Darkness Rising: The Unicorn Hunt The Quidditch Final, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter Fifteen: The Quidditch Final

Sorry it took us so long, but HBP complicated things, thus this story is soooo AU it aint funny. Part of this chapter is an answer to a challenge which involved cheerleading, so bear with it (grins)

Tanya woke, feeling warm and dozy, and considered the events of the night before.

Kris had broken Draco's nose when he punched him, so Draco had been bleeding all over the place when Kris woke Justine up. Everyone looked at each other for a moment, before Justine turned unexpectedly to Harry and said, "Heal Draco."

Harry blinked, then walked over and placed a hand on Draco's temple, the bleeding ceased and the break healed without anything to show that it had been there. Kris muttered something very quietly about it not being fair – Ax got to leave a mark, and he didn't. His had been more impressive anyway.

Just as everyone was glaring at Draco and looking threatening all over again about being in Justine's bed, Justine herself finally spoke up, though she kept her eyes trained somewhere near Kris's left shoe,"Um … guys … I'm relatively sure that I got into bed with him."

Kris gave her a shocked look and gasped. "I didn't know he was there Kris," she reassured him. "Why he was there, I really don't care right now. I just want to get some sleep, and I'm not going to get that on the boat. Clearly I'm not going to get it here either, so let's just go." She turned and walked away, leaving everyone staring after her in shock and, in Draco's case, complete incomprehension.

Tanya, Alyson and Kris followed her quickly, and caught up with her in the lounge, where she had stopped to wait for them. Kris went over and wrapped his arms around Justine. "So, where are you gonna sleep now?"

Justine shrugged. "I guess I'll go back and see Sevie," she said. Just then, the doors opened and Severus swept into the tower, looking to be in high bad temper.

"Who hurt you?" he demanded, wasting no time on pleasantries.

"It's ok, we've dealt with that already," Justine replied, "It would seem that a group of Hogwarts students have taken over the tower. The only ones I actually saw were Harry and Draco, but I'm assuming there were more."

"The DC, I'd imagine," Severus said darkly and turned to go upstairs, presumably to oust the DC from the tower. Justine held up a hand to prevent him.

"Let them stay," she told him, "It's unlikely that there will be another storm, so tonight is the only night I'm going to actually need the tower, I think. I'll just have to find somewhere else to sleep."

"Me too," Alyson agreed, "The unicorn in me won't let me sleep on the boat."

"Me three," Tanya said, but didn't give a reason.

Severus sighed, "And you, Kristopher?"

"Justine was in trouble, I came to kill whoever hurt her," Kris replied. "I'll go back to the boat and sleep now, if it's all the same to you. The storm doesn't bother me, I just think of it as this massive rocking cradle, which makes me think 'dude, I'm just gonna sleep'. G'night!" He headed out of the tower without a backward glance.

"Very well, Justine, Alyson, Tanya, you may take my bed. I was going to be up most of the night in any case, making potions," Severus told them. He was about to continue, but was interrupted by the three girls throwing themselves at him, Tanya wrapping herself around his waist, being the only point she could actually reach, Justine and Alyson taking an arm each.

"Thank you Sevie!" they chorused happily, then bounced out of the room and downstairs to Severus's quarters. Severus followed behind them with a faint smile playing on his normally scowling face. He caught up to Kris halfway down, who looked at him and grinned.

"Welcome to my world," he said.

"What?" Severus asked.

"They did just take over your bed, did they not?" Kris enquired, arching an eyebrow. "You'll get used to it. Sofa's are better than armchairs... See you in the morning," he added with a yawn.

"I'll be watching," Severus assured him, Kris nodded absently and continued on his way. Severus continued down to his own rooms and found the three girls already getting ready to tuck themselves into his huge bed.

Tanya gave a sleepy smile. She could get used to this bed. She was seriously considering going back to sleep, when she registered that there was a noise that she didn't recognize reverberating through the room.

Tanya's voice slipped through the folds of Justine's sleep.

"Justine, are you purring?"

"Alyson! Stop purring!"

"It's not me!"

Three groggy female voices went silent and the purring continued. Justine opened her eyes in the merest slit to look down. Tanya was sleeping diagonally across the massive bed with her head resting on Justine's stomach, with Alyson curled in against her on the other side. What the hell was the weight resting on her legs?

Justine sat up quickly, displacing an indignantly squawking Tanya in the process, to see a massive ginger cat flopped across her legs purring contentedly.

"What the hell?" Justine looked down as the cat opened his green eyes and stared back at her, mewing pitifully and rubbing himself up against Tanya's cheeks.

"Oh my god! He's so cute!" Tanya squealed, wrapping her arms around the massive ball of ginger fluff. The cat just settled down, with the firm belief that he was in for a good scratching. He was, of course, being an incredibly cute cat, entirely correct.

Alyson was scratching and petting her way around his neck when she found the tag. "Fritz. His name is Fritz," she said, "Justine, is he your uncle's cat?"

"I don't know, I've never met him before. He is just so cute, yes he is, and yes Fritzy is…" she mollycoddled the fuzz ball as he rolled over to have his tummy rubbed

Justine again took stock of her uncle's room; the place really was a bachelor pad, with no sign that a female had ever occupied the place. The place didn't even have windows. She looked around and spotted a clock on the mantle. It read 10:30. "Guys," she said uncertainly, "The Quidditch is at twelve, right?"

"Nah," Tanya responded from somewhere behind Fritzy's fluff. "It's at eleven why?"

"It's ten thirty," Justine replied dully, in shock.

"SHIT!" All three girls cried in unison, taking off at a full run through the door, Alyson stopping long enough to pull the door shut.

Fritz stretched out on the bed. Teenage girls made good pets, those three had obviously gone under extensive scratching training from one of his kind. He began purring.

Colin Creevey was on his way down the main staircase with a group of fellow Gryffindors on his way to the Quidditch Pitchwhen a pocket rocket with bright red curls shot thought the entrance hall. "Oi! Ginny what's the rush?" He said grinning at the satin boxers covered in ducks that the girl was wearing.

She turned and gave him an annoyed look but kept running.

Colin bit his tongue; it wasn't Ginny, rather the Australian girl, Tanya. Next came Justine. "Good Lord! It's a stampede!" Seamus next to Colin said. Justine was wearing a white night dress, and nothing much else, her hair sitting in mussed and tumbled waves around her shoulders. Last but not least, in a white singlet and blue flannel pants, Alyson jogged through.

"What's going on ladies?" Seamus called.

"Really late – Adam is so gonna kill us!" Alyson bellowed back, heading for the boat to make the fastest change of her entire life.

When Tegan was informed that Justine had gone missing again, she was not impressed. "Are you telling me I missed two adventures in one day?" she said to Kris.

"It wasn't much of an adventure; I got to break Draco's nose though."

"YOU WHAT! I miss all the good stuff," Tegan grumbled.

The two were on their way to the front yard where Portkeys from each school were about to arrive. The Kallaix students had been put into a magical sleep for a day, so that when they left the school, it didn't matter that it was going to be midnight Australian time. To the students, when they woke at eleven was like waking for the day.

The first group to arrive from Kallaix contained James Chester, Justine's Stalker. He made it obvious that he wasn't impressed that the meet and greet team was Kris and Tegan.

"Where's Justine?" He inquired smoothly.

"Hiding from you," Tegan quipped back. When Justine had first started dating James, everyone had liked him, figuring that he'd just be another guy a lot like Kris, but it didn't take very long for them to realise how wrong they were. Soon the only people who hung out with him much were his old friends and Justine's closest friends who wouldn't abandon her for anything. Tegan turned and walked away, glad that Justine was over him now, and went to join Isaac Thorpe-Townsend, Daniel Coleman and Isabel. Isaac was shortish, with sandy hair and soft eyes. He looked remarkably like his brother on a smaller scale. Daniel was tall with brown hair and blue eyes. He was powerfully built from years on the football team with Kris. Isabel, Isaac's girlfriend, was a pretty blonde with soft brown eyes.

"What's up?" Tegan said as she went to join them.

Isaac, Saul'sbrotherwas sitting on Boby 2 with a look of shock on his face. He had come with the rest of the seniors of Kallaix Academy to cheer on the Quidditch team. He had just been informed when he arrived that unless Tanya turned up, he would have to be the replacement Seeker for the Kallaix team. "Let me get this straight," he said, for the fourth time in five minutes, "I have to go up against Harry Potter? Do you know who Harry Potter is?"

"Yeah, the saviour of the Wizarding world," his best friend Daniel replied. Daniel was the acting Head Boy with Kris absent, and Isaac's girlfriend Isabel was the acting Head Girl. "I don't see why you're freaking out so much, you're a great flyer," Daniel added with a grin. "Besides, if they don't turn up, I'll be on the team with you as Justine's replacement."

"That's ok though. You get to hit balls at people, I have to try and beat Harry Potter to the Snitch!" Isaac informed him, getting panicked again.

"Relax little brother," Saul turned up on deck, slapping Isaac's shoulder cheerfully. "You'll do fine! Or you'll die."

"That's what you think," Isaac returned.

"By the way, that deck chair is mine – see, Boby 2, I even named him," Saul added, shoving his brother playfully off the seat. Isaac glared up from the deck, and scrambled back to his feet, shoving his older brother right back.

"Break it up you two," Adam interrupted the play fight. "Saul, we can't have our replacement Seeker injured – you can fight when the game is over."

Isabel came over and wrapped her arms around Isaac's waist, "Attack of the Izzies!" Saul yelled, "They're gonna go and get all cute and kiss and stuff," he buried his head in his hands as if trying to ward off a horrible sight. Isabel let go of Isaac and stalked over to Saul, whacking him over the head, then turning around and kissing Isaac full on the lips when Saul looked up to protest.

"Eww!" Saul yelled and bolted from the deck.

Laughing, Isabel pulled Isaac onto Boby 2 again and curled up beside him. Tegan laughed, "You'll be fine," she told Isaac, "I'll go and calm your brother down – he looks like he just saw the most horrible thing in his life."

"Close enough to," Isaac grinned in response. "I'm not sure I'm all that much of a better state."

Isabel whacked him on the shoulder, "You're lucky I know you're joking, you've already lost what is it now, three girlfriends that way?"

"So?" Isaac shrugged. "I'd've broken up with them eventually anyway." Isabel just laughed.

"You two flirt way too much," Daniel told his friends.

"So how are things going as the replacement Head Boy?" Adam asked Daniel.

"Oh, alright," Daniel replied, "I wonder if this means that I'll be Head Boy next year?"

"Well put it this way," Adam said, "You and Isaac are the only candidates for the position, according to student vote, really, and who in their right mind would put Isaac in charge of a school? He's really too irresponsible."

"Oh, thanks," Isaac muttered.

"What? You are," Adam pointed out.

"Still," Isaac said.

"Do you want to be Head Boy?" Adam asked.

"No, but…"

"There. Daniel will be Head Boy next year and you'll be his trusty sidekick."

"Captain of the Skateboard Club too, no doubt," Daniel said in an effort to placate his friend.

Suddenly three people streaked up onto the boat. Tanya, Justine and Alyson were racing across the deck yelling, "We know! We know!" before anyone had a chance to say anything. Kris was headed upstairs just as they raced downstairs.

"Hello ladies," he said with a grin.

"We know! We know!" they yelled, racing passed him.

"At least they know," Isaac said up on deck. Isabel laughed before heading downstairs.

Isaac and Daniel nodded as she left – cheerleading was a very important part of the Kallaix traditions. It had begun early on from a muggle influence, and swiftly became as huge as it was in American schools. Every house had its own small cheerleading team, as well as the school team. They all had a lot of fun showing off their talent whenever they got the chance, and it was made even better by the fact that their team almost always won events, mostly because they had magic, thus thier tosses and lifts were much more impressive.

Downstairs, Justine had pulled on her skirt, and had her top half on, though the zipper wasn't yet done up, and she was carefully pulling her hair into a high pony tail. Justine commented that she didn't care if she was naked as long as her hair was perfect. Everyone else called her an idiot.

Tanya had her top on, as well as her spanky pants, and she was struggling to pull up her skirt while Alyson, already dressed and her hair up, was braiding one side of her hair. Isabel went over to take over the other one. Isabel was already dressed inher cheerleading outfit, which were comprised of a short white pleated skirt and a white long sleeved midriff top with black cuffs and a black 'K' on the bottom left hand corner of the skirt and again in the middle of their chests. Each of the girls had black and white pompoms.

"Let's go,"Isabel said, "The match is gonna start any minute now. We sent the rest of the team to set up the stage."

"Right," Justine said, "Tanya, you're the Head Cheerleader, what routine are we doing?"

"We will rock you," Tanya replied grimly, smiling coldly. "And we will rock them." When it came to cheerleading, Tanya knew her stuff, and she was deadly serious about the whole affair, for lack of a gymnastic's team, cheerleading was her thing.

"Yes, we will," Krystal and Isabel agreed. The four girls embraced tightly and raced off for the Quidditch pitch. The boat was empty now, everyone having already moved to the Quidditch pitch. No one saw the four girls as they slipped into the changing rooms. The rest of the cheerleading squad were waiting with the Quidditch team, all dressed and ready.

"Go out there and rock them, but then haul ass to be ready to play, your exempt from warmup, jumping around like that gets you loose enough, but we WILL be having words about today's tardiness" Adam told the cheerleaders.

"Oh, we will rock them," Tanya smirked. "Let's go guys."

The Hogwarts Quidditch team were crowded around the changing room doors, staring out onto the pitch. One of the stands had been completely cleared of people and set up like a stage. On the Kallaix stands, packed twice as full due to the other being emptied, everyone was stamping twice and then clapping. The massed sound was rapidly drowning out everything, including Lee Jordan's magnified voice as he asked what was going on.

"They look scary," Ginny remarked, looking out. Everyone in the Kallaix stands was smiling grimly. "They know something we don't."

Suddenly a red haired blur streaked out onto the stage in a swift series of amazing flips and leaps, landing lightly and upright, staring at the Kallaix stands. Everyone there went completely nuts with the cheering. Tanya beamed at them, then suddenly threw her hands out. There was dead silence in the stands.

Then Tanya stamped twice and clapped once, and the entire process started up again. With a sadistic little grin, Tanya called out in a small, sing-song voice, "We will we will ROCK THEM!" The last two words were magically enhanced, and reverberated through the entire stands.

Suddenly more girls, and a group of guys, came flipping and cartwheeling out to form up behind Tanya while the Kallaix stands took up the cry.

"What the hell?" Draco demanded.

"I don't like this," Harry remarked. Draco was talking to him again after last night, but was still upset that Harry wasn't telling him what was going on with Justine and the rest of the Australians, as well as Ron and Hermione and their sudden rift from Harry. Ron had gotten out of the Hospital Wing that morning, and while Harry and he were talking again, Draco knew that things were still strained between them.

The entire group started out in a high speed little dance, which paused every few minutes for another stamp, stamp, clap. Everyone was just staring at the group in shock, but the Kallaix stands were all being interactive and following the lead of the cheerleaders.

After about five minutes, Alyson and Tanya moved to the back of the group and the boys started tossing them up in the air with amazing grace. Krystal, Isabel and Justine were leading the dance, while Jacque and Tegan were with the guys, aiding in the tossing.

I'm sexy, I'm cute! I'm popular to boot!
I'm bitchin', great hair! The boys all love to stare!
I'm wanted, I'm hot! I'm everything you're not!
I'm pretty, I'm cool! I dominate this school!

Who am I? Just guess! Guys wanna touch my chest!
I'm rockin'! I smile! And many think I'm vile.
I'm flyin', I jump! You can look but don't you hump! Whoo!
I'm major, I roar! I swear I'm not a whore!

We cheer and we lead! We act like we're on speed!
Don't hate us cause we're beautiful well we don't like you either!
We're cheerleaders! We are cheerleaders!

Let's, go, Kallaix! We are the Knights! The mighty mighty Knights!
We're so terrific! WE MUST BE KNIGHTS!

The Kallaix stands, having cheered and screamed and geerally lost it for the majority of the cheer, started the stamp, stamp clap again, while the cheerleaders started up a very complicated dance and flip routine. Tanya and Alyson were being thrown around like incredibly graceful rag dolls.

"Why don't we have something like that?" Malcolm Braddock asked, "Look at their skirts!" Ginny slapped him and he turned away rubbing his cheek and scowling at her. "What was that for?"

"If you're too stupid to figure it out, I'm sure not gonna tell you," Ginny replied.

"Wow – look how high they're throwing those girls? Is that magic or something?" one of the Chasers asked.

"Apart from safety charms and that sort of thing, no, there isn't," Harry replied.

Just then, Tanya and Alyson were thrown up really high and they half twisted so that they were falling down with their backs to the ground, stretching out to catch hold of each others hands and sinking slowly back to the ground.

"I take that back," Harry muttered. "There is now. But there wasn't before."

When Tanya and Alyson landed, Tanya and Justine headed off stage and back into the changing room. The rest of the team stayed and started up another cheer, while the two girls went to presumably change into their Quidditch uniforms.

In the changing room, Greg was waiting for them. Justine gave a shriek of delight and threw herself at him to hug him. "I've been asked to commentate the match as the guest Minister of Magic who represents thecurrent highest scoringteam - you rock," Greg grinned at them. "I've been warned to not be too biased … but I'm sure they'll understand if I … slip, a couple of times. Now, I have only one thing to say to you, and that thing is this: You'd better bloody win. Waddy and me are out there watching, and we expect top performance. Nothing else will do. Adam – I want to see third gear action."

Adam saluted. "Third gear. Yes sir!"

"Good. Justine, your mother is also present – I believe she'll be sitting with your uncle. You might like to catch up with her after the match, I know she's missed you," Suddenly Greg pulled Justine into a hug. "You do your best, Princess," he smiled at her. "Remember – third gear and you're gonna win! Kris, take no prisioners!"

"Yes Sir!" they chorused as he saw himself out of the changing room. Severus strode into the changing room just as Greg left, and looked around them.

"Let me guess – he gave you one of those 'there is no chance that you can lose this match' speeches?" they nodded. "Well, he was wrong. The Hogwarts side is fierce and good – just as good as you are. This match will show who is the better side, not your prior performances. Don't be foolish enough to think that you can sit back and allow this game to set the pace, the Hogwarts side will come out no holds barred and throw everything they have at you. If you are not ready, you will be decimated."

Adam smiled dangerously, "We're ready for this Severus. We know what we have to do, and we know how to get there. We've been holding back a little so far – the Hogwarts team has no idea some of the moves we can pull. That is not idle bragging. You've never seen one of our finals in Australia. We know what we're doing."

"I have complete confidence in your ability … but I also know theirs. All I wish to convey to you right now – although your Australian arrogance is charming, it has no place on this field today. I have warned you, now go out there and do your best – I hope it will be enough." On that sombre note, he turned and left the changing rooms, leaving behind a somewhat more serious team.

"We are the best team that Kallaix Academy has ever seen, and Kallaix is the best, making us, excuse the cliché, the best of the best. You know the signals, watch for them, we're gonna pull everything out of our asses this time. Tanya, keep your eyes open – keep Harry Potter's eyes on you, if he tries anything, you know what to do!"

"Oh yeah baby," Tanya grinned.

"Justine, Jeffery, you've got your assignments. Hold nothing back."

"We're on it, boss! That keeper is gonna regret the day he was born."

"Kris, Saul – I'm going straight for the Quaffle. We're doing the Whirlwind straight off – Severus said that the Hogwarts side will come straight out, that means we have to beat them to the mark. Let's go out there and show Hogwarts what Australians can really do!"

The team cheered, grabbed their brooms and headed out onto the pitch. The Hogwarts team was already there, as was Madam Hooch, the referee. "And we have the Australian team, led by Adam Blake, captain and Chaser, followed by fellow Chasers Saul Thorpe-Townsend," Greg didn't even stumble over the long name, "And Kristopher Crompton. Justine Snape and Jeffery Campbell, the Beaters, followed by Jacque Quaine, the Keeper, and Tanya Bussa, Seeker."

The Kallaix stands went nuts again. In the middle of the stands, a group of guys had taken off their shirts, and each had a letter painted on his chest, spelling out "Go Knights". The whole team was laughing, but Kris and Justine stopped laughing when they realised that James was the "H", and he was watching Justine with a cool smile. The whole atmosphere was familiar to the Australians, the same sort of thing that they would expect at a football match.

Suddenly Greg's voice came echoing out from the place where he was standing to commentate the match. "I am your commentator for today, Gregory Crompton, Australian Minister for Magic. I don't like to think I'm like those other Ministers of Magic, look at them up there in their poncy clothes, in their poncy box with their poncy accents and their poncy languages – GO THE AUSSIES! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!"

The Australian crowd now spread back out over two stands, rose to its feet as one and shrieked back with one voice, "OI OI OI!"

"With that small show of national support, please do not allow me to hold up the game for any longer," Greg called out cheerfully. "I'll do my best to be as non-biased as possible about this game but … no promises!"

Down on the pitch, the two teams were gathered in the centre circle. In the front row of the Kallaix crowd, a posh-looking woman was waving a small triangular flag with a heavily embroidered "J" on it, and was calling out in a voice that seemed to cut through the noise of the rest of the crowd, "Go Jeffery! Go Jeffery!" in a posh heavily accented voice. She had obviously been born and bred in Britain.

"I'm Geoffrey with a G, I'm Geoffrey with a G," Jeffery was muttering down on the pitch. Justine, Saul and Tanya exchanged looks, then all three of them turned and waved:

"Hi Jeffery's mum!" they all screamed.

"Ooh! You're in so much trouble. I'm not even sure if I'm talking to you right now," Jeffery told them, and his mother waved her little flag with increased vigour. Before they could say anything else, Madam Hooch called for the Captains to shake hands.

Harry and Adam strode forward and shook hands firmly. There was no enmity between them. "May the better side win," Adam said.

"We will," Draco assured him from the lines, eyes hard.

"Mount your brooms," Madam Hooch said, "On my whistle – three, two, one!" She released the Quaffle and Adam shot straight up and grabbed it, Kris and Saul whirling around him at a deadly speed. Justine flew, to everyone's surprise, straight at Draco, who froze up, and didn't react as Jeffery went for one of the Bludgers, batting it straight at the Chasers for Hogwarts, making them pause as well, and giving the Kallaix group a swift head start.

The Quaffle and players were changing places so constantly that it was impossible for Ron to figure out where the ball was, and who was holding it, so the Australians easily scored the first goal of the game.

"Go the Knights! Whirlwind!" Greg roared into the microphone, "Ten – zero to Kallaix!"

Down below, Harry flew past Draco, who was just recovering as Justine hurtled up to join Jeffery with the Bludgers, defending her team but not attacking – it wasn't time yet. "Draco! You let her use your emotions against you! You need to think like a MALFOY" Harry hissed at his brother, "Get over it already, we have a match to play here!"

Draco shook his head slightly and nodded, racing off after a Bludger and hitting it as hard as he could in Justine's direction to try and get some revenge for humiliating him like that. Justine just smirked at him and swung her bat, sending the Bludger at Polly Wood, the Hogwarts Chaser with the Quaffle, making her drop it. Kris seized it and scored again, only just managing to get past Ron, who was in top form, taking the score up to twenty-zero.

Greg was following the game easily, screaming out of the score and yelling support and abuse indiscriminately whenever a player fouled up. A few minutes into the match, Polly had the Quaffle again, and managed to score, giving the Hogwarts team their first goal. When she went to grab the Quaffle the next time, Kris was there, and he grabbed the Quaffle, shoving Polly out of the way and heading up toward the other end of the pitch.

Almost simultaneously, Madam Hooch blew her whistle, Justine, above Kris, gave him a disappointed look, and Greg glared at him heavily, as if to say, 'Kris! You butthead! I didn't raise you to go picking on girls!'

Kris reluctantly handing the Quaffle back to Polly for a penalty shot, though he did give her an honesty apology.

"Twenty-twenty!" Polly had scored again.

The game continued, and every now and then, one of the Kallaix players would give a hand-signal. Justine often raised her fingers and clicked them, at which point, Jeffery would swat a Bludger in her direction, and she would hit it off at another player. They used the whirlwind twice more in the first half hour of the match, and Ron still hadn't managed to block it, though he had come close the last time– it was a good move.

Suddenly, Adam gave a hand-signal that was something like a rolling wave, or sort of like a hula. The Chasers and Beaters both went zigzagging down toward their goals, rather than the Hogwarts ones, which surprised everyone. Up above, Tanya turned her broom and shot straight down, a look of triumph on her face. Harry followed her, both heading at a breakneck pace toward the ground. The Hogwarts Chasers came after them, since Adam had the Quaffle. One of the Bludgers raced at them, hit by Malcolm Braddock, and, to the surprise of the crowd, Justine caught it sideways, holding it, with some difficulty, against her chest. Jeffery and she had been hitting the other Bludger between them, and now he caught the other Bludger. Both focusing on thier Flying hard.

At an unseen signal, both Justine and Jeffery swirled away from the main group and released the Bludgers, straight into the faces of the oncoming Hogwarts Chasers, who scattered. Below them, Tanya broke out of her feint and streaked back up into the sky. The Australian Chasers went up and over the heads of their opponents in a movement rather like that of a cresting wave, tossing the Quaffle into the air. Tanya caught it on her way passed and flew towards Ron Weasley, dropping the Quaffle into Adam's waiting hands. The Quaffle left his hands and soared gracefully through one of the goal hoops while Ron tried to figure out what was going on. Wasn't it illegal for the Seeker to touch the Quaffle?

Kris, who was flying behind the hoops caught it and threw it to Saul who passed it back to Adam at breakneck speed.

They managed to score another three times before anyone could really figure out what was going on, while Greg screamed something about a "Tidal Wave" – they could only assume that this was another of the moves that the Australian's used.

Adam thrust his fist in the air, showing two figures, while Kris screamed, "We're moving on to second gear people!"

Justine grinned gleefully from her position high above the game. She was in position for a move she and Jeffery liked to use, where you shot the bludger straight up and down rather that across ways so that it became increasingly difficult for the opposing beaters to time their swing perfectly to steal the bludgers or defend their teams.

She smacked the bludger down towards Dean, who managed to swerve out of the way and gracefully come up in front of the goals, and before Justine knew it, Hogwarts had scored again, bringing the score, according to a joyful Geggly to eighty – thirty.

Justine saw Adam suddenly throw a fist into the air, and moved to dive on her broom, seeing that he was in possession of the Quaffle. The whole Australian team converged for a split second in the air, and all flew off in different directions yet again, but in that moment Adam had managed to say, "Beaters split, Kris you're on it!"

Justine swerved off to defend Kris in any capacity she could, while Jeffery worked on Ron and Harry, Adam having had explained before the game, they were key elements to the Hogwarts side, Justine had to admit, Ron had pulled some phenomenal blocks this match. The asshole. They had also decided that since they didn't want Ron to die, Jeffery would be the one who had to keep him occupied, while Justine defended and got the Quaffle away from the opposing team.

In the Kallaix stands, Julia, Justine's mother sat beside Severus Snape and watched her daughter with pride, and to some extent, a degree of smugness. "She really is something out on the Quidditch pitch, is she not?" Severus remarked to Julia with a smile.

"She certainly is," Julia agreed. "Vicious … just as her father was, when there was something he cared about at stake. She really is … very like him."

Severus nodded sadly. "She has his temper," he remarked, "Which she has displayed several times since she arrived here."

"Well, no one's died, so it can't be too bad," Julia remarked.

"A couple of people nearly have … but I will tell you about that later this evening. I would be honoured if you would accompany to the ball tonight, should you find that acceptable."

"Of course," Julia smiled somewhat alarmed but the former comment. "I would like to hear of her escapades since she arrived here … Mr. Malfoy hasn't presented any more problems, has he?"

"As always, your intuition is as quick as your looks are stunning," Severus replied. "This is not the time to discuss such matters. He has been involved with her loss of control."

Up in the air above them, Kris scored a goal, and the stands around them erupted with enthusiastic noise, thus ending the conversation momentarily. Severus clapped lightly, but Julia went as ballistic as the rest of the Kallaix supporters, screaming herself hoarse, clapping and stamping enthusiastically.

Suddenly an arm snaked around her shoulders and a young man flopped down in the seat beside her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. It was Mark Hall, Severus registered, Tegan's older brother, and he was stripped to the waist with a big 'K' painted on his chest – Severus assumed that he was one of the group that had made up the words 'Go Knights', and realised that it must now say 'Go Nights'. Well, he supposed it still got the message across.

"Hey Aunty Julia," Mark said.

"Mark," Julia nodded her greeting. "How are you?"

"Oh, fine, fine," Mark said, waving a hand slightly. Around them, all the female populace seemed to have turned their attention away from the game and where twisting around to try and get a look at Mark. Severus recalled that the boy had starred in several famous movies, and was considered by most to be a heartthrob. He also recalled the press thought Justine and him were together, which was, of course, completely ludicrous.

"The team's doing well," Mark remarked, turning his attention back to the game and lounging in his seat.

Just as he said that, Tanya and Harry, circling high above the game, both dove for the ground as a Bludger shot passed them, directed from Draco Malfoy's bat and clearly aimed at Tanya. It missed by a wide margin and Justine went streaking after it to hit it into the thick of the Hogwarts Chasers, effectively scattering them.

Over by the Hogwarts goals, Jeffery seemed to be trying to kill Ron, sending Bludger after Bludger at the Keeper whenever he got the chance, and forcing Ron to roll out of the way or flying away from the goals. Unfortunately for the Kallaix Chasers, Draco and Malcolm were generally using the other Bludger to try and scatter the Kallaix Chasers, or at least distract them. It was working, to an extent, and Kallaix was only forty points in the lead at present.

In the Centre of the pitch, Adam held up his hand, three fingers showing, and Kris yelled, "We're moving on to third gear, people!"

"Third gear is extensively known throughout the Australian competitors of Kallaix Academy," Greg advised the crowd. "It's when the Knights pour everything they have into the game, moving faster and player harder than ever before. It's a mark of great esteem for an opposing team to survive long enough to bring the Knights into third gear action, but also a mark of suicide. More than once players have had to be escorted, unconscious, from the field while the Kallaixians are playing in third gear. KRIS SCORES!" he added at a bellow of delight, as Kallaix pulled their lead to fifty points.

On the game went, with the Hogwarts side struggling to defend themselves agaisnt the bludger onslaught, and the Kallaix side not getting the chance to score all too often because Ron was being protected as well as was possible. Half an hour later, the Kallaix cheers when they scored a goal were considerably hoarser, and the Hogwarts side was likewise. Kallaix was pulling further into the lead, now several goals ahead.

In the next five minutes, Ginny and Polly managed to get the ball up to the other goals without being scattered by Justine's Bludgers, and Ginny put the ball past Jacque with some difficulty, bringing the score to one hundred and ten to sixty.

To the horror of the Hogwarts team, Adam paused and held up his hand, this time showing four fingers. What the hell was going on? There was a fourth gear? Trying to cope with the third had been hard enough. While they swung into defensive positions, they didn't realise that they were doing exactly what the Kallaix team wanted them to do.

Upon seeing the Hogwarts side move into defensive positions, the Kallaix team grouped together as well. Up above, Tanya circled unconcernedly, and Harry remained nearby, marking her. When the Hogwarts Chasers and Beaters realised that the other side wasn't about to try and attack them, they moved into attack positions themselves.

Adam discretely held up one finger, parallel to his broom pointing forward, the Kallaix team shifted, all getting ready to fly, then Adam dropped the finger and they all shot forward, breaking away from the close huddle and charging one on one for the Hogwarts players, who froze, not sure how to deal with this.

Suddenly the Hogwarts team realised that each of the Kallaix students were going straight for a head on. The Hogwarts team broke and tried to fly away, but the Kallaix team chased after them, almost as if they were herding them towards Jacque's goals, then, just as Madam Hooch was about to try and call both teams up, since flying with the intent to collide was against the rules, the Kallaix team pulled out and shot straight for the Hogwarts goals, the Quaffle with them.

As the Chasers shot forwards, Justine and Jeffery turned in mid air and went for the Bludgers, sending them straight into the faces of the oncoming Hogwarts players to cover the backs of Kris, Saul and Adam, who put the Quaffle past Ron

"And that was a particularly effective use of the move known as the Fourth Gear," Greg yelled out cheerfully, while the Hogwarts team was just staring at the lead the Kallaix team had managed to get. "This move is only ever used once the game has escalated in third gear action. While the opposing team races to defensive positions, the Knights are known to execute the move before the opposition has realised exactly what's going on. For the benefit of the referee, it's not actually against the rules, because although flying with the intent to collide is against the rules, the team never intended to actually hit the opposing team's players."

The Kallaix supporters were laughing and cheering and stomping their feet and generally being rather raucous.

The Hogwarts side, however, was starting to lose hope of winning the match, but the Chasers were determined to do their job. Working together, Dean, Ginny and Polly attempted an unpractised version of the Whirlwind. Jacque just looked at them, at them and burst out laughing, burying her head in her hands as her whole body shook and threatened to send her plunging from her broom down to the ground.

"JACQUE!" Kris screamed, "They're actually gonna try and score you dimwit!"

Jacque looked up, "Huh?" she asked, and lunged sideways as she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye, but the Quaffle was already through the hoops. Jacque muttered some obscenity under her breath, and hurled it over to Kris, who scowled at her before flying toward the Hogwarts goal.

But he never got there. Justine flew for one Bludger, found the other and immediately realised that it was in the perfect position to do some damage. She swung her bat, connected hard with one Bludger and sending it flying straight for the other. When they collided, provided they didn't break, both would spin off and hopeful do some damage to one of the Hogwarts players.

In the second before impact, Tanya looked up and gave a shriek of anger, and Justine watched in mounting horror as the tiny golden Snitch dodged up between the colliding balls. Before it flew out of the other side, there was a nasty crack, as the Bludgers collided, and Harry, who'd been chasing the Snitch neck on neck with Tanya, held out his hands, catching the fragmented remains of the golden Snitch as it fell.

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" Justine yelled, as Tanya howled, "JUSTINE! You are so dead!"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle to signal the end of the game.

"Justine Snape has managed to break the Golden Snitch," Greg remarked, sounding rather disappointed, "Well, I suppose that means that you've broken every single Quidditch implement yet invented, I hope you're happy. And Hogwarts wins, two twenty to one thirty."

In the Kallaix stands, the crowd was still going utterly ballistic, and the Hogwarts people were just staring at them, almost forgetting to cheer themselves. The Kallaix team flew together, exchanging high fives and grinning happily and then descending to the ground, congratulating one another on a great game.

The Hogwarts team landed as well, watching their opponents in growing confusion – hadn't they just lost? Kallaix landed opposite their changing rooms, and Hogwarts followed suit.

Kris and Saul swooped in on either side of Justine, and somehow managed to hoist her onto their shoulders, as Tanya landed, looking murderous. Justine grinned impishly down at her, safe upon the shoulders of the two guys, because Tanya could never reach her up there.

Tanya shook her fist at Justine, muttering inarticulately. Ax and Alyson led the charge from the Kallaix stands down onto the pitch, screaming themselves hoarse to try and show their support, but they didn't come beyond the base of the stands, because they knew the end game ceremonies.

"You rock!" Ax screamed, using his magic to make himself heard over the noise of the cheering.

Tanya looked up, and the anger drained from her face, as she thrust a hand into the air and screamed, "OH YEAH!" So used to taking her queues the Kallaix supporters somehow managed to increase their noise, as the cheerleaders threw themselves into a new routine. Stamp, stamp, clap – the crowd started up again.

The two Quidditch teams organised themselves, each forming a rough line and moving toward the other end of the pitch, so that they would pass by somewhere near the middle.

Justine found herself second last, just before Kris. "You rocked," Kris assured her.

"I lost the game, Kris," Justine pointed out.

"But you played well," Kris shrugged. "That's worth everything in my eyes."

Justine just shrugged. She'd let the team down, and she knew it. Nothing Kris could say would ease her guilt for that.

The two teams met, and each player shook hands with everyone on the opposite team as they made their way toward their own changing rooms. Draco was about third in line, and when he came to Justine, both of them paused, then hesitantly reached out and shook hands quickly. Draco was surprised to see that there was no hatred in Justine's eyes, she just looked sadly at him, before moving on.

Kris shook hands with Draco cheerfully, and there seemed to be none of his former enmity, which confused Draco even more than Justine. Then he was out of the Kallaix students and heading for the changing rooms.

Ron was only two people after Draco, and when he came to Justine, she almost refused to shake his hands, but he caught her hand and shook it anyway, looking at her earnestly. "I never meant to hurt you," he told her, staring at her almost as if he thought he could make her understand by the sheer force of his gaze. Justine just sneered at him, dropped his hand and moved on.

Kris, next in line, narrowed his eyes, and grabbed Ron's hand. "You mightn't have meant to hurt her, but this is completely intentional," he said with a grin, then swung back his arm and punched Ron straight in the nose. Ron reeled backwards and fell over, and Kris kicked him in the ribs.

Daniel and Isaac, standing in the front of the Kallaix crowd along with Mark, both screamed simultaneously, "FIGHT!" and charged forward, along with most of the guys, and a few of the girls.

"A very well played game," Julia was remarking to Severus as they made their way slowly down to the pitch, letting the children run ahead of them. Jean Wadsworth was accompanying them.

"That's one of the best games I've seen them play," she agreed. "A pity about that broken Snitch, we could have won, otherwise."

Suddenly one of the footballers pushed passed, "Sorry Mrs. Wadsworth!" he yelled over shoulder, "It's a brawl, gotta hurry!"

"Oh shit, what's Kris done now?" Jean demanded.

"I'll tell you after the brawl," Mark yelled, dashing off after the footballer. Severus took after him.

"Not if I can help it!" he yelled at Mark's back.

Suddenly McGonagall stopped him, "We need to get all of the officials out of here right now, and the guests, escort your friends to the food tents for refreshments," she yelled at Severus, herding him, along with a group of reports, out of the stands, while Jean protested that she could help stopping the boys.

At the other end of the pitch, Jean spotted her friend Greg Crompton come flying down the stairs, and managed to side-step McGonagall and rush across the pitch. Like almost every Australian male, Greg was fanatical when it came to sport, and the moment he saw his son starting a brawl, she knew his first reaction would be to try and join in, so she had to stop him.

Making her way around the outskirts of the brawl, because she knew better than to try and stop it on her own now that all of the footballers and a whole lot of the Hogwarts students had joined the ever-growing brawl. Suddenly one of the Hogwarts boys, a big, chunky lad with an unintelligent look, swung out of the brawl and blinked around him stupidly, then lumbered towards her, raising a threatening fist.

She was just about to go for her wand to stun him, when Daniel and Saul lunged out of the brawl, "Touch our principal and we'll kill you!" Saul yelled, as Daniel coat-hangered the lumbering fellow back into the brawl.

Saul pretended to tip a hat to Jean, then turned and hurried back into the brawl himself. Jean didn't have time to yell at either of her boys, because Greg was coming frighteningly close to the brawl now, grinning like a maniac, screaming, "BRING BACK THE BIFF!" at the top of his lungs.

Just before he dove headfirst into the brawl, Jean placed herself in front of him. "Crumpett, stop this immediately," she told him.

"Out of the way Waddy!" Greg said cheerfully, "My son's in there and I gotta go and show my support!"

"Crumpett, do you know how much paperwork you'd have to go through if you hurt one of these people?" Jean demanded.

For a moment, Greg looked painfully between Wadsworth and the fight. "Paperwork?" he asked, sounding very aggrieved.

"Miles and miles of it," Jean assured him.

"But …"

"Miles and miles," she repeated, and Greg shrugged amiably enough, then screamed out,

"Am I ever gonna see the biff again?

Bring back, bring back the biff!"

Apparently, while he may not be able to fight himself, he could show his support as much as he could. Jean shrugged and stayed beside him, in case she needed to remind him about the paperwork again.

Julia slipped into the refreshment tent, now without both Severus and Greg, to try and track down a warm drink. She was sure that Severus would be trying to stop the brawl and keep everyone safe, and equally sure that Greg would be trying to get into the fight – she hoped that Jean Wadsworth would be able to stop him – she didn't think she had to worry however. She'd seen the Kallaix Principal slip away from the group, and had purposefully stayed silent.

Having come over from an Australian autumn day, at about thirty plus degrees, Aussie autumn days were still rather warm, she was finding the cool breeze refreshing. And she was glad that she had been given the opportunity to wear one of her favourite outfits, which was always plus in her eyes, the snappy form-fitting black suit comprised of fitted black pants and a coat with defined line that clearly enhanced her figure. This time of the year she usually couldn't wear it.

Her blue eyes were highlighted by the perfect amount of professionally applied makeup and her stylish chocolate brown hair, a colour which her daughter had charmed her own hair to match for several years now, was pushed back off her face. She grinned at the woman behind the bar and ordered a butterbeer, looking around quickly to see if Jean had managed to pry Greg away from the fight yet, or if Severus might have appeared, escorting some other dignitary to the cool safety of the food tents.

Julia grinned a sly little grin and held back a fit of laughter - trust Kris to encourage an all-out brawl at the Quidditch final. She was willing to bet that even if they'd won the match, Kris would have still managed to get a brawl started – just for the sake of it. All of the officials and dignitaries had been ushered into this section of the grounds and told to enjoy the situation while the teachers broke up the fighting.

Julia accepted her drink and wandered towards the side of the tent that was open, looking out over the lake. She twiddled the handle of the dainty mug in her manicured hand and grinned out over the water.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? Did you attend school here?" came a musical voice from somewhere to Julia's left. She turned and found herself looking into clear silver eyes, and a beautiful pale face. The woman was obviously British, although Julia hoped that she wouldn't be too supercilious about her upbringing – the snobby British look had been out of fashion for some years now, which Julia was grateful for. She'd hated having to dress up in British styled clothes for news reports, just because that was all the craze.

"No, I attended Kallaix Academy, in Australia," Julia responded politely, sounding out the waters.

The woman smiled, "I hear it's a very exclusive school. I'm Narcissa, Narcissa Lupin."

Julia took the woman's hand and responded, "Call me Julia, did you go to school here? Perhaps you can help me, I'm here with the Australian press, the Australian Wizarding Network, and I'm looking for a stunning sunset shot, would you have any clues as to the best place to get the shot?" Julia paused and blushed, "You have to forgive me, I flit into work mode rather frequently, as my daughter delights in reminding me. She's usually right."

Narcissa smiled. This middle-aged woman was certainly an interesting one, for all that they'd only just met, she was obviously very well bred, and well mannered as well, which could be a hard find among the upper-class, as Narcissa well knew. "I always thought the best view was at lake level, looking out over the hills to that side of the castle. I'll show you, if you like?"

Julia laughed. "Well, I'd be grateful to accept your invitation, but first I really must ask my daughter's opinion as well, she has a wonderful eye for this sort of thing, and she'd never forgive me if I didn't ask her opinion of something," Julia said without conceit for her daughter, "She was on the team today, and played very well. I'm rather hoping I get to catch up with her before the Ball."

Narcissa turned and smiled happily, glad to find some common ground, "My son was on the Hogwarts team! What a co-incidence – you might be able to clear something up for my husband and I. We noticed that the Kallaix students seemed to be celebrating, despite the fact that they'd just lost, and we were wondering why that would be?"

Julia smiled, "I suppose it might seem odd to you. Australians support sport more than almost anything, and even in the event of losing, while we are disappointed, we celebrate a game well played."

"Ah, I see," Narcissa smiled, it made sense, really. If a team plays well, of course you support them for it – I'm afraid in Britain we seem to have a less supportive attitude when our side loses … anyway, I've seen some of the Kallaix team, tell me, are you Jacqueline's mother?"

Julia turned to Narcissa to face her fully front on for the first time. Narcissa knew the other woman's face immediately; the soft elegant lines, the shape of the mouth, the colour of the hair, except for the eyes, which were blue, not green, but Narcissa had seen the girl the other day and she clearly had Calis Snape'seyes. She gasped and took a step back in disgust, "You're Justine's mother, aren't you?"

Julia was confused, this woman, who only a minute ago had been so polite and beautiful now looked as though some unwanted smell was wafting under her nose, "Yes, Justine is mine…" Good lord, what had Justine been getting up to, to offend this woman so badly?

Narcissa suddenly opened her beautiful mouth and said in a low venomous tone, "You spawned that bitch, that piece of filth? She broke my son's heart the cheating little whore…"

Julia felt her temper flash boil in a second, she didn't know for a fact that Justine hadn't dated this woman's son at some stage but she thought that Justine would have mentioned if she'd gotten together with one of the Hogwarts boys and dumped them in the last week or so… "My daughter wouldn't even touch your son, no matter how great you think he is! You stand there as though your son is something special, when if he is anything like his mother, he is obviously ill bred trash."

Julia turned to walk away, round the outside of the tent, with Narcissa following, trying in vain to ignore the woman – she didn't want to do something she'd be ashamed of later, and she knew that if she kept looking at Narcissa, she'd do just that. However, when Narcissa spoke, she forgot this resolution completely, "Draco is the heir to the Malfoy line, the most prestigious family in all of Britain…"

"Draco Malfoy! That little bastard destroyed my daughter, then had the audacity to abuse her, if I ever meet the little bastard I'll rip him apart with my bare hands, do you hear me?" Julia turned, blue eyes flashing icy sparks.

Narcissa's silver eyes thinned to cold steel slits. "Your daughter, bitch that she must be if she's anything like you, deserves everything she got, I hope she never finds peace for this, do you hear me, never."

Julia lost it, like her daughter, she lost it well. "You horrible cow, how dare you even think about Justine like that, you disgust me!"

A few of the party goers looked at the women, both of whom turned away from the party walking completely out of sight around the side of the tent and continued. No one, however, followed them – there was already one brawl going on, they didn't want to help start a second.

Narcissa smirked, whispering, "Your little slut deserves it, every word."

Julia plastered on what she called her toothpaste smile. "Just like you deserve this!" Julia reached out and slapped the other woman across the face as hard as she could. Narcissa looked shocked and her eyes welled with tears, great red welts forming on her pale cheek. She was obviously unused to being in any pain at all.

Narcissa gathered her wits quickly, however, and screamed as she lashed out at Julia, who slapped and shoved right back, furious, both with herself for letting herself start this, and at Narcissa, who was convinced that her child was perfect, when Julia knew perfectly well that this was not the case. She couldn't stop screaming that her daughter was definitely the superior of the two children, while Narcissa shrieked that her son was the better of the pair.

They went at each other for a good few moments, just outside of the tents and out of the way of the 'resting' dignitaries before they were found quite by accident, Remus just wanted to bring his wife a drink, and Severus rounded the tent, not wanting to enter, just locate Julia from the outsides and beckon her to join him in his quarters for a drink – it was far too noisy out here.

Both men approached from opposite sides of the situation, paused for a moment when they saw the cat fight, and then grabbed their respective woman. Severus caught Julia by the waist from behind, struggling to hold her back as she continued snarling insults, and Remus dragged Narcissa away by the arm, while she, too, was yelling that Justine was a little slut who didn't deserve to lick Draco's boots – at this, Severus almost let go of Julia to go at Narcissa himself. "Your son is far from the angel you think him to be, Narcissa," he sneered at her, and Narcissa paused for a moment – she'd always valued Severus's opinion, and she knew that she could always count on him. It was Severus who had always been on her side, and it was due only to him that she had never been forced into a Death Eaters robes.

"I'm so going to kill you, then your son!" Julia managed to scream coherently before Severus silenced both women with a flick of his wand, swept her off her feet and carried her away princess-style, for all that she was twisting in his arms like a cat, trying to get free.

A pale-faced Remus turned to his wife, looking between her and the hell cat being carried away in Severus' arms. "I don't know what the hell is going on here ladies, but is this really appropriate behaviour? Narcissa, this is my old friend I was going to introduce you to – I mentioned her before we came here…"

"You neglected to mention that she'd broken my son's heart," Narcissa spat.

Severus sneered at Remus, "Really, do catch up. Narcissa and Julia were bound to meet, and discuss their children."

Remus turned to Narcissa then to Julia, "The history between Justine and Draco can't be that serious, it happened two years ago for giddies sake! You two don't have to live out your children's feud – you're very alike and I'm sure you'd get on just fine if you could see past your children."

"Ah but the dynasty continues, Remus, find Draco, if my sources are correct all of this is about to hit the fan … I'd… " and with that, Severus marched Julia away.

The moment that Kris had punched Ron, Harry had run for Ginny and pulled her from the bedlam, and Dean had grabbed Polly, knowing that Oliver would freak out if his little sister was left in the fight. Ginny struggled to try and free herself of Harry's restricting arms. Ron was in there, and the last she'd seen, he'd been bleeding. She couldn't even see him any more, because a whole heap of the Kallaix students had joined the fray, which had in turn had encouraged the Hogwarts people to get down and dirty on the Quidditch pitch.

"When Adam said that the Kallaix students would die for each other, I guess he wasn't kidding," Harry remarked.

Ginny looked at him, "Please don't say that," she said, "Don't even bring up the idea that someone could die out there. You might jinx them! How could Kris do this?"

"No one messes with Kris's girl and gets away with it. He might come across as easy-going, but if you mess with someone he loves, there's no telling what he might do."

As the fight continued Ginny watched in horror as Jacque, usually the cool one of the Australian girls calmly walked over and while the boys held Ron up, apparently he'd managed to find his feet at some stage, she punched Ron in the stomach. Hard. Ginny lost sight of her brother again, and started frantically scanning the crowd for the familiar shock of red hair.

"Can you see Ron?" Ginny asked anxiously, turning to Harry.

"They're pretty much targeting the fight around him, damn Kris; he said he would let this go, he promised Justine he would – I thought I could trust that, at least." Harry seemed to be looking for Ron to, and Ginny breathed a sigh of relief. Harry would make this better, he always did.

"I know he's angry, but right in front of Justine, and Draco," She paused and her face went dead blank, "Harry, tell me Draco is not in there – if he's in there ..."

"You're worried about my safety? How sweet, Weasley, but don't trouble your pretty head – I'm right here," a voice came from right behind them, "And dammit Potter you're going to answer my questions or it's the end. I know this has something to do with me and her, now what the fuck is it!"

Harry looked at Ginny, who just nodded her head and gestured to the fight. His glance seemed to become more complex for a moment then he whispered in a small voice. "Draco why don't you go and ask Justine what's going on? She could explain far better than I could. I promised her I wouldn't tell you about this, but I never promised that I wouldn't send you to her to find out for yourself."

Ginny suddenly smiled slyly, "You know, that's not even necessary. You might have promised that you wouldn't tell Draco. You want to know what's going on? I never promised Justine I wouldn't tell you about this, so I'm the only that you can come to for answers, so you'd bloody well better treat me with respect, or I'm not telling you anything, you hear me?"

Harry looked at Ginny for a moment, she looked determined, and frankly, he agreed with her. Draco deserved to know what had happened, no matter how much the truth might hurt him, finding out that he'd been wrong all this time, but it was better than the lies that had destroyed his ability to love anyone for fear of unfaithfulness. "Go for your life Ginny – he deserves to know. I'm going to go and try to get Ron out of there … if you're sure you can handle this on your own."

Ginny became more determined. "I can." Harry smiled at her, then turned and pushed his way into the brawl, searching out the Hogwarts students and calming them down, one by one, trying to end this with as little violence as possible – they'd already had enough of this. If anyone had been watching, they would have been amazed at Harry's ability to bring everyone back in check.

As he pushed his way further into the brawling crowd, trying to avoid being hit himself, Harry saw, at the very centre of the melee, Adam, just standing there and tapping his wand against his ear, looking around as if he was bored with the goings on. In his hand, he was holding his wand, which was glowing with a funky red colour. Harry realised that no one in the crowd was even trying to use their wands, and he realised suddenly that he wasn't trying to use any magic himself – somehow, unconsciously, he'd sensed that magic would not be useful in this situation, and everyone else seemed to have picked up on it as well.

When Harry reached for his Magai powers, he found them easily, but when he tried to draw on them, to cast a spell over the crowd to try and calm everyone down, he saw Adam's wand glow all the brighter before diminishing, and his magic failed him. "Dammit – they might have saved half of these people from being cursed, but they made it twice as hard for anyone to try and stop this! Unless that was the point, of course.

Draco followed Harry with his eyes for a moment, hurt that Harry would hold his word to Justine over his own need to know … but then, that was a Gryffindor for you, never break your word. He turned back to Ginny. "Alright Ginny – what's going on?"

Ginny was watching Harry's path as well, and didn't even turn to him to answer. "What do you want to know?" She asked calmly, "I'm warning you now, Draco, if you lose your temper at me, I'm walking away from you straight away, because I won't put up with your supercilious attitude, and I am the only one who can help you with this. I don't like doing something that I know will endanger my friendship with the Kallaix students, which I value highly, but you need to know … even so, if you piss me off, I'm gone."

Draco looked at her for a moment, as if trying to decide what he need to know the most, just in case he lost it and drove her away. "How am I involved in all of this?"

Ginny thought hard as to how to answer this question without making him flip his lid. "Two years ago, someone pulled a stupid prank, which wasn't meant to go anywhere but ruined the lives of two blameless people … one of which was you."

Draco's eyes narrowed, "And the other?"

"You aren't that thick, work it out on your own," Ginny told him.

"Her," Draco said, knowing his words for truth, even as he spoke.

Ginny spun around and faced him head on. "Dammit, Malfoy she has a name. Use it or I'm gone!"

"Fine! Are you bloody talking about … Justine?"

"Yes."

There was a pause and the Draco's voice cut through like a bullet. "And?"

"Ask the questions, and I'll answer them, Malfoy," Ginny told him.

Draco thought for another couple of moments then said carefully, "You said a prank, I don't remember any pranks ruining my life, or Justine's for that matter – she cheated on me and ruined my life, but she seems happy enough!"

"It's a matter of perspective, Malfoy – you choose to have the perspective that she's happy, but have you seen her truly smile, truly laugh, once in your presence this entire Conference? Is she smug and gloating about breaking your heart? I don't think so, Malfoy, because she was as much a victim of this as you were … more so, you might even say."

"Then what do you mean, prank?" Draco demanded, starting to get frustrated.

Ginny's eyes filled with tears, and she turned away from him, "The Pensieve …"

Draco paused for a moment, then looked at her, "How do you know about that?" he demanded, then changed his mind, "Pensieve's don't lie, Ginny," and to her, he sounded like a drowning man hanging onto the only thing he could as he watched his world fall apart before his eyes.

"What is it about you and the unequivocal need for proof? Dammit Draco, why else do you think Padma was in the Hospital wing? Justine used her Magai powers to look through her memories, and found some things that neither of you would have expected!" Draco's head shot up, and he smiled, just as Ginny's eyes widened – she realised she'd said too much, given something away, given Draco the link he needed to find out it had been Ron, which was something she'd been trying to avoid – as much as she disliked her brother at present, she didn't want Draco to kill him. "Draco – you need to let this go. You know the truth now – Justine never cheated on you, she loved you. The only cheating that went on was when the both of you were cheated of love."

Draco's eyes flashed, and to him the entire world went red. He didn't consciously remember doing anything, but suddenly he found himself with Ginny backed up against the stands, her eyes filled with fear as he raised a hand that was glittering with Magai power. "Ginny," he said, his voice soft and dangerous, "You will tell me the rest of this. You will tell me who did this to me, or do I have to break into Padma's mind to find out what I need to know? I don't want to have to do that, Ginny … but if you make me, I will, and it won't be pleasant for her."

Ginny stared up at him in absolute terror – not even Justine had been this scary when her powers had been out of control. Justine had never threatened her, but Draco looked ready to kill, and she knew that she couldn't just walk away from him now. "Draco – calm down. You can't let your powers get out of control, you can't. There's already one Magai running around here with no control, we don't need another one. Don't hurt Padma – she had nothing to do with this, for all that she knew what had happened. It was … Ron. He was jealous that Justine dumped him for you, and he wanted to drive her away from you, back to him, because he thought she loved him, when anyone could have seen that it was only affection, not love …"

His hands stopped glowing and he stepped back from her. She relaxed, because she knew that he was back in control of his power again. "Draco … that's all there is to know, I promise you. But I want a promise from you in return to telling you all of this, when no one else could have – don't hurt my brother. He didn't mean for all of this to happen, and he's been punished enough as it is."

"The other morning, it was Justine attacking Ron in the Room of Requirement, then when she saw me in the hall…"

"She was completely out of control, and seeing you didn't help. She almost killed Ron then – he doesn't need that to happen two days in a row. Please, just promise me that you won't hurt him, he's paid the price for what he did, let it lie now."

Draco felt like he was broken in two, half of him felt like destroying the world, ripping it apart, the other wanted to find Justine and apologise for ever doubting her love, somehow manage to convince her to come back to him, to love him as she once had, and let him love her in return. "Let me get this straight – your brother made a memory in a Pensieve to try and get Justine to love him again. That backfired and both mine and Justine's hearts were broken. She went back to Australia. She knows what's going on, and it's making her lose control."

"That's about it," Ginny agreed, "Now Draco – promise me!"

He looked at her for a moment, then smiled a charming little smile and shook his head, turning away. "I'm sorry Ginny."

She knew immediately what he meant. "Draco! I won't let you hurt my brother – I'll go to the Minister of Magic himself and ask him to intervene if you try anything!"

A hand came out of nowhere and clamped on Draco's shoulder. Remus Lupin looked at Ginny over his adopted son's shoulder, "I'm sure you'll find that unnecessary," he then turned to Draco, "My office – now."

Justine stared back at Harry, "She what?"

"Ginny's told Draco everything, Justine," Harry told her gently. "She never promised she wouldn't tell him, and although I promised I wouldn't tell him, I wasn't going to stand in her way. He deserves to know, just as much as you did Justine – your love wasn't the only one that was ruined."

Harry had come to find Justine in the Hospital Wing, where the Kallaix brawlers were all sitting around seeing to one another's injuries and joking about the brawl, assuring Madam Pomfrey, who was hovering over them as if afraid they'd hurt each other more, that they did this "all the time". Justine had not been injured in the brawl, having had the sense to get out of there pretty quickly the moment that she saw Kris punch Ron, but had come to the Hospital Wing to keep her friends company.

The Hospital Wing had been divided into two sections and was curtained off so that none of the brawlers could see one another. On the other side of the curtain, the Hogwarts injured where being treated by some of their schoolmates, and Madam Pomfrey was ducking between the sections every couple of minutes, just to make sure nothing was going wrong. Shit, Justine thought. If Draco knew what had happened, then he was going to come and find Ron … Or maybe he'd just thank Ron for getting rid of her …

Justine stood up and, ignoring Harry's hand on her arm, slipping through the curtains and into the Hogwarts section of the Wing, where most of the people just gave her a look and then turned away again – they didn't seem to realise that the brawl had been partially her fault. She went straight to Ron's side, noting that his broken nose had since been fixed, and he was just sitting around waiting for Seamus and Dean to be healed.

"What?" he demanded, seeing her coming towards him, immediately going on the defensive.

"Don't get me wrong," Justine said, looking at him calmly, "I'm not over this yet. I'm still hurt by what you did, and I don't think I'm going to stop being hurt for a long time … but I'm not angry at you. You don't have to fear me anymore. Fear him – he knows now, but I didn't tell him. Stay in sight of teachers and students you trust for the next few days."

He looked at her for a moment, then nodded slowly, and smiled at her. She didn't smile back, but she gave a parting nod in his direction before she turned and walked away with as much dignity as she could, then the minute she was around the corner, ran like there were demons at her heels.

Kris watched her go and exchanged a knowing look with Daniel, whose split lip he was currently mending. "I need you to watch her, stick to her like glue this afternoon okay? She might need your help."

"Draco's going to be looking for her," Harry piped up, "He's just found out the truth, after all, and he's going to want to talk to her … I don't think she can handle that right now."

"That's it, we're all getting on the boat for the afternoon. Waddy's gonna be after my blood anyway, so I should give her a couple of hours to simmer down. Resulting explosions won't be quite so bad. Go find Justine, Daniel, and get her to the boat, be ready to take off, and I'll get these people down there as soon as I can."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah sure, I'll get her to the boat … and I'll try and avoid talking about all this. I don't know what's going on, but I guess this is some old wound, huh? I remember when she came back from England after that one year exchange that she did … she left here to carefree and happy, but she came back so …"

"Bitter? Cynical about love?" Kris offered, 'Yeah … she can deal with it on her own, but we have to show her that we're here for her. Do what you can about not saying anything about what's just happened, she needs a break from it all. Keep her alone, and keep her calm."

Daniel grinned, "We're on it boss!"

When Daniel and a couple of the other guys had left, Kris turned to Harry. "Do you want to come to the boat with us?" He asked.

Harry smiled slightly and shook his head, "Draco's going to need support just as much as Justine does. I'd better go to him."

Kris just nodded, and Harry left the Hospital Wing.

Narcissa sat quietly behind her husband's desk, gazing at her son, while he carefully avoided looking anywhere near her. Her husband and Harry were quietly discussing what had gone on. Her graceful hands were weight against the ice-pack that was draped over one of her hands, and all her other cuts and bruises had been Healed, but her face was completely devoid of colour.

Her son, who she had thought she'd raised to be polite and well mannered, had caused this girl so much pain, and now it had come out that it had been nothing to do with either of them. All the things that Draco had done … now that she saw them in the cold light of truth, Narcissa was having trouble believing that her son could have ever done that, though when she had thought his heart had been broken , she had approved of his actions completely, as a mother will.

Draco glanced up at his mother – he hated to know that he had caused her pain, when she had already been so much. As he sat there, he remembered Mark Hall's comment from the Unicorn Hunt, "Woman basher". He, Draco, had claimed that he had loved Justine beyond life itself … Oh god, he could barely imagine how she must have felt when he had attacked her like he had – she had been swearing that she loved him, that she would always love him, even after he had hit her, insulted her, driven her to a point beyond which he could expect no forgiveness.

What sort of monster had he been back then? What sort of monster was he still? Like father like son, Draco thought, although he hated the idea that he was anything like this father. For two years now he had struggled against his father's image, and he had honestly thought that he had nothing of his father left in him … and now he found out he had been wrong.

Harry finished recounting the events up until the Quidditch match, "And that's everything," he finished. "Or as near enough to everything that I can remember."

Remus's face was pale, though it was hard to tell if it was in fury or in sympathy. "Draco – you need to calm down. None of this was your fault, as far as I can tell, you acted as you thought best at the time … you could not have known the truth back then, and your behaviour could only be expected. You should not blame yourself for what happened then."

Draco looked up at the man that was more a father to him than Lucius had ever been. "But I do," he said. "She told me she loved me. I should have believed her," he buried his face in his hands. "I don't know what to do any more."

Remus put a hand on Draco's shoulder. "We can't tell you what your path is, you have to find that on your own … but you should always know that we will always be there to walk it with you. You are our family, and we love you. We'll do what we can to help you on your way, but only you can take the necessary steps to the conclusions you need to reach."

Draco looked up at his mother, who stood and came to pull him into her arms. "I love you Draco," she whispered in his ear.

It seemed in that one moment, perfectly clear to Draco exactly what he needed to do. He let go of his mother and looked Harry straight in the eye. "Does Justine love me?"

Harry paused for a moment, then smiled faintly, "I shouldn't have to answer that question, Draco. True love never dies, as I'm sure you know from experience. What do you think?"

Draco smiled back, then turned to the door, but Remus stepped into his path, predicting his actions, "Draco, you may do more harm than good if you go to her now."

Draco's eyes flashed, "I need to see her."

Harry walked over to join Remus. "Draco – you won't get near her. She's being guarded by the footballers, I saw Kris send some of them to follow her around. Bodyguards, he called them. In any case, I'm sure they've gotten on the cruiser already, and you'll never catch up with them out on the lake. Justine is angry enough with everything at the moment – she's just found out what really happened, and she doesn't deal well with negative emotion, it sends her Magai powers completely out of control."

Remus turned to Harry in surprise, drawing in a swift, sharp breath, "Someone might have mentioned that she was a Magai," he remarked. "This changes everything … Draco, just let her calm down. Once she's back in control, then you can approach her, but she needs space right now, I think. She has no defence right now, and she won't want to be confronted with you."

Draco's face went stony, "Are you really going to stop me?" he asked, "If you aren't going to ground me or something, let me go. You told me I had to do this on my own terms – this is them. Please get out of my way." He pushed past Remus and Harry, and out of the room. Neither of them tried to stop him.

Harry turned to Remus. "He'll never get to her, I know she's on the boat – I saw it take off just before. Obviously Kris assumes that if he's on the lake, his Headmistress can't skin him alive – she's a pretty ferocious woman, for all that she's short. The McEwan dragon is on watch, and the Wentworth is expected for the party tonight, because of the increased number of Kallaix students here."

"Then we need to get to Ronald, because that will be his next call," came the unexpected voice of Narcissa. "I know my son better than anyone else, and if he can't find Justine, then his temper might drive him to attack the one who he sees as the source of his problems, just for the joy of getting his own back."

The boat circled the lake lazily. Most people had wandered downstairs for refreshments and a rest, but Saul had a small group of students up on the deck, around the deck chairs, and was holding a fake sword in his hand, complaining that he'd tried to steal Ax's, but it hadn't worked, so they had to make do with plastic.

Kneeling before him was Isaac, "I, Isaac Thorpe-Townsend do solemnly swear my allegiance to the Boby Brigade. That I shall give it the homage that it deserves and forsake it for no other deck chair, for as long as I live. This is my solemn vow."

"Arise, Sir Izzy of the Boby Brigade!" Saul pronounced grandly, and pointed to one of the deck chairs, which Isaac went to lounge on while Daniel got knighted.

Kris walked up just as Daniel was half way through his vows.

"What. The. Hell?" Kris demanded. "You've managed to convince fifth and sixth years to join in this crazy religion?"

"Religion!" Saul yelled triumphantly, "Let's make a Boby Religion, dedicated to the worship of Deck Chairs everywhere! I never thought of that – thanks Kris!"

Kris hit himself in the forehead and turned to walk away. "If you want food," he remarked, "It's downstairs, and I hereby forbid you to remove those deck chairs from their rightful positions on the deck."

"Just because you don't have the ability to remain in a practiced religion doesn't mean you can take it out on everyone else!" Saul yelled at Kris's retreating back. Kris didn't look back, and soon enough, the Boby Brigade were hungry enough to abandon the items of their worship and head downstairs for food.

Once they were downstairs, Kris called Daniel and the Izzies over to him. "Izzy, you're in on the plan right?"

"Which plan?"

"Daniel didn't tell you about the plan?"

"Oh, protect Justine, yeah, got it," Isaac nodded.

"I need you four to keep an eye on her. I don't think that James had realised that they're over, so try and keep him away from her as much as possible, OK? And if Draco Malfoy – the blond Beater from the Quidditch match – goes near her, try to head him off, alright? She doesn't need to deal with him right now OK?"

"We're on it, boss!" the four sixth years saluted, then went to merge back into the crowd and go about their duties.

Daniel was Kris's protégé, and everyone acknowledged him as being second in command when Kris was away, particularly if Ax and Saul weren't around. The two boys from Kris's year were Kris's best friends, but Daniel was being prepared to take over the school the next year when they had left.

Justine had not been particularly interested in hanging out with her friends from Kallaix. Everything was just all over the place, and she needed to be alone to try and get some of it sorted out. She'd decided that the best thing would be to get ready for the ball tonight, because she could still think of other things while she was doing that.

Now she realised that she had left her shoes in the library earlier, which was where all of the students were gathered at the moment, setting up a bedroom for themselves – the Library, like most of the Kallaix transporting systems, had charms so that it would expand to fit however many people there were within.

When Justine slipped in the doors, about ten different people came over to say hi, and she managed a pretty smile and some non-committal statements for all of them, saying she was on her way to a nap so she could party that night.

She knew she had left her shoes on the edge of the fiction shelf, she just had to figure out where it had gone too. She slipped through the dozens of camp beds set out on the floor, and sighed when she spotted the shelf where they'd left her shoes. He face fell when she realised that the shoes weren't there – someone had moved them. She started to wander around the room, looking for the white shoebox, or Kris, who would probably know what had happened to it. Suddenly she felt like ice was crawling up her spine and she gave an involuntary shiver.

"My Dear Cinderella, you seem to be missing your glass slipper."

Justine turned to see James – her own private stalker, standing with one of her silver stilettos in his outstretched hand. "James, I didn't know you were here, thank you for finding my shoes. May I please have them? I really need to finish preparing for the Ball tonight, and I need the shoes."

James smiled and came to stand in front of her. He was taller than she was, about Kris's height of six foot two. "I thought maybe we could finish the fairy tale. I'm supposed to get on one bended knee and place the slipper on your foot. Then we become the couple that everyone desires and envies." James grinned slow and sensually, moving around behind Justine "You got my letter and are dying to make up with me, are you not?"

Justine's mouth fell open in shock. "James, I rather gathered you would understand from my lack of reply just how disinterested I am."

James laughed and backed Justine into a corner, "You're just ignoring me to make me feel guilty. It worked darling, now shall we make up? I know you love me, and you know I love you, so there's no need for us to get into a fight over some trivial detail."

Justine ducked under his arm as he came in to kiss her, " Trivial detail? Since when are my feelings trivial? I'm not interested in you James, we were a couple for all of a week before I got over you. I do not want to be with you, we are not making up – we are through, do you understand me? Over, our relationship has ended, and you just have to deal. I'm not going to kiss you again, and now can you give me my bloody shoes?"

James eyes were rock hard as he handed the shoes over. Justine wondered why he gave in so readily until she noticed Daniel coming across the room to stand next to her, eying James with particular dislike.

"Ready to go?" he said to her, and then frogmarched her and the shoes away from James.

"So we have to go up to the school and do a sound check?" Alyson asked, patting her hair, which she had arranged so that it was twisted up in curling rollers, getting ready for the ball several hours earlier, as most girls tended to do.

"We walk in the back door, have a play on our instruments so Saul can mix them and level the sound, then we walk out again." Ax said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "We don't have to see any Hogwarts students, and don't have to talk to anyone. But we do need to make sure that everything is in order for tonight."

"And it gives us a chance to listen to some playback and check how far off my pitch is!" Justine giggled, though her laugh sounded more than a little strained, as if she was trying to persuade everyone that she was in control and being her usual self. It wasn't fooling Ax, or any of her other close friends, however.

"Not to mention the teensy little factor of, you know… picking the songs - we do have to decide what we're going to perform tonight, you know. It won't work if we just turn up and say 'Well, we haven't decided anything yet, so we're like ... just gonna wing it.'" Kris shrugged and helped Justine down the ladder onto the wharf. The group contained Ax, Tanya, Justine, Kris, Saul, Alyson and Tegan, who all loved to play music together, and worked really well as a group.

All of the girls were at some stage of readiness for the evening, be it the hair or the makeup. One of the most drastic changes was Justine's, who had removed all of the charms that she used to create brown hair the shade of her mother's, and it was now its natural shimmery black. "Your hair is going to look so damn good with your dress…" Kris said as Daniel came bounding down the ladder and threw an arm around Justine's shoulders.

"That was the general idea of removing the charms," Justine said as they wandered up the lawns towards the back of the castle. They were to be let in the back door of the Great Hall, and soon found out that all of the Hall bar this corner where the stage was to be raised off was curtained off from view, and Kris discovered through trial and error that touching the violet curtain resulted in a mild electric shock.

"Damn hippies trying to fry me… I'll get them good…" ZAP!

"Kris give up, you're going to static your hair and I'll never get it to sit straight tonight," Alyson admonished him. She'd officially taken over as Kris's stylist, which was usually Justine's job, but Justine had taken Tanya under her wing for the Ball, saying that she needed help more than Kris did.

Justine and Ax were sitting at the piano with Daniel fetching a chair for Tegan, who was checking that her double bass was still in tune.

Tegan reached up to her hair to pat it for the thousandth time. "Tegan! Stop touching your hair, the potion needs to set properly and won't do that if you're fiddling with it all the time!" Justine scolded.

"But it's doing something seriously funky to my hair, my scalp is tingling and it feels really weird," Tegan complained, "What did you say it was going to do to my hair?"

"I didn't," Justine said cheekily as she went to test one of the mikes, "And don't touch it."

Tegan put down her hand and tried to concentrate on tuning her instrument. She drew her bow across the strings again, and then she fiddled with a peg turning it slightly. She played a quick tune to test it and was satisfied with the results, so she just sat and twiddled absently while everyone else tried out their own instruments.

"Guys, quiet," Ax yelled suddenly. Everyone stopped talking and turned to Ax, "Please tell me you guys hear this," he said as he hit a key on his keyboard.

"Sounds fine to me," Kris said.

"No, it's not fine. Listen again," He hit the key again.

"Ax there is nothing wrong with the note," Tegan said rolling her eyes.

"No, no, no it's not the note, it's the key. It clicks when I hit it." Ax said, clearly getting stressed, "I have a clanky keyboard. I cannot work under these conditions," there was a rather distraught expression on his face. Saul snorted loudly.

Justine went over and gave Ax a hug, "Aw, it's ok baby, we'll make sure that your clanky keyboard is fixed before tonight."

Tegan just laughed silently as she put her double bass aside and picked up the bass guitar and prepared to tune it. She had just finished when Saul yelled out, "Ok guys, let's get started." Everyone stopped and looked attentively towards Saul's direction.

"Let's get started with a couple of songs so I can balance it all," he said.

Tegan turned to Ax, as he was the unofficial 'head' of the music group, and when he began to play the soulful introduction to a love song, Tegan recognised the tune, which was usually played on the guitar, Tegan moved to her double bass, picking up the bow and following along with the tune. Kris sat to one side and strummed to the slow poignant tune, and Alyson waited for the chorus, and then joined in too.

Justine began to sing in the chorus, her soprano picking out the depth of Ax's voice. The two smiled at one another as Tanya rolled out her drum kit mat, gave it a moment to materialise then sat and joined in, giving the song rhythm as Justine sang the second verse. Daniel and Saul were busily working on the intensity for the amplification charm they were going to cast on the hall for that night, and had linked the spell to a level box to mix the perfect sound.

"Ax, can we take it from the start of Justine's verse again?" Saul called, "I'm just going to give you some fold back, don't let it put you off, Justine, that's the perfect key for you and Ax."

Justine fell back into the second verse as Ax led the group effortlessly back to the beginning of the verse without even pausing. They sang through to the end of the song and all broke out in applause and accolades for one another at the end.

"Well, I want to do some punk tonight as the opener, but Ax reckons we should do one of Justine's songs, cause she's going to lead us in the final song, where we're gonna mess with people's heads, so what we really need is some paper scissors rock."

Ax stood up and grinned, "I accept your challenge, on one condition. If I win not only do I get to pick the opener, but I also get to go and catch some sleep while you stay and work with Saul on perfecting the sound and tuning the electric for me to use tonight."

"I accept the challenge, ready?" Both boys held out a fist, and shook them three times, Ax left with paper and Kris with Rock. "Dammit, you always pick scissors!"

Ax grinned, "And I figured now was a good time to change tactics!" he turned and picked up his electric guitar and handed it to Kris. "Be nice to my baby."

Kris laughed and began to strum the guitar to check the strings weren't out of key, easy in his defeat because he knew that Ax loved to perform enough that he would never make Kris do something really stupid or anything like that.

Tegan had made her way to the far side of the room with Alyson and they were both putting rosin on their bows. Daniel, Saul and now Ax were making sure all of the electrical instruments were all charmed to playback on Saul's system and then ran through a charmed amplification relay.

Justine was standing next to the mike stand, playing with the edge of her shirt, distracted from what was going on around her. She was, she thought, caught up in the surrealism of the day. What a poetic way of putting it.

She was however, drawn out of her musings when she head Ax saying to Saul, "…open with My Immortal."

She spun around and met with Ax's steel grey gaze. "I can not perform that song here. You know what that song means to me, I used to sing it back when it first…"

Kris piped up from the other side of the room, "Justine, not only do you sound rocking when you sing that song, but I think you need to sing that song now that he knows."

Justine just nodded and went back to her shirt; it seemed more real than her life did right now.

Something pink floated through the door. Kris saw it from where he was just finishing tuning the guitar. They were all just about ready to go by the looks of it, which was good – Ax was far from the only one who wanted sleep before the ball. Alyson and Tegan had placed their instruments in the sound cage to one side of the stage, and Daniel was carrying in the deflated drum kit mat and Kris' guitar in.

It floated high around the room, and Daniel paused looking up and exchanged a confused look with Kris. Kris wasn't worried till he saw the look on Ax's face and the way he kept glancing anxiously at Justine, who hadn't noticed it at all. Alyson and Tegan both visibly paled in shock. Saul and Tanya looked just as confused as Kris.

As it floated closer to the ground, Kris saw that it was a flower, a lotus by the looks of it, and it wasn't just pink, it was also moving through red and white, in psychedelic patterns and shades. He remembered what the flower meant suddenly; just as it landed at Justine's feet.

She stared down at it without expression, her face showing no emotion, and Kris slowly began to walk towards her. Her voice was so soft when she spoke that he almost missed her heartbreaking question, "Is this someone's idea of a sick joke?"

Ax stood and came over as well, and said very firmly and quietly, "Justine, everyone that you've told about that flower is in this room, except Adam and Jeffery who wouldn't do it - it must have come from someone Draco told …" he put an arm around her shoulders, "Don't worry Justine, I will find out who sent it and kill them," he put an arm around Justine's shoulders.

Tegan shocked everyone by pointing out, "Well, that's the hardest origami I've ever seen, and the only person I know of that can do it is Draco, has anyone considered he may have sent it? I mean, I know he's a dick, but no one does origami like he does."

Justine lost it. She turned into Kris' chest and began sobbing as though her world was ending. "Dammit! I left all of this pain behind when I came back to Australia. Why the hell did I come back here? Why didn't I just stay in the life that makes sense, where I'm in control?"

Ax placed a hand on the small of Justine's back for a few minutes, when it became clear that she had no intention of stopping crying, he said, very quietly, "Justine, if you keep crying your eyes will be puffy tonight," which got the immediate response of Justine giving him a wobbly smile and a kick in the shin.

"Insensitive butthead," she sniffed.

"Daniel, can you and Saul take Justine and the rest of the girls back to the boat and stay with them? Kris and I need to get something straight before we return, so stay at the docks for a second – don't let the cruiser take off, ok?" Ax had the scary look back in his eye as he turned and incinerated the flower and flounced out of the room gracefully with Kris following behind him.

Daniel came and gave Justine a hug. "Come on, if you make me make you smile, I will resort to tickling you, I'm not kidding!" Justine laughed and let him lead her sniffling and chuckling uncontrollably from the room. "C'mon, Winky can get some choc-chip ice-cream from the kitchen, so let's get chip-faced!"

Justine had to laugh at that one. Tegan trailed interestedly at the thought of ice cream, and Alyson cast one last look into the room, before grabbing Tanya and heading out after them.

Draco stood staring at the floor where his flower had been incinerated a few minutes earlier. Summoning his powers, he waved a hand in front of his face to see the spells cast in the room when the flower had been burned. Justine had been crying, that was like a punch in the stomach. Ax had burned the flower, then… Tanya, it seemed, had cast an unseen cheering charm on Justine to try and lift her sadness. It had worked to some extent, though Justine didn't seem able to stop crying, then soon after they had left.

Draco shook his head. Plan A had failed it seemed, trying to get her to come to him. That meant it was time for Plan B. 'If Muhammad won't come to the mountain, bring the mountain to Muhammad,' he murmured softly.

Draco walked out of the stage area just as the Egyptians turned up in what looked like the clothes some ancient Pharaoh's harem might have worn.

The lead girl looked at him then smiled, "We are going to dance tonight, we came here to rehearse, are you finished with the stage?"

Draco mustered a smile of sorts and said, "Yeah, go ahead…" before heading down the corridor and out of the castle towards the wharf. He was about to step onto the Kallaix side when a small bundle of bronze dragon flesh hurtled at his head, and a miniature roar escaped from its tiny jaws, flecks of fire flashing in front his eyes, though they didn't actually singe him.

"What the fuck!" he said batting his arms wildly and dodging around as it tried to set his hair on fire, or scratch his eyes out or something. When he realised his tactics weren't working, he had to resort to casting a stunner at the dragon and it was somewhat more successful then he had hoped for as the little dragon fell unmoving onto the wharf.

"Shit," he said, checking it for a pulse, the stunner was only supposed to force it away from him, though he should have realised that because it was so much smaller than the average dragon that he supposed he should have realised it wouldn't take as much force to knock it out.

Satisfied that the dragon was still alive, he straightened up, but before he could leave, he heard the sound of flapping wings again, and another roar, deeper this time, and stronger. The black miniature dragon was set with wings flared to swoop him, roaring as it spotted Rhiannon lying prone on the wharf. Draco had no other choice but to stun it as well. Bad move. The dragons just kept getting bigger. A large blue serpentine dragon lifted out of the water next to the boat, obviously pissed off by the steam rising from it.

"This just keeps getting better," Draco remarked, not sure what he was going to do about this normal sized dragon attacking him – one stunner would obviously not work for it.

From behind him a firm voice commanded, "McEwan, it's okay don't harm him, I will deal with this," Draco turned to face Kristopher Crompton.

Alexander Kidson walked out from behind Kris and drew his sword, causing Draco to go on the alert, but with a malicious smile, Ax just levitated the two small dragons and took them down the wharf onto the cabin cruiser and out of the way.

Kris looked Draco over icily, "Well, the only thing I can think of to ask you right now is, what the hell do you think you're doing, trying to get on our boat? I suppose it's pretty obvious really – you want to hurt Justine even more than you have already! Let me tell you right now Draco – you will get on that boat over my dead body."

Draco narrowed his eyes at the implication that he would try to hurt Justine now that he actually knew what had gone on. "I just want to talk to her."

"Fine! You tell me what you want to tell her, and I'll go and pass on the message because you're not going anywhere near her."

Draco clenched his fists and said in a low and dangerous tone, "I want to see Justine now."

Kris shook his head with a cold smile, and walked slowly and deliberately toward Draco. "Now we get to the point – you, you, you. You never understood, Draco, that I am her best friend. I would die for her, and I would kill for her. We aren't romantically involved – we bypassed that, and went on to something that was much more. I'm telling you right now, Draco, plain, clear and to your face, that if you don't walk off this wharf right now and stay the hell away from my best friend, I will choke the breath from your body with my bare hands and enjoy every moment of it."

Draco saw the complete conviction on the face of the Australian and said in what he hoped was a neutral tone, "Kristopher, while I can respect your need to protect her, I don't want to hurt her, just … talk. I need to talk to her, now I know what happened."

Kris stopped right in front of Draco and shook his head again. "Do you know that when Justine found out what happened in the past, the first thing she did was make sure that everyone else was ok? She went around to everyone else who had been hurt that night, and sort out their problems. She had the proof that she had been in the right all along – she could have gone marching up to you and presented you with proof that you could not deny that she had never cheated on you, never betrayed the love she felt for you, but she didn't. A lot of the others didn't understand why she didn't use this power, but I think that I understood how she felt from point go. A book I read once claimed that 'love is the one substance that never fails'. You claimed that you loved her, but you failed her in the instinctual way. You had no faith in her when she tried to tell you her side of the story. She tried to tell you that she had never made love to me, and she was telling the truth. She didn't come to find you, because she could not deal with seeing you again – even to get her own back."

Kris stepped around Draco and faced him from the other side. "Do you want to know the most ironic part in all this? Tanya told you the other night that Justine still loves you, and she wasn't lying. But that does not mean that she ever wants to see you again. You have utterly destroyed her. These past two years, she has spent, not living in some happy wonderland, but trying to on existing in a world that she could no longer understand. She has been struggling to learn to control and use the powers that you unlocked in her when you attacked her over something that never happened. You are the lowest form of life on the face of this planet – even worms and snails are above you in intelligence and sensitivity. So I ask you to turn around, walk away and leave her alone. Your little prank with that flower has done enough damage for one day."

Draco looked Kris straight in the eye. "She knew it was from me?" he asked, letting the prank comment fall for the moment.

Kris gave a little lop sided grin, "There was some debate," he admitted, "But we're sure now."

Draco glanced at the boat behind him and stiffened. Kris glanced in the direction of Draco's gaze, noting that a crowd of students were all clustered around the tiny dragons, trying to revive them. Tegan was standing by the railings, glaring death at Draco, and when she saw that he was looking at her; she started screaming blue bloody murder. However, what really caught the attention of both boys was the single figure standing on the top deck, gazing out over the lake, seemingly oblivious to all that was going on around her.

Kris forced Draco to look at him. "It's only a matter of time before Tegan's screaming manages to get through to her. If she sees you … I will tell her that you did send the flower, but what goes on from there is up to her. My offer still stands, however. Should you wish me to pass on a message, I will, though it goes against what my heart tells me."

Draco hesitated for a second. "Tell her this: our clearing at midnight," he said quickly, before Kris could walk onto the boat and the opportunity to get a message to Justine was lost forever. Kris nodded, and Draco had to walk away.

"Severus, apart from it being entirely unnecessary, being bound to this chair is becoming an encumbrance," Julia Snape informed her brother-in-law, in no uncertain terms. They were both sitting in his dungeon office, although Julia's ankles were bound to the legs of the chair, and there was a strap around her waist, keeping her firmly in one place. They had been sitting here for over two hours now, and although Severus had provided refreshments, she would have rather been anywhere else at that moment.

"Well, if you had retained the lessons from your youth and were capable of behaving like the lady you were born to be, we wouldn't be having this issue now would we?" Severus asked, sounding half-teasing, half exasperated with the childishness of Julia's actions several hours before.

"Severus, that woman was being completely irrational!" Julia cried, "Who, with any sense, tells an Australian woman that her children are anything less than perfect? Did you hear the things she said about my daughter? I was reacting as any mother would have."

Julia glared up at Severus who was smirking, "And how precisely under your rules of engagement, do you justify Narcissa, was she also not just defending her child?"

Julia pouted, a cute pout entirely like her daughters, "Yes, but in her case, her child is a dick and nowhere near perfection."

Severus sighed and looked straight at Julia, "I've explained the situation to you it is Mr. Weasley who was at fault, not Draco."

"Mr. Weasley was a heartbroken teenage boy who pulled a prank without thought for the consequences, and while his thoughtlessness is regrettable, he was not so much at fault. Mr. Malfoy physically abused my daughter. He hurt her so severely that she is still unable to be sad or angry without becoming unstable, losing control of her powers and slipping into either rage or depression. She has never recovered from what he did to her, and to this day she has never been as happy as she was before she knew him. Therefore, I must say that Mr. Malfoy is far more at fault than Mr. Weasley is."

Severus knew that he was not going to get through to Julia now. Her reasoning made some amount of sense, yes, but Draco had been reacting as any heart-broken teenage boy who had never been denied anything he wanted might have. With a sigh, he rose from his own chair and walked into his living quarters to get her some of the event memorabilia that he collected over the past week, and Julia looked up to see Narcissa walk into the room just as Severus left it.

"You dirty rotten traitor!" Julia screamed after him, "Don't you dare leave me in here alone with her when I can't even get up and give her what she deserves!"

Narcissa sat in the chair that Severus had just vacated and said in a small voice, "Can we please talk?"

Since she couldn't get up and walk out, Julia didn't see that she had much choice but to stay, even though she had no wish to talk to Narcissa. "No, we cannot. But since I can't get up, you can talk, and I'll listen."

Narcissa looked at her hands, which were folded delicately in her lap, and started speaking quickly but softly. She told Julia about the husband she had once thought she loved, and how the desire for power had warped his mind. She admitted that she had joined him, until she realised how power had corrupted him. She told of Draco's childhood, and what his father had groomed him to become. Then she spoke of the darkness that her husband had awakened in Draco, and how her son overcame the darkness, fighting it with love of his new family … and finally she spoke of how much Draco had loved Justine.

" I know that all of this does not excuse my son's actions, but I hope that you'll realise that it's my way of trying to explain why my son has reacted in the way he did. I have only just learnt the truth about what happened – Draco and Harry explained it to me. I am so sorry I said those things about your daughter. I now realise that I was in the wrong, and you were right all along."

Julia looked at the pale woman in front of her. "I hear what you are saying, but I cannot forgive your son for what he has done to my daughter, and until Justine forgives Draco, I will not either. I appreciate that you came to tell how you feel, and I thank you for the visit, but I think that you should leave now."

Narcissa rose to her feet, but she kept looking at Julia, and, in an anguished voice, she pleaded, "Please, don't be angry with Draco, please. He's had so little love in his life; when he thought he had been betrayed, he reacted without thinking. Now he knows what's happened, he is as distraught as your daughter must have been, realising that he lost the best thing he had ever had. You say that you will not forgive Draco until your daughter does … so I ask you, as a concerned parent, to talk to your daughter and let her know that Draco loves her, and now that he realised what really happened, he wants to apologise for what he did."

"And give him the opportunity to break her heart again?"

Narcissa's tear-strewn face crumpled, "Just consider it, please," she mumbled before turning and striding for the door.

"Narcissa, wait!" Julia called after her. "I'm on the defensive right now – if you had seen what became of my daughter when she returned home, you would be too. I will not promise to talk to Justine, but if the opportunity presents itself, then I will talk to her. For now, I see no reason for us to be enemies. My name is Julia Snape, it's been a pleasure to meet you," Julia said, she was such a softy when it came to people who cried. She extended one hand.

Narcissa caught it and they shook firmly. "Truce," she agreed. "And thank you. Now, I should probably go and find my husband and take a quiet nap – it's been quite a stressful day today."

Julia smiled, "Could you send Severus in to unbind me? Then I can kill him!"

If anyone remembers the challenge it was in there somewhere. lol. Thanks to all and responses on the next chapter, cos' im posting two, cos' i feelbad for not posting for so long :D

Princess.