“Mom!”

Heads lifted from the tables to see an older woman with longish, dark hair and curtain bangs opening her arms for Will to run into. Midterms were on the horizon, so the school had extended lunch period to allow study sessions. Many students took advantage and sunbathed on the grounds, but Steve, Robin, Billy, and some others hunkered down with the mindset to get the disastrous tests over with. Plus, helping Billy and Max study inadvertently helped the upper classmen improve.

Jonathan followed right after his brother, hugging them both until Mike and Dustin hollered from the Gryffindor table, “Hi, Mrs. Byers!”

“Hi, guys. Shhh,” she tried to both greet and chide. She hugged Nancy next, and waved over her shoulder at Steve.

After being noticed, he returned to his notes and stuck a plantain chip in his mouth. He’d been alternating between the savory plantains and sweet banana chips for so long that his breath smelled like banana pudding. He touched Max’s notes and reassured, “Don’t worry about the Magical Creatures practical. If the professor is too busy to tutor you - which he usually isn’t - then me, Hopper, and Ellie can help you.”

“I thought the grounds keeper was an auror,” Max said grumpily. She had almost the same workload as her stepbrother.

“He turns into a bear,” said brother informed. “Safe to say, he’s used to navigating forests and what lives in them.”

Max’s jaw dropped and then she snatched it back up. “I told Mike there were bear tracks outside. Shit head can’t stand being wrong.”

“It’s a Wheeler thing - ” Steve began, only to have a Wheeler touch his shoulder.

“Steve?” Nancy frowned at their conversation but continued, “Can I talk to you outside?”

“Yeah, sure.” He left his things on the table and transferred Cupcake to Billy’s shoulder, planting a kiss on his hair. “Stay with Billy, Cup.”

She was already humming something suspiciously akin to ‘Radio Ga Ga’ as Steve and Nancy exited the Great Hall.

In their absence, Robin queried, “How do you two practice animal stuff without one? It’s required or Transfiguration.”

Max answered, “The school loans us stuff. We only had time to buy wands and uniforms. For some reason, they gave me a rabbit the size of a dog.”

Robin chuckled. “It has to be big enough to stand in a classroom of owls.”

“It’s meaner than an owl,” she remarked, causing Billy to snort in his water.

* * *

Steve stared at Nancy while holding onto his hips. “You think he’s where?”

She sighed and leaned back before he uttered, “We need to tell Hopper.”

“Do you really think Greg is going to respond well to an auror walking into his hiding place?”

Puzzled eyes diverted from her earnest blue ones. “I don’t know? Milch has always been book smart. Not really great at the decision making, though. Obviously - ”

“I’ll go.”

They both refrained from startling at the calm voice suddenly beside them. Ellie wore rose tinted glasses today. It was fine to look at her briefly, but too long and the glasses weren’t good enough. Steve and Nancy had the muscle memory to keep their eyes moving.

Nancy peered between her and Steve. “Ellie?”

“Hopper said he’s sick. Too much potion.”

Steve intercepted, “Yeah. Which is why Hopper should be the one to bring him to the hospital wing.”

“Why?” Ellie asked.

“Because first aid. In typical, academic bullshit, we know how to levitate stuff but we don’t know magical first aid. What are we gonna do? Catapult him toward the school and hope we aimed at the right windows?”

“I won’t miss,” El confirmed.

Nancy ventured a small smirk but waited as Steve shifted his weight, sliding his jaw to the side as if he had much to deliberate on. Finally, he let his eyelids fall shut and shook his head, resigned. “Just another day sneaking off school grounds.”

* * *

To the people of Hogsmeade’s credit, they hardly noticed three students wandering through the village. If anything, they were used to students figuring out how to skip class. Either way, El tucked the red scarf Steve loaned her into the oversized coat Hopper had bought.

Steve inhaled while squinting at the sky. “It’s warm, but smells like snow.”

“We need to get him to the school before the weather changes,” Nancy agreed.

“How did you even know it was Milch? Only me, Billy, and Hopper know. Well, I guess Conners, too.”

“He’s in my Potions class,” Nancy said. “Or, was supposed to be.”

The shack standing on the far side Hogsmeade was more like a small, dilapidated estate. Generations of students had explored the abandoned and neglected vineyard, along with the fusion of Italian and Scottish architecture of the house. It was tradition to prove courage by visiting the place on Halloween, but also to sign one’s name on the walls before graduating.

Ironic, how the place carried fear but also hosted a line of graduates queueing through its halls every spring.

El surprised Steve by taking his hand. She wasn’t the type to seek physical comfort, usually. He squeezed it back and asked, “See something spooky?”

“Ghosts.”

Nancy and Steve glanced at each other, the former admitting, “I didn’t know the shack had ghosts.”

“Explains the noise,” Steve said with a bit of a laugh. Extra bragging rights went to those who could get laid in the shack.

He kept it to himself as they carefully traversed the hills and broken stairs up to the front door. It was locked. The shack was never locked.

Nancy magicked it open wordlessly. Steve released El’s hand to be the back of their train, glancing behind him before shutting the door. El pointed upwards through the ceiling. “There.”

Nancy called out, “Greg! It’s Nancy and Steve! We’re coming up!”

The house creaked, as if a weight shifted, making the floorboards sigh. The three of them shared a look and one by one, navigated the old stairwell. Ellie’s fingers grazed over the many markings on the walls: faded ink, chipped paint, and clumsy etchings.

They found Greg in one of the bedrooms, bundled up in both Ravenclaw quidditch robes as well as his usual uniform. The hood stayed over his head as he greeted in a pitch-uneven voice, “The prefects getting ahead of the job. Exemplary.”

Nancy cut right to it. “How much potion have you had, Greg?”

He sighed heavily. “Enough to be stuck.”

Steve blurted, “Stuck?”

It was a testament to his dwindling resolve that he shoved his hood right off his head. The visage before them was a perfect and disturbing amalgamation of both his and Elizabeth Conner’s faces. Blond hair mixed with brown. One eye blue and the other dark. A skinny bottom lip and a plush top.

“What’s the kid doing here?” he spat when El slid her glasses onto her hair, but his averting eyes gave him away.

He had to flinch back when Ellie stepped forward, capturing his eyes with hers. “I can hold him.”

Nancy countered, “Ellie, I don’t really think that’s necessary. Greg, you need the hospital wing. You needed it days ago. We’re not here to punish you. We just want to get you back in the right body.”

El glanced back at her and Steve, and the moment Greg’s mind snapped back into his control, his resolve shattered. Wracking sobs filled the room. Steve and Nancy exchanged uncomfortable, sad looks with each other. It was hard to look at him, let alone listen to.

After a moment, Steve asked, “Greg, where’s your wand?”

A loud sniffle, and then the piece of wood skittered over the floor. Nancy picked it up and Steve continued, “Can you walk?”

“It hurts,” he stammered, sounding far younger than the youngest in the room.

“Okay,” Steve finished softly, and moved his velvet cloak aside to reveal the broom the three of them had ridden down here. Not unlike Robin’s basket enchantment, Steve could hide large things under that cloak and appear no different than any other silhouette. “We’ll help you sit down and I’ll get you to the doctors.”

* * *

Billy whistled a melody since he couldn’t get a damn radio in this school. Cupcake finished the tune for him, more and more familiar with his favorite songs.

“Is that them?” Max said beside him, pointing through the cloisters on this side of the castle. It was approaching dinnertime, but in the last hours of sunlight, they gazed down the slopes of the grounds. He saw the familiar circle of people sitting in the grass behind Hopper’s cabin. The blend of red and blue paraphernalia.

“Want a head start?” he asked the bird when they were close enough for her to recognize Steve. With a screeching announcement, she flew off with a great smacking of feathers.

Steve’s head turned at the sound and he raised his hand to catch her. Billy heard him say, “Make room. Puff incoming,” and then the circle expanded enough to let Billy sit down between Steve and Dustin. On the other side were Nancy, Jonathan, and Will. Lucas, Mike, Robin, Ellie, and Max filled in the gaps.

“Where’ve you been?”

Steve’s brows reached for his hairline as he exhaled. A less than ideal sign. “Convincing Greg Milch to let me fly his ass to the hospital wing. Nancy had a hunch and she was right. He Frankensteined himself. Half his girlfriend, and half himself.”

“Jesus,” Billy said, unconsciously watching Cupcake bob her head from where she stood on Steve’s thigh. “Is that it? This is the guy that used your bird as bait.”

But Steve shook his head. “It doesn’t feel like a victory. It’s just feels...sad.”

Billy realized that was what their huddle felt like: somber. A little sad. Nancy sat with a leg folded against her torso, elbow on that knee while she held her head up. Jonathan rubbed her back as she elaborated, “He spilled everything to Hopper. His parents don’t like Elizabeth, so he thought some quidditch wins and excellent grades would turn their opinions.”

Robin exclaimed, “That’s...that’s a lot. That’s more than just a polyjuice potion scheme.”

“He loves her,” Nancy lamented. “It’s sweet. Sweet and infuriating.”

“That’s Gryffindor,” Dustin said as he adjusted his blue headband, which doubled as ear covers, over his fluffy curls. “Brave to a fault, and loyal past the point of agony. Thankfully I asked to be in Ravenclaw.”

Lucas retorted, “Only because you’re allergic to the barrels around the Hufflepuff dorm.”