Open Secret Spy Stuff

[Freya Song]

Freya hadn't missed the wizarding world at all after her little disappearing act. Nope, not at all. Never. Homesickness had nothing to do with her impromptu trip to the harbour after a year of solidly avoiding anything that had to do with magic. She simply had very important things to do that couldn't be put off any longer, like taking her wand in for a tune-up to make sure it was at maximum sparkle levels. It certainly wasn't because she was hoping to catch a glimpse of one her ex-classmates friends in town to make sure they still existed and hadn't been sent to wizard jail forever or disappeared in a cloud of smoke. That second one was her job. Freya wasn't very sure that anyone would even still be her friend, assuming that was the relationship she'd cultivated with people she'd spent the last seven years with, because she had it on good authority that vanishing without a trace wasn't a great friend move.

She had wanted to write. She'd wanted to do a lot of things. Mostly, she'd been mentally screaming after inviting her brother to see her graduate from the magical school he'd never known existed - and then proceeded to apparate across the country as soon as she'd left school grounds. That hadn't been a very kind decision on her part. Freya was good at running. Less so at the returning part. She'd been keeping busy in her self-imposed exile. Finished muggle school, took on a few odd jobs at cafes and florists while travelling the country and couch surfing with muggles, but none of it eased the ache of loneliness when she thought about what she'd run away from. She didn't know where she stood anymore. Outside the rules and structure of Hogwarts, she had no real plan of what she wanted to do with the seemingly endless eternity that was the rest of her life. But for now, she was fine with sitting on a bench at the harbour and just existing until she had to decide whether to jump back into the metaphorical ocean or quietly drift away again.

 

[Connor Holland]

Even a year past his graduation, Connor didn't know where to start picking up the pieces of his life. He should have things sorted out by now, he should know where he was going, should have fixed the frayed or shattered connections of his school life, should have made new friends and moved forward. And he had managed none of that. He was barely holding himself together, constant anger and frustration and pain boiling and burning below the surface and threatening to erupt and tear him to pieces at all times. It was all he could do to drift from work to school to home and try not to fall apart. He had never felt so alone before, never felt so lost.

Connor didn't spend much time in the harbour but had convinced himself to come out today, just for something to do. He wanted to pick up a book about magical floristry to suppliment his muggle studies, and this was a way to get some air, see people, feel human. It was hardly working - Connor felt like a ghost as he walked down the street, glancing at the real people around him. He was so disconnected that he hardly registered the familiar head of blonde hair the first time he saw it, eyes whipping back to the bench a moment later once he realised who it belonged to. "FREYA?!" He yelped, relief and anger and fear writhing to the surface all at once, snakes fighting for control of his feelings. "Where have you been?!"

 

[Freya Song]

Freya should have worn a disguise. It wouldn't have been hard and she wouldn't have even needed polyjuice for it. She could have hidden away in plain sight for hours and nobody would have recognised her. But, of course, Freya wanted to be found. She just hadn't quite thought through the reality of Connor of all people being the one to stumble upon her. She whipped her head around as she heard her name and stared at Connor, already feeling the automatic nothing-is-wrong smile sliding onto her face as her eyes widened in horror. The lie jumped into her head immediately as she fought to control her panic. Uh, sorry, I don't know any Freya - you must be mistaken. I'm Jane and I'm new in town! Yeah, because that would totally go down well. "Connor," she said, her voice impossibly small. She stood up and took half a step towards Connor. And apparated away.

Apparition was easily the worst magical ability that someone who had a tendency to run away from problems could have. Freya stumbled as she popped out beside a bush a few feet away, lucky to have all her limbs intact, and just out of sight of Connor. Bile rose in her throat and it wasn't just from the uncomfortable landing. What was she doing? Connor was one of the most important people on the planet to her and she was acting as though his absence from her life hadn't been an aching cavern of despair. Ignoring a suspicious stinging in her arm, Freya stepped quickly back over to Connor and tried to look casual. "Right, so, that's a terribly boring story involving a lot of prison gang bureaucracy and undercooked pasta. But enough about me, how have you been?" she asked, injecting her voice with enough false cheeriness that she felt rainbows should be coming out of her mouth. Connor hadn't been doing... great last time she'd seen him, but Freya hoped he'd somehow managed to be deliriously happy and make all his dreams come true, or whatever trite nonsense people did once free from the shackles of standardised education.