Even though Professor Kale's prediction of- "Umbridge, A teacher of none shall soon get her comeuppance when the holes she poked form as one before Hallows' eve." Hadn't seemingly come true to mere by standers, (Placing a giant, ugly toad like smile on the beast in pink's face when Halloween passed with little fanfare.)

It was clear that something had changed a little despite the upcoming Quidditch game of Gryffindor and Slytherin making the usual tense air between the two houses sky high.

Ravenclaws and Slytherins were heard arguing or bickering about some potion or historical figure in magical history and lore, which most people would write up as the two usually neutral houses of brain and smarts finally feeling a bit bolder to have semi private but oddly loud arguments or battles of wits in public spaces.

But according to Selvis and Luna it was because a couple Slytherins and Ravenclaws realized that the other party was good for having logical debates with proof. Something they only did with their own house and didn't dare drag the Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs in since they were a bit more 'emotional' in planning or fell a bit short for their standers.

The loud 'arguments' were merely debating with both sides happily heated to prove the other wrong or prove a different point. Hufflepuffs were actively seeking out Gryffindors to have debates of their own with or for some friendly chatting since they shared classes with them a lot more frequently than Slytherin and Ravenclaw students did.

Granted, the Gryffindors would probably never get on slightly better terms with Slytherins given their long and almost bloody history but Ness wasn't expecting miracles to happen in a month after all. And he doubted they would make up over this.

Not when there was going to be careful planning and underhanded tricks to undermine Umbridge and the Ministry to open everyone's eyes that they were all in danger and needed to come together. Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were people-persons who would work together to ensure everyone's safety, which they didn't need now.

But for now, the small changes that were happening were good. Even if Ness was convinced the small changes would go away once the Quidditch match of Slytherin versus Gryffindor happened. He knew how intense sports matches could get. He'd seen the reports and news clips of fans from other teams having bloody brawls or doing the dumbest things ever before and after games.

And it was a no brainer that everyone was pumped for the first game of the season since on the big day Ness was greeted to a sea of red and gold choking a small selection of green and sliver.

"Dang…I feel like grabbing a Slytherin scarf just to help them out." Ness noted, rolling his eyes as a couple Gryffindors shot him looks of horror for the very idea. Then again, the Slytherins looked content with their badges reading—Weasley is our King—that didn't sound very promising for today's game.

"Well…a lot of people hate Umbridge." Ginny pointed out, looking a little torn as she tapped a Gryffindor themed bracelet she had gotten from a knit happy Ravenclaw. "And she was a Slytherin."

"A toxic one." Ness grumbled, noticing a tactical glint in the toad's eyes as she ate her breakfast. Hinting that they would be dealing with more than just school sports drama if she had her way.

Ginny nodded in agreement and resumed eating, only stopping when Luna proudly walked by wearing an array of sliver and red. Purposely mixing the colors of Gryffindor and Slytherin to show that she supported both and didn't care what anyone else thought. A couple Quidditch players looked startled by the bold display but didn't say anything as she walked toward her table.

It was sort of nice to see a couple Ravenclaws steal a couple pure sliver bracelets off from Luna.

A sign usually saw as cruel or mean given Luna's status among her brethren, but each Ravenclaw that did it purposely flashed their simple bracelet to the Slytherins, as if to say 'you might be the better option' since there was no way they could outright say they wanted Slytherin to win or wanted them to put up a good fight.

Not with Umbridge getting suspicious and breathing down all their necks.

Hufflepuff students stole some as well, although it was mostly Gryffindor colors since they were still uneasy with the Slytherins but again, it was nice to see.

"Good luck." Ness offered as the Quidditch teams stood up almost as one and filled out to the stadium to prepare. "We'll need it." Ron muttered, looking a bit grim as Harry and George patted him on his shoulder, silently telling him to cheer up.

"I completely forgot that Ron is now playing Quidditch." Ness admitted, grinning when Ginny shot him a look, "Of course you would. You're still fussing about hurricane weather!"

"Not my fault this sport is insane."

Ginny rolled her eyes and resumed eating breakfast. The walk to the stadium was filled with the thankfully normal, brisk winds of November and the smell of fall leaves lingering in the air. Luna was still wearing an overabundance of red and sliver while Selvis was studying the clouds.

Barely paying attention to the path in front of him and Ness playfully teased Ginny about there being a freak hurricane. "Selvis! Please tell Ness that this is not hurricane weather!" Ginny finally pleaded, throwing him a hopeful look as Selvis snapped out of his daze.

"Hmm? Oh, Ness stop being an American idiot."

"Hey! I didn't know you listened to music!" Selvis blinked then looked at him in disbelief, "You have a song called American Idiot?"

"Yup! It's pretty good."

"What is wrong with your country!?"

"Apparently, everything!" Ness replied, grinning as Selvis buried his face in his hands while Luna hummed, "You walked right into that."

"Oh, shut up walking billboard." Was Selvis's reply, earning a round of good hearted laughter before they stepped into the stands, prompting Selvis to abruptly stop and look at Ginny, "Try not to get too offended."

Prompting her to frown, "What would I get offended about?"

Selvis just gave an uneasy, "You'll see." Before he moved forward, leading them to the lowest bench of the Hufflepuff stands since they doubted the Gryffindors or Slytherins would be pleased to see a mix of houses in their stands. Not when the tension tangible in the air as Lee Jordon started to talk and comment on the weather.

"Why couldn't we get a different loud mouth idiot." Selvis bemoaned, "I would even take Ness!"

"No, you wouldn't. I'd just say stuff about people on brooms."

Selvis threw him a look before throwing his hands up, "Fine, I'd take Ginny and her lackluster amount of Qui-,"

"Selvis I play Quidditch with my brothers at home. I know lot more than you do."

"Fine, Luna-,"

"I read books." Luna interrupted, grinning as Selvis gave up and folded his arms with his usual huff of annoyance. Soon, the two teams stepped out into the cold November sun from their locker room. Electing deafening cheers from everyone as Ness leaned back and studied the sky before pulling out his logic defying Gameboy to play some Pokémon Leaf-Green.

He wasn't a fan of Quidditch. It was nice to look at, but he'd rather be at a baseball game or just chilling in the library waiting for his friends' cliff notes of what happened. That's pretty much what he did during his first year of 'school' if Ginny didn't drag him outside to watch.

"Maybe I should have brought a book to read…" Ness thought as the teams kicked off in a blur of red and green and shot into the sky and his Eevee tackled a wild Meowth. "Nah…Selvis or Ginny would steal it from me and force me to watch…I wonder if this how Dad felt when he took me to official games. Tracy probably felt it as well-,"

A loud chorus of song filled the air, prompting Ness to look up from the dimly lit screen and see Harry just floating in place, watching Ron who was growing incredibly flustered about something as he moved to throw the ball into one of the many giant hoops blocked by a bulky Slytherin Goal Keeper.

"What's going on?" Ginny shot him an incredulous look and pointed to the Slytherin side of the stands, the chorus of song downgrading into lyrics once he paid attention.

"Ah, good old peer pressure." Ness realized, flinching as Ginny elbowed him for his easy-going smile, "This is serious Ness! There verbally harassing him!"

"But it's sort of true." Selvis muttered, inching away from Ginny as she shot him a glare. "It's sort of catchy…Didn't know snakes could sing." Luna mused, but thankfully she looked a little uneasy at the lyrics of 'Weasley is our King' to avoid Ginny's wrath.

"Why didn't you tell me they were planning this?!" Ginny demanded, shooting daggers at Selvis who cringed but managed a small shrug, "Since it would have made it worse. Besides, I asked you not to get too offended."

"Ginny chill," Ness tried, flinching as she turned her glare on him, "Yes it's not cools to mock Ron but this is a sport. And when people are playing a sport with super passionate fans someone will get hurt. For now, we should be glad that none of the Gryffindors have started blasted the Slytherins for singing."

"It wouldn't work. Everyone's been wearing reflective charmed bracelets once the candles started jinxing people." Selvis muttered. Ginny huffed and grumbled some more but swallowed her complaints, opting to yell at Ron to ignore them and start a chant of her own. Creating a howl of discord as the Hufflepuffs picked it up, passed it to the Gryffindors who roared their support.

"Aw geez," Ness mumbled, curling in a little to try and muffle the roar of song and words flying overhead, "We're going to have a brawl once this is over."

"In our defense, this is considered normal Slytherin behavior." Selvis offered, "Plus! This is a lot better than the dementor fake attack!"

"He has a point." Luna agreed.

"Sadly." Ginny growled, slumping a little in defeat before she resumed cheering for Ron. Who got even worse with people yelling at him to ignore the Slytherins and not to worry as the Gryffindor players moved to pick up Ron's slack to try and give him time to catch a mental breather.

"He was not ready for this." Ness commented as Ron fumbled the ball and dropped it into an almost waiting Slytherin player's hands. The boy's face heating up to a shade of red even brighter than his hair before it faded into a pasty white. "Well, at least they'll know to work on stage fright next time." Selvis muttered, flinching when Ginny elbowed him and increased her cheering.

It was a godsend when Harry snatched the snitch from under Malfoy's nose and held it up in the air, looking utterly relived and ready to collapse as everyone minus Slytherin jumped to their feet and gave roaring cheers of delight.

"Well, this was slightly better than the Hurricane match—ow! Fine!" Ness rubbed his shoulder as Ginny moved to run out onto the field, probably to tell Ron he did a great job despite the jeering and mockery he had to endure. "…Should I hide?" Selvis asked, looking reluctant to join Ginny on her quest as Luna chased after her, mumbling something about keeping an eye on her to prevent a fist fight from breaking out.

"Maybe? I'm not really sure." Ness offered, "Remember, I live in America, where jeering is the least offensive thing a sports fan could do."

"What's the worse?"

"Physically attacking the player after the game ended or the winning teams' fans. Police have started patrolling stadiums during sport seasons just to be safe."

Selvis blinked before burying his face in his hands, "When it comes to sports, we're crazy." Ness solemnly offered before he decided to go join Ginny who was chasing after a dejected looking Ron as Team Gryffindor squared off against Team Slytherin, their celebrations shifting into a ticking time bomb of violence.

His casual smile faltered a little when he saw just how bad it was. The girls and a couple of the boys of Team Gryffindor were holding Fred and George back as Harry hissed at them to ignore Malfoy—who was wearing a gleeful sneer on his face as he resumed his trash talking—goading them into attacking him.

"Yea…he and Porky would be great friends-," Ness started when he realized something, Malfoy acted a lot like Porky, personally going out of his way to antagonize Harry and his friends while seeming above them. He could dish it out, but he couldn't handle the backlash. And Harry wasn't one for playing nice when his friends and family were verbally antagonized. He also wasn't known for thinking through anger.

"Harry!" It happened in a rush of motion-yet oddly-slow motion as Malfoy's eyes widened in realization that his little game was going to reward him with pain as Harry flew forward, his fist forming as he moved for Malfoy's stomach.

Pure chaos erupted after that. He wasn't sure what exactly happened as he jumped in front of Malfoy to take the blow. Time slowed down for a bit, the world fading into a mess of chaotic greens and blues as Harry stood in front of the colorful mess.

Looking enraged and unfocused as his fist slammed into Ness's stomach. It didn't really hurt thanks to his well-rounded natural defense but the action was enough to trigger a bunch of warnings as he grabbed Harry's wrist.

"Harry chill! He isn't worth it!" Ness yelled, fighting back a wave of nausea from the background. That never happened before, what was going on?

"He—Is going to pay!" Harry snarled, looking momentarily confused at how Ness, a boy younger than him was able to be pushing against him and attempting to lock his arm behind his back.

He briefly heard someone yelling a spell, a flash of yellow missing its' target then a cry of "George!" as an orange blur clipped through the swirling mess of blue and green. "Well this is going to be fun."

Thank goodness his PSI had built him like a healing tank, it allowed him to be a bit more forceful and reckless when taking enemy blows for his friends. It also allowed him to shove Harry back toward someone trying to pull him off and tackle George to the ground.

Now for the not so fun part about being a healing tank. He was slower, which meant he was always going to be attacked first instead of the other way around.

Which was how he received a knuckle sandwich straight to the face served with an angry, "Get off!" from George. "Not until you calm down!" Ness retorted, feeling a headache coming on as he struggled to keep George to the ground. "All you're doing is proving that he's right! Do you really want that?!"

Apparently yes, since he got another knuckle sandwich. Thank goodness wizards were naturally weak, at this rate he was going to get a broken nose as he gave up being nice and started to wrestle George to the ground.

"Stupify!" a cold numbing sensation ran down his spine as he suddenly found himself unable to move, his arms locked around George's chest in a bearhug as he tried to breath.

"Alright, someone stepped in to help. Cool, no need to worry—," Panic interrupted his attempts to calm down, screaming at him to heal himself as his vision began to blur.

"Notsafenotsafenotsafenotsafe!"

The background grew agitated, the blues and greens slamming into one another as a sickly green began to appear from the mess of color. "Notsafenotsafenotsafenotsafenotsafe!"

Was he seriously going to have a panic attack over a provoked battle right after the Quidditch match? Alright, just focus on breathing and then using Healing—

"Can't breathe. I can't breathe!" Yelling, everyone was yelling. Why? Was he doing something again? He didn't feel like doing anything, so hopefully it wasn't that. Was Harry and George still trying to murder Malfoy?

Was he okay? Even if the guy was a Porky 2.0 or maybe 0.2 he didn't deserve to be beaten to an inch of his life. Just a serious detention for provoking the Weasleys' and Harry and also underhanded playing tactics. Although that last one might be harder to get him on since every Slytherin was singing it.

The yelling was growing a bit louder, or maybe that was just him trying to push pass the loud heartbeat banging drums in his ears. He was fine, this was just a small setback and—

"Notfinenotfinenotfine!"

-he just needed to freaking' BREATHE before he blew something up. Alright, he could blink now. Good, now he could see what was going on and try and stand up—

NOTSAFENOTSAFENOTSAFENOTSAFE

In his defense. Waking up to see Umbridge standing off in the distance with that sickly-sweet smile aimed at Harry and George who were covered in grass and bruises from hopefully their scuffle with him was terrifying and made him forget how to breath.

That meant she had an edge over them. That meant she had control. That meant she was winning.

Madam Hooch looked beside herself as she tried to regain control in-between spitting fire at the two boys who were gritting their teeth.

"Madam Hooch, we can take Ness up." He jumped from the sudden touch but relaxed when he saw it was Selvis. The boy shot him his best reassuring smile before he pulled him to his feet, "Er, just focus on breathing." He offered before he glanced at Malfoy who looked a little sick.

"Wha-," George started when Fred moved to say 'We'll take him' only to be shut down by Madam Hooch. "Even though I am appalled by your three's behavior, this is Ness's decision to go with Karma and Malfoy."

"I'm fine with that." Ness managed, trying to give Harry a reassuring smile. "Good, as for you Potter, Weasley, up to the Headmaster's office!"

"But what about Malfoy-," Harry started to protest when Madam Hooch blew her whistle and pointed angrily toward the Headmaster's tower. Killing the argument as Selvis and Malfoy moved to lead Ness to the Hospital Wing.

The walk was tense, with Selvis's muttering of Ness being an American git filling the air as their footsteps echoed in the empty castle.

"Why'd you do it?" Malfoy jumped a little, clearly not expecting Ness, who had been focusing on counting the stone tiles in front of him to speak up.

"Do what?" Malfoy questioned, either trying to play dumb or still shaken from whatever had happened during his little freak out.

"Provoke them. Surely you knew what would happen by adding those last few comments." Ness looked up, meeting the boy's eyes.

"I have my reasons," Malfoy huffed, forcing a scowl onto his face, "Why did you feel the need to defend me?"

"Because he's an American git." Selvis supplied, rolling his eyes as Ness nudged him, "I wanted to defuse the situation. All I saw was you being a sore loser and the twins about to strangle you. Which you sort of deserved, but not by two people."

"So, it was for your own benefit?"

"Dude. I just wanted to stop Fred and George from proving the joke that Gryffindors punch first, ask questions later."

"And you failed." Selvis deadpanned, shooting him a scolding glare, "Next time, just use your 'magic'."

"And get a headache? No thanks." Ness replied before he turned back to Malfoy, "So, seriously. Why'd you do it? You seem like a smart kid, so why go and kick the already agitated bear when you'd lost?"

"Bear?" Selvis asked, frowning when Ness jokingly defended himself,

"Hey. George has a nasty swing. He felt like a bear."

"You've fought a bear?!"

"I've fought a lot of bears."

"What the he—What is wrong with you?!"

"Apparently, everything." Ness replied, laughing as Selvis facepalmed and mumbled, "He's fought a bear. Oh, my stars he's FOUGHT a bear!"

"And won."

"Of bloody course you did! What next? Did you fight a wolf!?"

"Yes, and a buffalo, and a coyote and-,"

"It wasn't a real question!"

"Oh. Sorry."

Selvis threw his hands up and looked at Malfoy, "See! This is why I told you to stay away from him! He's crazy!"

"I love you to Selvis."

Malfoy merely blinked before giving a small nod, allowing Ness to resume his pestering, "Was it because you outright hate Harry for some reason?"

"Every Slytherin does." Selvis deadpanned, "They just try and make him tolerable to deal with."

"Why?"

"Status." Malfoy answered, flinching when Ness focused on him again. "You know his title—'The boy who lived'—He earned it by doing nothing and can just—toss it around and get away with pretty much anything!" He quickly blushed in embarrassment when he realized his oddly emotional outburst and looked away.

Accidently giving Ness a small puzzle piece that a certain backstabbing friend had created. He should ask Selvis about it later but for now…He should play it safe.

"So…are all Slytherins obsessed with status or is it just a couple people?" Ness asked.

"Status is everything." Sevlis answered, standing up a bit straighter, "We're the next generation of cunning business people with a lot of connections."

"Right, almost everyone in your house is rich." Ness recalled. Another puzzle coming together as he glanced at Malfoy, "So, you did it out of jealous?"

"I don't get jealous Mudblood." Malfoy sneered.

"Then why did you create a plan revolving around provoking Harry and the twins?"

"None of your business."

"…I'm totally right-,"

"Oh look, we're here!" Selvis chirped, interrupted his questioning session as Malfoy took this as his cue to leave. "Madam Pomfrey, Ness had a panic attack and got beat up a little."

"Do I dare ask how?" Madam Pomfrey asked, ushering him over to a hospital bed to check over him.

"I was trying to stop Harry and George from murdering Malfoy, who sort of had it coming." Ness explained, trying not to flinch when she brought out her wand to heal his bruises. He was alright, he was fine.

"And the panic attack?" Ness suppressed another flinch as Selvis answered for him, "Madam Hooch tried to stun George and ended up hitting Ness. We think it's because of his close encounter with…you know, that he freaked out."

Madam Pomfrey hummed in acknowledgement before putting her wand away and handing him a piece of chocolate, "Come back if you feel dizzy or sore." She instructed as they left the hospital wing and hurried to their club house.

"…So…did anything happened while I was out?" Ness asked, nibbling on his chocolate as Selvis looked out the window. "Er…"

"What did I blow up this time?"

"Nothing, you just…" Selvis hesitated before practically spitting what had happened, "She reversed the stun but you weren't moving, you were just, frozen, your eyes squeezed tight from expecting another punch to the face. If you hadn't started to shake from lack of air I was sure you would have died."

"Was that why Malfoy looked so…off?"

"I think so." Ness glanced at Selvis in surprised. Given how sneaky Selvis was he expected him to be a bit more aware of his housemates' emotional states.

"We don't talk a lot." Selvis deadpanned, "I rarely talk to people, I just—listen."

"Why? They seem to listen to you when trouble happens."

"Do you, er, remember what my parents do for a living?" He slowly nodded as Selvis fidgeted some more.

"Magic carpets," he finally prompted, "Seems like a stable job."

"Flying carpets." Selvis corrected with a small huff, "Which are banned to use in Great Britain." He blinked in surprise as Selvis continued, "My father came from a well-off family in the Middle East to sell carpets here before the Ministry banned them, but he isn't Slytherin."

"So?"

"My mother's Slytherin, but her family er…wasn't the best with saving money and had a bad history with other Slytherins."

"…Not seeing the problem-,"

"She married into wealth." Selvis deadpanned, "And my dad's basically illegally selling magic carpets from Britain into the Middle East to earn money. My mom, she works at the Ministry. Something female Slytherins don't really do if they have a family. It's 'improper'. She isn't very high up in the Ministry but…it's enough to create a scandal for us."

"And since Slytherins are obsessed with Status and purebloods, having a child of a black sheep daughter who isn't very well off isn't a good thing."

Selvis shook his head no, "It's not that bad considering how often Slytherins dip into grey areas of the law or served Voldemort. But, compared to Draco-,"

"Who?"

"Malfoy—it's small potatoes, his dad is on the board of education and Agatha, she's the heir to a powerful herb supplier! I'm sort of just, a nobody compared to them and all the other kids who have important shoes to fill." Selvis flushed and looked at his shoes, "It's sort of why I stuck around you at first, you were a newbie, you were a hero or something. You were like Potter, and unlike Potter who knows not to trust us, you just kept bothering me."

"So, you planned to use me to get information to try and feel important." Ness finished cringing as Selvis nodded. His eyes firmly fixed on his shoes. Clearly ashamed of his original intentions.

"Selvis, buddy, you don't have to feel bad."

"Ness. I've used you. I'm still using you. Half the in-school connections I've made is because of your-," Selvis trailed off before angrily gesturing toward his dull eyes, "And I'm the only one with inter-house ties!"

"And?"

"…And? This is sort of the part where you get mad or shun me."

"Selvis. My neighbor used me as a meat shield, joined the bad guy and spent my entire journey to stop said bad guy manipulating people, stopping me and my friends and throwing insults at every corner." Ness deadpanned, "And that was the first time I had ever been that badly misled by someone I trusted. Plus, if you're using me, then aren't I doing the same thing?"

"How so?"

"Who came up with the stones?" Ness asked.

"Me."

"Who used them to stop Mad-eyed Muddy and alert you to give me your camera for proof?"

"You."

"Who bugs you about everything related to Slytherin and this school's legal mess?"

"You."

"So, haven't I been using you?"

Selvis flushed before he snapped, "That's different! You have absolutely no clue about the Slytherins or the legal mess and that was a group effort to stop the bad guys!"

"So? Plus, you've sort of made it clear that you were only sticking around me for information in my first year."

"That was an excuse to stick around! That wasn't a real confession!"

"Everyway, friendship is sort of a give and take relationship." Ness retorted, "Besides, if you were using me to get info to feel important, then why do you put up with Luna and Ginny? You could just, try and force them to go away."

Selvis opened his mouth, paused then spluttered, "They wouldn't go away even if I blackmailed them!"

"I still wouldn't go away from that!" Selvis screamed as Ginny and Luna stepped the through, Luna looking pleasantly surprised as Ginny marched over to Selvis who was spluttering up a storm and preparing to defend himself from Ginny bonking him on the head.

"Honestly! Do you really think I would stick around, suffering through your onslaught of insults and jeering if I didn't like one part of you?!"

"I sort of thought you were a bit thick." Selvis admitted, yelping as Ginny moved to try and punch his stomach, resulting in Selvis running around the classroom as Ginny tried to dish out some revenge.

"Ness! Help!"

"Dude, you have got to stop digging yourself into holes." Ness replied, laughing as Luna hummed, "He must have an invisible shovel given how quickly he falls into them."

"Lovegood! I swear to god!" Selvis started when he tripped and crashed into a desk, ending Ginny's chase as she huffed, "Karma." Then scowled as he cheekily retorted, "Oh, so you do know my last name."

"Selvis, stop." Ness giggled, as Ginny rolled up her sleeves.

"Fine." Selvis grumbled before his face exploded a bright red, "Wait, did you hear everything?!"

"Yes." Ginny answered as Luna hummed, "I never knew how important status was. I thought you guys were just obsessed with bloodlines."

Selvis groaned and muttered something into his sleeve as Ness turned to Ginny, "How's Ron? He seemed pretty…"

"Miserable?" Ginny offered, "He was ready to snap his broom in half and resign"

Ah. That wasn't good.

"We managed to cheer him up a bit, but…I don't think it worked." Luna added, looking a little nervous as Selvis shakily drawled, "Of course not, he was the weak link in the team and he's going to feel like trash. He's going to feel even worse when he hears that his brother and best friend went ballistic on his behalf to shut Draco up."

"Who?" Luna asked, grinning as Selvis threw his hands up in disbelief.

"Speaking of Malfoy, why'd you do it?" Ginny folded her arms and looked at Ness who nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't know what he was saying exactly and just wanted to stop Harry from beating him to death. Sure, he has some karm—punishment coming to him, but it should probably be in the form of a teacher doing it instead of some students."

He laughed again and shrugged, "I guess it was the hero in me that reacted without thinking. My PSI allows me to be a healing tank, so I felt confident in taking a couple blows before I started to show injury."

"He's fought a bear." Selvis added, "Several of them!"

"And I watched a band come defeat an unbeatable robot for me." Ness interjected, grinning as Selvis's jaw dropped before he resumed burying his face in his robe sleeves.

"Ness's weirdness aside…what's going to happen now?" they looked at Ginny who nervously went on, "I mean, with the song and Harry almost murdering Malfoy, this isn't going to look good for the Slytherins."

"It might." Ness offered, but he wasn't 100% sure about that, "It was just a game and Malfoy being a sore loser."

"Yea, to the point that you, the enigma who's been a peacekeeper had to jump in and get pummeled by two Qudditch players to break up the fight." Selvis deadpanned, shuddering a little, "I was terrified that you might get seriously hurt when you tackled George. He was ballistic compared to Harry!"

"And stronger." Ness begrudgingly thought, ignoring the faint throbbing above his nose and mouth as Luna nodded in agreement, "It must have been a scary sight to see."

"Not adding Ness suddenly freezing up like that. I thought he died."

"He did what?!"

Selvis dutifully explained what had happened while they were busy coxing Ron into not quitting with some cliff notes. "You made Malfoy blush?" Ginny asked, looking ready to laugh or maybe insist that wasn't possible.

"He wasn't intending to tell me that much." Ness replied, "I guess I sort of spooked him into moving away from his mask."

"You are pretty unnerving." Selvis muttered as Luna gave a thoughtful hum, "I guess it makes sense why Slytherins are so hateful of Harry. Not only does he break the rules and get away with it, but he's also high up in the wizarding world."

"Or, he was." Ness countered, "Knowing Umbridge, she'll spin this into a story that Harry has anger issues."

"Doesn't he?" Selvis asked, cringing when Ginny shot him a glare, "Hey! I don't talk to Harry much alright? And every time I've seen him get mad he just, blanks out and moves to violence!"

"He probably isn't used to being able to act on that anger." Luna mused, "I've heard his homelife is pretty bad. And here, he's sort of 'untouchable' in an emotional sense."

They let that sink in for a bit before Ness sighed and stood up, "Whatever happens, happens. For now, we can just pray that Quidditch isn't the reason behind people distrusting the Slytherins in our club."

Of course, that's what totally happened. The next day, news had gotten around that Harry, George and Fred had been suspended indefinitely from playing Quidditch. Of course, every house had its own reaction to that.

Gryffindor found it unfair that they had been banned while Malfoy had gotten off without any trouble. Some of them were also blaming Ness for not letting George get any hits in before Madam Hooch stepped in while others were fuming that despite Ness's efforts to keep them out of trouble he had failed and gotten a slap in the face from Umbridge. The members of Deterrence Aegis were especially spiteful of this.

Hufflepuff found it unfair as well at the overkill punishment and that Malfoy got off as well. But some were suspicious of the Slytherin Quidditch team working with Umbridge who had a hand in the punishment. Thankfully, those in the Detterrenc Aegis were blaming Malfoy who had been singled out as the ringleader instead off all of them.

Ravenclaw were pretty neutral to this. According to Luna this was because they were focusing on building a case against her since Fred had been restrained and therefore should get a smaller punishment compared to his twin. Yes, it was clear that the twins both had some 'anger issues' but that would have called for a separate action instead of lumping the two problems together.

Slytherin? They were torn between being gleeful of Harry getting knocked down a couple pegs and upset by the fact that Umbridge would only help them when it benefited her and her alone. Even Malfoy was looking a little unsure of where to stand in this mess since he had been under the belief that he was caught in the act only to be saved by Umbridge. Who had 90% of the school against her.

"It's not looking good." Selvis admitted one day as team Boundless relaxed in Ness's special room after a grueling day of studying for before break homework and upcoming tests.

"Everyone's spilt between hating Umbridge and Umbridge alone or putting her back with the Slytherins."

"So, we're back were we started." Ginny deadpanned, looking up from her Charms book with a small groan, "Just when we were making some progress."

"Well, at least no one's making a big fuss about it during DA." Ness mumbled, trying to stay awake as he leaned against a teddy bear, "So far, everyone's just using this as an excuse to be more prepared for Umbridge's next scheme."

"Plus, someone already outed Malfoy as the lyric master." Selvis added, "That helped a bit."

Ginny nodded in agreement as Luna hummed, "I wonder why the random attacks stopped…"

"Maybe because I feel safe now." Ness wondered as he off handedly stated, "Let's just be thankful that nothing's blown up yet."

"Yet." Selvis echoed, "The only reason it hasn't is because everyone is keeping a low profile in terms of outright hating us."

"Let's just hope that this keeps up until winter break." Ginny sighed, everyone eagerly agreeing with her as they moved to turn in for the night.

"Will it be peaceful until Christmas break?" Ness wondered, his hand firmly wrapped around the dream pillow Luna had given him to ease his nightmares.

That was a big if given the negative energy floating around, all aimed at Umbridge thankfully and on redoubling their efforts to protect themselves in case of a huge backlash from their invisible foes.

"I hope so… I don't want any of my friends getting hurt." Ness rolled onto his side, his eyes closed as he searched for pleasant dreams and a fair end to Umbridge's tyrannical reign of power.


You know, having Selvis with an actual backstory came out of nowhere. I originally wanted Ness to blow up the locker room for all of the houses out of frustration that their hard work was going to be destroyed by Malfoy's mouth and the Gryffindor's team reaction to Ron's harassment but then Malfoy showed up. Then Selvis. and my plan for something blowing up didn't work. I'm still blowing something up though -

Reviews!

.Wilson- Aw thx! And speaking of Chuggaconroy I need to stop being a wimp and watch the latest Earthbound episodes. ^-^;

CybeastFalzar- The bonds of trust will be tested when the sneak appears. Or if it appears, dun dun dun!

Ed- Thx! Now if you excuse me, I'm off to scream into a pillow to comprehend the compliment over the fact that I'm visually improving! :D