Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Harry Potter or W.i.t.c.h.

Chapter Eleven

Quidditch and Confrontations

The first Quidditch match was set for the beginning of October. Slytherin would be playing Hufflepuff.

Will, however, was much more concerned about Taranee than who was going to win the match. She asked Hay Lin and Irma to keep any eye out for anything unusual (without following Taranee), since they were in her house and Will was not. The verbal report they gave back mentioned that Taranee switched between sitting with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott in Defense Against the Dark Arts, instead of trying to sit with them.

One day at lunch however, Taranee sought Will out and asked if she wanted to eat by the lake together, so Will grabbed a sandwich and they sat under the grand oak tree, talking and joking. When it came time for History of Magic, they sat together and passed notes.

It was just like normal, Will thought as she climbed into bed that night, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Taranee had done it to get her to stop worrying about her and that something the guardians had done had hurt Taranee terribly.

The morning of the Quidditch match was drizzly and mildly cold.

Naturally most of the school was against Slytherin, so it was no surprise when nearly the entire school turned up at breakfast wearing yellow and black. Will herself had donned a yellow hat.

"Are Quidditch matches ever canceled?" Will asked Harry asked as they strolled down to the pitch under her frog-patterned umbrella.

"Only that one time in my second year, after Hermione was attacked." Harry answered. "They never really cancel them for weather, like that game I told you about from my third year,"

"The one where you passed out?"

"Yeah."

Will shivered, but not because of the cold, grabbing his hand. "I hope I never meet a Dementor."

"I hope so too."

They huddled together with Ron and Hermione in the stands, watching the Gryffindors flood into the stands. Hagrid joined the Gryffindors, as usual, and Will was not surprised to see Hay Lin snuggled with Seamus and Irma chattering away with Neville. Taranee, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Elyon was commentating again, and Will briefly wondered which team she was supporting, Hufflepuff's clean, generally by the book players, or Slytherin, for the sake of Malfoy, whose team was filled mostly with cheats and, frankly, idiots.

There was a great roar as both teams made their way out onto the field.

Right on queue, Elyon's voice rang out across the stands. "And here come the teams! Hufflepuff is lead by captain and beater Justin Finch-Fletchly, followed by chasers Ingrid Andrews, Richard Harris, and Christine Lasky, other beater Leonard Griffin, keeper Ernie Macmillan, and seeker Melanie Diaz. And Slytherin, lead by captain and seeker Draco Malfoy, followed by his team, beaters Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, chasers Han Chen, Corry Price and Morray Daniels, and finally keeper Ellis Murray."

"Still all boys." Hermione observed.

"Of course, you think Malfoy'd ever put a girl on his team?" Ron replied, although not really rudely.

The two teams met into the center of the damp field, and Justin extended his hand, trying to be sportsman like, while Malfoy ignored it.

"Still hates Hufflepuffs I guess." Hermione observed again.

"'Course he does. Always will." Came Ron's expected reply, adjusting his umbrella to better cover him and Hermione. "Besides, everyone thinks they're useless."

"Lavender doesn't." Will put in. "She's been dating Richard Harris, that chaser with the glasses, since last year. I guess she really likes him."

"They're taking off." Harry said, pointing down at the field, at which point the players disappeared because a large amount of mist rolled onto the field.

"Oh damn!" Came a shout of Irma's voice. "I can't see a bloody thing!"

"Well, sorry folks, but I don't think I'll be able to tell you the scores since I can't see any better than you can. We'll have to trust Madame Hooch to give us the scores." Elyon's disappointed voice sighed over the crowd.

"Isn't there some kind of spell for this?" Will asked, looking at Hermione for the answer.

Hermione shook her head. "No, even wizards can't control the weather. There's generally no magic allowed during a match anyway."

"What about you guys?" Ron asked Will.

"If you're not allowed to use magic during a match, I'm sure we aren't either, be it with our wands or otherwise." Will answered, giving an involuntary shiver in the chilly air, at which point Harry moved his cloak so that it covered both of them.

So they sat for about half an hour, listening to shouts and chattering from the stands, and watching dark shapes zoom around in the air, unable to tell which team they were on.

At last the shapes all came to earth, but not because the game was over, but because Justin had apparently called a time out.

"Captain Finch-Fletchly has called a time out. I don't know why, but as you can probably see, the Hufflepuff team is huddled, while the Slytherins just don't seem to know what to do with themselves over there. What? Oh, I've just been told the scores. Seventy to sixty, Hufflepuff in the lead." Elyon's voice rang out.

A roar went up from the audience, yellow and black banners, flags, scarves and hats being waved from every stand except the Slytherin's.

"Oh good, looks like the mist is clearing us a bit. And the players are on their brooms again, there's the whistle, and off they fly!" Elyon's voice boomed, since she was obviously yelling.

"Miss Brown, are you trying to deafen the crowd?" Came McGonagall's voice.

"Oh, terribly sorry professor, I forgot."

This time they could see the green and yellow robes of the players on the two teams, but they couldn't tell who was who. This made Elyon able to keep track of the score to announce, but she couldn't see Malfoy and Melanie Diaz, which was understandable since seekers were hard to spot even in good weather.

"Wait! There's a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin diving! I think its Malfoy and Diaz! I believe they've seen the snitch! Diaz is pulling up… and does she-? Yes! Diaz has the snitch! Hufflepuff wins, two hundred twenty to one hundred!"

Will, Harry, Ron, and Hermione jumped to their feet, as did the rest of the Gryffindors, cheering as loudly as they could manage, scarves, hats, and flags being tossed into the air, while Will waved her own hat madly.

Students were rushing out onto the field to meet the winning team, Lavender throwing herself at Richard Harris and kissing him (which he didn't seem to mind in the slightest), and Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones meeting Justin and Ernie to get into a four way hug.

Will's cheering faltered when she saw Taranee running up to Hannah, Susan, Justin, and Ernie, and being welcomed into their hug. Will was happy that Taranee had made other friends at school, but she needed to know why Taranee was upset with the rest of the guardians. She would, Will decided, have a talk with Taranee, even if Taranee didn't want to.

"Well, I'm sort of sorry you lost. I can't say that I was completely rooting for Slytherin." Elyon said to Draco.

It was a few hours after the match, and after Draco had changed out of his wet Quidditch robes and into dry school robes, he had met with Elyon at the oak tree on the far side of the lake, the fog hiding them from anyone who might be nearby.

"I can understand that." Malfoy sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "But to lose to Hufflepuff..."

"Hey, Professor Tonks was a Hufflepuff, and I think she's great." Elyon replied, stepping up to put a hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Yeah, well, I've been told to have nothing to do with her my whole life, so I don't know her really well, even if she is my cousin."

"What?" Elyon gasped, her eyes widening a bit.

Malfoy looked like he'd said something he shouldn't have. "Well, I guess you should know. Her mother is one of my mother's two sisters. She was disowned because she married a Mud- sorry, muggle born." He corrected himself when Elyon frowned at him.

"And her other sister?" Elyon asked.

Malfoy paused. "Bellatrix Lestrange."

Elyon froze, her face stiff with shock. That horrid, mad woman? Draco's aunt? But she shook her head and gave Draco a small smile. "Doesn't matter. I still love you."

"I had to make sure, for some reason, is all." Malfoy said, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her.

Meanwhile, Will had a meeting of her own to take care of. "Taranee."

Taranee looked up from the papers spread out the table in front of her. "Yeah Will?"

"We need to talk." Will said, sinking into the chair across from Taranee.

"Now?"

"Now."

"Here? In the library?"

"Here. In the library. You know I don't like giving orders, but this is an order from the Keeper of the Heart."

Taranee sighed, and leaned back in her chair. "What is it?"

"Why are you so upset?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Taranee, I'm glad you have other friends besides the rest of us here at Hogwarts, but lately it's like you've been angry with us, ignoring us. What did we do? You're my friend, our friend, we don't like it when you're not with us." Will explained, trying not to frown.

"It's… It's no big deal."

"Yes it is Taranee. We can't work properly together unless we're together. What's wrong? Whatever it is, we'll do anything to fix it." Will pleaded.

"It's… It's just that you've been spending so much time with your boyfriends. It's like I'm left out because I'm single. I'm not upset about Dean anymore, I'm over him, we're friends now, but you guys are so wrapped up in your romances that you've forgotten about the power we have to take responsibility for."

Will's jaw dropped. "That's what you think?"

"Yes."

"…You're probably right. I'm sorry, and I'll talk to the other guardians if you want." Will replied.

Taranee was silent, not meeting her friend's eyes.

"Taranee, I'm supposed to be your best friend, and I want to be, really. Next Hogsmeade weekend, it'll be just the six of us, no boys, no dates, unless you'd like to go with your other friends." Will tried again.

Finally Taranee looked up. There were no tears in her eyes, no frown on her face, but she was still silent.

"I'm sorry, and I'll bet the other girls will be too when they hear. So, I understand if you're upset, but I don't want you to be anymore."

Taranee didn't smile, but reached and hand out to Will, and Will took it, giving it a light squeeze. "I'd like to introduce you guys, I think you'll like them."

Will smiled. "I'd like that."

"Kingsley, from what I understand from rumors floating around, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, and Miss Granger saw you." Dumbledore informed the auror, but not in a reprimanding tone.

"I'm sorry professor, I was trying to avoid that. Unfortunately, Peeves decided to he liked the spot I was supposed to be watching, and I was in a hurry to get away before he saw me. That is no excuse however." Kingsley replied, bowing his head slightly.

"Not to worry my friend, there is no permanent damage done by this." Dumbledore assured him, rising from behind his desk and striding over to give Fawkes caring strokes on his fiery feathers.

"But some students violated the rule of North Tower being off limits some nights ago. We're trying to find out who." Professor McGonagall put in.

"All is taken care of Minerva, my charm should prevent that from happening again, and keep whoever it was from getting curious and going back." Flitwick answered her cheerily.

"I don't doubt that your charm is fine, but there are still many students who are curious about some of the happenings at the school. Some of the school ghosts have told me that there are students who are curious as to why Nymphadora is employed here when she already had work as an auror and was recently married." McGonagall said, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Oh, please professor, don't call me Nymphadora." Tonks groaned from where she was leaning against the wall.

"I don't think we should worry as of yet. What we should worry about is keeping the whole thing as secret as possible." Snape said from beside the fire.

"What about Sybil? Is there anything that can be done for her?" Professor Sprout asked, clearly sounding worried.

Dumbledore sighed. "She understood the risks. But, unfortunately, I don't think we can do anything to help at this point."

"Professor Dumbledore, if 'Arry, Ron, and Hermione are gettin' curious, I don' doubt tha' they'll fin' some way ta get their questions answered sooner 'er later." Hagrid said, his tone was both worried and held affection for his three young friends.

Dumbledore turned to face his staff and smiled. "That I have no doubt of that. And I very much doubt we'll be able to stop them if they do go looking."

Snape gave a loud sniff that sounded like a suppressed sarcastic laugh.

End Chapter Eleven

A/N: The plot thickens! So, I'm hoping I did a better job on the length of this chapter. I will try to keep them longer, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at doing that. Maybe as I get further in and have more content I'll have longer chapters.

Does anyone know whom I named Lavender's boyfriend (and Hufflepuff chaser) after?