Chapter 12: Of Questions and Quidditch

With just four weeks of school remaining, Hermione was given full permission from her Guardians to focus entirely on studying and letting them do all the Mage research. Now that she was more comfortable in her role, she was slightly annoyed with herself for not being more involved, but her wise owl reminded her, "That's why you have me now."

Blaise was thrilled with his Patronus; he was even more confident in his own role now that he could see his wolf. When he couldn't be with Hermione, he got in the habit of leaving his Patronus behind to curl up around her feet like a transparent watchdog. Ron charmed Theo's owl and Blaise's wolf into Hermione's Patronus crystal, but there was still a noticeable gap where Draco should be.

Draco tried to make up for it one day by slipping her a note with a wink. She carefully unfolded it and read the latest riddle:

x

"Terrifying beam strikes from afar,

Or a Dark curse appears as a scar."

x

Hermione beamed at Draco when the little silver lightning charm appeared in her hand. He kissed her with a blush and informed her there would be one more to complete the set.

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Professor McGonagall took over Transfiguration lessons for a week as Professor Switch was off sick. Most students were disappointed since the jovial man was more entertaining than the rigid Headmistress, but Hermione was secretly pleased. She always learned so well from the steady, reliable older witch and was growing tired of their new professor's antics during class.

Professor Gangrous began adapting Defence Against the Dark Arts as NEWTs drew closer. Unlike the other professors – who all but drowned them in homework and revision material – the lamppost-like professor removed almost all homework but began taking the NEWT class out to the grounds to have more room for curse-breaking and team-style duelling. He praised Hermione's ability to break the curses he cast on students, trees, and objects, and Harry was a close second thanks to his heightened magical senses. Blaise could still sense danger faster than Harry, but Harry could detect more subtle differences in the types of curses to be broken.

When the students were divided into teams for duels, the professor erected strong enchantments to protect the onlookers from misfired spells. Hermione recalled that Professors Gangrous had also designed the school border enchantments with Professor Flitwick, and she had several after-class discussions with Professor Gangrous about the complexity of the spells. By all reason she shouldn't've been able to breach such strong enchantments and she was concerned about unintentionally breaking more during class duels. Half the time she paid little attention to the duel, instead focusing on not accidently firing a spell through one of the enchantments and causing panic.

One class Hermione, Anthony, and Luna battled against Justin, Blaise, and Ron. Blaise had learned to relax his protective instincts during classes so he wouldn't leap defensively in front of Hermione, but he still couldn't attack her directly with anything stronger than a Tickling Charm. As Blaise Stunned Anthony, Ron shot awkward glances between Hermione and Luna, seemingly unwilling to attack either of them. Luna Petrified him cheerfully, making Hermione giggle. Hermione revived Anthony between hexes and she managed to disarm Justin and Blaise at the same time. Blaise easily dodged oncoming curses while Anthony took Justin out of the running with a Trip Jinx. Blaise grabbed Ron's wand from his Petrified hand and Summoned a boulder from the lake shore to block the oncoming spells as he revived the redhead.

Hermione was baffled that Blaise was able to use Ron's wand, but later Theo chuckled and said it wasn't surprising since they shared pieces of her soul. Hermione recalled the previous spring when she'd been able to use Blaise's wand without difficulty and realised that she must've trusted him quite a bit even then. Harry had also been able to use Draco's wand; perhaps their destiny to bond existed longer than they knew.

After nearly half an hour, Professor Gangrous ordered a draw and offered points to all six duellers for their superb casting and praised their efforts to revive their teammates between attacks.

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Ron grew jittery as the Quidditch Final approached. Friday evening, Hermione and Theo had enough of his worried mumblings about tactics and they dragged him and Draco away from the pitch to their third-floor common-room.

"We need to train, it's tomorrow!" moaned Ron.

"You need a distraction," Theo insisted. "You'll wear yourself out and you won't play as well."

"I can think of a fun distraction," Draco murmured in Hermione's ear. "But there's way too many blokes here." She gave him a bit of a look but kissed him anyway.

"Shall we leave these lovebirds the room?" Blaise asked suggestively. Harry and Ron wrinkled their noses and Theo smirked.

"Draco needs to save his energy for tomorrow," Hermione said firmly as she dragged her boyfriend to the sofa. "Besides, I need a break too, and I want to know what else Theo's found in all his research."

"Well, I discovered a fascinating link between ancient Aztec runes and the Norse ones from old Viking script–"

"About the Mage legend, Theo. I doubt the rest of these blokes care to hear about Runes, but we can talk later."

Theo grinned at her. "I definitely have a few theories to explore. For instance, when Blaise was looking for you back at Malfoy Manor, Draco and I boosted his magic so he could find you. He told me later that he literally saw you in his mind, which differs from how the rest of us track you. Also, Harry said the house you were in is behind a Fidelius Charm, so I'm a little surprised Blaise was able to find you at all. Though perhaps that's why you two couldn't find her through the bond until you were in the same room?"

Harry waggled his head in response. He wasn't sure if the Fidelius Charm was technically nullified – Dumbledore's death and Hermione's unintentional easement to Yaxley had allowed quite a few people entry into Grimmauld Place.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione replied. "The Black house should be under old enchantments like Malfoy Manor, and we know it's unplottable. Perhaps that's why the tracking was blocked, although Blaise was still able to find me …"

"But Hogwarts is unplottable too," Draco argued. "He can find her here."

"I can find her here because I'm also here," Blaise pointed out. "Just like I could feel her at the Manor when we were both inside. Normally, I think my tracking is blocked when I try to reach through border enchantments. When she ran into the Forest back in February on her own, I couldn't feel her. She wasn't far away, but she was across the enchantments."

"But you could sense her at the Black house with Theo and Draco boosting you," Harry said thoughtfully. "So maybe our power has bigger limits than we thought, and we just need MORE of Hermione's soul to use it."

"I guess if you all boost me Hermione could run away to the moon and we'd still find her?" Blaise joked lazily.

"You should all boost me, and I'll find the Darkness wherever its hiding," Ron retorted. It was hard to take him seriously since he'd opted to sit on the sofa upside-down, but Hermione still frowned in worry.

"That sounds risky."

"Yes, but Harry is right," Theo replied. "We probably could extend the limits of our power; it's the same logic Harry used to heal all of us without exhausting himself."

"If you think you all can use your magic for more things – or bigger things – does that mean I should've been able to do all those things when I had my entire soul to myself?" Hermione asked weakly. Theo shook his head with a smile.

"Your soul is more powerful than each of ours individually, Hermione, but now that we're bonded, we each have the power of two souls. When combined, the six of us can do more magic than any of us could individually, including you."

"We could take over the world," Draco joked.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Between the Malfoy and Nott fortunes you could buy your own country, what more d'you want?"

"We're rich too; we inherited the Lestrange fortune," Ron reminded him with a smirk. Blaise folded his arms and pouted. His mother was rich, but she was selfish. Blaise wouldn't see any of her money until she passed away, if she even left him any.

"You can take half my fortune, Zabini, I'm more interested in magic than money anyhow," Theo said dryly. "I would like to experiment, within reason. Each of us should study our own magic and subsequently boost each other to test new limits. Ron believes Harry can do more than just heal, and I believe Draco can do more than just sense our emotions."

"We can't just go around Hogwarts manipulating fire and making trees grow," Draco pointed out. "People'll notice, especially since we don't need our wands for this stuff."

"We can make an excursion to the Forest to practice," Theo said immediately. "But I'm not convinced about the wands. I know when you were possessed the Darkness threw your wand away, but I believe it's because your wand is connected to your soul, and when the Darkness controlled you, your soul was … well, missing."

"Missing?" Draco said blankly. Theo shrugged.

"My theory is that when the Darkness possesses someone, their own soul becomes converted or otherwise hidden by darkness. I certainly couldn't see your soul when you were possessed, and if your soul is connected to your wand, it stands to reason that the Darkness couldn't use it to its full power. It threw away the wand because it wasn't helpful."

"Huh," Ron said slowly as he righted himself on the sofa. "I can't see our souls, but I can see our auras, or whatever, and Malfoy's was still there even when the Darkness was controlling him. It was just darker than usual."

Draco shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Hermione frowned.

"Remember, it wasn't really you. We need to be comfortable talking about this, Draco, it's the only way we'll learn from it."

Theo cleared his throat. "Forgive me, but I actually believe we all need to become more comfortable talking about everything. Everyone knows my history now, and after our time at the Manor I felt more in touch with my own role. We each know Hermione well, but not all of us are completely comfortable with each other yet."

"We were comfortable holding hands, isn't that enough?" Draco complained. Hermione poked him.

"Theo's right. Remember when we learned to trust each other? We had to get to know each other–" Draco groaned.

"Perhaps Draco is insecure," Theo suggested with a light smirk.

"I'm not insecure," Draco countered immediately. "I'm just not ready to spill my whole life's story to the Boy-Who-Lived and the Weasley King–" Ron made a dramatic bow with an imaginary crown "–besides, I told you lot all the emotional stuff I'm subjected to, so I think I'm all set for the next couple years."

"That's not the same at all," Hermione countered. "We need to share what's happening with the bond and our magic because it affects us all. I think Theo meant we'll work together better when we really know each other. More than just what we learned as classmates, or as rivals. You've all heard about our Polyjuice Potion adventures, we've talked about the Battle, we know about Theo's past, Blaise's Apparition test–"

Blaise scowled. "Time for one of the Gryffindors to share," he said firmly.

Harry groaned. "If I tried to tell my life story, we'd be here 'til New Year's."

"We know all the Great Harry Potter stories," Draco scoffed. "Age one: defeated You-Know-Who. Age eleven: defeated You-Know-Who. Age twelve: defeated You-Know-Who –"

"Well, there seems to be a gap between one and eleven," Theo said wryly. "Perhaps there's something in there that none of us know."

Harry was quiet. Hermione bit her lip and Ron knew enough to keep silent, but Blaise leaned in, interested.

"You were raised by Muggles, right? I had some Muggle stepfathers. They're not so bad."

"Not all of them," Harry admitted. "My family was."

Draco seemed to want to say something, but Theo silenced him with a look.

"It's a start, Harry," Hermione murmured. "I'll go next, if you like."

It took Harry several minutes, but he finally took a long breath and began to describe his childhood with the Dursleys. Perhaps knowing that Theo also had a rough childhood made Harry less concerned about judgment or pity, but he still didn't say everything – he didn't want the Slytherins to laugh at the idea of him getting treed by a bulldog or getting Harry-Hunted. He managed to tell them about sleeping in a cupboard, never having friends or clothes that fit, hating his birthdays, and being ignored on a good day and verbally abused on a bad one.

"Me and Fred and George rescued him when we were twelve," Ron said as he played with his wand. "He was so thin Mum fed him like a Hippogriff all summer. They locked him up, too. We actually had to pull bars off his window."

"He owled us for help when they started starving him two years later," Hermione added in a quiet voice.

"If they'd been wizards, I believe they would've gotten along with my father," Theo observed softly.

"I had no idea wizards were even real," Harry answered. He felt surprisingly detached now that he'd started sharing; it was so far in the past it hardly seemed to matter anymore. "They treated me like a freak, but I never knew why. Turns out they were afraid of magic."

"Sounds backwards," Draco observed. "I grew up believing Muggles were freaks 'cause they didn't have magic."

Hermione sighed as she looked between Draco and Harry. "The two of you are quite similar, you know, but you had precisely opposite upbringings. Draco was spoiled and Harry was practically impoverished; I can't help wondering how things would've progressed between the two of you if you'd been brought up in the same environment."

"I'm pretty sure he still would've been a prat," Harry replied with a grin.

"Takes one to know one, Scarhead."

"So, you didn't know about our world 'til Hogwarts?" Blaise asked Harry interestedly.

"I was his first friend," Ron said proudly. Harry clapped the redhead on the shoulder but shook his head ruefully.

"Actually, Hagrid was. Dumbledore sent him to pick me up and he took me to Diagon Alley for the first time."

"That must've been overwhelming," Theo observed. "And not just because Hagrid is overwhelming …" They all chuckled at that.

"Was one of the best days of my life," Harry said, half to himself. "Hagrid took me to this amazing place, I got to see my parent's world firsthand … I got my wand, he bought Hedwig for me. It was almost perfect, there was just this one arrogant little prick that made me feel daft about wizards …"

Draco wrinkled his pale nose. He hoped they could skirt past the incident, but Harry decided to adopt a whiny, high-pitched voice:

"I'm the BEST at Quidditch … I'm gonna bully my father to buy me the BEST broom … I'm gonna be the Prince of Slytherin …"

Blaise was laughing so hard he was choking and didn't stop until Draco tackled him. Hermione stared at Harry.

"You never told me that!"

"Didn't I?" Harry chuckled. "I guess Draco was the first wizard kid I ever met. I told Ron about it, but you and I weren't friends right away."

"Nah, we had to earn her friendship by saving her life first," Ron snorted.

"Oh please," Hermione snorted back. "I tried to be friends with you two right from the beginning and you couldn't care less because I was too clever for you."

"That sounds familiar," Theo grinned.

Draco rolled his eyes as he released Blaise and fixed his own robe. "Come off it, I was friends with you–"

"Just not as much as Crabbe and Goyle, right?" Theo pretended to sound hurt. "Is it because I refused to follow you around like a lost puppy?"

Ron and Harry laughed, and Draco scowled. "I thought Potter was sharing?"

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As the evening went on, Harry drew a few laughs by talking about his encounters with accidental magic – the blowing up of Aunt Marge got the best reaction – then he prompted Hermione to share. She couldn't talk about her parents, but she quietly admitted that she had no friends in primary school and that Ron's comment in their first year – It's no wonder no one can stand her – made her consider leaving the magical world. Ron turned bright red and hugged her for the next twenty minutes.

Blaise empathised about not having friends growing up. He talked about how his mother moved them around Europe for much of his childhood and he rarely lived a full year in the same city. He didn't have many opportunities to get to know his stepfathers since most were disinterested in him, but he admitted the only stepfather he'd truly cared for died in a car accident when Blaise was thirteen.

"He was a Muggle, but he taught me more than most wizards did," Blaise said quietly as he massaged his bulky biceps. "He taught me about training and making myself a better person, not a better wizard. He's probably the best role model I ever had."

Much jealousy was thrown in Ron's direction since he was the only one among them who grew up with siblings. Hermione thought it must've been like having built-in friends, but Ron rolled his eyes and reminded them it was difficult for him to have a proper relationship with his parents since they were distracted by six other kids.

"'Course, Ginny got special treatment 'cause she was the youngest AND the only girl … Bill and Percy were so much alike, and Fred and George had each other, so I got along best with Charlie when we were little. He was kinda my best friend, really, 'til he took the job in Romania. He's the one who taught me how to fly. After he and Bill left, Percy got even more obsessed with perfect marks and becoming Prefect and he didn't care about the rest of us much. I couldn't really spend time with Fred and George since they were so close, and they liked messing with me–"

"Like by turning your teddy bear into a spider," Harry teased. Ron went pink and the Slytherins chuckled, but Hermione reprimanded them.

"We all had fears when we were little. It's perfectly normal."

"Like snakesss," Harry whispered with a hiss. Hermione shoved him, though she was grinning. It hadn't been easy admitting to him that his Parseltongue ability terrified her when they were younger.

"Really?" Blaise twisted Hermione's hair around his finger. "Snakes, eh?"

"Well, I was petrified by one," Hermione huffed.

"Now you're stuck with three for the rest of your life," Draco reminded her with a smirk.

"At least I was never afraid of lightning," she countered. She expected Draco's scowl, but not Blaise's flinch. "You too, Blaise?"

"Yep," he admitted. "Think I was more afraid of mice, though."

Draco laughed. "Right, the first night in the dungeons you ran straight to your bed and jumped up 'cause you were afraid to put your feet on the floor."

"I think you almost vomited the first time McGonagall gave you a mouse to Transfigure," Theo added with a grin.

"Well, they have sharp teeth!"

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Despite Draco's initial resistance, the latest conversation between the Guardians did seem to make them relax around each other – or at the very least, it gave them more material to tease each other with.

The next morning, everyone gathered in the stands to watch anxiously while the Griffins battled the Manticores for the Quidditch Cup.

Ron had a speed advantage with Harry's borrowed Nimbus, but he was too easily distracted by his nervous teammates and kept letting the Quaffle in. He was bright red and frustrated by the time the score was eighty-twenty in favour of the Manticores.

The Manticores' Seeker was Thomas Lawson, the Ravenclaw boy who'd outflown everyone at tryouts. Draco had a better broom, but Lawson was much lighter and smaller; he seemed to be able to slip through gaps between players that Draco could barely see through. He felt like an eagle playing against a sparrow.

Ginny bounced up and down on her seat and Harry kept squeezing her hand to remind her not to yell instructions to Ron's Chasers. Dean Thomas played well and eased some of the Weasleys' anxiety when he suddenly went on a scoring streak and brought the Griffins up by thirty points in under ten minutes.

Draco was envious of Ron; provided the Darkness wouldn't try to interfere with the match, Ron could keep his Guardian powers to himself and they wouldn't negatively affect his game play. Contrastingly, Draco was constantly aware of everything Hermione could feel, and her emotions were amplified anytime Harry or Blaise took her hand or slid an arm around her shoulders. Normally Draco didn't mind, but today it was distracting; he couldn't tell his own worries from Hermione's and his Occlumency no longer kept her emotions out because the bond had grown so much stronger.

It didn't help that every time one of them felt a twinge of anxiety about the game, Draco instinctively wondered if they were anxious for some other reason. He kept glancing back to the stands to reassure himself she wasn't in danger, even though Blaise sat right next to her.

He shook his blond head to clear it and tried to focus on the match.

The Manticores scored several more goals. Ron was so anxious about his Chasers' performance that he was Keeping worse than ever. Draco bit his chapped lips. He knew they only had a chance at the Cup if he could get to the Snitch first. He felt a wave of anxiety of his own, and then some extra anxiety trickled in when Hermione watched a Bludger zoom past Ron's left ear – Draco swerved at the last second to avoid the other Bludger as it nearly unseated him.

This isn't working … He needed to separate his own emotions before Hermione's confused him into crashing. He gripped his broom handle tightly and tried to focus on his own magic, his own talent.

Draco took a breath and dived for no reason, just because he enjoyed it. Hermione couldn't fly; she hated brooms and heights. He felt a fabulous whooshing thrill, which was one hundred percent his own.

Hermione's anxiety was still there, but it was muted … Draco closed his eyes for just a moment and then took off around the pitch. He momentarily put off looking for the Snitch and just focused on the sensation of flying. The wind was fantastically cool; he dodged a Bludger, Dean, and two Hufflepuffs, and flew through one of the Manticore's hoops for fun. He felt the warmth of his own magic warming his fingertips against the breeze and he was distantly aware of what Hermione felt, but now he could tell the difference.

Her magic reached places in his heart his own magic could not. He almost smiled to himself. She was his heart … and he kept her there. She was safe, and he was focused.

A glimmer of gold caught his eye. The Snitch flitted about twenty feet away from where Draco hovered, but the other Seeker was closer.

Draco's competitive nature demanded he take off as fast as possible and get to the golden ball first – but there was no way, even with his superior broom, that he could outfly the quick little Ravenclaw.

Except, Lawson hadn't seen the Snitch yet.

There was no time to hesitate. Draco leaned forward on his broom and shot forward like a comet, in the opposite direction from the Snitch. As he hoped, the Ravenclaw saw him and immediately flew the same way.

But Lawson hadn't been flying as long as Draco.

It was probably stupid, but he left the cleverness to Theo and Hermione. This was Quidditch.

Draco waited until the other Seeker outstripped him and then tightened his grip and imagined his body melting into the broom, wrapping himself around the handle as tightly as possible …

And he promptly shot through the air like a javelin … backwards.

Their Hufflepuff Beater screeched and dove out of Draco's way as he sped, counting all the while to return to the spot where he'd seen the Snitch. Ahead of him, Lawson had just noticed this crazy act and stared openly for a few seconds before turning sharply and taking off after Draco once more.

Draco counted, four more meters … three … two …

He dared a glance over his shoulder, slowed his broom slightly, and the Snitch was waiting for him.

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A beaming Professor McGonagall handed the Quidditch Cup to Captain Ron, who took it by a single handle and promptly extended the other handle to his Seeker. Draco grasped it with the biggest grin he'd ever worn, and he and Ron raised the Cup proudly to the screaming and cheering stands.

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