione tried to defend the point she made.

Cloud leaned forward, putting his hand on the mouse, logging in, “Dumbledore…I can’t be sure, but I have a feeling there is something strange about his wand. It’s not…normal. I think it’s like my Keyblade. It has a certain amount of sentience.”

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter if they use Wands; they have a certain mastery of Non-Verbal, Wandless Magic. It would be good for you if you are out of options.”

Cloud read the names of the employees who were training and not on an assignment, stopping at one, “Also, the two of you need to train in close combat. If I could get into your mind, you would likely get ambushed like last time. These people don’t know about magic, so they train with them without using magic. I’ll train you in the evening and teach you how to fight in close quarters while using magic. In case you are surrounded.”

“Isn’t that too much?”

Cloud stopped, looking up at Hermione, “Did you think I went through the trouble of kidnapping Harry to go on a picnic?”

“You don’t have to be such a jerk about it,” Hermione crossed her arms, looking away, and Cloud picked up the intercom, dialling a number.

“I will make sure…when the two of you return. You survive this year and not get somebody killed.”

“You are so sure that somebody is going to get killed.”

Harry nervously darted Cloud and Hermione, nervous that they would start fighting.

Cloud looked up at Hermione, turning his eyes towards Harry, and the memory of Aerith’s death played in front of his eyes. It wasn’t in his timeline, but the last one, from Sephiroth’s memories, and not just her. Zack, everyone in the village, his mother, Wedge, Biggs, Jessie, and many others.

He took a deep breath and looked at Harry, “People like us…we are chosen, protected from Death…but Death…it doesn’t like being denied.”

He looked distant, “It surrounds us. For us…to achieve the purpose for which we were born, people die. Our parents, mentors, friends, helpers, supporters…lovers. Or someone…we crossed paths with and hoped they would be well.”

Cloud swivelled the chair, looking out of the window towards the blue sky, “It takes them. To be a constant reminder that it might not be able to take us, but we…are powerless in front of it.”

“By now, I can smell it. It’s coming, for someone, someone precious to you.”

“Now…this might be me being pessimistic…or a prophetic feeling since my powers are at a whole-time high. Either way, do you want to take the risk?”

Harry clenched his fist while Hermione worriedly looked at him and Cloud. He steeled his eyes, “No. Please…train me.”

“I plan to.”

Cloud looked towards the handset and picked it up, “Send Qiaolian to me.”

“Sir, who?”

“Qiaolian May, Second-Class. Send her to me.”

‘You need to erase her memory.’

“Also, come over after.”

“…Yes. Sir.”

Cloud put the headset down, “She’s good. She’ll train you when it comes to close combat. The afternoon is for studies. Evening, I’ll train you. You’ll practice on your own till Midnight. Then you sleep. I’ll make potions for you to give you extra stamina and clarity of mind. Work off the side effects when you go back to Hogwarts.”

Hermione exchanged a look with Harry, nodding, “Yes.”