A/N- Phew. Yes, I know it's taken me a long time to get this chapter up, but I ran into a little bit of writer's block towards the end of Chapter 15. I got through it this morning, though, so the next bit should go pretty smoothly. *sighs* Unfortunately, I am disappointed that I only got 4 reviews for this chapter, including the one from Endora, my lovely beta. *claps for Endora* Thank you, dearie. Tempest in Blue: Sorry you don't like Ginny or the whole "Potters and redheads" bit, but I think that is the direction JKR seems to be heading, and it's a ship I like. If it makes you feel better, Endora doesn't like it either. Silver Angel: Harry's not going to be a wolf, but he will be a large predator. Jordan: I'm working on the bit with Sirius being freed. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to manage it yet. LinZE: Thanks for your encouraging words. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as it is probably my longest yet. Everyone gets nice big chunks of page, and there's even a character I used to role play in here. And thanks again to Ms. Padfoot and Rei-Chan, my two most faithful readers. Please review! The more reviews Beth gets, the happier Beth is. The happier Beth is, the faster she writes. The faster she writes, the sooner chapters go up. The sooner chapters go up, the happier readers are. The happier readers are, the more they review. Vicious cycle!
Oh yeah, I don't own anything you recognize unless you recognize it from this fic. Everything else belongs to other people. Waaaahh.
Bonds of Pain
Chapter 14
In which there is moping, brooms, and Quidditch
Severus couldn't believe his ears or his eyes. First he saw Arabella Figg practically flirting with Lupin's very familiar dog, and then he overheard the woman beating herself up because she had not watched Lily's relatives as Potter grew up. Maybe he needed to talk to Wen about it. She always seemed to have answers for him, and usually they were logical and intelligent, not to mention true.
Looking at the time, he figured his old friend would be home. It was seven in the evening, after all. Many shops in Muggle London closed at six. Taking a pinch of powder from a bowl atop his mantle, he threw it into the heatless flames.
"Wendolyn Altair." The flames turned a brilliant green, and Wen's head appeared in them.
"Sev! How…" The cheerful greeting screeched to a halt as the brown-haired witch saw his expression. "What's up? You look more depressed than usual."
"You heard that Arabella Figg reappeared to teach Defence this year?" He waited for his friend's nod before continuing. "I happened to hear her a few minutes ago berating herself for not keeping a closer eye on how Potter's former guardians were treating him."
"Dear Merlin… Mind if I come over to talk, Sev? I'm not sure if this connection is secure." Severus shook his head. Of course he didn't mind, this was Wen, his oldest friend. Within minutes, the petite woman had Flooed into his room.
"Gods, Wen, she was flirting with a dog earlier! I swear, Ara's lost her mind." ~Or I have.~ He stopped ranting when Wen began to chuckle. "What?"
"You know I used to hang out with Ara, Lily, and some of the other girls from other Houses. I was as much the Lone Slytherin as you were, but I did have friends outside our House. I also knew some of their secrets. For example, Peter, Sirius, and James were illegal Animagi so they could accompany Remus on the full moon."
"Oh." That was a bit of a shock, to say the least. Though he did remember a big black animal turning into his school rival in hospital at the end of the last term. "so that's how they managed some of those pranks."
Wen giggled. "Petey was a rat, yes. He was the only one who used his form in pranks, as the other two were quite large. James was a stag. Remus owled me when Harry managed to cast a Patronus, and it takes the form of James' stag. A magnificent creature, he was.
"And Black?" ~Please don't let me be right.~ He had a nagging suspicion, though he couldn't clearly remember the form from that awful first night of the second reign. After all, Black and Figg had been very close in school.
"A Grim, oddly enough. Big black dog, but he still had his blue eyes." At the reply, Severus sighed and put his head in his hands. "I take it the dog Ara was flirting with fits that description?" He simply nodded, not looking up. The couch shifted as he felt Wen sit down and put an arm around hi.
"You liked her in school, didn't you?" He nodded again miserably. ~Damn that Black, taking away everything I've ever wanted.~ "You know you can talk to me, Sev. I'm more than willing to listen."
"They all either pity me or hate me," he groaned. "They don't see that I want respect, that I have feelings, too. I want to be liked for being myself, not for some image someone has of me." He could feel Wen trying to draw him closer, and he tried to shrug her off.
"Don't you dare try and push me away, Sev. I've always liked you the way you are, I don't care what anyone else says. You may not seem like it on the outside, but you're a good person. A very good person, despite what you may once have done." Severus lifted his head to look at the woman beside him. He had never seen this side of quiet little Wendolyn Altair before.
Heaving a huge sigh, Severus leaned into the comforting presence of one of his oldest friends, his eyes closing as he relaxed. He failed to notice the pained look that flashed across Wen's face. It was the same look he had once worn each time he saw Ara Figg in the company of Sirius Black.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry slouched into the common room, completely sore. He had slept like the dead last night after sparring in an empty classroom with a series of golems the evening before. Sure, Hermione had figured out how to spell the magical constructs so that none of the students would actually be hurt, but the workouts were still draining.
Harry was beginning to become quite adept with his twin daggers, even after only a week of practice. They had met daily to battle the golems, and this had served to build his muscles as well as teaching him to defend himself. On Wednesday afternoon, the Quidditch team had met to elect a new team captain and discuss tryouts for reserves and a Keeper. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had oohed and aahed over his new physique as he turned red, and the twins had thumped his back, telling him he could almost pass for a Beater.
He had rapidly been voted as Captain, the other members of the team pleading that they'd be graduating in June, and they would be of no use the next year. After complaining for a few minutes that they had better not make him do everything since he didn't know how, they had set trials for Saturday morning. They would be recruiting an entirely new team of reserves in addition to the new Keeper. The tryout poster had rapidly been drafted and hung in the common room, where a crowd had gathered within minutes. Now Saturday was here, and Harry was nervous beyond belief.
What if no one showed? What if none of the hopefuls were any good? What if he couldn't decide? Mentally, Harry smacked himself. That was no way to think. Besides, he would have the seventh-years on the team to help him. They know what they were doing.
Friday morning at breakfast, Draco had been surprised when a group of owls had flown into the Great Hall during mail call and dropped a brightly wrapped object in his lap. The shape of the package was unmistakeably that of a broomstick.
Harry had smiled as Draco had opened the card attached to the package. He knew, of course, what it said. The blond had read the message, gaped, and then swatted his friend.
{You twat!} The thought came through the link as a shout. {I can't believe you managed to keep this a secret. Uncle Sev must have helped you.}
"Actually, he did. He filled out the order form and sent it off for me shortly after our trip to London. It took them this long to get it finished and in the post," Harry had replied, a huge grin on his face.
Draco had stared at him for a moment before punching him lightly on the arm. "Like I said, you twat!" He had waited until the first break of the day before unwrapping the broom in the Gryffindor common room. They had gathered a crowd, and appreciative murmurs had coursed through the room as Draco had revealed a Firebolt. Under the serial number on the brass plate, at Harry's request. The manufacturer had engraved "Draco M."
{Thanks could never say enough, mate.}
~It doesn't have to. You're my friend. Friends do nice things for each other.~ Harry had clapped Draco on the shoulder. "I like to make my friends happy. The look on your face is all the thanks I need." In fact, Harry was planning on getting new brooms for the four youngest Weasleys, as well.
"Oi, Harry!" He was jolted from his reverie by the twins. They were grinning as if they'd just won the Daily Prophet drawing again.
"Did you hear? Mum went shopping in London yesterday…" George started
"… and guess what she found in Gringotts?" Fred finished. Harry decided to play dumb.
"What?"
"Somebody deposited several thousand Galleons in our vault!" Fred crowed.
"The goblins won't tell who, nor will they return it to whoever put it in." George managed to look ecstatic and puzzled at the same time.
"Wow. Congratulations!" Good, they hadn't figured it out.
"And so Mum went and got us Firebolts because she thinks we had something to do with it!" Both twins were practically dancing in glee, and Harry smiled. He had made two more of his friends happy.
"What about Ron and Ginny?" Well, the money might as well be used on new brooms. Since the youngest Weasleys were all such Quidditch fanatics, the brooms would be well used and cared for.
"Er… well…"
"Mum didn't say anything, but I think I heard Gin squeal a few minutes ago." Fred smirked, and a whoop drifted down the Prefect corridor. If anything, the twins' smirks grew wider.
"That sounded a lot like Ron," Harry said, suppressing a grin. Predictably, Ron burst into view.
"I GOT A BROOM!!!!" the lanky redhead bellowed. Many of the students in the common room jumped, and soon there was a crowd congratulating all three Weasley boys and thumping them on their backs. Harry managed to glimpse a Firebolt in Ron's hands through the throng, but his friend was soon lost in the sea of students.
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when a slim, feminine hand slipped into his own. He looked to his left to se a slightly flushed redhead standing next to him.
"I know you had something to do with this," she said. Her chocolate-coloured eyes gleamed, and Harry began to feel that odd sensation in the pit of his stomach again. He squeezed her right hand in his left.
"Yeah, but your mum doesn't know. Draco helped, too." He smiled at the slender girl, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Thanks, then." The two words made him feel almost light-headed. "Mum got a Firebolt for me, too. Evidently there are now enhancement packages for the different positions. Mum sent the twins Beater sets, and she said she'd get them for Ron and I if we get on the team or in the reserves today."
"Wow. You're trying out, then?" He felt her nod against his shirt. "Well, would you mind helping me collect the current team? I think the chasers are in their dorm."
"Sure," Ginny sighed. "You want them to meet you on the pitch, Captain?" Her left hand reached across to poke him in the ribs, and Harry grabbed the offending digits to pull his girlfriend close.
"Right. But first, I need a kiss." He flashed a mischievous grin, and the flame-haired girl—a goddess in his eyes—stood on her tiptoes and initiated a soul-searing kiss. The raven-haired boy wrapped his arms around her waist, and he could feel her fingers in his unruly locks.
"Oi! You may be Captain, Potter, but it doesn't mean you can molest our sister!" Harry stiffened as the twins began to yell, but Ginny pulled back and rounded on her older brothers.
"Sod off! I can snog Harry senseless if I want to! I told Ron, and I'm telling you: I am old enough to make my own decisions and I expect you to respect those decisions!" With that, Harry's fiery little goddess stormed up the girls' stairs.
The Weasley twins sidled up to a stunned Harry, both turning red. Obviously Ginny had a similar effect on them as she did on Ron.
"Er, sorry 'bout that, Harry."
"Yeah, Ron said she blew up at him, but we didn't expect her to get so hacked off."
Harry snorted. Yeah right.
{Er, Harry, mate?} Draco thought at him. They had extended their mental range by carrying on conversations with each other all over the castle and its grounds, and they now had a fair range.
~Yeah, Draco?~ he responded. The blond sounded worried.
{Um. I can't find my gloves.}
Dear Merlin. Of all the days… ~Under your bed, maybe? I think I saw you kick them under there yesterday.~ He was sure he'd seen the bloody things on the floor in their dorm a few days earlier.
{Hmmm… There they are! You were right, under the bed.} The bond told Harry that his friend was blushing.
~Ha! Told you so, Malfoy!~
{I'm coming down there to get you, Potter!} the blond retorted.
~Gotta catch me first!~ Harry turned to the twins. "I'm headed down to make sure the Slyths don't take the pitch from us, thinking they can get a sneak practice in!" Grabbing his Firebolt from a couch, Harry darted through the portrait hole, hell-bent for the grounds and the Quidditch Pitch.
Maybe tryouts wouldn't be so bad.
When ten o'clock rolled around, the team had gathered, along with a group that seemed to include most of Gryffindor. All four Weasleys had their new Firebolts in hand, and they looked very proud.
"Sonorus," Harry muttered, his wand pointed at his own throat. "Attention, please." His voice boomed across the pitch, and every eye was suddenly on him. "Those of you who are trying out for the position of reserve Beater, see Fred and George Weasley. Reserve Seekers will need to see me after the trials for Keepers and Chasers. We will be testing for Keepers first. Angelina?" Harry watched a few students wander off with the twins before pointing his wand at his throat again. "Quietus," he whispered. Two of the hopeful Beaters were obviously first-years, a pair of twins that had joined them at the beginning of the term. James and John Tyrbinn were turning out to be a miniature pair of Weasley twins, only with black hair instead of red.
"Would the Keeper candidates come forward, please?" Angelina yelled. Ron and several younger students stepped forward. "Each of you will face twenty shots from this year's Chasers. The highest number of blocks will have the spot, and the second highest will be the reserve. Clear?" All the candidates nodded, and a second-year boy zoomed up to the goals, looking a bit shaky on his broom. Fred and George were already hitting the Bludgers at a pair of hopefuls.
{Dear gods. Four Beaters trying to kill us. Help,} came the panicky thought from Draco.
~Pressure, my friend. Coolness under fire is a blessing in this game.~
{You think I don't know that? I've been playing a lot longer than you have.} Harry snorted at the blond's comment, keeping his eyes on the group in the air. The second-year missed an easy save as Angelina, Alicia, and Katie deftly avoided the Bludgers. {It's just not normal to have four Beaters trying to kill you instead of two of them trying to protect you.}
~That's the plan, mate. Should get rid of the ones who wouldn't cut it in a real hurry.~ Harry was actually very pleased about that bit of brilliant thinking. The twins had declared it to be "Wood's influence," but maybe a bit of Ron and Hermione was sneaking through. Madam Pomfrey was on scene just in case, and she had declared it to be idiocy. Oh well.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Draco fidgeted as he watched the Keeper trials. A second-year, the first tested, had only blocked half the shots, missing some easy ones. Ferren Buell, a third-year girl, had caught fifteen, and Ron seventeen. The redhead was a shoe-in. Buell would be the reserve.
He took a calming breath as he checked his gloves again. Of course, he knew they were snug, but he was nervous. Now that a Keeper had been chosen, he would be facing four insane Beaters and trying to score. He carefully walled off his end of the bond in order to keep from being distracted as Angelina began to speak.
"Chasers will be working with Alicia and Katie. You will be avoiding the Bludgers and trying to score on undefended goals. First up is Draco Malfoy." He stepped up when his name was called and mounted his new Firebolt, kicking smoothly off the firm, dry ground.
The next few minutes went by in a blur as he swerved and dodged the wild steel balls and the crazy players pursuing them, while catching and throwing the red Quaffle at the same time. He had no idea of how many goals he made, nor even how many times he tried. He only barely registered the whistle blowing to signal the end of his trial. He landed as Ginny kicked off and stood for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He noticed Harry writing on a sheet of parchment and checked his wall before sitting down in the stands. For nearly twenty minutes he sat there, watching other students trying to manage the Quaffle. A second-year named Natalie McDonald had been a dark blur on her old Cleansweep 4. Surely there was some way she had modified the broom, upgraded it. The Cleansweep series just wasn't built to do some of the things the mousy-haired wisp had done.
As the last candidate landed, Draco came out of his reflective stupor and dropped the walls around the bond. He stood and joined the group of students near his friend and the Chasers, who were having a quick conference on the results. He found himself standing next to McDonald, the girl nearly climbing her broom in excitement.
"You were really good, Draco," she commented off-hand in a voice that resembled a mouse's squeak. "Some of the moves you pulled, well, I didn't know they were possible on a broom."
"You should have seen yourself. What have you done to make that Cleansweep perform so well?" Now that he could see the broom close up, it didn't look modified at all. Well broken-in, but not modified.
"This? It's me da's old broom. He was a Chaser for Hufflepuff in his day. Went up against James Potter several times at school, still says the bloke should've gone pro instead of becoming an Auror." At the small girl's last statement, Draco turned and looked at her.
"Really? Harry would love to hear about his parents…" He left the sentence hanging. True, Sirius and Remus might be better able to give real insight on James and Lily Potter, but another source might tell what acquaintances knew and thought of the couple. Harry might want or need that perspective one day.
"All right, people, we have results." Draco looked up at Harry and then back at the girl beside him.
"Er… Could we talk later?" The girl nodded, her eyes on the Chasers.
"Our three reserve Chasers will be Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, and Natalie McDonald. Now, if the Seeker hopefuls would please mount their brooms and get up in the air, we'll see who can catch the most golf balls." Harry handed Draco a bucket of transfigured pebbles as the half dozen students flew into the middle of the pitch and gave a brief explanation.
"I used one of the Marauders' spells on these so that they will display the name of the person who catches them. The Seekers know to drop them once they've caught them, and we'll count once all the golf balls are gone." With that, Draco moved to another part of the pitch and began throwing when the whistle blew.
When all the balls had been thrown, gathered, and the catches tallied, little Dennis Creevey was given the reserve Seeker position. Out of hundreds of golf balls, he had managed to catch over forty. With the Tyrbinn twins in line to take over from the Weasley twins, the reserve Chasers, Buell, and Creevey in the wings, Draco had a feeling that the Gryffindor Lions would be unbeatable for years to come.
How will the first Quidditch match go? Who will the Lions be playing? Will Severus figure out that Wen likes him? Find out in the next chapter!
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Beth Weasley