I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

The Family that Chooses You

Chapter 26 – Happier Consequences

"OLIVER WOOD!"

McGonagall's scream was louder than a foghorn and longer than a siren. It held the promise of incoming danger. The fact that it was done without the Sonorous Charm or the magical bullhorn was even more impressive.

Despite being almost half the length of the pitch away from her, Oliver winced. He knew this was a terrible decision. He knew there would be consequences. He knew he would suffer for this.

Seeing how happy his team was, how happy Harry was, made it worth it.

At least he hoped it would be worth it.

He knew any kind of expression save grim resolve would only increase McGonagall's wrath. So he remained where he was and nodded slightly towards her, hoping it would forestall the inevitable. As Deputy Headmistress she could easily stop the game, drag Harry back to the Infirmary, and throw Wood off the team.

Harry flew to her, slower than he normally would, but still sure of himself and his abilities. He was speaking to her but obviously they were too far away to be heard by him. He could see her body language, full of anger, but she relaxed ever so slightly.

Hooch had been holding the Quaffle, gaping at the flying Harry. When he flew to talk to McGonagall she watched with wide eyes and then accidentally dropped the large red ball.

Katie nabbed it out of the air and Hooch blew the whistle on reflex. The game was on.

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief as McGonagall did not stop the game. She still looked quite angry and he imagined she could feel his glare from halfway down the pitch. Instead he just focused on enjoying the last game of the season.

He knew they would not win. Unless the Ravenclaw Seeker made any major mistakes, Harry was not truly up to playing. He was easily staying up, thankfully, and was flying well enough. But Oliver could tell he was still tired and he was not spotting as well as he normally did.

Once upon a time Oliver would have been very upset at that. He used to think Quidditch was paramount and that everything else was secondary. He still was like that in some aspects admittedly but this year he learned that it was not everything. There were more important things than winning.

Saving a soul and having fun were two such things.

He grinned as he watched his team play. He was having fun. Before he only had fun when he won. Now, he was having fun being there with the whole team. Watching them play. Together.

He knew it had been worth it letting Harry play. No matter what was to come, it was worth it.

The Ravenclaw seeker caught the Snitch and ended the game. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia had played an amazing game and for a while it looked like they could carry the team to a win but the other Seeker managed to nab the Snitch in time. However instead of a shut-out loss, it was a close loss.

Not enough to win the Cup but second place was nothing to bemoan. Especially since they were not at the bottom of the Inter-House League this year for the first time in years.

The team landed and Oliver thought that this was the happiest he had seen everyone after a loss.

It did not bother him.

"Sorry Captain," Harry said. "I saw the Snitch a little earlier but I didn't have the height to do a dive to get speed. Couldn't make it in time."

"Winning isn't everything," Oliver said airily, ruffling Harry's hair. "You did good and two out of three are stats equal to most League Seekers. You got nothing to be sorry for."

Harry's eyes went wide and he gulped. "Not even for that?" he asked, pointing past Oliver.

He turned and blanched at the sight of an incredibly furious McGonagall stomping down the pitch towards him. He imagined she was leaving impact craters in the ground behind her as she barreled her way to him.

"Not even that," he said much more calmly than he felt. "I'm sure I'll be sorry, but you've got nothing to be sorry for." He waited for McGonagall to arrive. Despite being slightly taller and much broader than the venerable witch, he felt utterly dwarfed in her presence. "Hello Professor," he said. He tried to channel the Twins and smiled as pleasantly as he could. "Nice day isn't it?"

The smile wilted off his face in the fire of McGonagall's fury.

"I should have you banned for this Wood," she seethed. "Not even a loss of your badge. BANNED!" She shouted the last word and everyone within hearing distance, which meant the entire pitch, flinched. "How dare you have Potter play?! A bed-ridden child? On a broomstick?"

She held up her hand and pointed at the twins. They recoiled from it like it was a wand. "Before either of you mention something about him obviously not being bed ridden, allow me to say that none of you are safe from my ire."

"Excuse me, Professor?" Harry walked up to her and stood in front of Oliver.

"Not now Potter and trust me when I say you are not immune to my displeasure right now."

"That's fine, I deserve it."

That simple admission stunned her into momentary silence.

"I was the one that snuck out without Madam Pomfrey's permission and took advantage of her omission of permission."

Oliver hid a smile with his hands and he heard the twins snort.

"No one came to get me, no one else helped me. No one told me to play. If anything, everyone on the team tried to keep me from playing. I took it upon myself to play because I needed to stand with my team. With my family."

No one had heard him say those words before. They were said simply, without fanfare, without emphasis, without any special inflection. He believed in what he said.

Katie teared up, her hands went to her mouth. Angelina whimpered and leaned heavily against the shorter girl. Alicia looked radiantly happy. The twins wore identical goofy grins. Oliver felt proud of Harry. Proud of his team. Proud of his family.

"They saved me, Professor. In more ways than I can count. I wouldn't have even been in the Infirmary if it wasn't for them." He colored. "Not to say they were the reason I was, but more like I wouldn't have survived to make it there without them," he said lamely.

"What I did was wrong and I should be punished. Not them though. Please."

McGonagall was completely and utterly flabbergasted. She could not remember the last time she felt this way. It was oddly refreshing. "Be that as it may," she said, trying to regain her composure. "Wood should have prevented you from playing. You were not fit to play."

"And maybe I should have waited for Professor Dumbledore that night," Harry said. "There are a lot of things that should, Professor."

The team looked at each other with confusion. McGonagall sighed deeply, a sound that carried the weight of years of memories.

"That's the truth," she said wearily. Her features softened and she sniffed. "Potter, back up to the Infirmary and the next time you leave it without express permission then you'll be in considerable trouble."

She looked at Oliver. "You should have stopped him but I suppose I can see why you allowed it. I will not ban you from the team and you will remain Captain. However, you will have to clean the pitch tonight by yourself. Am I clear?"

Oliver almost gasped with relief. It was a lot better than any punishment he thought would come from his decision. "Crystal," he said.

McGonagall shook her head. "You all are on thin ice. Do your best to stay out of trouble before term ends." She did not have to say 'or else'. The threat was explicit. She stalked away, no longer as furious as before.

Harry wrapped his arms around Oliver's middle. "Sorry," he said.

Oliver wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders and hugged him warmly. "Don't you be. It could have gone much worse. Besides, she didn't say I can't use magic so it won't be too bad." He smiled down at Harry and was glad for a return smile.

"Girls, you take Harry back to Pomfrey and you stay there this time Harry. Hopefully she'll let you go by tomorrow and we can celebrate our last game together as a team then. Fred and George, you guys start setting things up for tonight, no reason to keep the rest of the House from partying and enjoying themselves."

Oliver watched them leave and by the time they disappeared into the castle, the pitch was devoid of others. He groaned a little but did not feel too discouraged. He really was relieved that the punishment was not as bad as it could have been. Still, it would take a long time for him to clean the pitch so he might as well get started.

He had managed to finish cleaning the locker rooms and was starting on the closest stands when he started from a voice. "Dip your hand and flick it to the left, not jab."

He grinned at Alicia, her eyes holding that faint sense of mock disappointment he was so used to seeing from her. "What, more like this?" He did the opposite of what she said and the bubbles were more of a thick foam.

"No, like this." She did her motions precisely and sent a stream of bubbles out, shooting them directly into his face.

He sputtered and coughed but his grin remained. "Ohhh I get it," he said with mock sincerity. He repeated her motions and soon he had a large part of the stands covered in scrubbing bubbles. "Hey that is better, thanks!"

She snorted. "Do you really have to feel every spell literally before you get it? I hope you don't do that for dueling spells."

"Only some spells," he replied. He frowned. "What're you doing out here?"

"What does it look like?" she asked. She started to cover the next set of stands with bubbles. "Helping you. If it was just you, you'd be still at it tomorrow."

"You don't have to do that," he protested. "McGonagall said I had to clean the pitch."

"She never said you couldn't have help."

Oliver groaned. "Oh let's not do the omission thing again. Haven't we gotten into enough trouble?"

Alicia giggled. "You can just accept responsibility again. Worked great for us before." She giggled harder after he shot a stream of water at her with his wand. "I got nothing better to do anyways. Besides," her cheeks pinkened slightly, "I wanted to come help you. What you did was really good Oliver."

He felt happy at her compliment. "What, let Harry do something dangerous and get us in loads of trouble."

She snorted. "Yes. That and you didn't throw anyone under the Knight Bus and you did it not to win, but to play. To get everyone happy. You wouldn't have done that before." She said the last part seriously. "The Oliver I knew was a little different from you now. It's a good change though."

He blushed furiously. He then decided to ruin the moment by shooting more water at her.

She rolled her eyes, not at all bothered by being wet. "Then again, you're still the immature brat I've had the misfortune to know all these years."

"Love you too Alicia," he said with a smile. He noticed her blushing hard as well and chose not to mention it.

The pair worked together well, cleaning industriously. The work was sped up considerably and Oliver hummed a happy tune as they worked. As he sent jets of water down the stands, washing the seats, he noticed bundles of trash floating down the steps. He saw Alicia continuing to cover the surfaces with bubbles and they both watched as the trash moved as if on their own.

They moved to the edge of the stands and looked down. Angelina had her wand out, levitating the bundles of trash into a large pile. Katie was doing the same with the bins, making them float and pour out their contents into other bags.

"You two as well?" Oliver asked, surprised but pleased.

"We would have come out sooner but this one was hungry," Angelina said, nodding at Katie.

"I didn't eat anything earlier because I was worried!" Katie stuck her tongue out at the tall girl. "You ate too!"

"Don't make me throw this at you," Angelina warned. The bag of trash hovered menacingly over her shoulder.

"Let's not make more of a mess for us to clean," Oliver said with a laugh. "Thanks, I appreciate it girls."

The pair nodded and continued to work, joining in with Oliver and Alicia. Soon they had half the stands completely cleaned. After a quick break they moved to the next set.

"Did we already do this one?" Alicia asked, eyes narrowed as she looked at the gleaming seats.

"I don't think so, I started on the ones next to the locker rooms. Did you two?" Oliver asked. He frowned as Katie and Angelina shook their heads. "Huh. How'd this happen?"

A flicker of movement caught Angelina's eye. The long flags that decorated the front of the stands fluttered with the light late afternoon breeze. Except one was fluttering against the breeze, unlike the others. She walked over and flicked her wand, sending the flag up.

Fred and George stood in place, somehow looking like animals caught in the light unexpectedly while simultaneously looking like they belonged there. "Ladies," they said at the same time.

Oliver arched a brow.

"Ladies and Wood," they amended, still speaking together.

Oliver shook his head. "What happened to preparing for the party tonight?"

"Oh that's already done," Fred said airily.

"But then we decided that we can't party without all of you," George said pithily.

"It's bad enough we lost Harry to the Medical Ward."

"And we wouldn't feel right partying while you were cleaning all by your lonesome."

"Then we saw you weren't by your lonesome."

"Which made us lonesome so we decided to join you."

"Besides, cleaning is a lot easier with magic, let me tell you."

"So we haven't minded a bit."

"You clean without magic?" Alicia asked surprised.

"Our mother makes us. Something about learning how to do things by hand builds character," Fred snorted.

"Personally, I think she hopes to exhaust us, which is rather rude and rudely accurate."

Oliver smiled. "Well, thanks, I really appreciate it. Let's see how much faster we can finish things up."

Between the six of them they cleaned the rest of the stands in good time, joking and chatting but focused on the task. They finished with the grounds and soon that left just the field itself.

"You know, I've never wondered how you clean the poles typically," George said thoughtfully.

"A really long mop?" Fred suggested and everyone sniggered at him.

"We better figure something out soon," Wood said wearily. "Or else it'll be proper nightfall." Someone handed him a cup of water and he accepted it gratefully. "Thanks Harry."

He dropped the cup and Harry caught it before it fell to the ground.

"Harry!" Wood shook a finger at the smiling boy. "Oh no, not again! You're not getting me in trouble again Potter!"

"Calm yourself Wood," McGonagall said with a faint smile of amusement. She stood behind Harry and the rest of the team looked at her with alarm. "For once, today, Potter has permission to be here. I was summoned to the Infirmary and Potter made a rather impassioned plea to aid you in your punishment." She looked at the rest of the team. "Apparently he thought it was a team exercise instead of a singular one."

"And you believed him?" Wood said, even more surprised.

The professor's eyes were warm as she watched Harry give cups of water to the rest of the team. She saw how they received him, how they truly looked like they cared. "He made a bet with me."

"And you took it?" Oliver did not think he could feel any more surprise that day.

"It seemed like a safe bet to make. Yet I made the same mistake that many do. Never bet against a Gryffindor when they stand together. Loyalty is not just a Hufflepuff trait." She gave him a considering look. "Truth be told, I did not expect you to clean everything. I was going to come out around this time anyway to let you go. The fact you and the team did so much is impressive."

She looked at him fully, seriously. "You have created an incredible team, Oliver. In all my years of being Head of House I have never seen the like. You are a fine Captain." Her look turned grim. "That being said, if you ever allow something like this again-"

Oliver held his hands up. "No arguments from me Professor."

"Good." She smiled faintly. "Do not worry about the rest, it will clean itself overnight."

The team cheered.

"Alright, now we can party without any worry. You coming, Harry?" George joked. He paled at the look McGonagall gave him.

"I better escort Potter back to the Infirmary before he is waylaid. Come along Potter." She began walking back to the castle.

"Don't worry Harry," Oliver said to a crestfallen boy. "We'll celebrate our last game together tomorrow when you leave the Infirmary."

"Harry!" Fred hissed. When the boy looked at him, Fred made a hand holding motion with one hand and opened his eyes theatrically. He looked pointedly at McGonagall.

The young boy ran to catch up to the older witch and took her hand in his. When she looked down at him with surprise he opened his eyes wide like Fred did. "Thank you, Professor," he said.

"Oh! I, uh, you're welcome, Potter." She was clearly surprised and mildly embarrassed, as made evident by red cheeks. However, she did not try to pull her hand away. If anything, she slowed her pace, letting the boy walk more easily.

George and Fred covered their mouths with their hands to muffle their laughter. Angelina smiled from ear to ear but that did not prevent her from smacking Fred on the shoulder. "Fred! You trying to get him into more trouble?"

"Nah, he's fine. After what he said earlier, he can get away with anything," he replied dismissively.

"Let's get back to the tower before we somehow get into trouble again," Oliver said as he began to herd them back to the castle.

Angelina satisfied herself by pushing the twins bodily along, chuckling at their grumbling. She then waited for Katie to catch up. There was no mistaking the happiness in the younger girl's eyes, the simple joy.

"You look pleased with yourself," Angelina teased.

"I'm happy," Katie said. "You heard him, he called us his family. He willingly did."

"All thanks to you," Angelina said, wrapping an arm around Katie's shoulders.

"Please. We all helped him together."

"But you're the one that saw him need it first. I'm glad you did."

"Me too."