Egypt was hot. There was no simpler way to describe it. The desert-dominated country was situated just in the northeastern corner of Africa and the southwestern portion of Asia, and it was such a stark contrast to the constantly rainy and gloomy weather in England that Jessica had grown accustomed to.

However, the climate soon became a miniscule issue when Jessica realized just how lucky she was to be in that position. Not only would she be training for the very job she'd been eyeing for quite some time now, but it was her first time in this beautiful country. Despite all the advances that magic brought to her life, she actually hadn't traveled that much aside from going back and forth to Hogwarts, or visiting her relatives back in China. So, being in Egypt after an uncomfortable but quick trip by Portkey left her in awe. She wanted to see all the typical tourist destinations: the Giza Pyramids, Nile River, Alexandria — the places she could visit were endless. She could try all the typical tourist activities too, like swim in the Red Sea, stroll through and shop at Khan Al Khalili, and taste dishes and snacks such as ful medames and koshari.

Egypt was rich in magical culture, too. It was the earliest place where magic was recorded and that absolutely fascinated Jessica. Even Muggles were somewhat aware of this — after all, stories and accounts of tombs being cursed circulate in their history books too. It was also home to such interesting magical creatures like sphinxes, nundus, and fwoopers.

All these thoughts raced through Jessica's mind as she waited at Ramses Station to get picked up by a senior at her future workplace. It was funny how she felt like a kid and adult at the same time. For one, it reminded her of her earlier years at Hogwarts, waiting for her parents to come and get her at Platform 9 3/4 after a whole year at school. On the other hand, the circumstances were completely different now since this time around, she was alone and would be starting her first ever job.

She wondered who had been tasked to meet her there at the station. Would it be an old and wise-looking wizard like Dumbledore with years of experience in the field? Maybe a woman in quirky clothing and accessories that mirrored a daring personality that perfectly fits a Curse-Breaker? Or, could it be someone on the younger side who recently graduated as well, perhaps from Uagadou School of Magic?

"Miss Hawthorne?"

Peeling her eyes away from the gold interiors of the station, Jessica turned to the source of  the voice. When her eyes focused on who was standing before her, she was hit with a sense of familiarity despite only seeing this man for the first time right then and there.

"Bill Weasley?" Jessica said. The man had that unmistakable bright red hair that the Weasley family was known for; his was longer than that of his brothers, and it was pulled into a low ponytail. He was tall, lean, and wore an earring with a fang dangling from it. She was also sure she must have seen a photo of him at least once, probably from a Hogwarts yearbook spread of Prefects and the Head Boy and Head Girl.

"That's right. Have we met before?" Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, no. I know your brother — er, brothers."

"Ah, I should've figured," he said with a hint of amusement. "You're from Hogwarts, after all. So, what have they done to you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I mean, did Percy the Prefect ever scold you? Were you victimized by one of the twins and their pranks? Dragged into one of Ron's troubles? Or did you date one of them?"

"Strangely enough, I'd say yes to all and none of the above at the same time," Jessica laughed. "I'm mostly familiar with Fred and George. We were Quidditch teammates, and I went to the Yule Ball with George."

"Well, any fellow Gryffindor and a friend to my brothers is a friend of mine," Bill grinned, extending his right hand towards her. "Allow me to properly introduce myself, then. I'm Bill Weasley, Senior Associate Curse-Breaker at Gringotts Wizarding Bank."

"Jessica Hawthorne," Jessica replied, shaking his hand with a friendly smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. Isn't it such a neat coincidence I got assigned to picking you up?"

"Because I know your brothers?"

"That and the fact that we probably wouldn't have met otherwise," said Bill. "I'm actually going back to England soon."

"You're quitting?" Jessica immediately assumed the worst. She began to overthink all the reasons that would make Bill, a man who seemed so strong and thrill-seeking, want to leave the life of a Curse-Breaker.

"No, no, not at all," Bill said with a chuckle. "Just getting transferred to a desk job for the meantime. But don't worry, it's my own choice and it's not because I don't like my current job."

"Oh, I see," Jessica nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, then why?"

"Just want a break for a bit," Bill answered, though his short answer gave Jessica an inkling that there was more to it. She dropped the subject and instead allowed him to continue talking. "Anyway, enough about me. We should go to the headquarters now so I can tour you there."

Bill offered his arm out to Jessica. She gripped her suitcase tighter in one hand, then held onto his forearm with her free hand. Then, they Side-Apparated away from the station and to Gringotts.

A second later, Jessica swayed on her feet and opened her eyes to find herself in an entirely new place. She scanned her surroundings, noting that this massive building was comprised of towering columns, barrel roofs, and porticoes. She observed that the walls and floors were splashed with a lot of gold, Tuscan red, and muted green colors. There were also several murals and hieroglyphic texts and pictures that covered the insides. Almost everything in sight here looked completely different from the Gringotts back in Diagon Alley. One similarity, though, were its employees. Most of them were goblins. Rows and rows of them lined the sides of this main hall behind tall tables with typewriters and rolls of parchment, save for a couple of witches and wizards passing by or working alongside them.

Bill gestured for Jessica to follow him as he walked down the long hall.

"You'll mostly be staying there, through that door," Bill said, pointing to one at the far left. "There are classrooms and training grounds, and your quarters and common area for trainees are back there as well."

Jessica could only nod wordlessly as she took her sweet time in absorbing every inch of the place. Bill greeted several employees on their way, mostly nodding politely at the goblins and making small talk with other witches and wizards. They finally entered through the door that Bill pointed out, made their way down several corridors, and passed by different rooms. She noticed that, back here, the designs were much simpler and more modern. She supposed that Gringotts wanted to at least maintain the ancient architecture and interiors of Egypt in the main hall.

Eventually, they arrived at a circular room full of armchairs, tables, and bookshelves. Although it wasn't as cozy-looking as the Gryffindor tower, she guessed that this was the common area Bill mentioned.

"This is usually where you lot will gather to talk or study," Bill explained. "You're one of the firsts to arrive in this batch, but the others will come by in the next couple of days. There are also some relatively new trainees — started just a few months ago, I think — but they're probably in a lecture right now."

"Sounds like I'm still in Hogwarts," Jessica half-joked.

"It does feel like it, doesn't it?" Bill agreed. "You'll be having a lot of classroom-based sessions for a while. It sounds boring, but once you get through all of that, that's the exciting part. You'll go through mock scenarios set up by experienced Curse-Breakers that's sort of like solving a mystery or going treasure hunting. Then, you'll get to shadow Curse-Breakers taking on minor cases, and before you know it, you'll be doing field work on your own and — oh, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself."

"No, it's fine," Jessica reassured. "It's exciting hearing all the things I'll be able to do eventually."

"Glad you think so," Bill beamed, somehow looking like a proud father at that. "But for now, you should go and get settled in your room. Let's meet again once some of the other trainees get here so I can formally orient you all. Sound good?"

Jessica nodded eagerly. She hadn't felt this excited in a long time. Everything about this career seemed so unlike her, but here she was, diving right into something so unfamiliar and adventurous. Perhaps this is the stereotypical Gryffindor in me finally coming out, she even thought to herself with an amused smile. As anticipation and ambition bubbled inside of her, Jessica made her way to her new room, looking forward to the days to come.

★ ★ ★

It should have been easy, especially by now. All the possible criteria and conditions for moving on were technically met — a formal breakup, no contact, and distance. But Oliver Wood could not see how this was easy. He could even tick off the criteria of time since it had been a while since she left and he last saw her, so why was it still a struggle for him?

While his heart and mind were constantly in a state of internal conflict nowadays, Oliver's friends and teammates did not seem to notice. He didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing. Part of him wished that someone would comfort him or give some advice. But on the other end of that stick, he was a bit embarrassed to seek help, or for people to see what he was going through — that the boy whose only purpose in life was Quidditch, was struggling with some measly teenage breakup.

There was a silver lining to it all, though, as much as Oliver did not want to admit it. Now, he could pour all his time, effort, and emotions into Quidditch, both as his career and as an outlet (or perhaps, a distraction). In hindsight, that was probably why nobody seemed to sense that he was going through a tiny rough patch — because he was doing so well in Quidditch.

"Son of a Bludger, Wood," Zimmerman said after their nth round of physical conditioning, which Oliver finished first and with amazing form, according to their coaches. "You're a beast."

"Yeah, mate, what's gotten into you?" Undergrove said in between pants, clearly exhausted from all the workouts. They had just finished countless rounds of push-ups, lunges, and burpees, and he was dying as he tried to finish his last few minutes of planks.

"Just really motivated recently, that's all," Oliver said with what he hoped to be a convincing chuckle.

"Well, whatever it is, keep doing it," said Merryweather. "As captain, this is what I want to see in Puddlemere United!"

"She's right," said one of their coaches, shouting from his place at the bleachers. "Don't forget that you have flying drills after this! I better see you doing them all, and don't even think about cheating your way through them!"

The team groaned in unison at that, but Oliver merely nodded. He wasn't that tired yet — in fact, he had a lot of fire left in him to keep training while most of the team just wanted a break already.

When they moved onto flying drills, Oliver was still in tip-top shape. All the shooting, blocking, dodging, and maneuvering conditioning exercises only riled him up even more. Even if it did end up physically tiring him out to an extent, it was as if the urge to train more and release all his energy onto something productive was stronger. The coaches were all for it, applauding his enthusiasm and continuous improvements from every practice until now. The other reserve players would even tease him and say that he would probably be the first to get bumped up into the official team.

"Blimey, I wouldn't even be jealous if you got into the roster before the rest of us," Thornton said. "You've been killing it at every practice."

"Say, are you taking special potions? If you know what I mean," Dawlish playfully nudged Oliver. "Whatever it is you're taking, give me some tomorrow."

"Oh, come on, Wood wouldn't do that. Besides, we get tested for those all the time," Thornton said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm not, but maybe you're the one who needs to take them to catch up with me," Oliver managed to get a joke out. Thornton giggled at that while Dawlish gaped at him in disbelief.

"Alright, then," Dawlish said with a newfound determination. "Wanna bet on whoever finishes the next maneuvering course next? Winner gets five Galleons."

"You're on."

Regardless of Oliver's improved Quidditch performance and the moments that he managed to have fun with his friends and team, it was still silent torture for him to be going through the aftermath of the breakup on his own. He did tell Carson all about what happened — of course he would tell his best mate. And while he was a good friend and lent an ear to Oliver, bless him, the boy just wasn't the best at comforting or giving words of wisdom. Even as Oliver ranted and vented all his thoughts and feelings, he didn't receive much from the other end. He recalled how he shared that Jessica had always been such an independent and reserved person, and how he questioned if that was why she felt that it was so easy for her to break things off. He also wondered what she really felt about the breakup; he thought he knew how to read her after their time together, but perhaps he was wrong since his brain was all muddled and confused when everything happened.

Until now, he couldn't fully understand her reason even if she had told him countless times like a broken stereo. He thought he'd already made up for when he forgot to show up for their date once, but it apparently wasn't enough. It seemed that Jessica didn't believe they could handle the long-distance again. Did she not trust him enough? Was her career really that much more important to her than trying to salvage their relationship? Why did she get to run off and prioritize her job whereas Oliver had tried to balance everything when he was just starting out not too long ago? It just didn't feel fair.

Many times, he found himself replaying the day that they bid each other goodbye. While it ended on a civil note, Oliver found himself thinking back to that moment and going through a rollercoaster of emotions each time — regret, sadness, anger, and everything in between. But there was nothing else that could be done anymore. All he could do was wonder how Jessica was doing in Egypt now, and to continue trying to move on.

A/N: It's lowkey torture for me to not write fluffy scenes of Jess and Oliver for now </3 but TRUST ME we'll get somewhere soon enough haha