What a horrible day for Quidditch.

"Captain's - shake hands."

Kurt watched as Jesse St James and Oliver Wood stepped forwards, both sporting stern expressions as they shook hands, and then moved back to their teams.

The players rose into their positions, each waiting eagerly as Madam Hooch opened the box. The Bludgers and the Snitch flew out straight away, and she slowly picked up the Quaffle, making her way over to the middle of the pitch and looking up into the mass of brooms.

"Now I want a nice, clean game!" she called, pausing a second to run her eyes over every player circling above her, before bending her knees and chucking the ball high into the air.

The whistle blew. Players shot forwards.

Wes quickly caught first possession, speeding off down the pitch and tossing it to Blaine, who speedily dodged a Bludger aimed right at his head and knocked the ball spinning through the middle goal.

"And Anderson scores! 10-0 to Gryffindor!"

The Quaffle flew up again, with Sebastian and Kurt swooping in and scoring a hat trick of goals between them that put Slytherin up by 20 points.

Blaine squinted through the heavy downpour of rain as thunder crackled sharply in the sky. His robes were already sodden through, and he could barely feel his fingers from the cold, but then he saw it. A brief flicker of gold in the corner of his eye and he watched as Harry shot off up and into the clouds.

"Blaine!" David yelled, garnering his attention back to the current situation. Kurt and Sebastian were seemingly unstoppable.

"Hummel does it again! 70-40 to Slytherin!"

"Shit." he muttered under his breath, leaning forwards and rocketing down the pitch towards the Slytherin chasers. He flew through just in time to claim possession, his hands greedily grabbing the Quaffle from where Kurt had been throwing to Hunter.

Kurt sucked in a sharp breath, tilting his broom sideways and tensing his calf muscles, heels hard again the metal stirrups. He shot forwards like a bullet after the Gryffindor's tail, completely oblivious to a sudden onslaught from above.

A cloud of dark had descended over the pitch, and the air seemed to freeze. Dementors were suddenly swarming round the top of the arena. Kurt felt his goggles ice over, and his foot slipped on a turn. His breath caught in his throat, and he thanked Merlin that he wasn't high up, as he fell hurtling to the ground.

Blaine pulled up to a halt, and his eyes widened as he watched the Slytherin hit the grass. "Kurt!"

The crowd gasped, but their attention wasn't held on the injured Slytherin for long. From high above a mass of red and gold was plunging towards the pitch at speed.

Harry Potter had fallen.

On the ground, Blaine pulled a shaking Kurt up to sit, but the Slytherin's eyes were fixed on the figure plummeting towards them.

The air was thick and tense, and everything suddenly seemed to slow down.

"Hummel!" Jesse marched over, angry and red-faced. "What the bloody hell was that?!"

Blaine tilted his head up to the Slytherin Captain. "What on earth do you think it was? The fucking dementors froze this place-"

Kurt cringed, eyes squinting through the light trickle of rain from where he was curled up on the frosty ground. "Jesse-"

"I swear if you've broken a bloody bone..." Jesse whipped around to glare down at the injured boy, pointing furiously. "Fuck this. Our back up chaser is Berry. You cannot flake out on me at this point in the tournament."

"Hey, quit it St James, he's hurt!"

"Why do you even care, Anderson?"

"Jesse, for Merlin's sake. Just back off. I'm sorry, okay?" Kurt groaned again as he shifted slightly, letting out a sigh of relief as a school nurse would finally push her way towards them. "We won! Why does it matter?"

Blaine stood up and took a step back, both of the boys ignoring Kurt's input completely. "It's called sportsmanship, St James, just in case you've never heard of it. Not to mention, Potter almost died!"

"Since your precious Potter nearly died, why are you kneeling next to my player, huh? Got a crush?" Jesse's eyes glinted with dark humour, and his eyebrows raised as red flushed across Blaine's cheeks.

"Anderson, could you take his broom please?" Nurse Farrow cut across. She helped Kurt to his feet, gesturing for him to carefully cradle his arm to his chest.

Blaine swallowed the lump in his throat and quickly ran back to collect the broom.


"It's broken."

Nurse Farrow checked his shoulder again, shuffled over towards a cabinet, and then once more up to his bed. "Just a fracture. But you should rest for an hour or so, Mr Hummel." Her hands were now moving to wrap his arm up against his shoulder and Kurt sighed, eyes closed.

At that the nurse moved to help Madam Pomfrey with Harry, who lay unconscious in a curtained off bed on the opposite side of the ward.

"Kurt?"

Kurt's eyes flickered open and he frowned as the dark-haired boy slowly made his way over to the bed. "Blaine?"

The Gryffindor smiled weakly. "Is it bad?"

He stepped forwards as if to reach for the Slytherin's hand, then faltered and stepped back again, scratching his neck awkwardly.

"Just a fracture. I'm fine." Kurt replied.

Blaine nodded.

"What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be over with Harry?" Kurt moved slightly in his bed and cringed at the pain in his shoulder. "Your team-mates - ah - will be wondering what you're doing."

"He's got plenty of people crowding round his bed. Besides, he isn't even awake." He shrugged, and suddenly thinking to hell with it, reached forwards to take the other chaser's hand in his. "You don't look okay."

Blaine couldn't help but feel pity for the boy. Harry had certainly taken a worse fall, if it hadn't been for Dumbledore, he could easily have died. But there was a throng of people gathered around Potter's bed, and not a single person had showed up to see if the Slytherin Chaser was okay.

Kurt looked down at their entwined hands for a second, then back up to meet hazel eyes. "It just hurts," he laughed bitterly. "-quite a lot."

"Just squeeze the hell out of my hand if it hurts." Blaine replied, squeezing gently and running his thumb over the pale skin.

He watched transfixed as the boy laughed softly. "Thanks-"

"Drink this down, boy!" Madam Pomfrey briefly moved over to them, carrying a glass of liquid and handing it to Kurt, who had to drop Blaine's hand to take it.

He downed the glass, then spluttered slightly, face scrunching up in distaste. "Urgh, that's horrible."

Kurt briskly reached for Blaine's hand again, muttering something about his shoulder still hurting as excuse.

"Well what did you expect - pumpkin juice?" She rolled her eyes and wandered back to her office now all the patients were stable.

Snorting at her words, Blaine shook his head. "Life would be so much easier if it was all just a goblet of pumpkin juice." He leant forwards to push back Kurt's fringe. "You have mud in your hair, by the way."

"Stupid rain and dirt. Only thing about Quidditch - it's very difficult to maintain looking fabulous." He managed a small grin as he looked up.

Blaine shook his head again and laughed. "You manage it somehow."

Kurt paused, brow furrowed slightly as he gazed up at the Gryffindor. This was strange for him; to be talking so casually, and with Blaine Anderson of all people.

"I'm glad St James didn't come in, he's an arsehole. You'd have thought someone would've come up by now though..." Blaine glanced back to the door.

"I'm not surprised no one's come. Actually, I'm kind of relieved. It's not like I'm that badly hurt anyway."

"It shouldn't matter, you're still hurt. They're your team mates, they should care."

"We're Slytherin's and I'm pretty sure Jesse will have convinced anyone that was originally willing to see me, to not. Not to mention, they'll all be celebrating the win."

"I'm sorry." Blaine shook his head sadly.

"It's fine." Kurt uttered quietly.

A silence settled between them, and after a moment Kurt pulled back his hand, turning his eyes away from the sparkling gold.

"You should go. There's no point waiting with me."

There was a hint of a sad smile on Blaine's lips, and he shuffled a little as he got to his feet. "Well... uhm okay."

Blaine hesitated. He really didn't want to go. He'd seen a glimpse of the boy Kurt could be, and he didn't want to part from him. Scared that by tomorrow, the snarky, suggestive Slytherin would have returned.

Kurt noticed his delay, and spoke softly.

"What happened to the guy who despised me? I'm a jerk, remember? You're not."

"I never despised you." Blaine muttered quietly, crossing his arms. "Plus, you're not being a jerk now. That's got to count for something."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I won't be again. It's kind of a reflex for me." He smirked slightly.

But Blaine just shrugged it off. "I'm getting used to it."

Kurt faltered, no longer smirking as he shifted again in his bed. He was beginning to hate how Blaine managed to make him feel so unsettled, yet at the same time so relaxed. He gasped as he knocked his shoulder again and cursed under his breath.

"Shhh, shh. Just lie still." Blaine reached to very carefully place a hand on his shoulder, barely touching but comforting anyway. "Don't move, you'll hurt it more."

Blaine was frowning, obviously concerned - and this just befuddled Kurt even more so. He still didn't understand why the boy was even here.

All Kurt had ever done to him was tease or crack some stupid rude joke, and then when he'd managed to find out about Kurt's past - everything he was so insecure and scared about, Blaine hadn't uttered a word to anyone else and had been there for him. Almost like a friend.

But they weren't friends.

"Are you hungry or anything? I think dinner should be going by now."

Kurt let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and looked away, feeling slightly dejected but not sure why. "I'm fine."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Blaine. Just... why don't you go back to your common room? I'm sure you're being missed." he said this sourly and closed his eyes tight.

"W-what? Did I do something wrong?"

Kurt couldn't help but glance back at the suddenly worried and confused boy.

"I - I don't want to go back."

"Why?" the Slytherin suddenly snapped. "Why don't you want to go back? Why would you rather be here with me of all people?!"

There was a pause, and Blaine mumbled softly. "Because something's telling me to."

Kurt's eyes widened slightly and then he sighed and let out a groan of frustration. "I'm sorry."

"What is it?"

"I'm just... I'm not used to this, Blaine. I don't understand why you do what you do, why you seem to care so much."

Blaine laughed again quietly. "Hell, neither do I. I just... I can't find myself hating you. And like I said... something's telling me to stay. I don't know what, I just know. You make me curious and interested and embarrassed and unsure and excited... And nobody's done that before." His eyes dropped to his shoes as he finished.

Kurt breathed out softly and with his good hand, reached to take the Gryffindor's in his again, entwining their fingers. "You're not completely alone in that." He whispered like a secret, half hoping that Blaine wouldn't hear.

Blaine's eyes trailed up to their hands, then to meet Kurt's eyes. "I.. I know for a fact I can't make you embarrassed."

Kurt shook his head. "Maybe not in the same way."

Blaine hesitated for a moment then, but moved their joint hands up to rest against his cheek. "You know... you look amazing when you smile. I don't see it often."

"I don't often have a reason to."

"And you do now?" he smiled slightly wider.

"Maybe."

Kurt's hand slid from his and around to the back of his neck, tangling in the loose curls that had escaped their gel. Their gazes met.

"Blaine..."

"Harry!"

The two jerked apart, suddenly realising that they weren't alone. Blaine jumped away and looked over to where it seemed Harry Potter was waking up. When he looked back, Kurt's eyes were cold and distant, and another tall, brunette was stood in the doorway.

"Kurt?" Sebastian said, frowning at Blaine as he stepped closer. "What's this neanderthal doing here? Shouldn't you be over there with your precious Harry Potter, Anderson?"

Blaine's expression saddened, and his shoulders slumped. He spared a look towards Harry's bed, but decided it best to just leave. He couldn't deal with Sebastian Smythe on top of everything else."

"Yeah, whatever." The Gryffindor mumbled. "Bye Kurt."

Kurt didn't reply, and he certainly didn't let himself watch the dark haired boy walk away. Instead, keeping his eyes on the crisp, white bed sheets.

"What was he doing here?" Sebastian asked as he sat in the chair beside the bed.

"No clue. Think the idiot has a crush or something." Kurt muttered bitterly, closing his eyes as he relaxed in the bed.

Sebastian snorted and elegantly crossed his legs. "Cute." he said sarcastically. "Though I suppose he might be a decent fuck."

Kurt only replied with an indifferent hum, not paying the other Slytherin boy much attention.

"You're alright though?"

"Yeah. Well, my arm's broken. But it's nothing they can't easily fix."

Sebastian nodded, and looked once more to the door where Anderson had disappeared. "That's good. Jesse says he wants us all down for practice tomorrow at six."

"Well you can tell him to fuck off from me."

Sebastian chuckled, eyes sparkling slightly as he looked to the pale skinned boy. "I will do so gladly."

Kurt's lips tilted up slightly at that, but didn't speak again.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Hummel. Rest your bones." Sebastian flashed him a grin and patted the bandaged arm, ignoring Kurt's squeak of pain.

"Fuck you, Seb."

"I'd love you to, baby." Sebastian replied smoothly.

Kurt held up his middle finger, and Sebastian laughed again, but finally turned and walked out the doors.

Kurt was alone again.