"Give it back, you mudblood," Lucius snarled, advancing on the taunting boy.

Rupert darted back a few more steps and held the paper up. "Now, now, Malfoy, play nice. I see you're writing poetry again. What is this one about?"

"About the purity of blood," Lucius snapped, "Something no one like you can understand! Give it back before I-"

"Before you what? Use those lily-white hands to try and hit me? Come on, then, Malfoy," Rupert taunted, fluttering the paper in his face and pulling it back, "Let's see whether you have the guts for this."

Lucius sneered and nodded to one of his friends. "I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole, Giles. Get him!"

Ethan found himself pushed unceremoniously off to the side while Rupert went one-on-one with a boy who looked like a gorilla and had the brains to prove it. Another one came for the willowy youth and he rolled his dark eyes and got down to the distasteful business of defending himself.

James Potter and Sirius Black sat in the stands and placed bets as to who would come out victorious. Not that James didn't have one moment when he felt guilty and wondered if he should offer help. But the two looked like they were perfectly fine and there was no love lost between Ethan Rayne and James Potter at the best of times. This past year had only worsened it with Rupert egging Ethan on with his practical jokes and spells.

Another parcel of girls stood to the side of the Quidditch field and giggled and chattered excitedly. One of them, a red-haired, blue-eyed little thing who had been taken under Giles' and Ethan's wings a few times, yelled a few encouragements to her heroes.

"Come on, Giles! Kick his arse," she called, clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

"Kathleen!" her friends gasped, giggling uncontrollably.

Ethan paused long enough in the process of looking for the right opening to glance irritably at them and remember why he'd never liked girls. His eyes swung back to his opponent, who lunged for him and found a surprisingly strong fist at his jaw and another connecting with his stomach. The brute was down and didn't try getting up just yet.

Rupert had toyed with his adversary for long enough to tire of the game, especially when the other guy introduced a heavy metal bracelet that almost helped knock him out for the count. He managed to clear the stars from before his eyes and roll out of the way. But Rupert was pissed enough to stop playing- he stood still, waited for the boy to rush him and stepped to the side. He grabbed the wrist flying past him and used his enemy's own momentum to help snap the bone. The crack rang out loud enough for Kathleen to pale. Sirius jumped to his feet but Potter pulled him back down. "Let's see how they handle it," James whispered, "And don't let's get involved; Malfoy will probably create enough trouble and McGonagall's not in the happiest of moods."

Ethan merely looked at his friend's handiwork and nodded. "You'll do," he said sweetly.

"You haven't won, Giles," Lucius snarled, "Now get your little bed buddy out of here before I think of what curse to use on you both."

"You touch Ethan and I'll kill you," was out before Rupert could stop himself. Ethan looked as surprised as everyone else did. But now that Rupert had said it- he stared coldly at Malfoy, his arms loose and ready by his side.

Ethan might have giggled at the likeness to a B grade Western movie in the Muggle world if he hadn't been so terrified that Rupert would get hurt. Because Rupert was a friend and Ethan had always assumed he would protect a friend. He began to frantically turn over the meager collection of memorized spells in his head but hadn't gotten past "Hecate, bind and protect to darkness-" on the first one when Lucius whipped out his wand.

The wand sparkled and the effect was almost immediate except that Rupert wasn't hit by the painful paralyzing spell; Ethan was. The dark-haired boy groaned and whimpered as his muscles tightened painfully all over, locking into immobility.

Rupert's green eyes flared and unbidden the exact page of an ancient text surreptitiously studied came to mind. Without bothering with his wand, he raised his hand and began to chant, the smooth flow of Latin slithering unbound and unfettered to lock around Lucius' throat, squeezing until the youth's eyes began rolling back in his head.

Potter and Black raced down out of the stands. Not that Potter had liked Malfoy very much and at a pinch he preferred Giles to win any little battle than the silver-haired racist, but killing someone was something he couldn't condone for anyone. Green eyes snapping almost as much as Giles', the youth ran for the castor, the Latin making his bones ache.

Ethan lay still locked in that haze of pain and thought he'd never seen anything more exquisite than this sight- Rupert Giles, the rebel, strangling someone without lifting so much as a finger. Then Potter's voice penetrated the air and Rupert remembered where he was. He dropped his hand, his lip curling disdainfully as Lucius dropped to the ground and desperately gulped in deep breaths of air. Then he turned to calmly flick his fingers over Ethan's form and murmur a reversal enchantment. "Ethan, you okay?"

"My knight in shining armor," Ethan moaned, humor belying the almost serious undertone of honesty.

"Shut up, you ponce," Rupert said affectionately.

"You stupid, stupid pillock," James gasped, coming to a stop next to them. Sirius surged up behind them, huffing and panting for breath. "We thought you were gonna kill him!"

"I was," Rupert said, looking uncomfortable. "For God's sake, the next time you see me do something like that, knock me out, hmmm?"

Potter nodded.

"You okay, Rayne?" Sirius grunted, pulling the lithe teenager to his shaky feet, "I think Madame Pomfrey would have something to make you feel better, if you want to go there."

"No," Ethan said instantly. He rubbed his stiff neck and grimaced. "Uh, thanks." Dark eyes peeped wickedly out from under demure lashes and Sirius went red and stepped back hastily. "Oh, don't worry, love," Ethan laughed, "I'm not up to all that so soon!"

Rupert turned a laugh into a cough and even Potter managed a smile. "We'll leave you to clean up your own mess now," James sighed, pointing to the still gasping Malfoy on the ground, "I've got to see a Captain about a Quidditch match."

"Yeah, well, hope you fall off your broom," Rupert said sweetly, eyes glittering at him.

"I'm guessing you know a spell for that too," Sirius laughed, following his friend away.

Kathleen walked forward timidly, exclaiming over everyone on the field and then threatening to go into hysterics. Then she threw herself on Ethan's chest and declared she'd thought he was going to die.

"And I'm sure you were very upset," Ethan grimaced, feeling his sore body protest.

"I thought you were a goner," she sobbed, "And both of you were so wonderful, the way you fought off those bullies! Rupert just ripped into Malfoy, didn't he? Oh Merlin, how did you do that? You didn't even use a wand or nothing!"

Rupert compressed his lips even tighter and tore her off Ethan, forbearing to growl when he saw the genuine confusion on her face. "A lot of my spells don't require a wand."

"Oh." She turned that thought over in her head and came to a decision. "Will you teach me?"

"Not bloody likely!" he jolted out forcibly, looking revolted by the very idea.

"But then we can all fight the bullies," she insisted. "Come on, Rupert! Malfoy's picked on all of us the whole year round and you just ripped right through him and his gang!"

"Oh, yes! A regular Jack the Ripper, isn't he?" Lucius grated, impatiently sending both his friends off to the Injuries Wing to get the broken wrist mended. He followed them backwards, his eyes still fixed furiously on Ethan Rayne. "You'll both be sorry," he called once before turning to stalk after his friends.

"Ooo, Jack the Ripper!" Kathleen was clearly delighted with the idea. "Can I call you Jack? You know, like a pet name?"

"No!" both Ethan and Rupert shouted, emitting a shudder each.

"All right, then. What about Ripper?"

Rupert laughed in her face, green eyes brimming with ironic humor at the thought. But Ethan was gazing at him with growing delight. Rupert realized with a sinking feeling exactly what was going to happen. "You are not calling me Ripper, Ethan."

"But dearest, it's perfect!" his friend reasoned, jumping enthusiastically and pacing, "It's you!"

Rupert raised an eyebrow. "The name of a knife-wielding serial murderer is me?"

Ethan smacked him gently on the side of his head and found his wrist caught in a vice-like grip. "Like this! And not a serial murderer, love. Just someone who enjoys a spot of violence with his tea and biscuits! It suits you down to a T!"

Kathleen giggled and clapped her hands. "Can we, can we? Please?"

Rupert looked from Ethan to Kathleen and back again. "Oh, all right then! Go ahead! Just don't make a habit of it and don't use it in front of anyone else."

That evening at dinner, Malfoy and his two bodyguards 'happened' to walk past the Gryffindor table and stopped behind Rupert and Ethan.

"I haven't forgotten what I owe you two," Malfoy said softly, "Rayne, I think you need a lesson on how to obey your betters. I'd be careful if I were you."

"Malfoy, one- you're an ugly git who's ruining my appetite," Rupert sighed, "And two- Ethan didn't almost strangle you to death, I did. You need revenge, you come to me." His only answer was a snort as Lucius walked off, his friends unable to do anything when the Potter Brigade, as Ethan affectionately called them, turned in their seats to help out some new allies.