Luckily, Draco remembered where the group meeting room was in St Mungo's because he was definitely, certainly late by the time he arrived. He did his best to hide his wince as he stepped into the room and everyone turned to look at him.

"Hello, Draco!" Iris said brightly.

Jarold looked annoyed.

Jasmine laughed, "Took your time, didn't you?"

"Sorry, I'm late," Draco said. He gave Jasmine a brief glare and sat down in the empty chair between Emad and Jarold.

"We were just about to get started," Iris said. "I made coffee if you want some."

The glass carafe of the muggle coffee maker was half full of liquid so dark it looked black. Iris and Jarold were the only ones holding green plastic mugs; Iris had drunk some of hers; Jarold's mug was untouched.

"I'm more of a..." Draco thought quickly, "Milk and sugar with a little bit of coffee than a coffee with a bit of milk and sugar, sort of person."

Iris sighed dramatically, "Oh, you're one of those sorts. Sometime I will introduce you to a really good cup of coffee. Then you'll know what you're missing."

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Ah. So you're one of those coffee people."

Iris gave him a glare that held absolutely no venom.

"I'll take a coke, personally. Or an energy drink," Jasmine said.

"Does it do anything?" Draco asked.

Jasmine snorted, "They're the only reason I'm not half-asleep right now."

"How are you sleeping now, Jasmine?" Iris asked.

Jasmine slouched down in her chair, "I do it sometimes."

"That sounds like an improvement. You were struggling to get any sleep after your detox, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Jasmine said, "But it's not the same."

"Sleep is sleep, init?" Jarold said.

"No," Jasmine said.

Jarold made a confused face.

Jasmine sighed hugely like Jarold was an idiot for even asking, "I'm not talking about sleep -sleep. It's like... you know, when you just wake up and you just lay in bed, kind of asleep and not asleep at the same time? And your head just feels so..." She spread her hands, fingers grasping after the words that never came, "...good."

"I get a headache if I sleep too long," Emad said.

"That's where the potions came in-"

"Jasmine, let's not," Iris said.

"What? Are you afraid I'll rub off on them?" Jasmine asked.

"I'd rather you didn't glorify your addiction. It may have provided you relief to the pain you were feeling, but it was temporary and fleeting, and none of it would have helped you in the long run," Iris said.

"No kidding," Jasmine said flatly, "I think the self-induced potion coma was a bit of a clue."

"I almost got kicked off the team," Jarold said.

Emad nodded silently.

Draco didn't say anything. And his silence seemed to pull everyone's gaze.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Didn't drinking ruin your life?" Jasmine asked.

Draco shrugged, "It wasn't that bad."

Jasmine glared at him.

"It wasn't that great either, I suppose," Draco said, trying to put some effort in so they would stop looking at him like that, "I slept around, stayed in absolute piss hole flats. I- I couldn't get a job, much less hold one down."

"So where'd the money come from?" Jarold asked, "For the booze and flat and stuff?"

"He's a Malfoy," Jasmine said.

"Since you apparently weren't paying attention, all my parent's assets were seized in restitution for their crimes," Draco said coolly. "I had some money set aside in a personal vault and a trust from grandfather; most of which went to buying my mother a small cottage by the sea."

He leaned back hard against his chair, making the metal creak, "Not that I would have stayed in the Manor even if we still had it."

Jarold blinked, his brow furrowing, "What were you gonna do when your money ran out?"

Draco shrugged.

"He'd get a job," Jasmine said, "If he had to, he'd work."

"How? I don't have my NEWTs, and even if I did, I doubt I could get work outside Knockturn alley. And I look like I dropped out of muggle school before getting my A-levels-"

"But you could get a job," Jasmine said, "Might be shite, but there's always something."

Draco rolled his eyes dramatically. It wasn't anything he had ever planned for or thought about. The future wasn't something he wanted to think about because he didn't have one. Living day to day was just about all he could manage.

"Do you have a job, then?" Draco asked Jasmine.

"It's a bit tricky to hold down a job when you're sleeping twenty hours a day," Jasmine said.

"You aren't now, are you?" Draco said, "So you could get a job."

Jasmine threw her hair back behind her shoulder, "Oh, shut up."

"I see, so you can be a bitch about it, but I can't?" Draco said. "That seems fair."

"I don't get any of this," Jarold said.

"Of course, you don't; your job is your fucking addiction," Jasmine snapped.

Jarold blinked, "What? Nah, I was takin' potions I shouldn't have to get onto the main team-"

"Because you're obsessed with quidditch!" Jasmine said. She looked at Iris, "I'm right, aren't I? He's so wrapped up in that stupid sport that he nearly fucked his whole life!"

"Hey-!" Jarold said.

"It's all you talk about," Jasmine said, "Your dad loved quidditch and taught you how to play. You listened to all the games, watched them, only cared about the war in that it was over before your try-outs. And I bet all your mates were all on your team in school. I bet it's the same now." She finished a bit breathlessly but looked extremely pleased with herself.

"Fuck off, you don't know shite," Jarold snapped.

"Am I wrong then?" Jasmine challenged. "Tell me what I was wrong about."

"I- I have other friends, from school, in my old house," Jarold said, looking put out by his own struggle to refute her.

"Would they have been your friends if you weren't on the house team?" Jasmine asked.

Jarold response to the question was a strange sound in the back of his throat, like a choked growl. His whole face was broiled red, and Draco guessed he was holding onto his temper by a thread.

Draco looked across the circle to see Iris' reaction, hoping she would stop this argument before it got any worse. She was smiling faintly, watching the back and forth, apparently unaffected by the rising tension.

Draco was very affected.

"Do you have a job, Emad?" Draco asked abruptly.

Emad blinked in surprise, answering slowly, "I stock the shelves in my parents shop at night."

"I helped one of my friends, Samuel, cover a few of his shifts washing dishes. It was under the table, but it was the first job I'd ever done," Draco said.

"I had a job washing dishes before we moved to England," Emad said, "It's very tiring."

"I was exhausted, but I thought it might have been because I was trying to stay vaguely sober," Draco said.

Emad smiled faintly, "And what's 'vaguely sober' mean?"

"Drinking just enough to stave off withdrawal symptoms but not enough to get tipsy," Draco said.

"Sounds... tricky," Emad said.

Draco nodded, "I erred on the side of caution and kept giving myself the shakes."

"Not the other way around?" Jasmine asked.

Draco glanced over at her, contriving to look surprised at her interest, though he was mostly just relieved to have shifted the mood. "The other way around?"

"I- Well- You know what I mean," Jasmine said.

"Do I?" Draco said casually.

Jasmine pursed her lips, "I didn't mean it like that."

"So you didn't mean that I'm the sort of person who would put my own comfort ahead of my friend's job? That he needed. That was very important to him?" Draco said.

"No, I just... I meant that addiction can be a powerful thing. We all know that," Jasmine said.

"Sure we do," Draco said sarcastically.

"Emad isn't an addict."

Draco and Jasmine looked at Jarold.

"Well, he isn't," Jarold said.

Iris snorted a laugh.

"How is that funny?" Jasmine asked, sounding sour.

Iris smiled, "I more appreciate the fact that you were trying not to hurt Draco."

Jasmine frowned.

"She didn't do a very good job of it," Draco said.

"Maybe not," Iris laughed. "But she tried."

Jasmine glowered at her.

"We all have to start somewhere," Iris said. She swung her feet under her chair and looked around the circle, "What sort of job would you like to do?"

"I have it," Jarold said. He frowned faintly, "Well, I will. Once I've done this like the coach asked."

We know, Jasmine mouthed with a dramatic eye roll.

"Emad?" Iris asked.

Emad twitched a shrug, "I... I've thought about... but they were stupid ideas."

"Tell us," Iris said.

"I like..." Emad let out a slow breath, "...I like plants. I've always wanted to work in a plant shop or a nursery. Not magical ones, just the normal kind."

"Have you ever tried to find that sort of job?" Iris asked.

Emad shook his head, "My parents need me at the store."

"They could hire someone else," Jasmine said. "There are tons of kids who'd jump at a part-time night job like that."

Emad shook his head.

"Unfortunately, Jasmine is right," Draco said.

Jasmine shot him a glare.

"If it's something you want to do, I'm sure they would support you," Draco said.

Emad shook his head more emphatically, "It wouldn't look- I would look- It wouldn't look right," He gestured vaguely to himself. "I can't- I can't see it."

"You can't see it?" Iris asked.

"In my head," Emad said, his mouth twitching down, "It doesn't fit right. Just..." He looked at Draco, "What about you? What job would you want?"

Draco sighed, "I haven't the foggiest. I grew up knowing, and I mean knowing, that I would inherit the Manor lands and investment interests and all the work that comes with managing them."

"So you never had another dream?" Emad asked.

Draco shook his head, "No."

"Nothing?" Jasmine asked.

"Did you have any hobbies you liked to do when you were younger?" Iris asked.

"That I liked?" Draco said. "No. I didn't do things because I liked them. I did them because it was expected of me, and I had to do well at them." He frowned to himself in thought, "I used to think I liked quidditch, but I'm not sure I ever really had fun playing it. Maybe against the Hufflepuffs."

"You wouldn't have said that when I was in school. They had some wicked chasers during my years," Jarold said.

"Things change, I suppose," Draco said.

"It's something you might think about now," Iris said, "You have your entire life ahead of you."

Draco shuddered dramatically, "Don't remind me."

Jasmine and Emad laughed while Jarold looked pleasantly befuddled.

Iris shook her head. "Well, what about you, Jasmine?"

"What about me?" Jasmine asked.

"What sort of work do you think you might like to do now?" Iris asked.

"Me?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes, you," Iris said. "Have you given it any thought?"

"...Mattress tester?" Jasmine said jokingly.

Jarold laughed. Draco just raised an eyebrow.

"What were your interests in school?" Iris asked, "Did you have any dreams about what you wanted to be when you grew up?"

"How about... the man that drove the ice lolly van?" Jasmine tried another joke.

Iris smiled, "You should try it."

"What? Driving an ice cream truck? That's stup-"

"Not if you want to do it," Iris said.

Jasmine crossed her arms, "Well, I don't. I was just fucking around."

Iris' smile grew, "What do you want to do then?"

"I don't know," Jasmine said.

"In school-"

"I just hung out with my friends. And even though I studied my ass off, I still barely passed. I'm not one of the clever ones," Jasmine said.

"And what did you think you'd do after school?" Iris asked.

Jasmine shrugged her shoulders, "Find a job with one of my mates. I didn't care."

"Goodness, you lot do not want to make this easy for me, do you?" Iris said lightly.

"If it was easy, we wouldn't be here," Draco said.

"True. Very true," Iris said with a laugh.

"You know what you ought to do?" Draco said, looking over at Jasmine as the thought occurred to him, "You ought to get a job with the portkey office."

"The hell I should," Jasmine said.

"The portkey you made me had the smoothest pull on it I've ever-"

"Shut up," Jasmine snapped, sitting forward.

Draco blinked.

"For fucks sake, Malfoy," Jasmine threw up her hands, "They're- No one's supposed to make them, you know? They're restricted or whatever."

"Ah," Draco said, "I forgot about that."

Jarold shrugged, "We promised not to tell. And besides, you wouldn't give something like that to someone unless you were sure it worked."

"Of course they worked," Jasmine said, "I tested all my portkeys on myself when I was first figuring them out."

"I thought you didn't have any interests in school," Iris said.

"It wasn't an interest," Jasmine said sourly.

Iris opened her mouth to ask further, but Jasmine cut her off.

"Ever since the end of that stupid fucking triwizard tournament, I kept having nightmares that death eaters would break into the castle and kill us all. But it was just a nightmare until-"

"Oh," Draco sighed under his breath.

"Yes, oh," Jasmine scowled at the floor, "Then I knew it could happen. I wasn't going to be stuck in that stupid pile of rocks when it happened again. So I got really good at making portkeys. I couldn't slip them through the Hogwarts wards, but I made ones that would drop me right by the road to Hogsmeade, next to the railroad station, and at the furthest edge of the forbidden forest."

"The forest?" Jarold asked with a shudder, "That place always gave me the willies."

"It also happens to be very dangerous," Iris said. "Why there?"

"It's the furthest place away from the castle," Jasmine said. "I always carried multiple portkeys with me, so I could have ported again if the forest was too dangerous. And I remade them once a week so the magic would be strong and stable-"

"I'm sorry," Iris said.

Jasmine bristled, "About what?"

"I'm sorry that the war weighed so heavy on your mind when you were young; that you spent so many years living in anxiety and uncertainty," Iris said.

Jasmine froze, glaring at Iris, her arms tight around her chest.

"Did you have anyone you could talk to?" Iris asked.

Jasmine's fingers squeezed into her arms.

"Like your friends?" Iris asked.

Jasmine shrugged one shoulder, "Everyone talked about it. It was everywhere. Kind of hard to avoid."

"But were you able to share your worries, your concerns?" Iris asked.

"A bit, I guess," Jasmine said stiffly.

"Was there anyone you were close to?" Iris asked.

"I don't know," Jasmine said. She shook her head and threw up her hands, "I don't know! I guess I wasn't that close to anyone."

"No best friends?" Iris asked.

"We were... casual about it. We got on well enough. It was fine," Jasmine said.

Draco shifted in his chair uneasily.

"But you were going to get a job with one of your friends after school, you said?" Iris said.

"It was better than going off and getting a job on my own. It'd have been more fun with some of my mates, you know?" Jasmine said. She looked around the circle, "I'm not wrong, am I?"

Draco shook his head.

"Besides, what teenager do you know that are being all touchy-feely with one another? Sounds fucking weird to me," Jasmine said.

Draco nodded.

"You agree with her, Draco?" Iris asked.

Draco blinked, "...Well, it would be more enjoyable to work with a friend rather than-"

Iris huffed a laugh, a wry smile on her face, "I don't think that's what you were agreeing with."

"What then?" Draco said obtusely.

"I think you agreed with what Jasmine said afterwards, and maybe even with her first statement," Iris said. "Did you have any close friends in school?"

"Of course not," Draco said.

"Of course not?" Iris said.

Draco shifted in his seat, "It's not- I mean, personally, it wasn't to my advantage to have close friends."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow, "To your advantage?"

Draco rolled his eyes, "Really-?"

"Oh, come on," Jasmine said, "Even you have to admit that's a fucked up way to put it."

Draco hesitated. And then went utterly silent.

There was no good way to say it. Was he just supposed to admit that everything they thought about Slytherin was right? That they were all snakes, just waiting to turn on one another? But-

"What are you thinking, Draco?" Iris asked.

Draco blinked, looking up at her, "What?"

"Let us in on your thought process," Iris said.

"Yeah, if I have to share all this shit, then so do you," Jasmine said.

Draco sighed, crossing his legs, "It's like...no one really got that close in my house-"

Jasmine rolled her eyes, but what she said surprised him, "Yeah, well, if you give people too much, they'll fuck with you, won't they?"

Iris looked surprised as well and interested.

Draco nodded, "Yes... I was always careful to keep a certain amount of distance between myself and anyone else because If they found out something compromising about me, they could have used it against me."

"Did that ever happen? To you or you, Jasmine?" Iris asked.

"Merlin, yes," Jasmine said with a sigh, "Kaley was always making fun of my hair even though she knew how much I cared about it. And Lila was always teasing me about my grades. And all the girls started making fun when they found out I snored sometimes."

"What about you, Draco? Did any of your friends ever try to blackmail you or threaten you or-"

"No," Draco shook his head. "Not that I heard anyway. Who's to say what they might have been saying behind my back. I never told them anything dangerous."

"Nothing?" Jasmine said, "They knew you were a death eater."

"You must be joking," Draco said.

"No?" Jasmine said.

Draco shook his head in disbelief, "To use that against me, they would have had to abandon all of our friends to join Potter and his lot. Who didn't like or trust us. And most likely, their family would have been killed for their betrayal."

"They wouldn't have-" Jasmine said.

"They would," Draco said flatly, "He would. I saw-" he stopped bile rising in the back of his throat at the sudden surge of memories. He turned his head, looking fixedly at the wall and trying to will the images out of his head.

"And the risks were the same for you, weren't they?" Iris asked.

Draco blinked, trying to focus on her.

"If you had wanted to turn on any of your friends, the repercussions would have been the same," Iris said.

Draco nodded.

"Even for the Malfoy's?" Jasmine asked.

"Especially for us. Betrayals of any kind were not treated lightly, and the closer you were to him, the more severe the punishment. To make an example of you."

"And so you don't do it again?" Jasmine said hesitantly.

Draco stared at her for a moment before understanding what she even meant. He shook his head, "There were no second chances. The punishment was more about how painful your death was and how many of your family you had to watch die before he killed you. If you were especially useful, he might put you under an Imperius, but you were dead as soon as he was done with you."

Jasmine's eyes flicked down at the floor as if she couldn't make herself look him in the eye.

"I would have thought that you and your friends sharing such dire circumstances would have formed an even stronger bond between you," Iris said.

Draco shook his head.

"Why do you think it didn't?" Iris asked.

Draco snorted, "How should I know?"

"Well, what do you know?" Iris asked idly.

Draco's brow furrowed.

"Why didn't you try to form any close bonds with your school friends?" Iris asked.

Draco's automatic response was to brush the whole topic off, but it died in his throat before he managed to say a word, leaving him without any response at all.

"Were they cruel to you? Like Jasmine's friends?" Iris said.

"Hey!" Jasmine protested, sitting forward, "My friends weren't cruel! They were just, you know, teasing. It was just regular old teasing."

"Did you like it?" Iris asked.

"Well, I mean, I laughed-"

"Did you enjoy how they teased you?" Iris pressed.

"I mean... no. Not really," Jasmine said.

There was a long pause while Jasmine debated saying more. She went on reluctantly, "I especially hated Kaley saying shite about my hair. It felt...." She sucked in a breath, "it felt fucking racist but, but, I didn't feel like I could say it, and she never said anything deliberate like. It just- It felt like it."

"Well-"

"Don't call me crazy," Jasmine interrupted.

"I won't. We won't," Iris said. She looked around the circle, and they all nodded in agreement.

"This Kaley sounds like a bit of bint, if you ask me," Jarold said.

Jasmine snorted, "She was."

"I like your hair," Emad said.

Draco nodded, "It's fucking amazing."

Jasmine smiled, "I know, right?" reaching up and pulling a few of her locks over her shoulder. "...thank you." She looked over at Draco, "So?"

"So, what?" Draco asked.

"Were your friends fucking cunts or not?" Jasmine asked and then laughed at his startled expression.

"...Uh no, not especially. That would be... unacceptable," Draco said hesitantly.

"Is it like a Slytherin thing?" Jarold asked.

"Your school house thing is so- so british," Emad said.

Jasmine laughed hard at that, "God, isn't it?"

"...A Slytherin thing?" Draco said uncertainly. He thought back to the dungeons and the Slytherin common room and- he frowned, "There were other students with close friends, I think. Like the Greengrass sisters and some of the younger students. They were-," he broke off.

"What stopped you from getting close to other students?" Iris asked.

Draco waved a hand through the air, "It was- It was...." he frowned. "...The Parkinson's were ladder climbers who would betray you at the drop of a hat, and Crabbe and Goyle's families were peons and bootlickers; they would be loyal right up to the moment their life was in danger then join the more powerful side. The Nott's thought they were smarter than everyone else, and the Zabini's, everyone knows about the Mistress Zabini-"

"Where did you learn all of that?" Iris asked.

"My father said-" Draco stopped as the realisation hit him so hard it left him breathless, "My father. My mother too. They were always telling me about the other families, who were useful, who to avoid..." He shook his head, "I never would have even thought to be friends with any of them, real friends, not the superficial companions we all played at."

"None of them?" Iris asked.

Draco shook his head.

Jasmine snorted, "Oh my god. It's not that surprising, is it? You're acting like it's the most shocking revelation you've heard in your life."

Draco glared at her, "Fuck off. I knew my family had fucked up ideas about muggles and blood purity and all the shite. But I've never realised they were just as fucked up about our peers. They were supposed to be the ones we liked."

"Did it ever occur to you to make friends with anyone else in school?" Iris asked.

"No," Draco said automatically. But the picture his mind supplied the second after he spoke was of a scruffy black-haired little boy in too big robes as Draco held out his hand for a handshake that never came.

"That sounds like a very uncomfortable way to live," Iris said.

"Uncomfortable?" Jarold asked, "Clothes that don't fit right are uncomfortable; I don't see how-" he waved his hand, "-all that is."

"Not being able to fully share your thoughts and feelings, holding yourself back because otherwise there will be repercussions. It's more a discomfort up here," Iris tapped the side of her head.

Jarold frowned.

"It feels like uneasiness," Iris said, "It feels like... being restless, bored, disengaged or lonely even when surrounded by people."

"Oh," Jarold said, sitting back in his chair with a thoughtful look.

The conversation seemed to mellow out after that. Everyone seemed a little more thoughtful, sharing stories about their life.

It turned out none of them had had close friends when they were in school. Jarold's friendships always revolved around quidditch, and he admitted rather sheepishly that he wasn't all that good when it came to talking about anything else. Emad had some friends in Iran, but they were all muggle, so he never felt like he could get too close.

"Were there no magic families or communities you could turn to?" Iris asked.

"We would go to Hegra a few times a year, it's the closest magical community to where we lived, but I never got to know anyone," Emad said.

"What about school?" Draco asked.

"My parents taught me," Emad said, "They couldn't afford to send me to Chamrosh, the school in Hegra. Only wealthy families send their children there. But I studied hard and passed the exams to become a Magi." His brow furrowed in thought, "...I think you call them Newts here?"

Draco nodded. Jasmine snorted.

Emad shook his head, "So strange."

"You lived in a muggle neighbourhood?" Jasmine asked, "I live in a little muggle village."

"So you couldn't just apparate to Hegra?" Jarold asked.

Emad frowned and then looked around the circle, "You... can't apparate in the greater Persian territories without special permission. All travel is by portkeys that can only be bought through the Hegra Council. Our laws for secrecy are far more strict than the ones here. I would have thought you would know that much, at least."

"Our history of magic classes only really covered what happened in the UK and in Europe. But mostly the UK," Jarold said.

"We learned about some of the major magical schools, didn't we?" Jasmine asked.

"Some," Draco said. "This is the first time I've ever heard of Hegra or Chamrosh."

"I hadn't a clue there was a magic community in the middle east," Jasmine said.

"There are magic communities everywhere. Muggleborns come up in every population, after all," Iris said. "I'm afraid the education system here tends to be extremely western focused."

"British people think they're the centre of the world, big shocker," Jasmine said sarcastically.

"You're British," Jarold said.

"My mum's from Tanzania, and if you think I don't notice the way some people treat her for it, you're dead wrong," Jasmine said.

"Oh, I didn't know that," Jarold said, "Sorry."

Jasmine sighed, looking resigned, "...whatever, it's fine."

"It's getting late, so before we go for the day, I'd like to hear about what you did since our last meeting," Iris said,

"Our homework assignment!" Jasmine said.

"It's not a homework assignment because you can't fail," Iris said.

Jasmine rolled her eyes.

"I asked you all to do something you've always wanted to do, no matter how big or small," Iris said.

They all stared at her silently, none of them interesting in going first.

"Jarold?" Iris said.

Jarold shrugged sheepishly, "I, uh, went to the park for a bit?"

"Is that something you've always wanted to do?" Iris asked.

"It was nice," Jarold said.

Jasmine snorted, fighting back a laugh.

"I always wanted to go when I was little, but I couldn't cause I had too much accidental magic, so I could only go to wizarding places," Jarold said, shooting Jasmine a glare.

"I see," Iris said with a smile.

"It wasn't the same, though," Jarold said, "It's not like I could play on the slides and stuff there, and the parents kept giving me dirty looks when I tried to watch."

"I'm sorry," Iris said.

"S'alright. I know it's 'cause of how I look." Jarold gestured at his large square frame, dwarfing the chair he was sitting in.

"What about you, Emad?" Iris asked.

"I went to this cute cafe and then to the royal botanical gardens," Emad said.

"That sounds like a lovely day," Iris said.

"It was supposed to be," Emad said, rubbing his arm like it was cold. "I tried. But I felt so out of place, and kind of, like you described, uncomfortable."

Iris nodded, "I'd love to see you for a one on one session this week, so we can talk about it more if you're up to it."

"Ooo called up to the professor's office," Jasmine said in a sing-songy voice.

"No. No one is in trouble. I'm here to help," Iris said.

Yeah, the professors said that too," Jasmine said.

"You are a delight, Miss Jasmine," Iris said.

Jasmine made a mock gagging motion.

"What did you do, Jasmine?" Iris asked.

"Started a garden, mostly tomatoes, but we threw a few pepper and pea plants in there too," Jasmine said.

"Oh?" Iris said.

"Yeah. I guess I had one when I was in muggle school, like for a project or something. Most of them died, though," Jasmine said.

"And so you're going to try it again?" Iris said.

"Well, my first idea was having a friend over, but someone-" Jasmine shot a glare at Draco, "-said that was a stupid idea."

Iris followed her gaze, "You helped Jasmine with her garden?"

"Yes, and I got dirt under my nails. It was horrible," Draco said.

"Why was the first idea stupid?" Iris asked.

"Because we weren't friends. So obviously, it was flawed from its conception," Draco said.

"Weren't?" Jasmine said, "Does that mean we are now?"

"Considering what you call a friend-"

"Oh fuck off," Jasmine said.

Draco went on unbothered, "I suppose we are the very mildest of friends."

"What an asshole," Jasmine muttered.

"True," Draco said.

"Draco, you're last. Did you do anything last week?" Iris asked.

Jasmine laughed, "Yeah, tell her about the fishies."

Draco glared at her.

"Fishies?" Iris asked.

"I went to the aquarium," Draco said.

"Very daring," Jasmine said sarcastically.

"I had never been," Draco added stiffly. "I didn't know I had to go out and have an emotionally meaningful experience."

"You didn't," Iris said, "I'm pleased as punch you all tried to do something. Did you have fun?"

Draco nodded, "It was wonderful. Even Po-" he stopped suddenly.

"Po?" Jasmine asked.

"I went with someone," Draco said vaguely.

"A friend?" Iris asked,

Draco laughed, "A friend? No. We are not friends."

That earned him a collection of strange looks.

"It was- He was-" Draco hesitated. "...It was sort of a date. Maybe?"

Jasmine raised an eyebrow.

"There was a look..." Draco said, remembering the Potter looked at him in the jellyfish exhibit, and then later- "and a kiss." He felt his cheeks grow warm as the memory came back to him. Surely nothing would come of it, but it had been... nice. "I've never been on a proper date before."

"Never?" Jasmine asked with a laugh, "How old are you?"

Draco sniffed, "I've had plenty of hook-ups if you're worried about my purity."

"God, no," Jasmine said.

"Looks like you had an 'emotionally meaningful experience' after all," Iris said with a grin.

Draco felt himself blush harder and glared at Iris.

Iris continued to look annoyingly pleased with herself. "Since you are all starting to get along, how about, before the next meeting, you try getting together for an activity, perhaps in pairs-"

"Dibs on Emad," Jasmine said.

"What?" Draco said.

"Umm," Emad said.

Jarold narrowed his eyes.

"What? I told you I'm not the sporty type," Jasmine said. "You and Jarold have things in common."

Draco rolled his eyes, "I don't mind, I suppose. I was an option, though."

"We hung out already," Jasmine said.

Draco snorted. "We wouldn't want to over do it, would we?" he said sarcastically.

"Exactly," Jasmine said sincerely.

Which made them both laugh.

Jarold looked confused.

Iris stood up, "Well, that's sorted, then. Emad, may I talk to you about what time you're available for a meeting?"

"Same," Jasmine, getting to her feet.

The three of them made a little group to talk about the riveting topic of scheduling.

Draco looked at Jarold, "So... what do you want to do?"