Artie had to be sent to St. Mungo's.

The nurse had done her best, but he was too hurt and they didn't stock the required potions and she wasn't an expert on spinal injuries. By the time the Ravenclaw team made it to the Hospital Wing he had already been put in stasis.

Brittany was heartbroken and confused, already sitting by his bed with a very uninterested Santana beside her.

The team didn't linger after they were assured that St. Mungo's would have him right in no time. Quinn thought of stalling by striking up a conversation with Brittany and Santana, but she had no idea what to say, and ever since Beth…well, Quinn and Santana didn't exactly get along.

There was nothing for it, she had nowhere to go but to the victory party, where a certain Slytherin was waiting to badger her with questions and unreasonable demands.

She spent the long walk up to the tower kicking herself for being so damn obvious. Rachel was pretty thick when it came to noticing things that didn't directly impact her, and if it hadn't been for Professor Yeni specifically asking Quinn to help Rachel with the wandless summoning spell Quinn knew she would have been able to escape Hogwarts with her pride and her secret crush intact.

While Quinn knew Rachel well enough to know that she wouldn't be laughed out, or treated harshly, she was also not optimistic. It was well known, at least among the Quidditch players that Finn Hudson had his eye on her. Despite being dumber than a sack of dead flobberworms, he was attractive and had a very good chance of playing professional Quidditch, even if it was just with the Cannons. No one really knew if Rachel was interest in him as well, but people did know that there had apparently been some type of something going on with the current, and very attractive, Head Boy, Jesse St. James. St. James was going places, no one would ever say anything different, plus he had great hair and he was in the Frog Choir, something that Rachel valued above all else. Quinn was too, but she never got solos, another thing that Rachel valued.

No, Quinn could never be the leading man that Rachel wanted and deserved. She felt that she would have eventually gotten over it, if only Rachel hadn't figured her out so easily.

"I'm an idiot."

"That is incorrect."

Quinn looked up with a start to find that she was standing at the entrance to the common room, and she had apparently missed hearing the riddle.

"Er, sorry. Could you repeat the riddle?"

xxx

Ravenclaw tower was filled with food, conversation, and quiet music when Quinn arrived after the rest of her team. She was noticed quickly and given a round of applause from the rest of her house, along with many congratulations and pats on the back. The party was noticeably more subdued than usual, with Artie missing. He and Tina routinely made the rather reserved common room a place of chaos after games. Now Tina was sitting in a corner with Mike, sipping at a Butterbeer and only giving half smiles.

Quinn had just opened her own Butterbeer to morosely nurse at when a gentle hand landed on her elbow. She looked up from the varied snacks on display and right into Rachel's deep brown eyes.

"How about those Eagles?"

Quinn smiled bashfully and looked back down at her Butterbeer. "I've seen better."

Rachel bumped her shoulder. "No need for modesty Ms. Fabray. You're speaking to a Slytherin, remember?"

"Right."

"How's your chaser? Abrams, right? He's the one that fell?" Rachel asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah. They had to send him to St. Mungo's. He broke his spine, but they should be able to fix him up easy."

"Well that's good." Rachel looked around the common room and Quinn took the opportunity to not stare at her. Nope, no staring occurred at all. "So this is a Ravenclaw party."

"Yeah, well, people are studying for O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s so…only the people that actually care about Quidditch are likely to join the festivities."

"O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s aren't for another four months."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "And yet a certain Slytherin sixth year is already studying for them, so why shouldn't that hold true for Ravenclaw students?"

Rachel ducked her head but Quinn could still see that her cheeks were a little redder. "Right."

"I assume that Slytherin parties are a little more…enthusiastic."

Rachel shrugged. "We get a little more rowdy, I suppose. It's just grittier, darker. Your common room is much more airy than ours. Our windows are better though."

"Windows? I thought your common room was underground."

Rachel grinned. "It is, right near the lake, and sometimes we can see the squid swim by."

"Wow, that's crazy." Quinn could imagine it to be dark and somewhat creepy. The Slytherins could probably hear the water moving over and around them all the time.

Rachel hummed and shrugged. "At least you can see where you're walking up here." She took a step closer to Quinn when a fourth year walked behind her, and she didn't step away again. There was less than a foot between them.

Quinn sensed the change in mood by the way Rachel shifted in front of her. She cursed her nerves, and her inability to stop staring at Berry like a stalker all the time. She sighed at her own pitiful obviousness, because really, that's the only way someone as self-obsessed as Rachel Berry would have ever noticed her as anything other than the Pureblood bitch that had harassed her for five years.

"So…about the other day…and the last year…"

Quinn felt a flush spreading over her cheeks. "Yeah…" She suddenly became very interested in the pattern of the blue and bronze rug they were standing on as she braced herself for the letdown.

"You've really changed a lot since…well, you've changed." Rachel shifted again, this time awkwardly. Quinn was just happy she wasn't the only one with a foot in her mouth.

"Since I had a baby, you mean? You don't have to step around the issue like it never happened. I'm quite aware of what everyone was saying about me at the time."

"I'm sorry, I just meant-" Rachel ran a hand through her hair. "Oh bugger."

Quinn smirked. "It's fine. I know what you meant. She did change me."

Rachel laid a hand on Quinn's arm. "I'm just sorry you had to go through so much before we could start to be friends."

"Rachel," Quinn's gaze dropped to the floor, "we're never going to be friends. Not properly."

"I know you're right. There's no way we can be friends, not with the way you stare at me all the time." Quinn's face flushed spectacularly under the accusation, but she said nothing in her defense, so Rachel continued. "I have noticed, you know. I'm self-absorbed but I'm not blind."

Playing dumb was not a talent that Ravenclaw's courted, and that did include Quinn. "I'm sorry."

To Quinn's confusion, Rachel appeared surprised. "What are you sorry about? I'm very flattered."

"Really?" Quinn's left eyebrow rose dangerously. "That's not patronizing at all."

Rachel winced. "Once again, I buggered it up. I just…" she sighed with exasperation. "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me next week? As my date."

Quinn took a halting step back as if struck. She still hadn't entirely understood what had just happened, but it had sent her mind in a mad scramble after some sort of understanding. "I… but…I wasn't expecting…Oh, Merlin. I need to sit down." She briefly registered Rachel taking her by the arm and steering her into an empty armchair nearby. She blinked dumbly a few times and then looked up into worried brown eyes. "Did you just…ask me out?"

Rachel smiled thinly. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"But why?"

"What do you mean why?"

Quinn was absolutely baffled. "What could you possibly see in me? I mean, I know I'm pretty alright looking, but I was absolutely awful to you for years!"

Rachel got down on her knees beside Quinn so that she was looking up at her and very gently took Quinn's nearest hand in her own. "Quinn, you are the most beautiful witch I've ever seen or met," she began with stark honesty, "but there is so much more to you than that. Yes, you were pretty terrible to me for a while, but you've changed over this last year. You're the top of our class, the best keeper in Hogwarts, and you've been a great personal help to me. I'm not the best student, and you're not always patient with me, but you honestly try to help me improve and I know that you would do that for anyone who asked. You're worth all the gold in Gringotts and more besides."

"I'm going to cry."

"Please don't. Just say you'll go with me to Hogsmeade."

Quinn restrained herself from rolling her eyes only because she had to blink away a few astonished tears. "Oh I suppose, since you're so desperate."

"Desperate!"

"You are on your knees, begging me."

Rachel scrambled to her feet and Quinn laughed happily. "Hmph, how very Slytherin of you."

"I suppose you would consider that a compliment."

Rachel glared at her playfully. "You're lucky you're so pretty." She looked as though she was about to flounce off, so Quinn reached up and pulled a squealing Rachel down onto her lap.

"Shut up and give the winner a kiss."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "If you insist."

Quinn was very insistent.