"I really don't think I should be competing in this." Rhyann whispered to him for the tenth time that morning.
"You're one of the smartest students in Slytherin. We won't have a chance of winning without you." Draco kissed her behind her ear as he whispered back.
"But I'm too old! I'm not really a student." Her lips thinned in a displeased line.
Draco sighed. "You're just saying that because you don't want to do it. No matter your age, you're still a Slytherin and I want you on the team."
Rhyann looked about at the other teams. The Ravenclaws' had put together a grand Academic Competition. Each of the four Houses in Hogwarts would compete as they did in the quidditch tournament, but there were also teams from other wizarding schools in Europe. Yet the audience was not as large as it had been for the Slytherins' event. The fact that Dumbledore was no longer there to protect the school seemed to keep a good number of people away.
"Besides, we won't win with Hermione on the Gryffindors' team. And we definitely don't have a chance against Ravenclaw." The dreamer huffed, knowing she looked childish pouting as she was, but this was not what she wanted to waste her time on. There were too many other things on her mind.
"Maybe the luck of the draw will have it that we don't have to play either of them until we have to near the end." Draco let a little smirk play across his lips. There was not a hint of worry upon his pointed pale face.
She peered up at him, realizing at once they wouldn't have to play either of those teams until they reached the finals. No matter how much Draco had been busy doing other things, it did not surprise her that he had taken the time to ensure that the random draw of teams that would start off playing against each other would not be so random. Rhyann did not care about the competition at all, but she knew the importance of winning to him. Though she doubted they could win even with the fix and she was sure he would know that too, at least they would be in the top finalists.
Leaning against him in surrender, she said no more on the subject. In everyone else's eyes, and sometimes in her own, she was a student at Hogwarts. It would seem odd to people that one of the smartest people from Slytherin was not on their team. All she could think was that it was going to be terribly boring.
Of course, Draco was the captain of their team of five. He always had good grades but the rest of them did better than he did. Rhyann sat at his side with Millicent, Blaise and Devon Kliver to her other side. She had noticed that neither Harry, Ron nor Ginny were on the Gryffindors' team. Hermione was their captain - which was also no surprise - but their whole team was made of girls. That did provoke some sniggering and jokes about the lack of brains amongst the boys in Gryffindor.
"Did your uncles finally get back to you about whether they would be coming?" Draco stroked her arm idly.
"Darcy will be here. Tristian is busy with other things." Though Rhyann knew her uncles were busy wizards, she also knew that if Tristian wanted to come, then he would. He was just the type to get bored by such a competition and she fully understood how he felt.
"My mother and father are already here. At some point, we probably better go sit with them for a while." His voice was tense as he said so, but he had done well so far on being the proper, dutiful son.
Rhyann also tensed at the mention of his parents. Surely Lucius knew what her task was or that she had one, at least, and that it was not completed. The Dark Lord had not visited her himself, but she did not think he had the time to worry about motivating her. He had no reason to distrust her at the moment. That would change in two weeks when the two month time period was up, but she had to put her trust in Snape to take care of that for her.
"I suppose my uncle will be with them too." Rhyann did not feel any less tense at that thought. She still loved her family dearly, but she was not one to forget things. She knew they were under equal amount of pressure as she was, but Draco had risked it all to protect her. Why could they have not done the same thing? She hoped that after everything was all over, when she was free of her constraints and thus they were free as well, they would be able to have a happy and free loving family as she had felt they were before.
Each of the Headmasters and Headmistresses from the various schools had been invited to take turns asking the questions during the competition. There was a panel of seven guests of honor - famous Academics from all over the country - that acted as judges as well as timed and kept score during the matches. Ravenclaw had not went all out inviting many guests as Slytherin and Hufflepuff had for theirs was a smaller and more serious affair. They did not want to lessen the importance of the competition itself by having too many celebrities over-shadowing it. The typical gaggle of reporters were still in attendance though.
The Slytherins played their first match against a team from a school in Finland. Each member of Rhyann's team had a different area of specialty and with that, they managed to win. Since they had played near the beginning of the round, it would be a while until they were due to compete again and Draco led his girlfriend by the hand to sit with their families.
All of them were overly polite. The formality not only for the sake of their own peace but for the reporters that floated about and loved to catch candid pictures of influential families such as theirs. They watched rest the rest of the first matches together. Hufflepuff was the only House from Hogwarts to lose and not continue on to the next round. Hannah and her team seemed unphased by their loss, though, and were more than happy just to spend time with their families.
Slytherin won their second match before lunch as well. Since there was enough room in the Great Hall, a formal lunch was held there with all the students, families and guests. Ravenclaw had arranged a menu full of what were considered "brain foods" which consisted of a lot of fish. Rhyann did not mind fish at all, but Narcissa was not a big fan. She had Draco escort her to the restroom before dessert even came.
It was not so unexpected that without her protector there, Lucius would turn his cold eyes upon her. "How are your studies going, Rhyann? Only a few months left before school is out."
The dreamer knew he cared nothing about how she was doing in school. She answered politely, waiting for him to get to what he really wanted to say. "I'm doing well. There is a lot of work this semester, but I'm handling much better than some others."
"I'm sure then that you are constrained for time aside from your studies. It must be difficult to concentrate on anything else." Lucius drawled coolly, dabbing the sides of his mouth elegantly after finishing the rest of the food before him on his plate.
He did know. Rhyann forced her face to remain impassive. "It it very difficult. I try to find more time, but there are other obstacles in my way as well." She glanced at her uncle, but Darcy said not a word. He silently continued to finish off his meal.
"Some tasks are more important than schoolwork, I hope you realize. The penality for failure will not just be a lower grade." The elder Malfoy stated quietly, sipping his wine to conceal the fact from anyone else that something of secrecy was said.
"I understand completely. I do not like to fail in anything." Rhyann responded, her voice tight. There was nothing he could really do or say with this many people around. The threat was clear in his expression though.
Setting down his goblet, Lucius stood up with a nod. "Please excuse me, I'm going to see how my wife is doing. We'll return in a bit."
Both the Rookwoods nodded in return and there seemed to be some tension lifted in the air when Lucius strode out of the Great Hall. Darcy reached over and affectionately stroked his niece's hair. "Don't worry so much, my dear. I know you would not fail in anything. Some tasks are just harder than others."
"Thank you, uncle." The dreamer did not give him a smile though. "I am doing what I can. I am not without my limits though."
"I know, I know. None of us want to see you... hurt either."
She knew he meant punished. Rhyann was sure that she felt a little shiver go through his body as if he were remembering something of that nature himself. Her heart went out to him for a brief moment and she leaned over to give him a hug. "Don't you worry either. I'll be okay. You just focus on what you have to do. Then, one day soon, we won't have to worry about any of this at all and we can be a happy family again."
"I hope for the same thing. I want nothing more than to have you back again." Darcy muttered back in her ear and released her from the embrace. He seemed a bit greyer at the temples now and a few more wrinkles by his eyes. Crow's feet, people called them. They looked distinguished on a Rookwood.
Sitting back up, Rhyann closed herself off again to him. The Malfoys returned and dessert was served. The rest of the day could not go quickly enough. Slytherin lost their third match to a German team who then next lost to Gryffindor. The two final teams were Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Though the red and gold had some quick minds, it was Hermione that carried the team and managed to keep them neck-in-neck with Ravenclaw to take them into over-time. Eventually, though, it was a question on quidditch that stumped her and Ravenclaw won the day. Rhyann was sure later that both Ron and Harry would give Hermione a hard time about missing the question!