Harry announced to everyone that he would miss the final game due to detention given to him by Snape and though Audrina wasn't happy they would likely lose, she also felt Harry deserved more of a punishment than that. Demelza would rejoin as a Chaser and Ginny would be their Seeker.

Harry also didn't speak to Audrina nor did Ron. The rumors of what had happened in the common room were varied- some people had said she was only reenacting the duel with Harry; others claimed that she was trying to learn the spell as well. No one brought up the possibility of her defending Draco.

Hermione was a different story. She eyed her carefully and said nothing. Audrina was too tired to worry about her when the match was looming overhead. She suspected she would get a talking to shortly due to the fact that every time she saw the three they bent their heads together and whispered.

"Nervous?" Draco asked her, the night before the match, as she helped him stand out of bed. He was finally being discharged and she had insisted that she help him leave.

"You want us to lose." She said, busying herself sweeping his sweet wrappings into a bin.

"I want you happy." He said quietly and she looked up at his ever pale, pinched face. He smiled slightly then gestured for them to leave. When she entered her dormitory, Hermione and Ginny were sitting on their beds, arms folded. She stifled a moan and slumped against the door.

"What am I going to get yelled at for now?" She asked tiredly and Ginny didn't even twitch.

"Would you save Draco or Harry?" She asked flatly and she looked at her. "Who?" She demanded.

"I don't know!" Audrina said wildly, unsure of what she was trying to ask her. "What are the circumstances?"

"Anything." Hermione said at once. "They're both going to die, who do you save?" She asked and Audrina straightened up to her full height, the hot pit of fury in her stomach growing.

"No." She said vehemently. "Do not play that game with me you two. Do you know who plays that game? Who would you save, Ginny or Draco? Rigel or Ron? Harry or Dumbledore? Don't play that game with me."

"What's your answer?" Hermione pressed and she rounded on her. "Where are your loyalties?" Audrina ripped off her robes and threw them at her.

"Where do you think?" She cried. "I gave up everything to be in this house, Hermione! I gave up my home and parents and best friend and entire family, even a little brother. I gave it all up so I could be brave!"

"So Harry or Draco?" Ginny asked and Audrina turned to her, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"Why can't I have both?" She asked desperately. "Why can't I stand behind one and love the other? I can't help whom I love, you two should know about being in love and him having no clue. I can't stop loving him anymore than you can stop loving Harry, Ginny. He's wound up in whom I am. I could have been like that too, but I had you two. To draw me out of that dark place." She said, thinking back on Dumbledore's words.

"So what do you do when it comes down to a battle and you have to kill Draco to protect Harry? Who do you kill?" Hermione asked and Audrina gave a short, humorless laugh.

"The second that happens, you can call me a Death Eater. Because you know who forces people to claim loyalty to one person and discard all others? Voldemort. And you will always be my family. But I love him. And I would never betray you. But I won't stop loving him because you all don't think I won't walk away if he ever hurts you. Don't make me make a promise I can't keep. All I can give you is the fact that I am a Gryffindor and I can be just as brave." She stood, chest heaving. Slowly, their arms came uncrossed.

"We're worried about you." Hermione said tenderly, reaching for her arm and Audrina shook her head.

"I worry about me." She said quietly then got ready for bed.

Dear Diary,

And there it is. My two worlds colliding into one. Best friends and boyfriends. Blood and love. Family and family. I knew it was coming and I was an idiot for thinking I could keep pushing it off. Actually I'm a lucky idiot because it did get pushed off for so long. They asked me whom I would pick, Draco or Harry. I don't want to pick. I don't want to be forced into picking. I want this war to disappear. I want to close my eyes and open them and everything will be fine and normal. Harry will be just another kid and he'll be making an idiot of himself in front of Ginny and we'll all laugh and the only problem with me loving Draco will be when we play them and someone's house has to lose. Why can't it be like that? Why can't life be simple? And why can't I choose? I've thought so many times, put myself in the situation of a curse flying at the both of them, who I would push out of the way. I can't pick. I know I should pick Harry, that it should be so easy to say of course I should save the boy that is the only salvation we have. He's our only hope. The fate of my whole world is on his shoulders. And yet here I am. I like to think that I'd do the right thing, that I would choose Harry. But the idea of spending the rest of my life knowing Draco is gone because of my actions… That's a guilt I can't bear. Sometimes I think that even if we can't stay together through this, the idea of knowing he's ok would be enough. Knowing he's alive and out there but not mine would be better than knowing he's gone and I could have done something to prevent it. Harry may be the most important man in the wizarding world but Draco is the most important man in mine. For them to make me choose is bad but the fact that I don't know who I would choose makes me wonder if I am really am capable of making the right choice. Isn't that what a Gryffindor does, be brave in the face of danger and make the right choices? I feel selfish picking Draco. I feel like a Slytherin.

-Audrina Carona Black

The day of the match was sunny, with a little wind. Katie, the captain since Harry was gone, looked at all of them with a shrewd eye before nodding her head and leading them onto the pitch.

The crowd was either maroon and gold or silver and navy, there were no other colors. Audrina wanted to enjoy the first real spring day but the fact that her hands were shaking too badly to grip her broom made that a problem. Ginny stood next to Audrina, Demelza next to Ginny.

"It's just like summer." Ginny said to her, without looking at her. "Just rounds, just apples. It's nothing." She gave herself a gentle shake.

"This one's for Potter then." Katie Bell said and they all nodded. "Make it count." She told them and they kicked into the air. Audrina spotted Jace across from her, easily lofting his bat and remembered his promise to only hit half the Bludgers towards her and gulped, then bent over her broom and darted for the Quaffle when the whistle blew.

Not having Ginny next to her was off-putting but Katie and Demelza were more than enough to make up for it. They darted, looped, braked, and dove around each other, determined to redeem themselves from Hufflepuff.

She ducked a Bludger and kicked Jace's broom away from her, hearing his laughter as she caught the Quaffle and zoomed in to score. Jimmy arrived a second later to smash another Bludger out of the way.

Ginny zipped to and fro above them, knowing not to catch the Snitch until they were up at least three hundred points up, a score Demelza, Katie, and Audrina were working hard to give her. It wasn't easy- the Ravenclaw Chasers were all boys and were stronger than them. Katie received a bloody nose but scored the three hundredth point.

Audrina pulled up to see if Ginny had spotted anything and saw her streaking straight up. She saw Cho close behind and turned, practically lying flat on her broom to smash into Davies, forcing him to drop the Quaffle. A starburst of pain above her left eyebrow made her nearly fall off her broom, but the next words made it worth it.

"GINNY WEASLEY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY TO A HUNDRED AND FORTY! GRYFFIDOR WINS THE CUP!" The announcer was yelling but Audrina heard nothing but the chorus of 'Weasley is Our King' and Katie's screaming in her ear as the knot of them sunk to the ground, a pile of brooms and limbs, all crying in joy.

When she looked up across the pitch Jace shaking his head and swearing, fighting his way through a mass of girls to grab Fallon around the waist and hug her tightly. They both glanced back at her and shook their heads. She kept grinning, too happy to care.

She was not quite sure how she made it back to the common room; she was carried atop a mass of gold and maroon students, all singing and cheering. In the common room she was toasted with Firewhiskey and Butterbeer. She was dancing on top of a couch with an equally drunk Seamus when the portrait hole swung open and Harry walked in, clearly stunned by the amount of noise that greeted him.

"We won!" yelled Ron, bounding into sight and brandishing the silver Cup at Harry. "We won! Four hundred and fifty to a hundred and forty! We won!"

From her high vantage point she saw that Ginny running toward him; she had a hard, blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around him. And without hesitation, Harry kissed her.

After several long moments they broke apart. The room had gone very quiet. Then several people wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of nervous giggling. Audrina dropped her Butterbeer on Jimmy's head. Dean Thomas was holding a shattered glass in his hand, and Romilda Vane looking as though she might throw something. Hermione was beaming.

Ron was still clutching the Cup and wearing an expression appropriate to having been clubbed over the head. For a fraction of a second they looked at each other, then Ron gave a tiny jerk of the head and Harry, grinning, left the common room with Ginny.

The fact that Harry Potter was going out with Ginny Weasley seemed to interest a great number of people, most of them girls, but it was a welcome change from the gossip about his duel with Draco. Jace forgave her quickly for beating him when she promised to tell him exactly how Ginny had charged Harry and how Ron didn't speak for two hours afterwards.

One day they were sitting in the library, attempting to study as a group. Ron and Harry were both on speaking terms with her again; apparently winning the House Cup proved her loyalty without doubt. Ginny was deep in thought, reading from a thick history book. Audrina glanced up and caught Harry watching Ginny with a small smile.

"She's my best friend in the whole world." She said softly. He smiled at her, just one quick grin.

"I know."

"And you do know; if you break her heart, I'll break your face. Screw this 'chosen one' crap." She vowed. He burst into laughter. Ginny looked at them.

"Did I miss something?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You have no idea." Audrina said sweetly.

"You'd think people had better things to gossip about," said Ginny, as she sat on the common room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet. "Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest." Ron, Hermione, and Audrina roared with laughter. Harry ignored them.

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail," said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. "Much more macho."

"Thanks," said Harry, grinning. "And what did you tell her Ron's got?"

"A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where." Ron scowled as Hermione and Audrina rolled around laughing.

"Watch it," he said, pointing warningly at Harry and Ginny. "Just because I've given my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it –"

"Your permission," scoffed Ginny. "Since when did you give me permission to do anything? Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean."

"Hear, hear." Audrina chirped up from where she was trying to breathe on the floor. "We all prefer Harry."

"Yeah, I would," said Ron grudgingly. "And just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public –"

"You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?" demanded Ginny, sending Hermione, Harry, and Audrina into another fit of laughter.

Ron wasn't tested too much. Ginny and Audrina's O.W.L.s were approaching and they were therefore forced to study for hours into the night, something she never thought she'd do. Similarly, she hardly saw Draco. They could linger in Slughorn's classroom after potions or try to bump into one other in the library. Even though her friends knew of Draco now, it was a touchy subject. She avoided saying anything around them.

The days got warmer and she noticed Draco spent more time lingering with her, even though he had just as many tests to study for as she did with his N.E.W.T.s. He kissed her forehead long and slow as they took a long walk around the lake after supper.

"You'll see me tomorrow, we have potions." She reminded him sweetly and he shook his head slightly.

"I wish you would promise me that'd you'd keep yourself safe." He said quietly and she looked at him, confused.

"How am I in danger?" She questioned and he just shook his head, giving her a soft kiss.

AN: So many sweet reviews lately, you make me blush! I'm glad you all like it. From here on out, I really like it, so I hope you do too. Let me know what you think, thank you!