The Shadows You Cast

Disclaimer: I can wish it all I want, but I'm not yet a published author, therefore, I do not own Harry Potter

October 15th-

The Gryffindor Quidditch team sat together in the locker rooms, feeling confident about their first game. Ron had made them train pretty hard, and all the Chasers now knew how to do Alistair's drop-and-dive technique. The weather looked ideal for Quidditch, as Ron had cheerily told them all at breakfast, and they were ready to show off their new team.

Dean, who was commentating, called out the names of each of the Gryffindor players as Ron, Harry, Sean, Darryl, Katie, Alistair, and Ginny emerged from the locker rooms. Ginny felt a pang of guilt as Dean's voice wavered on her name. But the feeling was quickly swept away, as if by the wind, when the whistle blew and fourteen broomsticks flew into the air.

This must have been the quickest game in history, Ginny thought as her feet touched the ground not even a minute later. Harry had caught the Snitch almost immediately; no one had even had a chance to score. Alistair and Katie also seemed disappointed that they weren't able to show off their new skills. At least we won, Ginny thought, not feeling very excited.

Ron, however, was not even pretending to be happy. Ginny cringed as she watched her brother shout at Harry. Although Harry was a humble guy, he was yelling right back. He didn't think that he had done anything wrong. Technically, he had just done his job as Seeker. Ginny felt a bit sorry for Harry- even the spectators seemed to be angry with him.

One Ravenclaw girl yelled as she walked by, "Nice going, Potter. We came all the way down here to watch a game, and we didn't even get to see any action!" Then a third year Gryffindor joined in saying, "Yeah, I don't care if you're an amazing Seeker, at least let the others have a chance!" Harry looked very embarrassed, and walked quickly into the locker rooms.

Ginny followed him, and tried to make him feel better. But she knew her efforts were useless. He would sulk until he and Ron were friends again. They didn't get into fights often, but when they did, both were miserable to be around. Ginny said goodbye to Harry and walked with Alistair and Bianca back up to the castle.

"Well, that was... fun," Bianca began, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yep, I've got one Quidditch game already under my belt," Ginny smiled.

"Hardly," Alistair said, chuckling. "But you know what? It's all right. Harry is a great Seeker, and we won our first game without any effort whatsoever. But he won't always catch the Snitch that quickly, and next time, we'll have a better opponent to try out our techniques."

"That's true," Ginny said, brightening up a little. For all that Alistair was a dark and traumatized person, he could always cheer her up.

………………………………

Draco hadn't gone to the Quidditch game. He had no desire to watch Potter and friends defeat the Hufflepuffs. He had better things to do, and while over three quarters of the school was at the Quidditch game was a perfect time to do it. So Draco told Crabbe and Goyle that he'd meet them at the Quidditch pitch, and headed off to the library.

Draco had just pulled a book off the shelf entitled Enigmatic Enchantments and How To Recognize Them, when he heard students talking in the corridor outside the library. He found this rather annoying, since he needed the time to do some private researching. Why weren't these people at the game? Only Slytherins skipped Quidditch, and Slytherins never came to the library...

Draco started towards the door, glancing back at Madam Pince as he did so. She didn't seem to notice that he was about to carry a book out of the library. Draco stopped when he heard one of the voices say something familiar.

"Yeah, ... five facts... talked for hours."

Draco quickly made practicality overrule his initial reaction, as you were trained to do in Slytherin. Those people could have been talking about anything- any five facts. There was no basis to believe that one of those people was his Fire. And yet... his body seemed to be leading him towards the hallway, as if his mind had already made the decision to investigate. But he stopped himself just before he reached the door. He knew that when he saw who was out there, one of them would involuntarily become Fire. A very unsafe assumption to make. So instead, Draco walked as quickly as he could to the furthest corner of the library. There he could safely listen in on the conversation and then decide if he wanted to see what he was hearing.

"So, Alistair, why did you want to come to the library?" a voice Draco didn't recognize asked. Alistair is on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Draco realized. The game is already over? Are the people he's with also Gryffindors?

"Just wanted to catch up on some of my homework for this weekend. I didn't think I'd have time to finish it all, but since the game was so short..."

"That must have been the shortest game in the history of Quidditch," another unrecognizable voice said.

"Yeah, well, Harry really is an incredible Seeker," said the first female voice. Draco decided that this voice must also belong to a Gryffindor. "But enough about Quidditch! You two talk about it all the time!"

"But Quidditch is the single most important thing in my life!" the voice Draco knew to be Alistair's exclaimed.

"You know I love Quidditch too, but I don't know if I can make that statement," the second female voice said. "Let's just work on these essays and get them over with."

"Good idea," said Alistair.

For a while, Draco didn't hear anything, so he took the time to begin reading his book.

"So you think you've come across an enigmatic enchantment, but you haven't the slightest what it is. Well, you've found the right book!"

Draco rolled his eyes and flipped to the title page to see just what author was wasting his time. 'Albus Dumbledore' it said, and Draco smirked. Didn't know the old loon had written any books, Draco thought. Ah, well, perhaps I'll discover something anyway, Draco thought as he found where he had left off.

"Perhaps your mother has been acting unexplainably strange, or maybe a certain corridor unaccountably leaves you in tears... or perchance you've come across a mystifying magical object. Well, I am here to help you fully understand what's going on when weird things start to happen."

Ah, so Dumbledore's mere presence explains all bizarre situations, Draco thought drolly.

His thoughts were interrupted when the second female voice spoke again. "I didn't finish telling you about five facts."

"Oh yes, you mentioned it earlier, and I was very curious. Do tell us," said the other female.

"Well, Shadow and I came up with this game where we tell each other five facts about ourselves per night. We learn new things about each other while skirting around any information that might reveal our identities."

"Do you want to know who he is?" Alistair asked quietly.

"Yes and no. The secrecy makes it all so... surreal. But I can never stop trying to figure out who he is. And even though I may be making a big mistake, I want to meet Shadow and see if we'd ever have anything... real."

"I know exactly how you feel," the other girl said.

"You do?"

"Oh, well, I guess I don't, actually. But you explain it so well, I understand how you must feel."

"Oh, right. Okay, let's get back to work."

Draco now knew that Fire was right around the corner, but he decided that he didn't want to identify her just yet. So he read for a while longer, waiting for the Gryffindor trio to leave. While he waited, he found some valuable information in Dumbledore's book.

Finally, he heard Alistair, Fire, and their other friend get up and leave. Draco gave them a few minutes of a head start, then checked out his book and left the library.

……………………………

Shadow, you there?

I'm here.

Ready for five facts?

Yes, you go first.

All right. This is getting difficult... 1) I like to play Quidditch. 2) I don't have a favorite professional team. 3) I've been to the World Cup. 4) I would like to be a Seeker. 5) I am not a virgin.

Wow, and I thought you were giving me all useless Quidditch facts.

Quidditch isn't useless! But I had to make it a bit interesting.

Well, you succeeded there.

Thank you. And I hope now I deserve some noteworthy facts from you?

Ah, but you can't give only because you expect something in return.

I suppose not.

But I'll try my best... I also play Quidditch, I am a Seeker, I almost always go to the World Cup, I'm not a virgin, and you're a Gryffindor.

All very noteworthy. But how did you know the last one?

Not sure if I'm supposed to tell you that...

I figured as much. You're certainly remarkable, Shadow.

Yes. But Shadows cast by Fire-light always are.

That was lovely. So it's me that makes you this way?

You bring out a side of me that's not always revealed.

This poetic side?

Yes, and more.

I feel honored.

As well you should. I discovered a few things about enigmatic objects today.

Oh, really? Anything explaining these boxes?

Not completely. But I'll tell you what I did find out. Dumbledore says that when pureblood witches and wizards are born, it is traditional for friends and relatives in the wizarding world to give the baby some kind of gift... Sometimes this gift will be a promise for a gift you will receive later in life, like on a certain birthday.

You went to Dumbledore? Well, that all helps a little. But it still doesn't explain everything. Is it just coincidence that we were both given the same 'enigmatic enchantment' on the same birthday? What are the odds of us both receiving boxes that allow us to talk to each other by magically sending bits of paper?

No, I didn't go to Dumbledore- I read it in a book he wrote. But it sounds like our gift-giver was the same person, and that they had a reason for giving the same gift to both of us. Who do we know that knows both of our families?

Well, that's going to be kind of hard to determine, since I don't know who you are!

True, true. You're smarter than you look, you know.

That's quite a compliment coming from a person who has never seen me.

Do you think I will ever see you?

I don't know... I'm still very paranoid of meeting unknown people.

Still?

Ah, yes. That would be another thing I can't tell you...

Damn. So I suppose you can't tell me who your first lover was either?

Er... no. I definitely can't tell you that. Would you tell me yours?

She was Wind.

Wind... was she in your house?

Yes... I've never branched outside of... my house.

I don't get to know what house that is, do I? We're running out of things to talk about while still revealing who we are. Would it be so bad if we knew?

Inter-house relationships never really work very well.

I didn't say we had to have a relationship... would we still continue to talk when I know who you are?

That kind of depends on who you are.

Great. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight.

'Night, Fire.

……………………………….

The next evening, Ginny and Bianca left History of Magic to meet up with Alistair on their way to dinner. When Alistair arrived in the entrance hall, he drew Ginny and Bianca close to him and quietly said, "Ginny, I think I know who Shadow is. And you're not gonna like it."