Chapter 30

"Even the son of the Sakurazukamori must've heard of the red string of fate right? Sumeragi here is at the end of mine."

At this Seishirou snorted. "Yeah I've heard of the red string of fate and though invisible it may be, have you ever stopped to consider that even though he's at the end of yours, you're not at the end of his? His connects to me and mine to his."

"Are you sure?"

There was a moment's hesitation with his wand hand and a smirk on the younger male's face.

"I've never heard Sumeragi talk about you before. Then again, why would he? You, the son of a murderer, you couldn't even save your sister. You could've if you're as good as they say right?"

His right hand burned and in the back of his mind he heard the sinister voice. "Try to love him if you want, but you know what happens when you mix family with yourself Seishirou."

"What's the matter Sakurazuka, did I strike a nerve?"

"The way you fling unforgivable curses around, you're a true Sakurazuka indeed and a true blooded Slytherin, who could ever love you?"

"You do realize that our houses don't typically get along right?"

"I'm aware of that and I don't care! Look at our brothers! They're in the same houses as us and they get along for the most part. Better example, my twin's in Slytherin the other one is in Gryffindor, we all get along so no I don't care, I still love you, I have for awhile now, that won't change."

"Even though you know what I am, who my family is."

"Sei-kun…the answer to everything you'll ask is yes, I will always love you."

Amber eyes shot open and looked down again at the pair.

"I will only ask nicely once, let him go and I'll let you go unharmed. However, if you fail to do so, I can't guarantee your safety."

"You want him so bad? Then duel me for him."

"You can't be serious…you're in your fifth year of Hogwarts and I've been out for two years in the real world."

"I'm serious, I'll duel you for Sumeragi."

"As you wish." One hand slipped into the pocket of his robes, the other holding his wand casually between his fingers. "Well go on, you get the first move."

"You'll regret that decision, I'm top of my class you know, Stupefy!"

The spell was blocked with a lazy flick of the wand. "Really? I'm pretty sure my sister could've out dueled you and she to my knowledge had no magic."

"I was just warming up, you won't get so lucky next time."

Several dodged and blocked spells later showed Zeke in a panic and Seishirou leaning casually against a wall, smug expression on his face. "Warmed up yet?"

"Plenty. You see, I knew I would end up dueling you today so I brought back up of course." A few of Zeke's friends emerged from behind the building.

"The way you think, you belong in Slytherin not Hufflepuff." Amber eyes narrowed. He wasn't worried about taking out a few underage wizards; he was worried about Subaru getting hit with the backlash of all the spells. As good as he was with a wand, he couldn't protect Subaru and duel at once but he'd be damned if he wouldn't try. He started the shadow walk, something he never thought he'd use. It was an assassination technique and in doing so tripped up the younger wizards. It placed him in front of Subaru which was a bit better.

"How did you—"

"For me to know and you to never find out. So are we dueling or not?"

Despite his confident air there was a slight hesitation. His right hand was burning, meaning most of this was probably his mother's doing and his right eye couldn't see as well as it used to and like an idiot he had left his glasses at home. He'd manage though, he'd be damned if he lost to a bunch of kids.

"Stupef—"

"Expelliarmus!"

Well that's one down, two to go. I don't want to hurt them really, I'd be just like her if I did that, attacking people who are less experienced than me, like Kotori was compared to that witch…

"Expelliarmus!"

"Now that will teach you to let your mind wander Sakurazuka, how are you going to win now? I don't care how good you are, without a wand you're powerless. So you can move away from him now, I win."

"No."

"What do you mean no? You realize we're armed and you're not? We could easily maim you."

"I don't care, I'm not moving. Not after spending a near eternity convincing myself that I could make a relationship work with him. I watched my sister get ripped away from me, I'm not losing someone else I care about. I'll die first."

"Suit yourself, let's stun him first, he's still agile even without his wand."

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Langlock!"

There was a bang and a cloud of smoke emerged as a result, and in its wake stood Fuuma with Hokuto and Kamui behind him.

"I knew I should've booted you off the team, oh wait you can't respond to that, Hokuto glued your tongue to roof of your mouth." Fuuma picked up his brother's wand and tossed it to the older male who caught it with ease. He proceeded to make binds shoot out of it.

"I don't care if they are underage, they still deserve it. I think I'll drag their sorry hides back to Hogwarts and have a word with Professor Reed."

"Sei-chan…"

Fuuma and Kamui exchanged looks before the shorter male stepped forward.

"If you're going to lecture me Kamui, now is really not the time."

"No, leave them to the three of us...you...came...to...see Subaru…so...here, take the antidote, we got it from the potions master when Fuuma suspected something was off with Subaru. Give it to him and go..." Kamui was hesitating, years of bitterness towards his now brother-in-law was making this difficult. "Go on a date like you planned."

Amber eyes widened before the shocked look vanished and was replaced with a smile. "If you say so." He scooped Subaru up in his arms and started to walk. "Oh and Fuuma?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you're not a complete and total dense airhead."

~#~

The antidote had been given to Subaru and they now found themselves in the Three Broomsticks. Subaru's green eyes were bright and full of life again. "I still don't understand, did I faint? Why were you carrying me here? And why is it so late? I'm sorry! I ruined the day! I-I-I..."

Subaru's rambling was cut off by a pair of lips on his own. "No Subaru, you didn't. Someone thought it was a good idea to take advantage of your sweet and trusting nature, so please don't blame yourself, you're here with me now and that's all that matters."

"Sei-kun…I love you…" As Subaru nuzzled against him, Seishirou turned his gaze to the ceiling and couldn't help but feel relieved at hearing that.

A/N: sorry if this isn't what you were thinking was going to happen, it popped into my head so I rolled with it

Also dedicated to Melissa for all the art she's done for this fic thus far!