Unlikely allies Mary Margaret, Queenie, and Leroy team together for a good cause to help the Storybrooke nuns sell their candles during the town's Miner's Day festival. But Leroy makes a promise to a nun, Astrid, that he may not be able to keep; and Emma and Newt look into the mysterious disappearance of David's ex-wife, Kathryn.

***

"Miner's Day?" Harry asked in confusion, looking over the flyers in the diner. "What's that?"

"Dad says it's a holiday celebrating an old tradition here," Ava answered as she finished her toast.

"Yeah, apparently the nuns used to make candles and traded them with the miners for coal," Henry nodded.

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "I guess that explains the mines we got trapped in."

"It's Maine," Nicholas frowned at his pancakes. "Why not just trade for lobster?"

Henry and Harry's laughter carried over to the table where Emma, Newt, Queenie, Mary Margaret, and David were eating, and Mary Margaret sighed happily as she watched. "I'm glad they have other friends."

"Yeah, me, too," Emma nodded in agreement. "Harry never had the chance to make friends while he lived with his aunt and uncle, and given we lived in a pretty remote area, the only friends he ever got to make were at Hogwarts."

"And they're all the way in Britain," David nodded in understanding.

"Exactly."

"Well, it's only a few weeks or so until we need to send him back again," Newt said. "He'll see them again soon."

Queenie giggled. "Imagine if we run into them the same way we did last time."

Emma snickered. "Hermione would never leave the bookstore if she got the chance."

Newt burst out laughing. "She just never stops learning, does she?"

"Nope!"

"So she's a bookworm?" David smirked.

"Hey!" Mary Margaret scowled. "There's nothing wrong with loving to learn!"

"Says the teacher," Newt grinned cheekily.

"Yeah?" Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes. "Who tutored Harry before Remus arrived?"

Emma laughed loudly. "She's got you there!"

Newt sighed. "Sisters," he grumbled.

Queenie patted his arm comfortingly. "I saw on the flyers that volunteers have been asked to help sell candles?"

"Oh, yes!" Mary Margaret perked up and smiled. "I've helped as long as I can remember. Are you interested?"

"Planning to reopen the bakery is going smoothly enough," Queenie nodded. "I can spare a day to help."

"Great!" Mary Margaret beamed. "Emma? Newt?"

Emma's phone rang before she could answer, and she quickly answered. "Sheriff Swan." Whatever she heard on the line made her expression darken, and the way she glanced at David made him straighten. "Yeah, I'll be right down." She hung up with a heavy sigh. "Duty calls. Maybe later, if we get the time."

Newt blinked. "We?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded as she stood. "I need you on this one. Harry!" Her son looked up from talking to his brother and their friends, and she pointed to Queenie. "Make sure Queenie and Remus always know where you are, OK?"

"OK, Mum!" he nodded.

"What happened?" David asked worriedly, hurrying to follow Emma out of the diner.

Emma shook her head, making sure Newt had caught up before speaking again. "Something you aren't gonna like."

***

Emma raised an eyebrow as she pulled up next to Sidney's car, getting out of her car and walking to the car accident, immediately looking through the open door for any signs of a struggle. "What happened here?" Sidney asked, raising an eyebrow.

David and Newt got out after Emma did, and David did a double take in surprise. He knew that car. "That's Kathryn's car!" he replied, and Sidney gave him a look.

"The school gym teacher found it abandoned and engine running," Emma explained. "She's MIA."

"Hey, mind if I take a look?" Sidney asked, leaning over Emma to look into the car.

Emma pursed her lips, resisting the urge to lean away from the journalist. "What for?"

"Well, just because I got fired from The Mirror doesn't mean I can't do a little freelance reporting," he shrugged and pulled up the camera from around his neck, snapping a picture of the front seat as David opened the left side back seat. "Kathryn Nolan is your wife, yes? Who you very publicly left?" David scowled at Sidney, but he nodded in confirmation. Sidney scoffed, a greedy glint in his eyes. "I mean, the story just writes itself! If I get a scoop like that, The Daily Mirror would have no choice but to take me back."

Newt shook his head. "Easy there, Glass," he warned. "You don't work for the mayor anymore."

"Kathryn got accepted to a law school in Boston," Emma recalled with a look at David. "Maybe after you separated, she decided to leave. Car broke down, she hitched the rest of the way. That's what I would have done if I was still running from my problems."

She shrugged, seeing the looks David and Newt were giving her, and she shook her head as she opened the trunk of the car, finding Kathryn's suitcase still there. Sidney glanced over, raising an eyebrow dubiously. "And uh, would you leave your clothes in that broken down car, sheriff?"

Emma sighed, conceding the point. "Time to pull Kathryn's phone records. Find out who she spoke to last."

Sidney smirked. "Yeah. You know if you go through the Sheriff's department, it'll take you days to get those. I've got a contact over at the phone company who used to help me out when I was at the newspaper. I can get those in a couple hours," he said.

Emma glanced at David, who shrugged and then at Newt. The magizoologist tilted his head then nodded, and Emma nodded to Sidney. "OK, great. Call me the minute you get those records," she ordered.

***

Queenie, Harry, Henry, Remus, Victor and Ruby were all helping Mary Margaret at the Miner's Day celebration preparations, walking around to help the nuns and set up booths. Queenie walked over to Mary Margaret's desk, standing near her and Mary Margaret looked at her gratefully. "Thank you again for this," she said.

"Of course," Queenie beamed, patting the woman's shoulder. "What else are friends for?"

"Where can I sign up?" Leroy asked, walking up to them, his gravelly voice hard and unamused. Mary Margaret raised her eyebrows and Queenie's vision twisted slightly as small moments from his locked memories came through. "What?" he asked, folding his arms defensively. "I want to volunteer to sell candles," he muttered.

"What am I?" a dwarf asking then being told he was a dwarf . . .

That same dwarf asking about a woman and then being told they love working . . .

An ax being handed to the dwarf with the name "Dreamy" on it . . .

A fairy named Nova, her smile bright and joyful . . .

Queenie snapped back to the present, gasping, then covering it with a cough. "Sorry," she mumbled, turning away from Leroy in an attempt to get her bearings back.

"Really?" Mary Margaret asked dubiously. "You, of all people?"

Leroy looked over at one of the nuns, who Queenie glanced at. The nun resembled the same fairy she had seen from Leroy's locked memories. "Look, I saw the light. Or, well, someone showed it to me," he huffed, crossing his arms. "Look, what does it matter sister? It looks like you could use the help."

He smirked, watching something off to the side, and Mary Margaret looked around them, seeing Harry and Henry helping a nun carry two boxes of candles. "Fine," she sighed and nodded. "I need help manning the candle booth. No swearing, no drinking. And I get to call the shots." Leroy nodded in agreement, rubbing his hands together.

"You ordered how many tanks of helium?!"

The screech came from across the room, where the beautiful nun Leroy had looked over at and Mother Superior, who the screech came from. "I meant to order twelve," she mumbled.

Mother Superior sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You ordered twelve dozen! Return them, Astrid!" she hissed.

Astrid looked sheepishly at her. "There's no refunds," she said meekly.

Mother Superior growled at her, and Astrid shrunk away. "We needed that money!" the leader of the nuns barked. "You know that! You know how he feels about us! You fix this, Sister Astrid. You fix it now!"

She stalked away, and Astrid sighed, a miserable look on her face as she looked over the tanks of helium. Leroy walked towards her and Queenie followed slightly behind enough to hear the conversation. "What's the problem?" Leroy asked.

"The problem is, I am an idiot!" Astrid sighed, rubbing her forehead. "We get a stipend each year for expenses, and it's all carefully budgeted, except for the part where I spent it all. On helium. And now we can't pay our rent!"

"So you'll fix it when you get your next stipend," Leroy shrugged, looking uncomfortable in the face of Astrid's misery.

"Which isn't till next month," Astrid shook her head. "The rent is due next week. And the only income we have are these candles."

Leroy pursed his lips, looking around the boxes as Harry and Henry ran around to continue helping. "Well, how many do you need to sell?"

"Like," she paused and thought. "A thousand?"

"How many did you sell last year?"

"Like 42," she admitted, her shoulders slumping.

"Ask your landlord to cut you a break," he suggested.

She looked at him as if he was insane. "Mr. Gold doesn't offer much leeway."

Leroy did a double take. "Mr. Gold is your landlord?"

Astrid nodded, her misery suddenly making much more sense. "If we miss a payment we're out. Then they'll reassign us, and we'll have to leave Storybrooke."

"No you won't," Leroy shook his head determinedly. "You know why you only sold 42 last year? Because you didn't have me. This year, we're going to sell all of them."

Astrid looked at him, smiling happily as she jumped up and down, grabbing his arm. "Oh Leroy! I guess you really are my hero," she smiled.

Queenie backed away, going back over to Mary Margaret and nodded. "We can do it," she said.

"I hope so," Mary Margaret mumbled, her eyes on Harry and Henry as they worked to carry a box of candles between them.

***

"What the hell are you doing?"

Sidney jumped as Emma came up behind him, flanked by David and Newt. "What happened?" he asked, stopping the game and walking towards her.

"I just got off the phone with Kathryn's school in Boston," Emma replied. "Registration was this morning, and she never showed up.

"Something did happen," he said, looking over her shoulder at David, who turned at the sound of Mary Margaret.

"It looks that way," Emma nodded.

"Hey, everyone!" Mary Margaret smiled, kissing David's cheek before running off again. Leroy chased after her, carrying a box of candles.

David shook his head at her, a dopey look on his face and Emma smiled. "Why didn't you say anything?" Sidney asked, causing Emma to turn to him in confusion. "You're looking for a suspect. Someone with motive. Pixie cut over there has one a mile long."

David snarled at him, and Sydney backed up. "She was with me the entire night, Glass," he growled, crossing his arms.

Newt placed a placating hand on David's shoulder, and Emma glared at Sidney. "She had nothing to do with this, trust me," she said, crossing her arms. Like father, like daughter, she thought with a glance at David, seeing how her position mirrored his.

"But she's the one - "

David and Emma both snarled again. "She had nothing to do with this," David emphasized and turned to walk away with Newt.

"Just get me those phone records, Glass." Emma ordered and followed after her father and adoptive brother.

***

Harry yelped when Leroy rushed into the volunteer center, almost knocking him into Victor, who steadied him. "You OK, Harry?" He asked, and Harry grinned back up at him, nodding.

"Sister Astrid?" Leroy's voice carried over the busy room, and Harry walked closer to him as he spoke.

"Oh! Hi Leroy!" She smiled at him happily.

"I have to talk to you." She frowned at his words. "See, I have some bad news."

She grabbed his hand. "Oh, no. What is it?"

Leory grabbed her hand. "The bad news is, that . . . that . . . you nuns are going to be real busy making candles, 'cause me and Mary Margaret just sold them all. You're not losing the convent. You're not going anywhere!"

She squealed with delight and hugged him and Harry, caught eavesdropping, giggled when Ruby ruffled his head and then leaned over to tease Victor about his painting skills, as they were all working on banners for the festival. Harry's momentary glee faded when he watched Mary Margaret pull Leroy aside with a frown. "How could you tell Astrid that we sold all those candles?" she demanded, quiet enough that only Harry, who was close enough to eavesdrop, overheard. "That is five thousand dollars, Leroy. Five thousand dollars that we don't have."

Leroy shrugged. "Don't worry about it, alright? I got a plan."

Mary Margaret threw her hands up. "What plan? A plan like going door to door and having everyone in town laugh in our faces?"

Leroy scowled at her. "Just give me till the end of the day. I'll figure something out."

She raised her eyebrows. "And why is this so important to you?"

Leroy's cheeks turned a pale pink, and he muttered, "The nuns . . . they're going to have to leave."

"Oh, my God," Mary Margaret's jaw dropped, and she squealed in disbelief. "You like her!" Leroy glared at her, but Mary Margaret's delight faded quickly. "She is a nun, Leroy. Could you possibly pick anyone any less available?"

Leroy crossed his arms. "When I say I'm going to get that five thousand dollars, I'm going to get that five thousand dollars," he said determinedly.

***

30 minutes later, Leroy was trying to sell his boat to Mr. Gold at the docks. Leory glanced at his boat and gestured to it. "Now, I know it's a bit of a fixer-upper, could probably use a new coat of paint, a few spritzes of Febreze here and there, but you can't tell me that five thousand's not a reasonable price for this beauty."

Mr. Gold clicked his tongue, staring at the boat. "Three thousand, I think."

Leroy scowled. "I need five." He didn't want to sound like a beggar but . . .

Mr. Gold raised his eyebrow and faced him. "You need five? To what do we owe the specificity?"

Leroy shrugged. "Trying to help out a friend."

Mr. Gold hummed, a small smirk on his face. "Oh, I see."

Leroy shook his head, sighing. "Look, you don't even have to pay me anything. Just forgive one month's rent for the nuns."

Mr. Gold scoffed. "The nuns?"

Leroy nodded. "You can have the boat. They'll pay you back eventually. It's a good deal. You get everything."

Mr. Gold smirked. "So that's what this is about, hm?"

Leroy grumbled. "Come on – you're a rich guy. You can afford to give them time to make up for a month's rent, right?"

Mr. Gold nodded and smirked at the man. "You're right – I could."

Leroy sagged in relief. "So, great."

Mr. Gold shrugged and started walking away. "But I won't. I have a fairly specific rental agreement. If they miss a payment, I'm within my rights to evict."

Leroy groaned. "Oh, come on. Why don't you - "

Mr. Gold glared at him, "And, quite honestly, it's going to be a great relief to be rid of such distasteful tenants."

Leroy raised an eyebrow. "You don't like nuns? Who doesn't like nuns?"

Mr. Gold chuckled. "Oh, I have my reasons, and they're mine. Let's just say, I have a long and complicated history with them and leave it at that."

He left, and Leory started toward the cabin of his boat, and heard Astrid calling for him. "Hello? Leroy?"

Leroy rushed to meet her, seeing she had a pie in her hand. "Astrid! Hi! Um . . . what are you doing here?"

"Mary Margaret said I might find you down here. I... I made you a pie. It's the least I could do after all your help." He smiled, taking the pie from her as she looked around. "Oh, this boat is great! It's going to be amazing when you get it out on the water. I can't even remember the last time I was on one - " She cut off when she spotted a box of candles badly hidden under a tarp, and she lifted the tarp to find every box of candles that Leory had lied to her about. "What . . . " She swallowed hard and looked at Leroy. "What's this? If you sold all the candles, why are they still here, Leroy?"

Leroy sighed. "I didn't sell them all," he admitted. "I tried to, but nobody wanted to buy them from me. I was going to tell you the truth, but I was afraid of letting you down."

Astrid sat down on the side of the boat, looking at him. "So, you lied."

Leroy sighed. "I'm sorry, Astrid. I guess you believed in the wrong guy."

He walked into the cabin of his boat, not looking back to see if she was still there.

***

Emma looked up from the bulletin board in her office when Sidney came in, carrying a folder. "You found something?" she asked.

He handed Emma the folder, nodding. "Kathryn's phone records. Every call she made the day she crashed her car. Including an eight-minute call between her and David within an hour of the accident."

Emma shook her head instantly. "That's not possible," she denied. "He was with me, Mary Margaret, my son and the rest of us all day yesterday and with Mary Margaret at her apartment all night."

Sidney shrugged. "Then, he's lying."

He said it so matter-of-factly like he was discussing the weather, and Emma glowered at him, shaking her head vehemently. "No. I know when someone is lying, and David definitely isn't," she said. Her dad was with her for the day yesterday, for Merlin's sake!

Sidney shrugged, tapping the folder. "It's right here on paper, Emma. Phone records don't lie – people do. And our friend David does it better than most. Don't beat yourself up over this. You're not the only person David fooled."

***

Mary Margaret took a sip of her drink, startling when Leroy comes up and sits next to her. "I'll have what she's having," he said to Granny, who sighed and got him his drink.

Mary Margaret looked at him. "Well? Did you get it?"

"What do you think?" he grumbled, looking ready to down his entire drink in one go.

"I think you're right," Mary Margaret sighed, swirling her drink around. "I was dreaming if I thought the town harlot and the town drunk could accomplish anything."

"Town harlot?" Leroy's eyes rolled. "Sister, there may be people who think that, but your man and your best friend have made it clear that's not what you are. Me, though? Town drunk? Yeah. Just dreaming."

Mary Margaret sighed. "Leroy, you understand that a relationship between you and Sister Astrid can never happen?"

Leroy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. My whole life people made it their business to tell me what I can't do. She was the first person that said I could do anything. Who believed in me. I didn't want to disappoint her."

She shook her head. "But there are consequences to following through when the world tells you not to."

"What about your good memories?"

Mary Margaret titled her head in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Leroy raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have moments with him that you love? Do you regret any moment you shared with David?"

She shook her head, smiling at the thought of her boyfriend. "No, of course not."

Leroy sighed wistfully. "Isn't that what life's about? Holding on to your good memories? All I wanted was a moment with Astrid. One moment to give me hope that any dream's possible. You've had all that, Mary Margaret. So, stop feeling sorry for yourself and enjoy it. Because I haven't."

Mary Margaret sighed. "I just have to see if it's worth it in the long run."

Leroy slammed his cup down, standing up. "And sitting here drinking won't end this pain."

She scrambled up after him, "What will?"

Leroy smirked. "I can only think of one thing."

***

The lights illuminating the festival suddenly extinguished, and Ruby blinked rapidly in an attempt to get used to the sudden darkness. "What the hell?" she complained, looking around to see what happened.

Remus, meanwhile, shielded his eyes and squinted. He couldn't help but snort when he saw the smug figure standing by the transformer, a pickaxe slung over his shoulder. "Clever man."

"What?" Victor asked, looking confused.

Remus gestured to the people milling around the festival, all of them starting to look towards a certain stand. "What do people use for light when they don't have working electricity?"

Ruby grinned. "Boys!" she called, and Henry and Harry poked their heads up from behind one of the boxes. "Time to get to work!"

***

Emma scowled when she turned and found Regina glaring at her, arms crossed. "If this is about the blackout, I've got the guys from the power company down there working on it," she said, shrugging on her peacoat.

Regina scoffed. "That's not why I'm here. It's been twenty-four hours since my friend, Kathryn, went missing. Have you found anything?"

Emma nodded reluctantly. "I found something. I just don't know what it means."

Regina raised her eyebrows and gestured impatiently. "Well? What is it?"

Emma stood, putting the file in a lock box and closing it with a key connected to her keychain. "At this point in the investigation, it's best I don't divulge that information," she said, walking past Regina to shut the lights around the station off.

"If you're covering for someone, if you're not doing your job, Sheriff Swan, I'll find someone who will," Regina warned with a snarl.

Emma simply walked past her and to her car, heading to the festival.

***

"Leroy, we sold out!" Mary Margaret cheered, looking at the empty boxes that used to hold candles and then at the mob of people holding candles. All of the people at the Miner's Day festival had mobbed Mary Margaret and Leroy to buy candles after the outage. The two of them hugged in excitement, and Mary Margaret nudged Leroy when she spotted Astrid standing with the other nuns. "Well, go on," she urged. "Give her the news. Have your moment!"

Leroy walked over to the group of nuns, handing Mother Superior the box of money. "Five thousand bucks," he informed her proudly. "Piece of cake."

Astrid grinned and turned to her sisters. "Excuse me." The other nuns walked away, leaving Astrid and Leroy alone. "You sold them all?" she asked, giddy with excitement and her eyes bright.

Leroy nodded and gestured behind him to where Mary Margaret was hanging up a sign to close down their stand. "I had a little help."

Astrid grinned. "But you made it happen!"

Leroy nodded. "You have no idea."

"I don't know what to say," Astrid gushed with a giggle.

Leroy smiled a genuine smile at her. "You're welcome. Listen – that boat of mine? I'm going to fix it up. And, well, maybe you could be my first passenger."

Astrid nodded. "I'd like that."

"Well, then, that's what we'll do, sister."

Astrid took a step down, looking around and smiling at the sight that met them. "Oh. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Leroy couldn't help but smile and nod in agreement, for residents of Storybrooke flooded the festival, each with a lit candle that glowed in the night.

***

Harry shrieked, jumping when Emma laughed at him from behind. "Mum!" He smiled, racing to hug her. Everyone said their hello's and they each went to get a candle and light them, all laughing when Harry almost dropped his. They walked around the stalls, smiling at the kids and families milling around. And if Emma was keeping an eye on what Harry liked more than other items? Well, her son did have a birthday coming up.

"Hey, Mary Margaret!" David called, and she walked over to them, a look on her face that made David frown in concern. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, looking utterly confused. "I checked the records to make sure everything added up. Some family bought every candle not sold, which was worth about a thousand dollars, at the last minute," she muttered in disbelief.

Emma's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Who in Storybrooke has that kind of money?" Ruby asked, and the rest of them shrugged.

Victor and Remus were pursuing a wood carving booth, Ruby and Queenie were looking at the baked good stall, and the rest of them were standing in the grass talking. Harry looked up and frowned when he felt his magic flare up, a sensation he hadn't felt in several weeks. That was weird.

"Hey, Emma!" Henry shouted as he ran up to them, a confused look on his face. "Now probably isn't the best time, considering you're currently trying to undermine the mayor and Evil Queen, who happens to be my mom . . . but two other people and a couple kids showed up at the diner a while ago, wondering about Harry. They said you were friends?"

Emma frowned in suspicion, looking around. "Do you know who they are?" she asked, her hand twitching and ready to slide her wand into her hand. Henry shook his head, craning his neck to look around the festival.

Harry's magic flared again, beating inside him like someone was playing the drums on his magical core. That only happened with . . . with . . .

"No way," he breathed in disbelief and took off running, letting his magic lead him straight to the cause of the flare ups.

"Harry!" Henry shouted, running after his brother, leaving the adults to scramble and find them.

But his shout had also drawn the attention of two children who were examining a stand of antiques, and a boy with pale blond hair turned first. He was closely followed by a girl with bushy brown hair, and both lit up in excitement when they saw Harry barreling towards them. Harry ran straight into the blond, knocking him over and laughing with delight, which caused his bushy-haired best friend to squeal and run over to them, slipping and then falling into the pile of limbs they were making, each of them laughing in delight. "No way!" Harry shouted in delight.

"Harry! Henry!" Emma yelled, running to join Henry. As soon as she saw the pile of bodies on the ground, she stopped and sighed. Of course, that made sense. Harry only took off for three people, after all. "I think our family is here," she explained, sharing a look with her siblings and Remus. The werewolf merely laughed and joined Emma, the group following after her.

When they caught up with Harry, he was on the ground in a hug with Draco and Hermione, all laughing and smiling. "Harry!" Henry called, stopping just before he tripped over the dog pile, putting his arms out for balance.

"Well, I was right, then," Emma grinned.

Hermione lifted her head from the boys, and she scrambled to her feet and over to her. "Emma!" she cheered.

Emma stumbled back from the force of Hermione's hug, and she laughed, wrapping her arms around the girl. "Hello. Hermione!" Draco and Harry ran to join them, and Emma held out her arm for her son's other best friend. "Hello, Draco!"

"Hi, Emma!" he grinned, hugging her in return.

"Where are your parents?" Emma asked, grinning down at the two children who are Harry's best friends as they immediately gravitated back to her son.

"Mum and Dad are around here somewhere," Draco replied, gesturing vaguely behind him. "Dad just bought a thousand candles, but for what, who knows?"

Emma felt like smacking herself. "Of course, he did," she sighed. Lucius Malfoy was definitely someone who would have the money to afford one thousand dollars in candles at the drop of a hat.

A throat clearing behind her made the two kids look behind them, and Draco gasped and ran over to Remus, who rubbed his head affectionately when he hugged him. "Uncle!" he cheered.

"Hey, cub," Remus smiled. "And this must be Hermione."

"Yes, sir," Hermione smiled shyly.

Draco, meanwhile, was more interested in the throng of people who lingered behind his uncle. "Who're they?" he asked, staring at Ruby, David, Mary Margaret, and Victor.

Harry came up to him, dragging him towards the others. "This is David!" he answered, pointing to David, and then whispered in his ear, "My grandfather!" If Draco was thrown by that tidbit of information, he didn't show it as he waved to the deputy. David smiled warmly and returned the wave. "That's Mary Margaret," Harry continued, and the teacher beamed. Then he took Draco to Ruby and Victor, who grinned at him. "And this is Remus's two new favorite people! This is Ruby - " She waved, giggling at the faint pink blush on Remus's face when he heard Harry's introduction. " - and Victor! He's a doctor!"

Draco grinned at them with a wave. "I imagine I'll be seeing you guys a lot if you're that close with Uncle Remus!" he said, shaking their hands like the gentleman he was raised to be.

"You very much will, Draco!" Ruby grinned with a wink at an exasperated Remus.

The boys went back to Hermione, who was chatting happily to Emma. The blonde grinned at them and ruffled each of their heads of hair. "Draco, Hermione, this is Henry, Harry's younger brother," she introduced.

"Harry doesn't stop talking about you," Henry grinned. "Welcome to Storybrooke!"

"This place is amazing!" Hermione gushed, looking around the festival in delight.

The now big, sappy grin Emma wore faded when Regina walked over to them, staring at the two new additions. "Well, well," she eyed them, the look in her eye making Hermione shuffle closer to the boys. "Who do we have here?" She crossed her arms, and Henry went over to her, standing at her side.

"These are two of Harry's best friends, Madame Mayor," Emma replied, crossing her arms at the scowl Regina gave and suppressing the urge to gather the three children to her.

"What are they doing here?" Regina asked, a cruel snarl covering her blood red lips.

"And just why are you looking at my son and his best friends like that?" a sharp and sophisticated voice asked, and Regina swiftly turned to see a woman with black and blonde pin straight hair, wearing a simple summer dress, stride towards them with a raised eyebrow, her arm tucked into the elbow of the man next to her, his platinum blond and long, straight hair the exact same shade as Draco's, his walking cane tapping on the ground next to him.

"Cissa!" Harry gleefully shouted, running over to hug her.

Narcissa's aristocratic mask vanished as she smiled warmly and hugged the boy. "And you are?" Regina asked, working hard to keep a straight face.

"I am Narcissa Malfoy, and this is Lucius Malfoy, my husband," Narcissa smiled, somehow looking sharklike while also appearing perfectly polite. "We're Draco's parents."

Regina's straight face broke as Emma let out a warm laugh, stepping forward with a bright smile. "Why are you here?" she asked, hugging Narcissa first as the elder witch kissed her cheek. "We would've seen you in a few weeks!"

"We were getting restless waiting for a response, so we just decided to come ourselves," Lucius explained with a smile, accepting Emma's hug and kissing her cheek as well.

Regina's lips were pressed together thinly as she observed the friendly greetings, an expression neither of the Malfoys missed. "Go home, Regina," Emma told her, turning with a new confidence to face the mayor, Lucius's hand hovering protectively at her back. "Everything is taken care of here. You too, Henry. It's getting late."

Henry hesitantly looked at Draco and Hermione then back at Emma. "Maybe tomorrow . . . ?"

"That will be up to Regina," Emma replied with a glance at Regina, who looked seconds from exploding. "But Harry and I have a lot of catching up to do with these four."

"We all do," Newt muttered, Queenie snorting at the understatement.

Emma resisted the urge to smirk. "We'll talk later."

"OK," Henry nodded, finally letting Regina snatch his hand and march him towards the car. "Bye!"

"Bye, Henry!" Harry waved excitedly.

Narcissa clicked her tongue. "She's a charmer," she remarked.

Emma couldn't help it; she threw her head back and laughed loudly, such a genuine laugh that the Storybrooke residents looked at her in awe. "Oh, you have no idea," she crowed.

"We expect a full explanation," Lucius said firmly, using his cane to point from Emma to Remus. "From both of you."

"Yes, milord," Remus sighed in exaggeration.

"Watch it, Moony."

As the adults bickered, Harry took Draco and Hermione's hands, dragging them towards the stand Granny had set up with some of the diner's best goods. "We couldn't leave you there for long, could we?" he grinned.

Draco and Hermione shook their heads. "Never," they spoke in unison.

"Where you go, we go," Draco declared, squeezing Harry's hand and extending his other one to Hermione.

She took his hand with a smile, and Harry felt his magic settle as their little circle was completed. Finally, he was back with the two who felt like missing parts of his very being.

***

How's that for back-up when the going starts to get tough? Draco, Hermione, Lucius, and Narcissa have arrived, and they are here to stay for the rest of the book! We couldn't keep Harry away from his besties for long, and Emma is certainly going to benefit from having her mentors with her.

They need to know what's going on first, though, right? That's what the next chapter will be all about!

***

Hi hi, I wrote this chapter for the most part in two hours, and I have to say I'm proud of myself for it. I was so proud I rewarded myself with couch rotting for a few hours (or at least as much as I could with the terror that is my family) and then my partner came home and I was able to get up and actually do things I felt like doing (a.k.a read a little bit of my book and clean my room).

Anyway, I am tired, and will probably go to sleep in the next couple hours BUT I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Draco, Hermione and the Malfoy's have a lot of catching up to do.

As always, stay safe, stay warm, and stay reading xx