*Whew!* This was NOT easy to write! I'm more interested in the Dueling Club part of the story at this point. I have ideas for it, I just need to straighten them out in my head before writing them. Plus, COVID-19 is really putting a damper on my creativity.

Enjoy!

Chapter 14

Who is He?

Rin snickered as they made their way towards the library. "I can't believe he fell for it!" he laughed.

Harry made a noise that sounded like either a snort or a scoff. "He didn't even notice what book we wanted," he noticed.

The book the group needed to make the Polyjuice Potion was located in the Restricted Section of the library. In order to get in, an underage student had to have a signed permission slip from a teacher. And Lockhart was the only teacher dense enough to sign one, no questions asked.

"That's because he's a brainless git," said Ron. "But who cares? We've got what we needed -"

"He is not a brainless git," Hermione said shrilly.

"Just because he said you were the best student of the year -"

"Teacher's pet," Rin snickered.

Hermione turned bright red. "Shut up, both of you!" she hissed as they entered the library.

The librarian, Madam Pince, read the title of the book on the permission slip. She seemed pretty skeptical about the group's motives. Hermione, refusing to relinquish the permission slip, didn't help matters.

"I was wondering if I could keep it," she pleaded.

Harry and Rin facepalmed as Ron wrenched the slip from Hermione's hand and into Madam Pince's. "Oh, come on! We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough," he exclaimed.

~0~0~0~

Yukio had so many doubts about his friends' plan to infiltrate the Slytherin common room to get information out of Malfoy. For one thing, making the Polyjuice Potion was very advanced potion-making. He doubted even Rin could pull off brewing it correctly.

"A Knut for your thoughts?" an airy voice asked. Yukio turned from his homework in the Ravenclaw common room and saw Luna Lovegood (now known as "Loony Lovegood" to his fellow Ravenclaws) looking over his shoulder.

Yukio put his homework away before answering her. "Just thinking about who could be behind the whole Chamber of Secrets thing."

"Curious thing, isn't it? Why would the Heir of Slytherin attack a cat?" asked Luna.

"Why would the Heir of Slytherin attack anybody?" Yukio countered.

"Fair point. Makes me wonder why the Heir has a thing against Muggleborns and Squibs," said Luna.

Yukio looked at her funny. "Didn't any of the teachers tell you about the Chamber of Secrets? Salazar Slytherin didn't trust Muggleborns," he recalled.

"So why attack a Squib's cat?"

"I don't know. To send a message?"

"The Heir has a very strange view of the wizarding world, doesn't he?" Luna asked.

Yukio sighed. "Yes, he does, whoever he is."

~0~0~0~

Rin wandered past the greenhouses, trying desperately to identify which greenhouse the fluxweed needed for the Polyjuice Potion would be located. After talking it over with Yukio, the twins agreed to back out of the operation since Hermione said the potion would be ready by Christmastime and therefore their birthdays. However, Rin did agree to help gather ingredients for said potion (as long as he didn't take part in stealing from Snape's storeroom).

"Rin?"

Rin turned around and saw Shiemi Moriyama standing behind him with a curious look on her face. His face immediately turned pink.

"Sh-Shi-Shiemi! What are you doing here?" he asked shakily.

"I was going to water the plants in the greenhouse today for Professor Sprout before the Quidditch game," she explained. "What about you? What are you doing here?"

Rin's face went from pink to red. "I… I'm looking for a specific plant," he said vaguely. He didn't want to lie to her, but perhaps he could spare her the details of why he needed this particular plant. "It's for a potion my friends are working on. Do you know where I can find fluxweed?"

Shiemi brightened. "Oh! I know exactly where it is! Follow me."

The two of them left the greenhouse they were currently in and made their way outside of Greenhouse Six. Rin blanched at their location.

"That's where it is?" he asked incredulously.

Shiemi looked at him funny. "Yes. Professor Sprout teaches sixth year students there. I'm only allowed in there if she's with me."

Rin bit back a curse. Well, at least he knew its location. Now all he had to do was wait for the full moon to pick it.

"I'll let Hermione know. She's the one who needs it."

"What kind of potion is she working on?" Shiemi asked.

Rin kicked a pebble while avoiding her gaze. "I'd rather not say. It's kind of top secret." Shiemi stared at the ground and nodded silently. "Anyway, enough about me. Now that I know where to get fluxweed, we can go to the Quidditch game! Wanna sit with us?"

Shiemi immediately became flustered. "M-M-Me? I… I don't know. I mean, my house's team isn't even playing. Is it wrong for me to root for another house that isn't mine?"

"No way!" Rin responded. "If you're rooting for either Slytherin or Gryffindor, the teams playing today, then you're not turning your back on Hufflepuff house. Besides, you can see Hermione again and meet Ron. I'm sure they won't mind if you join them."

"You… you really think they won't mind if I joined?" Shiemi asked.

Rin smiled. "Absolutely!"

~0~0~0~

The two made their way to the Quidditch pitch just as the players were walking onto the field. It took them a while but they managed to find Ron and Hermione sitting in the stands with the other Gryffindors and Hagrid.

"Hey guys!" Rin greeted.

"Hey Rin!" his fellow Gryffindors greeted back.

"How ya doin' Rin?" Hagrid greeted. "Shiemi, nice to see yeh again."

"He-Hello, Mr. Hagrid," she greeted nervously with a bow.

Seamus chortled. "Brought a date, eh, Rin?" he teased.

Rin turned as red as the Gryffindor team's robes. "Sh-Shut up, Seamus! She's just a friend!" he defended.

Dean chuckled. "Keep telling yourself that, Rin."

Rin scowled. "Watch it, Dean!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You can sit with me, Shiemi. There's no need for these boys to embarrass you."

Rin's jaw dropped at such a notion. He'd never deliberately embarrass Shiemi! As she sat down next to Hermione, both teams took off into the sky.

"Which one's Harry?" asked Shiemi.

Hermione looked around before answering. "I see him! The one highest in the sky!"

"And Malfoy's right behind him," Rin added. As soon as he said that, a Bludger flew directly to Harry, who barely dodged it.

"That was a close one," Ron remarked.

"Is it true that the entire Slytherin team has the same broomstick?" Shiemi asked Hermione who nodded in confirmation.

"It is. Malfoy bought his way onto the team by having his father buy every team member a Nimbus Two Thousand and One."

Shiemi blinked. "Isn't that bribery?"

Ron snorted. "You're not the only one who thinks so," he said.

"Just a tick," Hagrid interrupted. "What's goin' on with that Bludger? It keeps followin' Harry."

Everyone looked up and, sure enough, one of the Bludgers was trailing Harry all over the field.

"Hey Ron? Is it normal for Bludgers to chase after one player in particular?" asked Rin.

Ron shook his head. "No, it is not! What's going on with that Bludger?"

Dean gritted his teeth. "It won't leave Harry alone! What's going on?"

Despite Fred and George's best efforts, this particular Bludger refused to leave Harry alone. Everyone in the stands winced when it collided with Harry's arm, breaking it. Remarkably, he was still on his broomstick. He even managed to catch the Snitch (which was actually hovering behind Malfoy at one point but he was too busy taunting Harry to notice) before crash-landing onto the ground.

The Bludger still persisted. It kept bouncing up and down on the ground, trying to land on Harry, who had to roll over a few times to avoid getting his head smashed in. All of his friends rushed onto the pitch to his aid. Rin didn't even stop to watch Flint chastise Malfoy for losing the game. The Bludger came down towards Harry again.

Time seemed to slow down for Rin. He saw George Weasley landing and quickly approaching the crowd. Now wasn't the time to think, now was the time for action!

Rin got out his wand and took aim. "George! Heads up!" he cried. He aimed his wand at the descending Bludger. "Flipendo!"

A burst of blue light shot out of Rin's wand. Bullseye! The Bludger (which was now marked with a scorch mark) was knocked off course and shot straight into George who barreled over backwards. Rin watched Fred join George into wrestling the Bludger into a box. A small flash of light caught Rin's attention. He frowned when he saw that Colin Creevey was taking pictures of Harry and his broken arm.

He released an irritated sigh as shoved his way through the crowd and grabbed Colin by the back of his shirt. "Leave him alone, Shutterbug," he said.

"No need, Mr. Okumura," said Professor Lockhart who was kneeling next to Harry. "This is a perfect opportunity to show Harry a simple charm I've used countless times for situations like this."

"Why can't I go to the Hospital Wing?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.

Lockhart wasn't listening. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.

"No - don't -" Harry pleaded weakly.

Lockhart twirled his wand and then pointed it at Harry's arm. At first nothing happened but then it looked like his arm was flattening like an inflatable pool toy. Yukio's jaw dropped in alarm at the sight. Colin then started clicking away with his camera (which was quickly stopped when Rin tugged him away from the crowd).

"Wh-What did you do?" Yukio asked exasperatedly.

Shiemi gasped. "His… his… arm is… flat…" she stuttered in horror.

Harry whipped his head around to look at his arm and saw that it was indeed flat.

"Ah," said Lockhart, "yes. Well, that does happen sometimes. But the point is that the arm is no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind."

"Bloody hell," Ron breathed.

"Broken?! There're no bones left!" Hagrid exclaimed.

Rin leaned towards Hermione. "Still think he's a great wizard?" he asked snarkily. Hermione only responded by turning her head away and sniffed.

~0~0~0~

After being thrown out of the Hospital Wing by Madam Pomfrey (poor Harry had to spend the night there so his bones can regrow thanks to a potion called Skele-Gro), Hermione decided to go to the library to get some homework done by herself. Rin said that Professor Dumbledore needed to speak with him about something. Ron fled somewhere at the mention of homework. And Yukio went to dinner early with his Ravenclaw friends.

As much as she enjoyed doing homework and studying with her friends, Hermione didn't mind doing some of it by herself from time to time. Other than Yukio, the boys always seemed to try to find ways not to study. Honestly, it felt like she was more their babysitter than a study buddy sometimes.

She looked through the many aisles of books, searching for a book on the latest goblin rebellion the ghostly Professor Binns lectured the class about.

"Granger."

Hermione turned and saw the stern face of Ryuji Suguro approach her by himself. No sign of Shima or Konekomaru anywhere.

Hermione released an irritated sigh before answering him. "What do you want, Suguro? I'm not in the mood for that sour attitude that always seems to accompany your face," she snapped.

Suguro clenched his teeth before taking a deep breath and spoke, "I wanna talk to you about what happened at the Quidditch game today."

Hermione gave him an odd look. "You mean when a rogue Bludger broke Harry's arm? Yes, I saw it just like everyone else," she said like she was addressing a toddler.

"What did Rin Okumura do to the Bludger?" Suguro suddenly asked.

Hermione's jaw dropped to the ground. "Are you implying that Rin was responsible for what happened?! How dare you?" she defended.

Suguro growled. "Not during the game, after! The Bludger was bouncing up and down trying to hit Potter then Okumura whipped out his wand and sent a Knockback Jinx into it and sent it towards one of the Weasley twins," he explained.

"So?" said Hermione. "The Knockback Jinx is Rin's favorite spell. What of it?"

"I saw through my binoculars a burn mark that covered half that Bludger when Okumura sent it towards the twins. The Knockback Jinx doesn't leave burn marks on its targets."

Hermione opened her mouth then closed it. She didn't have an explanation about what happened. Rin had had a penchant for setting things on fire since last year. He as well as the rest of the group were clueless about why that was (although Yukio might have an idea but he refused to say anything). Hermione tried looking into it but came up empty.

All she knew was that the flames, while beautiful yet somewhat frightening, did more good than harm from what she witnessed. True, they kept burning whatever Rin aimed his wand at, but they had been more helpful in the long run. Hermione would never forget how Rin unwittingly summoned them for the first time last year to save her life. Had it not been for them, she probably wouldn't be here. Harry told her and Ron that Rin made good use of the flames again to intimidate a mysterious figure (who turned out to be the now late Professor Quirrel) in the Forbidden Forest. And of course, the flames saved everyone from the Devil's Snare last spring.

"I don't know what to tell you," Hermione finally answered. "Why are you asking me?"

"I just wanna know how he did it," Suguro replied. "A simple spell like that isn't supposed to leave a mark."

For some reason, Hermione was getting irritated by all of Suguro's questions. "How about you ask Rin about it instead of me?" She then turned around and left the library, having decided to do her homework in the Gryffindor common room away from Suguro.

~0~0~0~

"Before we begin, Rin, I would like to speak with you about what happened today at the Quidditch game," said Dumbledore.

Rin tilted his head. "What do you mean, Professor?"

"When you used the Knockback Jinx on the Bludger today, I noticed no flames coming out of your wand. Only a scorch mark was seen on the Bludger," the headmaster explained.

"Yeah. And?"

"What was on your mind when you cast the spell?"

Rin thought back to the moment when he cast the spell. The Bludger was beginning to descend towards Harry's head. George Weasley was approaching them. Rin did the only thing that came to mind and that was saving his friend's life. George was a Beater. He'd know how to handle faulty equipment, right? He called out to George and sent the Bludger his way.

"I just wanted to save Harry. The Bludger was gonna crush his head. I just… reacted," Rin tried to explain.

Dumbledore nodded as he stroked his beard. "That was the only thing on your mind?" he inquired.

Rin nodded vehemently. "Yeah! He was already hurt. Can you imagine how much more damage that thing could have done to Harry if someone didn't do anything?"

Dumbledore continued to nod. "I see. Your desire to save someone could be what controls your flames," he hypothesized.

Rin perked up at this. "You're saying that protecting my friends is what controls my flames?"

Dumbledore held up his hand to calm the boy. "It is only a guess at this time. I would like to explore it from this angle. Perhaps this could be what will ultimately control the blue flames."

Keep reviewing! It'll give you something to do if you're in quarantine.

I hope everyone is doing well during these difficult times. I want this stupid pandemic over and done with as much as the next person.